Leslie Detects Part 2

Welcome to my second thread in my 2021 reading! My theme for 2021 is fictional detectives. I found some great Nicaraguan stamps featuring detectives from 1973 celebrating the 50th anniversary of Interpol! Here are a few (Ellery Queen, Perry Mason & Sam Spade):
   

My overall reading goals are fairly straightforward:

·To read as many of my already owned books as I can, hopefully 80+ books owned as of Dec. 31, 2020
·To read 25+ new-to-me books from the Guardian's list
·To continue (and perhaps finish) the several series I have been working on

My categories are subject to change before the New Year comes around but here is what I have so far:

Sherlock Holmes – books from the Guardian’s list
Thursday Next – sci fi & fantasy
Hercule Poirot – mysteries
Nancy Drew – children’s & YA books
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache - ROOTs
Amelia Peabody – historical fiction
Inspector Maigret – books in translation
Miss Silver - rereads
Philip Marlowe – classics challenge
Kinsey Millhone – CATs & KITs
Tommy & Tuppence (Beresford) – Group reads & BingoDOG

tickers & rating info


My attempt to define my rating system:
I rate by gut reaction & sometimes I will go back and change a book’s rating after some time has passed, based on how it has (or has not) stuck with me. Thus books that I enjoyed at the time may end up lower down on the scale if they are forgettable while books that I didn’t care for very much may rise up in the ratings if they strike me as significant in some way (even if I didn’t like them).

0.5 ★: Utter waste of paper and ink; should never have been written.
1.0 ★: Couldn't finish reading or a very poor read.
1.5 ★: Major disappointment.
2.0 ★: It was OK but either the writing or the plot was lacking.
2.5 ★: Flawed in some way but still enjoyable
3.0 ★: Good, a solid read that I finished but can't promise to remember
3.5 ★: Above Average, there's room for improvement but I liked this well enough to pick up another book by this author.
4.0 ★: A very good read; a book that I think will last
4.5 ★: An excellent read, a book I will remember, recommend and probably reread
5.0 ★: A powerful book, either because it was the right book at the right time for me or because it will stay with me for a long time to come

Some symbols & abbreviations:
·Books with an asterisk (*) are from The Guardian's List of 1000 Novels Everyone Should Read
·Authors with a capital N (ℕ) are Nobel Laureates in Literature
·books sourced as MOB are from my own bookcases; SYNC refers to audiobooks acquired (for free) through the annual summer program hosted by http://www.audiobooksync.com/; APll refers to Kindle books borrowed from the Amazon Prime lending library; libraries not my local one: BPL=Boston Public Library, OCLN=Old Colony Library Network; CLAMS=Cape Library Automated Materials Sharing; NOBLE=North of Boston Library Exchange; CW MARS=Central and Western MAssachusetts Resource Sharing; MVLC=Merrimac Valley Library Consortium; MLN=Minuteman Library Network; SAILS=Southeastern Automated Integrated Library System

Sherlock Holmes - Guardian's List

Since Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes appears several times in the Guardian's list, it seems only fitting that this extremely famous fictional detective represent this category.

The goal is to read at least 25 new-to-me books from The Guardian's List of 1000 Novels Everyone Should Read. This includes books in series that count as a single entry in the list (such as the Discworld series or Balzac's Human Comedy).

Note: Books from Balzac's The Human Comedy are donoted by a diamond ♦

List:
1. No Country for Old Men (1/2)
2. The Bonfire of the Vanities (1/27)
3. ♦The Magic Skin (2/3)
4. ♦Study of a Woman (2/25)
5. The Secret History (3/19)
6. The Count of Monte Cristo (3/24)
7. ♦Ursula (3/31)
8. ♦Another Study of Woman (4/5)
9. The Accidental Tourist (4/11)

Rereads:
These books don't count towards this goal but since they are books from the Guardian's list, it feels natural to note them here.
1. Thank You, Jeeves (2/5)
2. King Solomon's Mines (2/28)
3. The Three Musketeers (3/8)
4.

Miss Silver - Rereads

I have found that I have been rereading a fair amount in the past year or so - sometimes returning to old favorites and at other times rereading books I know that I read back in school but no longer really remember.

Miss Maud Silver, from the books by Patricia Wentworth, is the professional counterpart to Christie's Miss Marple. She is a professional private detective but has much in common with Miss Marple, including the ability to get people to talk. She is a great choice for this category since I have read all (or almost all) of the Miss Silver series and am about ready to start rereading them!

For Jan.-March rereads, please see the previous thread.

April:
Why Shoot a Butler? (4/10)
Oedipus the King (4/10)
Oedipus at Colonus (4/10)
Antigone (4/10)
The Murder on the Links (4/12)
Falling Free (4/16)

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache - ROOTs

This category is familiar to most of you - to read as many of my already owned books as I can - hopefully more than the number of new books I get but at least 80.

Chief Inspector Gamache is actually not such an appropriate pick for reading those already owned but unread books since a) I only own a handful of Penny's books and b) I have read them all. However, I love the Three Pines series and wanted to include him so here he is...



List of books is available in my thread in the 2021 ROOT group:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/327922

New books obtained: 11, 3 of which have been read (this list is also available at the above link to the 2021 ROOT thread)

Hercule Poirot - Mysteries

I have way too many mysteries sitting unread on my Kindle and in other media as well (though I have made tremendous progress in reading my print mysteries). And who better to represent this category but Hercule Poirot, created by one of the most prolific mystery writers of the Golden (or indeed, any) Age.

Here is where my work on series will be tracked and I think I will follow what I ended up doing in 2020 with the miscellaneous mysteries.

