50 Books Read

I'm steaming along quite well this year, and have reached one of those milestones: 50

I keep a full record of categories here
The main ones are

• 2018 Aussie Author Reading Challenge: aiming for 20: currently 11
• 2018 Australian Women Writers Challenge: aiming for 20. Currently 6
• British Books Challenge 2018 currently 24
• 2018 Ebook Reading Challenge currently 13
• New to me authors - a personal challenge currently 17
• Snagged at the Library currently: 24
• Audio books: currently: 8

Looking at the ratings I've given them, you may well note that they range only from 5.0 to 4.0
To be truthful I've had a few DNFs that I have not recorded, but actually I've finished and rated over  90% of the books that I've started. I think that is because so many of the books that I tackle, I do so as a result of recommendations in book groups and by friends on line. So, in a sense, a certain amount of pre-selection has already taken place.

Here are the books

• 5.0, FORCE OF NATURE, Jane Harper
• 5.0, THE GIRL BEFORE, J P Delaney
• 5.0, ON THE JAVA RIDGE, Jock Serong
• 5.0, THE WRITING BOOK, Kate Grenville
• 5.0, THE ENORMOUS CROCODILE, Roald Dahl
• 4.9, UNDER THE COLD BRIGHT LIGHTS, Garry Disher
• 4.8, THE RUIN, Dervla McTiernan
• 4.8, THE WILDLING SISTERS, Eve Chase
• 4.7, THE STRANGER, Melanie Raabe 
• 4.7, FRIDAY ON MY MIND, Nicci French 
• 4.7, DARKTOWN, Thomas Mullen 
• 4.7, COMPANY MAN, Joseph Finder
• 4.7, MATILDA, Roald Dahl  
• 4.6, IN THE DARK, Chris Patchell
• 4.6, A SPOT OF FOLLY, Ruth Rendell
• 4.6, A IS FOR ARSENIC: THE POISONS OF AGATHA CHRISTIE, Kathryn Harkup
• 4.5, SLEEP NO MORE, P. D. James 
• 4.5, RUSH OF BLOOD, Mark Billingham
• 4.5, ACT ONE, SCENE ONE ...MURDER, A.H. Richardson 
• 4.5, DRAWING CONCLUSIONS, Donna Leon
• 4.5, THE SWITCH, Joseph Finder
• 4.5, THE LITTLE BRETON BISTRO, Nina George
• 4.5, TRULY MADLY GUILTY, Liane Moriarty 
• 4.5, DEATH OF A LAKE, Arthur Upfield 
• 4.5, RUMPOLE: THE PENGE BUNGALOW MURDERS, John Mortimer
• 4.5, DOWNFALL, Margot Kinberg  
• 4.4, THE FIX, David Baldacci
• 4.4, THE VANISHING BOX, Elly Griffiths 
• 4.4, THE BONE IS POINTED, Arthur Upfield 
• 4.4, RECALLED TO LIFE, Reginald Hill
• 4.4, THE TANGO SCHOOL MYSTERY, Peter Bartram 
• 4.4, THE MARSH KING'S DAUGHTER, Karen Dionne
• 4.4, THE TAXIDERMIST'S DAUGHTER, Kate Mosse
• 4.4, THE MALICE OF THE WAVES, Mark Douglas-Home 
• 4.4, MIDNIGHT SUN: BLOOD ON THE SNOW 2, Jo Nesbo
• 4.4, FATTY O'LEARY'S DINNER PARTY, Alexander McCall Smith
• 4.4, THE MURDER AT SISSINGHAM HALL, ClaraBenson
• 4.4, 10 SHORT STORIES YOU MUST READ THIS YEAR
• 4.4, THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE FAIRVALE LADIES BOOK CLUB, Sophie Green
• 4.3, MACBETH, Jo Nesbo
• 4.3, THE WORD IS MURDER, Anthony Horowitz
• 4.3, THE DETECTION COLLECTION, by members of the Detection Club  
• 4.3, BORROWED TIME, Robert Goddard 
• 4.3, TALKING TO THE DEAD, Harry Bingham
• 4.3, DADDY'S GIRL, Lisa Scottoline
• 4.2, A ROYAL MURDER, Sandra Winter-Dewhirst
• 4.2, MURDER ISN'T EASY, Richard Hull 
• 4.0, BOOKSTORE CATS, Brandon Schultz 
• 4.0, THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB, David Lagercrantz 

Poll results: making book lists

I launched this poll a fortnight ago, asking whether many people were like me, compulsive list makers.

You can see from the results that I am certainly not alone.
In their comments, masny of the blog followers confessed that while they made lists, they, like me, didn't always follow them.

The reasons for making lists were varied

• books to participate in a specific meme
• books to take to the library, to the bookshop, or to search for online
• to track favourite authors and interesting new authors
• books to acquire and books already read
• "buy later" lists
• books to bring variety into reading, to prevent falling into a "rut"

What I read in September 2010

One of those good solid reading months, with a couple of standouts.
Three Australian authors for you to check out. **
One New Zealand author (NZ), one Canadian (C), and one translated (T)
No Agatha Christie's but I have a couple lined up for October.

My pick of the month is Australian author Malla Nunn.

1. 5.0, A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO DIE, Malla Nunn (30 Sept)**
2. 4.5, SILK CHASER, Peter Klein (25 Sept)**
3. 4.5, TALKING ABOUT DETECTIVE FICTION, P.D. James-audio (21 Sept)
4. 4.3, DEAD MAN'S CHEST, Kerry Greenwood (18 Sept)**
5. 4.5, UNSPOKEN, Mari Jungsted (15 Sept ) T
6. 3.8, MIDNIGHT IN MADRID, Noel Hynd (12 Sept)
7. 4.6, ALL THE COLOURS OF DARKNESS, Peter Robinson (9 Sept) C
8. 4.5, ROYAL FLUSH aka ROYAL HEIST, Lynda la Plante - audio (8 Sept)
9. 4.2, CUT & RUN, Alix Bosco (4 Sept) NZ

I've read 98 books so far this year, so I won't have any trouble at all in completing the 100 book challenge.
17 of the books are by Australian authors and I'd like to get that up to at least 20 by the end of the year, perhaps 25.
19 of this year's books so far are audio books, so there's another challenge (20 audio books) I won't have any trouble completing.

How about you - how are your targets going?