Opening Sentence of the Day: The Alteration

"Hubert Anvil's voice rose above the sound of the choir and full orchestra, reaching the vertex of the loftiest dome in the Old World and the western doors of the longest nave in Christendom." -- The Alteration by Kingsley Amis In this alternate history novel, there was no Protestant Reformation and the Catholic church is the only (Christian) game in town. Church higher-ups have their eye on musical marvel, ten-year-old Hubert Anvil, as the next great castrato. Ewwww . . . where is this going?

Book Notes: Skeletons on the Zahara

It is a running joke in our house that my husband's favorite books all contain the line, "And then, we had to eat the sled dogs." Yes, he mostly reads history books and historical biographies, but his favorite favorite books involve arctic adventure, shipwrecks, exploration, cannibalism, lost treasure, and the like. So when Hubby recommends a book, I give him a long hard stare before I take him up on it. I even cross examine him: "Is it all about battles? Does anyone freeze to death? Does it involve cannibalism?" When he answered "no" to the above questions, I agreed to read Skeletons on the Zahara, his recent favorite and one he has been recommending to everyone he talks to. It sounded fascinating -- in 1815, shipwrecked New England sailors are captured in the Sahara desert and forced into slavery. An interesting slice of history from the pirate age. Now, halfway through, I am struggling to finish and I have a new question to ask before I read any book Hubby suggests: "Does anyone in the book drink urine?" I am too German to stop reading a book once I start, but this one is testing my resolve. It was bad enough to read about slaughtering a pig while adrift in a lifeboat, eating it raw and drinking its blood. But drinking urine -- human and camel, so far -- is a major theme of this book. Including a Moby Dick-like digression into the science and anecdotal history of shipwreck survivors drinking urine. Hubby owes me, big time.

Favorite Authors

Over in the right-hand column, you will see that I added a new feature -- a list of my favorite authors. The idea is to list all the authors whose works I plan to read in their entirety, eventually. Each name links to a post with either a complete bibliography, a list of novels, or at least a particular series that I am working on. So far, the list includes: Cara Black James Lee Burke Lee Child Penelope Fitzgerald Richard Ford Jim Harrison John Lescroart Martin Cruz Smith Julia Spencer-Fleming William Styron Anne Tyler John Updike Simon Winchester Right now, the list is heavy on mystery writers because if I like a particular book in a series, I want to read the entire series. But there are many authors I have to add, including Anthony Powell, Iris Murdoch, Vladimir Nabokov, P.G. Wodehouse, Philip Roth. It it going to be a long list. Like with my award winners and Must Read lists, if anyone is working on reading the entire bibliography of a particular author on my list, please leave a comment on that author's post with a link to your progress report, and I will add the link to my post.

Opening Sentence of the Day: Davita's Harp

"My mother came from a small town in Poland, my father from a small town in Maine." -- Davita's Harp by Chaim Potok. I have never read any of Potok's books, but I gather that he is the most popular author I had never heard of. Every time I mention that I am reading Davita's Harp for Book Club, people tell me how much they love his books. But at least one Book Club member was disappointed by the opener -- let down that it did not include any of Art Scatter's favorite midgets or elephants.

List: The Edgar Award for Best Novel

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

Named in honor of Edgar Allen Poe, the the first Edgar award was given in 1946 to Watchful at Night by Julius Fast for Best First Novel by an American Author. The "Best Novel" award for the MRA choice of the best mystery novel of the year 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.

As always, if anyone else is working on this list, please leave a comment with a link to your corresponding blog post and I will add it to this.

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

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

NOTE

List updated on December 31, 2018.

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.