#RIPXV September Update

The RIP challenge has turned out to be a lifeline during this ridiculously stressful time. Escaping into old and new favorites in my favorite genre is the perfect antidote to the world right now. Here's how I did in September.

The books I finished:

Murder by an Aristocrat Mignon G. Eberhart

The Manual of Detection Jedediah Berry (reread)

Silver in the Wood Emily Tesh

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 P. Djèlí Clark

Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling Michael Boccacino (reread)

Mexican Gothic Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Infinite Blacktop Sara Gran (audiobook)

The Seance John Harwood (reread)

Finna Nino Cipri

The Crooked Hinge John Dickson Carr

My favorites of this batch were Finna, The Haunting of Tram Car 015, The Crooked Hinge, and The Seance. Although The Manual of Detection was really fun to revisit and Mexican Gothic was a great choice for my Witch Week post (which you will see in just over a month).

I've been extra stressed during the past week or so (PSATs and debates and such) so I have three books going at the moment: 

The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, edited by Chris Baldick

Murder in the First-Class Carriage Kate Colquhoun (non-fiction)

Horrorstör Grady Hendrix (audiobook)

I listened to half of Horrorstör today because it is just that good! I tried to listen to Melmoth by Sarah Perry just before this but it was just too slow and after fifty pages I still didn't care about anyone in the story. I don't know if I'll put it aside for later or just be done with it.

Looking forward, I have a couple of books that I was saving specifically for October and a few audiobook holds that should come in this month. I don't know if I'll participate in Readathon just because I'm having a hard time with anything organized or social. We'll have to see!

Have you read anything for Readers Imbibing Peril yet? Anything you want to recommend?

#RIPXV Will Save the World

What is this beautiful book stack for? Readers Imbibing Peril, of course! It is the 15th year of this wonderful, seasonal reading challenge, started many full moons ago by Carl and continued by Andi and Heather for the past few years. It is my absolute favorite thing and, to be honest, a good portion of the books I read year-round could fit into this challenge. But, in September and October, I read exclusively Perilous books and I've never regretted it. There is so much variety in what you can count, from a classic ghost story to a tea-sipping matronly detective tale to some full-blown horror and mayhem.

As we all have for many things during the past six months, our friends have opted for a simplified version of the challenge this year. There are no sign-ups and no levels. Just read one or more books during these months and post on Instagram or Twitter (if you have them) or your blog, if that's still going. It's all questionable these days, right?

So, we'll start with my new books. I have a full shelf of about 25 books that I will consider picking up this fall but I decided, since I have some other stacks, to pick a smaller group that are my "top-shelf, must reads". I will be writing about Mexican Gothic as part of Witch Week (Oct/Nov). The gothic tales pair with that (and I read some gothic classics during the summer too). Plain Bad Heroines is a new release, coming out in October, that I'm looking forward to. And, as for the American Mystery Classics, I have fun with almost every one and, in fact, started Murder by an Aristocrat last night and it grabbed my attention immediately.

Then I have some library holds that will be (hopefully) coming in over the next two months. These two novellas, Silver in the Wood and The Haunting of Tram Car 015, came in first and I think Finna is in transit. I'm also hoping for The Eighth Detective, A Declaration on the Rights of Magicians, Flyaway, The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne, and The Relentless Moon. These are all new releases so we'll see if the library manages to receive their ordered copies in a timely manner! If not, I'm sure I can handle reading them in the winter.

And then, this year, I really wanted to pull some old RIP favorites off of my shelves to enjoy their familiarity and the guaranteed quality. Picking a Carlos Ruiz Zafón almost broke my heart but his YA horror novels are so fantastic and he and I discussed once that I always turn to at least one of his books in the fall for their atmosphere. The others are all going to be fantastic as well! I don't think I could even pick one that I'm looking forward to the most.

Finally, with last Saturday being Independent Bookstore Day, I couldn't resist a few purchases to support my indie favorites. And yes, the books I chose all happen to be possible RIP reads. I grabbed two more American Mystery Classics (The Red Right Hand and Rocket to the Morgue), the latest Charles Lenox mystery, Titus Groan, and a British Library Crime Classic, Castle Skull.

So, 26 books, plus 19+ on my TBR and many others that I could choose to reread. I think I'm set!

What will you be reading perilously this autumn?

Reappearing for #RIPXIV

I was about to say "I can't believe it has been five months since I last posted" but I can totally believe it. I'm starting to feel like this particular blog has run its course after 11 years, that it needs to either change format into something more fun for me or close for good. I spent the summer posting all of my summer reads on Instagram and that was okay for a while but I even got bored there and let the final couple of weeks drop. The state of the world, extended family issues, mid-life crisis ... it has all come together to form the perfect storm of me not knowing what I want, feeling paralyzed by uncertainty, and choosing to do nothing for a bit and waiting to see what is ahead.

