Friday 22 September 2017

Third update on Where Are You Reading? challenge

Almost three quarters of the way through the year and autumn is officially here: my favourite time of year. I'm doing this Where Are You Reading? update now instead of at the end of the month because my husband will have his second knee operation next week and for a couple of weeks after that I may not be around very much. I'm guessing there won't be much reading going on either but I may be wrong.




This one is all about places. There's one about states but this one counts cities, countries, and fictional locations too. Read a book set in a location for each letter of the alphabet. West Virginia only counts for W, Bowling Green only counts for B, but the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey that is on a fictional planet counts as P ;-)


My list of books read so far:

A: (Alaska, USA) Blood Will Tell - Dana Stabenow (January '17)

B: (Bayembe) The Tropic of Serpents - Marie Brennan (Oct. '17)

C: (Cote D'azur, France) Jacquot and the Fifteen - Martin O'Brien (Feb '17)

D: (Devon, UK) North Face - Mary Renault (March '17)

E: (Europe) Continental Crimes - edited by Martin Edwards (August '17)

F: (France) Best Foot Forward - Susie Kelly (May '17)

G: (Gaillac, France) The Critic - Peter May (July '17)

H: (Hilary Magna, UK) Death of a Busybody - George Bellairs (Sept. '17)

I: (Italy) Excursion to Tindari - Andrea Camilleri (July '17)

J:

K: (Kingsmarkham, Sussex, England) No Man's Nightingale - Ruth Rendell (August '17)

L: (Lewis - The Outer Hebrides, Scotland) The Lewis Man - Peter May (January '17)

M: (Minnesota, USA) The Lost Girls - Heather Young (Feb '17)

N: (Norfolk, England) The Woman in Blue - Elly Griffiths (May '17)

O: (Oxford, England) Death on the Cherwell - Mavis Doriel Hay (June '17)

P: (Philadelphia, PA, USA) The Signature of All Things - Elizabeth Gilbert (February '17)

Q: (Quebec, Canada) The Brutal Telling - Louise Penny (Mar. '17)

R:

S: (St. Denis, Perigord, France) Bruno, Chief of Police - Martin Walker (June '17)

T: (Three Worlds, The) The Cloud Roads - Martha Wells (March '17)

U: (Utah, USA) To Helvetica and Back - Paige Shelton (Mar. '17)

V: (Vézére valley, France) The Caves of Périgord - Martin Walker. (August '17)

W: (Wisconsin, USA) Way Station - Clifford D. Simak (Feb. '17)

X:

Y:

Z:


Sooooo, that's 20 letters filled, 6 to go: B J R X Y & Z. I'm currently reading a book for B, leaving me with 5 letters to find books for before 2018. R shouldn't be a problem but the rest could be slightly problematical. I have a book set in Zimbabwe on my Kindle I think but we'll see what else emerges for the rest. Quite pleased with some of the destinations... various lovely US States, nice parts of France, Canada, Scotland, England and so on. Possibly I should vary the countries a bit more but those are the places I like reading about so it's a very much a list which reflects me and I can't think that that's really such a bad thing. I'm also pleased with the books I've read... there're some excellent titles on that list.

~~~oOo~~~

11 comments:

Val said...

Gosh, that's a list ...
Would Agatha Christies Murder on the Orient Express appeal ? They get snowed in when in Yugoslavia?

Val said...

Oh and M.M Kaye wrote Death in Zanzibar ..which is a fun read ..Mystery/thriller/romance vein ...her settings are very authentic as they are all places she was posted as an army wife) ...I better stop now

Val said...

Ha Ha I have no self control ...
Menagerie Manor by Gerald Durrell is all about setting up a Zoo on Jersey (and it's a good read)

Val said...

Absolutely none ..I found this book for X ..I have never read it but am now intrigued and will put it on my Library list (How do you manage to increase my tbr pile even when you are not trying??????? )
https://www.amazon.com/Way-Xanadu-Caroline-Alexander/dp/0679419004

btw hope the knee op goes as smoothly as possible (& that you are still able to fit in a little reading)

Cath said...

Val: LOL! Thanks for all your fab recs. *So* useful.

I honestly had no idea that they got snowed in in Yugoslavia in Murder on the Orient Express. I've seen it on TV, a couple of versions, but that pertinent fact had escaped me. Brilliant.

Funnily enough I was looking for books set in Zanzibar and came across Death in Zanzibar a few days ago. Got a feeling the library doesn't have it though, might be wrong, I'll check again. M.M. Kaye's autobiography was lovely but I haven't read any of her fiction.

Oh, Jersey's a good idea, all I'd got as far as was Johannesburg. LOL! And that's a Gerald Durrell I haven't read too. I have a book about a glacier in Norway that begins with J but it doesn't look like very interesting reading if I'm honest. :-)

I'll look up the Xanadu one too. Really appreciate the help wqith these difficult letters, was hoping someone might have a few ideas.

And thanks too for the good wishes for the knee op. It's Tuesday, creeping up rapidly...

Nan said...

Could you use New Zealand for Z??

Cath said...

Nan: Probably not but I think Zealand is an island in Denmark so perhaps I should look into that.

TracyK said...

Sorry to be so late to get back to this. You have several I want to read here, including Way Station by Simak and Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker. This sounds like fun but I haven't had much luck with challenges lately.

Cath said...

Tracy: And I'm late getting back to you... mainly because I've been looking after my husband. Way Station is excellent. I haven't done brilliantly with challenges this year either, one is lagging waaaay behind. I may even go challenge-free next year.

TracyK said...

I am looking forward to reading Way Station in 2018. I am still conflicted about challenges, I love to join but even if I generally keep up with the reading, I don't link up reviews like I should. But I am always attracted to them.

I hope your husband is getting better and better.

Cath said...

Tracy: Way Station has a wonderful sense of Wisconsin and the Mississippi. Not that I've ever been to Wisconsin to judge, but I did see the river at Memphis and it felt right, if you know what I mean.

Reading challenges are immensely attractive things. LOL!

Thank you, he's coming on in leaps and bounds... well, not literally as it was knee surgery. ;-)