Stringcat3's 2020 50-Book Challenge

1. Death in Venice - Thomas Mann
2. Sherlock Holmes in the Realms of Edgar Allan Poe - Derrick Belanger, ed.
3. Good Citizens Need Not Fear - Maria Reva

4. The Rising Tide - M. J. Farrell (Molly Keane)

5. We - Yevgeny Zamyatin

6. Dreyer's English - Benjamin Dreyer

A delightful book, despite his habit of using a forward slash between two words instead of 'or'. The footnotes are a hoot (how often do you get to say that?).

7. The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books - Martin Edwards

I heard Martin Edwards at The Poisoned Pen (Scottsdale AZ) last year when he was appearing with Nicholas Meyer (who was in a mood, lemme tell you). I'm generally not a mystery reader beyond the Sherlockian Canon - I don't even care for most Sherlockian pastiches. But I picked up his book that night, and have enjoyed it in bits and dabs over the past couple of months; it's really not a "power right through it" work, being a survey. The writing is light but Edwards' scholarly shines across the 26 chapters and, as he pointed out, 102 works profiled. I guess the title is a mystery as well, then.

Only gripe: where was the proofreader? I can't remember the last book I read that had so many typos. The punctuation was a mess, too.

I've also frequently noted a mass of typos and punctuation errors in books published after the year 2000 or so.
Soooooo annoying!

Have they all got rid of their proofreaders because of cost issues??!? That is my guess, anyway.... :(

Dunno - it's not as though they pay them much to begin with. BTW: have you read Dreyer's English? He has some interesting bits about his coming up through the ranks as a proofreader.

8. Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon - James Lovegrove

Okay pastiche. As usual, Holmes and Watson sound too modern.

9. Murder and Other Acts of Literature - Michele Slung, ed.

A decent collection of short stories by well-known writers. I was surprised that I'd read only one before.

10. In the Woods - Tana French

She's a good writer, but this just went on too long. As with most first novels, the first third is great because it's been polished to a fare-thee-well, then they sell the book and have to rush through the rest of it. And the more intriguing mystery, the disappearance of the two kids, was never explained. Other reviewers on LT have pointed out how ridiculous it was that no one in the police department would have known who the narrator really was. I've applied for a PD job: believe me, they do an extensive background check. Meh.

11. Anglomania: A European Love Affair - Ian Buruma

12. London: A Short History - A.N. Wilson

13. A Sport and a Pastime - James Salter

Beautiful language, but this short novel feels as though it were stretched from a story. Not much plot, a bit too much repetition, and no real payoff.

14. England's Finest - Christopher Fowler

Thirteen short stories with various cases of the PCU. Some duds (the Dracula one), and when Arthur isn't the center of the narrative, a bit tedious.

15. The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England - Antonia Fraser, ed.

16. London's Glory - Christopher Fowler

More Bryant & May short stories. Published before England's Finest, and a bit better overall.

17. Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries - Martin Edwards, ed.

A decent enough collection. Edwards' short introductions to the stories are quite interesting.

18. The Ladies of Grace Adieu - Susanna Clarke

The first story is the best; we get an appearance from Jonathan Norrell. Clarke tends to run on too long, and her imitation of Victorian prose get a bit precious. Nice illustrations. B minus.

19. Trent's Last Case - E.C. Bentley

A classic of Golden Age murder mysteries that I found very slow and mannered.

20. The Perils of Sherlock Holmes - Loren D. Estleman

Good Canonical style, but his plots didn't grab me.

21. For the Sake of the Game - Laurie R. King & Leslie S. Klinger, Eds.

Overall disappointing collection of stories inspired by the Holmes Canon. Some of the stories barely even refer to Holmes. The quality varied widely, with a few sounding like college creative writing projects. Meh.

22. False Value - Ben Aaronovitch

I hope this series isn't going to deteriorate any more. This entry gets a C at best. Very little magic or weirdness until the last quarter or so of it. Way too much tech stuff. Harrumph.

23. The Sorrows of Young Werther - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I first read this 40-something years ago, and had forgotten most of the second part. While I still wanted to give Werther one upside the head, Charlotte's and Albert's behavior was of more interest this time around.

24. Hope for the Best - Jodi Taylor

A decent entry to the Chronicles of St. Mary's series. A lot of the Time Police, not as much history.

25. Elective Affinities - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I had high hopes for this novel. It was uneven - sometimes didactic, sometimes melodramatic, with an attempt at comic relief from one character (Mittler). When the story got going, I was sure that it would be kept up, but alas, Goethe succumbed to the maudlin and the preposterous, with an anticlimax thrown in. The four main characters behave utterly unbelievably, and jammer about themselves nearly continually. Really not worth the slog.

26. The Mirror and the Light Hillary Mantel

Well, way too much time spent on Thomas' ruminations (the first eighty pages are a slog), but when the story gets moving, it's mesmerizing.

27. Laughing Boy - Oliver La Farge

Better than I'd thought it would be. Sad ending.

28. Bone in the Throat - Anthony Bourdain

An okay, easy-to-read novel of the NY mob, the restaurant biz, and the FBI. Not much of an ending (whatever happened to the chef?) but entertaining. Of course the kitchen parts are the best.

29. Too Much and Never Enough - Mary Trump

I was very surprised at how engrossing this book is. She's a good to very good writer. And I was also surprised that there were incidents that we hadn't heard about. By Page 3, I was already enraged. Twitler invited his immediate family to the White House for a birthday dinner for his two sister, ages 80 and 75. Everyone, including the two guests of honor, had their bags searched and were sent through metal detectors. Seriously.

