Play Book Tag discussion
Member ChallengeTracking 2016-20
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LibraryCin/Cindy's 2018 Challenges
2. CAT Challenges1. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind / William Kamkwamba. 4 stars
2. Big Stone Gap / Adriana Trigiani. 3.5 stars
3. Snow White Must Die / Nele Neuhaus. 4 stars
4. Perfume / Patrick Suskind. 2.25 stars
5. The Concubine's Children / Denise Chong. 4 stars
6. Bullied to Death / Sherokee Harriman. 4 stars
7. Sleep With the Lights On / Maggie Shayne. 4 stars
8. Generation Me / Jean M. Twenge. 4 stars
9. The Woman in White / Wilkie Collins. 3 stars
10. Little Girl Lost / Richard Aleas. 4 stars
11. Strangers on a Train / Patricia Highsmith. 3.5 stars
12. The Testament / John Grisham. 4 stars
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13. Red Heart Tattoo / Lurlene McDaniel. 3.75 stars
14. The Value of Nothing / Raj Patel. 3 stars
15. Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots / Jessica Soffer. 3.25 stars
16. Delia's Shadow / Jaime Lee Moyer. 4.25 stars
3. Mystery Subgenre1. Missoula / Jon Krakauer. 4 stars
2. Catch Me If You Can / Frank W. Abagnale. 3.5 stars
3. Charley's Web / Joy Fielding. 4 stars
4. Gone Without a Trace / Mary Torjussen. 4.5 stars
5. The Chamber / John Grisham. 3.5 stars
6. The Good Girl / Mary Kubica. 5 stars
7. Killer Instinct / S.E. Green. 4 stars
8. Sacrifice / S.J. Bolton. 4 stars
9. Immortal in Death / J.D. Robb. 3.5 stars
10. Pretend You Don't See Her / Mary Higgins Clark. 3.5 stars
11. Evermore / Alyson Noel. 4 stars
12. Weekend Warriors / Fern Michaels. 3.5 stars
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13. The Empty Chair / Jeffrey Deaver. 3 stars
4. Oh Canada! (Canadian Authors)1. Looks Can Kill / Valerie Walker. 3.5 stars
2. Those Girls / Chevy Stevens. 4.5 stars
3. Into the Silence / Wade Davis. 3.25 stars
4. Black Chuck / Regan McDonell. 4 stars
5. North of Normal / Cea Sunrise Person. 4 stars
6. The Headmaster's Wager / Vincent Lam. 3.5 stars
7. The Firebird / Susanna Kearsley. 3.75 stars
8. Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd / Alan Bradley. 3.5 stars
9. The Third Act / John Wilson. 3.5 stars
10. The Anatomy of Edouard Beaupre / Sarah Kathryn York. 4 stars
11. When Everything Feels Like the Movies / Raziel Reid. 3.5 stars
12. The Age of Hope / David Bergen. 4 stars
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13. The Blue Girl / Charles de Lint. 4 stars
14. Stones on a Grave / Kathy Kacer. 3.5 stars
5. Trim the TBR (On TBR 2+ years)1. Child of the Morning / Pauline Gedge. 3.25 stars
2. The Darkest Night / Ron Franscell. 3.75 stars
3. Jack of Fables. Vol. 1: The (Nearly) Great Escape / Bill Willingham. 4 stars
4. Deadliest Sea / Kalee Thompson. 4 stars
5. Cult Insanity / Irene Spencer. 3 stars
6. Leaving Microsoft to Change the World / John Wood. 3.5 stars
7. Pills and Starships / Lydia Millet. 3.5 stars
8. Belle Epoque / Elizabeth Ross. 4 stars
9. Dawn / Elie Wiesel. 2 stars
10. I'm Down / Mishna Wolff. 4 stars
11. The Psychopath Test / Jon Ronson. 3 stars
12. Heart's Blood / Juliet Marillier. 4 stars
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13. Breaking Out of Bedlam / Leslie Larson. 3.5 stars
6. Will it Ever End? (Continuing Series)1. Broken Harbor / Tana French. 4.5 stars
2. Fortune's Fool / Mercedes Lackey. 3.25 stars
3. Library of Souls / Ransom Riggs. 3.5 stars
4. Brimstone / Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. 3 stars
5. Thereby Hangs a Tail / Spencer Quinn. 4 stars
6. The Secret Place / Tana French. 3.5 stars
7. Crossed / Ally Condie. 3 stars
8. The Fiery Cross / Diana Gabaldon. 3.25 stars
9. Locke & Key. Vol. 5: Clockworks / Joe Hill. 4 stars
10. Finders Keepers / Stephen King. 4 stars
11. Follow Follow / Marilyn Singer. 4 stars
12. Daughter of Moloka'i / Alan Brennert. 4 stars
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13. Murder on the Half Shelf / Lorna Barrett. 3.5 stars
14. Are You My Mother? / Alison Bechdel. 2.5 stars
7. Off the Shelf (Print or E- Books I Own)1. Tiger Drive / Teri Case. 3.75 stars
2. The 8th Confession / James Patterson. 4 stars
3. The Courage Tree / Diane Chamberlain. 4 stars
4. French Lessons / Peter Mayle. 2.5 stars
5. Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder / Joanne Fluke. 3.5 stars
6. Jane of Lantern Hill / L.M. Montgomery. 3.5 stars
7. Milkrun / Sarah Mlynowski. 4 stars
8. The Paris Seamstress / Natasha Lester. 4 stars
9. Born Scared / Kevin Brooks. 3.5 stars
10. The Clockmaker's Daughter / Kate Morton. 4.5 stars
11. Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account / Miklos Nyiszli. 3.5 stars
12. H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil / Adam Selzer. 4 stars
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13. Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen / Susan Gregg Gilmore. 3.5 stars
14. The Snow Queen / Mercedes Lackey. 3.5 stars
8. Audio Books1. Before I Fall / Lauren Oliver. 4 stars
2. The Beekeeper's Apprentice / Laurie R. King. 2.5 stars
3. Fool Me Once / Harlan Coben. 3.5 stars
4. Peter the Great / Robert K. Massie. 2 stars
5. Where I Belong / Alan Doyle. 5 stars
6. The Museum of Extraordinary Things / Alice Hoffman. 2.5 stars
7. White Nights / Ann Cleeves. 2.25 stars
8. Conclave / Robert Harris. 3.5 stars
9. From the Corner of his Eye / Dean Koontz. 2.5 stars
10. The Supreme Macaroni Company / Adriana Trigiani. 3 stars
11. Suspect / Robert Crais. 3.5 stars
12. A Bridge Too Far / Cornelius Ryan. 2 stars
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13. The Red Chamber / Pauline A. Chen. 3.5 stars
14. We Were Liars / E. Lockhart. 3.5 stars
15. The Woman Who Smashed Codes / Jason Fagone. 3.5 stars
9. I'll Travel Virtually (Books Set in Other Countries - not Canada or USA)1. In the Kingdom of Ice / Hampton Sides. 4.5 stars
2. The Woman in Cabin 10 / Ruth Ware. 4.5 stars
3. Machete Season / Jean Hatzfeld. 3 stars
4. Number the Stars / Lois Lowry. 4 stars
5. Catherine the Great / Robert K. Massie. 3 stars
6. The Thirteen Problems / Agatha Christie. 2.5 stars
7. The Little Stranger / Sarah Waters. 3.75 stars
