250 Book challenge (2013) pmarshall

I have yet to reach the 200 mark since I joined this group but I will keep trying and I like hanging out with you. I find it interesting to see what the rest of the group are reading and where your time to read comes from, i.e.; long commutes... I am a retired librarian and have lots of time to read but I dither between finished books about what I will read next and that wastes reading time. In January and February I am taking a course and the books won't be quick reads. I am already making excuses, not a good way to start.

I have been reading with you for the past 3 years but I never introduced myself. I am a retired librarian and after living from St. John's Newfoundland to Regina, Saskatchewan, and places in between, I returned to where I grew up and now live in Fredericton, New Brunswick on Canada's east coast. I am very fortunate to live on the banks of the St. John River, above the flood plain, with a wonderful view across the river and up to the top of the valley. At night I see the lights at the top of the ridge like a gold and silver chain along the top of the valley.

There was a time when I did a lot of handwork, rug hooking and various kinds of counted thread work and that cut into my reading time. However I can't see to do the fine work any more. I have plans to try a blackwork sampler but I have yet to design it. More dithering. Now I will play some mahjong, check my mail and then read.

# 1. Stella, Queen of the Snow by Marie-Louise Gay. See review at http://www.librarything.com/work/404307/reviews/92860836

I purchased these three books for my great nieces and nephews, as well as to get over the $25 limit so I could get free shipping.

# 2. The Lord is my Shepherd, with absolutely beautiful illustrations by Regolo Ricci. It is the first time I read this psalm and didn't feel forlorn.

# 3. The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Renata Liwaka. Animal illustrations show the different kinds of quiet a child might find in a day.

# 4.While Angels Watch by Marni McGee, illustrated by Tina Macnaughton. Beautiful illustrations with the angels in glitter paint for a child to seek.

January = 5

# 5. The Secret Piano: From Mao's Labor Camps to Bach's Goldberg Variations by Zhu Xiao-Mei. An amazing story of Zhu Xiao-Mei's life. She saw her first piano at the age of three, when she was ten she enrolled at the Beijing Conservatory. At age seventeen the Cultural Revolution rolled across China and the next ten years of her life were spent doing hard labour in four prison camps. Music sustained her, to the point she had her mother take apart her piano in Beijing, put it on a coal train and send it to her. Millions of Chinese died, millions had their lives permanetly shattered, but Zhu Xiao-Mei focused her life more and more on her music and survived, albiet not unscared. She sturied music in the United States and then settled in Paris.

5 - January 2013

# 6. The Buzzard Table by Margaret Maron. in this mystery Maron brings together Judge Deborah Knott and Sigrid Harald, NYPD and Dwright Bryant the judge's husband has a larger role. Is the CIA/FBI using a small airfield in Colleton County as a refueling stop when flying terrorists out of the country? Is Martin Crawford a legitimate long lost relation of the Lattimore’s and as an Arab smuggled Anne Latecomer out of Somalia in 1993. A number of murders occur, are they related to the terrorist plot or jusr broken marital relations

# 7. Slow Cooker Dinners, one of the Company's Coming cook books by Jean Pare. I think the range of easy recipes will work well for me. The beef stew was good.

My hospital reads were mostly light and fluffy with a couple of good reads:

8. Death Without Tenure by Joanne Dobson.

9. Love Me If You Must by Nicole Young.

10. Ruins of Lace by Iris Anthony. - A good read on the making of lace in the middle ages and the smuggling of it into France.

11. Whispers of Murder by Cheryl Bradshaw

12. Five Christmas Gifts - A Holiday Short Story Collection by Margaret Maron

13. Postcards From the Mediterranean by Margaret Maron

14. Nocturne with Bonus Material by Deborah Crombie.

15. Skeleton in the Closet by Marcia Muller.

16. The Fearless Mrs. Goodwin by Elizabeth Mitchell.

17. Inspector Zhang Gets His Wish by Stephen Leather.

18. Open Season by Archer Mayor, the first in the Joe Gunther mystery series.

19. Deadly Affair: A Georgian Historical Mystery by Lucinda Brant

I must confess that some of these were long short stories published as stand-alones or novellas.


February - 14
Subtotal - 19

Hopefully all is okay...

# 20. Body Line by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles . Another Bill Slider mystery. Dead bodies are appearing on his patch without a connection to the area. Why? Are drugs being smuggled, diamonds...

