Summary for 2021

Here is a summary of what I achieved through my reading challenges in 2021.

Covid-19 and the consequent lock downs here in South Australia made it a funny year, reading wise. I should point out that I really don't use the challenges to push myself so much as monitor what I am reading.

First of all I didn't read as many books as I had expected to. In the nick of time, yesterday I completed my 100th book for the year. I had originally set my sights on 120, and then in November, and as late as early December, I revised my aim down to 95, but read more than I had thought I would, and got to 100. To be honest that is my lowest total for some years. However, I have been keeping these totals since 1975, and since then I have read 4408 books, mostly but not exclusively crime fiction.

Of that 100 books, 56 were by British authors, 28 by Australian authors, 6 by American authors, so you can see where my reading preferences lie.

Over half the books I read were e-books, and one third of them were "new to me" authors. In some cases I went on to read #2 and #3 in a series.

I re-read 11 Agatha Christie titles, mainly Miss Marple and Poirot books. In 2022 I am going to re-read some stand-alone titles.  

Non-crime fiction, and translated titles didn't get much of a look in this year.

My local library remains my greatest source of books, either in paperback form or as e-books (Libby).

Recommendations for what to read come mainly from the reading groups that I belong to, so in a sense they are already pre-selected. I only occasionally browse book shelves either in a book shop or at the library.

I will probably use a similar system for "accounting for" what I read in the coming year, but may simplify it a bit. Below is the summary of my reading. You will find the books listed at https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/2021-reading-challenges.html

• 2021 Good Reads Reading Challenge. I have set my challenge at 95. Currently: 100
  
• Good Reads A-Z of titles: Currently: 18
• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Completed in 2014, titles read in 2021: 11
• USA Fiction Challenge So far 29/51, this year: 6
• 2021 Aussie Author Reading Challenge: aiming for 20: currently 28
• 2021 Australian Women Writers Challenge: aiming for 20. Currently 15
• British Books Challenge 2021 currently 56
• 2021 Ebook Reading Challenge currently 55
• New to me authors - a personal challenge currently 33
• Not crime fiction - a personal challenge currently 2
  
• Nordic reading challenge - a personal challenge, currently 1
• New Zealand reading challenge -again a personal challenge. currently 3
• Translated crime fiction - a personal challenge that will overlap with many of the other reading challenges that I have undertaken. currently 4
• Snagged through the Library currently: 56
• Audio books: currently: 2
• 2021 Historical Reading Challenge. Currently: 12

100 Books read so far in 2020

Each year I set myself a reading target and among them I set a number of books to strive for.

This year my target is 120, and yesterday I got to 100, which always feels special.

This is what the summary so far looks like (you will note that in some cases I am exceeding my targets):

Last updated 25 October 2020

• 2020 Good Reads Reading Challenge. I have set my challenge at 120. Currently: 100
• Good Reads A-Z of titles: Currently: 22
• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Completed in 2014, titles read in 2020: 3
• USA Fiction Challenge So far 29/51, this year: 9
• 2020 Aussie Author Reading Challenge: aiming for 20: currently 35
• 2020 Australian Women Writers Challenge: aiming for 20. Currently 25
• Read Around the World 2020: currently: 100
• British Books Challenge 2020 currently 42
• 2020 Ebook Reading Challenge currently 45
• New to me authors - a personal challenge currently  35
• Not crime fiction - a personal challenge currently 6
• Nordic reading challenge - a personal challenge, currently 5
• New Zealand reading challenge -again a personal challenge. currently 2
• Translated crime fiction - a personal challenge that will overlap with many of the other reading challenges that I have undertaken. currently 7
• Snagged through the Library currently: 56
• Audio books: currently: 8
• 2020 Historical Reading Challenge. Currently: 9

You can find my summary page in full at https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_55.html

2019 Reading Challenges Goals - ACHIEVED

I was very excited yesterday when I completed reading my final book for 2019 and got to the goal of 120 books which I set myself last year.
The total compares pretty well with what I have managed in previous years
2018 - 123
2017 - 116
2016 - 118
So I expect to read about 10 books a month, but that includes audio books.

I haven't set my goals for 2020 yet, but here is what my reading for 2019 showed: ( you can find the full lists here)

• 2019 Good Reads Reading Challenge. I completed my goal of 120 books for the year by the narrowest of margins. They weren't all crime fiction, there were some audio books too, but I'm happy that do manage quite a range.
  
• Good Reads A-Z of titles: This was a challenge by Good Reads Australia to read 26 books, each title beginning with a different letter of the alphabet. I managed only 20 of the 26, with the letters E, J, V, X, Y, Z  not achieved
  
• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Completed in 2014, titles read in 2019: 2
  Since completing the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge in 2014, I have read very few of the titles again.
  
