Only in Books

 Only in Books (1996) by J. Kevin Graffagnino

From a child...all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out on books. ~Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Absolutely. 100%. From the time I was earning an allowance, I would drag my parents to bookstores and the book sections of stores and eagerly hand over my hard-earned cash for books. When I was old enough to walk downtown by myself (much younger than today's parents would even think about...), I would go to Mason's Rare & Used Bookstore during happy hour (for half-price books!) and stumble home with as many as I could carry. I had a library card of my own at the earliest age I could get one and, again, would take home as many as I could carry. Need I say it? I love books.

This book of quotations is meant for those of us who love books, the written word, and the bookstores and libraries that contain them. It is full of quotations about books, book lovers, and collectors Quotes about bookstores, libraries, and publishing houses. Quotes about authors, editors, and critics. If it's about books in way at all, there's a quote in here about it. And if there's anything I like almost as much as I like books, it's a good quote. And if it's a quote about books and/or bookish things, even better. So, when the local library was purging reference books, this was one of the books of quotations that came home with me. ★★★★

First bookish quote: In every University of character, the library is regarded as of fundamental importance. ~Charles Kendall Adams (1835-1902)

Last bookish quote: The minute arrived when with bated breath, I read that the publisher had decided to publish my book and even stipulated an option for later ones. The package with the first set of proofs came and was untied in great excitement, so as to see the type, the type-page, the very embryo of the book, and then, after a few weeks, the book itself, the first copies. One never tired of looking at them, touching them, comparing them, again and again and again. And then the childish visites to the bookstores to see if copies were already on display, whether they were resplendent in the center of the shop or hidden bashfully at the side. And then to await the first letter, the first notices, the first reply from the unknown, the incalculable. I secretly envy the young man all his suspense, excitement and enthusiasm, who casts his first book into the world. ~Stefan Zweig (1881-1942)

The 52 Book Club 2025

 

I'm back for another round of Liz's reading challenge at The 52 Book Club. Hers is a low-key challenge, so there is no pressure to fulfill all 52 categories I'm setting a personal goal of 26. I may read more that fit the categories, but at 26 I can claim my challenge goal fulfilled. Several times in the past I've managed to pull off all 52--so who knows, maybe I'll get there again. I'll list some tentative selections below and update as needed.

1. Pun in the Title: No Police Like Holmes by Dan Andriacco

2. Character with Red Hair: The Corpse with the Red-Headed Friend by R. A. J. Walling

3. Title starts with Letter "M":

4. Title starts with Letter "N":

5. Plot Includes a Heist: Still as Death by Sarah Stewart Taylor

6. Genre 1 Set in Spring:

7. Genre 2 Set in Summer:

8. Genre 3 Set in Autumn:

9. Genre 4 Set in Winter:

10. Author's Last Name is a First Name: Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective by Leslie Thomas

11. A Prequel: Death Cloud: Sherlock Holmes the Legend Begins by Andrew Lane (library)

12. Moon on Cover:

13. Title Is Ten Letters or Less: Mortal Term by John Penn

14. Climate Fiction: The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves OR The Last Resort by Michael Kaufman (library)

15. Includes Latin American History

16. Author Has Won an Edgar: The Cipher Garden (or other book) by Martin Edwards

17. Told in Verse:

18. Character Who Can Fly: The Man Who Didn't fly by Margot Bennett 

19. Has Short Chapters

20. Fairy Tale Retelling: Poisoned Apples: Poems For You, My Pretty by Christine Heppermann (library)

21. Character's Name in Title: Dead Mrs. Stratton by Anthony Berkeley

22. Found Family Trope

23. Sprayed Edge

24. Title Is a Spoiler: The Death of Lucy Kyte by Nicola Upson

25. Breaks the Fourth Wall: 

26. More Than a Million Copies Sold: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (over 50 million sold)

27. Features a Magician: Death from a Top Hat by Clayton Rawson

28. Crossover (Set in Shared Universe):

29. Shares Universe with Prompt 28:

30. In the Public Domain:

31. Audiobook Has Multiple Narrators:

32. Includes a Diary Entry:

33. Standalone Novel

34. Direction in the Title:

35. Written in the Third Person:

36. Final Sentence Less Than Six Words Long:

37. Genre Chosen for You by Someone Else:

38. Adventure Story:

39. Has an Epigraph:

40. Stream of Consciousness Narrative (YIKES): Tarantula by Bob Dylan (library)

41. Cover Font In Primary Color:

42. Non-Human Antagonist: 

43. Explores Social Class: 

44. Celebrity on Cover:

45. Author Releases More Than One Book a Year: The Feathered Serpent by Edgar Wallace

46. Read During a "-Ber" Month:

47. "I Think It Was Blue":

48. Related to Word Puzzle: Puzzle in Porcelain by Robin Grey (Elizabeth Gresham)

49. Set in Country With Active Volcano:

50.  Set in the 1940s

51.  300-400 Pages Long:

52. Published in 2025: Who Will Remember by C. S. Harris

2025 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge

 

Kim & Tanya have posted their 2025 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge. Click on the link for full details. For this challenge each month is assigned a motif or theme. The task is to read one book each month that fits the motif...I will list my tentative choices below.

