All About Books discussion

CAT #14: Read the USA Mysteries
An Appointment With Murder (New Hampshire)   

Servicable murder mystery but the romantic subplot felt forced and there were some minor editorial errors. 2½ stars.

Another one I forgot to post about...

CAT #7: Humor - Satire
Put Out More Flags   

Evelyn Waugh's look at the first year of Britain's involvement in WW2 revolves around Basil Seal. Seal and his friends & family are typical Waugh characters and his depiction of the Ministry of Information was hilarious! It is an interesting look at how many Brits felt at the beginning of the war, an attitude easily forgotten in the events that followed... 4 stars

Leslie wrote: "Another one I forgot to post about...

CAT #7: Humor - Satire
Put Out More Flags   

Evelyn Waugh's look at the first year of Britain's involvement in WW2 revolves around Basil Seal...."

I love Evelyn Waugh! This is going on my to-read list.

CAT #13: Plays
Entertaining Mr. Sloane by Joe Orton

Amusing play about a young man (something like Mr. Ripley from Patricia Highsmith's classic) who is lodging with a woman whose whole family is trying to make some kind of claim on him. The homosexual aspect was probably risqué back in the 1960s when it was first performed, but what I found both funny and sad was the sexual competition between brother and sister. 3 stars.

CAT #9: Foreign Mysteries (done!)
The Death of Achilles by Boris Akunin (Russia)

I like the hero of this series, Fandorin, and his Japanese servant Masa. I didn't care for the structure of this book though -- it is divided into 3 sections or "Books". By far the longest is the first part, which was a straightfoward narrative of Fandorin's investigation into the death of "Achilles", the popular Russian general Sobolev. Then, the second section breaks the train of the narrative and tells the history and background of the killer, leading up to the point at which the first section broke off. The third section then continues with the action. I found this second section disrupted the flow and although interesting, it was unnecessary to the story. Perhaps the publisher told Akunin that the book wasn't long enough so he added this section to pad it out.

Otherwise this is a fun historical fiction mystery & Andrew Bromfield's translation is excellent. 3 stars.

CAT #8: Science Fiction and Fantasy

The True Game   

Omnibus of the first 3 books of Sheri S. Tepper's Land of the True Game series (Kings Blood Four, Necromancer Nine, Wizard's Eleven). Very enjoyable but not quite as good as Tepper's later books. 3½ stars

CAT #8: Science Fiction and Fantasy
The Chronicles of Mavin Manyshaped   

This second trilogy in Sheri S. Tepper's Land of the True Game series goes back in time to give us, as the title says, the chronicles of Mavin Manyshaped (Peter's mother). Not quite as enthralling as the first trilogy but it does show the beginnings of a more feminist viewpoint which was the hallmark of many of Tepper's later works. 3½ stars.

CAT #13: Plays (done!)
What the Butler Saw   

Reminiscent of a French farce or an extended Monty Python sketch... I found it hilarious but some may find the jokes about rape in poor taste. 4 stars

CAT #5: Charles de Lint
The Ivory and the Horn   

This collection of short stories came together to mean more to me than the individual stories did, adding to my picture of Newford. I was pleased to greet some old friends, Jilly in particular. 4 stars

CAT #6: Lymond series
Pawn in Frankincense   

This fourth in the Lymond series takes us to northern Africa & Turkey at the height of the Ottomon empire, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. I think the main reason I don't give this 5 stars is that I find the battle between Lymond and Gabriel using the children as pawns so emotionally difficult. 4½ stars.

CAT #8: Science Fiction and Fantasy
The End of the Game   

At first I wasn't sure that I was liking this last trilogy of the Land of True Game series, but as I got deeper into the story, it came together. I do think that the first trilogy was the best but it was satisfying to reach the conclusion. 4 stars

CAT #14: Read the USA Mysteries.
Red Harvest (Montana)   

This 1929 private eye story, the first of the Continental Op series, is one of the founders of the hard-boiled school of crime fiction. This type of crime fiction is not my favorite (in fact, I absolutely hate much of it such as the Mickey Spillane books), but I found this book well written and gripping. There is still a lot of violence (huge amounts!) but it isn't graphic and that makes a big difference for me. 4½ stars

CAT #12: Group Reads
The Brothers Karamazov   

I finally finished this and have to admit that Dostoevsky is just not my cup of tea. I found it easy to read but I couldn't get interested for large sections. The story did pick up about 2/3 through but not enough to retrieve this book for me. 2½ stars

CAT #7: Humor - Satire
Porterhouse Blue   

5 stars. Hilarious satire of the struggle between "keeping up with the times" and tradition at a Cambridge University college! I particularly liked the poor research fellow who (view spoiler)[had an unwanted fascination for his bedder & dies in a freak accident! (hide spoiler)].

