Self Challenge - Pam's 2016 Read-a-100-books

[Pam]

And the second in the series, and number 4 as well (don't have number 3): A Cotswold Ordeal and A Cotswold Mystery

[Pam]

About to start The Haunting, another spooky children's story.

[Elle]

Doing amazing Pam!

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Congratulations

[Pam]

Cheers folks!

[Pam]

Finished The Bleeding Heart , 11th in the Bryant and May crime series. Enjoyed it a lot.

Also reading another Cotswold cosy by Rebecca Tope, A Grave in the Cotswolds.

[Pam]

Finished A Grave in the Cotswolds , although a bit of a misnomer as this one is narrated by the protagonist of her West Country series and there isn't a huge amount of Cotswolds in it.

[Pam]

And number 10 in the series, Malice in the Cotswolds . It helps to read these in published order as situations/characters from earlier ones do turn up again.

Also, A Pistol in Greenyards , the late Mollie Hunter's story of a young lad caught up in the Highland clearances in 1854.

[Pam]

Also finished volume 1 of this anthology - New Terrors 1 .

[Pam]

About to start volume 2 in the anthology - New Terrors 2.

[Pam]

Finished Margaret Mahy's children's book, The Haunting which I enjoyed.

[Pam]

Read Blood in the Cotswolds , number 5 in the Rebecca Tope series. Another misnomer in a way, as the body is actually a skeleton this time and the only blood is from a couple of non fatal incidents.

[Pam]

Finished volume 2 of the horror/dark fantasy trilogy - New Terrors 2

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Are you on track?

[Pam]

Well, Desley, at the risk of sounding a bit smug which isn't intended, I'm apparently 77% of the way through and 32 books ahead of schedule. That wasn't the case last year which was more up to the wire. However, I am planning to read on when I hit the 100 mark as I have loads more I want to clear out.

[Pam]

Have now started Freda Warrington's Sorrow's Light, a bit of an odd fantasy which goes from one thing to another, at least that's my perception.

[Pam]

And the perception stayed to the end of the book - Sorrow's Light

[Pam]

About to start Darker than the Storm by Freda Warrington.

[Pam]

Forgot to say I am also reading A Book Dragon by Donn Kushner, which combines two of my favourite things!

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Pam wrote: "Well, Desley, at the risk of sounding a bit smug which isn't intended, I'm apparently 77% of the way through and 32 books ahead of schedule. That wasn't the case last year which was more up to the ..."

Wow, that's amazing!! I haven't even read 32 books this year!!

[Pam]

I'm making up for all the years when I got very few books read due to other things to do ;-)

[Pam]

Finished Darker than the Storm .

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Pam wrote: "I'm making up for all the years when I got very few books read due to other things to do ;-)"

Ah right!

[Pam]

Started an omnibus of four thrillers/suspense novels by Cornell Woolrich, including 'Rear Window' made into the famous Hitchcock film - Cornell Woolrich omnibus.

[Patti (baconater)]

I think you deserve to feel a little bit smug. :)

[Pam]

Thanks Patti! Though I've never really worked out how to do smug...I might manage an evil chuckle though ;-)

[Pam]

Read the first book in that Woolrich omnibus and am tackling it the same as I did with the Blish omnibus - putting links to the reviews for the individual books under there, as GR doesn't seem to have reviews for the omnibus as such.

So, here is the first review, for The Bride Wore Black.

[Pam]

And second and third Woolrich stories, third of which I found out was a short story (Hitchcock film based on it, but plot had to be added for that) - The Phantom Lady and Rear Window.

Now reading the fourth one, which is a bit different as it is set in 1880 in the South.

[Pam]

Plus reading a non fiction study of ghosts by Ian Wilson - In Search of Ghosts.

Still reading Jambusters, which I started mid-May. A slow read, doing a chapter at a time when it is fine enough to read in the garden, which hasn't been very often.

[Pam]

Finished the Wilson study - In Search of Ghosts.

[Pam]

Finished the final story in the Cornell Woolrich omnibus -
Waltz into Darkness.

The omnibus as a whole provides links for the four works - Omnibus

[Pam]

Now started The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, first in the Flavia De Luce series of which I have previously read numbers 2 and 3.

