What I Read in 2018

At the beginning of this year, I had a simple goal to read more books. I figured that if I could read a book a week I could easily read 52 this year. As of right now I am on book 59 which doesn't sound like a whole lot but is at least a step in the right direction. My hope is continue to increase the number of books that I read but also to diversify the types of books that I read. Below are a few of the highlights of the books I read this year.

Most Important Book I Read This Year: On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life Through Reading Great Books by Karen Swallow Prior. 
The other day my daughters caught up with a friend of theirs who also happens to be a fellow bibliophile. She posed the question "What's the most important book you read this year?" On Reading Well easily wins the prize in the books I read this year. I've always shied away from the so-called "classics" but Prior's book inspired me to dig more into classic literature in the coming year. Prior does an excellent job of showing how both virtue and vice are demonstrated through the stories she highlights. This is a book I imagine I will find myself coming back to as I read through the novels that are selected. There's no question that fiction should be a key part of every Christian's reading list and Prior makes the point very clearly in On Reading Well. (Honorable mention: Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More: Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist by Karen Swallow Prior)

Favorite New Historian: Candice Millard
Last Christmas, my wife bought me Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President. It had me hooked from the first page and I could not put it down. It reads more as a murder mystery thriller than non-fiction book. I enjoyed Ms. Millard's writing so much that I then picked up Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill and found it equally enjoyable. If you are looking for a writer whose non-fiction work reads more like a thriller novel then Ms. Millard is for you.

Favorite Non-Fiction title, History
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission was the first attempt to send a manned spacecraft in orbit around the Moon. While the mission's achievements are well known the tireless work in turning that mission into a success is lesser known. Thanks to Robert Kurson's Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon we have a very detailed but thoroughly readable account of the men involved in this daring mission into space. Given the tumultuous year that was 1968 the Apollo 8 triumph was the redemption of a very dark year in American history.

Book that I had the hardest time putting down
Without a doubt that would be Brad Meltzer's The Escape Artist (my review of the book can be found here). Meltzer is a master at writing thriller novels and The Escape Artist is one of his best yet. He's one of my favorite authors and I thoroughly enjoy reading everything he writes. His new book (due out in a couple of weeks) will be his first foray into non-fiction with the account of the plot to assassinate George Washington. Should be a very interesting read. 

My favorite Agatha Christie novel of the year would have to be The Mysterious Affair at Styles. I read a total of nine of Christie's novels this year which is more than any other author. The thing that I love about Styles is that even though it is the first of the Hercule Poirot novels Christie already has a clear idea of what her Belgian detective is like as a character. I have read others of her books that I like as much or more but this definitely stands out as one of her better books.

My new favorite mystery writer: Anthony Horowitz.
I was far more familiar with Horowitz's writing for television with programs such as Foyle's War,  Agatha Christie's Poirot, Midsomer Murders, Collison, and New Blood on his resume. But this year I discovered his novels and quickly became a fan. Two that I would particularly recommend are Magpie Murders (my review is here) and Forever and a Day. 

How I Became An Accidental Book Collector

I have always considered myself more of a book hoarder than book collector. Just ask my wife. She will quickly point out we have always had far more books packed up in boxes than shelf space to store them. I tend to buy books and then keep them without really thinking about whether they are something that needs to stay in the house forever. Certainly I will read that book again one day, right?

A couple of years ago things started to change. We had downsized to a smaller house a while back and didn't have nearly the bookshelf space we had before. Our old house had built in bookshelves in both the living room and upstairs family room which is of course exactly why we bought it. Since we had moved to our current house I've slowly been purging books and other stuff that we simply don't have space for any more.

Then about a year ago I joined Instagram. I was aware of it but never really saw how it would fit in with my social media consumption. I joined primarily because my wife and daughters were on it doing different things and I wanted to be the supportive father and husband and be able to give them support for their posts. Somewhere along the way though I started looking at different feeds and discovered a whole subculture of Instagram wholly devoted to books. This was a game changer. Now I follow a number of these accounts where people post pictures of their books. It opened up a whole new world to me as I was largely unaware of some of the artistic treasures that existed out there in the wild.

This also coincided with my desire to read more of Agatha Christie's novels as well as other classic crime fiction. I do a lot of reading for pleasure as a diversion from the day to day stresses of work. I had become a fan of Christie largely through watching the entire series of Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet. I had read the occasional novel here and there and thoroughly enjoyed them and so I wanted to start branching out and reading her other works.

Around the same time I stumbled across an Instagram account that has become one of my favorites: The Year of Agatha. The account was started by two Christie fans who read through the entire canon of Christie's novels in a year and blogged about the experience. But they also collect vintage Christie novels and post the photos on their Instagram feed. As I started browsing through the feed the first time I was instantly struck how many different versions there were out there of her books and how striking the covers could be.

The real kickoff to collecting occurred back in March. While my wife was away with her college girlfriends for the weekend, I spent a lazy Saturday afternoon at Too Many Books in Roanoke, VA (a store I would highly recommend visiting while in the area). As you can see from the photos below, I came away with quite the start to my collection.

Now all of a sudden I had a mission: start collecting Agatha Christie novels. I was already purging books and other stuff I didn't want but now I could take that to used books stores and leverage it for credit for stuff I did want. I have been pleasantly surprised at being able to find older copies of her books. For the proof all you have to do is scroll through my Instagram account where I have been posting photos.

I have long been a fan of used book stores because (a) I like to read a lot, and (b) I'm cheap and don't like to pay a lot for books. Thanks to my new found pastime shopping at used books stores has gone to another whole level.

Book Review: Magpie Murders

If you were to scan my Goodreads list of books read you would likely see a disproportionate number of mysteries and thrillers compared to other genres. This started a couple of years ago after binges on British TV shows such as Poirot, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Father Brown that I turned my attention towards reading the books upon which these great detectives were based. Along the way I also discovered a number of new detectives and stories to read.

I also frequent a lot of used book stores because (a) I read a large number of books; (b) I don't necessarily want to keep the books after I have read them and trade them for more books and (c) because I am cheap. Often my trips to the bookstore uncover amazing finds (as I have previously documented on Instagram). This was especially true for Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz.

I was familiar with Mr. Horowitz's writing for television particularly as creator of such shows as Foyle's War, New Blood, and Collision. He's also contributed scripts to Agatha Christie's Poirot and Midsomer Murders. He's also written Sherlock Holmes stories and James Bond novels (each with blessing of the estates of Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Fleming) as well as an adventure series for young adults.

But it's clear that Mr. Horowitz knows what makes a good mystery and how to in some ways turn the conventions on their head. This is certainly true in Magpie Murders which features a novel within a novel thus setting up two mysteries for the reader to solve.

From the synopsis:

Editor Susan Ryeland has worked with bestselling crime writer Alan Conway for years, so she has no reason to think his latest novel will be much different from his others. Readers love his detective, Atticus Pünd, a celebrated solver of crimes in the sleepy English villages of the 1950s.

But Conway’s latest tale of murder at Pye Hall is not quite what it seems. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but hidden in the pages of the manuscript lies another story: a tale written between the very words on the page, telling of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition and murder.

All throughout the book are sly references to Agatha Christie novels. It is no accident that Atticus Pund reminds readers a lot of Christie's Hercule Poirot. The similarities between the two characters is striking. There are also other reminders scattered about that will remind readers of other famous detectives as well.

It's difficult to take an established literary genre as the British cozy mystery and do something completely different with it but Mr. Horowitz manages to do just that. It's clear that he understands how the genre works and is willing to turn convention on its head. I look forward to seeing what he has coming next.