Triskaidekaphobic? Not me! A celebration of all things 13: Third quarter

Halfway through the year; time for a new thread!

My 2013 challenge is going to be based on the number 13 and all things 13 related. Here are my categories:

1. Baker's dozen--13 books everyone but me seems to have read--5 books read
2. Novels written in 1913--13 Novels published in 1913--8 books read
3. 13 books to have read before you're 13--Children's books--8 books read
4. Friday the 13th--Giving some books I have started before and had bad luck with a last chance--1 book read
5. 13-14, Maids a-courting--Books by female authors--6 books read
6. M is the 13th letter--M is for murder; 13 books in my favorite genre--8 books read
7. First Chronicles is the 13th book of the Bible--13 books on the Bible, Christian living--3 books read
8. 13 original colonies in the U. S.--Novels--18th and 19th century--by American authors--5 books read
9. 13 cards in a suit--Each of the books in this category will either have a number in the title, be a number in a series, etc. and will be numbers 1-13--5 books read
10. Apollo 13--13 books that have been hanging around too long and that I want to blast off my shelves--5 books read
11. Chapter 13--Reorganizing and restructing: 13 books I want to re-read for various reasons--5 books read
12. Assistant 13, unlucky for some--This line comes from the British comedy "Are you being served" and this category will be for all things British--8 books read
13. A safe bet on 13--Whatever I want to read that I can't fit in somewhere else--15 books read

Category 1: Baker's dozen; books everyone seems to have read but me.

Read in the first quarter:

Bridget Jones' diary--***
The hunger games--***1/2
Sweetness at the bottom of the pie--***1/2
Having our say--***1/2
The prayer of Jabez--***
1q84--Pearl ruled
Game of thrones by George R. R. Martin--***1/2
Angela's ashes--***1/2

Still to read:

Night circus by Erin Morgenstern--Aug
Curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon--Sep
Purpose-driven life by Rick Warren--Dec
Amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon--Aug
Midnight in the garden of good and evil by John Berendt--Nov

Category #2--Novels written in 1913--Thank heavens for Project Gutenberg

FINISHED

Case of Jennie Brice--***1/2
Domnei--**1/2
Le Grand Meaulnes***1/2
The little nugget--***
The unbearable Bassington--**1/2
Virginia--***
The poison belt--**
Pollyanna--**1/2
Valley of the moon--**1/2
O pioneers--***1/2
Magic; a play by G. K. Chesterton--**1/2
Roast beef, medium--***
The Laughing Cavalier--***

Category #3--Thirteen books to have read before you're 13

Read in the first quarter:

Black hearts in Battersea--***1/2
Shadrach--***
Katie John and Heathcliff--***
Ginger Pye--***1/2
Midnight folk--***1/2
The borrowers afield--***1/2
Whipping boy--***
Stolen lake--***1/2
Stalky & Co.--**1/2

Still to read:

Year of the three-legged deer by Eth Clifford--Jul
Redwall by Brian Jacques--Oct
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen--Nov
Diddakoi by Rumer Godden--Dec

Category #4--Friday the 13th--Giving some books a last chance

Read in the 2nd quarter:

Within a budding grove--***
Portrait of a lady--****

Still to read:

Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov--Jun
Confessions by St. Augustine--May
Crown of Mexico by Joan Haslip--Aug
Naked and the dead by Norman Mailer--Nov
Quiet cities by Joseph Hergesheimer--Dec
Reading Lolita in Teheran by Azar Nafisi--Oct
Kristin Lavransdattar by Sigurd Undset--Dec
Green dolphin street by Elizabeth Goudge--Oct
Children of the Arbat by Anatoli Rybakov--Sep
Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell--Oct
Real Charlotte by E. O. Somerville--Nov

Category #5--13,14--Maids a-courting--Books by female authors, with a special attention to books I've had sitting on my shelves

Read in the first quarter:

Game of Hide and seek--***
A big storm knocked it over--***
Hotel du Lac--***
Rising tide by M. J. Farrell--***
This body of death--***1/2
Secret history of the pink carnation--***
Two under the Indian sun--***
West with the night--***1/2
Possession--***

Still to read:

Daughters by Paule Marshall--Dec
Company parade by Storm Jameson--Nov
Calico palace by Gwen Bristow--Sep
Running of the tides by Esther Forbes--Oct

Category #6--M (for murder) is the 13th letter of the alphabet. I will be reading mysteries taken from H. R. F. Keating's 100 greatest list

Read in the first quarter:

