31 May 2010

New to me this year

In the first 5 months of 2010 I have read 16 "new to me" authors (that is, this is the first book I've ever read by this author).
You can locate my reviews below. The ratings are at the end of the line.

THE MARATHON MURDERS, Chester D Campbell     4.1
DARK WINTER, William Dietrich   4.2
THE SWAYING PILLARS, Elizabeth Ferrars   4.2
THE BLOOD OF THE WICKED, Leighton Gage    4.9
THE SILENCE OF THE RAIN, Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza 4.5
INHUMAN REMAINS, Quintin Jardine     4.2
CONSEQUENCES OF SIN, Clare Langley-Hawthorne     4.3
BLOOD & ICE, Robert Masello    4.5
DEVIL'S PEAK, Deon Meyer (audio book)    5
CROSSFIRE, Miyuke Miyabe    4.6
THE PANIC ZONE, Rick Mofina    4.8
THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST , Stuart Neville aka THE TWELVE    4.7
TAROKO GORGE, Jacob Ritari    4
THE LAST POPE, Luis Miguel Rocha    4.3
A CARRION DEATH, Michael Stanley    5
DEADLINE MAN, Jon Talton    4.4

30 May 2010

Weekly Geeks 2010-19: Getting Graphic

This week's Weekly Geek task relates to graphic novels:

Do you read graphic novels or memoirs? Who are your favorite authors? Which books do you recommend?

If you haven't read any, why not?

Some people have the impression that graphic novels are glorified comic books, are unsophisticated or don't qualify as "serious" literature. What do you think? If you track your book numbers, do you count a graphic novel as a book read?

When I was a child I belonged to the comic book brigade in our town. We stored our comic books in boxes under our beds and traded them with each other. My favourites were Classics, which were graphic versions of novels like The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Mask, Treasure Island etc. But for me they were never really substitutes for "real" books.

[I'm not sure that I understand the inference in the question that graphic novels and memoirs are the same thing. To me a memoir is the equivalent of an autobiography, not a graphic novel at all.]

Over the years my attitude to graphic novels has remained more or less the same - they are no substitute for the "real thing". In essence they often seem to me to be a watered down version of the story, without any of the descriptive text and character development that characterises a real novel. I do object too to the graphic novels that ride on the coat-tails of famous authors.

I really don't understand for example the condoning of the production of "graphic novels" based on Agatha Christie titles. I've written about that a couple of times on this blog.

For example in a post titled Read an Agatha Christie in under an hour I wrote

Well, I hope nobody is kidding themselves that these comics, a total of 83 titles, are going to turn anybody into a reader of the Agatha Christie classics!

The connection between this "graphic novel" and the original novel is just the main elements of the story. There is no suspense, and really none of what attracted readers to Agatha Christie's books.

Pardon the cynic in me who sees them as part of a money-making, marketing exercise. On the back of the copy of SECRET OF CHIMNEYS which I borrowed from my local library the reader is encourage to "collect all of the new Agatha Christie adventures, adapted by some of the world's most original comic book artists".

And again, a year later, talking about the graphic version of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, I wrote

Please don't give these to young people thinking you are hooking them on Agatha Christie. They will be greatly disappointed when they discover the "real books" require much greater levels of literacy and concentration.

So no, I wouldn't count a graphic novel on my total of "books read" for the year, just as I wouldn't count the viewing of a TV adaptation. They are at best interpretations of the original, at worst an attempt to make money by riding on the coat-tails of someone else's intellectual property.

I am aware that there are such things as "original" graphic novels that do not appear in any other format. But my interest in trying to read them is zilch.

Sunday Salon: 30 May 2010 - Book Blog Carnivals

Book Blog Carnivals are a great way of hooking up with other bloggers as well as collecting recommendations to add to your book "wish list". If you participate, then people come to your blog site to read your submission too.

The Agatha Christie Blog Carnival, published on my "other" blog earlier this week, contains, as you might expect, recommendations and links to reviews of Agatha Christie novels.

I'm hosting an edition of the Book Review Blog Carnival on about June 6. The carnival is now open for your submissions - they don't have to be crime fiction. The current carnival is sitting at The Book Mole

Review: THE SILENCE OF THE RAIN, Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza

First published 1997 in Portuguese
Winner in 1997 of the Nestle and Jabuti prizes (Brazil)
Translated into English by Benjamin Moser in 2002
This edition Picador 2003
ISBN 9-780330-490924
261 pages

Blurb:
In a parking garage in the center of Rio de Janeiro, corporate executive Ricardo Carvalho is found dead in his car, a bullet in his head, his wallet and briefcase missing. Inspector Espinosa is called in to investigate the apparent robbery and murder, but the world-weary Espinosa knows that things are not always as they seem. Carvalho’s recently acquired one-million-dollar life insurance policy and the subsequent disappearance of his secretary Rose complicate matters—as does Espinosa’s attraction to Carvalho’s beautiful widow, one of the suspects. And when two more people turn up dead, Espinosa must speed up his investigation before anyone else becomes a casualty.

Inspector Espinosa is an interesting character, in his mid forties, a failed marriage behind him, a bit old fashioned, a book collector and reader of English classics, and to my mind at least, a touch of Inspector Clueso about him.

