QuestingA's 50 in 2021

1. Weird Woods: Tales from the Haunted Forests of Britain edited by John Miller

Thought I'd read some ghost stories in winter. Not all of these stories had ghosts but they were mostly interesting.

2. Elephants can Remember by Agatha Christie

3. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

A book group read. Very good.

4. When Rich Men Die by Harold Adams

5. Cities of Salt by Abdelrahman Munif

Excellent.

6. The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein

7. A Very British Coup by Chris Mullin

8. Send for Paul Temple by Francis Durbridge

This was quite poorly written but still managed to keep me interested. The tension built up nicely for the 'great reveal'. It was also interesting as a window into the 1930's. The cars had runner boards, starter buttons and wind screens that folded down. Everyone chain smoked.

9. Pimp State: Sex, Money and the Future of Equality by Kat Banyard

10. The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Basically The Hunting Party, but better.

11. Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Kate Clanchy

For book group. I'm not usually a fan of personal reminiscences but this was very good. It helped that I agree with her politics.

12. The Outcast and Other Dark Tales by E.F. Benson, edited by Mike Ashley

Short stories. I didn't particularly like any of them.

13. The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan

This was not as good as I hoped it would be. The story was good but I found the characters slightly annoying. It was a patriarchal world. And there was this: "...the rain hammering on his back like the fists of an enraged woman". That's a weird comparison.

14. Fell Murder: A Lancashire Mystery by E.C.R. Lorac

Very good.

15. Why I'm no Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Very good.

16. Death in Captivity: A Second World War Mystery by Michael Gilbert

17. The Woman in the Wardrobe by Peter Shaffer

18. Pine by Francine Toon

19. Death has Deep Roots by Michael Gilbert

Enjoyable and satisfying.

20. Chocky by John Wyndham

A book group book. Very good. Loved the humour; liked the narrator and his family.

21. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

22. Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates

23. To Be a Cat by Matt Haig

24. The Measure of Malice: Scientific Detection Stories edited by Martin Edwards

25. The Crime Club by Frank Froest and George Dilnot

26. The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean

27. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

Lovely. A book group book.

28. The Groote Park Murder by Freeman Wills Crofts

29. Talking to Strangers and Other Warnings by Tina Rath

30. The Wink of the Mona Lisa and Other Stories from the Gulf by Mohammad Al Murr and translated by Jack Briggs

31. The Lost Gallows: A London Mystery by John Dickson Carr

32. Promethean Horrors: Classic Tales of Mad Science edited by Xavier Aldana Reyes

33. The Terror by Edgar Wallace

This book also contains the story White Face.

34. A History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani

This was a massive book, with small print and the maps hidden at the end.

35. The Spoilt Kill by Mary Kelly

Very good.

36. Indefensible: Seven Myths that Sustain the Arms Trade by Paul Holden et al

37. The Quickening by Rhiannon Ward

The story was good but the narrative kept contradicting itself, causing me to go back and read sections to make sure I'd read it right. Eg, someone who had stood up, a paragraph later stood up again.

38. A Loving Enchantment by Cynthia Sinclair

39. Bodies from the Library edited by Tony Medawar

A good anthology.

40. The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers

41. Ill Met by Darkness by Paul Finch

42. Dracula's Child by J.S. Barnes

43. Bodies from the Library 2 edited by Tony Medawar

44. Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth

Very good.

45. One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes

For book group. I found this dull and a little depressing. Bits bordered on poignant but didn't quite get there for me. The nostalgia for a world / life built on an unequal class structure and colonial violence was impossible to sympathise with.

46. Feminism, Interrupted by Lola Olufemi

I think this suffered from being a short book trying to cover complex topics. The discussion jumped around and didn't always make sense.

47. Warwickshire Folk Tales by Cath Edwards

48. Bean Counters: The Triumph of the Accountants and how they Broke Capitalism by Richard Brooks

49. Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner

50. Bodies from the Library 3 edited by Tony Medawar

#50 already and it's still only August.

51. Three Apples Fell from the Sky by Narine Abgaryan and translated by Lisa C. Hayden

Lovely.

52. Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East needs a Sexual Revolution by Mona Eltahawy

53. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, translated by Ralph Manheim

For book group. Very good.

54. The Man Who Didn't Fly by Margot Bennett

Very good.

55. The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann, translated by Jen Poschmann

56. Memoirs of an Arabian Princess by Emily Ruete, translated by Lionel Strachey

For second book group. Very interesting.

57. Checkmate to Murder by E.C.R. Lorac

58. No Visible Bruises: What We Don't Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us by Rachel Louise Snyder

59. A Phantom Lover and Other Dark Tales by Vernon Lee edited by Mike Ashley

60. When in Rome by Ngaio Marsh

61. in a dark dark wood by Ruth Ware

Very good.

62. Death in White Pyjamas & Death Knows no Calendar by John Bude

63. The Port of London Murders by Josephine Bell

Stone Soup by Cas Willing, illustrated by Paula Rego

64. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

65. Crossed Skis: An Alpine Mystery by Carol Carnac

66. The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Jan Potocki

A book group read.

Nursery Rhymes by Paula Rego

67. Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen

68. Into the London Fog: Eerie Tales from the Weird City edited by Elizabeth Dearnley

69.Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism by Kathleen Stock

70. The Rasp by Philip MacDonald

71. The Progress of a Crime by Julian Symons

72. Snow by John Banville

Good.

73. The Platform Edge: Uncanny Tales of the Railways edited by Mike Ashley

These short stories were good.

74. Tied up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh

75. It's not About the Burqa edited by Mariam Khan

76. Cool Repentance by Antonia Fraser

77. Where I Lived, and What I Lived For excerpts from Henry David Thoreau

The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte, translated by Margaret Jull Costa

I'm not counting this as I skipped large chunks of it.

78. Chill Tidings: Dark Tales of the Christmas Season edited by Tanya Kirk

Short ghost stories I've been reading during December.

79. Death by Gaslight by Michael Kurland

Lovely.

80. The Map of Knowledge: How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found: A History in Seven Cities by Violet Moller

A book group book I should have finished much earlier. Very good.