The thinking machine--***1/2
Sands of Windee--***1/2
Postman always rings twice--***1/2
Dance hall of the dead--***
The talented Mr. Ripley-***
Nobody's perfect--***
Surfeit of lampreys--***1/2
Kill Claudio--***
Horizontal man--***1/2
Circular staircase--***1/2
To make a killing by June Thomson--***

Still to read:

The Poison oracle by Peter Dickinson--Nov
The investigation by Dorothy Uhnak--Oct

Category #7--First Chronicles is the 13th book of the Bible--Books to help me grow closer to Jesus

Read in the first quarter:

Secrets of the vine--***
Secret of spiritual strength--****
Loving God--***1/2

Still to read:

Life style evangelism by Joseph Aldrich--Dec
Out of the salt shaker and into the world by Rebecca Pippert--Sep
Leap over a wall by Eugene Peterson--Sep
Majesty of man by Ronald B. Allen--Jul
Developing spiritual success by Arthur Jaggard--Jun
Christ esteem by Don Matzat--Jul
Jesus I never knewby Phillip Yancey--Aug
Decision making and the will of God by Garry Frieson--Nov
No more plastic Jesus by Adam Finnerty--Aug
Cost of discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer--Nov
Pathway to freedom by Alistair Begg--Oct

Category #8--13 original colonies in the U. S.--Books by 19th century American authors

Read in the first quarter:

Hospital sketches--***
Connecticut yankee in King Arthur's Court--***
Damnation of Theron Ware--***
The spoils of Poynton--***
Last of the Mohicans-***
Transcendental wild oats--**1/2
Bartleby the Scrivener--***
Indian summer--***1/2
The awakening--***1/2

Still to read:

Dred by Harriet Beecher Stowe--Dec
Little journey in the world by Charles Dudley Warner--Oct
Red badge of courage by Stephen Crane--Sep
Hoosier mosaics by Maurice Thompson--Nov

Category #9--13 cards in a suit--Each book will have a number in a title or will be a numbered book in a series

Read in the first quarter:

Building of Jalna--The first book in the Whiteoaks of Jalna series--**1/2
Barchester towers--The second chronicle of Barset--****
The red pavilion--The eighth Judge Dee novel--***1/2
Death mask--the third Joscelin O'Rourke--***
Many waters--***1/2
Owl's well that ends well--***
Recalled to life--***1/2
Last respects--***
Mystery of swordfish reef--***

Still to read:

Blue corn murders by Nancy Pickard--The fifth Eugenia Potter--Nov
Garden murder case by S. S. van Dine--The ninth Philo Vance--Dec
The chill by Ross McDonald--The eleventh Lew Archer--Sep
Jade woman by Jonathan Gash--The twelth Lovejoy--Oct

Category #10--Apollo 13--Books I want to blast off my shelf

Read in the first quarter:

Cordelia Underwood--***1/2
Sunflower--**
Dear once--***
The trouble of one house--***
Alphabet for gourmets--***
Bright shawl--**
The mansion--***
Objects of desire--***

Still to read:

Lost traveler by Antonia White--Nov
Time will darken it by William Maxwell--Aug
Last of the just by Andre Schwartz-Bart--Dec
Ghosts of the fireground by Peter Leschak--Oct
Outlaw years by Robert Coates--Nov

Category 11--Chapter 13, reorganizing and restructuring--Books I want to re-read for some reason

Read in the first quarter:

Man's search for meaning--****1/2
Lilith--****
Bring your loved ones to Christ--***
To love and be wise--***1/2
Bootlegger's daughter--***1/2
Leave it to Psmith--****
The guns of August--****
Northanger Abbey--***1/2

Still to read:

Normal Christian life by Watchman Nee--Oct
1984 by George Orwell--May
Death of my aunt by C. H. B. Kitchin--Sep
Diary of a Provincial lady by E. M. Delafield--Oct
Till we have faces by C. S. Lewis--Dec

Category 12--Assistant 13, unlucky for some--All things British

Read in first quarter:

Crampton Hodnet--***1/2
The Watsons--***
Anna of the five towns--***
Loved one--***
Oliver Twist--****
Mr. Mulliner speaking--***
Girl in winter--***
Zuleika Dobson--***
Luck of the Bodkins--***

Still to read:

God's Englishman by Christopher Hill--Oct
Quiet neighborhood by George Macdonald--Dec
Molly Weir's Trilogy of Scottish childhood by Molly Weir--Nov
Her little majesty by Carrolly Erickson--Dec

Category 13--A safe bet on 13
I will choose no books for the this category. It will be for whatever random reads take my fancy during the year. (I really needed a category like this in my 12 in 12.)

