For Janice - Books Part 4

 

Firstly, Happy 2024! May you have a great year. Last night, Jo and I relaxed and watched Kenneth Branagh's Death on the Nile. It was quite enjoyable. I had my annual Scotch and water and Jo made a nice little cake which we enjoyed very much. 2024 seems to have started off mild and calm at the moment. Mind you it's only 9 a.m. here on the West Coast.

I've begun my 2024 reading, read about 40 pages this morning; starting both The Big Four by Agatha Christie and Eve by Cat Bohannon. I liked them both so far.

Above the window

Before the day moves on too quickly, let's continue with my look at book shelves and the books we have on them. In Part 3, I looked at the built-ins in the extra bedroom, the left side that is. Now I'll move on to the center. This includes the shelves just above the window and also the drawers we had installed below the window seat.

1. Left of Center. (Not the Suzanne Vega song... although if you want to here it, here it is. 😎) Now back to bookshelves.

Left of center (alphabetically files)

The books above the window are all Penguin's. I like them for the covers and, of course the stories and authors. You've got a mix, as usual, John Buchan, who wrote The 39 Steps and whose other works I've been exploring. There is British mystery writer John Bingham. I had previously enjoyed Five Roundabouts to Heaven and My Name is Michael Sibley, both excellent mysteries. I have a couple of more to try. There is Edmund Crispin's Gervase Fen mystery series. A couple of classics, The Return of Sherlock Holmes and Silas Marner (George Eliot is one of my favorites of the Classics genre) I've been working through C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower naval adventure series, still have a couple to go in that series. And besides a couple of other authors, I do enjoy delving into Graham Greene every year or so.

Right of Center (H - the end)

2. Right of Center. We start on the right side with another of my favorite authors, Patricia Highsmith. I've enjoyed a few of her mysteries over the years. She does have a unique way of presenting her mysteries. Working your way through mystery authors, Michael Innes (a new author for me) to Philip Kerr (relatively new) and Peter Lovesey (I've enjoyed a couple) you get to Daphne du Maurier's The House on the Strand. That was the first book by du Maurier that I ever read and I've had since my university days. I've read a few times, a love story fueled by drug-induced time travel. Let's see. What else? I love Canadian author Margaret Millar. She has fast become one of my favorite mystery writers and never disappoints. John Mortimer's Rumpole of the Bailey is always a fun read and good legal mysteries. George Orwell is another whose work I've enjoyed. I've read Burmese Stories a couple of times and I enjoy his non-fiction as well as his fiction. I need to read Nineteen Eighty-Four again. Scrolling down the shelf, you've got Sci Fi from HG Wells, humor from PG Wodehouse (Jeeves and Wooster) and another of my favorite Sci Fi authors, John Wyndham. I've read The Day of the Triffids and The Chrysalids a few times.

The window seat boxes

So there you go, the top center shelf for your viewing pleasure. Now to the bottom, below the window seat.

There are 4 boxes, not deep, and at the moment, I use them for overflow (1st left continues my mysteries from the bottom row), some previous challenge books, and some favorites that I've removed from the other shelves until I decide what to do with them. I've pulled the books out and photographed them on the easy chair that rests in front of the window seat. (Left to right)

Mysteries S - Y

1. 1st left (Mysteries continued). The list includes Karin Slaughter whose Will Trent series was turned into a great TV series. There is Lesley Thomson. I've just started her Detective's daughter series and liked very much. Minette Walters has written some of my favorite standalone mysteries, just a great author. Relatively new authors to me, Ruth Ware and SJ Watson. I like Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs' historical mystery series. And then a couple of others I'm looking forward to trying.

2. 2nd left (previous challenges) In 2023, one of my reading challenges was to finish a bunch of series. I didn't succeed as well as I'd hoped. The books in this drawer are the series I didn't get to. I hope to read them as part of a Series challenge I've got for 2024. Iron Council by China Mieville is a Sci Fi trilogy I have enjoyed very much. The world he has created is filled with weird and wonderful creatures. I will get to Iron Council this year. I have some other books by Mieville on my other shelves as well. Eric Rickstad wrote a crime trilogy, Canaan Crime. I have read the middle book. Silent Girls and The Names of the Dead Girls. Giles Blunt is a Canadian mystery writer, author of the John Cardinal mystery thriller series set in North Bay Ontario. It was also an excellent TV crime series. Crime Machine is the last one I have to read in this series. Daniel Silva writes spy fiction. The Marching Season is the 2nd and final book in his Michael 0sbourne series. 

Middle right

3. Middle Right (These are all books I've enjoyed, mostly Sci Fi and Fantasy but with one Hard Crime mystery thrown in) Susan Cooper is author of The Dark is Rising young adult fantasy series, and also the Boggart children's fantasy series. I've read the 1st two books in the Dark is Rising and have the remainder to enjoy. Martha Wells has written the Murderbot Sci Fi series. I've read the first two. Jodi Taylor has written a time travel adventure series, the Chronicles of Saint Marys. It grabbed from the get-go, excellent stories. To Journey in the Year of the Tiger is a fantasy series by Canadian author H. Leighton Dixon featuring anthropomorphic tigers and lions and other wild cats. The first book was set in India and was really neat. I've got #2, To Walk in the Way of Lions, on my bookshelf calling to me. The sole Mystery is A Killing in Comics, my first look at Max Allan Collins. It's the first book in the Jack and Maggie Starr series and was pretty good. Finally, an author I'm focusing on in 2024, Ursula K. LeGuin. Those are the first two books in her Earthsea fantasy series. I plan to read Tehanu shortly.

Far right, mixed assortment

4. Far Right (and no, it's not my MAGA bookshelf, nothing political, just location. 😉). This box contains an assortment of books I removed from the book shelves because they were getting too full. And oddly enough I'm glad I'm doing this because I was looking for They Do it with Mirrors by Agatha Christie last night because it will be my 2nd Christie book in January. I've read one book by William McIlvanney previously. This is the 2nd book in his Laidlaw series. I've never read anything by Carlos Ruiz Zafon before but I'm interested to see what his stories are like. And then of course, two of my many Agatha Christie books. As I mentioned, one of my annual challenges is a monthly challenge in which I focus on specific authors. January is Agatha Christie and at present I'm reading The 
Big Four. They Do it With Mirrors will be next. CJ Box writes the Joe Pickett mystery series. Jo Nesbo is a Norwegian author of the Harry Hole crime series. The remaining two are a couple of Sci Fi books I picked up because they seemed interesting. I hope they are.

So there you go. The center portion of our extra bedroom bookshelves and storage. I hope you see something that might interest you and give you ideas of books to check out in 2024. Next will be the right side. 

Once again. Happy New Year! Have a great 2024!