April, 2013 - My second hospital stay, (March 22 - April 1, 2013)

# 21. The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie. Crombie gives us another great read in the James and Kincaid series.

# 22. Superfluous Death by Hazel Holt. Features Mrs. Mallory.

# 23. The Harper's Quine by Pat McIntosh. The first in the Gilbert Cunningham medieval mystery series set in Glasgow.

# 24.Queen without a Crown by Fiona Buckley, featuring Ursula Blanchard.

# 25. The Tintern Treasure by Kate Sedley. Another excellent read in the Roger the Chapman medieval mystery series.

# 27. A Textbook Case, a Lincoln Rhyme mystery by Jeffery Deaver.

# 28. Mrs Hudson's Case by Laurie King, a Mary Russell mystery.

# 29. Out of the Blue: A Memoir of Workplace Depression, Recovery, Redemption and, Yes, Happiness by Jan Wong. A personal account of her two year long depression as well as information on depression, how it impacts people differently, and medications.

# 30. Convenience Boy and Other Stories of Japan by Sujata Massey. Short stories featuring Rei Shimura.

# 31. Junior High Samurai Short Story by Sujata Massey. Short stories featuring Rei Shimura.

# 32. The Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie.

# 33. Yellow Iris by Agatha Christie.

# 34. The Dream by Agatha Christie.

# 35. Smoke and Murders by Nevada Barr.

# 36. Perfect Crime by Jack Erickson.

# 37. Kill My Darling by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, a Bill Slider police procedural set in London.

# 38. Bloodline by Felix Francis.

# 39. Evil Behind That Door by Barbara Fradkin, a Rapid Reads mystery.

April = 19

May, 2013

# 40. Don't Cry, Tai Lake by Xiaolong Qiu, featuring Inspector Chen Cao.

# 41. Closure, a short e-story by John Lescroart.

I suppose a hospital stay is a good way to catch up on reading but not recommended! Hope you are feeling better :)

# 42. The Midsummer Crown by Kate Sedley, a Roger the Chapman mystery.

# 43. Wheel of Fate by Kate Sedley, a Roger the Chapman mystery.

# 44. The Ophelia Cut by John Lescroart

# 45. The Hangman by Louise Penny, a Chief Inspector Armand Gamache police procedural set in Three Pines, Quebec, Canada.

# 46. The King of Diamonds, an Inspector Trave police procedural set in Oxford, by Simon Tolkien.

May = 7

June, 2013

# 47. Judgement Day by Sheldon Siegel.

# 48. Perfect Alibi by Sheldon Siegel.

# 49. Body English by S.J. Rozan.

# 50. Orders From Berlin by Simon Tolkien.

# 51. The Limpopo Academy Of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith.

# 52. Meet me in Malmö by Torquil MacLeod.

# 53. Murder in Malmo by Torquil MacLeod.

# 54. Grievous Angel by Quintin Jardine.

# 55. Funeral Note by Quintin Jardine.

# 56. Pray for the Dying by Quintin Jardine.

# 57. Still Life by Louise Penny.

# 58. Dead Cold by Louise Penny.

# 59. The Cruellest Month by Louise Penny.

# 60. Crossfire by Dick Francis and Felix Francis. Tom Forsyth returns to his mother's training stable following an injury sustained while serving in Afghanistan to discovery she is being blackmailed, forced to prevent her horses from winning and owing over one million pounds in back taxes.

# 61. Death of a Butterfly by Margaret Maron.

I am assuming that you like Louise Penny? I have Still Life on the shelf but have never been able to get into it. No idea why because it sounds interesting. Probably one I need to be in the right mood for.

# 62. Prosperity Restaurant by SJ Rozan.

# 63. The Tunnel by Takamichi Okubo

# 64. The Book Case by Nelson DeMille.

# 65. Chin Yong-Yun Takes a Case by SJ Rozan. Lydia Chin's mother solves a case.

# 66. Hot Secrets by Lisa Renee Jones.

# 67. Dangerous Secrets by Lisa Renee Jones.

# 68. Secrets Exposed by Lisa Renee Jones.

June = 26

July 2013

# 69. No Time Left by David Baldacci.

# 70. Busted by Karin Slaughter.

# 71. Triple Threat by Jeffery Deaver.

# 72. Deep Down by Lee Child.

# 73. Sudden Deception by Judith Price.

# 74. A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead. See review.

# 75. Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith. See review.

# 76. Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese.

# 77. Years of Red Dust: Stories of Shanghai by Xiaolong Qiu.

# 78. No Going Back by Lyndon Stacey.

# 79. Bones Are Forever by Kathy Reichs.

# 80. Garment of Shadows by Laurie R. King.

I read these when I was in the hospital but they missed getting added to this list.

