15 Cats for Dejah_Thoris...no, really 15 cats.

Charlas2015 Category Challenge

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15 Cats for Dejah_Thoris...no, really 15 cats.

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1Dejah_Thoris
Ene 1, 2015, 12:11 am

Yes, I’m back. Once again I’m going to give this a try, noting that my problem isn’t reading enough books – it’s staying on LT consistently that gives me trouble! Everyone here is wonderful, though, and I’m looking forward to catching up and seeing what all of you have been reading.

Every year, people come up with the most amazing Categories for this challenge and I usually end up feeling as though my efforts are really weak. So today (December 31st) I started thinking about it.

15 Cats.

15 Cats.

15 Cats.

OH! 15 cats!

So my categories this year are based on names of much beloved cats, past and present. My minimum is 5 books in each category, although I’m actually aiming for 10. 15 in each of the 15 isn’t out of the realm of possibility, but I’m not going to drive myself crazy over it. I’ve kept my categories fairly broad, just to make it easy on myself.

We’ll see what happens…..

2Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Dic 6, 2015, 6:48 pm

#1 Pye Pye, officially Pyewacket of the play (and film) Bell, Book and Candle. Plays
Completed 11/30

1. Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill (BINGO #9, LGBTQ main character)
2. Sabrina Fair by Samuel Taylor (RandomCat)
3. The House of Bernarda Alba by Frederico Garcia Lorca (BINGO #6, translated, RandomCat)
4. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang (BINGO #19, inspired by other fiction)
5. Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot
6. The Constant Wife by W. Somerset Maugham
7. I'll Be Back Before Midnight! by Peter Colley (BINGO #20, out of comfort zone)
8. Death and the King's Horseman by Wole Soyinka (BINGO #23, 1+ year)
9. Swell Party (unpublished play) by Topher Payne
10. State of the Union by Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsat
11. Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) by Ann-Marie MacDonald (BINGO #22, inspired by other fiction)
12. Ruined by Lynn Nottage (BINGO #25, outside comfort zone)
13. Don't Dress for Dinner by Marc Camoletti and Robin Howdon
---. The Bride Special: A Dramatic Sketch in One Act by Lincoln J. Carter
14. Prelude to a Kiss by Craig Lucas
15. A View From the Bridge by Arthur Miller

3Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Oct 30, 2015, 3:50 pm

#2 Pixie, officially Pixel from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein. Science Fiction - Completed 6/9/15

1. Apocalypse Troll by David Weber
2. For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs by Robert A. Heinlein (BINGO #13, read a CAT, SFFCat)
3. Revolt in 2100 by Robert A. Heinlein (SFFCat)
4. Sixth Column aka The Day After Tomorrow by Robert A. Heinlien (SFFCat)
5. Orphans in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
6. Waldo & Magic, Inc. by Robert A. Heinlein
7. Beyond This Horizon by Robert A. Heinlein (BINGO #9, protagonist of opposite gender)
8. Space Cadet by Robert A. Heinlein
9. The Green Hills of Earth by Robert A. Heinlein
10. Assignment in Eternity by Robert A. Heinlein
11. The Man Who Sold the Moon by Robert A. Heinlein
--- Class-M Exile by Raven Oak (novella)
12. Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague de Camp (AlphaKit, SFFCat)
13. Cyteen: The Betrayal by C. J. Cherryh
14. Cyteen: The Rebirth by C.J. Cherryh
15. Cyteen: The Vindication by C.J. Cherryh

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

16. The Rolling Stones by Robert A. Heinlein (BINGO #3, childhood)
17. Agent of Change by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
18. Starman Jones by Robert A. Heinlein
19. Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delnay (BINGO #19, language)
20. The Star Beast by Robert A. Heinlein
21. Tangled Up In Blue by Joan D. Vinge
22. Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
23. Conflict of Honors by Steve Miller and Sharon Lee
24. The Summer Queen by Joan D. Vinge
25. Carpe Diem by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
26. Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein (BING#23, ancestor's first name)
27. Time for the Stars by Robert A. Heinlein
28. Plan B by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
29. The Menace From Earth by Robert A. Heinlein
30. I Dare by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
31. Fledgling by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
32. Saltation by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
33. Ghost Ship by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
34. Local Custom by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
35. Scouts Progress by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
36. Balance of Trade by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
37. A Liaden Universe Constellation Volume One by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
38. A Liaden Universe Constellation Volume Two by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
39. Necessity's Child by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
40. An Ancient Peace by Tanya Huff
41. Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
42. The Martian by Andy Weir

4Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Nov 15, 2015, 1:48 pm

#3 Gandalf – do I need to explain this one? Fantasy - completed 5/7

1. Abracadaver by Laura Resnick (could also have been Hobie, Seeking More Readers)
2. Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch (BINGO #24, genre bender - urban/rural fantasy & police procedural)
3. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
4. Unbound by Jim C. Hines
5. The Dragon Conspiracy by Lisa Shearin
6. Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
7. Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs
8. Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
9. Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
10. Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs
11. Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs
12. Fair Game by Patricia Briggs
13. Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs
14. Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs
15. Night Broken by Patricia Briggs (BINGO #12, prophecy or portents)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

