My Sign Up Post -- TBR 25 IN '25 & MT. TBR CHALLENGES

 

THE TBR 25 IN '25 CHALLENGE

THE MT. TBR CHALLENGE

My Sign Up Post

This is my sign up post for the TBR 25 in '25 and Mt. TBR Challenges. If you want to join me in the TBR 25 in '25 Challenge (and I hope you do), go to the main challenge page, here. Bev at My Reader's Block hosts the Mt. TBR Challenge. You can find the details for that one here. 

The number of unread books on my shelves is staggering. I long ago stopped referring to "my TBR shelf" because there are many shelves of unread books in my house. I prefer to think to it as a "library" and may never get to all of them. But I mean to try. 

Last year, I read the 24 books I picked for the TBR 24 in '24 Challenge, plus another 70 books for the Mt. TBR Challenge, for a total of 94 books read from my TBR library. I hope to reach at least 100 this year. 

You do not have to pick your TBR 25 in '25 book ahead of time. You can. Or you can pick them as you go. Or you can pick and then change your mind. The only "rule" is that the books have to have been on your shelf before January 1, 2025. 

Here are my TBR 25 in '25 picks, in alphabetical order by author. I'll read them in any old order:

• One Man’s San Francisco by Herb Cain

• French Provincial Cooking by Elizabeth David

• The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell FINISHED

• Daphne du Maurier: The Secret Life of the Renowned Storyteller by Margaret Forster NOW

• Biter Orange by Claire Fuller

• Careless in Red by Elizabeth George

• Q.’s Legacy by Helene Hanff

• Ripley Under Ground by Patricia Highsmith

• Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith

• Absolute Truths by Susan Howatch FINISHED

• Beat Not the Bones by Charlotte Jay

• The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis

• The Widow on Dwyer Court by Lisa Kusel

• The Lady of the Mine by Sergei Lebedev

• Lost & Found: Public Theology in the Secular Age by Michael A. Milton NOW

• Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue by Sonia Purnell

• Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl

• Dragon’s Teeth by Upton Sinclair FINISHED

• The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen by Nigel Slater NOW

• The Maine Woods by Henry David Thoreau

• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

• A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg

• Zabar's: A Family Story, with Recipes by Lori Zabar

There was no rhyme or rhythm to how I picked these. A few, like the Herb Cain book, have languished on my shelves for too long. Others came to me more recently, but with the understanding that I would read them right away, which I haven't. Some are for group reads on Instagram, like Imitation of Christ and the du Maurier biography. A few won prizes and I'm trying to read all the winners, like the Charlotte Jay book that won the very first Edgar Award for best mystery in 1954.

I got this post up so late that I've already read several of these. I wanted to start strong in January so I have momentum to read these and then move on to my Mt. TBR books. 

I don't know which books I'll read for that one yet. But I signed up for the Mt. Everest level to read a total of 100 books off my shelves. That means I need 75 in addition tot he 25 listed above. I'm ready to climb!

 

The Edgar Award for Best Novel -- LIST

 

THE EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL

2021 was the 75th anniversary of the Edgar Awards, the prestigious award for mystery writing from the  Mystery Writers of America. I'm working my way through the list of winners of the Edgar Award for Best Novel.

The Edgar Award is named in honor of Edgar Allen Poe, 19th Century American author of spooky stories. Watchful at Night by Julius Fast won the first Edgar Award, then in the category of "Best First Novel by an American Author." The "Best Novel" category has been around since 1954.

I am not going to keep updating the winners after 2022. My enthusiasm for prize-winners is waning with the 2020s. I plan to focus my efforts on reading the winners up to 2020 then declare victory and move on to other bookish projects.

So far, I've read 40 of the Best Novel winners, more than half. Those I've read or are on my TBR shelf are noted in the list below.

