LSG's 2017 challenge

Having finally succeeded at the 50-book challenge, I am going for 75 -or more - now. Probably not the most erudite reading list out there but still reading.

1. Murder in the Dark by Kerry Greenwood
2. Death by Water by Kerry Greenwood
3. Murder on a Midsummer Night by Kerry Greenwood
4. Murder and Mendelssohn by Kerry Greenwood
5. Dead Man's Chest by Kerry Greenwood
6. Urn Burial by Kerry Greenwood

Obviously on a Kerry Greenwood (well, Phryne Fisher) kick at the moment. Two more to go I think before moving on to new topics.

Welcome! There's no erudite requirement for joining up! Good thing, or I'd be out on my ear. :)

Happy reading in 2017, Kerry Greenwood or anything else :-)

Hi, and welcome to the group!

Thanks everybody for the welcome. I'm currently in the midst of several books so I'll probably have a bunch at once to post. In the meantime.

7. Cocaine Blues by Kerry Underwood
8. Valiant Ambition By Nathaniel Philbrick. A very interesting account of Benedict Arnold and the early days of the Revolutionary War. Without excusing Arnold, Philbrook does give a good look at how he was treated and sometimes mistreated by the Americans and how his own ambitions and flaws eventually pushed him over to the British side.

Welcome to the 75ers! We look forward to hearing more, and I see that I need to read more Philbrick ---- especially since I've read only one.

This was my first Philbrick but it was really interesting.

9. Unnatural Habits by Kerry Greenwood
10. Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood
11. A Question of Death by Kerry Greenwood. A series of short stories and the last of the Phryne Fisher series. I've been told I might enjoy her Corinna Chapman series as well. Reading a couple of longer books now so might come back to Greenwood as a break after that.

12. At Knit's End: Meditations for Women who Knit Too Much by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I'm not sure it is possible to knit too much, but an amusing book by the blogger known as the Yarn Harlot.
13. Help, Thanks, Wow by Anne Lamott

14. Ruddy Gore by Kerry Greenwood
15. In the Shadow of the Sword by Tom Holland. An interesting look at all the religions of Middle East and what we do or don't know about the Mohammed and the early days of Islam. Very good if you like a comprehensive look at a time and place, not so good if you really just want to learn about Islam.

16. The Tales of Max Carrados by Ernest Bramah. A light-hearted WWI era set of mystery short stories.

17. A Wilderness of Error by Errol Morris. I remember the Jeffrey MacDonald case from when I was in high school and how convinced we all were of his guilt. Not so sure now.

18. A Quiet Life in the Country by T. E. Kinsey. A very light-hearted murder mystery, placed in early 1900s England.

19. One Wild Bird at a Time by Bernd Heinrich. Excellent

20. The Third Chapter by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot. This one had been strongly recommended to me and I really didn't care for it, although I did finish it. I'm not wealthy, haven't left a position of power, don't feel particular angst about my childhood or teachers, so really didn't fit the mold at all.

21. The Witches: Salem 1692 by Stacy Schiff. In many ways a scary book since in the internet age we often have the same rush to judgement and probably similarly mistaken verdicts.

22. Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime by Val McDermid. A quick little look at modern forensics. Nothing breathtaking in the techniques described but some interesting case studies.

23. Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World by David Keys. Examines the worldwide impact of a major volcanic explosion in the 6th century.

24. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. A new-to-me murder series.

25. Undeniable by Bill Nye.
26. The Foundling by Paul Fronczak

27. The Secret Life of Words by Anne Curzan. Not a book per se but a lot of chapters for listening so I'm counting it here anyway.

28. In the Market for Murder by T. E. Kinsey

29. We should all be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Very short, very thought provoking.

30. Three Cups of Deceit by Greg Mortensen
31. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

32. 1066: The Year that Changed Everything by Jennifer Paxton

33. Suggestible You by Erik Vance. Another fascinating book on the mind and the power of placebos and the mind.

Haven't been around for a while but still reading.

