Shoot the Moonlight Out by William Boyle -- BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

Shoot the Moonlight Out by William Boyle (2021, Pegasus Books)

Shoot the Moonlight Out, the new neo noir thriller by William Boyle, starts in 1996 with two friends being stupid kids. Bobby and his friend Zeke think throwing rocks at cars on the Parkway is just a silly game until the inevitable tragedy brings an end to the fun. Fast forward to the summer of 2001. Bobby is now out of high school, dragging this soul-poisoning secret around with him, and working for a second-rate con man running a Ponzi scheme.

Destined to cross Bobby’s path is Jack, a seemingly mild-mannered widow raising his teen-aged daughter. But Jack also has a secret. He is a vigilante on the side, avenging neighborhood wrongs, and he is out to get Bobby’s boss.

There’s a locker stuffed with cash, Bobby is in love and wants out of his life of two-bit crime, Jack’s taking a writing class from Bobby’s former stepsister, and a lot more is going on. Multiple characters orbit and crisscross. While Boyle gives them individual personalities, they all are shady, shabby, or broken in some way. The book is dense with plot and characters.

The setting is as much a character as any of the people in the book. It’s south Brooklyn the day before yesterday, so there is a grey haze of gritty nostalgia over the whole thing. It’s clear that Boyle knows south Brooklyn down to the last crack in the sidewalk and he brings it to life for the reader.

All in all, Shoot the Moonlight Out is a gripping, character-driven crime novel, perfect for fans of urban noir. 
 

NOTES

Here is an excerpt from another review I thought summed up Boyle's book quite well:

William Boyle knows how to craft a tight quilt of a plot while at the same time grounding that plot in a setting of wonderful richness. His Brooklyn is specific and clear and alive, a place he knows cold. He’s able to capture the messiness of life with the acuity of a dedicated realist, but he shapes that messiness in such a way that he keeps everything moving forward and toward a definitive resolution. Controlled and yet loose is how I would describe Shoot the Moonlight Out, and for my money, that’s a blend of two traits that’s no small achievement. [Shoot the Moonlight Out] is a novel that rings true down to the tiniest detail.

— Criminal Element

James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction -- LIST

 

THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE

The James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction is one of the oldest and most prestigious book prizes. It has been awarded since 1919 for literature written in the English language. The award is based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The winner is chosen by two academic scholars in the English Department, with the assistance of PhD students.

I am not going to keep updating the winners after 2020. 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 have read only 23 of the winners. The prize may offer literary prestige and £10,000, but it doesn't guarantee popular success or that your book will stay in print! Some of these are hard to find. Here is the list, with notes about whether I've read a book, if it is on my TBR shelf, or if it available as an audiobook from my library:

2020 Lote by Shola von Reinhold

2019 Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann ON OVERDRIVE

2018 Crudo by Olivia Lang

2017 Attrib. and Other Stories by Eley Williams

2016 The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride FINISHED

2015 You Don’t Have to Live Like This by Benjamin Markovits 

2014 In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman ON OVERDRIVE

2013 Harvest by Jim Crace ON OVERDRIVE

2012 The Deadman's Pedal by Alan Warner
 
2010 The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli ON OVERDRIVE

2009 The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt ON OVERDRIVE

2008 The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (reviewed here) FINISHED

2007 Our Horses in Egypt by Rosalind Belben

2006 The Road by Cormac McCarthy

2005 Saturday by Ian McEwan FINISHED

2004 GB84 by David Peace

2003 Personality by Andrew O'Hagan

2002 The Corrections by Jonathon Franzen FINISHED

2001 Something Like a House by Sid Smith

2000 White Teeth by Zadie Smith FINISHED

1999 Renegade or Halo2 by Timothy Mo

1998 Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge TBR SHELF

1997 Ingenious Pain by Andrew Miller TBR SHELF

1996 Last Orders by Graham Swift (FINISHED) and Justine by Alice Thompson

1995 The Prestige by Christopher Priest (reviewed here) FINISHED

1994 The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst TBR SHELF

1993 Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips

1992 Sacred Country by Rose Tremain

1991 Downriver by Iain Sinclair

1990 Brazzeville Beach by William Boyd (reviewed here) FINISHED

1989 A Disaffection by James Kelman

1988 A Season in the West by Piers Paul Read

1987 The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories by George Mackay Brown

1986 Persephone by Jenny Joseph

1985 Winter Garden by Robert Edric

1984 Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard and Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter TBR SHELF BOTH