• USA Fiction Challenge So far 21/51, this year: 15The intent of this challenge is to read one title in each state. While I read 15 books set in a USA state, very few of them were from a "new state". Just 12.5% of the books that I read in 2019 were USA
  
• 2019 Aussie Author Reading Challenge: I aimed to read at least 20 novels by Australian authors, and read 28.  This means that nearly 25% of what I read was by an Australian author.
  
• 2019 Australian Women Writers Challenge: with 14 of those Australian books only by an Aussie female author, I was disappointed not to reach my target of 20. aiming for 20.
  
  
• British Books Challenge 2019. I read 69 books that I categorised as British. This is over 50% of my total reading and reflects one of my strong preferences.
  
  
• 2018 Ebook Reading Challenge I was surprised by the fact that I read only 21 books on my Kindle. I'm sure I bought more than that as I have a great many un-read . Even so 1 in every 6 books that I read was an e-book.
  
• New to me authors - a personal challenge where I read 44 titles, roughly 1 in every 3
  I publish the lists of these authors every 3 months.
  
• Not crime fiction - a personal challenge to try to read more widely. App0roximately one title a month meant that I read 11
  
• Nordic reading challenge - a personal challenge where I thought I would read more translated books of Nordic origin. I listed only 2 for the year. Once again a challenge where I have a number of unread titles,
  
• New Zealand reading challenge -again a personal challenge where I try to read a specific group of books. I read only 2, so this is a challenge I will try to improve on in 2020
  
• Translated crime fiction - a personal challenge that will overlap with many of the other reading challenges that I have undertaken. The fact that I have read so few Nordic titles is reflected in the fact that I have read only 3 titles in this category.
  
• Snagged at the Library 79. Nearly 2 in 3 of my books have come through my local library, which provides a wonderful service, giving access to any book held in a  public library in South Australia.
  The system uses an online catalogue where you can search for and reserve books.
  
• Audio books: 15 This works out to about one audio book a month, listened to on a regular  weekly journey. For the last 6 months we have been working out way through Colin Dexter's Morse novels and we still have a few to go.
  
• 2019 Historical Reading Challenge.  19. I don't plan to read historical novels but I am partial to historical crime fiction.

In coming days I will reveal my "best of" lists.

I've reached 100! - books that is

It always gives me a little boost when I finish my 100th book for the year!

My target this year is 120 and I think I will make that easily, but not perhaps some of my individual reading challenges.

Check out my reading this year here.

2019 Good Reads Reading Challenge.
   I have set my challenge at 120. Currently: 100

Good Reads A-Z of titles: Currently: 20

Agatha Christie Reading Challenge
    Completed in 2014, titles read in 2019: 1

USA Fiction Challenge
    So far 21/51, this year: 13

2019 Aussie Author Reading Challenge: aiming for 20: currently 23

2019 Australian Women Writers Challenge: aiming for 20. Currently 10

British Books Challenge 2019 currently  57

2018 Ebook Reading Challenge currently 17

New to me authors - a personal challenge currently  38

Not crime fiction - a personal challenge currently 10

Nordic reading challenge - a personal challenge, currently 1

New Zealand reading challenge -again a personal challenge. currently 2

Translated crime fiction - a personal challenge that will overlap with many of the other reading challenges that I have undertaken. currently 21

Snagged at the Library currently: 67

Audio books: currently: 12

2019 Historical Reading Challenge. Currently: 17

Challenges: So Near, Yet so Far: Stocktaking

With a little under 2 months to go I'm looking seriously at what I need to do to complete the challenges I set myself at the beginning of the year.
My list is here.

I take on reading challenges in order really to keep tabs on what I read and to try to achieve some sort of balance. In reality other factors such as book group agendas and fiend's recommendations determine most of what I read.

I am finding that if I buy a book it is mostly for the Kindle. On the other hand paper format review copies keep coming through the post and I'm not doing such a good job of keeping up with them, particularly with the unsolicited ones.

I have completed some.

• my target for the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge for this year: 12 titles. But I will add another couple by the end of the year.
• The Aussie Author Challenge - I set myself a target of 12 but I have read 16 and have another couple in my sights.
• Canadian Book Challenge 2011-2012, but the new one 2012-2013 began in July.
• Historical Fiction Challenge - read the original 10 but set myself a new target of 20
• Not crime fiction - I've read one. The challenge was to see whether I would read any. I should read more outside my genre.
• British Books Challenge - a target of 12 and I'm now at 55, so no problems here.
• Translated - set myself a target to exceed last year's count of 20 and have read 23

Struggling to complete

• The Nordic Challenge - set myself a target of 20 and have read 17.
• Global Reading Challenge - I've read 17 of 21, but need another North American, and 3 South American. I'll be embarrassed if I don't finish this one as I host it.
• Vintage Mystery challenge - needs books published before 1960. I've read 10 out of 16. I have one Cherchez Le Homme to go and 5 Golden Age Girls. Somehow doubt I am going to get this one done.
• American authors - a personal target of 20. have read 12. Don't actually see myself getting there.
• New Zealand - a personal target of 4. Have read 1 despite best intentions.
• New to me - not really a challenge. Am doing well with 43 but last year I read 60.
• e-book challenge - last year I read 75. Currently sitting on 51 but this will go up when we go travelling in December.
• The big one - 2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge: aiming at 166, last year 160. Currently 123. Pretty sure I won't read 43 books for the rest of the year.