8. The Stowaway / Laurie Gwen Shapiro. 3.75 stars
9. The Poisoned Pilgrim / Oliver Potzsch. 3.5 stars
10. The Door / Magda Szabo. 3 stars
11. Everything is Illuminated / Jonathan Safran Foer. 1.5 stars
12. The Child / Fiona Barton. 4 stars
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13. Mata Hari's Last Dance / Michelle Moran. 3.5 stars
14. The Light Over London / Julia Kelly. 4 stars
15. The Suspect / Fiona Barton. 4 stars
10. Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My! (Animals)1. Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat / Hal Herzog. 4 stars
2. The Dogs of Babel / Carolyn Parkhurst. 3.5 stars
3. The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter / Holly Robinson. 3.5 stars
4. Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall... / Jim Ottaviani, Maris Wicks. 4 stars
5. The Cat Who Went to Paris / Peter Gethers. 4 stars
6. A Dog's Purpose / W. Bruce Cameron. 5 stars
7. The Sixth Extinction / Elizabeth Kolbert. 4 stars
8. Following Atticus / Tom Ryan. 3.5 stars
9. Chase / Linwood Barclay. 4 stars
10. The Mitten / Jan Brett. 3.5 stars
11. Escape / Linwood Barclay. 4 stars
12. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards / Lillian Jackson Braun. 3 stars
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13. Elephant Company / Vicki Constantine Croke. 4 stars
11. Truth is Stranger than Fiction (Nonfiction)1. Plastic: A Toxic Love Story / Susan Freinkel. 4 stars
2. Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood / William J. Mann. 3.5 stars
3. Mountains Beyond Mountains / Tracy Kidder. 3.5 stars
4. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu / Joshua Hammer. 2 stars
5. Weeds: In Defense of Nature's Most Unloved Plants / Richard Mabey. 3 stars
6. We Are the Romani People / Ian Hancock. 3.5 stars
7. Cleopatra: A Life / Stacy Schiff. 3 stars
8. In the Garden of Beasts / Erik Larson. 3.5 stars
9. 3,096 Days / Natascha Kampusch. 4 stars
10. The Tin Ticket / Deborah J. Swiss. 4 stars
11. The Wright Brothers / David McCullough. 3 stars
12. Destiny of the Republic / Candice Millard. 2.5 stars
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13. Into the Storm / Reed Timmer. 4 stars
14. The Great Typo Hunt / Jeff Deck, Benjamin D. Henson. 4 stars
12. KIT Challenges1. 20th Century Ghosts / Joe Hill. 4 stars
2. Jane Bites Back / Michael Thomas Ford. 3.5 stars
3. You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried / Susannah Gora. 4 stars
4. The Unquiet Past / Kelley Armstrong. 4 stars
5. Never Let You Go / Chevy Stevens. 4.5 stars
6. Sisters / Suzanne Goodwin. 3 stars
7. The Black Dahlia / James Ellroy. 2.5 stars
8. Blood & Beauty / Sarah Dunant. 2.5 stars
9. Doomsday Book / Connie Willis. 4.5 stars
10. The Heart's Invisible Furies / John Boyne. 4.5 stars
11. See You in a Hundred Years / Logan Ward. 4 stars
12. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow / Washington Irving. 3.75 stars
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13. And the Band Played On / Christopher Ward. 4 stars
14. Watching Edie / Camilla Way. 4 stars
13. Overflow1. The Storyteller / Jodi Picoult. 4 stars
2. Daughters of the Sea: Hannah / Kathryn Lasky. 4 stars
3. The Fifth Petal / Brunonia Barry. 4 stars
4. The Clan of the Cave Bear / Jean M. Auel. 3.75 stars
BingoDOG1. Title contains a person’s rank, real or fictional. Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account / Miklos Nyiszli. 3.5 stars
2. Story involves travel. In the Kingdom of Ice / Hampton Sides. 4.5 stars
3. A long-time TBR/TBR the longest. Machete Season / Jean Hatzfeld. 3 stars
4. Poetry or plays. Follow Follow / Marilyn Singer. 4 stars
5. New-to-you author. Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat / Hal Herzog. 4 stars
6. Autobiography/memoir. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind / William Kamkwamba. 4 stars
7. Book with a beautiful cover (in your opinion). China Dolls / Lisa See. 4 stars
8. Book that fits at least 2 KIT’s/CAT’s. The Radium Girls / Kate Moore. 5 stars
9. Related to the Pacific Ocean. Ghosts / Raina Telgemeier. 4 stars
10. Title contains something you would see in the sky. Number the Stars / Lois Lowry. 4 stars
11. Book bought in 2017 that hasn’t been read yet Those Girls / Chevy Stevens. 4.5 stars
12. Number in the title 20th Century Ghosts / Joe Hill. 4 stars
13. Book that is humorous. Where I Belong / Alan Doyle. 5 stars
14. Book on the 1001 list. Perfume / Patrick Suskind. 2.25 stars
15. LGBT central character. The Heart's Invisible Furies / John Boyne. 4.5 stars
16. Book set during a holiday. The Good Girl / Mary Kubica. 5 stars
17. Fat book - 500 plus pages. Into the Silence / Wade Davis. 3.25 stars
18. X somewhere in the title. Plastic: A Toxic Love Story / Susan Freinkel. 4 stars
19. Money in the title - any form of currency, type of payment, etc.... The Headmaster's Wager / Vincent Lam. 3.5 stars
20. Book published in 2018. Tiger Drive / Teri Case. 3.75 stars
21. Relative name in the title (aunt, niece, etc...). The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter / Holly Robinson. 3.5 stars
22. Originally in a different language. Snow White Must Die / Nele Neuhaus. 4 stars
23. Published more than 100 years ago. The Woman in White / Wilkie Collins. 3 stars
24. Title contains name of a famous person, real or fictional.In the Pleasure Groove: Love, Death & Duran Duran / John Taylor. 4 stars
25. Read a CAT (middle square). The Woman in Cabin 10 / Ruth Ware. 4.5 stars
ColourCAT:January: Black
- 20th Century Ghosts / Joe Hill. 4 stars
- In the Kingdom of Ice / Hampton Sides. 4.5 stars
- The Radium Girls / Kate Moore. 5 stars
February: Brown
- Big Stone Gap / Adriana Trigiani. 3.5 stars
March: Green
- The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter / Holly Robinson. 3.5 stars
- The Courage Tree / Diane Chamberlain. 4 stars
April: Yellow
- Brimstone / Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. 3 stars
- Perfume / Patrick Suskind. 2.25 stars
- French Lessons / Peter Mayle. 2.5 stars
May: Blue
- The Lake House / Kate Morton. 4 stars
- The Concubine's Children / Denise Chong. 4 stars
June: Purple
- Sisters / Suzanne Goodwin. 3 stars
July: Pink