I'm not spilling any beans if I tell you that right from the start the reader knows what has happened in this death. But of course Inspector Espinosa does not have the advantage that we have - we were witnesses at the death scene, for a few moments at least. And so we watch Espinsosa test all sorts of hypotheses and follow false trails. We can only hope, in the words of Sir Thomas More, that when his head has finished turning, it is facing in the right direction, and that he comes to the right conclusion. It is a pity he can't feel us willing him on.

THE SILENCE OF THE RAIN has an interesting structure. In PART I we see Espinosa in the third person. In fact we enter many people's heads in the same way. In PART II Espinosa is in the first person, we actually hear how he thinks. And then in PART III, we see him "from the outside" again.
If you've read this book, how did that strike you?

My rating: 4.5

THE SILENCE OF THE RAIN is the first in Garcia-Roza's Inspector Espinosa series.
I'm certainly interested in reading more, now that I've discovered him.Many thanks to Rob at The View from the Blue House who pointed the way to him in our mutual quest: the 2010 Global Reading Challenge.
It is also interesting to find out that the author was 60 years old when he wrote this first novel. Check an interview with him here. Thanks to Jose Ignacio Escribano of The Game's Afoot for pointing to this article.

In the list below, from Fantastic Fiction, the dates (I think) indicate dates published in English.
1. The Silence of the Rain (2002)
2. December Heat (2003)
3. Southwesterly Wind (2004)
4. A Window in Copacabana (2005)
5. Pursuit (2006)
6. Blackout (2008)
7. Alone in the Crowd (2009)

28 May 2010

THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE comes out on top

Ten days ago I asked people to nominate their best Agatha Christie novel.

Twelve people responded, many confessing that, like me, they hadn't read all the novels she wrote.

Here is the resultant list.
You will notice that 8 out of 12 chose THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE.

The Murder at the Vicarage (8)
And Then There Were None (6)
Murder On the Orient Express (5), The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (5)
Death on the Nile (3), Evil under the Sun (3), The Mysterious Affair at Styles (3)

Here is a sample of the BBC audio

And here is the beginning of the Geraldine McEwan TV version

27 May 2010

Forgotten Book: THE GREENWAY by Jane Adams

This week's edition of Friday's Forgotten Books is being hosted by George Kelley.

THE GREENWAY (published 1995) was Jane Adams' debut novel, and became the first book in the Mike Croft series. It was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Award in 1995 and for the Author's Club Best First Novel Award.

Blurb.
Cassie still has nightmares about that day in 1975 when she and her cousin Suzie took a short cut through The Greenway. For somewhere along this path Suzie simply vanished. Also haunted is John Tyson, the retired detective once in charge of Suzie's unsolved case.

I remember being terrifically impressed with this book when I read it in late 1996. It made it to Australia in paperback sometime then. My face to face discussion group also really enjoyed it. I had been to England a couple of times by then and was fascinated by the idea of walking tracks that spanned the country.

Jane Adams has continued on with her writing, moving from one series to another, and now has 19 novels published including a new one in 2010 - RESOLUTIONS.

Mike Croft
1. The Greenway (1995)
2. Cast the First Stone (1996)
3. Fade to Grey (1998)
4. Final Frame (1999)

25 May 2010

Review: B - VERY FLAT, Margot Kinberg

PublishAmerica 2010
ISBN 978-1-4489-7121-3
202 pages

Serena Brinkworth is a dedicated music student at Tilton University, and a very talented violinist. Her dream is to win a competition that will make her the concertmistress in the Young Artists' Orchestra. She has been working very hard towards that end, and if she wins, the world will be her oyster.

But life at Tilton University is a lot more dangerous than Serena imagines. On the night of the competition she dies from anaphylactic shock, brought on by contact with peanut flour. The detectives investigating her death are convinced by Serena's partner, backed up by Dr Joel Williams from Tilton's Department of Justice, that they should be considering murder. And then the autopsy confirms that it was no accident.

But who wanted Serena dead? The detectives find that there is actually quite a list of suspects.

In true Agatha Christie style the reader is led to consider a range of evidence, to discount the red herrings, and work out who is not telling the truth.

B - VERY FLAT is #2 in Margot Kinberg's Joel Williams mysteries. A former cop who is now a lecturer in criminal justice is an approachable and intuitive detective who seems to be able to see what others haven't seen.

B - VERY FLAT is an entertaining read, and both it and Margot's debut novel PUBLISH OR PERISH deserve to be popular not only with mystery addicts like me, but also with those who are developing their addiction.

My rating: 4.5

Margot Kinberg was born and raised in Pennsylvania, where she graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and later, received her Master's Degree from LaSalle University. After teaching at the University of Delaware for several years and earning her Ph.D. there, Kinberg moved west. She taught at Knox College in Galesburg, IL, and is currently an Associate Professor at National University in Carlsbad, California. Kinberg currently lives in southern California with her husband, daughter and two dogs.

She blogs at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist

Other reviews to check
Petrona calls it a "perfect mystery novel".
DJs Krimiblog
The Thrill of It All
9mm: An interview with Margot Kinberg (Crime Watch)
Reactions to Reading: a delightful whodunnit with a plethora of clues, red herrings and potential suspects.

Do Crime Fiction Awards, Shortlists, and Longlists matter to you?

I'm not ashamed to say they do affect me, and in fact often provide direction to my reading.

