January 2024 -- MONTHLY WRAP UP

 

MONTHLY WRAP UP

January 2024

I made a strong start to the reading year, finishing 13 books in January, including six TBR 24 in '24 books. I wanted to get a jump on that one and not wait until the end of the year like I did in 2023.

See any here that you’ve read or want to? 

The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh, for a bookstagram read along. This short novel satirizes Hollywood and the American funeral industry. It is dark but very funny. 

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier, as part of a Du Maurier Deep Dive group I'm in, also through Instagram. I loved every melodramatic page. 

Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope, the first book in yet another buddy read, this one a read through of Trollope's Palliser novels. 

Rates of Exchange by Malcolm Bradbury, a TBR 24 in ’24 book about a college professor on a cultural exchange to a Soviet Bloc country in the early 1980s. Definitely a highlight of the month. 

Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life by Zena Hitz, another TBR 24 in ’24. I loved this book. Hitz examines the joys of intellectual pursuits, how “leisure” differs from “recreation,” and why our regular jobs are not (usually) intellectually fulfilling. 

Rather be the Devil by Ian Rankin, from his John Rebus series that I love but want to wrap up.

Need Blind Ambition by Kevin Myers, a fantastic new campus thriller.

My Almost Cashmere Life by Margie Adams, TBR 24 in ’24 nonfiction. I admit read this memoir about the end of a dysfunctional but long-term marriage because I know the husband. I wanted the inside scoop.

Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription by William F. Buckley, Jr., my favorite title of the month and another TBR 24 in ’24.

Quentins by Maeve Binchy, my feel good TBR 24 in ’24. I love her Aga Sagas. 

Political Woman: The Big Little Life of Jeane Kirkpatrick by Peter Collier, more TBR 24 in ’24 nonfiction and a fascinating slice of recent history.

🎧 NOT PICTURED 🎧

Beartown by Fredrik Backman. More serious than his other books I’ve read, I thought this was a compassionate and insightful handling of teenage sexual assault and its repercussions in a small community. 

In a House of Lies by Ian Rankin, which leaves only two to go. I want to finish this series before I start any new ones. I have my eye on Mick Heron's Slow Horses series. 

There wasn’t a clunker on that list. I loved them all. Now, on to February. What book are you excited to read this month? 

2023 Reading Recap

2023 READING RECAP

Before 2024 is too far along, I wanted to do a little recap of my 2023 reading. I read 139 books in 2023, about 30 more than usual. You can find the list of all the books I read last year here. Below are some thoughts on my year of reading. 

FAVORITES

Picking favorite books is like being asked to pick a favorite grandchild! With that in mind, I have five grandkids, so here are five favorites from last year:

• Decline & Fall by Evelyn Waugh
• Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
• Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson
• The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury
• Mating by Norman Rush

OVERVIEW 

I mostly read fiction, but I thought I read more nonfiction in 2023 than I actually did. I have nonfiction books stacked on my floor because I have no room for them on my shelves. So I better make an effort to read more of them!

• 113 fiction
• 24 nonfiction
• two poetry
• 74 audiobooks
• 65 book books

GENRES

There's crossover here:

• 68 literary fiction 
• 47 classics
• 46 mysteries
• 22 historical fiction
• seven food books
• seven memoir
• three campus novels

MORE DETAILS

• 15 (major) prize winners
• nine rereads
• five translations
• 73 by men
• 68 by women

PUBLICATION DATES

• one from pre-1800s
• nine from the 1800s
• 26 from 1900-1950
• 33 from 1950-2000
• 64 since 2000 (before 2023)
• six new in 2023

CHALLENGES

I love reading challenges but only did three last year. 

• TBR 23 in '23: I finished the 23 books on my list. 
• European Reading Challenge. I read books from 12 different European countries.
• Mt. TBR: I read 63 books off my TBR shelves, in addition to my TBR 23 in '23 books, for a total of 86 books off my TBR shelves -- my best year ever! The main reason is that I concentrated on audiobooks that were already on my shelves as paper books so I could clear some space.

BUDDY READS

I really got into buddy reads on bookstagram for the first time. 

• eight Daphne du Maurier books with a Du Maurier Deep Dive group
• four Evelyn Waugh novels in a Waugh Together Now group
• four Somerset Maugham novels
• Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne as a Classic Buddy Read
• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte for Victober
• War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy as a yearlong readalong with the Whisky & Perseverance group

BIGGEST SURPRISE

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff. I highly disliked Fates and Furies so almost skipped, especially when I saw a sea monster. Glad I didn’t!

FAVORITE NEW-TO-ME-AUTHOR

Laurie Colwin. I loved Home Cooking and More Home Cooking and now want to read her fiction.

FAVORITE BY A FAVORITE

Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman. This was a delightful rom com with a lawyer theme.

SERIES FINISHED

I have dozens of mystery series I want to read so made an effort in 2023 to finish series I've already started. I need to make room in my brain before I start any others. 

• John Banville/Benjamin Black’s Quirke: I read the last two.
• Colin Bateman’s Mystery Man: I finished the last one.
• E.F. Benson’s Mapp & Lucia: Not a mystery series. I read the final three.
• Anthony Horowitz's Hawthorne: I read the fourth one and am caught up until/unless he writes another.
• Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole: I didn't finish reading all of them, but they got increasingly more gruesome and scary. I read The Snowman last year and it was past the scary limit for me, so I am done with this series.
• Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club: I read all four.
• Louise Penny’s Three Pines: I read eight and caught up until she writes a new one.
• Dorothy L. Sayers’s Lord Peter Wimsey: I finished the novels a couple of years back and finally read all the short stories.