- Milkrun / Sarah Mlynowski. 4 stars
August: Grey
- The Alice Network / Kate Quinn. 4.5 stars
- The Woman in White / Wilkie Collins. 3 stars
- The Door / Magda Szabo. 3 stars
September: Metallic
- Ink and Bone / Rachel Caine. 3.5 stars
- The Tin Ticket / Deborah J. Swiss. 4 stars
October: Orange
- Pretend You Don't See Her / Mary Higgins Clark. 3.5 stars
- The Testament / John Grisham. 4 stars
November: Red
- Red Heart Tattoo / Lurlene McDaniel. 3.75 stars
- H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil / Adam Selzer. 4 stars
December: White
- Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots / Jessica Soffer. 3.25 stars
- Elephant Company / Vicki Constantine Croke. 4 stars
- The Snow Queen / Mercedes Lackey. 3.5 stars
MysteryCAT:January: Nordic Mysteries
- The Woman in Cabin 10 / Ruth Ware. 4.5 stars
February: Female Cop/Sleuth/Detective
- The Beekeeper's Apprentice / Laurie R. King. 2.5 stars
- The 8th Confession / James Patterson. 4 stars
March: Global Mysteries
- Snow White Must Die / Nele Neuhaus. 4 stars
- Gone Without a Trace / Mary Torjussen. 4.5 stars
April: Classic and Golden Age Mysteries
- Perfume / Patrick Suskind. 2.25 stars
May: Mysteries involving Transit
- Strangers on a Train / Patricia Highsmith. 3.5 stars
*June: True Crime
- Bullied to Death / Judith A. Yates. 4 stars
- The Black Dahlia / James Ellroy. 2.5 stars
July: Police Procedurals
- Sleep With the Lights On / Maggie Shayne. 4 stars
- White Nights / Ann Cleeves. 2.25 stars
August: Historical Mysteries
- The Poisoned Pilgrim / Oliver Potzsch. 3.5 stars
- The Alice Network / Kate Quinn. 4.5 stars
- Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd / Alan Bradley. 3.5 stars
- The Woman in White / Wilkie Collins. 3 stars
September: Noir and Hard-Boiled Mysteries
- Little Girl Lost / Richard Aleas. 4 stars
October: Espionage
- Mata Hari's Last Dance / Michelle Moran.
November: Cozy Mysteries
- The Cat Who Could Read Backwards / Lillian Jackson Braun. 3 stars
- Murder on the Half Shelf / Lorna Barrett. 3.5 stars
December: Futuristic/Fantastical Mysteries
- Delia's Shadow / Jaime Lee Moyer. 4.25 stars
RandomCAT:January: Ack! I’ve been hit! (Book bullets)
- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind / William Kamkwamba. 4 stars
- The Radium Girls / Kate Moore. 5 stars
- Missoula / Jon Krakauer. 4 stars
February: Laissez Vous les Bons Temps Roulez
- The Dogs of Babel / Carolyn Parkhurst. 3.5 stars
March: Ripped from the Headlines
- Into the Silence / Wade Davis. 3.25 stars
- Machete Season / Jean Hatzfeld. 3 stars
- Snow White Must Die / Nele Neuhaus. 4 stars
- Fool Me Once / Harlan Coben. 3.5 stars
- Charley's Web / Joy Fielding. 4 stars
- The Courage Tree / Diane Chamberlain. 4 stars
April: April Loves Books
- Black Chuck / Regan McDonell. 4 stars
May: Spring is All Around
- Weeds: In Defense of Nature's Most Unloved Plants / Richard Mabey. 3 stars
June: Unusual Narrator
- A Dog's Purpose / W. Bruce Cameron. 5 stars
July: Getting to Know You (Generations)
- Generation Me / Jean M. Twenge. 4 stars
August: Let's Go to the Mountains
- Following Atticus / Tom Ryan. 3.5 stars
September: Happy Birthday
- The Mitten / Jan Brett. 3.5 stars
October: Playing Cards
- Heart's Blood / Juliet Marillier. 4 stars
November: It's All About the Money
- The Value of Nothing / Raj Patel. 3 stars
- H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil / Adam Selzer. 4 stars
December: Secret Santa
- Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen / Susan Gregg Gilmore. 3.5 stars
AlphaKIT:Year-Long: X, Z
January: V, M
- Looks Can Kill / Valerie Walker. 3.5 stars
- The Radium Girls / Kate Moore. 5 stars
- Missoula / Jon Krakauer. 4 stars
February: P, J
- The Dogs of Babel / Carolyn Parkhurst. 3.5 stars
- The 8th Confession / James Patterson. 4 stars
March: F, I
- Jane Bites Back / Michael Thomas Ford. 3.5 stars
- Into the Silence / Wade Davis. 3.25 stars
- In the Pleasure Groove / John Taylor. 4 stars
- Fool Me Once / Harlan Coben. 3.5 stars
- Charley's Web / Joy Fielding. 4 stars
April: Y, U
- You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried / Susannah Gora. 4 stars
- The Unquiet Past / Kelley Armstrong. 4 stars
May: Q, K
- The Lake House / Kate Morton. 4 stars
- Thereby Hangs a Tail / Spencer Quinn. 4 stars
June: G, R
- The Good Girl / Mary Kubica. 5 stars
- Sisters / Suzanne Goodwin. 3 stars
- Ghosts / Raina Telgemeier. 4 stars
July: S, A
- Sleep With the Lights On / Maggie Shayne. 4 stars
- Crossed / Ally Condie. 3 stars
- Milkrun / Sarah Mlynowski. 4 stars
- White Nights / Ann Cleeves. 2.25 stars
- Killer Instinct / S.E. Green. 4 stars
- The Stowaway / Laurie Gwen Shapiro. 3.75 stars
- Blood & Beauty / Sarah Dunant. 2.5 stars
August: O, D
- The Poisoned Pilgrim / Oliver Potzsch. 3.5 stars
- Doomsday Book / Connie Willis. 4.5 stars
- From the Corner of his Eye / Dean Koontz. 2.5 stars
- The Door / Magda Szabo. 3 stars
September: B, E
- Dawn / Elie Wiesel. 2 stars
- The Heart's Invisible Furies / John Boyne. 4.5 stars
- The Mitten / Jan Brett. 3.5 stars
- Everything is Illuminated / Jonathan Safran Foer. 1.5 stars
October: N, L
- Evermore / Alyson Noel. 4 stars
- See You in a Hundred Years / Logan Ward. 4 stars
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow / Washington Irving. 3.75 stars
- Escape / Linwood Barclay. 4 stars
November: T, H
- Into the Storm / Reed Timmer. 4 stars
- H. H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil / Adam Selzer. 4 stars
December: C, W
- And the Band Played On / Christopher Ward. 4 stars
- We Were Liars / E. Lockhart. 3.5 stars
- Watching Edie / Camilla Way. 4 stars
- Elephant Company / Vicki Constantine Croke. 4 stars
- The Woman Who Smashed Codes / Jason Fagone. 3.5 stars
ScaredyKIT:January: Gothic
- 20th Century Ghosts / Joe Hill. 4 stars
February: Survival/Disaster
- Those Girls / Chevy Stevens. 4.5 stars
March: Weird Fiction
- Library of Souls / Ransom Riggs. 3.5 stars
April: Supernatural
- Brimstone / Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. 3 stars
- The Unquiet Past / Kelley Armstrong. 4 stars
- Perfume / Patrick Suskind. 2.25 stars
May: Close to Home
