So, the Reading Challenge pre-season show has begun for 2012, and I fully intend to bite off more than I can chew, apparently, as I'm diving in head first and October 2011 is just now drawing to a close. (Pardon my mixed metaphors.) Bev over at My Reader's Block (big shout-out of love to ya' Bev!) is hosting her annual Vintage Mysteries Challenge again next year. I wasn't really in the Blogosphere in time to catch this year's edition, so I will certainly be joining her in 2012. I've been meaning to fill in the gaps in my vintage mystery exposure since I was a teenager (no joke), so there's no time like the present. Well, in this case, the near future. And, as I've clearly taken leave of my senses, I'm signing on for the automatic prize-winning level, a whopping 16 books! What can I say? I like mysteries, and I LOVE free prizes!
So, here's my list for this challenge, and we'll see how much of it actually gets accomplished in the year to come. Of the options Bev gave us, I have chosen the themes "Golden Age Girls," meaning 8 books by a female author, and "Cherchez l'Homme," i.e. 8 books featuring a male detective.
Golden Age Girls
The Sittaford Mystery
Destination Unknown
Ordeal by Innocence
The Listerdale Mystery
In case you don't recognize the titles, these are all books written by Agatha Christie. I've been wanting to read her stuff forever, and been intending to read MORE of her ever since I recently read and reviewed my very first one of her books, And Then There Were None. However, I've chosen the above list, all of them stand-alone novels, in order to avoid diving into any of her famous series yet. Because, you see, my second list is made up entirely of one man's adventures in detecting.
Cherchez l'Homme
I've just recently been intrigued with the idea of reading Dorothy L. Sayers, and where better to start than to jump right into the Lord Peter Wimsey tales? As Sayers is an untried author for me, if, by some unimaginable chance, I discover I don't like her style, I reserve the right to modify this list. Hopefully, that won't be necessary.
Bev has graciously given us the option not to review each book if we don't wish to, which I appreciate, but I intend to review them, anyway, unless my free time suddenly becomes much more scarce than it is at present. That is the task I have set myself, and I hope to enjoy it immensely. Won't you come along and read with us? Just remember never to find yourself alone in the dining room with the butler; that's nearly always a good way to end up the next victim.
Yay! So glad you're jumping in (and into the deep end at that). I hope you love Sayers. I do. Everybody should. And I've got a whole list of Vintage mystery prizes for you to choose from when you knock out those lists!
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