2022 Five Decembers by James Kestrel

2021 Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara ON OVERDRIVE

2020 The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths ON OVERDRIVE

2019 Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley ON OVERDRIVE

2018 Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke FINISHED

2017 Before the Fall by Noah Hawley FINISHED

2016 Let Me Die in His Footsteps by Lori Roy FINISHED

2015 Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King FINISHED

2014 Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger ON OVERDRIVE

2013 Live by Night by Dennis Lehane FINISHED

2012 Gone by Mo Hayder ON OVERDRIVE

2011 The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

2010 The Last Child by John Hart ON OVERDRIVE

2009 Blue Heaven by C. J. Box FINISHED

2008 Down River by John Hart FINISHED

2007 The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin FINISHED

2006 Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (reviewed here) FINISHED

2005 California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker FINISHED

2004 Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin FINISHED

2003 Winter and Night by S.J. Rozan FINISHED

2002 Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker FINISHED

2001 The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale

2000 Bones by Jan Burke

1999 Mr. White's Confession by Robert Clark FINISHED

1998 Cimarron Rose by James Lee Burke FINISHED

1997 The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook (reviewed here) FINISHED

1996 Come to Grief by Dick Francis FINISHED

1995 The Red Scream by Mary Willis Walker TBR SHELF

1994 The Sculptress by Minette Walters

1993 Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron FINISHED

1992 A Dance at the Slaughterhouse by Lawrence Block FINISHED

1991 New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith FINISHED

1990 Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke FINISHED

1989 A Cold Red Sunrise by Stuart M. Kaminsky

1988 Old Bones by Aaron Elkins TBR SHELF

1987 A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine TBR SHELF

1986 The Suspect by L.R. Wright

1985 Briar Patch by Ross Thomas

1984 La Brava by Elmore Leonard FINISHED

1983 Billingsgate Shoal by Rick Boyer FINISHED

1982 Peregrine by William Bayer TBR SHELF

1981 Whip Hand by Dick Francis FINISHED

1980 The Rheingold Route by Arthur Maling

1979 The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett FINISHED

1978 Catch Me: Kill Me by William H. Hallahan TBR SHELF

1977 Promised Land by Robert B. Parker FINISHED

1976 Hopscotch by Brian Garfield

1975 Peter's Pence by Jon Cleary

1974 Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman FINISHED

1973 The Lingala Code by Warren Kiefer

1972 The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth TBR SHELF

1971 The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo FINISHED

1970 Forfeit by Dick Francis FINISHED

1969 A Case of Need by Micheal Crichton (as Jeffery Hudson) FINISHED

1968 God Save the Mark by Donald E. Westlake FINISHED

1967 The King of the Rainy Country by Nicolas Freeling FINISHED

1966 The Quiller Memorandum by Adam Hall FINISHED

1965 The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre FINISHED

1964 The Light of Day by Eric Ambler FINISHED

1963 Death and the Joyful Woman by Ellis Peters FINISHED

1962 Gideon's Fire by J.J. Marric

1961 The Progress of a Crime by Julian Symons

1960 The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin TBR SHELF

1959 The Eighth Circle by Stanley Ellin

1958 Room to Swing by Ed Lacy

1957 A Dram of Poison by Charlotte Armstrong FINISHED

1956 Beast in View by Margaret Millar FINISHED

1955 The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler FINISHED

1954 Beat Not the Bones by Charlotte Jay  FINISHED

NOTE

Updated July 3, 2025.  

OTHERS READING THESE BOOKS

If you are also reading Edgar winners, please leave comments with related posts like your lists and reviews and I will list them here. 

January Wrap Up - My January Books

JANUARY WRAP UP

One of my bookish New Year's resolutions was to try to post monthly wrap ups of the books I read each month. I haven't done this in the past because I read so many books with my ears that I don't have book books to photograph. I also often give books away right when I finish reading them so don't have a complete stack to take a picture of at the end of the month. 

Because I made this resolution -- let's call it an intention, it's less than a resolution -- I did two things. First, I remembered to keep the books I finished reading until the end of the month so I could take a picture of them. Important. 

Second, I concentrated my audiobook selection on books that were already on my TBR shelves. This might sound silly to you. Why chose an audiobook when the perfectly good paper book is sitting right there, waiting to be read? I'll tell you. Because some of those books have been sitting on my TBR shelves for years - years! According to LibraryThing, there are over 1,700 physical books on my groaning TBR shelves. It could be many more years before I get to any particular book. So I decided to start reading some of them with my ears and clearing off those shelves just a tiny bit faster.

