Review: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

 

The Mysterious Affair at Styles is Agatha Christie's first published novel and introduces readers to her famous hero, Hercules Poirot, along with a couple of his stalwart sidekicks, Detective Chief Inspector James Japp and Captain Arthur Hastings, who narrates.

Hastings – who fancies himself an amateur sleuth – happens to be visiting friends at Styles Court, their English country manor, when a mysterious death occurs. His friend Poirot, a WWI refugee from Belgium, happens to be billeted in the local village, et voilà, the two join forces to unravel the complicated mystery. With a dead matriarch, her shady younger husband, two step-sons, various dependants and family retainers, the enticing wife of a neighboring farmer, and assorted villagers, there are plenty of possible suspects.

At times, the long story gets a little too complicated, with red herrings swimming all over the place and clues overlapping every which way. But there are a few very good twists, some clever scenes, and many funny bits. The book proves Christie a master of the genre from the get go.

OTHER REVIEWS

dog eared copy

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

This was the first book I read for the 2012 Vintage Mystery Challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block.

My Book Reviews by Title

My book reviews, in alphabetic order by title. The title links go to the reviews.

AAAAAAAAAA

Abbeville by Jack Fuller
The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (National Book Award)
Advise and Consent by Allen Drury (Pulitzer Prize)
After Dinner Speaking by Fawcett Boom
The Age of Reagan, Vol. II  by Steven F. Hayward
Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington
All Mortal Flesh by Julia Spencer-Fleming
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren (Pulitzer Prize)
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (National Book Award; NBCC Award)
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham
An American Map by Anne-Marie Oomen
American Rust by Philip Meyer
American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields by Rowan Jacobsen
Angler Management: The Day I Died While Fly Fishing and Other Essays by Jack Ohman
The Anti-Death League by Kinglsey Amis 
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Another Way the River Has by Robin Cody
Ambassadors, The by Henry James
The Amish Cook at Home by Lovina Eicher
America, America by Ethan Canin
The Assistant by Bernard Malamud
Au Revoir to All That by Michael Steinberger

BBBBBBBBBB

Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan  
Banker by Dick Francis 
Basil's Dream by Christine Hale
Bech: A Book by John Updike
Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black by Nadine Gordimer
The Beggar by Naguib Mahfouz
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (Costa BOTY)
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (Orange Prize; PEN/Faulkner Award)
Burmese Lessons: A True Love Story by Karen Connelly
Black Boy (American Hunger) by Richard Wright
Blackbird, Farewell by Robert Greer
Black Jews, Jews, and Other Heroes by Howard Lenhoff
Blue Planet in Green Shackles by Vaclav Klaus
Blue River by Ethan Canin
The Bone People by Keri Hulme (Booker Prize)
Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd (James Tait Black)
Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (Pulitzer Prize) 
The Brothers K by David James Duncan

CCCCCCCCCC

Carry Yourself Back to Me by Deborah Reed
Cathedral by Nelson DeMille
The Centaur by John Updike (National Book Award)
A Century of November by W. D. Wetherell
Changing Places by David Lodge
The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook (Edgar Award)
Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (Edgar Award)
City Limits: Walking Portland's Boundary by David Oates
Classic Spanish Cooking: Recipes for Mastering the Spanish Kitchen by Elisabeth Luard
Clown Girl by Monica Drake
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (National Book Award) 
The Complete Short Stories by Ernest Hemingway
Corked by Kathryn Borel
Crescent City by Belva Plain
Crusader's Cross by James Lee Burke

DDDDDDDDDD

To Darkness and to Death by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Deaf Sentence by David Lodge
Death by the Glass by Nadia Gordon
Delights and Prejudices: A Memoir with Recipes by James Beard
Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell
Dress You Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
Drood by Dan Simmons

EEEEEEEEEE

Echoes by Maeve Binchy
Eden Springs by Laura Kasischke
Empire Falls by Richard Russo (Pulitzer Prize winner)
English Major, The by Jim Harrison
Entre Nous: A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl by Debra Ollivier
Every Bitter Thing by Leighton Gage
Every Day Drinking by Kingsley Amis
Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front by Joel Salatin  
Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman

FFFFFFFFFF

The Farmer's Daughter by Jim Harrison
Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce (notes, not a review)
The Fire by Katherine Neville
The Fixer by Bernard Malamud (National Book Award winner; Pulitzer Prize winner)
The Flâneur  by Edmund White
The Floating Opera by John Barth
Food Lover's Guide to Portland by Liz Crain 
The Food of France by Waverley Root   

Forbidden Bread by Erica Johnson-Debeljak
Foreigners by Caryl Phillips
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Letham
42 States of Grace: A Woman's Journey by Maureen Hovenkotter 
The Fourth Hand by John Irving
Franklin and Lucy by Joseph Persico
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin

GGGGGGGGGG

G by John Berger (Booker Prize; James Tait Black Memorial Prize)  
A Geography of Secrets by Frederick Reuss
George Passant by C. P. Snow 
Gifted by Nikita Lalwani
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (NBCC Award ; Pulitzer Prize)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Golden Bowl by Henry James
Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth (National Book Award)
Good for the Jews by Debra Spark
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
The Grail: A Year Ambling & Shambling Through an Oregon Vineyard in Pursuit of the Best Pinot Noir Wine in the Whole Wild World by Brian Doyle
A Grave Talent by Laurie King
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society  by Mary Ann Shaffe

HHHHHHHHHH

The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams (National Book Award winner)
Hallam's War by Elisabeth Payne Rosen
Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Havoc in its Third Year by Ronan Bennett
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
High Stakes by Dick Francis 
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Homer and Langley  by E. L. Doctorow
The House of Mondavi by Julia Flynn Siler
How Far Can You Go? by David Lodge
How's Your Glass? by Kingsley Amis
How to Find Morels by Milan Pelouch
How to Save Your Own Life by Erica Jong
The Human Stain by Philip Roth (PEN/Faulkner Award)
Humbolt's Gift by Saul Bellow (Pulitzer Prize)

IIIIIIIIII

The Ice Chorus by Sarah Stonich
The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville (Orange Prize)
The I Hate to Cook Book by Peg Bracken
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Incidents in the Rue Laguier by Anita Brookner
In Hovering Flight by Joyce Hinnefeld
Indian Summer by John Knowles
The Innocent by Ian McEwan
Inside the Red Mansion by Oliver August
The Islands of Divine Music by John Addiego
The Italian Lover by Robert Hellinga

JJJJJJJJJJ

The James Joyce Murder by Amanda Cross  
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand by Richard Reeves
Joker One by Donovan Campbell
Judgment Calls by Alafair Burke
Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby 
Justice Denied by Marci A. Hamilton

KKKKKKKKKK

LLLLLLLLLL

The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones
The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire by C.M. Mayo
Leaving Brooklyn by Lynn Sharon Schwartz
The Letter from Death by Lillian Moats
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann(National Book Award)
Life & Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee (Booker Prize winner)
Little Green Men by Christopher Buckley
Living the 7 Habits by Stephen Covey
Locations by Jan Morris
Look Great, Feel Great by Joyce Meyer
Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (National Book Award)
The Losing Role by Steve Anderson   
Lost in Translation by Nicole Mones
Lunatic Express: Discovering the World . . . via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes by Carl Hoffman

MMMMMMMMMM

The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington (Pulitzer Prize winner)
The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester
Maps and Shadows by Krysia Jopek
March by Geraldine Brooks (Pulitzer Prize winner)
The Marmot Drive by John Hersey
Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser (Pulitzer Prize winner)
Massacred for Gold by Gregory Nokes
The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt by Rulke Langer
Middle Passage by Charles Johnson (National Book Award)
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (Booker Prize winner)
Missing Mom by Joyce Carol Oates
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Money by Martin Amis
My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman
My Life in France Julia Child
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl

NNNNNNNNNN

The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
Native America Discovered and Conquered by Robert Miller
Nat Tate: An American Artist, 1928 – 1960, William Boyd 
The New Confessions by William Boyd
New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith
99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939 by Anthony Burgess 

OOOOOOOOOO

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Pulitzer Prize)
On Beauty by Zadie Smith (Orange Prize)
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
On Drink by Kingsley Amis
One City's Wilderness by Marcy Cottrell Houle     

One Fat Englishman by Kingsley Amis
One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming

Origin by Diana Abu-Jaber

PPPPPPPPPP

The Palace Council by Stephen Carter
Paul Newman: A Life by Shaun Levy
Peaceful Places, New York City by Evelyn Kanter
The Photograph by Penelope Lively
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson
A Plague of Secrets by John Lescroart 
Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth 
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
A Portait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Portland Noir, edited by Kevin Sampsell

QQQQQQQQQQ

RRRRRRRRRR

The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham
Real Cooking, by George! by George Jacobs
Real Women, Real Wisdom: A Journey into the Feminine Soul, edited by Maureen Hovenkotter
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurie
The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies  
Red Square by Martin Cruz Smith
The Reluctant Detective by Marth Ockley  
Resistance Fighter by Jorgen Kieler
Restless by William Boyd
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

SSSSSSSSSS

Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth (Booker Prize)
Saving Stanley: The Brickman Stories by Scott Nadelson
Scavenger Reef by Laurence Shames
Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepard
The Sea by John Banville (Booker Prize)
The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (Booker Prize)
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (Costa BOTY)
Second Wind by Dick Francis
Secret Portland by Ann Carroll Burgess
7 Wheelchairs by Gary Presley
The Shack by William P. Young
The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher
Shipwrecks, Monsters, and Mysteries of the Great Lakes by Ed Butts  
Siddartha by Hermann Hesse
The Silver Palate Cookbook by Sheila Lukins and Julie Russo
A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
The Size of the World by Joan Silber
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
A Small Fortune by Audrey Braun
Small Island by Andrea Levy (Costa BOTY; Orange Prize)
So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson
Sophie's Choice by William Styron (National Book Award)
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Spirit of the Place by Samuel Shem
Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson  
The Stettheimer Dollhouse by Shiela Clark (Ed.)
The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (NBCC Award; Pulitzer Prize winner)
The Studs Lonigan Trilogy by James Farrell
Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways by Debra Prinzing
A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor (Pulitzer Prize) 

TTTTTTTTTT


The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penneyb (Costa BOTY)
Theirs Was the Kingdom by R.F. Delderfield
Therapy, David Lodge
Therese Raquin by Elim Zola
Thomas Paine by Craig Nelson
365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life by John Kralik
Three Loves by A. J. Cronin
The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke
Titus Alone by Mervyn Peake
Titus Groan by Mervin Peake
The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care by Sally Pipes 
Towers of Gold by Frances Dinkelspiel
The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley
The Truth About Obamacare by Sally Pipes

UUUUUUUUUU

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriette Beecher Stowe
Underworld by Don DeLillo
Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell

VVVVVVVVVV

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
Very Bad Men by Harry Dolan
Venusberg by Anthony Powell 

WWWWWWWWWW

The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain published by Words Without Borders Anthologies
Wall Street by Steve Fraser
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
Water the Bamboo, by Greg Bell
A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson 
The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips
Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchey
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Ryhs
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Booker Prize; NBCC Award)  
Worth Dying For by Lee Child 

XYZXYZXYZX

A Year in the World by Frances Mayes
A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris

NOTES

Last updated on January 19, 2011.

If you would like your reviews of any of these books listed on my review post, please leave a comment on the review post itself, with a link, and I will add it.

My Book Reviews by Author

My book reviews, in alphabetic order by author.  The title links go to the reviews.