So, confession time over, and on with the reading!

My New Zealand Reading Challenge

I never did get around to finding an "official" New Zealand crime fiction reading challenge to join.

However I did set myself a target of  reading 4-6 books by New Zealand authors in 2011 and I achieved that this week:

1. 4.2, MURDER IN THE SECOND ROW, Bev Robitai
2. 4.3, BOLD BLOOD, Lindy Kelly
3. 4.3, DIED IN THE WOOL, Ngaio Marsh
4. 4.8, BOUND, Vanda Symon

It is not that there is a lack of NZ authors to read, or even a lack of suggestions thanks to Craig Sisterson at CrimeWatch, just a lack of time!

Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge - progress report

This challenge is hosted by the Book Vixen.
The idea is to set yourself a reasonable target for the year.

I decided to aim for Out of Breath: 6-10 more books than in 2010 when I read 136.
So that meant my aim was for 142, and would include all books read in all formats include audio books.

2011 Reviews is where I keep my list for the year and my current count is  144, so I've actually achieved my goal.
The fact that I've done a bit of air travel this year has contributed to the number of books I've been able to read.

So now I'm considering how many more I will manage to read. Perhaps somewhere in the range of 155 to 160. (I have some other challenges to complete so that pressure will help.)
     Breaking a sweat – Read 11–15 more books  (that would be 151)
     I’m on fire! – Read 16+ more books (that would be 152+)

Actually the next milestone coming up is that of 500 reviews published on this blog. Just 6 to go!

Challenge Targets so far

I thought at the beginning of this year that I had committed myself to rather too many reading challenges, but as you can see from the list below I am pretty well on target, although a couple need more focus.
I have achieved about 50% of my targets and look on track to complete most of the others.

My full summary can be found at Reading Challenges Update

• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge 9/12  
• Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge: aiming for 142+  currently 121
• Historical Fiction Challenge 10/10 - Completed
• British Books Challenge 12/12 - completed at Royal Family Level.
  Now attempting to earn a Crown (50 books) - 31/38
  
• e-book challenge 51/100 - completed at 20, now aiming for 100 but I don't think I will get there.
  
• Nordic Challenge 2011 11/20 (Odin is 11-20)
  
• Aussie Author Challenge 12/12- completed
• Ireland Reading Challenge 1/4 
• Cruisin' thru Cozies Reading Challenge 20/13+ - Completed
• 2011 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge 6/9 
• 2011 Global Reading Challenge 21/21- - Completed
• Canadian Book Challenge 2010-2011 7/7 - Completed
• Canadian Book Challenge 2011-2012 2/13 
• translated, currently 19 - last year 20
• New Zealand, currently 2
• new to me: currently 52 - last year 46

Which Challenges in 2011 - followup

Since my Weekly Geeks post last Saturday I have been giving some serious thought to which Challenges I will participate in during 2011. You'll see the results of my decisions in the right hand margin.

I had already decided that I would take part in

• The Agatha Christie Reading Challenge:
  in 2011 I hope to read at least another 12 titles in my quest to read the novels and short stories of Agatha Christie roughly in the order in which they were published. This is a challenge that I manage, in conjunction with a monthly blog carnival.
• The 2011 Global Reading Challenge:
  I have committed myself to Expert level: 21 titles, all crime fiction, 3 titles each from 7 "continents"
• The Canadian Book Challenge 2010-2011:
  I have to read to 13 books by Canadian authors by 1 July 2011. So far I've read 3.

and then I added

• Booklover's 2011 Aussie Author Challenge:
  I have signed up to TRUE BLUE level of 12 books by Australian authors (at least 9 different authors)
• I've also joined the Ladybug's e-book reading challenge at obsessed level of 20 books. 

Since then I've joined

• Nordic Challenge, and looking at Odin level of 11-20 books
• Ireland Reading Challenge - Luck o' the Irish Level of 4 books 
• Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge - Get a Clue 7-9 books 
• Cruisin' thru the Cozies - Investigator: 7-12 books

And now I'm keeping an eye out for a

• New Zealand crime fiction challenge
• Historical crime fiction challenge- this I think will be my own variation of a Historical fiction challenge
• the 2011 edition of the 100+ Reading Challenge, although in reality I don't need to join a challenge to do that. I could just set myself a personal goal, say 130, and aim for it.