The result is that I managed to knock nine books off my TBR shelves, reread an old favorite, read one new one for book club, and still get in two audiobooks not otherwise on my shelves. 

MY JANUARY BOOKS

My January books, in the order I read them, not the order in this picture, were:

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. A friend gave this to me and I read it on New Year's Day. It is charming and I understand its popularity. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Lucky Jim by Kinglsey Amis made me appreciate this old favorite even more than when I first read it in college. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Red and the Black by Stendhal. This was a clunker for me. I found the hero, Julien Sorel, unbearable. 🌹🌹

Billy Bathgate by E. L. Doctorow. I'm not much of a Doctorow fan and was surprised how much I enjoyed this one. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

Now Now, But NOW by M. F. K. Fisher. This is Fisher's only novel. I read it for book club. It's an odd book, really four short stories about the same character, set in four different times and places, so connected by time travel. It was like Orlando, written by Colette, commissioned by Gourmet magazine. I'm glad I read it but I prefer her nonfiction. 🌹🌹🌹

Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter. This is on the Erica Jong list of Top 100 20th Century Novels by Women and on my Classics Club list. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis. This is one of the audiobooks I read that isn't pictured. Another bookish resolution of mine is to read several C. S. Lewis books this year. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis. Another audiobook. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan by Deborah Reed. I loved this book! See my review here. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman by Elizabeth Buchan. This was a nice surprise. It was much better, with a lot more heft to it, than the cover and description led me to expect. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. I've been meaning to read this classic sci-fi forever and am glad I finally did. I didn't love it like I loved War of the Worlds, but it was still very good. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. This early police procedural didn’t engage me, even though it won the Edgar Award for best mystery. It felt like a prototype compared to more recent versions of Nordic Noir like Jo Nesbo’s books. And the female characters were absurd – “nymphomaniacs,” shrews, or dipsos. 🌹🌹

On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist by Clarissa Ward. I just finished this gripping memoir about being a war correspondent. Can’t wait to discuss it at book club! 🌹🌹🌹🌹

I usually only read eight, maybe nine, books in a month. I don't know why I finished 13 in January. We will see what February has in store. 

What was your favorite January read? What books are you looking forward to in February? 

A Splurge of Books for MAILBOX MONDAY

 

A splurge of new books!

Yes, I think the collective noun for newly-purchased, yet unshelved books should be a splurge – like a murder of crows or a flock of sheep. Before they become part of a library, a group of new books should be called a splurge. What books have you splurged on lately?

I did some stress shopping the other day when I was hammering away at my nth Boy Scout sex abuse claim to get them all filed before today's November 16 deadline in the BSA bankruptcy.* Good thing used books are my weakness and not designer handbags or something. 

I shopped from my master list of Books To Buy and Read, which is why so many of these are on lists I'm working on. But I didn’t remember what I ordered until I opened the box, so this splurge of books was extra fun for me. Does anything look good?

Transparent Things by Vladimir Nabokov.

Beat Not the Bones by Charlotte Jay, winner of the first Edgar Award for best mystery in 1954, reprinted by Soho Press.

The Time of the Angels by Iris Murdoch.

The Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer. This is on Erica Jong’s list of Top 100 20th Century Novels by Women. 

Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford. This biography of Louis XV’s mistress is another contender for Nonfiction November and is on my list of French Connection books.

The Fox in the Attic by Richard Hughes with an introduction by Hilary Mantel. This historical fiction book, set in Germany after WWI, is on Anthony Burgess’s list of Favorite 99 Novels.

The Lockwood Concern by John O’Hara, also on the Burgess list.

Late Call by Angus Wilson, also on the Burgess list.

* OFF TOPIC NOTE: If you have seen the news about the Boy Scout's bankruptcy, it does seem astounding that so many people, mostly men, have made sex abuse claims so far. There were over 80,000 yesterday and by the 5:00 pm deadline today I am sure the number will be over 100,000. 

Sadly, that number doesn't surprise me. I've been representing BSA sex abuse survivors for a long time now and have long estimated there were well over 100,000 victims of sexual abuse and exploitation in Scouting. I hope the organization can survive in a way that will be better and safer for kids.

MAILBOX MONDAY 

Join other book lovers on Mailbox Monday to share the books that came into your house last week. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Martha of Reviews by Martha's Bookshelf.

