Some reading challenges will go uncompleted this year

Each year reading challenges give me something to aim for, as well as a method of getting some balance into my reading diet.

Regretfully this year I can see that some challenges will go unfinished, but I guess that is a good thing otherwise we would simply keep raising the bar until we got to impossible heights.

I've already completed most of my reading challenges - see the list below- but I can already tell that I am not going to read as many books this year as I did last.
Perhaps 3 more for the year, which gives me 141. This is the main target I'm not going to meet.
The fact that my e-books total is down is linked to the fact that I've read fewer books for the year too.

I am currently reading LETHAL INVESTMENTS by Kjell Ola Dahl which will let me complete the Nordic Reading Challenge target of 20.

I won't finish the Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge, might add 1 more to the list, and I've got a couple more American author books to read, so I'm down on my target there. I am ashamed that I haven't got around to reading more New Zealand authors.

I am a failure at reading non-crime fiction too.
But generally the reading challenges have given me some direction.

If you want to check which books I've read for which challenge you can see the lists on my 2012 Reading Challenges Update.

So will I take on some more reading challenges in 2013? The answer is "yes". Currently thinking about which ones. The list will probably look a bit like the 2012 ones.

Agatha Christie Reading Challenge - ongoing - 14 /12 this year

2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge: aiming for 166+ currently: 138

2012 e-book challenge currently 61/75

Nordic Challenge 2012 currently 19/20

Aussie Author Challenge 20/12 - completed

2012 Global Reading Challenge currently 21/21 - completed

Canadian Book Challenge 2011-2012 13/13 - completed

Canadian Book Challenge 2012-2013 - 3/13

Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge 10/16

Historical Fiction Challenge at Historical Tapestry 20/10- completed - have decided to go to 20 books.

British Books Challenge 58/12- completed, now just tracking

Personal reading challenges

• American authors: currently 14/20
• translated, currently 26 - last year 20
• New Zealand, currently 1/4
• new to me: currently 47 - last year 60
• not crime fiction: currently 1

Review: DEATH OF THE MANTIS, Michael Stanley

• Format: Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 1119 KB
• Print Length: 417 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0755381157
• Publisher: Headline (September 1, 2011)
• Sold by: Hachette Book Group
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005CIOOR0
• Source: I bought it

Synopsis -  Amazon

The third novel in the fantastic Detective 'Kubu' Bengu crime series is set in the southern Kalahari area of Botswana - a place full of buried lost cities, incredible hidden wealth, ancient gods and, for thousands of years, home to the nomadic Bushmen.

When a fractious ranger named Monzo is found dead, fallen into a donga - a dry ravine - surrounded by three Bushmen, the local police arrest the nomads.
Detective 'Kubu' Bengu is on the case, which reunites him with his old school friend Khumanego, a Bushman and now an advocate for his people. Khumanego believes the arrests are motivated by racist antagonism from the police, as the Bushmen are claiming that they were at the murder scene because they were trying to help.
Soon after Monzo's death, Detective 'Kubu' learns of another case involving two botany students on their way back from a specimen-collecting trip but who were later found dead, seemingly poisoned, at a campground. Could the deaths be connected?

My Take

I have realised as I write this review that I have missed out on reading #2 in this series (THE SECOND DEATH OF GOODLUCK TINUBU). I reviewed the first A CARRION DEATH in 2010 and really did mean to read #2 - I'm sure I have it somewhere..

I have really enjoyed DEATH OF A MANTIS. 'Kubu' Bengu has grown dramatically in stature as a detective and is held in high regard by the Botswana police force. Kubu still acts impulsively, makes decisions that are not always wise - in fact one puts his life in great danger. But now he has family responsibilities: a wife, a baby girl.

DEATH OF THE MANTIS is one of those books that makes the reader think. For a start - who is "the Mantis"?  One of the themes is the conflict between modern Western-style life and the indigenous culture of the Bushmen of the Kalahari. How far will the Bushmen go to preserve the old ways, to keep the sacred places hidden, and yet at the same time how do they pass on their culture?

Kubu is torn because one of his best childhood friends is a Bushman although Khumanego says he is trying to preserve the old ways by being an advocate for his people.
There are many reminders too that this is a dangerous land that Kubu is living in.

DEATH OF THE MANTIS is tightly plotted, has excellent character development, as well as passing on to the reader a great depth of information about Kalahari life. There's an interesting juxtaposition of technologies too - old maps and records, overlaid by GPS printouts.

Check what the authors have to say about the background to the book. You can also read the Prologue and the first chapter there.

My rating: 5.0

Other reviews to check

• Joyfully Retired
• EuroCrime (Michelle Peckham)
• AustCrime

If you are looking for a reading guide, there are 10 questions here.(pdf)
 
Awards for DEATH OF THE MANTIS

• one of six finalists for the 2012 Barry Award for best paperback original
• .one of four novels selected for the short list for Best Genre Fiction at the Minnesota Book Awards in 2012.
• one of five nominees for the Edgar Award from Mystery Writers of America for best paperback original in 2012.
• chosen by LIBRARY JOURNAL in the US as one of their top ten new mysteries for 2011.
• rated number 5 in THE STRAND MAGAZINE'S top 12 mysteries for 2011

Mid year stocktake - how are all those challenges going?

