Year End Summary AKA What I Read in 2014.

So here it is, the 28th of December. Our Xmas celebrations (which were relaxing and just what we wanted) are over. Xmas Day was excellent; we lounged around all day, chatted with family, had an excellent Xmas dinner, watched some excellent TV (the BBC Xmas day shows). Since then we've talked about leaving the house, but other than walking the dogs, really haven't done all that much. I've enjoyed the Xmas footie season, the full days worth of games, with New Year's day still to come. I'm off until the 4th so I get to read and enjoy spending time at home. The weather has been excellent, fresh, cool, sunny for the most part. I've managed a couple of runs in the a.m. Last night, Jo and I watched two entertaining movies; Captain America: The Winter Soldier (I had already seen and enjoyed) and The Judge, a drama starring Robert Downey and Robert Duvall. Different movies but we enjoyed both.

So I've been trying to organise some of my books for the start of 2015, but am taking a break today to do my year end review of what I managed to accomplish this past year. Overall, I'm very happy with my selections this past year and with how much I managed to complete. So let's start with some totals -

Total Books read - 104 (plus the one I'm currently reading and which I plan to finish by year end - 105 books)
Total Pages read - 34, 795 (Plus the one I'm reading, which will add another 217 pages)
Total Books purchased - 147 (I fell behind somewhat as you can see, will have to behave a bit better in 2015)

Star Ratings - (Check out my previous BLog for my Top Ten list of the year)
5***** - 7
4****   - 50
3***     - 46
2**       - 1

Favourite Book - Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford (published 1924 - 28)
Biggest Disappointment - Mimic Men by V.S. Naipaul (published 1967)

Male/ Female Author breakdown

Male - 62/ Female - 42 (this will increase by one when I finish The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie.)

Genres
Fiction (Classic - my judgement) - 4
Fiction (Modern) - 7
Western - 1
Graphic Novels - 3
Horror - 4
Poetry - 1
Fantasy - 6
Humour - 1
SciFi - 2
Mystery (this was by far my favoured genre, so I've tried to break it down somewhat)
- Historical settings - 10
- Classics (e.g. Christie, Marsh) - 10
- Forensic - 3
- Psychological - 3
- Thriller (Child, etc) - 18
- Police (mostly British) - 17
- Scandinavian - 6
- Spy/ War - 2

So that is basically it, but one more breakdown. Below were some of the challenges I decided to try out this past year and how I did with them -

12+4 Reading Group Challenge

I managed to complete this challenge, finishing the 16th book on the 30th of Nov. My favourite book and my least favourite came from this list. I had a reasonable mix, that was my intent at the beginning of the year; 3 Classics - 1 - 5 star and 2 - 4 star; 2 Fiction - 1 - 4star, 1 - 2 star; 4 Non-Fiction - 4 - 3 star; 4 Mystery - 1 - 5 star and 3 - 4 star; 3 SciFi/ Fantasy - 1 5 star, 2 4 - Star

 Alphabetical Mystery Author Challenge

I renewed this challenge from my 2013 challenges, starting at the 'H' and alternating from there with the end of the alphabet. I ended up reading 19 books in this challenge, with my favourite being Black Diamond by Martin Walker. There were no real disappointments in this challenge and it introduced me to a few new authors who had been residing on my TBR shelves for awhile; Charles Todd of the Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries and Peter James of the DS Roy Grace mysteries. There were, of course, others. It did help me become more acquainted with the many varieties of mysteries/ thrillers out there. It's a great genre.

Bed-Time Authors

This was a new challenge, the purpose to try and make a dent in some of the many series that I've started. The plan was to read two books by each author selected. It was definitely a satisfactory plan. I managed to read 38 books in this challenge (well, it'll be 40 when I finish this year as I will have finished how I started, with two Agatha Christie mysteries). So many excellent series on my shelf, from MC Beaton's Agatha Raisin and Hamish MacBeth books through Lee Child's Jack Reacher series to the classics, like Dorothy Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey and Ngaio Marsh's Inspector Alleyn. There were a lot of 3 star reads in this grouping, but I wasn't dissatisfied with any of them.