CAT #8: Science Fiction and Fantasy
Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem   

This third omnibus of the Vorkisogan series was more of a mixed bag than the first two were. My individual ratings are: Cetaganda - 3 stars; Ethan of Athos - 4½ stars; and Labyrinth - 4 stars. Overall I give the omnibus 3½ stars

CAT #9: Foreign Mysteries (originally written in a language other than English)
The Terra-Cotta Dog (Italian)   

This second Inspector Montalbano mystery is pleasantly convoluted -- in addition to Mafia gun-smuggling, the shooting of known fugitive only hours after his arrest, Montalbano is also trying to solve a 50-year-old murder of two young lovers.

I love the way Montalbano loves his food & his walks on the beach, his attempts to focus on his girlfriend Livia when his mind in on a case, his colleagues at the station... 3½ stars

Although I have completed this category, this is the 8th language to be included. So far I have lots of Scandinavian (Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark) and the rest of Europe (France, Germany, Russia, and now Italy). One more language would really finish the category properly!

Misc. Challenge B: Angela Thirkell's Barchester series
Never Too Late (#25 in the series)   

This late entry in Thirkell's Barsetshire series has much of the light humor of the earlier books & a little less of the complaints that life isn't what it used to be. Although the romance in this novel doesn't center on Edith Graham, Lady Graham's youngest (and only unmarried) daughter, she is in it a great deal and has grown out of some her more annoying characteristics of her pre-teen years. I look forward to seeing with whom she will finally fall in love! 3½ stars.

There are quite a few Japanese mystery writers. I've not read any so can't recommend but might be worth a look as something different

Heather wrote: "There are quite a few Japanese mystery writers. I've not read any so can't recommend but might be worth a look as something different"

Oh, an Asian author is a good idea!

CAT #5: Charles de Lint -- done!
Forests of the Heart   

This entry in Charles de Lint's Newford series didn't sweep me away quite as much as the others I have read. I liked the main character, Bettina, who is a curandera raised in southern Arizona. But somehow the battle between the Irish Gentry versus the local manitou was not a battle between those two at all & I didn't care for the direction the book took. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for it at this time...3½ stars.

CAT #12: Group Reads {LT}
Mary Barton   

An exciting blend of social commentary, romance, and murder somewhat reminiscent of early Dickens. 4 stars

CAT #11: Mysteries off my shelves
Vintage Murder   

Enjoyable outing with Alleyn in this fifth entry in the series.

Alleyn is in New Zealand, where he is on holiday recuperating from surgery (injured on the job?? I'll have to go back and look at #4!). On the boat from England, and then on the train in N.Z., he travelled along side a group of actors, including Miss Susan Max. The manager of the group is murdered after a performance one evening while Alleyn is there (amongst others) to celebrate the birthday of the leading lady (who is also the manager's wife)... 4 stars

CAT #11: Mysteries off my shelves

There Came Both Mist And Snow   

#6 in the Inspector Appleby series is a fun fast read -- this is a mystery that may be thought to break the rules (if you believe in such things)... I refrain from saying anything else as it is difficult to comment without spoilers. 4 stars.

CAT #12: Group & Buddy Reads

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov   

Unusually structured satire - the book is written as a literary commentary of a poem (even including a detailed index!) while really telling the story of 2 (or 3) men... 4 stars

I really need to sit down and work on updating this. In the meantime, I have read a couple of more foreign mysteries:
The Hotel Majestic by Simenon (France), 4 stars

and The Zurich Conspiracy by Bernadette Calonego (Switzerland), 3 stars

The Zurich Conspiracy is a great title. Worth a read Leslie? Is it surprising? I hate a predictable mystery.