I'm always interested to see what makes it onto various longlists, and keep an eye out for titles that crop up on many lists. That's why I'm currently reading THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST by Stuart Neville. It won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (BTW it is published in the UK as THE TWELVE).

When I read on Mystery Fanfare on Sunday that the CrimeFest e-Dunnit Award (“for the best crime fiction e-book first published in the UK in 2009”) had been won by BEAT THE REAPER by Josh Bazell I popped over to Amazon to see if it was available for Kindle (and was pleased to find it was).

I've been adding links to various lists into my headlines, but here are some in case you've missed them.

24 May 2010

Review: THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST, Stuart Neville

Soho Press (US) 2009
Published in the UK by Harvill Secker Random House as THE TWELVE
ISBN 978-1-56947-600-0
326 pages

Maybe if he had one more drink they'd leave him alone. Gerry Fegan told himself that lie before every swallow..... No. They were still there, still staring. Twelve of them if he counted the baby in its mother's arms.

Fegan is still a respected man in West Belfast, despite the drink. His constant companions wherever he goes though are the shadows of those he killed: five soldiers, a policeman, two Loyalists, and four civilians who'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The ghosts are demanding that he pay his debts. Gerry Fegan knows that means killing those whose orders he had been carrying out.

The first is relatively easy: Mick McKenna, once an IRA fighter but now a politician. Down at the old shipyard, no CCTV, no people, just two bullets. After that there's only 11 shadows.
What Gerry Fegan can't take into account is Marie McKenna, Mick's niece, and her young daughter Ellen. And between them they threaten to bring Gerry's plans unravelled.

The structure of THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST is an interesting one. As Gerry works to rid himself of the ghosts, Stuart Neville explores the fragile peace that's broken out in the last decade or so in Northern Ireland. Corruption, violence, and guilt simmer just below the surface. The Minister of State for Northern Ireland and the Chief Constable are fearful that McKenna's assassination will cause an outbreak of a war of retribution.

THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST is Stuart Neville's debut novel and won the Mystery/Thriller category of the 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

It is one of a literal wave of Irish noir thrillers.

My rating 4.7 despite the fact that it is a little more noir than my usual reading fare.

Other reviews to check:
International Noir Fiction
Mystery Fanfare
Detectives Beyond Borders
Crime Always Pays

Visit the author's website: read an excerpt, watch a trailer, read some reviews.

Does Audio Enhance?

It is an interesting question to ask yourself as you listen to the audio of a book, whether you would have enjoyed it as much otherwise.
There is no doubt in my mind that a good narrator has the ability to enhance the reader's enjoyment of the book. I'm also sure that has something to do with the fact that the reader as a listener is at liberty to visualise the action and the protagonist.

This is something that rarely happens to me when I am physically turning the pages of a book. My mind seems to accept the text without bothering to visualise it.
But as I drive along listening to a book I seem to do a lot of visualising.

There are some definitive voices and until recently I thought that the definitive one for Hercule Poirot was David Suchet's. I guess that is because he is my "screen" pick. What I visualise without doubt is that dapper little man that David Suchet has developed on the screen.

But in my recent review of THE THIRD GIRL I had to admit he isn't the only one who reads the part well.

Currently I am listening to a narration of Henning Mankell's THE FIFTH WOMAN.
I have been asking myself which Wallander I am seeing in my "mind's eye".
Here are the contenders:

And the winner is... Krister Henrinksson (on the extreme right). Are you surprised?

How about you - do you find that an audio book can enhance your enjoyment of a book (even if you would have enjoyed it anyway)? Do you activate your "minds-eye" as the narration flows over you?

Book Blog Review Carnivals

The 44th Book Review Blog Carnival is currently being hosted at Busy Moms Who Love to Read.

And it will be my pleasure to host the 45th Carnival in 2 weeks time.

Submit your blog post here

23 May 2010

Weekly Geeks 2010-18: A Character Comparison

This week's Weekly Geeks task has been eating at me all day.
I hate being defeated by something!

For this week's task, let's take a close look at some of our favorite bookish characters. Specifically, think of a character that you really relate to, a character that you think you could jump right in the story and actually

be, a character that you think the author might

know you because it comes so close to who you are! List for us the traits of that character that you feel closely resembles yourself. If you feel like there's several characters that fit the bill, list them all! Why not!

I'm not really sure that I share many traits with any of the characters in the sort of fiction I read. Most of them lead far more active lives than I do, much more dangerous, and a lot less sedentary.

Given my interest in crime detection, could I be Miss Marple, I thought? While we share white hair, she's a lot nosier than I am, and her memory is a lot better.

Perhaps a character that I feel I have a lot in common with is Hetty Wainthropp.
Wikipedia says that the TV series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates which starred Patricia Routledge was based on a novel called MISSING PERSONS written in 1986 by David Cook.
(You probably remember Patricia Routledge from Keeping Up Appearances.)

Hetty Wainthropp takes on small cases, disappearances and the like, and often finds out a lot more than she cares to know. Yes, Hetty Wainthropp is who I'd like to be.

Latest Agatha Christie Blog Carnival posted

The Carnival has 30 contributions from 11 contributors this time in a bumper edition.