List of series books:
Winemaker Detective series by Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen
Late Harvest Havoc (2/7)
Tainted Tokay (3/20)

Henry Gamadge series by Elizabeth Daly
The Book of the Dead (1/23)
Any Shape or Form (2/26)
Somewhere in the House (3/12)
Night Walk (4/11)

Maigret series by Georges Simenon (added series March 2021)
A Man's Head (3/3)

Miscellaneous mysteries read in April:
Thirty-Three Teeth (4/5)
And So to Murder (4/6)
Sacred Games (4/7)
The Thursday Murder Club (4/8)
Why Shoot a Butler? (4/10)
The Layton Court Mystery (4/10)
The Murder on the Links (4/12)
The Attenbury Emeralds (4/13)
Presumption of Death (4/13)

Thursday Next - Science Fiction & Fantasy

The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde is hilarious! A marvelous blend of fantasy, mystery, humor and bibliophilia which I heartily recommend to all.

In particular, I hope to finish up some sci fi series that I have started (or, I suppose, decide to abandon them!) and to read some of the sci fi books that have been hanging out on my Kindle for a while.

For Jan. - March books read, please see previous thread.

April:
The Way of Kings (4/5)
Loose Cannon (4/9)
Alien: Out of the Shadows (4/12)
Falling Free (4/16)

Inspector Maigret - Books in translation

Inspector Maigret is the protagonist of Belgian author Georges Simenon. Discovering him in my 20s was the first time I realized that "foreign" books (i.e. books in translation) didn't have to be highbrow literature but could be fun books!

For Jan.-March books, please see the previous thread.

April:
*Another Study of Woman (4/5) French
Oedipus the King (4/10) ancient Greek
Oedipus at Colonus (4/10) ancient Greek
Antigone (4/10) ancient Greek

Amelia Peabody Emerson - Historical Fiction

I haven't had a category for historical fiction in several years but with the HistoryCAT in 2021, I foresee more historical fiction in my future :)

Note added in January: I have decided I will put nonfiction history here too; I'll mark them with a dagger †.

For Jan.-March books, please see the previous thread.

April:
Alone with the Stars (4/6) - 1937 A.D.
Sacred Games (4/7) - 460 B.C.
El Dorado (4/9) - 1793 A.D.
The Attenbury Emeralds (4/13) - 1952 A.D.
Presumption of Death (4/13) - 1939 & 1940 A.D.

Nancy Drew - Children's and Young Adult books

January
Asterix and Cleopatra (1/13)
Meet the Sky (1/27)
The Princess Bride (1/28)

February
Interview with the Robot (2/6)

March:
Asterix and the Normans (3/10)
The Lost Diadem (3/13)
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (3/28)

April:
Alone with the Stars (4/6)

Philip Marlowe - Classics challenge
As in past years, all books MUST have been published at least 50 years ago to qualify. The only exception is books written at least 50 years ago, but published later, such as posthumous publications.

copied in 2018 from Claire (on Goodreads) who got it from:
https://karensbooksandchocolate.blogspot.be/2017/12/back-to-classics-2018.html

1. A 19th century classic - any book published between 1800 and 1899.
--- *The Three Musketeers (1844) by Alexandre Dumas (3/8)

2. A 20th century classic - any book published between 1900 and 1971.
--- The Conquering Family (1949) by Thomas B. Costain (1/17)

3. A classic by a woman author.
--- Wives and Daughters (1863) by Elizabeth Gaskell (1/22)

4. A classic in translation. Any book originally written published in a language other than your native language. Feel free to read the book in your language or the original language. (You can also read books in translation for any of the other categories). Modern translations are acceptable as long as the original work fits the guidelines for publications as explained in the challenge rules.
--- *The Magic Skin (1831) by Honoré de Balzac

5. A children's classic. Indulge your inner child and read that classic that you somehow missed years ago. Short stories are fine, but it must be a complete volume. Young adult and picture books don't count!
--- Asterix and Cleopatra (1965) by René Goscinny (1/13)

6. A classic crime story, fiction or non-fiction. This can be a true crime story, mystery, detective novel, spy novel, etc., as long as a crime is an integral part of the story and it was published at least 50 years ago. Examples include The 39 Steps, Strangers on a Train, In Cold Blood, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, etc. The Haycraft-Queen Cornerstones list is an excellent source for suggestions.
--- The Book of the Dead (1944) by Elizabeth Daly (1/23)

7. A classic travel or journey narrative, fiction or non-fiction. The journey itself must be the major plot point -- not just the destination. Good examples include The Hobbit, Around the World in 80 Days, Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Kon-Tiki, Travels with Charley, etc.
--- Three Men on the Bummel (1900) by Jerome K. Jerome (2/12)

8. A classic with a single-word title. No articles please! Proper names are fine -- Emma, Germinal, Middlemarch, Kidnapped, etc.
--- Ursula (1841) by Honoré de Balzac (3/31)

9. A classic with a color in the title. The Woman in White; Anne of Green Gables; The Red and the Black, and so on. (Silver, gold, etc. are acceptable. Basically, if it's a color in a Crayola box of crayons, it's fine!)

  possible owned books to read: The Red Room

10. A classic by an author that's new to you. Choose an author you've never read before.

  possible owned books to read: The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen

11. A classic that scares you. Is there a classic you've been putting off forever? A really long book which intimidates you because of its sheer length? Now's the time to read it, and hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised!

  possible owned books to read: Les Liaisons Dangereuses

12. Re-read a favorite classic. Like me, you probably have a lot of favorites -- choose one and read it again, then tell us why you love it so much.
--- The Miser (1668) by Molière (1/30)

Kinsey Millhone - CATS and KITs

Sue Grafton's alphabetical series just seemed the right fit for the AlphaKIT, and by extension, all the CATs & KITs.