34. The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung. Interesting concepts, probably worth trying.
35. A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas - One of my favorite mysteries in ages. Really liked the protagonist and how the author played with the Holmes idea.
36. Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. Given to me, ok but not one I feel obligated to pass on to friends.
37. My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse - Bertie Wooster's adventures in NY.
38. H.H. Holmes, the True History of the White City Devil by Adam Selzer The book only gets a B for writing style but definitely an A for research.
39. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them by J.K. Rowling. Enough of a HP nerd that I had to read it.
40. Dead Run by Dan Schulz - The full title says it all - The murder of a lawman and the greatest manhunt of the modern American West.
41. Crime on the Fens by Joy Ellis. Quite an enjoyable mystery for the first in a series.
42. Quiet: The power of Introverts in a World that Can't stop talking by Susan Cain. Absolutely loved this book. Recommending it to introverts and extraverts alike.
43. SPQR: A history of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard.
44. Finding Family by Richard Hill - One man's quest to find out who his birth parents were.
45. Forgery and Counterforgery by Bart D. Ehrman Good book. I was expecting it to be more of a mass appeal type and in fact it is quite scholarly but interesting.
46. Idiot America by Charles P. Pierce.
47. Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Her books are always a pleasure to read.

Welcome back! Some good books in there.

48. Why They Do It by Eugene Soltes. A look at White-collar crime and the motivations behind it.

49. Private by James Patterson. Good car trip reading, definitely not intellectually tasking.
50. My Favorite Universe by Neil deGrasse Tyson. This was an audio series and he was interesting as always.
51. The Girl who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. I don't normally like YA books but this one I truly enjoyed. It wasn't that the plot was great or complicated but the characters were enchanting.
52. The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby. Unless you're into new age stuff, I do not recommend this book. Thought with it being a scientist it would be ok but if it hadn't been short I would have abandoned it.
53. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. This was really popular when I was in college but I never got around to reading it. Kind of a fun approach to Tao.
54. The Horologicon by Mark Forsyth A fun and funny approach to rare or no-longer-used words.
55. The Warsaw Uprising of 1944 A very brief overview of the uprising in Warsaw just before the end of the war.

56. Shadow over the Fens by Joy Ellis
57. A Merciful death by Kendra Elliot

58. The Spark by Chris Downie
59. Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan - Very interesting story of how an autoimmune disease could cause symptoms of madness.
60. Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda Behind the scenes of the blockbuster show.
61. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. Read this as a child but that was a long time ago. Still a great story. I had forgotten that this was why the tesseract sounded familiar when it appeared in the Marvel comics.
62. Emma: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith. Done as part of a series where modern authors retell Jane Austen stories. I really enjoyed it.
63. The Things You Can Only See When you Slow Down by Haemin Sunim. Not bad, pretty predictable.

64. Still Life by Louise Penny. A fun murder mystery. I look forward to reading the next one in the series.

65. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
66. The Enemy at the Gate by Andrew Wheatcroft. Centers on the siege of Vienna but gives an excellent background and a good look at what happened next.
67. War of Two A combined biography of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, leading up to the duel that resulted in Hamilton's death. Does give the aftermath for Burr as well. Pretty good.

68. Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming. One of the best autobiographies that I have read.
69. Hunted on the Fens by Joy Ellis. Third book in the mystery series.
70. The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt. Good history, could have done without some of the polemics.
71. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. A classic
72. The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire. Excellent fantasy novel but nr 11 in the series. Need to start from the beginning.
73. The Toll-Gate by Georgette Heyer. Nice break.
74. Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O'Connor
75. Chain of Title by David Dayen

Congrats on hitting 75!

Congratulations on reaching 75!

Thank you.

76. IQ by Joe Ide. Murder mystery. Took some getting into because the author was giving the background to the character as well as working on the current mystery but good.
77. A Dangerous Talent by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins. Predictable but not bad.

78. Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen An author I've been meaning to try for a while. Compelling story but some of the images made me uncomfortable so probably won't read any more.

Wishing you all good things this holiday season and beyond.

Finishing up 2017.

79. Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar. Excellent story really looking at the details of the life of one of George Washington's slaves who successfully ran away from him.
80. Our Lady of Pain by Marion Chesney. Very disappointing both we regard to the mystery and the relationships of the characters.
81. The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner. Autobiography of a girl growing up in a Fundamentalist LDS sect in Mexico.
82. A Cruise to Die For by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins. If you like murders being solved by coincidence, this book is for you.
83. Evans Above by Rhys Bowen. Mystery in a small Welsh village. Enjoyed it.
84. The Greatest Story Ever Told - So Far by Lawrence M. Krauss. Excellent telling of the history of physics in the past few centuries. I got tired of the polemics because I saw no reason for them, but the science was fascinating.
85. The Deep Blue Good-Bye by John D. McDonald. Classic murder mystery but one I had never read. I'll be reading more of his.
86. Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
87. A Man of Some Repute by Elizabeth Edmondson

Not a Bad year all told.