I was comparing my reading stats, this year’s and last year’s, in which I read 54 books. It’s actually hard to know if I read more or less because book length varies so. I figure it’s about the same. As always, I hope to read more.

Last year I was also surprised I didn’t read more paranormal romance, so I guess this is a pattern!

I planned to read more Jo Goodman and Ginn Hale, and didn’t so I need to rectify that. I did finish the Drakon series by Shana Abé. I read the new Patricia Briggs—and I’m sure will do so again. I wanted to read more books in genres outside romance, which I did. But I didn’t read more historical romance, futuristic romance or romantic suspense.

I continue to find Dear Author a gold mine when it comes to book recs. I actually appreciate all of their reviewers, though the one who’s probably most influential in my reading is Sunita. As well, if I’m looking for mystery or suspense, Keishon’s blog, Yet Another Crime Fiction Blog, has gotten me books I’ve enjoyed. But these aren’t the only reader blogs that influence me! I can’t possibly link them all. I’m just so glad there are people out there talking about their reading. Makes my world better.

So, reading goals for 2012.

1. Authors to read again: Jo Goodman, Ginn Hale, Harper Fox, Mary Renault, Meredith Duran
2. Authors I’ll continue to read: Patricia Briggs, Josh Lanyon, Kate Elliott, Sharon Shinn, Sherry Thomas
3. Books that have piqued my interest: A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant, The Lady’s Secret by Joanna Chambers, Wight Mischief by JL Merrow
4. New-to-me authors I’m excited about: Sarah Waters, Michael Connelly, Stieg Larsson, Ilona Andrews
5. Series to continue reading:
   1. Millenium by Stieg Larsson
   2. Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly
   3. The Edge by Ilona Andrews
   4. Spiritwalker by Kate Elliott
   5. Petit Morts by Jordan Castillo Price, Josh Lanyon and others
   6. Regeneration series by Pat Barker
   7. Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs
6. Series to try:
   1. Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews
   2. Lupi series by Eileen Wilks

1. Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott. My first foray into Elliott’s works is book one of the Crossroads trilogy—high fantasy with strong characterization and world building. She had me at the opening, which focuses on the world of Reeves and their eagles. These eagles are huge and bonded psychically to their Reeve, who rides them. It’s an intricate relationship, an intricate world. And that world opens up to a large cast of characters. First of three books, and they’re all strong. (All read in 2011.)
2. Come Unto These Yellow Sands by Josh Lanyon. I’m a big fan of this author’s work, and for me this was his standout read in 2011. Contemporary romance, with a side dish of mystery. Told in third person, all from the point of view of one of the heroes, Swift, a poet and reformed drug addict. His relationship with the sheriff, Max, is threatened when he gets involved in a case. Emotional, intense and extremely well written.
3. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson. I was a bit behind the times but eventually succumbed. A little slow to begin, this quickly became a page-turning read. Lizbeth (the girl with the dragon tattoo) was the star, but the heart of the mystery also captured my attention and she was well-matched by Blomkvist, the disgraced journalist who is asked to discover what happened to the niece of a rich old man.
4. On the Edge by Ilona Andrews. My first Andrews, I adored the world’s setup. Most of the action takes place in the Edge, which lies between the Broken (basically our world) and the Weird (a kind of high-fantasy world). Rose lives in the Edge and believes Declan from the Weird has come to claim her because of her powers. She resists, he doesn’t leave, and they begin to learn a lot more about each other. Also, Rose’s two young brothers are fantastic, even, I believe, for those who don’t like children in their books.
5. The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan. I became besotted by this book. I turned around and reread it, which I hardly ever do. This is YA, which I hardly ever read. It focuses on two orphaned, on-the-run brothers who live in a world of demons and magic. The story is told entirely from the point of view of the younger, more violent brother who clearly has trouble understanding people. The author uses this point of view to great effect as the story unfolds, and the climactic ending is absolutely stellar.
6. Mystery of the Tempest by Sam Cameron. YA mystery, a kind of Hardy boys for teens, though in this case the brothers are twins, one gay, one straight, both keeping secrets. When a yacht blows up in Fisher Key harbor, Stephen and Denny try to solve the mystery while simultaneously trying to figure out their love lives. A sweet romance develops between Brian (who’s out) and Denny (who’s in the closet). Very smartly written, engaging characters, hard to put down. (Full disclosure: I am a friend of the author’s.)
7. The Charioteer by Mary Renault. Reviewed here. Affecting, haunting, set in WWII. Classic gay fiction.
8. Regeneration by Pat Barker. Set in a WWI hospital where a Dr. Rivers treats patients such as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfrid Owen—in order to send them back to the front. Those three people were real, but there are also fictional characters, eg. Billy Prior whose story continues in the sequels. I actually thought I might bounce off this book, given the material, but the writing pulled me right in. Watching these young men struggle with shell-shock and its attendant problems is heartrending. Watching Rivers work to make them well enough to return to France is difficult, but I couldn’t look away. I found the second book, The Eye in the Door, as engrossing and will be reading the third, The Ghost Road.
9. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. I have this giddy new-to-me-author feeling upon finishing Fingersmith. Historical crime fiction—this was an immersive read. Fantastic setting (seamier side of Victorian England), strong characterization (and pretty flawed characters at that), twists galore. Twists take a careful hand, but these were incredibly satisfying. There’s a light romance, emphasis on the light, but it is critical.