January: Who Killed Robert Prentice? by Dennis Wheately; Sherlock Holmes: Fact or Fiction? by T. S. Blakeney; Or Was He Pushed? by Richard Lockridge

February: The Book of the Dead by Preston & Child; 

March: The Silver Peril by Maryse Rutledge; The Follower by Patrick Quentin (mining engineer); Journey into Fear by Eric Ambler (arms engineer); Dragon's Island by Jack Williamson (genetic engineering)

April: TBR on pile more than 2 years

May: TBD

June: The Talk Show Murders by Steve Allen; Cool Repententence by Antonia Fraser; Benefit Performance by Richard Sale; A Dark Coffin by Gwendoline Butler; Murder, Murder, Little Star by Marian Babson

July: action takes place in a single day

August: book takes place in England

September: Panic in Paradise by Alan Amos; Poppy Ott & the Stuttering Parrot by Leo Edwards; Crows Can't Count by A. A. Fair; The Mystery of the Blue Pelican by Eileen Hill; the Avengers: Dead Duck by Patrick Macnee; The Case of the Talking Bug by The Gordons

October: Karen Baugh Menuhin book (all have black covers)

November: TBD

December: The Ghost & Mrs. Jeffries by Emily Brightwell; Murder in the Mystery Suite by Ellery Adams

2025 Key Word Reading Challenge

 

It's time to start thinking about a new year of the Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge sponsored by Kim & Tanya at Chapter Adventure. Just read one book per month with one of the key words in the title. This is one of my favorite challenges. Click on the link for full details. Hope you'll join me! Possible titles listed below.

January: House of Storm by Eberhart; Time to Kill by Miriam Lynch; Nightmare Time by Hugh Pentecost; A Time to Die by Hilda Lawrence; The Hour Before Midnight by Velda Johnston; Death Knows No Calendar by John Bude; The Escher Twist by Jane Langton; Happy Returns by Manning Coles; The Price of Silence by Kate Wilhelm

February: The Golden Spiders by Rex Stout; Golden Ashes by Freeman Wills Crofts; The Dream Doctor by Arthur B. Reeve; First Hit of the Season by Jane Dentinger; The Club of Queer Trades by G. K. Chesterton

March: The Sleep Is Deep by Hugh Lawrence Nelson; The Clever One by Edgar Wallace; The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey; Murder, Murder, Little Star by Marian Babson; The Wedding Guest Sat on a Stone by Richard Shattuck

April: Pilgrim's Rest by Patricia Wentworth; Ten Days' Wonder by Ellery Queen; Days of Misfortune by Aaron Marc Stein; The Case of the Singing Skirt by Erle Stanley Gardner

May: Indiana Jones & the Lost Treasure of Sheba by Rose Estes; Lost Lady by Octavus Roy Cohen; A City of Strangers by Robert Barnard; Winds of Evil by Arthur W. Upfield; Murder Clear, Track Fast by Judson Philips

June: Great Cases of the Thinking Machine by Jacques Futrelle; The Great Mistake by Mary Roberts Rinehart; A Child's Garden of Death by Richard Forrest; Murder by the Book by Rex Stout; Murder by the Book ed. by Cynthia Manson

July: Sunrise by Grace Livingston Hill; Sweet Poison by David Roberts; Sweet & Low by Emma Lathen; The Last Resort by Van Siller; A Very Good Hater by Mary Challis; Murder on the Left Bank by Elliot Paul

August: The Blind Side by Patricia Wentworth; The Player on the Other Side by Ellery Queen; The World's Best 100 Detective Stories Vol. Five ed. by Eugene Thwing; Sound Evidence by June Thomson; The Trial of Scotland Yard by Stuart Martin; The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

September: Borrowed Crime by William Irish; Murder Listens In by Elizabeth Daly; Guilt Is Where You Find It by Baynard Kendrick; The Sleeping Tiger by Dominic Devine; Murder, Maestro, Please by Delano Ames

October: Bury Me Deep by Harold Q. Masur;The Ghost of Dibble Hollow by May Nickerson Wallace; Error of the Moon by Sara Woods; Mystery of the Mooncusser by Eleanore Myers Jewett; Death in Harley Street by John Rhode