- Never Let You Go / Chevy Stevens. 4.5 stars
June: Adapted to Film
- The Black Dahlia / James Ellroy. 2.5 stars
July: Science/Techno Thrillers
- Wool / Hugh Howey. 3.5 stars
August: Series
- Locke & Key. Vol. 5: Clockworks / Joe Hill. 4 stars
- Chase / Linwood Barclay. 4 stars
September: Stephen King and Family
- Finders Keepers / Stephen King. 4 stars
October: Ghost Stories
- Evermore / Alyson Noel. 4 stars
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow / Washington Irving. 3.75 stars
November: Serial Killers
- H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil / Adam Selzer. 4 stars
December: Psychological Suspense
- Watching Edie / Camilla Way. 4 stars
Trim the TBR/Roundtuit1. The Woman Who Can't Forget / Jill Price
2. Split Estate / Charlotte Bacon
3. Alfred Hitchcock: a Life in Darkness and Light / Patrick McGilligan
5. Lime Tree Can’t Bear Orange / Amanda Smyth
10. Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding… / by Gail Steketee
13. Lies of the Heart / Michelle Boyajian
1. Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat / Hal Herzog. 4 stars
2. In the Kingdom of Ice / Hampton Sides. 4.5 stars
3. Child of the Morning / Pauline Gedge. 3.25 stars
4. The Darkest Night / Ron Franscell. 3.75 stars
5. Big Stone Gap / Adriana Trigiani. 3.5 stars
6. Jane Bites Back / Michael Thomas Ford. 3.5 stars
7. Machete Season / Jean Hatzfeld. 3 stars
8. The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter / Holly Robinson. 3.5 stars
9. Small Beneath the Sky / Lorna Crozier. 3.5 stars
10. Charley's Web / Joy Fielding. 4 stars
11. Jack of Fables. Vol. 1: The (Nearly) Great Escape / Bill Willingham. 4 stars
12. Deadliest Sea / Kalee Thompson. 4 stars
13. Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall... / Jim Ottaviani, Maris Wicks. 4 stars
14. Peter the Great: His Life and World / Robert K. Massie. 2 stars
15. The Unquiet Past / Kelley Armstrong. 4 stars
16. China Dolls / Lisa See. 4 stars.
17. French Lessons / Peter Mayle. 2.5 stars
18. The Lake House / Kate Morton. 4 stars
19. The Cat Who Went to Paris / Peter Gethers. 4 stars
20. Cult Insanity / Irene Spencer. 3 stars
21. The Headmaster's Wager / Vincent Lam. 3.5 stars
22. The Concubine's Children / Denise Chong. 4 stars
23. We Are the Romani People / Ian Hancock. 3.5 stars
24. Yarrow / Charles de Lint. 3.5 stars
25. Leaving Microsoft to Change the World / John Wood. 3.5 stars
26. Sisters / Suzanne Goodwin. 3 stars
27. The Firebird / Susanna Kearsley. 3.75 stars
28. Sleep With the Lights On / Maggie Shayne. 4 stars
29. Pills and Starships / Lydia Millet. 3.5 stars
30. Crossed / Ally Condie. 3 stars
31. Milkrun / Sarah Mlynowski. 4 stars
32. Generation Me / Jean M. Twenge. 4 stars
33. Belle Epoque / Elizabeth Ross. 4 stars
34. Blood & Beauty / Sarah Dunant. 2.5 stars
35. Following Atticus / Tom Ryan. 3.5 stars
36. Sacrifice / S.J. Bolton. 4 stars
37. 3,096 Days / Natascha Kampusch. 4 stars
38. Dawn / Elie Wiesel. 2 stars
39. The Mitten / Jan Brett. 3.5 stars
40. Little Girl Lost / Richard Aleas. 4 stars
41. Finders Keepers / Stephen King. 4 stars
42. I'm Down / Mishna Wolff. 4 stars
43. The Supreme Macaroni Company / Adriana Trigiani. 3 stars
44. The Tin Ticket / Deborah J. Swiss. 4 stars
45. The Wright Brothers / David McCullough. 3 stars
46. Pretend You Don't See Her / Mary Higgins Clark. 3.5 stars
47. See You in a Hundred Years / Logan Ward. 4 stars
48. The Psychopath Test / Jon Ronson. 3 stars
49. The Anatomy of Edouard Beaupre / Sarah Kathryn York. 4 stars
50. When Everything Feels Like the Movies / Raziel Reid. 3.5 stars
51. The Age of Hope / David Bergen. 4 stars
52. Weekend Warriors / Fern Michaels. 3.5 stars
53. Heart's Blood / Juliet Marillier. 4 stars
54. The Painted Girls / Cathy Marie Buchanan. 3.5 stars
55. Red Heart Tattoo / Lurlene McDaniel. 3.75 stars
56. Breaking Out of Bedlam / Leslie Larson. 3.5 stars
57. Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account / Miklos Nyiszli. 3.5 stars
58. Into the Storm / Reed Timmer. 4 stars
59. A Bridge Too Far / Cornelius Ryan. 2 stars
60. Murder on the Half Shelf / Lorna Barrett. 3.5 stars
61. One of Our Thursdays is Missing / Jasper Fforde. 3.5 stars
62. Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen / Susan Gregg Gilmore. 3.5 stars
63. And the Band Played On / Christopher Ward. 4 stars
64. Watching Edie / Camilla Way. 4 stars
65. Elephant Company / Vicki Constantine Croke. 4 stars
PBT DecathlonJanuary: a tribute to Linda (Ladyslott)
- In the Kingdom of Ice / Hampton Sides. 4.5 stars
February: One of the 10 books longest on the GR TBR
- The Darkest Night / Ron Franscell. 3.75 stars
March: has all three nominated tags (illustrated, classics, autobiography)
- Library of Souls / Ransom Riggs. 3.5 stars (illustrated, classics)
- In the Pleasure Groove / John Taylor. 4 stars (autobiography)
April: TBR Radomizer
- Deadliest Sea / Kalee Thompson. 4 stars
May: Man Booker Shortlist, past 10 years
- The Little Stranger / Sarah Waters. 3.75 stars
June: Personal event, past 10 years
- The Firebird / Susanna Kearsley. 3.75 stars
July: Buddy Read
- Wool / Hugh Howey. 3.5 stars
August: Recommendation in the announcement thread
- The Alice Network / Kate Quinn. 4.5 stars
September: Monthly tag (friendship), rated 5 stars by an admin
- The Heart's Invisible Furies / John Boyne. 4.5 stars
ListopiaBest Biographies: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
1. The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father by Jim Wight
6. The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser
9. Helen Keller: A Life by Dorothy Herrmann
1. Mountains Beyond Mountains / Tracy Kidder. 3.5 stars
2. Peter the Great: His Life and World / Robert K. Massie. 2 stars
3. Catherine the Great / Robert K. Massie. 3 stars
4. Cleopatra: A Life / Stacy Schiff. 3 stars
5. In the Garden of Beasts / Erik Larson. 3.5 stars
6. The Wright Brothers / David McCullough. 3 stars
7. Destiny of the Republic / Candice Millard. 2.5 stars
Travel Across CanadaContinued from 2014+
Alberta:
- North of Normal / Cea Sunrise Person. 4 stars
British Columbia:
- Those Girls / Chevy Stevens. 4.5 stars
- Never Let You Go / Chevy Stevens. 4.5 stars
