30 years ago is way before I started blogging what I read, so I have no ratings for older books that I read at the time. Also, no list of books from the late 90s I might have sold or given away after I read them, so I’ve got a handful of books I still have in paper and a vague notion of whether I read them or not.

Obviously, books I picked up backlist–or picked up a second copy as an ebook or audio book and read later are easier to quantify.

~ Shadows of the Heart by Tracy Grant (The Lescaut Quartet #3) 9/10
Avg Rating: 8.8 | read 3X | Historical, Romance

The first book I read in the series was the second, then this one, then the fourth, then finally the first. What stands out about this story is the woman is pregnant and has amnesia.

~ Chance by Robert B. Parker (Spenser #23) 8.5
Avg Rating: 8.5 | read 2X | Private Eye ^[1]

This is the book prior to where I began reading the Spenser series. I remember regularly scanning the shelves of used book stories for more of this series.

This is also the first book where Spenser essentially stops aging–there are no references to him having fought in Korea or fighting Joe Wolcott in this book or any book after.

~ The King’s Bishop by Candace Robb (Owen Archer #4) 8/10
Avg Rating: 7.8 | read 2X | Historical

~ Acqua Alta by Donna Leon (Commissario Guido Brunetti #5) 8/10
Avg Rating: 7.3 | read 3X | Police

This is quite early on in the series, which is why I read it multiple times. At some point I gave up on rereading the entire series and just read new stories as they came out.

~ Captiva by Randy Wayne White (Doc Ford #4) 8/10

This series and the Elvis Cole series I read after I broke my ankle and needed distractions from the post-surgery misery. I remember very little about it except science and ex spy. I think.

~ Sunset Express by Robert Crais (Elvis Cole #6)
Avg Rating: 8.5 | read 2X | Private Eye

This started off wanting to be like Spenser, but soon Elvis Cole became his own thing. And like the Spenser series, Elvis and Joe Pike stopped aging several books in.

~ A Test of Wills by Charles Todd (Inspector Ian Rutledge #1) 7/10
Avg Rating: 7.0 | read 2X | Historical, Police

This is one of the first mystery series I read set in the aftermath of the Great War, and it kicked of a kind of horrid fascination with the war and the years around it.

~ Let it Bleed by Ian Rankin (Inspector Rebus #7) 8/10 (1995)

~ Watery Grave by Bruce Alexander (Sir John Fielding #3) 7/10 ^[2]
Historical | Police

Bow Street runners with one of the main characters being one of the magistrates who founded the runners.

~ Killer Pancake Diane Mott Davidson (Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery #5) 7/10 ^[1]

~ The Kindness of Strangers Julie Smith (Skip Langdon #6)
Police

~ Lying in Wait J.A. Jance (J.P. Beaumont #12)

~ Dead to Rights J.A. Jance (Joanna Brady #4)

I know I searched for used copies of all the J.A. Jance books I could find, so I likely read this series out of order as I picked up what books I could get my hands on. I’m guessing I read both of these but am honestly not sure one way or the other.

^[1] I probably read this at least once before 2004.

^[2] I want to reread this, but the first books are not available except in paper, at least as far as I can find.

These are the books from 2006 that I read more than twice.

Frontlist Favorites

As mentioned, I read these soon after they were published, and then reread them multiple times.

~ Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, translated by Andrew Bromfield & narrated by Paul Michael (Night Watch #1) 9/10
Avg Rating: 9.2 | read 8X | Urban Fantasy

~ Moon Called by Patricia Briggs narrated by Lorelei King (Mercy Thompson #1) 8/10
Avg Rating: 8.0 | read 7X | Urban Fantasy

~ The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch narrated by Michael Page ^* (Gentleman Bastards #1) 9/10
Avg Rating: 8.5 | read 3X | Fantasy

~ The Demon and the City by Liz Williams (Detective Inspector Chen #2) 8/10
Avg Rating: 8.33 | read 3X | Urban Fantasy, Supernatural Mystery, Police

