2013 Reading List

In 2013, I achieved my goal made in 2011, to read all of the Nero Wolfe mysteries in the order they were written. I did not expect it to take this long although I did read other books in between the Wolfe mysteries so as to have a little variety in my reading entertainment. Rex Stout did an excellent job with the series. I am glad I took the time to enjoy them all.

Early in the year I discovered the book, the Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton. There is an interesting story behind his inspiration to write the book, which I wrote about in a previous article titled The Eaters of the Dead / The 13th Warrior.

It has been a year for re-reading some old favorites that were finally released as an e-book. I was overjoyed to find the Fletch series by Gregory McDonald on e-book. I was even more excited to get the Timothy Cone and Archie McNally stories by Lawrence Sanders.

I also read A Memory of Light, which is the final book in the Wheel of Time series. Brandon Sanderson did a fantastic job completing the epic Week of Time series started by Robert Jordan and tragically cut short when Jordan died of cancer.

I enjoyed a couple more Michael Crichton stories with the books Prey and Micro. Micro is a very intense story about some MIT grad students that get shrunk down to a half inch tall and have to survive in an Hawaiian jungle. This story would make a great movie in the style of Jurassic Park.

I decided to try some books written by a couple of Clive Cussler’s co-authors. I decided to start with Jack Du Brul, who worked with Cussler on several of the Oregon Files series books. Vulcan’s Forge introduces us to Phillip Mercer, who is a mining engineer.

Since A Memory of Light was so good I decided to try a few other books by Brandon Sanderson. His book, The Way of Kings, was on sale for $2.99. I bought it on an impulse but did not get around to reading it for months. I was inspired to start the book when I discovered a student in one my classes was reading the book.

This is the first book in his Stormlight series. It was fantastic! I have already pre-ordered the next book in the series, due to be released in March of 2014. This led me to try his Mistborn series, which I also give a high rating.

1. The Final Deduction – Rex Stout
2. Eaters of the Dead – Michael Crichton
3. Stonehenge – Bernard Cornwell
4. 1356 – Bernard Cornwell
5. Homicide Trinity – Rex Stout
6. Confess Fletch – Gregory McDonald
7. Fletch’s Fortune – Gregory McDonald
8. The Barbary Pirates – William Dietrich
9. Gambit – Rex Stout
10. The Mother Hunt – Rex Stout
11. Fletch and the Widow Bradley – Gregory McDonald
12. Right to Die – Rex Stout (Published in 1964. 30 years of Wolfe stories)
13. The Timothy Files – Lawrence Sanders
14. McNally’s Secret – Lawrence Sanders
15. McNally’s Luck – Lawrence Sanders
16. The Doorbell Rang – Rex Stout
17. McNally’s Risk – Lawrence Sanders
18. Fletch’s Moxie – Gregory McDonald
19. Death of a Doxie – Rex Stout
20. The Father Hunt – Rex Stout
21. McNally’s Caper – Lawrence Sanders
22. McNally’s Puzzle – Lawrence Sanders
23. Death of a Dude – Rex Stout
24. A Memory of Light – Brandon Sanderson (Robert Jordan)
25. A Family Affair – Rex Stout
26. McNally’s Gamble – Lawrence Sanders
27. McNally’s Dilemma – Lawrence Sanders
28. Zero Hour – Clive Cussler
29. Fletch and the Man Who – Gregory McDonald
30. McNally’s Folly – Lawrence Sanders
31. McNally’s Chance – Lawrence Sanders
32. McNally’s Alibi – Lawrence Sanders
33. Prey – Michael Crichton
34. Micro – Michael Crichton & Richard Preston
35. McNally’s Dare – Lawrence Sanders
36. The Barbed Crown – William Dietrich
37. Vulcan’s Forge – Jack Du Brul
38. The Way of Kings – Brandon Sanderson
39. The Mayan Secrets – Clive Cussler and Thomas Perry
40. Charon’s Landing – Jack Du Brul
41. McNally’s Bluff – Lawrence Sanders
42. Mistborn: The Final Empire – Brandon Sanderson
43. The Well of Ascension – Brandon Sanderson
44. Mirage – Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul
45. Hero of the Ages – Brandon Sanderson
46. The Medusa Stone – Jack Du Brul