Tricia’s 2020 Pile of Books

Welcome to my no frills, no particular theme thread!

My categories have stayed pretty much the same for the last few years and this year only gets a little tweaking. Let the reading begin!

I. Mystery and Suspense

1. Cain His Brother by Anne Perry - finished January 5 - public library

2. Whose Body by Dorothy Sayers - finished January 8 - own

3. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers - finished February 5 - own

4. In the Frame by Dick Francis - Finished February 12 - own

5. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris - Finished February 25 - own

6. Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers - Finished March 2 - own in Three for Lord Peter Wimsey

7. Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh - Finished March 2020 - own

8. Blood Sport by Dick Francis - April 14, 2020 - own

9. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers - April 20, 2020 - own in omnibus form

10. Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers - June 1, 2020 - own

11. The Danger by Dick Francis - June 2020 - own

12. A place for Murder by emma Lathem - June 2020 - own

13. Old Bones by Aaron Elkins - June 2020 - own

14. Murder in the Queens Armes by Aaron Elkins - June 2020 - own

15. "I" is for Innocent by Sue Grafton - June - own

16. The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy Sayers - July 1, 2020 - own

17. Smokescreen by Dick Francis - July 2, 2020 - own

18. Murder at Melrose Court By Karen Baugh Menuhin - July 2020 - own

19. Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon - finished July 2020 - own

20. Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers - Finished August 4, 2020 - own

21. Accounting for Murder by Emma Lathen - Finished August 6, 2020 - own

22. The Monday Theory by Douglas Clark - Finished August 7, 2020 - own

23. Vicious Circle by Douglas Clark - finished August 8, 2020 - own

24. Carson's Conspiracy by Michael Innes - Finished August 14, 2020 - own

25. Grave Mistake by Ngaio Marsh - finished September 2020 - own

26. Spinsters in Jeopardy by Ngaio Marsh- finished September 2020 - own

27.. Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh - finished September 2020 - own

28. Artists in Crime by Ngaio Marsh - finished September 2020 - own

29. Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh - finished September 2020 - own

30. Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh - finished September 11, 2020 - own

31. Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers - finished September 30, 2020 - own

32. The Bookman's Promise by John Dunning - finished October 5. 2020 - own

33. Murder Unrenovated by P. M. Carlson - finished October 8, 2020 - own

34. Murder is Pathological by P. M. Carlson - finished October 11, 2020 - own

35. Rehearsal for Murder by P. M. Carlson - finished October 14, 2020 - own

36. The Edge by Dick Francis - Finished October 16, 2020 - own

37. The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers - Finished November 7, 2020 - own

38. The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout - Finished November 9, 2020 - own

39. The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katherine Green - Finished November 2020 - own - ebook

40. Rattlesnake Crossing by J. A. Jance - Finished December 2020 - own

41. Desert Heat by J. A. Jance - Finished December 2020 - own

42. Skeleton Canyon by J. A. Jance - Finished December 2020 - own

43. Outlaw Mountain by J. A. Jance - Finished December 2020 - own

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

1. The Stand by Stephan King - Finished January 25, 2020 - own

2. Turn Coat by Jim Butcher - Finished February 10 - public library

3. Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente - Finished March 4 - own

4. Wolfling by Gordon R. Dickson - March 2020 - own

5. On Basilisk Station by David Weber
6. The Honor of the Queen by David Weber
7. The Short Victorious War by David Weber
8. Field of Dishonor by David Weber
9. Flag in Exile by David Weber
10. Honor Among Enemies by David Weber
11. In Enemy Hands by David Weber
12. Echoes of Honor by David Weber
13. Ashes of Victory by David Weber
14. War of Honor by David Weber
15. Crown of Slaves by David Weber
16. The Shadow of Saganami by David Weber
17. Torch of Freedom by David Weber
18. At All Costs by David Weber
19. Storm from the Shadows by David Weber
20. Mission Of Honor by David Weber
21. A Rising Thunder by David Weber
22. Shadow of Victory by David Weber
23. Cauldron of Ghosts by David Weber
24. Uncompromising Honor by David Weber
25. A Call to Duty by David Weber
26. A Call to Arms by David Weber
27. A Call to Vengeance by David Weber - all in May 2020

