Leslie's 2016 Challenge: Let's Go to the Movies - Part 3

Welcome to my third (and probably final) thread of my 2016 challenge! Most of my goals have been met so this final third of the year will be mostly trying to read my ROOTs and have fun :)

✓1. Stage Door -- Read 18 plays
✓2. Dead Poets Society -- Read at least 6 books or collections of poetry
✓3. Brief Encounter -- Read at least 6 books or collections of short stories.
✓4. Foreign Correspondent -- Read at least 12 books in translation
✓5. Anatomy of a Murder -- Mysteries
6. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial – Science Fiction & Fantasy
✓7. The Way We Were -- Historical fiction
8. Bringing Up Baby -- Children’s & Young Adult books
✓9. The Official Story -- Read at least 3 nonfiction books
10. The Postman Always Rings Twice -- Rereads
11. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof -- books that fit CATs
12. Rules of the Game -- BingoDOG/Book Bingo or some other group challenge
13. The Crowd -- Group reads
✓14. And Then There Were None -- ROOTs: Kindle Catch up: Goal=15+
✓15. Schindler’s List -- Read at least 25 new-to-me books from the Guardian’s 1000 Novels Everyone Should Read list.
16. Odd Man Out -- Overflow

Books can be used for multiple categories (and hopefully will be!).

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; those from BPL are from the Boston Public Library (as opposed to my local library); SYNC refers to audiobooks acquired (for free) through the annual summer program hosted by http://www.audiobooksync.com/

✓1. Stage Door -- Read 18 plays Done!

1-26 can be seen on the previous thread...
27. A Dance of the Forests (ℕ) (9/13)
28. Pelleas and Melisande (ℕ) (9/21)
29. Art by Yasmina Reza (10/16)
30. No Exit (ℕ) (10/27)
31. Phaedra (12/4)
and I listened to the LA Theatre Works full cast recordings of 6 Molière plays all translated by Richard Wilbur during December:
The Bungler, The School for Husbands, The Imaginary Cuckold, The School for Wives, The Misanthrope and Tartuffe

That was a great way to end up this challenge!

✓ 2. Dead Poets Society -- Read at least 6 books or collections of poetry Done!

The first 7 books can be seen in the first thread and 8-13 in the second part.
14) Gitanjali (ℕ) (9/18)
15) October Mourning (10/31) {audiobook}
16) Poems by Giorgios Seferis (ℕ) (12/20)

✓ 3. Brief Encounter -- Read at least 6 books or collections of short stories. Done!

Books 1-11 can be seen in the previous thread.
12) Beware of the Trains (9/15)
13) Indian Fairy Tales (9/25)
14) Short Stories by Saki (10/15)
15) Nothing Serious (12/16)
16) Striding Folly (12/20)
17) A Christmas Garland (12/28)

✓ 4. Foreign Correspondent -- Read at least 12 books in translation Done!

I hope to coordinate this with the GeoCAT as much as possible.

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com
I am also hoping to have an AwardKit focus. To help me in that focus, I plan to refer to this list of Nobel Laureates in Literature.

See the first thread for the countries visited in Jan-March and the previous thread for April-August.

September: GeoCAT= Southern Asia
42. The Track of Sand (Italy) (9/11)
43. *We (translated from Russian, set in fictional OneState) (9/15)
44. Pelleas and Melisande (ℕ) (translated from French, set in fictional Allemonde) (9/21)
45. Indian Fairy Tales (translated from Bengali & Sanskrit) (9/25)
46. The Club Dumas (Spain) (9/27)
47. The Capital of Latecomers (translated from Bulgarian, setting unspecified) (9/29)

October: GeoCAT = Eastern Asia
48. *Norwegian Wood (Japan) (10/3)
49. *Beauty and Sadness (ℕ) (Japan) (10/18)
50. Red Sorghum (ℕ) (China) (11/4)
51. No Exit (ℕ) (set nowhere in particular but written in French) (10/27)

November: GeoCAT = Northern Africa & Middle East (former Ottoman Empire)
52. Into Oblivion (Iceland) (11/1)
53. *My Name is Red (ℕ) (Turkey) (11/13)
54. Palace of Desire (ℕ) (Egypt) (11/13)

December: GeoCAT = Western Europe
55. *Silence (Japan) (12/4)
56. Phaedra (translated from French, set in ancient Greece) (12/4)
57. The Age of Doubt (Italy) (12/6)
58. *The Plague (Algeria) (12/10)
59-64. plays by Molière (France)
65. Poems by Giorgios Seferis (ℕ) (Greece) (12/20)

5. Anatomy of a Murder -- Mysteries
This challenge is broken into 3 parts: Sleuth, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and The Killers


✔a) Sleuth -- Continue to read through my mystery ROOTs:
goal=18+ paperback or hardcover mysteries I already own: Done!
(1-6 are available on the first part of this thread, 7-14 on the second part)
15) The Chill (9/24)
16) The Club Dumas (9/27)
17) The Long Lavender Look (11/16)
18) The Age of Doubt (12/6)
19) *The Hanging Garden (1/2)


✔b) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo -- Mysteries Around the World: finish the Read the USA challenge from the Cozy Mysteries group & continue with foreign mystery series
 Read the USA mysteries: still need Oklahoma Done!

visited 50 states (100%)
Create your own visited map of The United States
   ·Death Books a Return (11/25) {OK}

 Translated mysteries:
   ·The Track of Sand (Italian) (9/11)
   ·The Capital of Latecomers (Bulgarian) (9/29)
  ·Into Oblivion (Icelandic) (11/1)
  *My Name is Red (ℕ) (Turkish) (11/13)
   ·The Age of Doubt (Italian) (12/6)


c) The Killers -- all the other mysteries I read which don't fit in either of the above categories!
  ·The Z Murders (9/7)
  *The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (9/10) {reread via audiobook}
  ·The Moving Target (9/13) {audiobook}
  ·A Question of Proof (9/19)
  ·Black Arrow (10/5) {audiobook}
  ·A Great Reckoning (10/14)
  ·The Coroner's Lunch (10/25)
  ·The Fires of the Gods (10/27)
  ·The Drowning Pool (11/3) {audiobook}
  ·Mystery in White (12/11)
  ·The Twelve Clues of Christmas (12/13)
  ·Striding Folly (12/20)

6. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial – Science Fiction & Fantasy
a) Continue with Discworld series: Goal: 5+
·Equal Rites {book #3, Witches #1} (2/18)
·Mort {book #4, Death #1} (3/11)
·Reaper Man {book #11, Death #2} (12/22)

b) Misc. sci fi/fantasy (esp. ROOTs)
*We (9/15)
·The Chocolatier's Wife (9/23)
*The Castle of Otranto (9/25)
·Doomsday Book (audiobook) (10/24)
·Infinity Lost (10/28)
·Rendezvous With Rama (11/14)
·The Young World (11/19)
·To Say Nothing of the Dog (audiobook) (11/21)
·The Mists of Avalon (audiobook) (12/16)

✔7. The Way We Were -- Historical fiction
Goal = 5+ Done!
See the first part of this thread for the first 8 books & the second part for the next 11.

 ·March (9/21) (American Civil War)
 ·Black Arrow (10/5) (11th century Japan)
 ·Doomsday Book (10/24) (~half the book is set in 14th century England)
 ·The Fires of the Gods (10/27) (11th century Japan)
 ·Red Sorghum (ℕ) (11/4) (WW2 China)
 ·Murder at the Brightwell (11/6) (1930s England)
 *My Name is Red (ℕ) (11/13) (16th century Istanbul)
 ·Palace of Desire (ℕ) (11/13) (1920s Cairo)
 ·To Say Nothing of the Dog (11/21) (1880s England)
 *Silence (12/4) (1600s Japan)
 ·Phaedra (12/4) (ancient Greece)
 ·The Twelve Clues of Christmas (12/12) (1930s England)
 ·Mrs. Budley Falls from Grace (12/21) (Regency England)

8. Bringing Up Baby -- Children’s & Young Adult books
 *The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (9/8)
 ·Winnie-the-Pooh (11/29)
 ·The Eagle Tree (12/10)
 ·The Secret Garden (audiobook) (12/23)

✔ 9. The Official Story -- Read at least 3 nonfiction books Done!

