Rhondak101 joining the challenge

Hi, I am a college professor who teaches at a small private university in South Carolina. I am retiring at the end of this semester, so I am looking forward to reading more. Right now I am mostly reading UK Police Procedurals and Scandi Noir because they are not too challenging during the semester.

January (not in order):
1. Bury Your Past (Hidden Norfolk#2)--J. M. Dalgliesh
2. Kill Our Sins (Hidden Norfollk #3)--J. M. Dalgliesh
3. Dept. Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes (The Keeper of Lost Causes #1)--Jussi Adler-Olsen
4. The Body by the Sea (Brittany Mystery #8)--Jean-Luc Bannalec
5. A Litter of Bones (Logan #1)--JD Kirk
6. Thicker Than Water (Logan #2)--JD Kirk
7. The Killing Code (Logan #3)--JD Kirk
8. Blood and Treachery (Logan #4)--JD Kirk
9. The Last Bloody Straw (Logan #5)--JD Kirk
10. A Whisper of Sorrows (Logan #6)--JD Kirk
11. Cross Cut (Warlow #19)--Rhys Dylan
12. The Snowdonia Killings (Ruth Hunter #1)--Simon McCleave
13. Jar City (Erlendur #1)--Arnaldur Indri∂ason
14. Silence of the Grave (Erlendur #2)--Arnaldur Indri∂ason
15. Tell No Tales (Hidden Norfolk #4)--J. M. Dalgliesh

February
16. Dark is the Grave (Bone #1)--TG Reid
17. Blood Water Falls (Bone #2)--TG Reid
18. The Big Man Upstairs (Logan #7)--JD Kirk
19. A Death Most Monumental (Logan #8)--JD Kirk
20. A Snowball's Chance in Hell (Logan #9)--JD Kirk
21. Ahead of the Game (Logan #10)--JD Kirk
22. Forgotten Bones (Whitby #1)--Wes Markin
23. Death of a Master Chef (Brittany Mystery #9)--Jean-Luc Bannalec
24. The Word is Murder (Hawthorne and Horowitz #1)--Anthony Horowitz

March
25. The Trial of Sherlock Holmes: Dynamite Comics, Sherlock Holmes #1-5 (Comics TBR)--Leah Moore, John Reppion, Aaron Campbell
26. Silver and the Sunday Cypher (Carlyle and Silver #1)--Jack Gatland
27. Nine Times Nine (from Shelves TBR)--Anthony Boucher
28. The Absent One (The Keeper of Lost Causes #2)--Jussi Alder-Olssen
29. The House of Silk (Holmes #1; Shelves TBR)--Anthony Horowitz
30. To Wake the Dead (Dr. Gideon Fell #8?)--John Dickson Carr
Matt Wagner, Steven T. Seagle, and Guy Davis
Sandman Mystery Theatre, Vertigo, DC Comics
   31. The Brut (#9-12; Comics TBR)
   32. The Vamp (#13-16; Comics TBR)
   33. The Scorpion (#17-20; Comics TBR)
34. A Good Hanging (Inspector Rebus Short Stories; Shelves TBR)--Ian Rankin
35. The Death of the Author--Nnedi Okorafor
36. Nightdreamers (Telos Novellas Doctor Who Series; ShelvesTBR)--Tom Arden
37. The New Deadwardians (graphic novel; Comics TBR)--Dan Abnett and I. N. J. Culbard
38. The Liverpool Demon, Dynamite Comics, Sherlock Holmes Vol. 2, #6-10 (graphic novel; Comics TBR)--Leah Moore, John Reppion, Matt Triano
39. The House Saphir--Marissa Meyer
40. A Mouthful of Dust (Singing Hills Cycle #6)--Nghi Vo