Fred Trump Senior was simply a monster. Donnyboy learned his cruelty and criminality from dear ol' Dad. What Senior did to Fred Junior was horrific.

The book is stunning in its candor and insights. She rightly fingers the media, banks, and many politicians for enabling Dumpty, not demanding accountability, and repeatedly saving him from consequences of bad and illegal behaviors. Her aunts and uncle are also co-conspirators (when the hell is someone going to prosecute the massive tax fraud they perpetrated?}.

>26 stringcat3: My wife and I watched her interview on Stephen Colbert's show. She definitely came across as extremely knowledgeable about psychology and human behavior, and also as an engaging and thoughtful person. So I'm not surprised that her book is good.

I saw that interview. She seems to be the only normal Trump we've seen thus far.

30. In a Gilded Cage - Marian Fowler

The lives of five Americans who married English dukes. Okay, but Fowler's claim that these women's marriages were somehow important to reclaiming women's history is a bit of a stretch. That being said, Consuelo Marlborough did become a very active suffragette and did much good charity work for women.

31. The Case of the Missing Marquess - Nancy Springer

As the Doyle estate is suing Netflix over their adaptation of the Enola Holmes series, I decided to read the first book. As YA books go, it's not too bad (at least it's not wizards, magick, etc.). It does a good job of showing what Victorian girls and women had to deal with. Which made it kinda depressing. So, now I know.

32n The Road to Grantchester - James Runcie

33. Plan For the Worst - Jodi Taylor

34. Warriors of the Storm - Bernard Cornwell
35. The Flame Bearer - Bernard Cornwell

Had to get my Uhtred, son of Uhred, fix.

36. Fools and Mortals - Bernard Cornwell

Very entertaining tale of the Shakespeare brothers.

37. War of the Wolf - Bernard Cornwell

Okay, now all caught up with Uhtred, son of Uhtred. The final book of the series is due out in the US this November.

38. Johannes Cabal the Necromancer - Jonathan L. Howard

A clever, amusing riff on the mad scientist trope.

39. Harlequin - Bernard Cornwell

An entertaining tale of an English archer fighting in France at the start of the 100 Years War. First novel in the Grail Quest series.

40. Auberon - James S.A. Corey

A novella (8.5) from The Expanse series. Not sure yet how it fits in.

41. Tales from the Folly - Ben Aaronovitch

Amusing enough. Mere trifles.

42. Literary Miscellany - Alex Palmer

Amusing. Grammar a bit shaky, which was distracting.

43. Heretic - Bernard Cornwell

The third part of the Thomas of Hookton trilogy. Overall the books get a solid B. Much prefer Uhtred, son of Uhtred!

44. Coyote Blue - Christopher Moore

Another hilarious, wildly inventive tale from Moore.

45. Sweetness in the Belly - Camilla Gibb

A touching story of an English girl brought up as a Muslim in Morocco and Ethiopia, who lives through the military coup in 1974, returns to England, becomes a nurse, and searches for a lost love for 17 years.

46. The Ghost of Sherlock Holmes - Leslie Halliwell

Good collection overall. Author says MR James was a major influence. Kind of. Only the last story concerns Holmes.

47. The Winter of Our Discontent - John Steinbeck

Had never read this one - his last book - and was surprised at it. Deserves to be much better known.

>45 stringcat3: Yes, I read Winter many years ago and I recall thinking it was very good.

>46 rocketjk: One of our reading group is an English teacher who considers Steinbeck a mediocre writer but thinks this novel is outstanding. I thought the ending was a bit heavy-handed, but much of the writing is brilliant.

>47 stringcat3: "an English teacher who considers Steinbeck a mediocre writer"

This part, I don't get, but to each his/her own.

>48 rocketjk: I think there's a lot of snobbery involved. Steinbeck is so readable, therefore he must be mediocre, seems to be the thinking. Much the way any poet who has written anything but free verse is sneered at.

48. Johannes Cabal: The Detective - Jonathan L. Howard

The second in the Cabal series, and it was a hoot, with nods toward The Great Detective - as well as Watson: Cabal's revolver is a Webley. Listened to the audiobook; the reader is excellent.

49. The Office of Historical Corrections - Danielle Evans

50. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Windows - Balli Kaur Jaswal

51. The Fear Institute - Jonathan L. Howard

The third Johannes Cabal book and much inferior to the previous two. Dragged in too many spots.

52. The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories -

53. The Brothers Cabal - Jonathan L. Howard

53. Full Dark House - Christopher Fowler

The audiobook of the first in the Bryant & May mysteries. Love these guys.

54. Beowulf - Seamus Heaney, translator

Disappointing when compared to the Iliad or the Odyssey, or even the Epic of Gilgamesh.

55. A Far Cry From Kensington - Muriel Spark

Entertaining novel set at the fringes of literary London in the 1950s. Muriel Spark drew on her own experiences in publishing to great effect.

56. The Stoneground Ghost Tales - E.G. Swain

Quite derivative of M.R. James, but charming nonetheless.

57. The Water Room - Christopher Fowler

The second Bryant & May mystery. The key squad members plus Crippen the Cat and Raymond Land are introduced.

58. War Lord - Bernard Cornwell

The last book in The Saxon Tales. Not as juicy as some of the earlier entries but the story is tied up nicely at the Battle of Brunanburh, which marked the birth of England.

59. Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day - Jonathan L. Howard

Short stories that, like every other collection of short stories, vary widely in quality. A middling entry to the series.

60. Seventy-seven Clocks - Christopher Fowler

The third Bryant & May mystery is a bit overlong.