I also decided to give the Crime Fiction Alphabet a run again. This is not so much a challenge as a weekly meme, with a different letter of the alphabet featured each week beginning 10 January 2011.
In addition I'll keep contributing to Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books

Looking for some Challenge Ideas? - A Novel Challenge is a great resource.

Like my friend Bernadette at Reactions to Reading, I am anxious to get reading some of the unread books I have both on my shelves and on my Kindle.
I also want to support fellow bloggers who are running these reading challenges as well as find out what books people are enjoying reading.

Last night, in an attempt to get organised I worked out what books might fit for which challenge, and, thank goodness, there will be some books that can count for more than one challenge.
After I had made lists using about 70 of the titles sitting in my TBRs, it struck me that I have quite a number of titles which won't be counted in any of the challenges unless I do something like the British Book Challenge and an American Crime Fiction Challenge.

Weekly Geeks 2010-39: Plans for 2011

This week's Weekly Geek task suggests we think about the challenges we might join in 2011.

Share with us which challenges look tempting to you! (You don't have to "officially" join any of the challenges for this weekly geek. Just let us know which ones you'd be most interested in.)

It prompts me to think about why we join challenges. As a reading colleague is won't to say, it is not really a challenge if the task you set yourself is easily accomplished. A reading challenge should push you towards the achievement of a task and push you to breaking new ground in your reading.

People who decide not to commit to challenges talk about how they feel that challenge-reading puts them in a bit of a strait-jacket. For me though the challenges make me seek out books to read, so I think they actually broaden my reading horizons.

I've already committed myself to 3 challenges.

• The Agatha Christie Reading Challenge:
  in 2011 I hope to read at least another 12 titles in my quest to read the novels and short stories of Agatha Christie roughly in the order in which they were published. This is a challenge that I manage, in conjunction with a monthly blog carnival.
• The 2011 Global Reading Challenge:
  I have committed myself to reading 21 titles, all crime fiction, 3 titles each from 7 "continents"
• The Canadian Book Challenge 2010-2011:
  I'm currently sadly lagging in this one. I have to read to 13 books by Canadian authors by 1 July 2011. So far I've read 3.

So I'm committed to 43 books there, with not much overlap.

The Weekly Geeks post pointed participants to a wonderful resource A Novel Challenge which lists all sorts of book reading challenges and as a result of browsing there I've more or less decided I will join the following:

• Booklover's 2011 Aussie Author Challenge:
  I need to increase my reading/reviewing of Australian crime fiction. I joined this challenge in 2010 and completed FAIR DINKUM level of 8 books fairly easily.
  I'm glad to see that in 2011 there is TRUE BLUE level of 12 books by Australian authors (at least 9 different authors), so that's what I'll sign up to.
• I'm tempted to join the Ladybug's e-book reading challenge at obsessed level of 20 books.
  In 2010 I've read 32 books on my Kindle, so it should be achievable

Other challenges I think I'll consider (if you have suggestions I would be glad of them)

• something in the line of historical mysteries - maybe a target of about 6 for the year.
• something related to Scandinavian crime fiction - again 6-8 titles all from different countries.
• The What’s in a Name challenge (or similar) which Reactions to Reading describes today
• 100+ reading challenge, but I might set my own target of 130. I think I'll make 125 fairly easily this year.
• maybe something related to translated books - similar to Lost in Translation. In my case it would be crime fiction titles, and I would be aiming for about 12 books.

I would be looking at some overlap I think - the ability to count some of the books for more than one challenge.

The Polls are in - well ours are anyway!

In a week when politics in Australia has come to a standstill in the aftermath of last Saturday's cliffhanger election that appears to have resulted in a hung parliament, the polls on MYSTERIES in PARADISE has showed some conclusive results.

 Many of the readers of this blog participate in reading challenges but most say that they don't really determine ALL the books that they read. The comments on the poll are available here.
Listed in the reasons for participating in challenges:

• to push myself to read books from regions I don't usually read about. 
• challenges are good for me, expanding my reading choices.
• What I've learned is that I enjoy the ones that actually challenge me to read books I otherwise wouldn't have read but I only want 1 or 2 of them on the go at any one time.
• I have enjoyed the personal challenges like reading all the shortlist for the International Dagger award
• Challenges encourage me to read books I already own
• I tend to choose challenges that fit what I am likely to read rather than challenges that make me add yet more books to my reading list.
• Certain challenges, like the 2010 Global Challenge and the Japanese Literature Challenge have definitely expanded my reading. 

We're a greedy lot on MYSTERIES in PARADISE, or at least those who read this blog apparently now.
The poll about the size of Mount TBR shows that many of us have a problem, far too many books on hand.
My guess is that the problem arises from an acute awareness of the titles available in the genres we read, the fact that we are alert for book bargains, that family give us books for birthdays, that we belong to lists and discussion rooms that tell us about new titles, and the fact that most of us can't bear the thought of being book-less. Check the comments on this poll here.