28. Paladin of souls by Lois McMaster bujold - June 2020 - own

29. The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley - June 2020 - own

30. Fireship by Joan D. Vinge - June 2020 - own

31. Legacy by James H. Schmitz - June 2020 - own

32. The Spirit ring by Lois McMaster Bujold - June 2020 - own

33. The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher - June 23, 2020 - own

34. The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold - June 2020 - own

35. Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs - August 12, 2020 - own

36. Needle by Hal Clement - September 23, 2020 - own

37. Through the Eye of a Needle by Hal Clement - Finished September 24, 2020 - own

38. Phoenix and Ashes by Mercedes Lackey - Finished October 18, 2020 - own

39. The Serpent's Shadow by Mercedes Lackey - Finished October 21, 2020 - own

III. Historical Fiction

1. Ross Poldark by Winston Graham - finished February 19 - public library

IV. Other Fiction and Overfllow

1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - Finished January 29 - own

2. The Passions of Medora Graeme by Elsie Lee - June 2020

3. The Case of the Glamorous Ghost by Erle Stanley Gardner - November 2020 - 0wn

4. The Case of the Terrified Typist by Erle Stanley Gardner -November 2020 - 0wn

5. The Case of the Lucky Loser by Erle Stanley Gardner - November 2020 - 0wn

6. The Case of the Screaming Woman by Erle Stanley Gardner - November 2020 - 0wn

7. The Case of the Long-Legged Models by Erle Stanley Gardner - November 2020 - 0wn

8. The Case of the Foot-Loose Doll by Erle Stanley Gardner - November 2020 - 0wn

9. The Case of the Waylaid Wolf by Erle Stanley Gardner - November 2020 - own

10. Timeline by Michael Crichton - November 14, 2020 - own

11. Second Wind by Dick Francis - November 18, 2020 - own

12. Dragon Blood by Patricia Briggs - November 2020 - own

13. Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers - December 8, 2020 - own

14. Cold Days by Jim Butcher - November 2020 - own

V. The Short Stuff (Short stories, plays, etc.)

1. The Muddle of the Woad (short story) - by Randall Garrett - January 26 - own

2. The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell - March 2020 - own

3. Lord Peter Views the Body by Dorothy L. Sayers - April 16, 2020 - own

4. Murder and Magic by Randall Garrett - July 3, 2020 - own

5. Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman - July 2020 - own

6. Hangman's Holiday by Dorothy L. Sayers - Finished September 1, 2020 - own

7. The Case of the Six Watsons by Robert Ryan - finished September 19, 2020

VI. History

1. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer - April 2020 - own

VII. Science & Technology

1. Uranium: War, Energy, and the rock that shaped the world by Tom Zoellner - finished April 24 - own

2. The End of Night by Paul Bogard - finished July 2020 - own

3. How to Clone a Mammoth by Beth Shapiro - finished July 2020 - own

4. The Soul of the Night by Chet Raymo - finished August 9, 2020 - own

5. Darkness at Night by Edward Harrison - finished September 30, 2020 - own

VIII. Other Nonfiction

1. By-line: Ernest Hemingway; selected articles and dispatches of four decades by Ernest Hemingway edited by William White - Finished January 31 - own

2. The Death of Expertise - The Campaign against Established Knowledge by Tom Nichols - July 4, 2020 - own

3. Women’s Work The First 20,000 Years by Elizabeth Wayland Barber - July 10, 2020 - own

4. Books Make a Home by Damian Thompson - July 30, 2020 - own

IX. YA and Younger - both Fiction and Nonfiction

1. The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Jane Coatsworth - finished July 2020 - own

2. The Girl Who Drew Butterflies by Joyce Sidman - finished July 2020 - own

X. ebooks - I have dozens unread on my iPad and need to get through a few of them.

1. The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal - Finished January 1 - own - ebook

2. Accepting the Lance by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - Finished January 6 - own - ebook

3. Earth Alone by Daniel Arenson - Finished May 2020 - own - ebook

4. Space Trap by Juanita Coulson - finished August 5, 2020 - own -ebook

5. Murder on the Mind by L. L. Bartlett - finished May 2020 - own - ebook

6. The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn by John Bellairs - finished May 2020 - own - ebook

7. Odd Exam by Piers Anthony - finished May 2020 - own - ebook

8. The trouble with Huguenots by Virginia Demarce - finished May 2020 - own ebook

9. Joseph Hanauer by Douglas W. Jones - Finished June 2020 - own - ebook

10. A Drink before the War by Dennis Lehane - Finished May 2020 - own - ebook

11. Death of a Cosy Writer by G. M. Malliet - finished May 2020 - own - ebook

12. Dangerous Days by Mary Roberts Rinehart - Finished May 2020 - own - ebook

13. Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron - finished June 2020 - own -ebook