1983 Allegro Postillions by Jonathan Keates

1982 On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin TBR SHELF

1981 Midnight's Children (reviewed here) and The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux FINISHED BOTH

1980 Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee

1979 Darkness Visible by William Golding TBR SHELF

1978 Plumb by Maurice Gee

1977 The Honorable Schoolboy by John le Carre TBR SHELF

1976 Doctor Copernicus by John Banville TBR SHELF

1975 The Great Victorian Collection by Brian Moore

1974 Monsieur, or The Prince Of Darkness by Lawrence Durrell TBR SHELF

1973 The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch TBR SHELF

1972 G by John Berger (reviewed here) FINISHED

1971 A Guest of Honour by Nadine Gordimer

1970 The Bird of Paradise by Lily Powell

1969 Eva Trout by Elizabeth Bowen TBR SHELF

1968 The Gasteropod by Maggie Ross

1967 Jerusalem the Golden by Margaret Drabble TBR SHELF

1966 Such by Christine Brooke-Rose and Langrishe, Go Down by Aidan Higgins TBR SHELF

1965 The Mandelbaum Gate by Muriel Spark (reviewed here) FINISHED

1964 The Ice Saints by Frank Tuohy FINISHED

1963 A Slanting Light by Gerda Charles

1962 Act of Destruction by Ronald Hardy

1961 The Ha-Ha by Jennifer Dawson TBR SHELF

1960 Imperial Caesar by Rex Warner

1959 The Devil's Advocate by Morris West TBR SHELF

1958 The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot by Angus Wilson

1957 At Lady Molly's by Anthony Powell FINISHED

1956 The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macauley FINISHED

1955 Mother and Son by Ivy Compton-Burnett

1954 The New Men FINISHED and The Masters FINISHED by C. P. Snow 

1953 Troy Chimneys by Margaret Kennedy

1952 Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh FINISHED

1951 Father Goose by W. C. Chapman-Mortimer

1950 Along the Valley by Robert Henriquez

1949 The Far Cry by Emma Smith

1948 The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene FINISHED

1947 Eustace and Hilda by L. P. Hartley TBR SHELF

1946 Poor Man's Tapestry by G. Oliver Onions

1945 Travellers by L. A. G. Strong

1944 Young Tom by Forrest Reid

1943 Tales From Bective Bridge by Mary Lavin

1942 Monkey by Wu Ch'eng-en (translation by Arthur Whaley)

1941 A House of Children by Joyce Cary

1940 The Voyage by Charles Morgan

1939 After Many a Summer Dies the Swan by Aldous Huxley FINISHED

1938 A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours by C. S. Forester

1937 Highland River by Neil M. Gunn

1936 South Riding by Winifred Holtby TBR SHELF

1935 The Root and the Flower by L. H. Myers

1934 I, Claudius (FINISHED) and Claudius the God by Robert Graves ON OVERDRIVE

1933 England, Their England by A. G. Macdonell TBR SHELF

1932 Boomerang by Helen Simpson

1931 Without My Cloak by Kate O'Brien TBR SHELF

1930 Miss Mole by E. H. Young TBR SHELF

1929 The Good Companions by J. B. Priestley

1928 Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon TBR SHELF

1927 Portrait of Clare by Francis Brett Young

1926 Adam's Breed by Radclyffe Hall

1925 The Informer by Liam O'Flaherty

1924 A Passage to India by E. M. Forster FINISHED

1923 Riceyman Steps by Arnold Bennett TBR SHELF

1922 Lady Into Fox by David Garnett FINISHED

1921 Memoirs of a Midget by Walter de la Mare

1920 The Lost Girl by D. H. Lawrence

1919 The Secret City by Hugh Walpole TBR SHELF

NOTES

This list is so long, and there are so many books on it that look good to me, that I plan to confine myself to completing the 20th Century winners only. I'll cut myself some slack and not try to keep up with the list into the 21st Century. I think I will adopt the same plan for several of the lists I'm working on. My heart is with mid-20th Century fiction so I'll stick with that. I get enough contemporary fiction as it is without keeping up with all the prize winners. 

Updated July 3, 2025. This is a redo of the list I originally posted in 2009. 

The 2022 European Reading Challenge is up and running - sign up now!

 

THE 2022 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE IS HERE!

It's time to sign up for the 2022 European Reading Challenge! Many of you have already signed up, but there is still time for those of you looking for a fun 2022 reading challenge. 