Backlist Favorites

~ The Devil You Know by Mike Carey narrated by Michael Kramer (Felix Castor #1) 7/10
Avg Rating: 8.0 | read 4X | Urban Fantasy

~ Vicious Circle by Mike Carey narrated by Michael Kramer (Felix Castor #2) 8/10
Avg Rating: 8.0 | read 4X^** | Urban Fantasy

~ The Mislaid Magician: or Ten Years After by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer (Kate & Cecelia #3) 8/10
Avg Rating: 7.7 | read 3X | Historical Fantasy

~ Kitty Goes to Washington by Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville #2) 7/10
Avg Rating: 7.3 | read 3X | Urban Fantasy

~ Through a Glass, Darkly by Donna Leon (Commissario Guido Brunetti #15) 7/10
Avg Rating: 7.0 | read 3X | Mystery, Police

~ Rounding the Mark by Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli (Inspector Salvo Montalbano #7) 9/10
Avg Rating: 8.0 | read 2X | Mystery, Police

I love the Night Watch series, to read or to listen to; the second book in the series (Day Watch) was the first time I’d noticed that I’d enjoyed an audio book more than reading with my eyes.

I don’t love the narrator for the Mercy Thompson series, mostly because she mispronounces the Marrok, which annoys the crap out of me. But it’s a good series to listen to otherwise.

^* I wouldn’t listen to this one again; some of the scenes were very difficult to listen to in a way they weren’t for me to read.

^** I only have three reviews, but it’s highly unlikely I skipped a book during a reread.

As noted previously, I had a lot going on in 2006 (and 2007, really) so a lot of things fell to the wayside; I only read one book in November of 2007, which should give you some idea of how busy I was.

~ Frontlist ~

Mystery

~ When Gods Die ~ C.S. Harris (Sebastian St. Cyr #2) 8/10
Avg Rating 8.0 | read 3X | Historical

This barely made the cut as frontlist, as I didn’t read it until November 2007.

Because I really had a lot going on in 2006.

Comics

~ 1001 Night of Snowfall ~ Bill Willingham et al (Fables) 9/10
Avg Rating 9.0 | read 2X | Fantasy
~ Arabian Nights (and Days) ~ Bill Willingham et al (Fables Vol 7) 6/10 | Fantasy
~ Wolves ~ Bill Willingham et al (Fables Vol 8) 7/10 | Fantasy

Even when I didn’t love individual volumes in the Fables series, I adored the series as a whole, and eagerly awaited each new graphic novel.

~ Innocence Lost ~ Craig Kyle et al (X-23) 9/10
Avg Rating 9.0 | read 2X | Superhero

~ Wannabe ~ Joe Quesada et al (NYX) 9/10
Avg Rating 9.0 | read 2X | Superhero

X-23 might be my favorite Marvel character, and it annoys me we haven’t gotten more stories about her.

~ Agatha Heterodyne and the Circus of Dreams ~ Phil & Kaja Foglio (Girl Genius Vol 4) 8/10 | Steampunk!

This is a delightful series. The problem is it published slowly, and the stories can be kind of complicated, so once I fell behind, I never got caught up.

~ Escape to New York ~ Brian K Vaughan et al (Runaways Vol 5) 7/10 | Superhero

~ Parental Guidance ~ Brian K Vaughan et al (Runaways Vol 6) 8/10 | Superhero

~ Marvel 1602 ~ Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, Richard Isanove | 8/10 | Superhero, Historical

~ Backlist ~

Comics

~ Digger ~ Vol. 2 by Ursula Vernon | 8/10 | Fantasy

Ursula Vernon is also T. Kingfisher.

This is a comic series about a wombat. 

Do you really need to know anything else?

Non-Fiction

~ Passionate Minds: Emilie du Chatelet, Voltaire, and the Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment ~ David Bodanis 8/10 | History, Biography, Science & Math

Mystery

~ The Guilt of Innocents ~ Candace Robb (Owen Archer #9) 8/10 (2007)

~ The Naming of the Dead ~ Ian Rankin (Inspector Rebus #16) 8/10

Now it’s 20 years we’re stepping back. Not that it feels like some of these books are twenty years old. Though that could be because they’re fantasies and tend to have less of the “I’m talking to you on my expensive new car phone!” that mysteries can have.

