Wonderlake @ 2009

Another year, another pile of books to read !

Last year:

http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=26719

I managed 37, so maybe a more realistic goal for 2009 would be "40-book challenge" ?

This year I would like to read the books I received for Christmas:

I spit on your graves, Boris Vian
The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins
The suspicions of Mr Whicher, Kate Summerscale
Blind Man with a pistol, Chester Himes ...

so that's 4 already :)
---

I am also going to add Stephen King's Dark Tower series
1. The Gunslinger
2. The Drawing of the Three
3. The Waste Lands
4. Wizard and Glass
5. Wolves of Calla
6. Song of Susannah
7. The Dark Tower

...which makes 11
---
For my birthday (23rd April) I received

Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Jeff Lindsay
The Whale Rider, Witi Ihimaera

and I bought on a 3-for-2

( Marjorie Morningstar, Herman Wouk- ostensibly for OH)
In The Dark, Mark Billingham
Let The Right One In, John Ajvide Lindqvist

so 15 (16) ...?

2202

READ-
1. Brick Lane, Monica Ali
2. Congratulations! It's a Dog!, D Caroline Coile pp 181
3. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins, pp 609
4. V for Vendetta, Alan Moore, pp 286
5. I know why the caged bird sings, Maya Angelou
6. Mudbound, Hillary Jordan pp324
7. The Gunslinger, Stephen King pp238
8. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
9. The Drawing of the Three, Stephen King
10. I spit on your graves, Boris Vian
11. Batman and the Mad Monk
12. The Book Thief
13. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
14. The Story of Lucy Gault, William Trevor
15. The Burning Girl, Mark Billingham
16. Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Jeff Lindsay
17. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, F. Scott Fitzgerald *Dailylit
18. The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman *Dailylit
19. The Tenderness of Wolves, Stef Penney
20. The Lighthouse, P. D. James
21. The Waste Lands, S. King
22. Black Swan Green, David Mitchell
23. Lifeless, Mark Billingham
24. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
25. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
26. The Accidental, Ali Smith
27. Trust Me, Peter Leonard
28. City Primeval, Elmore Leonard
29. The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson
30. Buried, Mark Billingham
31. The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid
32. The Mermaids Singing, Val McDermid
33. The Wire in the Blood, Val McDermid
34. What I loved, Siri Hustvedt
35. In The Dark, Mark Billingham
36. The Murders in the Rue Morgue, Edgar Allan Poe*Dailylit
37. Let the Right One In, John Ajvide Lindqvist
38. Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow, Peter Hoeg
39. Blind Man With a Pistol, Chester Himes
40. The Last Temptation, Val McDermid
41. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Kate Summerscale
---
Current reading:
42. Death Message, Mark Billingham

Cross reference with TBR challenge:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/53976

12 more titles I would like to read this year:
- Everything is illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer
- Steppenwolf, Herman Hesse
- Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig
- The Story of Lucy Gault, William Trevor
- Elizabeth Costello, J. M. Coetzee
- Tintin & the secret of literature
- First Love, Ivan Turgenev
- Fingersmith,Sarah Waters
- The Tenderness of Wolves, Stef Penney
- What I loved, Siri Hustvedt
- Atonement, Ian McEwan
- Red Azalea, Anchee Min

I got some dog training books out if the library so I'm also currently reading:

- Congratulations! It's a Dog!, D. Caroline Coile

I'm aiming for a chapter a day of this (12 chapters).

Hope you're enjoying The Woman in White. I've read about 150 pages so far, and I like it. I just keep getting interrupted and it feels like I'm not making much progress!

I am able to read The Woman in White online (eg. at work!) at:

Bibliomania
http://www.bibliomania.com/0/-/frameset.html

Oops, nearly finished The Woman in White, but my doggie chewed it !
Good job I found that Bibliomania site LOL

Finished Congratulations! It's A Dog!- review here:
http://www.librarything.com/work/7759514

My dog is what they call a powerful chewer! LOL. They make special toys for that type of dog, but she will have nothing to do with them. The joy is in the destruction! Luckily, she mostly destroys rawhide and boxes -- not books. What kind of dog do you have? I have heard that The Woman in White is a good book. It is in my tbr right now.
--BJ

I see Atonement is on your list, I highly recommend it! It took me two attempts to get through it, actually. The beginning was quite slow and a little dry but if you find yourself wanting to give up, just stick with it - it gets much, much better. Just a beautiful read.

