JonRob's 2022 Reads

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Charlas75 Books Challenge for 2022

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JonRob's 2022 Reads

1JonRob
Ene 1, 2022, 4:40 am

I'm starting right at the beginning this year.

2JonRob
Ene 1, 2022, 4:47 am

OK, my starter books are Copy for Crime by Carol Carnac and Ig Nobel Prizes 2 by Marc Abrahams. For those not familiar with this concept, the awards are for bizarre research and other achievements - for instance, Lal Bihari, who won his for (among other things) "living an active life even though he has been declared legally dead."
I'll also continue to comment on my music listening, mostly on CD - last night I listened to an interesting folk compilation called "All Through The Year", including a version of Silent Night in Hawaiian! (I had to look up the spelling of that.)

3PaulCranswick
Editado: Ene 2, 2022, 4:42 am



This group always helps me to read; welcome back to the group.

4JonRob
Ene 1, 2022, 5:56 am

Can I change the title of this thread? I just realised I put the wrong year in!

5FAMeulstee
Editado: Ene 1, 2022, 5:59 am

Happy reading in 2022!

ETA >4 JonRob: Yes, you might be able by editing the first msg, although that is only possible for a short time.
If that doesn't work drneutron can do it for you.

6drneutron
Ene 1, 2022, 8:55 am

Welcome back, Jon!

Yup, as group admin, I can change topic titles. It’s fixed now!

7JonRob
Ene 1, 2022, 11:03 am

Again, thank you for doing that.

8drneutron
Ene 1, 2022, 11:19 am

My pleasure!

9thornton37814
Ene 1, 2022, 6:35 pm

Enjoy your 2022 reads!

10JonRob
Ene 2, 2022, 3:54 am

Finished Copy for Crime (see my review). Started Wieland, or the Transformation by Charles Brockden Brown, who was apparently the USA's first professional novelist.

Listening included another Christmas disk (I'll keep listening to these until Twelfth Night), some Czech music (including Janacek's Sinfonietta and Suk's Fantastic Scherzo), plus most of a 60s compilation.

11JonRob
Ene 4, 2022, 7:50 am

Finished Ig Nobel Prizes 2 - amusing, and quite ironic in tone when dealing with some of the winners (eg proponents of the reality of alien abduction). About to start The Memoirs of Hector Berlioz which I don't expect to be a quick read!

Listening includes two Haydn symphonies, film music by Vaughan Williams and others, and overtures by Malcolm Arnold.

12JonRob
Ene 4, 2022, 6:28 pm

Started The Appeal by Janice Hallett (library copy) and hoping I'll find it as enjoyable as many reviewers have done.

Listened to some Malcolm Arnold (symphonies 2 and 5). I'm going to borrow some birders' jargon and call this a "tick". In explanation, some years ago I heard that Hugh Scully (original presenter of the Antiques Roadshow) had said that if you have over 500 CDs and are more than 50 years old, there are some disks that you will never listen to again. The two conditions applied to me at the time (and now even more so!) and I decided to try to disprove this (I call it "Scully's Theorem") so I have kept a record of my listening. The rule is that I have to listen to everything on the CD in order to count it as a tick - an exception being made if the disk has become a victim of bronzing or CD rot, in which case I only need to listen to part of it. In this case I'd listened to disk 1 of this two-disk set some time ago, so having heard all of the second disk means I can tick it off. At present I have listened to all of 648 classical disks, (plus 159 partials), 206 pop and rock (13 partials) and over 180 others (mostly old Gramophone cover disks). So it could be argued that I've disproved Scully's theorem, but in a sense I haven't as I still have quite a few CDs that I've not listened to, so I carry on. I can at least assure you (if you have got this far you might just be interested) that none of these ticks are stringy - and if you want to know what that means, see Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book!

13JonRob
Ene 12, 2022, 10:49 am

Finished The Appeal. Although it has some remarkable twists and turns, none of which I can discuss, I'm not 100% sure about it. For example (no spoilers here, I hope) it never becomes clear why the solicitor who gives all the emails etc to the investigators doesn't want them to know any of the background in advance. I may still read her second book, when the library has a copy.
Listening includes tracks from the album Third by The Soft Machine - this is an archetypal record from circa 1970, as it was originally a double album with one track per side! - some early Haydn symphonies, and a disk of choral music by Telemann (a tick).

14JonRob
Editado: Ene 14, 2022, 4:20 am

Started Death in Dark Glasses by George Bellairs, which certainly gets your attention quickly, with one minor crime leading to the discovery of several others.

Listened to about half of the CD Love's Old Sweet Song, which covers a range of Edwardian songs from music-hall (It's All Right In The Summertime) to the more sedate style of A Little Brown Bird Singing. Nice singing from Felicity Palmer and accompaniment from John Constable.

15JonRob
Editado: Ene 16, 2022, 4:53 pm

Finished Death in Dark Glasses, one of the author's better works, despite the detective Littlejohn doing something incredibly stupid at the end. It has an unusually high body count, of nine plus a dog by my reckoning.

Listened to a disc called "The Lost Sessions" by John Renbourn and friends, a seventies compilation (including the full version of "Rapper's Delight", which is almost 15 minutes long!) and works for brass, piano and other instruments by Vackar and Janacek.

16JonRob
Editado: Ene 17, 2022, 5:27 pm

Started Murder in High Place by R. B. Dominic and Mr. Fortune Speaking by H. C. Bailey (the latter is a set of short stories, like most of the author's early books about Reggie Fortune).
Listened to the Cello Concerto by Kenneth Leighton.

17JonRob
Ene 21, 2022, 4:05 am

Finished Murder in High Place. Started Murder in Blue by Clifford Witting (new purchase, new edition).