- The Concubine's Children / Denise Chong. 4 stars
Manitoba:
- The Age of Hope / David Bergen. 4 stars
New Brunswick:
Newfoundland:
- Where I Belong / Alan Doyle. 5 stars
Northwest Territories:
Nova Scotia:
Nunavut:
Ontario:
Prince Edward Island:
- Jane of Lantern Hill / L.M. Montgomery. 3.5 stars
Quebec:
- The Unquiet Past / Kelley Armstrong. 4 stars
Saskatchewan:
- Small Beneath the Sky / Lorna Crozier. 3.5 stars
- The Anatomy of Edouard Beaupre / Sarah Kathryn York. 4 stars
Yukon:
Mystery Monthly SubgenreJanuary: True Crime
- Missoula / Jon Krakauer. 4 stars
February: Capers & Heists
- Catch Me If You Can / Frank W. Abagnale. 3.5 stars
March: Psychological Thriller
- Fool Me Once / Harlan Coben. 3.5 stars
- Charley's Web / Joy Fielding. 4 stars
- Gone Without a Trace / Mary Torjussen. 4.5 stars
April: Political intrigue
- The Chamber / John Grisham. 3.5 stars
May: Culinary Mystery
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder / Joanne Fluke. 3.5 stars
June: Conspiracy
- The Good Girl / Mary Kubica. 5 stars
July: FBI/CIA/ATF
- Killer Instinct / S.E. Green. 4 stars
August: Medical Thriller
- Sacrifice / S.J. Bolton. 4 stars
September: Futuristic Mystery
- Immortal in Death / J.D. Robb. 3.5 stars
October: Romantic Suspense
- Pretend You Don't See Her / Mary Higgins Clark. 3.5 stars
- Evermore / Alyson Noel. 4 stars
- Weekend Warriors / Fern Michaels. 3.5 stars
November: Puzzle Mysteries
- The Cat Who Could Read Backwards / Lillian Jackson Braun. 3 stars
December: Detective with a Disability
- The Empty Chair / Jeffrey Deaver. 3 stars
Passport ChallengeJanuary: Egypt
- Child of the Morning / Pauline Gedge. 3.25 stars
February: Japan
- Fortune's Fool / Mercedes Lackey. 3.25 stars
March: Colombia (or South America)
- Mountains Beyond Mountains / Tracy Kidder 3.5 stars
April: Germany (or German author)
- Perfume / Patrick Suskind. 2.25 stars
May: China
- The Concubine's Children / Denise Chong. 4 stars
June: Ethiopia (or Africa)
- Cleopatra: A Life / Stacy Schiff. 3 stars
July: USA
- Pills and Starships / Lydia Millet. 3.5 stars
August: Finland (or cold climate)
- Sacrifice / S.J. Bolton. 4 stars
October: Wales (or Welsh author)
- The Psychopath Test / Jon Ronson
December: Myanmar (Burma)
- Elephant Company / Vicki Constantine Croke. 4 stars
Play Book TagJanuary: Science
- Plastic: A Toxic Love Story / Susan Freinkel. 4 stars
- Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat / Hal Herzog. 4 stars
- In the Kingdom of Ice / Hampton Sides. 4.5 stars
- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind / William Kamkwamba. 4 stars
- The Radium Girls / Kate Moore. 5 stars
February: Asia
- Fortune's Fool / Mercedes Lackey. 3.25 stars
March: Autobiography
- In the Pleasure Groove / John Taylor. 4 stars
- The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter / Holly Robinson. 3.5 stars
- Small Beneath the Sky / Lorna Crozier. 3.5 stars
April: Strong Women
- Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall... /Jim Ottaviani, Maris Wicks. 4 stars
- Number the Stars / Lois Lowry. 4 stars
- China Dolls / Lisa See. 4 stars
- Catherine the Great / Robert K. Massie. 3 stars
May: Family Drama
- The Lake House / Kate Morton. 4 stars
- Never Let You Go / Chevy Stevens. 4.5 stars
- Cult Insanity / Irene Spencer. 3 stars
- The Concubine's Children / Denise Chong. 4 stars
June: Magical Realism
- Yarrow / Charles de Lint. 3.5 stars
- The Museum of Extraordinary Things / Alice Hoffman. 2.5 stars
- The Firebird / Susanna Kearsley. 3.75 stars
- Ghosts / Raina Telgemeier. 4 stars
July: Dystopian
- Pills and Starships / Lydia Millet. 3.5 stars
- Crossed / Ally Condie. 3 stars
- Wool / Hugh Howey. 3.5 stars
August: Espionage
- In the Garden of Beasts / Erik Larson. 3.5 stars
- The Alice Network / Kate Quinn. 4.5 stars
- The Woman in White / Wilkie Collins. 3 stars
September: Friendship
- The Heart's Invisible Furies / John Boyne. 4.5 stars
- The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald. 2.5 stars
- I'm Down / Mishna Wolff. 4 stars
- Ink and Bone / Rachel Caine. 3.5 stars
- Immortal in Death / J.D. Robb. 3.5 stars
- The Tin Ticket / Deborah J. Swiss. 4 stars
October: Canadian
- The Third Act / John Wilson. 3.5 stars
- The Anatomy of Edouard Beaupre / Sarah Kathryn York. 4 stars
- When Everything Feels Like the Movies / Raziel Reid. 3.5 stars
- The Age of Hope / David Bergen. 4 stars
- Escape / Linwood Barclay. 4 stars
- The Painted Girls / Cathy Marie Buchanan. 3.5 stars
November: Literary Fiction
- One of Our Thursdays is Missing / Jasper Fforde. 3.5 stars
December: Geek Reads
- Attachments / Rainbow Rowell. 4 stars
- The Great Typo Hunt / Jeff Deck, Benjamin D. Henson. 4 stars
- The Woman Who Smashed Codes / Jason Fagone. 3.5 stars
Reading Through TimeJanuary: Baby, it’s cold out there!
- In the Kingdom of Ice / Hampton Sides. 4.5 stars
February: Going Hollywood
- Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood / William J. Mann. 3.5 stars
March: Something Sporty
- Into the Silence / Wade Davis. 3.25 stars
April: Clash of Cultures
- China Dolls / Lisa See. 4 stars
May: Southeast Asia
- The Headmaster's Wager / Vincent Lam. 3.5 stars
June: Digging Up the Past
- The Sixth Extinction / Elizabeth Kolbert. 4 stars
July: Nautical
- Daughters of the Sea: Hannah / Kathryn Lasky. 4 stars
- The Stowaway / Laurie Gwen Shapiro. 3.75 stars
August: Between the Wars
- In the Garden of Beasts / Erik Larson. 3.5 stars
September: Let's Have a Drink
- The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald. 2.5 stars
October: Old Macdonald Had a Farm
- See You in a Hundred Years / Logan Ward. 4 stars
November: She Blinded Me With Science
- Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account / Miklos Nyiszli. 3.5 stars
December: It's All About the Music
- And the Band Played On / Christopher Ward. 4 stars
12x12 Nonfiction, PBT, BingoDOGPlastic: A Toxic Love Story / Susan Freinkel
4 stars
This book takes us through the history of plastic, the different types of plastics and how they are made; and it focuses on certain common plastic items, such as: Frisbee, comb, chair, lighters, shopping bags, bottles and medical supplies.