BUT! It is almost September and that's R(eaders) I(mbibing) P(eril) time and I have to at least share my bookshelf here, right?! If anything is going to bring me back to blogging, it's the RIP challenge, now in its 14th year.

This challenge is, of course, a simple one where you can read anywhere from 1-100 books or short stories (or watch movies) that fall into the "perilous" category, be they mysteries, horrors, creepies, or atmospherics.

This is what my shelf looks like at the moment, packed solid and full of what I think I will be in the mood to read. I, naturally, have other books below that can move up if the mood strikes. Here are a couple of close-ups.

I'm really looking forward to The Inheritor's Powder (non-fic about arsenic!), the final Jackaby novel (after a reread of book three), Jo Walton's Small Change trilogy (I need to hate on some Nazis right about now), and Hollow Kingdom (crows and Seattle).

These are mostly mysteries and I have plenty more where they came from (the stack on the floor next to the bookshelf). I'm really looking forward to Stiletto, the second book in The Rook series. I tried about ten minutes of the tv show but it pissed me off so badly with the changes in character and tone and even purpose that I swore it off forever. The Daphne du Maurier shorts are going to be fun too!

I have audiobooks on hold at the library that are unexpectedly spread perfectly over the next two or so months -- The Ocean at the End of the Lane (~3 weeks), The Graveyard Book (~4 weeks), The Sentence is Death (~5 weeks), Coraline (~7 weeks), The Night Circus (~8 weeks), and Wanderers (~9 weeks). Obviously the Gaimans and the Circus are rereads, there for comfort and sheer happiness. And my library hold list has some peril on it too ... like The Darwin Affair, Sword and Pen (the new Great Library book!), and maybe Recursion (I'm #117 on the hold list).

I'll definitely be posting on Instagram/Twitter and we'll see if the season and books I love inspires me to resurrect the blog as well.

What will you be reading this season?

#RIPXIII Update 3

I have a HUGE stack of RIP books here to mention to you before the end of the month and the perilous reading season. Grab a cup of tea or cocoa because I'm going to need your attention for a while!

I really wish I had the energy to write a full post about The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin because this was an amazing book. First, it's told in a completely unique way. One point of view is told through images, mental pictures sent from the titular elfin character back to his government. The other point of view is told in words, by a goblin archivist named Werfel, who is hosting Brangwain on his historic state visit after years of animosity. The difference between the two accounts is noticeable and is affected by each character's background and the history they were taught. It's an amazing exposure for middle grade students to the concept of "history being written by the victors". But it's also a darkly funny and infinitely perilous story about how to mend relationships that need not remain fractured. This is such an incredibly timely book and I hope it finds its way into lots of elementary and middle school libraries.

And yay! I finally started Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series with Rivers of London. It was strange to read a modern story because I don't do that very often but once I got used to that, I had a lot of fun with this world and Grant himself. I really do love "magic in the real world" stories! I'll definitely be continuing on with the series and already have the second book from the UK. (They are in trade paperbacks there and only mass market here, which I don't like to read because you have to bend them more.)

I did second reads as listens for The Prisoner of Heaven and The Angel's Game. Rereading this series before diving into Carlos Ruiz Zafón's final book in the group was an inspired idea. Seeing all of the small details fit together and the picture of mid-century Barcelona grow has been a joy. I also liked reading these two in the opposite order from which they were published. I understand why they came out in the order they did originally, with an unreliable narration followed by a more factual account, but I also liked reading them the other way, with a sad history being brushed over by a more palatable, if not-so-accurate account.

Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand was a quick trip into a creepy manor house with a British folk band who are recounting the experience years later. I liked the interview format but also felt that it was a little impersonal at times. Still, for a quick little book, it packed a punch and was a perfect RIP tale.

Then, the reason for the season, Hocus Pocus & the All-New Sequel! Written by A.W. Jantha, the first two hundred pages are a faithful retelling of the movie with a couple of minor changes to reflect more modern sensibilities about what are acceptable ways to talk to girls/women. I really liked that update. And then the second three hundred pages is a story about Max and Allison's daughter, Poppy -- her friendships, love life, and accidental summoning of the Sanderson sisters, among other witches. It was a good, solid teenage witch story with some good reveals (lesbians, good witches, the return of Binx) but I didn't fall entirely in love with it. I am also not the target audience so I'm sure that other readers will form a much greater attachment to the tale.