# 81. Concealed by Fiona Cromarty.

July = 13

August 2013

# 82. Pleased to be Otherwise by Gina Ochsner.

August 2013

# 83. Bones in Her Pocket by Kathy Reichs.

# 84. Watching the Dark by Peter Robinson.

# 85. The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones.

# 86. Just Gone by William Kowalski.

That didn't take long :)

# 87. Miracle on the 17th Green by James Patterson and Peter De Jonge.. If you like golf, even if you don't play, you will enjoy this book.

# 88. Dead Man's Grip by Peter James.

# 89. Deadly Aim by Patricia H. Rushford.

# 90. Dying To Kill by Patricia H. Rushford.

# 91. The Butler: A Witness to History by Wil Haygood.

# 92. In the Shadow of the Glacier by Vicki Delany.

# 93. As Good as Dead by Patricia H. Rushford.

August = 12

# 94. Valley of the Lost by Vicki Delany.

August = 12

# 95. Negative Image by Vicki Delany.

# 96. Among the Departed by Vicki Delany.

# 97. A Cold White Sun by Vicki Delany.

# 98. Not Dead Yet by Peter James.

# 99. Wait for Me! by Deborah Mitford Duchess of Devonshire.

# 100. W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton.

September = 7

Good choice for #100 - congrats :)

October 2013

# 101. Bones of the Lost by Kathy Reichs.

# 102. Refusal by Felix Francis.
Sid Halley returns, against his will. He has come to the attention of an Irishman from Manchester who specializes in moving in on people and taking over their life and have them do as he says. This is not Sid's way, so putting himself and family in danger he sets out to put him out of business.

# 103. The Whisper of Legends by Barbara Fradkin.
Hannah, Michael Green's teenage daughter, went on a wilderness adventure whitewater rafting down the Nahanni River, and the party of four disappears. Green and Sullivan set out to find her in the rugged mountainous Northwest Territories.

# 104. The Loner by Quentin Jardine.
An autobiography of, half Scot and half Spanish journalist, Xavier (Xavi) Aislado, raised in Edinburgh by his formidable Grandma Paloma. His life brings him much happiness but the tragedy, loss and betrayal he faces changes his life.

# 105. A Woman Scorned by James Heneghan. See review.

# 106. The Ambassador's Wife by Jake Needham.
Inspector Samuel Tay of the Singapore Police Department is faced with a strange case. A woman is found in a hotel room with a bullet that indicates an assignation, she is nude and poised in a sexual position to show off the abuse and her face has been beaten so badly it no longer exists. Who is she? How does the FBI connect to the case?

# 107. Face of the Enemy by Beverle Graves Myers, Joanne Dobson.
An exhibit of Asian art by a Japanese artist opens in New York City just days before the bombing of Pearl Harbour, December 7, 1941. The owner of the art gallery is murdered, the artist is accused, and the artist is taken into custody by the FBI as a seditious alien. She has one hearing to plead her case, will she be released? Will she be charged with murder?

October = 7

November 2013

# 108. Last Night at the Ritz by Elizabeth Savage.
Four friends from college, now in their fifties, spend the night at the Ritz Carleton in Boston. In the course of the night, conversations in a hotel room drinks at a bar, dinner, the narrator relates the histories of each person and their friendships with the others. It is a history of life from college in the mid-forties through the mid-seventies. Very enjoyable.

# 109. Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer-Fleming.
Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne are spending their honeymoon at a lake-side cottage north of Miller Kill. The weather for the January days they chose for this event start with rain, ice, hail followed by more rain and then snow. The region is declared a disaster zone, no electricity, phone communications and a multitude of car accidents. Mix this with a missing, ill child, drug dealers and producers and it makes for a honeymoon no one will forget.

# 110. The Perfect Murder by Peter James.
Joan and Victor Smiley have been married for over nineteen years and have come to loath each other. They are both having affairs and plotting to murder each other.

# 111. Beekeeping for Beginners by Laurie R. King.
Told in the voice of Sherlock Holmes this title relates the meeting of Holmes and 15 year old Mary Russell. Their first summer spent on the Sussex Downs, with the cannon sounds from France in the background, as well as the attempt of Russell's aunt and cousin to 'get rid of her' before her will is signed.