14. Blindfold by Patricia Wentworth - Finished November 2020 - own - ebook

15. The Dark Place by Aaron Elkins - Finished November 2020 - own - ebook

16. The Circular Staircase - Mary Rinehart Roberts - Finished November 2020 - own - ebook

17. 1636: The Atlantic Encounter by Eric Flint and Walter H. Hunt - Finished December 2020 - own - ebook

18. 1637: No Peace Beyond the Line by Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon - Finished December 2020 - own - ebook

19. Nothing Venture by Patricia Wentworth - Finished December 2020 - own - ebook

20. Tombstone Courage by J. A. Jance - finished December 2020 - own - ebook

21. Shoot Don't Shoot by J. A. Jance - finished December 2020 - own -ebook

22. Dead to Rights by J. A. Jance - finished December 2020 - own -ebook

Bingo



1. Book that's in a Legacy Library - Whose Body
2. Book written by an LT author
3. Book published in 1820 or 1920
4. Book published in the year of your birth
5. Book published under a pen name or anonymously - Accounting for Murder
6. Book set in Asia - The Kite Runner
7. Mystery or true crime - Cain His Brother
8. Book involving a real historical event (fiction or nonfiction) - The Bad-ass Librarians of Timbuktu
9. Book about books, bookstores, or libraries - Books Make a Home
10. Book with at least three letters of BINGO consecutively in order in the title (BIN, ING, NGO, GOB, OBI...the letters can cross words but must be in order and be consecutive) - The Calculating Stars
11. Red cover, or red is prominent on the cover - Red Dragon
12. Title contains a pun - Died in the Wool
13. Book about birth or death (childbearing, midwifery, human aging -- this is a combo of the "childbearing" and "human aging" suggestions)
14. Book with a proper name in the title - Ross Poldark
15. Book published by a small press or self-published - Murder at Melrose Court
16. Book published in 2020
17. Epistolary novel or collection of letters
18. Book by a journalist or about journalism - By-Line Hemingway
19. Book not set on Earth - Accepting the Lance
20. Mythology or folklore - The Sleeper and the Spindle
21. Weird book title
22. Book with "library" or "thing" in the title or subtitle
23. Book with a periodic table element in the title - Uranium
24. Book by a woman from a country other than the US/UK
25. Read a Cat - The Stand

Planning for CATS

RandomCat

January - Read a book that is challenging in some way - # possibles are The Stand - the uncut version; Londen by Rutherfurd; or The Name of the Rose
February - first published in a leap year
March - Seasons
April - Showers and Flowers
May - Your Shelf
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

GeoCat

January - Kite Runner and Mission to Tashkent
February- Europe
March -
April -
May -

Non-fictionCat

January - Journalism - possibilities are Eyewitness to History, By-Line: Ernest Hemingway, Berlin Diary, Veil
February - Travel
March -
April -
May -

Planning for KITs

AlphaKit

January -A & U - Uranium: war, energy, and the rock that shaped
the world - done
February - F & B

Kitastrophe

January - Fire - ?
February - invasions

MysteryKit

January- Historical - Cain His Brother by Anne Perry - done

ScaredyKit

January - Red Dragon - done
February - psychological thrillers

SFFFKit

January - read meant for 2019 - The Calculating Stars (done), Space Opera (done)
February - transformation

TravelKit

January
February?

Project #1

The first objective is to read all my public library books fairly promptly and not have to return them unread. My current books checked out are:

Ross Poldark - started
Cain His Brother - done

need to request - The Thirty Years War:Europes Tragedy and Smoke from this Altar - both were unfinished

The second objective is to read books that I started and somehow didn't finish. I would like to finish at least one of these every month.

The print books are

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu
Died in the Wool - done
Joust
War and Peace
Cradle to Cradle
Before Sherlock Holmes
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Kite Runner - done
The Name of the Rose
Creative Mythology
Grave Secrets
Cloud Atlas
Tai-Pan

The ebooks are

Astounding Science Fiction Stories: An Anthology of 350 SciFi stories
Gather Darkness
Pandora's Crew
The Broken Sword
Don Quixote
The Forsyte Saga - complete with all novels, etc. - End of Chapter
Leviathan Wakes
Tales of the Flying Mountains
Nice Dragons Finish Last

Project #2

Read books published between 1899 and 1946.

