2015: The Books
Thanks to the Wednesday Reading Meme, 2015 is the first full year of my life for which I could make an almost-accurate list of books read! So I did. Unsurprisingly, it turns out to be a lot of detectives. I should probably scale back, but will I? That is the true mystery.
January
1. Artists in Crime - Ngaio Marsh
2. Icy Sparks - Gwyn Hyman Rubio
3. The Fleet Street Murders - Charles Finch
4. The Moor - Laurie R. King
5. The Vacationers - Emma Straub
February
6. All Small Carcasses - Gina Goldblatt
7. A Burial at Sea - Charles Finch
8. Cards on the Table - Agatha Christie
9. The Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey**
10. Enter A Murderer - N. Marsh
11. Five Red Herrings - Dorothy L. Sayers
12. The Fountain: Secrets of Seulmonde - Vernell Chapman
13. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - N. K. Jemsin
14. The Invention of Murder - Judith Flanders (NF)**
15. A Man Lay Dead - N. Marsh
16. The Naked and the Dead - Norman Mailer
17. The Nursing Home Murder - N. Marsh
18. The Untelling - Tayari Jones**
19. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman - P. D. James
March/April
20. After Many a Summer - Aldous Huxley
21. At Swim-Two-Birds - Flann O'Brien
22. Dead Man's Folly - A. Christie
23. Death in Ecstasy - N. Marsh
24. Elephants Can Remember - A. Christie
25. The Floating Admiral - Detection Club
26. The Franchise Affair - J. Tey
27. F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Man and His Work - ed. Kazin (NF)
28. Gaudy Night - DLS*
29. The Incredulity of Father Brown - G. K. Chesterton
30. The Innocence of Father Brown - GKC
31. The Moving Toyship - Ed. Crispin
32. Murder is a Girl's Best Friend - Amanda Matetsky
33. Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell*
34. Party Going - Henry Green
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen**
36. The Poisoned Chocolates Case - Anthony Berkeley
37. Right Ho, Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse*
38. Samuel Johnson is Indignant - Lydia Davis
39. A Shilling for Candles - J. Tey
40. The Singing Sands - J. Tey
41. The Skull Beneath the Skin - P. D. James
42. To Love and Be Wise - J. Tey
43. Vintage Murder - N. Marsh
44. The Wisdom of Father Brown - GKC
May
45. An Alphabetical Life: Living it Up in the World of Books - Wendy Werris (NF)
46. Catastrophe Planet - Keith Laumer
47. The Club of Queer Trades - GKC
48. Death at the Bar - N. Marsh
49. Death in a White Tie - N. Marsh**
50. A Death in the Small Hours - Charles Finch
51. The Man in the Queue - J. Tey
52. Northanger Abbey - J. Austen*
53. An Old Betrayal - Charles Finch
54. Overture to Death - N. Marsh
55. The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene
56. The Silmarillion - J. R. R. Tolkien
57. Strong Poison - DLS*
June
58. Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger*
59. Death at the Bar - N. Marsh
60. For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway
61. The Laws of Murder - Charles Finch
62. Lud-in-the-Mist - Hope Mirrlees ***
63. Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
July
64. Emma - J. Austen*
65. Leave it to Psmith - P. G. Wodehouse
66. Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis**
67. My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante**
68. The Once and Future King - T. H. White*
69. One Corpse Too Many - Ellis Peters
70. Strangers and Brothers - C. P. Snow
71. Wheel of Ice - Stephen Baxter
August
72. The Aerodrome - Rex Warner
73. Death of a Ghost - Margery Allingham
74. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
75. Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris*
76. The Nine Tailors - DLS*
77. Police at the Funeral - M. Allingahm
78. Pride and Prejudice - J. Austen*
79. The Secret Adversary - A. Christie
80. Sense and Sensiblity - J. Austen*
81. A Surfeit of Lampreys - N. Marsh**
82. Sweet Danger - M. Allingham
83. The Man Who Was Thursday* - GKC
September
84. The Adventures of Sally - P. G. Wodehouse
85. The Case of the Late Pig - M. Allingham
86. Chasing the Moon - A. Lee Martinez**
87. Death and the Dancing Footman - N. Marsh
88. Flowers for the Judge - M. Allingahm
89. Head of a Traveller - Nicholas Blake
90. The Horse's Mouth - Joyce Cary**
91. How to Suppress Women's Writing - Joanna Russ (NF)
92. An Overdose of Death - Agatha Christie
93. Pat of Silver Bush - L. M. Montgomery
94. Psmith Journalist - PGW
95. Raffles, The Amateur Cracksman - E. W. Hornung**
96. The Razor's Edge - W. Somerset Maugham
97. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Emma Orczy
