The counting game OR 10 most important questions

I'm basing this meme on those you can find at various blogs:

• The Game's Afoot
• Petrona
• Books Please
• Stuck in a Book

Ten questions

The book I’m currently reading:

Oh, this is easy. I've found that really I can only read one book at a time. I've recently got hooked on Sally Spencer books and so I'm currently reading THE DARK LADY which is #4 in the Inspector Woodend series. These books are very nearly cozies, police procedurals without a lot of blood and gore, and some acceptable mysteries. Very palatable without being too stunning or mind stretching.

The last book I finished:

I'm going to talk about a made-from-paper book here. It was another Sally Spencer. #1 in her Monika Paniatowski series, THE DEAD HAND OF HISTORY.
I didn't mention in my review how clever I think the cover is.


The next book I want to read:


This ought to be an easy one to answer but, you see, I've got so many to choose from and I can hear them all calling out to me.
But I've really been letting the side down with my Australian crime fiction reading and so I think it will be Garry Disher's WHISPERING DEATH. There's a Fair Dinkum Crime review by Bernadette here.

The last book I bought:

It is rather sad that I can't remember when I last bought a made-from-paper book. Yesterday I bought NEXT OF KIN by Danish (?) author Elsebeth Egholm for my Kindle.

The last book I was given:

Hakan Nesser's THE UNLUCKY LOTTERY arrived for review the other day. It looks great, but I think I've got a couple of earlier ones from the Inspector Van Veeteren series to read first. Where to get the time though? Looks great - blurb is intriguing.

The last book I borrowed from the library:

I borrow a lot of books from my local library which is part of a network of 7 public libraries that pool their resources. The most recent book was AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Agatha Christie.

The most recent e-book I read was 13, RUE THERESE by Elena Mauli Shapiro

Through her main character, an American researcher visiting Paris, the author pieces together the life story of a woman who left behind a box of momentoes. Not crime fiction, but a mystery nonetheless.


The last translated book I read:

was OUTRAGE by Arnaldur Indridason
I didn't feel OUTRAGE had the flair of earlier novels in the series, but is nevertheless still a very acceptable police procedural. It does also explore a number of contemporary issues: the pain that occurs when children leave home, the growing urbanisation of Iceland and the social dislocation that can occur, and how life in Iceland has changed in the last part of the twentieth century.

The book at the top of my Christmas list:

I think I'd like my own made-from-paper copy of AGATHA CHRISTIE'S SECRET NOTEBOOKS by John Curran. I borrowed it from the library recently and thought I might read it through, but it more a book you dip into. It is full of fascinating stuff but resembles delving into an encyclopaedia.

The so-far unpublished book are I'm most looking forward to reading:

I don't want to be a disappointment here but I'm quite happy to wait until I hear that something has been published and don't much follow "what's next".