April
41. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory--Roald Dahl
42. The Practice, the Horizon, the Chain--Sofia Samatar
Matt Wagner, Stephen Seagle, and Guy Davis
Sandman Mystery Theatre, Vertigo, DC Comics
   43. Dr. Death (#21-24; Comics TBR)
   44. Night of the Butcher (#25-28; Comics TBR)
   45. The Hourman (#29-32; Comics TBR)
46. "The Book of Ballads and Sagas" (#1-4; Comics TBR)--Charles Vess and Various Authors
47. The Mystery of the Blue Train--Agatha Christie
48. Belfast Confetti (Shelves TBR)--Ciaran Carson
49. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More--Roald Dahl
50. Crossings (Shelves TBR)--Alex Landragin
51. The Model World and Other Stories--Michael Chabon
52. Sandman Presents: Bast (#1-3; Comics TBR)--Caitlin R. Kiernan and Joe Bennett
53. The Ballad of Tom Dooley (Shelves TBR)--Sharyn McCrumb
54. The Murders in Praed Street (Lancelot Priestley #4)--John Rhode
55. The Paddington Mystery (Lancelot Priestley #1)--John Rhode
56. Summerland (Shelves TBR)--Michael Chabon
57. Sherlock Holmes: Moriarty Lives (#1-5) (Comics TBR)--David Liss and others
58. Gaslit Horror edited by Hugh Lamb
May
59. The Clue of the Dancing Puppet (Nancy Drew #39)(Shelves TBR)--Carolyn Keene
60. The Orient Express (Stamboul Train)--Graham Greene
61. The White Tiger--Aravind Adiga (Shelves TBR)
62. The Lacquer Screen (Judge Dee)--Robert van Gulik
63. Platform Decay (Murderbot)--Martha Wells
64. Noir--Robert Coover (Shelves TBR)
65. A Barcelona Heiress--Sergio Vila-Sanjuán
66. All Systems Red--Martha Wells (comfort re-read when sick)
67. Little Sister Death--William Gay (loaned book TBR)
68. Ivory Vikings--Nancy Marie Brown
69. The Hangman's Daughter--Oliver Pötzsch
70. The Aran Islands--John Millington Synge (Shelves TBR)
71. Sea of Poppies--Amitav Ghosh (Reread)
72. The Secret of the Golden Pavilion (Nancy Drew #36) (Shelves TBR)--Carolyn Keene
73. The Man in the Brown Suit--Agatha Christie
74. She Who Knows--Nnedi Okorafor
75. The White Album--Joan Didion
76. The Clue in the Crossword Cipher (Nancy Drew #44) (Shelves TBR)--Carolyn Keene
77. The Croaking Raven (Mrs. Bradley #39)--Gladys Mitchell
78. Hild--Nicola Griffith
79. The Heart of Darkness--Joseph Conrad
80. Philippa of Lancaster--Isabel Stilwel
June
81. So To Speak--Terrence Hayes
82. The Phynodderree--Edward Callow (Shelves TBR)
83. As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams--Lady Sarashina (Shelves TBR)
84. If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him (Elizabeth MacPherson #8)--Sharyn McCrumb
85. Dead Weight--Batt Humphreys (Shelves TBR)
86. 4:50 From Paddington--Agatha Christie
87. All the Horses of Iceland--Sarah Tolmie
88. The Dark Monk (Hangman's Daughter #2) --Oliver Pötzsch
89. Deep Wheel Orcadia--Harry Josephine Giles
90. The Seville Communion--Arturo Pérez-Reverte
91. Wilful Cruelty (Warlow #21)--Rhys Dylan
92. Six Suspects--Vikas Swarup (Shelves TBR)
93. The Trackers--Charles Frazier
94. The Songs of Trees--David George Haskell
95. Birding without Borders--Noah Strycker
96. Farewell, My Cuckoo (Birds of a Feather #4)--Marty Wingate
97. Twelve Horses and the Hangman's Noose (Mrs Bradley #29)--Gladys Mitchell
98. Rainbow's End (Felse #13)--Ellis Peters
99. A is for American--Jill Lepore
100. The End of Her Honeymoon--Marie Belloc Lowndes
101. Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation--Joseph Campbell
102. Half Magic--Edward Eager
103. The Return of Moriarty--John Gardner
July
104. Miramar--Naguib Mahfouz
105. The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree (Darling Dahlias #1)--Susan Wittig Albert

Hi, welcome!

Welcome! Great start to the year!

Thanks!

UK Police Procedurals are some of my favorite--and I also like ScandiCrime novels.

