April AlphaKIT: A and W

Welcome to the April 2021 AlphaKIT, an unofficial challenge in the 2021 Category Challenge Group.

The rules are: 1. Use these letters any way you wish to select reading for the month. 2. Enjoy your reading.

and
The letter images are thanks to helenliz ! Thanks so much, they're lovely.

Please remember to update the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2021_AlphaKIT#April_-_Letters:_A_and_W

Happy Pi Day everyone. We can have Pi with our A&W root beer. Ok enough bad jokes.

My online reading group's choice for April covers both letters nicely: "Libraries in the Ancient World" by Lionel Casson

Here are my possibilities:

✔Athena's Choice
✔Beauty Expos Are Murder
✔Beware the East Wind
✔Deeds of the Deceitful by Ellery Adams
Four Winds......discarded
✔Glimmer of a Clue by Daryl Wood Gerber
✔Hex for Danger by Esse Addison
✔Killer Characters by Ellery Adams
✔Lemon Drop Dead by Amanda Flower
✔Lethal Letters by Ellery Adams
Mint Condition Murder by Ellery Adams
✔Murder at Ochre Court by Alyssa Maxwell
✔Peaches and Schemes by Anna Gerard
✔Two Wicked Desserts
✔Where Have All the Birdies Gone?
✔Whole Latte Murder
✔Wining and Dying by Daryl Wood Gerber
✔Winston's War
✔Wolfe Widow
✔Writing All Wrongs by Ellery Adams

I'm planning on reading Witch Fire by Anya Bast. It's the start of a paranormal romance series I've been curious about, and I haven't read anything in the genre for a few months, at least, so I'm looking forward to the diversion!

I'm hoping to read Wings of the Dove by Henry James and Old Moorhen's Shredded Sporran by Andrea Frazier.

I've scheduled A Conspiracy of Faith by Jussi Adler-Olsen and Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear.

I am planning on reading Monster Nation by David Wellington and The Last Escape by Bobby Adair for April's AlphaKit.

I am reading Amish Midwives for the letter "A".

I might get to the next Margery Allingham for this. Death of a Ghost is next up for me.

Planning on Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds and Horizon Storms by Kevin J. Anderson. As well as All the Rage by F. Paul Wilson.

I am definitely planning to read Warlight by Michael Ondaatje and Land's Edge by Tim Winton.

Other possibilities are:

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (getting both letters!)

Many Agatha Christie novels, including The ABC Murders

And also :

About A Boy by Nick Hornby
After You by Jojo Moyes
Altes Land by Dörte Hansen

I have many more A reads, but these are the ones that I wanted to get to for a long time.

More possibilities for W:

The Waves by Virginia Woolf
When Broken Glass Floats by Chanrithy Him
Der Welt den Rücken by Elke Heidenreich
The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn

...and so many more. This will be a difficult month to pick books, because there are so many with A and W! I think I will absolutely go with the flow and just pick what I feel like. So much fun! I love it!

My plans for now are A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles and Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner.

>12 christina_reads: I thought A Gentleman in Moscow was excellent - enjoy!

I have started off the month with The Way of Kings, a sci fi epic I picked up last year.

Read my first book. When Sharks Attack With Kindness by Andres J. Colmenares. This fits both A and W

I chose to read a short story collection by W. Somerset Maugham and realized only a bit later that I can include it for this KIT!

All My Patients Kick and Bite / Jeff Wells
3.5 stars

This is a set of stories/essays, in the vein of James Herriott, about a vet and his interesting cases. Dr. Wells also includes some personal information in some of the stories, as well. Dr. Wells is in Colorado.

I enjoyed this. I’m not sure if there are more in his series of stories, but if there is, I will continue reading them.

Two more W's. The Cat Who Saw Stars by Lilian Jackson Braun and The Whole Cat and Caboodle by Sofie Ryan

I am reading The Lost Traveller by Antonia White for this one. I like it when I can find a book on my shelf with letters, in the correct order even. AW.

I read Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, getting in my second W again without realizing or planning it!

I finished Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen for A and Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware for W.

I read Window on the Square by Phyllis A. Whitney, a good romantic suspense novel from the 1960s, set in 19th century New York City.

I have finished The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I have a couple of A titles on the go at the moment - Another Study of Woman by Balzac and Alone with the Stars, an Audible original about Amelia Earhart and one of her teenaged admirers.

COMPLETED Libraries in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson

Starting "Word by Word" by Kory Stamper

I ended up reading a W book yesterday, Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos. As the cover and title would suggest, it's funny and romantic, but it is definitely NOT a light read -- some very dark stuff happens in terms of mental health and child neglect/abandonment! I really liked the book, but I wouldn't want anyone to be blindsided going in.

