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My youngest daughter is a voracious reader and always starts and finishes a series. She's the inspiration for this challenge. My individual challenge will be to complete or make substantial progress with any of the following series:

Bennie Griessel by Deon Meyer (8-8-1)
Michele Ferrara by Michele Giuttari (4-7-4)*
Maria Kallio by Leena Lehtolainen (3-11-9)
Paris Homicide by Frédérique Molay (4-4-1)*
Peter Decker/Lina Lazarus by Faye Kellerman (2-25-24)
Potting Shed Mystery by Marty Wingate (4-7-4)*
Vera Stanhope by Ann Cleeves (2-9-8)
Anderson and Costello by Caro Ramsay (3-10-7)
Andreas Kaldis by Jeffrey Siger (4-10-7)
Charlie Fox by Zoë Sharp (8-13-6)
Junior Bender by Timothy Hallinan (6-7-2)*
Chronicles of St Mary's by Jodi Taylor (4-10-7)
Bruno by Martin Walker (7-15 -9)
Yashim the Eunoch by Jason Goodwin (2-5-4)
Guido Brunetti by Donna Leon (20-30-11)
Inspector Montalbano by Andrea Camilleri (8-25-18)
Logan McRae by Stuart MacBride (5-12-8)
Vera and Tolliver by Annamaria Alfieri (2-3-2)*
Darko Dawson by Kwei Quartey (3-5-3)
Detective Kubu by Michael Stanley (6-8-3)
Bryant and May by Christopher Fowler (4-18-13)
Phryne Fisher by Kerry Greenwood (4-22-19)
Ryder Quartet by Ian Patrick (3-4-2)*
Chief Inspector Gamache by Louise Penny (9 -17-8)*
V.I Warshawski by Sara Paretsky (15-19-5)
Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell (3-12-10)
Nicolas le Floch by Jean-François Parot (3-6-4)
Aurelio Zen by Michael Dibdin (4-11-8)*
Jackson Brodie by Kate Atkinson (4-5-2)
Sir Robert Carey by P.F. Chisholm (4-9-6)
Philippa Barnes by Trish McCormack (2-3-2)
Joe Piker by Robert Crais (4-7-4)
Medicus by Ruth Downie (3-9-7)
Superintendent Le Fanu by Brian Stoddart (2-4-3)
Commissaire Adamsberg by Fred Vargas (2-9-8)
Andy Carpenter by David Rosenfelt (2-21-20)
Bobby Owen by E.R. Punshon (14-35-22)
Finishing School by Gail Carriger (3-4-2)
Custard Protocol by Gail Carriger (3-4-2)
Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters (11-21-11) (reread)
Bridgerton by Julia Quinn (3-9-6)
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (3-7-4) (reread)
Jay Qasim by Khurrum Rahman (2-3-2)
Barchester Chronicles by Anthony Trollope (6-6-1)
Karl Alberg by L.R. Wright (3-9-7)
Walt Longmire by Craig Johnson (3-18-16)
Hilary Tamar by Sarah Caudwell
Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (3-6-4)
Slough House by Mick Herron (3-8-6)
CD Sloan mysteries by Catherine Aird (4-25-22)
Martin Beck by Maj Sjöwall (2-10-9)
Falco by Lindsey Davis (2-20-19) (reread)
Hugh Collier by Moray Dalton (3-14-12)
Francis Pettigrew by Cyril Hare (3-5-3)
Miles Bredon by Ronald Knox (2-5-4)
Ocean Liner Mysteries by Edward Marston (3-6-4)

(The numbers refer to: the next number in the series to read, total books in series as at 2019, total books to complete the series)

These are series that I caught up with, but more books may appear. So this is a placeholder to keep them up to date

Albertus Beeslaar by Karin Brynard
Temptation in Florence by Beate Boeker
Simon Serrailler by Susan Hill
Aaron Falk by Jane Harper
Baltic Sea Crime by Hendrik Falkenberg
Tannie Maria by Sally Andrews

I made a rule in 2019 that I need to catch up with four of the series in the main list prior to starting a new series. (This has been a complete failure. I finished 2 series in 2021 and added 5 to the above list, it's aspirational).

