PopSugar Reading Challenge 2020

The folks at PopSugar are back with their boundaries-pushing reading challenge for 2020. They encourage us to expand our reading horizons with reading prompts that may push us out of our comfort zones. They give us 40 standard prompts with another 10 for those are very committed. We don't have to do all of them--the goal is read more and to read more of the things we might not normally choose. As per usual, I am setting a personal goal of 20 prompts in order to claim the challenge complete--from either list. This fits in very well with their advanced challenge prompts--which seem to focus on "twenty." 

Here are the prompts that appeal most to me--for the full list, please click the link above.

1. A book that's published in 2020:
2. A book about a book club: Read & Buried by Erika Chase
3. The first book you touch on a shelf with your eyes closed:
4. A book with a map: The Crying Sisters by Mabel Seeley [map of the two lakes] (2/23/20)
5. A book recommended by your favorite blog, vlog, podcast, or online book club: The Plague Court Murders by Carter Dickson (1/26/20) [various fellow GAD bloggers]
6. An anthology: Deep Waters: Murder on the Waves by Martin Edwards [ed] (2/24/20)
7. A book published in the month of your birth: The Death of a Joyce Scholar by Bartholomew Gill (1/31/20)
8. A book featuring one of the seven deadly sins: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie [greed] (1/9/20)
9. A book with a robot, cyborg, or AI character: The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
10. A book with a bird on the cover: A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny (8/20/20)
11. A fiction or nonfiction book about a world leader: R.F.K.: A Photographer's Journal by Harry Benson (8/27/20)
12. A book with "gold," "silver," or "bronze" in the title: Silver Wings for Vicki by Helen Wells (2/16/20)
13. A book with at least a four-star rating on Goodreads: Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers [4.13 rating when last I looked] (1/13/20)
14. A book you meant to read in 2019: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Scott Turton (1/15/20)
15. A book that has a book on the cover: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett (2/18/20)
16. A book set in a country beginning with "C": Chinese Nightmare by Hugh Pentecost (4/18/20)
17. A book you picked because the title caught your attention: Between the Thames & the Tiber by Ted Riccardi (Sherlock Holmes pastiche titles always catch my attention) [7/20/20]
18. A book by or about a journalist: Good Luck to the Corpse by Max Murray (was a journalist for much of his life) [3/30/20]
19. Your favorite prompt from a past PopSugar Challenge (Item of clothing on cover--prompt from 2019): The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer (1/24/20)

And from the Advanced List:
20. A book with "20" or "twenty" in the title: In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography 1920-1954 by Isaac Asimov (7/22/20)
21. A book set in Japan (host of 2020 Olympics): Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh (2/6/20)
22. A book set in the 1920s: The Big Four by Agatha Christie [1927] (2/27/20)
23. A book by an author who has written more than 20 books: Red Threads by Rex Stout (2/14/20)
24. A book with more than 20 letters in its title: Murder on the Waterfront by Michael Jahn [21] (1/20/20)
25. A book published in the 20th C: Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer [1935] (1/27/20)
26. A book from a series with more than 20 books: Information Received by E. R. Punshon [Bobby Owens series = 35 books] 

2020 Reading Challenge: 52 Books in 52 Weeks

Will be joining Liz @ Mommy Mannagren for her third round of 52 Books in 52 Weeks. Hers is a low-key challenge, so there is no pressure to fulfill all 52 categories. I'm setting a personal goal of 20--I may read more that fit the categories, but at 20 I can claim my challenge goal fulfilled.

Commitment fulfilled: 4/18/20)

Some thoughts that I have percolating on choices for some of the categories:

