MobileRead Book Challenges discussion
2011 Individual Challenges
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GA Russell's Challenge
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5....1/25....Richard Yancey - The Highly Effective Detective4 stars
Very light. Enjoyable with many laughs.
I love Rick Yancey's books. My favorites--though they aren't light like the effective detective books--are his Monstrumologist series (The Monstrumologist and The Curse of the Wendigo so far--he's currently writing Isle of Blood.)
Heather, I was unaware of Yancey until a couple of months ago. The Mystery Guild and its sister clubs offer an anthology of two of his novels. I figured that he is probably pretty good or they wouldn't do that. So I took a flyer, and I'm glad I did.
6....2/10....David Carkeet - Double Negative3 stars
Murder mystery with no likeable characters and insufficient explanation of one of the murders.
7....2/11....GK Chesterton - Orthodoxy4 stars
(Read 36% in 2010.) Chesterton wrote a book entitled Heretics (which I read last year) in which he criticized the ideas of leading Darwinists of the day. Book critics criticized GKC for failing to state what he believed in, so in response to that criticism, he wrote this book. In a nutshell, GKC believes in original sin and redemption.
+++++
8....2/14....Jack Boyle - Boston Blackie
3 stars
(Read 44% in 2010.) Very light, but enjoyable. Surprisingly strong women characters for a cops and robbers book published in 1919.
9....2/22....Eric Ambler - A Coffin for Dimitrios5 stars
This story has been ripped off so many times that the plot was obvious from the get go! Think The Third Man. A terrific book.
10....3/16....Jerome K. Jerome - Three Men on the Bummel4 stars
Consistently amusing till it reached a melancholy conclusion. Not as funny as Three Men in a Boat, but very worthwhile nonetheless.
11....5/11....Ross MacDonald - the Moving Target4 stars
The first Lew Archer story. Always good, but a little slow going for the first third, then the reading pace picked up very quickly.
In 1980 I read all the Lew Archer stories then written, and now 31 years later I'm going to read them again, this time in order.
12....5/20....Zane Grey - Riders of the Purple Sage2 stars
Very early western novel. Not very good. Too much romance.
Too much romance??! No such thing, lol.You seem to like thrillers, mysteries, and westerns...
Have you tried The Lion's Game? It's part of a series but each book is a stand alone. I didn't enjoy it that much but my husband enjoyed 3 of the series.
I see that I've forgotten about this since May. I'll complete it this week.
Rather than list here the books I am currently reading, I have started a bookshself at goodreads which you are welcome to look at: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...
I will use the Down Beat five-star method of rating my books. (5 - excellent, 4 - very good, 3 - good, 2 - fair, 1 - poor)
+++++
1....1/1....PG Wodehouse - Right Ho, Jeeves
5 stars
(Read 77% in 2010.) Complete silliness, for lovers of the English language. Laugh out loud funny.
+++++
2....1/2....Arthur J. Penty - Post-Industrialism
4 stars
(Read 76% in 2010.) 1922 analysis of the problems of industrialism and the author's belief that the solutions are to be found by returning to the culture of the Middle Ages.
+++++
3....1/8....Raymond A. Moody - Life After Life
3 stars
(Read 48% in 2010.) The author summarizes the accounts of many who survived near-death experiences, but he does not draw firm conclusions.
+++++
4....1/18....Howard Pyle - The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
4 stars
The author used old English in both the dialogue and his narration, which took a while to get used to. It was great to read of the various tales I was vaguely aware of. Maid Marian was mentioned only once in passing. Prince John was not mentioned until the epilogue when he was king.