Ellis Peters makes it seventeen in this old crime fiction 'What you must read' list.
Will I jump straight into book number eighteen? I'm genuinely not sure. I enjoyed Cadfael so much that I'm tempted to read the next book in the series.
Showing posts with label Book Polls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Polls. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Saturday, May 06, 2023
Sweet Sixteen
Simenon makes it 16 in this old book poll/reading challenge.
Why was this particular Maigret novel included in the top 100, though? It was enjoyable enough but there was nothing in particular to elevate it above all the rest.
I suspect it was just a random pick. 'Must have a Maigret . . . Can't leave out Simenon. '
Saturday, April 22, 2023
A slower process . . .
Turns out I'm up to 15 on this old book list.
When you consider how much crime fiction I've read down the years, that's kind of shocking.
P. S.
Scroll down to the bottom of the old post to see the later additions.
A slow process . . .
Thursday, August 08, 2013
Goodis is more than good
I just realised that with me recently reading Dark Passage, I'm up to the heady heights of 12 books read in the Bloomsbury 100 Must-Read Crime Novels.
I'm getting there slowly but surely.
I'm getting there slowly but surely.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Monday, September 27, 2010
100 Best Scottish Books
Following on from these two recent fiascos, I've finally found a book poll on the net where my reading count reaches double figures. It's sourced from The List, which is , I guess, Scotland's equivalent of Time Out and the article dates from 2005.
Twenty-one out of a hundred is not a bad reading haul, and there's another twelve or thirteen books on the list that I'd like to read at some point.
I thought it was a nice touch from the list compilers that they did not insist that the authors had to be Scottish by birth; just that the book listed had to have a strong Scottish connection. Hence, for example, the inclusion of Orwell's 1984 in the hundred, which was written on the Isle of Jura. (And, if you've ever read Orwell's collected essays and letters, his strong dislike of Scottish people is very apparent.)
Each listed entry in the linked article has a wee synopsis and well worth further investigation, but I have posted below links to some of the more interesting entries. (Well interesting to me.)
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Bloomsbury 100 Must-Read Crime Novels
Ok, let's see how I do with this list from Bloomsbury of the top 100 must-read crime novels that I just found via google.
If it's crossed out, it means I've read it:
Of the one hundred books listed I've only read eight of them! That is woeful.Asesinato en el Comitè Centralby Manuel Vázquez MontalbánBeast in View by Margaret Millar The Beast Must Die by Nicholas Blake The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler Black and Blueby Ian RankinThe Black Dahlia by James Ellroy The Black Echo by Michael Connelly The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale The Bridge Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich The Case of the Terrified Typist by Erle Stanley Gardner The Choirboysby Joseph WambaughCome away, death by Gladys Mitchell Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters Dark Passage (Film Ink Series) by David Goodis Dead Calm by Charles Williams Dead Cert by Dick Francis Dead Lagoon by Michael Dibdin The Dead of Jericho by Colin Dexter The Deadly Percheron by John Franklin Bardin Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon The Deep Blue Good-by by John D. MacDonald Devil in a Blue Dressby Walter MosleyThe Devil's Home on Leave (Factory 2) by Derek Raymond Dialogues of the Dead by Reginald Hill Double Indemnity by James M. Cain Downriver (The Amos Walker Series #9) by Loren D. Estleman The Fabulous Clipjoint by Fredric Brown The Face on the Cutting Room Floor (Classic Crime) by Cameron McCabe Fadeout by Joseph Hansen Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler Fast One by Paul Cain A Fatal Inversion by Ruth Rendell A Firing Offenseby George P. PelecanosFlinch by Robert Ferrigno The Fools in Town Are on Our Side by Ross Thomas Four Corners of Night by Craig Holden The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins The Glass Keyby Dashiell HammettGod Save the Child by Robert B. Parker Gone, No Forwarding by Joe Gores Hamlet, revenge! by Michael Innes The Hunter by Richard Stark The Ice House by Minette Walters In a Dry Season by Peter Robinson Indemnity Only by Sara Paretsky The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton A Is for Alibi by Sue Grafton The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson Kiss Me, Deadly by Mickey Spillane LaBrava by Elmore Leonard The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley Laura by Vera Caspary The League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout Maigret Sets a Trap by Georges Simenon Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles The Man Who Liked to Look at Himself by K. C. Constantine The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Miami Blues by Charles Willeford The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins The Moving Target by Ross Macdonald The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie Murder on the Yellow Brick Road by Stuart M. Kaminsky The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume The Mystery Of The Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux Mystic River by Dennis Lehane The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase Off With His Head by Ngaio Marsh One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes Red Dragon by Thomas Harris Roman Blood by Steven Saylor Sadie When She Died by Ed McBain Sidetracked by Henning Mankell The Sign of Fourby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleSmallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe A Taste for Death by P. D. James Tell No One by Harlan Coben A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman The Three Coffins by John Dickson Carr A Three-Pipe Problem by Julian Symons The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham Tourist Seasonby Carl HiaasenTrent's Last Case by E.C. Bentley Uncivil Seasons by Michael Malone Under Cover of Daylight by James W. Hall Under the Bright Lights by Daniel Woodrell An Unkindness of Ravens by Ruth Rendell When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block When the Wind Blows by Cyril Hare Who in Hell Is Wanda Fuca? by G. M. Ford
I didn't look at the list prior to scrolling down it and scoring through those books that I've read. I thought there would be at least twenty books on the list that I've read. Blogging life was so much simpler with 365Watch.
*ONGOING UPDATE*
A Three-Pipe Problem by Julian SymonsMiami Blues by Charles WillefordLaBrava by Elmore LeonardDark Passage (Film Ink Series) by David GoodisThe Mask of Dimitrios by Eric AmblerThe Killer Inside Me by Jim ThompsonMurder on the Yellow Brick Road by Stuart M. KaminskyMaigret Sets a Trap by Georges Simenon One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters
A wee tap on the shoulder . . .
. . . . and a whisper in the ear of, 'You've not read enough'.
That's the shiver I get when I stumble across book polls like the recent one conducted by NPR.
Seventeen thousand readers/listeners/viewers - what exactly do people do with NPR? - voted on their favourite 'Killer Thrillers' and, of the Top 100 listed, it turns out I've read a grand total of 2 of them.
Every other book I read is crime fiction, and it turns out I've been reading the wrong ones. Granted I've probably seen the film versions of about 20 of the books listed but that won't win me any kudos amongst the Ditmas Park literati.
There's only one solution. No, not actually knuckle down and read some of the works listed . . . find another crime fiction top 100 poll more in tune with my reading tastes. It'll be out there somewhere. Even if I have to create a bogus one myself.
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