The next series to be chosen from here:
Perveen Mistry by Sujata Massey (1-2-2)*
Shinobi Mysteries by Susan Spann (2-7-6)
Billy Boyle by James R. Benn (1-14-14)
Chief Inspector Mario Silva by Leighton Gage (3-7-5)
Night Soldiers by Alan Furst (1-14-14)
Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian (1-4-4)
Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt by Gigi Pandian (1-6-6)
Jade de Jong by Jassy Mackenzie (1-5-5)*
John Russel by David Downing (2-6-5)
Inspector Ian Rutledge by Charles Todd (2-21-20)
Amaka Thriller by Leye Adenle (2-2-1)*
Winemaker series by Jean-Pierre Alaux (1-15-15)
Brittany Mystery by Jean-Luc Bannalec (1-4-3)
Inspector Truchaud by R.M. Cartmel (1-3-3)*
The Cordoba Mysteries by Mark Dewar (1-4-4)*
The Glassblower Trilogy by Petra Durst-Benning (1-3-3)*
Society of Paranormals by Vered Ehsani (2-7-6)
Rabbi Small by Harry Kemelman (1-12-12)
Pot Thief by J. Michael Orenduff (1-8-8)
Charles Lenox by Charles Finch (1-12-12)
Dr Anya Crichton by Kathryn Fox (1-7-7)*
Gethsemane Brown by Alexia Gordon (1-4-4)
Polish State Prosecutor Szacki by Zygmunt Miloszewski (2-3-2)*
Frederick Troy by John Lawton (1-8-8)
Kingston Raine by Jackson Lear (2-5-5)*
Poppy Denby by Fiona Veitch Smith (2-5-4)*
Claymore Straker by Paul E Hardisty (2-4-3)
Flavia Albia by Lindsey Davis (1-8-8)
Louise Pearlie by Sarah R Shaber (1-7-7)
Luc Varnier by Peter Kirby (1-3-3)
DI Jack Braby by Danielle Ramsay (1-5-5)
Stratos Gazis by Pol Koutsakis (2-2-1)
Detective Nikki Galena by Joy Ellis (1-10-10)
Benjamin January by Barbara Hambly (1-14-14)
Charlie Boxer by Robert Wilson (1-3-3)
Inspector Thanet by Dorothy Simpson (1-15-15)
Detective Sean Duffy by Adrian McKinty (1-6-6)
Detective Joe Sandilands by Barbara Cleverly (2-13-12)
Codename Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein (2-3-2)
DS Alexandra Cupidi by William Shaw (1-3-3)
The Laundry Files by Charles Stross (2-9-8)
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (3-8-6)
Rei Shimura by Sujata Massey (1-11-11)
Leo Demidov by Tom Rob Smith (1-3-3)
Jack Irish by Peter Temple (1-4-4)
Inspector Pekkala by Sam Eastland (1-7-7)
Sir John Fielding by Bruce Alexander (1-11-11)
William Monk by Anne Perry (2-24-23)
Kindle County by Scott Turow (1-11-11)
Flaxborough Mystery by Colin Watson (1-12-12)
Ruth Galloway by Elly Griffiths (1-13-13)
Pollard and Toye by Elizabeth Lemarchand (1-17-17)
Sebastian St Cyr by C.S. Harris (1-16-16)
Inspector Robert Colbeck by by Edward Marston (1-19-19)
Max Lieberman by Frank Tallis (1-7-7)
Max Heller by Frank Goldammer (1-2-2)*
Oxford Tearoom by H.Y. Hanna (1-10-10)
PI Charlie Cameron by Owen Mullen (1-3-3)*
Simeon Grist by Timothy Hallinan (1-7-7)
Max Carrados by Ernest Bramah (1-4-4)*
Charlie Boxer by Robert Wilson (1-3-3)*
Detective Sean Duffy by Adrian McKinty (1-4-4)
Kate Shugak by Dana Stabenow
Helsinki Homicide by Jarkko Sipilä (1-6-6)
Stonechild and Rouleau by Brenda Chapman (1-4-4)
Alex McKnight by Steve Hamilton (1-11-11)
Gaffney and Tipper by Graham Ison (1-4-4)
Corinna Chapman by Kerry Greenwood (1-7-7)
Maggie Hope by Susan Elia MacNeal (1-9-9)
Kopp Sisters by Amy Stewart (1-6-6)
Bernie Gunther by Philip Kerr (1-14-15)
Inspector Bordelli by Marco Vichi (1-6-6)
Herringford and Watts by Rachel McMillan (1-6-6)*
Mike Haller by Max Byrd (1-3-3)
John Madden by Rennie Airth (1-6-6)
Gilles Sebag by Philippe Georget (1-3-3)
Alex Kovacs by Richard Wake (1-6-6)
Yan and Campbell by Peter May (1-7-7)
Enzo MacLeod by Peter May (1-6-6)
Josephine Tey by Nicola Upson (3-8-6)
Bill Slider by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (1-22-22)
Dalziel and Pascoe by Reginald Hill (1-21-21)
Anna Pigeon by Nevada Barr (1-19-19)
Sam Shepard by Vanda Symon (1-4-4)*
Redmond and Haze by Irina Shapiro (1-4-4)
Wycliffe by W.J. Burley (1-22-22)
Cork O'Connor by William Kent Krueger (1-18-18)

Caine Prize winners

Based on their website:

The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language.

The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing is named after the late Sir Michael Caine, former Chairman of Booker plc, who was Chairman of the 'Africa 95' arts festival in Europe and Africa in 1995 and for nearly 25 years Chairman of the Booker Prize management committee. After his death, friends and colleagues decided to establish a prize of £10,000 to be awarded annually in his memory.

I want to read a work by each of the authors who won the Caine Prize since inception. Not all of the authors have published works other than short stories in collections. This will be an ongoing project.

Split below in three categories - read, works identified to be read, no works identified.

(The year the author won the award, name of work that won, author, work read or identified to be read)

Read:
2000 � “The Museum� - Leila Aboulela - Lyrics Alley
2003 � “Weight of Whispers� - Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor- Dust
2006 � “Jungfrau� () - Mary Watson - The Wren Hunt
2015 � “The Sack� - Namwali Serpell - The Old Drift
2020 - "Grace Jones" - - Irenosen Okojie - Nudibranch

Works identified to be read:
2001 � “Love Poems� - Helon Habila - Oil on Water
2002 � “Discovering Home� - Binyavanga Wainaina -One Day I Will Write about This Place
2004 � “Seventh Street Alchemy� - Brian Chikwava - Harare North and The Jazz Goblin
2005 � “Monday Morning� - Segun Afolabi - Goodbye Lucille or Lusaka Punk and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2015
2007 � “Jambula Tree� - Monica Arac de Nyeko - Jambula Tree: And Other Stories
2008 � “Poison� - Henrietta Rose-Innes - Nineveh
2009 � “Waiting� - E C Osundu - Voice of America or This House is Not for Sale
2011 � “Hitting Budapest� - NoViolet Bulawayo - We Need New Names
2013 � “Miracle� - Tope Folarin - A Particular Kind of Black Man: A Novel
2016 � “Memories We Lost� - Lidudumalingani - Joburg Noir
2017 � “The Story of the Girl Whose Birds Flew Away� - Bushra al-Fadil - The Book of Khartoum: A City in Short Fiction
2018 - “Fanta Blackcurrant� - Makena Onjerika - Digital Bedbugs: 2019 Anthology of the Nairobi Fiction Writing Workshop or Nairobi Noir
2019 - “Skinned� - Lesley Nneka Arimah - What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky
2014 � “My Father's Head� - Okwiri Oduor - Things They Lost