Charbel wrote: "The Zurich Conspiracy is a great title. Worth a read Leslie? Is it surprising? I hate a predictable mystery."

Really it is more of a thriller than a mystery -- it was OK but it was a bit predictable in spots. But it not only gave me another country but a Z title for an A-to-Z challenge I am doing in another group :D

CAT #6: Lymond Saga
The Ringed Castle

I think that this 5th book in the series is my favorite. I love learning about 16th century Russia, when Ivan the Terrible wasn't quite terrible yet... 5 stars

CAT #11: Mysteries off my bookshelves

Appleby on Ararat by Michael Innes

I was a bit let down by this entry in the Inspector Appleby series. Appleby is on a ship sailing from England to New Zealand during WW2. The ship gets torpedoed and the survivors are stranded on a South Seas island. While there, a man is murdered. 2½ stars

Only catagories still unfinished are 6, 11, 12 and 14...

In addition to my pyramid challenge, I have a few miscellaneous challenges for 2014:

✔A. Finish reading the Palliser series by Anthony Trollope - the series consists of:    Can You Forgive Her? ✔, Phineas Finn ✔, The Eustace Diamonds ✔, Phineas Redux ✔, The Prime Minister ✔, The Duke's Children ✔
✔B. Finish reading the Barchester series by Angela Thirkell DONE!
✔C. Continue participating in the buddy read of the Inspector Morse mystery series in the English Mysteries Group DONE!
✔D. Read at least 25 books from the Guardian list which I haven't read before

http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/...

2014 Books from the Guardian's list
For those who don't know already, I am a tad obsessive about lists. In Aug. 2012, soon after I joined GoodReads, I was introduced to the Guardian newspaper's list of 1000 Novels Everyone Should Read and was dismayed to discover that I had read less than 15% of them. Since then I have been working on reading books from this list!

January
·Nightmare Abbey
·The Child in Time
·The Golden Notebook
·Vile Bodies
·War and Peace

February
·Something New {reread}
·The Immoralist
·Piccadilly Jim (audiobook) {reread}

March
·Middlemarch
·An American Tragedy (audiobook)
·Oliver Twist (audiobook) {reread}
·The Third Man
·Silas Marner (audiobook)
·Lorna Doone
·Behind the Scenes at the Museum (audiobook)
·Bouvard and Pécuchet
·My Cousin Rachel

April
·The Poisoned Chocolates Case
·Persuasion (audiobook) {reread}
·Lady Audley's Secret (audiobook)
·The Red and the Black (audiobook)
·The Island of Doctor Moreau

May
·Changing Places
·The Heart of Darkness (audiobook) {reread}
·Moll Flanders (audiobook)
·Little Dorrit (audiobook)
·Things Fall Apart
·The Mysterious Affair at Styles (audiobook) {reread}
·The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (audiobook) {reread}
·Foucault's Pendulum
·Middlesex
·Crime and Punishment (audiobook)

June
·Lucky Jim
·Kim (audiobook)
·The God of Small Things
·The Scarlet Letter (audiobook)
·The Uncommon Reader
·Murder at the Vicarage (audiobook) {reread}
·The Brothers Karamazov (continued into July)
·Put Out More Flags
·Goldfinger
·An Infamous Army {reread}

July
·The Brothers Karamazov
·Red Harvest
·The Prisoner of Zenda (audiobook)
·The Maltese Falcon (audiobook) {reread}
·The Remorseful Day
·Malice Aforethought
·Porterhouse Blue
·Mary Barton
·Thérèse Raquin (audiobook)
·The Day of the Triffids
·Around the World in 80 Days (audiobook)

August
·Empire of the Sun
·Pale Fire
·A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (audiobook) {reread}

September
·The Red Badge of Courage (audiobook)

October
·The Westminster Alice
·New Grub Street
·A Town Like Alice (audiobook)
·Black Mischief
·All Quiet on the Western Front

November
·Shirley
·The Odd Women (audiobook)
·The Blue Room

December
·Vanity Fair (audiobook) {reread} (currently reading)
·

I have updated some of my finished challenges but won't post full details separately...