[Pam]

And started Slaughter in the Cotswolds, number 6 in the Rebecca Tope series.

[Pam]

Finished Slaughter in the Cotswolds and started number 12, Trouble in the Cotswolds.

Haven't been reading these in order, apart from the first two, just in the order I could get them from the charity shops or library, so I did start from low to high, but there were gaps and I've gone back and 'filled' some of the gaps since. The last one (Slaughter) was good, and the current one is interesting so far.

[Pam]

What can I say? Huge guilt about not doing all the other things I should have been doing today, but I've more or less only read a book - Trouble in the Cotswolds, nothing else to speak of.

[Pam]

Whoops - finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and then read number 11 in the Cotswolds series, Shadows in the Cotswolds as I saw that one in the library.

[Pam]

Finished number 12 in the Bryant and May series - The Burning Man

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

You are really doing well Pam, I'm behind on my challenge, and so far going to struggle with July's challenges as I'm still on Junes.

[Pam]

Thanks Desley. Feeling guilty about taking out some library books and buying two more in a charity shop.

Read a couple already - here's the first - Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet, number 2 in the series.

[Pam]

Second Agatha Raisin read - Agatha Raisin: As the Pig Turns .

This was so dire I'm regretting buying two from the charity shop. On this evidence, they are getting worse as the series goes on. I actually started number 17 yesterday but found it so boring I started this one. Oh dear!

[Pam]

Well, I finished number 17 and also number 6 because I had made the mistake of buying that one .... Love, Lies and Liquor and The Terrible Tourist

The best bit about both of these was that they had more sense of place than any of the Cotswolds set Agatha Raisins have had, at least those I've read, and I would've thought that book 2 of a series (the Vet one) would at least have some of that characterisation.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Sorry to hear you've picked bad choices. I'm not sure I've read any Agatha Raisin books and gave up on the TV series

[Pam]

I've never seen the TV series so I didn't know what to expect. I heard there was a Radio 4 series by Penelope Keith - maybe she managed to inject some humour into it somehow.

I've just read the other one I bought - The Day the Floods Came , number 12 as they are a quick read thankfully.

[Pam]

I have one more of these books and then that's it - never again! Hiss and Hers, number 23.

[Jud]

I think the vicious vet is the last Agatha Raisin I read, I bought an omnibus on the Kindle and got very bored very quickly. They are not books to be read all in a oner. Probably best enjoyed as they are published when you have time to read a multitude of other books in between and forgotten most of the previous book.

At least you gave money to charity, so something good came out of them :o)

[Pam]

Thanks Jud ... from my experience I think they are not books to be read at all ;-)

I have finished Hiss and Hers and slammed that and the whole series. Well, I can only say what I think after all. I was disappointed because I was looking for a light read cosy crime series as I have read a lot of Rebecca Tope's Cotswold series and the AR one is supposedly set there. Tope's series has far more atmosphere of the Cotswolds and is set in real places instead of the mostly made up ones in the AR books, plus people do real things such as walk their dogs! Although the Thea Osborne character is sometimes annoying, she at least isn't stuck in her adolescence and has realistic relationships and also family to interact with. Anyway, I have another of those from the library so I'll get to it soon.

[Pam]

Anyway from the ridiculous to the nearly sublime - am now reading a collection of short stories by Christopher Fowler - Bryant and May: London's Glory. First story was interesting but I found it psychologically unlikely; can't say more without making this a spoiler.

[Pam]

And also read a couple of these short stories - Best of Murray Leinster from a collection of tales by this master of science fictional and other short stories from the 1950s and early 1960s.

[Pam]

Finished the B & M short story collection - London's Glory

I liked some more than others. One is darnright weird - B & M and the Seven Points. The author's notes on each tell about each story, where he got the idea etc and those are interesting too.
An intro about Fowler's interest in classic crime fiction is also interesting.

[Kath]

If you're looking for cosy mysteries you might enjoy Lynda Wilcox's Verity Long mysteries. Strictly Murder for example. I think that's the first. I find the characters refreshing (rather than just plain stupid!)