~ Frontlist ~

These are books published in 2006 that read in 2006 or 2007 and rated 8/10 or higher.

There are books that belong on this list which I’m going to save for the post on rereads, as back in 2006 I wasn’t doing a yearly roundup.

~ The Privilege of the Sword ~ Ellen Kushner (Riverside) 9/10
Avg Rating: 9.3 | read 3X | Fantasy of Manners

I love Swordspoint. This is a sequel of sorts, about Alec’s niece, who is coerced into moving to Tremontaine and learning the sword so her uncle will forgive the family debt and also settle a sum of money upon them.

She doesn’t want any of this, but does it anyway, and although she isn’t quite accepted, she also isn’t outcast, as Alec is the duke and has lots and lots of money.

~ Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth ~ Simon R. Green (Nightside #6) 9/10
Avg Rating 9.0 | read 3X | Supernatural Mystery, Horror

~ Hell To Pay ~ (Nightside #7) Avg Rating 7.0 | read 2X

John Taylor is a private detective from the dark and desperate world that exists under London. He uses his gift to find things–usually ways out of the bad situations he’s gotten himself into.

Confession: I still haven’t read the final book in the series.

~ Nightlife ~ Rob Thurman (Cal Leandros #1) 8/10
Avg Rating: 8.3 | read 2X | Urban Fantasy

This is another series I haven’t read the final book in, but that’s because she never finished the series, and the last book published is said to have ended on a cliffhanger. So I just pretend that book doesn’t exist and go on loving the other books in series.

Like Nightside, this series is quite dark. Cal is a monster,  but he’s kept from falling victim to his nature by his brother.

Honestly, the series is really a love story between Cal and Niko.

~ His Majesty’s Dragon ~ Naomi Novik (Temeraire #1) 8/10
Avg Rating: 8.3 | read 2X | Historical Fantasy

~ Throne of Jade ~ (Temeraire #2) Avg Rating: 7.5 | read 2X
~ Black Powder War ~ (Temeraire #3) 7/10

Speaking of books that are really romances–these books may be Patrick O’Brien’s Aubrey–Maturin series except with dragons, but really, they are the love story of Laurence and Temeraire. Just not in a “monster romance” kind of way.

He had been in many actions, no less deadly or dangerous, but this one had differed in the crucial respect: when the enemy took aim at his charge, they were threatening not his ship, but his dragon, already the dearest creature to him in the world.

Three times I have read the start of the series, and then wandered off and forgotten to go back and read the rest of the books.

~ Dzur ~ Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #10) 8/10

Vlad is a mob boss and an assassin and a human in a world of beings who are stronger & more magical & much longer lived. For most of the series Vlad has been on the run, although things sometimes jump around in time, giving you Vlad’s past as much as his run from the mob.

There were five years between Isolla and Dzur, and then two years between Dzur and Jhegaala and I kinda fell out of the habit of keeping current with the series. I’m pretty sure I own all the books that have been published, but I would definitely want a reread before I jumped back in.

~ The Line Between ~ Peter S. Beagle 8/10 | Anthology

Series I Dropped

Failed to Keep Reading

~ Greywalker ~ Kat Richardson (Greywalker #1) 8/10 | Supernatural PI

~ A Fistful of Charms ~ Kim Harrison (Rachel Morgan #4) 8/10 | Supernatural

Quit in a Rage

~ Proven Guilty ~ Jim Butcher (Harry Dresden #8) 8/10 | Supernatural PI

~ Definitely Dead ~ Charlaine Harris (The Southern Vampire Mysteries #6) 8/10 | Paranormal Romance

~ Backlist ~

~ The King of Attolia ~ Megan Whalen Turner (The Queen’s Thief) 9/10

~ Instead of Three Wishes ~ Megan Whalen Turner 8/10 | Anthology