AAAAAAAAAA

Kathryn Aalto, Writing Wild: Women Poets, Ramblers, and Mavericks Who Shape How We See the Natural World 

Diana Abu-Jaber, Origin
Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
John Addiego, The Islands of Divine Music

Pat McCord Amacher, The Only Woman in the Room: The Norma Paulus Story 
Kinglsey Amis, The Anti-Death League
Nelson Algren, The Man With the Golden Arm (National Book Award)
Kingsley Amis, Every Day Drinking
Kingsley Amis, How's Your Glass?
Kingsley Amis, On Drink
Kingsley Amis, One Fat Englishman
Martin Amis, Money
Steve Anderson, The Losing Role  
The Preserve by Steve Anderson

Juan Mari Arzak and Elena Arzak, Arzak + Arzak

Kate Atkinson, Behind the Scenes at the Museum (Costa BOTY)
Kate Atkinson, Started Early, Took My Dog  
Oliver August, Inside the Red Mansion  

BBBBBBBBBB

Mark Bailey, Of All the Gin Joints: Stumbling through Hollywood History 

John Banville, The Sea (Booker Prize)
Julien Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
Ava Barry, Windhall

Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture (Costa BOTY)

John Barth, The Floating Opera
Michael and Ariane Batterberry, On the Town in New York
James Beard, Delights and Prejudices: A Memoir with Recipes
Greg Bell, Water the Bamboo
Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March (National Book Award)
Saul Bellow, Humbolt's Gift (Pulitzer Prize)
Saul Bellow, Mr. Sammler's Planet (National Book Award)
Ronan Bennett, Havoc in its Third Year
John Berger, G (Booker Prize; James Tait Black Memorial Prize)  
Maeve Binchy, Echoes
Maeve Binchy, Nights of Rain and Stars 

Maeve Binchy, Whitethorn Woods
Cara Black, Murder in Belleville
Harold Bloom, How to Read and Why
Michael Bond, Monsieur Pamplemousse Investigates
Fawcett Boom, After Dinner Speaking
Kathryn Borel, Corked
William Boyd, Brazzaville Beach (James Tait Black Memorial Prize)
William Boyd, Nat Tate: An American Artist, 1928 – 1960 
William Boyd, The New Confessions 
William Boyd, Restless
Peg Bracken, The I Hate to Cook Book
Audrey Braun, Fortune's Deadly Descent
Audry Braun, A Small Fortune
Anita Brookner, Incidents in the Rue Laguier
Geraldine Brooks, March (Pulitzer Prize)
Eleanor Brown, The Light of Paris 

Christopher Buckley, Little Green Men
Christopher Buckley, Make Russia Great Again 

Ann Carroll Burgess, Secret Portland
Anthony Burgess, 99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939   
Alafair Burke, Judgment Calls
James Lee Burke, Crusader's Cross
James Lee Burke, Swan Peak
James Lee Burke, The Tin Roof Blowdown
Ed Butts, Shipwrecks, Monsters, and Mysteries of the Great Lakes  

CCCCCCCCCC

Taylor Caldwell, A Pillar of Iron 

Stella Cameron, Cold

Donovan Campbell, Joker One
Ethan Canin, America, America
Ethan Canin, Blue River
Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda (Booker Prize)
Stephen Carter, The Palace Council
Margaret Cezair-Thompson, The Pirate's Daughter
Whittaker Chambers, Witness
John Cheever, The Stories of John Cheever (NBCC Award; Pulitzer Prize)
Julia Child, My Life in France
Lee Child, Worth Dying For
Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Agatha Christie, The Tuesday Club Murders
Sheila Clark, The Stettheimer Dollhouse
Robin Cody, Another Way the River Has
J.M. Coetzee, Life & Times of Michael K (Booker Prize)
Karen Connelly, Burmese Lessons: A True Love Story
Barnaby Conrad, The World of Herb Caen: San Francisco 1938 – 1997
Thomas H. Cook, The Chatham School Affair (Edgar Award)
Stephen Covey, Living the 7 Habits
Liz Crain, Food Lover's Guide to Portland
A. J. Cronin, Three Loves
Amanda Cross, The James Joyce Murder   