I put up the main challenge page last month but just realized I never posted about it. Sign up for the 2022 ERC challenge on the main challenge page HERE or click the challenge button above. 

2022 is the 10th anniversary of the European Reading Challenge. Join us to make the Grand Tour of Europe in books. The idea is to read books by different European authors or set in different European countries. 

Read the books of your choice, at the level you choose. You can sign up for the challenge to read 1 to 5 books. Want more of a challenge? Go for the Jet Setter Prize! The person who reads and reviews the most books -- each from a different country -- wins a prize.

The most books you can read for the challenge is 50 because there are 50 commonly recognized sovereign states of Europe:

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Vatican City.

2021 was the first year anyone managed to read books for all 50 countries. In prior years, no one came close. In 2021, at least three people made that impressive trek! Let's see who can make the journey in 2022.

CHANGE: One change in 2022 is that the challenge will run only until December 31, 2022. In years past, we always went an extra month and people could finish their books on January 31 of the following year. But that got too confusing! So starting with 2022 and the 10th anniversary, the deadline for reading all the challenge books is now December 31. Participants still have until January 31, 2023 to complete all their reviews and wrap up posts. I will announce the winner of the Jet Setter Prize in early February.

LET'S BE SOCIAL!

In 2022, I'm making another big push for readers to participate in the European Reading Challenge through social media, like Instagram, goodreads, Facebook, whatever works. We did this in 2021 for the first time and it was a lot of fun! 

Posts on IG, goodreads, Facebook, and other platforms generate URLs that work fine with Mr. Linky. If you need help finding the URL link, message me through the platform or leave a comment and I'll walk you through it.

If you participate on social media or share your blog posts on social media, please use the hashtag #europeanreadingchallenge. That makes it easier to find each other.

Please sign up on the main challenge page HERE, or click the button above. Please also encourage other people to sign up, through their blogs or social media. Even if they don't blog or socialize, they can join in with comments on the challenge pages.

Bon voyage!

The Last Professional by Ed Davis -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

I hope your week is treating you well! Reading anything good this month?

What book are you sharing with us on Book Beginnings on Fridays? Please share the first sentence (or so). You can also share from a book you want to highlight, not a book you are reading. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

I got a copy of a new book by Ed Davis from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program. Because the world is very small, I'm friends with Ed on Facebook. That's why the book caught my eye when I saw it on LibraryThing. Ed went to high school in Sonoma County with my husband. I've never met him IRL, but we chit chat on Facebook sometimes. 

Here are the opening sentences from Ed's new book:

Until the rails arrived virtually at their doorsteps, most people lived a day's walk of where they were born. America was smaller.

-- from The Last Professional by Ed Davis, which launches January 25 from Artemesia Publishing and is available for pre-order.

That is a terrific opening for a story about the last days of jumping trains and and living on the road. It is a novel about a young man fleeing his past who teams up with an old loner. An old enemy pursues them, things turn deadly, and the story rolls out against an American landscape bounded by railroad tracks. It looks like an old-fashioned page turner. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please link to the Book Beginnings post on your blog or social media. If you post on or link to social media, please use the #bookbeginnigns hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From The Last Professional:

Men moved from the barracks to the tower, clean men with freshly scraped faces and slicked-back hair. From the yard came other men, smudged and tired, who climbed the barracks steps with lead feet, waved to friends with lead hands.

I think I'm going to enjoy this one. What do you think from these teasers?

THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

An American story! The Duke, near the end of his days, sees his way of life and the code he follows disappearing. Lynden is on the brink of a new beginning but cannot embrace it without confronting the traumas of his past. And a maniac is intent on destroying them both. Bonds are formed, secrets exposed, sacrifices made all against an American landscape of promise and peril. Three unforgettable characters, hurtling toward a climax where pasts and futures collide, and lives hang in the balance.

Murder at the Castle by M. B. Shaw -- BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

Murder at the Castle by M. B. Shaw (2020, Pegasus Books)

Iris Grey is an up-and-coming portrait painter whose last commission landed her in the news – as much for her sleuthing skills as her brush work – when the subject of her painting was murdered. Now Baron Jock MacKinnon, Laird of Pitfeldy Castle, has hired her to paint the portrait of his fiancée as a wedding present for the stunning American socialite. Jock doesn’t know that his betrothed, Kathy Miller, wants Iris to investigate a series of threatening notes warning her to call off the wedding.

