October and November Reading Roundup

I set aside October and November for reading books from Indie publishers and it was great. I may not have read as many as I would have liked to, but that's okay.  Here's the lineup (a * indicates Indie Publisher):

crime fiction
Here Comes a Candle, by Frederic Brown* -- Millipede
The Pale Horse, by Agatha Christie

general fiction
Panopticon, by David Bajo -- Unbridled Books*
The Singer's Gun, by Emily St. John Mantel -- Unbridled Books  (read, not reviewed)*
A Geography of Secrets, by Frederick Reuss -- Unbridled Books*
The Sentimentalists, by Johanna Skibsrud -- Gaspereau Press*
The Stray Sod Country, by Patrick McCabe (read, not yet reviewed)

translated fiction
The Wrong Blood, by Manuel de Lope -- Other Press*
The Dark Bride, by Laura Restrepo  (read, not reviewed)
Needle in a Haystack, by Ernesto Mallo -- Bitter Lemon Press*
Hygiene and the Assassin, by Amelie Nothomb -- Europa Editions*
The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery -- Europa Editions*

nonfiction
Cranioklepty: Grave Robbing and the Search for Genius, by Colin Dickey -- Unbridled Books*
Acid Christ: Ken Kesey, LSD and the Politics of Ecstasy, by Mark Christensen -- Schnaffner Press*

favorite book of the month: 
Needle in a Haystack


Other book-related stuff:
1) My book group read and discussed Muriel Barbery's Elegance of the Hedgehog. 

2) Added to the Amazon Wishlist:

 - Our Lady of the Assassins, by Fernando Vallejo 
 - Delirium, by Laura Restrepo
 - The Caves of Perigord, by Martin Walker
 - Red Plenty, by Francis Spufford
 - Popular Hits of the Showa Era, by Ryu Murikami

3) From Librarything's Early Reviewer Program came Stray Sod Country, by Patrick McCabe and Sunset Park, by Paul Auster.  Thank you to Sonia and the powers that be!  And thanks to all of the publishers for the many ARCs these last couple of months. 

4) Books bought this month:

- The Redeemer, by Jo Nesbo

- How the Dead Live, The Devil's Home on Leave, and I Was Dora Suarez, by Derek Raymond

- Ghosted, by Shaughnessy Bishop Stall

- Lord of Misrule, by Jaimy Gordon

- Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House, by Valerie Plame Wilson

- Decision Points, by dubya

- The Tiger, A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, by John Vaillant

5) Between freecycle, donations and book trading sites, approximately 45 books left the house for new homes over the last couple of months.

6) Coming up in December: to further clear out my shelves,  I'm going to read books I bought throughout 2010 with the best of intentions, but never got around to.

that's it. My special thanks for the recommendation of The Dark Bride. I didn't review it yet, but it's amazing.