Meanderer-ing through 2024

So now that I have retired, I hope to spend more time reading my hardback and paperback books and ebooks as well as listening to more audiobooks and surfing other 75ers' threads more often.
Books I have read or listened to in 2024:
1. Hope for the Best by Jodi Taylor. Audiobook.
2. The Steam Pump Jump by Jodi Taylor. Audiobook.
3. Botanical Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland by Lisa Schneidau. Audiobook.
4. The Chinese Shawl by Patricia Wentworth. Audiobook.
5. The Case of the Canterfell Codicil by PJ Fitzsimmons. Audiobook.
6. Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards. Kindle
7. Web by John Wyndham. Audiobook.
8. Countdown City by B H Winters. Kindle
9. Blandings Castle and Elsewhere by PG Wodehouse. Audiobook.
10. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Audiobook
11. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. Audiobook.
12. Survival: After It Happened by Devon C Ford. Audiobook.
13. The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Audiobook.
14. The Relentless Tide by Denzil Meyrick. Audiobook.
15. Inherit the Stars by James P Hogan. Audiobook.
16. A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C Clarke. Audiobook.
17. The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle. Audiobook.
18. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. Audiobook.
19. When it Grows Dark by Jorn Lier Horst. Audiobook/Kindle.
20. Humanity: After it Happened by Devon C Ford. Audiobook.
21. His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle. Audiobook.
22. World of Trouble by Ben H Winters. Kindle.
23. An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good by Helene Tursten. Audiobook
24. Twelve Nights at Rotter House by JW Ocker. Audiobook.
25. The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Audiobook.
26. The Modern Bestiary by Joanna Bagniewska. Hardback.
27. The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson. Audiobook.
28. Lord Emsworth and Others by PG Wodehouse. Audiobook.
29. The Seabird's Cry by Adam Nicolson. Audiobook/Kindle.
30. Lethal White by Robert Galbraith. Audiobook.
31. A Night in the Snow or, A Struggle for Life by E Donald Carr. Kindle.
32. Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch. Audiobook.
33. Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardner by MCBeaton. Audiobook.
34. Jurassic Parks by Michael Crichton. Audiobook.
35. Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembly by MC Beaton. Audiobook.
36. January Man by Christopher Somerville. Audiobook.
37. Uncle Fred in the Springtime by PG Wodehouse. Audiobook.
38. The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith. Audiobook.
39. Deadlier than Fiction by Helena Marchmont. Audiobook.
40. Showdown on the Hogback by Louis Lamour. Audiobook.
41. Trinidad Noir by various. Audiobook.
42. Sinners and Saints by Helena Marchmont. Audiobook.
43. Murder at the Magnolia Inn by Helena Marchmont. Audiobook.
44. Poison Ivy by Helena Marchmont. Audiobook.
45. The Golden Mole by Katherine Rundell. Hardback.
46. The Marlow Murder Club by Robort Thorogood. Audiobook.
47. Why We Get Sick by Benjamin Bickman. Audiobook
48. Gallia Invicta by SJA Turney. Audiobook.
49. Murder on the Mauretania by Edward Marston. Audiobook.
50. A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Substances and the Killers Who Used Them by Neil Bradbury. Audiobook.
51. The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White. Kindle.
52. Marius' Mules IV: Conspiracy of Eagles. Audiobook.
53. Marius Mules V: Hades Gate by SJA Turney. Audiobook.
54. Beowulf translated by Robert K Gordon.
55. The Last Days of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black. Hardback.
56. Marius Mules VI: Caesar's Vow and Prelude to War by SJA Turney. Audiobook.
57. Sherlock Holmes: The Stuff of Nightmares by James Lovegrove. Audiobook.
58. Death of a Dentist by MC Beaton. Audiobook.
59. The Clock Strikes Twelve by Patricia Wentworth. Audiobook.
60. Murder at the Manor by various. Kindle.
61. Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher. Audiobook
62. Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie. Audiobook.
63. They do it with Mirrors by Agatha Christie. Audiobook.
64. Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson Audiobook.
