Tag / Reconstructing Amelia

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Prolific Authors – Five Books

It is time once again to take a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, I’m once again on pace to set a new record for books read in a year, so I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August of this year. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 114 books, so there should be some movement over the past two years.  Without further ado, it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much over the years.  We continue today with the ten authors I’ve read two times, an increase of three from two years ago.

Serpent’s Storm – Amber Benson

Amber Benson

The former Buffy the Vampire Slayer star checks in with the five entries in her Calliope Reaper-Jones fantasy series.

Dan Brown

Brown, who became a publishing superstar with the release of The DaVinci Code in 2003, has a new Robert Langdon book due out later this year.

Diane Carey

First read in 1991, she was a stalwart of the Star Trek: The Next Generation novel line, which accounted for four of her five entries.

The Night Shift – Alex Finlay

Alex Finlay

Five books in four years, including Parents Weekend from earlier this year, have pushed Finlay up this list.

Jeff Mariotte

The former WildStorm VP and DC editor stands pat with his entries from the Buffy and Angel series of novels.

Kimberly McCreight

A New York Times bestselling author thanks to her debut novel, Reconstructing Amelia, she has been a steady presence since 2013.

Yvonne Navarro

All five of the Chicago native’s works that I’ve read revisit the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe.

We Solve Murders – Richard Osman

Richard Osman

An English television presenter, Osman turned his efforts to fiction in 2020 with The Thursday Murder Club, which I came across in 2022.

Tom Perrotta

A nice two-book jump for the American novelist and screenwriter, whose works have a tendency to wind up on screen.

William Shatner

The actor best known for his role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek checks in with his efforts, whatever they may have been, both with his TekWar series and on two Star Trek novels.

 

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Prolific Authors – 4 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school. Since I’ve far surpassed my “normal” reading output the last three years, I thought it would be nice to once again take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through the start of October. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 118 books, so there could be some movement over the past two years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  We continue today with the ten authors I’ve read four times, an increase of four over the past two years.

Scott Adams

The now-cancelled creator of Dilbert, who can’t seem to help himself from spouting racist takes on Twitter, Adams used his famous character to write a number of humorous business books, the most recent of which I read in 2012.

The Big Nowhere – James Ellroy

James Ellroy

The author of the L.A. Quartet, which I finished off with The Big Nowhere in 2014.

Gillian Flynn

The former Entertainment Weekly writer turned in to one of my favorite authors, though she hasn’t written a new full length work since 2012’s Gone Girl.

Rebecca Forster

One of my first Kindle finds, I’ve read the first four entries in her Witness series.

Diana G. Gallagher

The author, who passed away in 2021, can credit the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for all four of her entries, the most recent of which I read in 2011.

You Are Not Alone – Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

Greer Hendricks

After spending two decades as an editor at Simon & Schuster, she has teamed up with Sarah Pekkanen for four novels, which I’ve read one annually starting in 2020.

Grady Hendrix

Winner of a 2018 Bram Stoker Award, the horror novelist debuts thanks to the four novels I’ve read over the past three years, starting with The Final Girl Support Group in 2021.

Kimberly McCreight – Reconstructing Amelia

Kimberly McCreight

A New York Times bestselling author thanks to her debut novel, Reconstructing Amelia, she has been a steady presence since 2013.

Sarah Pekkanen

She has teamed up with Greer Hendricks for four novels, one of which I’ve read one annually since 2020.

John Vornholt

Three fourths of his works that I’ve read come from the world of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

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Book 18 (of 52) – A Good Marriage

A Good Marriage – Kimberly McCreight

In the latest from Kimberly McCreight, a lawyer is forced to defend an old law school friend for the murder of his wife, while trying to figure out how (of if) her marriage can be saved.  When her old friend turns out not to be the man she remembers, she works to prove his innocence in order to save herself and to give the victim some peace.

A Good Marriage explores just the opposite, not good marriages, whether it is the superficial one between the victim, Amanda, and the accused, Zach, or the broken one between Lizzie and her alcoholic husband Sam.  When Zach uses Lizzie’s broken marriage, and the steps she has taken to hide the damage from her new bosses, to force her to defend him, she goes full force, but finds a way to save her soul as well.

McCreight has become a reliable source of entertainment since Reconstructing Amelia was released in 2013, touted as that year’s Gone Girl.  While I’m not willing to put her on Gillian Flynn’s level, at least she is still writing and releasing prose.  I look forward to whatever comes next in 2-3 years.

 

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2013: The Year In Books

2013books

With another year coming to an end, it is time to take a look back at the 18 books I read over the past year, 6 overall less than last year but the same total if you exclude the graphic novels.  Of those 18, 5 were non-fiction and, of the 13 novels, 5 were TV show tie-ins.  Only 3 of the books came from the “to-read” drawer, and 7 were e-books, which was a new category for me last year.

 

A majority of the books I read this year were by authors I’ve never read before.  The 11 authors that I read for the first this year were:
Alan Sepinwall
Joe Hill
Rebecca Forster
Sarah Silverman
Kimberly McCreight
Andrew Gross
Ben Mezrich
Tina Fey
Ron Rapoport
David Mack
Dustin Diamond

The ghost writer for Richard Castle was the only author I read multiple times in 2013.

The five books that I read this year that were released this year were Richard Castle’s Deadly Heat, Kimberly McCreight’s Reconstructing Amelia, Brad Meltzer’s The Fifth Assassin, Warren Ellis’ Gun Machine, and From Black Sox to Threepeats, edited by Ron Rapoport.

Finally, the breakdown by month.  Being off again for most of December certainly helped pad the total a tad bit.

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Book 11 (of 52) – Reconstructing Amelia

Kimberly McCreight - Reconstructing Amelia

Kimberly McCreight – Reconstructing Amelia

I first heard of Kimberly McCreight’s debut novel when the review in Entertainment Weekly called it this year’s Gone Girl, which I very much enjoyed last year.  Given their stellar review, I decided to buy the book and give it a shot, and I am glad I did.  While the comparison to Gone Girl may have been a bit of an oversell, it was an enjoyable read which I finished in less than a week.

Reconstructing Amelia is the tale of a girl whose death has been ruled a suicide and the working mother who pieces together the remains of her life, using texts, Facebook posts, and tweets to find out the truth of what really happened to her daughter.  McCreight does a good job of bringing the reader into 2 different worlds: one of a grieving mother who finds out that her daughter may not have been who she thought she was and the other of a high school girl finding herself out of her element and trying to negotiate her first love and her first exposure to bullying.

Considering this was McCreight’s first published novel, I’ll certainly be interested in seeing what she comes up with next.  If she improves her craft with more experience, it is certainly possible that she may ultimately surpass the bar set by Gillian Flynn and Gone Girl.