…or The Reading Bingo Challenge!
Another year draws to a close, so it must be time for… The Reading Bingo Challenge! I don’t deliberately look for books to read to meet this challenge, but at the end of the year it’s always fun to see how many boxes I can fill. Some of the categories are easy-peasy… others not so much. I’ve achieved a full house in each of the last three years, so the pressure is on…
More than 500 pages
The Man Who Loved Dogs by Leonardo Padura. I’ve read a few chunky novels this year, so at random I’ve gone for this one, which I read as part of my Russian Revolution challenge. It tells the story of the assassination of Trotsky, allowing us to see his life as an exile and his assassin’s involvement in the Spanish Civil War and subsequent recruitment by Stalin’s regime.

Getty Images/Gamma-Keystone
A forgotten classic
Marriage by Susan Ferrier. Following a discussion with my brother on Scottish classics, he sent me this one, of which I hadn’t heard. It tells of two sisters, separated as babies, one to be brought up in the strict religion of the Scottish Highlands, the other to live amongst the fashionably loose-moralled people of London.
A book that became a movie
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. The story of Richard Hannay being chased around Scotland by some nasty German spies just before the First World War. I enjoyed this, but I enjoyed Hitchcock’s classic film version considerably more!

Published this year
The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware. I loved this story of Hal Greenaway, who receives a letter telling her she has been left something by her grandmother. The only problem is Hal knows her real grandmother died years ago! But she decides to go anyway to the house in Cornwall to find out what she’s inherited. Deliciously Gothic in a modern setting.
With a number in the title
The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace. This classic story from 1905 has a surprisingly contemporary storyline – of people objecting to political agitators using the safety of foreign countries to stir up revolutions back in their own nation. It’s a vigilante story – not my favourite kind – but I found it entertaining and unexpectedly thought-provoking.
Written by someone under 30
The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin. I always end up having to google authors for this one, and was amazed to find that Crispin wrote this book when he was only 25. The story is of a man who discovers a body in a toyshop but when he returns there with the police, the toyshop has gone! A mad romp of a book and great fun.
A book with non-human characters
Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd. Hope Clearwater works for a research project in the Republic of the Congo, observing chimpanzees. The chimps play a real role in the book and are as well developed as the human characters. Plus this may be my last opportunity to use one of my favourite GIFs…
A funny book
Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Golden Samovar by Olga Wojtas. Shona McMonagle, ex-student of the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, becomes a time-traveller in this very funny romp set in pre-revolutionary Russia. Very well written, lots of delightful Scottish references and some less than reverential nods to that other book about pupils of the Marcia Blaine, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
A science fiction or fantasy book
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. I’ve read some brilliant classic science fiction this year, and this was up there with the best. A post-apocalyptic vision of life after strange green lights appear in the sky, striking blind everyone who saw them. And to make matters worse, the triffids have got loose – walking, man-eating plants! A great, thought-provoking story.

A mystery
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths. I’m liking this trend towards modern Gothic very much, and this is another goodie! Clare Cassidy is writing a biography of the writer of a terrifying ghost story, The Stranger. And when one of her colleagues is brutally murdered, it becomes clear that somehow the story holds the clue to the case…
A one-word title
Brother by David Chariandy. The story of two brothers whose mother has immigrated from Trinidad to Canada. She has to work hard to make a living, so the boys are often left alone. Drifting into the ‘wrong’ crowd, they will become caught up in events that lead to tragedy. A story of the immigrant dream gone wrong, beautifully written and told.
Free square
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by PG Wodehouse. Whenever my world is grey, Bertie Wooster brings the sunshine back. But, since they’re all re-reads for me, they never get in the running for my awards despite giving me so much pleasure. In this one, Bertie, Jeeves, Aunt Dahlia and Wodehouse are all on top form as they navigate Bertie away from the horrors of marriage once again – spiffing!