65. The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupero. Audio.
66. The Half-Life of Facts by Samuel Arbesman. Audiobook.
67. Jesus: A Very Short Introduction by Richard Bauckham. Audiobook.
68. Druids: A Very Short Introduction by Barry Cunliffe. Audiobook.
69. Shake Hands For Ever by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook.
70. No Man's Nightingale by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook.
71. The Vault by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook.
72. Road Rage by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook.
73. Inuk by Christoffer Petersen. Kindle.
74. Harm Done by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook.
75. Volcanoes: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Branney. Audiobook.
76. The Monster in the Box by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook.
77. End in Tears by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook.
78. Without Ever Reaching the Summit by Paolo Cognetti. Hardback.
79. False Value by Ben Aaronovitch. Audiobook.
80. Simisola by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook.
81. Asterix the Gladiator by Goscinny and Uderzo. Kindle.
82. Messalina by Honor Cargil-Martin. Audiobook.
83. The Wire in the Blood by Val McDermid. Audiobook.
84. The Curse of the Burdens by John Wyndham. Audiobook.
85. The Key by Patricia Wentworth. Audiobook.
86. Everyone on this Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson. Kindle
87. Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Audiobook.
88. The Odyssey by Homer translated by Emily Wilson. Audiobook.
89. The Secret Lives of Bats by Merlin Tuttle. Audiobook.
90. Truss at 10 by Anthony Seldon. Audiobook.
91. A Noble Radiance by Donna Leon. Kindle.
92. The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie. Audiobook.
93. Snow Fall by Jorn Lier Horst. Audiobook.
94. Crypt by Alice Roberts. Hardback.
95. All These Worlds by Dennis E Taylor. Audiobook.
96. Searching for the Snow Leopard by Shavaun Mara Kidd. Ebook.
97. The Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction by Samir Okasha. Audiobook.
98. Murder on the Minnesota by Edward Marston. Audiobook.
99. The Baker Street Irregulars by various. Audiobook.
100. Mrs Mcginty's Dead by Agatha Christie.
101. South Central Noir by various. Audiobook.
102. The Ancient Near East: A Very Short Introduction by Amanda H Podany. Audiobook.
103. A Mind to Murder by PD James. Audiobook
104. Astrobiology: A Very Short Introduction by David C Catling. Paperback.
105. The Black Loch by Peter May. Audiobook.
106. Hornblower and the Atropos by CS Forester. Audiobook.
107. Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon by James Lovegrove. Audiobook.
108. Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop edited by Otto Penzler. Audiobook.
109. I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream: Stories by Harlan Ellison. Audio and Kindle.
110. Paingod and Other Delusions by Harlan Ellison. Audio.
111. From the Land of Fear by Harlan Ellison. Audio.
112. In Ghostly Japan by Lafcadio Hearn. Audiobook.
113. The Capsarius by Simon Turney. Audiobook.
114. The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd. Audiobook.
115. A Breath on Dying Embers by Denzil Meyrick. Audiobook.
116. Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage by MC Beaton. Audiobook.
117. Way Station by Clifford D Simak. Audiobook.
118. The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz. Kindle.
119. Autumn Chills by Agatha Christie. Kindle.
120. Burglars Can't Be Choosers by Lawrence Block. Audiobook.
121. Batman Year One by Frank Miller. Kindle.
122. 8 Deaths (And Life After Them) by Mark Watson. Audiobook.
123. Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows by James Lovegrove. Audiobook.
124. Twelve Slays of Christmas by Jacqueline Frost. Audiobook.
125. The Tales of Max Carrados by Ernest Bramah. Audiobook.
126. The Range Detectives by William W Johnstone. Audiobook.
127. The Cleverness of Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith. Audiobook.
129. Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson. Kindle.
130. Odyssey by Stephen Fry. Audiobook
131. No Place to Hide by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards. Audiobook.