Quite a number of my fellow bloggers reported earlier in the year that they were reducing the number of challenges they were participating in.

I've persisted in taking on reading challenges because I believe they give me some points of comparison from year, some sense of direction, and prevent me from focussing just on one form of the genre. I do vary the challenges from year to year.

So how am I going this year? Pretty well actually, although there are some like the Global Reading Challenge, New Zealand authors, and "not crime fiction" that need a bit of specific attention.

The reading challenges I've joined

• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge  - ongoing - 8 /12 this year
• 2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge: aiming for 166+  currently: 80
• 2012 e-book challenge currently 41/75
• Nordic Challenge 2012  currently 13/20
• Aussie Author Challenge 12/12 - completed - but aiming for 20
  
• 2012 Global Reading Challenge currently 11/21
• Canadian Book Challenge 2011-2012 13/13 - completed
• Canadian Book Challenge 2012-2013 - 0/13
• Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge   8/16
• Historical Fiction Challenge at Historical Tapestry 13/10- completed - have decided to go to 20 books.
• British Books Challenge 35/12- completed, now just tracking

 Personal reading challenges

• American authors: currently 11/20
• translated, currently 13/20
• New Zealand, currently 0/4
• new to me: currently 29 - last year 60
• not crime fiction: currently 0 

My detailed summary page.

So how are your reading challenges going? 

Not a Doddle after all

At the end of March when I had read 44 books I proclaimed that my target of 166 books in the year was not going to present much of a problem.

After all 44 x 4= 176

But in April I had a bit of a slowdown, read only 9 books, so have reached only 53.
53 x 3 = 159 and suddenly the target looks a bit challenging.

My individual challenges are doing ok but there are some I haven't added to in the last month either, so I need to pay a bit more attention to them, particularly the Canadian Book Challenge, the Global Reading Challenge, and New Zealand authors.

The reading challenges I've joined

• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge  - ongoing- 6/12 this year. I'm ahead of my target of a book a month.
• 2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge: aiming for 166+  currently: 53 (end of April)
  
• 2012 e-book challenge currently 18/75
• Nordic Challenge 2012  currently 7/20
• Aussie Author Challenge 6/12 - I need to get my act together a bit better here.
• 2012 Global Reading Challenge currently 11/21
• Canadian Book Challenge 2011-2012 10/13 - on track but 3 more to read by the end of June.
• Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge   7/16
• Historical Fiction Challenge at Historical Tapestry 11/10- completed - have decided to go to 20 books.
  
• British Books Challenge 28/12- completed, now just tracking. I read a lot of British crime fiction, so not much of a challenge really.

 Personal reading challenges

• American authors: currently 7/20 - this one is actually coming along nicely. I actually read more American authors than I thought I did.
• translated, currently 7 - 20 last year
• New Zealand, currently 0/4 -
• new to me: currently 18 - 60 last year
• not crime fiction: currently 0 

Tomorrow I'll tell you of my reading plans for the next month or so.

Review: SPARKLING CYANIDE, Agatha Christie

• originally published 1945, aka REMEMBERED DEATH
• This edition in a collection called SEVEN DEADLY SINS  published by Harper Collins in 2004, pp 353-513 
• Source: my local library
• sleuth: Colonel Race

Synopsis (from Agatha Christie.com)

At a round table in the Luxembourg nightclub six people sit down to dinner at a table laid for seven. In front of the empty place is a sprig of rosemary – in solemn memory of Rosemary Barton who died at the same table exactly one year previously.
No one present on that fateful night would ever forget the woman’s face, contorted beyond recognition – or what they remembered about her astonishing life. But which of those present has the murder of Rosemary Barton on their conscience?
In 2003 this novel was adapted for television and starred Pauline Collins and Oliver Ford Davies.

My Take

SPARKLING CYANIDE is very carefully constructed, beginning with 5 people remembering the death of Rosemary Barton from cyanide poisoning just a a year before. The coroner brought a verdict of suicide, but recently George, her husband, has received notes leading him to think that perhaps Rosemary was murdered.  There seem to be any number of possible murderers.

George decides to set a trap, to hold another celebration at the same nightclub, this time for the birthday of Rosemary's sister Iris. The empty place at the table on the night of Rosemary's death had been for Colonel Johnny Race who had been unable to get there. George Barton had known Colonel Race in India. George invites Race to Iris' birthday party but Race refuses the invitation. Nevertheless George tells everyone that the empty place is for Colonel Race.

When George also dies from cyanide poisoning Colonel Race assists Chief Inspector Kemp from Scotland Yard to work out who is the murderer and what the motive is.

