This month was fairly productive in my reading — I knocked out two more Carl Hiaasen books, and covered some ground in my goal to read 52 books this year. I’m about two books behind and I hope to make up those two books in April and be on pace for 52 books. We shall see!
I’ve always been a big reader, but my Achilles’ heel is being unfocused in my reading, meaning having half a dozen books or so going at the same time–the end result being not completing many of the books. So I’ve been focusing on finishing books before starting another one…I currently have 5 books in progress, which is good as I recently had 10 books in progress.
The other thing that I’m doing is I’ve started working through reading all the unread books that I’ve accumulated over the years. I’m calling it my bookshelf challenge, there’s probably a better name for it, but that’s what I’ve settled on. I’m sick of looking at my bookshelf and having my unread books mocking me, so I aim to read them all. Which means in the next several months there will be a mix of Florida books and random other books on my reading lists. The Florida books I tend to get from the library; the random books will be the books that I’ve picked up over the years and have never read.
I’ve included links to Amazon, if you feel so inclined to purchase a book. If you purchase a book through my link, I get a small cut of the profit. Every bit helps. I appreciate it.
Let’s start:
Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen
I’ve started and stopped this book a few times…but finally focused on reading the thing from cover to cover and got it done! This book features Yancy as the main protagonist, who also appears in Razor Girl. He was demoted from a detective to a restaurant health inspector and hopes that by solving the mystery of the severed arm with an extended middle finger that was fished from the ocean that he will be welcomed back into the Sheriff’s office. This book had me laughing out loud at points.
Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen
This is the first Skink adventure and it’s interesting to read his origins story, so to speak. Skink gets enlisted by a private investigator looking into cheating at bass fishing tournaments. This is one of the better Hiaasen novels I have read thus far, and while still having the trademark whacky Hiaasen characters, this is a good mystery/crime story in its own right.
Alligators in B-Flat by Jeff Klinkenburg
Longtime newspaper man unleashed another great book which is a collection of some of his best Florida culture / human interest stories. This book includes a worm hunter, a long distance runner that only wears sandals, and of course playing music to alligators. The people found in the pages of this book are people from the real Florida. Klinkenburg has real talent when it comes to finding the best, untold Florida stories. I’ve now nearly read all of his books and haven’t been disappointed by any.
The Seven Dials Mystery and Double Sin and Other Stories by Agatha Christie
I read two Agatha Christie books from my bookshelf challenge this month. The Seven Dials Mystery is one of the five Christie books to feature Superintendent Battle. I did not solve the crime, but was still left satisfied when the Battle explained the deducing that occurred to identify the villain. Double Sin and Other Stories is a book of short stories that prominently featured the famous detective Poirot. I am a sucker for Agatha Christie, that’s for sure and I will be looking forward to reading more of her mysteries in the future.
For those of you keeping track at home, I’ve read 11 books so far and there have been 13 weeks, through the end of March this year thus far. I’ve really been focusing on the works of Carl Hiaasen and am really motivated to get through everything he has written before the end of the year. It’s been a fun read so far.
Until next time!