Read in the first quarter:

Collector--***
The green hat--**
School at the Chalet--***
Death of yesterday--***
Fraud on the court--***1/2
The girl who played with fire--***1/2
Enchanted April--***1/2
Monsieur Pamplemousse and the secret mission--**1/2
Miss Melville returns--***
Inspector Ghote hunts the peacock--**1/2
Murder on a girl's night out--***
Monsieur Pamplemouse--**1/2
Song of Achilles--**1/2
Morbid taste for bones--***
Nine coaches waiting--***
V is for Vengeance--***1/2
Baltimore blues--***
Monsieur Pamplemousse on the spot--***

Planning to spend July 4 reading Game of thrones also working on Nine coaches waiting, for the Group Read, and 1984

Migrating over to your new thread, Beth!

Happy new thread! Looks like a good bunch of July 4 reading lined up, too!

Nine coaches waiting by Mary Stewart--***
Category: Safe bet on 13

Belinda Martin, an innocent young orphan, accepts a job as governess to a young French noble under odd circumstances. The residents of the house are suitably creepy, the son of the house is handsome and noble and the story is predictable but pleasant. Very enjoyable.

I will start Nine Coaches Waiting next week. Happy to see it was an enjoyable read!

Found your new thread! I'm planning to pick up Nine Coaches Waiting at the library tomorrow. I probably won't read it until next weekend, though.

Right now I've moved on to a second Group Read, Portrait of a lady which I am finding much less irritating than I usually find Henry James. I am also deep in Game of Thrones Sword and sorcery is not usually my thing, but it's been fun so far.

Game of thrones by George R. R. Martin--***1/2
Category: Baker's dozen

As a rule, I don't do sword and sorcery. I read and enjoyed J. R. R. Tolkien's books after college, but since that time I've never had any interest whatsoever in picking up books with pictures of unicorns, flying dragons and golden warriors with swords on the cover that my best friend devoured. However, Game of thrones has gotten so ubiquitous that I figured I should check it out. I found it pleasantly readable, sort of like the Lord of the Rings written by John Grisham or James Patterson or someone who writes really slick prose. (Perhaps a little bawdier than those two.) I found most of the characters pleasant but not particularly original, although I truly detested the subplot with the Attila-the-Hun type character.

I think one book will be enough, though that means I'm leaving two (and possibly three) kings in conflict, an possible attack of walking dead men in the north, two young girls held hostage and a possible invasion by a possibly mad princess wielding dragons from the south. I don't think I need to know what happens next. Probably.

I too am migrating over to the new thread. Funny, I was just considering starting Game of Thrones, but it is quite thick. :) Good to know it's an easy read at least.

I keep hearing what an amazingly quick read the Game of Thrones series is, but that is the comment I have heard from the fan club.... it still looks like a set of really thick books! I have book one and will get around to reading it at some point.

The problem I had with the series (I read three) is that the violence and evil never lets up. I had to quit after three even though I have the rest of the series on my shelf. It was too hard on my soul.

I've been warned that if you like a character they are sure to be killed. :)

Eva, that's a very good way of putting it. Don't get too fond of any character because the author seems to see all of them as expendable to the story iteself. I also agree with you, Mamzel; it is terribly violent. I found the subplot of the girl who marries the Attilla-the-Hun like character to be violent and unpleasant to the point of repulsive.

The trouble is, there are a few characters I do want to continue with. So maybe I'll go on in the series after all.

Leave it to Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse--****
Category: Chapter 13

Roland Psmith, an eccentric young Englishman fallen on hard times, will do anything for money. This lands him at Blandings Castle trying to steal a diamond necklace from Lady Constance Keeble. At Blandings, things (and people) are seldom who they seem and the plot unrolls merrily. This book marks a transition of sorts. Before it, Wodehouse wrote school stories and light romances; he had published one Blandings and one Jeeves book, but he hadn't found his voice. After this one, Wodehouse was at the top of his game. A joy from beginning to end.

Owl's well that ends well by Donna Andrews--***
Category: 13 cards in a suit

Meg Langslow, trying to clear the old house she has purchased of clutter, holds the mother of all garage sales. Fortunately every member of her nutty family shows up, but so does a murderer who kills one of the shoppers and stuffs him in a trunk. Reads fast, with a couple of LOL moments; as always, fun.

Valley of the moon by Jack London--**1/2
Category: Novels published in 1913

"Oakland is just a place to start."

Jack London, an Oakland, Calif. native, lived an epic American life in a short 40 years. He wrote an enormous number of novels, the most familiar of which are his adventure novels. While Valley of the moon isn't exactly autobiographical, it's a tribute to his second wife and the kind of life they tried (but didn't succeed) to build. Billy Rogers, a young prizefighter, and Saxon, a laundry worker, meet and fall in love. Despite all their best efforts, they are unable to build a good life in the city so they strike out as wanderers through a golden California, trying to find the home of their dreams.

In some ways, this is a shockingly bad novel. Billy is callow and incredibly jingoistic and portions of the early sections sound like they were written by Barbara Cartland. The depiction of working class life during labor disputes is well-drawn, however, and the novel picks up its pace when Saxon convinces Billy that they should try their fortunes elsewhere. Once they find their Valley of the Moon (in Sonoma), Billy out-capitalists Andrew Carnegie, which is also not terribly realistic, but the middle of the novel pays for a tedious beginning and a formula ending.

I've really enjoyed the books in this category, although few of them have been really good. It's been a voyage of discovery that's introduced me to several authors I would not have read.

I've visited the ruins of his Wolf House near Glen Ellen in Sonoma County. It would have been beautiful but burned down before it was completed. I've never read this book but have enjoyed several others of his.

Mamzel, I wouldn't advise it unless you're writing a dissertation on London. It was kind of fun, but it's violent and jingoistic and kind of silly at times.

Portrait of a lady by Henry James--****
Category: Friday the 13th, revisiting some books left unfinished

I usually think that reviewing the classics is an impertinence. I was dreading reading this. I had tried it before and had found Isabel Archer arch and unpleasant. This time I was struck by James' ability to structure a story. I had an idea about the basic outline of the story, but really didn't know what happened and so I raced through it to learn what unhappy Isabel's fate would be.

I doubt that I will start reading Henry James for fun on a regular basis, but it's kind of nice to know I can enjoy his books.

It is nice to know that you can read and enjoy Henry James. He is an author I have steered clear of thinking that he would be too difficult for me. Perhaps I should give him that one go, just to see.

You might try Daisy Miller first--It's short and will give you a taste of him. I used to not care for Henry James, but my recent experiences have been good.

Two under the Indian sun by Jon and Rumer Godden--***
Category: 13, 14, Maids a courtin'

Joint memoir by two sisters, both of whom became novelists, of their childhoods in Bangladesh during World War I. The Godden sisters were fascinated by India, which they mostly observed. (Their parents tried to keep them from interacting with Indians as much as possible.) Charming.

Horizontal man by Helen Eustis--***1/2
Category: M (for murder) is the 13th letter of the alphabet

This unremembered gem was probably rather shocking in its day, although the twist is now rather commonplace. Set in an elite women's college, a sexy young professor has been murdered, the police are morons and amateur detectives abound. There's a pleasant little romance and a host of stock academic types in various states of incompetence. The novel has lost some of its punch over time, but it's good storytelling.

The bright shawl by Joseph Hergesheimer--**
Category: Apollo 13, books I want to blast off my shelves

Shown in flashback, Charles Abbott, an American, remembers his involvement in the Cuban revolution in the 1890s. The hero is callow and self-important, but Hergesheimer does a good job of evoking the beauties of Havanna and the horrors of the Spanish rule there. There is also a (nonsexual) man/man love story which interesting.

V is for vengeance by Sue Grafton--***1/2
Category: Just because I wanted to

I got this one from someone on Paperback Swap and couldn't resist just opening it and jumping in. Kinsey Millhone, while shopping, observes a woman shoplifting and is drawn into a huge web of crime which includes a massive shoplifting ring, a pleasant but inept two-time loser and a very bad cop. The story is well-written and I think that Grafton is to be commended for working the mundane cases that a PI gets involved in into absorbing stories. Am looking forward to W is for Wasted later this year.

My Grafton reading - or I should say audiobook listening - stalled after I finished F is for Fugitive this past spring. I do love Grafton's stories s I am happy that V is for Vengeance was a good read!

I think Grafton hit a trough of sorts in the middle of the alphabet. I stopped reading her several years ago and only resumed recently. I think her later books are better, which is kind of unusual for series writers. Q is for Quarry is especially good.

Agreed - some in the middle were just okay but I read them anyway. Have really enjoyed the last few letters and just pre-ordered W.

