Possible Reading Challenge -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

Possible Reading Challenge

How do you pick the books you are going to read?

I am not a “mood” reader. I don’t pick my next read on whim. If I did, I’d read mostly mysteries, with a few ex-pat memoirs and novels "by women, for women" thrown in. Classics, heavy fiction, history, chunky biographies, and short stories don't jump out at me. I love reading long books, serious books, genres outside my comfort zone, and even short stories when I read them. But I'm not typically in the mood to read them. I need some kind of structure to my reading plan to tackle those books. My two IRL book clubs, Instagram buddy reads, and blog challenges give me that kind of structure.

Today I had a crazy idea of organizing my reading based on the names of each month. (I didn’t say I need formality to find structure!) I occasionally see Instagram posts of stacks of books that spell the name of the month with the first letters of each title. Clever. Now I’m obsessed with the idea of reading a spelling stack of books each month for a year. 

There are a total of 74 letters in the names of the twelve months. May is the shortest, with three letters.  September and December are the longest, with nine letters each. A total of 74 books in a year is doable. I usually read close to twice that many, so I would have plenty of flexibility to work in other books.

I could come up with a whole new challenge based on this wild hare. It would need a clever name and I'm not good at that. I'd probably end up calling it the Spell the Month Challenge. Not very catchy. On the other hand, instead of a new challenge, I could use the idea as a theme for my TBR 25 in '25 Challenge and the Mt. TBR Challenge hosted each year by Bev at My Reader's Block. I signed up with Bev this year to read a total of 60 books off my TBR shelves. I could probably stretch it to 74. 

Or the whole idea could fade away. But for now, here’s a stack of books spelling October. I picked mysteries because I’m already looking to game my own system and bring in the mystery books.

Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh

Come Away Death by Gladys Mitchell

Telling of Murder by Douglas Rutherford

On the Danger Line by Simenon

Bullets for the Bridegroom by David Dodge

Excellent Intentions by Richard Hull

Red Threads by Rex Stout

Happy reading, however you pick your next book!

2021 Vintage Mystery Challenge - My Wrap Up Post

VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE 2021

VINTAGE SCATTEGORIES

MY WRAP UP POST

COMPLETED

The Vintage Mystery Challenge on My Reader's Block is one of my favorite challenges. The idea is to read at least eight vintage mysteries, either from the Golden Age of mysteries (those published prior to 1960) or the Silver Age of mysteries (those published from 1960 to 1989). 

Each year, Bev makes some kind of game out of it. This year the game is Vintage Scattegories. Participants are to read one book from at least eight of various categories. I signed up for both the Golden Age and Silver Age to try to read 16 books. 

MY VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE BOOKS - GOLD

In 2021, I read 13 vintage mysteries published before 1960. I was on a mission to read all the Father Brown books, having read the first one in December 2020 and wanting to go straight through, so Fr. Brown shows up a lot in this list. 

• Colorful Crime: The Scandal of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton

• Murder by the Numbers: The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers 

• Amateur Night: The Wisdom of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton 

• Jolly Old England: The Secret of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton

• Dangerous Beasts: Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie 

• Staging the Crime: Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh

• Cops & Robbers: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins 

• Locked Room: The Incredulity of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton 

• Murder is Academic: Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers 

• Repeat Offenders: Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers 

• A Mystery by Any Other Name: Funerals are Fatal by Agatha Christie (aka After the Funeral and Murder at the Gallop)

• Country House Criminals: Peril at End House by Agatha Christie 

• Dynamic Duos: The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 

MY VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE BOOKS - SILVER

I read 11 vintage mysteries in 2021 that were published between 1960 and 1989. Most of them were by Dick Francis because he's my favorite. 