A book of short stories
The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre. Between classic crime and horror anthologies, I’m spoilt for choice this year. This one includes Scottish and Irish writers which makes it a little different from the usual, and the title story arose out of the same evening get-together that led to the writing of Frankenstein.

Set on a different continent
Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Mario Benedetti. My Around the World challenge has taken me to a few continents this year with some great reads along the way. This one is set mainly in Argentina, although it’s about Uruguayan political dissidents exiled there. A wonderful book, about home and exile, loneliness, longing, belonging – about loyalty and love, and hope, and sometimes despair.
Non-fiction
Sleeping with the Lights On by Darryl Jones. A deceptively short history of horror in books in film, this is packed full of concentrated juicy goodness, written in an engaging and accessible style. It covers everything from mad science to creepypasta, and has added approximately five million titles to my must read/watch lists – horrifying!

First book by a favourite author
Fatherland by Robert Harris. I came late to Harris so am enjoying fitting some of his backlist in between his new releases as part of my Five Times Five challenge. This is the story of a murder in Berlin, set in a world where Nazi Germany won World War Two – a world in which Hitler still rules and the people of Germany are in the grip of a totalitarian regime.
Heard about online
That Summer in Puglia by Valeria Vescina. Most of the new releases I read, I first hear about online in some way, but this is one I was inspired to read directly by other bloggers’ reviews. It’s the story of a love affair, that we know from the beginning ends in tragedy. Beautifully written, and wonderfully evocative of the culture of Puglia in the 1980s.
A best-selling book
Tombland by CJ Sansom. Sansom’s books go directly to the bestseller lists long before they are released, and rightly so. This is another great addition to the Tudor-set Matthew Shardlake series, where Matthew is swept up in the Kett Rebellion while investigating a murder in Norfolk at the request of the young Princess Elizabeth.

by Samuel Wale (c.1746)
Based on a true story
The Commissariat of Enlightenment by Ken Kalfus. Kalfus is one of my favourite authors and I’m going to keep going on about him till you all give in and read him! This one tells of the death of Tolstoy and the development of propaganda in Revolutionary Russia. Darkness leavened with humour, and all Kalfus’ sparkling originality in the story-telling.
From the bottom of the TBR pile
Raven Black by Ann Cleeves. Finally, after years of talking about it, I broke my duck with Ann Cleeves’ books. This, the first in her series of crime novels set on Shetland, had been sitting on my TBR since 16/12/2013, so it seemed like it might be time to actually read it! Now all I have to do is read all her other ones…
A book a friend loves
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith. Not just one friend, but nearly everyone I know who reads has recommended this one to me at some point! Two men meet on a train and one suggests that they swap murders – Bruno will murder Guy’s wife if Guy murders Bruno’s father. I enjoyed this influential psychological thriller, (but truthfully I enjoyed Hitchcock’s film of the book considerably more again…)
A book that scared me
Haunted Houses by Charlotte Riddell. These two short novels from a “forgotten” Victorian only scared me a little bit, but they entertained me hugely! The Uninhabited House is the stronger of the two, especially in terms of the ghostly aspects. But Fairy Water is full of charm with a delightful first-person narrator who grows ever more likeable as the book progresses. Horror for scaredy-cats!
A book that is more than 10 years old
The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux. In a year of classics and vintage crime, I’m spoiled for choice for this category! This early locked room murder mystery wins the spot because a) the murder weapon is a mutton-bone b) the murder victim isn’t dead(!) and c) Hercule Poirot describes it as “a masterpiece”. Good enough for me!

