@ronsboy67@mas.to
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ronsboy67

@[email protected]

ये दुनिया है या आलम-ए-बदहवासी? ہم دیکھیں گ
je ne sais rien, non sono qui.
Victoria Concordia Crescit
He/him, etc
#fedi22
#Arsenal #linguistics #reading #ebooks #Aotearoa #GoldenAgeMysteries #JDramas #KDramas #OLDHindiFilms

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passenger, to bookstodon
@passenger@kolektiva.social avatar

@bookstodon

I need to buy a gift for a family-of-friend. I am informed that they really like mystery stories, especially in historical settings, but are not fond of SFF.

I assume this means they have already read the obvious candidates, the Cadfaels and the like, or if they haven't then that's a conscious choice on their part which means I shouldn't buy them one of those.

What's a non-SFF mystery story you've enjoyed recently? Recommend me a book please!

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@passenger @bookstodon For a historical detective series in a less common time and place setting, you could try Madhulika Liddle's Muzaffar Jang series. Set in Mughal Delhi. The author's sister is a published historian whose focus is Delhi, so the historicity is solid, and the lead is interesting

jda, to bookstodon
@jda@social.sdf.org avatar

Reading books with ReadEra. It really is a great reader app - free and no ads. Easy to add books to it. Highly recommended.

https://readera.org

@bookstodon

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@DrDanMarshall @jda @bookstodon I don't do a lot of reading on my Android devices but I have found Moon Reader Pro worth the small price

ChrisMayLA6, to bookstodon
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Oh, I so love it when one of my (often exercised prejudices) is offered some validation by research... this time its the boost in comprehension a reader gets from reading on paper rather than via a screen.

For years this is what I told my students (based on my own experience), to be often told it was an age thing... well looks like I was right. Hurrah!

[No doubt this will re-open the e-book vs. paper book debates in my timeline, but so be it]

@bookstodon
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/15/reading-print-improves-comprehension-far-more-than-looking-at-digital-text-say-researchers

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon

"The study, published in the Review of Educational Research, also found that while there is a negative relationship between digital reading and comprehension for primary school students, the relationship turns positive for secondary school and undergraduate students."

So the article itself very explicitly says it IS an age thing, bad for kids better for adolescents

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

4.5/5
@thestorygraph for "Kate Hardy" by D. E. Stevenson, book 15/15 for my

As it is my last, here's a link to all 15 of my reviews for this year:
@bookstodon

https://robinwalter31.blogspot.com/2023/11/deuxieme-dean-street-december.html

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

Reading D.E. Stevenson's "Kate Hardy" book 15/15 for my 2023 and here she writes beautifully ABOUT writing. @bookstodon

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

4.5/5
@thestorygraph for "The Sharp Quillet" by Brian Flynn, book 14/15 for my It was my 14th, but in detection Bathurst is definitely no carthorse. 🤣 @bookstodon

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/db48e431-63a6-476f-a52e-ea089879c5b3

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

SO disappointed that the pun in my post generated no response at all. Back to my books, I guess #AmReading #DeanStreetDecember

@bookstodon

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

Simple things amuse simple minds: I "The Sharp Quillet" by Brian Flynn, book 14/15 for my 2024 and this passage made me smile. Dry understated humour (on the) rocks! @bookstodon

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

Inspired by
having the Niven biography "The Other Side of the Moon' for 2024, I've decided to honour my Dad by adding to my 2024 TBR bios of 3 comics he introduced me to when I was FAR too young to really get them. Recs please for the best bios of
Sellers
Secombe
Milligan
@bookstodon

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

Reading Moray Dalton's "Death in the Forest" for and this passage rings very true as authentically Anglophone :

“You shall have that over and above the fare. Compris?”

Speak English but throw in 1 French word, to a cabbie in a Spanish-speaking country🤦‍♂️
@bookstodon

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

"Preantepenultimate" is 1 of my favourite words. So how apt that my preantepenultimate book for 2023 is ALSO a favourite. My first 5/5
@thestorygraph for this year's DSD (also includes a mini rant about a trope I hate in )
@bookstodon
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/4c687a2f-a9f2-4460-a8f5-16adf699d3a5

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

Lovely writing from Molly Clavering (and good avice in the title too) in "Touch Not the Nettle" my book 12/15 for
@bookstodon

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
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4.25/5 @thestorygraph for "The Case of the Missing Men" - book 11/15 for my 2023 Another fun frolic, although I'm wondering if it was also "The Case of the Missing Map"🤔 @bookstodon https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/ae0b6120-a3af-47b2-8736-585c5bb58c29

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

The last book I read for literally ended with a murderer smugly smiling & accepting plaudits for his courage and cleverness in shooting a man in the back as he tried to run away. Personally, I find this MUCH more my kind of entertaining.😀
@bookstodon