A - Z Challenge

I've tried this challenge a few times in some of my groups so this year I used a variation that I kind of borrowed from other folks. I chose authors whose last name spelled out the names of our puppies; Bonnie and Clyde. 'Y' was the most difficult letter but fortunately I had a couple books written by Chic Young, based on his Dagwood and Blondie comic strip. It wasn't a classic but it was a fun selection.

Anyway, there you have it. As I mentioned previously, I have one final book to complete before 31 Dec, that being Agatha Christie's The Seven Dials Mystery, which was originally published in 1929. This particular Bantam edition, which is the one I'm reading came out in Oct 19, 1980. It is a standalone mystery, not featuring her more famous sleuths, Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot. I'm getting into it now and enjoying very much. One of the nice things about the past year has been taking the opportunity to read more of these classics and I've enjoyed very much.

So as the year winds down, I'm also looking at the challenges I've made for next year and have been setting aside some of the books on my list. I'll probably reorganise my bookshelves again before year end. What fun!

I want to take the time to thank anyone who takes the time to read this BLog. I hope you enjoy and that it gives you some reading ideas as well. Enjoy the rest of 2014 and I wish you happiness in the new year. Happy 2015!!

September Review and a Look at October

Well, Autumn has hit. It's been cool and cloudy, the trees are changing colours and I go to work in the dark. I should probably get the lawn mowed one more time and put down the fertiliser and do an Autumn seeding. It's been kind of quiet at work so I find myself making new lists to help me prepare for my 2015 Reading Challenges (had a few thoughts but nothing too serious yet) and also starting to make up my initial Top Ten 2014 lists for year end.

Footie season is in full swing and I'm doing reasonably well in my Barclay's Premiership Footie pool. I made whole sale changes after the first three weeks, using my Wild Card and have moved up a bit in the standings the past couple of weeks. Here's hoping that continues this weekend.

So onto my review of September's reading.

Goodreads Challenge. I read 11 books in September which brings my total for the year to 81. I hoped to finish 90 this year so I don't think I'll have any difficulties finishing that amount, plus some. Depending how many I actually read will probably affect how many I'm going to try and read in 2015. In September, I averaged about 300 pages per book. My longest was 576 pages, my shortest 149. Total for the year is approximately 27,300.

Of the 11 books I completed in September, most were mysteries -

Mysteries - 8
Biography - 1
Western - 1
and one classified as a Gothic Western, a strangely interesting story.

I read 7 books by female authors and 4 by male authors.

I had no five star selections this past month, but 6 were 4 stars and the remaining 5 were 3. (You can't do .5 ratings in Goodreads, but when I wrote my reviews, I do often give a 3.5 or 4.5.

As well, 8 of the books were parts of series I'm enjoying. One new series, that being the first book in MC Beaton's Hamish MacBeth series, which I enjoyed very much. I'd put it in the cozy mystery variety.

Favourite Book in September.

I think my favourite book of September was Dorothy L. Sayer's 2nd Lord Peter Wimsey book, Clouds of Witness. I've had a few of this series on my bookshelves for a couple of years and I finally read the first book in August and then this story in September. I'm glad I finally took a chance on Dorothy Sayers' writing; I enjoyed both very much. This was my review of the books. "This is the second in the Lord Peter Wimsey series of mysteries and it was as enjoyable as the first. In this story, Lord Peter's brother, Gerald is accused of murdering Lady Mary's (Peter and Gerald's sister) fiancé. Peter, along with his friend, Scotland Yard detective, Charles Parker and Peter's butler, Bunter, work to prove his innocence. An interesting story, with many suspects and a brother who is protecting somebody, it draws you in immediately. I particularly enjoyed certain aspects of the case, the fact that because Gerald is a peer, his trial must be conducted in the House of Lords. All in all, it was well-paced, well-crafted and had enough twists and turns to keep me reading and wondering. Excellent."