Now I'm caught up to Readathon time, when I got through a bunch of quick little books. The first was Mary Stewart's The Little Broomstick, published in 1971 but experiencing a new life after being made into the film Mary and the Witch's Flower by Studio Ponoc, an animation studio formed by former Studio Ghibli staff members. I love that film and this book is just as good! I'm glad I picked it up.

Next was the second Murderbot novella, Artificial Condition by Martha Wells. I didn't think the story could improve on what happened in the first volume but this absolutely did. I even got teary at a line near the end about hugs. I have the third and fourth (and final) books on my library hold list but I'm going to be buying myself copies of this set at some point. The writing is amazing, the ideas are fresh, and the bite-sized portions are perfect.

I was a bit late to the Kate Milford party so I missed out on some of her earlier Kickstarter projects, like this novella -- The Kairos Mechanism, which happens soon after the events of The Boneshaker and reunites us with Natalie Minks in the odd town of Arcane. Luckily, Milford found a few extra copies around and put them up for sale on her website. (There are three copies left for $55 each, signed by the author and the papercut artist, and including a papercut "pin" in each one.) The depth of her stories always staggers me and this one was no different. I adore the worlds she has created!

My last full Readathon read was this awesome Manga Classics version of The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe. As most of you know, Poe is one of my things and the five stories covered here are done justice with this format. The illustrations and text formatting on The Raven are stellar and I even enjoyed rereading The Masque of the Red Death, which is not one of my favorite Poe stories. This would be a great place for someone to start who is new to Poe.

While I was getting through many of these books, I was listening to David Wong's (actually Jason Pargin's) John Dies at the End, which is a weird title because John dies way before that. But this was a LONG and increasingly crazy horror/humor/sci-fi tale that, for all of its crass jokes, was smart and fun and I really loved listening to it. I'm not sure if I'll go on with the series but I'll definitely watch the movie version sometime soon.

(Almost done!) Next I dove into the first of six books I bought in Penzler Press' new American Mystery Classics series, The So Blue Marble by Dorothy B. Hughes. (The second set of six will be out in the spring of 2019.) This was SUCH a good story! It was dark and frightening and surprisingly violent for a mystery from 1940. I liked the New York setting and will definitely be searching out more of Hughes' books now, especially the three that became films.

And finally, I need to mention my relisten of Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger. That is such an incredible book! If you haven't gotten to it for the first time yet, you really should. It's the most subtle of ghost stories. The true horror, as we can attest to, usually lies is the real world.

I'm finishing out the month by going slowly (as much as I can when I'm so excited about it!) through The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I'm about 200 pages through the 800 page tome and it is amazing. And remember, he has written these books so that you can read them in any order. This one might be a bit intimidating to pick up first because of its size but the story moves along well and is already ridiculously intense.

Well, this is the end of my RIP reading season, friends. Twenty-five books finished, many new favorites found. I got to read the new Jasper Fforde before it comes out in the US and am buried in the latest Carlos Ruiz Zafón -- two of my all-time favorite authors. I got to meet Murderbot! I traveled through time and space and braved murderers, ghosts, monsters, and more. What fun!

Tell me ... did you have a favorite RIP read this year? Also, if you are in the US, have you voted or are you planning to?

Escaping the peril unscathed,
K

#RIPXIII Update 2

Life is busy and stressful and crazy but I've managed to read 13 books already this Readers Imbibing Peril season! It's been the best escape, especially since I've had at least one physical and one audiobook going at a time so I get these stories piped into my brain no matter where I am. Here are a few brief mentions of what I've gotten through recently.

I forget where I saw The Wicked Cometh by Laura Carlin mentioned but I quickly decided that it was totally the type of book I was in the mood for. Of course, it is only out in the UK. So ... I placed an order from Foyles, got my book, and dove into a heart-wrenching, neo-Victorian sensational tale. It's reminiscent of stories by Sarah Waters and Michael Cox. My only complaint was that there was one supernatural moment that didn't need to be in the story. Otherwise, it was a dark, tense, and well-executed visit to Victorian London.

I know where I heard about Martha Wells' first Murderbot novella, All Systems Red -- EVERYWHERE. And, yes, everyone was right. This was good. I sped through it and look forward to grabbing the remaining three parts of the story. (The fourth just came out or is coming out soon.)

Another book that I thought would be right up my alley was The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. This is an extremely unique mystery that takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride of violence and betrayal and surprise. I started wavering on whether I was enjoying it or not and then it came together in a way that was incredibly satisfying. I definitely want to read this one again one day now that I know how everything turns out.

