January 2024 Reading Summary

We've had a few rainy days but the past two have been glorious, 10℃ and sunny for the most part. Bonnie went down to the vet today (well, actually, I drove her) and got her latest glucose monitor attached. I'm going to use the phone app this time.. well, we'll see. Me = No technical wizard. It's currently charging up.. 

So here it is, February 1, 2024 which means it's time for my first monthly reading update of 2024. I think I'm going to keep it a bit simpler this time. Let's see.

January 2024 Reading Update

(Reviews can be found in previous posts. Just scroll down to January 2024 and click and all of the posts for January will be opened) Overall, I completed 9 books in January, roughly 2300 pages in total.

1. 12 + 4 Reading Challenge - The Works of Ursula K. Le Guin. (Completed 2 books in this challenge in January.)

a. Rocannon's World (Hainish Cycle #1 / 1966). (3.5 stars). 

b. Tehanu (Earthsea #4 / 1990) (4.5 stars) I think this was my favorite book of January)

c. Currently Reading - The Beginning Place (1980). 

"A magical place across a creek provides sanctuary for two young people in flight from the banality of their daily lives, until their paradise turns into a hell on Earth that threatens to destroy them."

d. Next in Line - Very Far Away from Anywhere Else (1976).

"A slender, realistic story of a young man's coming of age, Very Far Away from Anywhere Else is one of the most inspiring novels Ursula K. Le Guin ever published. Owen is seventeen and smart. He knows what he wants to do with his life. But then he meets Natalie and he realizes he doesn't know anything much at all."

2. Series Challenge - Start, Continue or Finish a Series.

3 books completed in this challenge in January.

a. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (Oxford Time Travel #1 / 1992) This was a carry-over from 2023. Most enjoyable book. (4.5 stars). In my top 3 for January.

b. Murder and the First Lady by Elliot Roosevelt (Eleanor Roosevelt #1 / 1984). The first book in a mystery series by the son of FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt, featuring the First Lady. (4.0 stars)

c. Dekok and the Geese of Death by A.C. Baantjer (Inspector Dekok #20 / 2004). I'll provide the review of this book since I just finished it on the 31st. It's a mystery series set in Amsterdam. Not my favorite but an easy, usually interesting read.

"DeKok and the Geese of Death is the 20th book in the Inspector Dekok (as he says every time, 'with a K-O-K') by Dutch mystery writer A.C. Baantjer. I've read 3 of the books, well, 4 now, and while it's not my favorite mystery series, they are generally enjoyable, easy reads.

Inspector Dekok and his partner Vledder have finally caught suspected murderer Igor Stablinsky. As Dekok interrogates him, he is distracted by his partner and Stablinsky makes a run for it and escapes from the police station.

Dekok and Vledder want to immediately go after Igor but are placed on another case, one outside their jurisdiction. Isolde Bildijk, a crippled but wealthy woman, is in fear for her life, and has refused the help of the local police, instead demanding that Dekok, based on his reputation, be the one to help her. They arrive at an estate patrolled by a flock of geese. These geese will later be killed.

Truculent, Dekok and Vledder would rather be trying to find Igor but are distracted by Isolde and later on by her family who come down to support her. 

There will be other murders and Dekok will try to tie them to Igor, all the while stumbling somewhat in his investigation of the Bildijk family and the threat to it. The story is a somewhat wandering tale and Dekok fits the mold of the grumpy, smart inspector who has friction with his bosses but seems to things done. 

Ultimately, the case comes together for the two detectives. The resolution is satisfactory. There are interesting secondary characters and you do get some nice pictures of Amsterdam and its life. Not a perfect mystery but still entertaining. (3.0 stars)"

d. Lore Olympus Volume 5 by Rachel Smythe (2023). It's February, romance month so this is one of my selections.

"Witness what the gods do after dark in the fifth volume of a stylish and contemporary reimagining of one of the best-known stories in Greek mythology, featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes content from creator Rachel Smythe.

"You want to know about The Bringer of Death."

It is Persephone's birthday, and she receives the ultimate gift: Hades confesses his desire for her, leading to their first kiss. But that doesn't necessarily make things easier for the goddess of spring, who is still in over her head in gossip-driven Olympus. Persephone feels intense guilt over the official breakup between Hades and Minthe, she is struggling to find her footing in her fast-paced job, and-worst of all-the shades of her past are slowly coming to light.

After an unexpected encounter with Apollo, Persephone flees into the depths of the Underworld. Concerned for her safety and determined to find her, Hades must team up with Artemis, Eros, and Hera, but they're working against a ticking clock. Zeus knows about the bloody secret in Persephone's past, and now the furious king of the gods will stop at nothing to bring her to justice."

e. Next in Line - Look to the Lady by Margery Allingham (Albert Campion #3 / 1931) It's been a long time since I checked out this series. I'm looking forward to it.

"Finding himself the victim of a botched kidnapping attempt, Val Gyrth suspects that he might be in a spot of trouble. Unexpected news to him – but not to the mysterious Mr. Campion, who reveals that the ancient Chalice entrusted to Val’s family is being targeted by a ruthless ring of thieves.

Fleeing London for the supposed safety of Suffolk, Val and Campion come face to face with events of a perilous and puzzling nature – Campion might be accustomed to outwitting criminal minds, but can he foil supernatural forces?"