However, I did read a book for category 11 Mysteries off my shelves:

Thunderball , #9 in the original James Bond series.

4 stars. Once again I found the written James Bond a more interesting and more fully developed character than he is in the movies. I made the mistake of rewatching the Sean Connery film right after finishing this & the film suffered terribly in comparison! The book has a more reasonable plot (even though it is still far-fetched) and even the bad guys are more realistic than in the film version...

And that finishes this category!

CAT #12: Group Reads

All Quiet On The Western Front, {Group Classic read}

5 stars. Touching yet not sentimental tale of life at the front from the point of view of a 20-year-old "veteran".

Leslie wrote: "CAT #12: Group Reads

All Quiet On The Western Front, {Group Classic read}

5 stars. Touching yet not sentimental tale of life a..."

Glad you enjoyed this one, I'll be listening to in on audiobook this month.

12. Twelfth Tier Group Reads:

Participate in at least on group or buddy read each month (from either GR or LT)
  ✔ Jan: The Golden Notebook {GR} (done 1/18)
  ✔ Feb: Middlemarch {LT & GR} (done 3/2)
  ✔ Mar: Lorna Doone {GR} (done 3/18)
  ✔ April: The Poisoned Chocolates Case (done 4/5)
  ✔ May: Foucault's Pendulum {LT} (done 5/29)
  ✔ June: The Brothers Karamazov {LT & GR} (done 7/17)
  ✔ July: Mary Barton {LT} (done 7/24)
  ✔ Aug: Pale Fire {GR} (done 8/29)
  ✔ Sep: The Silkworm {GR} (done 9/21)
  ✔ Oct: All Quiet on the Western Front {GR} (done 10/29)
  ✔ Nov: Shirley {LT} (done 11/17)
  ✔ Dec: Anna Christie {GR} (done 12/22)

✔13. Thirteenth Tier Plays:

Read 13 plays (separate from those in category #3)
   Play #1 Measure for Measure (done 1/15)
   Play #2 Travesties (done 1/23)
   Play #3 A Midsummer Night's Dream (done 2/17)
   Play #4 The Real Thing (done 2/27)
   Play #5 Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead: A Play in Three Acts (done 3/9)
   Play #6 Tartuffe (done 4/24)
   Play #7 The Misanthrope (done 4/30)
   Play #8 The School for Wives (done 4/30)
   Play #9 The Learned Ladies (done 5/2)
   Play #10 She Stoops to Conquer (done 5/7)
   Play #11 Loot (done 6/20)
   Play #12 Entertaining Mr. Sloane (done 6/28)
   Play #13 What the Butler Saw (done 7/3)

   Play #14 Funeral Games (done 7/9)
   Play #15 All's Well That Ends Well (done 8/5)
   Play #16 The Imaginary Invalid (done 9/26)
   Play #17 H.M.S. Pinafore (done 10/4)
   Play #18 The Pirates of Penzance (done 10/7)
   Play #19 Iolanthe (done 10/21)
   Play #20 Ruddigore (done 10/24)
   Play #21 The Gondoliers (done 10/30)
   Play #22 Trial by Jury (done 11/5)
   Play #23 Princess Ida, or Castle Adamant (done 11/11)
   Play #24 The Grand Duke: Or the Statutory Duel (done 11/14)

14. Fourteenth Tier Read the USA mysteries:

Read mysteries from 14 different states in the U.S.A. for my ongoing 'Read the USA' cozy mystery challenge
   Book #1 Dog River Blues (Alabama) (done 1/10)
   Book #2 Corpus Delectable (Delaware) (done 2/22)
   Book #3 Moon Signs (West Virginia) (done 6/1)
   Book #4 An Appointment With Murder (New Hampshire) (done 6/24)
   Book #5 Red Harvest (Montana) (done 7/13)
   Book #6 A Shot in the Bark (Ohio) (done 7/28)

✔ 8. Eighth Tier Science Fiction & Fantasy:

