Last year my resolution was to blog monthly about my reading but in the end I just did an end-of-year summary. This year I made no resolutions. But since I have time I thought I would do a first quarter summary of my reading.
JANUARY
January started out slow. I only read 3 1/2 books and two of them were really short: 2 mysteries, 1 memoir (?) and the half book was historical fiction. I spent most of January in a fog, mostly watching TV in my free time. (See my blog post about January TV watching.)
The January books I read were:
A Hanging at Dawn: A Bess Crawford Short Story by Charles Todd. In this short story (which is actually kind of long) we finally get to learn why Simon worships Bess’s mother. I don’t really like short stories and this had all the shortcomings of one. Just not enough there for me. Recommended only if you are reading the series.
Dear Miss Kopp by Amy Stewart. A continuation of the wonderful Miss Kopp series. WWI is ongoing and Norma is in France with her pigeons, making a friend called Aggie and solving a mystery. Constance is working for the Bureau and Fleurette is entertaining the troops stateside and acquiring a parrot. I love epistolary novels and liked that she tried that with this book. Recommended but read the whole series.
The Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett. I've been re-reading the Lymond Chronicles with The Lymond Book Club on Youtube. In January they and I finished the reread of this third book in the series. The entire series is HIGHLY recommended but you have to start from the beginning.
Olive, Mabel & Me by Andrew Cotter. A memoir about Dogs. If you haven't caught their videos on YouTube you are missing something. Recommended if you like dogs. 
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FEBRUARY
In February I read six books and a couple of them were quite long: 1 Classic, 2 mysteries, 1 memoir, 1 young adult/children's book and 1 non-fiction book.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. This was actually the pick by my book group to read for January and I started it in January but only finished half in time for the Zoom meeting. But I'd read it before. Multiple times. I decided to finish it in February just because I always enjoy it. Always recommended.
The Searcher by Tana French. I generally like Tana French's crime novels. This one was a bit different, it didn't involve the London Murder Squad and was set on the western side of Ireland not the eastern side. The main character was an American ex cop. I actually guessed who did it immediately. But the real question is: Why would anyone want to move to western Ireland if they weren't at least of Irish heritage? I've been there. I'm of Irish heritage and I didn't want to live there. Recommended because of her writing style.
A Fatal Lie by Charles Todd. This was the new Inspector Rutledge mystery. The murder involved a famous aquaduct (I googled it) and a missing child. I mostly liked it but felt like they didn’t know how to end the part with the child. Maybe the child will return in a future novel. But the "Plan B" of farming the kid out to friends was daft. Melinda is too old to take it and how can he push it off on Scottish friends. Recommended with reservations.
I Want to be Where the Normal People Are by Rachel Bloom. I got this book for Christmas. I really enjoy Rachel Bloom and I could hear her voice as I read it. I did think that maybe I would have enjoyed it even more if I had listened to the audio book. Recommended only if you like Rachel Bloom.
Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. Where to start? Not as good as her previous book. Good anecdotes. Good metaphors. But non-rigorous in its arguments. Very repetitive. And the same annoying style as her last book. I listened to the audiobook version of this so I could listen as I did other things. If I had been reading it in book form I doubt I would have finished it. Not recommended.
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Ok, ok, it's a kid's book. But I was cleaning out my book shelves and came across it, started to read it and couldn't put it down. If you know any girls in middle school it's a great book to give as a gift. Recommended if you are at least middle school aged.
MARCH
March was my best month for reading, I read 15 books: 10 mysteries, 2 historical novels, 1 alternate history historical novel, 1 gothic novel, 1 fable (?)
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charles Mackesy. Another Christmas gift. Hard to describe. A fable (?) with hand drawn illustrations. It was actually just what I needed. Very comforting. Recommended if only for the illustrations.
The Blue by Nancy Bilyeau. A novel set in the 1700s that involves the mania for collecting porcelain and the search for a perfect blue color. Lots of exposition about porcelain and blue. Because it was told in first person narration it required the heroine to be a bit dumb which was annoying. I learned a lot about porcelain but didn't really enjoy it. Not recommended.
Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukharjee. This is the 3d book in a series set in India in the 1920's involving a drug addicted white Raj police officer and his Indian sidekick. I enjoy these books a lot. Recommended and I don't think you have to have read the other two books to enjoy it.
Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia. A Very Weird book that involves a creepy house, and a fungus and requires great suspension of disbelief. Didn’t really hang together in my opinion. Not recommended.
Outlawed by Anna North. An alternate history of the Hole in the Wall gang is the best way to describe it. It's an odd book but I did enjoy it. Recommended if you like odd alternate histories.
Death in the East by Abir Mukharjee. The 4th book in the series. This involved a convoluted plot set partly in England and partly in India at an Ashram. Less successful than the other three books in the series mostly because of the flashbacks. But the growth in the characters almost made up for that. Recommended with reservations and you really need to have read the other books.
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. British retirement community crime solvers. If this hasn't been optioned for a TV series with Judy Dench, Maggie Smith and company - what are they waiting for? Recommended for fun, light mystery reading.
The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey. Since I was enjoying mysteries set in India I tried this one. Set in the 1920’s it involves a woman solicitor. The flashbacks to her awful marriage were too long and she should have stuck to the mystery. Not recommended.
Boundary Waters Mysteries. I also started reading a series of mysteries by William Kent Krueger set in Northern Minnesota in the Aurora area (just south of Vermillion and near the Boundary Waters). The detective is former sheriff Corc O'Connor who is three quarters Irish and one quarter Ojibwe. The first book is called Iron Lake. I've now read the first six (6). I love the setting because I'm so familiar with it. I like his incorporation of the Ojibwe people into it. His women characters leave a lot to be desired but they aren't absolutely horrible. I'll probably end up reading them all. Recommended with reservations. Pretty sure men who like mysteries would like them.
Finally, my Lymond Book Club read along that I finished this month was Pawn in Frankencense. They won't finish talking about it until April but I finished it in March. Always recommended but you have to read the whole series.
My February and March reading turned out to be pretty good, considering that I also watched a whole lot of TV.