Listening included two Schubert string quartets (strictly more like one and a half, as one was the QuartettSatz which is a single movement - the Unfinished Quartet?) and the Cello Concerto by Kenneth Leighton, which I liked more than at my last hearing many years ago. And a Classic Rock anthology.

18JonRob
Ene 25, 2022, 3:52 am

Finished Murder in Blue - entertaining, though the author doesn't play fair in at least one respect. Started There Is No Justice by R. B. Dominic.

19JonRob
Editado: Dic 29, 2022, 4:45 am

Finished There Is No Justice and started Shot at Dawn by John Rhode.

Listening included a disc from one of those 5-disk compilations, this one being "100 Hits Rock" - also a BBC disc of French Favourites (including Bolero and The Sorceror's Apprentice), together with some Boccherini cello concertos.

20JonRob
Feb 1, 2022, 4:26 pm

Finished Shot At Dawn - one of the author's best works, although I started to have an inkling about the killer's identity well before the ending. Started Epitaph for a Lobbyist by R. B. Dominic.

Listened to some piano works by Scriabin, including the "Black Mass" sonata, which sounds quite unlike what you might expect; also another disk from the 100 Hits Rock compilation.

21PaulCranswick
Feb 5, 2022, 12:50 pm

Wishing you a great weekend.

>20 JonRob: Do appreciate Scriabin's work.

22JonRob
Feb 6, 2022, 5:25 pm

23JonRob
Feb 6, 2022, 5:28 pm

Finished Epitaph For A Lobbyist and started And Dangerous To Know by Elizabeth Daly
Listened to more short piano pieces by Scriabin, and a Boccherini cello concerto (no. 9).

24JonRob
Feb 8, 2022, 5:43 pm

Finished And Dangerous To Know - not my favourite of the Henry Gamadge stories, but still quite readable. Started Murder Out Of Commission by R. B. Dominic.
Listening has included a Flemish Rhapsody by Michel Brusselmans, another cello concerto by Boccherini and piano concertos by Haydn - these last are real favourites.

25JonRob
Feb 12, 2022, 3:56 am

Finished Murder Out Of Commission and started Post After Post-Mortem by E. C. R. Lorac (a new purchase, just published by British Library) and Death of Mr Gantley by Miles Burton.

Listened to some more of the 100 Hits Rock compilation, plus Dvorak and Grieg concertos and Mahler's 4th Symphony.

26JonRob
Feb 15, 2022, 5:32 pm

Finished Post After Post-Mortem and Death of Mr. Gantley - the latter one of the better titles John Street wrote under the Miles Burton name, although the basic plot twist became fairly obvious about halfway though. Starting The Attending Physician by R. B. Dominic.

Listened to Mahler's 9th (more for a tick than anything else) and a BBC disk of Stravinsky's Petroushka, Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra ... and Rossini's William Tell Overture!

27JonRob
Feb 24, 2022, 8:35 am

Finished The Attending Physician and started Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers - one of my favourite Wimseys, though I know this is not a universal opinion.

Listened to Shostakovich's 10th Symphony (the one where the scherzo is supposed to be a portrait of Stalin). Also a new BBC disc of Lieder, including Beethoven's An Die Ferne Geliebte.

28JonRob
Feb 25, 2022, 11:15 am

29JonRob
Mar 1, 2022, 3:48 am

Finshed Henrietta Who? - I think this is the best of Aird's books that I've read - and started, and finished, Busman's HoneyMoon by Dorothy L. Sayers. Started Tenant for Death by Cyril Hare.

Listening included the violin concerto by Carl Nielsen (I always wonder why this is not more popular), some music for wind band by Beethoven and Aaron Copland's Rodeo.

30PaulCranswick
Mar 5, 2022, 9:59 am

Some good golden age stuff there.

Have a great weekend.

31JonRob
Mar 7, 2022, 4:27 am

Finished Tenant for Death - I think I spotted the basic plot twist the first time I read it, but it's still good entertainment. Started, and finished, A Bad Spell in Yurt by C. Dale Brittain - an interesting take on the fantasy genre. Started A Flaw in the System by R. B. Dominic. Also reading intermittently General Knowledge Papers (no author stated) for which I'll be writing a review shortly.

Listening has included symphonies by Malcolm Arnold and Moishe Vainberg (the latter written in memory of Shostakovich) and a sampler by the 70s prog group Amazing Blondel.

32JonRob
Mar 14, 2022, 4:57 am

Finished A Flaw in the System and started Death is No Sportsman by Cyril Hare.

Listening includes Nielsen's Symphony No. 5, which some consider the greatest symphony of the 20th century, and a collection of works by The Nice.

33JonRob
Mar 16, 2022, 5:38 am

Finished Death is no Sportsman - an entertaining read, but the basic plot twist is not exactly difficult to spot. Started Last Will and Testament by G. D. H. Cole and M. Cole.
Listened to Haydn's Symphony no. 82 (the Bear) on YouTube, plus some more of the Nice.

34JonRob
Mar 19, 2022, 7:05 pm

Finished Last Will And Testament - see my review for comments. Started Down Under by Bill Bryson.

Listening includes a compilation of Summer of Love music, plus the Piano Quintet by Schumann.

35JonRob
Mar 24, 2022, 7:39 pm

Finished Down Under - Bryson is always entertaining, on just about any subject. Started Dead Water by Ngaio Marsh, which I'm fairly sure I've read many years ago, but none of the plot remains in my memory.

Listened to Tales of 1001 Nights Vol 2 by Renaissance - a favourite of mine, evidenced by the fact that I've listened to it four times in the past 18 months - and a set of Vivaldi concertos, bought at a local sale (as with Dead Water).

36JonRob
Mar 30, 2022, 12:01 pm

Finished Dead Water - OK but not brilliant. Started Desert Island Discs by Roy Plomley and A Six-Letter Word for Death by Patricia Moyes.