October
98. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh*
99. Colour Scheme - N. Marsh
100. The Corpse in the Snowman - N. Blake
101. Dancers in Mourning - M. Allingham
102. The Fashion in Shrouds - M. Allingham
103. Final Curtain - N. Marsh**
104. Mistress Pat - LMM
105. Of Human Bondage - W. Somerset Maugham**
106. Witness for the Prosecution - A. Christie
November
107. Home by Nightfall - C. Finch
108. How Far Can You Go? - David Lodge
109. The Girl in Blue - P. G. Wodehouse
110. The Golden Age of Murder - Martin Edwards (NF)
111. The Golden Road - LMM*
112. The Great Mistake - Mary Roberts Rinehart
113. The Group - Mary McCarthy**
114. Kilmeny of the Orchard - LMM*
115. The Mystery of the Yellow Room - Gaston Leroux
116. My Wars are Laid Away in Books - Alfred Habegger (NF)
117. Night at the Vulcan - N. Marsh
118. Traitor's Purse - Margey Allingham
119. The Wife-Swap Report (NF)
120. Some Words of Jane Austen - Stuart M. Tave (NF)
121. Speedy Death - Gladys Mitchell
122. Too Many Women - Rex Stout
December
123. Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates (NF)**
124. A Crack in the Edge of the World - Simon Winchester (NF)
125. The English Breakfast Affair - Jennifer Montgomery
126. Honeymoons Can be Murder - Connie Shelton
127. Night at the Vulcan - N. Marsh
128. Spinsters in Jeopardy - N. Marsh
129. The Story of a New Name - E. Ferrante**
Began but did not finish in 2015:
The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith
Falstaff - Robert Nye
Fer-de-Lance - Rex Stout
Finnegans Wake - J. Joyce
Life Mask - Emma Donoghue
The Light and the Dark - C. P. Snow
Night Watch - Stephen Kendrick
No Place Like Home (Diaries and Letters)
The Secret Country - Pamela Dean
The Shores of Light - Edmund Wilson (NF)
Titus Groan - Mervyn Peake
Began in 2015 but do not plan to finish:
City of Bones - Cassandra Clare
A Distant Trumpet - Paul Horgan
The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan
Murder Uncorked - Michele Scott
Woman in Red - Eileen Goudge
_________
(NF) non-fiction
*re-reads
**favorites of 2015
***a good candidate for most perfect book ever written
Re-reads: 15
Non-fiction: 10
Non-detective fiction: 51
Books with "death" or "dead" in the title: 13
Authors new to me in 2015: 37 that I really loved: 16
This list isn't 100% complete, especially "things I began but didn't finish" and number of re-reads, but close enough.
January
1. Artists in Crime - Ngaio Marsh
2. Icy Sparks - Gwyn Hyman Rubio
3. The Fleet Street Murders - Charles Finch
4. The Moor - Laurie R. King
5. The Vacationers - Emma Straub
February
6. All Small Carcasses - Gina Goldblatt
7. A Burial at Sea - Charles Finch
8. Cards on the Table - Agatha Christie
9. The Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey**
10. Enter A Murderer - N. Marsh
11. Five Red Herrings - Dorothy L. Sayers
12. The Fountain: Secrets of Seulmonde - Vernell Chapman
13. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - N. K. Jemsin
14. The Invention of Murder - Judith Flanders (NF)**
15. A Man Lay Dead - N. Marsh
16. The Naked and the Dead - Norman Mailer
17. The Nursing Home Murder - N. Marsh
18. The Untelling - Tayari Jones**
19. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman - P. D. James
March/April
20. After Many a Summer - Aldous Huxley
21. At Swim-Two-Birds - Flann O'Brien
22. Dead Man's Folly - A. Christie
23. Death in Ecstasy - N. Marsh
24. Elephants Can Remember - A. Christie
25. The Floating Admiral - Detection Club
26. The Franchise Affair - J. Tey
27. F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Man and His Work - ed. Kazin (NF)
28. Gaudy Night - DLS*
29. The Incredulity of Father Brown - G. K. Chesterton
30. The Innocence of Father Brown - GKC
31. The Moving Toyship - Ed. Crispin
32. Murder is a Girl's Best Friend - Amanda Matetsky
33. Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell*
34. Party Going - Henry Green
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen**
36. The Poisoned Chocolates Case - Anthony Berkeley
37. Right Ho, Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse*
38. Samuel Johnson is Indignant - Lydia Davis
39. A Shilling for Candles - J. Tey
40. The Singing Sands - J. Tey
41. The Skull Beneath the Skin - P. D. James
42. To Love and Be Wise - J. Tey
43. Vintage Murder - N. Marsh
44. The Wisdom of Father Brown - GKC
May
45. An Alphabetical Life: Living it Up in the World of Books - Wendy Werris (NF)
46. Catastrophe Planet - Keith Laumer
47. The Club of Queer Trades - GKC
48. Death at the Bar - N. Marsh