Hope your holidays are happy days!

I'll be waiting for you to join me in jigsaw puzzling in 2024 (as well as reading, of course!). :D

Welcome back, Tony!

Good luck with your 2024 reading.

>2 SqueakyChu:, >3 drneutron:, >4 Tess_W:

Thank you all.

Happy reading in 2024, Tony!

>6 FAMeulstee: Thanks

1. Hope for the Best by Jodi Taylor. Audiobook. Number 10 in the series and whilst I enjoy following the adventures in history, I still find the carelessness of some of the characters to be mildly frustrating.

Each year I read (or listen to) some books in "chunks" because they are neatly broken up into daily bitesize pieces. My daily reads/listens for this year are:

- The diary of Samuel Pepys: 1664 v.5: 1664 Vol 5 by Samuel Pepys. Paperback
- Another 366 Days: More Stories From This Day in History by Scott Allsop. Kindle
- A Traveller's Year by Travis Elborough. Hardback.
- NIV Audio Bible in One Year Audiobook read by David Suchet. This is a relisten. Although I'm not a religious person, I found it quite relaxing to stop for 10-15 minutes and listen to the daily readings from Psalms, Old Testament and New Testament. So I'm doing it again.

There are also a few other books that I am currently reading which, although not in daily bitesize chunks, do lend themselves to being dipped into:

- The View from the Hill by Christopher Somerville. Hardback.
- The Modern Bestiary by Joanna Bagniewska. Hardback.
- Cicero: Selected Letters OUP edition. Paperback.
- Lives of the Ancient Egyptians by Toby Wilkinson. Paperback.

2. The Steam Pump Jump by Jodi Taylor. Audiobook. A bit cheeky including this one since it's only 69 pages or 1 hr 51 listening time, but it is published in its own right so I'm including it. A Chronicles of St Mary's novella (or short story if you insist).

Happy New Year! Thanks for dropping by my thread!

Happy new year Tony.

>1 meanderer: Glad to see you are a member of the retirement club too! I have very much enjoyed mine.

I am continuing my reads of the Jodi Taylor St. Mary's books this year as well.

Happy New Year! Happy New Thread!

>13 alcottacre: I enjoy the St Mary's books but I do find them irritating at times. For example, why would two characters spend ages chatting and wisecracking when time is if the essence and they need to be in and out fast.

3. Botanical Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland by Lisa Schneidau. Audiobook. This was OK. Some of the tales were very short and others I could not see the point of. However, there was a version of Cinderella (Mossy Coat) which was quite interesting and a version of Jack and the Beanstalk (updated) that was OK as well.

4. The Chinese Shawl by Patricia Wentworth. Audiobook. An engaging Miss Silver mystery set in a country house.

5. The Case of the Canterfell Codicil by PJ Fitzsimmons. Audiobook. A locked room mystery set in a PG Wodehouse style world of upperclass twits and their domestic staff. Amusing in places and entertaining throughout. A fun listen.

6. Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries editied by Martin Edwards. A British Library Crime Classics collection of Christmas-related mysteries. I enjoyed most of the stories in this collection and discovered a few less well-known authors (to me at least) in particular Ethel Lina White, Marjorie Bowen, J Jefferson Farjeon and Nicholas Blake whose work I will be looking out for. The usual suspects (Conan Doyle, Chesterton, Sayers and Allingham) also make an appearance.

7. Web by John Wyndham. Audiobook. This book was published 10 years after the author's death. It is a short novel about an attempt to set up a colony on an uninhabitied island. The first part of the novel sets up the premise for the colony and the reason why the island is uninhabitied. The rest of the novel is about the colonists' struggle to survive. As in the other Wyndham books I have read, there is a fair bit of ruminating on scientific/social issues. I suspect that this would have been a more detailed novel if the author had lived to finish it properly.

8. Countdown City by B H Winters. Sequel to The Last Policeman. Set in a world that is doomed to be destroyed by an asteroid. Once again, Henry Palace takes on a case, this time of a missing person, that most anyone else would consider to be a waste of time in a world about to end. The gradual but accelerating disintegration of society comes across well as do the characters of Harry and the other characters in the book. A special mention must go to Houdini who is a very good boy throughout (that's not a spoiler btw).

9. Blandings Castle and Elsewhere by PG Wodehouse. Audiobook. I enjoyed the stories set at Blandings, the stories in the Elsewhere sections were fine, but I preferred the Blandings stories.

>20 meanderer: I read all three of The Last Policeman books and really enjoyed them.

>22 SandDune: I've moved straight on to the last in the trilogy.

10. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Audiobook. Continuing my relisten of the Sherlock Holmes books.

11. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. An enjoyable relisten.

12. Survival: After It Happened by Devon C Ford. Audiobook. I only came across this because it was part of one of those frequent Audible sales. Set in the UK in aftermath of a deadly disease which killed the majority of the population, this story focuses on a small band of survivors and their attempts to set up a new community. An engaging listen with a cliffhanger ending.

13. The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Audiobook. More intriguing mysteries.

14. The Relentless Tide by Denzil Meyrick. Audiobook. The wonderful cast of Kinloch characters is back in this story which takes place over two time periods: present day Kinloch and 1990s Glasgow. Plenty of action and the witty dialogue, particulary between the minor local characters, make this an engaging listen.

15. Inherit the Stars by James P Hogan. Audiobook. Another audiobook included in Audible Plus. I almost gave up on this during the first 30 mins or so, but it turned into a kind of sci-fi that I really like; a discovery is made (in this case a 50 000 year old human skeleton on the moon) and the experts have to gradually piece together how this could be possible.

16. A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C Clarke. Audiobook. I read this many, many years ago and for some reason the story stuck with me. I had forgotten most of the details, so there were still some surprises on the relisten.

