I mentioned in a previous post that I would be participating in the Merely Mystery Reading Challenge hosted by Literary Feline at Musings of a Bookish Kitty. I'm trying to be judicious with the challenges I join for a number of reasons. Mainly, I tend to do the reading part of the challenge, but then don't write any blog posts or visit others participating in the challenge. This defeats a great part of the challenge - the social part!
One of the criteria for joining a reading challenge this year is whether or not reading for that challenge will contribute to one of my main reading goals for 2012 - to read down my TBR collection. I've noticed a lot of others have this same goal. (I think we've been enabling each other!) The Merely Mystery Reading Challenge fits this goal and sounds like so much fun. It will also provide reading that contrasts nicely with the year long Clarissa Group Read.
I really appreciate the way Literary Feline has provided a very nice breakdown of the Mystery sub-genres. Sub-genres like: The Whodunit, Locked Room Mystery, Cozy, and others. You really should take a look at these descriptions, even if you're not participating.
Some of the authors and/or series that I'll be pulling from for this challenge are:
- Sherlock Holmes mysteries by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters
- Various P.D. James mysteries
- Inspector Banks mysteries by Peter Robinson
- Various Agatha Christie mysteries
- Various J.A. Jance mysteries
- Anna Pigeon mysteries by Nevada Barr
- Hamish Macbeth mysteries by M.C. Beaton
- Elvis Cole & Joe Pike mysteries by Robert Crais
I'm sure there are more on my shelves, but this is a fair representation of what I'll be reading for this challenge. I do want to dig through my stacks and see if I've got some pre-twentieth century mysteries to read (besides Sherlock Holmes). I've had a craving to read some older literature this year. I'm guessing it has something to do with reading quite a bit of YA (young adult) fiction and contemporary paranormal fiction last year. It's been a while since I've read many classics ... but I'm getting ahead of myself. That is an entirely different post!
Woohoo! So glad you joined. :-). It will be fun, I think.
ReplyDeleteI am ashamed to say I haven't heard of Clarissa. Good luck with the readalong!
Yes, good luck with Clarissa. I would love to read it someday, but don't dare to commit to it just now. Maybe next year! :)
ReplyDeleteAlso I am trying to read some more books I already own & joined Roof Bram Readers TBR Pile Challenge because of that. I've just started reading The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, which actually is a 19th-century mystery, for both that and the Back to the Classics Challenge.