Please link up your "Any Other Color" Reviews below
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Mount TBR Headquarters: Reviews & More
I like my "Headquarters"
style of challenge management so well that I'm going to continue it in 2015.
Here you will find the link to the original challenge post. Also, each month
I will enable a Monthly Review Link where posts for that month can be linked
up. The link will be open a few days into the next month. If you
miss posting a review to its particular month, then feel free to add it to the
next. There will also be the usual Quarterly Checkpoints that will go live every three months.
Good luck and Happy Climbing!
Good luck and Happy Climbing!
Vintage Bingo Headquarters: Reviews & More
I like my "Headquarters" style of challenge management so well that I'm going to continue it in 2015. Here you will find the link to the original challenge post. Also, each month I will enable a Monthly Review Link where posts for that month can be linked up. The link will be open a few days into the next month. If you miss posting a review to its particular month, then feel free to add it to the next. You may also use the review links to declare Bingos as you accumulate them. The Final Wrap-Up Link will go live towards the end of the year. Please hold all wrap-ups until that time. Thanks!
Good luck and Happy Bingo-ing!
Original Challenge Post
The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly Revisited
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| Image Credit |
Back in 2012 I used the famous movie title for my year-end wrap-up post. I'm in the mood to hand out similar prizes this year...so let's see what kind of critic's awards are on offer for my reads in 2014.
The Train Wreck Book Award goes to...Undead & Unpopular by MaryJanice Davidson. Or as I titled my blog post: Undead & Unpopular [& Unbelievably Bad]. This was billed as a fun, delightful little bit of chick lit...witty and funny--a romantic comedy (which I'm totally claiming for a challenge because that's one of the reasons I read it....even if I couldn't find much evidence of wit, fun, or comedy lurking amongst the pages). I didn't care for it...but I just couldn't stop reading it.
The But I Said I Wanted A Pony Award goes to...Copper Gold by Pauline Glen Winslow. The blurb on the back of the book sounded promising--a nice British police procedural. Right up my alley. But I got 100 pages in and decided that this is just not in any way, shape, or form a compelling story. This one was so not my thing that I didn't even finish it--a rarity for me.
On the flip side, The Oooh, You DID Get Me A Pony Award goes to...Mind Fields: The Art of Jacek Yerka/The Fiction of Harlan Ellison by Yerka & Ellison. I fully expected this art project book to be a delight and I was not disappointed. One of the few books to earn a full five stars this year, Yerka's provocative artwork and Ellison's masterful story-telling combine for an extraordinary collection that is very special indeed.
The Making Historical Magic Award goes to...Sinners & the Sea by Rebecca Kanner. Kanner whips us back to Biblical times for the story of Noah and the flood...only this time we experience the events through the eyes of Noah's wife. A compelling story about identity-- what it is about us that makes us who we are and carries us where we need to go.
The Poetry in Motion Award and Whole Ball of Wax Awards go to...Then Gone by Romayne Rubinas. The shortest book on my reading list is also the most powerful. I give you my entire mini-review for a mini-book: "But--a mini-book in size only. Then Gone is Romayne Rubinas's gorgeous, hand-stitched petite book of poems. Her words are achingly beautiful and heart-breaking in their raw honesty about the ravages of cancer and its treatment. Short and poignant, ringing with lovely poetry about a very ugly disease." Her book of poems is the undisputed overall winner on the Block this year.
And, finally, the overall P.O.M. Award Winner for best mystery of 2014 [excluding rereads] goes to....Relic by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child*.
*The over-all P.O.M. Winner is chosen based on many criteria--not just over-all point total (if that were the case then a collection of non-canonical Holmes stories would be carrying this award off). Relic wins based on sheer readability, its power to keep me hooked despite being severely out of my comfort zone, interesting characters, and an intriguing, research-oriented puzzle.
2014 Year in Review
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Another reading and blogging year has come and gone and it's time to look back at the highlights and see what kind of year 2014 was here at My Reader's Block.
Challenges remain my biggest passion (after reading, of course). Over the course of the year, I signed up for and completed 47 challenges. [So much for any promises to control myself.] I started with my very own Vintage Mystery Challenge and was busy signing up right till the end--joining Michelle's Christmas Spirit Challenge in November to carry me through to the New Year. I've met my goal on that one--but may add a few more before the January 6 deadline. But joining isn't the only challenge-related business here at the Block. Oh, no. Hosting is a big thing too. The most popular are the Vintage Mystery Challenge and Mount TBR. I'm so grateful to everyone who joined me in the Reader's Block Bingo Hall for a round or two of mystery bingo. In fact, I had so much fun with it...we're going to do it again in 2015. The cards have been scrambled and there are a few new bingo categories--so if you haven't played mystery bingo yet, head on over and secure your place at the table. We'd love to have you. The Color Coded and Read It Again, Sam Challenges were also popular. But the overwhelming favorite remains the Mount TBR Challenge with participants in the blogging world as well as on GoodReads. Thanks to everyone who joined me in my own personal brand of challenge-madness!