ETA: I deleted the duplicate post below.

>6 thornton37814:
I have been reading police procedurals for years (not so much the Scandi Noir), but recently discovered police procedurals and Scandi Noir supported by KindleUnlimited. I have been skeptical about self-publishing in the past, but I have been pleasantly surprised by many of the series that I have found there.

My Challenge for Me (March): Read at least ten physical books/comics series/graphic novels in my TBR.
1. The Trial of Sherlock Holmes: Dynamite Comics, Sherlock Holmes #1-5
Leah Moore, John Reppion, and Aaron Campbell
2. Nine Times Nine, Anthony Boucher (pbk)
3. The House of Silk, Anthony Horowitz (hbk)
4. The Brut, Sandman Mystery Theatre (#9-12), Vertigo, DC Comics, Matt Wagner, Steven T. Seagle, and Guy Davis
5. The Vamp, Sandman Mystery Theatre (#13-16), Vertigo, DC Comics, Matt Wagner, Steven T. Seagle, and Guy Davis
6. The Scorpion, Sandman Mystery Theatre (#17-20), Vertigo, DC Comics, Matt Wagner, Steven T. Seagle, and Guy Davis
7. A Good Hanging, Ian Rankin, Inspector Rebus Short Stories (pbk)
8. Nightdreamers, Tom Arden, Doctor Who, Telos Novellas Series (hbk)
9. The New Deadwardians, Dan Abnett and I. N. J. Culbard, Graphic Novel, Vertigo
10. The Liverpool Demon: Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 2. Moore, Reppion, Triano, Dynamite Comics

Who else out there has stacks of unread comics?

Welcome to the group, Rhonda. I enjoyed your contributions over on Rhian's thread.

I will keep up as best as I can - Adler-Olsen, McCleave and Indridason are three writers also regularly pulled from my own shelves.

>10 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul,
I am reading the second Alder-Olsen now. I like Indridason too. However, I am not sure about McCleave. I have only read one. I figured it out quickly, and I really didn't like either of the main police detectives. So, I will probably finish other series before circling back.

Experimenting with the new image feature. This is my cat Liffey.

She (or he) is very pretty!

>13 SandDune: Thank you. She just turned 15. (When I got her, I estimated her birthday as the first week of March. I forgot to ask the people who I got her from.)

In January and February, I was reading several police procedural series, J. D. Kirk's DCI Logan, T. D. Reid's DCI Bone, Dalgliesh's Hidden Norfolk. I was also reading Nordic Noir. In March, I decided that I needed something different with fewer depressed detectives and Moriarty-like villains.

I gave myself the challenge to read 10 books/comic series/graphic novels from my TBRs and completed that challenge. (I have now found the ROOT challenge, so I have set a yearly goal for 40 from my TBRs). In April, I think I will be reading more SFF and classic mysteries. Also, I will keep reading Sandman Mystery Theatre comics--about 48 more issues to go.

I hope everyone is finishing March strong and looking forward to April!

I dug deep into the Comics TBR pile this weekend and came out with something interesting and unexpected. Charles Vess's The Book of Ballads and Sagas. Some big names from the 1990s were his collaborators, Neil Gaiman, Midori Snyder, Jane Yolen, Charles de Lint, and several more. I have enjoyed tracing the story of this limited comic series through the reviews all 4 issues. I am adding the first one here. However, let me warn you, my reviews get longer!

Crossings by Alex Landragin, book reflection is here https://www.librarything.com/topic/383154#9175265

The Ballad of Tom Dooley by Sharyn McCrumb for ROOT and BingoDog

The Murders in Praed Street by John Rhode. I thought I was going to use this for Private Detective in the MysteryKIT, but I ended up using The Mystery of the Blue Train.