16. Uprooted by Naomi Novak
17. A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
18. Tea With the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy (BINGO #11, prophecy)
19. Penric's Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold
20. The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley (BINGO #15, prophecy)
21. Jinx on a Terran Inheritance by Brian Daley
21. Magic Shifts by Ilona Andrews
22. Cobweb Bride by Vera Nazarian (BINGO #16, myth)
23. Cobweb Empire by Vera Nazarian
24. Marked by Sarah Fine
25. Truly, Madly by Heather Webber
26. The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher
27. For Those in Peril on the Sea by Colin M. Drysdale
28. The Outbreak by Colin M. Drysdale
29. Girl's Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky
30. Mind Games by Polly Iyer
31. Goddess of the Moon by Polly Iyer
32. Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch
33. Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
34. Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch
35. Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
36. Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

5Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Nov 15, 2015, 1:49 pm

#4 Nora, named for Nora Charles from the Thin Man novels. Mysteries - completed 6/23

1. If It Bleeds by Linda L. Richards
2. To Dwell in Darkness by Deborah Crombie
3. Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well by Nancy Atherton
4. Night at the Vulcan by Ngaio Marsh
5. Death of a Liar by M. C. Beaton
6. Obsession in Death by J. D. Robb
7. A Wreath for Rivera aka Swing, Brother, Swing by Ngaio Marsh
8. The City & The City by China Mieville (BINGO #6, genre bender)
9. A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh
10. The Line: A Witching Savannah Novel by J. D. Horn (BINGO #4, more than 1 year)
11. The Alpine Zen by Mary Daheim
12. The Gauguin Connection by Estelle Ryan (BINGO #4, autism)
13. The Prophet Murders by Mehmet Murat Somer (BINGO #1, translated)
14. Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh (BINGO #9, letters)
15. Death by a HoneyBee by Abigail Keam

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

16. It Takes a Witch by Heather Blake (BINGO #4, someone else) (AlphaKit, SFFCat)
17. The Kiss Murder by Mehmet Murat Somer (BINGO #17, LGBTQ)
18. The Luck Runs Out by Charlotte MacLeod (BINGO #20, animal)
19. Deadly Farce by Jennifer McAndrews
20. Lord of the Wings by Donna Andrews
21. A Sense of Deception by Victoria Laurie
22. A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn
23. Devoted in Death by J. D. Robb
24. Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh
25. Miss Melville Regrets by Evelyn E. Smith
26. Miss Melville Returns by Evelyn E. Smith
27. Miss Melville's Revenge by Evelyn E. Smith
28. Miss Melville Rides a Tiger by Evelyn E. Smith
29. Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams
30. Castle Cay by Lee Hanson
31. Three Silver Doves by Deborah Garner
32. Time to Depart by Lindsey Davis
33. Murder Your Darlings by J. J. Murphy
34. Nasty Breaks by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins
35. Where Have All the Birdies Gone? by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins

6Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Dic 6, 2015, 6:51 pm

#5 Indy, officially Indiana Jones. History
Completed 11/28 ??

1. Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble by Marilyn Johnson (Bingo #19, LT author)
2. Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff (BINGO #10, other country)
3. A Traveller's History of Croatia (BINGO #5, unfamiliar subject)
4. March: Book One by John Lewis
5. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
6. Circle of Sisters: Alice Kipling, Georgiana Burne-Jones, Agnes Poynter, and Louisa Baldwin by Judith Flanders (BINGO #17, letters)
7. An Infamous Army: A Novel of Love, War, Wellington and Waterloo by Georgette Heyer (BINGO #8, major historical event)
8. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester (BINGO #5, about language)
9. Magdalena and Balthasar: An Intimate Portrait of Life in 16th Century Europe Revealed in the Letters of a Nuremberg Husband and Wife by Steven Ozment (BINGO #6, epistolary)
10. Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the Selma Voting Rights March by Lynda Blackmon Lowery (BINGO #9)
11. Marie Antoinette's Head: The Royal Hairdresser, The Queen, and The Revolution by Will Bashor (BINGO #5, unfamiliar subject)
12. Six Miles to Charleston: The True Story of John and Lavinia Fisher by Bruce Orr
13. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
14. Jerusalem: A Family Portrait by Boaz Yakin and Nick Bertozzi
15. The Cholera Years: The United States in 1832, 1849 and 1866 by Charles E. Roseberg

7Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Oct 30, 2015, 3:48 pm

#6 Salem, named for the notorious Massachusetts town of Witch Trials fame. But there’s also a Salem, OR and Winston-Salem, NC….. The United States - books about, set in, etc. - completed 6/28

1. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin (AlphaKit)
2. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline (RandomCat, AlphaKit)
3. The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion (BINGO #8, autism)
4. The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine (BINGO #16, based on fairy tale)
5. March: Book Two by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell
6. Rock Springs by Richard Ford
7. The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich
8. Horrorstor: A Novel by Grady Hendrix (BINGO #3, outside of comfort zone)
9. Perfect Pitch by Mindy Klasky (BINGO #15, LT author)
10. Shifting Shadows: Stories From the World of Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs (BINGO #5, mythical creatures)
11. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (BINGO #18, genre bender, SFFCAT)
12. Destroyer Angel by Nevada Barr
13. Dead Ice by Laurell K. Hamilton (BINGO #16, mythical creature)
14. Time and Again by Jack Finney (BINGO #25, opposite gender)
15. The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman (BINGO #13, read a CAT)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

16. Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
17. Speaking in Bones by Kathy Reichs
18. Designated Daughters by Margaret Maron
19. Long Upon the Land by Margaret Maron
20. Miracle at Augusta by James Patterson and Peter de Jong
21. The Orphanmaster by Jean Zimmerman
22. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen (BINGO #24, genre bender)
23. Mail Order Mama by Kirsten Osbourne
24. Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher (BINGO #18, letters)
25. A Lack of Temperance by Anna Loan-Wilsey

8Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Nov 7, 2015, 2:23 pm

#7 Winston & Churchill were a pair of siblings named after, well, you know. Originally this Category was The British Empire - books about, set in or by an author from Great Britain or any part of its former Empire / colonies (except the U.S.), but I'm filling it too quickly. It now will be GB & C for Great Britain and Canada. -- completed 7/21/15

1. The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus by Margaret Atwood (Canadian author)
2. As Chimney Sweepers Come To Dust by Alan Bradley (Canadian author, set in Canada)
3. Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro (British author/BAC)
4. A Stitch in Time by Penelope Lively (British author/BAC, set in England)
5. Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth (British memoir, set in London)
6. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters (British author/BAC, set in England / London)
7. Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham (British author / BAC, set in England, BINGO #8, chosen by someone else)
8. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (British author/BAC, BINGO #16, based on fairy tale)
9. Aunt Dimity and the Summer King by Nancy Atherton (BINGO #12, set in another country)
10. Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor (SFF Cat, AlphaKit)
11. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (SFFCat, AlphaKit)
12. The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie (BINGO #1, another country)
13. The Dancing Floor by Barbara Michaels
14. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (BINGO #2, genre bender)
15. Snow in April by Rosamunde Pilcher (BINGO #3, owned for more than a year)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

16. Dodger by Terry Pratchett (BINGO #17, inspired by other fiction)
17. Coventry by Helen Humphreys (BINGO #22, major historical event)
18. Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death by James Runcie (BINGO #2, chosen by someone else)
19. Malice at the Palace by Rhys Bowen
20. A Pattern of Lies by Charles Todd
21. The Hanover Square Affair by Ashley Gardner
22. Slade House by David Mitchell

9Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Dic 30, 2015, 1:59 pm

#8 Javy, named for Puerto Rican born Javier Lopez, one time catcher for the Atlanta Braves. Latin America - books about or set in, written by authors from or about Latinos in other parts of the world.

1. The Mirror of Lida Sal: Tales Based on Mayan Myths & Guatemalan Legends by Migel Angel Asturias, translated by Gilbert Alter-Gilbert (BINGO #26, out of comfort zone)
2. In Cuba I Was A German Shepherd by Ana Menendez (BINGO #14, reminds of childhood)
3. De:Tales: Stories From Urban Brazil by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba (BINGO #14, other country)
4. One Day of Life by Manilo Argueta (BINGO #21, translated)
5. The Violins of Saint-Jacques by Patrick Leigh Fremor (BINGO #10, LGBTQ)
6. No Apparent Danger: The True Story of Volcanic Disaster at Galeras and Nevado Del Ruiz by Victoria Bruce
7. Guatemalan Women Speak by Margaret Hooks (BINGO #22, ancestor)
8. Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz
9. Searching for El Dorado: A Journey into the South American Rainforest on the Tail of the World's Largest Gold Rush by Marc Herman (BINGO #25, unfamiliar topic)
10. Arts & Crafts of South America by Lucy Davies and Mo Fini
11. The Path Between the Seas: the Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870 - 1914 by David McCullough
12. Precarious Dependencies: Gender, Class and Domestic Service in Bolivia by Leslie Gill
13. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
14. Tycoon's War by Stephen Dando-Collins
15. Dos Gringos by Frederick R. Andresen

++++++++++++++

10Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Nov 10, 2015, 8:38 pm

#9 Dora, named for Dora the Explorer. Books about, set in or written by authors from The Rest of the World. - Completed 6/25.

1. Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart (Austria, reread)
2. In Search of a Homeland: The Story of The Aeneid by Penelope Lively, Illustrated by Ian Andrew (BINGO #21 mythical creature, the Mediterranean)
3. Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin (Rwanda)
4. Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai (BINGO #20, animal of importance, India)
5. Garment of Shadows by Laurie T. King (BINGO #17, inspired by other fiction, Morocco)
6. Dreaming of Spies by Laurie R. King (Japan)
7. The Strangler Vine by M. J. Carter (BINGO #13, read a CAT/HistoryCAT, India)
8. A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley (BINGO #25, autism, France and Italy)
9. The Time in Between by Maria Duenas (Spain, Morocco, Portugal)
10. This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart (Greece, BINGO #2, animal)
11. Siberiak: My Cold War Adventure on the River Ob by Jenny Jaeckel (USSR/Siberia)
12. Euphoria by Lily King (New Guinea / Sepik River)
13. The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo (Malaysia) (BINGO #16, mythical creature)
14. The Nightingale by Kara Dalkey (Japan) (BINGO #15, fairy tale)
15. Funf by Ursula Archer (Austria) (BINGO #20, outside comfort zone)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

