Categorical Reading Lists

Five Books (.com)

One of the best websites that my Twitter feed ever brought to my attention is: fivebooks.com But user beware-- as it is highly addictive and will quickly suck you into a black hole, compelling a person into creating endless -to-be-read- lists, or #TBR as they are known on literary Twitter. In 2021 I decided to read a person's entire list, however, as you will quickly note, I made two deviations. 

1) A fivebooks.com list is normally generated by an author whose most recent work is noted in the introduction. I feel it is only fair to read their book as well so my lists are at least 6 books long.

2) If my selected fivebooks.com compliation consists of titles are deep in a series of books (in other words-I am late to the party) then I substitute in an early (or beginning) book.

 

The Progeny by Tosca Lee

This is the book by the author who gathered up this list of thrillers for Five Books so I felt it was only fair to read one of her books as well. It was an okay book but I won't be reading more of her books and this is despite that this one ended on a blatent cliff hanger.

Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading his next book. I was shocked to realize that for some reason I figured out one of the culprits at the very beginning of the book.

Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby

A good well written page turner--swiftly plotted. A "good" man doing "bad" in the name of doing "right" by his family and then wondering why things don't work out as planned. I enjoyed the read just didn't have much sympathy or empathy for the man character.

These Women by Ivy Pochoda

This was a very interesting take on writing a book about a serial killer. The perspective is written from various women who surround the killer, whose voices generally go unheard. It was very interesting and well written. I enjoyed how she wove many separate threads and many separate voices.  I will definitely be reading more from this author. 

Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger

For the most part I enjoyed this book. I think I may have read other books by Lisa Unger in the past but it was years ago. She is a good writer and can pen a face paced multi-faceted thriller with mostly well developed characters. It did keep me reading. However, it did feature a lot of repetitive narrative and a lot of cliche treatment of domestic abuse. The story surrounding Pearl, Selena, and Geneva was good--that was an interesting concept but the Graham story line was pretty cliche and blah blah blah- social media is fake. 

IQ by Joe Ide

The fivebooks.com list included Hi Five which is the fourth book in this series about the private investigator, Isaiah Quintabe, so I elected to start at the beginning with IQ #1. It was a fairly good read and a good start to the series and set up the main characters nicely. The plot depended on a lot of luck and circumstance but was cleverly done--I will be giving #2 (Righteous) a read soon.

Hi! I'm Debbie. Here at Categorically Well-Read I give an extra layer to the reading life. Learn more about me, check out my current category of books, submit your own suggestion, or check out my latest post.