The first Dr. Priestley novel:

May Reading List:
1-2. Amitav Ghosh ✅ Sea of Poppies (reread so that I can finish the series) and River of Smoke

• BFB
• ROOT
• BINGO: Sea
✅ 3. Martha Wells Platform Decay

• TIOLI: Series
✅ 4. Avavind Adiga White Tiger

• ROOT
• TIOLI: Animal
✅ 5. Isabel Stilwell Philippa of Lancaster

• ROOT
• BFB
• TIOLI and Global Challenge: Portugal
✅ 6. John Millington Synge Aran Islands
• BINGO: Legacy Library: Yeats
• ROOT
• TIOLI: Before 2000
• Global: Other Islands in the North Atlantic
✅ 7. Robert Van Gulik The Lacquer Screen
• TIOLI: Mystery Not Read Author in 2+ years
• Global Challenge: China
8-9. Nnedi Okorafor Shadow Speaker (reread so that I can read the next book) Like Thunder ✅ She Who Knows (decided to read the new series instead) and One Way Witch

• TIOLI: Hugo Winner/Nominee
• Global: Sudan
✅ 10. Robert Coover Noir
• ROOT
• Mystery Challenge: Hardboiled or Noir
• TIOLI: "Be" verb in first sentence
✅ 11. Oliver Pötzsch The Hangman's Daughter

• TIOLI: Name with Z or Q
• Global Challenge: Germany
✅ 12. Nancy Marie Brown Ivory Vikings
• TIOLI: Vikings
• BINGO: Micro-history
✅ 13. Carolyn Keene The Secret of the Golden Pavilion

• ROOT
• TIOLI: Hawai'i
✅ 14. Joseph Conrad, The Heart of Darkness
• TIOLI: Read an unread "classic"
• Global Challenge: Democratic Republic of the Congo
✅15. Carolyn Keene The Clue of the Dancing Puppet
• ROOT
• TIOLI: Form of the Word Dance in the Title
✅ 16. Nicola Griffith Hild
• BINGO: Beautiful Cover
• BFB
• TIOLI: Woman Author Writing About A Woman
• ROOT
✅ 17. Sergio Vila-Sanjuán A Barcelona Heiress
• Global Challenge: Spain
• TIOLI: Person is the title but not a name
✅18. William Gay Little Sister Death
• TIOLI: Letters spell word (lid)
✅ 19. Agatha Christie The Man in the Brown Suit
• TIOLI: Prime Minister's Name
• Global: South Africa
✅ 20. Carolyn Keene The Clue in the Crossword Cipher
• TIOLI: Name Nancy
• Global: Peru
✅ 21. Joan Didion The White Album
• TIOLI: 2018 American Authors Challenge
✅ 22. Gladys Mitchell The Croaking Raven
• TIOLI: Set in UK
• BINGO: Onomatopoeia in Title

First book of the month: Carolyn Keene The Clue of the Dancing Puppet

>12 rhondak101book: What a beauty! I am a cat lover too - I have 3 of my own and take care of the outside cats in the neighborhood as well.

>23 rhondak101book: Looks like some very ambitious goals for May! Good luck with them!

I hope you are having a marvelous Monday!

>26 alcottacre: Thanks. Liffey has the best markings. I just fell in love with them when I saw her. She is an inside cat.

And, like you, we have many cats in our neighborhood--hard to know if they have homes or are strays--many of us in the neighborhood try to take care of them.

May should be the month that I have the least amount of responsibilities, so I am being very ambitious with my TBR pile.

You have a good day as well!

>27 rhondak101book: I have a tortie so I am biased towards cats with markings. Her first vet kept threatening to steal Chalfont's fur. Here she is at a year old. She is 5 now.

>28 alcottacre: She is beautiful. Very nice color patterns!

The Left Hand of Darkness is my favorite science fiction novel, maybe my favorite novel of all time. I have only ever had one copy, bought for the science fiction literature class where I first read it. That battered old copy is now a palimpsest of multiple readings, with pages about to fall out.

This week I found the Penguin Galaxy edition in a bookstore. I will read the edition when I next re-read the book. Until then, it will sit respectfully next to its older sibling on the bookshelf.

A dozen Dame Agathas left to read....

Just reached Book #75!!!

Top 5 books from this 75.

Crossings by Alex Landragin

The Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

The Ballad of Tom Dooley by Sharyn McCrumb

Platform Decay by Martha Wells

>37 rhondak101book: Congratulations on 75!