There are some new features this time

Featured blog.
If we featured every post this blogger writes about Agatha Christie, we'd have a full carnival without any other submissions. Make sure you visit this remarkable blog regularly.
Discoveries:
This will be a category you can submit entries for from now on. These are Agatha Christie related news items and web pages that you've come across that this community would be interested in. Whenever you come across an interesting item, remember to share it with us.

Advance Notice: On 15 September 2010 Agatha Christie would have been 120 years old.
Here at the Blog Carnival we will be taking part in world wide celebrations with a blog carnival tour from 1-30 September.
Participants will volunteer for a day in September to host the carnival. Your post of course must be related to an Agatha Christie topic. Indicate your interest in being a stop on the blog tour by leaving a comment or emailing me.

Sunday Salon: 23 May 2010: what is important to me

Can visitors readily identify what your blog is about and what you read?

First of all on this blog I tell people who I am:

Hello. I'm Kerrie, seriously addicted to crime fiction. To mark your visit, please leave a comment. I read and review crime fiction, so email me if you want to send me a book you would like me to read. Beware: I am in Adelaide, South Australia. I have a Kindle so will review e-books

My mini tag cloud gives a good indication of what matters to me on this blog:

2010 global reading challenge

Agatha Christie Challenge

crime fiction alphabet

Friday's forgotten books

Scandinavian reading challenge

weekly geek

writing book reviews

As do the headlines I add to every week

What I am currently reading (or rather, my list of intended reading that I don't always stick to)

now - THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST, Stuart Neville
next - B-VERY FLAT, Margot Kinberg
Audio - THE FIFTH WOMAN, Henning Mankell
A DARKER DOMAIN, Val McDermid
THURSDAY NIGHT WIDOWS, Claudia Pineiro (Argentina)
THE SILENCE OF THE RAIN, Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza (Brazil)
HYPOTHERMIA, Arnaldur Indridason (Iceland)
Kindle - KILL AND CURE, Stephen Davison

and finally my growing list of posts.
Here is what I have posted this week:

Does all that help you get to know me better?
What is important to you?

22 May 2010

2010 Global Reading Challenge: Update #9

I am restricting my participation in the 2010 Global Reading Challenge to crime fiction titles, but participants can use books of any genre of their choosing.
Join the challenge here.

create your own visited country map

The Extremist Level
Read three novels from each of these continents in 2010:
Africa
Asia
Australasia
~~Europe~~
North America (incl Central America)
South America
~~Add two novels which are set in Antarctica~~
+ a ´wildcard´ novel (a novel from a place or period that is NEW to you).

And if you are really an extreme reader, you will do your best to read novels from 21 different countries or states.
Africa

DEVIL'S PEAK by Deon Meyer (South Africa)
A CARRION DEATH, Michael Stanley (Botswana)
???

Asia

Australasia

TRUTH by Peter Temple (Australia)
CONTAINMENT, Vanda Symon (New Zealand)
???

Europe

SKELETON HILL by Peter Lovesey (England)
THE DARKEST ROOM by Johan Theorin (Sweden)
THE SNOWMAN, Jo Nesbo (Norway)

North America (incl Central America)

THE BRASS VERDICT, Michael Connelly (North America)
WINTER OF SECRETS, Vicki Delany (Canada)
???

South America

BLOOD OF THE WICKED, Leighton Gage (Brazil)
???
???

Antarctica

BLOOD & ICE, Robert Masello (Antarctica)
DARK WINTER, William Dietrich (Antarctica)

Wildcard novel

Select novels from 21 different countries or states.: My count so far: 14

21 May 2010

Scandinavian Reading Challenge 2010 Update #2

This challenge being run by The Black Sheep Dances.

The challenge is to read 6 books set in Scandinavia from March 1 to the end of 2010.

My list will all be crime fiction.
Here is what I have read so far.

THE WATER'S EDGE, Karin Fossum - Norway - 13 March
THE MAN FROM BEIJING, Henning Mankell - Sweden - 10 April
THE SNOWMAN, Jo Nesbo - Norway - May 21

Planning to read
HYPOTHERMIA by Arnaldur Indridason - Iceland.
THE FIFTH WOMAN by Henning Mankell - Sweden

and something very different.. not sure what yet.

Review: THE SNOWMAN, Jo Nesbo

Harvill Secker 2010
Published in Norwegian 2007, translated into English by Don Bartlett 2010
ISBN 9-78186-553486
453 pages
Sequentially #7 in the Harry Hole series

The way children turn out is determined mainly by two things: conscious decisions their parents make; and their DNA over which they have no control at all. Sometimes the two combine with totally unpredictable consequences.

Nearly twenty four years after the day in November 1980 when Sara Kvinesland spent 40 minutes making love to her nippleless lover while her son waited in the car, the first snow arrived early in November. Inspector Harry Hole of the Oslo Police Crime Squad thought of the peculiar letter he had received a few weeks earlier. On that day too Katrine Bratt from Bergen joined the Oslo squad, and that night Jonas Becker awoke to find his mother gone.

By the middle of the next day the early snow has melted and the snowman in the front garden is on the point of collapse. When Jonas Becker tells Harry Hole that he doesn't know who made the snowman, and that during the night it was wearing his mother's scarf, Harry thinks again of the strange letter.

Has Harry finally identified a serial killer? Twelve years before there was a death where the killer's "signature" had seemed to be a snowman. And the policeman in charge of that case had disappeared without trace. And Harry has that letter...