Iris heads up to Pitfeldy, on the Scottish coast north of Aberdeen. She rents an AirBnB in the quaint fishing village and settles in to paint Jock’s soon-to-be third Lady Pitfeldy. But when two dead bodies turn up in the ruined bothy, Iris finds herself once more called to solve a murder mystery.

Murder at the Castle has everything required for a modern-day mystery paying homage to the Golden Age. Iris makes a likeable, suitably quirky and independent amateur sleuth. There is a complicated plot involving several potential suspects, a village full of buried secrets, a collection of feuding family members, a church fair in the village, parties at the castle, and a sympathetic local policeman. Add in a romantic subplot and a side trip to Italy to liven things up. There are a couple of loose threads that don’t so much need tying up as just tucked back into the fuzzy weave of this cozy mystery, but that is a quibble. 

All in all, Murder at the Castle is a completely satisfying puzzler.


NOTES

Get a taste for Murder at the Castle on Book Beginnings on Fridays where you can read the opening sentence and a Friday 56 teaser from page 56.

Murder at the Castle is the second book in M. B. Shaw’s Iris Grey series, following Murder at the Mill.

Humanity's Grace by Dede Montgomery -- BOOK REVIEW

 

BOOK REVIEW

Humanity's Grace by Dede Montgomery (2021, Bedazzled Ink)

Short stories, linked by a murder, set on the Oregon coast. I’m in!

Humanity's Grace, the new book by Dede Montgomery, author of Beyond the Ripples, is out now in ebook and paperback. Humanity's Grace revisits several of the characters in Beyond the Ripples but is a rich tale in its own right.

An untimely death in downtown Astoria, Oregon is the center point for this collection of 15 linked short stories that reads like a novel. Montgomery uses the murder to bring out the connections – present and past – between the inspecting officer, suspects, townspeople, and other characters. The stories are filled with “real people” moments, good and bad, scenes that remind us of our shared humanity by showing us how we should act or how not to act.

Each story explores the small details – an encounter at the beach, a long ago attempted crime, family arguments, past friends – out of which we weave our lives and our communities. Read together, these 15 stories pack a big emotional punch.

NOTES

Dede Montgomery described her earlier book, Beyond the Ripples, like this:

Ultimately, this book explores the connections formed between people. I believe that the universe works in a way that offers us multitudes of opportunities to connect and experience others, especially when we pay attention. Beyond the Ripples is also about the power of friendship, and the regrets and choices dotting family relationships. It is about secrets and how we all are given opportunities to forgive, learn, love, and move on. My own childhood act of writing a note, putting it in a bottle, and launching it into the Willamette River gave me the initial inspiration for the beginning of the novel. While an older man living downriver did answer my letter, this novel allowed me to imagine what else could come from something as simple as answering a letter from someone you don’t know.

Read my entire earlier interview with Dede Montgomery from when Beyond the Ripples came out here.  

Here is my short review of Beyond the Ripples:

Various characters come together after one finds a note in a bottle in the Columbia River. Beyond the Ripples is a novel of small town secrets, life choices, and family dramas that pulls you along from the first page. Fans of Maeve Binchey and Anne Tyler will really enjoy this Pacific Northwest version of their kind of engaging, heartfelt stories.

Read more about Humanity's Grace and Beyond the Ripples on Dede Montgomery's blog. You will also find updates on book events, including the upcoming launch party for Humanity's Grace.

Preyed Upon and Under the Orange Blossoms -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

  

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Happy new year! And welcome to the first Books Beginnings on Fridays of 2022! Thank you for joining us to share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week -- or just a book you want to highlight. 

Do you have any particular reading plan for 2022? Did you make any bookish reading resolutions? 

I signed up for a handful of reading challenges, which are more like reading guideposts than plans or resolutions. For those of you who join in the 2022 European Reading Challenge here on Rose City Reader -- THANK YOU! 2022 is the 10th anniversary of the ERC and the challenge that brings me the most joy to see all the participants that come back year after year to tour Europe in books. 

I'm also back for a second year with a TBR challenge that matches the calendar. The TBR 22 in '22 Challenge helps participants clear off their shelves by reading 22 books they already owned before New Year's Day. 

I hope you join me for one or both of these Rose City Reader challenges!

Now, back to our Book Beginnings!

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

I have a Books Beginnings two-fer to start the new year, because I got two similar books recently. Both are memoirs by abuse survivors seeking to help others by sharing their stories.

I couldn't believe I was back in his office. 