See the previous thread for nonfiction books 1-6.
·Three Shots Rang Out (11/19)
*Cider With Rosie (12/29)

10. The Postman Always Rings Twice -- Rereads
January-March rereads are in the first part of the thread. April-August rereads are in the second part.

*The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (9/8) {reread via audiobook}
*The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (9/10) {reread via audiobook}
·Pigs Have Wings (9/11) {reread via audiobook}
*The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (10/30) {reread via audiobook}
*The Woman in White (11/4) {reread via audiobook}
*The Time Machine (11/6) {reread via audiobook}
4 plays by Molière {reread via audiobook}
The Secret Garden {reread via audiobook}

11. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - read books for one or more of the CATS

September
GeoCAT Southern Asia
 ·Gitanjali (ℕ) (9/18)
 ·The Glass Palace (India, Myanmar & Malaysia) (9/25)
 ·Indian Fairy Tales (9/25)
DeweyCAT 700s
 *Cat's Eye (9/15)
 ·Heaven Preserve Us (9/18)
 ·The Club Dumas (9/27)
RandomCAT Translated books
 *The Good Soldier Schweik (9/4)
 ·The Track of Sand (9/11)
 *We (9/15)
 ·Pelleas and Melisande (ℕ) (9/21)
 ·Indian Fairy Tales (9/25)
 ·The Club Dumas (9/27)
 ·The Capital of Latecomers (9/29)

October
GeoCAT Eastern Asia
 *Norwegian Wood (Japan) (10/3)
 ·Black Arrow (Japan)
 *Beauty and Sadness (ℕ) (Japan) (10/18)
 ·The Coroner's Lunch (Laos) (10/25)
 ·Red Sorghum (ℕ) (China) (11/4)
DeweyCAT 800s
 ·Art by Yasmina Reza (842.914) (10/16)
RandomCAT Scary books
 *The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (10/30) {reread via audiobook}

November
GeoCAT Northern Africa & Middle East
 *My Name is Red (ℕ) (11/13) (16th century Istanbul)
 ·Palace of Desire (ℕ) (11/13) (1920s Egypt)
DeweyCAT 900-930s
 ·
RandomCAT Debut novels
 ·Murder at the Brightwell (11/6)

December
GeoCAT Western Europe -- I am personally not including Great Britain in this
 ·Phaedra (12/4) (ancient Greece, written by a Frenchman)
 ·The Age of Doubt (12/6) (Italy)
DeweyCAT 940-990s
 ·
RandomCAT Gifts
 ·

12. Rules of the Game -- BingoDOG/BingoPUP

BingoDOG card and the BingoPUP card:
  

see the previous thread for the list of books used in this challenge from January-August.
BingoDOG
11)
16) Heaven Preserve Us (9/18)
24) Infinity Lost (10/28) (my best guess is that Skyscape is an Amazon umbrella for YA self-published novels)
25) The Club Dumas (9/27)

BingoPUP
16)
19)
22)

✔13. The Crowd -- Group reads
Goal = 8+ -- Done!

Group reads here at LT: (Jan. - August on the previous thread)
 ·Less Than Angels (Barbara Pym group read in November)
 ·Quartet in Autumn (Barbara Pym group read in November)
 ·Jane and Prudence (Barbara Pym group read in November)

Reads for groups elsewhere: (Jan. - March books are listed on 1st thread, April-August on the 2nd)
 ·Housekeeping (10/19) (Goodreads group read)
 *The Woman in White (11/4) (Goodreads group read)

✔14. And Then There Were None -- ROOTs: Kindle Catch up: Goal=15+ Done!
None left being the ultimate (but unreachable!) goal for my ROOTs, so even though I have reached this goal I will keep working on this challenge. Books 1-16 are in the 1st part of the thread; 17-37 on the second part.

38. *The Mysterious Stranger (9/17)
39. Heaven Preserve Us (9/18)
40. The Chocolatier's Wife (9/23)
41. *The Castle of Otranto (9/25)
42. Indian Fairy Tales (9/25)
43. The Capital of Latecomers (9/29)
44. *The History of Mr. Polly (10/28)
45. Infinity Lost (10/28)
46. The Wrong Box (11/26)
47. *Nostromo (12/2)
48. Death on an Autumn River (12/5)
49. *The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (12/31)

✓15. Schindler’s List -- Read at least 25 new-to-me books from the Guardian’s 1000 Novels Everyone Should Read list. Done!

Here are some of the ones I already own, either in print, audiobook or on my Kindle, matched to the AlphaKIT 2016:
September: C and M   Cat’s Eye, Cider with Rosie, The Moviegoer
October: I and W         I Capture the Castle, Wapshot Chronicles, Waverley
November: N and Y      Nostromo
December: T and E      Tropic of Cancer, The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker
As with previous years, X and Z are year long

Books 1-18 are available on the first thread; 19-49 on the second part.
50) The Caine Mutiny (9/5)
51) The Moviegoer (9/9)
52) We (9/15)
53) Cat's Eye (9/15)
54) The Mysterious Stranger (9/17)
55) The Castle of Otranto (9/25)
56) Main Street (10/2)
57) Norwegian Wood (10/3)
58) Beauty and Sadness (ℕ) (10/18)
59) I Capture the Castle (10/25)
60) The History of Mr. Polly (10/28)
61) Less Than Angels (11/10)
62) My Name is Red (ℕ) (11/13)
63) Nostromo (12/2)
64) Silence (12/4)
65) The Plague (ℕ) (12/10)
66) Cider with Rosie (12/29)
67) The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

16. Odd Man Out -- Overflow
Books that don't fit into any of the other categories...
·Full Moon (9/16)
·Uncle Dynamite (10/19) (audiobook)
·Cocktail Time (12/3) (audiobook)
·The Three Hostages (12/15) (Richard Hannay #4)

Happy new thread! Looks like you've had a tremendously successful year! Also, now I want ice cream bars, thanks to your thread topper ;)

Thanks >19 rabbitprincess: -the snacks are enticing :)

201. The Z Murders by J. Jefferson Farjeon
format/source = paperback/library; 272 pages; 3★
Categories: The Killers  
Country: England
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT: Z

Review:

Good Golden Age mystery/suspense book with the classic romantic subplot. My biggest complaint is that the ending was a bit abrupt.

Happy new thread, Leslie! I love all of the classic movie imagery. I recorded 'Passage to Marseilles' recently and have yet to get to it.

I hope you have a great weekend.

>22 brodiew2: I have had a lot of fun looking at all the old movie posters - glad you are enjoying them too :)

202. *The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
format/source = paperback/MOB & audiobook/Audible; 319 pages; 4★
Categories: Bringing Up Baby, The Postman Always Rings Twice    
Country: U.S.A. {Missouri}
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M

Review: Grover Gardner was wonderful in his narration of this classic. My biggest complaint is that the audiobook "chapters" had no bearing on the chapters of the text (maybe they were the cassette sides of the original recording??). As for the book itself, I had forgotten what a fun "boy's" book this is -- the mixture of childish belief in superstitions and tales & worldly wisdom is so typical of this age (~11 years old or so).

203. *The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
format/source = paperback/MOB; pages; 4★
Categories: Schindler's List  
Country: U.S.A. {Louisiana}
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M

Review: This novel was more thought-provoking than I had expected so my rating may change after I have had time to mull it over. I loved the New Orleans setting and Percy has a wonderful way with words. The malaise of Binx and Kate was both familiar and strange -- I have had bouts of clinical depression and so could understand some of what Kate was feeling but the existentialism was a bit hard to relate to.