No works identified

2012 � “Bombay's Republic� - Rotimi Babatunde
2010 � “Stickfighting Days� - Olufemi Terry
2021 - "The Street Sweep" - Meron Hadero

Africa39 authors

Based on Wikipedia:

Africa39 was a collaborative project initiated by the Hay Festival in partnership with Rainbow Book Club, celebrating Port Harcourt: UNESCO World Book Capital 2014 by identifying 39 of the most promising writers under the age of 40 with the potential and talent to define trends in the development of literature from Africa and the African diaspora. Launched in 2014, Africa39 followed the success of two previous Hay Festival initiatives linked to World Book Capital cities, Bogotá39 (2007) and Beirut39 (2009).

The judges for Africa39 were Margaret Busby, Osonye Tess Onwueme and Elechi Amadi, selecting from submissions researched by Binyavanga Wainaina. The writers' names were announced at the London Book Fair on 8 April 2014.

I realised that I read 3 of these authors in my Group Challenge in 2020 and enjoyed all their books. So I want to read a work by each of the identified authors.

Split below in three categories - read, works identified to be read, no works identified.

Read:
1. Nadifa Mohamed (Somalia/UK) - The Orchard of Lost Souls: A Novel
2. Sifiso Mzobe (South Africa) - Young blood
3. Namwali Serpell (Zambia/US) - The Old Drift
4. Zukiswa Wanner (Zambia/South Africa/Zimbabwe/Kenya) - Men of the South and London Cape Town Joburg
5. H.J. Golakai (Liberia) - The Score
6. Mary Watson (South Africa/Ireland) - The Wren Hunt
7. Mohamed Yunus Rafiq (Tanzania) - The Mischevious Baobab
8. Taiye Selasi(Ghana/Nigeria/UK/Italy) - Ghana Must Go

Works identified to be read:
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria) - Half of a Yellow Sun or Americanah
Monica Arac de Nyeko (Uganda) - Jambula Tree: And Other Stories
A. Igoni Barrett (Nigeria) - Blackass
Jackee Budesta Batanda(Uganda) -I Took Her a Hibiscus and Other Short Stories or The Blue Marble
Chika Unigwe (Nigeria/Belgium/US) - On Black Sisters Street
Novuyo Rosa Tshuma (Zimbabwe/South Africa) - House of Stone
Lola Shoneyin (Nigeria) - The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives
Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond (Ghana/US) - Powder Necklace
Edwige-Renée Dro (Ivory Coast) - Les oiseaux d'eau sur la rive du lac
Tope Folarin (Nigeria/US) - A Particular Kind of Black Man: A Novel
Clifton Gachagua (Kenya) - Madman at Kilifi or The Cartographer of Water
Stanley Gazemba (Kenya) - Forbidden Fruit or Khama or Dog Meat SamosaShafinaaz Hassim (South Africa) - Sophia: a novel
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (Nigeria) - Season of Crimson Blossoms
Dinaw Mengestu (Ethiopia/US) - The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears or All Our Names
Nthikeng Mohlele (South Africa) - Rusty Bell or Small Things
Glaydah Namukasa (Uganda) - The Deadly Ambition
Ukamaka Olisakwe (Nigeria) - Ogadinma: Or, Everything Will Be All Right or Eyes of a Goddess
Ondjaki(Luanda, Angola/Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) - Transparent City
Chibundu Onuzo (Nigeria) - The Spider King's Daughter or Welcome to Lagos
Nii Ayikwei Parkes (Ghana/UK) - Tail of the Blue Bird
Shadreck Chikoti (Malawi) Imagine Africa 500
Okwiri Oduor (Kenya) - One World Two: A Second Global Anthology of Short Stories

No works identified:
Richard Ali A Mutu (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Rotimi Babatunde (Nigeria)
Eileen Barbosa (Cape Verde)
Recaredo Silevo Boturu (Equatorial Guinea)
Mehul Gohil (Kenya)
Stanley Onjezani Kenani (Malawi/Switzerland)
Linda Musita (Kenya)
Kioko Ndinda (Kenya)

Let's finish some standalone books from my TBR. These were added in 2012 and I own them, maybe I should just try and read some of them?

Fiction
The Lost Wife Completed 22 April 4 stars
The House at Riverton
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Sarah's Key
The Shadow of the Wind

Non-Fiction
House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe
Biko
The Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm Community on the Brink of Change
Big History: From the Big Bang to the Present
The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss
The Yellow Bar
The End of Wall Street

Millennia of Reading
I want to see if I can read a book published in each century of a millennium, so will keep track here of my reading:


1000-1099BCE
900-999BCE
800 - 899BCE
700-79BCE
600 - 699BCE
500 -599BCE
400-499BCE Oedipus Rex, Antigone
300 - 399BCE
200-299BCE
100-199BCE
99-0BCE
1-100CE
101-200CE
201-300CE
301-400CE
401-500CE -
501-600CE
601-700CE
701-800CE
801-900CE
901-1000CE
1001-1100CE The Diary of Lady Murasaki
1101-1200CE
1201-1300CE The Saga of the Jomsvikings
1301-1400CE
1401-1500CE
1501-1600CE
1601-1700CE
1701-1800CE - Candide (1759), The Castle of Otranto (1764)
1801-1900CE
1901-2000CE
2001-