It seems to be a recurring theme...but I continue to regret my loss of blog-browsing time. Someone stole a few of my hours somewhere--or I'm just slowing down as I get older [did I really say that?]--and I apologize to all my friends out here in the blogging world. I'm still peeking in on most of you--but it's more of a fly-by, I'm afraid, with very little commenting. I did manage to get through nearly all of the reviews--especially for the Vintage Mystery Challenge, the challenge that is nearest and dearest to my heart. I want to send a shout-out to the bloggers who make this such a great place to visit and chat and read: Sergio at the Fedora, John at Pretty Sinister Books, Yvette at In So Many Words, Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise, Curtis at The Passing Tramp, Steve at In Search of the Classic Mystery, Noah at Noah's Archives, Freda at Freda's Voice and Cheryl and Gina and all the others that I'm having an almost-senior moment and forgetting. You all continually feed my reading and/or challenge addictions and help my never-ending TBR pile to grow.
Thank you once more to all of the wonderful people out here in the blogosphere--those who follow and just take a peek now and then, those who comment, and those who have become close blogging buddies--especially those of you who share my love of vintage mysteries; I have appreciated your knowledge and insights on my favorite genre. Thanks as well to all who sponsored the many challenges which helped feed my reading/challenge habit--they were all great fun! I hope you all have a fabulous New Year!
And, finally, my year-end stat totals:
Total Books Read: 191
Total Pages: 46,173
Percentage by Female Authors: 45%
Percentage by US Authors: 62%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors: 10%
1 Argentine
2 Australian
2 Canadian
1 Chinese
2 Dutch
1 French
1 German
1 Hungarian
1 Japanese
1 New Zealand
1 Polish
1 Russian
3 Scottish
2 Swedish
Percentage Mystery: 73%
Percentage Fiction: 92%
Percentage written 2000+: 28%
Percentage of Rereads: 4%
Percentage Read for Challenges: 100%
Number of Challenges fulfilled: 47 (100%)
The Best Reads of 2014 (no rereads allowed)
Five Stars:
India Black & the Gentleman Thief by Carol K. Carr
Then Gone by Romayne Rubinas
Triumph by Philip Wylie
Mind Fields: The Art of Jacek Yerka/The Fiction of Harlan Ellison by Yerka & Ellison
Four & 1/2 Stars:
Sinners & the Sea by Rebecca Kanner
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Four & 1/4 Stars:
The Mammoth Book of the Lost Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes by Denis O. Smith
Four Stars:
Too Many to List--46 over all
One more Wrap-Up Post coming--with Awards, High-lights...and low-lights.
December Wrap-Up & P.O.M. Award
Well, here we are...down to the last monthly pick of 2014. I've spent the year combining my monthly wrap-up post with Kerrie's Crime Fiction Pick of the Month over at Mysteries in Paradise. December was a whirlwind of mad-dashing reading (to try and meet all my challenges) and holiday merry-making (with the books above being part of the Christmas loot and headed for the TBR stacks of reading future). I'm pleased to say I read a fair amount even with holiday parties popping up everywhere. Here's the run-down:
Total Books Read: 15
Total Pages: 2615 [quite a drop! must be all the short books I was sneaking in to make the 191 total books ;-) ]
Average Rating: 3.43 stars
Top Rating: 5 stars
Percentage by Female Authors: 53%
Percentage by US Authors: 73%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors: 6%
Percentage Mystery: 60%
Percentage Fiction: 80%
Percentage written 2000+: 33%
Percentage of Rereads: 0%
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: 47 (100%)
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. December found me with nine fictional mysteries and one non-fiction mystery-related book.
Mayhem in B-Flat by Elliot Paul (3.5 stars)
Black-Headed Pins by Constance & Gwenyth Little (4 stars)
The Secret of the Gondola by David Alan Brown (2 stars)
A Curtain Falls by Stefanie Pintoff (3.5 stars)
The Finishing Stroke by Ellery Queen (4 stars)
The White Dress by Mignon Eberhart (3 stars)
Words for Murder Perhaps by Edward Candy (3 stars)
Sick to Death by Douglas Clark (3.5 stars)
Crossworder's Holiday by Nero Blanc (3 stars)
The Films of Sherlock Holmes by Chris Steinbrunner and Norman Michaels (4 stars)
The only five-star winner this month was a non-fiction entry. A beautiful book of poems by Romayne Rubinas Dorsey called Then Gone. Not only are the poems hauntingly beautiful, but the tiny, hand-stitched volume is a work of art to look at as well. On the mystery side of things, we have two four-star fiction entries and one non-fiction. The Black-Headed Pins by the Littles is a fun, madcap mystery set in an American countryhouse. The Finishing Stroke by Queen is also set in a remote American house--but the atmosphere is a bit more sinister. Each is a fine example of murder under the mistletoe during the holiday season. The Films of Sherlock Holmes is an interesting (although a bit out of date) look at the Great Detective on film from the earliest minutes of silent film through Nicholas Meyer's The Seven Percent Solution. This December, I'm all about the fun....so the month's POM Award goes to....
This madcap mystery is great fun--with suspects popping in and out of rooms and dead bodies roaming through the hallways how could it not be? Smithy [our protagonist] gets in plenty of witty one-liners and exchanges bon mots with her two beaus...all while giving the local policeman a run for his money in the detecting business. Highly entertaining.
Stay tuned for the complete year-end review with the P.O.M. Grand Prize and other tidbits.
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