List: Edgar Award Winners for Best Novel

Every year, the Mystery Writers of America award the "Edgar" Award in nine categories of mystery and crime writing, plus a handful of special awards. I'm reading through the list of winners of Edgar Award for Best Novel.

The award is named in honor of Edgar Allen Poe, born in 1809. The first Edgar Award went to Watchful at Night by Julius Fast in 1947 for Best First Novel by an American Author. The "Best Novel" Award has been around since 1954.

Although I enjoy a good mystery, there are few on this list that I have read. Why is this? There may be many clues, but I suspect foul play.

I you are also reading Edgar winners and have a related post, leave a link in a comment and I will add your link in a list at the bottom of this post.

Those I have read are in red. Those on my TBR shelf are in blue.

2020 The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

2019 House Witness by Mike Lawson

2018 Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

2017 Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

2016 Let Me Die in His Footsteps by Lori Roy

2015 Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

2014 Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

2013 Live by Night by Dennis Lehane

2012 Gone by Mo Hayder

2011 The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

2010 The Last Child by John Hart

2009 Blue Heaven by C. J. Box

2008 Down River by John Hart

2007 The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin

2006 Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (reviewed here)

2005 California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker

2004 Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin

2003 Winter and Night by S.J. Rozan

2002 Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker

2001 The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale

2000 Bones by Jan Burke

1999 Mr. White's Confession by Robert Clark

1998 Cimarron Rose by James Lee Burke

1997 The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook (reviewed here)

1996 Come to Grief by Dick Francis

1995 The Red Scream by Mary Willis Walker

1994 The Sculptress by Minette Walters

1993 Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron

1992 A Dance at the Slaughterhouse by Lawrence Block

1991 New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith

1990 Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke

1989 A Cold Red Sunrise by Stuart M. Kaminsky

1988 Old Bones by Aaron Elkins

1987 A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine

1986 The Suspect by L.R. Wright

1985 Briar Patch by Ross Thomas

1984 La Brava by Elmore Leonard

1983 Billingsgate Shoal by Rick Boyer

1982 Peregrine by William Bayer

1981 Whip Hand by Dick Francis

1980 The Rheingold Route by Arthur Maling

1979 The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett

1978 Catch Me: Kill Me by William H. Hallahan

1977 Promised Land by Robert B. Parker

1976 Hopscotch by Brian Garfield

1975 Peter's Pence by Jon Cleary

1974 Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman

1973 The Lingala Code by Warren Kiefer

1972 The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

1971 The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo

1970 Forfeit by Dick Francis

1969 A Case of Need by Micheal Crichton (as Jeffery Hudson)

1968 God Save the Mark by Donald E. Westlake

1967 The King of the Rainy Country by Nicolas Freeling

1966 The Quiller Memorandum by Adam Hall

1965 The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre

1964 The Light of Day by Eric Ambler

1963 Death and the Joyful Woman by Ellis Peters

1962 Gideon's Fire by J.J. Marric

1961 The Progress of a Crime by Julian Symons

1960 The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin

1959 The Eighth Circle by Stanley Ellin

1958 Room to Swing by Ed Lacy

1957 A Dram of Poison by Charlotte Armstrong

1956 Beast in View by Margaret Millar

1955 The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler

1954 Beat Not the Bones by Charlotte Jay




OTHERS READING THESE BOOKS

If you would like to be listed here, please leave a comment with your links to any progress reports or reviews and I will add them.

2018 CHALLENGE: European Reading Challenge Wrap Up

COMPLETED

This is my personal wrap up post for the 2018 European Reading Challenge.

If you have completed the 2018 challenge, please got to the official wrap up page and add a link to your wrap up post. To post a review for a 2018 book, please go to the review page.

The 2019 challenge will be posted ASAP.

BOOKS I READ

The Virgin in the Garden by A. S. Byatt (UK)

The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra (Russia)

Long Ago in France: The Years in Dijon by M. F. K. Fisher (France)

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (Sweden)

Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald (Germany; National Book Critics Circle Award winner)

The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride (Ireland; James Tate Black Memorial Prize winner)

Nemesis by Jo Nesbo (Norway)

Exodus by Leon Uris (Belgium)

Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd (Austria)

The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin (Turkey; Edgar Award winner)

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante (Italy)

Gertrude and Claudius by John Updike (Denmark)

Outline by Rachel Cusk (Greece)

I visited a total of 13 different countries for this challenge, which is pretty good for me. What is better, for me, is that four of the books were translated to English from the authors' native languages. I read a lot of books set in other countries, but not usually by authors from other countries.

Mailbox Monday: Neighborhood Book Gleaning

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I have a couple of great books heading my way (including Night in Shanghai by Nicole Mones), but the only books that came into my house last week are those I gleaned when out enjoying the gorgeous early spring weather.

Little Free Libraries have sprouted up in my neighborhood like daffodils.  There are at least three within six blocks of my house.  Most of them look like little peaked-roof houses with two shelves, like this one:

But my favorite pre-dates the brand name Little Free Libraries.  It is just an old, oversized black mailbox with BOOKS stenciled on the side.  I have great luck with this one.

I've taken to keeping a bag of finished books handy and grab one when I head out for a walk, so I always have a contribution ready for the first LFL I pass by.

The books I found last week are:



The Butcher's Boy by Thomas Perry (an Edgar winner)



No Uncertain Terms: More Writing from the Popular "On Language" Column in The New York Times Magazine by William Safire



Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures by Robert K. Wittman

Teaser Tuesday: Beast in View

June knocked on the door and waited, swaying a little, partly because the martini had been double, and partly because a radio down the hall was playing a waltz and waltzes always made her sway. Back and forth her scrawny little body moved under the cheap plaid coat.

-- Beast in View by Margaret Millar.  This won the Edgar Award for best mystery in 1956, the third year the award was given.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

Abi at 4 the Love of Books is hosting in May. Please visit her fun, inspirational blog.

I got a nice stack of books last week, mostly because I stopped by my favorite Second Glance Books where Rachelle had some set aside for me. 

I also got a copy of an interesting book when I went to hear the author/editor speak.  If you would have told me that I could sit and listen to a two-hour lecture on the history of, and predictions for, the modern welfare states of Europe and America,  I would have scoffed.  But Tom Palmer was a riveting speaker.  I am looking forward to reading his book:



After the Welfare State, edited by Tom G. Palmer, featuring essays by himself, David Beito, Piercamillo Falasca (Italian),  David Green(English),  Aristides Hatzis (Greek), Johan Norberg (Swedish),  and Michael Tanner.  I like the international perspectives.

My books from Second Glance are:



Death of a Cozy Writer by G. M. Malliet.  I also have her book, Wicked Autumn, on my TBR shelf.



The Japanese Cat at Home by Nobuo Honda, because it is too adorable!



Morgan's Passing by Anne Tyler




Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill, which is on the College Board's Top 101 list.



McTeague by Frank Norris



Promised Land by Robert B. Parker, which won the Edgar Award.

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

Abi at 4 the Love of Books is hosting in May. Please visit her fun, inspirational blog.

Two random books came into my house last week, both from books lists I'm working on.



Death and the Joyful Woman by Ellis Peters. This is the second book in the Inspector Felse series and it won the Edgar Award in 1963. I have the first book in the series, Fallen into the Pit, already on my TBR shelf.



Trust by Cynthia Ozick. I have never read anything by her, but this one -- her fist novel -- is on the Erica Jong list of Top 100 20th Century Novels by Women. The amazon reviews don't do it any favors.

What books came into your house last week?

Score!

Every once in a while a diligent used book hound can hit it lucky. I did today when I happened to stop by Secondhand Prose, the Friends of the Library store in Oregon City.

I found a stash of Dick Francis books that someone had recently dropped off and they landed on the 25¢ shelf.  I grabbed all 24 of them for the whopping price of $6!

Eleven of them are duplicates for me -- I'll pass them on to my sister -- but thirteen are those I've been looking for, including two of his three Edgar winners, Whip Hand and Forfeit.  The list of those new to me are:

Dead Cert (1962)

Flying Finish (1966)

Forfeit (1968) (Edgar winner)

Slayride (1970)

Rat Race (1970)

Bonecrack (1971)

Risk (1977)

Trial Run (1978)

Whip Hand (1979) (Edgar winner featuring Sid Halley)

Reflex (1980)

Twice Shy (1981)

The Danger (1983)

Straight (1989)

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia at A girl and her books (fka The Printed Page), who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring meme (details here).

Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit is hosting in October.  Please go by and visit her wonderful blog. 

Many books came into my house last week from a variety of sources:

First, I had lunch with Larry Dennis to discuss his company, Turbo Leadership Systems doing some work with my law firm.  Larry gave me a copy of his book InFormation: How To Gain The 71% Advantage.  I don't read a lot of business books, but I'll read this one.



Second, Bob Sanchez, author and nonfiction editor at the Internet Review of Books, sent me a copy of his mystery, Little Mountain. I don't have a Kindle, so Bob was nice enough to send a paperback, but the Kindle edition is a steal at only $2.99! It looks great -- a Cambodian refugee now homicide cop in Lowell, Massachusetts.



Third, because I completed the Vintage Mystery Challenge, hostess Bev from My Reader's Block sent me a prize -- A PRIZE! For reading books. Does it get any better than that?  I chose An Oxford Tragedy by J. C. Masterman because this challenge has me hooked for good on vintage mysteries.



Finally, showing an uncharacteristic willingness to relinquish control, I gave a copy of my "Books to Buy and Read" list to Rachelle at my favorite Second Glance bookstore.  She found several nice copies for me, so I have a stack of new (to me) books, most of them on one or another of my book lists:

The Once and Future King by T. H. White (on the Burgess list)



One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (on the College Board's Top 101 List and the MLA's 30 Books Every Adult Should Read Before They Die list)



What Makes Sammy Run? by Budd Schulberg (in a nice Modern Library edition; on the BOMC's Well-Stocked Bookcase list)



An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro (winner of the Costa Book of the Year award)



Old Bones: A Gideon Oliver Mystery by Aaron Elkins (an Edgar Award winner)



A Case of Need by Michael Crichton (another Edgar winner)



The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir (in a nice Everyman's Library reissue; on my own French Connections list)



The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro (winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award)



The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling (on the Easton Top 100 list)

Review of the Day: The Chatham School Affair

Thomas H. Cook channeled his inner Daphne Du Maurier for his Edgar-winning mystery, The Chatham School Affair. This modern gothic extravaganza is narrated by the now-elderly Henry Griswald, who has finally taken it on himself to explain what really happened at Black Pond 70 years ago.

Henry was a teenager in 1926 when Elizabeth Channing arrived to teach art at his father's boarding school in Chatham, Massachusetts, a provincial town on Cape Cod. Her beauty and worldly ways antagonize the puritans of the town, but captivate her fellow teacher, Leland Reed. Henry is swept away by the romance and adventure of their relationship, becoming more of an accomplice than a neutral observer.

Henry spins the story out bit by bit, each scene heavy with melodrama and ominous foreshadowing. It is difficult to keep the suspense building with this kind of "historical account" technique, but Cook handles it well, never giving away more than what is necessary to move the story forward.

If the story drags a bit in parts and some scenes are a bit overwrought, that is a reasonable price to pay for what is, overall, a rich and well-crafted novel.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this or any of Thomas H. Cook's other novels listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

Here is list of all the Edgar Award winners.  This won in 1997.

Opening Sentence of the Day: The Chatham School Affair

My father had a favorite line.

-- The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook.

This won the Edgar Award in 1997. It takes place in a small town on Cape Cod and looks like it is going ot be really good.

Mailbox Monday

 

Knitting and Sundries is hosting Mailbox Monday in November. Thanks Julie!

Nothing came for me in the mail last week, but I did pick up a stack of books at the Grant High School annual used book sale.  All of them were in very good condition, mostly hardbacks, and only $2 each (because I went when they first opened -- they would have been $1 if I had waited until the afternoon, but these books may have been gone by then).

It's quite a mixed up mix of books:

Just Enough Liebling: Classic Work by the Legendary New Yorker Writer (great cover!)



The Gate House by Nelson DeMille



A Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion



Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy



Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (on the All-TIME 100 list)



In the Woods by Tana French (Edgar winner)