204. *The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
format/source = paperback/MOB & audiobook/Audible; 255 pages; 5★
Categories: The Killers, The Postman Always Rings Twice    
Country: England
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M

Review: Hugh Fraser's narration is perfect for this, one of my favorite Christie mysteries. Even knowing the solution, I find it a compelling story and look for all the subtle clues Christie has embedded in the narrative.

Happy new thread! Great progress on those Bingo-cards!

>27 -Eva-: Thanks! I seem to be a bit stuck on the last few squares but there's still a few months to go :)

205. Pigs Have Wings by P.G. Wodehouse
format/source = audiobook/Hoopla; pages; 4★
Categories: The Postman Always Rings Twice  
Country: England

Review:

4½ stars for the book but I didn't really care for Jeremy Sinden's narration. In particular, his voices for Lord Emsworth and his sister Connie grated on me.

206. The Track of Sand by Andrea Camilleri (translated by Stephen Sartarelli)
format/source = paperback/MOB; 263 pages; 4★
Categories: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Foreign Correspondent  
Country: Italy
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M; RandomCAT September: translated books

Review:
Another wonderful entry in the Montalbano series! For those with weak stomachs, beware that there is a heart wrenching scene of animal abuse at the beginning but it is short and not too graphic.

>30 leslie.98: That's one I haven't listened to yet. Hopefully I'll get to it fairly soon. I've got another mystery downloaded at the moment, but I'd like to get around to it soon.

>31 thornton37814: I actually read this one in paperback even though I had borrowed the audiobook from the library -- I just read faster than the audiobook. I love Gardner's narration but I was in too much of a hurry to find out what was going to happen! Enjoy it when you get to it :)

>26 leslie.98: I too love Agatha Christie works narrated by Hugh Fraser!

>26 leslie.98: I have also listened to a few narrated by David Suchet which are also excellent. I find it amusing that these two actors of Poirot & Hastings now narrate her audiobooks but I am also grateful for it.

207. A Dance of the Forests by Wole Soyinka (ℕ)
format/source = hardcover/library omnibus; 89 pages; 2★
Categories: Stage Door    
Country: Nigeria with an AwardKIT focus: Nobel Laureate 1986

Review:

I just didn't understand this and thus found it a bit of a chore to get through (and as it is a play, it isn't that long!!). I'm glad I read some other plays by Soyinka before this one!

208. The Moving Target by Ross MacDonald
format/source = audiobook/Hoopla; 243 pages; 3½★
Categories: The Killers
Country{California}
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M

Review: A bit more hardboiled than my typical fare - I can see why people refer to Ross MacDonald as the successor to Raymond Chandler. Grover Gardner is in his usual excellent form doing the narration.

209. Beware of the Trains by Edmund Crispin
format/source = Kindle/Amazon; 198 pages; 3½★
Categories: Brief Encounters, The Killers  
Country: England
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M

Review:

I am glad that I read these short stories but more for the sake of completing the Fen series. The stories were fine but I think Crispin does better in the full length books.

210. *We by Yevgeny Zamyatin {translated by Natasha Randall & Clarence Brown, respectively}
format/source = Kindle/BPL & audiobook/Audible; 242 pages; 4★
Categories: E.T., Foreign Correspondent, Schindler's List    
Country: N/A
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: SFFKIT September: International Sci Fi/Fantasy &
RandomCAT September: Translated books

Review: I bought the audiobook earlier this year and Grover Gardner gave his typically excellent narration. However, I find science fiction sometimes difficult to process in audiobook form and after starting this I decided I did need to have a copy of the text, so I borrowed the Kindle book from the library. The Kindle edition turned out to be a different translation but it was close enough for my purposes. Of the two translations, I had a slight preference for Brown's but they were both good. I did also appreciate the foreword in the audiobook by Brown about the history of this book & how he came to doing this translation, more so after I had finished the book. This is the sort of thing I typically skip when reading but since it wasn't labelled as an introduction or foreword, I got 'tricked' into listening to itand am glad I did (though I do think it should have been labelled rather than being called 'chapter one'!).

As for the book itself, I could see why the U.S.S.R. refused to publish it back in 1921 even though in the end the government, OneState, wins out over the 'counterrevolutionaries' in a somewhat heartbreaking ending. It is tempting to compare the fictional OneState to the old Soviet Union but in fact I feel that its attempt at creating perfect happiness (at the expense of freedom and imagination) could have arisen anywhere. And I found the question of which is preferable - happiness or imagination - extremely difficult to answer personally even when I felt the answer for society as a whole was clearly imagination. Of course, what I would like is to have both!! But that wasn't one of the options...

211. *Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
format/source = hardcover/MOB; 421 pages; 4★
Categories: Schindler's List  
Country: Canada
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M and DeweyCAT September: 700s

Review:

I liked this better than the other Atwood books I have read. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it's the most realistic one. Though Elaine Risley grew up a generation earlier than I did, I could relate to her and her childhood in a way that I wasn't able to relate to characters in her other novels.

212. Full Moon by P.G. Wodehouse
format/source = hardcover/library; 276 pages; 3½★
Categories: Odd Man Out  
Country: England

Review:

A fun entry in the Blandings Castle series revolving around the love affairs of 2 of Emsworth's nieces but not the zaniest of the series. Paul Galdone's illustrations were an added bonus :)

I should really reread We sometime. I read it for a dystopian literature class in university. Might still have my notes kicking around somewhere, too. Those would be interesting to read.

>41 rabbitprincess: I found the attempt to get rid of those messy emotional entanglements so reminiscent of Vulcans that I have to wonder if Gene Roddenberry used this as his inspiration!

213. *The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain
format/source = Kindle/Amazon & audiobook/LibriVox; 121 pages; 3½★
Categories: Schindler's List, And Then There Were None    
Country: Austria
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M

Review: Excellent narration by John Greenman in this LibriVox recording. The story is a somewhat bizarre satire on Christian religious beliefs set in the Middle Ages in Austria. I prefer his more famous books such as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court or The Prince and the Pauper...

214. Heaven Preserve Us by Cricket McRae
format/source = Kindle/Amazon; 299 pages; 3★
Categories: And Then There Were None, The Killers  
Country: U.S.A. {Washington}
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M & DeweyCAT September: 700s
The Rules of the Game: BingoDOG Square 16 (food is important)

Review: A decent cozy mystery set in eastern WA state featuring home made preserves and canned food.

215. Gitanjali by Rabindranth Tagore (ℕ)
format/source = Kindle/Project Gutenberg; 48 pages; 2½★
Categories: Dead Poet's Society, Foreign Correspondent  
GeoCAT Country: India with an AwardKIT focus: Nobel Laureate 1913

Review: Very 'ecstasy of the spirit' - I liked some of it very much but overall it's not a feeling that I relate to. I should have read it in my late teens when I was more interested in spiritual matters.

216. A Question of Proof by Nicholas Blake
format/source = paperback/library; 338 pages (large print edition); 4★
Categories: The Killers  
Country: England

Review: This 1938 mystery, set in an English boys' school, introduces Nigel Strangeways. I had a fun afternoon reading this and could not figure out who the murderer was or what the motive was. I even went back to earlier parts and reread them looking for clues that Strangeways says are there.

I look forward to reading some more of this series, especially since I own some :)

217. March by Geraldine Brooks
format/source = audiobook/SYNC; 280 pages; 4★
Categories: The Way We Were  
Country: U.S.A. {American Civil War}
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M

Review: I would have liked this better if it hadn't been about Mr. and Mrs. March I think. I just found certain things jarred with my vision of these people formed from my reading of Little Women. I suppose that is a fault in me rather than in the book as Brooks clearly did her research (as the author's afterword in this audiobook makes obvious).

Richard Easton was very good doing the narration.

>46 leslie.98: Glad you enjoyed A Question of Proof. I have a few more of his on my shelves too, so I will be reading more in the future.