I finished Amish Midwives and also Wretched Wool which is part of a series, although not the best in the bunch.

I finished Another Study of Woman by Balzac (3*) and And So to Murder by John Dickson Carr (writing as Carter Dickson) (3.5*).

COMPLETED Word by Word by Kory Stamper

Starting "If On A Winter's Night A Traveller" by Italo Calvino

Starting The Lost and Found Bookshop by Susan Wiggs. Another W.

Completed Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn -- FOUR STARS

I Do Not Come to You By Chance / Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani.
3 stars

In Nigeria, Kingsley’s father is very sick, and to pay for his hospital bills, Kingsley must go to his rich uncle for money to pay for his father’s care. Uncle Boniface (more well-known in the community as Cash Daddy) shamefully (to the rest of the family) gets his money from 419 email scams. Kingsley has an engineering degree but is unable to find a job. This eventually forces him to work for his uncle.

This was ok. I’m not sure there were many characters I particularly liked, and it was a bit slow in the first half. The end also confused me a bit, as I’m not exactly sure what happened there. I had briefly considered upping my rating a bit until the end.

I’ve started The Professor and the Madman (written and narrated by Simon Winchester). I always love the topics the authors chooses, but my enthusiasm is always tempered once I’m “in it.” I think it has something to do with the author’s narration: He sounds very pompous/snobby . I should probably just stick to print for his books!

The Word for Woman is Wilderness by Abi Andrews neatly killed two birds with one stone for this category.

I've finished Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear for my "W" book this month.

And I finished Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane. 4.5 stars for this one!
This time it's not letting me both use bold for the A's and use the touchstone. I am choosing the latter.

COMPLETED If On A Winter's Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino

Now reading False Value by Ben Aaronovitch

I have finished a bunch of A books - who knew I had so many ROOTs starting with A? - and one more W...

Antigone
Alien: Out of the Shadows
The Accidental Tourist
The Attenbury Emeralds
Why Shoot a Butler?

I have completed my "A" read with The Last Escape by Bobby Adair and T. W. Piperbrook. Unfortunately, I wasn't very happy with this book, but it did help me decide that I am done with that particular series.

May (!) AlphaKIT is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/331419

COMPLETED False Value by Ben Aaronovitch

Now re-reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Another A W: The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold.

I read my first A book: The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie.

My "A" book for this month is Redemption by Jussi Adler-olsen.

...and I finished my second A book: Abenteuer Seidenstraße by Bruno Baumann.

Starting my second A book, The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood.

In the Mood for Peace: The Story of the Izzy Doll / Phyllis Wheaton.
4 stars

The Izzy Doll is a small knitted/crocheted doll that Canadian peacekeepers have been giving out to kids in war-torn countries, or just poor kids in countries where they are posted. It started with Mark Isfeld, who died in Croatia in 1994 while serving a peacekeeping mission there. He was trying to clear landmines at the time. Previous to his death, though, he told his mom back in Canada how much he wanted to give these kids something to call their own. She started making these little dolls and shipping them to her son to hand out. This has since grown into a much much larger project, where people all over the country (and some in the US) help knit/crochet these little dolls to bring smiles to those kids’ faces.

The book is also a biography of Mark, and both his parents, and it also looks at peacekeeping and peacekeepers, as well as landmines and the attempt to rid the world of them, as they are so dangerous long after conflicts end. There is also some memoir added in as Phyllis travels and talks to various people she focuses on in the book (the Isfelds and others).

I had never heard of the Izzy Doll before Phyllis, the author of the book (and an acquaintance of mine!) gifted a copy of the book to me. As sad as it was for the soldier whose idea it was to have died not long after he started handing them out (and both his parents died within months of each other in 2007), it is absolutely an uplifting book. The book is also peppered with photos of the Isfelds and more.

I read The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt for A tho it feels like cheating.

I finished my third W book: Wenn die Haut zu dünn ist by Rolf Sellin.

I've finished two, one for the letter "A" and one for the letter "W":
A: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (by Anonymous; translated by Simon Armitage; narrated by Bill Wallis) ("A" for both Anonymous and Simon A:rmitage) and;
W: The Professor and the Madman (written and narrated by Simon Winchester).

I'm currently reading, Network Effect (Murderbot #5; by Martha Wells (W) (and;
listening to Agent to the Stars (by John Scalzi; narrated by Wil Wheaton) A

I enjoyed Wherever She Goes by Kelley Armstrong that hit both letters.