Transcendental wild oats by Louisa May Alcott--**1/2
Category: 13 original colonies

"Being in preference to doing is the great aim . . . "

Some of LMA's best work was semi-autobiographical. Transcendental wild oats came out of her actual life experience. When Alcott was 10, her father joined forces with Charles Lane, an English philosopher (who wasn't much liked by Alcott's wife or children) to start a Utopian farm. Believing that much of the work humanity does is vain, their Utopian colony was to allow the inhabitants to express themselves creatively while abstaining from business, the culture, consumption and use of animals and the use of any animal product at all. Alcott's father and Lane were not practical, nor were they farmers. Much of the work was done by Alcott's mother and the experiment soon foundered. Lane moved on and Alcott's father had to re-group rather painfully.

Transcendental wild oats plays this story for chuckles until the end, when she portrays her father's disappointment with a fair amount of drama. The heroine, of course, is the character based on Louisa's mother; most of the children's characters are completely undeveloped.

Pleasant, but mostly of interest to 19th-century New England or Alcott scholars.

O pioneers by Willa Cather--***1/2
Category: Books published in 1913

Alexandra Bergstron and her family settled early in Nebraska and lived through the difficult early years to prosper. She combines a deep love for the land with enough vision to see beyond it to other ways to live. Her joy is threatened when her young brother is the victim of tragedy. I loved this book, although ultimately I thought the story was a little thin. Alexandra is a wonderful creation, wise but not intellectual; capable of great love and forgiveness. Cather's books always are better than I expect them to be.

Bartleby, the scrivener by Herman Melville--***
Category: 13 original colonies

Odd little novella about a strange legal clerk who is hired to copy manuscripts and simply takes root and refuses to do--anything at all. Melville's lawyer, Bartleby's employer, tries mightily to help a man he cannot understand. Interesting.

West with the night by Beryl Markham--***1/2
Category: 13, 14, Maids a courtin

Beryl Markham had the great good luck to grow up in Africa during a time of growth and change. She trained horses until she became enamored of flying. She got her pilot's license and spent several years flying charter. She pioneered a method of searching out elephants for hunters from the air and one of the best sections in the book deals with an elephant hunt conducted with Bror Blixen, one of Africa's great hunters. (He was also the husband of Isak Dinesen, who is not mentioned.) This is a delightful book and if Markham occasionally gets a little flowery in her prose she mostly gets it right. Very enjoyable read.

Sorry, but hunting from the air doesn't sound like sport to me (unless they're using cameras to shoot). I think I'll pass because I would suffer from nausea reading this book.

Actually, she wasn't too crazy about it once she started doing it. She got intrigued by the idea of scouting elephants from the air and then didn't much like the results.

Good for her!

Recalled to life by Reginald Hill--***1/2
The 13th Dalziel and Pascoe novel
Category: 13 cards in a suit

In 1963, the Pamela Westropp murder had it all--sex, money, scandal, a connection to the Royal Family and enough politically sensitive elements to cause sleepless nights on both sides of the Atlantic. It also had a clever murderer determined not to be caught. Through patient police work, two criminals were brought to justice and young Andy Dalziel helped to build the case.

Fast forward 28 years. Due to new evidence, one of the Westropp killers is released and an official investigation is begun. Andy Dalziel, no longer young, is now known for his prodigious crime solving instincts and his even more prodigious talent for being a pain in the neck. Fearing that the official investigation will taint the reputation of his mentor, he starts an investigation of his own, dragging his reluctant partner Peter Pascoe in with him. While Dalziel sets off for the U. S. to ferret about (and set back the course of diplomatic relations about 200 years), Pascoe begins making some waves of his own.

The investigate-the-old case novel is a given in almost every long series. While the story gets unnecessarily complicated toward the end. it's mostly a joy. Andy Dalziel is the sort of character who is as entertaining in fiction as he would be maddening in real life and his supporting cast is always interesting. Really enjoyed it.

July reading recap
15 books read

Favorite book: Leave it to Psmith with Portrait of a lady a close second. I also enjoyed Game of thrones much more than expected.

Book malaise: I CAVED.

I had intended to read Moby Dick this month. I started it and liked the first few chapters, but the thought of all those pages and that whale blubber got to me. I substituted one of Melville's short novels instead.

Least favorite book: Jack London's Valley of the moon is in some ways screamingly bad, but at least it was fun. Joseph Hergesheimer's Bright shawl, which I read basically to get it out of the house, was blah in the extreme.
Up next month: Joining the group read for Guns of August, which is a re-read for me. Going to take a flier on The night circus, which I've heard an awful lot of good things about. I've also got a school story by Kipling, a 19th century novel by William Dean Howells and another attempt at The Amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which I tried in January and had to give up due to lack of time.

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Looks like you had a pretty good reading month for July. My reading of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay stalled a couple of months ago in the middle of the group read and I have to admit, I still don't feel any great compelling urge to return to it, so I will be curious to see how your August attempt at completing that one goes.

I loved The Night Circus and look forward to seeing what you think of it!

#53, Lori, I also tried to do The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay with the group read. I liked the first chapter, but put it aside because I had a house full of guests for most of January. I'm hoping I can get it done this time.

The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman--****
Category: Chapter 13 (Re-reads)

The first month of WWI as seen from the perspectives of the men conducting the German, French, English and Russian war efforts. History written almost like a novel (although the information on troop movements may cross your eyes if you don't have a degree in military history.) Tuchman focuses on the military high command and makes clear the in-fighting, jealousy and just plain silliness that at times engulfed men deciding the fate of nations.

One of the best chapters is on the flight of the Goeben, a German warship, which is diverted to Constantinople at the very beginning of the conflict and is able to get there and wreak mighty havoc because the British are unable to conceive why Turkey might be important to them.

Tuchman has marvelous turns of phrases. She describes Kaiser Wilhelm's diplomatic efforts as "an exercise in perpetual motion."

The general effect of this book was to make me want to read a half a dozen other on the subject, which is always the sign of a really good book. Magnifique!

Am venturing into Henry James territory with Indian summer by William Dean Howells. It will be interesting to see how Howells deals with American expatriates in Florence.

Baltimore blues by Laura Lippman--***
Category: Just because

Tess Monaghan, unemployed and unambitious, tries to help a friend accused of murder. Is very strong on geographic color and depicts Baltimore well, but I didn't warm to the heroine much.

Indian summer by William Dean Howells--***1/2
Category: 13 original colonies (American fiction)

Theodore Colvill, newly and abruptly retired from two decades in the newspaper business, returns to Florence to begin the second act of his life. He meets an old friend and her stunning ward and blunders into a romance with the younger woman which becomes more and more difficult to sustain. Howells ventures into Henry James territory with a lighter touch, a less compelling style but a more realistic resolution. At the end of the story, his characters mouth the same sort of tortured-sensibility stuff that James writes, but then it all slips away and the story ends happily and sensibly. I enjoyed it very much, but not much really happens and that got tedious toward the end.

Stalky & Co. by Rudyard Kipling--**1/2
Category: 13 books to have read before you're 13

"The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton."

Kipling's cheeky tale of three young men, two of which are headed for the army, in the public school culture of the late 19th century, in all of its bullying glory. Written in British public school and army slang I found it partially incomprehensible and not particularly fun.

Circular staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart--***1/2
Category: M is for murder

I've chosen many of my mystery selections this year from H. R. F. Keating's 100 best Crime and Mystery novels and at times I've been disappointed. Many of the books in question had worn-out plot devices or less than compelling stories. The circular staircase was not a disappointment. Rachel Innes, a society spinster, takes a summer house with her grown niece and nephew and is immediately embroiled in strange doings, noises in the night and unexplained visitors. By the time the bodies start falling the story is going at a rip-roaring pace. Rachel Innes is a wonderful character. (I can imagine her being played by Edna Oliver or Eve Arden.) The plot got a little thin towards the end and part of it was resolved rather conveniently, but this was a lot of fun.

Possession by A. S. Byatt--***
Category: 13, 14, Maids 'a courtin'

Parallel romance, one thread set in Victorian England and one set in contemporary times. A young literary scholar turns up a connection between two Victorian poets who were previously thought to be unacquainted. As he and a fellow scholar work to solve the historical mystery, they discover letters and diaries which detail the developing love between Randolph Henry Ash, an eminent--and married--poet, and Christabel LaMotte, a reclusive spinner of gothic-type poems and folk tales. I found the modern section, with its scholarly jealousies and modernist thought, much more interesting than the Victorian section, which was long-winded and full of 19th-century sensibility.

Last respects by Catherine Aird--***
Category: 13 cards in a suit, books in series

Catherine Aird's C. D. Sloane series has always been a pleasant, cozy read and Last respects is no different. The body of a young man is found floating in the sea just outside a river without identification. Although he has been in the water a long time, he has not drowned and Sloan must find out just where he was killed and who he is. At the same time, mysterious artifacts from a 200-year-old shipwreck begin surfacing, one of which comes from the pocket of the dead man. There was a lot more about tides and currents than I was interested in, but there is one absolutely hilarious scene involving identifying a marine creature that made the whole book for me. The solution becomes obvious too soon, but on the whole it was a pleasant read.