Weekly Geeks: 2010-28: Choose Your Own Topic: Challenges

This week Weekly Geeks invites us to revisit a favorite past Weekly Geek topic or one that you've haven't done before.
I've decided to write a progress report for challenges I have been participating in, both  "official" and personal.

Last year's Challenges task defined it as
"Reading Challenges: a help or a hurt? Do you find that the reading challenges keep you organized and goal-oriented? Or, do you find that as you near the end of a challenge that you've failed because you fell short of your original goals? As a result of some reading challenges, I've picked up books that I would have otherwise never heard of or picked up; that, frankly, I have loved. Have you experienced the same with challenges? If so, which ones? Do you have favorite reading challenges?"

Some of the challenges I have been taking part in have been well within my comfort zone, while others have led me into reading books I may never have even looked for before.
For me though the over-riding principle is that all the books I choose, read and list are crime fiction titles, although every now and again a thriller or two creeps in
Of course the books can often be counted in more than one challenge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I began the year with the last half of the Crime Fiction Alphabet

I guess this was a meme rather than a challenge but for 26 weeks 2009-2010 it kept a bunch of us busy finding books and authors whose titles or names began with the letter of the week.

My final choices are listed here.

I have ideas for running something similar in 2011.

On a weekly basis I participate in Weekly Geeks, Sunday Salon, and Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books

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True Challenges: (click on the icons to be taken to the home page of the challenge.)


Audio Book Challenge hosted at Royal Reviews.



I'm trying for Obsessed: 20 books

Currently I've read 15
My Audio Book Challenge posts

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2010 Global Reading Challenge hosted by Dorte

This challenge is based on reading two books from each continent.

I'm trying for the Extremist (21 books) level.

Currently I've read 16
My Global Reading Challenge posts

I'm using a world map to track my progress.

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Aussie Author Challenge: Completed

This one is being run by Book Lover Book Reviews.

I'm signed up for the FAIR DINKUM challenge which required me to read 8 titles by at least 5 different Aussie authors.

My Aussie Author challenge posts

 

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Agatha Christie Reading Challenge

This is my own challenge- I read roughly an Agatha Christie title a month, in order of publication, but I have been joined on my journey by a number of people.

I feed them into the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Blog Carnival.

I've read 7 titles this year
All my Agatha Christie Reading Challenge posts

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100+ ReadingChallenge hosted by J. Kaye


I'm well underway with this one: last count 84 books read in 2010

 Smik's Reviews.provides a running count of my progess

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Typically British Reading Challenge - completed

Perhaps if you need some encouragement to read British crime fiction, this challenge hosted at Book Chick City, will be the challenge for you.

Timeline: 1st Jan 2010~ 31st Dec 2010.
Only books started on January 1st count towards this challenge.
You may already have read some eligible books

Completed at Cream Crackered level with 8 books

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Scandinavian Reading Challenge: completed

6 books read

All my Scandinavian Reading Challenge posts

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Canadian Book Challenge

You have one year to read 13 Canadian books and review them somewhere online, from Canada Day, July 1st, 2010- Canada Day, July 1st, 2011.

So far I've read 1, so I have quite a way to go at this stage.
See

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Unofficial challenges

These are not really challenges - more like trying to read books shortlisted for an award, before the results are announced.
I've done a couple of these this year.

 I read 6 books for the CWA International Dagger.


My verdict
The final result.

I'm currently reading the novels by New Zealand authors shortlisted for the Inaugural Ngaio Marsh Crime Fiction Award.
There were 5. A Final list of 3 has been announced and I have 1 of them to go.

Challenges for me in 2010

I'm generally not one for challenges because I have so many stimuli for new reading but I do have a few memes that "regulate" my blogging life and to them I've added a couple of challenges for 2010.
In all the challenges I will be reading only crime fiction books. And of course there will be some overlap on the challenges.

Regular Memes/Events

We are just half way through the alphabet in this weekly event and will resume with the letter M on Monday 11 January 2010.

Each week you have to write a blog post about crime fiction related to the letter of the week.
Your post MUST be related to either the first letter of a book's title, the first letter of an author's first name, or the first letter of the author's surname.
So you see you have lots of choice. You could write a review, or a bio of an author, so long as it fits the rules somehow.

See other letters: A B C D E F G H I J K L

Every week I contribute to Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books
We are recommencing on January 8, 2010.

I also take part in Sunday Salon and Weekly Geeks.

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Challenges - click on the icons to be taken to the home page of the challenge.

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Audio Book Challenge hosted at Royal Reviews.

I listen to books to and from work every day so hopefully this will be relatively easy to achieve.

I'm trying for Addicted: 12 books

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2010 Global Reading Challenge hosted by Dorte

This challenge is based on reading two books from each continent.

I'm trying for the Expert (14 books) level.

I'm planning to use a world map to track my progress.

create your own visited country map

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Aussie Author Challenge

This one is being run by Book Lover Book Reviews.
I'm signing up for the FAIR DINKUM challenge which requires me to read 8 titles by at least 5 different Aussie authors.

In 2009 I read 20 books by Aussie authors so I should be able to do this easily, although of course mine will have that extra little challenge of being all crime fiction titles.

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This is my own challenge- I read roughly an Agatha Christie title a month, in order of publication, but I have been joined on my journey by a number of people.

I feed them into the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Blog Carnival.
I'm using a graphic to show how I'm going.

20 / 87 books. 23% done!

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100+ ReadingChallenge hosted by J. Kaye

In 2009 I got to 104 books, so I think this one is well within possibility.

You'll be able to follow my progress on Smik's Reviews.

24 hour readathon

Now I don't need a readathon, and really can't fit it in with all the other things I do, but just in case you have time to do it, there is one running on April 18-19, 2009

You'll find FAQs and details here. And there are prizes, and buttons in abundance that you can add to your blog etc. So far there are nearly 40 people signed up.
Three people: Hannah (WordLily), Ana (Nymeth), and Trish (Hey Lady!) are managing this one.

So if you have the time, go for it!

Five Questions Interview

I have Dorte to thank for these questions. I noticed an interview on her blog: DJs krimiblog, and volunteered for her to send me 5 questions to answer. If you check the questions she answered, you'll see that hers were different.

1) Who is your favourite book character? - Why?

This is such a hard question. I had many candidates. Reg Wexford from Ruth Rendell - Dorte wrote about him recently on her blog. Kurt Wallander whom I wrote about yesterday. Jack Frost from R. D. Wingfield's Frost series. Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg from Fred Vargas. Vera Stanhope created by Ann Cleeves, Marjorie Fleming from Aline Templeton, or maybe Sri Paiboun from Colin Cotterill's Laotian detective series.
I finally tossed up between Carole Seddon of Simon Brett's Fethering series, and that traditionally built lady Mma Ramotswe from Alexander McCall Smith's Botswana series.

And the latter won my final vote: as I wrote in another posting
There is something about reading these stories that is rather like meeting up with old friends. But don’t underestimate McCall Smith as a writer. The characters are gently but so graphically drawn, with touches of humour, and situations you can imagine witnessing. And in #8 McCall Smith makes use of an urban legend that I’m sure you’ll recognise. There’s no sex, no violence, rarely any blood and gore in these novels. And yet there is murder, mystery and crime, just enough to challenge the reader’s little grey cells.
[P.S. Click on the image to get to the article it comes from]

2) As an avid reader of crime fiction, which three Australian crime fiction writers would you recommend to readers who are not familiar with Australian literature?

Once again, a hard question. Only 3 you say?
Well, in your bookshop or library, look for these wonderful authors: Michael Robotham, PD Martin, and Leah Giarratano, who were all among my top reads last year. Want some more? Have a look at my Australian made post.

3) If you were restricted to read crime fiction from one country, which one would you choose? - why?

Not fair Dorte! How can I choose? So many countries have so much on offer. Perhaps I should be patriotic and choose Australia. I was brought up reading English and Scottish literature so if you'd asked me a couple of years ago then I would have said I read mainly British police procedurals, but I also consume American, Canadian, French, Scandinavian authors. So my answer - I'll take whatever crime fiction I can have.

4) What does having a blog give you?

I love several things about blogging - the chance to explore my ideas, a place to post my book reviews, the opportunity to begin conversations with lots of other people. Because for me that is what a blog is - the beginning of a conversation.

5) Some people do not regard crime fiction as 'real' literature. How would you defend the genre?

The people who don't regard crime fiction as literature haven't read particularly widely in the genre in my opinion. Oh yes, they've dabbled in a few authors, but they haven't read the ones I've read. It takes a while for some books to become recognised as "literature" but I used to wonder when I was doing an English major why popular authors like Agatha Christie were never studied even though they made their living writing. And we studied books that sold very little.

You have only to look at some of my top ranking books last year, to be able to see some really worth thinking about as literature.

Here are my top rating books for 2008
5.0, SHATTER, Michael Robotham
5.0, NEMESIS, Jo Nesbo
5.0, FAN MAIL, PD Martin
5.0, DIRTY WEEKEND, Gabrielle Lord
5.0, A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS, R.J. Ellory
5.0, A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES, Reginald Hill
5.0, BENEATH THE BLEEDING, Val McDermid
4.9, SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR, Fred Vargas
4.9, THE PRIVATE PATIENT, P.D. James
4.8, VOODOO DOLL, Leah Giarratano
4.8, WHERE WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS?, Kate Atkinson
4.8, THE LORDS' DAY, Michael Dobbs
4.8, WATER LIKE A STONE, Deborah Crombie
4.8, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, Stieg Larsson
4.8, NOT DEAD ENOUGH, Peter James
4.8, CARELESS IN RED, Elizabeth George
4.8, OVERKILL, Vanda Symon

If you want more, check out Smik's Reviews .