A
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

W
Writers and Lovers by Lily King

Both of these were for an online book club so the monthly topic of writing was the focus. I am not, nor do I intend to be a writer, but I found them both enjoyable. I would give a shout out for the audio version of Bird by Bird--excellent.

I finished The Lost Traveller by Antonia White (Virago). This is a coming of age story of the an only child of her recently converted Catholic parents. She attended school at the Catholic school until she had to leave because of financial strain due to mother's illness. She then attends public school, gets distracted by things that teenage girls get distracted by. It is nicely written, not much happens until toward the end. After finishing the book, I read some introduction that said this book was written out of the authors own life, while it is not a memoir, it is fiction.

When Breath Becomes Air / Paul Kalanithi
3 stars

The author was only 36 years old, and hadn’t quite graduated yet to become a neurosurgeon/neuroscientist, when he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. At one point, he considered an English degree, so he set to putting his story down in a book.

It was ok. It (rightfully) felt short and he seemed to skip through large amounts of time. I know it’s because he tried to write it all when he had a limited time left, and in the epilogue, written by his wife Lucy, she specifically said he didn’t finish his book. I was more interested in his life events over the theology/philosophy discussion he added in at times. I listened to the audio, which was fine. I did like that they brought in a female narrator to read the epilogue written by Lucy.

I got another book that worked for both letters in Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett. I'm discovering Pratchett kind of belatedly, and it's lovely to have a lengthy backlist to work through, though sad to know that canon is already closed for good.

What the Dead Leave Behind / Rosemary Simpson
4 stars

It’s March 1888 in New York City. The day a huge blizzard blows in (this was a real event), Prudence’s fiancee (Charles, a lawyer) is out walking with a couple other men. One of them decides he can’t go on, but Charles goes on with his friend and fellow lawyer, Roscoe. Roscoe gets further ahead, and when Charles stops to rest, he is knocked out and dies in the cold.

Prudence has also only recently lost her own father (a judge). She is now living with her hated stepmother, Victoria (Victoria and Prudence’s father had only been married a couple of years), and unfortunately, Victoria is trustee to Prudence’s inheritance until she turns 31. The trusteeship was supposed to have transferred over to Charles when they married in only 2 weeks.

Prudence and Charles’ best friend Geoffrey (also a lawyer) work on trying to figure out what’s going on, and how to help Prudence get her rightful inheritance out of her stepmother’s grasp.

I was very impressed with the descriptions of the snow storm. I also loved that Prudence was treated so well by her father; they were very close and he treated her more like a son… as in, he taught her a lot of lawyer-ly stuff that a woman, at that time, would never normally have learned. Prudence is smart and I like how the men/lawyers she is working with (Roscoe, in addition to Geoffrey) accept that she is capable. We have an idea what happened early on, but spend the book trying to figure out how it all happened. There were a lot of characters, though, so I did tend to forget who was who at times, and it was a bit of a tangle/maze even once it was revealed how everything happened. I have no issues with how things ended and I will continue with the second book in the series.

COMPLETED The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, both by Douglas Adams

Currently reading "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents" by Terry Pratchett.

Completed All Systems Red by Martha Wells for the W and the A (title).

I just finished All the Ways We Said Goodbye by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White, which works for both letters (and for W many times over!). I liked it, but not as much as these authors' previous book, The Glass Ocean.

Another one that hits both letters: Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich. It has a few laughs but not much in the way of a plot. I'll skip the rest of the series.

Finished another A . Devil's Food by Anthony Bruno

So, I'm wrapping up April with a few more!

How to get Lucky (by Lauren Blakely and Joe Arden) ⭐⭐-1/2
Agent to the Stars (by John Scalzi; narrated by Wil Wheaton) ⭐⭐⭐

Network Effect (Murderbot #5; by Martha Wells) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
"Home"(Murderbot #5.5; by Martha Wells) ⭐⭐⭐
Fugitive Telemetry (Murderbot #6; by Martha Wells) ⭐⭐⭐-1/2
Some Days (written & illustrated by María Wernicke; translated by Lawrence Schimel) ⭐-1/2
The Dating Itinerary (by Brooke Williams) ⭐⭐

I may not have read a lot this month, but I did manage to fit in a lot related to this month's letters!

A
The Art of Dying, by Ambrose Parry

W
Indian Horse, by Richard Wagamese
Winterkill, by Ragnar Jonasson (translated from the French edition by David Warriner)

Sneaking in one more under the wire with Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. A fitting end to a wonderful series!

Best reading month I've had since I joined LT in 2008 - 18 and all fit in A & W!

I finished three more:

A:
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
Der Preis der Leichtigkeit by Andreas Altmann

W:
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje