Time for some 2014 stats

A lovely sunny day today, even if it was coolish, just below 0 degrees Celsius. The puppies enjoyed themselves in the back yard, now they are resting on the sofa, waiting for mommy (read, Jo) to come home from shopping and keeping an eye on me as I work on this BLog. It's the beginning of Feb, so I thought I'd play 'stato' and see how 2104 has gone so far, reading-wise, that is.

So far in 2014, I've completed 12 books and read 4060 pages. As a throw-in, I've also, as part of a Poetry challenge, read two sets of poems; I couldn't sit down and read books of poetry I don't think. Anyway, let's get to more specific stats -

Gender

1. Male Authors - 5
2. Female Authors - 7

Genre

1. Mystery/ Thriller - 10
2. Fantasy - 1
3. Classic Fiction - 1

Challenges

1. Reading Group Challenge

a. E.M. Forster - A Room with a View (4 stars)
b. Tana French  - In the Woods (4 stars)
c. Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere (4 stars)

2. Individual Challenges

Bedtime Authors

a. Agatha Christie - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (4 stars)
b. Agatha Christie - N or M? (4 stars)
c. Jefferson Bass - Carved in Bone (3 stars)
d. Jefferson Bass - Flesh and Bone (3 stars)
e. Margery Allingham - Death of a Ghost (3 stars)

I've just started my next book in this challenge; the second Margery Allingham mystery, Dancers in Mourning.

Alphabetical Mystery Authors

1. Patricia Highsmith - Deep Water (4 stars)
2. Jenny White - The Sultan's Seal (4 stars)
3. Lynn S. Hightower - No Good Deed (4 stars)

I've started my next book in this challenge, moving back up the alphabet for a Miss Silver mystery by Patricia Wentworth, She Came Back

Freebies

1. Oliver Potzsch - The Hangman's Daughter (4 stars). This is probably my favourite book of 2014 so far as it was not planned and came as a nice, entertaining surprise. I will find the other books in the Hangman's Daughter series. It's quite excellent.

Well, there you have it. A quick and dirty BLog. It's been a good year overall, a slow start but back to normal with my reading. I've mentioned two books I've just started, the other is one I've meant to read a few times, but have pulled it off the shelf to satisfy February's genre challenge; Romance / Erotica. The book is Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence, definitely a slow burn. I'm still working through the forward.

Looking Ahead

I'm not sure which book will be my next Reading Group Challenge selection, possibly V.S. Naipaul's Mimic Men. As to my Bedtime Author Challenge, I think the next series I'll pick will be R.D. Wingfield's Inspector Frost series. And for my Alphabetical Author's Challenge, I'll be moving back to the H's and a Susan Hill mystery, probably the 2nd Simon Serrailler mystery, The Pure in Heart, unless I can find the first in the series. Wish me luck.

So onward and upward. Let's see if I can get through the foreword to Lady Chatterley.