DDDDDDDDDD

Roald Dahl, My Uncle Oswald
Robertson Davies, The Rebel Angels
Robertson Davies, What's Bred in the Bone
H. L. Davis, Honey in the Horn 

Erica Johnson-Debeljak, Forbidden Bread
R.F. Delderfield, Theirs Was the Kindgom
Nelson DeMille, The Gate House
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Charles Dickens, Hard Times
Joan Didion, Play It As It Lays
Don DeLillo, Underworld
Nelson DeMille, Cathedral
Bernard DeVoto, The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto
Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
E. L. Doctorow, Homer and Langley
Frances Dinklespiel, Towers of Gold
Harry Dolan, Bad Things Happen    
Harry Dolan, Very Bad Men
Lian Dolan, The Sweeney Sisters 

Michael Dorris, A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
Brian Doyle, The Grail: A Year Ambling & Shambling Through an Oregon Vineyard in Pursuit of the Best Pinot Noir Wine in the Whole Wild World
Monica Drake, Clown Girl
Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie
Allen Drury, Advise and Consent (Pulitzer Prize)
Daphne du Maurie, Rebecca
David James Duncan, The Brothers K  

EEEEEEEEEE

Lovina Eicher, The Amish Cook at Home
Tina Egnoski, Burn Down this World 

Anne Enright, The Gathering

FFFFFFFFFF

Anne Fadiman, Ex Libris
Digene Farrar, Not My Secret to Keep: A Memoir of Healing from Childhood Sexual Abuse 

James Farrell, The Studs Lonigan Trilogy
William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
Sebastian Faulks, A Week in December
Julian Fellows, Snobs 

Kathleen Flinn, The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears in Paris at the World's Most Famous Cooking School  

Ken Follett, World Without End
E.M. Forster, Where Angels Fear to Tread
Karen Joy Fowler, The Jane Austen Book Club
Dick Francis, Banker 
Dick Francis, High Stakes 
Dick Francis, Second Wind
Steve Fraser, Wall Street
Michael Frayn, Skios

Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain (National Book Award)
Jack Fuller, Abbeville  

GGGGGGGGGG

Leighton Gage, Every Bitter Thing
Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm
Maria Giura, Celibate
Nadine Gordimer, Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black
Jaimy Gordon, Lord of Misrule (National Book Award)
Nadia Gordon, Death by the Glass
Wendy Gordon, Wrong Highway

Katharine Graham, Personal History
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
Günter Grass, The Tin Drum
Graham Greene, The Comedians
Graham Greene, May We Borrow Your Husband?
Robert Greer, Blackbird, Farwell
Kate Grenville, The Idea of Perfection (Orange Prize) 


HHHHHHHHHH

Christine Hale, Basil's Dream
Bill Hall, McCallandia

James Haller, Vie de France
Marci A. Hamilton, Justice Denied
Jim Harrison, The English Major
Jim Harrison, The Farmer's Daughter
Paul Harding, Tinkers (Pulitzer Prize)
Ty and Linda Hatfield and Wendy Thomas Russell, Parentshift: Ten Universal Truths that Will Change the Way You Raise Your Kids 

Steven F. Hayward, The Age of Reagan, Vol. II
Shirley Hazzard, Greene on Capri
Erica Heller, One Last Lunch: A Final Meal with Those Who Meant So Much to Us 

Robert Hellinga, The Italian Lover
Mark Helprin, Freddy and Fredericka
Ernest Hemingway, The Complete Short Stories
John Hersey, A Bell for Adano (Pulitzer Prize)
John Hersey, The Marmot Drive
Hermann Hesse, Siddartha
Michael C. Higgins, Exploring Wine Regions: Bordeaux and Argentina 

Joyce Hinnefeld, In Hovering Flight
Carl Hoffman, Lunatic Express: Discovering the World . . . via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes
Nick Hornby, High Fidelity
Nick Hornby, Juliet, Naked
Nick Hornby, The Polysyllabic Spree
Carolee J. Horning, The Journal of My Broken Life 