August reading recap
8 books read

Favorite book: I enjoyed my re-read of The guns of August although it seemed to take forever. I also enjoyed Mary Robert Rinehart's The circular staircase very much.

Least favorite book: Having never attended a public school devoted to getting you into the Army in England, large sections of Stalky & Co. might as well have been written in a foreign language.

Dog days: No actual dogs are involved. I went through a reading malaise this month.

September previous: September should be a BOMBS away month. I've gathered up several books that have been sitting around for a while and plan to dig into them. I'll be reading The curious incident of the dog in the night, mysteries by Ross MacDonald and Arthur Upfield and a re-read of C. H. B. Kitchin's lovely Death of my aunt I also hope to re-read Northager Abbey as well.

Sounds like a good plan for September. Hope the reading malaise is over! Enjoy the Ross Macdonalds.

>62 Bjace: You have me intrigued! What was the marine animal?

A freshwater crustacean.

I like Catherine Aird, but I haven't read that one yet. I'll have to keep an eye out for it!

Monsieur Pamplemousse on the spot by Michael Bond--***
Category: Just because I wanted to

The usual bawdy good fun with M. Pamplemousse. During his visit to a 4-stockpot restaurant he must find a missing chef. The fate of France depends upon it. His faithful Pommes Frites is felled by a massive case of indigestion, but helps out when he can.

Magic by G. K. Chesterton--**1/2
Category: Novels and plays written in 1913

Play which works in Chesterton's ideas of the importance of the magical. A duke hires a magician to keep company with his niece because she believes in fairies. When her brother, a severe rationalist, returns home the magician is revealed as a fraud, but the magician causes several strange things to happen, which throws the rationalist brother into a breakdown. All of them try to get the magician to reveal how the trick is done; when he does, the answer is more upsetting than the problem.

I don't think this would make much sense as a stage production. Chesterton believed that the severely rational way of looking at the world was more dangerous than heresy and he uses his characters as types to illustrate various ideas. I enjoyed it--Chesterton is always both fun and thought-provoking.

To make a killing by June Thomson--***
Category: M (for murder) is the 13th letter of the alphabet

When forgotten artist Max Gifford is approached by a gallery owner offering a exhibit of his paintings, both he and his wife Nora are excited by the possibility of fame and money. When the gallery owner is murdered, all sorts of unpleasant facts begin arising about Max, his models and his life. I found this a competently written mystery, but nothing out of the ordinary and most of the characters fairly unlikeable.

Mystery of swordfish reef by Arthur Upfield--***
Category: 13 cards in a suit (books in series)

When a young fishing guide, his mate and their rich older customer disappear without a trace from a fishing village in eastern Australia, the infallible sleuth Napoleon Bonaparte is called in to find out what happens. He learns to swordfish and finds the answer in due time. I found this entry in the series a bit tedious. There was a lot of material about fishing and sailing, a fairly obvious plot and not much mystery. Bony is always pleasant, though, and it's not a bad read.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen--***1/2
Category: Chapter 13 (re-reads)

I found this book much better upon a second reading. Catherine, a young woman of high spirits, good sense and not much else in the way of attainment, is taken to Bath, where she excites the interest of two men. Her instincts draw her to the right man, but in the development of their relationship she is frequently led astray by her penchant for lurid Gothic fiction, which leads her to dramatize and misunderstand the people around her.

I was struck by Catherine's youth and immaturity. Unlike Elizabeth Bennett or Elinor Dashwood (both of whom aren't much older than she), Catherine is a girl whose opinions are unformed and abilities largely untapped.

Upon a first reading, I thought this book was silly. This time through, I was struck by Catherine's youthful good sense, which leads her through a minefield of dangers to find love at last.

The mansion by Henry Van Dyke--***
Category: Apollo 13 (Books to blast off my shelves)

A pillar of the community, a man of rectitude and charity, differs with his son about several matters. The son wants to give up business for a while and to assist a friend of his in need, both of which the father disapproves of. On Christmas Eve, the father dreams of his arrival in Heaven, which shows him the true worth of his life and actions.

Van Dyke wrote several inspiring fables of this sort. This one takes aim at the self-satisfied and comfortable. The message is still apt.

Murder on a bad hair day by Ann George
Category: Just because I wanted to

Patricia Ann and Mary Alice, the Southern Sisters, are getting ready for Christmas, but the holiday gallery opening they attend soon wreaks havoc when the owner is murdered and a former student of Patricia Ann's shows up at her home in trouble. I thought the plot was a little silly, but I love the characters.