Listened to Verklarte Nacht by Schoenberg. (The policy at the BBC Music Magazine on what music to put on their cover disc seems a bit random - this is the second time they have put Verklarte Nacht on it, although with different couplings.)

37JonRob
Editado: Abr 6, 2022, 6:39 pm

Finished A Six-Letter Word for Death, which is OK but hampered by the fact that Henry Tibbett is virtually acting as a private investigator; also, his trap using Emmy at the end seems extremely unlikely to have worked in practice.

Listened to some British light music (including a Partita by John Rutter, a rare example of purely instrumental composition by the composer), the first Piano Trio by Tchaikovsky, plus another disk from a 5-disk rock compilation.

38JonRob
Abr 2, 2022, 2:01 pm

Started Rodney Stone by Arthur Conan Doyle - the first of his historical novels I've read.

39JonRob
Abr 7, 2022, 4:23 pm

Started two more, Fading into the Limelight, the autobiography of Peter Sallis, and Secret London by Andrew Duncan.

Listened to various works including Prague by Josef Suk and the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Saint-Saens.

40JonRob
Abr 11, 2022, 6:10 pm

Finished Secret London (although I did skip one or two bits) - I find the walks in the city to be the best part, especially those along the underground rivers.

Listened to some Haydn symphonies, Sullivan's Irish Symphony and "Legend" by Clannad (just purchased from a market stall).

41JonRob
Abr 14, 2022, 3:37 am

Finished Fading into the Limelight which is entertaining, but I'm not sure if I shall keep it. Started Love Lies Bleeding by Edmund Crispin.

Listening includes Eternal Longing, a tone poem by Novak, and Mendelssohn's music for A Midsummer Night's Dream.

42JonRob
Editado: Abr 16, 2022, 9:56 am

Finished Love Lies Bleeding, which is as entertaining as always despite some plot problems - for instance, there is no sensible reason why Fen doesn't tell Inspector Stagge his deductions straight away. Started Theatre 1955-6 by Ivor Brown, a book I'd forgotten I owned...

43JonRob
Abr 17, 2022, 4:19 pm

Started The Great Mistake by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

Listened to some orchestral suites by Telemann - there are apparently 134 such suites by him, and there are probably a lot more which have been lost!

44JonRob
Abr 20, 2022, 3:43 pm

Finished The Great Mistake. This book certainly has no shortage of incident, with three murders, one attempted murder, two assaults on the narrator, vanishings and other things! Started Saturday The Rabbi Went Hungry by Harry Kemelman.
Listened to Mike Oldfield's Music of the Spheres (not really a Planets Suite for the modern age, as one reviewer stated), a Clannad compilation and a disc of mostly Latin music by Falla, Moncayo, Piazzola and others.

45JonRob
Abr 23, 2022, 4:11 am

Finished Saturday The Rabbi Went Hungry and started The Three Taps by Ronald Knox, a personal favourite. Oddly it only occurred to me later that both books involve a plot point about an insurance policy possibly not being paid because of a suicide clause.

Listened to some Italian baroque music (Vivaldi, Marcello and Geminiani) and English light music (Balfour Gardiner, Quilter, Walton and Goossens).

46JonRob
Editado: Abr 24, 2022, 7:17 am

Finished The Three Taps and thought of some nitpicks - most of them would involve spoilers, but one which doesn't is this: how easy would it be for someone to be poisoned by acetylene gas? Apparently it isn't very toxic in itself, but sometimes contains impurities such as arsine and phosphine which certainly are quite dangerous.
Started Murder by the Book by Rex Stout, whose work I've not read before.

Listening includes disk one of that prog-rock compilation, and some more Italian Baroque - plus Beethoven's First symphony.

47JonRob
Abr 26, 2022, 6:14 am

Finished Murder by the Book, which I didn't really enjoy much. Started The Case of the Duplicate Daughter by Erle Stanley Gardner and The Other Islands of New York City by Sharon Seitz and Stuart Miller.

Listening includes some organ concertos by Handel and a Beethoven piano trio.

48JonRob
Abr 27, 2022, 6:43 pm

Finished The Case of the Duplicate Daughter - even if Gardner isn't the world's greatest stylist, he deserves credit for the variations he could work on his theme. Also started, and finished, That Yew Tree's Shade by Cyril Hare - always a pleasure to read.

Listened to Haydn's Seven Last Words (the original chamber orchestral version) and some symphonies by the same composer, plus one of Messiaen's Catalogue d.Oiseaux.

49JonRob
Abr 29, 2022, 10:04 am

Started, and finished, The Black Seraphim by Michael Gilbert - as entertaining as ever with this writer, but some odd discrepancies mar it, together with some outrageous behaviour by one character which would probably have resulted in his being fired.

50JonRob
Editado: mayo 1, 2022, 1:57 pm

Started Coffin in the Black Museum by Gwendolyn Butler. Finished Theatre 1955-6 - quite interesting - the author certainly did not like Look Back in Anger or Waiting for Godot! - but I'm not sure if I'll keep it.

Listened to some chamber music by Vaughan Williams, including two piano quintets (one for the unusual combination of piano, violin, cello, clarinet and horn).

51JonRob
mayo 1, 2022, 1:56 pm

Finished Coffin in the Black Museum and enjoyed it as usual, but noticed an odd
discrepancy in the order that two things are supposed to have happened - unless I've misread the text.

52JonRob
Editado: mayo 2, 2022, 6:31 pm

Started, and finished, A Reconstructed Corpse by Simon Brett - a good read, although the behaviour of some of the characters is a bit hard to swallow. (Like my previous read, it involves a severed head being found in a receptacle.) Incidentally, Brett has now created 5 different series of novels - there can't be many other crime writers who've done that many (John Creasey is one example of those who have exceeded this number of series.) Also started The London Nobody Knows by Geoffrey Fletcher.

Listening included Court and Spark by Joni Michell, some more Haydn symphonies and some more Leroy Anderson.