I have finally started to read Everything is Illuminated, for my To Be Read challenge- only a month late ! LOL
I guess it doesn't matter as long as I finish all 12 this year.

Also continuing on the doggie books I'm reading The Canine Good Citizen too.

I think that is the nice part of the TBR Challenge -- that it is only 12 books, so you have more timing flexibility.
--BJ

I am also currently reading V for Vendetta. Last yr I read Watchmen, and subsequently reserved V for Vendetta at the library. It became available for me, but like Watchmen it's on a waiting list for other readers so I only have a fortnight to read it !

The Woman in White was good, but I am glad I finally finished it and have moved on. It got a it heavy and I just wanted to know what would happen in the end! That's funny about your dog :)

Okay so I tried reading Everything is Illuminated, but it was too melancholy so I have put it aside for a while.

Then for my TBR challenge I tried Steppenwolf. But this was pretty difficult and not helped by the fact that it was an old -1975- edition. I felt the text font was too large for the long sentences. So I've given up on this also until I can get a nicer copy that I actually 'want' to read.

So finally I have gone for I know why the caged bird sings, by Maya Angelou, mainly because it was next on my shelf TBR *and also in 1,001 books

I have I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings also on my tbr. I look forward to seeing what you think of it. :)
--BJ

Finished reading I know why the caged bird sings :)
What an eventful first 16 years, and I understand that there are five more books ! Phew, whatta lady !

I have duly recommended it for my book group's March read.

I am sure I was reminded of another book where the child's mother is a (glamorous) prostitute last night, but for the life of me I cannot think of it today :P
Also I couldn't help but imagine the narrator as Lisa Simpson, LOL

I have finished Mudbound which was Babbling Books February choice and therefore one of my Alternate choices for my TBR Challenge !
It was okay - a quick read- and I gave it 3 out of 5.

I think she rather pinched the plot from The Secret History- beginning with a murder/ burial and then telling the story of how things led up to it...

I have now started The Gunslinger, by Stephen King. Again on the Babbling Books site there is a daily Trivia quiz, and some days loads of the questions are about The Dark Tower series of books !

Hi! Thanks for posting on my thread.

Is that your puppy??? OMG CUTE!

I didn't know that V For Vendetta is by the same author as Watchmen. I've started Watchmen, and plan to finish before the movie. I liked what I've read so far.

Atonement is one of my favorite books, but not everyone loves it. Have you read any other Ian McEwan books?

Hi! Thanks for posting on my thread.

Is that your puppy??? OMG CUTE!

I didn't know that V For Vendetta is by the same author as Watchmen. I've started Watchmen, and plan to finish before the movie. I liked what I've read so far.

Atonement is one of my favorite books, but not everyone loves it. Have you read any other Ian McEwan books?

I have started to read Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance *part of my TBR challenge.

I was sure this was in the 1,001 books to read... but it isn't.

What is the deal with the couple, John & Sylvia ?

Hah, I have found I can read "Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" online :)

http://virtualschool.edu/mon/Quality/PirsigZen/part2.html

I hear you about Saturday and the "perfect" family. Seriously, a poet? Who's actually a poet now?

I started reading Brideshead Revisited, last week, really enjoying it !

Actor Alan Dale

says that his favourite book is Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance, in a Guardian weekend supplement ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/07/alan-dale-actor-spamalot

Finished Brideshead Revisited, which was amazing, and started The Dark Tower book 2: The Drawing of the Three.

I just read Brideshead Revisited, and can't wait to hunt down his other works this summer when I have more time :)

The Drawing of the Three, up to p 344.

