QuestingA's 50 in 2020

1. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

2. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

At first I didn't enjoy this as much as I'd hoped I would, but then I did.

3. The Arabian Frontier of the British Raj: Merchants, Rulers, and the British in the Nineteenth-Century Gulf by James Onley

>3 QuestingA: I wouldn't mind reading this, but where did you get it? It's still available from the OUP Bookshop in Oxford but it's £147.50! Um, no. Even the kindle version is £118.50 on Amazon. And the Oxfordshire library system doesn't have it.

>4 haydninvienna: haydninvienna: hi! I borrowed it from a friend. Your profile says you're in Doha. The Qatar National Library might be able to get you a copy. Their catalouge says there's a copy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. According to worldcat it's also in a couple of London University libraries, if you have access to them.

4. The Winter Garden Mystery by Carola Dunn

A cosy Daisy Dalrymple mystery.

5. Speak Gigantular by Irenosen Okojie

>5 QuestingA: Thanks for that. The Qatar National Library doesn’t have it but Worldcat shows a copy in the library of the local campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. Since my residence permit is up for renewal soon and I can’t guarantee that it will be renewed, I’ll put off doing anything about it for a while.

6. The Christmas Egg: A Seasonal Mystery by Mary Kelly

Hello QuestingA,
What did you think of this book The Winter Garden Mystery ? I like to find gardening relating murder mysteries.

>10 Bowerbirds-Library: Bowerbirds-Library, Hi! The Winter Garden Mystery is the second in the Daisy Dalrymple mystery series. Although she's an awful snob, and the mysteries are easy to slove, I have a soft spot for Daisy. The Winter Garden Mystery is so called because that's where the body is found. I'm afraid there's not much gardening-related material in the book other than that. Except of course that one of the gardeners is a suspect, along with everyone else.

7. The Humans by Matt Haig

A book club read.

8. Don't Point That Thing at Me by Kyril Bonfiglioli

Painter to the King by Amy Sackville

I'm not counting this in the tally as i only got half way before abandoning it. I just wasn't enjoying it.

9. The Case for God by Karen Armstrong

Although it took me a long time to read, this was very good.

10. Murder in the Bookshop by Carolyn Wells

A good mystery but poorly told. There were inconsistencies and the first half of the story was dull.

11. The Dream Maker by Jean-Christophe Rufin, translated by Alison Anderson

This was a fictionalised biography of Jacques Coeur.

12. The Mystery at Stowe by Vernon Loder

Quite a good mystery, but not enough creditable suspects and the type setter had thrown a bunch of commas at the pages, not caring where they fell.

13. Frost Fair by Edward Marston

This was quite a good mystery. However, the back cover states that the body was found naked and I got increasingly annoyed with the book/dectives when they kept failing to investigate this aspect of the murder. At the end I went back and re-read the finding of the body. It wasn't naked at all. I've defaced the back of the book to save the next reader from similar anguish.

14. Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

I thought this was very good. I didn't get into it immediately but by half way I couldn't put it down. A little mermaid story.

15. The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin

Very enjoyable, although I'm not convinced by the solution.

16. Wonders Will Never Cease by Robert Irwin

17. Enchanted Desire by Marylyle Rogers

18. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

A book group book. A charming tale. It was interesting to read about someone living under house arrest. He certainly lived a more interesting life than I am right now. I thought the book glossed over whole swathes of history in an unsatisfactory way and I had difficulty liking the Count.

19. The Binding by Bridget Collins

In many ways a simple tale, this drew me in. A very enjoyable read but with many upsetting elements.

20. The Last Best Friend by George Sims

Not bad. Not great.

21. The Traitor by Sydney Horler

22. elephants in the bush: and other Yamatji Yarns bh Clarrie Cameron

These were Dad stories.

23. The Familiars by Stacey Halls

I liked this more than I expected to.

24. The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth

25. The Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach

26. The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company by William Dalrymple

This was a Virtual Book Group read. Interesting but sometimes hard to follow because WD jumped around a bit with the chronology and some of the chapters changed direction mid way through.

27. Towards Zero by Agatha Christie

28. Things in Jars by Jess Kidd

This was a good story but I felt a few things weren't fully explained.

29. Surfeit of Suspects by George Bellairs

30. Death in Fancy Dress by Anthony Gilbert

31. Babylon Berlin by Volker Kutscher, translated by Niall Sellar

A book group read.

32. Murder in the Mill-Race by E.C.R. Lorac

33. The Conviction of Cora Burns by Carolyn Kirby

This was very good.

34. Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver

This was also very good.

35. Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards

A good anthology. I enjoyed them all.

36. The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund De Waal

A book group read. I enjoyed the history and the author's ruminations on research, records and life.

37. Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie

This was excellent. Found ouside someones house, in a box of books, presumably after they'd done a lock-down clean-out. No. 27 above was in the same box.

38. Shadowplay by Joseph O'Connor

A story of Bram Stoker, Ellen Terry and Henry Irving. Interesting and wonderfully written.

39. The Heavens by Sandra Newman

Unsatisfying.

40. Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym

This is the first Barbara Pym novel I've read. It was very good. A book group read.

41. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

42. Fly Away Home by Marina Warner

These short stories weren't as interesting as I'd hoped. I'm a fan of Marina Warner's non fiction and this is the first of her fiction works I've read. Maybe I needed to think about them more.

43. The Outsider by Albert Camus and translated by Joseph Laredo

44. Murder by Matchlight by E.C.R Lorac

45. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih

Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

I'm not counting this as i didn't finish it, but I'm recording it here because I got further on this, my third, attempt at reading it.

46. A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle that Shaped the Middle East by James Barr

This was easy to read and interesting.

47. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo

A book group book. Very good.

48. Blowback by Michael Luders

49. Castle Skull: A Rhineland Mystery by John Dickson Carr

50. Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace

This was good.

51. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Brilliant.

52. Deep Waters: Mysteries on the Waves edited by Martin Edwards

A very good anthology.

53. Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees

A book group read. I enjoyed this but not sure I quite got it all.

54. Tales of the Tattooed: An Anthology of Ink edited by John Miller

55. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr

>62 QuestingA: If you enjoyed Tales of the Tattooed you might also like Dorothy Parker's Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos, edited by Kim Addonizio and Cheryl Dumesnil.

>64 rocketjk: hi rocketjk, thanks for the recommendation. That does look very interesting. Tales of the Tattooed was mostly good, and I particularly liked that it traced the changing acceptance of tattoos in society and their parallel changing appearancd in stories (from crime and nautical tales to tales of high society and art).

56. The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier

57. Pages & Co: Tilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James

Lovely.

58. Posh Boys: How English Public Schools Ruin Britain by Robert Verkaik

59. The Body in the Dumb River: A Yorkshire Mystery by George Bellairs

60. When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

A book group book. Very poignant.

61. Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

62. 800 Days in Doha by Penelope Gordon

63. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

Very good. Couldn't put it down.

64. Masters of the Pearl: A History of Qatar by Michael Quentin Morton

Not good.

65. A Surprise for Christmas: and other Seasonal Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards

66. Spirits of the Season: Christmas Hauntings edited by Tanya Kirk

A good collection. The second story is wonderful.

67. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

68. The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer

69. It Walks by Night: A Paris Mystery by John Dickson Carr