Century of Middle East and North African Authors

1910: The Tears, The English Translation of Al-Abarat: Mustafa Lutfi Al-Manfaluti, Translated by Majid Khan Malik Saddiqui Completed 11 June 4 stars
1920: The Prophet (Lebabon) Completed 27 February 4 stars
1930: The Blind Owl (Iran)
1940: Madonna in a Fur Coat (Turkey) Completed 29 July 4 stars
1950: Jamila (Kyrgyzstan) Completed 28 February 4 stars
1960: Children of the New World (Algeria) or The Open Door (Egypt)
1970: The Harafish (Egypt) Completed 28 January 4 stars
1980: Naphtalene (Iraq)
1990: Touba (Iran)
2000: Once upon a country (Palestine)
2010: The Ardent Swarm (Tunisia) Completed 19 January 4 stars
Celestial Bodies Completed 17 July 4 stars
2020: The Island of Missing Trees (Cyprus) Completed 24 May 5 stars

Century of Scandinavian literature
1860: The Snow Man and The Ice-Maiden and Other Tales (Contains The Ice Maiden, Butterfly, Psyche and The Snail and the Rose Tree) by Hans Christian Andersen (Denmark) Completed January.
1870: A Doll's House(Norway) Completed 24 February 4 stars
1880: Hunger (Norway)
1890: Gosta Berling's Saga (Sweden)
1900: The Iron Chariot: The Original Scandinavian Crime Novel (Norway) Completed 29 June 3.5 stars (or Sidsel Longfrock (Norway)
1910: The Dangerous Age (Denmark)
1920: The Wreath (Norway)
1930: Independent People (Iceland) Or Seven Gothic Stories (Denmark)
1940: The Children of Noisy Village (Sweden) Completed 3 June 4 stars
1950: The Long Ships (Sweden) Completed 30 May 5 stars
1960; Roseanna (Sweden)
1970: The Summer Book (Finland)
1980: The Dog (Sweden) Completed 26 February 4 stars
1990: Her Enemy (Finland)
2000: Flatey Enigma (Iceland)
2010: Hummingbird (Finland)


Century of Crime
1840-1849: The Murders in the Rue Morgue - a C. Auguste Dupin Short Story / C. Auguste Dupin Collection Completed 24 July 3 stars
1850-1859: Three Detective Anecdotes, On Duty with Inspector Field, The Detective Police or Recollections of a Police Man,
1860-1869: The Moonstone (1868)
1870-1879:The Count's Millions (1870)
1880-1889: A Study in Scarlet (1887)
1890-1899: The Sign of Four (1890)
1900-1909: The Red Thumb Mark (1907)
Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief (1907)
1910-1919: Trent's Last Case (1913)
1920-1929: Inspector French's Greatest Case (1924)
The Three Taps: A Detective Story Without a Moral (1927)
1930-1939: Murder at Monk's Barn (1931)
Behold, Here's Poison (1932)
They Found Him Dead (1937)
Dictator's Way (1938)
Suspects Nine (1939)
1940-1949: Tragedy at Law (1942)
1950-1959: Murder in Vienna (1956)
1960-1969: The Religious Body (1966)
1970-1979: Unholy Writ (1976)
1980-1989: Dead Man's Ransom (1984)
The Sirens Sang of Murder (1989)
1990-1999: Murder on the Ballarat Train (1991)
The Man Who Cast Two Shadows (1995)
Death at La Fenice (1995)
2000 2009: Death Without Company (2006)
2010-2019: Enigma of China (2013)
A Death in the Family (1915)
2020-2022: The Thursday Murder Club (2020)

African countries:

I have 23 African countries left where I have not yet read a book. I'm targeting the ones where I already own something:

1. Burundi: Small Country
2. DRC: Sacrificed or Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart
3. Congo- Brazzaville: African Psycho or Memoirs of a Porcupine(this may turn out to be Niger, but that's OK as I need both)
4. Cote d'Ivoire: Waiting for the Vote of the Wild Animals or The Blind Kingdom
5. Eritrea: Amid the Chaos
6. Ethiopia: The Shadow King
7. The Gambia: Reading the Ceiling Completed 20 May 4 stars
8. Mali: The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts or Segu
9. South Sudan: Emma's War
10. Tanzania: Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar
11. Tunisia: The Ardent Swarm Completed 18 January 4 stars
12. Angola: Transparent City
13. Malawi: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope

Combination reads:

I have lots of books where I either have a biography or autobiography of an author plus books by the author or other similarities where 2 authors write on the same subject etc. I want to read some of those, so this is just a list to remind me what I have and to track those completed.

Completed
LM Montgomery
The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career
Anne of Green Gables

Planned
Anthony Trollope:
The Last Chronicle of Barset
Autobiography of Anthony Trollope

Palestine and the British:
A Ride Across Palestine by Anthony Trollope
Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour by Barbara W. Tuchman

Mary Kingsley:
Travels in West Africa
One Dry Season by Caroline Alexander

Hans Christian Andersen in the Orient:
A Poet's Bazaar: A Journey to Greece, Turkey and Up the Danube
Just as Well I'm Leaving: To the Orient with Hans Christian Andersen by Michael Booth

Fanny Trollope:
Three English Women In America
Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope

John Buchan:
John Buchan: The Presbyterian Cavalier
Memory Hold-the-Door: The Autobiography of John Buchan
Plus Richard Hannay series

O Douglas/Anna Buchan
Unforgettable, Unforgotten
Anything by O. Douglas

MM Kaye
The Sun in the Morning: My Early Years in India and England
Some fiction maybe reread The Far Pavilions

There is nothing quite like a good series. And seeing your lists makes me realize how many I've got on the go, or have the 1st one on my bookshelf or worse, how many I've not considered before.. Aughhh! Good luck with your challenge.

Bill wrote: "There is nothing quite like a good series. And seeing your lists makes me realize how many I've got on the go, or have the 1st one on my bookshelf or worse, how many I've not considered before.. Au..."

It never stops! I know I added more this year than what I finished. Any by the way, you have to read the Hilary Tamar series by Sarah Caudwell. It's such fun.