16. The Dante Connection by Estelle Ryan (BINGO #21, autism)
17. Zadok's Treasure by Margot Arnold
18. China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan (China)
19. The Flinck Connection by Estelle Ryan (France)
20. The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin (Russia, BINGO #6, translated)
21. The Turkish Gambit by Boris Akunin
22. Murder on the Leviathan by Boris Akunin
23. The Pucelle Connection by Estelle Ryan
24. Golden Urchin by Madeleine Brent
25. Waiting for Willa by Dorothy Eden
26. The Leger Connection by Estelle Ryan
27. A Dying Light in Corduba by Lindsey Davis
28. The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears
29. While Still We Live by Helen MacInnes

11Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Sep 28, 2015, 12:39 pm

#10 Hilde, officially Hilde Johnson from the play The Front Page (and later the film “His Girl Friday.”) Works That Inspired Movies. Completed 7/23/15.

1. The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers (The Member of the Wedding, 1952)
2. The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden (Loss of Innocence, 1961)
3. Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden (Black Narcissus, 1947) (RandomCat, AlphaKit)
4. Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier (Frenchman's Creek, 1944) (BINGO #24, childhood)
5. Rocket Ship Galileo by Robert A. Heinlein (Destination Moon, 1950) (BINGO #18, ancestor's first name)
6. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: An Illuminating Diary of a Professional Woman by Anita Loos (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953)
7. The Winslow Boy by Terrence Rattigan (The Winslow Boy, 1948 and 1999)
8. Tamara Drewe by Posy Simmonds (Tamara Drewe, 2010) (BINGO #19, based on other fiction)
9. Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward (Blithe Spirit, 1945) (BINGO #2, childhood)
10. Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart, 1986) (BINGO #25 chosen by someone else)
11. August: Osage County by Tracy Letts (August: Osage County, 2013)
12. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (Murder on the Orient Express, 1974)
13. The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera (The Whale Rider, 2002) (BINGO #5, animal)
14. The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein (The Puppet Masters, 1994)
15. Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (Girl With a Pearl Earring, 2004) (BINGO #13, CAT)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

16. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan ( in development)
17. A Town Like Alice by Nevile Shute (A Town Like Alice, 1956)
18. The Office Wife by Faith Baldwin (The Office Wife, 1930)
19. Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie (Lord Edgware Dies, 1934)
20. Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham (Tiger in the Smoke, 1956)
21. Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman (Up the Down Staircase, 1967)
22. Animal Farm: A Fairy Story by George Orwell (Animal Farm, 1954, others)
23. A Bell for Adano by John Hersey (A Bell for Adano, 1945)

12Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Nov 15, 2015, 1:50 pm

#11 Lochinvar, whose name is from Sir Walter Scott’s poem Marmion. Works in the Public Domain. COMPLETED 10/08.

1. Washington Square by Henry James (Random Cat)
2. Fraulein Schmidt and Mr. Anstruther by Elizabeth von Arnim (BINGO #18, epistolary novel )
3. The Sea-Hawk by Rafael Sabatini (BINGO #12, 1915)
4. Something Fresh by P. G. Wodehouse (BINGO #10, 1915)
5. The Rose-Garden Husband by Margaret Widdemer
6. The Hero by W. Somerset Maugham (could also have been #14 Hobie, bigger audience)
7. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
8. Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth
9. Macbeth by William Shakespeare (BINGO #17, prophecy, portents)
10. Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters (BINGO #21, 1915)
11. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (BINGO #7, owned for more than a year)
12. Dear Enemy by Jean Webster (BINGO #10, 1915)
13. The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne
14. Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross by L. Frank Baum (BINGO #12, 1915)
15. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (1873)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

16. Betty Zane by Zane Grey (1903)

13Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Nov 11, 2015, 11:44 pm

#12 Gallie, officially Galeras, after the volcano in Colombia. I was going to make this Science, but I really need it to be Nonfiction. Completed 9/23.

1. Tribe of the Tiger: Cats and Their Culture by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
2. Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes by Svante Paabo (BINGO #4, scientists)
3. Three Minutes in Poland: Discovering a Lost World in a 1938 Family Film by Glenn Kurtz
4. The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion by Will Eisner
5. Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina (BINGO #22, scientists)
6. The Accidental Slaveowner: Revisiting a Myth of Race & Finding an American Family by Mark Auslander (could also have been Hobie/bigger audience, BINGO #11, unfamiliar subject)
7. The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lapore
8. The Riddle of the Labyrinth: A Quest to Crack an Ancient Code by Margalit Fox (BINGO #1, about language)
9. Keeping Chickens With Ashley English by Ashley English (BINGO #3, unfamiliar topic)
10. The 8:55 to Baghdad: From London to Iraq on the Trail of Agatha Christie by Andrew Eames
11. Journey to the Alcarria: Travels Through the Spanish Countryside by Camilo Jose Cela
12. The Gilded Leaf: Triumph, Tragedy, and Tobacco by Patrick Reynolds and Tom Shatchman
13. Dear Audience: A Guide to the Enjoyment of Theatre by Blanche Yurka
14. Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie
15. Lanterns and Lances by James Thurber (BINGO #11, language)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

16. Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina by Misty Copeland

14Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Dic 14, 2015, 4:51 pm

#13 Lucy, officially Lusitania, a disaster waiting to happen. Disasters.
Completed in November sometime.....

1. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (BINGO #22, centered around historical event, WWI)
2. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (BINGO #7, natural disaster, 1928 Florida Hurricane)
3. The Edge of Dreams by Rhys Bowen (9th Street El crash, NYC, 9/11/1905)
4. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson (BINGO #20, event)
5. Tambora: The Eruption That Changed the World by Gillen D'Arcy Wood (Tambora, April 1815)
6. The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano That Darkened the World and Changed History by William K. & Nicholas P. Klingaman (Tambora, April 1815) (BINGO #7, natural disaster)
7. The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois (Krakatoa, August 1883)
8. The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin (Blizzard of 1888)
9. Hurricane: A Novel by Terry Trueman (Hurricane Mitch, 1998) (BINGO #15, natural disaster)
10. Rain: A Natural and Cultural History by Cynthia Barnett (BINGO #12, with scientists)
11. Farmer in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein (fiction earthquake on Ganymede) (BINGO #14, ancestor name)
12. The Million Death Quake: The Science of Predicting Earth's Deadliest Natural Disaster by Roger Musson (BINGO #4, with scientists)
13. Dangerous Neighbors: Volcanoes and Cities by Grant Heiken
14. The Island at the End of the World by Colin M. Drysdale
15. The Tilted World by Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly

15Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Nov 11, 2015, 11:45 pm

#14 Hobie, actually Hobart for character Hobart Floyt in Brian Daley’s Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds et al. Not a popular name today, this category is for works fewer than 50 LTers have in their Library or which have fewer than 3 reviews. Seeking a Bigger Audience. Completed 7/23/15

1. The Death of Nnanji by Dave Duncan (16/0, could also have been Fantasy)
2. A Fine Summer's Day by Charles Todd (16/0, could also have been Mystery or British Empire)
3. Pirates of the Outrigger Rift by Gary Jonas and Bill D. Allen (11/0, BINGO #2, chosen by someone else, could also have been #2 Pixie, Science Fiction)
-- Terrapin and Other Poems by Wendell Berry, Illustrated by Tom Pohrt (4/0)
4. Island on FIre: The Extraordinary Story of a Forgotten Volcano That Changed the World by Alexandra Witze & Jeff Kanipe (15/0, could also have been Disasters, BINGO #7, natural disaster)
5. Superior Donuts by Tracy Letts (17/0, could also have been Plays)
6. Calendar Girls by Tim Firth (4/0, could also have been Plays)
7. Super Volcano: The Ticking Time Bomb Beneath Yellowstone National Park by Greg Breining (30/2, could also have been Nonfiction)
8. Rain of Fire by Linda Jacobs (11/0, could also have been Disasters)
-- The Burning Mountain by Anico Surany, illustrations by Leonard Everett Fisher (I'm the only one!)
9. Murder on Amsterdam Avenue by Victoria Thompson (15/2)
10. The Merry Month of May by Joan Smith (13/0)
11. Two's Company by Betty Cavanna (12/0)
12. Superfluous Women by Carola Dunn (18/0)
13. The Braque Connection by Estelle Ryan (21/4) (BINGO #8, autism)
14. Exit Actors, Dying by Margot Arnold (48/0) (BINGO #10, another country)
15. Goa by Kara Dalkey (92/2) (BINGO #1, opposite gender)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

16. Deadly Curiosities by Gail Z. Martin (BINGO #21, mythical creature)
---. Honeymoon for One by Lily Zante
17. The Courbet Connection by Estelle Ryan (11/1)
18. Date Night on Union Station by E. M. Foner (13/1)
19. Arena Mode by Blake Northcott (20/0)
20. White Trash Zombie Gone Wild by Diana Rowland (11/1)
21. Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue by Victoria Thompson (11/0)
22. Nine Lives: A Lily Dale Mystery by Wendy Corsi Staub (10/1)

16Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Nov 10, 2015, 8:39 pm

#15 Tinkerbell. For books I read Just Because I Wanted To. Completed 7/2.

-- I Could Pee On This: And Other Poems By Cats by Francesco Marciuliano
1. This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, Illustrated by Jilian Tamaki
2. Serenity: Leaves on the Wind by Zack Whedon and Georges Jeanty
3. The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough
4. The Serenity GN Trio:
Serenity: Those Left Behind by Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews and Will Conrad
Serenity: Better Days by Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews and Will Conrad
Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale by Joss Whedon, Zack Whedon and Chris Samnee
5. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn (BINGO #11, about language)
6. Five, Six, Seven, Nate! by Tim Federle (BINGO #23, LBGTQ)
7. An Owl Too Many by Charlotte MacLeod (BINGO #11, opposite gender)
8. Water Witch by Cynthia Felice and Connie Willis (BINGO #13, read a CAT)
9. Ever After: A Nantucket Brides Novel by Jude Deveraux (BINGO #24, LT author)
10. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (BINGO #18, LT author)
11. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (BINGO #8, translated)
12. Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
13. The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge (BINGO #24, fairy tale)
14. World's End by Joan D. Vinge
--- Catwings by Ursula K. Le Guin
--- Catwings Return by Ursula K. Le Guin
15. Between Planets by Robert A. Heinlein

