Now on to the August Reading summary.
I'm happy with my progress to-date. I'm on schedule to read 120 books this year, I guess it depends mostly on how challenging the books are that I choose for the remaining 4 months. At any rate, my main aim is to catch up on series and also try books out of my normal genres.
Now for the General info..
General Stats
Aug 2017 Total
Books Read 9 80
Pages Read 2,650 21,600
Pages Breakdown
< 250 5 39
250 - 350 2 25
351 - 450 2 12
> 450 4
Ratings
5 - star 0 7
4 - star 3 42
3 - star 6 28
2 - star 3
Author Gender
Female 3 20
Male 6 60
Genres
Fiction 5 17
Mystery 3 39
SciFi 1 22
Non-Fic 1
Classics 1
2017 Reading Challenges
12 + 4 Part Deux (1900 - 1950) - I have one book left to finish in this challenge
C.S. Forester - The Happy Return (4 stars)
Chic Young - Blondie & Dagwood's Secret Service (3 stars)
John Buchan - The Island of Sheep (3.5 stars)
Graham Greene - A Gun for Sale (4 stars)
Canadian Literature (completed 3 of 5)
The Classics (pre - 1900) (completed 1 or 4)
Mysteries (The Cops) (completed 16 or 25)
Julia Keller - A Killing in the Hills (4 stars)
Donna Leon - Fatal Remedies (3.5 stars)
Mysteries (The Sleuths) (completed 15 of 25)
Laurie R. King - A Letter of Mary (3 stars)
Fantasy (completed 4 of 10)
Edgar Rice Burroughs - Tarzan of the Apes (3.5 stars)
Horror (completed 3 of 5)
Jonathan Maberry - Patient Zero (3.5 stars)
Science Fiction (completed 2 of 5)
Fiction (completed 3 of 10)
Spies / Thrillers / War (completed 2 of 10)
Non - Fiction (1 of 5)
Top Three Books of August (no 5-star reads in August)
"A Gun for Sale|2497518] was Graham Greene's 7th novel, published originally in 1936. I've been slowly going through his books, especially his earlier works and he's become a favourite of mine. I can see inspirations for books like Brighton Rock in this book. In fact, it was his next published work.
The story is about Raven, a gun for hire, is sent to kill a foreign war minister. He is paid with stolen money, which makes him the subject of a police investigation by Scotland Yard (who don't know about his assassination). The officer in charge, Inspector Mather, is engaged to Anne, an aspiring actress about to go to Nottwich for a job in a panto show. Coincidentally, the man, Davis / Cholomondeley (he does go by various names) who paid Raven is on the train and being followed by Raven who wants to exact revenge for how he was tricked.
An undercurrent throughout the story is the ominous threat of war, partly due to the assassination, which is causing stress and mistrust within Europe.
The story is a string of coincidences; Anne is kidnapped by Raven as he tries to avoid the police; Anne goes to dinner with Davis and has her life threatened; Mather is assigned the case of trying to track down Raven; etc. It sounds convoluted but the story is presented in a straight-forward manner, tying up many aspects of the coincidences and making for an entertaining, interesting, tense story. The characters are well-crafted and you do get a good sense of who they are and why they are. All in all, a most enjoyable story. (4 stars)"
"[book:A Killing in the Hills|18917365] is the first Bell Elkins mystery by [author:Julia Keller|1245113]. The story is set in rural West Virginia and Elkins is the local District Attorney. Something happened to Bell during her childhood in the town of Acker's Gap, which becomes apparent as you progress through the story. She married at a later date and moved to Washington DC with her husband, a new lawyer. Bell also got her law degree but wanted to return to Acker's Gap to help the people of that community; ending up with her going alone with her daughter, Carla.
The story starts with a triple murder in the town, 3 old men sitting having coffee at the local restaurant. Carla is one of the people who sees the shooting. Bell is also working on a case in which a mentally handicapped boy is charged with the murder of his friend. As well, Carla, a typical teenager?, is rebelling, anger issues, suspended driver's license. Bell's best friend, Ruthie, is suffering with cancer, and, oh yes, Bell's sister is coming up for a parole hearing for the murder of their father, many years ago. So, yes a lot is going on.
But Keller is able to tie this all together to make an interesting, tense story. It flows very nicely and there are characters, especially Bell (Belfa) and the sheriff, Nick Fogelsong, with long ties to Bell, who are developed nicely. The past and the present are tied together, the murderer is well-described and interesting/ somewhat scary, and the mysteries are nicely tied up. There are enough loose ends at the end of the book; especially re. Bell's daughter and Bell's sister, to make you want to find out more about this series. I enjoyed very much and look forward to trying the next, Bitter River. (4 stars)"
"Chronologically, [book:The Happy Return|84753] is the sixth book of the adventures of Horatio Hornblower by [author:C.S. Forester|932179]. It was the first book of Hornblower adventures written by Forester, published in 1937. It's the eighth book I've read so far, so as you can see, I've not been following either sequence. lol
With all that preamble, The Happy Return, like most of the Hornblower stories, was an excellent adventure. In this story, we find Horatio in a new location, in the Pacific, off the coast of Nicaragua. His secret mission is to provide arms and assistance to a colonial revolutionary, El Supremo, in his battle against the Spanish colonisers. It turns out that El Supremo is quite mad. Hornblower captures a Spanish two-decker and is ordered to turn it over to El Supremo and his crew. Hornblower then escorts El Supremo's army to Managua, or nearby, and then continues to Panama.
His orders are there changed as England and Spain are now allies in the war against Napoleon. Hornblower with a passenger on board, Lady Barbara Wellesley, must now go and try to keep El Natividad, the Spanish ship from capturing Spanish cargo ships headed to Panama. The battle with El Natividad is a fascinating story in its own right and so well described.
All in all it's a great adventure tale. You still have to deal with Hornblower's many moods; especially his self-criticism. This is compounded with the presence of Lady Barbara. However, his crew loves Hornblower, for his tactical flair and his sailing skills and his fairness (for the most part) to them. You take the good with the bad in a Hornblower tale. Well worth reading if you want to get a feel for the time period and also like a rollicking good adventure. (4 stars)"
Currently Reading
As we end August, I'm currently reading -
2. Jacqueline Winspear - Birds of a Feather. This is the second Maisie Dobbs mystery.
3. John P. Marquand - Last Laugh, Mr. Moto. I've enjoyed the other Mr. Moto spy thrillers I've read so far.
4. C.S. Forester - The African Queen. This is my last book in the 12 + 4 challenge.
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