Book Bingo 2025: March

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

This bingo card was created by kingstoken. More about the challenge here: https://kingstoken.dreamwidth.org/109837.html



ebook/audiobook: The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer. 8 hours. Narrated by Paul Boehmer. This is the story Abdel Kader Haidara and the hundreds of ordinary Malians who, at great personal danger, endeavored to save the ancient, fabled manuscripts of Timbuktu from destruction by Islamic jihadists. This story is the beginning and the end of the book. In the middle, the book wanders to a detailed history of Islamic fundamentalism in Northern Africa, which was interesting, too. Good narration. [I am also trying to do as many squares as I can of garonne's 2025 Book Bingo here: https://garonne.dreamwidth.org/58219.html so I think this qualifies as G-N-2: Non-fiction about new-to-me-topic.]

Name in the Title: Gandhi: My Life is My Message by Jason Quinn (Sachin Nagar, illustrator). A graphic novel biography of Gandhi.

Thriller/Suspense: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carré. 13 hours. Narrated by Michael Jayston. The fifth (and most famous?) of the George Smiley British spymaster series. [Also for G-B-5: a spy thriller]

Crime/Mystery: Death and the Conjuror by Tom Mead. First of excellent 1930's/1940's series of English mysteries with amateur sleuth retired magician Joseph Spectator and official sleuth Inspector Flint.

Comments

[smallhobbit]

I'm impressed we both filled the same square with the Le Carre.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I thought I had read it, I've read others in the series, but it only took me a few minutes to realize I hadn't. I have seen the film, so it was difficult not to imagine Cumberbatch as Guillam.

[smallhobbit]

I have the same problem! I've just started 'The Honourable Schoolboy' which is the next in the series.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Ah, I think I told myself 'I've read the one that was a movie' but I think I've read The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (which was a movie with Richard Burton).

[shipperslist]

Death and the Conjuror

Ohh this sounds interesting!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I highly recommend the series. It looks like a rather ordinary series but something about the writing and the use of the magic tricks and the old fashioned fair play makes it very, very appealing.

[kingstoken]

Looking good!

[garonne]

Ooh, that Tom Mead series looks intriguing. I've been looking for something enjoyable and not too heavy to read.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. There is nothing about it on the surface that suggests it's better than any other period procedural but for some reason it holds my attention much stronger than the average mystery novel. So I recommend it!