Read 8 sci-fi or fantasy books (hopefully from the Guardian's list or off my shelves)
   book #1 - The Caves of Steel, first book of Asimov's Robot series (done 1/28)
   book #2 - Young Miles, second omnibus of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series (done 3/21)
   book #3 - The Naked Sun (done 5/27)
   book #4 - The Dispossessed (done 6/23)
   book #5 - The True Game: Kings Blood Four/Necromancer Nine/Wizard's Eleven (done 6/27)
   book #6 - The Chronicles of Mavin Manyshaped (done 7/1)
   book #7 - The End of the Game (done 7/12)
   book #8 - Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem (done 7/19)
   book #9 - The Robots of Dawn (done 8/5)
   book #10 - After Long Silence (done 9/25)

✔ 9. Ninth Tier Foreign mysteries:

Read 9 mysteries originally written in a language other than English
   book #1 - Outrage by Arnaldur Indriðason (Iceland) (done 2/1)
   book #2 - The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch (Germany) (done 4/3)
   book #3 - The Redbreast by Jo Nesbø (Norway) (done 4/19)
   Book #4 - Maigret and the Black Sheep by Georges Simenon (France) (done 4/24)
   Book #5 - The Abominable Man by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (Sweden) (done 4/27)
   Book #6 - The Absent One by Jussi Adler-Olsen (Denmark) (done 4/30)
   Book #7 - The Death of Achilles by Boris Akunin (Russia) (done 6/29)
   Book #8 - The Terra-Cotta Dog by Andrea Camilleri (Italy) (done 7/23)
   Book #9 - The Zurich Conspiracy by Bernadette Calonego (Switzerland) (done 9/8)

   Book #10 - Black Skies by Arnaldur Indriðason (Iceland) (done 5/7)
   Book #11 - Roseanna by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (Sweden) (done 6/19)
   Book #12 - The Snack Thief by Andrea Camilleri (Italy) (done 8/3)
   Book #13 - The Hotel Majestic by Georges Simenon (France) (done 9/10)
   Book #14 - A Conspiracy of Faith by Jussi Adler-Olsen (Denmark) (done 10/25)
   Book #15 - *The Blue Room by Georges Simenon (France) (done 11/14)

✔10. Tenth Tier Audiobooks:

Listen to 10 of my own audiobooks (that are not rereads)

      Audiobook #1: The Booktaker (done 1/29)
      Audiobook #2 Interpreter of Maladies (done 2/4)
      Audiobook #3 Letter from Birmingham Jail (done 2/10)
      Audiobook #4 Spy Killer (done 2/11)
      Audiobook #5 The Good Earth (done 2/14)
      Audiobook #6 An American Tragedy (done 3/3)
      Audiobook #7 The Raven Boys (done 3/8)
      Audiobook #8 Silas Marner (done 3/11)
      Audiobook #9 Behind the Scenes at the Museum (done 3/23)
      Audiobook #10 Lady Audley's Secret (done 4/12)

✔ 11. Eleventh Tier Mysteries off my bookcases:

Read 11 mysteries already owned in paperback
- in particular: Michael Innes, Cyril Hare, Rex Stout, John D. MacDonald
   Book #1 The Rubber Band (done 1/6)
   Book #2 The Red Box (done 1/23)
   Book #3 Hamlet Revenge (done 2/14)
   Book #4 Frequent Hearses (done 3/19)
   Book #5 Endless Night (done 4/17)
   Book #6 Lament for a Maker (done 5/12)
   Book #7 The Secret Vanguard (done 6/28)
   Book #8 Vintage Murder (done 7/25)
   Book #9 There Came Both Mist and Snow (done 8/2)
   Book #10 Appleby on Ararat (done 9/28)
   Book #11 Thunderball (done 11/1)

   Book #12 The Daffodil Affair (done 11/19)

Reposting to move this to the top (or bottom depending on how you view posts :P):

2014 Category Challenge

http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/...