Oh My Gosh the section where Detta Walker is in Mid-World is SOOOO tedious !!!

Phew, glad to have finished The Drawing of the Three !

SPOILER:

All that fuss with Detta Walker and then they simply fuse together as easy as anything - ??
I've grown to dislike all the gun stuff too, which may be a problem in further books seeing as how the protaganist is primarily referred to as 'The gunslinger' :P

Started I spit on your graves, nice and short :)
Online at http://tinyurl.com/dysv2f

Finished I spit on your graves, which reminded me of one of last year's reads; The Killer inside me.

Started Life; A User's Manual, by Georges Perec. To get me in the mood for my holiday to Paris... in July !

Put "Life..." on hold for the moment as The Book Thief came available for me at the library- a January choice over on Babbling Books. My copy is massive ! It looks like a hardback edition, but with a paperback cover - silly !

I also have 3 comix/ 'graphic novels' due back at the library on 30/03... I've had them on loan for Ages now !
So I think I'd like to try to get them read over the weekend to return on Monday:
Batman; Turning points,
Batman and the mad monk &
Batman / Tarzan: Claws of the Cat-Woman

Okay well I only got one of the comics read:
Batman and the Mad Monk. I have to say I found it disappointing, the Mad Monk is a good, scary, creepy baddy but all Batman has to do is make a silver batarang and the vampire is toast, seems such a waste ?

I have to get my skates on to read the other two before 20th April as I have reached my max. renewals limit on them, LOL

Finished The Book Thief today,

"I gave this 3*
Towards the end I started to feel that it was emotionally manipulative, going for maximum tear-jerking effect. I HATED the foreshadowing of Spoiler:

Rudy's death - although I am not sure that foreshadowing is the correct term, as it is not just hinted at, but explicitly stated?

I found you could tell it was a children's /"crossover" book - Spoiler:

e.g. when Max is among one of the parades of Jews thru Molching was just too far-fetched for me. I also disliked the section where Rudy gives a teddy bear to the dying crashed pilot- what did this add to the book ?

Guess I am just a stony-hearted Grinch"

Actually, I think that the reviews on that book have been all over the place. I'm with you on the emotionally manipulative technique. I hate that. I am not sure if I will read this book or not in light of that. Maybe if I am feeling quite cheerful I could take it. I don't know. Right now I am reading Good Omens, which is the opposite of emotionally manipulative. It is too funny. Have a great day and I hope the next one is better. :)
--BJ

Okay A Tale of Two Cities has been put on hold in favour of Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen- another group read (Ravelry)
:)

It is reminding me of another of last year's reads- Geek Love, Katherine Dunn

Just want to touch on four points:
Absolutely loved I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. (but am not a huge fan of Maya Anjelou). Beautiful book, sorrowful subject.
And Wonderlake, you have a great many very interesting on your TBR list for the year. Good luck with your challenge.
Your pug made a snappy little job of your book; gives a whole new meaning to "my dog ate my homework" theme, what?
Finally, I have to say these are the first negative review/comments of The Book Thief that I have yet to see this year. I've not read it yet so cannot judge, but am anxiously awaiting my turn at the library. (even more anxious to read it now)
Still snowing here. Makes for good reading days. Have two of the grandsons for spring break and we are all three reading. The six year old in very short spurts which is frustrating for the rest of us, but normal for a six year old's attention span I guess. The eleven year old is almost finished with his forth Harry Potter and I am into a Truman Capote book of short stories which is very good. When Tyler finishes his Harry Potter I am ready and waiting to start it, having completed the third one last week. We have been a little slow getting started on the series. The kids in his class at school just started reading them this year so of course-----!~!~!
Have a great ladies.

P.S. I loved the movie "V is for Vendetta" and ran right out and bought it when it became available. Is the book anything like the movie?
thanx,
belva

Water for Elephants was alright, an easy read I guess but nothing amazing.

I have given up on A tale of Two Cities as I was reading it, understanding the words but not the sentences ... it just wasn't going "in" althought I could tell you the jist of it ...