Carolien wrote: "Bill wrote: "There is nothing quite like a good series. And seeing your lists makes me realize how many I've got on the go, or have the 1st one on my bookshelf or worse, how many I've not considere..."

I've ordered the first book.. *sigh*.. lol

Bill wrote: "I've ordered the first book.. *sigh*.. lol"


It'll be worth it!

Yay! A bunch of books I can lurk and add to my TBR! LOL

I've already snagged a few, but need to add more. I love thrillers and mysteries

Your list is the most dangerous on this site...all those series and the only one's that I've read are Harry Potter and 3 of Code Name Verity. I can't decide if I want to read The Enigma Game or not, it is in the Maybe category until you read it and persuade me. :-)

I have read The House at Riverton, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Sarah's Key, and The Shadow of the Wind.

Alissa and I have discussed buddy reading The Lost Wife (it's on our list) but we haven't set a date for that yet. You're always welcome to join us, the more, the merrier! Happy reading!

I was member of another library that charged a fee, and they had The Lost Wife. They stopped offering subscriptions when the pandemic hit, and now none of my libraries has it...I was going to join your buddy read, but maybe some other time, a different book.

Leo Demidov is a good series, and I've rated Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Sarah's Key and The Shadow of the Wind 5 stars each. I hope you'll enjoy them, I know I will add a lot of books to my TBR because of you. Happy reading!

Ioana wrote: "I was member of another library that charged a fee, and they had The Lost Wife. They stopped offering subscriptions when the pandemic hit, and now none of my libraries has it...I was going to join your buddy read, but maybe some other time, a different book."

I own the book, it was given to me by someone who is always asking how I liked the book and I am so ashamed to tell them that I haven't read it yet. Is it worth drastic measures to acquire? We'll see. :-) :-) :-)

Lea wrote: "Your list is the most dangerous on this site...all those series and the only one's that I've read are Harry Potter and 3 of Code Name Verity. I can't decide if I want to read [book:The Enigma Game|..."

Let me know when and I'd love to join. I've got books lined up to deal with the last 1000 years on the millennium challenge for next year, so that part should start looking interesting.

Carolien wrote: "Let me know when and I'd love to join. I've got books lined up to deal with the last 1000 years on the millennium challenge for next year, so that part should start looking interesting."

Your millennium challenge looks amazing. It's a good thing that you are a speedy reader, I can't wait to see how that all fills out for you?

What do you think about April for reading The Lost Wife?

April would be great for The Lost Wife. I'm in.

Carolien wrote: "April would be great for The Lost Wife. I'm in."

It's a plan. Looking forward to it. We've got a Master Buddy List thread going on down in the Buddy Reads section and we'll open a separate thread for it when it gets closer. Fingers crossed that we all enjoy it.

Lea wrote: "Your list is the most dangerous on this site...all those series and the only one's that I've read are Harry Potter and 3 of Code Name Verity. I can't decide if I want to read [book:The Enigma Game|..."

I think Carolien is on level with Bill now. Mmmm

Warning up front, I read lovely books this month and it will not be good for your TBRs...

English books
This was a very English month of reading. On the mystery front I read The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards on the early days of the Detection Club whose founding members included Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie and Anthony Berkeley. A fascinating look at how the detective genre developed in England the private lives of many of authors. I added loads to my own TBR.

I then read The Night of Fear which is the second of the Hugh Collier series. This one has a surfeit of detectives and policemen, but an interesting plot and I like her characters. I'll read more by her next year.

It was the 50th anniversary of the publication of Terry Pratchett's first book, The Carpet People. in November. For some reason, I've never read it and it was such fun. He was 17 when he wrote it and you can see the early promise in his world-building. It's also illustrated by himself which adds to the fun.

I read The Small House at Allington which is the fifth of the Barsetshire chronicles and loved it. Anthony Trollope is definitely one of my author finds of the year. Angela Thirkell set her books in mythical Barsetshire and I had fun reading Summer Half which is the first of the series. She is such a great writer of comedy.

I read At Mrs Lippincote's which is Elizabeth Taylor's first book. It shows the promise of her later books and she is a wonderful observer of human nature. I have 3 more of her books planned for 2022.

Excellent Women is one of those books which often appear on "best of" lists and I'm glad I finally read it, another new author to me in Barbara Pym. Again a great observer and with lots of gentle comedy.

I ended the year with Sugar Candy Cottage, a gentle romance by Elizabeth Cadell.

Africa
I finished my 12+4 with Ghana Must Go which has a very interesting structure. In the first part of the book we get the father's perspective as he dies. The middle part introduces each of his children as they are informed of his death and in the last part we have the funeral and family reunion. Enjoyed it, but it was a fairly slow read.

My final one of the year was Black Mamba Boy which was absolutely fascinating. It is based on Nadifa Mohamed father's life and tells the story of his travels in the 1930's and 1940's as a young boy and teenager from Yemen, to Somalia, Eritrea and then Egypt and eventually England. WWII in East Africa is described from the local residents' perspective. Highly recommend this one.

Middle East
The Bastard of Istanbul is one of my best reads of the year. It is beautifully written and deals with family tragedy and intrigues in such an interesting way. Just find it and read it. I bought her latest The Island of Missing Trees before I had even finished the first one.

Jerusalem: The Biography is a 600 page tome, but it is well worth the effort. It tells the history of the city of Jerusalem from the Old Testament up to 2014 in shortish, readable chapters. At times it reads more like fiction than anything else and I read it compulsively. Another book that added lots of books to my TBR.

The Rest
I wanted to read The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club since forever. It is set near Katherine in the Northern Territory in Australia, which we visited in 2013 when driving across the continent. Set in the late 1970's and 1980's, it has a lovely cast of characters and tells how the women deal with the isolation of every day life there.

