TBR List Update: January

    

I'm working my way through #VirtualMountTBR2024. Here's my current To-Be-Read List, and here's the list of titles I have read this year.

In January 2024

Books read: 7

Books I decided NOT to finish: 3

The Devil in Silver: This one seemed like it would make a good suspense film, but the novel opened too slowly for me. I wanted to know more about either the police corruption angle or the supernatural factors, but I didn't stick with it.

Life from Scratch: I picked this up again after a couple months and just couldn't get through it. Is the whole book about the author's disrupted childhood, or does she do something interesting later? Dunno.

Unexpected Magic: I'd already read this! Didn't remember having done so from the title/cover, but as soon as I opened the first story...

Life Undercover

Books left on the TBR List: 78

Best book of the month: Dreaming Spies

This is one of the handful of remaining titles in the Mary Russell series that I started two decades or more ago and have been trying to finish up. Although there was a definite whiff of Orientalism (suitable to the era in which the story is set), I think the implausible storyline -- ninjas! the emperor of heaven himself! -- acquitted itself well. I also found myself reading with... anticipatory nostalgia? the scenes of the shipboard travel, as I was lucky enough to book a cruise this coming summer.

Worst book of the month: Garment of Shadows

Funny that the least interesting of the half-dozen this month would be the novel directly preceding the most interesting (in the same series)! Russell had amnesia throughout the first half of this book, which did cut down on any reminiscing about past cases or training with Holmes if not her quick-witted deductions. Maybe I missed that.

Not a bad start to the year!

Reading List 2023

Here's an archived copy of my reading list for this year. I'll be keeping up the new list here: http://mlisunderstanding.blogspot.com/p/reading-list.html

I would recommend the bolded titles with enthusiasm, and I enjoyed the italicized titles but probably wouldn't read them again.

#VirtualMountTBR2024

I'm doing this for a second year! The Virtual Mount TBR (to-be-read) challenge is hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block. Participants start with a list of books they don't own but have been meaning to read, and the challenge is scaling a virtual mountain by either reading or deciding to remove them unfinished from the list. You can sign up here! (If you have a literal pile of books, #MountTBR2024 is for you.)

Here is my list of books read in 2024: https://mlisunderstanding.blogspot.com/p/reading-list.html

Here is my TBR List: https://oaklandlibrary.bibliocommons.com/v2/users/1947049039/shelves/for_later

I am aiming for Mt. Mindolluin (75 books). I will be updating at the end of each month (and sporadically otherwise) with a running total and some commentary.