Prompt #1: "W" in the title: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett (2/18/20)
Prompt #2: A Hardcover: Silver Wings for Vicki by Helen Wells (2/15/20)
Prompt #3: By an indigenous author: This is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakauwila [native Hawaiian] (6/16/20)  
Prompt #4: Set in winter: The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers (1/28/20)
Prompt #5: Character who is a senior: The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie [Mr. Satterthwaite, recurring character, is described as an "elderly" late sixties man] (7/6/20)
Prompt #6: Written in the 1970s: The Dreadful Lemon Sky (1974) by John D. MacDonald (5/9/20)
Prompt #7: An author local to you: In Search of the Great Dead by Richard Cecil (professor emeritus living in Bloomington) [11/20/20]
Prompt #8: Orange on cover: Red Threads by Rex Stout (2/14/20)
Prompt #9: Set in space: Neuromancer by William Gibson (8/22/20)
Prompt #10: A bestseller: Peril at End House by Agatha Christie (best-selling author of all-time; outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare) [11/19/20]
Prompt #11: Book that leaves you thinking: Palaces for the People by Eric Klinenberg (3/9/20)
Prompt #12: A "guilty pleasure book": The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer (1/24/20)
Prompt #13: Written by a female author: Mystery of the Haunted Pool by Phyllis A. Whitney (1/3/20)
Prompt #14: Book in a series: Information Received by E. R. Punshon [first in Bobby Owens series] (2/6/20)
Prompt #15: Book with romance: Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer (1/27/20)
Prompt #16: Borrowed from friend: Where Serpents Sleep by C. S. Harris (11/11/20)
Prompt #17: More than one author: Spin Your Web, Lady! by Frances & Richard Lockridge (2/8/20)
Prompt #18: Published in 2020: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (11/10/20)
Prompt #19: Stephen King novel: The Colorado Kid by Stephen King (6/17/20)  
Prompt #20: An author whose last name starts with the same initial as yours: The Christening Day Murder by Lee Harris (4/7/20)
Prompt #21: Written by a blogger or journalist: Good Luck to the Corpse by Max Murray (spent much of his life as a journalist) [3/30/20] 
Prompt #22: Character that frustrates you: The Death of a Joyce Scholar by Bartholowmew Gill [pretty much all of them--but especially the three women that call themselves "Sisters"] (1/31/20)
Prompt #23: Title begins with "A": (The) Arsenic Labyrinth by Martin Edwards (8/4/20)
Prompt #24: Title begins with "B": (The) Bar Mitzvah Murder by Lee Harris (4/30/20)
Prompt #25: Title begins with "C": (The) Crying Sisters by Mabel Seeley (2/23/20)
Prompt #26: Strong friendship theme: Betsy & Tacy Go Downtown by Maud Hart Lovelace (3/10/20)
Prompt #27: Comic book: The Beatles--Yellow Submarine story adapted by Bill Morrison (2/20/20)
Prompt #28: Literary Fiction: Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow (3/15/20)
Prompt #29: An award-winning novel: The Grey Flannel Shroud by Henry Slesar (Edgar Award 1960) [4/6/20]
Prompt #30: A book with recipes inside: The Christie Curse by Victoria Abbott
Prompt #31: A book featuring royalty: Flame in the Mist by Renee Adieh [Emperor of Japan; his sons; etc] (2/6/20)
Prompt #32: A spy novel: Deep Lay the Dead by Frederick C. Davis (2/14/20)
Prompt #33: Book featuring poetry: A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (9/10/20)
Prompt #34: Book with illustrations: The Quotable Sherlock Holmes by John H. Watson, M.D. [Gerard Van Der Leun] (5/12/20)
Prompt #35: An author's debut novel: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (1/15/20)
Prompt #36: Written in 1st person: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (1/9/20)
Prompt #37: Featuring medical profession: Stand Up & Die by Frances & Richard Lockridge [doctor is one of the suspects in the murder] (3/31/20)
Prompt #38: Set in future: Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre (6/20/20)
Prompt #39: A book used in a celebrity book club: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster [Andrew Luck (NFL star) Book Club 2017] (5/13/20)
Prompt #40: A book on the Mensa reading list for grades 9-12: The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers (11/2/20)
Prompt #41: Published when you were 20: Foul Deeds by Susan James (6/26/20)
Prompt #42:  Reuse a prompt from a past year: Book by Agatha Christie (from 2018): The Big Four by Agatha Christie (2/27/20)
Prompt #43: Set in country never visited: The Plague Court Murders by Carter Dickson [England--had hoped to fix that "never visited" thing this summer] (1/26/20)
Prompt #44: Recommended to you by Amazon: Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran (5/25/20)
Prompt #45: A book that cost you less than $5: The Ebony Bed Murder by Rufus Gillmore (4/18/20)
Prompt #46: By author already used in previous category: The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie (3/1/20)
Prompt #47: Takes place on mode of transportation: Murder on the Waterfront by Michael Jahn (1/20/20)
Prompt #48: Character wears glasses: Have His Carcase by Dorothy L Sayers [two suspects have glasses frequently mentioned when Lord Peter, Harriet, & the police are considering them as murderers] (1/13/20)
Prompt #49: About a World leader: R.F.K: A Photographer's Journal by Harry Benson (8/27/20)
Prompt #50: An author you previously disliked: Into the Valley of Death by H.R.F. Keating [written as Evelyn Hervey] (9/13/20)
Prompt #51: A genre you don't normally care for: Between the Devil & the Duke by Kelly Bowen (7/24/20)
Prompt #52: Book with a foreward: Death in Kenya by M. M. Kaye (2/20/20)

Monthly Book Award Challenge

The ladies over at Girlxoxo have given us another reading challenge: the Monthly Book Award Reading Challenge. The goal? To read one book per month--and the book read must have earned a book award that was given out that month. For full details click on the link.