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

Starting Bush's "The Case of the Missing Men", book 11/15 for my & laughing at myself: I DID "leap to an unwarranted conclusion based on these initials" not the ACTUAL, REAL writer normal readers would think of - I thought of Albert Campion🤦‍♂️😆🤦‍♂️ @bookstodon

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

2/5 @thestorygraph for "Smouldering Fire" by D. E. Stevenson, a quite astonishing story. Book 10/15 for my #DeanStreetDecember, hooray for spoiler tags!
#AmReading #ebooks #ReadersOfMastodon @bookstodon https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/2daeb934-49ba-490d-b51f-56ba2dcf630b

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

Here's a review of "Molly Comes Home" from the book blogger who's hosting #DeanStreetDecember for the second year in a row. Her blog is an excellent read
#AmReading #books @bookstodon #bookblogger
https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2023/12/10/book-review-molly-clavering-love-comes-home/

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

Well THAAAANK YOU for 'ruining' a whole page of this book A lengthy passage about a Scottish Highland character's interactions with "the Little People" ends with this question and OF COURSE I read the whole thing mentally substituting "Wee Free" for "Little" - Every.Single.Time 🤣 @bookstodon

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@pgcd @bookstodon Yes, I did think that actually 😀

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@pgcd @bookstodon In an interesting twist, the character is telling the story to a child who says that he "thought fairies were nice, and had wings" and she replies with a lengthy desription of "the Little People" that is eerily prescient of The Wee Free People. "neither good nor bad" being one phrase that particularly resonated

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

D.E. dissing on cousin R.L. - it just so happens to be the first of his I ever read, way back in my tweens #AmReading #DeanStreetDecember #ebooks #SmoulderingFire @bookstodon

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

4.5/5
@thestorygraph for "Glittering Prizes", book 9/15 for my 2023 #DeanStreetDecember After a dud Dalton, a FINE and FUN Flynn to restore my mood. #AmReading #ebooks #ReadersOfMastodon #GoldenAgeMysteries @bookstodon

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/afa3f172-1dd7-4f0e-92d7-d2067396223a

lorywidmerhess, to bookstodon
@lorywidmerhess@bookstodon.com avatar

: The Fair Miss Fortune

@bookstodon

https://enterenchanted.com/dean-street-december-the-fair-miss-fortune/

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@lorywidmerhess @bookstodon Like you, I've found Stevenson hit and miss (the one I'm reading now seems like a miss), but I absolutely LOVED Fair Miss Fortune, gave it 4.5/5 at the Storygraph

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

2.75/5
@thestorygraph for "Death in the Dark" a rare Dalton dud for . Eight down, seven to go. @bookstodon

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/2c930dba-6b9b-4683-bfee-eda394c9e22f

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

4.5/5 @thestorygraph for Molly Clavering's "Because of Sam", book 7/15 for me in 2023. Nearly flawless, delivering all the middlebrow muddles and mellow magnanimity one could hope for. @bookstodon https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/72af6223-a3c2-4d46-bd13-9b43f47812dc

kimlockhartga, to bookstodon
@kimlockhartga@beige.party avatar

@bookstodon Just out of curiosity, how close are you to your reading goal for the year? I need to read 12 more books to meet the goal I set for myself. 📚📚📚📚

Not everyone works the same way, of course. We've discussed before that reading goals are counterproductive for many. Having a goal really helps me, but it doesn't work for everyone. Just like reading for pleasure and reading to write a review are very different processes.

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@kimlockhartga @bookstodon I've met my goals @thestorygraph and am on track to achieve my primary goal which was read no more than half the 454 I read last year

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@brucy @kimlockhartga @bookstodon @thestorygraph The page count shows the average length is around 280 pages. Due to a congenital disability I work from home and only part time so lots of reading time 😊

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@kimlockhartga @brucy @bookstodon @thestorygraph I try to aim for 300-ish as a general average. In 2021, I set myself a 350 page average goal (238 books), and made it, but so many of my preferred recreational genres are in the low 200s that I had to read some clunky omnibuses just to 'catch up'. Around 300 means the nonfiction I read more easily makes up for the short mysteries 😀

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@kimlockhartga @brucy @bookstodon @thestorygraph My larger (500+ pp) books all tend to be nonfiction. The short end is mostly short story/poetry anthologies

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

4/5
@thestorygraph for "The Case of the Platinum Blonde" by Christopher Bush. Book 6/15 for my doth conscience make cowards of us all (or at least of Travers and his readers)? Worth finding out, imo.
@bookstodon
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/7ad41dbd-3b07-44f4-9339-7e9383748cff

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

40 months in, and adding books remains the one major pain point of my experience @thestorygraph but after 3 hours work, I'm all set for StoryGraphReadsTheWorld2024. Now to hope the promised "Number of books" style challenges arrive soon so I can add these to my "30 nonfiction in 2024". @bookstodon

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

An intriguing start to "The Case of the Platinum Blonde", book 6/15 for my - Ludovic Travers directly pointing a fully loaded Chekhov's Rifle straight at the readers in chapter 1. 😀 @bookstodon