✔1. Apex Big Fat Classic:
Read 1 long classic - War and Peace (done 1/28)

✔2. Second Tier Nonfiction: read 2 nonfiction books
  Book #1 - On This Day in Tudor History (currently reading)
  Book #2 - Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (done 2/17)
  Book #3 - Three Singles to Adventure (audiobook) (done 2/21)
  Book #4 - Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (audiobook) (done 2/23)
  Book #5 - Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole (done 5/29)


✔3. Third Tier The Real Classics:

Read 3 works from ancient Greece
    Play #1 - Agamemnon (done 3/14)
    Play #2 - The Libation Bearers (done 3/17)
    Play #3 - Eumenides (done 3/21)
    Play #4 - Medea (done 4/6 & 4/21 & 6/15)

✔4. Fourth Tier French Classics:

Read 4 classics originally written in French (hopefully from the Guardian's list)
   Book #1 - The Immoralist by André Gide (done 2/10)
   Book #2 - Bouvard and Pécuchet by Gustave Flaubert (done 3/28)
   Book #3 - The Red and the Black by Stendhal (audiobook) (done 4/22)
   Book #4 - The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (audiobook) (done 6/9)
   Book #5 - Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola (audiobook) (done 7/23)
   Book #6 - Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (audiobook) (done 7/29)
   Book #7 - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (audiobook) (done 10/11)
   Book #8 - Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett (done 10/29)
   Book #9 - Le Bourgeois gentilhomme by Molière (done 11/16)

✔ 5. Fifth Tier Charles de Lint :
, ,
Read 5 new-to-me books from this author, especially from the Newford series
   book #1:Greenmantle (done 2/8)
   book #2:Moonheart (done 5/4)
   book #3:Someplace To Be Flying (done 6/1)
   book #4:The Ivory and the Horn (done 7/14)
   book #5:Forests of the Heart (done 7/27)

✔ 6. Sixth Tier Lymond series

Reread the 6 book Lymond series by Dorothy Dunnett
   book #1:The Game of Kings (done 1/17)
   book #2:Queens' Play (done 4/3)
   book #3:The Disorderly Knights (done 5/16)
   book #4:The Pawn in Frankincense (done 7/10)
   book #5:The Ringed Castle (done 10/8)
   book #6:Checkmate (done 12/9)

✔ 7. Seventh Tier Humor - Satire:

Read 7 satires (preferably from the Guardian list and off my shelves!)
possibilities - Porterhouse Blue, Lucky Jim, Pnin, Crome Yellow
   book #1 - Nightmare Abbey (done 1/5)
   book #2 - Vile Bodies (done 1/26)
   book #3 - Changing Places (done 5/1)
   book #4 - Lucky Jim (done 6/4)
   book #5 - The Uncommon Reader (done 6/10)
   book #6 - Put Out More Flags (done 6/17)
   book #7 - Porterhouse Blue (done 7/21)

   Book #8 - Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov (done 8/29)
   Book #9 - The Westminster Alice: A Political Parody Based On Lewis Carroll's Wonderland by Saki (done 10/7)
   Book #10 - Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh (done 10/26)

CAT #12: Group and Buddy Reads

Shirley by Charlotte Brontë   

That cover doesn't actually belong to my Project Gutenberg Kindle edition but I think it is a good cover for this book...

I really wanted to like this classic and there were several things I did like (such as the setting in northern England during the Napoleonic Wars). Unfortunately, the writing style was dull in (many) spots and the female characters were all unconvincing and weak. I had hopes for Shirley being a strong woman but the last third of the book ruined it. Overall rating 2½ stars

I am finishing up CAT #6 (Lymond saga) and CAT #12 (Group & Buddy reads) but it doesn't look like CAT #14 will get done. I need 8 more mysteries from different states for that challenge. Oh well, I put it into my 2015 personal challenge!

You've done pretty well to complete so much!

Humongous challenge, Leslie. Great reading here, congrats:)

You have read an astonishing amount Leslie. Well done

Thanks Heather, Bette, and Paul!

In addition to my pyramid challenge, I have a few miscellaneous challenges for 2014:

✔A. Finish reading the Palliser series by Anthony Trollope - the series consists of:    Can You Forgive Her? ✔, Phineas Finn ✔, The Eustace Diamonds ✔, Phineas Redux ✔, The Prime Minister ✔, The Duke's Children ✔
✔B. Finish reading the Barchester series by Angela Thirkell DONE!
✔C. Continue participating in the buddy read of the Inspector Morse mystery series in the English Mysteries Group DONE!
✔D. Read at least 25 books from the Guardian list which I haven't read before

http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/...

