Mount TBR Challenge: Third Quarterly Check In

This quarter I have read 13 books that count toward the 2014 Mount TBR Challenge. Combined with the 25 books I read in the first two quarters of 2014, I have read a total of 38 books for the challenge (out of my goal of 36 books -- Mt. Vancouver).

I am pretty sure I will continue to read books from my TBR piles in the next three months. In fact I have a list of at least eight that I intend to read before the end of this year. So I will extend my goal to 48 books -- Mt. Ararat.



The books I read this quarter were:

100 Must-read Historical Novels by Nick Rennison
Hard Boiled America by Geoffrey O'Brien
The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves
Faith by Len Deighton 
Loot by Aaron Elkins
Season of Darkness by Maureen Jennings
The Moving Target by Ross Macdonald
The Ivory Grin by Ross Macdonald
Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler
The Davidian Report by Dorothy B. Hughes
The Count of Nine by Erle Stanley Gardner
                                 (writing as A. A. Fair)
Coffin Scarcely Used by Colin Watson
Lie in the Dark by Dan Fesperman



Bev at My Reader's Block, who hosts this challenge, asked us to answer some questions using books we have read for this challenge:

A. Who has been your favorite character so far? And tell us why, if you like.

There have been many wonderful characters in the books I have read for the TBR challenge, but my favorite has to be Bernard Samson from Faith by Len Deighton. Bernard is a British agent featured in a nine book series which started in the early 1980's. 

Bernard Samson is my favorite spy. I like the series because the story is (usually) told in first person, by Bernard, and he is very entertaining. Bernard is an intelligence officer in the British Secret Intelligence Service, originally working in Germany, now working out of the London office. Family relationships and interactions feature just as much as the political intrigues.

B. Pair up two of your reads using whatever connection you want to make. Written by the same author? Same genre? Same color cover? Both have a main character named Clarissa? Tell us the books and what makes them a pair.

There are several pairs in the books I read this quarter.

• The Davidian Report by Dorothy Hughes and The Ivory Grin by Ross Macdonald were published in the same year, 1952. They are very different books but both reflect the times.
• The Count of Nine by A. A. Fair and Coffin Scarcely Used by Colin Watson were both published in 1958. Both told a story with humor, but also very different books. 
• Lie in the Dark by Dan Fesperman and Loot by Aaron Elkins both featured stories related to the looting of art objects during war.