Here is my tentative list:

January: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (aka The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) by Stuart Turton (Costa Book Awards 2018) [1/15/20]
February: Flame in the Mist by Renée Ahdieh (Southern Book Prize 2018) [2/6/20]
March: Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow (National Book Critics Circle Award 1975) [3/25/20]
April: The Grey Flannel Shroud by Henry Slesar (Edgar Award 1960) [4/6/20]
May: Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran (Agatha Award 2010) [5/25/20]
June: Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre (Locus Award 1979) [6/20/20]
July: Between the Devil & the Duke by Kelly Bowen (RITA Award 2018) [7/24/20]
August: Neuromancer by William Gibson (Hugo--awarded August 1985) [8/22/20]
September: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1954 Retro Hugo--awarded September 2004) [9/3/20]
October: Talking About Detective Fiction by P. D. James (Anthony Award 2010 [NF/Critical]) [10/9/20]
November: Replay by Ken Grimwood (World Fantasy Award 1988) [11/17/20]
December: The Sirens Sang of Murder by Sarah Caudwell (Anthony Award 1990) [12/10/20]

Complete!

The Eel Pie Murders

Probably no man in the C.I.D. ever had a more unimpressive Watson than Inspector Bull had in the little gray Welshman who had been waiting at Strand Corner House long past the hour Bull had appointed for lunch. In fact it might be said that as a Watson Mr. Pinkerton was positively insignificant, except of course that he had frequently helped out, which Watsons, properly speaking, seldom or never do. 

The Eel Pie Murders (1933) by David Frome (Zenith Brown)

First off--let me just say that I don't know what book that blurb on the cover is supposed to be for, but it's definitely NOT The Eel Pie Murders. There is no chic spa. No "exploding" scandals. And Mr. Pinkerton doesn't "confront" anybody. Mr. Pinkerton is, quite frankly, as insignificant to the story as the quote above implies. He does, randomly, follow one of the suspects and that helps Inspector Bull (who is the true hero of the piece) sort out who did what to whom. But honestly, if Mr. Pinkerton weren't around, I'm quite sure that the good inspector would still get his man (or woman). I'm still trying to figure out why the books are billed as "Mr. Pinkerton Mysteries."

The back of the book is a little better:

[Inspector Bull and Mr. Pinkerton] find the body when the tide goes out. It is the best-dressed corpse Eel Pie Island has ever seen, and even Mr. Pinkerton has to admit the dead girl is beautiful. She is also the victim of an extraordinarily clever killer

Good so far...but then the blurb-writer takes another flight of fancy:

Before long, the shy sleuth wanders too deeply into the scandal-laden maze of Eel Pie Island. First a young woman runs for her life {Huh?}; then Mr. Pinkerton himself becomes the target of the very persistent, very brutal murderer. {Double Huh? Mr. Pinkerton is about as far from being in danger as one can get....}

You'd think that Mr. Pinkerton is the intrepid man of action taking on all perils instead of the of the shy, gray policeman wannabe that he is.

So...what is the story really about? Glad you asked. Mrs. Sheila Campbell's red & white silk pajama*-clad body is found early one morning on the shore of Eel Pie Island. She was stunned by a blow on the back of the head and then drowned. Once Inspector Bull (and his shadow, Mr. Pinkerton) get down to cases, they find that various people might have wanted her out of the way. There's her ex-husband whose finances have taken a sudden down-turn and could stand to be relieved of the £500 payments he's been forced to make to her. There's the current boyfriend who has tired of her and whose wife knows about the affair. There's the owner of the gambling den that she'd managed to do out of quite a sum of cash when she discovered how to use his own rigged game against him. There's her own sister whose arguments weren't quite as private as she thought...At first, it looks all neat and tidy--the boyfriend was on the spot and has an adequate motive. But Inspector Bull isn't convinced of his guilt, especially after another murder and an attempted third, and decides to set a clever trap. No one is more surprised than he when the trap is sprung and he sees whom it has caught.