October Reading

October is, of course, Halloween month so I do plan to read a couple of horror stories. As well, in my UK Book Club group, the October genre is the graphic novel. In my last Blog, I mentioned that I had purchased 3 graphic novels. I've read two of them already and overall they were enjoyable. I still have one to read and that will be completed this weekend, I'm sure. At the moment, I'm reading the following books -

1. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (1959) - This is my first horror story of October and it's a classic. It's been the subject of two movie adaptations. I'm enjoying very much so far. This is the synopsis "Hill House stood abandoned, six miles off the road. Four people came to learn its secrets: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar; Luke, a spendthrift heir; Theodora, escaping a love affair... and Eleanor. Eleanor was lonely and vulnerable - to friendship, love and laughter, and to the house. Hill House, not sane, stood against its hills, holding darkness within. Whatever walked there, walked alone." I will read at least one more horror/ ghost story book in October. At the moment I'm leading towards  The Lurking Fear and Other Stories by H.P. Lovecraft.

2. The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey (1929). This is one of my alphabetical mystery challenge selections. It's the first book in the Inspector Grant series. I have read one other previously and enjoyed. Having found the first book, I must say I'm enjoying so far, even thought I'm just starting out with it. This is the synopsis "A long line had formed for the standing-room-only section of the Woffington Theatre. Didn't You Know?, London's favourite musical comedy for the past two years, was finishing its run at the end of the week. Suddenly, the line began to move, forming a wedge before the open doors as hopeful theatregoers nudged their way forward. But one man, his head sunk down upon his chest, slowly sank to his knees and then, still more slowly, keeled over on his face. Thinking he had fainted, a spectator moved to help, but recoiled in horror from what lay before him: the man in the queue had a small silver dagger neatly plunged into his back. So begins Inspector Alan Grant's first spectacular case, and it's up to the dapper detective to discover how murder was committed among so many witnesses, none of whom saw anything." My next book for this challenge will come from lower in the alphabet, the letter "J", and I will be starting my first Peter James, Inspector Roy Grace mystery, Dead Simple.

3. The Sanctuary Sparrow by Ellis Peters (Cadfael #7) - This is the latest book in my Bed-Time Author's Challenge. I've read a few of the Cadfael mysteries and have also enjoyed the television series very much. I will be reading one more of this series as I read two of each when I hit an author. The synopsis of this book is as follows "Liliwin, a wandering minstrel, is thrown out of Daniel Aurifaber's wedding feast after a jug is broken during his juggling act. Soon after, the groom's father is found senseless beside his empty money box. A lynch mob sets off after Liliwin, who claims sanctuary in the abbey. The next day, the Aurifaber's neighbour is found dead, and the ageing matriarch of their household has a seizure and dies soon after. The following day, the baddies make their escape taking the stolen gold and Rannilt - Liliwin's serving-girl friend - as hostage, but are stopped before the reach the Welsh border." This series is always enjoyable, nice and comforting and provides a bit of insight into the history of the time as well. I highly recommend you check out the series.

Not sure what else I'll read in October, but I've room for many freebies and to pick and choose to try and finish off a few miscellaneous challenges. It should be a good month. Enjoy and keep on reading!!

1st Quarter 2014 Review and other Miscellany

It's hard to believe it's already April 2014. I've been looking back over the past few months and I don't know where the time has gone. But, hey, that's what life is all about, right? The past couple of weeks have been kind of busy and fun as well. Our contractor is now almost finished installing our sprinkler system for our garden. They've had nice weather for the most part, except yesterday, when it was pretty well steady rain. I'm looking forward to getting it working; I'm the laziest guy I know and after a few weeks of spending my alternating evenings moving the sprinkler around the yard, those alternating days sometimes became once a week or maybe even longer. I love our house, but yard work is probably my lowest priority. (It's hard to watch the TV or sit on the sofa and read if you're out in the yard working.. ).. lol. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how it all works out when they are done and if we can finally get the whole yard up to snuff. We did do a pretty good job last year. The yard was the best it's been since we moved in here.

Besides that, I've been having fun on Facebook with the missus, her sister and her husband. I started a thread about 3 weeks ago, complaining about all the crappy songs that came out in 1974 and started posting them on my Facebook page; songs like Billy Don't Be a Hero, The Night Chicago Died and others. Well that kind of graduated into posts from the four of us about songs from 1974 that weren't all that bad; Rikki Don't Lose that Number, Help Me (Joni Mitchell) and many, many others. Well, we've kind of carried that theme on the past two weeks; we've just finished some of the great songs of 1976 and this weekend, we'll start 1977. I've got to get into my archives and start picking some of my favourites to start posting on Saturday.