>48 DeltaQueen50: Glad to have another Golden Age mystery series to pursue, even though I have plenty of them on my plate already!

218. Pelleas and Melisande by Maurice Maeterlinck (ℕ) (translated by Richard Hovey)
format/source = Kindle/Project Gutenberg; 184 pages; 4★
Categories: Stage Door, Foreign Correspondent  
Country: Allemonde fictional with an AwardKIT focus: Nobel Laureate 1911
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M & RandomCAT September: translated books

Maeterlinck was an important part of the Symbolist movement in literature and it is important to realize that when reading this play. Here is a brief synopsis of Symbolism from Wikipedia:

"Symbolists believed that art should represent absolute truths that could only be described indirectly. Thus, they wrote in a very metaphorical and suggestive manner, endowing particular images or objects with symbolic meaning."

Thus, do not expect that the characters and action of the play will behave in a realistic or natural manner -- everything is symbolic.

Perhaps when I have time to think over what all these symbols are trying to say, my rating of the play will change. Based on my first gut reaction, this is a tragedy a la Romeo and Juliet about a doomed love between the King's grandson Pelléas and his brother's wife Mélisande. That is the surface story; what it represents I have some suspicions but am not sure.

later, updated rating from 3½ to 4*
Thoughts:
Mélisande seems to be an undine, a female mythological water sprite, as she is discovered near a pool of water and water references abound. Pelléas and his brother Golaud are definitely land creatures, perhaps they are what they appear to be. So one interpretation is that they represent the relationship between nature and society/civilization.

The famine of the people of Allemonde that manifests after Golaud and Mélisande marry could be a symbol foreshadowing the tragedy to come. Or maybe it's a sign of the fact that this marriage is wrong. There is no indication that Mélisande ever cared for Golaud; in fact, at first she shrinks from him. Another symbol indicating problems with the marriage is Mélisande losing her wedding ring into another pool of water, as if the water spirits were trying to reclaim her.

This story is more interesting once you delve into it!

219. The Chocolatier's Wife by Cindy Lynn Speer
format/source = Kindle/Amazon; 278 pages; 4★
Categories: And Then There Were None, E.T.  
Country: N/A
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M

Review: Magic and murder, what more could I ask for? I really enjoyed this. My only minor complaint is that occasionally the author used expressions which were too British for the fantasy world -- why would the people of Berengeny refer to bedlam as madness for example? I picked this up as a freebie back in 2012 and it is much better than the usual freebies I have read!

I will look for more books by Speer!

220. The Chill by Ross MacDonald
format/source = paperback/MOB & audiobook/Hoopla; 216 pages; 5★
Categories: Sleuth    
Country: U.S.A. {California with excursions into Nevada and Illinois}
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M

Review:
Excellent example of the gumshoe style of mystery. One aspect that I particularly like is the fact that the book is focused entirely on the mystery - no long passages about the detective's personal problems. I don't mean to imply that Lew Archer is one-dimensional but that he is a man who focuses on the job. This had plenty of twists and surprises but none that the author 'cheats' with - the reader learns about them when Archer does.

Grover Gardner's narration was marvellous! He is quickly becoming the voice of Lew Archer for me.

221. Murder on the Orient Elite by Larry Correia
format/source = audiobook/Audible; ~42 pages; 3½★
Categories: Brief Encounter, E.T.  
Country: N/A (over the ocean in an airship)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M

Review:

I was pleasantly surprised by this sci fi alternate history thriller. I had put off listening to this because I was afraid that this short story wouldn't be understandable to someone who was unfamiliar with the Grimnoir series (such as myself) but that turned out to not be the case.

Bronson Pinchot was an excellent narrator. His voices for the characters were so distinctive that at first I thought perhaps different people were reading them!

222. Indian Fairy Tales edited (and translated??) by Joseph Jacobs
format/source = Kindle/Amazon; 184 pages; 3½★
Categories: Brief Encounter, And Then There Were None  
GeoCAT Country: India
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: RandomCAT September: translated books

Review:

I really liked these fairy tales! Although there were some strange terms (and also I believe some strange translations; Jogi I assume is Yogi for example), at the heart many of these stories are very similar to European fairy tales. Evil queens using magic or trickery to get rid of innocent children (unsuccessfully), talking animals who return good deeds, princes going on quests; what I think of as the standard fairy tale but in an Indian setting so jungles and tigers instead of forests and bears.

I skipped the Notes at the end but if one liked to know the origins or history of these tales, it would be of interest.

223. *The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
format/source = Kindle/Project Gutenberg; 125 pages; 4★
Categories: E.T., Schindler's List, And Then There Were None, The Way We Were  
Country: Italy (during the time of the Crusades)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M

Review: Written in 1764, this novel by Horace Walpole spawned the whole genre of Gothic literature. It is a 3 swooner on the humorous Guardian newspaper gothic rating scale (shown below) with Hippolita swooning twice and Matilda once.



It also is set in a cursed or haunted castle in a foreign land with people who talk in an outdated manner (other criteria of the Guardian newspaper for classic Gothic horror stories). In fact, many of what we now consider Gothic horror stereotypes originated with this book!

A quick and satisfactorily spooky book - I wish I had saved it for Halloween!

224. The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh
format/source = hardcover/library; 470 pages; 3½★
Categories: The Way We Were  
GeoCAT Country: Burma (Myanmar), India, Malaysia

Review:

While I was fascinated by the Burmese (Myanmar) and Indian history, this sweeping epic covering over a hundred years (1885-1996) disappointed me in the second half. In the first half, the lives of Dolly and Rajkumar are given in detail for about 10-15 years (1885-1900 or so) and I became invested in them but then the story starts making great leaps in time, skipping ahead with just brief summaries of what was happening to the characters. I didn't get fully invested in the second generation and the third generation was an outline of a character, never fully fleshed out, while the 4th generation was invisible - discussed but never met. At the same time, the author tells us less and less about the original characters (Dolly, Rajkumar and Uma).

I found some of the ideas espoused by Arjun and his comrades interesting but it felt like his character was invented in order for the author to say these things, unlike Uma. Her developing nationalism felt natural and real.

225. The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte (translated by Sonia Soto)
format/source = paperback/MOB; 362 pages; 4★
Categories: Sleuth, Foreign Correspondent  
Country: Spain & France
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M & RandomCAT September: translated books & DeweyCAT September 700s (printing & engraving)
Rules of the Game: BingoDOG Square 25 (you want the job/hobby of the protagonist)

Review:

A lot of fun for this Dumas fan! This book is somewhat similar to what I imagine you would get if you crossed The Name of the Rose with Angels and Demons; lots of demonology, antiquarian books and Dumas in a thriller.

My only regret is that I didn't read it last year once I had completed the entire d'Artagnan series. At least my memory of the characters and events was relatively fresh.

A good book to reach my goal on :-)

>57 leslie.98: Congratulations on reaching your goal! And I really need to get to that Club Dumas...

>57 leslie.98: Have you seen the movie they made from Club Dumas? The Ninth Gate? I admit I watched it for Johnny Depp but was disappointed in it.

>59 VictoriaPL: I had no idea that it had been made into a movie. I am not sure how all the little literary references and such that made it fun to read would work in a film...

>58 MissWatson: Thanks! Hope that you enjoy The Club Dumas when you do get to it.

226. The Capital of Latecomers by Nina Nenova (translated by Vladimir Poleganov)
format/source = Kindle/Amazon; 327 pages; 3★
Categories: Foreign Correspondent, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, And Then There Were None  
Country: setting unspecified, translated from Bulgarian
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M & RandomCAT September: translated books

Review:

Translated from Bulgarian, this novel (acquired in Sept. 2015 as part of Amazon's Kindle First program) is an uneasy blend of literary fiction and murder mystery. Bizarre happenings in an upscale desert oasis retreat -- is it due to supernatural beings or is someone manipulating events? Or do the laws of physics for some reason behave differently at this specific location, allowing dark matter to interact with 'light' matter (regular everyday things)? Then murders start occurring... The mystery aspect of this is muddled by the sci fi/literary style which is a bit reminiscent of Umberto Eco but nowhere nearly as well done. Still, the end was satisfactory and though I was confused a lot, I was never bored (though the epilogue was a tad pretentious).

