2020 has been a year of binge reading light books for me. I had set up a challenge to read 50 books this year, but ended up reading more than 115 (including few rereads), although the number represents more of quantity than quality. I read a number of cozy mystery series, and also finally read Georgette Heyer and Wodehouse. I would like to write my experience with the cozy mysteries I have explored, but for now, the highlights for the year ...
Among the standalone books, the ones I liked best are:
Lone Fox Dancing [Ruskin Bond] – What can I say about this that hasn’t already been said? He is such a natural storyteller, that despite being an autobiography, I read it a few sittings, and loved every word of it.
Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat [Vicki Myron] – This is a warm and moving story, and I loved it despite not being an animal lover. And what bibliophile can resist a library setting?!
Moriarty [Anthony Horowitz] – I have read quite a few Holmes pastiche works in last 2-3 years, and this is one of the best I have come across so far.
Yayati [V S Khandekar] – Though I had an issue with the plot and did not like it as much as I hoped, it was an engrossing read. What makes it noteworthy to me is that this was the only Hindi read of the year.
And a note on the authors whose works I binged on:
Georgette Heyer – finally got around to reading her novels (24 of them in succession!), and loved them – not for the romance, but for the witty banter, and the enchanting if hypocritical society of the regency England. Though some of the stories had too much of class or gender bias for my liking.
Hannah Swensen Series [Joanna Fluke] – enjoyed the first few books, but gradually the plots became thinner and leaner (pages were filled with recipes and tiresomely repetitive details of routine life), and gave up in frustration after 10 books.
Perry Mason Series [Erle Stanley Gardner] – read the remaining few books of the series I hadn’t read. I have enjoyed these since my teens, and still do, but now I can’t help feel that they are quite sexist.
Victoria Holt – I enjoyed her novels in teenage, though more for the mystery than for romance. I revisited her after a long time, in last couple of years, but now they were hit or miss. Mystery part is usually obvious to me now, and the sexist attitude got to me in about half of them.
Hercule Poirot [Agatha Christie] – I love HP stories, and have read them many times. There are several novels I hadn’t read, and began to read them. Sadly, most of them didn’t work for me – the plots are usually very convoluted, and in several of them Poirot does not make an appearance until half or more.
Lady Hardcastle Mystery series [T. E. Kinsey] – this was an interesting find (and is available on KU). The leading ladies are an unlikely pair – a titled English lady and her maid, who banter about as they solve murders in the early 20th century. Perhaps too much to read many of them at one go, but good fun at small intervals.
Blandings Castle, Jeeves [P.G.Wodehouse] – I must have read some of his books once upon a time, but hardly remember them. I started with Blandings Castle series, enjoyed a couple, but there’s only so much enjoyment I can find in nonsensical escapades. I quit this series after 6 books, and only one of Jeeves. I think it may be better to read them one at a time, between more serious books.
Flavia de Luce [Alan Bradley] – Another interesting find, with an unlikely heroine – an eleven-year-old chemistry enthusiast who is precocious yet naïve, full of grand schemes and a confidence(sometimes too high) in her intelligence. Enjoyed the first 6 books in the series, but felt that it was losing steam and quit before b ecoming too frustrated.
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Series [Louise Penny] – read 5 of the series in 2020, and continuing at present. Set in a small Canadian village, it is a very welcome change from the usual murder mysteries set in UK or US, and a lead character who is kind, sociable and in a happy marriage 😊 It is as much about the characters as the mysteries, and I am quite invested in them.
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