So now I have started The Story of Lucy Gault- one of my TBR challenge books :)

That sounds like a good one! I can't wait to see your review!
--BJ

Finished The Story of Lucy Gault, which I really enjoyed !!
I found it quite dreamy... it reminded me of The Sea, by John Banville which I read in 2007. In fact, on the page for TSOLG it has The Sea as the number 1 recommendation - 'if you liked that, try this'.

It was quite unusual for me that I didn't want ANY spoilers, and as such I would advise to not read ANY reviews of it before you read it.

* TSOLG was shortlisted for the Booker in 2002, The Life of Pi won, which I tried to read but did not finish.

Thanks for the suggestion not to read any reviews. That is good to know. :)
--BJ

Started The Burning Girl, by Mark Billingham. Last year I read the first three DI Thorne books.

I was inspired to read "TBG" as for my birthday I got another Billingham book, In The Dark :)

The Burning Girl was published in 2004, but already things about it seem archaic; a Video rental shop, anyone ? (-rather than DVDs, but even I can't remember I went to Blockbuster for a DVD- we either have used Lovefilm postal/ online service, or rent them off the cable package)

also, smoking in public places e.g. cafe; and one of the characters has a pager- not a mobile phone

EDIT; more than one reference to "The X Files" LOL

It's the Bank Holiday weekend so I really want to finish reading The Burning Girl sometime today or tomorrow !
It's been an okay read, but I wouldn't quite rush to recommend it. Billingham has departed from his usual formula of the previous books and I think it has suffered for that. Lost a lot of the suspense, the page-turning-ness. I don't really care about the stupid rival gangs, overall I think there has been far too much packed into it.

I'm not too sure how much I am looking forward to the one of his I got for my birthday, In the Dark, which is also about gangs :(

What a load of rubbish The Burning Girl turned out to be. I'd give it 2 / 5, and the 2 is because I managed to finish reading it.

I hated the 'cliff hanger' ending which I presume is supposed to make you hold your breath until the next in the series.

Started Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter was a lot of fun. I loved the strong Miami setting, and learned about things like medianoche sandwiches because of reading it.

I had watched the second season of the TV show, so it did slightly 'spoil' the cliff hanger as to who was Dexter's rival, but I'd still like to continue to read the rest of the books:

-2. Dearly Devoted Dexter,
-3. Dexter in the Dark,
-4. Dexter by Design,
5. Dexter is Delicious, (2011 as per Wikipedia, revolves around cannibalism!)

How graphic was Darkly Dreaming Dexter? One of my friends and I watch the TV show, and he wants me to read the books. I like the show, but I can't watch or listen when the killings are taking place!

Ha, used Dailylit to polish off both The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, & The Yellow Wallpaper :D

Thanks for the Dexter info. You're right about the opening credits! I can't watch the part where he shaves, or when he cuts the meat for breakfast!

Finished The Tenderness of Wolves, which was very good and I would like to re-read in winter when things are a bit chillier and more suitable for the setting of the book. I might get a copy for my dad for Xmas too, but wonder if it might be a bit 'female' for him...

Started to read The Lighthouse by P D James, after it was featured as a Guardian Book Club read:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/25/book-club-the-lighthouse-pd-james

D'oh , my reservation for The Waste Lands came up at the library- finally, but I didn't collect it in time...

I so hate when that happens!
The Tenderness of Wolves sounds
like something I might rather buy than
use the library for. It sounds really good.

I'm hoping to finish The Lighthouse this evening- 55 pages left.

At first I wasn't that into it, I felt very distant from all of the characters, but then the investigation started and things picked up. It reminded me of a J. G. Ballard novel- an island escape for all these stressed executives... Super Cannes? : In the hills above Cannes, a European elite has gathered in the business-park Eden-Olympia, a closed society that offers its privileged residents luxury homes, private doctors, private security forces, their own psychiatrists, and other conveniences required by the modern businessman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super-Cannes

Next...? I have a couple of Mark Billingham ones stacking up:
- In the dark
- Lifeless
- Buried

Well for some reason, the internet filtering software at work (where I obv. key all my updates for here) was blocking Librarything ???