# 112. Open Season by Archer Mayor.
Lt. Joe Gunther, a policeman in Brattleboro, Vermont, is led to question the jury's verdict in a three year old murder case. He is much like a puppet being manipulated to take certain steps and to reach conclusions that will lead him in a different direction and finally not only reveal the actual murder but the person who is the reason for the murder. The end result is the manipulator kills the murderer and dies in his attempt to kill the last man involved. Interesting plot, well done.

# 113. #GoodMorningEarth: Chris Hadfield by Kate Lunau and MacLean's Magazine
This "brings together for the first time exclusive stories and photos from Maclean’s reporter Kate Lunau, who’s been on the story since getting exclusive access to watch Hadfield train to become the commander of the International Space Station. The book also features “The Twitter Diary: A giant tweet for mankind,” a selection of Hadfield’s tweets that gives readers a front-row seat on what his life is like inside the ISS, as well as dozens of his best landscape photos of Earth, curated from Facebook and Twitter. The astronaut shares his wry sense of humour during highlights from sessions on Reddit’s "Ask Me Anything" and Twitter, where he answered questions on everything from fear to recycled urine to whether he could hear Don Cherry from space. Join Hadfield in the Space Station and discover what his 700,000 Twitter followers already know: it’s quite a ride." Most interesting and informative!

# 114. Breaking News by J. D. Rader and Michael Gudgell.

# 115. Red Sky in Mourning by Patricia H. Rushford.
Who knew writing a tourist guide book on a section of the Washington State coast could be dangerous. Did the first author stumble on some illegal activity and an accident was staged to get rid of her. Helen Bradley, the replacement author, tries to puzzle this out.

# 116. Vanished Smile The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti.
On August 21, 1911 the Mona Lisa disappears from the Louvre. Who took her? Why, no ransom demand is made? It makes world news as the lose of the painting is mourned. The recovery two years later is as bizarre as the theft. Slow.

# 117. Growth Marks by Margaret Maron.
Grace Currin is finding it difficult to leave the house in which she brought up her family. It is not the 'things' that matter and in the process she learns something new about her son.

# 118. The Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore.
Elizabeth and Chris had a son, William Alexander David, September 25 so this Christmas it is their turn to receive a copy of "The Night Before Christmas." Their's is illustrated by Grandma Moses but it isn't as cosy as I expected.

# 119 The Story of Babar by Jean De Brunhoff.
It is wonderful to share books I enjoyed as a child with my great nieces and nephews.

# 120. Femme by Bill Pronzini.
Some women just have to look at a man and he will do whatever she asks, some use this to manipulate men to do more than they ever wanted to do. These women are 'Femme Fatales', French for "deadly women." Cory Beckett was one and Nameless knew it.

# 121. Crystal by Susan Hill.
The only son and youngest child in an Irish family of six children it was determined from an early age that he would be a priest. His first assignment was to a church in a concrete city in England with a priest who didn't like him. The conclusion comes too fast to make it believable.

# 122. Shift by Kathy Reichs and Brendan Reichs.
Four teenage friends set out to investigate the robbery at the Loggerhead Island Research Institute. Tory wants to solve it before her great-aunt Tempe Brennan.

November = 15

December 2013

# 123. Z is for Zamboni by Matt Napier..
A wonderful ABC book for my great nephew Liam and his father, Brendan, a hockey player. Bright colours, words that will start conversations about playing hockey as well as the history of the game. A good book!

# 124. Hello Baby Bathtime
A brightly coloured floating bath book for a baby.

# 125. The Lawman's Holiday Wish by Ruth Logan Herne.
Fluff from my sister.

# 126. Small Felonies - Fifty Short Mystery Stories by Bill Pronzini.
Pronzini is a master at writing the short, short story, each so complete!

# 127. French Picture Dictionary by Langenscheidt.
An excellent first French dictionary for children, it gives the word in English, French and in a sentence in both languages as well as an amusing picture illustrating the word or action. Published by Berlitz.

# 128. Knife Edge: An Anthology of Crime, Thriller, Mystery and Suspense Stories by Jim Williams and others.
So-so short stories.

# 129. The Skeleton's Knee by Archer Mayor.
A hermit dies of a bullet wound received about 20 years earlier. A skeleton, with a 20 year old metal kneecap, is found in the recluse's backyard. This leads from Vermont to Chicago, the mob and the late 1960 radicals and, of course, more deaths.