November: Murder by the Tale by Dell Shannon; The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett; The Final Ring by Marcia Blair; Murder on the Cliffs by Joanna Challis

December: The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop by Gladys Mitchell: The Dead of Winter by Rennie Airth; Dead of Winter by Christopher Hale; Death Warmed Over by Mary Collins; Murder Loves Company by John Mersereau; My True Love Lies by Lenore Glen Offord

2025 Mystery Marathon

 

Last year Rick over at the Mystillery decided that we needed to stretch our mystery-reading muscles and start training for a Mystery Marathon. [Full disclosure: I've been in training for this since my mom introduced me to Nancy Drew.] For each marathon we need to read at least 26 mystery books plus one short story. It looks like I'll finish five marathons in 2024, but I'm going to keep my goal at one--and at that point I can claim my personal challenge complete--even though I may keep running.

Marathon 1

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Short Story: 

2025 Six Shooter Mystery Reading Challenge

 

I'm heading out to the shooting range again with Rick and his Six Shooter Mystery Reading Challenge in 2025. The goal is pretty straight-forward--read six books on the same target (by the same author) to complete your round. Any targets started in 2024 but not yet complete will carry over to the new year, so Rick's page won't be fully ready to go for a while. But you can check out the current details at the link above.

As with his other challenges, Rick doesn't ask for a commitment. But I will set a personal goal in order to claim the challenge complete for 2025. I've been setting it at four targets--and I will be aiming for the same in the new year.  Most likely targets will include Agatha Christie, the Lockridges, and Carolyn Keene. Other authors TBD.

Target 1

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Target 2

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Target 3

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Target 4

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2025 Medical Examiner Mystery Reading Challenge

 

Once again Rick at the Rick Mills Project will be offering up the Medical Examiner Mystery Reading Challenge as well as the Six Shooter Challenge and the Mystery Marathon. I, having no self-control when it comes to challenges--especially mystery-related challenges, will--of course--sign up for all three. For full details, check out the link above after the new year starts. Basically, just read mysteries and log the number of named corpses on his handy form.

Rick doesn't require a sign-up post, but in order to claim this one as complete on my own personal challenge tally sheet, I must submit at least 20 death certificate reports. With the number of mysteries I read per year, this doesn't prove too difficult--so, there should be plenty of toe tags signed by "Quincy" Hankins at the Mystillery Morgue.

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2025 Read It Again, Sam--My Sign-Up

 

I don't do a lot of re-reading, but it does seem that I wind up with at least a handful each year. So, I'm going to sign up for my Read It Again, Sam Challenge again.
 
There are several levels (below) and the full rules may be found at the link above.
Déjà vu: Reread 4 books  
Feeling Nostalgic: Reread 8 books
A Trip Down Memory Lane: Reread 12 books  
Living in the Past: Reread 16+ books

I'm just going to go for Déjà vu: Reread 4 books. If I find myself doing more rereads, then I'll level up.

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Déjà vu

2025 Calendar of Crime--My Sign-Up

 

As I mention elsewhere, mysteries are my genre of choice. So, I have little difficulty filling up my calendar with all sorts of mysterious dates and dastardly deeds. The goal--to read one month-related mystery book per month for a total of twelve books. See link at the Calendar of Crime for details and a link to the monthly prompts.

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

2025 Color Coded Challenge--My Sign-Up

 

Every year I think I've used up my last title with "Brown" (or a shade of brown) for the Color Coded Reading Challenge and every year I prove myself wrong (or buy more books with suitable titles). I'll keep signing up as long as I have suitable titles or author's name (I don't plan on ever using cover color...).

Here's the basic rule: read nine books with the various colors listed below in their titles, the author's name, or as a dominant color/image on their covers. For full details, click the link above. I'll list my books and date read as they come.

1. Read book with "Blue" (or a shade of blue):

2. Read a book with "Red" (or a shade of red):

3. Read a book with "Yellow" (or a shade of yellow):

 
4. Read a book with "Green" (or a shade of green):

5. Read a book with "Brown" (or a shade of brown):

 

6. Read a book with "Black" (or a shade of black):

7. Read a book with "White" (or a shade of white): 

8. Read a book with any other color:

9. Read a book a word/image that implies color (rainbow, polka dot, etc): 

2025 Reading by the Numbers Challenge--My Sign-Up

 

The Reading by the Numbers Challenge is the reading challenge at its most basic--just track everything you read. Anything counts--graphic novels or comic books, hard copy, e-books, audio novels, etc. If it is a book, it counts. And although the covers shown in the challenge image are all mysteries, you may read from any and all genres that interest you. Just set a goal and when January 1 comes around, start reading.