53JonRob
mayo 5, 2022, 10:00 am

Since my last post I've read The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie. An odd feature of this book is that I have never, when rereading it, been able to remember the murderer's identity. Also, if you try to work out the exact series of events, there seem to be some extreme improbabilities and inconsistencies. Still a good read, though.
Also I have read A Stitch in Time by Emma Lathen. This duo certainly did not have a high opinion of the US medical profession!
Listened to some works for violin and piano by Hubert Parry, part of a batch of CDs I bought cheaply on EBay. Unfortunately this disk shows signs of bronzing on the label side, but it doesn't seem to have had much effect on the sound apart from a few stutters.

54JonRob
mayo 9, 2022, 4:05 am

Read The Blood Doctor by Barbara Vine - like most of her works under this name it is really a straight novel in which a murder is involved.
Started Death Before Dinner by E. C. R. Lorac - a well-known blogger recently gave this a poor review, so I want to be sure that my opinion, which differs from his, is still valid.
Listened to more CDs from the recently purchased batch - music by Saint-Saens, including "Carnival of the Animals", and a miscellaneous Mozart disc including Perlman's reading of the 3rd Violin Concerto,

55JonRob
mayo 11, 2022, 11:55 am

Read Monday the Rabbi Took Off by Harry Kemelman - not a bad read, if you don't mind there being only a very small amount of actual detection going on.

Listened to some organ music by Buxtehude, from the batch of CDs I recently bought. I'll hear this once and then give it away.

56JonRob
mayo 12, 2022, 4:02 pm

Started Double Cross Purposes by Ronald Knox - note carefully the absence of any hyphens in the title.

Listened to more Buxtehude, a disc of non-vocal music by John Rutter and some Haydn symphonies.

57JonRob
Editado: mayo 14, 2022, 10:22 am

Finished Double Cross Purposes. Apparently someone to whom Knox gave a copy disliked it so much that she threw it in the sea! That seems rather extreme - it's quite enjoyable, in my view. Started I, Said the Fly by Elizabeth Ferrars. It's interesting to speculate whether Ferrars would be better-known if she'd written more books with a series character (she did create two series, but only quite late in her career).

Listened to a disk of Philip Glass, on which I'm reserving judgement, and some Vaughan Williams from a BBC Music Magazine disk. Also more Haydn symphonies!

58JonRob
mayo 22, 2022, 1:07 pm

Since my last port I've finished I, Said The Fly which I found a bit disappointing - the use of a long flashback is partly responsible - and started The Glass Universe by Dava Sobel and The Wood-Nymph and the Cranky Saint by C. Dale Brittain which is unusual for a fantasy novel in that Christianity plays a major part in the narrative.
Listening included several Mozart piano concertos, some Haydn symphonies and that 70s compilation again (see my earlier post).

59JonRob
mayo 24, 2022, 3:37 am

Finished The Wood-Nymph and the Cranky Saint, and also read Still Dead by Ronald Knox - the main plot point about a body appearing, disappearing and then re-appearing in the same spot will probably become clear to most readers at an early stage, but there are enough other complications to keep the interest going. Started The Motor Rally Mystery by John Rhode.
Listened to more Mozart concertos (played by Brendel) and Haydn symphonies.

60JonRob
mayo 25, 2022, 10:16 am

Finished The Motor Rally Mystery. I can see why some GAD fans don't like it, as some vital information is held back until after the killer is revealed, but I still find it entertaining enough.
Started Dead Giveaway by Simon Brett.

61JonRob
mayo 26, 2022, 6:28 am

Finished Dead Giveaway - Brett's relentless cynicism about the TV industry can get a little wearing, but it's still an entertaining read even if the motive for the murder is rather dubious. Started Friday The Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman.

62JonRob
mayo 28, 2022, 4:00 am

Finished Friday the Rabbi Slept Late and started Dancing with Dogma by Ian Gilmour and The Case of the Worried Waitress by Erle Stanley Gardner.

Listened to one more Mozart piano concerto, the last on the two-CD set by Alfred Brendel.

63JonRob
Editado: mayo 28, 2022, 12:47 pm

Finished The Case of the Worried Waitress - some of the behaviour of one character is not really explained properly, but it's still a good, quick read. Starting The Famous Cases of Dr. Thorndyke by R. Austin Freeman, which is an omnibus of the short stories (with three omissions, which I'll read online).

64JonRob
Jun 1, 2022, 3:56 am

Finished the Austin Freeman short stories, and started The Door by Mary Roberts Rinehart.
Listened to the Beethoven violin concerto (played by Frank Peter Zimmermann) and Handel's My Heart is Inditing (on YouTube - they took the last movement really fast!)

65JonRob
Jun 2, 2022, 7:40 am

66JonRob
Editado: Jun 16, 2022, 3:26 pm

Finished The Door - the plot is so complicated that I suspect there are a lot of plot holes, and I've already found one place where someone's behaviour is not what might reasonably be expected, but it's still a book I'm sure I'll reread in the future (even if it wasn't, the volume I own also has The Confession and The Red Lamp, both of which I like better).
Listened to Vaughan Williams' Symphony 4, on a new BBC Music Magazine disk.

67JonRob
Jun 4, 2022, 5:04 am

Started, and finished, The Vault by Ruth Rendell - I feel I should now read A Sight for Sore Eyes by the same author, to which this has strong links. Taken together, would they be a sort of partly inverted mystery?

68drneutron
Jun 4, 2022, 8:45 pm

Never read either, but they look great!

69JonRob
Jun 5, 2022, 3:16 pm

Started, and finished, The Footsteps at the Lock by Ronald Knox.

Listened to a Chamber Concerto for string quartet by Martinu, and two Haydn symphonies.