There are many threads that hold this novel together: a celebrity who has a hereditary disease who has passed it onto his children, cases of women who have disappeared without trace, important calendar dates in the lives of American Presidents, and Harry's personal life, under acute attack from a number of angles.

Harry Hole will be permanently scarred by the events of THE SNOWMAN, but do we believe him when in the final pages he says he is going away and never coming back?

Despite its length THE SNOWMAN is a real page turner, and will not disappoint. Somehow the character of Harry Hole seemed a bit clearer to me: he still has his problems with alcohol, he is constantly focussed on his work, and there are those in the police hierarchy who see him as an easy scapegoat. But the values that make Harry the good cop that he is come come through loud and clear.

My rating 5.

Other reviews of Nesbo titles on this blog
NEMESIS (5)
THE REDEEMER (4.8)

Other reviews of THE SNOWMAN:
Crime Scraps
Material Witness
Petrona

I am "counting" this title both in the 2010 global reading challenge and the Scandinavian Reading Challenge.

20 May 2010

Forgotten Books: COMA by Robin Cook

This week's edition of Friday's Forgotten Books is being hosted by George Kelley.

1990 was the year I had a wallow in Robin Cook's novels according to my little green book.

COMA (published in 1977) wasn't the first one I read, but then I wasn't as hooked on reading books in order of publication back then.
COMA laid down a successful plot style for the author. Many of Robin Cook's 30 titles could be classified as medical thrillers, a reflection of his medical training and his career path. It was a style of book I eventually moved away from reading, but I obviously loved them 20 years ago.

Basically the story revolves around the higher than usual incidence of patients slipping into a coma occurring in a Boston hospital, and then the use of their bodies for blackmarketing in body parts.

The book was a New York Times best seller and was also voted as the number one thriller of the year by the New York Times.

It was made into a highly successful film, Coma by Michael Crichton in 1978.

There's even a study guide if you want one.

Titles to check (from Fantastic Fiction)
The Year of the Intern (1972)
Coma (1977)
Brain (1979)
Sphinx (1979)
Fever (1982)
Godplayer (1983)
Mindbend (1985)
Outbreak (1987)
Mortal Fear (1988)
Harmful Intent (1989)
Mutation (1989)
Vital Signs (1990)
Terminal (1992)
Fatal Cure (1993)
Acceptable Risk (1994)
Invasion (1997)
Toxin (1997)
Abduction (1999)
Shock (2000)
Seizure (2002)

Jack Stapleton / Laurie Montgomery
1. Blindsight (1991)
2. Contagion (1995)
3. Chromosome 6 (1997)
4. Vector (1999)
5. Marker (2005)
6. Crisis (2006)
7. Critical (2007)
8. Foreign Body (2008)
9. Intervention (2009)
10. Cure (2010)

19 May 2010

What this blog is about

The image below, created with Tagxedo, reflects my preoccupations in my blog posts in the last week or so.

18 May 2010

Audio Book Challenge Update - 18 May 2010

Audio Book Challenge is hosted at Royal Reviews.
I listen to books to and from work every day so hopefully this will be relatively easy to achieve. Add to that the fact that I've also realised the usefulness of an audio book on my I-Pod for long flights.

I was planning to go for Addicted, but now I've made Fascinated, perhaps I should set my sights on Obsessed.

There are four levels:

-- Curious – Listen to 3 Audio Books.

-- Fascinated – Listen to 6 Audio Books.

-- Addicted – Listen to 12 Audio Books.

-- Obsessed – Listen to 20 Audio Books.

I've decided to try for Obsessed: 20 books

My progress so far...

17 May 2010

ACRC Update - 17 May 2010

My intent in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge is to read her books in order, so that I can get some idea of what she is doing, problems she is attempting to solve, and her development as a writer. If you look at some of my reviews you will see that I have been able to undertake some of this reflection.

Currently I am managing about a book a month.
I've read 17 books and 8 collections of short stories.

Read & reviewed so far

1920, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
1922, THE SECRET ADVERSARY
1923, THE MURDER ON THE LINKS
1924, THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT
1924, POIROT INVESTIGATES (short stories: eleven in the UK, fourteen in the US)
1925, THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS
1926, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
1927, THE BIG FOUR
1928, THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN
1929, THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY
1929, Partners in Crime (fifteen short stories; featuring Tommy and Tuppence)
1930, THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE
1930, The Mysterious Mr. Quin (twelve short stories; introducing Mr. Harley Quin)
1931, THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY (aka MURDER AT HAZELMOOR)
1932, PERIL AT END HOUSE
1932 The Thirteen Problems (thirteen short stories; featuring Miss Marple, also known as The Tuesday Club Murders in the US)
1933, LORD EDGEWARE DIES (aka THIRTEEN AT DINNER)
1934, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (aka MURDER IN THE CALAIS COACH)
1934, WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS? (aka THE BOOMERANG CLUE)
1991, Problem at Pollensa Bay publ. 1991 (Two of them feature Hercule Poirot, two Mr. Satterthwaite and Mr. Harley Quin, and two Mr Parker Pyne.)
1935, THREE ACT TRAGEDY (aka MURDER IN THREE ACTS)- Hercule Poirot and Mr Satterthwaite.
1933, The Hound of Death - 12 short stories, UK only
1934, Parker Pyne Investigates - 12 stories introducing Parker Pyne and Ariadne Oliver
1934, The Listerdale Mystery - 12 short stories, UK only
1966, THE THIRD GIRL - Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver

Reading schedule
1935, DEATH IN THE CLOUDS (aka DEATH IN THE AIR)
1936, THE A.B.C. MURDERS (aka THE ALPHABET MURDERS)
1936, MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA
1936, CARDS ON THE TABLE
1937, DUMB WITNESS (aka POIROT LOSES A CLIENT)
1937, DEATH ON THE NILE
1938, APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH
1938, HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS (aka MURDER FOR CHRISTMAS, aka A HOLIDAY FOR MURDER)
1939, MURDER IS EASY (aka EASY TO KILL)
1939, TEN LITTLE NIGERS (aka AND THEN THERE WERE NONE; also TEN LITTLE INDIANS)
1940, SAD CYPRESS
1940, ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE (aka AN OVERDOSE OF DEATH; also THE PATRIOTIC MURDERS)

Check the opening blog post of the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge here.
If you'd like to join the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge click here.

I am using the list at Wikipedia of novels and collections of short stories. I will interlace the short story collections into the list where I can, but may have to read them out of order. I have decided on a method for reporting on the short stories.

Please feel free to join in my challenge, comment on my reviews etc.

I have set up a block over in the right hand column called Agatha Christie Reading Challenge (with the same logo as this post) where I am listing the books I'm currently reading and those I've finished.
The challenge is called ACRC so each review will be preceded by those letters.

If you want to follow my progress through your RSS reader, then the RSS URL is
http://www2.blogger.com/feeds/8273911883856580200/posts/default/-/Agatha%20Christie%20Challenge
Just save that in your bookmarks or RSS reader and you will be notified when I have written a new post.
Alternatively you could subscribe to the feed through FeedMyInbox. Just copy the RSS URL, click on the FeedMyInbox link and paste the URL in there.
You will need to confirm your subscription by email.

Contribute your blog postings about any Agatha Christie novels to the monthly carnival. Make an agreement with yourself that whenever you complete reading an Aggie you will write a blog posting about it and then submit the posting to the carnival.
If you are participating in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge then write updates like this one and submit them to the Carnival. Let us know what progress you are making.

Review: THE THIRD GIRL, Agatha Christie - audio

Title originally published in 1966.
This version is an audio book read by John Woodbine.
From BBC Audio ISBN 9-781405-647762
Playing time 7 hours 20 minutes.

Hercule Poirot has a client, a young woman, who comes to see him saying she thinks she has murdered someone. She won't sit down and shuffles on her feet, refusing to meet his eyes. And then she blurts out that he is too old and flees. (I blogged about this last week)

His rejection by Norma Restorick just won't leave HP alone. He recognises that she is in serious trouble, and pursues the case with the help of his author friend Mrs Ariadne Oliver.

The title comes from the fact that Norma is the third girl in an apartment in London.

I've been on a bit of an Agatha Christie kick in recent weeks, making up for the fact that I didn't read any last month. I've listened to this out of order too, despite my participation in the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge, but the opportunity presented itself.

The excellent narration by John Woodvine proves irrefutably that David Suchet isn't the only one who can "do" Hercule Poirot. Required to present the voices of a considerable range of characters, he does it very well.

THE THIRD GIRL is one of the most satisfying Agatha Christie's I've "read" recently. In fact I think I'll have to put it in my top 10. There was plenty to enjoy about it from the characters of Ariadne Oliver and HP's secretary Miss Lemon, to depiction of the "new" British society of the late 1950's, with girls going out to work, and young people experimenting with drugs. The puzzle of what was happening to Norma Restorick held my attention right to the end although I had sort of half solved it by then.

I must comment though on one place where Agatha Christie did not "play fair" with the reader. For most of the time we know what Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver know, except for one instance, where he goes "off stage" as it were, and makes an arrangement with regard to Norma Restorick that we find out about only later. Ariadne Oliver becomes our mouthpiece when she reproves HP for not telling her what he's done.

Despite that, THE THIRD GIRL is an excellent read, written when Agatha Christie was 76.

My rating 4.7

16 May 2010

Sunday Salon - 16 May 2010

May is turning out to be a rather slow reading month for me.
Finished so far

4.3, SMOKE & MIRRORS, Kel Robertson (May 11)
4.2, THE LISTERDALE MYSTERY, Agatha Christie (10 May)
4.2, MARCH VIOLETS, Philip Kerr (5 May) - audio
4.2, INHUMAN REMAINS, Quintin Jardine (4 May)

Kel Robertson's book was the joint winner of the Australian Crime Writers' Ned Kelly Award in 2009 along with DEEP WATER by Peter Corris

Currently reading

THE SNOWMAN, Jo Nesbo
Audio - THE THIRD GIRL, Agatha Christie

Part of me really wants to get the 450+ page Jo Nesbo read so I know what happens and part just wants to savour it. I have a couple of books I want to get started on

B-VERY FLAT by Margot Kinsberg
THURSDAY NIGHT WIDOWS by Claudia Pineiro

My next audio book is THE FIFTH WOMAN by Henning Mankell.

