D is for Dostoevsky

D is for Fyodor Dostoevsky, the Writer of three of my favourite novels Crime and Punishment, Brothers Karmazov and Notes from the Underground.

Crime and Punishment is the story of Raskolnikov who plans and executes the murder of an elderly pawnbroker. He believes that criminals get caught because in the moments (the moments of crime) when they need to be level headed and logical they become heedless and emotional. So if one is level headed one can get away with it, the question of right and wrong doesn't come into it. But will Raskolnikov get away with it?

Have you read this or any other book by Dostoevsky? What do you think about it?

C is for Coben

C is for Harlan Coben, the Edgar award winning thriller writer. He writes Myron Bolitar series featuring a sports agent detective who investigates murders. When I first read a book from this series, I wondered if all the books would feature crimes in the sports field. Bolitar has diversified, now he is not just a sports agent but also a PR agent for Musicians, actors, writers etc. I love the wisecracks and twists and twists and twists in his books. Coben also writes standalone which are better than his Bolitar books. His latest standalone Stay Close is out in shops. Can't tell you how it is, as I haven't read and I am not reading any reviews good or bad before reading the book.

Before reading Coben, I was looking out only for authors who write like Agatha Christie. Now I also look for authors who write like Coben. If you are also on the lookout Linwood Barclay comes close.

Have you read any of Coben books? If you haven't, and want to try Tell no One is a great thriller.

B is for Blyton

B is for Enid Blyton. One of my favourite authors as a kid. I immensely enjoyed her Famous Five books, Secret Seven, Malory Towers, and of course the bed time stories and other fantasy books that introduced me to a world of Goblins, Fairies, Pixies and Elves.

Have you read any of her books? Do you think kids today will enjoy her books?

A is for .......Agatha Christie

A is for Agatha Christie, unrivalled Queen of Crime Fiction. I love all her books. What I like best about Agatha Christie books is that she mostly plays fair, there are clues all along and you can play the detective, yet be surprised at the ending.

Christie's Mousetrap is the longest running play in the world! It is still running in St.Martin's theatre in London. I had the opportunity to see it and absolutely loved it. I also saw Spider's Web in Theatre Royal in Newcastle.

These are my favourite books!

Mysterious Affair at Styles (her very first book featuring Hercule Poirot)
The Murder of Roger Ackyord
And there were None
Endless Night
ABC Murders

The list would go on ......

Did you read any of these books or any other books by Agatha Christie? Did you find out 'whodunit'?

2012 A to Z Blogging Challenge

I am signing up for this challenge!

Bloggiesta-Finishing Line

I was able to do all the items in the To do list. I wasn't very ambitious in my to-do list and I am happy that I am able to do all of them.

Connect my Blog feed with my Twitter account -which I did following instructions by Katie using dlvr.it
Connect my blog feed with my blog page in Facebook using Networked Blogs.
Learn a few things from other Bloggers
Created Pinterest account and use pinterest to promote my blog!
Created a Pinterest Pin for all my posts.
Organise my posts- Added labels to some old posts
Participate in some of the mini-challenges - Done
Update my Reading Challenges post- Done
Do a quarterly post on this years progress- Done
Connected Goodreads with Facebook.

It was fun participating in Bloggiesta doing some work on my blog with many others.

Quarterly Update

I was planning to do a monthly update! But was not able to do it! So atleast a quarterly update.

Books Read

1. Amendment of Life by Catherine Aird
2. The Big Bow Mystery by Israel Zangwill
3. The Black Tower by P D James
4. The Book of Crime by Elizabeth Daly
5. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
6. The Burning Court by John Dickson Carr
7. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
8. Death Comes to Pemberely by P. D. James
9. DeKok and Murder on Blood Mountain by A.C. Baantjer
10. Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
11. Fate by Amanda Hocking
12. The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
13. I Could Murder Her by E C R Lorac
14. An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde
15. The Leopard by Jo Nesbo
16. The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey
17. The Monster in the Box by Ruth Rendell
18. Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
19. The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Felix
20. Ocracokes Curse- The Mystery at Teach's Hole by Mark Duffey
21. The Problem of the Wire Cage by John Dickson Carr
22. The Retribution by Val McDermid
23. Shroud of Darkness by E C R Lorac
24. The Sorceress of the Strand by L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace
25. U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton
26. The Vault by Ruth Rendell
27. V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton
28. Water-Blue Eyes by Domingo Villar

Statistics

Total Books Read: 28
Total Ebooks: 13
Library Books: 15
Books Reviewed: 17
New Authors to me: 16
Mystery/Crime Fiction Read: 24
British Books: 16
Classics: 3
Young Adult: 1
Challenges Complete : 8 (Reviews Pending)
Mystery & Suspense Reading Challenge (24/12)
Criminal Plots II Challenge(6/6)
Borrowed Book Challenge (10/10)
British Book Challenge(16/12)
E- Book Challenge 1(10/10)
E- Book Challenge 2 (10/10)
New Author Challenge (16/15)
European Reading Challenge(5/5)