-- from Chapter One, "The Office Visit," in Preyed Upon: Breaking Free from Therapist Abuse by Amy Nordhues. 

I pop a warm orange slice into my mouth and methodically eat it to distract myself from the pain. 

-- from Chapter One, "Slices of Sunshine," in Under The Orange Blossoms: An Inspirational Story of Bravery and Strength by Cindy Benezra. 

Amy Nordhues was groomed and abused as a young adult by the church-based psychiatrist she went to for help with depression. Cindy Benezra was abused as a child by her father. Both struggled with the ongoing trauma of their abuse, especially the shame and self-blame they carried with them.

After much work brought them both their own healing and peace, Nordhues and Benezra wanted to write memoirs to share their stories. These memoirs are written primarily for abuse survivors. But they are comforting to anyone who has faced trauma and helpful for anyone supporting trauma survivors. 

I work with sex abuse survivors, so these memoirs ring true to me. I have cases going on right now working with survivors of people abused by their therapists when they were adults and many who were abused when they were children. It has been a hair on fire week for me with the Boy Scout bankruptcy hitting the skids because I have a lot of clients involved in that case. It is good news that the proposed plan did not get enough votes in favor from abuse survivors, for anyone following the story.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginning post in the Linky box below. Add the link to your BB post, not your main blog page or social media profile page. Please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings if you share on SM.

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THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Preyed Upon:

"Oh, I didn't realize psychiatrists did counseling."

"Oh, yes, getting to know my patients on a more intimate level drew me to this profession."

From Under the Orange Blossoms:

My racing heart draws my attention to my tight chest. I gently massage my chest to dissipate the tension. 

2022 European Reading Challenge - My Sign Up Post

 

THE 2022 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

MY SIGN UP POST

To sign up yourself (and I hope you do), go to the main challenge page here. 

2022 is the 10th anniversary of the European Reading Challenge! This is my sign up post. I'm signing up for the "FIVE STAR (DELUXE ENTOURAGE)" level to read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries. But because it is the 10th anniversary, I actually plan to read books from ten different countries.

MY CHALLENGE BOOKS

You do not have to pick your books ahead of time, but I picked a few because I like to play with my books. I may or may not get to the books in the picture above. I took that picture for some Instagram inspiration for a post I did about the European Reading Challenge. The books I'm planning to read for this challenge are:

UK: These Ruins are Inhabited by Margaret Beadle, a memoir by an American living in England in the 1950s.

RUSSIA: The Master and the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakow, on my Classics Club list.

FRANCE: French Women Don't get Fat by Mireille Guiliano.

GERMANY: The Wall by John Hersey, on my Classics Club list.

CZECH REPUBLIC: The Prague Orgy by Philip Roth

ITALY: The Spring by Megan Weiler

I hope to visit more countries in Scandinavia, the Baltics, and the Balkans. Perhaps I will get to Zorba the Greek for Greece and Olivia Manning's Balkans Trilogy for Rumania. 

THE 2022 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

JANUARY 1, 2022 TO DECEMBER 31, 2022

(new deadline!)

The European Reading Challenge has been around since 2012 so 2022 is the ten year anniversary! The idea is to tour Europe in books by reading books written by authors from different European countries or set in different European countries. You pick the books, the countries, and how many books you want to read. You can complete the challenge by reading 1 to 5 books, depending on what level of participation you chose.

If you want to read more, you can compete for the Jet Setter Prize. The prize goes to the person who reads and reviews the greatest number of books from DIFFERENT countries. Only one book from each country counts towards the prize, so the greatest number of books that could be read is 50, because there are 50 official sovereign states in Europe:

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Vatican City.

PLEASE JOIN US ON THE GRAND TOUR IN BOOKS!

2022 Audiobook Challenge -- My Sign Up Post

 THE 2022 AUDIOBOOK CHALLENGE

MID-YEAR CHECK IN

So far in 2022, I've finished 34 audiobooks, so I'm on track to reach my challenge goal of reading 50+ audiobooks this year! See list below.

ORIGINAL POST

Caffeinated Reviewer and That’s What I’m Talking About host a popular audiobook challenge every year, although 2022 will be only the second time I have participated. I am signing up at the Marathoner level to read 50 or more audiobooks in 2022. 

I love reading with my ears! I download audiobooks from the library to my phone using the Libby app and listen all the time. In good weather, I like to walk to work, which gives me a good hour of audiobook reading in a day. I also listed when I drive, cook, fold laundry, and do other chores. In 2021, I read 131 books and 70 of them were audiobooks. 