If you are interested, I really want to know your "best 10" list for Agatha Christie (or best 5, or even just the one you love)
Leave your list as a comment on this blog post. I'm going to do a bit of spreadsheeting with the results. The final list won't be definitive I know, but will give an indication to people about where to start on Agatha Christie.

By the way I'm hosting an edition of the Book Review Blog Carnival on about June 6. Submit your posts after May 24 here if you want to be part of the Carnival. The current carnival is sitting at The Book Mole

The Agatha Christie Blog Carnival will post its next edition on about May 23, and it is still not too late to submit a post. Just make sure it strictly relates to Agatha Christie please or it won't make it into the Carnival. I will accept websites and blog posts that are not your own as submissions if they are relevant.

If you are looking for Australian crime fiction, this week I blogged about the longlist for the 2010 Ned Kelly Awards. Some good reading there.

15 May 2010

Which is YOUR best Agatha Christie?

I saw this question posted on a blog yesterday and so I've queried my database to see what my "top 10" look like.

In some cases I read these (or listened to them) before I began the current Agatha Christie Reading Challenge where I have literally begun again, reading the novels in order of publication, so there aren't necessarily reviews of these on my blog.

My top 10, with ratings, are

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS    4.7
THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE    4.7
THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN    4.6
DEATH IN THE CLOUDS     4.6
AND THEN THERE WERE NONE     4.5
SLEEPING MURDER     4.5
THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES    4.5
LORD EDGWARE DIES    4.5
THE THIRTEEN PROBLEMS    4.5
PERIL AT END HOUSE    4.5

I really can't pretend that there is a lot of difference between 4.5 and 4.7 though.
What are your best 10, or even 5, or even best?

Here are the rest of my database list
AT BERTRAM'S HOTEL 4.4
THE BIG FOUR    4.4
THE MYSTERIOUS MR QUIN    4.4
THE HOUND OF DEATH    4.4
THREE ACT TRAGEDY    4.4
WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS?    4.3
THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY    4.3
PARKER PYNE INVESTIGATES    4.2
AFTER THE FUNERAL     4.2
POIROT INVESTIGATES    4.2
THE MURDER ON THE LINKS    4.2
THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD    4.2
THE LISTERDALE MYSTERY    4.2
PARTNERS IN CRIME    4.1
THE SECRET ADVERSARY    4.1
THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY    4
PROBLEM AT POLLENSA BAY and other stories    4
THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT    3.8
THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS    3.8

My reviews:
LORD EDGWARE DIES
THE BIG FOUR
THE HOUND OF DEATH
THE LISTERDALE MYSTERY
THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT
THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE
THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
THE MURDER ON THE LINKS
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
THE MYSTERIOUS MR QUIN
THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN
PARKER PYNE INVESTIGATES
PARTNERS IN CRIME
PERIL AT END HOUSE
POIROT INVESTIGATES
PROBLEM AT POLLENSA BAY and other stories
THE SECRET ADVERSARY
THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS
THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS (comic strip version)
THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY
THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY
THE THIRTEEN PROBLEMS
THREE ACT TRAGEDY
WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS

14 May 2010

The Girl Who.. Some sort of record?

Amazon UK Crime Fiction Best Sellers comes into my RSS inbox every day and I've been watching the Stieg Larsson novels with some fascination: (sorry if the print is a bit blurry but you will see what I mean)

Note how long they have been in the top 100.

There's another list called "most gifted" - that means "most often given as gifts"
The top 6 in that list are

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO - rated at 4 stars out of 5 by customers
My review, rated at 4.8
THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST - rated at 4.7 stars out of 5 by customers
My review, rated at 4.6
THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE - rated at 4.5 stars out of 5 by customers.
My review rated 4.7
THE LOST SYMBOL, Dan Brown - rated at 3.1 stars out of 5 by customers (not much encouragement to buy that eh)
CAUGHT, Harlan Coben - rated at 4.2 stars out of 5 by customers
61 HOURS, Lee Child - rated at 4 stars out of 5 by customers

Guess which 3 books top the "wish lists" too? That's right the Larssons!

13 May 2010

Forgotten books: LOOKING FOR MR GOODBAR, Judith Rossner

This week Friday's Forgotten Books is being hosted by George Kelley.

Published in 1975, this appears in my little green book towards the end of 1979. Judith Rossner based the novel on the events surrounding the brutal murder of Roseann Quinn, a 28-year-old New York City schoolteacher in 1973.
Rossner, an American author, wrote 10 novels 1966-1997.

In 1977 LOOKING FOR MR GOODBAR was made into a film starring Diane Keaton, Tuesday Weld, Richard Gere, and also features Tom Berenger. The film traces the sexual awakening of a young teacher searching for excitement outside of her mundane existence. Originally in search of the "perfect man", whom she refers to as "Mr. Goodbar", she begins losing control of her life as her sexual appetite grows. Quiet and reserved teacher by day, sexual adventuress and bar-hopper by night, she begins to dabble in drugs and unstable men. Her self-destructive behavior is a means of escaping her numbing existence and testing her boundaries and providing excitement in her otherwise safe and boring life. One such sexual partner, played by Richard Gere, turns jealous and possessive, and begins to threaten her life. Ultimately, her sexual addiction and high risk behavior put her life in danger. (from Wikipedia)

