December 2022 Reading List

As I write this post, it is Friday afternoon, December 30. I've just finished reading the 7th book for this month, and although there is still one more day left in the month, it is unlikely that I can finish an eighth book before the month comes to an end. Therefore, I'll write the post now and have it ready for tomorrow.

If it should happen that I'm able to finish another in the time remaining I will edit this post.

Unlike some other months, I haven't posted many reviews in December for the books I've read immediately following my having read them. I did, however manage to write something about A.J. Cronin as well as one book by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. 

I can't say enough about how much I admire the work of Dr.Cronin. His Hatter's Castle is one of the best books I've read this year. More of his novels will be going into the queue for 2023.

As I wrote in an earlier post, I enjoyed reading all three books in Kawaguchi's Café series, and I recommend the trilogy, although I'm looking forward to the day when Kawaguchi spreads out and writes a novel that is not part of the same series.

For the 4th book of December, I switched from fiction to non-fiction, reading Anna Reid's Leningrad : The Epic Siege of World War II.

I don't recall exactly how I discovered Seishi Yokomizo. Yokomizo was a popular Japanese mystery novelist during the immediate post WWII period. His mystery novels have only recently been translated into English. The first in 2019. So far, five of his mystery novels have been translated into English although #5 won't be available until sometime in 2023. I have read the first two - the third and fourth will be the first two I'll read in January.

The final book finished this month (and this year as well) is a mystery novel mentioned by Seishi Yokomizo in The Honjin Murders - The Red House Mystery by A.A.Milne.

Milne is best remembered as the creator of Winnie - the - Pooh. The Red House Mystery is his only mystery novel. He mentions in his dedication of the novel to his father that the elder Milne was a great fan of detective and mystery novels and the younger Milne wrote this novel especially for his father. I, for one, wish that Milne had written more in the genre. I enjoyed reading The Red House Mystery and would liked to have seen the amateur detective, Anthony Gillingham team up with his friend Bill Beverly in more novels.

So, now - here is the list of the books I read in December, 2022. I can recommend all seven.

The Stars Look Down                                         by A.J. Cronin 

Before Your Memory Fades                               by Toshikazu Kawaguchi  

Hatter's Castle                                                   by A.J. Cronin 

Leningrad The Epic Siege of World War II       by Anna Reid  

The Honjin Murders                                          by Seishi Yokomizo  

Death on Gokumon Island                                 by Seishi Yokomizo  

The Red House Mystery                                     by A. A. Milne

A.J. Cronin

I had not gotten very far along in reading A. J. Cronin's 1935 novel, The Stars Look Down when the thought came to me - why haven't I heard of this novel, or the writer, before now? I became enthralled with the work almost immediately. However, I would not have been aware of Cronin had I not been reading Dorothy L. Sayers' mystery novel, Busman's Honeymoon.

In Sayers' book, she writes that Lord Wimsey's mother wrote in her diary about her attempt to read a book entitled The Stars Look Down:
"21 May.--Was reading The Stars Look Down (Mem. very depressing, and not what I expected from the title--think I must have had a Christmas carol in mind, but remember now it has something to do with the Holy Sepulchre--must ask Peter and make sure)".

I did a web search and found this description of the novel at wikipedia:
"The novel is set in 'Sleescale,' a mining town on the coast of Northumberland, as well as in 'Tynecastle' (Newcastle upon Tyne). While 'Sleescale' is a fictional locale, it is based on an excellent knowledge of similar places and people. Cronin, a Scot, served as Medical Inspector of Mines in the South Wales Valleys during the 1920s.
Beginning before World War I and extending into the 1930s, the story shows the different careers of several persons: principally, a miner's son who aspires to defend his people politically, a miner who becomes a businessman, and the mine owner's son in conflict with his domineering father."

I suspect that Sayers' mentioning of the book was a dig at Lord Wimsey's mother, rather than any criticism of Cronin's novel.

I remained puzzled. Cronin was a very well known writer in his day - there have been at least 19 film adaptations of his work as well as quite a few television credits. And yet, Cronin is almost unknown today.

In his introduction to A. J. Cronin: The Man Who Created Dr Finlay, Alan Davies notes that he would "......rate Cronin as an author alongside most of the great names in English literature, even though he is largely ignored in Britain". Davies speculates that Cronin did not care to be remembered after his death. He points out that a number of writers who had no greater literary ability - D.H. Lawrence, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh - are remembered while Cronin is not.

I've downloaded almost 2 dozen books by Cronin which I plan to read during the next few months.It's my hope that this blog post (and any future posts I might write) will introduce more people to the work of A.J. Cronin.

A Few Thoughts on the Writings of Dorothy L. Sayers

As I begin this post, I've almost finished reading the 11th and final novel in Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey series of mystery novels, Busman's Honeymoon.

Although considerably fewer in number than the collection of Agatha Christie novels I read last year, it has taken me nearly the same amount of time to read these eleven.

As mystery novels, Sayers' work cannot compare with Christie's, - Sayers' books are simply not "page turners", although it seems to me that after the first few novels in the series, Sayers was attempting to write good novels - not good mystery novels, per se. I was particularly interested in the novels and writers mentioned in the Sayers' series. In several of the novels, Sayers mentions the name of Edgar Wallace. Wallace was unknown to me, but I've learned that he was a very popular writer of adventure novels and detective stories in his day. One of his best known works was his contribution to the creation of King Kong . Much of his work is in the public domain and I've downloaded quite a bit to be placed into the queue.

In Gaudy Night, the writer Sheridan Le Fanu is mentioned a few times. I've read two works by Le Fanu - Carmilla in 2015, and Uncle Silas in 2017. I've downloaded a few more of Le Fanu's work to be placed into the queue as well.

Also in Gaudy Night , Sayers mentions a book by C.P. Snow - The Search. I've managed to locate of number of Snow's work, although I couldn't locate a downloadable file for this particular novel.

In Busman's Honeymoon , Lord Wimsey's mother writes in her diary about her attempt to read a book entitled The Stars Look Down. :
"21 May.--Was reading The Stars Look Down (Mem. very depressing, and not what I expected from the title--think I must have had a Christmas carol in mind, but remember now it has something to do with the Holy Sepulchre--must ask Peter and make sure)".

According to wikipedia:
" The Stars Look Down is a 1935 novel by A. J. Cronin which chronicles various injustices in an English coal mining community. "

Fortunately, I was able to download The Stars Look Down and I've scheduled it to be my first read of December.