• Murder by the Numbers: Twice Shy by Dick Francis 

• Amateur Night: Dead Cert by Dick Francis 

• Jolly Old England: One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters

• Yankee Doodle Dandy: Split Images by Elmore Leonard 

• World Traveler: Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie 

• A Calendar of Crime: March Violets by Philip Kerr 

• Malicious Men: LaBrava by Elmore Leonard

• Murder is Academic: The Theban Mysteries by Amanda Cross 

• Repeat Offenders: Whip Hand by Dick Francis 

• Killed in Translation: The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö 

• Hobbies Can be Murder: Reflex by Dick Francis 

I didn't review any of these books, so my challenge participation was minimal. But I had a terrific time reading them. I look forward to joining the 2022 version of the Vintage Mystery Challenge and will sign up soon!

2021 CHALLENGE: Vintage Scattergories - Vintage Mystery Challenge 2021

VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE 2021

VINTAGE SCATTEGORIES

The Vintage Mystery Challenge on My Reader's Block has always been one of my very favorite challenges. Bev has hosted it since 2011, which is the first year I joined the challenge and I've done it most years since then. I love it. 

Read all the detail of the Vintage Mystery Challenge on the main challenge page. The idea is to read at least eight vintage mysteries, either from the Golden Age of mysteries (those published prior to 1960) or the Silver Age of mysteries (those published from 1960 to 1989). Yes, Bev recognizes that the dates are somewhat arbitrary. Yes, you can sign up to do both the Golden and Silver Ages. 

Each year, Bev makes some kind of game out of it. This year the game is Vintage Scattegories. Participants are to read one book from at least eight of the following categories. I'm signing up for both the Golden Age and Silver Age to try to read 16 books. It's a big motivator for me that Bev also hosts the Mt. TBR Challenge and my plan is to read 16 vintage mysteries already on my shelves!

