Authors I Read For The First Time In 2016
Chelsea Cain
Confessions of a Teen Sleuth is hysterical. I didn’t know about it until a friend recommended it and, holey moley.
Danielle Dutton
Margaret the First is a strange and lovely biographical novel. It sort of defies description, which is something I love about it.
Thomas Harding
Harding tells the story of 20th century Germany through his family’s House by the Lake. It’s gripping, terrifying and triumphant.
Marcus Sedgwick
I’m still reading Mister Memory but it’s quite enchanting. I look forward to reading his past work already.
Alexander Chee
I desperately wanted to like The Queen of the Night, but I didn’t. Perhaps I’m not meant to be a Chee fan.
Forrest Leo
When I attempted NaNoWriMo this year (my 7th), I wanted my book to have his sort of tone – wild and funny. The Gentleman is a joy.
Sarah Perry
Very pleased to be an early US reader of her fantastic book, The Essex Serpent. Her style manages to be both windswept and piercing.
Frances Hardinge
The Lie Tree is a near-perfect novel and an incredibly smart one for younger readers.
Graeme Macrae Burnet
I just finished His Bloody Project, and it’s one of those books that just sticks with you. He makes the complicated look simple.
Skip Hollandsworth
Hollandsworth does something similar to Burnet but for nonfiction. He painstakingly followed a century-old trail and brought it to life in The Midnight Assassin.
Colin Dickey
Ghostland is a book I wish I had written. In addition to being informative, it brings clarity and sympathy to that which haunts us most.
I TOO badly wanted to enjoy Queen of the Night and didn’t. I read Chee’s first novel and wasn’t wild about it, either, so I’m afraid I have concluded that he’s not the author for me. :/
I wanted to like THE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT so much, and it had moments, but it didn’t hang together as a whole.
I can see where not having strong characters might be distracting in THE MIDNIGHT ASSASSIN but I have such a fascination with forensics that I didn’t mind it here.
I kept hearing glowing things about Queen of the Night, but it struck me as a book that might be a total slog, so I never read it. Plus, I’m not an opera fan.
I also wanted to love The Midnight Assassin, but found it hard to get into b/c we didn’t really have strong characters to follow (so many victims that they all ran together and an unknown killer).
Not familiar with Midwinterblood. This is my first of his. I’m about halfway through but so far, so good.
Frances Hardinge was new to me this year, and I loved The Lie Tree and Cuckoo Song! I need to hunt down more of her works (sadly not all have been published in the US, boo.)
I read Midwinterblood and it did not endear me to Marcus Sedgwick, I found it overwrought and silly. Maybe I should give him another chance though?
I’ve always wanted to try Marcus Sedgwick. I hear so many good things about his books. Thanks for the reminder!