Despite my comments about Mr. Pinkerton above, this really was an enjoyable book. I happen to think it would have been even better without Mr. Pinkerton--but that's neither here nor there. I don't have anything against the shy little man and he's not a detriment to the book, but I also don't see that he's essential to the story. Even though there is just a small handful of suspects, Frome manages to keep the reader guessing and Inspector Bull is a very satisfactory protagonist. He's a smart copper with a bit of intuitive flair--but not too many leaps of logic. He's very indulgent of his Watson and doesn't mind Pinkerton tagging along on investigations. Most of the clues are fairly displayed and sharp readers have every chance to identify the culprit. ★★★


*think 1930s/40s Hollywood lounge pajamas in the movies

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Deaths = 3 (two drowned; one shot)

Dead Water

Dead Water (1963) by Ngaio Marsh takes us back to the village setting--this time a small fishing community at Portcarrow. It begins with a scene two years in the past when a young boy by the name of Wally Trehern experiences what seems to be a miraculous cure. Plagued by warts all over his hands, he has suffered the jeers and taunts of his schoolmates for years. On this occasion he runs away from them to a local spring where he encounters a lady in green who tells him to wash his hands in the spring water...and if he believes his warts will be cured. The next day his warts have fallen off as if by magic and soon the legend of the green lady and the newly christened "Pixie Falls" is spread. 

Mrs. Fanny Winterbottom , the current owner of the land where the spring is found has no problem with pilgrims coming to the site and the village making what profit they can from the magical waters. An entry fee is established, a gift shop is set up, and the local pub/inn begins turning a profit for the first time in recent memory. And then...two years later, Mrs. Winterbottom dies and her sister Miss Emily Pride, a French language expert, comes into possession. Miss Pride doesn't hold with commercializing people's belief in mystical cures. She sends messages to the village that all commercial enterprises connected to the spring must stop--she won't prevent folks from coming to the spring if they want to, but there will be no more advertisement and no more profiting from it. She also announces her intention to visit the area to see what exactly needs to be done to return the spring and surrounding land to its former condition.

Well...naturally this doesn't go down so well with those who have made a business of the thing and Miss Pride receives threats made of cut-up newsprint. So, she calls upon the help of one of her former pupils--Superintendent Roderick Alleyn. He advises her to give up the plan to visit Portcarrow and to conduct her business through an attorney. But Miss Pride is a determined woman and believes in facing up to one's obligations. She goes anyway...and is the victim of an assault (from rock-throwing) and more threats. Alleyn arrives in the village for the first (and, if Miss Pride has her way, only) Pixie Falls Festival and is just in time to discover the body of a middle-aged woman, knocked out and drowned at the spring. Surprisingly enough, it's not Miss Pride who has been murdered, but Elspeth Cost--a middle-aged woman who has been the driving force in the mystification and veneration of the spring. Was she, as it appears, mistaken for Miss Pride and then killed anyway to prevent her from identifying the attacker? Or were there reasons for someone to kill Miss Cost? Alleyn will have to sort that out in order to identify the killer.

This wound up being a middle-of-the road Marsh book for me. I had better memories of it (from my first reading 30ish years ago) than were realized in this go-round. The best of the book was Miss Emily Pride--even though she is well-named and pride almost goes before a fall. She is a determined and independent lady and it was nice to see Marsh portray a spinster in a more favorable light. I did appreciate her principled view of the supposed miracle cures. She didn't imply that they were fake, but she absolutely refused to be a party to anyone taking financial advantage of the situation. I was also amused by her relationship with Alleyn--it was fun to see him so disconcerted by his former French tutor. 

The book turns Alleyn into an action figure of sorts at the dramatic end--with the murderer bolting and Alleyn giving chase through a coastal storm and finding himself in danger of life. Not the usual drawing room summing up. With a fairly good plot (I didn't guess the murderer this time) and the exciting finish, this comes in at a solid  ★★★.

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Death = drowning 

Challenge Complete: SpaceTime Reading Challenge

For the past several years, I have participated in two SF reading challenges/events that were limited (running only in December/January), but neither of these events seemed to be on offer at the beginning of 2019.  So I jumped on board Jemima's spaceship and signed up for her SpaceTime Reading Challenge.

There are several levels and I chose the basic level

~5 Books: Planet Hopper  

I actually finished this back in October, but neglected to post about it. Here are the books read:

1. Zion's Fiction by Sheldon Teitelbaum & Emanuel Lottem, eds (2/6/19)

2. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (2/17/19)

3. A Hard Rain by Dean Wesley Smith (7/31/19)

4. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North (9/16/19)

5. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (10/4/19)

Challenge Complete: Pop Sugar

The folks at the PopSugar Reading Challenge encourage us to expand our reading horizons by giving a list of forty reading prompts--plus a bonus ten for those who are very committed. They don't insist that we do all of them--just read as many as we like as we try new things. I set myself a personal goal of 20 books from any of the 50 and here are the prompts that most appealed to me when I was working on my 20--for the full list, follow the link above.

