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| Illustration by Abby Wright |
I'm ready for another year of tracking reading progress and statistics for all things bookish on the Block. I will also be contributing to Kerrie's Crime Fiction Pick of the Month. So, here we go--let's take a look at January....
Total Books Read: 15
Total Pages: 3709
[That's a bit of drop from last year (19 books and 4413 pages. But still a good start to the new year.]
Average Rating: 3.15 stars
Top Rating: 4 stars
Percentage by Female Authors: 40%
Percentage by US Authors: 53%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors: 13%
Percentage Mystery: 60%
Percentage Fiction: 100%
Percentage written 2000+: 20%
Percentage of Rereads: 7%
Percentage Read for Challenges: 100% {It's easy to have every book count for a challenge when you sign up for as many as I do.}
Number of Challenges fulfilled so far: 2--final posts coming (5%)
AND, as mentioned above, Kerrie had us all set up for another year of Crime Fiction Favorites. What she was looking for is our Top Mystery Read for each month. January found me with nine mysteries--which is pretty good considering that I was participating in two science fiction reading events. Here are the books read:
Ride the Pink Horse by Dorothy B. Hughes (3 stars) [1946]
The Case of the Painted Girl by Frank King (4 stars) [1931]
Police Procedurals by Martin H. Greenberg & Bill Pronzini, eds (3 stars) [1985]
Mother Finds a Body by Gypsy Rose Lee (2 stars) [1942]
A Dead Man in Istanbul by Michael Pearce (3 stars) [2005]
Death of a Dwarf by Harold Kemp (4 stars) [1955]
The Golden Slipper & Other Problems for Violet Strange by Anna Katharine Green (3.5 stars) [1915]
A Dead Man in Trieste by Michael Pearce (2 stars) [2004]
Death of a Tall Man by Frances & Richard Lockridge (4 stars) [1946]
This month's P.O.M. Award really isn't difficult for me, although three books managed to snag the four-star rating. Death of a Dwarf by Harold Kemp thoroughly charmed me.
I had no idea what to expect from this one--I had never heard of Kemp (and if you try to find anything out about him on the internet, you'll find information to be practically nil). But the story is quite good with a standard motive given a nice little twist. Fairly clued--it's certainly not Kemp's fault that I completely forgot a little tidbit that he prominently displayed for me back in the early chapters. I was caught up by this excellent, serendipitous find.
6 comments:
Sounds like an interesting mystery although probably a swine to find. I'll keep an eye out on the off-chance
You had a fantastic start to the year for books! Happy February reading!
Yes--I'm afraid it will be difficult to find. And difficult to find any others by him....
I love your POM for the title alone but suspect I'll have to await some kind of serendipity in a second hand shop to find a copy. Still it is always good to have a list of those kinds of books to look for in such places.
I love reading all of your book titles. It's like I've gotten lost in an alternative universe! They're so different from anything I read (usually).
Thanks, Geoff!
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