70JonRob
Jun 8, 2022, 1:17 pm

Started, and finished, The Confession by Mary Roberts Rinehart - a quick read (it's really a novella) and an unusually simple plot, with some interesting sidelights on psychological issues. Started Not in the Flesh by Ruth Rendell.

Listened to the Symphony No. 10 by Havergal Brian (new purchase).

71JonRob
Editado: Dic 29, 2022, 4:54 am

Finished Not in the Flesh - the subplot about female genital mutilations seems rather shoehorned in, but it's otherwise of her usual high standard. One can't help feeling, though, that Wexford in his later years seems to have rather prone to violent attacks (on him rather than by him) of various kinds. Started A Connoisseur's Case by Michael Innes.

Listened to the Symphony No. 21 by Havergal Brian, the other one on my new purchase. I'm never sure how much I enjoy his work, but I still feel I need to hear it...

72JonRob
Jun 12, 2022, 3:43 pm

Finished A Connoisseur's Case - possibly the best of the post-war Appleby titles.

Listened to Malcolm Arnold's Sinfonietta No 1 and his Flute Concerto, both on another newly bought CD.

73JonRob
Editado: Jun 16, 2022, 3:08 am

Started The Red Lamp by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

Listened to some more orchestral music by Malcolm Arnold, including the Oboe concerto. Also to another Haydn symphony,

74JonRob
Jun 18, 2022, 6:44 pm

Finished The Red Lamp, a very good example of how to combine a crime story with one involving the supernatural - and the protagonist is an interesting character. Also finished The Great Mathematical Problems, although I did skip one or two bits.
Started New Paths in Music by Basil Maine, and Swan Song by Edmund Crispin.
Listened to string quartets by Janacek and Dvorak, and works by Vaughan Williams and Wagner (all from new BBC Music Magazine disks).

75JonRob
Jun 19, 2022, 4:27 pm

Finished Swan Song - entertaining, despite there being some questions about the feasibility of the method of the first murder. Started White Corridor by Christopher Fowler.

Listened to several symphonies by William Boyce (they were shorter in his day) and some works by Andrzej Panufnik.

76JonRob
Jun 21, 2022, 8:41 am

Finished New Paths in Music (see my review). Started, and finished, The Very Pointless Quiz Book by Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman.

Listened to the piano trio by Rimsky-Korsakov.

77JonRob
Jun 23, 2022, 4:50 am

Finished White Corridor - a typically twisty plot, although I don't think the author entirely plays fair in general - and started Buried for Pleasure by Edmund Crispin and British Music of our Time by A. L. Bacharach and several others.

Listened to No Roses by Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band. I've seen it said that this was as great an influence on English folk-rock as Liege and Lief, but I'm not sure how that judgement has stood up to the passage of time - still a great listen, though.

78JonRob
Jun 26, 2022, 1:37 pm

Finished Buried for Pleasure, one of my favourite titles by Crispin. Started, and finished, Death and Letters by Elizabeth Daly. Started A Sight for Sore Eyes by Ruth Rendell - this is the one to which The Vault is a sort of sequel.

Listened to Minds in Flux by George Lewis, which I didn't really like, Smallcreep's Day by Mike Rutherford (some day I must read the book which inspired the first side) and the Dvorak Piano Quintet No. 2 (a favourite of mine, although the string sound on this version is rather harsh).

79JonRob
Jun 29, 2022, 5:07 am

Started and finished The Case Of The Rolling Bones by Erle Stanley Gardner, which has one of the most outrageous courtroom tricks ever. Started Death Shall Overcome by Emma Lathen.

Listened to some music by Malcolm Williamson, including the organ concerto.

80JonRob
Jun 30, 2022, 12:49 pm

Finished Death Shall Overcome - an interesting, if rather specialised, take on the Civil Rights movement. Started Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers.

81JonRob
Jul 2, 2022, 3:27 am

Finished Whose Body? - I can't help feeling the killer might have got away with the crime if they'd just kept it simple. Started The Havering Plot by Richard Keverne.

82JonRob
Jul 7, 2022, 9:31 am

Started Walk The Lines by Mark Mason, a quirky book about London in which the author walks along the paths of every Underground line - quite a task!

Listened to some Haydn symphonies on a BBC Music Magazine cover disk, as well as most of disk 1 of a compilation of hits from 1965 to 1969.

83JonRob
Jul 8, 2022, 4:43 am

Finished A Sight For Sore Eyes. Having already read The Vault I knew some plot points in advance, and one of them that isn't foreshadowed there I guessed. (Not sure if I'll keep this.) I'm doing something unusual and re-reading The Vault, although I last read it just a few weeks ago, to see if it strike me differently.

84JonRob
Editado: Jul 11, 2022, 5:57 pm

Finished The Vault, very quickly this time. There was some extra insight from having just read A Sight for Sore Eyes, and I did wonder if the police looked into Francine's background and put two and two together... Started, and finished, The Wall by Mary Roberts Rinehart (I continue to think that she was a better writer than some people give her credit for). Also started and finished The World Cup of Everything by Richard Osman which was as amusing as the last time I read it.
Listened to more Haydn symphonies, some of the lesser-known works by Gustav Holst and Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, played by Carlos Bonell.

85JonRob
Jul 15, 2022, 5:39 am

Started and finished The Victoria Vanishes by Christopher Fowler- I can't help feeling that the difficulty of creating the illusion of an old public house would have been rather harder than the author makes it seem.
Listened to some more Rodrigo, the Fantasia para un Gentilhombre, and some of a 60s compilation; also the three piano trios by John Ireland, a new purchase.

86JonRob
Jul 17, 2022, 1:16 pm

Started and finished The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett (library copy) - about which I find it difficult to say anything meaningful, but anyone who likes modern crime fiction should read it - and started Stet by Diana Athill, which is also highly recommendable to those interested in publishing.
Listened to the piano concerto and 5th symphony by Erwin Schulhoff.