By Josep Simont i Guillén – Published in the French newspaper L’Illustration where the story was first serialised
The second book in a series
Bump in the Night by Colin Watson. I’ve had a lot of fun revisiting Colin Watson’s Flaxborough Chronicles this year, as they’ve been reissued for Kindle – a series I first enjoyed when it was still being published, and it’s now become “vintage”. So what does that make me?? (Rhetorical question – don’t you dare answer it!) Light-hearted crime with a touch of sly humour.
A book with a blue cover
Murder by Matchlight by ECR Lorac. Lorac is probably my favourite of all the authors the British Library Crime Classics have introduced me too – I’ve loved all three of the books they’ve reissued so far. This one takes place in WW2 London during the bombings and gives a real picture of ordinary Londoners just trying to get on with their lives.
* * * * * * *
Bingo! Full House!
What do I win??
What do you win? Universal admiration of course, and nothing less 🙂
LikeLike
Hahaha! I guess I can settle for that… 😀
LikeLike
Congratulations, FictionFan! You’re the grand prize winner of…some great reading experiences, and our awe and admiration. Oh, and as if that weren’t enough, you get to serve felines!! 😉
In all honesty, I really do like your choices, and I do admire you for going back over your reading like that, and filling out so many categories. Well done!
LikeLike
Woohoo! That sounds like a great prize! T&T think so too… 😉
I do enjoy seeing if I can tick all the boxes, though sometimes I have to stretch pretty far over that pesky credibility line…
LikeLiked by 1 person
A box of chocolates for the winner!
LikeLike
Hurrah! The perfect prize!
LikeLiked by 1 person
😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love book bingo challenges! My friend and I actually recently created book bingo charts for each other. Each square was a different kind of genre (per the usual book bingo structure) but then we would pick out a title that we knew the other person hadn’t read yet in that genre and would recommend for them. It has been so much fun!
LikeLike
Oh, that sounds like loads of fun! Have you blogged about it? I shall pop over shortly and see. I usually just wait till the end of the year with this one and see if I can fill all the boxes but it might be fun to actually make a list of books in advance – I love a good list… 😉
LikeLike
No, but I should start blogging about it! They’re definitely good lists to draw inspiration from. I just usually have so many different book lists going at one time I have a hard time being consistent haha
LikeLike
Ha – we share that problem! I enjoy making book lists nearly as much as I enjoy reading books… 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
You win our respect and awe! Plus whatever kind of chocolate you prefer. 😁
LikeLike
Ooh, those are great prizes!! Especially the chocolate… 😉
LikeLike
Wow, quite an achievement! And what a fun way to review what you’ve read this year! I hope you celebrated with some chocolate!
LikeLike
I always have fun doing this one. And I always celebrate with chocolate! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well done! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! Clearly I spend far too much time reading. And making lists… 😉
LikeLike
Congratulations on a full house! I can’t believe Crispin wrote The Moving Toyshop at 25, I feel so inadequate…
LikeLike
Thank you! 😀 Haha – I still haven’t recovered from last year’s feelings of inadequacy when I discovered Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein when she was eighteen!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bravo FF! You win respect, admiration and all the chocolates!
LikeLike
Haha – thank you! All three are welcome prizes… especially the chocolates! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a brilliant way to round off your year’s reading! Here’s to another full house in 2019!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Must admit I always enjoy trying to fill all the boxes at the end of the year – some of them are tricky! Yep, bring on the books for the New Year! 😀
LikeLike
I think you win envy 🙂 Congratulations!
LikeLike
Haha – thank you! I hope that’s chocolate-coated envy… 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh this is fun, and I like that you do it at the end of the year! Woo hoo on the full house, FF!
LikeLike
It’s great fun to do every year – and every year I expect to fail dramatically! Of course, sometimes one has to be a little creative… 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is so much fun! I agree with you about the film versions and always great to see Fry and Laurie!
LikeLike
I love Hitchcock films so much. Usually I prefer the book to the film, except for his films – he always seems to add something to the original that makes it even better. I have a serious urge to dig out the Jeeves and Wooster DVDs again now… 😀
LikeLike
Congratulations! Now, what does the saying ‘broke my duck’ mean????
LikeLike
Thank you! Hahaha – I must try to remember not to use cricketing metaphors… it means scored for the first time in a match, therefore metaphorically did something for the first time. 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oooohhhhhh ok ok I got it
LikeLiked by 1 person
Scored a boundary! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person