I really liked this. It was very interesting. There were some sections of chemistry that I maybe didn’t quite “get” (or even if I did while I was reading it, I can’t recall it now), but overall, this was very readable. Other topics in this book include “bioplastics”, the effect on wildlife and the oceans, plastic (i.e. credit) cards, etc. Personally, I’ve been trying for a while now to buy less plastic, but it is pretty much impossible to cut it out; it’s so entrenched.
12x12 Animals, PBT, BingoDOG, TrimSome We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals / Hal Herzog
4 stars
The author is a psychologist with an interest in animal-human relationships. This book looks at studies on so many topics, many of which create moral quandries with regard to animals. He covers so many topics, it’s hard to recall them all, but based on the title you can probably guess, one of them looks at why some cultures keep dogs as pets and some eat them. Topics include pets, animal testing, farm animals, cock fighting, dog shows and breeding, animal activists, and so much more.
I love animals, and I have plenty of moral quandries with what I do/don’t do or think, feel, etc. when it comes to animals. I am not vegetarian, but what (little) meat I eat (not very often) is humanely-raised. I won’t buy products tested on animals. I do wear clothes made from animal parts (though not fur). I will catch and release bugs, spiders, etc. One thing – that he mentioned a few times – that I always found odd was that some vegetarians eat fish. That’s one I don’t “get”! There is a lot of information and he presents the results of lots of studies, and it’s hard to remember everything, but I did find it all very interesting. And I’m still conflicted about many things!
LibraryCin wrote: "ListopiaBest Biographies: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
1. The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father by Jim Wight
2. Peter the Great: His Life and World by Rober..."
12x12 KIT Challenges, ColourCAT, ScaredyKIT, BingoDOG20th Century Ghosts/ Joe Hill
4 stars
This is a book of short stories, some horror, some fantasy, some a combination. Some of the stories include: a young Van Helsing, a movie theatre ghost, a boy who wakes up one morning having turned into a bug, two brothers – the younger a savant who builds cardboard box mazes, an inflatable boy, a very reclusive horror writer, a basement with an old nonworking phone that rings, an odd museum, a boy who can actually fly while wearing his cape, and more.
I really enjoyed most of these stories. Collections of short stories often end up ok for me, with a mix of liking some stories and not liking others. I don’t think there were any I disliked in this collection, and most I really liked. Many of the stories don’t quite “end”… with more of a leave-it-up-to-your-imagination kind of thing, which can be extra-creepy with horror stories! I have had “The ants go marching one-by-one...” going through my head since I finished the book (it played a role in one of the last stories).
12x12 Travel, ColourCAT, PBT, PBT Decathlon, BingoDOG, Reading Through Time, Trim the TBRIn the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette / Hampton Sides
4.5 stars
In the late 19th century, Captain De Long paired up with the owner of the New York Herald (who funded the trip) to sail the USS Jeannette to the North Pole. At the time (though no one had yet been there), some people thought that once you pushed past the ice, there was warmer and open water. De Long, armed with maps (many of which were simply incorrect) from German cartographer Petermann, took off on the multi-year voyage with 32 other men to sail through to the ice-free section and the North Pole. Without wanting to give too much away, this would prove to be incredibly dangerous.
This was amazing! Some of the background information near the start of the book, particularly about Bennett (who funded the trip), wasn’t as interesting, but it wasn’t uninteresting, either. I seem to be fascinated by survival stories (though I’m about the opposite of a risk-taker, myself - I’ll just read about it, thanks!). This one read like fiction and it kept me wanting to keep reading to find out what happened next. It is nonfiction, so it really happened, but I honestly didn’t know how it would turn out, so I was riveted!
12x12 Travel, MysteryCAT, BingoDOGThe Woman in Cabin 10 / Ruth Ware
4.5 stars
Lo is a travel writer with an opportunity to sail on a small new luxury cruise ship. On her first night on the ship, she is awoken to a scream next door and she’s certain someone has been thrown overboard! But, no one believes her. The room next door is empty and always was. There is no evidence anywhere to indicate that what Lo recounts might have actually happened.
I didn’t describe the first chapter in my summary, but as a single woman living alone, reading in bed just before turning the light off, that was creepy! I love cruises, so I loved the setting right off! This one pulled me in right away and I wanted to just keep reading. In fact, except for starting the book so late the first night, the next day, once I sat down to read, I just kept going until I finished! Twists and turns galore, and though maybe not necessarily realistic, it kept me on the edge of my seat!
12x12 CAT Challenges, RandomCAT, BingoDOG, PBTThe Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope / William Kamkwamba
4 stars
William Kamkwamba grew up in an African country, Malawi. His family were farmers and relied on the land and weather to be able to eat. When a famine hit the country and many people starved, William’s family made it through, but there was no money to send William to school. He so desperately wanted to go to school and learn. Instead, he went to the library and took out science books, from which he taught himself. He managed to build a windmill to provide his family home with electricity and had ideas for more things he wanted to build to make life better/easier.
This started off really slow for me, and I wasn’t hopeful at first. But, about ¼ of the way through (when the famine hit), it really picked up for me, and just seemed to get better and better. The parts that weren’t as interesting to me was when he talked about the superstitions and magic and the hold they sometimes have over the Malawian people. I’m not sure why those parts lost my interest, but they did. Overall, though, I was excited with William when he showed off his windmill to all the people gathered, and was happy for all his successes after.
12x12 Oh Canada, AlphaKITLooks Can Kill / Valerie Walker
3.5 stars
Laura is on holiday in Italy and is kidnapped due to her resemblance to a woman who has just died. Her kidnapper has an elaborate plan to get money out of this.
It’s a good story, but a bit simplistic. That is, things happened too easily, I thought – too many coincidences, nice people to help along the way, etc. I didn’t realize, until reading the note about the author at the end, that this was meant to be YA. It does read more like YA, so the simplicity makes more sense knowing that, though the main character being 21-years old, I wouldn’t have actually guessed it was meant to be until reading it at the end. However, I still enjoyed the story, overall. It is told from a few different viewpoints (including the kidnappers) but I was most interested in Laura’s own story.
12x12 PBT, PBT, ColourCAT, RandomCAT, AlphaKIT, BingoDOGThe Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women / Kate Moore
5 stars
In the early 20th century, radium was touted as being beneficial to one’s health. Clock dials were being painted with radium so they would glow in order to be read in the dark. Young women, mostly in their late teens or early 20s, were working in factories, hand painting the radium on to those dials, and being paid very well to do so. Not only hand painting them, but licking the brushes they used to paint, in order to make a nice sharp tip to be able to paint perfectly. Eventually, many of these women began having health problems, from their teeth falling out to carcinomas in various parts of their bodies. The companies that employed these women continued to insist it wasn’t radium that was the problem.