1. Whose body by Dorothy Sayers (c. 1923) - done

?. End of the Chapter by John Galsworthy (c.1931,1932,1933)

Planning for Group Reads

1.Reading through time - prehistory: Reindeer Moon, People of the Wolfe, Children of the Dawn for fiction; Lucy, Origins, The Prehistory of the Mind, Woman's Work for Nonfiction

2. Lord Wimsey Group Read
Whose Body - done
Clouds of Witness - done

3. Poldark - Ross Poldark - started

Wolf Hall ?

Continued from 2019:

4. Dresden - Turn Coat - done

5. Dick Francis - In the Frame - done

extra

extra

This should be enough.

Dropping my star to follow along!

Good luck with your 2020 reading!

Have a great reading year! If London ends up being your choice for the January RandomCat, I hope you like it! I want to read it again sometime :)

Looking forward to following along with you for another year, Tricia. :)

Happy reading in 2020!

Enjoy your 2020 reads!

Happy reading!

Possibilities for January

The Calculating Stars - done
Space Opera - done
Berlin Diary
By-Line Ernest Hemingway - done
Uranium
Kite Runner - done
Mission to Tashkent
Cain His Brother - done
Red Dragon - done
Turn Coat - done
A Dick Francis not reread in 2019
The Stand - uncut version - done
Maybe London or The Name of the Rose
Whose Body? - done

For the first quarter

Ross Poldark - done
Reindeer Moon
Children of the Dawn
Lucy
Origins
Women’s Work

I may even manage most of these.

Currently reading The Calculating Stars and enjoying it.

Lots of good reading ahead for you! I'm looking forward to following along.

Finished my first book last night.

X. ebooks

1. The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal - Finished January 1 - own - ebook

I really enjoyed Kowal's story of Elma's quest to become an astronaut in this alternate world. While the book may have some flaws I found that it seemed very true to me as far as showing how women had to stuggle to be taken seriously as scientists in the 50's. I would recommend it even though there were some rather negative reviews.

SffKit for January
Bingo square - the consecutive letters "ing"

Currently reading Cain His Brother by Anne Perry

Best wishes for your 2020 reading!

I have The Calculating Stars on my Kindle and I am looking forward to it.

>32 DeltaQueen50:

I hope you enjoy it, Judy.

I. Mystery and Suspense

2. Cain His Brother by Anne Perry - January 5 - public library

A mystery taking place in Victorian London, this novel is the sixth in the series featuring William Monk. A woman comes to Monk asking for help finding her missing husband who went to work one morning and then vanished. She is convinced that he was murdered by his brother. Meanwhile there is an outbreak of typhoid in the section of London were the missing man probably disappeared. The twist at the end was subtly hinted at but a pretty good puzzle, I think. An average book in the series.

MysteryKit - historical
BingoDog - mystery square

I have started By-Line Hemingway and The Stand.

>34 hailelib: I like the William Monk series better than the Pitt series. I started in the middle of the series with the books I inherited from my grandmother. I'm not sure if I've read that one.

Trying to catch up!

I. Mystery and Suspense

3. Whose Body by Dorothy Sayers - finished January 8 - own

First in a favorite series where we meet Lord Peter and Bunter. I enjoyed my reread.

Group read
Bingo square - Legacy Library of Arthur Ransome

X. ebooks

4. Accepting the Lance by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - Finished January 6 - own - ebook

The most recent novel in the Liaden series. There was a bit of backing up in time to follow the people sent out to attack the Department but we did get to the the Turtles eventually and find out why one of them landed on Surebleak without warning. Some of Korval's problems cleared up but lots of room for more books. Not a good place to enter the series but recommended for those who are pretty much caught up.

Bingo square - not set on Earth

And one more -

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

5. The Stand by Stephan King - Finished January 25, 2020 - own

Long - over 1150 pages - and a little hard to get into as King spent hundreds of pages introducing and following a number of characters, going back and forth between them. But when the small groups of the superflu survivors began gathering in Boulder and in Las Vegas the pace picked up considerably and I finished the last three hundred pages in a rush.

I think of this book as science fiction but there is a strong supernatural element running through the story. One could make a good argument for a kind of horror, especially with the way it ended. My book was the uncut version but the originally published version is quite a bit shorter although still a long novel. Fans of King should not skip The Stand.

>37 hailelib: Good review!