227. The Potter's Field by Andrea Camilleri (translated by Stephen Sartarelli)
format/source = Kindle/BPL & audiobook/BPL; 277 pages; 3★
Categories: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Foreign Correspondent    
Country: Italy
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M & RandomCAT September: translated books

Review:

While I continue to enjoy Montalbano, I was a little disturbed by the behaviour of his second-in-command Mimì Augello in this one. Hopefully, the tensions present in this entry of the series will be gone in the next one.

Grover Gardner (narrator) & Stephen Sartarelli (translator) continue to shine as well :)

228. Miss Tonks Turns to Crime by Marion Chesney
format/source = Kindle/Amazon Prime lending library; 216 pages; 3★
Categories: The Way We Were  
Country: England
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M

Review:

This second book in the Poor Relations series was a fun romp. The Kindle edition did suffer a little from typos and I am unsure how historically accurate it is so I am giving this 3 rather than 4 stars.

229. *Main Street by Sinclair Lewis (ℕ)
format/source = Kindle/Project Gutenberg & audiobook/Hoopla; 454 pages; 3★
Categories: Schindler's List    
Country: U.S.A. (Minnesota) with AwardKIT focus: Nobel Laureate 1930
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT September: C & M

Review:

This book went on too long for me -- I ended up losing interest in and patience with Carol. I felt like I should sympathize with her but didn't in fact do so.

Lloyd James was very good with the narration which did help me persevere through.

230. *Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (translated by Jay Rubin)
format/source = paperback/library; 293 pages; 4★
Categories: Foreign Correspondent, Schindler's List  
GeoCAT Country: Japan

Review:

Very moving and sad story. I appreciated the fact that this Murakami novel is straight-forward (unlike The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle!).

231. Black Arrow by I.J. Parker
format/source = audiobook/BPL; 356 pages; 3½★
Categories: The Killers, The Way We Were  
GeoCAT Country: Japan (11th century)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT October: I & W

Review:

I find the historical setting of these mysteries fascinating and like the character of Akitada very much. However, I found that, though Roy Vongtama's narration was fine, I absorb the Japanese names more easily when reading than when listening. Therefore I had some trouble at first figuring out who was who in this audiobook.

I have been suffering from a temporary addiction to watching Murdoch on Acorn TV recently and so my reading has been on hold. But I have managed to finish a few books which I will list here.

232. A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny, 4★; another great entry in the Gamache series.

233. Short Stories by Saki by Saki (audiobook), 3★; I found that I preferred his stories written rather than in audio.

234. Art by Yasmina Reza, 4★; amusing French play ostensibly about what constitutes art but really about the relationship between 3 friends

235. *Beauty and Sadness by Yasumari Kawabata (ℕ), 4★; intriguing story about love and a somewhat strange (and creepy) young woman...

236. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, 3½★; beautiful prose but not as good a story as Gilead imo.

237. Uncle Dynamite by P.G. Wodehouse (audiobook), 4★; Jonathan Cecil shines once more in his narration of this second entry in the Uncle Fred series.

>55 leslie.98:
That's a brilliant chart!

>69 -Eva-: I have lost the URL for the whole article but it had several other amusing scales like that - how creepy the house/castle is; the prevalence of supernatural phenomena; etc. I will have to try and find it again!

I think I found the link - but the pictures aren't there anymore. :(
https://www.theguardian.com/books/interactive/2014/may/09/reading-gothic-novel-p...

>71 -Eva-: Oh, too bad! I tried your link and didn't get the pictures either. However, when I took out the s after http, I got them. I think my security software was blocking them.

Thank you! I'll try that at work - my home security is not letting me! I guess I can't fault it for trying to keep me safer than I want to be. :)

238. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, 3½★ for the book and 4* for the audiobook; interesting premise but some important plot points were too predictable.

239. *I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, 4½★; utterly charming story.

240. The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill, 3½★; interesting setting and characters but I didn't care too much for the paranormal aspect.

As might be obvious, I ran out of steam for updating this thread for a while. I will try to pick up again but first let me catch up what I have read in the last few weeks...

In October:
241. No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre (ℕ), 4★; a performance might be a 5*!

242. The Fires of the Gods by I.J. Parker, 3½★; for this entry in the Akitada mystery series

243. Infinity Lost by S. Harrison, 2★; OK in the YA parts but the sci fi and the thriller parts were both poor.

244. *The History of Mr. Polly by H.G. Wells, 3½★; for this non-science fiction classic.

245. *The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (reread via audiobook), 3★; a rare instance when RL Stevenson is not as good as the movie version (I like the 1941 film with Spencer Tracy!).

246. October Mourning by Lesléa Newman (audiobook ROOT), 3★; heartbreaking topic but I found the poems as poetry only so-so.

So far in November:
247. Into Oblivion by Arnaldur Indriðason, 3½★; the newest book from Arnaldur Indriðason is the second 'prequel' to his Inspector Erlendur series.

248. The Drowning Pool by Ross MacDonald, 3★; this second Lew Archer book was good but nowhere near as great as the later entry The Chill which I read earlier this year.

249. *The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (reread via audiobook), 4½★ for this audiobook which featured different narrators for the different sections of the book.

250. Red Sorghum by Mo Yan (ℕ), 1★; it took me over a month to finish this & then I wished that I had given up weeks earlier. Lots of graphic disgusting imagery probably gives an accurate portrayal of the Japanese occupation of China before and during WW2 but reading it didn't give me any special insight.

251. Murder at the Brightwell by Ashley Weaver, 2½★; the mystery was OK but neither the historical fiction (1930s England) nor the romantic subplot was very good - others have done better.

252. *The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (reread via audiobook ROOT), 3★; good idea but Wells' writing style is not much to my taste (too much musing about social conditions & the nature of humanity for me). But Derek Jacobi was fun to listen to!

253. *Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym, 4½★; excellent writing and the satire about anthropologists was a lot of fun.

254. *My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (ℕ) (translated by Erdağ M. Göknar)
format/source = audiobook/Audible; 417 pages; 4★
Categories: Foreign Correspondent, The Way We Were, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo  
GeoCAT Country: Turkey with AwardKIT focus: Nobel Laureate 2006
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT November: N & Y

Review: John Lee gives an excellent narration for this historical fiction novel.

I knew a small amount about the 16th century Ottoman Empire so found the dispute between traditional Islamic artistic style and the 'new' Frankish style of more realistic imagery fascinating. Some might not care for the way the story is told from many perspectives (including a corpse in the opening chapter, a dog and a counterfeit coin) but I liked the way each narrator gives a different side of life at this time in Istanbul. And being a mystery buff, I liked the way the murderer gave his parts with subtle clues but I was still guessing right up to the end!

What was less to my taste (but an important part of the book) was the sometimes lengthy discussions about various famous (?) artists and their works & how art fit into the Muslim religion. These sections would have been better for me in written (rather than audio) form - the Arabic and Turkish names were sometimes difficult to identify and remember (and I can't flip back and refresh my memory with a digital audiobook the way I could in print or even ebook form).

255. Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz (ℕ) (translated by William Maynard Hutchins, Lorne & Olive Kenny)
format/source = hardcover/library; 422 pages; 3★
Categories: Foreign Correspondent, The Way We Were  
GeoCAT Country: Egypt with AwardKIT focus: Nobel Laureate 1988
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT November: N & Y

Review: I am glad that a friend warned me that this second book in the Cairo trilogy would not live up to the first one (which I loved) -- this one, though well written, wasn't nearly as interesting to me. The women in the family are much more in the background for one thing; another is that Kamal, the youngest son, spends long sections rhapsodizing about his first love Aïda. He didn't seem to know her at all; in fact, it was more that he was in love with being in love. Yasin and his father both continue to behave as they did in the first book, though the father's behaviour towards his family was a little softened.

