As I mentioned earlier this week, I recently finished reading book #400 since I started keeping count in 2015, and, since I’ve already caught you up with lists of the first 75 books in the last hundred books, here I’ll catch you up with the remaining twenty-five books making up the full hundred. (As usual, I do not include comics and graphic novel books in my count, though they are listed below.)
I already wrote about that 400th book read, John Fischer’s hortatory relation of his time in Ukraine with the UNRRA, Why They Behave Like Russians. The penultimate book in this last century was the Keufel & Esser Company’s Slide Rule Manual, which I had actually been working my way through for at least half of last year. (It took me quite a while to work through every problem in the book, particularly with my current schedule.) That book was actually a lot of fun, with only the typical number of mistakes in the problem sets, and I learned a lot and am now really quite impressed with slide rules. I was helped by the fact that my Pickett slide rule is a bit more sensibly structured than the Keufel & Esser rule featured in the book, since the positive and negative log scales are immediately opposite each other on my own rule. I also wish my vision were better; my astigmatism and poor eyesight means that my own error is probably greater than the expected rate.
Book #376, kicking off this last quarter-century of books read, was Lois McMaster Bujold’s Borders Of Infinity. This collection of short stories about Miles Vorkosigan was passable science fiction, but doesn’t inspire me to go out and read the novels. The book was, on the other hand, the highlight of the first five read in this latest tranche, though Mr. Popper’s Penguins was very nice, especially the Robert Lawson illustrations.
| # | Read | Author | Title | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 376 | 11/21/19 | Lois McMaster Bujold | Borders of Infinity | SF & Fantasy |
| 377 | 11/22/19 | Mark Dice | Big Brother: The Orwellian Nightmare Come True | Wacko |
| 378 | 11/23/19 | Richard & Florence Atwater | Mr. Popper’s Penguins | Children’s |
| 379 | 11/29/19 | Frederick Franklin Schraeder | 1683–1920 | History |
| 380 | 11/30/19 | Tanith Lee | Lycanthia | SF & Fantasy |
A much better set of books began with the best noir novel of all time, Dashiell Hammett’s The Glass Key. I wrote about this book at the time, and even tracked down the earliest film version of the novel (1935) to watch and compare with the better known Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake picture. I wrote about the movie here.
Don’t let the title fool you. A Brief Relations of the Adventures of Mr. Bamfield Moor Carew; For more than forty Years past the KING of the BEGGARS is really about a seemingly normal guy from a not entirely normal family in 18th-Century Devonshire who leaves home and goes off to wander with the gypsies and become a mountebank, imposter, liar, and swindler. This slim chapbook—obviously a reprint—is not his more famous autobiography published a year or two later, but is a rollicking good tale for all that.
Last among this next set of five books I read at the beginning of December is the first collection in August Derleth’s series of Solar Pons. I was surprised and not a little shocked, even, to discover that the éminence grise behind Lovecraft’s Cthulhu books has written quite the best pastiche of Sherlock Holmes it has ever been my pleasure to read. Indeed, several of these stories surpass even some of Doyle’s own post-Reichenbach tales. I went out and got more of the collection, and look forward to reading them (though I alloy my hope with my usual expectation of disappointment).
| # | Read | Author | Title | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 381 | 12/2/19 | Dashiell Hammett | The Glass Key | Mystery |
| 382 | 12/4/19 | Gavin Black | Suddenly, At Singapore | Mystery |
| 12/5/19 | Jay Kinney & Paul Mavrides, eds. | Anarchy Comics No. 3 | Comics & Graphic Novels | |
| 383 | 12/5/19 | A Brief Relations of the Adventures of Mr. Bamfield Moor Carew; For more than forty Years past the KING of the BEGGARS | True Crime | |
| 384 | 12/9/19 | L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt | Wall Of Serpents | SF & Fantasy |
| 385 | 12/16/19 | August Derleth | Regarding Sherlock Holmes | Mystery |
The standout of the next five books I read was John Michell’s look at some of the delightfully strange people our forefathers knew well enough to ignore, the very sympathetic—not to say credulous—Eccentric Lives And Peculiar Notions. Michell has a touch of Colin Wilson’s disease about him, as his fascination with ley lines and sacred geometry proves, but he brings to life some ideas that, if they cannot be completely consigned to oblivion, ought to have as witty and trenchant explainer as this author. A source book for dives into the world of outré thought, much like McKay’s Extraordinary Popular Delusions or Akron Daraul’s Secret Societies. (Yes, I know that Daraul is a pseudonym; I even have his blank book.)
| # | Read | Author | Title | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 386 | 12/17/19 | William Gibson & Bruce Sterling | The Difference Engine | SF & Fantasy |
| 387 | 12/18/19 | Posters of World Wars I and II | Arts & Photography | |
| 388 | 12/19/19 | Phoebe Atwood Taylor | Death Lights A Candle | Mystery |
| 389 | 12/21/19 | John F. Michell | Eccentric Lives and Peculiar Notions | Wacko |
| 390 | 12/22/19 | John Dickson Carr | Captain Cut-Throat | Mystery |
I’ve already written about three of the books in the next five I read: two of them I didn’t like, and one which I really loved. The good book here was Curt Hopkin’s first book of poetry, The Dog Watches and Other Poems, which you can either read about here, or—much better choice—buy your own copy and read it yourself and ignore my words about his words. I’m telling you: His words are better. Hopkin’s powerful poems were the last book I read in 2019, and seemed to ground me while all other tethers were torn and tattered.
| # | Read | Author | Title | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 391 | 12/24/19 | Phoebe Atwood Taylor | The Mystery Of The Cape Cod Tavern | Mystery |
| 392 | 12/27/19 | Patricia Moyes | Dead Men Don’t Ski | Mystery |
| 393 | 12/28/19 | Roald Dahl | Charlie And The Chocolate Factory | Children’s |
| 394 | 12/29/19 | Curt Hopkins | The Dog Watches and Other Poems | Poetry |
| 395 | 1/3/20 | Andrew M. Stephenson | Nightwatch | SF & Fantasy |
Beginning the new year and finishing this last hundred books, a couple of quickie reads from the pulps, a not-bad historical mystery of the Ancient Roman ilk, and the two books mentioned at the top of this post. All of these were good, workmanlike texts, though the Doc Savage tale pictured here, The Annihilist, is much better written and plotted than Murder Melody (which threatens to descend into farce at points). No surprise that the first book was created by Lester Dent, holder of the primary pen behind the Kenneth Robeson house name used for the Doc Savage tales, whereas the latter was the first attempt by Lawrence Donovan at a full-length tale of the Man of Bronze.
| # | Read | Author | Title | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 396 | 1/3/20 | Kenneth Robeson | Murder Melody | SF & Fantasy |
| 397 | 1/8/20 | Kenneth Robeson | The Annihilist | SF & Fantasy |
| 398 | 1/10/20 | Lindsey Davis | Silver Pigs | Mystery |
| 399 | 1/15/20 | Lyman M. Kells, Willis F. Kern & James R. Bland | Slide Rule Manual: Log Log Duplex Decitrig | Computers |
| 400 | 1/16/20 | John Fischer | Why They Behave Like Russians | History |
Still reading a lot of Science Fiction and Mysteries, as well as some odds and ends as I try to prune my shelves a tad. I will have a more complete analysis next week (I hope), when I shall look over the data for the full set of the last hundred books read.
The lists of previously read books may be found by following the links:
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