2014 Books from the Guardian's list
For those who don't know already, I am a tad obsessive about lists. In Aug. 2012, soon after I joined GoodReads, I was introduced to the Guardian newspaper's list of 1000 Novels Everyone Should Read and was dismayed to discover that I had read less than 15% of them. Since then I have been working on reading books from this list!

January
·Nightmare Abbey
·The Child in Time
·The Golden Notebook
·Vile Bodies
·War and Peace

February
·Something New {reread}
·The Immoralist
·Piccadilly Jim (audiobook) {reread}

March
·Middlemarch
·An American Tragedy (audiobook)
·Oliver Twist (audiobook) {reread}
·The Third Man
·Silas Marner (audiobook)
·Lorna Doone
·Behind the Scenes at the Museum (audiobook)
·Bouvard and Pécuchet
·My Cousin Rachel

April
·The Poisoned Chocolates Case
·Persuasion (audiobook) {reread}
·Lady Audley's Secret (audiobook)
·The Red and the Black (audiobook)
·The Island of Doctor Moreau

May
·Changing Places
·The Heart of Darkness (audiobook) {reread}
·Moll Flanders (audiobook)
·Little Dorrit (audiobook)
·Things Fall Apart
·The Mysterious Affair at Styles (audiobook) {reread}
·The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (audiobook) {reread}
·Foucault's Pendulum
·Middlesex
·Crime and Punishment (audiobook)

June
·Lucky Jim
·Kim (audiobook)
·The God of Small Things
·The Scarlet Letter (audiobook)
·The Uncommon Reader
·Murder at the Vicarage (audiobook) {reread}
·The Brothers Karamazov (continued into July)
·Put Out More Flags
·Goldfinger
·An Infamous Army {reread}

July
·The Brothers Karamazov
·Red Harvest
·The Prisoner of Zenda (audiobook)
·The Maltese Falcon (audiobook) {reread}
·The Remorseful Day
·Malice Aforethought
·Porterhouse Blue
·Mary Barton
·Thérèse Raquin (audiobook)
·The Day of the Triffids
·Around the World in 80 Days (audiobook)

August
·Empire of the Sun
·Pale Fire
·A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (audiobook) {reread}

September
·The Red Badge of Courage (audiobook)

October
·The Westminster Alice
·New Grub Street
·A Town Like Alice (audiobook)
·Black Mischief
·All Quiet on the Western Front

November
·Shirley
·The Odd Women (audiobook)
·The Blue Room

December
·Vanity Fair (audiobook) {reread}
·Delta of Venus (DNF)
·Pnin {reread}
·You Only Live Twice
·And Then There Were None {reread}
·Headlong Hall

Have you finished the whole Barset series by Angela Thirkel? It's huge, I coyldn't find the half of it. I'll read soem of them next year

LauraT wrote: "Have you finished the whole Barset series by Angela Thirkel? It's huge, I coyldn't find the half of it. I'll read soem of them next year"

Yes, I think I have finished except for some short stories and a book finished after Thirkell's death. I strongly felt that the first half of the series was much better than the second half and probably would have given up if the books weren't so easily available to me for the most part -- my mother owns almost the complete series so I was borrowing them from her!

CAT #6: Lymond Series
Checkmate

5 stars. I am upgrading my rating of this last book in the Lymond series from 4 stars to 5, even though I did find that it reverted to the difficult style of The Game of Kings (the first book). While I remembered the major plot points, especially those involving Lymond's parentage and his relationship with Philippa, I had forgotten much of the book and was struck by how heart-rending it was at times.

CAT #12: Group Reads
Anna Christie,   

Note that my Kindle edition didn't have this pretty cover... This play won the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was then made into a popular movie with Greta Garbo -- both of which helped launch Eugene O'Neill's successful career as a playwright -- but it is now overshadowed by his later works such as Long Day's Journey Into Night and Mourning Becomes Electra. I was surprised by how modern much of the speech was (once I got used to the Swedish & Irish accents!). The plot is tragic, which is unsurprising to anyone familiar with O'Neill's work, and had a feeling similar to Ibsen. 4½ stars.