One thing I started doing was to combine my love of audiobooks with my desire to clear book books off my TBR shelves. I went through my TBR list, found which ones were available as audiobooks from the library, and put them on my Libby wishlist. It may seem odd to listen to the audiobook when I have the physical book already, but I have soooooooooo many book books on my shelves that it would take me years to get to all of them. If I can free up shelf space (and brain space) by reading a book with my ears and getting rid of the paper book, I'm happy. 

MY 2022 AUDIOBOOKS

I don't know which books I will read yet for this challenge. But these audiobooks are on my phone or my hold list on Libby right now, so they are likely first candidates. I put them on hold because they are the books my Book Club picked for our 2022 reads, they are on my TBR shelf, I went down a Lian Moriarty rabbit hole, or pure whim.

• Katherine by Anya Seton (TBR shelf) FINISHED

• The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (TBR shelf)

• The Bostonians by Henry James (TBR shelf) FINISHED

• The Falls by Ian Rankin (TBR shelf) FINISHED

• The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz FINISHED

• Murder at the Mill by M. B. Shaw FINISHED

• Broken Horses by Brandi Carlile (Book Club) DNF

• Little Big Man by Larry McMurtry (TBR shelf) FINISHED

• A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym (TBR shelf) FINISHED

• The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty FINISHED

• In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park (Book Club) FINISHED

• Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel (TBR shelf) FINISHED

• Lucky by Marissa Stapley (Book Club) FINISHED

• A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz FINISHED

• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Book Club) FINISHED

• Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci (Book Club) FINISHED TWICE

• The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (Book Club)

• Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty FINISHED

• Woke Racism by John McWhorter

• Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty

• Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald (TBR shelf, reread) FINISHED

OTHERS I ADDED

• Dangling Man by Saul Bellow FINISHED

• A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris FINISHED

• The Counterlife by Philip Roth FINISHED

• The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney FINISHED

• The Anatomy Lesson by Philip Roth FINISHED

• The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz FINISHED

• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon FINISHED

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl FINISHED

• The Prague Orgy by Philip Roth FINISHED

• The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz FINISHED

• Trio by William Boyd FINISHED

• Hell of a Book by Jason Mott FINISHED

• As Husbands Go by Susan Isaac FINISHED

• The Skull Beneath the Skin by P. D. James FINISHED

• Only in Naples by Katherine Wilson FINISHED

• The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton FINISHED

• Holy Orders by Benjamin Black FINISHED

• Blue Moon by Lee Child FINISHED

NOTE

Updated July 7, 2022 in time for the Mid-Year Check In. So far, I've finished 34 audiobooks in 2022, so am definitely on track to read over 50 for the year. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wishing you a happy new year full of good books and all good things!

Katherine by Anya Seton -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Happy New Year to all of you! And a heartfelt THANK YOU for playing along with me for another year of Book Beginnings on Fridays! This weekly event is the highlight of my book blogging and I appreciate all of you who join me, whether you come every week or drop in now and again. I hope to see you back again in 2022!

Please share the last book beginning of 2021 in the Linky box below. Share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week, or just a book you want to highlight. 

I'm ending the year with a chunky historical fiction classic, Katherine by Anya Seton. I just started it this morning and I am already sucked into this lavish, intricate tale of court life in 14th Century England. 

I plan to spend this New Year's weekend reading Katherine and organizing my 2022 reading challenges. Do you plan to do any challenges in 2022? Which ones? I hope you consider the European Reading Challenge -- it's the 10th anniversary of that challenge here on Rose City Reader! And the TBR 22 in '22 challenge, also here on my blog. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

In the tender green time of April, Katherine set forth at last upon her journey with the two nuns and the royal messenger.

-- Katherine by Anya Seton. This classic romance, published in 1954, brings to life the historic tale of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the ancestors of most of the British royal family.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please leave a link to your Book Beginning post, not your blog home page or social media landing page. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Katherine:

The royal family were still only glittering figures to be glimpsed at the High Table, and the Queen only a name. Katherine had nothing to wear except the violet gown borrowed from Matilda and no finery to put on, so she sat idly for awhile on the bed that she shared with Philippa and Johanna Cosin, listening to the excited female gabble and longing to be out in the spring dusk.

