52 Books in 52 Weeks

I've decided to participate in the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge for 2012. I've been keeping track of the books I've read the past few years, aiming for at least 50 per year. Usually I just keep a list by author and title, but for this challenge I'll include a bit more information. Hope I can keep it up all year! I've been reading a lot of mysteries lately, so I'll aim for more variety this year.

1. Steeplechase: a Homer Kelly Mystery, by Jane Langton

St. Martin's Press (Thomas dunne Books), New York. 2005

"Strange or not, Homer and Mary are soon engaged in a steeplechase, a pursuit of the mysterious lost church. Luckily, the reader is in on the mystery.  This sequel to The Deserter; Murder at Gettysburg is set in 1868 in the town of Nashoba, Massachusetts, where the daughter of the Reverend Josiah Gideon cares for her husband, James, brutally disfigured in the last battle of the Civil War.  In the parsonage across the town green, the Reverend Horatio Biddle fumes at what he considers to be Josiah's brazen ways, while Mrs. Biddle spies on the outhouse in Josiah's backyard.

Central to the story is a gigantic tree, the Great Nashoba Chestnut.  Crucially intermingled with its fate are a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, the story "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," and the nonsense rhymes of Mother Goose.  Home and Mary Kelly will once again delve deep into the past to unravel puzzles in the present.

This novel includes charming drawings by the author and a number of nineteenth-century photographs.

Jane Langton, winner of the Bouchercon's 2000 Lifetime Achievement Award, is the author of seventeen other mysteries, all starring Homer and Mary Kelly.  Most are illustrated with her drawings of the real places where her fictional events happen.  She also writes children's books, notably the ongoing Hall Family Chronicles.  She writes, gardens, and carries rocks in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

2. Mr. Monk and The Two Assistants, a Novel by Lee Goldberg

New American Library (Obsidian Books), New York. 2007

Welcome to the series of all-new original mysteries starring Adrian Monk, the brilliant investigator who always knows when something's out of place.....

Former assistant, Sharona's back in San Francisco, ready to reclaim her place in Monk's life -- much to the chagrin of his current assistant, Natalie.

Strangely enough, right after I read this little book I saw one of the old tv series which included both assistants! It wasn't the same story as this book, but it was so funny for that episode to pop up right after I read this!