Skip to main content

Reading report for April 2010

I finished only 9 books in April. This is due to lots of overtime work coming my way. I am also in the process of decluttering my apartment, which is taking a lot of time, during which I listen to Rob Inglis' beautiful reading of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. It’s funny, but the more stuff I get rid of, the easier it becomes to throw out even more, and I suddenly found myself able to cull more than 50 books, so the TBR stack has been somewhat reduced. I did put some of the books on a TBR list because I still want to read them, but they are available from the library so there is no reason to have them cluttering up my bookshelves, waiting to be read.

Of the books I read, 1 was a Bibliophilic Challenge Book , 2 were Top Mysteries, 3 were TBR, and 4 were non-challenge books. One of the top mysteries was also TBR.

The books:
  • John Boyne : The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. YA novel about the horrors of the Holocaust.
  • Angela Carter: Expletives Deleted. Literary essays and criticism. Bibliophilic challenge.
  • Bruce Chartwin : The Viceroy of Ouidah. Historical novel.
  • Martha Grimes: The Old Fox Deceiv'd. Murder mystery. TBR challenge.
  • Reginald Hill : Deadheads. Murder mystery. TBR and Top Mystery challenge.
  • Margaret Millar: Beast in View. Top Mystery challenge.
  • Terry Pratchett : Nation. YA adventure novel.
  • Nora Roberts & J.D. Robb: Remember When. Two short interconnected novels, one contemporary, the other part of the In Death series. TBR challenge.
  • Carole Tanenbaum : Fabulous Fakes: A passion for vintage costume jewelry. Fashion history.


Tentative reading plan for May:

I am halfway through several books, including three I mentioned in my last reading plan. They are The Camel Bookmobile, the print version of Making Money, and Welcome Home. Once I finish Welcome Home I may go back to reading Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor, or I might choose another travelogue or possibly one of my several TBR non-fiction history books.

I got several Bibliophilic challenge books from the library a couple of days ago, including The Hours by Michael Cunningham, which I have started reading and like so far. I also picked up a book that may end up as the African book in the Global Reading challenge. I would like to read at least two Top Mystery challenge books, probably Cyril Hare’s Tragedy at Law and possibly Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana.

Comments

You got through a LOT of books for someone who was busy with other things!

I like the sound of the Angela Carter book. I am going off to read more about it now.
Bibliophile said…
Well, I am single and I have no kids, so I have plenty of time to read.

The Angela Carter book is good, and while it helps to have read the books she discusses, it isn't really necessary.
George said…
I just posted a review of Margaret Millar's HOW LIKE AN ANGEL on my blog (www.georgekelley.org). BEAST IN VIEW is very good, too. Margaret Millar is a very underrated writer. I admire your diverse reading tastes!

Popular posts from this blog

How to make a simple origami bookmark

Here are some instructions on how to make a simple origami (paper folding) bookmark: Take a square of paper. It can be patterned origami paper, gift paper or even office paper, just as long as it’s easy to fold. The square should not be much bigger than 10 cm/4 inches across, unless you intend to use the mark for a big book. The images show what the paper should look like after you follow each step of the instructions. The two sides of the paper are shown in different colours to make things easier, and the edges and fold lines are shown as black lines. Fold the paper in half diagonally (corner to corner), and then unfold. Repeat with the other two corners. This is to find the middle and to make the rest of the folding easier. If the paper is thick or stiff it can help to reverse the folds. Fold three of the corners in so that they meet in the middle. You now have a piece of paper resembling an open envelope. For the next two steps, ignore the flap. Fold the square diagonally in two. Yo...

Book 40: The Martian by Andy Weir, audiobook read by Wil Wheaton

Note : This will be a general scattershot discussion about my thoughts on the book and the movie, and not a cohesive review. When movies are based on books I am interested in reading but haven't yet read, I generally wait to read the book until I have seen the movie, but when a movie is made based on a book I have already read, I try to abstain from rereading the book until I have seen the movie. The reason is simple: I am one of those people who can be reduced to near-incoherent rage when a movie severely alters the perfectly good story line of a beloved book, changes the ending beyond recognition or adds unnecessarily to the story ( The Hobbit , anyone?) without any apparent reason. I don't mind omissions of unnecessary parts so much (I did not, for example, become enraged to find Tom Bombadil missing from The Lord of the Rings ), because one expects that - movies based on books would be TV-series long if they tried to include everything, so the material must be pared down ...

Bibliophile discusses Van Dine’s rules for writing detective stories

Writers have been putting down advice for wannabe writers for centuries, about everything from how to captivate readers to how to build a story and write believable characters to getting published. The mystery genre has had its fair share, and one of the best known advisory essays is mystery writer’s S.S. Van Dine’s 1928 piece “Twenty rules for writing detective stories.” I mentioned in one of my reviews that I might write about these rules. Well, I finally gave myself the time to do it. First comes the rule (condensed), then what I think about it. Here are the Rules as Van Dine wrote them . (Incidentally, check out the rest of this excellent mystery reader’s resource: Gaslight ) The rules are meant to apply to whodunnit amateur detective fiction, but the main ones can be applied to police and P.I. fiction as well. I will discuss them mostly in this context, but will also mention genres where the rules don’t apply and authors who have successfully and unsuccessfully broken the rules. 1...