 

I've got to say, looking over the songs of the mid-70's has brought back many fond memories of my university years, 1974 - 78 and working at CHCL Radio in Cold Lake from 1978 - 81. I bought my first stereo, a quadraphonic stereo with 8-track and turntable and radio when I went to university. I'd love to show you a photo of it, but all I can seem to find is the one above which only shows one of the speakers. It was a great little system (at least I thought so anyway); when I moved into residence in '75, I used to use it for our House parties and I really started to accumulate LPs at that time. Some of my favourite record stores with Sam the Record Man, Round Records (you could trade in records there), I think A&M records? It has been awhile. I definitely spent too much money on records. When I moved to Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake and worked a the Base radio station, you could order records for dirt cheap; I think $3.00 an LP instead of $10ish downtown. The record company would punch a hole in the jacket and they were called deletes. Ah yes, fond memories. I'm looking forward to seeing what songs/ albums from 1977 will come up next week.

 

Now on to books. Since we've just completed the first quarter of 2014, I thought I'd just review what I've managed to accomplish from Jan through Mar. So here we go -

 

My Goodreads Challenge. This year I decided to try and read 90 books. So far, after 3 months, I've completed 24 books. If I can keep that pace up, I should manage to exceed my challenge by a couple of books. I do have a few big tomes to read this year, but I'll keep trying. Looking at my stats page on Goodreads, I've also read 8,800 pages. I didn't really set a challenge for number of pages, but over the last couple of years I've averaged 28,500 pages. So all things being equal, I'm good to exceed that as well. We'll see how it all ends up Dec 31st.

 

Favourite book so far - I'm kind of surprised by this, but this was definitely my favourite book so far and my only 5 star read. If you're interested, this was the review I added to my book page - "Definitely a book out of my normal comfort zone, but such an excellent read. I had ideas about what to expect; a banned book, due to its rawness, explicit sexual language, but I was surprised. It's a thoughtful story of a woman, living in a marriage with a broken man; physically broken from the war, but also emotionally broken. Constance loves Clifford Chatterley anyway, cares for him, comforts him, but finds her life to be stagnant, loveless, emotionless. She meets Oliver Mellors, an other ex-soldier who now works as the game keeper on the Chatterley estate and finds herself drawn to him. The story is about their developing relationship, both emotional and sexual. I expected the sex to be graphic, raw, but other than some language, it was crafted very lovingly, very gently on the whole. The story itself is interesting, the characters as well and the interludes describing the countryside, coal mining country are also well-crafted. An excellent story and I'm glad I finally pulled the book off my shelves to read."

 

So far I've had -

 

5***** reads - 1

4**** reads - 14

3*** reads - 8

2** reads - 1

 

 

Least favourite book - This was the second V.S. Naipaul book I've ever read and it was so very disappointing. I've got a couple of others still sitting on my shelf to read, but I won't leap to try them after this one. Here was my review - 

"This book was a real chore for me. I just couldn't get into the main character, who was basically writing his autobiography. It was well-written, but it didn't draw me in at all, didn't grab my interest. It's unfortunate, as I've previously read A Home for Mr Biswas and enjoyed that more. I don't know what else to say, but that it was disappointing. However, I'm sure others might like it. Just not for me."

 

Various Stats -

 

Male/ Female Authors
Male - 10, Female - 13

 

Genre
Mystery - 16
Fantasy - 2
Thriller - 2
Fiction - 1
Classic - 2

 

1st time Authors - 9

Challenge Status

 

12 + 4 Reading Group Challenge - So far I've read 5 of my selections and am currently reading my sixth. These are the books I've read so far -

 

1. Mimic Men by V.S. Naipaul - 2 stars (see thoughts above)

2. In the Woods by Tana French - 4 stars

3. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman - 4 stars

4. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster - 4 stars (probably my favourite of this Reading challenge so far

5. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - 4 stars

 

(I'm currently reading The Long Run by Matt Long and enjoying so far)

 

Alphabetical Mystery Author Challenge - I've read six books in this challenge so far; this is a continuation from last year, with the exception that this I year I alternate from the bottom of the alphabet to the top of the alphabet with each book. I've enjoyed all of my selections so far -

