Australian Books Read - December 2012

It has been a month of returning to the passion that I have a great commitment to, namely reading Australian crime fiction. This has come after spending a few months leaning more towards books written by overseas authors. The return has reminded me of the wealth of talent that is being produced by our local authors. Actually, to check my pile of books waiting to be read, the talent pool appears to be on the rise.

In December, I finished reading the following books by Australian authors.

Thrill City by Leigh Redhead
Wyatt by Garry Disher
Murder and Redemption by Noel Mealey
Comeback by Peter Corris

This represents far less than half the books that I read this month but it also represents all of the books that I read that were published in the last decade. My aim over the next year is to move my focus more towards the local market and I expect my reading numbers to drastically increase.

Keeping The Balance

I am primarily a reader of hardboiled and noir crime novels with a great liking for the older detective series. This is where series by Disher, Corris and Temple, among others, have provided me with great pleasure.

Obviously, not all Australian crime novels meet my preferences with some of the "romantic thrillers" being forced past my eyes and into my brain. To stop from becoming jaded from all of the local content I am also balancing out my effort by continuing to read through detective series from some overseas established authors.

I have recently started making my way through Bill Pronzini's Nameless detective series and intend on continuing through until I have read the entire oeuvre. I have also recently discovered John Lutz and even though they are a little difficult to track down here in Australia (at least, for a reasonable price) I want to make my way through his entire Alo Nudger series of 10 novels plus one short story collection.

I think if I can keep my reading selection well balanced it will ensure that it will remain fun rather than becoming more of a chore.

That said, there are still Peter Corris books for me to read not to mention books by many of the lesser known but just as talented authors. Sitting on the stand next to my bed is a pile of books from Corris' Cliff Hardy series and they are going to be read during January. I also have The Cartographer by Peter Twohig and Ludo by Boyd Anderson to read and they will be read and reviewed by the end of next month too.