12 May 2010

Nominations - longlist - Ned Kelly Awards 2010

Nominations: Ned Kelly Awards 2010

Best first fiction
Kaaron Warren, Slights best fiction
Maria Quinnn, The Gene Thieves
Karen Taylor, Hostage
Rhonda Roberts, Gladiatrix
Antoinette Eklund, Steel River
Stephen M Irwin, The Dead Path
Mark Dapin, King of the Cross
Marianne Delacourt, Sharp Shooter
Andrew Croome, Document Z
Bruce Mutard, The Silence
Justine Larbalestier, Liar
Colin McLaren, ON The Run
Brett Hoffman, The Contract
Adair Robin, Death & the Running Patterer
Emma Boling, Riding High

Best Fiction
Andy Semple, Eden Prime
Lenny Bartulin, The Black Russian
Barry Ward, The Nelson Conspiracy
Alex Palmer, Labyrinth of Drowning
Tara Moss, Siren
Wendy James, Why She Loves Him
Wendy James, Where Have You Been?
Peter Temple, Truth my rating 5.0
Garry Disher, Wyatt
Garry Disher, Blood Moon
Michael Robotham, Bleed For Me ny rating 5.0
Philip McLaren, Murder In Utopia
Fiona McIntosh, Beautiful Death
David Owen, No Weather For a Burial
Steven Lang, 88 Lines about 44 Women
Bruce Pascoe, Bloke
Barry Maitland, Dark Mirror, my rating 4.7
Kerry Greenwood, Forbidden Fruit, my rating 4.3
Peter Corris, Torn Apart
Catherine Jinks, The Reformed Vampire Support Group
Sydney Bauer, Trust of the Matter
Kathryn Fox, Blood Born my rating 4.6
Katherine Howell, Cold Justice

Best True crime
Peter Doyle, Crooks Like Us
Robert Wainwright & Paola Totaro, Born or Bred?
Tony Reeves, Getting away With Murder
Tony Reeves, Two Political Murders
Paula Hunt, Outlaw Son: The Story of Ned Kelly
Jack Marx, Australian Tragic
Kathy Marks, Pitcairn Paradise Lost
Esther McKay, Forensic investigator
John Kerr, Hit Men
Clive Small & Tom Gilling, Blood Money
Robert M. Kaplan, Medical Murder
Adrian Tame, Deadlier Than The Male
Mick Gatto & Tom Noble, I, Mick Gatto
Colin McLaren, Infiltration
Victorian Ombudsman, George Brouwer, Investigations into the Alleged
Improper Conduct of Councillors at Brimbank City Council

11 May 2010

Review: SMOKE & MIRRORS, Kel Robertson

Pan Macmillan Australia 2010, 326 pages
first published by Ginninderra Press 2008
ISBN 978-0-330-42619-0
Joint winner Ned Kelly Award winner 2009
#2 in the Brad Chen series.

Why would anyone want to murder an aging Australian ex-politician and his editor? And where was the manuscript they had been working on?

Alec Dennett had been a minister in the Whitlam government in the 1970s, and his autobiography had promised to reveal secrets that some people would rather see remain hidden. But surely no one would think they were important enough to kill for?

Detective Inspector Brad Chen of the Australian Federal Police has been on compassionate leave, hiding away at the university in Canberra doing a doctorate in politics. But its time to return to work, and really this sort of investigation, laced with political overtones, is just his sort of work. And there's definitely somebody who doesn't want the truth to come out. Before the end of the first day he has been beaten and threatened, so he's obviously on the right track.

This political crime fiction won't be everybody's cup of tea. It isn't that you need to know much about the Whitlam era, Robertson fills you in on all the details, but there's more to the story than just a whodunnit, so an interest in politics helps. I suspect too the fact that it is Australian politics we are focussed on will also limit its audience appeal.
The blurb on the back of the novel refers to intricate plotting, witty dialogue and eccentric character, and it is right on all three counts.

Sites that might interest:
Kel Roberton's web site
Sunnie's review
Wikipedia: Australia's 1975 constitutional crisis: the Whitlam dismissal

I liked SMOKE & MIRRORS a little more than I did #1 in the series DEAD SET (see below).
I don't think you have to worry about reading DEAD SET before SMOKE & MIRRORS although perhaps it might help to read them in quick succession, rather than 3 years apart like I have.

My rating: 4.3

Mini-review of DEAD SET, #1 in the Brad Chen series, published in 2006. My rating 4.0
The Hon. Tracey Dale, Australia's Minister for Immigration (ALP) has been murdered in her Canberra apartment. She was the author of Australia's current immigration policy: the Compassionate Australia Program, which has recently resulted in significant increase in Australia's refugee intake. Some believe her death is the work of terrorists, or at the very least racists. Federal Australian Police Detective Inspector Brad Chen is returning from sick leave of 3 months, and this is his first case back. Some would see him as a man with many handicaps: still on crutches after being knocked down by a car, an Australian-Chinese with Chinese appearance but unmistakeable Australian accent, addicted to pain killers of the worst sort, and named after a cricketer. DEAD SET is almost a political thriller as much as a murder mystery. Set in Canberra and Melbourne. As Chen's investigation proceeds, the list of suspects grows, and others die. Tracey Dale ignored a time bomb, something that spelled political ruin for her. A debut novel for Kel Robertson.

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