I've read the Ghosh. Somewhere I have the Landragin -- that cover. It and the Okorafor are still TBR. Sharyn McCrumb wrote what is probably my all-time favorite short story. And you have all convinced me to add the Wells series to my "read someday" list.

Really liking your choices. (But, no, me and comics/graphic novels don't click.)

>39 ReneeMarie: Thanks. I am glad we have similar tastes. I can't recommend the Wells series highly enough. They are my "most re-read" books.

June Planning List so far...

1. Amitav Ghosh River of Smoke
• BFB
✅ 2. Charles Frazier The Trackers
• TIOLI: Mountains
• U.S.: Wyoming
• BINGO: Road Trip
✅ 3. David George Haskell The Songs of Trees
• TIOLI: Fill in the Blank
• BINGO: Green
✅ 4. Arturo Pérez-Reverte The Seville Communion
• TIOLI: 3 Names
• Global: Spain
✅ 5. Vikas Swarup Six Suspects
• ROOT
• TIOLI: Number in Title
• Global: India
➡ 6. Shyam Selvaduri Cinnamon Gardens (Move to next month)
• Global: Sri Lanka
• ROOT
➡ 7. Nnedi Okorafor One Way Witch
➡ 8. Nisi Shawl Kinning
• SPL: PNW POC
• Global: Congo Region
➡ 9. Naguib Mahfouz Midaq Alley
• SPL: World Cup
• Global: Egypt
  ✅ 10. Sarah Tolmie All the Horses of Iceland
• SPL: Under 150 pages
• Global: Kazakhstan
• TIOLI: Ranking/Review
✅ 11. Terrance Hayes So To Speak
• SPL: SAL Speaker
✅ 12. Oliver Pölzsch The Dark Monk
• TIOLI: Marvel Universe Word
• BFB
✅ 13. Edward Callow The Phynodderree
• SPL: Myths and Legends
• Global: Isle of Man
• ROOT
✅ 14. Lady Sarashina As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
• ROOT
• Global: Japan
• Bingo: Classic From Another Tradition
✅ 15. Sharyn McCrumb If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him
• TIOLI: Author Read More than 3x
• U. S. States: Virginia
✅ 16. Batt Humphreys Dead Weight
• BINGO: Great First Sentence
• U. S. States: South Carolina
• ROOT
✅ 17. Agatha Christie 4:50 From Paddington
• TIOLI: Number in Title
• My Own Agatha Christie Goal
• BINGO: Senior Citizens
✅ 18. Harry Josephine Giles Deep Wheel Orcadia
• SPL: Set in Space
• TIOLI: 3 Names
✅ 19. Rhys Dylan Wilful Cruelty
• Mystery CAT
✅ 20. Noah Strycker Birding Without Borders
• TIOLI Memoir/Animals
✅ 21. Marty Wingate Farewell, My Cuckoo
• TIOLI: Flower in First Sentence
➡ 22. Pam Jenoff The Lost Girls of Paris
• ✅ 23. Gladys Mitchell Twelve Horses and the Hangman's Noose
• TIOLI: Spell Water in the Title
✅ 24. Jill Lepore A is For American
• TIOLI: Nonfiction about America(s)
✅ 25. Ellis Peters Rainbow's End
• TIOLI: Rainbow in Title
✅ 26. Marie Belloc Lowndes The End of Her Honeymoon
• TIOLI: Paris
✅ 27. Joseph Campbell Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation
• TIOLI: Alternate Religion
• ROOT

Best Book of the Year--so far.

I was editing my June reading above and got a duplicate. Sorry. I will add a review here tomorrow :-) Here's the review as promised.

Yesterday was a big "book day" for me. Since the end of April, I have been cleaning out my university office and trying to find homes for all the books. Many came to my house, but I have a lot of duplicates and books that I will no longer need--one of the things about teaching English. Yesterday, I donated about 100 books to the Richland County Library in Columbia, SC for its summer library sale.

I celebrated by visiting a used bookstore. Here's my haul--many short of 100!

The second in the Hangman's Daughter series, counting as June TIOLI (Marvel Word) and BFB.

