Monday, December 2, 2013

Mystery a Month Reading Challenge for 2014

I've decided to start one of my own little challenges for 2014. For all I know, I've subconsciously gotten this idea from somewhere else. But I thought it would be fun to try to read a mystery a month in 2014. I've already got a tentative list for the first six months. And then I've got ideas rolling around in my head for other possibilities. If you want to join in the challenge, please do! I don't know how to do the Mr. Linky thing and anyway I am afraid it would be like giving a party and no one showing! So I won't try to be so proud as to make this an official thing, but if anyone out there wants to join in, that would be wonderful! Of course, you can choose your own mysteries to read, you don't have to read the ones I have listed here.

January:
The Name of the Rose - I remember starting to read this decades ago when it first came out, but I remember not getting into it. But I'd like to try again. It seems to have stood the test of time, in that it is frequently listed as one the best 100 mysteries, right up near the top of the list. And we're studying the Middle Ages in history so it would be appropriate that way.

February:
The Hound of the Baskervilles - I know I've seen the movie(s) and I think I've heard it retold by Jim Weiss but I don't think I've actually read it. Or if I did it was ages and ages ago and might bear rereading. I am not a big Sherlock Holmes buff, mostly because I don't like Holmes in the books. To me, he comes off better on screen. But I have read several short stories in the series. So I think I'll try reading this book; the only full length novel, I believe, about Holmes.

March:
The Moonstone - I read The Woman in White several years ago and just loved it. Ever since I've been wanting to read The Moonstone and just never have gotten around to it. Looking forward to this one!

April:
The Viaduct Murder - This is by Father Ronald Knox. I'm a little frustrated by this. Amazon says it is on kindle but I can't find it in the kindle store. I think it is out of print, so I might have to get this used.

May:
Father Dowling Mysteries Series by Dr. Ralph McInerny. Dr. McInerny was a great Catholic theologian who passed away very recently. The silly TV series that aired backed in the 1980s was based on these. They seem rather hard to get now.

June:
The Quiet American or Brighton Rock by Graham Greene. I love Greene. I haven't read either of these. Both of these are listed in the top 100 mystery novels.

Some other ideas - I'd like read something by John Le Carre. I remember Alec Guinness playing the main character in the British TV series based on Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. I also don't think I've read all of Georgette Heyer's mysteries. She only wrote three or four (I think). I know I've read two of them. I really need to read more of Agatha Christie. I've barely scratched the surface of her wealth of stories. I also wouldn't mind reading more of Mary Rinehart Roberts books, especially, The Bat. And I read The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey but ever since then I have been thinking about reading her other well known book, Brat Ferrar. And finally, I've always wanted to read that gothic novel mentioned in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, the one she was trying to spoof, The Mysteries of Udolpho.

Wow, it was easy to come up with this, I wonder how I'll fare during the year though. We'll see.

2 comments:

  1. Your choices sound great! And the challenge sounds fun. I will try to join you!

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  2. What a great list. I read Name of the Rose years ago and enjoyed it. Looking at reading another one of his stories - Foucalt's Pendulum.

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