88JonRob
Jul 20, 2022, 3:48 pm

Finished My Foe Outstretch'd Beneath The Tree, which is enjoyable if implausible. Started A Grave Coffin by Gwendoline Butler.
My listening is mostly to the Proms - last night I heard two 4th Symphonies, by Vaughan Williams and Tippett (the latter I find a tough nut to crack).

89JonRob
Jul 26, 2022, 2:33 am

Finished A Grave Coffin and also read Come Away, Death by Gladys Mitchell - a new (cheap) purchase, which I didn't enjoy much and probably shan't keep.

Listened to various Proms, plus some music by Poulenc (including the concerto for two pianos).

90JonRob
Editado: Dic 29, 2022, 5:21 am

I've been away for a few days, and during that time I read No Man's Nightingale by Ruth Rendell. It's the last of the Wexford novels, and not the best (the motive for the crime is rather weak) but still enjoyable. I also read Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman, a new purchase.
Saw My Fair Lady at the Coliseum, a highly entertaining production (Stephen K. Amos memorable as Doolittle) with an oddly ambiguous ending. Also went to a Prom, the main work in which was Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony - the second time I've heard it live, and quite possibly the last!

91JonRob
Jul 30, 2022, 3:44 am

Read The Scoop by (deep breath) Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, E. C. Bentley, Anthony Berkeley, Clemence Dane and Freeman Wills Crofts. These round-robin novels are seldom very good, and this is no exception. If the other story in the same book (Behind the Screen) is not better I shall get rid of it.
Also started Try Anything Twice by Jan Struther, which is much more enjoyable.
Watched the TV broadcast of the same prom I attended on Wednesday. I'm sure I was in shot on occasions, but too small to see!

92JonRob
Ago 2, 2022, 7:44 am

Finished Try Anything Twice which I always find very satisfying, partly because the author is such a good stylist. Read Pick Up Sticks by Emma Lathen - also enjoyable, although I increasingly feel that the motive for the murders is inadequate.
Listened to an album called Frame, a new (cheap) purchase with works by Graham Fitkin, Michael Nyman and others.

94JonRob
Ago 5, 2022, 4:39 am

Finished Unreasonable Doubt - I didn't enjoy it much, and it's a candidate for giving to a charity shop. Started The Mystery of Three Quarters, one of the Hercule Poirot continuation novels by Sophie Hannah. These tend to be poorly reviewed by bloggers on GAD fiction, so I'll be interested to see if I feel the same when I've finished it.

95JonRob
Ago 8, 2022, 5:29 am

Finished Writing Interactive Compilers and Interpreters. As this is now way out of date, I think it's a candidate for giving away. Started Apple of My Eye by Helene Hanff which is another book that I always enjoy.
Listened to some Haydn organ concertos, and works from an album called Peacock Pie, which are lightish music for piano and orchestra.

96JonRob
Ago 12, 2022, 3:38 am

Finished The Mystery of Three Quarters and did not much enjoy it, sadly - I would have been happy to find that the bloggers were wrong, but... Then read With A Bare Bodkin by Cyril Hare which was much more enjoyable. Started The Wrong Way Down by Elizabeth Daly (published as Shroud for a Lady). (Still reading The Glass Universe on and off.)
Listened to some quintets by Boccherini, a Haydn symphony and also some music by Geoffrey Bush, including Yorick, which he wrote in memory of the then-famous comedian Tommy Handley.

98JonRob
Ago 15, 2022, 3:28 am

Finished Listening Woman - really a thriller, but a pretty good one - and started By Hook or By Crook by Emma Lathen, as well as The Puritan Pleasures of the Detective Story by Erik Routley.

Listened to a new BBC Music Magazine disk, of music by Bax, Ravel, Sibelius, Dobrinka Tabakova and Anders Hillborg. The last two of these will need further listening to know if I like them.

99JonRob
Ago 16, 2022, 4:21 am

Finished By Hook or By Crook - a good read, although I was left wondering what Thatcher was going to tell the police. Started The BBC Micro - An Expert Guide by Mike James, which is another possible candidate for giveaway.

Listened to a piano trio by Edmund Rubbra.

100JonRob
Ago 17, 2022, 3:49 am

101JonRob
Ago 18, 2022, 7:35 am

Finished The BBC Micro - An Expert Guide, which is among a number of books on the BBC that I will be getting rid of. Also finished Who Is Simon Warwick? - the plot twist is not as surprising nowadays as it would have been in 1978, but it's still a good read.

102JonRob
Ago 20, 2022, 2:38 pm

Started The Case of the Lazy Lover by Erle Stanley Gardner.

Listened to two concertos by Edmund Rubbra (new purchase) and the piano trio by Leon Boellmann.

103JonRob
Ago 23, 2022, 5:37 am

Finished The Case of the Lazy Lover - I remembered the basic plot twist, and the killer's identity, this time. Read Death Of Jezebel by Christanna Brand, which I didn't enjoy as much as some other readers have.
Listened to another work by Boellmann, and a violin concerto by Alan Rawsthorne.

104JonRob
Ago 24, 2022, 3:34 am

Started A Place For Murder by Emma Lathen.

Listened to Dvorak's fourth symphony.

105JonRob
Ago 25, 2022, 3:41 am

Finished A Place for Murder - perhaps not the best of the Lathen titles, but still a good read. Started The Red Thumb Mark by R. Austin Freeman.

Listened to an 80s compilation, and an overture by Rawsthorne.

106JonRob
Ago 26, 2022, 7:19 am

Finished The Red Thumb Mark - I am intending to read all the Thorndyke novels in order of publication this time around.

107JonRob
Ago 27, 2022, 4:00 am

108JonRob
Ago 28, 2022, 3:18 pm

Started Please Don't Eat The Daisies by Jean Kerr.