April:
AlphaKIT: A & W
The Way of Kings (4/5)
*Another Study of Woman (4/5)
And So to Murder (4/6)
Alone with the Stars (4/6)
Why Shoot a Butler? (4/10)
*The Accidental Tourist (4/11)
Alien: Out of the Shadows (4/12)
The Attenbury Emeralds (4/13)

HistoryCAT: 800 B.C. to 600 A.D.
Sacred Games (4/7)
Oedipus the King (4/10)
Oedipus at Colonus (4/10)
Antigone (4/10)

GenreCAT: Literary Fiction
*Another Study of Woman (4/5)
*The Accidental Tourist (4/11)
The Husband's Secret (4/15)

RandomCAT: Books from other LTers
Thirty-Three Teeth (4/5)
*The Accidental Tourist (4/11)
The Husband's Secret (4/15)

SFFKit: Series
The Way of Kings (4/5)
Loose Cannon (4/9)
Falling Free (4/16)

MysteryKIT: Senior Citizen protagonist
Thirty-Three Teeth (4/5)
And So to Murder (4/6)
The Thursday Murder Club (4/8)
The Murder on the Links (4/12)
The Attenbury Emeralds (4/13)

Tommy & Tuppence Beresford - Group Reads & BingoDOG

Since Tommy & Tuppence work together, they seemed ideal to represent the category for books that we read together :)

Group Reads:
Wives and Daughters (1/22) (reread), group read over at Goodreads
*The Three Musketeers (3/8) (reread), group read over at Goodreads
Hamnet (3/8), group read over at Goodreads
The Thursday Murder Club (4/8), group read over at Goodreads
Why Shoot a Butler? (4/10) (reread), group read over at Goodreads

I have decided to move the BingoDOG here as well as I don't read that many group reads...

BingoDOG:


1. Nature or environment: Meet the Sky (1/27)
2. Title describes you: Educated (2/25)
3. Contains a love story: P.S. from Paris (1/12)
4. You heartily recommend: The Stone Sky (1/30)
5. Impulse read: The Small Bachelor (2/28)
6. Suggested by another generation: The Book of the Dead (1/23) (series suggested by my mother)
7. About time or time word in title: Morning Star (3/16)
8. By or about a marginalized group: A Red Death (2/6) (black men)
9. 20 or fewer LT members: The Lost Diadem (3/13) (4 members including myself)
10. Classical element in the title: Watery Grave (1/31)
11. Set somewhere you'd like to visit: *The Magic Skin (2/3) (Paris, France)
12. Dark or light word in title: Night Walk (4/11)
13. Read a CAT or KIT: Murder in the Queen's Armes (1/10) (January AlphaKIT)
14. New to you author: Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon (1/5)
15. Arts & Recreation: A Prefect's Uncle (1/24) (lots of cricket)
16. Senior citizen protagonist: Thirty-Three Teeth (4/5) (Dr. Siri Paiboun is 77 yrs old)
17. Type of building in the title: The Burning Court (3/27)
18. Less than 200 pages: Henry VI, Part 1 (1/22) (144 pgs)
19. 2 or more authors: Late Harvest Havoc (2/7) by Jean-Pierre Alaux & Noël Balen
20. Character you'd be friends with: *Thank You, Jeeves (2/5) (Bertie Wooster)
21. One word title: Hamnet (3/8)
22. About history or alternate history: The Conquering Family (1/17)
23. Book that made you laugh: Asterix and Cleopatra (1/13)
24. Southern hemisphere: The Husband's Secret (4/15)
25. About or contains magic: The Princess Bride (1/28)

March round up: Nero Wolfe

   

Nero Wolfe, that giant of detection with his third of a ton bulk, and his sidekick Archie Goodwin were the detectives invented by Rex Stout in 1934. Stout wrote 33 novels and 41 novellas & short stories featuring Nero Wolfe, many of which have been adapted for radio, TV and movies. Wolfe was well known for several quirks - his collection of orchids, his knowledge of food and his dislike of leaving his New York city brownstone. The characters outlived their creator with the "new" Nero Wolfe series by Robert Goldsborough!

How did I do with my goals in March?
Goal #1: To read as many ROOTs as possible, hopefully 80+ (my Gamache category)
31 books read, only 12 of which were ROOTs and 8-9 were rereads (my Miss Silver category)
A tad better than February...

Goal #2: To read 25+ new-to-me books from the Guardian's list (my Holmes category)
Two new books finished: ♦Ursula & The Secret History
One somewhat new-to-me book - The Count of Monte Cristo (I have previously read an abridged edition but this was my first time reading the unabridged one) - and one reread The Three Musketeers
One (still) in progress: Voss
Again, acceptable progress

Goal #3: To continue (and perhaps finish) the several series I have been working on
I finished 3 books from ongoing series - Tainted Tokay, #13 in the Winemaker Detectives series; Somewhere in the House, #10 in the Henry Gamadge series; A Man's Head, #5 in the Maigret series; and 2 new-to-me short stories in the Liaden series - Trading in Futures & Changeling. Plus I finally read the last new-to-me book in the Sector General series, Code Blue - Emergency.

Miscellaneous mysteries read in March:
The Fifth Man (3/9)
1222 (3/11)
The Unfinished Clue (3/14)
*The Secret History (3/19)
Moroccan Traffic (3/21)
The Burning Court (3/27)

Progress in the classics challenge (my Marlowe category) was OK. I now have completed 9 of the 12 challenges, finishing 2 new challenges in March - 19th century classic & classic with a one word title. As for the BingoDOG (my Tommy & Tuppence category), progress slowed but didn't come to a stop with 3 new squares completed for a total of 22.