The awakening by Kate Chopin--***1/2
Category: 13 original colonies in the U. S. (American fiction)

Pity poor Edna Potellier. Although she has a pleasant husband and two fine sons, plenty of money and a lovely home, she has married without really knowing herself or what she wants from life. An innocent relationship with a young man awakens her to the sensual possibilities of life; from there, she begins to develop a life of her own but the life she already has cannot be entirely abandoned. How she resolves her conflict is not particularly satisfying, but is in keeping with the story.

The author has few answers, but raises several questions in a haunting and interesting manner. I thought the writing was very good indeed. I disapproved of almost everything Emma did, but I didn't dislike her for it.

Roast beef, medium by Edna Ferber--***
Category: Books published in 1913

Emma McChesney, the heroine of Roast beef, medium is a single mother with a teenaged son who makes her living as a travelling saleswoman. Despite a professed longing for a home life, she is a business woman to her fingers and she progresses despite the difficulties of the road--bad food and conditions, illness and the competition, which is occasionally malicious and conniving. Emma has a hearty, Girl-Scoutish tone and you can almost imagine her being played by Ginger Rogers or Jean Arthur in one of those Thirties comedies. The story was fun and it's interesting to see that the life of the working mother doesn't change much.

I discovered Edna Ferber in my early twenties and read a lot of her stuff, but I don't think I ever came across Roast beef, medium. It does sound like a vehicle for Ginger Rogers or Jean Arthur!

Judy, it's easy to find in Ebook for free and it's a relatively quick read.

Angela's ashes by Frank McCourt--***1/2
Category: Baker's dozens

This book made me want to feed, clothe and educate every hungry child in the world. How Frank McCourt ever grew beyond his childhood is beyond me. His wonderful gift of expression finds humor and compassion in the horrors of the miserable Irish childhood.

The laughing cavalier by Baroness Orczy--***
Category: Books published in 1913

Buckle my swash and call on Erroll Flynn. The perfidious Earl of Stoutenberg waxes threatening against the Prince of Orange and would murder and usurp him. When rich and beautiful Gilda Beresteyn hears men plotting to take the Prince's life, she is doubly troubled to find that one of the conspirators is her brother and another is her ex-fiancée. The conspirators know that Gilda will find some way to thwart them, she being so good and noble, so they hire a soldier-of-fortune to kidnap and hold her until their plot can be accomplished. The man, however, is merry, noble, strong and kind and he finds a way to destroy all their plans.

Despite some turgid prose, this is fun. At the end of the story we learn that the character is the ancestor of Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel.

The Laughing Cavalier does sound fun!

@ 80 -- Yay! :) I love The Scarlet Pimpernel and recently downloaded a bunch of Orczy's other books to my Nook. Can't wait to read them!

Objects of desire by Thatcher Freund--***
Category: Apollo 13

In Objects of desire, Thatcher Freund observes that Americans generally do not have a great sense of style and that we are usually too pragmatic and focused on function to attach great importance to aesthetics in the objects we own. Objects of desire is about high-end American antique furniture and the dealers and owners who shape and drove the market. Focusing on three pieces of 18th century American craftsmanship--a county Queen Ann painted blanket chest, a Chippendale card table and a satinwood sofa table--and set against the 1991 American antiques week show at the Armory in NYC, the story is more about the antiques market than American furniture. I enjoyed this, but some of the business information wasn't particularly interesting.

Luck of the Bodkins by P. G. Wodehouse--***
Category: Assistant 13, unlucky for some

Monty Bodkin, rich, handsome and thick as a plank, follows his hockey-playing ex-fiancée to the US via ocean liner and is entangled with movie moguls, actresses, and loquacious ship stewards in a scheme to smuggle a valuable pearl necklace past customs. Monty, who cares only for his Gertrude is suitably dim, there are plenty of fun situations, but the book suffers from the lack of a stellar Wodehouse character like Bertie, Jeeves or Uncle Fred.

September reading recap
13 books read

Favorite book: I had a really good time with The laughing cavalier, a Scarlet Pimpernel prequel.

Least favorite book: To make a killing by June Thomson. It made H.R.F. Keating's Crime 100 list, but it left me fairly cold.

Comments: Nothing I read this month inspired me much. I've having trouble finishing my challenge and am more in the mood to read detective novels till the cows come home.

October preview: I'm going to try to finish up a bunch of things I've gotten stuck on, like Lolita, The Crown of Mexico and The real Charlotte I also need to finish The curious incident of the dog in the night which is not lighting me up much.

Ready for the last quarter with a new thread:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/159648