Listened to the symphony number 9 by David Matthews, together with his Variations for Strings (both on a newly-purchased disc). Also a suite from the Nutcracker, a Boccherini symphony and Beethoven 's First Piano Concerto (a replacement for a Prom I wasn't interested in).

109JonRob
Ago 30, 2022, 5:28 am

Finished Please Don't Eat The Daisies. I haven't seen the film, but the screenwriters must have been very creative, as the book has nothing like a coherent narrative, being a series of short humorous pieces (some of which cannot have been used at all, like the parody of Francois Sagan). Started These Ruins Are Inhabited by Muriel Beadle.

Listened to the symphony number 12 by Havergal Brian. This was from his later period, when he was writing very concise works - this symphony is only 11 minutes long, in contrast with the enormous Gothic symphony, which got into the Guinness Book of Records.

110JonRob
Sep 2, 2022, 4:59 am

Finished These Ruins Are Inhabited and started The Vanishing Hitchhiker by Jan Harold Brunvand.

Listened to a ballet suite by Elgar, Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony, the Fantasia Para Un Gentilhombre by Rodrigo, and the Sinfonia Antartica by Vaughan Williams.

111JonRob
Sep 7, 2022, 12:05 pm

Finished The Vanishing Hitchhiker which may be a candidate for the charity shop (when they're accepting donations again). Also started, and finished, The Water Room by Christopher Fowler.

Listened to a 3-disc 70s compilation.

112JonRob
Sep 9, 2022, 9:33 am

Started and finished The Merchant's House by Kate Ellis, which was all right but didn't inspire me to read further in the series. Also read The Eye Of Osiris by R. Austin Freeman which was as good as ever; though a curious anomaly arises, in that the case of Jeffrey Blackmore is mentioned more than once, but that is described in The Mystery of 31 New Inn which wasn't published till a year later. Started The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh.

Listened to various CDs, including Sibelius' 5th Symphony, some Italian Baroque music and a string quartet by Rutland Boughton.

113JonRob
Sep 11, 2022, 12:19 pm

Started Johnny Under Ground by Patricia Moyes.

Listened to a disk of works by Matyas Seiber, Lennox Berkeley and Peter Crossley-Holland; also a Clannad compilation.

114JonRob
Sep 17, 2022, 10:41 am

Finished Johnny Under Ground - Emmy Tibbett certainly has bad luck with her friends! Started and finished Thrones, Dominations by Jill Paton Walsh and Dorothy L. Sayers. Interesting that both this and The Water Room have plot elements concerning underground rivers. Also started Can Jane Eyre Be Happy? by John Sutherland, which is a very enjoyable way of reading about classic fiction.

Listened to some Faure (a piano quartet and a violin sonata) and disc 1 of an 80s pop collection.

115JonRob
Sep 22, 2022, 9:08 am

Reading A Silent Witness by R. Austin Freeman.

Listened to disc 2, and half of disc 3, of the 80s collection.

116JonRob
Sep 25, 2022, 2:04 pm

Finished The Glass Universe at last (it's a book that lends itself to being read in small chunks). Started The Lady in No. 4 by Richard Keverne.

Listened to several works by Vaughan Williams, on a newly purchased disc, including the Partita and the Concerto Grosso.

117JonRob
Sep 30, 2022, 3:56 am

Started My Autobiography - The World Was My Lobster by George Cole and Brian Hawkins. Also started The Missing Rope by Carol Carnac.

Listened to Dona Nobis Pacem by Vaughan Williams - as my choral society is performing this in December, I'll be playing it quite a bit.

118JonRob
Oct 2, 2022, 3:34 am

Finished My Autobiography - The World Was My Lobster. Rather puzzled by Cole's claim to have been invited in the 50s to play Othello in Ludlow, as I'm not aware that anyone was doing professional Shakespeare productions here at that time (the Ludlow Festival didn't start until 1960, and didn't do Othello until 1970). Maybe his memory was at fault?

Started Reincarnation? by Ian Wilson.

119JonRob
Editado: Oct 10, 2022, 3:58 am

Finished The Missing Rope and noticed an odd loose end which I hadn't spotted before.

Started Helen Vardon's Confession by R. Austin Freeman.

Listened to Towards the Unknown Region and the Magnificat, both by Vaughan Williams. Also listened (via YouTube) to most of the Billboard end-of-year top 100 for 1975.

120JonRob
Oct 10, 2022, 3:58 am

Finished Reincarnation - an excellent run-down of the problems with the alleged evidence in favour. (At the end I was surprised to find a reference to a research paper by the wife of an ex-colleague.) Started Astounding Days by Arthur C. Clarke, which is always an entertaining read.

Listened to a 70s compilation, and string quartets by Edmund Rubbra.

121JonRob
Oct 12, 2022, 5:43 pm

Finished Astounding Days. Also finished Helen Vardon's Confession, which is one of my least favourite Thorndyke novels. It's too long by a considerable number of pages, but still ends rather abruptly (I'd like to know what happened about those missing jewels). And then there's the anti-Semitism...

Started Death on Milestone Buttress by Glyn Carr. Listened to Prokofiev's Classical Symphony and Beethoven's 2nd Piano Concerto, the latter played by the late Lars Vogt (new BBC disc).

122JonRob
Oct 17, 2022, 3:26 am

Started No Pickle, No Performance by Harold J. Kennedy, an entertaining (and frequently scurrilous) account of his life in the US theatre.

123JonRob
Oct 20, 2022, 3:43 am

124JonRob
Oct 21, 2022, 6:52 pm

Finished Death on Milestone Buttress - I can't help feeling that there are several serious problems with the killer's scheme, some of which are glossed over. Started Death on the Down Beat by Sebastian Farr, which is a pseudonym of the music critic Eric Blom.

