My Birthday and My Reader's Block Birthday

Well...my blogiversary (April 24th) came and went in a COVID-19 haze and I forgot all about the post I wanted to do to celebrate until it was a few weeks too late. So, I decided to wait and produce the fanfare on my birthday. This year My Reader's Block is ten years old! And I...well...I am older than ten (by a fair amount). As is fitting for a Book Blogger, I celebrated this morning in style with a gift bag full of bookish goodies

My husband came through with some much-desired vintage mysteries. Murder Wears Mukluks by Eunice Mays Boyd (Dell Mapback edition!), The Taste of Murder by Joanna Cannan, Nothing Like Blood by Leo Bruce, Murder by the Book by Frances & Richard Lockridge, and Spence & the Holiday Murders by Michael Allen (post-1960--but still much sought after).

 

Mom and Dad also sent some birthday funds which I promptly used to snap up some lovely editions of Lord Peter Wimsey that I just needed as well as About the Murder of a Startled Lady by Antony Abbot.

 

 


Two more birthday books are still making their way to the Hankins household. Over all, a very nice birthday indeed!

As far as blogging goes, the past ten years have been so much fun! I started out just wanting to have a place to log my books so my rapidly-more-sieve-like-as-the-years-go-by memory would have a resource to look back upon when books that I've read come up. It didn't take me long to realize that blogging was so much more. It's a place to let my reading challenge addiction run wild--both taking part and hosting. It's a place to meet the most amazing people who also love books...and especially those who love vintage mysteries just as much as I do. I've made virtual friends who I hope to meet in person one day (we came one COVID-19 outbreak short of making it happen this summer--I will make it to England one of these days!). 

I owe huge debts of gratitude to John @ Pretty Sinister Books, Kate @ Cross Examining Crime, the Puzzle Doctor @ In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel, JJ @ The Invisible Event, Brad @ Ah Sweet Mystery Blog, Curtis @ The Passing Tramp, Moira @ Clothes in Books, Les @ Classic Mysteries, the departed and sorely missed Noah @ Noah's Archives as well as a host of others who have shared their knowledge about Golden Age mysteries and even, on occasion, have shared books with me. A number of us have taken part in the Tuesday Night Bloggers--sharing mysteries based on a mutually agreed theme--where I again I learned more about the genre I love.

More recently, I've had the great good fortune to be a participant in Kate's mystery quiz game and to host my own version under the title "Who Wants to Murder a Millionaire" where we whiled away the hours in the early stages of virus lockdown. And we've helped Brad with his continuing mystery saga Murder at Dungarees (and I even have a character running around the estate...). I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens next.

I want to thank all of you who stop by the Block to see what I've been up to and especially those who have stuck with me through ten years. I've appreciated every comment and hope that everyone who visits finds something they like or even a new book to hunt down. Here's to another ten years of reading and having fun.