1. A book that makes you nostalgic: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle [remembering my reading as a child] (2/17/19)
2. A book with a plant in the title or on the cover: No Patent on Murder by Akimitsu Takagi [flowers] (2/21/19)
3. A reread of a favorite book: Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers (1/12/19)
4. A book about a hobby: The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W. E. Bowman [mountain-climbing] (1/2/19)
5. A book with "pop," "sugar," or "challenge" in the title: Ellery Queen's Challenge to the Reader by Ellery Queen (22/5/19)
6. A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover: Blood of the North by James B. Hendryx [Mountie's hat & uniform] (2/15/19)
7. A book with a question in the title: Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers (3/24/19)
8. A book set on a college or university campus: Beverly Gray's Island Mystery by Clair Blank [actually takes place more at a college than on an island] (5/21/19)
9. A book told from multiple character POVs: Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh (1/10/19)
10. A book set in space: A Hard Rain by Dean Wesley Smith (7/31/19)
11. A book by two female authors: Thrones, Dominations by Dorothy L. Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh (9/19/19)
12. A debut novel: The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (1/18/19)
13. A book featuring an amateur detective: A Knife in the Back by Bill Crider (4/2/19)
14. A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (10/15/19)
15. A ghost story: The Haunted Man & The Haunted House by Charles Dickens (1/16/19)
16. A novel based on a true story: The Lover by Laura Wilson (5/17/19)
17. Favorite prompt from a past PopSugar Challenge (2017--book by a person of color): Becoming by Michelle Obama (3/27/19)
18. A "choose-your-own-adventure" book: Tower of London: A Chilling Interactive Adventure by Blake Hoena (1/26/19)
19. Read a book during the season it is set in: Where the Snow Was Red by Hugh Pentecost [Winter] (2/16/19)
20. A book set in an abbey, cloister, monastery, vicarage, or convent: Murder in a Nunnery by Eric Shepherd (4/26/19)

Ellery Queen's Challenge to the Reader

Ellery Queen's Challenge to the Reader (1938) edited by Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay & Manfred Lee) contains twenty-five short stories by "famous" mystery authors featuring "famous" detectives. The challenge here is that Queen has left the authors' names off the stories (until the end where all is revealed) and has given the detective in question a pseudonym throughout the story. I use quotes around famous for two reasons--some of the illustrious detectives and authors are no longer common knowledge in mystery circles. In fact, I only came across some of them through The World's Best 100 Detective Stories (1910)--a ten-volume set edited by Eugene Thwing (and to my mind--overflowing with obscure authors). The second reason I put famous in quotes is that Queen's friend J.J., who represents the average reader of 1938 and makes his guesses at the end of each story, doesn't know some of the more recognizable detectives on offer. I'm rather proud of myself that I correctly identified about half and have Thwing's set and a couple of recently-read short story collections to thank for the more obscure ones that I spotted.

This was a clever idea and on the whole I enjoyed trying to figure out who the celebrated sleuths were. I'm not sure if Queen included both Holmes and Poirot so the reader could be guaranteed to have identified at least two detectives or if they really thought they might stump somebody. Even in 1938, I would think it would have been a bit absurd to suppose that mystery readers would be fooled by the name change in either case--even having gone the extra mile with Holmes and changing Watson's name as well. Both gentleman are quite distinctive. But then most detectives have their quirks and characteristics and it wasn't difficult to identify most of the sleuths that I had acquaintance with. Of those I had met before on the printed page, there was only one that fooled me--and that might not have happened if I hadn't been reckless and guessed too soon (and peeked at the end to see if I was right). ★★★ and 3/4.


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Deaths = 19  (one drowned; five poisoned; eight shot; two stabbed; three suffocated/strangled)

November Calendar of Crime Reviews

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November Virtual Mount TBR Reviews

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November Monthly Key Word Reviews

November Key Words: Leaves/Leaf; Thanks;Food; Family; Share; Dream; Live; Have; She

Just a reminder: For the last two years, I have hosted the Monthly Key Word Challenge. I took it up when the most previous host's blog disappeared. The challenge will be going back home to the original host, Kim who blogs with Tanya at Girlxoxo. I'm pleased to join her in 2020 as she sponsors it once again and I encourage you to join us as we read books for the monthly prompts (image above). Just click the link to head to her page

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November Mount TBR Reviews

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November Just the Facts Reviews

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