101 Books to Read Before You Die discussion

Post your thoughts on the second half here.

Still a bit of a confusing read for me. Trying to keep the endless stream of characters straight... I thought I need to build a spreadsheet. The concept of the book was clever but it reads as a very dated book. I find older detective novels are very one dimensional & not very realistic.

I just finished it. My review is here. And I completely agree with you. It's the first dud read I've had in this group.

I have stopped into three bookstores and none of them have had this book in stock. It sounds like I am not missing out on much, however. Maybe because this one is not the first in the series?

It's not the first in the series, but it is a stand alone novel. From what I understand, there are a couple characters that were in the previous books, like Marta and the inspector that came to visit him (forgot his name) but they play minor roles in the story so you aren't missing anything if you haven't read Tey before. I haven't and had no trouble with it.

Renee wrote: "It's not the first in the series, but it is a stand alone novel. From what I understand, there are a couple characters that were in the previous books, like Marta and the inspector that came to vi..."

Oh I see you really enjoyed it Renee. I guess I will continue to look for a copy of the book. I am a little behind on a few of the books. Still have to read Capote, Burgess, and Ishiguro. So I am behind.

I have to catch up on a few too. I had trouble finding The Remains of the Day on Kindle or at the library, so have to catch up on that one and a few of the earlier group reads from before I joined.

Renee wrote: "I have to catch up on a few too. I had trouble finding The Remains of the Day on Kindle or at the library, so have to catch up on that one and a few of the earlier group reads from before I joined."

If you like, I can pay it forward and send a copy of Remains of the Day. I purchased a used copy for the read.

Well, I finished. I thought it was a fun, quick, enjoyable read, but nothing so awsome that I would expect it on 101 books type list.

I too finished and didnt like it a bit. It was like reading a book about a person who's reading books, to solve mystery which is actually not a mystery at the end :(
I didnt like it a bit, i only understood about how the next heir to the throne is decided. And some royal family trees that too i had to search in the internet :(

I'm about 60% finished, and I'm finding it to be a very slow read. I can't believe it was ranked as one of the top 5 mystery novels of all time!

I've finished this and I thought it was a really inventive idea for a mystery. The fact that the story never left the room allows the imagination to follow the twists and turns of the intrigue of the middle ages. I suppose I have a good enough grounding in English History, so knew enough to keep the main characters straight. There is also the idea that this kind of rehabilitation of Richard III is no longer a novelty, I can think of any number of books, both fact and fiction, that deal with this period and try to solve the mystery, or present a fictional version of what might have happened.
I listened to it, as narrated by Derek Jacobi and the gusto with which he did all the female voices and accents of the characters was excellent. I thought the humour was nicely judged. I don;t feel I missed anything by not having read the other books in the series - this strikes me as being so atypical that it could always stand alone.
All in all, I'm most pleased to have listened to it.

I wonder if listening to it made the difference? I also listened and found it delightful! But, I have enough background knowledge of the English monarchy in that period to have an idea of who some of the players are, so it was a little easier to keep straight. Mostly, the names all blended together, but I think the narrator just made them sound like those individuals weren't all that important, but rather the fun of "solving" the mystery. It was fun, playful, made fun of monarchy and politics in general, yet had enough seriousness to make it compelling. I will definitely be reading more of this series, if for nothing better than a fun little jaunt through a mystery!

I agree, however, that it's certainly not the calibre of literature that we've come to expect from this list, and I have no idea why it was included.