I do look forward to the final book in this trilogy!

256. Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
format/source = Kindle/Amazon Prime lending library; 256 pages; 5★
Categories: E.T.  
Country: N/A

Review: I can see why this won the Hugo & Nebula Awards (and others)!! I found it hard to put down once I started.

I won't try to give a synopsis - there are plenty out there - but will say that this "first contact" science fiction was unlike any other I have read.

257. The Long Lavender Look by John D. MacDonald
format/source = paperback/MOB; 255 pages; 3★
Categories: Sleuth  
Country: U.S.A. {Florida}

Review: A decent entry in the Travis McGee series. Less social commentary in this one but also less slightly offensive remarks about women.

For anyone interested, my 2017 thread is located here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/237192

>81 leslie.98: I didn't realize the 2017 challenge was already posted. I need inspiration for my category names. I'm going to see if I can come up with names based on an idea I just had.

>82 thornton37814: I look forward to seeing what you come up with :)

>77 leslie.98:
Glad to see a 4-star rating as it's been sitting on my bookshelf for quite some time. :)

>84 -Eva-: People seem to either like it very much or dislike it very much -- I hope that you fall into the "like it" camp!

258. Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym
format/source = paperback/MOB; 218 pages; 4★
Categories: The Crowd  
Country: England

Review: A look at 4 unmarried people of retirement age in the 1970s, 2 men and 2 women who work together (before the women retire). As I am approaching this age myself, I found some aspects of this a little daunting but I take heart in the fact that I am not like Marcia!!

259. Three Shots Rang Out by Darren Reynolds {narrated by Diane Sawyer}
format/source = audiobook/Audible; ?? pages; 3★
Categories: The Official Story  
Country: U.S.A. {Texas}

Review: This is a freebie from Audible that I picked up in November 2013 - as the anniversary of JFK's assassination was approaching it seemed a good time to finally listen to it. However, I was a little distracted while listening to this so it might be worth a better rating.

260. The Young World by Chris Weitz
format/source = audiobook/SYNC; 352 pages; 2★
Categories: Bringing Up Baby, E.T.  
Country: U.S.A.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT November: N & Y

Review: This young adult dystopian novel was clearly based on an episode of the original Star Trek called "Miri" -- all the adults have been stricken by some sort of plague and only the children are left. Perhaps if I had not been familiar with this episode, the book would not have struck me as so derivative but even the YA sections of the book are stereotypical. Lots of angst about male-female relationships in between bouts of fighting rival gangs, wild animals, etc.

261. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis {narrated by Stephen Crossley}
format/source = audiobook/Audible; 434 pages; 4★
Categories: E.T.  
Country: England
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: SFFFKit November (time travel); AlphaKIT November: N & Y

Review: I enjoyed this a lot more than the first book! It has a more straightforward storyline and a lot more humor. On the downside is the 'science' of time travel is not science but fantasy. Stephen Crossley was great as the narrator :)

262. Death Books a Return by Marion Moore Hill
format/source = paperback/library; 284 pages; 3★
Categories: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo  
Country: U.S.A. {Oklahoma}

Review: Decent cozy mystery and the librarian/amateur sleuth protagonist at least is smart enough to share her information with her police detective boyfriend.

But more importantly to me is that with this book, I have (finally) finished my Read-the-USA mystery challenge!! Well, with the help of a few nonmystery books along the way... I started this challenge in August 2012 over in Goodreads and have been working desultorily on it since.

Here is the list of all the books read for my READ AROUND THE USA Challenge (starting 8/2012)
Progress: Done as of 11/2016 (with the help of a few nonmystery books)

Alabama -- Dog River Blues by Mike Jastrzebski (1/10/14)
Alaska -- Alaska Virgin Air by Izzy Ballard (4/13/13)
Arizona -- The Ghost Orchid Murder by Nancy Jill Thames (5/26/13)
Arkansas -- Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes by Denise Grover Swank (1/30/13)
California -- Death Turns a Trick by Julie Smith (9/1/12)
Colorado -- Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson (7/20/13)
Connecticut -- Elected for Death by Valerie Wolzien (11/17/12)
Delaware - Corpus Delectable by Mike Billington (2/22/14)
District of Columbia -- Murder on Capitol Hill by Margaret Truman (8/25/16)
Florida -- Artifacts by Mary Anna Evans (10/8/12)
Georgia -- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (not a mystery) (5/7/13)
Hawaii -- Maui Widow Waltz by JoAnn Bassett (9/1/13)
Idaho -- Dead Aim by Ridley Pearson (9/3/16)
Illinois -- Opal Fire by Barbra Annino (10/22/13)
Indiana -- Death of the Couch Potato's Wife by Christy Barritt (12/11/15)
Iowa -- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (not a mystery) (7/18/13)
Kansas -- Murders on Elderberry Road by Sally Goldenbaum (2/6/16)
Kentucky -- I'm Dreaming of an Undead Christmas by Molly Harper (not a mystery) (12/21/13)
Louisiana -- *The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke (5/15/13)
Maine -- The Book of Old Houses by Sarah Graves (9/14/13)
Maryland -- The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart (3/8/13)
Massachusetts -- Going, Going, Gone by Phoebe Atwood Taylor (8/31/12)
Michigan -- Winter Study by Nevada Barr (12/31/13)
Minnesota -- Bingo Barge Murder by Jessie Chandler (8/7/12)
Mississippi --- The Collected Stories by Eudora Welty (not a mystery) (6/19/13)
Missouri -- If Fried Chicken Could Fly by Paige Shelton (9/20/15)
Montana -- *Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett (7/13/14)
Nebraska -- *One of Ours by Willa Cather (not a mystery) (11/20/12)
Nevada -- Pumpkins in Paradise by Kathi Daley (11/16/13)
New Hampshire -- An Appointment With Murder by Jennifer L. Jennings (6/24/14)
New Jersey -- Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich (9/11/15)
New Mexico -- Red, Green, or Murder by Steven F. Havill (2/19/13)
New York -- Sailor, Take Warning! by Kelley Roos (8/12/12)
North Carolina -- Amethyst Dreams by Phyllis A. Whitney (10/27/12)
North Dakota -- January Exposure by Sunny Benson (1/9/15)
Ohio -- A Shot in the Bark by C.A. Newsome (7/28/14)
Oklahoma -- Death Books a Return by Marion Moore Hill (11/25/16)
Oregon -- The Gray and Guilty Sea by Jack Nolte (11/12/15)
Pennsylvania -- Never Buried by Edie Clair (10/31/12)
Rhode Island -- Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva (1/10/16)
South Carolina -- Oolong Dead by Laura Childs (3/1/13)
South Dakota -- Nearly Departed in Deadwood by Ann Charles (1/29/13)
Tennessee -- Out on a Limb: A Smoky Mountain Mystery by Carolyn Jourdan (4/15/15)
Texas -- Buck Fever by Ben Rehder (2/13/13)
Utah -- Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey (not a mystery) (11/11/15)
Vermont -- Moonlighting in Vermont by Kate George (9/29/13)
Virginia -- Carbs & Cadavers by J.B. Stanley (9/17/12)
Washington -- Murder Spins a Tale A Flock and Fiber Mystery by Veryl Ann Grace (3/24/13)
West Virginia -- Moon Signs by Helen Haught Fanick (6/1/14)
Wisconsin -- Uncommon Grounds by Sandra Balzo (8/12/12)
Wyoming -- A Deal on a Handshake by Loretta Jackson and Vickie Britton (6/18/15)

263. The Wrong Box by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne
format/source = Kindle/Project Gutenberg & audiobook/LibriVox; 192 pages; 4★
Categories: And Then There Were None    
Country: England

Review: This black comedy by R.L. Stevenson and his stepson Lloyd Osbourne is quite different from the adventure stories that I have loved but was well worth the time. Somewhat silly with loads of extremely unlikely coincidences but I laughed aloud more than once. Andy Minter does an excellent narration in the LibriVox audiobook.

264. Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
format/source = audiobook/Audible; 145 pages; 4★
Categories: Bringing Up Baby  
Country: England

Review:
I didn't much care for the sound effects (forest noises and music between the chapters) but the stories retained their charm. It has been so long since I read these original stories that I had forgotten them -- what I remember is the Disney animation.

265. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
format/source = hardcover/library; 455 pages; 3½★
Categories: The Killers  
Country: England

Review: The mystery was pretty good - kept me guessing right up to the big denouement & I liked Strike and his secretary Robin. On the downside, I felt that the book was overly long (by about 100 pages). Now that it is no longer a secret that Galbraith is a nom de plume for J.K. Rowling, the wordiness is not surprising. I was never bored but I think mysteries in general are better when focused on the case and not the personal life of the detective. Just a bias of mine; if you don't share it then you will probably like this even more than I did!

>90 leslie.98: Congrats on completing your U.S.A. challenge.

Hurray for completing your USA challenge! :)

Thanks >94 thornton37814: & >95 rabbitprincess:! I am glad to be done :)

>79 leslie.98: I too loved Rendezvous with Rama and would like to reread it sometime. I'd read a couple of the sequels too but they weren't as memorable.

>97 mathgirl40: For some reason I had avoided Arthur C. Clarke for years - I think that I had him confused with L. Ron Hubbard in my mind. Anyway, I saw a few mentions of his books earlier this year and decided to give him a try - glad I did!

266. *Nostromo by Joseph Conrad
format/source = Kindle/Amazon & audiobook/Hoopla; 462 pages; 2★
Categories: Schindler's List    
Country: unidentified Central American country (I am calling it Guatemala)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: AlphaKIT November: N & Y

Review: I generally like Conrad's writing and earlier this year was very impressed with his Victory. However, despite the beautiful writing, I really struggled with this one. This is not an adventure story even though it features a revolution and a treasure - it is a character study. Unfortunately, I am not partial to that sort of book and my experience with Nostromo just confirmed my opinion. So if you do like the sort of book that the Man Booker Prize folks like, this might be the Conrad for you!

John Lee did a good job narrating this but I still needed to resort to the text of my Kindle edition in some sections as my attention just would not stay on the audiobook.

267. Cocktail Time by P.G. Wodehouse (narrated by Jonathan Cecil)
format/source = audiobook/Hoopla; 224 pages; 4½★
Categories: Odd Man Out  
Country: England

Review: After Nostromo, I needed something light-hearted and that I knew I would like so I listened to the 3rd book in Wodehouse's Uncle Fred series. Jonathan Cecil is just wonderful narrating Wodehouse's work and this one was no exception!

This entry in the Uncle Fred series was hilarious! His nephew Pongo Twisleton having been married in the previous book, Lady Ickenham (Uncle Fred's wife) has no choice but to deposit him with his godson Johnny while she is elsewhere (she doesn't trust him on his own, for good reason!). Typical Wodehousian convolutions occur but one aspect of this that stood out for me is the fun Wodehouse has with authors, publishers and critics in this. Sir Raymond 'Beefy' Bastable, a neighbor of Johnny's, is prompted to "write his exposé of the younger generation, a novel so shocking that it caused endless repercussions for its hapless author, sparked off a whole series of outrageous misunderstandings, and required the inventive talents of Lord Ickenham himself to resolve." as the blurb puts it. I can easily imagine Wodehouse venting some of his own frustrations with writing & publishing in some of the comments.

268. *Silence by Shūsaku Endō (translated by William Johnston)
format/source = paperback/MOB; 201 pages; 2½★
Categories: Foreign Correspondent, Schindler's List, The Way We Were  
Country: Japan (17th century)

Review: I thought that it was very well written & thought-provoking. However, I am not very religious so overall it wasn't the book for me.

Having written that (and thought it for several weeks now), I will say that Endo made me think about some things (such as the relationship between Jesus & Judas) that I wouldn't normally have considered and in such a way that I still find myself pondering them at odd moments. I may end up increasing my rating due to this...

269. Phaedra by Jean Racine (translated from French by Robert Bruce Boswell)
format/source = Kindle/Project Gutenberg & audiobook/LibriVox; 146 pages; 3½★ (for this translation)
Categories: Stage Door, Foreign Correspondent    
Country: ancient Greece

Review:
My rating reflects the translation by Robert Bruce Boswell more than Racine's tragedy. The play I liked enough that I have requested the Richard Wilbur version from the library. The Greeks sure knew how to do tragedy!

The LibriVox full cast recording of Racine's play used the public domain translation by Robert Bruce Boswell which, as I mentioned above, wasn't very good.

I also found that a few of the "players" had difficulty matching the text to the meaning (pausing at the end of a line of text when the pause was inappropriate, for example).

270. Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym
format/source = ebook/Hoopla; 222 pages; 4½★
Categories: The Crowd  
Country: England

Review: Another charming book by Barbara Pym -- this one again deals with the relations between men and women but from the perpective of two friends, one married and one not. I thought that this one was more light-hearted and less satirical than Excellent Women or Less than Angels, which was perfect for my mood!

271. Death on an Autumn River by I.J. Parker
format/source = Kindle/Amazon; 387 pages; 3½★
Categories: And Then There Were None, The Way We Were, The Killers  
Country: Japan (11th century)

Review: I picked this Kindle book up back in November 2013 and was determined to read it this fall so I have caught up on the series during the year using the library to fill in the gaps. And I am glad that I did end up reading them in order as some of the impact of this one would have been lessened if the reader wasn't aware of the history and relationship between the main characters.

272. The Age of Doubt by Andrea Camilleri (translated from Italian by Stephen Sartarelli)
format/source = paperback/MOB; 288 pages; 4★
Categories: Sleuth, Foreign Correspondent  
Country: Italy

Review: Another enjoyable entry in the Inspector Montalbano series! In this one, I guess he is going through some sort of midlife crisis as he becomes quickly infatuated with a younger woman. I don't really like his long-term girlfriend Livia but I felt a bit sorry for her in this one...

And this book completes my challenge to read at least 18 mysteries in print that I already owned prior to 1 January 2016 (Sleuth)! I have had that personal challenge for a few years now but this is the first time I actually made it :-)

>105 leslie.98: I really love the audiobooks of Montalbano. Grover Gardner is just such an excellent reader. I'll probably never go back to reading one in print as long as he is narrating them.

>106 thornton37814: I agree that Grover Gardner is marvellous! My only complaint about the audiobooks is that they don't have Stephen Sartarelli's notes, which I find interesting and informative.

>107 leslie.98: True. Never thought about the missing notes, but you are correct that those aren't there.

Taking the morning to play catch-up on all the threads in the group.

Great batch of reading since my last visit. Making particular note of the Indian Fairy Tales edited by Joseph Jacobs. I am reading Shantaram at the moment and finding myself wanting to be more immersed in Indian stories.

>55 leslie.98: - Love the gothic rating scale!

>67 leslie.98: - Lovely to see I am not the only one to succumb to the allure of Acorn TV binge watching! Right now we have been watching all of the various Christmas episodes that they have so thoughtfully grouped together for easy picking.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Thanks so much Judy! I have not been online much during the holiday period but I did want you to know that I appreciate the gesture.

I listened to the LA Theatre Works full cast recordings of 6 Molière plays all translated by Richard Wilbur during December:
The Bungler, School for Husbands, The Imaginary Cuckold, The School for Wives, The Misanthrope and Tartuffe

That was a great way to end up my Stage Door challenge! I had previously read 4 of the plays but hearing the full cast recording was almost like seeing a performance. And I do love the Wilbur translation which I heartily recommend to anyone wanting to try Molière in English.