My Kinsey Millhone category is for the various CATs & KITS. Here is what I read for March...
AlphaKIT: R & U
Red Rising (3/5)
The Unfinished Clue (3/14)
*Ursula (3/31)
Redliners (3/31)

HistoryCAT: 1500-1800 A.D.
*The Three Musketeers (3/8)
Hamnet (3/8)
The Other Boleyn Girl (3/30)

GenreCAT: Adventure & Action
The Talisman Ring (3/1)
Code Blue - Emergency (3/2)
*The Three Musketeers (3/8)
The Fifth Man (3/9)
Moroccan Traffic (3/21)
*The Count of Monte Cristo (3/24)
Dead or Alive (3/27)
The Teeth of the Tiger (3/28)
Redliners (3/31)

RandomCAT: Surprise
H.M.S. Surprise (3/15)

SFFKit: Fortune & Glory
Morning Star (3/16)

MysteryKIT: Locked Room
1222 (3/11)
The Burning Court (3/27)
-----------
I had several 5* books in March: The Talisman Ring, The Three Musketeers, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats & The Count of Monte Cristo. All of these are rereads with the exception of The Count of Monte Cristo (as I mentioned above, I have previously read an abridged edition). Since this one is the most 'new-to-me', I am selecting it as my best book of the month.

Plans for April:
Still working on these...

>14 leslie.98: The Count of Monte Cristo is so good, isn't it?! I was reluctant to start such a huge doorstopper of a book, but it turned out to be a real page-turner!

>15 christina_reads: lol - even my abridged paperback edition is huge! I think choosing a digital audiobook edition for the unabridged version helped psychologically - it isn't visually intimidating the way the print edition is. And you're right about it being a page-turner, even knowing the basic plot in advance.

>16 leslie.98: You're right about a giant printed book being visually intimidating! I like going the e-book route for long books...or once I was able to get a print version of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell in three short volumes instead of one giant tome!

>17 christina_reads: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is one that I read in hardcover - definitely NOT a book to stuff in your tote to read on the go!

Happy new thread!

>19 Tess_W: Thanks!

Happy New Thread and it looks like you had a great reading month in March!

I am already planning to try the classics challenge next year.

Happy new thread, Leslie. It looks like you are doing really well with your 2021 reading goals!

You are doing really well on your BINGO card.

>21 MissBrangwen: That classic challenge is a fun one. I am constantly finding myself surprised, though, with the fact that books written in the 1960s are now considered classics!

Thanks >22 DeltaQueen50:. It is nice to have my reading mojo back at last!

>23 thornton37814: Only 3 squares left :) But I feel that some of the books I have used have been not quite right for their squares so my card is a bit misleading if one was inclined to be rigorous...

84. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (2010)
Audiobook narrated by Michael Kramer & Kate Reading (Audible); 1007 pgs; finished 4/5; 4*
Gamache (ROOTs)
Thursday Next (sci fi/fantasy)
Millhone: AlphaKIT April - A & W; SFFKit April - series

From the book blurb:
"From Brandon Sanderson-who completed Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time - comes The Stormlight Archive, an ambitious new fantasy epic in a unique, richly imagined setting. Roshar is a world relentlessly blasted by awesome tempests, where emotions take on physical form, and terrible secrets hide deep beneath the rocky landscape.

Speak again the ancient oaths
Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.
and return to men the Shards they once bore. The Knights Radiant must stand again!"

My thoughts:
Epic fantasy on a grand scale. I just wish that it was clearer who were the good guys and bad guys... I don't know if it is the fact that it is narrated by Michael Kramer & Kate Reading or not but it seems to remind me of The Wheel of Time series. Maybe Sanderson's time finishing Jordan's series influenced him in this book?

85. Thirty-three Teeth by Colin Cotterill (2005)
Audiobook narrated by Clive Chafer (BPL); 256 pgs; finished 4/5; 3.5*
Poirot (mysteries)
Millhone: MysteryKIT April - Senior citizen protagonist; RandomCAT April - 'borrow' from LTers (clue)
Tommy & Tuppence: BingoDOG Square #16 - senior citizen protagonist

From the book blurb:
"Dr. Siri Paiboun, one of the last doctors left in Laos after the Communist takeover, has been drafted to be national coroner. He is untrained for the job, but this independent seventy-two-year-old has an outstanding qualification for the role: curiosity. And he does not mind incurring the wrath of the party's hierarchy as he unravels mysterious murders, because the spirits of the dead are on his side—and a little too close for comfort. Dr. Siri performs autopsies and begins to solve the mysteries relating to a series of deaths by what seem to be bear bites, to explain why a government official ran at full speed through a seventh-story window and fell to his death, and to discover the origins of the two charred bodies from the crashed helicopter in the temple at Luang Prabang. As it turns out, not surprisingly, not all is peaceful and calm in the new Communist paradise of Laos."

My thoughts:
It's been a long time since I read the first book in this series (over 5 years at least). I found fairly quickly why that was - it is the paranormal aspects of the plots. Having recognized that fact, I decided to approach it not as a mystery but just as fiction and was able to enjoy it more that way.

I really enjoy the 1970s Laos setting & the characters. Clive Chafer did an excellent job narrating.

And this book gives me another BINGO!

86. *Another Study of Woman by Honoré de Balzac (1842), translated by Ellen Marriage
Kindle book (Proj. Gutenberg omnibus); 48 pgs; finished 4/5; 3*
Maigret (translated)
Holmes (Guardian's list)
Gamache (ROOTs)
Millhone: AlphaKIT April - A & W

From the book blurb:
"This short story is a satirical exploration of the role of women in pre-and post revolutionary Paris. Balzac uses the setting of a private party where people can freely speak their minds to satirize the vapidity of society in general and women in particular."

My thoughts:
This entry in the "Scenes from Private Life" felt a bit more rambling than the others I have read so far. There certainly was extended discussion about what makes a woman a "lady" but also some reminiscences about times during the Napoleonic Wars and musings about the nature of society entertainments.

Since my Kindle omnibus edition of "The Works of Balzac" doesn't have page numbers, I am using those of the Createspace paperback edition but note here that it felt longer than 48 pages to me.

Thank you, I always get multiple bullets from your thread.

You are doing really well on your Bingo card. Will you start a second one?