Wow! Scary stuff! Imagine your jawbone disintegrating and breaking through into your mouth in pieces. These women were still young, wanted to get married and have families. Even worse was when a group of women who worked at a factory in New Jersey successfully sued for their health problems, but the company in Illinois told their employees that the radium the company used in NJ wasn’t to blame – it was something additional they put in theirs that wasn’t used in the Illinois factory… so the “lip, dip, paint” method continued in Illinois.
This book is nonfiction, but read like fiction. It kept me wanting to read, and it was a surprisingly fast read. Even more horrifying, (view spoiler). I guess it’s nonfiction, so I shouldn’t need a spoiler there, but I’m putting it in, anyway.
12x12 SeriesBroken Harbor / Tana French
4.5 stars
Mick (really!? I listened to the audio – it was pronounced “Mike”! Anyway...) is a senior detective and is on a case where almost an entire family was murdered – dad and two kids, and mom almost didn’t make it. They live in an area outside the city that was supposed to be developed, but the development stopped not long after they moved in. Mick knows this area, which used to be called “Broken Harbor”, as he and his family used to go there when he and his sisters were young. Mick is working with a new detective, Richie, on the case.
Ok, so my summary isn’t very enticing on this one. But, the book really pulled me in quickly and I wanted to keep reading. I really, really liked this one! I loved Richie and (although French always has different detectives in her books), I was hoping for him to be featured in another book! Richie and Mick made a great team! (view spoiler). I guess that was just one of the twists and turns in the book. I hated Mick’s mentally ill sister, Dina… although it made for another interesting story. But, she drove me nuts and I could not fathom how he could put up with her antics! Overall, though, I really liked this one. This is such an amazing series!
12x12 Mystery Subgenre, Mystery Subgenre, RandomCAT, AlphaKITMissoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town / Jon Krakauer
4 stars
In Missoula, Montana, many of the reported sexual assaults go unprosecuted, even if there seems to be evidence that should take these cases to trial and even when the victim wants to go ahead with charges. Even still, the prosecuting attorney often decides not to press charges. One of the tricky things in Missoula is that it’s such a football town and athletes are revered, so when they are the ones accused, there is a huge backlash. The US Department of Justice also stepped in around 2010ish to find out why rapists weren’t being prosecuted and how it can be made better to help the victims. Krakauer focuses on a few separate cases of celebrated football players being accused of rape, and the various ways this played out in and out of court.
Wow! Pretty scary that it happens so often. I had no idea! I have to admit, though, that because Krakauer went back and forth between cases in parts of his book, I did – a few times – get mixed up on who was who, and which case we were looking at at which times. There is a lot of information and stats that are quite horrifying. As soon as I finished the book, though, I had to go look up Beau Donaldson (a former football player and one of the rapists Krakauer focuses on) to see if I could find out where he is now.
12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR, Passport ChallengeChild of the Morning / Pauline Gedge
3.25 stars
In ancient Egypt (I looked it up, and Hatshepsut lived around 1500 BC). Hatshupset ruled Egypt as a female Pharaoh (normally only a title/position for men). This is a fictionalized account of her life.
I seem to be in a minority for my opinion on this but… The first half was just not interesting to me. It was ok, but nothing more. It picked up somewhat in the second half, after her father died, with the power struggle between her and her half-brother. So, most of the second half, I would rate good, but there were still parts that lost my interest. It seemed, at times, like what happened was drawn out longer than it needed to be. I would have liked to know how much of the story was true, but there was no author’s note, unfortunately. All that being said, what an incredible woman, especially for the time. Decided on a rating between “ok” and “good”.
12x12 Off the Shelf, BingoDOGTiger Drive: a novel / Teri Case
3.75 stars
Mostly set in 1989, Janice and Harry have been married for 30 years, but Harry is an alcoholic and is abusive. They have seven kids, four who still live at home in their “double-wide” trailer (there’s a story there!), though two are in their late teens and close to leaving. Janice had to give up her dreams when she got pregnant young and still pines for what she gave up.
It’s told from a few different points of view: Janice’s, Harry’s, WJ’s (their oldest son who has problems of his own), and Carrie’s (their youngest daughter, who at 17, will be graduating from high school soon and desperately wants to find a way to go to college).
Really liked the story, but I thought (view spoiler). It wasn’t enough to bring my rating down to 3.5 (good/liked it), as I really liked most of the rest of it, but it was just enough to bring my rating down that little bit from 4 stars. The abuse at the very start of the book was a bit tough for me, though. I think almost all the characters were pretty unlikable, at least in one way or another, but they were still interesting enough that that didn’t put me off. I guess most of them had some redeeming quality of some type and/or the reason they were the way they were was explained. I also enjoyed the 80s references!
12x12 AudioBefore I Fall / Lauren Oliver
4 stars
It’s “Cupid Day” at school, and Sam and her best friends love this day! It just reinforces how popular they all are! This day ends with a party, a confrontation with a girl Sam and her friends have been bullying for years, and a car crash. And Sam wakes up the next day to replay the day over… and the next day, and the next day…
Omg, those are hateful girls! I hated them all so much! Of course, this being from Sam’s POV, though I hated her at the start, as the day kept replaying for her, she learned things and did get “better”. I actually thought I was going to hate the book at the start, those girls were so terrible! I listened to the audio and the narrator did a great job! She was very good with distinguishing voices, as well. Lindsay (the worst of the four of them) had a voice that “fit” the personality, I think, and Elody had a kind of sing-song, whiny, airhead voice. I suppose getting the reader to hate the hateful characters so much, as much as I hated them, is a good thing?
12x12 Animals, RandomCAT, AlphaKITThe Dogs of Babel / Carolyn Parkhurst
3.5 stars
When Lexy falls (or jumps?) from a tree and dies, her (and Paul’s) dog, Lorelei, is the only one who knows what happened. Paul, a linguist, decides to teach Lorelei to talk so she can tell him. The story also goes back in time to tell Lexy and Paul’s story.
It was good. Can’t believe Paul would take Lorelei with him to that meeting!!! Poor Lorelei. Have to admit, I didn’t really connect with Paul (or Lexy), so I didn’t really feel that badly about Lexy’s death. I maybe felt more badly for Lorelei! Paul just seemed distant or something; he didn’t even seem that affected… or that might have been how it was written. Overall, though, it was still good.
12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR, PBT DecathlonThe Darkest Night: The Murder of Innocence in a Small Town / Ron Franscell
3.75 stars
In a town in Wyoming in 1973, 18-year old Becky and her 11-year old sister Amy went to pick up some groceries. By the next morning, Amy was dead in a canyon, thrown of a high bridge, and Becky somehow managed to survive the night with a broken pelvis after having been raped and also thrown off the bridge. The author was the girls’ neighbour. The book not only looks at the crime, but it also looks at Becky and Amy’s lives, the lives of the two convicted murderers/rapists, and the author thinks back on his own life in the small town where it happened.