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

4/5
@thestorygraph for "Winter and Rough Weather" by D.E. Stevenson, book 5/15 for my I liked it, except for the bits I didn't 🙃
@bookstodon
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/d612cbf1-1d1b-4f17-bb01-ba04b2768844

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

4.25/5
@thestorygraph for "The Sussex Cuckoo" a positively playful Bathurst mystery from Brian Flynn. Book 4 of my 15 for @bookstodon

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/c607cc34-e126-4d15-9524-ee069303cd15

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

All 6 of my challenges @thestorygraph done for the year, woohoo! The one challenge I couldn't enter was to read LESS than last year, and I'm on track to come in at almost exactly 50% of last year's 454 by the time I've finished @bookstodon

ninsiana0, to bookstodon
@ninsiana0@mastodon.social avatar

Hey. It's ok if you're behind on your yearly reading goal. That number was arbitrarily chosen in a January fog of optimism & champagne anyway, and you don't need to turn something you love & brings you comfort into a stressor. Read good books. Enjoy them. Be gentle with yourself.

@bookstodon

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@ninsiana0 @bookstodon It's also OK if you DID meet them 😀

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@diazona @ninsiana0 @bookstodon Actually, my biggest achievement is one I couldn't track - I wanted to slash last year's total read in half, and I'm on track to do that, so yay!

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@diazona @ninsiana0 @bookstodon reading that many took time away from other hobbies, especially language learning. I've been able to get back into Hindi, and start teaching myself Māori thanks to reading half as many books.

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@Armadillosoft @diazona @ninsiana0 @bookstodon Indeed. Nonfiction always slows me down, but tends to be more rewarding too, for my tastes.

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@diazona @ninsiana0 @bookstodon It's more a brag about developing impulse control, a longstanding personal challenge. I see my TBR and think "it all has to go" - resisting that urge is a big deal for me

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@Armadillosoft @diazona @ninsiana0 @bookstodon all I have learned is that the reason the Universe is infinite is because that way it's ALMOST big enough to contain my ignorance

sarahmatthews, to bookstodon
@sarahmatthews@tweesecake.social avatar

Dean Street Press is a great independent publisher who are ‘ devoted to producing, uncovering, and revitalizing good books’. Their authors include Stella Gibbons, Brian Flynn and D E Stevenson. This month it’s Dean Street December and I fancy reading a new author to me, Patricia Wentworth, who wrote mystery novels in the mid 20th century. I’ve been having fun looking through their website this morning trying to decide which one to read first @bookstodon
https://www.deanstreetpress.co.uk/pages/author_page/33

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@sarahmatthews @bookstodon I read 27 books for last year's Dean Street December, going for a saner 15 this year

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@sarahmatthews @bookstodon
I haven't read any Wentowrths yet. I will probably get around to them, but I have 25 DSPs still waiting to be read. Here are the 69 DSPs I've read so far, as recorded @thestorygraph - hooray for
https://app.thestorygraph.com/stats/segment/?user_id=robinwalter&chart_type=Tags&label=dean-street-press&year=0&month=&read_status=Read

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

Not everywhere - try calling someone ullu ka pattha in the Indic language belt and see if it was "wise" 😁 @bookstodon

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

Those who know why this passage from "The Sussex Cuckoo" by Brian Flynn made me think of David Jason are indeed blessed people. 🤔😁 @bookstodon

theotherotherone, to bookstodon
@theotherotherone@mastodon.world avatar

Who to read if you're an Agatha Christie devotee, but have read all of her books (besides re-reading her books, of course)? The former is true of me, but the latter, not quite yet. I'm planning ahead.

I know to at least consider Sherlock Holmes, anyone in the Detection Club (which Christie co-founded), medieval mysteries like Brother Cadfael, etc. And yes, I've already read some of those here and there, especially Cadfael.

What else?

@bookstodon

ronsboy67,
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

@3148delCT @theotherotherone @bookstodon Yay for Marsh! Here in Aotearoa, the Crime Writing awards are named after her. Her first love was Shakespearian theatre, and her mysteries set in that world are her strongest imo. My favourite Queen is Margery Allingham, whose character grew aged & changed in ways Marple & Poitor did not
ECR Lorac and Moray Dalton are worth checking out, and since you've read Cadfael, you may want to try Ellis Peters' OTHER mystery series, Felse

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
@ronsboy67@mas.to avatar

It seems is a thing, so here's mine @thestorygraph - the 36 books I read in November are pretty representative of my tastes as it happens, but did mean I had to make a video, sorry! @bookstodon

The video shows a screen scroll of 36 books the user read in November 2023 as recorded at the Storygraph reading tracker site

ronsboy67, to bookstodon
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Mark Twain may have described as a good walk spoiled, but that may be because he never had the unmitigated joy of reading write about the game @bookstodon

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