My most bittersweet listen was The Empty Grave, the fifth and final Lockwood and Co. book. The sad thing is that I didn't realize it was the last in the series until about the 80 percent mark. When things started going a certain way, I headed over to Google only to figure out that I was almost done with some of the best fun I have had in a while! I know this is a middle grade series but it's honestly strong enough to be an all-ages series. If you like ghost hunting and friendships and found families, give this series a try.

I also listened to Jackaby to start my series reread and to lead up to finally reading the last book. It was so good. I love that series so much. I don't want it to be over.

So what am I reading now? I just started Rivers of London, first in the Peter Grant series about a police detective who can see the supernatural side of London. And I've started listening to The Prisoner of Heaven, another reread -- and the audiobook is stellar.

Guess what's happening soon?! It's Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon! Sign-ups are live so head over and get your name on the list.

I hope everyone is finding the right books/friends/whatever you need right now to escape all of the madness in the world. Books are honestly saving my sanity. I love you, books!!

Jumping back in,
K

Classics Challenge 9: The Leavenworth Case

I was happy to realize that one of my Back to the Classics Challenge choices--the one for "A classic crime story, fiction or non-fiction"--would work nicely for the RIP Challenge as well -- The Leavenworth Case (1878) by Anna Katharine Green. This is another one that I've had sitting around for years. I think I even saw somewhere that someone thought it was boring and so I was worried about giving it a try. Now I'm just bummed that I put it off so long.

This was THE first serial detective story, even before Sherlock. And, BONUS!, it was written by an American woman. The funny thing is that the serial detective is totally just in the background. The story is told by a young lawyer who becomes overwhelmed by the personalities of the two adopted daughters of a wealthy man who is murdered. He decides to investigate on his own, under the loose guidance of the detective Grice. What follows is a string of misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and surprises.

I quite enjoyed this story! It honestly didn't seem like it was from 1878. It was well-paced, smart, and had some nicely developed personalities. I certainly wouldn't mind finding more books from Green. (She wrote something like 40 others!) This was just her first novel and had the honor of being praised by none other than Wilkie Collins so I'm sure there are some other hidden gems out there.

Interpreting clues,
K

#RIPXIII Update

I feel really bad because I haven't been updating you on my RIP reads but every time I get out my computer to blog, I just can't find the will to write. So, instead, I'm going to share a few photos of my reading that I've taken over the past couple of weeks. I'm on my sixth RIP read right now and it has been a mostly amazing season so far!

This lovely quote was from The Incredible Crime by Lois Austen-Leigh. Now, you would think that this was a line that then demanded that the woman show everyone how awesome she actually was but no, this book went on to make the woman less independent. The "incredible" crime ended up being kind of lame, and the clues laid for the mystery were all misleading but not in a good, smart way, just in a badly-written kind of way. Super annoying from Jane Austen's great grand-niece or whatever.

Then I read Jasper Fforde's latest, Early Riser, which is now one of my favorite books of the year. More on it later, I promise. But if you love him, you will likely love this. If you haven't gotten on with his style of writing before ... well, this is definitely more of the same.

I needed something amazing to follow Fforde so I grabbed one of the new books I ordered this year, Dark Tales, a collection of Shirley Jackson's short stories. I liked almost all of the stories and really loved about of third of them. Reading one after the other did start revealing her formulas a bit though so I think next time I read her stories I will spread them out a bit more. These I read all in one day!

I also just finished listening to the fourth Lockwood and Co. book, The Creeping Shadow (Jonathan Stroud). I like this series more with each book because the story gets darker and more convoluted. I've already got a hold in on book five and I hope it comes through before the end of the RIP season.

And finally, I'm reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón for the third time. It's just as amazing as the other times I read it. I love CRZ's writing and Lucia Graves' translation skills are A+. I'm looking forward to the second half of the story!

This week I'll pick up All Systems Red from the library and start the audiobook of Jackaby for a reread. Those should both be fun!

I am absolutely loving my perilous, escapist reading right now but I'm guessing my blogging mojo will be missing in action until after the election in November. You can expect more of these quick updates from me until then.

How is your RIP reading going?

Back to Barcelona,

K

#RIPXIII Book 1: European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman

I did it! I finished my first RIP XIII read just in time to return it to the library and not incur any overdue charges. This is a perilous situation that many of us have been in, right?!