3. Non - Series Challenge (Any genre).

I'm still working on the book I started the month with. It's ok so far which is a bit disappointing because I really enjoyed the first book I read by the author.

a. Currently Reading - The Fall of the Sparrow by Nigel Balchin (1955). I enjoyed The Small Back Room very much.

"What made Jason Pellew, a sensitive man whose unconscious charm excused many failings, turn to a career of sordid crime?

Son of a peppery Colonel who died in a lunatic asylum. Sensuously dominated by elder boys at public school. An amiable eccentric at University. A breaker - up of Fascist meetings. Volunteer in the Spanish Civil War. Lover of a Jewish girl tortured by the Gestapo. Recklessly gallant combat officer. Brilliant cloak and dagger boy. Married to a nymphomaniac.

Where and when did this cherub with the shy smile take the wrong road?"

b. Next in line. Oath and Honor: A Memoir of Warning by Liz Cheney (2023). I want to read this sooner than later.

"A gripping first-hand account from inside the halls of Congress as Donald Trump and his enablers betrayed the American people and the Constitution--leading to the violent attack on our Capitol on January 6th, 2021—by the House Republican leader who dared to stand up to it.

 
In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump and many around him, including certain other elected Republican officials, intentionally breached their oath to the they ignored the rulings of dozens of courts, plotted to overturn a lawful election, and provoked a violent attack on our Capitol.   Liz Cheney, one of the few Republican officials to take a stand against these efforts, witnessed the attack first-hand, and then helped lead the Congressional Select Committee investigation into how it happened. In Oath and Honor , she tells the story of this perilous moment in our history, those who helped Trump spread the stolen election lie, those whose actions preserved our constitutional framework, and the risks we still face."

4. The Tome Challenge - Books over 500 pages long.

I completed one book in this challenge in January.

a. Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon (2023). I picked this book by chance. Enjoyed it immensely. Read it. (4.0 stars)

b. Currently Reading - The White Road by John Connolly (Charlie Parker #4 / 2003). I'm reading this out of sequence. Enjoying it very much so far. It moves along very nicely.

"John Connolly thrilled readers with his bestselling novels, "Every Dead Thing, Dark Hollow," and "The Killing Kind." Now he delivers spellbinding suspense as Charlie Parker races to unravel a brutal crime committed in the Deep South. After years of suffering unfathomable pain and guilt over the murders of his wife and daughter, private detective Charlie Parker has finally found some measure of peace. As he and his lover, Rachel, are awaiting the birth of their first child and settling into an old farmhouse in rural Maine, Parker has found the kind of solace often lost to those who have been touched by true evil.

But darkness soon descends when Parker gets a call from Elliot Norton, an old friend from his days as a detective with the NYPD. Now practicing law in Charleston, South Carolina, Elliot is defending a young black man accused of raping and killing his white girlfriend, the daughter of a powerful Southern millionaire. Reluctantly, Parker agrees to help Elliot and by doing so ventures into a living nightmare, a bloody dreamscape haunted by the specter of a hooded woman and a black car waiting for a passenger who never arrives. Beginning as an investigation into a young woman's death, it is a fast-moving descent into an abyss where forces conspire to destroy all that Parker holds dear."

c. Next in Line - The Ministry of the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson (2020). A new author I've wanted to try for awhile.

"The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us. Chosen by Barack Obama as one of his favorite books of the year, this extraordinary novel from visionary science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson will change the way you think about the climate crisis."

5. Monthly Focus - Specific Authors

a. January Focus - Agatha Christie.

I read 3 books by Christie, a Hercule Poirot, a Miss Marple and a Tommy and Tuppence. All very enjoyable.

By the Pricking of My Thumbs (Tommy & Tuppence #4 / 1968). Tuppence was the main star of this book. (4.0 stars)

The Big Four (Hercule Poirot #5 / 1927). Of the 3 books I read in January, I enjoyed this the least. But it was still enjoyable. (3.0 stars)

They Do it With Mirrors (Miss Marple #6 / 1952). I have yet to be disappointed by a Miss Marple. It may have to do with how much Jo and I enjoy watching the Marple mysteries on TV, but she's just a wonderful character. (4.0 stars)

b. February Focus - Adam Hall. Hall is author of the Quiller spy thrillers. He also wrote under other names; Elleston Trevor for one. I previously enjoyed The Flight of the Phoenix which he wrote as Trevor. I've read a couple of the Quiller books thus far and I'll focus on that series in February.

Currently Reading - The 9th Directive (or Quiller in Bangkok) (Quiller #2 / 1966). 

"The setting is Thailand. A very important representative of the Queen is scheduled to visit Bangkok on a good-will tour. A threat has been made against his life, and somewhere amidst the golden spires awaits a deadly assassin.

The top-secret British espionage bureau feels ordinary security precautions are not sufficient, so they call in agent Quiller. He's a cynical loner, but the only man capable of tracking down the would-be killer. The tale is complex, set at a breathless pace!"

Next in Line - The Striker Portfolio (Quiller #3 / 1968).

"The latest British super-fighter has killed thirty-six pilots in high-impact crashes, and Quiller is determined to solve the mystery."

There you go. See any books that tweak your interest?