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

----. Jane on Her Own by Ursula Le Guin
----. Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings by Ursula Le Guin
----. Ms. Marvel: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona
16. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold
17. Magic Breaks by Ilona Andrews
18. Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds by Brian Daley
19. Silver Wings for Vicki by Helen Wells (BINGO #14, Childhood)
20. Emily and the Dark Angel by Jo Beverly
21. Venetia by Georgette Heyer
22. Fall of the White Ship Avatar by Brian Daley
23. The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein
24. The Arrival by Shaun Tan
25. A Wicked Slice by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins
26. Rotten Lies by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins
27. Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert A. Heinlein
28. Cherry Ames: Student Nurse by Helen Wells

17Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Dic 30, 2015, 2:00 pm

I think this is so cool.......

BINGO Card #1 finished on 3/22/15



1. Read a book with a protagonist of the opposite gender: A Fine Summer's Day by Charles Todd
2. Read a book chosen by someone else: 1. Pirates of the Outrigger Rift by Gary Jonas and Bill D. Allen
3. Read a book you've owned for more than a year: Tribe of the Tiger: Cats and Their Culture by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
4. Read a book with scientists: Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes by Svante Paabo
5. Read a book about a subject/topic of which you're unfamiliar: A Traveller's History of Croatia by Benjamin Curtis
6. Read a book translated from a language you don't speak: The House of Bernarda Alba by Frederico Garcia Lorca
7. Read a book with a natural disaster: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
8. Read a book about autism: The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
9. Read a book with a LGBTQ main character: Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill
10. Read a book set in a country other than your own: Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff
11. Read a book about language(s): Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
12. Read a book published in 1915: The Sea-Hawk by Rafael Sabatini
13. Read a book from the CAT of your choice: For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs by Robert A. Heinlein
14. Read a book that reminds you of your childhood: In Cuba I Was A German Shepherd by Ana Menendez
15. Read a book where prophecy, signs, or portents are part of the plot: The Death of Nnanji by Dave Duncan
16. Read a book that is based on a fairy tale or myth: The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine
17. Read a book inspired by another piece of fiction: Garment of Shadows by Laurie R. King
18. Read a book with correspondence or letters: Fraulein Schmidt and Mr. Anstruther by Elizabeth von Arnim
19. Read a book by an LT author: Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble by Marilyn Johnson
20. Read a book where an animal is of importance: Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai
21. Read a book with a mythical creature: In Search of a Homeland: The Story of The Aeneid by Penelope Lively, Illustrated by Ian Andrews
22. Read a book centered around a major historical event: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
23. Read a book whose author shares an ancestor's first name: The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus by Margaret Atwood
24. Read a book that's a genre bender: Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
25. Read a book that is completely out of your comfort zone: The Mirror of Lida Sal: Tales Based on Mayan Myths & Guatemalan Legends by Migel Angel Asturias, translated by Gilbert Alter-Gilbert

Card #2 - finished on 5/7/15



1. About Language: The Riddle of the Labyrinth: A Quest to Crack an Ancient Code by Margalit Fox
2. Animal of Importance: This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart
3. Out of Comfort Zone: Horrorstor: A Novel by Grady Hendrix
4. Owned Over a Year: The Line: A Witching Savannah Novel by J. D. Horn
5. Mythical Creature: Shifting Shadows: Stories From the World of Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs
6. Genre Bender: The City & The City by China Mieville
7. Natural Disaster: Island on Fire: The Extraordinary Story of a Forgotten Volcano That Changed the World by Alexandra Witze & Jeff Kanipe
8. Chosen by Someone Else: Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham
9. Opposite Gender Protagonist: Beyond This Horizon by Robert A. Heinlein
10. Published in 1915: Something Fresh by P. G. Wodehouse
11. Unfamiliar Subject: The Accidental Slaveowner: Revisiting a Myth of Race & Finding an American Family by Mark Auslander
12. Prophecies or Portents: Night Broken by Patricia Briggs
13. Read a CAT: The Strangler Vine by M. J. Carter
14. Other Country: De:Tales: Stories From Urban Brazil by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba
15. LT Author: Perfect Pitch by Mindy Klasky
16. Based on Fairy Tale or Myth: The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
17. Correspondence or Letters: Circle of Sisters: Alice Kipling, Georgiana Burne-Jones, Agnes Poynter, and Louisa Baldwin by Judith Flanders
18. Ancestor’s Name: Rocket Ship Galileo by Robert A. Heinlein
19. Inspired by Another Piece of Fiction: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang
20. Major Historical Event: Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitaniaby Erik Larson
21. Translated: One Day of Life by Manilo Argueta, trans. Bill Brow
22. Scientists: Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina
23. LGBTQ Main Character: Five, Six, Seven, Nate! by Tim Federle
24. Childhood: Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier
25. Autism: A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley

Card #3 finished on 6/20/2015



1. Translated: The Prophet Murders by Mehmet Murat Somer
2. Reminds of childhood: Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward
3. Unfamiliar topic: Keeping Chickens with Ashley English by Ashley English
4. Autism: The Gauguin Connection by Estelle Ryan
5. About language: The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
6. With Scientists: Super Volcano: The Ticking Time Bomb Beneath Yellowstone National Park by Greg Breining
7. Natural disaster: The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano That Darkened the World and Changed History by William K. & Nicholas P. Klingaman
8. Major Historical Event: An Infamous Army: A Novel of Love, War, Wellington and Waterloo by Georgette Heyer
9. Epistolary: Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh
10. LGBQ Main Character: The Violins of Saint-Jacques by Patrick Leigh Fremor
11. Opposite Gender: An Owl Too Many by Charlotte MacLeod
12. Another Country: Aunt Dimity and the Summer King by Nancy Atherton
13. Read A CAT: Water Witch by Cynthia Felice and Connie Willis
14. Animal: Destroyer Angel by Nevada Barr
15. Fairy Tale or Myth: The Nightingale by Kara Dalkey
16. Mythical Creature: The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
17. Prophecy or Portents: Macbeth by William Shakespeare
18. Genre Bender: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
19. Inspired by Other Fiction: Tamara Drewe by Posy Simmonds
20. Outside Comfort Zone: I'll Be Back Before Midnight! by Peter Colley
21. 1915: Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters
22. Ancestor Name: Guatemalan Women Speak by Margaret Hooks
23. Owned 1+ Year: Death and the King's Horseman by Wole Soyinka
24. LT Author: Ever After: A Nantucket Brides Novel by Jude Deveraux
25. Chosen by Someone Else: Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley

Card #4: finished on 7/21/15



1. Set in another country: The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie
2. Genre bender: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
3. Reminds of childhood: The Rolling Stones by Robert A. Heinlein
4. Chosen by someone else: It Takes a Witch by Heather Blake
5. Animal of importance: The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
6. Epistolary: Magdalena and Balthasar: An Intimate Portrait of Life in 16th Century Europe Revealed in the Letters of a Nuremberg Husband and Wife by Steven Ozment
7. Owned for more than 1 year: The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
8. Translated: Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
9. Major historical event: Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the Selma Voting Rights March by Lynda Blackmon Lowery
10. Published 1915: Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
11. Prophecies and Portents: Tea With the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy
12. Scientists: Rain: A Natural and Cultural History by Cynthia Barnett
13. Read a CAT: The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
14. Ancestor first name: Farmer in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
15. Natural disaster: Hurricane: A Novel by Terry Trueman
16. Mythical Creature: Dead Ice by Laurell K. Hamilton
17. LGBTQ: The Kiss Murder by Mehmet Murat Somer
18. LT author: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
19. About language: Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
20. Outside of comfort zone: Funf by Ursula Archer
21. Autism: The Dante Connection by Estelle Ryan
22. Inspired by another piece of fiction: Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) by Ann-Marie MacDonald
23. Unfamiliar subject: Searching for El Dorado: A Journey into the South American Rainforest on the Tail of the World's Largest Gold Rush by Marc Herman
24. Fairy tale of myth: The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
25. Protagonist of opposite gender: Time and Again by Jack Finney

Card #5 finished on October 20th???



1. Protagonist opposite gender: Goa by Kara Dalkey
2. Chosen by someone else: Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death by James Runcie
3. More than a year: Snow in April by Rosamunde Pilcher
4. With Scientists: The Million Death Quake: The Science of Predicting Earth's Deadliest Natural Disaster by Roger Musson
5. Unfamiliar Subject: Marie Antoinette's Head: The Royal Hairdresser, The Queen, and The Revolution by Will Bashor
6. Translated: The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin
7. Natural Disaster: Million Death Quake by Grant Heiken
8. Autism: The Braque Connection by Estelle Ryan
9. LGBQT: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
10. Another Country: Exit Actors, Dying by Margot Arnold
11. Language: Lanterns and Lances by James Thurber
12. 1915: Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross by L. Frank Baum
13. Read a CAT: Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
14. Childhood: Silver Wings for Vicki by Helen Wells
15. Prophecies or portents: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
16. Myth: Cobweb Empire by Vera Nazarian
17. Inspired by other fiction: Dodger by Terry Pratchett
18. Letters: Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher
19. LT author: Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
20. Animal of importance: The Luck Runs Out by Charlotte MacLeod
21. Mythical Creature: Deadly Curiosities by Gail Z. Martin
22. Major Historical Event: Coventry by Helen Humphreys
23. Shares ancestor's name: Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein
24. Genre Bender: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
25. Outside Comfort Zone: Ruined by Lynn Nottage

18christina_reads
Ene 1, 2015, 3:17 pm

Heehee, I love the 15 cats! Looking forward to seeing what you read.

19mamzel
Ene 1, 2015, 3:33 pm

What great names for your cats! I can hear the call through the neighborhood now. "Here, Lochinvar! Here, kitty!" hee, hee
Any chance that pictures of said kitties will be forthcoming?

20rabbitprincess
Ene 1, 2015, 4:28 pm

Awww I love the name Lochinvar for a kitty! They're all great names. Enjoy your challenge!

21LittleTaiko
Ene 1, 2015, 6:00 pm

What wonderful names! Love how you were able to use them for categories.