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 Back to the Classics Challenge -- My Wrap Up Post

2021 BACK TO THE CLASSICS

My Wrap Up Post

COMPLETED

Karen at Books and Chocolate hosts one of my favorite challenges, the Back to the Classics Challenge. 
I like it because the idea is to read up to 12 "classics" (loosely defined as a book more than 50 years old), one from each of 12 categories. It's like a scavenger hunt for classic books. 

I never fully participate because I don't have time to review the books I read for this challenge. So I don't get to enter the drawing for the prize. But those who review the books they read get one entry in the prize drawing if they read and review six books, two entries for nine books, and three entries for reading a book from all 12 categories. 

THE CATEGORIES

• 19th Century Classic
• 20th Century Classic
• Classic by a Woman
• Classic in Translation
• Classic by a BIPOC Author
• Classic by a New-to-You Author
• Classic by a Favorite Author
• Classic About an Animal
• Children's Classic
• Classic Humor or Satire
• Travel or Adventure Classic
• Classic Play

BOOKS I READ

I managed to read 10 books for this challenge, many from my Classics Club list. I focused on books from my CC list so I can make progress on finishing that list by my deadline goal of December 2023.

• 19th Century Classic: Walden by Henry David Thoreau (College Board)
• 20th Century Classic: Not Now, but Now by M.F.K. Fisher 
• Classic by a Woman: Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter (Top 100 20th Century Novels by Women) 
• Classic in Translation: The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö 
• Classic by a BIPOC Author: House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
• Classic by a New-to-You Author: The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald 
• Classic by a Favorite Author: Mysteries and Manners: Occasional Prose by Flannery O'Connor
• Classic About an Animal: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham 
• Classic Humor or Satire: Jeeves in the Offing by P.G. Wodehouse 
• Travel or Adventure Classic: Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome 

Even though I didn't qualify for the prize, this challenge is still a lot of fun for me! I plan to sign up again for the 2022 version. This pushes me to find classics I probably wouldn't read otherwise, or at least not pick first from my TBR shelf. 

2021 Mt. TBR Challenge -- My Wrap Up Post

 

2021 MT. TBR CHALLENGE

MY WRAP UP POST

COMPLETED

The Mt. TBR Challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block is one of my favorite challenges every year! In 2021, I signed up at the Mr. Kilamanjaro level with the goal of reading 60 books off my TBR shelves.

I do the Mt. TBR Challenge each your in connection with a TBR challenge of my own that goes with the year. So this year it is the TBR 22 in '22 Challenge. I do the two together because the I pick the "yearly" challenge books ahead of time and the Mt. TBR books at whim. You can see my book picks for my TBR 22 in '22 Challenge here.   

In 2021, I ended up reading past my Mt. TBR goal. In addition to the 21 book I read for the 21 in '21 Challenge, I read 70 others for a total of 91 books off my TBR shelves. That means I made it to the Mt. Toro level and came close to reaching the Mt. Everest level. 

MY MT. TBR BOOKS

Here are the additional 70 books I read for the Mt. TBR Challenge. to see the other 21 books I read, see my wrap up post for the TBR 21 in '21 Challenge, here. 

• Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

• The Red and the Black by Stendhal 

• Billy Bathgate by E. L. Doctorow

• Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter

• Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis

• Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman by Elizabeth Buchan

• The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjöwall

• Reflex by Dick Francis

• Whip Hand by Dick Francis

• The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

• Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

• Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany by Jane Mount

• The Midnight Line by Lee Child

• Charlotte Moss: A Visual Life: Scrapbooks, Collages, and Inspirations by Charlotte Moss

• Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George

• On The Wealth of Nations: Books That Changed the World by P. J. O'Rourke

• Dead Cert by Dick Francis

• Obasan by Joy Kogawa

• The Wisdom of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton

• How They Decorated: Inspiration from Great Women of the Twentieth Century by Gaye P. Tapp

• A Faithful Place by Tana French

• Consequences by Penelope Lively

• The Kingdom of Speech by Tom Wolfe

• Jeeves in the Offing by P. G. Wodehouse

• The Private Patient by P. D. James

• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

• Skios by Michael Frayn

• The Purpose-driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren

• The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by Maarten J. Troost

• A Place in the World by Amy Maroney

• Twice Shy by Dick Francis

• A Little Book of Japanese Contentments: Ikigai, Forest Bathing, Wabi-sabi, and More by Erin Niimi Longhurst

• Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King

• Jolie Blon's Bounce by James Lee Burke

• Bruno: Chief of Police by Martin Walker

• The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

• Mysteries of Pittsburg by Michael Chabon

• The Shape of the Journey: New & Collected Poems by Jim Harrison

• Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo

• Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie

• Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

• The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend

• The Darlings by Christina Alger

• The Choir by Joanna Trollope

• Pope Joan by Donna Cross Woolfolk

• Noah's Compass by Anne Taylor

• A Changed Man by Francine Prose

• Split Images by Elmore Leonard

• The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

• We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates

• May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Holmes

• The Theban Mysteries by Amanda Cross

• Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age by Sherry Turkle

• The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

• BUtterfield 8 by John O'Hara

• Building Beauty: The Alchemy of Design by Michael S. Smith

• The Incredulity of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton

• Funerals are Fatal by Agatha Christie

• French Lessons by Ellen Sussman

• Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie 

• House Made of Dawn by Scott N. Momaday

• Peril at End House by Agatha Christie

• Past Tense by Lee Child

• The French Chef in America: Julia Child's Second Act by Alex Prud'homme

• March Violets by Philip Kerr

• Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

• LaBrava by Elmore Leonard

• Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh

• The Secret of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton

• The Scandal of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton

TBR 22 in '22 and Mt. TBR Challenges -- My Sign Up Post

 

THE TBR 22 IN '22 CHALLENGE

This is my sign up post for the TBR 22 in '22 Challenge. The simple idea is to read 22 books off your TBR shelves between January 1 and December 31, 2022. If you want to join me (and I hope you do), go to the main challenge page here to sign up. 

You do not have to pick all your TBR 22 in '22 books ahead of time. I like to, so I do. You can. Or you can pick some now and some as you go. You can pick them all at whim. Or you can pick now and then change your mind. The only real rule is that you read books that you already owned before January 1, 2022. 

MY TBR 22 IN '22 BOOKS

I like to pick my books ahead of time and keep them stacked by my bedside to motivate me through the year. Two or three are those I've only recently acquired and I want to read before they disappear on my shelves. The rest are those that have been on my shelves for so long I want to read them so I can stop looking at them! Several of these are on my Classics Club list for the same reason.

In alphabetical order by author name, not as shown in the picture above. I may read them in this order because I have no other plan, although that would mean four Roth books and three Buckley books back to back, so probably not:

• These Ruins are Inhabited by Margaret Beadle, a memoir by an American living in England in the 1950s

• Dangling Man by Saul Bellow, on my Classics Club list

• Atlantic High by William F. Buckley, Jr., the second of his four sailing memoirs. I read the first one last year and planned to read them all but didn't get to them. 2022 will be the year I finally do. 

• Racing through Paradise by William F. Buckley, Jr., the third of the four

• Windfall by William F. Buckley, Jr., the last one

• The Master and the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakow, on my Classics Club list

• The Waterfall by Margaret Drabble, on my Classics Club list

• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award

• Rat Race by Dick Francis, on my Classics Club list

• Bunny Mellon: The Life of an American Style Legend by Meryl Gordon

• French Women Don't get Fat by Mireille Guiliano

• The Wall by John Hersey, on my Classics Club list

• The Bostonians by Henry James, on my Classics Club list

• A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream by Yuval Levin

• When She was Good by Philip Roth, on my Classics Club list

• Zuckerman Unbound by Philip Roth

• The Anatomy Lesson by Philip Roth

• The Prague Orgy by Philip Roth

• The Masters by C. P. Snow is the fourth book in his Strangers and Brothers series, which I started years ago and want to finish. This one is on my Classics Club list because it won the James Tait Black Prize in 1954.

• If Morning Ever Comes by Anne Tyler, on my Classics Club list

• God Save the Mark by Donald Westlake, which won the Edgar Award and is on my Classics Club list

• Anglo-Saxon Attitudes by Angus Wilson, a campus novel on my Classics Club list

THE MT. TBR CHALLENGE

This TBR 22 in '22 Challenge dovetails nicely with the Mt TBR Challenge that Bev at My Reader's Block hosts every year. Like I did in 2021, I am signing up for the "Mt. Kilimanjaro" Level in 2022 to read a total of 60 books off my TBR shelves. That means 38 books in addition to those listed above. 

MY MT. TBR BOOKS

I will list my Mt. TBR books here as I read them. 

NOTES

Update as of December 14, 2022: I completed the TBR 22 in '22 Challenge in November. As of mid-December, I've read 65 books total off my TBR shelves, so climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and completed the Mt. TBR Challenge. I'll do an official wrap up post as soon as I get time.