Your Ad Could Go Here: Stories is a collection of short stories by Ukrainian author, Oksana Zabuzhko. It covers quite a scope of topics from an area of the world which I know very little about. I have her The Museum of Abandoned Secrets for next year.

The last one was South African author Elsa Winckler's latest romance, Kissing Charlie which was a fun read. I love her books and this was an early birthday present.

Currently listening to
Little Women

Starting 2022 with
The Harafish
The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter
The Ardent Swarm
Death in the Andamans
Arabella

2021 summary

I read the most books since probably school or university this year. I normally do about 100 odd. According to Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ it is 244, but that includes quite a few stand-alone short stories. So probably about 200 - 210 actual books.

About 20% of what I read this year was by African authors and about 10% translated into English from other languages. In 2020, I did not read a single book published prior to 1900, this year I read 20. The oldest ones were Oedipus Rex and Antigone.

I read 107 authors new to me (excluding individual short stories) and nearly 70% of the books were written by female authors. 66 books were published between 1900 and 1970. Authors who I discovered in 2021 and will be reading more of include: Anthony Trollope, Naguib Mahfouz, Tayari Jones, Edna Ferber, Elizabeth Taylor, Elif Shafak, A.S. Byatt, Gloria Naylor, Eileen Chang and Nadia Hashimi.

I managed to read 66 books across my various groups as Group reads. I listened to 10 audio books and read 28 non-fiction books. I read 4 collections of poetry and 4 plays along the way which I have never done before.

My one regret would be that I only read 2 books in Afrikaans and one collection of poetry. I should try to do more. In 2022 I also want to read some books in French if I can manage it.

I set out to read a book published every year from 1930 - 1939 and managed not only the 1930's, but also the 1950's, 1980's and 1990's and a book in every year from 2004 - 2021. My bookshelf is here and should be sorted by Year of Publication: /review/list...

I read books set in 50 countries this year of which 18 were new to me. Details in message 9 here: /topic/show/...

I covered 22 states of the USA including 7 that were new to me. Details in message 2: /topic/show/...

My 5 star reads: Fiction
Possession
The Street
Half a Lifelong Romance
Kintu
The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk / Palace of Desire / Sugar Street
Doctor Thorne
The Small House at Allington
A Sin of Omission
Excellent Women
The Bastard of Istanbul
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
Troy

5 star reads: Non-fiction
The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11
A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution
The Ratline: Love, Lies, and Justice on the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive
The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet
Dirt to Soil: One Family's Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture

I started more new series than finishing anything...My youngest daughter remains much better at this than I am. She started and finished the Magnus Chase series and The Heroes of Olympus this year. And she's up to date with Skulduggery Pleasant and Phoebe and the Unicorn. She's just started the second book of The School of Good and Evil and we have the third one in the queue.

Thank you to everyone who commented, made recommendations and shared their reads during the year! Happy reading in 2022!

Wow!!

What an amazing year, congrats! I honestly want to read every book you read, you've added so many interesting books to my TBR and I am thankful for that. No complaints, please keep doing it.
Wishing you a 2022 full of wonderful books.

Wow, what a great year. I've just spent 20 minutes adding books to my TBR! So glad to hear you enjoyed Possession and The Cairo Trilogy. I look forward to seeing what great books you pick in 2022! Happy reading!

Your challenge is amazingly organized. I’m envious. I wish I were more detail oriented. I’m definitely going to be following your reviews.

And congrats on a great reading year in 2021. I added so many books every time you did your monthly wrap ups. Haven’t gone through your Dec reviews yet cause I’ll need to set aside some time.

You, along with all those I follow on this group, have been a large part of this book addiction I have. My tbr never seems to go down, only up. Thank you :)

My tbr never seems to go down, only up

That is the problem most of us have reading each other's reviews! We're all addicted, but we get away with it as reading is seen as a good thing by the world, fortunately for us.

January is nearly done, time flies. We've had lots of rain for most of the summer so far. I read a lot the first two weeks of the month and then work intervened.

Mysteries
I read the next instalments in the Bobby Owen and Cadfael series, Dictator's Way and Dead Man's Ransom. Enjoyed both very much. I started a new series (because of course) with The Religious Body. I loved the setting of the convent and I'll continue the series. I also read Unholy Writ which involves a lost Shakespearean manuscript and a country house. Liked it, but not as good as the others. I also got around to Death in the Andamans which is such an interesting setting. My review should be here: /review/show...

Africa
It wasn't planned, but it turned into a big African month. Wayne and I had two buddy reads. In The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter, Albie Sachs writes about his recovery process from a car bomb attack in Maputo in 1988. Very personal and introspective. In Susters van Eva four women's life intersect in an isolated valley through family connections and murder. I should read more by Dalene Matthee.

The Ardent Swarm by Tunisian-born author Yamen Manai is a allegory of a country recovering from a revolution. Lovely characters and an easy read. The Harafish by Nobel prize winner Naguib Mahfouz revolves around the descendants of Ashur, the patriarch in a specific alley. Each chapter tells the story of another generation through moments of triumph and disaster. Enjoyed it very much.

Other
I started the year with romantic comedy by Georgette Heyer, Arabella remains one of my absolute favourites by her. I've been binge reading Elizabeth Taylor since discovering her last year. Angel is my latest read. One of the most interesting female protagonists, completely self-centred and yet insecure in her life, Angel is memorable.

Carmilla is one of the earliest vampire tales and I found it much more interesting than Dracula which bored me to tears. More compact and quite sinister.

I also read The Diary of Lady Murasaki which was published in 1010 and it is full of interesting descriptions of life at the Japanese court a thousand years ago. I basically read it to figure out if I can consider The Tale of Genji and I will tackle that monster at some point as this was very readable.