I’m able to think of 5 of these 9 books as romance, at least in terms of having a romantic throughline. Same with all of the HMs below.

Honorable Mentions:
Song of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy
Troubled Waters by Sharon Shinn
Cold Magic by Kate Elliot
Winter Knights by Harper Fox

I’m going to do a followup post where I list my favorite reads of 2011. Here it’s all about the stats.

Of the 49 books read:
28 romance
21 non-romance

I was surprised I only read 1 paranormal romance, but the line between urban fantasy and paranormal romance is a little thin. Also Ilona Andrews’ The Edge series has paranormal-romance elements but I classified it as fantasy.

I read 16 gay romance and 3 gay fiction.

I read 3 YA.

My late-year push was into historical fiction, which I really haven’t read much of.

I don’t think I read any Canlit or Canadian-set books this year, which surprised me.

I did 2 rereads, one of a book I read years ago, The Charioteer by Mary Renault, one where I turned around and reread the book immediately, The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan.

My ratings stats. (Just to note, I put aside books easily, so no low ratings.)
9 As
16 Bs
8 Cs

My non-romance books tend to get higher ratings. Not because I think the romance genre isn’t as good as any other genre. There are three things going on there, I believe:
1) I’m more likely to put down a non-romance book rather than read through and give it a C.
2) I’m more likely to pick up non-romance books that have been highly lauded and/or which I have reason to think will appeal to me. I’m more adventurous with romance.
3) There’s the “freshness” factor. A different genre offers me something I haven’t read for a while. Whereas if I read as deeply in, say, mystery/suspense as I did romance, I wouldn’t be struck by certain tropes or characters or plot twists.

I’m pretty pleased with all the books I did enjoy, and next I’ll write about my fave reads of 2011.

I think there’s a couple of things going on. First off, Renault is not available in digital. I can of course buy print books, but it takes more effort, and I’m less likely to get around to it. Also, the other Renaults that get significant attention seem to be set in ancient Greece. I’m not against such a setting, but because I loved The Charioteer so much, I’d be more likely to pick up another book in that era. (Basically contemporary for her, I know.)

Anyway, the book itself. I can cast it as a romance, as the major throughline is the relationship between two men. But as a genre, it’s more gay fiction than romance. (Not that romance existed as a genre back then.) It’s also a love triangle.

The book opens with a powerful and sensitively written scene about a boy (five-year-old Laurie) who understands, if not that clearly, that his family life is about to change irrevocably. His father leaves that night, and he never sees him again. It then jumps forward to his teen years and his saying goodbye to Ralph (known at that point as Lanyon) who’s been booted out of school because of a scandal.

The final time jump is to Laurie recovering from a very serious leg wound in a hospital, or hospital-like facility. (I’ll admit to some fuzziness about both boarding school and medical institution terms.)

Spoilers follow.

Here Laurie is being nursed back to health and falls in love with Andrew a conscientious objector who works there. Problem is, Andrew while falling for Laurie doesn’t recognize what their relationship really is, and Laurie won’t tell him. Even as those around them begin to identify what is going on.