17. The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle. Audiobook. The first part of this book is the normal Holmes mystery; the second half is a Western which explains the events which led up to the mystery in the first part.

18. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. Audiobook. Classic novella and was drawn into the story of the unnamed narrator and Holly Golightly.

19. When it Grows Dark by Jorn Lier Horst. Audiobook/Kindle. A prequel of sorts which shows how Wisting became a detective. The story starts and finishes in the present day but spends most of the time in the 1980s with visits to the 1920s.

20. Humanity: After it Happened by Devon C Ford. Audiobook. Book 2 in the series; the community continues to grow and face new challenges.

21. His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle. Audiobook. Except, of course, it's not his last bow. There is one more collection of Holmes short stories to enjoy.

22. World of Trouble by Ben H Winters. Kindle. The final book in the trilogy. I thoroughly enjoyed this final installment in the Last Policeman trilogy. A dark and moody story from the end of the world.

>16 meanderer: I have never read any of the Miss Silver mysteries, I do not think. I really need to remedy that.

>17 meanderer: That one does sound fun!

>20 meanderer: Too bad my local library does not have either of those. I suspect I would like them.

>26 meanderer: Adding that one to the BlackHole!

>30 meanderer: Another audiobook that I need to check into. . .

Thanks for all the recommendations, Tony. I am going to be busy tracking down books.

23. An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good by Helene Tursten. Audiobook. A collection of short stories about Maud, an elderly resident of Gothenburg, who is a one-woman crime wave. The author has written a series about a detective called Irene Huss which I have not yet read. A different take on Scandi Noir.

24. Twelve Nights at Rotter House by JW Ocker. Audiobook. An enjoyable haunted house tale.

25. The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. Audiobook. So ends my relisten of all the Sherlock Holmes books.

26. The Modern Bestiary by Joanna Bagniewska. Hardback. I like books like this where I can dip in and read a couple of entries as the mood takes me. I realise that I could just go on the internet and find all the information contained in the book and more for free, but it's not the same.

27 The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson. Audiobook. A classic of nature writing. This book was first published in 1951 and there have been many scientific advances since that time. However, the writing is very evocative and it was interesting to hear Rachel Carson discuss issues such as global warming from the perspective of the mid 20th century.

28. Lord Emsworth and Others by PG Wodehouse. Audiobook. Only one Lord Emsworth story which was a bit of a shame, but a fun listen nevertheless.

29. The Seabird's Cry by Adam Nicolson. Audiobook/Kindle. A great piece of nature writing. Each chapter focusses on a particular species and looks at its behaviours and interactions with humans.

30. Lethal White by Robert Galbraith. Audiobook. Another investigation for Cormaran Strike and Robin and a great listen.

31. A Night in the Snow or, A Struggle for Life by E Donald Carr. Kindle. This was quoted from in a book I am currently reading/listening to The January Man. A clergyman writes a vivid account on the night that he became lost in the mountains of near the Welsh border during a snowstorm when returning home from a neighbouring village. It doesn't sound like much and is only about 66 pages long, but I thought it was a good read.

>39 meanderer: I know I am in the minority but I did not care for that one.

>43 meanderer: I realise that I could just go on the internet and find all the information contained in the book and more for free, but it's not the same. No, it is not!

I received a copy of The Last Policeman today. Not sure when I will get it read but hopefully soon.

32. Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch. Audiobook. Another entertaining adventure in the supernatural with Peter Grant and the rivers of London.

33. Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardner by MCBeaton. Audiobook. The Cotswolds must be the murder capital of the world. Another fun adventure for Agatha Raison.

34. Jurassic Parks by Michael Crichton. Audiobook. I really enjoyed this. Different enough from the film to make the story surprising in places.

35. Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembly by MC Beaton. Audiobook. Another mystery for Agatha to solve.

36. January Man by Christopher Somerville. Audiobook. A walk and some reminiscences in each month of the year. I learnt some interesting facts about British folklore, history and landscape from this book.

37. Uncle Fred in the Springtime by PG Wodehouse. Audiobook. Another fun listen from the crowd at Blandings Castle.

38. The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith. Audiobook. Another enjoyable visit to Botswana.

39. Deadlier than Fiction by Helena Marchmont. Audiobook. Cosy mystery set in the Cotwolds village of Bunburry.

40. Showdown on the Hogback by Louis Lamour. Audiobook. Classic western.

41. Trinidad Noir by various. Audiobook. My first of the Akashic Noir series of books. A collection of short stories involving crime and violence on the Carribean island. It was interesting to see Trinidadian society portrayed by writers who come from there.