I finished listening to Little Women which I had started just before Christmas and, as always, loved it. Poems to Fall in Love With came recommended by my youngest daughter and it has a very wide variety of poets with the illustrations you expect from such a talented artist.

Currently reading
Anne of Green Gables
The Gambler

Currently listening
Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour (I did not expect to find this as interesting as I do, fascinating although I am now bogged down in the Victorian empire building section)

Next up to read
Life Begins on Friday by Romanian author Ioana Pârvulescu
The Henna Artist (with Lea and Alissa!)
A Doll's House (with Wayne)
Play It As It Lays

As always you have such variety in your reading selections. I hope your Feb is as interesting.

What a great January you've had! The Tale of Genjji is on my someday list - after struggling through all three volumes of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1 of 2, I thought I'd take a break from Asian monster classics for a short while. I'll be eager to see what you think of it.

I'm going to have to get back to Georgette Heyer one of these times - I think I need to select a "safe" book like Arabella instead of just reading whatever shows up in the Free Library.

I liked Carmilla also!

I'm looking forward to reading The Henna Artist with you this month! :-)

Great update and yes, I added Carmilla!! LOL

Great January! I always enjoy your updates, and at the same time fear them. Everything that you read sounds interesting and I want to read all those books, too.
I should read more Romanian authors, the problem is that few are translated and available at my library. I'm curious about Life Begins on Friday. Happy reading in February!

February was an atrocious month. We went onto a new IT system at work and the integration was not successful to put it mildly. We've spent a month with clients screaming (they seem to have run out of swear words after 3 weeks of this) and trying to fix things with little progress. Hopefully March will be better, maybe not.

In any case, we spent the past weekend in the eastern Free State on the Lesotho border and I managed to finish about 6 books which were all in progress, so it looks better than I had expected.

Classics
Lady Susan and The Watsons by Jane Austen are both fragments of manuscripts. Lady Susan is an incredibly devious woman and I would have loved to have seen the final version. That leaves me with Emma and Mansfield Park to complete her works.

The Gambler was my first by Fyodor Dostoevsky and less intimidating than I had feared. I love the thought that he wrote the story to settle a gambling debt!

I'm planning to reread the whole series this year, but Anne of Green Gables remains one of my all time favourite books ever. It was such fun to reread.

The Dog was an unexpected joy. A puppy gets lost in the snow and has to survive a summer on his own learning to hunt and avoid predators. It's written completely from the dog's perspective with no humanisation. Beautifully written.

Jamilia was my first read by an author from Kyrgyzstan which was a lovely short story set during WWII when a disabled soldier comes to a village.

Buddy reads
A Doll's House was a buddy read with Wayne and our friend Orgeluse. It is such a modern play with a view on the role of women, yet 150 years old. Doom-laden, but well worth the read.

I read The Henna Artist with Lea and Alissa and enjoyed it very much. It's a lovely cast of characters and I enjoyed the setting of Jaipur which I visited a few years ago.

Audio
I finished Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour which I found much more interesting than I had expected. I never knew the role of Joseph of Arimathea in the English founding myth and learned a lot in the process.

I then listened to two short ones. Half Light and Evidence of the Affair both of which I loved. The narration is excellent for both, highly recommend for a quick listen.

I'm currently busy with Little Men. I decided I may as well redo the whole series as I last read them decades ago. So next up will be Jo's Boys.

Books set in England and Scotland
I finally read The Winter Sea which has been on my TBR since 2012. Loved, loved it. Obscure bit of history for me and wonderful cast of characters, Definitely reading the rest of the series.

Bird Summons by Leila Aboulela is a story of 3 women who goes on journey and in the process has to change and find themselves. I enjoyed it although the magical realism was a challenge at the end. Another obscure bit of history as they are going to visit the grave of Lady Evelyn Cobbold who was the first British woman to convert to Islam. She wrote a book about her experiences which I am planning to read.

The month ended with 2 very British mysteries, both with a large dose of comedy. I recommend both The Shortest Way to Hades and The Thursday Murder Club for fun but solid plots.

Currently reading
Behold, Here's Poison
We Are Each Other's Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land, and Legacy

Next up
The Bone People
Indaba My Children
Comes a Stranger
The Spanish Bride

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club, I'm hoping to read it eventually whenever the library comes through with my copy. Will you continue the series?

I read The Bone People while I was in New Zealand some years ago, and really enjoyed it. Hope you do too.

And I enjoyed reading The Henna Artist with you too!

Your IT project sounds terrible. I am glad you got away for the weekend and I hope that you are feeling refreshed and ready to tackle this week! Even a month you see as atrocious for reading really looks great to me!

Carolien wrote: "February was an atrocious month. We went onto a new IT system at work and the integration was not successful to put it mildly. We've spent a month with clients screaming (they seem to have run out ..."

You've been enjoying some challenging books, Carolien. I remember reading Jo's Boys many years ago. There was a character named Billy who had some medical issue I believe. It kind of scared me.. Silly, eh? Good luck with your March selections

So sorry about your IT project disaster, it really doesn't sound well. Poor clients...poor you, who are in the middle...
But at least you read some good books, and I'm happy to see that some are already on my TBR.
I'm so glad to hear you liked The Winter Sea, I did too. The next one, The Firebird was ok, and I hope to get to #3 The Vanished Days soon.

Lea wrote: "I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club, I'm hoping to read it eventually whenever the library comes through with my copy. Will you continue the series?

Definitely. I had read very different opinions about it, but I ended up strongly in the "loved it" side.

Sounds like you needed to get away for awhile and unwind. And you had time to read :)

Felt the same way about Lady Susan as you did. I would've loved to see where the story would've ended up had Austen had a chance to finish it.

Glad you enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club. Thought the author wrote a fun book. Just read his latest book, the second in the series. Would be interested to see what you think of it.