European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman is the second in Theodora Goss' series that started with The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter. I read that one in July and it surprised and delighted me and this one was just as good, if not a bit better as it delved more into feelings and morality. I've seen a complaint of the first book that it was sometimes not quite period accurate in the language and I noticed that in this book as well. All I can say is that I had already suspended my disbelief enough to accept that beast women, poisonous girls, patchwork monster ladies, and vampiric dames existed so letting a few conversational anachronisms pass was not so hard. I really got into the story and the 700+ pages flew by. The characters are all interesting and the eastern European settings will certainly trigger a bit of wanderlust!

This book picks up right where the first one left off and it promises a third volume picking up where this one ends (if enough of us buy this one!) so it is definitely for series readers. And, as it ties in to so many classic monster and mystery tales, it is also a perfect perilous read for those who enjoy some humor, romance, and friendship in their adventures.

With blood and pastries,
K

Time for the #RIPXIII Madness to Begin

Friends, I have the best of news! It is time to imbibe peril again! This is the lucky 13th year of the Readers Imbibing Peril challenge, a.k.a. RIP XIII. If you want to learn about the ways to participate (books, short stories, movies) and/or to sign up, head on over to the site that is run by the ever lovely and only mildly terrifying Heather and Andi.

As per my usual habit, I will be reading only perilous books for the next two months at my self-created Infinite Peril level of participation -- meaning I will read as many books and short stories as is (in)humanly possible. How could I settle for anything less, right? I've been sharing my book stacks (yes, stacks) over on Instagram and Twitter but let's take a look again here and make some lists. Feel free to steal any of my awesome book ideas. I am good at this RIP thing.

First, I shared the books that I have on my review shelf. These are ones that happen to be coming out in September and October (or are just shamefully overdue for reviews) and fit the theme.

Capital Crimes, edited by Martin Edwards

The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe, Manga Classics version

The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin (25 Sept)

The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (18 Sept)

Melmoth by Sarah Perry (16 Oct)

The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton (9 Oct)

Ghostly Tales, a collection from Chronicle Books

Monstress Vol. 2 by the Hugo-winning Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

The Pierced Heart by Lynn Shepherd

Then there are the books that I gathered together onto the TBR shelf by my bed. SO MANY PERILOUS READS.

The Curse of the House of Foskett by MRC Kasasian

The Devil's Workshop by Alex Grecian

The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries, edited by Otto Penzler

The Kairos Mechanism by Kate Milford

Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones

Leaving Everything Most Loved by Jacqueline Winspear

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

The Mistaken Wife by Rose Melikan

Farthing, Half a Crown, and Ha'Penny by Jo Walton

The Anvil of the World by Kage Baker

Unnatural Creatures, edited by Neil Gaiman

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie

The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katherine Green

The Mammoth Book of Dickensian Whodunnits edited by Mike Ashley

Don't Look Now by Daphne Du Maurier

The Moving Toyshop and The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin

The Incredible Crime by Lois Austen-Leigh

The Female Detective by Andrew Forrester

Antidote to Venom by Freeman Wills Crofts

Murder in the Museum and Calamity in Kent by John Rowland

Thirteen Guests by J. Jefferson Farjeon

Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne

The Dire King by William Ritter

The Apparitionists by Peter Manseau

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde

And, kids ... these weren't all of the RIP-eligible books on my TBR stacks. I stopped when I filled this shelf.

Then we have to remember rereads because these are my favorite books and why wouldn't I revisit some of them?

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

(movie out this weekend)

Jackaby, Beastly Bones, and Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter

(before I read the series-concluding The Dire King)

The Shadow of the Wind, The Prisoner of Heaven, and The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

(before I read the series-concluding The Labyrinth of the Spirits)

And, lest you think I don't have enough books, there are the library books and audiobooks and new releases that I want to get to. I am actually kicking off my reading early with European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss. It's due back to the library on 1 Sept and has a waitlist so it gives me a nice excuse to start. When I drop this off, I'll pick up my hold on Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer, the Obama/Biden buddy mystery, and maybe Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah Dawson and Kevin Hearne or All Systems Red by Martha Wells will be ready too. I have also already downloaded the next Lockwood and Co. audiobook, The Creeping Shadow (#4). Then, I'll likely be placing book orders for a few new books -- Hocus Pocus and the All-New Sequel by A.W. Jantha, Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson, The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart, The Wicked Cometh by Laura Carlin, Bluecrowne by Kate Milford, and The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton.

So, dare I count how many books I have mentioned in this post? Oh, only 56! That's doable in two months, right? After all, there is the October Dewey's Readathon (20 Oct) in there! ::maniacal laugh::

What do you think of my books? And more importantly, what are you planning to read?

Preparing for death by books,

K

Classics Challenge 8: Three Men on the Bummel

One of the luckiest categories to show up on this year's Back to the Classics Challenge was "A classic travel or journey narrative, fiction or non-fiction" because I have had Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men on the Bummel (1900) sitting on my shelf for years. I had heard it wasn't quite as good as Three Men in a Boat and so I was a bit nervous about it. I shouldn't have been, of course. While JKJ takes some strange tangents and has some oddly prescient thoughts about German politics, it still had tons of laughs and scenes that felt all too familiar, even 118 years later.

So, bummel -- JKJ says "A 'Bummel' ... I should describe as a journey, long or short, without and end; the only thing regulating it being the necessity of getting back within a given time to the point from which one started." This description is literally given in the last paragraph of the story, almost as if the characters could only describe their journey once they had finished it. What was that journey? A trip by boat, bicycle, and train for the three friends--J, George, and Harris--as they escape their wives and children in England and explore eastern Europe.

I definitely think this book makes more sense if you read the previous one first. Boat spends more time establishing the personalities and tendencies of the characters than Bummel and therefore enhances the humor. I still liked this book slightly less but mostly just because I am more interested in the Thames than I am the Black Forest.

Have any of you read anything else by Jerome K. Jerome? All of his works seem to be available but I wouldn't even know what to try next!

On the couch,
K

Classics Challenge 7: Three Men in a Boat

I was planning on reading the sequel to Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat (1889) for the Back to the Classics Challenge and decided to reread this as well and count it for "Re-read a Favorite Classic" because 1) it's short, 2) it's funny, and 3) it led me to Connie Willis, whom I adore.

Based on a quick look back through my posts, I was reminded that I first read this book in 2011 when Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog was recommended to me by Teresa of Shelf Love and I wanted to read this first. Basically, it's the story of a fictional J, two friends, and a dog, who take a small boat up the Thames from London to Oxford. I found the exact same things to be true this time -- the book is ridiculously quotable, it's quite an easy read, and it is much funnier than Jerome's intended travel guide would have been. I'm glad that I will finally be reading his about his German bicycle adventures soon!

(And yes, I will be rereading Willis again this summer too. Too bad it's not a classic yet!)

With mirth,
K

Classics Challenge 6: Lud-in-the-Mist

And in the sixth month, I finished my sixth of twelve reads for the Back to the Classics Challenge. Yay, me! I originally picked up Lud-in-the-Mist (1926) by Hope Mirrlees because Neil Gaiman  raves about it. I'm counting it as "A classic by an author that's new to you" because not only had I never read this author before but I had never even heard of her before reading Gaiman's The View from the Cheap Seats. I was able to scrounge up a used copy (which sadly ended up having water damage and various food spills inside) and am now acquainted with Ms. Mirrlees.

About this book, Gaiman says it is "a quintessentially English novel of transcendent oddness, set in a town on the borders of Fairyland, where illegal traffic in fairy fruit ..., and the magic and poetry and wildness that come with the fruit from over the border, change the lives of the townsfolk forever". It was one of his influences for Stardust and I could certainly see that as I read it. However, I have to admit that the oddness of this novel was such that I felt strong discomfort as I read it. I don't know if it was because Mirrlees was so good at describing fairy influence and power or if it was the mob mentality that rose up a couple of times or even if it was the enchantment and disappearance of quite a few children. Whatever it was, I found myself binging at the end to finish as soon as possible. (I told Z I was doing this and he thought it was the strangest thing ever and was even a bit concerned for me until I was done!) I am glad to have read it as it was an influence on books I love (Jo Walton points out that it was also obviously an influence on Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell) but now I would just like to stick to rereading those beloved tales.

With appreciation,
K

Classics Challenge 4: The Red House Mystery

It's May and I've only just finished my fourth Back to the Classics Challenge read -- The Red House Mystery (1922) by A.A. Milne. I was hoping to be a bit farther along by now but I had a false start last week with a book I just couldn't get through. Anyway, this read was for the A Classic With a Color in the Title category and it's one that I've had on my TBR shelf for a few years now. I'm very glad that I finally got to it because it is a story written just for people like me--country house mystery fans.

In Milne's introduction he says "that the detective must have no more special knowledge than the average reader. The reader must be made to feel that, if he too had used the light of cool inductive reasoning and the logic of stern remorseless facts (as, Heaven bless us, we are quite capable of doing) that he too would have fixed the guilt." And, what do you know, he succeeded! In this story of newly-minted amateur detective Antony Gillingham who stumbles across a country house murder, Gillingham as Sherlock and his friend Bill Beverley as Watson lead us through every clue and thought process and we are allowed to solve the mystery alongside them. And I will proudly say that I solved the murder at just the moment that Gillingham did! Alas, Beverley was slightly behind us.