>112 leslie.98: Thanks for the recommendation. It's been a long time since I've read Molière but I've always wanted to read more of his plays.

>112 leslie.98: I hope that you enjoy one (or more) of them - I thought they were excellent!

I wrapped up my poetry challenge (Dead Poet's Society) with December's reading of Poems by Giorgios Seferis (ℕ) translated by Rex Warner. I don't know if it was the translation or the poems themselves but these appealed more to my intellect than my emotions. However, I liked them enough that I will try to read more by Seferis. 3½★

I hadn't planned to add to my short story challenge (Brief Encounter) in December but ended up reading 3 collections: P.G. Wodehouse's Nothing Serious in audiobook, narrated by Simon Vance; Dorothy L. Sayers' final 3 Wimsey stories in Striding Folly and Max Beerbohm's A Christmas Garland. Both the Wodehouse and the Sayers were very entertaining in their different ways & both got 4★ from me... unfortunately, I can't say the same about the Beerbohm which I gave 2½★. It was just the wrong book for me at the moment.

The plays by Molière and the poems by Seferis concluded my Foreign Correspondent challenge as well, bringing my 2016 books read in translation to a total of 65, far in excess of my goal of 12! My reading of South American authors makes me particularly proud as this is an area of the world I don't normally read much from.

I am so pleased by the number of Nobel Laureates I managed to read in my AwardKIT focus to this challenge - 7 in the past 4 months (I don't know how many in total). While I didn't love them all, reading them helped broaden my horizons which was part of my goal.

The Anatomy of a Murder challenge (mysteries) was completed in all 3 parts - I finished 19 mysteries I already owned in print (one over my goal of 18); I (finally) finished my Read-the-USA challenge; and added even more mysteries to the miscellaneous section!

Mysteries read in December were:
The Age of Doubt (Montalbano #14), 4*
Mystery in White, a Golden Age Christmas mystery by J. Jefferson Farjeon, 4*
The Twelve Clues of Christmas (Her Royal Spyness #6), 4*
*The Hanging Garden (Rebus #9), 4½* (finished in Jan. 2017 but 90% read in 2016)

The sci fi/fantasy challenge (E.T.) was only partially completed. I had set a goal of reading 5+ books in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series in 2016 but only managed to complete 3: Equal Rites, Mort and Reaper Man.

And I only got 3 done because I realized I was behind so read Reaper Man, bought in January with 2015 Xmas $, in December! I found this one less satirical than my favorite Discworld books but still an amusing read. 3½★

On the plus side, I did read a lot of miscellaneous sci fi and fantasy this year - more than I had anticipated! This area of my reading seems to have the most variation in rating & sadly, I have found some highly regarded epics less than stellar.

One of those was Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon -- I listened to the audiobook narrated by Davina Porter in December and I had a hard time deciding what rating to give this. Davina Porter's narration was excellent, deserving of 4 stars or even higher but I had issues with the book which grew as the book progressed. I think that I would give the book 2 stars as it was well written and even at the height of my annoyance, I never felt like abandoning it. Averaging this out led me to a 3* rating for this audiobook edition.

The biggest source of my irritation was the character of Gwenevere who whined and nagged and drove me crazy with all her talk of sin. And then after all that stuff about being afraid of being out in the open, she decides against all advice to confront her supposed half-brother on her own!?! Just not believable.

I also had some problems with how the Christian priests were portrayed - I can believe that some of them were like that but not all. Bradley's bias was clear and I think that it prejudiced me to be antagonistic to her views. I don't think that the religious beliefs of the inhabitants of Britain were as clearly divided as she shows them nor that Christianity "won the day" in the 500s at the time of King Arthur.

I liked hearing the point of view of the different women but felt that the lack of any male perspective lessened the depth of the story. It would have been a better book for me if we occasionally heard what Arthur or Lancelot were thinking in more detail.

The Way We Were historical fiction challenge was completed early and I far exceeded my goal of 5 books, ending up with over 30!

December added a couple more to the list with The Twelve Clues of Christmas (set in 1930s England) (3½*) and Mrs. Budley Falls from Grace (set in Regency England) (3*). Both were light agreeable reading, perfect for a wet (or snowy) afternoon with a cup of tea!

Bringing Up Baby, the children's & young adult book category, wasn't a challenge as I set no goal. Every once in a while I feel the desire to read these age-inappropriate (for me!) books & December saw me revisiting a childhood favorite via audiobook: The Secret Garden. The Tantor audiobook edition I have, narration by Josephine Bailey, was excellent & I found that the story was as delightful as I had remembered it. 4½★

I also read the young adult book The Eagle Tree. This novel is given from the perspective of a 14-year-old autistic boy who loves trees. I think that it does a good job of letting the reader see a little of what autism is like but it wasn't as good as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. 3*

The Official Story challenge to read at least 3 nonfiction books was finished several months ago. Nonfiction is an area that doesn't naturally occur to me to read but I do enjoy certain types of nonfiction writing so this was a good challenge for me, forcing me a bit out of my normal comfort zone.

In December I read Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee. I chose this book because it is on the Guardian's list of 1000 novels everyone should read but once I started reading it, I discovered that it was actually an autobiography, not a novel at all! (The Guardian list has at least one other nonfiction book on it, My Family and Other Animals)

Regardless of why I picked it up, I found it to be a charming look at a boy's experiences of 1920s English village life, though the prose was sometimes a bit flowery for my tastes.

The Postman Always Rings Twice was my category for rereads, another that wasn't a challenge as it had no goal set. As mentioned above, I reread via audiobook 4 plays by Molière and the children's story The Secret Garden. I notice that almost all my rereading these days is via audiobook - it is a nice way to revisit a book and yet be new at the same time :)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was my category (again, not a challenge) for books read for the official 2016 CATs. My energy for doing these was pretty low in December so I didn't go out of my way to find books. However, the December GeoCAT was western Europe so many of my books fit that CAT!

The Rules of the Game was the BingoDOG/BingoPUP challenge. While I did well on these, I did not manage to complete either card. I was missing only square 11 (title includes a musical reference) in the BingoDOG while my BingoPUP card was missing 3 squares.

No books were read for these during December...

The category The Crowd (for group reads, here & elsewhere) is one I think that I won't repeat. I read lots of group reads but mostly elsewhere & find the discussions for group reads here rather skimpy. I will continue to participate in the group reads that interest me, just not bother with a category for them.

And Then There Were None was my challenge to read at least 15 Kindle books owned prior to January 2016. This is a challenge I will be keeping as I do need the motivation to get to some of the hundreds of unread Kindle books I own! I far surpassed my goal, ending with 49 Kindle ROOTs finished -- too bad I acquired more than 50 new Kindle books in 2016 so I haven't diminished my pile!

In December, I managed to finish 3 books for this challenge: *Nostromo by Conrad (2*), Death on an Autumn River by Parker (4*) and *The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Smollett (4*).

Schindler's List was my challenge to read 25+ books that were new to me from the Guardian's list of 1000 novels (these are the books I precede with an asterisk *). This is my main personal challenge - to read as much as I can from this list. In 2016, I managed to complete 67 new-to-me titles from the list. While I am happy with that, at this rate it will take me 10 years or so to finish the list! Not that I expect to ever finish the list as some of the titles on it just don't interest me.

In December, I finished 4 books from the list (plus one Discworld book):
Silence 2½*
The Plague 4*
Cider With Rosie 3*
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker 4*

Odd Man Out was the final category in my 2016 challenge & was a catch-all for any book that didn't fit into any of the previous 15 categories. I was surprised to find that there actually were a few books that fell into this category! One of the best books I read in December was one of these:

The Three Hostages by John Buchan. This is the 4th book in the Richard Hannay series (which starts with The 39 Steps) and was an excellent thriller. Even though this was first published in 1924, the main 'bad guy' would fit into a contemporary thriller with ease. 4½*