I have re-read The Stand more than any other book in my library; it's probably about time for me to pick up the uncut version again.

Catching up on January books -

IV. Other Fiction and Overfllow

6. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - Finished January 29 - own

Looking at the LT reviews there are many positive ones and also negative ones. I did like the novel and think some of the criticism a little harsh. I'll probably read another book by him at some point.

V. The Short Stuff (Short stories, plays, etc.)

7. The Muddle of the Woad (short story) - by Randall Garrett - January 26 - own

I started to catalog all my Analog magazines while they were off the shelf but I kept seeing stories that I wanted to read. This was the one that caught me as it had been a long time and I used to like Garrett's Lard Darcy stories. This was published in 1965 and takes place in an alternate version of England. It's still an interesting story but while I would have given it a very high rating back then, now I see it as just average. Lord Darcy investigates crime for the Crown and this time it is a murder he is required to solve. The system of magic employed in such investigations is better explained than Darcy's connecting of the various clues to find the culprit.

VIII. Other Nonfiction

8. By-line: Ernest Hemingway; selected articles and dispatches of four decades by Ernest Hemingway edited by William White - Finished January 31 - own

Too much fishing and hunting articles in the first half of the book. However, when we get to the Spanish Civil War and WWII the book is much more interesting. He gave a good eye-witness account of the landing on Normandy on June 6, 1944 or rather the section he was in the middle of. One thing I noticed about the articles was the way his sense of humor often broke through.

January summary:

Read 7 books and one short story. 7 items from my own shelves and 1 from the public library
Filled 7 Bingo squares
Did 3 CATS and 2 Kits

February plans:

Several books on my January list of possibles also work either for Cats or Bingo squares so they are being carried forward. The books for February are

The Name of the Rose
Berlin Diary - started
Mission to Tashkent
Uranium
Red Dragon
Space Opera

I've added

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Norman Conquest
Main Street
A Year in Provence

For Group Reads

Clouds of Witness - done
Ross Poldark - started
Turn Coat - done
In the Frame - done

For Reading through Time - Reindeer Moon, Children of the Dawn,Lucy, Origins, Women's Work

Currently reading - Berlin Diary, Maid in Waiting and Ross Poldark

Have three books finished since my last post.

I. Mystery and Suspense

9. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers - finished February 5 - own

10. In the Frame by Dick Francis - Finished February 12 - own

AlphaKit for "F"

Both of these are favorites but for some reason I reread the Francis mysteries more often than the Sayers. Don't really know why.

This past week we've watched some of the videos with Ian Carmichael as Peter Wimsey. They are fairly true to the books. I noticed, having just read it, that the production for Clouds of Witness used a lot of Sayers' dialogue.

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

11. Turn Coat by Jim Butcher - Finished February 10 - public library

Another Dresden adventure. This is the first one in the series that wasn't a reread for me and I really liked it. We have more bad guys and more about the White Council's inner workings. One thing that I noticed is that the title has more than one meaning and I think that may be true of other titles in the series.

AlphaKit for "B"

------

Still slowly reading Berlin Diary, Ross Poldark, and Maid in Waiting in between other things. There may not be any more books in February than there were in January the way things are going.

Two months since I posted in my own thread though there have been a few short ones elsewhere on a couple of occasions. Thought it was time to get back to a more normal existence since I've started reading again at a normal pace after a major hiatus. I would pick up a book, read a few pages, put it down and the next time I tried reading, I'd pick something different and do the same thing.

Here are the books in no particular order, actually finished since my last post.

12. Ross Poldark by Winston Graham
13. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
14. Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers
15. Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh
16. Blood Sport by Dick Francis
17. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers
18. Wolfling by Gordon R. Dickson
19. The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman
20. Lord Peter Views the Body by Dorothy L. Sayers

>42 hailelib: I think a lot of us have had our reading patterns messed up. For me, there was a couple of weeks where I tore through audiobooks because I couldn't focus on print. Hope your reading has been enjoyable!

I didn't do much posting this year and I had a serious reading slump in the early spring but I did get back into reading although not posting. My challenge didn't really go to plan although each category did get something in it for a total of 138 books and I did fill 16 of the Bingo squares. However a lot of those books were comfort reads of mysteries and SFF and many of them were also rereads. The books are listed at the top of the thread.

I'm definitely ready to move on to a new year and a new challenge.

>44 hailelib: Congratulations on 138 books -- that's impressive!