49. Death in a White Tie - N. Marsh**
50. A Death in the Small Hours - Charles Finch
51. The Man in the Queue - J. Tey
52. Northanger Abbey - J. Austen*
53. An Old Betrayal - Charles Finch
54. Overture to Death - N. Marsh
55. The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene
56. The Silmarillion - J. R. R. Tolkien
57. Strong Poison - DLS*
June
58. Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger*
59. Death at the Bar - N. Marsh
60. For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway
61. The Laws of Murder - Charles Finch
62. Lud-in-the-Mist - Hope Mirrlees ***
63. Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
July
64. Emma - J. Austen*
65. Leave it to Psmith - P. G. Wodehouse
66. Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis**
67. My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante**
68. The Once and Future King - T. H. White*
69. One Corpse Too Many - Ellis Peters
70. Strangers and Brothers - C. P. Snow
71. Wheel of Ice - Stephen Baxter
August
72. The Aerodrome - Rex Warner
73. Death of a Ghost - Margery Allingham
74. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
75. Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris*
76. The Nine Tailors - DLS*
77. Police at the Funeral - M. Allingahm
78. Pride and Prejudice - J. Austen*
79. The Secret Adversary - A. Christie
80. Sense and Sensiblity - J. Austen*
81. A Surfeit of Lampreys - N. Marsh**
82. Sweet Danger - M. Allingham
83. The Man Who Was Thursday* - GKC
September
84. The Adventures of Sally - P. G. Wodehouse
85. The Case of the Late Pig - M. Allingham
86. Chasing the Moon - A. Lee Martinez**
87. Death and the Dancing Footman - N. Marsh
88. Flowers for the Judge - M. Allingahm
89. Head of a Traveller - Nicholas Blake
90. The Horse's Mouth - Joyce Cary**
91. How to Suppress Women's Writing - Joanna Russ (NF)
92. An Overdose of Death - Agatha Christie
93. Pat of Silver Bush - L. M. Montgomery
94. Psmith Journalist - PGW
95. Raffles, The Amateur Cracksman - E. W. Hornung**
96. The Razor's Edge - W. Somerset Maugham
97. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Emma Orczy
October
98. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh*
99. Colour Scheme - N. Marsh
100. The Corpse in the Snowman - N. Blake
101. Dancers in Mourning - M. Allingham
102. The Fashion in Shrouds - M. Allingham
103. Final Curtain - N. Marsh**
104. Mistress Pat - LMM
105. Of Human Bondage - W. Somerset Maugham**
106. Witness for the Prosecution - A. Christie
November
107. Home by Nightfall - C. Finch
108. How Far Can You Go? - David Lodge
109. The Girl in Blue - P. G. Wodehouse
110. The Golden Age of Murder - Martin Edwards (NF)
111. The Golden Road - LMM*
112. The Great Mistake - Mary Roberts Rinehart
113. The Group - Mary McCarthy**
114. Kilmeny of the Orchard - LMM*
115. The Mystery of the Yellow Room - Gaston Leroux
116. My Wars are Laid Away in Books - Alfred Habegger (NF)
117. Night at the Vulcan - N. Marsh
118. Traitor's Purse - Margey Allingham
119. The Wife-Swap Report (NF)
120. Some Words of Jane Austen - Stuart M. Tave (NF)
121. Speedy Death - Gladys Mitchell
122. Too Many Women - Rex Stout
December
123. Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates (NF)**
124. A Crack in the Edge of the World - Simon Winchester (NF)
125. The English Breakfast Affair - Jennifer Montgomery
126. Honeymoons Can be Murder - Connie Shelton
127. Night at the Vulcan - N. Marsh
128. Spinsters in Jeopardy - N. Marsh
129. The Story of a New Name - E. Ferrante**
Began but did not finish in 2015:
The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith
Falstaff - Robert Nye
Fer-de-Lance - Rex Stout
Finnegans Wake - J. Joyce
Life Mask - Emma Donoghue
The Light and the Dark - C. P. Snow
Night Watch - Stephen Kendrick
No Place Like Home (Diaries and Letters)
The Secret Country - Pamela Dean
The Shores of Light - Edmund Wilson (NF)
Titus Groan - Mervyn Peake
Began in 2015 but do not plan to finish:
City of Bones - Cassandra Clare
A Distant Trumpet - Paul Horgan
The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan
Murder Uncorked - Michele Scott
Woman in Red - Eileen Goudge
_________
(NF) non-fiction
*re-reads
**favorites of 2015
***a good candidate for most perfect book ever written
Re-reads: 15
Non-fiction: 10
Non-detective fiction: 51
Books with "death" or "dead" in the title: 13
Authors new to me in 2015: 37 that I really loved: 16
This list isn't 100% complete, especially "things I began but didn't finish" and number of re-reads, but close enough.