Challenge: 50 Books discussion

It's a bit late in the year to start but I just love the idea of this group! I figured that I could just try to remember the books I've read in 2009 and read extra-fast for the rest of the year.

Most recently, I read Dorothy Sayers's The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. I've actually been on a serious mystery kick for a while now so expect a lot more Sayers!

#1:

Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers. Another Lord Peter mystery. I liked it because it features the POV of sleuths other than Peter.

#2:

A delightful collaboration mystery with Lord Peter and Harriet Vane.

Have His Carcase by Dorothy Sayers.

#3:

I also read two modern takes on the "cozy" mystery genre. G.M. Malliet's Death of a Cozy Writer was a tongue-in-cheek manor house mystery and quite fun.

#4:
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The other was G.M. Malliet's Death of a Lit Chick.

#5:
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Too Many Magicians by Randall Garrett is the only novel-length Lord Darcy mystery. The universe is an alternate mid-20th century in which magic is a profession and the Plantagenet dynasty rules England and France.

#6:
Too Many Magicians by Randall Garrett

The first Lord Peter Wimsey mystery I read was also the first book in the series, Whose Body?. I enjoyed it hugely especially since I was able to figure out the solution well ahead of the detective himself.

#7:

An ongoing project of mine is to read Hugo Award Best Novel winners from the past 20 years or so. My first effort was Dan Simmons's Hyperion, which I can honestly say is one of the best books I've ever read.

#8:

Followed quickly by the not quite as excellent but still gripping sequel, The Fall of Hyperion.

#9:
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I read Jacqueline Carey's Naamah's Kiss as soon as it came out. While I think I prefer Phedre's trilogy, I'm interested in this new character and really enjoyed her globetrotting adventures. Moirin's voice is also different enough from Phedre's to establish herself as a distinct character but similar enough to showcase Carey's elegant writing style.

#10:
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This year was also the year that I sped through Isaac Asimov's Black Widowers mystery short stories. I'll just list all the compilations here in one post.

#11:
Puzzles of the Black Widowers


#12:
Casebook of the Black Widowers


#13:
Banquets of the Black Widowers


#14:
Tales of the Black Widowers


#15:
More Tales of the Black Widowers


I did not end up reading The Return of the Black Widowers, which was compiled after Asimov's death and contained some unpublished stories and tributes. I guess I wanted to save it for a rainy day when a fresh Black Widower story would be just the thing to cheer me up.

I also went through a bit of a Malcolm Gladwell binge. Blink was probably my least favorite of his three books.

#16:
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I thoroughly enjoyed Outliers, though.

#17:
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I did like The Tipping Point, but I think the fact that it was his first book showed.

#18:
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Disappointingly, Darrell Huff's How To Lie With Statistics didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know. Points, though, for addressing what could be a dull topic with style.

#19:

I read David Eagleman's Sum for a book club. It was actually a charming little book that had just enough new ideas to make you think but not so many as to make your head hurt.

#20:

Patricia C. Wrede's latest YA fantasy Thirteenth Child was a disappointment. I didn't like the POV character at all.

#21:

Gene Weingarten is one of my favorite newspaper columnists, so I had to read his book, The Hypochondriac's Guide to Life and Death. Fun and fast read but not as satisfying as his shorter weekly pieces. I don't think his style is necessarily at its best in book form.

#22:

Another author I blazed through was Sheila Simonson. I did read a few of her Lark mysteries, but I enjoyed her civilized Regencies more.

#23:
The Bar Sinister


#24:
Lady Elizabeth's Comet


#25:
A Cousinly Connexion

#26:
Love and Folly

#27:
Larkspur


#28:
Skylark

I've always loved Sherlock Holmes so I was a little skeptical of Laurie King's continuation of the Arthur Conan Doyle canon with an young, American female apprentice. But it really worked.

#29:
The Beekeeper's Apprentice

Geez, until I started compiling the backlist for 2009, I hadn't realized how many mysteries I read ...

I went through C.S. Harris's Sebastian St. Cyr books very quickly earlier in the year. The writing is not terrific but the plotting is good and the characters are interesting.

#30:
Where Serpents Sleep


#31:
Why Mermaids Sing


#32:
When Gods Die


#33:
What Angels Fear


These books remind me a little bit of Kate Ross's Julian Kestrel mysteries. I think Ross's series was vastly superior, but then again they were some of the best mysteries I've ever read.

I read a good deal of Lois McMaster Bujold last year, including her Chalion books and some of her Miles series. The progress this year has so far been the following.

#34:
Borders of Infinity


#35:
Mirror Dance

Geng wrote: "I've always loved Sherlock Holmes so I was a little skeptical of Laurie King's continuation of the Arthur Conan Doyle canon with an young, American female apprentice. But it really worked.

I was also skeptical of this, but it does work and works well. I believe I have read all of Laurie King's novels, and loved them all.

Karen wrote: I was also skeptical of this, but it does work and works well. I believe I have read all of Laurie King's novels, and loved them all.

I thought the first one was rather intense so I've been waiting for the right mood to strike before reading the sequel(s). But I agree that her work transcends its fanfictionesque origins. King is somewhat unique in that her books are very well-written, which is always appreciated! I think I tend to forgive a lot of bad quality writing when I read mysteries because I'm just reading them for the plot.

Peter Sagal is the host of the popular NPR news trivia quiz show Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, and his writing rather accurately reflects his persona on the show. It's spry and wry and punctuated with doses of liberal guilt/introspection. I had a good time delving into the mysteries of vice, though I do think the book ran a chapter or so too long.

#35:
The Book of Vice

I found Jacqueline Carey's fantasy novels quite good reads, so I was interested in her take on a werewolf story. I will say that she retains her gift for creating sympathetic characters in an interesting world. However, her plotting fell short here as I anticipated the major twist and the ending felt anticlimactic.

#36:
Santa Olivia
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Light, entertaining reading but a little much in novel form.

#37:
The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

A Monstrous Regiment of Women is the second book in the Laurie King series of Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell adventures. I quite enjoyed it, though I feel like it's less of a mystery than an adventure/thriller.

#38:

Oh no! The end of the year has creeped up on me and I've gotten so behind in my booklist.

#39:
Frommer's Japan by Beth Reiber
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I reread Kate Ross's Julian Kestrel mysteries when I sick at home after my trip to Japan, and I was freshly heartbroken at how good the books were and how tragic Kate's early death was.

#40:
Cut To The Quick


#41:
A Broken Vessel


#42:
Whom The Gods Love


#43:
The Devil In Music

I read Daniel Hall's textbook on Criminal Law and Procedure to gain an understanding of the subject beyond the glib one-liners of CSI and Law & Order. Highly recommended and easily understood by a layperson.

#44:

Dr. Lisa Sanders writes the Diagnosis column for the New York Times Magazine and also serves as a medical adviser for the TV show House.

#45:
Every Patient Tells A Story

The latest in C.S. Harris's historical mystery series featuring Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin. This one was quite gruesome, as the murders occurred in a moldering crypt.

#46:
What Remains of Heaven

Andre Agassi's autobiography was a surprise hit with me ... candid, engrossing, the sort of book that I can't put down but this wasn't even a novel.

#47:
Open

Lois McMaster's pre-Vorkosigan romance with welding. A different kind of hero but still a good story in Bujoldian style.

#48:
Falling Free

A solid YA time-travel novel. Just one to go!

#49:
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

I end the year with Laurie King's third Mary Russell / Sherlock Holmes novel. It was the year of mysteries and somehow this seems appropriate.

#50:
A Letter of Mary


This project was great fun and I look forward to doing it again in 2010.