In my absence I started Fingersmith, but then The Waste Lands came available at the library so I switched to that. Then I read Black Swan Green, as per the Group Read for June over on Babbling Books:
http://onlinebookclub.myfreeforum.org/about3408.html

I thought it was alright, but nowhere near Cloud Atlas which I read in 2007 (?)
***BSG was on the Costa 2006 Shortlist - The Tenderness of Wolves won !

I'm now reading Wizard and Glass.

---
I'm going on holiday on 7th-17th July and hoping to spend a lot of time reading in the park. However I also will be coming home on 13th July for a job interview (University Library Graduate Trainee !!!) so I think to pass the time I'll def. pack a few whoppers to get thru :)

For my holiday reads I took Lifeless, by Mark Billingham, and The Da Vinci Code LOL.

I also bought Twilight, from Tea & Tattered Pages.
http://www.teaandtatteredpages.com/

I managed to finish Lifeless when I came back on the 13th. I thought about going back to Fingersmith, but my main prioroty was number of pages- I didn't want to have to haul around a long book in my hand luggage. So instead I chose The Eye in the Door, by Pat Barker... which I started to read, but must have put down in the airport on the 14th when I tried to self check-in ! I only realised when I was thru security :(
So I had to buy something else to entertain me, and went for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
*I have a dragon tattoo myself :)

Finished reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and very helpfully the next in the trilogy The Girl who played with fire has been released in paperback this month, so I guess I'll be getting that... although the 1st book didn't have much of an amazing cliff-hanger ending for me.

I have zero interest in going back to reading "Wizard & Glass", so might look to one of my challenges for my next read... the 1,oo1 ?

Started to read The Kite Runner, as one of Babbling Books previous reads:

http://onlinebookclub.myfreeforum.org/about418.html

however it's not really grabbing me but I'll stick with it for the time being. E.g. When Amir is in the market talking to Soraya, I wish that he'd just get on with it. I mean he's in America (the land of the free), he no longer has to stick to Afghan customs - they should elope and forget about both of their fathers...

Begrudgingly finished The Kite Runner.
I had a bad feeling from the start, as on the front cover there is a quote from Isabel Allende- I couldn't manage to finish her The House of the Spirits.

Amir was such a nothingness of a character. Towards the end when he starts to curse it just seems so flat on the page--

"Pull over, goddam it!" I said. "I'm going to be sick." p215

I hated the way he'd end a section with a 'ominous' sentance --
"Because later that week, Baba caught a cold." p141

Everything just seemed so flimsy and coincidental; one minute Amir is studying in US college, and the next he's getting an advance for his second novel and moving into a beautiful house :P

I hope there are better books about Afghanistan than this.

Currently enjoying The Accidental, by Ali Smith which is pleasing as I also have Hotel World TBR :>

Finished The Accidental, and am moving onto Trust Me; an Early Reviewer book by Peter Leonard

Trust Me is going okay... maybe for my next read I'll go for one of Elmore Leonard's ones; City Primeval, or Get Shorty- both in the 1,001 :>

Opted for City Primeval, which was okay, got good towards the end. Clement Mansell is a memorable bad guy, especially his "chicken fat" catchphrase.

And now I am getting into The Girl Who Played with Fire, which I really looked forward to. Two of the reviews in the front of the book say that it's even better than the first one!

The Girl Who Played with Fire is a lot of fun, although frustratingly Salander has gone to ground !

Reading the books makes me want to visit Sweden/ Stockholm and my OH found out about this hostel:
Jumbo hostel
http://www.jumbohostel.com/

Here you can spend the night onboard a real jumbo jet – on the ground!

In my book club, both of the choices for September that I voted for won !
1. The Reluctant Fundamentalist - this was even my nomination :>
2. The Little Friend - I wouldn't mind re-reading this, however my copy is a whopping Hardback

I picked up a brochure for Manchester Literature Festival yesterday, and found that Mark Billingham & Val Mcdermid are doing a talk on October 18th...
http://manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/09-programme/october-18/mark-billingha...

the site doesn't give very much information about what they'll actually be doing- readings, a conversation about crime genre writing, signings ?