42. Sinners and Saints by Helena Marchmont. Audiobook. Another fun trip to Bunburry.

43. Murder at the Magnolia Inn by Helena Marchmont. Audiobook. I could not resist another visit to Bunburry.

44. Poison Ivy by Helena Marchmont. Audiobook. Yet another visit to Bunburry for another dose of cosy crime.

45. The Golden Mole by Katherine Rundell. Hardback. I am a sucker for bestiaries and this is now one of my favourites. Each short chapter is devoted to an animal (or species) with some details on the animal itself and notes on its interactions with humans. Beautifully written and beautifully presented; the gold cover, gold sprayed pages and illustrations in shades of gold and grey make this book stand out in my library.

46. The Marlow Murder Club by Robort Thorogood. Audiobook. Fairly standard cosy crime story with a group of amateur sleuths investigating a series of murders in a quiet English country village.

47. Why We Get Sick by Benjamin Bickman. Audiobook. Not really much new in this, basically advises to avoid insulin resistance and eat fewer carbs. The audio version has an accompanying PDF which is useful since I got this as an Audible Plus book and I can keep the PDF after I return the book.

48. Gallia Invicta by SJA Turney. Audiobook. Adventure in late Republican Rome.

>49 meanderer: That is a series I need to get back to one of these days!

>61 meanderer: I have several of Rundell's books in the BlackHole but not that one. I will have to see if I can track down a copy. Thanks for the recommendation, Tony!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

49. Murder on the Mauretania by Edward Marston. Audiobook. Part of the Ocean Liner series. A decent mystery set on the maiden voyage of the Mauritania.

50. A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Substances and the Killers Who Used Them by Neil Bradbury. Audiobook. The author looks at 11 poisons and explains how each one works on the body with some examples of how they have been used by murderers. Very interesting.

51. The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White. Kindle. The 1936 book on which the 1938 Hitchcock film was loosely based. A mostly enjoyable read. The 2013 film version sticks much more closely to the original book.

>67 meanderer: That one looks right up my alley. Thanks for the recommendation, Tony. I will have to see if I can locate a copy.

52. Marius' Mules IV: Conspiracy of Eagles. Audiobook. More action with Fronto and the men of the 10th in Gaul and Britannia. This is becoming my favourite series about the Roman army.

53. Marius Mules V: Hades Gate by SJA Turney. Audiobook. More action in the time of the Roman Republic.
54. Beowulf translated by Robert K Gordon. Prose edition of the epic poem.

55. The Last Days of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black. Hardback. This book takes the reader through the events of the K-Pg extinction event which caused the end of the dinosaurs. The book is very readable and focuses on individual creatures from different species of animals and plants to tell the story of how different groups were effected by the asteroid impact. Some of the details are speculative, but there is an appendix with sections for each chapter of the book where the author outlines the current state of knowledge and the basis for those spectulations. I read the relevant section of the appendix once I'd finished a chapter.

56. Marius Mules VI: Caesar's Vow and Prelude to War by SJA Turney. Audiobook. More fast-paced action in Gaul with Fronto.

57. Sherlock Holmes: The Stuff of Nightmares by James Lovegrove. Audiobook. A new Holmes adventure with elements of Steampunk. All jolly good fun.

58. Death of a Dentist by MC Beaton. Audiobook. It's always a pleasure to return to Sutherland in the company of Hamish Macbeth.

>74 meanderer: That one looks fun!

>76 drneutron: It is but it's not for the Holmes purist. It is written in the style of the classic Holmes, including Watson ejaculating in surprise a couple of times, but there are sections which are far racier than anything you would find in the originals and then there's the whole Steampunk thing.

59. The Clock Strikes Twelve by Patricia Wentworth. Audio. Closed circle murder mystery set in a country house.

>77 meanderer: Huge steampunk fan, so that’s fun. Plus, I’m not a purist. 😀

60. Murder at the Manor by various. Kindle. A collection of short stories involving mysteries (not all murders despite the title) set in country houses. There are stories from a range of authors including G.K. Chesterton, Arthur Conan Doyle, Anthony Berkeley, Margery Allingham and Ethel White. Part of the British Library Crime Classics series.

61. Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher. Audiobook. Another action-packed adventure with Harry Dresden.

62. Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie. Audiobook. An outing for Poirot.

63. They do it with Mirrors by Agatha Christie. Audiobook. A Miss Marple which actually has Miss Marple all the way through it. Still not one a Chrisities best though.

64. Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson Audiobook. One of those meta (?) mystery novels where the author/narrator discusses the structure of the novel as part of the story. This was told with a fair amount of wit but I did think quite early on that it reminded me of a the plot of a earlier story I had read so I guessed the killer fairly early on. I still enjoyed the book, however.

65. The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupero. Audio. Horror story, in places quite graphic and with shades of the Japanese film The Ring (Ringu). I remember going round the house and turning on all the lights after I watched that film on DVD back in the early 2000s.

66. The Half-Life of Facts by Samuel Arbesman. Audiobook. Covering a variety of fields, this book looks at how quickly knowledge develops and how what are thought of as facts change over time. The book itself is an example of this; it was written in 2012 and there has been a lot of change since then.

67. Jesus: A Very Short Introduction by Richard Bauckham. Audiobook. This short book tries to place Jesus into his historical context. An interesting listen. There are quite a few VSIs on Audible Plus at the moment, so my plan is to listen to at least one a week.

68. Druids: A Very Short Introduction by Barry Cunliffe. Audiobook. A short overview of what is known about the druids in Celtic society which isn't that much really since most of the information comes from biased Roman writings and how the notion of druids has been used and abused by people in later centuries to validate and support their own beliefs. The narrator of this audiobook makes a lot of mistakes with the pronunciation of Celtic people and places and also other place names (in France, Wales and England) which made me sometimes pause the book to work out what he said. Particularly irritating were his repeated pronunciation of Pliny as Pleyenee and with the French phrase rites de passage where he said the first two words the French way but the last word the English way.

69. Shake Hands For Ever by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook. A classic Inspector Wexford crime novel.

70. No Man's Nightingale by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook. A retired Wexford helps to investigate the death of a local vicar. Slow-buring mystery.

71. The Vault by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook. Continuing my Rendell-a-thon. Another story set after Wexford retirement. The best so far.

72. Road Rage by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook. Another Wexford mystery.
73. Inuk by Christoffer Petersen. Kindle. It's been a while since I read one of these stories about the Greenland detective Maratse. This was about a more introsective Maratse, revisiting his past after a work-related incident.
74. Harm Done by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook. I've had the Rendell books on my wishlist for some time now and they are currently on Audible Plus until the end of this month. This is why I have listened to so many recently.

75. Volcanoes: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Branney. Audiobook. How volcanoes are formed and their effect on the Earth with a brief look at volcanoes on other planets in the solar system.

76. The Monster in the Box by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook. More investigations with Wexford.

77. End in Tears by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook. Even more investigations with Wexford.

Congrats on zipping past the goal!

>96 drneutron: Thanks

78. Without Ever Reaching the Summit by Paolo Cognetti. Hardback. The author partially follows the footsteps of Peter Matthiessen when he visited the Nepal and wrote The Snow Leopard. I enjoyed reading this short book and found myself engaged in the journey.

79. False Value by Ben Aaronovitch. Audiobook. Part of the Rivers of London series. This one was great fun. I do have a couple of quibbles though. The chopping around of the timeline at the start of the book got a bit confusing (at least in the audio version) and, whilst I enjoyed them initially, the Hitch-Hikers' Guide references went a bit too far in the end. As ever, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's narration was superb and added an extra layer to the story.

80. Simisola by Ruth Rendell. Audiobook. My final Wexford for the moment (probably).

81. Asterix the Gladiator by Goscinny and Uderzo. Kindle. I first read the Asterix big as a kid and I atill enjoy them today.

82. Messalina by Honor Cargil-Martin. Audiobook. As usual with biographies of figures from ancient history there's a lot of general history and speculation to make up for the large gaps in what is known. The author also tries to make sense of what has come down to us from the ancient biographers and to provide a more rounded view of the "real" Messalina.

83. The Wire in the Blood by Val McDermid. Audiobook. Two crimes are investigated in this novel. One is about an arsonist but the main plotline is about a serial killer. We know who the serial killer is almost from the start of the book and the focus is on how the profilers put a case together. The story brought the case of Jimmy Savile to mind. For those who do not know, Savile was a major TV personality known for working with children, volunteering in hospitals and raising money for charity and it was only after his death that Savile's crimes came to light. This book was written in 1997 many years before Savile's death but after I'd finished the book I found an article in a newspaper in which Val McDermid said that she had based the character on Savile after becoming uneasy when she met him in 1977.

84. The Curse of the Burdens by John Wyndham. Audiobook. Not sci-fi this time but a nice little murder mystery.

85. The Key by Patricia Wentworth. Audiobook. A Miss Silver mystery, more Golden Age crime.
86. Everyone on this Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson. Kindle. Written in the same style as Stevenson's previous book this time taking place on the Ghan. Another engaging read.

87. Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Audiobook. One of the things I most like about science-fiction is the originality and scope of the ideas and this series has both of those in abundance.

88. The Odyssey by Homer translated by Emily Wilson. Audiobook. An engaging translation of the classic story.

89. The Secret Lives of Bats by Merlin Tuttle. Audiobook. An engaging account of how the author became an expert on bats and a world renowned bat photographer.

90. Truss at 10 by Anthony Seldon. Audiobook. The inside story of the chaotic premiership of the UK's shortest serving Prime Minister. Horribly fascinating.

91. A Noble Radiance by Donna Leon. Kindle. Back to Venice with Brunetti and a case of kidnaping.

92. The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie. Audiobook. To be honest this felt like a parody of the Golden Age thriller at times. There are lots of "of its time" attitudes on display relating to women, race, religion and the infallibility of the British Empire.

93. Snow Fall by Jorn Lier Horst. Audiobook. A William Wisting crime novel set in both Norway and Spain.

94. Crypt by Alice Roberts. Hardback. There was a lot less in this about archaeology than I had anticipated. There's a lot of (non-archaelogical) history (in fact, the chapter on Thomas Becket is almost all history) and I learnt quite a bit about the Black Death, syphilis and how bones grow. The book was an interesting read but not in the way I expected. I have Ancestors and Buried and I'll adjust my expectations accordingly before I read them.

95. All These Worlds by Dennis E Taylor. Audiobook. The Bobs try to save humanity in this continuation of the Bobiverse.

96. Searching for the Snow Leopard by shavaun Mara Kidd. Ebook. Wildlife photograhers write about their attempts to photograph snow leopards in the Himalayas. I was a bit disappointed with the quality of some of the photos, although this may be due to the fact that i had the Kindle version and the photos may be at a lower resolution to reduce file size. The book also looks at the natural history of the snow leopard, its place in the culture of local people and the efforts being made to conserve the species.

97. The Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction by Samir Okasha. Audiobook. A very interesting listen with ideas clearly explained.

98. Murder on the Minnesota by Edward Marston. Audiobook. More ocean-based murder and mystery set at the start of the 20th century.

99. The Baker Street Irregulars by various. Audiobook. Thirteen variations of the Holmes and Watson characters including Holmes as a teenage girl, a vampire, a dog, a robot amongst others. This is an enjoyable collection of stories.

100. Mrs Mcginty's Dead by Agatha Christie. A Poirot mysterty. I got the impression that Mrs Oliver (a writer of mysteries) was Christie writing about herself. How she disliked the screen adapations of her main detective and how she did not like the character she had created and would quite happily do away with him. Poirot seems a slightly faded character in this story.

101. South Central Noir by various. Audiobook. Part of the Akashic Noir series. A collection of short stories set in the South Central district of Los Angeles. Featuring criminals, ordinary people whose life changes forever due to one incident and a couple of supernatural tales amonst others. All well-written.

102. The Ancient Near East: A Very Short Introduction by Amanda H Podany. Audiobook. A concise overview of over 2000 years of Mesopotamia civilisation. I have her much longer book Weavers, Scribes and Kings which I will get around to in due course.

103. A Mind to Murder by PD James. Audiobook. Adam Dalgliesh investigates a murder in a psychiatric clinic.

104. Astrobiology: A Very Short Introduction by David C Catling. Paperback. A look at the possibility of life on other planets, although the majority of the book discusses how life developed on Earth and only the last three chapters consider life in the solar syster and beyond.

105. The Black Loch by Peter May. Audiobook. The fourth of Peter May's series of books set on the island of Lewis. In this book we learn more about events in Fin's past which feed into his current (unofficial) investigation into the murder of a local teenage TV personality. A murder allegedly committed by Fin's son.

106. Hornblower and the Atropos by CS Forester. Audiobook. More excitement, adventure and naval action with Hornblower.

107. Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon by James Lovegrove. Audiobook. An entertaining pastiche.

108. Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop edited by Otto Penzler. Audiobook. A collection of short stories written by well-known crime and mystery authors and set at Christmas time. I would have listened to this closer to Christmas, but since Audible have decided to remove from Audible Plus on Oct 24th, I've had to bring it forward.

109. I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream: Stories by Harlan Ellison. Audio and Kindle.
110. Paingod and Other Delusions by Harlan Ellison. Audio.
111. From the Land of Fear by Harlan Ellison. Audio.
112 In Ghostly Japan by Lafcadio Hearn. Audiobook.