The first half of the book was the most interesting, where it focused on the crime and aftermath, including the trial. The next part of the book follows Becky’s life, as well as Ronnie’s and Jerry’s, in jail for their crimes. The books slips a little (at least I found it less interesting) as it looks closely at an autobiography written by Ronnie; as the author scrutinizes the autobiography, it becomes more clear why he includes as much of it as he does in the book. But, it is due to this section that I brought my rating down to just under 4 stars.
12x12 Series, PBT, Passport ChallengeFortune's Fool / Mercedes Lackey
3.25 stars
Katya is a sea princess, daughter of the Sea King. Sasha is the 7th son of the leader of a land kingdom; he is a fool and a songweaver. After a little romance between them, Katya is called away to save some kidnapped girls, and Sasha later comes to find Katya.
I mostly enjoyed this one, though I did lose interest at various intervals. I did like Katya – she is a strong character and a spy for her father. Parts of the book were from her point of view, while other parts were from Sasha’s. At the start, I enjoyed Katya’s POV more, but I was enjoying Sasha’s more in the second half of the book, as well.
12x12 Audio, MysteryCATThe Beekeeper's Apprentice / Laurie R. King
2.5 stars
Mary Russell is 15-years old when she meets a “retired” Sherlock Holmes. They find they have similar styles in deduction, so they team up to solve mysteries. At some point, it seems that someone is trying to kill people associated with Holmes (or maybe Holmes, himself?)
I listened to the audio (though I’m not sure reading it would have made a difference) and I often lost interest. I just didn’t find it very interesting, but that seems to be par for the course for me and Sherlock Holmes. I really should give up on him (Conan Doyle’s Holmes or otherwise), but I think I have a book in print that features him, so I’ll probably read that, but that may be the end of my trying Holmes, as I just don’t seem to enjoy any of his stories, including this one.
12x12 Nonfiction, Reading Through TimeTinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood / William J. Mann
3.5 stars
William Desmond Taylor was a silent movie director into the 1920s when he was murdered. His killer was never found, or at least, never tried or convicted. There were suspicions on who might have done it, but no arrests and nothing proven. This book looks at his murder, along with other Hollywood business practices, crimes, and scandals. There is some focus on Taylor’s friend and actress, Mabel Normand, as well as another young actress who was in love with him, Mary Miles Mintner, whose mother was very protective of Mary and didn’t like Taylor at all. There was also some focus on Adolf Zukor, who ran a number of (Famous Players) movie theatres, and his business practices.
I found the murder mystery part of this book interesting, but wasn’t as interested in the cut-throat business practices of Hollywood at the time, so I did lose focus at times. Overall, the murder story was enough to keep my rating at “good”. There are a number of photos included in the book, which was nice, as I don’t know and can’t picture most of the people mentioned (though I certainly recognized prominent names from Hollywood at the time!).
12x12 Off the Shelf, MysteryCAT, AlphaKITThe 8th Confession / James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
4 stars
A school bus blows up, taking innocent lives with it. A homeless man is found violently murdered. A rich, well-known couple are found dead in their beds… and the cause of death is a mystery, even after full autopsies.
Reporter Cindy found the homeless man, so when the police (including friend Lindsay) don’t want to spend time or resources on solving it, Cindy turns it into a story to force them to look into it. Lawyer Yuki is trying a case where a girl murdered her father – the pressure is on to get a conviction. All three are in various stages of relationships.
I really liked this one. More than some of the others in the series, but that may (at least in part) be due to usually listening to the audios. The audios aren’t bad, but maybe I’m liking it just a bit better in print. Even the relationship interactions were enjoyable, though I can’t say I liked either Lindsay or Yuki’s reactions to various relationship “twists”. However, still really enjoyed the book!
12x12 CAT Challenges, ColourCAT, Trim the TBRBig Stone Gap / Adriana Trigiani
3.5 stars
In the late 1970s in a small town in Virginia, Ave Maria is 35-years old and a “spinster”. She is a pharmacist and owns the town pharmacy. She has never worried too much about not having a man. Her father died a long time ago and her mother just recently died; she left a letter for her daughter: a letter that will change Ave Maria’s life!
I liked it, but I didn’t like the parts in Italy as much as the parts in Virginia. And did she really have to throw that extra bit in at the very end? I know, most people probably like and expect that kind of ending, for how that story was going, but I didn’t like or expect it. It actually hadn’t even occurred to me until it happened. I will still, however, continue the series (trilogy?).
12x12 Mystery Subgenre, Mystery SubgenreCatch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake / Frank W. Abagnale
3.5 stars
Frank Abagnale Jr. was only 16 years old in the 1960s when he left is father’s home (his parents had recently separated) and spent years impersonating an airline pilot, a pediatrician, a lawyer, a teacher, before switching to producing counterfeit cheques. Once he was finally caught, after spending time in prison in a few different countries, he ended up helping the FBI with recognizing scammers.
This was a good book. The most interesting parts to me was the impersonations, rather than the info about the cheque counterfeiting. Also, once he was caught, the prison systems in the different countries was very different (France vs. Sweden); I was surprised at how different it was in each country. I liked the movie that came out a while back (and now want to re-watch!), but although the book seemed short, there was still more in the book.
12x12 Oh Canada, Travel Across Canada, BingoDOG, ScaredyKITThose Girls / Chevy Stevens.
4.5 stars
Due to the abuse suffered at the hands of their father (their mother died a few years earlier), three sisters, Dani, Courtney, and Jess, run away, only to find themselves in a town where some initially seemingly nice guys help them out. But, this goes badly and they end up in another terrifyingly horrible situation! 18 years later, after having lived in Vancouver since then and having built a life for themselves, things take another turn and the past is back…
I was trying to describe that with no spoilers - at least nothing that was not mentioned on the back of the book (I may have mentioned less than what’s on the book blurb)! The first half of the book is told from Jess’ point of view; Jess is the youngest sister. Perspective switches for the second half. This was a book I just didn’t want to put down! I wanted to keep reading. There is a lot of violence, though, so be warned of that.
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
The Suspect (other topics)The Snow Queen (other topics)
The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine who Outwitted America's Enemies (other topics)
The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time (other topics)
Stones on a Grave (other topics)
More...
1. Play Book Tag
1. The Radium Girls / Kate Moore. 5 stars
2. In the Pleasure Groove / John Taylor. 4 stars
3. Small Beneath the Sky / Lorna Crozier. 3.5 stars
4. China Dolls / Lisa See. 4 stars
5. The Lake House / Kate Morton. 4 stars
6. Yarrow / Charles de Lint. 3.5 stars
7. Ghosts / Raina Telgemeier. 4 stars
8. Wool / Hugh Howey. 3.5 stars
9. The Alice Network / Kate Quinn. 4.5 stars
10. The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald. 2.5 stars
11. Ink and Bone / Rachel Caine. 3.5 stars
12. The Painted Girls / Cathy Marie Buchanan. 3.5 stars
_______________________________________________
13. One of Our Thursdays is Missing / Jasper Fforde. 3.5 stars
14. Attachments / Rainbow Rowell. 4 stars