It is always nice to know someone is benefitting from my so very brief reviews, >28 VivienneR:!

I'm not sure whether I'll do a second Bingo card or not. Probably since I find them fun :)

87. And So to Murder by Carter Dickson (1940)
Kindle book (Dad's Kindle); 218 pgs; finished 4/6; 3.5*
Poirot (mysteries)
Gamache (ROOTs)
Millhone: AlphaKIT April - A & W; MysteryKIT April - senior citizen

From the book blurb:
"No one expected a clergyman's daughter from East Roystead to author a scandalous bestseller, but when Monica Stanton published Desire she quickly got hired at Albion Films. Expecting to adapt her own work, she is instead assigned to help scriptwriter William Cartwright adapt his latest detective novel. Almost immediately, a series of mysterious attempts on her life begin, and the flamboyant Sir Henry Merrivale is called in to investigate. But can he see through the intrigue to seek out the perpetrator before it's too late?"

My thoughts:
This 10th book in the Sir Henry Merivale series, written by John Dickson Carr under the pseudonym Carter Dickson, involves a case at the Pineham film studio lots just as England is about to enter WW2. It is much more of a romantic suspense than I had expected, which was OK by me since I like romantic suspense!

Merivale himself doesn't appear until near the end and for a while I was wondering if this book was a stand-alone.

I can't believe that I forgot to post here that I finally got my first COVID vaccine shot on April 1st - the Moderna vaccine. After the difficulty of scheduling an appointment, the rest of the process was very smooth & easy and, other than some pain in my shoulder for about 36 hours, no side effects. Next shot is already scheduled for the end of the month :)

>31 leslie.98: Hurray! Congrats!

Thanks >32 rabbitprincess:! I am looking forward to being able to do more stuff once I am fully vaccinated - especially seeing family and friends :)

>31 leslie.98: Congratulations on your vaccination!

Happy new thread and congrats on your Bingo card.

Congrats on getting your first shot. I am going today for my first one.

Thanks >34 spiralsheep:, >35 MissWatson:, >36 DeltaQueen50:!

>35 MissWatson: Almost done now with my Bingo card - I can't believe it :)

>36 DeltaQueen50: Fingers crossed that you also have only minor side effects Judy.

88. Alone with the Stars by David R. Gilham (2020)
Audiobook narrated by Hillary Huber & Emily Bauer (Audible); 120 pgs; finished 4/6; 3.5*
Gamache (ROOTs)
Amelia Peabody (historical fiction)
Nancy Drew (children's & YA)
Millhone: AlphaKIT April - A & W

From the book blurb:
"In the summer of 1937, Amelia Earhart is the most famous woman in the world - a record-breaking pilot, a best-selling author, and a modern woman shattering the glass ceiling in the early days of aviation.

And then she vanishes.

In Tampa, Florida, 15-year-old Lizzie Friedlander spends her afternoons glued to her father's radio, tapping into the enormity of a world she longs to travel. Lizzie can hardly believe her ears when she picks up a radio signal from a faraway source that sets her heart racing: "Amelia Earhart calling SOS!"

As Lizzie copies down the transmissions, it's clear that the Amelia Earhart is not lost at sea, as the newspapers are dreading, but alive and calling for help. In a race against time, Lizzie must convince the local Coast Guard that the radio transmissions were real and that Earhart's life hangs in the balance. But will anyone believe her?

Written for audio by David R. Gillham, the acclaimed, New York Times best-selling author of City of Women, and performed by Emily Bauer and Hilary Huber, Alone with the Stars is a breathtaking and illuminating tribute to a woman who risked her life in pursuit of new heights, and the young girl who tried desperately to save her when everything went wrong. Inspired by actual events, Alone with the Stars reveals, in riveting detail, the final moments in the life of a great heroine, whose courage changed the world forever."

My thoughts:
Historical fiction about Amelia Earhart's last flight & a teenaged girl in Florida... Perhaps the best part of the book was the scene at the local Coast Guard which shocked me a bit but was so dreadfully believable.

Just a little aside -- each time I type this month's AlphaKIT letters, I can't help thinking about A&W Root Beer!!

89. Sacred Games by Gary Corby (2013)
Audiobook narrated by Erik Davies (BPL); 350 pgs; finished 4/7; 3*
Millhone: HistoryCAT April 800 B.C. to 600 A.D.
Poirot (mysteries)

From the book blurb:
"The third book in the critically acclaimed series set in Classical Athens, featuring the historically inspired amateur detective Nicolaos.

It is the Olympics of 460 BC. Nico's best friend, Timodemus, is a competitor in the pankration, the deadly martial art of ancient Greece. Timo is the hot favorite to win. His only serious rival is Parmonos, from Sparta. When Parmonos is found beaten to death, it is obvious Timodemus must be the killer. The Judges of the Games sentence Timodemus to be executed in four days' time. Complicating everything is the fact that Athens and Sparta are already at each other's throats. If an Athenian is found to have cheated by murdering a Spartan, it will be everything the hawks in Sparta need to declare open war. Nico and his partner in sleuthing, Diotima, have four days to save their friend and avert a war."

My thoughts:
While this 3rd book in the Athenian mystery series was a pleasurable way to spend my time, I again felt that there were too many modern phrases.... I love the setting (and Nico's brother Sophocles!!) but am jarred sometimes by that use of modern phraseology which disrupts my ability to sink into the historical setting.

90. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (2020)
Hardcover (library); 355 pgs; finished 4/8; 4*
Poirot (mysteries)
Millhone: MysteryKIT April - senior citizen protagonist
Tommy & Tuppence: Group read over at Goodreads

From the book blurb:
"Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to…
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club.

When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?"