All of these were coming to the end of their time on Audible Plus. The Harlan Ellison stories were a mixed bag (as these collections nearly always are) but mostly good and the author's introductions were entertaining.
In Ghostly Japan was not what I was expecting. There were some ghostly stories but also a list of Buddhist proverbs in Japanese and English and some instructions on the correct use of incense.

During my holiday in Wester Ross in Scotland, I listened to a few audiobooks.
113. The Capsarius by Simon Turney. Audiobook. I've enjoyed the Marius' Mules series by the same author and this is up to the same standard.
114. The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd. Audiobook. A classic of nature writing
115. A Breath on Dying Embers by Denzil Meyrick. Audiobook. Another in the series of DCI Daley thriller series.
116. Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage by MC Beaton. Audiobook. A nice cosy listen.
117. Way Station by Clifford D Simak. Audiobook. I've been wanting the read/listen to this for a long time and it didn't disappoint.

>127 meanderer: Ooh, I want a holiday in Scotland! Hope it was lovely!

>128 foggidawn: It was and the advantage of going in October is that there are no midges.

118. The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz. Kindle. I'd read a few negative reviews of this because of the way the author is a character in his own book. However, I thought the mix of autobiographical comments and fictional story worked really well.

119. Autumn Chills by Agatha Christie. Kindle. A nice collection of Christie mysteries.

120. Burglars Can't Be Choosers by Lawrence Block. Audiobook. A fun crime caper.

I've been on a bit of a reading/listening slump for the past couple of weeks. I've started books only to drop them and start a different one just searching for something to hold my attention. All the ones I started have been books I would normally like, but none of these has kept my interest. I decided to try something different and went for a DC comic book (sorry, graphic novel) which I have actually finished.

121. Batman Year One by Frank Miller. Kindle. Originally published as a series of comics in the 1980s, this is a revamp of the Batman origin story. I really liked the dark tone of the drawings and the story which focused on Bruce Wayne and James Gordon. I will need to get more of these.

I've also bought the audio version of Stephen Fry's Odyssey which I have just started listening to. Hopefully this will also help me to beat the slump.

122. 8 Deaths (And Life After Them) by Mark Watson. Audiobook. Mark Watson is a Welsh stand-up comedian. In this audiobook he looks at what he has learnt from the times when he "died" whether that's when his voice broke during a choir performance or during some of his comedy performances. Both amusing and touching.

123. Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows by James Lovegrove. Audiobook. The last Holmes pastiche by James Lovegrove I listened to was a Holmes-meets-cyberpunk story; this one is a Holmes-meets-Lovecraft story. All jolly good fun, but definitely not for the Holmes purist.

124. Twelve Slays of Christmas by Jacqueline Frost. Audiobook. The cosiest of cosy crime. Set in New England at Christmas on a Christmas tree farm with a bit of romance thrown in. It was still OK, though.

125. The Tales of Max Carrados by Ernest Bramah. Audiobook. I didn't really warm to this collection of short stories about the blind (as we are constantly reminded) private detective.

126. The Range Detectives by William W Johnstone. Audiobook. Cowboy detectives solve a series of murders and some cattle rustling. Good fun.

127. The Cleverness of Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith. Audiobook. A collection of gentle short stories including one featuring Mma Ramotswe.

128. Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley. Kindle. An eerie British folk-horror story. The atmosphere built up gradually but the ending seemed a bit rushed.

129. Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson. Kindle. A festive addition to the series. All good fun.

130. Odyssey by Stephen Fry. Audiobook. A chatty retelling of Homer's work. There are footnotes and a section describing the further adventures of the protagonists.

131. No Place to Hide by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards. Audiobook. It's always nice to dip into the Cotswolds village of Cherringham. This is my 41st visit!

132. Jeremiah's Bell by Denzil Meyrick. Audiobook. Another outing in Kinloch with DCIs Daley and Scott. Another absorbing story set on the west coasr of Scotland.

Thinking of you at this time, Tony.

>143 PaulCranswick: Thank you Paul. I hope you had a good Christmas.

133. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Audiobook. I've put off reading this mainly because it (and its successors) have never been a 99p bargain on Amazon or part of an offer on on Audible. Anyway, I took the plunge and spent a whole audible credit on the first in the series. Although it was a bit hard-going at the start, it soon settled down and in the end I really enjoyed it. There was a nice cast of characters and a decent mystery. I may have to splash out more credits on the next in the series.

It has been a long while since I visited, Tony, but I did want to drop by and wish you a happy holiday season!

>145 meanderer: I am a big fan of that series of books, which I think improves book by book.