For the next several weeks, I am in Alabama visiting my mother. She is 79 and very active. She fosters puppies and has a garden. I get involved in both. I will be posting some photos of our produce and puppies. To start off “puppy jenga.” This is a new litter of 7, snoozing while they were waiting for their baths.

Read for the SPL Challenge: Outer Space

>29 rhondak101book: Thanks, Rhonda!

>36 rhondak101book: Just reached Book #75!!!




>41 rhondak101book: Ambitious reading goals! I hope you get them all accomplished!

>42 rhondak101book: I have already read that one so I am dodging that particular BB.

>45 rhondak101book: Nice haul! I hope they are all terrific reads!

>47 rhondak101book: "Puppy jenga" is right! I hope you have a wonderful visit with your mother!

Have a super Saturday!

>49 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia. I am doing pretty well with my reading, but I need to read more from the top of the list and stop adding more to the bottom ;-)

Book #90

Personal Note:
I remember the WPA mural that was located in the post office in Oneonta, Alabama, the nearest town to where I grew up. That building is no longer the post office. It became the Board of Education for many years. Now it is a museum, and the mural is still there (unlike many across the U. S. that have been destroyed.) Below is the wiki photo of that mural "Agriculture--A. A. A." by Aldis B. Browne (1939).

For the BINGODog (Green) and June TIOLI (Fill in the Blank)

July Planning List

1. Amitav Ghosh River of Smoke
• BFB
• TIOLI: Philadelphia Freedom
• SPL: Diaspora
2. Umberto Eco Baudolino
• TIOLI: One Word/M or before
• BFB
3. Lisa Servon The Unbanking of America
• TIOLI: American in Title
4. Martin Walker Murder In Springtime
• TIOLI: Fits 2 Prev. Challenges
5. Adam Hochschild King Leopold's Ghost
• ROOT
• BFB
• Global: Congo
6. Shyam Selvaduri Cinnamon Gardens
• Global: Sri Lanka
• ROOT
• TIOLI: Spice in Title
7. Chris Chibnall Death at the White Hart
• TIOLI: Red, White or Blue in Title
8. Nisi Shawl Kinning
• SPL: PNW POC
• Global: Congo Region
✅ 9. Naguib Mahfouz Miramar
• SPL: World Cup
• Global: Egypt
• TIOLI: Philadelphia Freedom
• ROOT
10. Barbara Kingsolver The Poisonwood Bible
• Global: Congo
11. Ward Just Forgetfulness
• TIOLI: 2020 American Author
✅ 12. John Gardner The Return of Moriarty
• Mystery Kit: Less than Lawful
13. Edward Thomas The Icknield Way
• SPL: Unplugged
📖 14. Jill Lepore The Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin
• TIOLI: Real Person
• BFB
✅ 15. Edward Eager Half Magic
• TIOLI: Half in Title
✅ 16. Susan Wittig Albert The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree
• U. S. States: Alabama

>52 rhondak101book: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Rhonda.

>55 alcottacre: I hope you like it when it is able to emerge from the BlackHole.

Summer Activities other than reading: gardening and cooking. As evidence, today's Ginger-Squash Pickles and last night's haul from Mom's garden. Okra, squash, beans, banana peppers, and cucumbers. Not pictured: the first 12! tomatoes from her plants. We almost never have tomatoes until after July 4.

Finally found a Rainbow book I liked for the June TIOLI!

First 100 Books by the Numbers

Best Books (alpha order)
The Trackers by Charles Frazier
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
Hild by Nicola Griffith
Crossings by Alex Landragin
The Ballad of Tom Dooley by Sharyn McCrumb
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Platform Decay by Martha Wells

Fiction Books Read: 83
Non-Fiction Books Read: 5
Comics and Graphic Novels Read: 12

Authors Most Read: JD Kirk (10), J. M. Dalgleish (3), Carolyn Keene (3), and Agatha Christie (3). More than 10 authors at 2.

Over half of the books were mysteries.

By Months:
Jan--15
Feb--9
Mar--16
Apr--18
May--22
Jun--20 (plus 3 more for the next 100)

Last TIOLI for June. Completed 15/18

First TIOLI for July (only a little early)