So thank you Dorte for your questions.
And dear reader, if you would like me to pose 5 questions for you, just leave a comment on this post, and I will oblige.

Weekly Geeks #5 - Covers

Judge a Book By Its Cover!

This week at Weekly Geeks it's all about judging books by their covers! Pick a book--any book, really--and search out multiple book cover images for that book. They could span a decade or two (or more)...Or they could span several countries. Which cover is your favorite? Which one is your least favorite? Which one best 'captures' what the book is about?

When you add a book to Library Thing as I do with each review that I write, you usually get a range of covers to choose from, or you can upload an image of your own.
So when I posted my review of Peter Robinson's FRIEND OF THE DEVIL there this morning this was the choice on offer. The cover I chose was the one on the book that I read which was the one on the top left. The book has two murders to be solved, one that takes place in a seedy alley in the town, and the other in a wheelchair on the top of the cliff. It must have provided a real conundrum for the cover designer - which will attract the most readers? which will repel readers? I must admit that to me the one that seems to stand out is the one where you can clearly see the wheel chair.

I guess the other thing that the publisher takes into account is whether the cover fits in well with the look and feel of the covers of other books they have published by this author. You'll notice too that the recent trend is for the name of the author to be very prominent, in large letters, while the title is given less prominent space. Remember though that these are only thumbnails of the real covers, and the overall impact might be quite different when you can see the printing and the images a lot more clearly.

Weekly Geeks 2009 #1 - Blogs I Follow

Many thanks to Marg at Reading Adventures who brought to my attention the fact that Weekly Geeks is up and running again. Click on the image to the right to find out more from the Weekly Geeks Home Page.
Apparently each week this year will be hosted by a different person.

This week's main assignment:
tell us about your favorite blogs, the ones you have bookmarked or subscribe to in your Google Reader, that you visit on a regular basis. Tell us what it is about these blogs that you love, that inspire or educate you or make you laugh. Be sure to link to them so we can find them too.

I'm going to cheat a bit here and point you to my other site Crime Fiction Journeys which I created last year to feature the blog postings of fellow crime fiction readers.
You'll see that I have 15 featured blogs and another 81 that I follow as well.
I get great pleasure in seeing what they are writing about, in visiting their blogs, and leaving comments when I can.

Another option: Reading goals for ’09 and wrap ups for ’08 have been pretty well covered by now on a lot of blogs and other memes. But if you haven’t done this, feel free to make that your first WG of the new year, in addition to or instead of the above.

I've pretty well covered these in earlier postings but you can find them at

• 2009 - What Challenges does it hold?
• Summing Up my blogging year 2008
• Our best crime fiction authors in 2008
• What we said - tops in 2008
• Good Crime Fiction we read in 2008

2009 - What Challenges does it hold?

It really should go without saying that I wish you all the best for 2009.

I've seen lots of New Year's resolutions flying around and my guess is that most people take the opportunity to resolve to do at least one thing a little better, to remake themselves in at least one small way, when the calendar ticks over.

In many ways we set ourselves personal challenges that are reflected on our blogs in some of the challenges running there.

I'm not "into" book reading challenges much myself, although some of the activities I participate in could possibly be called challenges.
However there are many people who organise their reading agenda for the coming year around a set of challenges.
So if you are one of those who participates in a range of challenges, or is even running one or two yourself, I invite you to leave a comment pointing to blog postings, yours or others, where readers can find out about challenges to join. They don't have to be related to crime fiction or murder mysteries, although given the inclination of readers of this blog, that would probably help.

For myself my resolutions for 2009:

• try to get on top of my books to be reviewed pile. There are some 20+ books sitting in that pile now, and I've been feeling very guilty about them for some time. It would be great to get them read
• and also, most importantly, read all the books that I have on loan from friends, and give them back!
  
• try to read just a little outside the crime fiction genre occasionally. I'm sure it would be good for me, but it does feel a bit like taking your medicine
• restrict myself to one blog posting a day. Now I know almost straight away that this is one that I will break from time to time. I am addicted to blogging. In the face of other addictions that you can get, perhaps this is not such a bad one.
• learn how to back up this blog. Last time I investigated this, I couldn't work out what to do but it would break my heart to lose it all. In reality though I do have copies of individual postings coming in through email but they only go back to the middle of last year, not to the beginning of the blog.

Challenges I will continue with from 2008

• Sunday Salon
• Friday's Forgotten Books
• What's On Your Nightstand
• Library Thing
• my own Agatha Christie Reading Challenge.
• Carnival of Criminal Minds: have you seen the latest posting?: mine on Murder in the Outback
  
• and I've joined the Book Review Blog Carnival. You'll see a link to it on the bottom right of this page. Click on future hosts and you'll see that I am listed for April 12. I'm hoping it is an opportunity to spread my reviews a bit more widely.