# 130. Laurie R. King's Sherlock Holmes by Laurie R. King.
Laurie R. King takes a more scholarly view of Sherlock Holmes in a series of essays.

# 131. Borderlines by Archer Mayor.
Lt. Joe Gunther takes a temporary assignment in a part of Vermont know as the Northeast Kingdom. This becomes more complicated when a house fire kills six members of a local cult, five locked in a bedroom. The fire is followed by a couple of other murders, one a father trying to get his daughter away from the cult, and an increase of hostilities between the townspeople and the cult members.

# 132. Snow Blind by Archer Mayor.
Gunther picks up a stranded stranger on a stormy night only to have a gun pulled on him within minutes. The young man is afraid he will be charged with the murder of his ex-girl friend.

What book stands out the most in your mind, for whatever reason, good, bad or indifferent?

All of these stand out for good reasons and the first is far and away the leader, but as they are all quite different I have listed them. It is interesting I read mostly fiction yet four of these are non-fiction.

# 74. A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead. I wrote a review of this book.

# 5. The Secret Piano: From Mao's Labor Camps to Bach's Goldberg Variations by Zhu Xiao-Mei. An amazing story of Zhu Xiao-Mei's life. She saw her first piano at the age of three, when she was ten she enrolled at the Beijing Conservatory. At age seventeen the Cultural Revolution rolled across China and the next ten years of her life were spent doing hard labour in four prison camps. Music sustained her, to the point she had her mother take apart her piano in Beijing, put it on a coal train and send it to her. Millions of Chinese died, millions had their lives permanetly shattered, but Zhu Xiao-Mei focused her life more and more on her music and survived, albiet not unscared. She studied music in the United States and then settled in Paris.

# 113. #GoodMorningEarth: Chris Hadfield by Kate Lunau and MacLean's Magazine
This "brings together for the first time exclusive stories and photos from Maclean’s reporter Kate Lunau, who’s been on the story since getting exclusive access to watch Hadfield train to become the commander of the International Space Station. The book also features “The Twitter Diary: A giant tweet for mankind,” a selection of Hadfield’s tweets that gives readers a front-row seat on what his life is like inside the ISS, as well as dozens of his best landscape photos of Earth, curated from Facebook and Twitter. The astronaut shares his wry sense of humour during highlights from sessions on Reddit’s "Ask Me Anything" and Twitter, where he answered questions on everything from fear to recycled urine to whether he could hear Don Cherry from space. Join Hadfield in the Space Station and discover what his 700,000 Twitter followers already know: it’s quite a ride." Most interesting and informative! Canadians should be proud of him and his accomplishments.

# 123. A to Zamboni by Matt Napier.
A wonderful ABC book for my great nephew Liam and his father, Brendan, a hockey player. Bright colours, words that will start conversations about playing hockey as well as the history of the game. A good book!

# 108. Last Night at the Ritz by Elizabeth Savage.
Four friends from college, now in their fifties, spend the night at the Ritz Carleton in Boston. In the course of the night, conversations in a hotel room, drinks at a bar, dinner, the narrator relates the histories of each person and their friendships with the others. It is a history of life from college in the mid-forties through the mid-seventies. Very enjoyable.

# 133. Short Shockers: Collection Two by Peter James.
A collection of mystery and paranormal short stories.

# 134. The Shamus Winners: America's Best Private Eye Stories: Volume I: 1982-1995 edited by Robert J. Randisi.

I can see why some of those standout as good reads - the first two sound wonderful and I am intrigued by the last one. If this site does anything it's make my TBR pile that much larger :)

Merry Christmas and happy reading!

# 135. Reat Not in Peace by Mel Starr.
I reviewed this for Early Reviewers.

# 136. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson.
What a hoot! I hope he lives to be 110 or more, after what he has already lived he deserves some vacation time with his bride!

No kidding eh?!? He has done more in ten minutes than I have done in 40 years :)

# 137. The Disposable Man by Archer Mayor.
Two Russian mobs take their fight to Vermont.

I started doing the 250 Book Challenge in 2010 reading 197 books. For reasons I don't remember in 2011 I dropped to 81, in 2012 I managed 124 and this year, 2013, I topped out at 138. My goal for 2014 is to top 2010 and hit the two hundreds.

# 138. Tucker Peak by Archer Mayor.
Enviromental protesters, robbers, a murderer, mix in a ski resort, Joe Gunther undercover and you have the plot for Tucker Peak. Oh, and drugs.