SERIES CONTINUED

• Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlow: I read The Long Good-Bye last year and have read several others. I love them but want to wrap up the series.
• Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot: I only read one last year, The Big Four, and have a long way to go. 
• Elizabeth George's Lynley/Havers: These are chunksters! I read six in 2023 and have nine to go before I'm caught up. 
• Susan Howatch's Starbridge: A series about the Church of England in the first half (or so) of the 20th Century. I read the fifth of six, Mystical Paths.
• Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther: Even though I don't read many WWII stories, I read the third one and plan to continue now that the stories are past the war and into the Cold War.
• Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti: I am not reading these in order, which is highly unusual for me. I read Aqua Alta last year, my ninth, and there are 23 others in the series so I don't plan to read them all. 
• Ian Rankin's John Rebus: This is a favorite, but I am ready to move on. I read seven last year and have three to go. 

SERIES BEGUN

• Anthony Horowitz's Magpie Murders: I will definitely read the second one, Moonflower Murders, this year and hope he writes more. 
• Blythe Baker's 1940s Cotswolds: I read the first, A Simple Country Murder, and liked it but have no plans to read more unless I find the next one in the wild. 
• Benjamin Black's Detective Inspector Strafford: I read Snow, a spin off of his Quirke series, and will continue if there are more books. 
• Alexander Campion's Capucine Culinary Mysteries: Despite the appealing premise, I didn't care for the first one, The Grave Gourmet, and won't continue.
• Nita Prose's Molly the Maid: I read The Maid for book club and plan to read the second one soon. 

That's a wrap! On to 2024! 

What bookish thing are you most looking forward to?

The TBR 24 in '24 Challenge -- WRAP UP PAGE

 

WRAP UP PAGE

FOR THE TBR 24 IN '24 CHALLENGE

January 1, 2024 to December 31, 20243

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LINK YOUR WRAP UP POSTS

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WRAP UP LINKS

If you complete the challenge, please link some kind of wrap up post in the Linky box above. That way, I know who finished the challenge. If you just update your original post and do not do a wrap up post separate from your sign up post that's fine! Please still add the link to the updated post in the box above.

If you have trouble adding your link, leave it in a comment and I will add it or email me your link at gilion (at) dumasandvaughn (dot) com and I will add it for you. Please put your name and the name of the your blog or your social media handle and the platform in the comment or email so I can find you. Thanks!

REVIEWS

If you review a book for the TBR 24 in '24 Challenge, please add the link to your review on the review page. Please link to your review post, not the main page of your blog or social media account.

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March Wrap Up - My March Books

MONTHLY WRAP UP

MARCH

March was a good reading month for me. I didn't have a clunker in the bunch. I continued to climb Mt. TBR, as seven of the ten books I read had been on my shelf before the year started. Some have been around a long, long time! 

Two of these were books for my TBR 21 in '21 Challenge (Old Filth and The Library Book). The other five TBR books count toward my Mt. TBR Challenge goal of 60 total off my TBR shelves. Otherwise, I made no progress on my 2021 reading challenges.

Here is the list, in the order I read them, not the order in the picture:

The Lighthouse by P. D. James. This is the penultimate book in the Adam Dalgliesh mystery series. This may be my favorite of all mystery series, so I hate to see it end, although I plan to read the last book, The Private Patient, this year. I don't usually keep mystery books after I finish them, but I keep all my P. D. James books because I can see myself rereading all of them one day.  🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Anglophile's Notebook by Sunday Taylor. This was a charming romance with a literary theme and a bit of a mystery. This was one of the three new books I read last month. I got a review copy and my review is on it's way! 🌹🌹🌹🌹
 
The Midnight Line by Lee Child. I was a diehard Reacher Creature, and this one was pretty good, but after 22 books, I think I’m fading on the series. I read that Lee Child decided to retire and is turning the series over to his brother, who is also an author. There are two more books after Midnight Line written by Lee Child, then two written by Lee Child and his brother Andrew Child (both pen names, by the way). I plan to read the last two Lee-only book and call it quits. I'll retire along with Lee. 🌹🌹🌹🌹
 
The Library Book by Susan Orlean, which is a history of the Los Angeles Public Library using the devastating 1986 fire at the central, downtown branch as the organizing feature. This was a fascinating book. It makes me want to read more of Orlean's books, many of which are on my TBR shelves. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
 
A Visual Life: Scrapbooks, Collages, and Inspirations by Charlotte Moss. I loved this gorgeous book, which I read as part of my project to read all my coffee table books. I'm trying to read one a month. 🌹🌹🌹🌹
 
Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George, book six in her Inspector Linley series, another fave of mine. I read this one with my ears, even though the book book was on my shelves. Focusing my audiobook borrowing on my existing TBR shelf is one of my reading resolutions for 2021. 🌹🌹🌹🌹
 
On The Wealth of Nations: Books That Changed the World by P. J. O’Rourke, which I read to bone up on an Adam Smith study group I’m in this year. 🌹🌹🌹🌹
 
Old Filth by Jane Gardam. I finally read this and loved it! I've already raced through the other two books in the trilogy, which will show up in my April wrap up. What a wonderful story of marriage, friendship, and the legal profession! 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
 
One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters, book two in her Brother Cadfael series. This was the second new (to me) book I read. It was not on my shelf and I borrowed the audiobook from the library. I’m not sure I will stick with this series. I have so many others I prefer, including her George Felse series. This one just isn't grabbing me as much as it does other people. Am I wrong? 🌹🌹🌹
 
Mystery Man by Colin Bateman. Oh my! I laughed so much when I listened to this!  I looked like a mad woman, walking around my neighborhood park, snorting with laughter. This was a new to me book and author my law partner insisted I read with my ears. She gifted me the audiobook from Audible. Why have I never found his books before? I loved the narrator's Irish accent and now I can't wait to listen to the other three books in this hilarious mystery series. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