My thoughts:
I thought that I had spotted one of the culprits (there are several murders to solve in this book) but was completely mistaken. I liked how the elderly members of the Thursday Murder Club interacted with the local police. Having watched my parents during their time in a similar 'retirement home', the setting and characters felt very realistic to me (especially Elizabeth's worry about her husband Stephen, wanting to keep him with her despite knowing that his mental condition was deteriorating, and her private checks on her own mental functioning).

91. El Dorado, an adventure of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy (1913)
Kindle book (Amazon); 406 pgs; finished 4/9; 3*
Gamache (ROOTs)
Amelia Peabody (historical fiction)

From the book blurb:
"The elusive Pimpernel returns for another swashbuckling adventure in El Dorado. The still-raging French Revolution continues to claim lives, and the shadow of the guillotine draws ever nearer to the young Dauphin, son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. No one dares to attempt to liberate the little prince — no one, that is, but the mysterious Sir Percy Blakeney, also known as the Scarlet Pimpernel. Sir Percy takes on one of Robespierre's agents, the scheming Citizen Chauvelin, in a suspenseful blend of action and political intrigue, recounted with captivating period detail."

My thoughts:
Armand St. Just, the brother-in-law of the Scarlet Pimpernel, is even more annoying than his sister was in the original book! Lots of adventure of course but the denouement struck me as very predictable (though of course neither Armand nor Marguerite had the least suspicion!).

92. Loose Cannon by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (2001)
ebook (Hoopla); 40 pgs; finished 4/9; 3.5*
Thursday Next (sci fi/fantasy)
Millhone: SFFKit April - series

From the book blurb:
"Adventures in the Liaden Universe(R) Number 7

In "A Matter of Dreams" the oft-disappointed crew of an itinerant spaceship find that magic and dreams can come face to face with the reality of money and power -- and that power abhors an honest confrontation.

Also here is "Phoenix," which gives an intimate glance at the Solcintra's Low Port, where artists and the abandoned must struggle to survive in the impoverished outskirts of Liad's greatest spaceport."

My thoughts:
I always have fun with my time in the Liaden Universe. These short stories were no exception but were also not above average. Note regarding the first story - "A Matter of Dreams" - we finally get to see what incident led to Priscilla's expulsion from Sintia.

93. Why Shoot a Butler? by Georgette Heyer (1933)
Paperback (MOB); 220 pgs; finished 4/10; 4*
Poirot (mysteries)
Miss Silver (rereads)
Millhone: AlphaKIT April - A & W
Tommy & Tuppence: Group read over at Goodreads

From the book blurb:
"Every family has secrets, but the Fountains' are turning deadly…

On a dark night, along a lonely country road, barrister Frank Amberley stops to help a young lady in distress and discovers a sports car with a corpse behind the wheel, dead from a gunshot wound. Shirley Brown protests her innocence, and Amberley believes her -- at least until he gets drawn into the mystery and the clues incriminating the girl begin to add up… The new heir to Norton Manor discovered the difficulty of keeping decent help when the butler got murdered on his night off. But why would anyone shoot a trusted old family retainer?

The bumbling police are well-meaning but completely baffled. Fortunately, barrister turned amateur sleuth Frank Amberley, is as brilliant as he is arrogant. He has a couple of suspects in mind, the nervy young lady discovered at the scene of the crime and the snooping gentleman in the halls of Greythorne, when suddenly there's a second body. In this dramatic tale of upstairs, downstairs and family secrets, Amberley, although he wants to discover the desperate killer, this time he's not sure he wants to know the truth…"

My thoughts:
2015 review:
I think that of all Heyer's mysteries, this one is my favorite. I guess it could be classified as a "cozy" since the main 'detective' isn't a professional (he's a barrister, but this case isn't related to his work in any way) but it also has aspects of romantic suspense. Sort of a cross between Mary Stewart and Dorothy Sayers.

One aspect of not being a police procedural that leapt out at me during this latest reread is it allowed Heyer to give free rein to her genius for repartee. Amberley is a modern day (well, contemporary to when this was written in 1933) version of so many of her heros in the Regency historical fiction books -- intelligent, high-handed, somewhat short-tempered and sarcastic, yet reliable & kind.

I think that the mystery is good too but, to be honest, it is hard for me to judge at this point. I have read this several times before and remembered the solution so I was able to pick up clues and hints along the way that I am sure I missed the first time or two I read this.

I'm falling behind again... sigh.
I hope to come back and fill in with full entries but will just jot down what books I have finished recently. (I have crossed off books when I posted their full entry.)

94. Oedipus the King by Sophocles
95. Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles
96. Antigone by Sophocles
97. The Layton Court Mystery by Anthony Berkeley
98. Night Walk by Elizabeth Daly
99. *The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
100. The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
101. Alien: Out of the Shadows by Tim Lebbon
102. The Attenbury Emeralds by Jill Paton Walsh
103. Presumption of Death by Jill Paton Walsh & Dorothy L. Sayers
104. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
by Lois McMaster Bujold: (all rereads)
105. Falling Free
106. Shards of Honor
107. Barrayar
108.

You may be falling behind in posting but you are certainly getting lots of reading done - which is the important thing!

>46 DeltaQueen50: It often works that way with me - I get so busy reading that I forget to post :)

94. Oedipus the King by Sophocles (~429 B.C.); 4.5*
95. Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles (406 B.C.); 3.5*
96. Antigone by Sophocles (441 B.C.); 4.5*
Omnibus audiobook with full cast narration (Audible); 236 pgs; finished 4/10
Gamache (ROOTs)
Miss Silver (rereads)
Millhone: HistoryCAT April, 800 B.C. - 500 A.D.
Maigret (translated)

I reread the 3 Oedipus plays via the Audible Original full cast audiobook, translated by Ian Johnston:
https://www.librarything.com/work/18118324

While I have read these plays before, this translation was new to me & the audiobook is a ROOT, so yet another reread/ROOT combo. Because I read the 3 plays in this one omnibus, I am combining them here.

