Mystery Blog Tracks Book Club Reading Record

Keeping the record of the books read over the years with the South County Library Mystery Book Club is and continues to be feat of detail and patience.  A recent tally of the books to the right side of this blog page shows that more than 160 books have been selected and read over the years.

If you'd ever notice the yearly "booklist" there then you would the range of titles read and have a sense of see what a library book club would select.  The book choice would rest--as always--with which books are on the library shelves and with a reasonable number of copies for the group.  So, with that in mind, the objective is to match up an appropriate number of books to the number of likely book club attendees for the upcoming months.  And fortunately, that has largely worked.

The booklists also are linked to the library catalog to be a quick resource to Charlotte Mecklenburg Library books.  Click on the book title for the particular entry and see the library record to investigate further or prepare to check out the book.  A drawback is to look at the entire coverage, you'd see these lists going back to 2001 and it is a stretch to have access to all those books at the library.  In general, books do not last in the library beyond their poor condition or poor circulation statistics.

Paperback edition

Hardback edition

Though these titles may disappear from the library in time, some may reappear or even stay.  The very first book of the booklists, The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale, would be a case in point.  The book was a hardback when on the library shelves back in 2000 (with the title in gray lettering) but the paperback edition (with the title in black lettering) was published in 2010 with copies still on the library shelves.  The hope is keep the booklists current with Charlotte Mecklenburg Library catalog and the blog a useful resource for library readers.   

(Another) Mystery writer blog

Maybe two years (or so) I signed up for email updates from writer Julia Spencer-Fleming entitled "Kill from the Hill" for messages about her series featuring "Rev. Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne. It's possible it might be much further back though, double-checking the date when the book club read Spencer-Fleming's first book (In the Bleak Midwinter) it was in October 2004.

There's a new book in the series One was a Soldier due for release in April and Spencer-Fleming joined a blog featuring eight mystery writers now called JungleRed. I'm actually quite glad to read about the blog because (too often) I tend to go to a few websites and I'm done so it is good to see what else is available. The blog also features the work of Rhys Bowen, Jan Brogan, Roberta Isleib, Hallie Ephron, Deborah Crombie, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and Rosemary Harris.

The blog description reads (in part): Welcome to Jungle Red, a salon of eight mystery writers. Here, it's all about writing. And not writing. And our search for motive in life, love, fiction and reality.

All have books in the library system.