125JonRob
Oct 24, 2022, 5:10 am

126JonRob
Oct 26, 2022, 9:03 am

Finished The Cat's Eye, which is stlll highly entertaining, even though I find the recklessness of Thorndyke's behaviour at one point hard to believe - it was purely by luck that he didn't get himself and Anstey killed. Started The Daffodil Affair by Michael Innes and was startled to realise that it must be at least 20 years since I last read it.
Listened to more of the 80s pop compilation, mentioned above in 114 and 115.

127JonRob
Nov 2, 2022, 10:04 am

Finished The Daffodil Affair - more a jeu d'esprit than a detective story or a thriller. (As my copy has completely fallen apart, it will probably go in the recycling.) Also read From a Surgeon's Diary (my edition is shown as by R. Austin Freeman) which is a set of early short stories, not published in book form until 1975.

Listened to Full House by Fairport Convention - this CD edition has several bonus tracks, including Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman, the single Now Be Thankful, an early version of The Bonny Bunch of Roses and the B-side with the very long title usually abbreviated to Sir B. McKenzie.

129JonRob
Nov 7, 2022, 6:12 pm

Finished The Mystery of Angelina Frood, which I thoroughly enjoyed as usual, although one part of the plot strikes me as very hard to believe. Started The Venner Crime by John Rhode.

Listened to Dona Nobis Pacem (first part) by Vaughan Williams again.

130JonRob
Nov 10, 2022, 8:19 am

Finished The Venner Crime - I'm fairly sure I worked out the main plot points the first time I read it, and any experienced GA reader will see through most of them. Started Road Rage by Ruth Rendell.

131JonRob
Nov 14, 2022, 5:16 pm

Finished Road Rage - the excitement of the search for the captives still works even though I know where they are, having read it several times before. Started The Shadow of the Wolf by R. Austin Freeman.

Listened to Nice Enough to Join In, a combination of two Island record samplers.

132JonRob
Nov 19, 2022, 12:24 pm

Finished The Shadow of the Wolf. Started, and finished, Sally in a Service Flat by Mabel Barnes-Grundy. Also started and finished Challenge the Impossible by Edward D. Hoch, a new purchase.

133JonRob
Editado: Nov 22, 2022, 4:37 am

Started, and finished, The D'Arblay Mystery by R. Austin Freeman. Started The Case of the Glamorous Ghost by Erle Stanley Gardner.

Listened to the last two discs of the 80s Pop compilation mentioned above.

134PaulCranswick
Nov 24, 2022, 7:44 am



Thank you as always for books, thank you for this group and thanks for you. Have a lovely day, Jon.

135JonRob
Dic 2, 2022, 3:56 am

Ended The Case of the Glamorous Ghost. Started As A Thief In The Night by R. Austin Freeman.

Listened to various versions of Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem (on YouTube), in preparation for this weekend's concert.

136JonRob
Dic 3, 2022, 6:37 pm

137JonRob
Dic 5, 2022, 11:45 am

Finished Right On The Money - not the duo's best, but better than I remembered. Started The Wailing Wind by Tony Hillerman.

138JonRob
Dic 8, 2022, 5:11 pm

Finished The Wailing Wind and started Mr Pottermack's Oversight by R. Austin Freeman.

Listened to a 60s compilation - something went wrong with the transfer of the last track, as it sounds as though the player is faulty (with that characteristic CD "looping") but in fact the track is playing correctly, as can be seen from the clock!

139JonRob
Dic 10, 2022, 4:50 pm

Correction - I actually started Pontifex, Son and Thorndyke by R. Austin Freeman (surely that title would have been better as Thorndyke, Pontifex and Son?) because I can't find my copy of Pottermack at the moment, so have to break my rule of reading the Thorndyke novels chronologically.

Listened to the live half of Pink Floyd's Ummagumma.

141JonRob
Dic 14, 2022, 3:30 pm

Finished Murder Makes the Wheels Go Round and started The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey.

Listened to some of an 80s pop compilation, and some of an 80s rock compilation.

142JonRob
Dic 16, 2022, 2:52 pm

Finished The Singing Sands and started The Best Man to Die by Ruth Rendell.

Listened to Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez and Fantasia Para Un Gentilhombre.

143JonRob
Dic 20, 2022, 3:50 am

Finished The Best Man to Die - some of Wexford's behaviour in this is quite at odds with the man he later became. Started When Rogues Fall Out by R. Austin Freeman.

Listened to the first piano concerto by Richard Rodney Bennett, and part of another compilation disk of rock music.

144JonRob
Dic 25, 2022, 1:33 pm

Finished When Rogues Fall Out (almost an inverted mystery). Started Her Mad Month by Mabel Barnes-Grundy and The Bermuda Triangle Mystery - Solved by Lawrence David Kusche.

Listened to Winter with Mandolins by Simon Mayor, one of my favourite Christmas CDs.

145JonRob
Dic 29, 2022, 5:41 am

Finished The Bermuda Triangle Mystery - Solved. Started Mr Pottermack's Oversight, by R. Austin Freeman, having just found it (almost in plain sight!)

146JonRob
Dic 31, 2022, 5:56 pm

Final post for the year. Finished Mr Pottermack's Oversight and listened to two new CDs, (both BBC), one of carols from Merton College and one of Russian music (Tchaikovsky's 1st symphony, and The Blizzard, a suite of film music by Sviridov).

During the year I've finished reading 148 books, which is not bad. Among those I've not finished are Hollywood Talks Turkey by Doug McLelland, which I shall continue with. (Odd how you can notice things after a number of readings - the text references a film called Born to be Bad, and there is a picture - but of a different film of the same name. Part of the reason I didn't notice this before is the weird ordering of the book's illustrations, which bears no relation to the text.)

One book I won't be finishing is Advanced Programming and Problem Solving with Pascal - this will go to Oxfam (although even they may find it hard to sell it!)

Here's to next year, in the hope it'll be better than this one was.