 

1. Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith - 4 stars

2. The Sultan's Seal by Jenny White - 4 stars

3. No Good Deed by Lynn S. Hightower - 4 stars

4. She Came Back by Patricia Wentworth - 3 stars

5. The Pure in Heart by Susan Hill - 4 stars

6. Last Seen Wearing by Hillary Waugh - 4 stars

 

(I've now moved back to the H's for my next selection, The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz and enjoying very much. This story is a Sherlock Holmes mystery)

 

Bed-time Authors Challenge - These are my bed-time books; I try to read two books by each author. At the moment it seems that all of my authors are mystery writers but I will read others as well. I'm enjoying very much so far, have read 10 books. It's allowed me to mix up first-time authors (for me) and re-engage with authors whose books have been neglected on my TBR shelves for much too long. These are the authors I've read so far -

 

1. Agatha Christie - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and N or M? both 4 star books

2. Jefferson Bass (author of the Bone Yard series, a new author for me) - Carve in Bone and Flesh and Bone (both 4 stars)

3. Margery Allingham (Albert Campion mysteries) - Death of a Ghost and Dancers in Mourning (both 3 stars)

4. Lee Child (Jack Reacher thrillers) - Killing Floor and Die Trying (both 3.5 stars)

5. Kate Ellis (DI Joe Plantagenet mysteries, a new author for me) - Playing with Bones and Seeking the Dead (both 4 stars)

 

(I'm going back to an old favourite for my next author, Nevada Barr, who writes the Anna Pigeon mysteries, each set in a US National Park. Love them, they are like comfort food. I'm reading Number 5 at the moment, Endangered Species.)

 

There are various other challenges going; the Genre Challenge, Time Traveller's Challenge, etc. They are all going very well, steady progress so to speak.

 

Finally, these are my favourite 3 books so far -

 

1. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

2. The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Potzsch

3. A Room with a View by E.M.Forster.

 

So there you have it, my latest. Have a great weekend. I hope it's sunny and spring-like wherever you might be.

 

Keep on reading!

 

 

 

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.

2104 Reading Group Challenge - 12 + 4 Books

In one of my earliest posts of December, I provided my first thoughts on what I might do for my Reading Group Challenge in 2014. Well, I've now finalised my list so below is my list of books. One change that the Book Addicts moderators made to the 2014 challenge. Normally we provide 12 books plus 2 alternatives. They changed it slightly to give everybody more flexibility by making it 4 alternatives. So with my love of list making, I got to pick 2 more books. :0)

So without further ado.... drum roll please... tatatatatadum, here is my list of books -

1. Classics - Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford.
Ford Madox Ford’s tetralogy set in England during World War I is widely considered one of the best novels of the twentieth century. First published as four separate novels (Some Do Not…, No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up, and The Last Post) between 1924 and 1928, Parade’s End explores the world of the English ruling class as it descends into the chaos of war.

2. Fiction  - Mimic Men  by V.S. Naipaul.  A profound novel of cultural displacement, The Mimic Men masterfully evokes a colonial man’s experience in a post colonial world. Born of Indian heritage and raised on a British-dependent Caribbean island, Ralph Singh has retired to suburban London, writing his memoirs as a means to impose order on a chaotic existence. His memories lead him to recognise the paradox of his childhood during which he secretly fantasised about a heroic India, yet changed his name from Ranjit Kripalsingh. As he assesses his short-lived marriage to an ostentatious white woman, Singh realises what has kept him from becoming a proper Englishman. But it is the return home and his subsequent immersion in the roiling political atmosphere of a newly self-governed nation that ultimately provide Singh with the necessary insight to discover the crux of his disillusionment.