I'd be interested to go, as something 'different' to do, but I've not actually been that impressed with the Billingham books I've read lately. Still I have a couple more of his on the shelf-
Buried &
In the Dark.
(Buried is his 6th DI Thorne book, and is followed by Death Message and Bloodline. In the Dark is a stand-alone work.)

I also have a Val Mcdermid one to try- Killing the Shadows.

Ho hum, The Girl Who Played with Fire was... okay ? I was very disappointed by the ending, in as much as it just seemed to stop - not a complete story in its own right. I would recommend, but perhaps only if you have the third book on hand to be able to continue the story.

Rather than a Book club title I have gone for Buried, by Mark Billingham -hopefully a 'trashy' quick crime read. Then hopefully I'll be able to fit in the relatively slim Reluctant Fundamentalist still in September :>

Buried was okay... I'm always amazed by how successful with the ladies Thorne is, especially in this last one considering his bad back. I think the author doesn't really like to give physical descriptions - but I seem to remember him describing Thorne in one of the earlier books as a Weeble (maybe this was more due to tenacity than being fat, or maybe a bit of both). Need to get hold of a copy of Death Message and then I will be up-to-date with the series...I think ** oh no there's a new one called "Bloodline"

The Reluctant Fundamentalist was obviously a quick read given its lack of pages. Still mulling it over. I have a podcast of the author discussing it on the World Book Club that I hope to listen to tomorrow in work. There have recently been a couple to things on Tv re 9/11- "102 Minutes That Changed America" was especially powerful.
^ shortlisted for the Booker, 2007. Anne Enright's The Gathering won

I've read both The Mermaids Singing & The Wire in the Blood by Val McDermid.
I was surprised by the gruesomeness of the first one- it features a serial killer who uses a number of different forms of torture on their victims. I'd almost say it was 'horror' genre and not crime.
The second one may have suffered for being read straight after the first.
Both have race to the finish climaxes, and I was niggled by the way both utilised Carol's computer expert brother, a very useful plot device.

Although I also have Killing the Shadows TBR, I have gone onto What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt - the October choice for Babbling Books
(another one of my nominations having won!), and also on my TBR challenge for the year, which has fallen by the wayside :(

What I Loved was a bit odd in the end- the last third seemed to take a Bret Easton Ellis turn ?

Now I'm onto In The Dark, which isn't great- but I got my copy signed after the talk I attended so I guess it'll be staying on my bookshelf after I finish reading it regardless :P I thought one of the characters - a policeman with a girlfriend who is about to have their baby but it's not seeming quite the happy event it should be - seems a bit of a recycled version of Thorne's 'sidekick' Holland... so far ... Also I'm pretty sure the musing on Thorne (never explicitly named) being like a "thorn in your side" was lifted straight from one of the Thorne books

I got some knitting books out of the library:

Party Knits, Melody Griffiths
25 hot designs to get you in the party mood -LOL
+ V-back sweater is interesting
+ Skimpy shrug
+ Sequin tank top
+ Beaded cardigan- then again I could just add some beads to a shop-bought cardi

but as is so often the case the patterns could be so much more attractive if the book had nicer photos

Sock innovation, Cookie A.
Now this is more like it, all of these socks look beautiful! None of them are baggy, and the pics are quite fun- I mean whoever has had to model socks before and would know how to pose them ?
Unfortunatley the patterns look Incredibly complicated !!! In the intro she says that her favourite subject in school was maths esp. theorems & proofs (uh, what?) - the more abstract the better ...

Better Homes and Gardens Knitting Year-Round
This is organised seasonally, but for some reason begins with Autumn?
The patterns are likeable enough, in a retro way e.g. Northwoods Cardigan with its moose motif ;>
The whole thing looks quite dated, although Copyright is 2003.
The absolute best is p 70- For Fido Too- a matching man and dog's argyle sweater. The look on the guy's face as he gazes lovingly at his Daschund is priceless :>>

Finished In the Dark last night, meh.