CATEGORIES

1. Colorful Crime: A book with a color or reference to color in the title
2. Murder by the Numbers: A book with a number or quantity in the title
3. Amateur Night: A book with a detective who is not a P.I.; Police Officer; or other official investigator (Nurse Keate, Father Brown, Miss Marple, etc.)
4. Leave It to the Professionals: A book featuring cops, private eyes, secret service, professional spies, etc.
5. Jolly Old England: A mystery set in the United Kingdom
6. Yankee Doodle Dandy: A mystery set in the United States
7. World Traveler: A mystery set in any country except the U.S. or U.K.
8. Dangerous Beasts: A book with an animal in the title
9. A Calendar of Crime: A mystery with a date/holiday/year/month/etc. in the title
10. Wicked Women: A book with a woman in the title--either by name (Mrs. McGinty's Dead) or by reference (The Case of the Vagabond Virgin)
11. Malicious Men: A book with a man in the title--either by name (Maigret & the Yellow Dog) or by reference (The Case of the Haunted Husband)
12. Murderous Methods: A book with a means of death in the title (The Noose, 5 Bullets, Deadly Nightshade, etc.)
13. Staging the Crime: A mystery set in the entertainment world (theatre, musical event, pageant, Hollywood, etc.)
14. Scene of the Crime: A book with the location of the crime in the title (The Body in the Library, Murder at the Vicarage, etc.)
15. Cops & Robbers: A book that features a theft rather than murder
16. Locked Rooms: A locked-room mystery
17. Impossible Crimes: Any other impossible crime (locks not necessary)
18. Country House Criminals: A standard (or not-so-standard) Golden Age-style country house murder
19. Murder on the High Seas: A mystery involving water
20. Planes, Trains, & Automobiles: A book with a mode of transportation in the title
21. Murder is Academic: A mystery involving a scholar, teacher, librarian, etc. OR set at a school, university, library, etc.
22. Things That Go Bump in the Night: A book with something spooky, creepy, gothic in the title (The Skeleton in the Clock; Haunted Lady; The Bat; etc.)
23. Repeat Offenders: A mystery featuring your favorite series detective or by your favorite author or reread an old favorite
24. The Butler Did It...Or Not: A mystery where the butler is the victim, the sleuth...(gasp) the criminal...or is just downright memorable for whatever reason.
25. A Mystery by Any Other Name: Any book that has been published under more than one title (Murder Is Easy--aka Easy to Kill [Christie]; Fog of Doubt--aka London Particular [Christianna Brand], etc.)
26. Dynamic Duos: A mystery featuring a detective team (Holmes & Watson; Pam & Jerry North; Nero Wolfe & Archie Goodwin, or a little-known team that you introduce to us)
27. Size Matters: A book with a size or measurement in the title (Death Has a Small Voice; The Big Four; The Weight of the Evidence; etc.)
28. Psychic Phenomena: A mystery featuring a seance, medium, hypnotism, or other psychic or "supernatural" characters/events
29. Book to Movie: A book that has appeared on screen (feature film or TV)
30. The Old Bailey: A courtroom drama mystery OR a mystery featuring a judge, lawyer, barrister, district attorney
31. Serial Killers: Books that were originally published in serial format (from the pulp era) OR a book that includes three or more deaths--all committed by the same person.
32. Killed in Translation: A work that originally appeared in another language and has been made available in English--original publication date determines Gold or Silver Age--OR if your native language is not English, then a work that originally appeared in English which you read in your native language.
33. Blondes in Danger: A variation on "Colorful Crime." A book that features a blonde in the title (The Blonde Died First; The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde) or another shade of hair color (The Case of the Substitute Brunette)
34. International Detectives: A variation on "World Traveler"--but instead of the crime being set in another country, the detective is not from the U.S. or U.K.
35. Somebody Else's Crime: Read a book that someone else has already read for the challenge.
36. Genuine Fakes: Read a book by an author who wrote under a pseudonym (Josephine Tey [Elizabeth Mackintosh]; Nicholas Blake [Cecil Day Lewis]; etc.)
37. Hobbies Can Be Murder: A mystery that involves a hobby in some way: stamp, coin, book collecting, etc; knitting; birdwatching; hunting; etc.
38. Snatch & Grab: Read the first book you pick up off your shelf or TBR stack/s
39. I've Got You Covered: Pick a book to read based on the cover
40. Get Out of Jail Free: One per customer. You decide what special category the book fits and it counts--the only thing not accepted is "It's a vintage mystery!" The genre/time period is a given.

MY VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE BOOKS - GOLD

I'm not sure yet which Golden Age vintage mysteries I will read, but some possibilities lurking on my shelves include:

• Murder by the Numbers: Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers FINISHED
• Amateur Night: The Wisdom of Father Brown  By G. K. Chesterton FINISHED
• Jolly Old England: 
• Yankee Doodle Dandy: Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler*
• Dangerous Beasts: Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie FINISHED
• Staging the Crime: Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh
• Cops & Robbers: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins FINISHED
• Locked Room: The Incredulity of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton FINISHED
• Murder is Academic: Gaudy Night  by Dorothy L. Sayers FINISHED
• Repeat Offenders: Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers FINISHED
• A Mystery by Any Other Name: Funerals are Fatal by Agatha Christie (aka After the Funeral and Murder at the Gallop) FINISHED
• Country House Criminals: Peril at End House by Agatha Christie FINISHED
• Dynamic Duos: The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle FINISHED

MY VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE BOOKS - SILVER

Likewise, I don't know for sure which Silver Age vintage mysteries I'll pick and my choices are fewer, but I could round up these suspects:

• Murder by the Numbers: Twice Shy by Dick Francis FINISHED
• Amateur Night: Dead Cert by Dick Francis FINISHED
• Jolly Old England: At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie
• Yankee Doodle Dandy: Split Images by Elmore Leonard FINISHED
• World Traveler: Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie FINISHED
• A Calendar of Crime: March Violets by Philip Kerr FINISHED
• Wicked Women: Little Drummer Girl by John Le Carre
• Murder is Academic: The Theban Mysteries by Amanda Cross FINISHED
• Repeat Offenders: Whip Hand by Dick Francis FINISHED
• Killed in Translation: The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö FINISHED
• Hobbies Can be Murder: Reflex by Dick Francis FINISHED

NOTES

Updated November 29, 2021. 

