Questinga's books off the shelf 2018

2017 went fairly well, until you count the number of new books that came through the door. This year I'm aiming for 30 books read that I owned before 2018.

1. The Tottenham Outrage by M. H. Baylis

This was a book from my sister's book group.

Good luck with your reading.

Happy reading in 2018. I'll be getting my own thread up in this group as soon as I have something to post.

Hi Peace2 and rocketjk ! Thanks for your messages and good luck to you both also.

This time of the year almost all the books in the flat were here before 01 January. Thus this challenge is off to a good start.

2. Murder Calling by David Whitelaw
I got this from a second hand shop just before the end of 2017. It was well written, in the 1930's, when grammar was important. It was a detective story with no detective, which was quite clever. The story followed people affected by the murders.

3. Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm by Gil North
Continuing with the British Library Crime Classics, this is the second Sergeant Cluff book they've reprinted. Their date is a little late, I think, but this one was quite good. Not really a mystery, or with much detecting.

4. The Z Murders by J. Jefferson Farjeon

Tyring to get more of these crime classics read. This one I enjoyed. It reminded me of Hitchcock's version of The Thirty-Nine Steps. Still find it disconcerting when women are referred to as girls. I suddenly picture them in pigtails and it throws the plot out.

5. Death on the Riviera by John Bude

Two well plotted mysteries with good characters; this is my new favourite from this series. I've owned it since 2016 and am pleased to have gotten around to reading it.

6. Death in the Tunnel by Miles Burton

Another enjoyable book. This one focused entirely on the two detectives and their unravelling of a complicated murder, step by step.

7. Crawling Chaos by H P Lovecraft

I got this in a sale a few years ago. Thought i should read some Lovecraft. Pleased I did.

8. The Blind Man's Garden by Nadeem Aslam

Read by my sister's book group and then mine. This is a good book.

9. The History of the Reformation by James Pounder Whitney

I can't remember where or when I got this book. It was too educated for me. Not sure how much I took in.

10. Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries ed. Martin Edwards

This has been in the flat, unread, since 2015. Although it felt a bit weird reading Christmas stories out of season, I enjoyed all of them.

11. The Betrothed: A Tale of XVII Century Milan by Alessandro Manzoni and trans. by Archibald Colquhoun

Judging by the price written in the front of this book I've owned it for over 20 years. Sheesh. Overall I enjoyed it even though parts were very sentimental and there was no suspense regarding the outcome. The author was hilarious and I was pleased to spend time with him. Having just read a book on the 30 years war, it was also interesting to read a book set during that time.

12. Death Makes a Prophet by John Bude

I bought this in December last year. I always enjoy John Bude's stories although this one had some distasteful antisemitism thown in.

13. Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman

I got this last year, with a couple of other reprints of Aickman's books by Faber and Faber. I've been reading through it, slowly, at night. Maybe the pace is why, at the end of the book, I don't remember much of any of the stories.

14. The Cheltenham Square Murder by John Bude

Looks like I've had this since 2016. Not bad, although I guessed who did it right off. Another mystery was Miss Barnet. Her brother's visit is the reason Superintendant Meredith was on the scene, but she didn't appear in the book at all. I kept waiting for her to show up at lunch.

15. England in the Later Middle Ages by M. H. Keen

I've owned this since 2003 or 2004. Picked it up in a library sale. My friend said it was a text book when she was in secondary school. It was certainly pitched at my intellectual level.

16. The Gateway to the Middle Ages: Monasticism by Eleanor Shipley Duckett

I either picked this up in the same library sale as the book above or acquired it from the shared house I was living in at the time. It wasn't the history book I expected. Not sure if I enjoyed reading it or not. But it did tell me who Hermenegild was, so that was a bonus.

17. Seven Dead by J. Jefferson Farjeon

A pretty horrible crime but a nice light read. The ending was slightly unsatisfactory.

18. Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion by Charles Townshend

We bought this during a visit to Ireland over 10 years ago. It was a very good read. Sorry I didn't read it earlier; very pleased I've read it now.

19. The 12:30 From Croydon by Freeman Wills Crofts

This was placed on the shelf in 2016. It was a well thought out crime and a good read. I had some sympathy for the murderer.

>19 QuestingA: My wife and I just returned a day ago from 2 weeks in Ireland. I was advised in a bookstore in Cork that this book, as well as the follow up, The Republic: The Fight for Irish Independence. 1918-1923 were both excellent. I was also advised that Tom Barry's memoir, Guerilla Days in Ireland, is very much worth reading.

Hi rocketjk, that's good to know (that the book is recommended by Irish book shops). And thanks for the recommendations. I would definately read another of Charles Townshend's books. Did you buy any of them?

20. Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution by Ruth Scurr

Not knowing much about the French revolution, I found this biography of Robespierre very interesting.

>23 rocketjk: "Did you buy any of them?"

No. I was advised to read the Barry memoir first, so I bought that in paperback. A couple of days later it occurred to me that I had a hardcover first edition of that book at home. Since the paperback Guerilla Days was bulky and I had already purchased "one or two" other books during the trip, I opted to leave my new copy in the lending library of the wonderful B&B we stayed with in Westport, County Mayo. I will read my HC copy of the Barry book sooner rather than later, and then go searching for the Townsend books.

>rocketjk. There are many books to read. I hope Barry's memoir is good.

21. The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham

I'm not sure how long I've had this, maybe only a couple of years. I really enjoyed it. Just what I needed after the Robespierre book.

22. Zero Day by David Baldacci

This came from a library sale. Not sure how long it's been in the TBR pile. Too long.

23. Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

This was on the TBR pile a couple of years. It had some very funny bits.

24. The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa

I got this from a friend who was moving house, about two years ago I think.

25. The Secret of High Eldersham by Miles Burton

Another British Library crime classic, this one purchased in 2016. Good plot tightly written although I wasn't convinced by part of the ending.

26. Mystery in the Channel by Freeman Wills Crofts

And yet another crime classic. Another good one from Freeman Wills Crofts.

27. The Incredible Crime by Lois Austen-Leigh

I'm moving through these crime classics. This one has been on the shelf since last year.

28. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

This was on the shelf after my sister's book group read it last year. My book group is reading it this month.

29. The Wine-Dark Sea by Robert Aickman

30. The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey

Tey's first mystery novel. I got it only last year, or the year before. A weird ending but the telling was good.

31. Euphoria by Lily King
32. Portrait of a Murderer: A Christmas Crime Story by Anne Meredith