This wasn't a perfect book. It was a little choppy to start and slightly repetitive in places. But it was short and fun and obviously written by a fan of the genre. I'm disappointed that Gillingham didn't get to use his ever-improving detecting skills again but I'm equally glad that we ended up with the many adventures of our favorite honey-guzzling bear.

Playing the sleuth,
K

Classics Challenge 3: Our Mutual Friend

My third Back to the Classics Challenge read was Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. This was for the A 19th Century Classic category, any book published between 1800 and 1899. OMF was published serially between 1864 and 1865. It is a chunkster of a book at over 800 pages and it is also a crazy read!

The book has many different storylines and all of them weave together to show the contrast between the haves and have-nots and that there are good and bad people in both groups -- and that moving from one group to the other may change how good or bad you remain. I honestly couldn't get enough of this story. After a couple hundred pages, I downloaded the audiobook so that I could keep going even when the heavy book wasn't convenient to lug around. (Simon Vance's narration was fantastic! I think it might have been my first audiobook of his.) Some might find the beginning slow as all of the different groups and people are introduced but the wait was worth it. Dickens was much more progressive in this story on some of the things readers complain about in his earlier novels. I can only hope that this was because his views matured and not just that the times changed and he was writing to the audience.

Pinching my pennies,
K

Back to the Classics Challenge - 2018

I haven't participated in a challenge for ages but, for some reason, Karen's Back to the Classics Challenge called out to me right now. I have many unread classics on my TBR and I would love to get through a few of them next year!

Here are books I might read in each of the 12 categories:

1. A 19th century classic - any book published between 1800 and 1899.
Our Mutual Friend (Charles Dickens, 1865)

2. A 20th century classic - any book published between 1900 and 1968.
One of Ours (Willa Cather, 1922)

3. A classic by a woman author.
The Linwoods (Catharine Maria Sedgwick, 1835)

4. A classic in translation. Any book originally written published in a language other than your native language.
The Ladies' Paradise (Émile Zola, 1883, French)

5. A children's classic.
Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883)

6. A classic crime story, fiction or non-fiction.
The Leavenworth Case (Anna Katherine Green, 1878)

7. A classic travel or journey narrative, fiction or non-fiction. The journey itself must be the major plot point -- not just the destination.
Three Men on the Bummel (Jerome K. Jerome, 1900)

8. A classic with a single-word title.
Emma (Jane Austen, 1816)

9. A classic with a color in the title.
The Red House Mystery (A.A. Milne, 1922)

10. A classic by an author that's new to you.
Lud-in-the-Mist (Hope Mirrlees, 1926)

11. A classic that scares you.
To the Lighthouse (Virginia Wolfe, 1927)

12. Re-read a favorite classic.
David Copperfield (Charles Dickens, 1846)

Well, I've ended up with two Dickens on here but that may change. Otherwise, I'm excited by this list. Half of the authors are women and that's great! I'm going to pull these books and put them together on my TBR and try to get to them earlier in the year. I was already planning on Our Mutual Friend and The Linwoods in January so I'm hopeful that I will make good progress.

Reading the past,
K

#RIPXII Wrap-Up

How is it the end of October already?! Luckily I got my fill of RIP reads over the past two months with 25 perilous reads, 17 of them rereads. Yay!

I loved my massive Agatha Christie binge. I had great fun with audiobooks from Carlos Ruiz Zafón and John Connolly. And I finished the event with a collection of ghost stories--Ghostly--collected by Audrey Niffenegger. With just two duds (I guess I am not really a fan of some modern ghost stories), this was a great collection.

So, I would stop the RIP reads now except that my hold on the audiobook of The Screaming Staircase just came in so I'm gonna need a few more days on this challenge ... ::wink::

What was your favorite read this season (perilous or not)?

Reminder: Witch Week is starting over at Emerald City Book Review today ...

Until we meet again ... in a dark alley, under a full moon,

K

#RIPXII September Update

I thought I would do a little update for the midpoint of the RIP challenge since I'm in the middle of a big reading project and it will take a couple more weeks to wrap up and write about!

So far I've posted three reviews but I've also --

*listened to A Red Herring Without Mustard, the third Flavia de Luce story
*almost finished listening to The Watcher in the Shadows, one of the Carlos Ruiz Zafón YA horror novels
*read the first six chapters of A is for Arsenic, five Agatha Christie novels and twelve short stories

In the coming days, I'm going to keep on with the Agatha Christie/poison project, start another CRZ audiobook, and choose some amazing rereads for Readathon!

How is your RIP season going so far?