Marcy Cottrell Houle, One City's Wilderness  
Maureen Hovenkotter, 42 States of Grace: A Woman's Journey
Maureen Hovenkotter (Ed.), Real Women, Real Wisdom: A Journey into the Feminine Soul  
Susan Howatch, Glittering Images
Keri Hulme, The Bone People (Booker Prize)  

IIIIIIIIII  

John Irving, The Fourth Hand
Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man  

JJJJJJJJJJ

Ellen Jackson, The Lemon Cookbook: 50 Sweet & Savory Recipes to Brighten Every Meal 

Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle   
George Jacobs, Real Cooking, by George!
Rowan Jacobsen, American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields
Howard Jacobson, The Finkler Question (Booker Prize)
Henry James, The Ambassadors
Henry James, The Golden Bowl
P. D. James, The Black Tower
Celia Jeffries, Blue Desert

Agnes Jekyll, A Little Dinner Before the Play 

Charles Johnson, Middle Passage (National Book Award)
Marcia Riefer Johnston, Word Up!
Erica Jong, Fear of Flying
Erica Jong, How to Save Your Own Life
Erica Jong, Parachutes & Kisses
Krysia Jopek, Maps and Shadows    
James Joyce, A Portait of an Artist as a Young Man
James Joyce, Finnegans Wake  

KKKKKKKKKK

Evelyn Kanter, Peaceful Places, New York City
Laura Kasischke, Eden Springs
Jorgen Kieler, Resistance Fighter
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss
Laurie King, A Grave Talent
Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Vaclav Klaus, Blue Planet in Green Shackles
John Knowles, Indian Summer
Eric Kraft, What a Piece of Work I Am
John Kralik, 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

LLLLLLLLLL

Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies (Pulitzer Prize)
Nikita Lalwani, Gifted
Wally Lamb, She's Come Undone
Lorna Landvik, Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons
Rulke Langer, The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt
Stieg Larsson, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugh Laurie, The Gun Seller
Halldór Laxness, Independent People
John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
Ursula Le Guin, Lavinia
Dennis Lehane, Moonlight Mile
Howard Lenhoff, Black Jews, Jews, and Other Heroes
Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
John Lescroart, A Plague of Secrets  
Jonathan Letham, The Fortress of Solitude
Andrea Levy, Small Island (Costa BOTY; Orange Prize)
Shaun Levy, Paul Newman: A Life
Elinor Lipman, My Latest Grievance
A. J. Liebling, Just Enough Liebling
Penelope Lively, The Photograph
David Lodge, Changing Places
David Lodge, Deaf Sentence
David Lodge, Home Truths
David Lodge, How Far Can You Go?
David Lodge, Therapy
Elisabeth Luard, Classic Spanish Cooking: Recipes for Mastering the Spanish Kitchen   
Sheila Lukins, The Silver Palate Cookbook  
Sian Lye, The Real Hergé: The Inspiration Behind Tintin

MMMMMMMMMM

Naguib Mahfouz, The Beggar
Norman Mailer, The Naked and the Dead
Bernard Malamud, The Assistant
Bernard Malamud, The Fixer (National Book Award; Pulitzer Prize)
Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall (Booker Prize; NBCC Award)
Amy Maroney, A Place in the World 

Adrian Martin, Create Beautiful Food at Home 

Tovah Martin, The Garden in Every Sense and Season: A Year of Insights and Inspiration from My Garden 

Somerset Maugham, The Razor's Edge
Frances Mayes, A Year in the World
C.M. Mayo, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire
Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin (National Book Award)
Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses (National Book Award; NBCC Award)
Mary McCarthy, The Groves of Academe
Ian McEwan, The Innocent
Ian McEwan, On Chesil Beach
Thomas McNamee, Alice Waters and Chez Panisse
Jon Meacham, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
Peter Meech, Billy (the Kid) 