From the book blurb:
"The three Theban plays by Sophocles - Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone - are one of the great landmarks of Western theatre. They tell the story of Oedipus, King of Thebes, who was destined to suffer a terrible fate - to kill his father, marry his mother, and beget children of the incestuous union. He does this unknowingly but still has to suffer terrible consequences, which also tragically affect the next generation.

These three plays were written around 450 BC, with the playwright following the established convention of presenting the story through main characters but using a chorus - sometimes one voice, sometimes more - as an independent commentator that also occasionally participates in the drama. When the audiences of ancient Athens went to the amphitheatres to see the plays, they would have known the basic story of poor Oedipus.

Nevertheless, the power of Sophocles' retelling made the Theban plays deeply horrifying and affecting - and this is still true now, some 2,500 years later. There is also a strong contemporary resonance for us, for in the 20th century the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud famously adopted the story to illustrate his Oedipus complex, which, he argued, was a condition of the unconscious mind in boys - that they want to sleep with their mothers. It is interesting that through the character of the queen, Jocasta, in Oedipus the King, Sophocles states this unequivocally.

Oedipus the King is well known. The other two are less so: Oedipus at Colonus, which deals with his last days, and Antigone, which casts the spotlight on his daughter, who, as part of the accursed blood line, chooses to act in a way she believes is right, whatever the consequences. Yet they are equally powerful and moving.

This audio production, with Jamie Glover as Oedipus and Hayley Atwell as his daughter, Antigone, is a world premiere audio recording of all three plays.

With the authoritative but modern translation by Ian Johnston, specially commissioned new music from the English composer Roger Marsh, and a cast of outstanding actors, this Audible Original presentation of Sophocles' Theban plays will be listened to not once but many times."

My thoughts:
Ian Johnston's translation was good - it used fairly modern idiom making this trilogy of plays more accessible. The cast was excellent.

This time rereading Oedipus the King, I was struck by the thought that his curse was really the hot temper Oedipus apparently inherited from his father. If the two of them had been able to be calmer when they met, the whole tragedy could have been avoided.

And rereading all 3 plays back-to-back made Cleon's change from maligned but reasonable man in the 1st play to intolerant tyrant in the last one more startling.

I was surprised to find that although Antigone is the last of the 3 Theban plays, it was actually the one Sophocles wrote first!

97. The Layton Court Mystery by Anthony Berkeley (1925)
Kindle book (Dad's Kindle); 264 pgs; finished 4/10; 3*
Poirot (mysteries)
Gamache (ROOTs)
Tommy & Tuppence: buddy read over at Goodreads

From the book blurb:
"A Roger Sheringham mystery

In a typical English country house, a murder is committed. The wealthy Victor Stanworth, who'd been playing host to a party of friends, is found dead in the library. At first it appears to be suicide, for the room was undoubtedly locked. But could there be more to the case? As one of the guests at Layton Court, gentleman sleuth Roger Sheringham begins to investigate. Many come under suspicion, but how could anyone have killed the man and gotten out of the room, leaving it all locked behind?"

My thoughts:
Fun read though some aspects of the case struck me as obvious but took Roger forever to figure out.

98. Night Walk by Elizabeth Daly (1947)
Kindle book (Dad's Kindle); 196 pgs; finished 4/11; 3.5*
Gamache (ROOTs)
Poirot (mysteries)
Tommy & Tuppence: BingoDOG Square #12 - light or dark word in title

From the book blurb:
"The village of Frazer's Mills is a small, isolated village, where everyone knows everyone else and things haven't changed much (and the mills have been closed for quite some time). When murder suddenly intrudes upon this sedate rural backwater, Henry Gamadge arrives to solve the mystery and restore order. The novel is particularly remarkable for its tense opening chapters describing a prowler who walks around the village rattling doors and frightening the residents, as well as the descriptions of the local types who populate it."

My thoughts:
It took longer than average for Gamadge to first appear in this 12th book in the series - so long, in fact, that I was beginning to wonder if it was going to be a stand-alone rather than one of this series at all! He arrives at the behest of a friend and thus I guess it isn't too surprising that his expertise in books & documents only figures very slightly in the case (though they do play a part). I didn't see the solution coming at all which normally would cause me to bump up my rating to a 4*; I didn't do so in this case because I didn't feel that I could have figured it out, that certain knowledge Gamadge had wasn't made available to me the reader. Of course, now that I write that I can't name anything specific to corroborate my feeling!

99. *The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler (1985)
Kindle book (BPL); 418 pgs; finished 4/11; 3.5*
Holmes (Guardian's list)
Tommy & Tuppence: AlphaKIT April A&W; GenreCAT April - Literary Fiction; RandomCAT April - fellow LTers (sturlington & others)

From the book blurb:
"Macon Leary is a travel writer who hates both travel and anything out of the ordinary. He is grounded by loneliness and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts when he meets Muriel, a deliciously peculiar dog-obedience trainer who up-ends Macon’s insular world–and thrusts him headlong into a remarkable engagement with life."

My thoughts:
Well, I am glad that I finally read the book as it was quite different from the 1988 movie version (or at least of my memory of the movie). However, I found that I didn't really care very much about any of the characters by the book's end, which was disappointing, so I am not willing to give it a 4* rating.