Started on one of the others I got for my birthday (back in April)- Let the Right One In.

Spent some time yesterday & today in work reading The Murders in the Rue Morgue via Dailylit- only 16 parts= the very first detective whodunnit.

I have now subscribed to A Study in Scarlet, but this is a bit longer at 51 parts :P

Let the Right One In features on a list of top 10 vampire novels:
No one who has seen the justly acclaimed film version of Lindqvist's bleak but unexpectedly humane novel will need much encouragement to seek out the original, where much that is cryptic about the on-screen story becomes clarified. The heart of the narrative remains the same – a story of friendship and love between Oskar – a lonely, sad, bullied boy – and Eli, the girl (or is she?) vampire who comes to be his protector. But the book encompasses other tales too, and makes explicit the fact that Eli's older male companion is in fact a paedophile as well as a killer. Harsh, and uncomfortable, but compelling.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/oct/30/kevin-jackson-top-10-vampire-novels

I'm really enjoying it - partly because the action is set in October/ November so it almost feels like I'm reading it in real time *nerd
I've not seen the film, but would love to when I finish. I wonder what rating it got? ** 15

Loved Let the Right one in, and think that this will be the one I'll get my dad for Xmas- maybe a copy of the DVD too.

Now started Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow, for the November choice on Babbling Books... also in the 80 crimes around the world:

1. Greenland

The murder takes place in Copenhagen, but it is to the unforgiving Greenland coast that Smilla Jaspersen follows the trail. Peter Hoeg's book, with its slow pacing and heightened atmospherics, was surely the one that whetted the international appetite for Scandinavian crime.

Enjoyed Smilla, though not sure about the "Slow pacing" comment > I thought she sneaks around Copenhagen for a couple of days and then heads out to sea on an Arctic ice-breaker. Really would love to see the film to see the landscapes of glaciers and snow described in the book.

Started Blind Man With a Pistol - in the 1001/ one of my Xmas presents from last year.

Well I am now starting book #40 on the first day of the last month of my challenge. The Last Temptation, by Val Mcdermid; which I hope to race thru ... I'm going to visit my sister on Friday (4th)- maybe I'll have even finished it by then to be able to crack open a fresh title for the train journey there ?

Well I was far from finished The Last Temptation in time to visit my sister; however I have managed it since... and was appalled by one of the developments in it on a supposed 'undercover' operation, a real "throw it across the room" moment...

I am now reading The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, which I received as a Secret Santa last year. And I have to say I'm not really feeling it :( I also dislike the format my copy is- a paperback copy, but in a hardback size. I don't think I'm going to be keeping this when I finish it.

On a related note, it was shortlisted for the CWA Gold dagger in 2008- which was won by (the never heard before of) The Hounding of David Oluwale, by Kester Aspden.

Finished Mr Whicher and began Death Message, by Mark Billingham... last week?
Mr Whicher seems to have completely left my mind as soon as I finished it...

Death Message won the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award- ! (voted for by the general public...)

The full short list was as follows:
The Accident Man, Tom Cain
Bad Luck and Trouble, Lee Child
Death Message, Mark Billingham
Gone to Ground, John Harvey
Ritual, Mo Hayder 2010
Garden of Evil, David Hewson
A Cure for all Diseases, Reginald Hill
The Colour of Blood, Declan Hughes
Dead Man’s Footsteps, Peter James
Broken Skin, Stuart MacBride
Beneath the Bleeding, Val McDermid 2012
Exit Music, Ian Rankin
Friend of the Devil, Peter Robinson
Savage Moon, Chris Simms ...

I have Ritual TBR, perhaps I should give it a go to see which I thought was a more worthy winner.

I had a look on the Mark Billingham website, and messageboards re his books. There's a rule about "no spoilers" so most of the posts are fanboys saying how great they think Billingham is :P