Herman Melville, Moby Dick
Sarah Mendivel, Sam's Theory 

Joyce Meyer, Look Great, Feel Great
Philip Meyer, American Rust
Margaret Millar, Beast in View
Robert Miller, Native America Discovered and Conquered
Sandra A. Miller, Trove

Steven Millhauser, Martin Dressler (Pulitzer Prize)
Joseph Mitchell, Up in the Old Hotel 
Lillian Moats, The Letter from Death
Nicole Mones, The Last Chinese Chef
Nicole Mones, Lost in Translation
Dede Montgomery, Humanity's Grace

Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul
Jan Morris, Locations
John Mortimer, Paradise Postponed
Tom Mueller, Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil
Iris Murdoch, The Book and the Brotherhood
Iris Murdoch, The Sea, the Sea (Booker Prize)
Kevin Myers, Hidden Falls

NNNNNNNNNN

Scott Nadelson, Saving Stanley: The Brickman Stories
Judy Nedry, The Difficult Sister 

Judy Nedry, The Man Who Wasn't There

Craig Nelson, Thomas Paine
Sara Nelson, So Many Books, So Little Time
Katherine Neville, The Fire
Gregory Nokes, Massacred for Gold  

OOOOOOOOOO

David Oates, City Limits: Walking Portland's Boundary
Joyce Carol Oates, Missing Mom  
Martha Ockley, The Reluctant Detective
Jack Ohman, Angler Management: The Day I Died While Fly Fishing and Other Essays
Debra Ollivier, Entre Nous: A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl
Anne-Marie Oomen, An American Map  

PPPPPPPPPP

Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago
Ann Patchett, Bel Canto (Orange Prize; PEN/Faulkner Award)
Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast
Mervyn Peake, Titus Alone
Mervin Peake, Titus Groan
Milan Pelouch, How to Find Morels
Stef Penney, The Tenderness of Wolves (Costa BOTY)
Joseph Persico, Franklin and Lucy
Caryl Phillips, Foreigners
Gin Phillips, The Well and the Mine
Rosamund Pilcher, The Shell Seekers
Sally Pipes, The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care
Sally Pipes, The Truth About Obamacare
Heidi Pitlor, Impersonation 

Belva Plain, Crescent City
Anthony Powell, Venusberg
Julie Powell, Julie and Julia
Gary Presley, 7 Wheelchairs
Christopher Priest, The Prestige
Debra Prinzing, Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways  

QQQQQQQQQQ  

RRRRRRRRRR

Tom Rachman, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers 

Ian Rankin, The Black Book
Deborah Reed, Carry Yourself Back to Me 
Deborah Reed, The Days When Birds Come Back 

Deborah Reed, Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan 

Deborah Reed, Things We Set on Fire 

Richard Reeves, John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand
Ruth Reichl, Comfort Me with Apples
Frederick Reuss, A Geography of Secrets
Kirsten Rian, Life Expectancy 

Susan Rieger, The Heirs

J. F. Riordan, A Small Earnest Question 

Marilynne Robinson, Gilead (NBCC Award; Pulitzer Prize)
Waverley Root, The Food of France  
Elisabeth Payne Rosen, Hallam's War
Philip Roth, Goodbye, Columbus (National Book Award)
Philip Roth, The Human Stain (PEN/Faulkner Award)
Philip Roth, The Plot Against America
Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children (Booker Prize)
Mary Doria Russell, Dreamers of the Day
Julie Russo, The Silver Palate Cookbook
Richard Russo, Empire Falls (Pulitzer Prize)
Jean Ryhs, Wide Sargasso Sea  

SSSSSSSSSS

Joel Salatin, Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front 
J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey
Kevin Sampsel, Editor, Portland Noir
Dorothy L. Sayers, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
Mary Ann Shaffe, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Lynn Sharon Schwartz, Leaving Brooklyn
David Sedaris, Dress You Family in Corduroy and Denim
Laurence Shames, Scavenger Reef
M. B. Shaw, Murder at the Castle