Immersed in poison(ers),
K

#RIPXII 2: The Meaning of Night

I didn't waste any time getting to my reread of Michael Cox's The Meaning of Night this RIP season. I read this book near when it came out in 2006, a couple of years before I started blogging, so all I really had in the old noggin were memories of super-enthusiastic feelings. I was quite nervous in case the book didn't live up to those.

The story follows Edward Glyver as he tries to regain a birthright that he was kept from as a child and to get revenge for wrongs done to him as a youth. He fights against Phoebus Daunt, a poet and scoundrel, who is attempting to con his way into that birthright and into the heart of Emily, the same woman who Edward has fallen in love with. I know that sounds a bit stodgy and, well, Victorian, but that's because I didn't share the first line yet --

After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn's for an oyster supper.

Yes, Glyver lets us know from the first sentence that he is a murderer. And, from there, the story continued to keep my attention. It was smart and twisty and made great use of Cox's extensive knowledge of history and literature. I'm so glad that I reread it and it has re-whetted my appetite for Wilkie Collins and the other Victorian sensationalists. Not all books need supernatural villains, for there's truly nothing so scary as the evil men do.

Sussing the truth,
K

'Tis the Season: RIP XII

Nothing signifies the transition from summer to fall like the Readers Imbibing Peril challenge. Andi and Heather are hosting the event again this year and I couldn't be happier to switch into perilous reading mode. If you're interested in choosing a challenge level, head to either one of their posts for details. I always go a bit overboard and just assign myself the imaginary Infinite Peril level -- read as many books as I possibly can in two months. I always succeed.

With all that is going on in the world at the moment, I wanted to do something a little different this year. I have decided to spend most of my time this season with rereads. I want to find comfort in familiarity, joy in revisiting favorite authors and characters, peace in the guarantee that each read will be a good one. As I'm sure you have noticed, this is one of my favorite overarching genres and I have shelves full of stellar perilous reads.

(If I've actually read the book for a previous RIP challenge, I've included the year and my review.)

I love Carlos Ruis-Zafón and his YA horror stories--Marina, The Prince of Mist (2010), The Midnight Palace (2012), and The Watcher in the Shadows (2013)--are creepy but tolerable for a chicken like me. They are all standalones so I (or you) can read them in any order.
I also adore the Samuel Johnson books by John Connolly -- The Gates (2010), The Infernals (2012), and The Creeps (2014). I love them so. I may do a marathon read through all three!
Gareth Jones' Constable & Toop (2014) is right next to them on my shelf and now I want to read that as well.
And I haven't forgotten that the fourth and final Jackaby book, The Dire King, is out. I'm just waiting until I can get over to my indie bookstore to buy it. I don't know if I'll reread all of the other books this season since I did fairly recently but one never knows!

Jonathan Barnes is another favorite and I haven't read The Somnambulist (2009) or The Domino Men (2010) in years. They are supernatural strangeness done in the best way.

Now, it hasn't been that long since I first read The Supernatural Enhancements (2014) but, since I am still in an Edgar Cantero mood after Meddling Kids, I will likely read it again sooner than I had planned.
Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling (2012) was a five star read and, as Michael Boccacino hasn't written another book yet, I'll just have to revisit this one.

I've been rereading the Flavia de Luce series (done with those first two on top) so I'll continue with these until maybe catching up to the current one, Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd.

I am also planning on raiding my Agatha Christie collection. I read so many of them before I started blogging so I don't even have ratings for them in LibraryThing and barely remember most of the plots. Same with Josephine Tey and Ngaio Marsh so I might pick some of those up too. I miss my classic mysteries!

It really has been ages since I read Michael Cox's The Meaning of Night and The Glass of Time but they pushed me down the path of neo-Victorians and sensationalism, now two of my favorite things, so I feel the need to revisit them and see if they are still as amazing as I remember.

It has also been a while since I last read Coraline. I watch the movie semi-regularly but the book is much scarier and Coraline is much stronger and more awesome in it. While I'm gazing at the Gaiman shelf, I'm also realizing that another reread of The Graveyard Book (2012) sounds good too!

I can't remember the last time I read Frankenstein and I have a pretty Penguin clothbound edition that I haven't cracked open yet. (And I see you sitting there, Dracula and The Woman in White.)

And, as if those fifty or so books aren't going to keep me busy enough, I will still try and read a couple of TBR books, especially short stories--The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales and Ghostly--and non-fiction--A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie and The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer.

I feel so happy just making this list so I know I'm going to have a lot of fun reading! What are your RIP season reading plans?

Delving into blissful darkness,
K