3. Non-Fiction - The Long Run by Matt Long . On the morning of December 22, 2005, Matt Long was cycling to work in the early morning when he was struck by and sucked under a 20-ton bus making an illegal turn. The injuries he sustained pushed him within inches of his life. Miraculously, more than 40 operations and months later, Matt was able to start his recovery. In spite of the severity of his injuries, Matt found the psychological consequences of the accident nearly as hard to process. He would no longer be able to compete at the highest level. In the 18 months before the accident, he had competed in more than 20 events including several triathlons and marathons and had qualified for running’s most prestigious race, the Boston Marathon. After the accident, his doctor told him he’d be lucky if he could even walk without a cane. The Long Run is an emotional and incredibly honest story about Matt’s determination to fight through fear, despair, loneliness, and intense physical and psychological pain to regain the life he once had. The book chronicles Matt’s road to recovery as he teaches himself to walk again and, a mere three years later, to run in the 2008 New York City Marathon—a gimpy seven-and-a-half hour journey through the five boroughs. “Running saved my life,” Matt says, and his embrace of the running community and insistence on competing in the marathon has inspired many, turning him into a symbol of hope and recovery for untold numbers of others.

4. Mystery - The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen. The Keeper of Lost Causes, the first instalment of Adler-Olsen's Department Q series, features the deeply flawed chief detective Carl MØrck, who used to be a good homicide detective-one of Copenhagen's best. Then a bullet almost took his life. Two of his colleagues weren't so lucky, and Carl, who didn't draw his weapon, blames himself. So a promotion is the last thing Carl expects. But it all becomes clear when he sees his new office in the basement. Carl's been selected to run Department Q, a new special investigations division that turns out to be a department of one. With a stack of Copenhagen's coldest cases to keep him company, Carl's been put out to pasture. So he's as surprised as anyone when a case actually captures his interest. A missing politician vanished without a trace five years earlier. The world assumes she's dead. His colleagues snicker about the time he's wasting. But Carl may have the last laugh, and redeem himself in the process.

5. Sci Fi/ Fantasy - Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey. In a ruined and toxic landscape, a community exists in a giant silo underground, hundreds of stories deep. There, men and women live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them. Sheriff Holston, who has unwaveringly upheld the silo's rules for years, unexpectedly breaks the greatest taboo of all: He asks to go outside. His fateful decision unleashes a drastic series of events. An unlikely candidate is appointed to replace him: Juliette, a mechanic with no training in law, whose special knack is fixing machines. Now Juliette is about to be entrusted with fixing her silo, and she will soon learn just how badly her world is broken. The silo is about to confront what its history has only hinted about and its inhabitants have never dared to whisper. Uprising.

6. Classic - The Ladies' Paradise by Emile Zola - The Ladies Paradise (Au Bonheur des Dames) recounts the rise of the modern department store in late nineteenth-century Paris. The store is a symbol of capitalism, of the modern city, and of the bourgeois family: it is emblematic of changes in consumer culture and the changes in sexual attitudes and class relations taking place at the end of the century. Octave Mouret, the store's owner-manager, masterfully exploits the desires of his female customers. In his private life as much as in business he is the great seducer. But when he falls in love with the innocent Denise Baudu, he discovers she is the only one of the salesgirls who refuses to be commodified.

7. Mystery - In the Woods by Tana French. As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours. Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox - his partner and closest friend - find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

 


8. Sci Fi/ Fantasy - Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Richard Mayhew is a plain man with a good heart - and an ordinary life that is changed forever on a day he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. From that moment forward he is propelled into a world he never dreamed existed - a dark subculture flourishing in abandoned subway stations and sewer tunnels below the city - a world far stranger and more dangerous than the only one he has ever known.

9. Fiction - What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies. Francis Cornish was always good at keeping secrets. From the well-hidden family secret of his childhood to his mysterious encounters with a small -town embalmer, an expert art restorer, a Bavarian countess, and various masters of espionage, the events in Francis's life were not always what they seemed. In this wonderfully ingenious portrait of an art expert and collector of international renown, Robertson Davies has created a spellbinding tale of artistic triumph and heroic deceit. It is a tale told in stylish, elegant prose, endowed with lavish portions of Davies's wit and wisdom.

 

10. Classic - A Room with a View by E.M. Forster. Published in 1908, A Room with A View is one of E. M. Forster's most celebrated works. Forster explores love among a cast of eccentric characters gathered in an Italian pension and in a corner of Surrey, England. Caught up in a world of social snobbery, Lucy Honeychurch must make a decision that will decide the course of her future: She is forced to choose between convention and passion.

