Moonrat's update

Hi, folks! I haven't posted an update in a long time, but I'm still working pretty hard on my list.

I realize I have read the following since I last posted:

East of Eden, John Steinbeck
The Farming of Bones, Edwidge Danticat
The Known World, Michael Chabon
Werewolves in Their Youth, Michael Chabon

I've also read significant portions of David Copperfield and Moby Dick, but these are both titles I am working through slowly when I'm in the right mood.

I've also started trying to read a lot of classic crime fiction. It's a second (and less well-structured) reading project. Anyway--if you're a crime fiction reader, let me know some of your favorites. I'm very curious.

Michelle(TBA)--My 100

Hi, I'm Michelle.  Since we have several Michelles already, I'll be know as Michelle(TBA).  My main book blog is The True Book Addict (hence the TBA = True Book Addict), on which my primary focus is historical fiction.  I also have a horror/speculative fiction review blog, Castle Macabre.  I track all my reading challenges, including perpetual challenges and long term challenges like this, at my challenge blog, Challenges of The True Book Addict.  My list comes from my 3000+ home library, of which many of the 2000+ fiction books have been languishing--unloved--for years.  LOL! These are books I've been wanting to read for a long time.  There are also some more recent acquisitions which are books I purchased because I'd really been wanting to read them (but aren't they all that for us, truth be told).

These are listed in alphabetical order by author's name, but will not be read in this order.  Goal date is January 17, 2017.

1. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
3. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
4. Running with the Demon by Terry Brooks
5. The Last Days of Pompeii by Edgar George Bulwer-Lytton
6. Possession by A.S. Byatt
7. The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr
8. The Love Knot by Elizabeth Chadwick
9. The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
10. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
11. The Blood Countess by Andrei Codrescu
12. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
13. The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell
14. Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell
15. Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell
16. The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
17. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
18. The Passage by Justin Cronin
19. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
20. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
21. Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
22. The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan
23. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
24. Queenmaker by India Edghill
25. Under the Snow by Kerstin Ekman
26. Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine
27. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
28. The Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan
29. In the Woods by Tana French
30. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
31. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
32. Grendel by John Gardner
33. Helen of Troy by Margaret George
34. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
35. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
36. The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory
37. The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. by Sandra Gulland
38. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
39. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
40. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
41. Roots by Alex Haley
42. Forever by Pete Hamill
43. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
44. Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
45. Chocolat by Joanne Harris
46. Lake of Sorrows by Erin Hart
47. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
48. Dune by Frank Herbert
49. The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks
50. Lord of the Dead by Tom Holland
51. The Society of S by Susan Hubbard
52. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
53. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
54. Ahab's Wife, or the Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund
55. Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles
56. The Burning Times by Jeanne Kalogridis
57. The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis
58. The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent
59. Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
60. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
61. The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale
62. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
63. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
64. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
65. The  Covenant by James Michener
66. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
67. Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
68. The Green Knight by Iris Murdoch
69. The Eight by Katherine Neville
70. Anno-Dracula by Kim Newman
71. The Red Church by Scott Nicholson
72. The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates
73. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
74. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
75. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
76. The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
77. Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
78. Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
79. Hotel Transylvania by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
80. Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault
81. The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice
82. Christ the Lord by Anne Rice
83. Angel Time by Anne Rice
84. A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice
85. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
86. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
87. Dance Upon the Air by Nora Roberts
88. Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott
89. Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
90. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
91. The Terror by Dan Simmons
92. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
93. The Seventh Scroll by Wilbur Smith
94. Ghost Story by Peter Straub
95. Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth
96. The Passion of Artemesia by Susan Vreeland
97. The Religion by Tim Willocks
98. The Keep by F. Paul Wilson
99. Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
100. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey

A wonderful opening pulled me straight into the 1920s. And straight into London's theatreland.

It was beautifully written and it was clear that Josephine Tey, already a successful playwright, knew and loved the world she was writing about. And that she understood the importance of the big picture, of the small things, and of the psychology of her characters.

And in the very first chapter there was the crime. Such an elegant, clever scenario:

" 'Chap fainted,' said someone. No one moved for a moment or two. Minding one's own business in a crowd today is as much an instinct of self-preservation as a chameleon's versatility. Perhaps someone would claim the chap. But no one did; and so a man with more social instinct or more self-importance than the rest moved forward to help the collapsed one. He was about to bend over the limp heap when he stopped as if stung and recoiled hastily. A woman shrieked three times horribly; and the pushing, heaving queue froze suddenly to immobility.

In the clear white light of the naked electric in the roof, a man's body, left alone by the instinctive withdrawal of the others, lay revealed in every detail. And rising slant-wise from the grey tweed of his coat was a little silver thing that winked wickedly in the baleful light.

It was the handle of a dagger."

An audacious murder, in the middle of a queue of people, all pressing forward, eager to see the final performance of popular musical.

The investigation fell to Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard. A detective without the gimmicks, or idiosyncracies of many of his contemporaries, but with a great deal of intelligence and charm, I soon suspected that his creator was a little in love with him ... quite understandably ...

There was little physical evidence, little witness evidence, but a careful, methodical investigation began, and in time the dead man was identified, his life examined, and suspects identified.

Often the story was quiet, but it was always engaging.

The characters were so well drawn, and they always offered me a question to ponder.

There were some great moments and some lovely diversions: a trip to the Highlands of Scotland in pursuit of a fleeing suspect stood out for me.

And the writing was wonderful. Josephine Tey wrote such lovely prose, balancing rich descriptions and perfectly observed dialogue, with intelligence and wit always threaded through.

Elements of the modern police procedural can be seen, but this is very much a book of its time. The language, the world it describes tie it to the 1920s, and references to the Great War emphasise its lasting impact on a generation.

I was caught up in that world, and with Inspector Grant and his investigation.

The resolution owed as much to luck - or maybe policeman's instinct - as solid police work.

I didn't mind that, but it did confirm my feeling that this was a good book rather that a great book.

And certainly more than good enough to make sure that I will read my way through the rest of the series ...