Meanwhile, Laurie also meets Ralph again. They too draw closer, but Laurie, in a bit of mirroring, doesn’t fully recognize his feelings for Ralph as he holds on to this idealistic non-physical love for Andrew. It’s not that his feelings for Andrew (and Andrew’s for him) aren’t real, but that it’s not enough and can never be more. Laurie doesn’t understand the depth of Ralph’s feelings for him either, till near the end.

The end itself is bittersweet for a couple of reasons, and bittersweet is not code for the couple not being together, though that is tentative in some ways. The backdrop is World War Two, and there’s a sadness throughout, for me, to see these young men maimed and harmed by that violence. This makes their navigating society, in a time when being gay was not easy, more poignant.

There are some beautifully described moments in this book, both between Laurie and Andrew, and Laurie and Ralph.

Here, when Laurie realizes people see more clearly than Andrew does and wants to not expose their relationship.

“Good show.” But he said it too warmly, torn between the longing for Andrew to go and the dread of showing it.

“Yes, it is; you see when the war started he wouldn’t ask her, he didn’t think it was fair. I believe he was terribly unhappy. But she kept on writing, and finally, the other day—”

“Good for her,” said Laurie, cutting him short. Where did he think he was, exposing this naked happiness and trust: it was time he learned to be decent.

Andrew’s face changed. One day Laurie had been swishing a stick about, and caught his dog a cracking blow by accident; he had looked incredulous and bewildered, just like this.

Suddenly Laurie thought, Oh, damn the lot of them. He smiled up at Andrew and said, “Tell me all about it in the kitchen.”

Here, when Laurie feels he needs to tell Ralph they should break it off because of his feelings for Andrew whereas Ralph is intent on seducing him.

He had forgotten how easy, calming, and comfortable Ralph could be; nor had there been time to discover, till now, the sensation of coming home again which is one of the more stable by-products of physical love.

Here, Laurie is caught between his feelings for Andrew and for Ralph.

For Laurie couldn’t pretend to himself that even this last loyalty to Andrew was innocent. It was withheld at the expense of someone who on his side had withheld nothing, and whose need of love was in its kind no less. The idealist and romantic in Ralph, reviving late and left for dead, felt its own wants with the greater urgency; and it had lived too hard, too close to the ground, to be deceived.

One difference about rereading: I knew what was going to happen. The first time through I read The Charioteer with somewhat bated breath because I just didn’t know how she was going to resolve this very difficult love triangle. I rather missed that feeling, of reading where I had to know what was going to happen to the characters. However, it was rewarding to savor this and read her observations more slowly.

This is considered a classic by m/m readers. There is physical love between Ralph and Laurie, it’s alluded to or mentioned obliquely, and despite or because of that, the emotions are very strongly conveyed.

This week I’m going to have to order a Renault paperback from Amazon.

While I haven’t started writing yet, I do have the opening scene or scenes for my next Northern Shifters book. If I’m correct, and I hesitate to say too much in such early stages, Angus and Mala will have some kind of role (though it may be relatively small), and Aileen should play a large role, i.e. be the heroine.

I won’t say anything about the hero yet, except that you haven’t met him. Working title: Running Free.

I’m not sure why my books take so long to percolate, but ah well. I do have a new Joely Skye release, Moon Run, but I won’t be away from my Jorrie Spencer books for much longer!

Anchor is set in Wolf Town. But my alter ego also has books set in Wolf Town. Specifically I have a new release today, Push Pull, which completes Rory and Scott’s story. They made an appearance in Anchor. And I’m just putting up the cover because it is so pretty. I love the snow on the wolf :)

But I’ve had some nice reviews of Anchor, one at RT Magazine and one at Mrs. Giggles. Those were both a surprise and exciting to read! It’s cool to see it still on the Samhain bestseller list, as I’ve never had a book last that long there.

And, more iPad Contest goodness this week. See below :)

Don’t miss this chance to win lots of prizes!

I’ll admit I was worried about this release, given that it’s been quite some time since Puma was released. It’s been a lovely week, and I so appreciate my readers!

Go here for the details.