 

11. Non-Fiction  My Week with Marilyn & The Prince, the Showgirl and Me by Colin Clark . England, 1956. Hollywood's biggest star- Marilyn Monroe- desperately needs time away from a difficult movie shoot opposite Laurence Olivier and the pressures of her new marriage to the playwright Arthur Miller. She turns her attention to Colin Clark, a young and handsome assistant on the set. Together they escape, beginning a remarkable true adventure: an innocent week in the English countryside in which Clark becomes Marilyn's confidant and ally... and maybe falls a little bit in love.

12. Mystery -  A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin. In 1176, King Henry II sends his daughter Joanna to Palermo to marry his cousin, the king of Sicily. Henry chooses Adelia Aguilar, his Mistress of the Art of Death, to travel with the princess and safeguard her health. But when people in the wedding procession are murdered, Adelia and Rowley must discover the killer's identity . . . and whether he is stalking the princess or Adelia herself.







And then the 4 alternates...

Alt 1 - Classic - Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. In Paris, Orwell lived in verminous rooms and washed dishes at the overpriced "Hotel X," in a remarkably filthy, 110-degree kitchen. He met "eccentric people – people who have fallen into solitary, half-mad grooves of life and given up trying to be normal or decent." Though Orwell's tone is that of an outraged reformer, it's surprising how entertaining many of his adventures are: gnawing poverty only enlivens the imagination, and the wild characters he met often swindled each other and themselves. The wackiest tale involves a miser who ate cats, wore newspapers for underwear, invested 6,000 francs in cocaine, and hid it in a face-powder tin when the cops raided. They had to free him, because the apparently controlled substance turned out to be face powder instead of cocaine.

In London, Orwell studied begging with a crippled expert named Bozo, a great storyteller and philosopher. Orwell devotes a chapter to the fine points of London guttersnipe slang. Years later, he would put his lexical bent to work by inventing Newspeak, and draw on his down-and-out experience to evoke the plight of the Proles in 1984. Though marred by hints of unexamined anti-Semitism, Orwell's debut remains, as The Nation put it, "the most lucid portrait of poverty in the English language."

Alt 2 - Non-Fiction - A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester. In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco was overcome by the violent shocks of an enormous earthquake, registering 8.25 on the Richter scale. The tremors and rumbling, affecting a swathe of California more than 200 miles long, triggered a vast firestorm in the city, effectively destroying the gold rush capital that had stood there for half a century. Simon Winchester brings his inimitable storytelling abilities to this extraordinary event, exploring not only what happened in northern California nearly 100 years ago, but what we have learned since then about the geological underpinnings that caused the earthquake in the first place.


Alt 3 - Mystery - The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler. Tumba, Sweden. A triple homicide, all of the victims from the same family, captivates Detective Inspector Joona Linna, who demands to investigate the grisly murders -- against the wishes of the national police. The killer is at large, and it appears that the elder sister of the family escaped the carnage; it seems only a matter of time until she, too, is murdered. But where can Linna begin? The only surviving witness is an intended victim -- the boy whose mother, father, and little sister were killed before his eyes. Whoever committed the crimes intended for this boy to die: he has suffered more than one hundred knife wounds and Lapsed into a state of shock. He's in no condition to be questioned. Desperate for information, Linna sees one mode of recourse: hypnotism. He enlists Dr. Erik Maria Bark to mesmerise the boy, hoping to discover the killer through his eyes. It's the sort of work that Bark had sworn he would never do again-ethically dubious and psychically scarring. When he breaks his promise and hypnotises the victim, a long and terrifying chain of events begins to unfurl.

Alt 4 - Sci Fi/ Fantasy - Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service. Characters from books literally leap off the page in this engrossing fantasy. Meggie has had her father to herself since her mother went away when she was young. Mo taught her to read when she was five, and the two share a mutual love of books. He can "read" characters out of books. When she was three, he read aloud from a book called Inkheart and released characters into the real world. At the same time, Meggie's mother disappeared into the story. This "story within a story" will delight not just fantasy fans, but all readers who like an exciting plot with larger-than-life characters.

So there you have it, my 12 + 4 Reading Group Challenge books. Now the trick will be what one to start with.. :0)

Have a great weekend!