Samuel Shem, The Spirit of the Place
Adam Shepard, Scratch Beginnings
Steven Shomler, Portland Food Cart Stories 

Joan Silber, The Size of the World
Julia Flynn Siler, The House of Mondavi 
Dan Simmons, Drood
Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 
Julie Smith, New Orleans Mourning
Martin Cruz Smith, Red Square 
Zadie Smith, On Beauty (Orange Prize)
C. P. Snow, George Passant
C. P. Snow, A Time of Hope
Diana Souhami, No Modernism Without Lesbians 

Debra Spark, Good for the Jews
Julia Spencer-Fleming, All Mortal Flesh
Julia Spencer-Fleming, To Darkness and to Death
Julia Spencer-Fleming, One Was a Soldier
Peter Stark, Astoria

Wallace Stegner, The Spectator Bird (National Book Award)
Michael Steinberger, Au Revoir to All That
Lenhardt Stevens, The Hapless Valet
Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Susan Stonich, The Ice Chorus
Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance
Harriette Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin
Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge (Pulitzer Prize)
William Styron, Sophie's Choice  (National Book Award) 
Christina Sunley, The Tricking of Freya
Jacqueline Susann, Valley of the Dolls    

TTTTTTTTTT

Booth Tarkington, Alice Adams (Pulitzer Prize)
Booth Tarkington, The Magnificent Ambersons (Pulitzer Prize)  
Peter Taylor, A Summons to Memphis (Pulitzer Prize)
Sunday Taylor, The Anglophile's Notebook 

Wendy Thomas Russell and Ty and Linda Hatfield, Parentshift: Ten Universal Truths that Will Change the Way You Raise Your Kids 

Laura Thompson, Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford; The Biography

Lori Tobias, Storm Beat: A Journalist Reports from the Oregon Coast 

E. Kay Trimberger, Creole Son: An Adoptive Mother Untangles Nature & Nurture 

Anthony Trollope, Doctor Thorne
Lara Tupper, Off Island

Anne Tyler, Breathing Lessons (Pulitzer Prize)

UUUUUUUUUU

Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger (Booker Prize)
John Updike, Bech: A Book    
John Updike, The Centaur (National Book Award)
John Updike, A Month of Sundays

Shaun Usher, Lists of Note: An Eclectic Collection Deserving of a Wider Audience 

VVVVVVVVVV

Ilse van der Merwe, Cape Mediterranean: The Way We Love to Eat 

Gretel Van Wieren, Listening at Lookout Creek: Nature in Spiritual Practice

Abraham Verghese, Cutting for Stone
Carmen E Voillequé, Evolutionaries: Transformational Leadership: The Missing Link in Your Organizational Chart
Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five


WWWWWWWWWW

Jess Walter, Citizen Vince (Edgar Award)
Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men, (Pulitzer Prize)
Lawrence Weinstein, Grammar for a Full Life: How the Ways We Shape a Sentence Can Limit or Enlarge Us 

H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds
W. D. Wetherell, A Century of November
Edmund White, The Flâneur 
Nancy Willard, Things Invisible to See  

Thomas Williams, The Hair of Harold Roux (National Book Award)
Simon Winchester, The Man Who Loved China
Susan Winkler, Portrait of a Woman in White 

Don Winslow, The Winter of Frankie Machine
Reid Winslow, The Dead Bell

P. G. Wodehouse, A Prefect's Uncle
Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff
Karen Wolff, The Green Years 

Words Without Borders Anthologies (publisher), The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain
Richard Wright, Black Boy (American Hunger)  

XYZXYZXYZX

A Week in Yellowstone's Thorofare: A Journey Through the Remotest Place by Michael J. Yochim

William P. Young, The Shack
Peter Zheutlin, SPIN: A Novel Based on a (Mostly) True Story

Emil Zola, Therese Raquin

NOTES

Finally updated on January 12, 2022.

If you would like your reviews of any of these books listed on my review post, please leave a comment on the review post itself, with a link, and I will add it.