So there are 2 things you can tell us via comments

• challenges you will participate in or know of
• your New Year's resolutions

photo courtesy of nickherber

What's on Your Nightstand?

What's On Your Nightstand is a monthly challenge for the 4th Tuesday of the month. It is a meme run by Jennifer over at 5 Minutes for Books.
I haven't done so well since last month in dealing with my nightstand.
I think the problem was that I was just too greedy.
The ones in green are the ones I haven't yet read.
I have reviewed all the others.

What I intended to read:

THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY, Siobhan Dowd
A MAN LAY DEAD, Ngaio Marsh
DEAD I WELL MAY BE, Adrian McKinty
THE UNQUIET NIGHT, Patricia Carlon
WHAT THE DEAD KNOW, Laura Lippman
PLAY DEAD, Richard Montanari
THE DYING BREED , Declan Hughes
OVERKILL, Vanda Symon
A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE, R. J. Ellory
DEAD HEAT, Dick & Felix Francis
THE CRUEL STARS OF NIGHT, Kjell Eriksson
THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT, Agatha Christie
A HOLLY, JOLLY MURDER, Joan Hess
THE 19TH WIFE, by David Ebershoff - half way through this one.
THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS (comic strip version), Agatha Christie per Francois Riviere
THE LORDS' DAY, Michael Dobbs - as an audio book

As always some other books crept into range and also got read.

What is on my nightstand now:
Some of the unread books had to be returned to the library unfortunately but there is no lack of replacements. As always they are all crime fiction or murder mysteries.
And I've just realised what a long list it is!

THE FENG SHUI DETECTIVE, Nury Vittachi - for oz_mystery discussion in January.
THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD, Agatha Christie.
THE ROAR OF BUTTERFLIES, Reginald Hill.
DEAD HEAT, Dick & Felix Francis.
THE DYING BREED, Declan Hughes.
A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE, R.J. Ellory.
PLAY DEAD, Richard Montanari.
THE CRUEL STARS OF NIGHT, Kjell Eriksson.
THE 19TH WIFE, David Ebershoff.
FRIEND OF THE DEVIL, Peter Robinson.
ALL THE COLOURS OF DARKNESS, Peter Robinson.
MURDER ON MONDAY, Ann Purser.
THE SUITCASE KILLINGS, Miles Tripp.
AS DARKNESS FALLS, Bronwyn Parry.
THE PYRAMID, Henning Mankell.
BRIGHT AIR, Barry Maitland.

To come from the library:
MURDER ON A MIDSUMMER NIGHT, Kerry Greenwood
THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS, Agatha Christie
SKINNY DIP, Carl Hiassen

Visit 5 Minutes for Books to see what others have on their nightstand this month.

What's on your nightstand?

I'm very pleased to report that what was on my nightstand last month (on the 4th Tuesday in the month - OK! I know I'm a day late) all got read and reviewed!

Then I listed
THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES, Agatha Christie
COLD IN HAND, John Harvey
THE YIDDISH POLICEMAN'S UNION, Michael Chabon
THE SKELETON IN THE CLOSET by M.C. Beaton
THE MIRACLE AT SPEEDY MOTORS by Alexander MCCall Smith.

Last night I finished BROKEN by Karin Fossum and tonight's little job is to write my review. So I'll do that later.

In the next month I'm planning to read
THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY, Siobhan Dowd
A MAN LAY DEAD, Ngaio Marsh
DEAD I WELL MAY BE, Adrian McKinty
THE UNQUIET NIGHT, Patricia Carlon
WHAT THE DEAD KNOW, Laura Lippman
PLAY DEAD, Richard Montanari
THE DYING BREED , Declan Hughes
OVERKILL, Vanda Symon
A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE, R. J. Ellory
DEAD HEAT, Dick & Felix friancis
THE CRUEL STARS OF NIGHT, Kjell Eriksson

plus a couple to still come from the library
THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT, Agatha Christie for my Agatha Christie Reading Challenge
A HOLLY, JOLLY MURDER, Joan Hess for oz_mystery_readers

oh and
THE 19TH WIFE, by David Ebershoff for my face to face book group.

and I'm trying another "graphic novel"
THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS, Agatha Christie (adapted by Francois Riviere)

and I'm listening to

• audio book - THE LORD'S DAY, Michael Dobbs
• and - CORDUROY MANSIONS, Alexander McCall Smith, up to ch. 26 (about 7 chapters behind)
  

Just as well I have a long plane trip to Singapore and back coming up!

Thanks Marg at Reading Adventures for the timely posting, otherwise I would have forgotten.
Visit 5 Minutes for Books to see what others have on their nightstand this month.