If you, Lea and Alissa liked The Henna Artist, I'm definitely putting it on my tbr list!

Carolien wrote: "February was an atrocious month. We went onto a new IT system at work and the integration was not successful to put it mildly. We've spent a month with clients screaming (they seem to have run out ..."

I just love when customers (patients for me); scream and yell, like I am some emotionless machine. I really enjoy the cuss words too. NOT!!

Sorry you had to deal with that.

Great progress on your reading even with the craziness at work.

Sorry that you had such a stressful Feb, glad you got a weekend away though. Hope March is better both work and reading wise.

We'll summarize March as some mysteries got read, some other stuff got read. We packed lots of books into boxes for their move to England in May. I have accepted a job offer in Chester, England and the big move will be towards the end of May. Like all good book people, we are taking the books with us and leaving the furniture behind!

Mysteries
Somehow I never read any Sherlock Holmes which finally got rectified with A Study in Scarlet which let me a bit underwhelmed. It's interesting to read how Holmes and Watson meet, but the backstory is stuck in the middle of the story with no warning and there's too much melodrama for my taste. I'll have to think whether I want to read more.

City of Silver: A Mystery is a good read for Easter as it is set during that time in a place called Potosi in Bolivia. This used to be the major supply for silver to the Spanish Empire and it is still mined today. A girl is found dead in her cell in a convent, she recently ran away from home. The abbess is not convinced it is suicide and buries her in consecrated ground. At which point the Inquisition arrives. I struggled initially to sort out the characters, but it was an interesting read in the end.

From South America to Australia and Murder on the Ballarat Train, the third instalment in the Phryne Fisher series. I enjoy these set in the 1920's in Melbourne and this one had an interesting plot.

Inspector French's Greatest Case was great fun. A clerk is found murdered in the office of an important diamond dealer and Inspector French's investigation takes him from London to France, Switzerland, Spain and eventually Portugal. Solid plot and I enjoyed it very much.

The Three Taps: A Detective Story Without a Moral revolves around three gas taps in a hotel room where a man is found dead one morning in a locked room. A classic of the locked-room genre. The one investigator is from Scotland Yard, the other from an insurance company and they keep swapping theories. A bit convoluted, was it murder or suicide?.

And then there was poison in Behold, Here's Poison one of Georgette Heyer's mysteries. I liked this one better than the previous instalment although the characters were still a bit annoying.

Other stuff
I finished listening to the last instalment of the Little Women trilogy, Jo's Boys. I'm glad I went back and listened to the whole trilogy.

In a similar vein I read Anne of Avonlea which remains lovely. So glad I'm rereading these.

Some classic adventure set in Cornwall in the first of the Poldark series - Ross Poldark. Definitely reading more of them, fortunately my parents-in-law gave me a few as a birthday present a few years' ago.

I loved the quiet tone and wit of Dear Hugo. Sara Monteith arrives in a small Scottish village and tells of her experiences in a series of letters to Hugo, the brother of her dead love. If you are a fan of D.E. Stevenson or Elizabeth Cadell, I highly recommend Molly Clavering.

I am a big fan of the Serial Reader for reading classics and I sometimes discover random books on it. Wired Love: A Romance of Dots and Dashes arrived in this manner and I love it. Before email and text messages and phones there was the telegraph - one morning Nattie receives a message B m - X n which means her office was being called. Soon she and a mysterious C is exchanging morse code. A lovely, old-fashioned romance.

Currently reading
Murder in Vienna
Anne of the Island
A Death in the Family
Indaba My Children

Next up
Tragedy at Law
Zagreb Noir
Ancestor Stones (buddy read with Wayne)
The Lost Wife (buddy read with Lea and Alissa)

Currently listening
Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy

Good luck with your move. I've done it so many times in my life. It can be unsettling. But you have a new job awaiting you. I hope it's a good one. :0)

I'm enjoying the Anne books as well. It's become a Xmas read for me. I also enjoy the Phryne Fisher books, always entertaining. If you haven't yet, you might like to check out her Corinna Chapman series. I've read the first book so far and loved it. Even more than Phryne.. if that's possible. I have a Lorac book on my shelf, looking forward to exploring it. I've read the first Poldark book so far and quite enjoyed.

Good luck with your April selections and your ongoing packing.

Bill wrote: "Good luck with your move. I've done it so many times in my life. It can be unsettling. But you have a new job awaiting you. I hope it's a good one. :0)

I'm enjoying the Anne books as well. It's be..."

It's a lovely job!

I have the first Corinna Chapman on the shelf, it will come along and then I'll have to try it!

We haven't moved a lot, the last time in 2013, so there is a lot of stuff to organise. It will all get done.

I love that you've got the books packed and are leaving the furniture behind! :-)

I'm looking forward to our buddy read, I plan to start the book tomorrow.

But, what a nice month end summary, what a great reading month you've had!

I'm glad you enjoyed Jo's Boys, I think that is such a lovely ending to the series.

City of Silver sounds very interesting, and it appears to be available in one of my libraries. I am going to have to get my hands on it.

Carolien wrote: "We'll summarize March as some mysteries got read, some other stuff got read. We packed lots of books into boxes for their move to England in May. I have accepted a job offer in Chester, England and..."

Great reading month considering your big move, Carolien.

Sherlock Holmes is hit or miss with each story. I really, really enjoyed The Hound of the Baskervilles, so highly recommended, but that is the only one I liked; the others were just okay. Good mystery and some creep factor too. Everything else, I could read from Agatha Christie or in the Cat Who..... books.

I really, really enjoyed The Hound of the Baskervilles, so highly recommended, but that is the only one I liked;

Someone else made a similar comment so I'll read this one at some point and then ignore the rest,

Hey, Carolien!! Just checking in. I hope your move is going smoothly and you are doing well. 🤗🤗