* SCRATCH:

Farewell, My Lovely as an option. I realize I read it fairly recently. The Long Goodbye is the Chandler book I want to read, but I don't know if I will get to it for this year's challenge.

Touch by Elmore Leonard as a Yankee Doodle Dandy "Silver" option because I read Split Images instead.

The Amateur by Robert Little as a World Traveler "Silver" option because I read Passenger to Frankfurt instead.

Innocent Blood by P. D. James because I replaced it with Whip Hand by Dick Francis. 

Mailbox Memorial Day

Last week, I got a big stack of books from Booktique, the Friends of the Library used book store in Lake Oswego. What books came into your house last week?

The Light of Day by Graham Swift

The Bowl Is Already Broken by Mary Kay Zuravleff

Murther and Walking Spirits by Robertson Davies

A Ngaio Marsh Omnibus: Grave Mistake, Spinsters in Jeopardy, and Overture to Death

The Colette Omnibus: Cheri, The Last of Cheri, Gigi, The Vagabonds, and The Shackle

The Middle Ground by Margaret Drabble

How it All Began by Penelope Lively

A Long Finish by Michael Dibdin

The Copper Beech by Maeve Binchy

A Woman of Means by Peter Taylor

A Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion

The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty

We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea by Arthur Ransome

Esprit De Corps & Stiff Upper Lip by Lawrence Durrell

The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold by Evelyn Waugh

Murder in the Rue Dumas by M. L. Longworth

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

What looks good?

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. 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 graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Vicki of I'd Rather Be at the Beach.

Favorite Author: Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh was a New Zealand-born author, famous for her mystery series featuring British CID detective Roderick Alleyn. She wrote 32 Alleyn mysteries between 1934 and 1982.

Marsh is considered one of the four original "Queens of Crime" of the Golden Age of mystery writing of the 1920s and 1930s, along with Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, and Agatha Christie.

Marsh's Roderick Alleyn mysteries are listed below in chronological order. Those I've read are in red; those on my TBR shelf are in blue. Anyone reading Marsh's books are welcome to include related links in comments and I will list your posts below.


A Man Lay Dead (1934)

Enter a Murderer (1935)

The Nursing Home Murder (1935)

Death in Ecstasy (1936)

Vintage Murder (1937)

Artists in Crime (1938)

Death in a White Tie (1938)

Overture to Death (1939)

Death at the Bar (1940)

Surfeit of Lampreys (1941); originally called Death of a Peer in the U.S.

Death and the Dancing Footman (1942)

Colour Scheme (1943)

Died in the Wool (1945)

Final Curtain (1947)

Swing Brother Swing (1949); originally called A Wreath for Rivera in the U.S.

Opening Night (1951); still called Night at the Vulcan in the U.S.

Spinsters in Jeopardy (1954)

Scales of Justice (1955)

Off With His Head (1957); still called Death of a Fool in the U.S.

Singing in the Shrouds (1959)

False Scent (1960)

Hand in Glove (1962)

Dead Water (1964)

Death at the Dolphin (1967); still called Killer Dolphin in the U.S.

Clutch of Constables (1968)

When in Rome (1970)

Tied Up in Tinsel (1972)

Black As He's Painted (1974)

Last Ditch (1977)

A Grave Mistake (1978)

Photo Finish (1980)

Light Thickens (1982)


NOTES

If you are reading Ngaio Marsh's books and would like related posts listed here, please leave a comment with a link to your post and I will add it.

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday!  I am so pleased to host in December because it just adds to my general giddiness this festive time of year.

MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).  Marcia is looking for someone to take over tour organizing duties.  Many people have volunteered, but I don't know that there is a final plan for 2014.

MY THEME THIS WEEK: HOLIDAY BOOK TRADITIONS

Do you have any book-related holiday traditions? Please share!

MY TRADITION: Everyone in my immediate family loves to read, so I've developed a little Christmas tradition of filling a gift bag with books for each of them.  It is so fun to have a big stack of books to play with on Christmas day and to anticipate a new year of reading enjoyment. 

With that tradition in mind, I went to my two favorite Friends of the Library used book stores in Oregon: Booktique in Lake Oswego and Second Hand Prose in Oregon City.  My family members don't mind that the books are used and getting them from the library stores means they cost so little everyone gets a BIG bag.

MY BOOKS: I can never hit those stores without finding something for myself.  Many somethings.  Including these:



Amarcord: Marcella Remembers by Marcella Hazan. I have several of her cookbooks and her life story of growing up in Italy during WWII sounds fascinating.



The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I know this was hugely popular, but I somehow missed it.



Lulu in Marrakech
by Diane Johnson. I like her books and am in the mood to read fun stuff.



Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh. I am always in the mood for a vintage mystery and adore her Inspector Roderick Allyn series.

YOUR BOOKS

What books came into your house last week?  Leave your link below or in a comment.  If you don't have a blog but want to play along, leave a comment listing your new books.

Kitchen Remodel, Week Thirty-One: Bella Cucina!

The kitchen is finally done! I haven't posted about this remodel for a couple of weeks because the final process slowed to a crawl waiting on a few punch list items and landscaping. Also, we were on vacation, so the kitchen was out of sight out of mind for me.

But now we are finally finished! Right down to the (removable) Italian tile backsplash that my sister designed and had made in Italy from her drawing. "Bella Cucina" translates to either Beautiful Kitchen or Beautiful Cooking.  I hope to do some beautiful cooking in this beautiful kitchen for years to come.

Since our summer weather has disappeared and we are in the midst of one heck of a rainstorm, all my nesting instincts are raging. I just want to light a fire in the fireplace and curl up with the Ngaio Marsh mystery I am close to finishing.  And I've been trying to add all seven of my winter pounds in one weekend, craving nothing but casserole and cookies.

I've got some kind of chuck roast in the oven I plan to serve with roasted potatoes and a salad tonight.  I say "some kind of" because it is part of the grass fed cow from my freezer and all the package said was "beef roast" with no information about the particular cut.  Until I unwrapped it, I didn't know if I would be cooking it in a hot oven for a short time, like an old fashioned roast beef,  of in a warm oven for a long time, like a pot roast.

I still can't really tell what cut it is -- maybe shank? But it looks like the low-and-slow kind.  I turned to Lynn Curry's Pure Beef: An Essential Guide to Artisan Meat with Recipes for Every Cut, which I reviewed here, and followed some of her basic suggestions.

Most important according to Curry, is to rub grass fed beef with salt and let it sit for a while before cooking, to improve the flavor and make it more tender.  The idea is that the salt pulls the moisture from the meat, but then the meat reabsorbs the moisture, drawing the salt back in with it to flavor the meat all the way through.

We'll see if it works.  In the meantime, maybe I have time to make a pan of bar cookies. Right after I find out who killed Lord Robert Gospell on the night of Lady Carrados' ball.

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Teaser Tuesday: Death in a White Tie

He had placed his chair carefully, leaving a space between himself and the left-hand arm of the sofa. Into this space the shadowy figure now moved.

-- Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh, one of the Queens of Crime from the Golden Age of mysteries. I need to get a list of her novels posted because she is a new favorite of mine.

This is the seventh book in Marsh's Inspector Roderick Alleyn series. It was first published in 1938. I've only read one other book in the series, Death at the Bar, which I thought was terrific. Normally, I read a series in order, but there are so many in this one and I do not have them all, so I am reading them as I come across them.

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