Colonel Race also appears in THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT (1924),  CARDS ON THE TABLE (1936) and DEATH ON THE NILE (1937). It is unusual for him to appear on his own, as he is generally plays a supporting role for others like Hercule Poirot.  By SPARKLING CYANIDE he is quite elderly.

This is still a cracking good read.

My rating: 4.4

Plans, plans, plans

In general I tend to read as the mood takes me, from the books I have available.

Every now and then though I take a look at the reading challenges I have signed up for and try to make plans for what I will read. I always have far more books than I can really cope with though.
I do have lots to choose from on Mt TBR and on my Kindle
I am managing about 12 to 14 books a month, and one of those has to be an Agatha Christie.

Here is what I have done so far: 2012 Reading Challenges Update 

Currently I'm reading
THE NOBODIES ALBUM by Carolyn Parkhurst which will fit into my American author challenge
I'm listening to WITCH HUNT by Ian Rankin and that will go into British books.
And my next Agatha Christie is SPARKLING CYNANIDE to be read for the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge in the next 3 weeks or so.

I have to read 3 books to finish the Canadian Book Challenge 2011-2012 
Probable choices:
THE BURNING EDGE by Rick Mofina
THE RIVER by Cheryl Kaye Tardif
one of a number by Peter Robinson

For the 2012 Global Reading Challenge
I have already read 10 out of a required 21.
So I have to read another 11

• 3 from Africa
• 3 from Asia
• 1 from New Zealand
• 1 from Cuba or Mexico
• 3 from South America

I have a collection on my Kindle including
MIXED BLOOD by Roger Smith
DEATH OF THE MANTIS by Michael Stanley
WITNESS THE NIGHT by Kishwar Desai
ASIA HAND by Christopher Moore
CHINATOWN BEAT by Henry Chang
NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK by Ernesto Mallo
TREACHERY IN THE YARD by Adimchinma Ibe

In my American author challenge I'm aiming for 20 titles but have only read 3 so far, with another nearly completed. I have so many American authors on Mt. TBR that I don't think that will be too difficult.

In the Aussie Author Challenge I have read 5 out of the 20 I want to read.
I have at least 20 Australian titles lying around including
RIP OFF by Kel Robertson
CHELSEA MANSIONS by Barry Maitland
TORN APART by Peter Corris
COOKING THE BOOKS by Kerry Greenwood
WATCH OUT FOR ME by Sylvia Johnson
KISS OF DEATH by PD Martin
DEATH MASK by Kathryn Fox


I really need to get cracking on the Nordic Challenge. I have read only 2 out of 20 so far.
I have
THE ABOMINABLE MAN by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
NIGHT ROUNDS by Helene Tursten
DREGS by John Lier Horst
THE FINAL MURDER by Anne Holt
THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE by Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis
NEXT OF KIN by Elsebeth Egholm
LETHAL INVESTMENTS by K.O. Dahl
THE QUARRY by Johan Theorin
THE ICE PRINCESS by Camilla Lackberg
THE TROUBLED MAN by Henning Mankell
THE INSPECTOR AND SILENCE by Hakan Nesser
BURNED by Thomas Enger
RED WOLF by Liza Marklund

But you know what they say about plans..
And I haven't even thought about some of the other reading challenges....
And then what of my resolve to read some non-crime-fiction?

And then there are all the other books that just don't fit into the challenges. They'll get read too :-)

Reading Challenges for me in 2012

After quite a bit of deliberation and reflection I have decided that I will more or less go with the challenges that I discovered in 2011.
I found that the challenges between them helped me keep better records for my reading, expanded my horizons, and achieved a bit of a balance.
I also discovered things about my reading habits.

I don't feel at the moment that the challenges force me into a reading strait jacket.
I still basically read what I want to, and then decide which challenge they fit into. Sometimes I have to look for a book for a particular challenge.
Some of the reading challenges last year were more easily achievable than others because they fell into the pattern of what I already read. That doesn't make them any less worthy a challenge though.

I also reserve the right to add challenges as the year progresses.
I allow myself to count a book for more than one challenge (e-book and Nordic for example) and I allow the book to be in any format (apart from film).

So I've come up with 14 reading challenges. If you are interested in the finer details you will find them on 2012 Reading Challenges Update

The reading challenges I've joined

• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge  0/12 
• 2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge: aiming for 166+  currently: 3
• 2012 e-book challenge currently 1/75
• Nordic Challenge 2012  currently 1/20
• Aussie Author Challenge 0/12
• 2012 Global Reading Challenge currently 2/21
• Canadian Book Challenge 2011-2012 7/13
• Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge   0/16
• Historical Fiction Challenge at Historical Tapestry 0/10
• British Books Challenge 0/12

 Personal reading challenges

• American authors: currently 2/20
• translated, currently 1
• New Zealand, currently 0/4
• new to me: currently 0

Looking for some Challenge Ideas?

You will notice some overlap in the record below, with many books counting in more than one challenge.
If you want to join me on one of the personal challenges, let me know - I could probably be talked into hosting a challenge with a Mr Linky if enough people are interested.