For the last two years, I've set my goal at 150 and I'm going to stick with it for 2025. Hopefully, I'll rack up more than that. But with 150 I can claim the challenge complete.

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2025 Virtual Mount TBR Challenge--My Sign-Up

 

Every year my goal is to read from my own stacks (hence the original Mount TBR Challenge). And every year I decide that there are TBR books that I don't own that I just have to Read. So--with my Virtual Mount TBR Challenge, I get to count that mountain too. As per usual, I'm starting with Rum Doodle and, hopefully, I won't get too carried away with library books. Though it would be nice to say that I've climbed the steps to Vulcan's Mount Seleya....

Click to enlarge

If you have tons of books on your want to read list that you don't own, then please join me as we tackle fictional mountains in the TBR world. Just click on the link above.

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Rum Doodle

2025 Mount TBR Challenge--My Sign-Up

 

I'm ready to kick off my fourteenth climb up Mount TBR as well as the fourteenth year I've sponsored the challenge. It will come as a surprise to no one that my TBR mountain range is no smaller than when I started. I just seem to trade one mountain for another, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to keep trying to read more than I take in. Once more the goal is to climb Mount Everest (100 of my own books) with the hopes of planting a flag atop Mount Olympus on Mars. I've managed that feat in two of the past years--but it's unlikely that I'll get very far on Mars this year. Grab your hiking boots and come join me on a TBR trek in 2025!

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Pike's Peak

Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt My Sign-up

 

My own Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge is near and dear to my heart. It's the first challenge I sponsored here on the Block and mysteries are my genre of choice--if I'm forced to choose. We're back again for another round of the Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt. The mission is to find as many objects on the scavenger hunt list as possible, although finding a total of eight on either card will technically fulfill the challenge. You can play along in either the Golden or Silver (or, for the more adventurous, both) and all the rules may be found at the link above. I will be searching for both gold and silver treasure--eight on each card will allow me to count my challenge complete, but I will definitely be trying to find them all. Hope you will join me!

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Nightmare at Noon

 Nightmare at Noon (1951) by Stewart Sterling (Prentice Wenchell)

Fire Marshall and pyro-hunter Ben Pedley is on the hunt again when an out-of-control fire breaks out in the already heated noon at the beginning of July. The fire was started in the home of Pedley's nemesis, attorney Rudy "The Key" Denhom. Denhom earned his nickname as the lawyer who most often turned the defense key that would let slimy criminals go free after mistrials and hung juries botched up the works of justice. Most recently, Denhom had arranged for the mistrial in the case of Manno Bourne--a man against whom Pedley was sure they had an airtight case for arson.

Now it looks like the man who extinguished the flame of justice has been extinguished himself. The burned body wearing Denhom's pajamas and trademark wristwatch is pulled from the building. But certain signs make Pedley doubt that the body is really Denhom's. And when an investigation reveals that Denhom had written a $60,000 check to self, made reservations in an assumed name for a Mexican flight, and gotten pally with a man who could have taken his place in an identity parade, it begins to look like The Key had unlocked his own escape hatch. But what was he running from? The Bourne brothers who didn't seem completely satisfied with the results of the mistrial? A junior partner who seemed to take too much interest in his private affairs? The gaggle of women he'd gotten himself entangled with? Or something else? And did he really escape after all?

Meanwhile, Robin Kozpet, the junior partner, is squawking about how Pedley is running roughshod over the law firm--something about how the Marshall has it in for them, is intimidating Kozpet & the staff & Denhom's wife, is mishandling the fire investigating, and needs investigating himself--and the Commissioner is getting ready to hold a suspension meeting. Pedley is going to have to move fast to wrap up the investigation before he loses the power to investigate.

Stewart had his origins in the pulps and it shows. Pedley is a flashy, smart-mouthed investigator who doesn't always play by the rules and sometimes downright breaks them when "interviewing" a few of the more reluctant suspects. Action, excitement, and danger is far more important than plotting and clues, but generally the adventure is a fun ride and there are enough clues to satisfy most mystery buffs (as long as you remember that Stewart is no Christie when it comes to tight plotting). However, this one didn't quite meet up to the usual Stewart standard. The plot feels even more all over the place than usual and there are some very confusing bits that were hard to follow. There is an interesting twist on the identity of the corpse and there are clues to the motive though not clearly tying it to the culprit. Pedley holds the identifying clue close to his chest and we only get to see it at the end. ★★ and 1/2

First line: The perforated panel on the dash spoke hollowly: "Here's a funny one, skipper."

Last line: "If that's what she thought," Pedley said, "--she was right, wasn't she?"
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Deaths = 3 (one hit on head; one stabbed; two shot)