In the end, I think Rose was the only woman in the book that I really liked - both Sarah and Muriel were well-written and complex characters but ones who each had (different) flaws that I disliked increasingly as the book progressed. Sarah pigeon-holed Macon and wouldn't allow him to be suffering in some way different from hers & Muriel turned out to be manipulative and needy (which I hadn't expected)

100. The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie (1923)
Kindle book (Amazon) & paperback (MOB); 192 pgs; finished 4/12; 4*
Poirot (mysteries)
Gamache (ROOTs) - the Kindle edition
Miss Silver (rereads) - the paperback
Tommy & Tuppence: MysteryKIT April - senior citizen protagonist

From the book blurb:
"Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is summoned to France after receiving a distressing letter with a urgent cry for help. Upon his arrival in Merlinville-sur-Mer, the investigator finds the man who penned the letter, the South American millionaire Monsieur Renauld, stabbed to death and his body flung into a freshly dug open grave on the golf course adjoining the property. Meanwhile the millionaire's wife is found bound and gagged in her room. Apparently, it seems that Renauld and his wife were victims of a failed break-in, resulting in Renauld's kidnapping and death.

There's no lack of suspects: his wife, whose dagger served as the weapon; his embittered son, who would have killed for independence; and his mistress, who refused to be ignored - and each felt deserving of the dead man's fortune. The police think they've found the cumprit. But Poirot has his doubts. Why is the dead man wearing an overcoat that is too big for him? And who was the impassioned love-letter in the pocket for? Before Poirot can answer these questions, the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically murdered corpse..."

My thoughts:
2021 reread via Kindle edition
I was surprised by Hastings in this reread - not due to his romance but by the number of times he actually deduced something correctly! Of course, he still managed to be off base lots of times too...

101. Alien: Out of the Shadows by Tim Lebbon (2013)
Audiobook with full cast narration (Audible); ? pgs; finished 4/12; 2*
Gamache (ROOTs)
Thursday Next (sci fi/fantasy)
Tommy & Tuppence: AlphaKIT April A&W

From the book blurb:
"As a child, Chris Hooper dreamed of monsters. But in deep space, he found only darkness and isolation. Then, on planet LV178, he and his fellow miners discovered a storm-scoured, sand-blasted hell - and trimonite, the hardest material known to man.

When a shuttle crashes into the mining ship Marion, the miners learn that there was more than trimonite deep in the caverns. There was evil, hibernating and waiting for suitable prey. Hoop and his associates uncover a nest of Xenomorphs, and hell takes on a new meaning. Quickly they discover that their only hope lies with the unlikeliest of saviors...."

My thoughts:
Eh...

The person who did the narration for Ripley sounded amazingly like Sigourney Weaver so that was good. But, though Rutger Hauer was fantastic doing the voice for Ash, that whole aspect of the story seemed very thin to me. Plus the action struck me as just a rehash of the original movies. Oh well.

I haven't caught up with all my books but my most recent one, The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty, finished my BingoDOG card with the Southern Hemisphere square :)

102. The Attenbury Emeralds by Jill Paton Walsh (2010)
Kindle book (Dad's Kindle); 352 pgs; finished 4/13; 3*
Gamache (ROOTs)
Poirot (mysteries)
Millhone: AlphaKIT April A&W; MysteryKIT April - senior citizen protagonist

From the book blurb:
"Now ... comes a new Sayers-inspired mystery featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, revisiting his very first case. . . . It was 1921 when Lord Peter Wimsey first encountered the Attenbury Emeralds. The recovery of the gems in Lord Attenbury’s dazzling heirloom collection made headlines—and launched a shell-shocked young aristocrat on his career as a detective.

Thirty years later, a happily married Lord Peter has just shared the secrets of that mystery with his wife, the detective novelist Harriet Vane. Suddenly, the new Lord Attenbury—grandson of Lord Peter’s first client—seeks his help to prove who owns the emeralds. As Harriet and Peter contemplate the changes that the war has wrought on English society—and Peter, who always cherished the liberties of a younger son, faces the unwanted prospect of ending up the Duke of Denver after all—Jill Paton Walsh brings us a masterful new chapter in the annals of one of the greatest detectives of all time."

My thoughts:
Really more like 2.5* rounded up...

While it was nice to spend some time again with Lord Peter, Bunter & family, I didn't feel like Walsh quite got the nuances of how Peter & Harriet talked.

103. A Presumption of Death by Dorothy L. Sayers & Jill Paton Walsh (2002)
Kindle book (Dad's Kindle); 384 pgs; finished 4/13; 3*
Gamache (ROOTs)
Poirot (mysteries)

From the book blurb:
"Sixty years after Dorothy L. Sayers began her unfinished Lord Peter Wimsey novel, Thrones Dominations, Booker Prize finalist Jill Paton Walsh took on the challenge of completing the manuscript---with extraordinary success. "The transition is seamless," said the San Francisco Chronicle; "you cannot tell where Sayers leaves off and Walsh begins."

"Will Paton Walsh do it again?" wondered Ruth Rendell in London's Sunday Times. "We must hope so."

Jill Paton Walsh fulfills those hopes in A Presumption of Death. Although Sayers never began another Wimsey novel, she did leave clues. Drawing on "The Wimsey Papers," in which Sayers showed various members of the family coping with wartime conditions, Walsh has devised an irresistible story set in 1940, at the start of the Blitz in London.

Lord Peter is abroad on secret business for the Foreign Office, while Harriet Vane, now Lady Peter Wimsey, has taken their children to safety in the country. But war has followed them there---glamorous RAF pilots and even more glamorous land-girls scandalize the villagers, and the blackout makes the nighttime lanes as sinister as the back alleys of London. Daily life reminds them of the war so constantly that, when the village's first air-raid practice ends with a real body on the ground, it’s almost a shock to hear the doctor declare that it was not enemy action, but plain, old-fashioned murder. Or was it?

At the request of the overstretched local police, Harriet reluctantly agrees to investigate. The mystery that unfolds is every bit as literate, ingenious, and compelling as the best of original Lord Peter Wimsey novels."

My thoughts:
Maybe even 3.5*

Nice to see Lord Peter & Harriet & Bunter again! 1939-1940: WW2 is going on & on the home front, there is rationing, air raid drills & evacuees... and a murder or two to be cleared up!

This book felt more authentic to me than The Attenbury Emeralds...