22Poquette
Ene 1, 2015, 7:51 pm

What a clever idea! Love your challenge categories. This should be fun to watch!

23lkernagh
Ene 1, 2015, 10:30 pm

Welcome back! I love the names of the various feline friends your family has had! My personal favorite is Lochinvar. Scottish sounding names are perfect for rolling those "r" at the end. ;-)

24cbl_tn
Ene 1, 2015, 10:59 pm

Hi Dejah! What a great theme!

25-Eva-
Ene 1, 2015, 11:24 pm

Love this! And, brilliant cat-names!

26Dejah_Thoris
Ene 2, 2015, 8:52 pm

Greetings to all my visitors!

>18 christina_reads: Thank you, Christina! My reading is always more interesting when I'm active on LT. Otherwise I'm horribly lazy.....

>19 mamzel: I'm glad you like the kitty names, mamzel! Actually, posting the above made me realize that I don't have a lot of kitty photos. Some of the cats are from my childhood, and I don't think any photos of them exist. For others, I have some photos that I haven't transferred into a digital format. For some I do have photos and I'll add them one of these days! I don't come from a very photo oriented family....

>20 rabbitprincess: Hello, rabbitprincess! Lochinvar is still fairly young - a late teenager cat. He's growing into his name. I hope you enjoy your Challenge, too!

>21 LittleTaiko: I usually struggle to come up with a theme, so I was really pleased when this one came to me.

>22 Poquette: Thanks for dropping by, Suzanne - I'm looking forward to tracking down your thread and finding our what you're reading!

>23 lkernagh: Thanks for the welcome back, Lori! Lochinvar is a great name. I confess, I occasionally call him Lochinvarnish.....

>24 cbl_tn: Hi Carrie! I'm really looking forward to catching up with all your reading -- I know I'll find lot of books I'll want to read.

>25 -Eva-: Thanks! And the kitties would appreciate that you admire their names if they weren't cats and already well aware that their names are perfect for them, lol.

I've finished my first book of the year - I'll be back shortly to review.

27skrouhan
Ene 3, 2015, 11:41 am

Love this idea! I've always been such a fan of interesting and intellectual names for my kitties (our two are named Achilles and Odin, and we are cooking up a third name, potentially from Tolkien, for when we get a dog). Can't wait to see how you fill your CATegories!

28Dejah_Thoris
Ene 3, 2015, 11:42 am



Category #14 - Hobie, Seeking More Readers

The Death of Nnanji by Dave Duncan (BINGO #15, Prophecy)

I’m not a fan of all of Dave Duncan’s work; I think the four book series A Man of His Word is fabulous, but I’ve never been able to get through the four book follow up A Handful of Men. I very much like and have reread several times Duncan’s first series The Seventh Sword, originally published in 1988. A few years ago, he realized he had something more to say in the world of The River and added a fourth book – The Death of Nnanji.

Did I enjoy The Death of Nnanji as much as the original trilogy? Truthfully I didn’t, but it was a pleasure to revisit some of the characters and see how they had reshaped their world and to learn how a prophecy was fulfilled.

If the series sounds interesting, start with The Reluctant Swordsman – there is no reason to read The Death of Nnanji without having read the originally trilogy. And keep in mind that Duncan is not particularly strong in writing female characters……

29whitewavedarling
Ene 3, 2015, 12:24 pm

I love your categories and names :) I'm going to hope for pictures, and look forward to how the names might influence your book comments, too!

30luvamystery65
Ene 3, 2015, 12:58 pm

Wonderful categories and a brilliant theme! I'm glad to have you back.

31Dejah_Thoris
Ene 3, 2015, 12:58 pm

>29 whitewavedarling: Why thank you, Jennifer! I'll get around to the pictures, I promise. And I confess it hadn't occurred to me that the cat names might influence my comments - I'll have to give that some thought!

32Dejah_Thoris
Ene 3, 2015, 12:59 pm

>30 luvamystery65: Hi Roberta! You snuck in while I was typing. I'm glad you like my theme - and I'm excited to be back!

33Dejah_Thoris
Ene 3, 2015, 1:07 pm



Category #4 - Nora, Mysteries

1. If It Bleeds by Linda L. Richards

Quote from the Orca Books / Rapid Reads website found here.

In our increasingly fast-paced world we believe there is a need for well-written, well-told books that can be read in one sitting. Rapid Reads are short books for adult readers. They are intended for a diverse audience, including ESL students, reluctant readers, adults who struggle with literacy and anyone who wants a high-interest quick read.


As I read If It Bleeds, I kept reminding myself that I wasn’t the target audience for this book, something I didn’t realize when I requested it from the ER program. The problem, ultimately, was that I didn’t find the book well written or engaging. I’ve read many novella length works that I’ve enjoyed, but this wasn’t one of them.

I’m a mystery fan, but this book seemed to focus more on the heroine’s dissatisfaction with her job as a society reporter with a newspaper in Vancouver (a job for which this person should never have been hired) than on the murder. For a short book, the plot was slow. I also have issues with a book purportedly for readers developing their reading skills using poor grammar and lazy sentence construction.

Perhaps some of these flaws can be attributed to the needs of the Rapid Reads series – simple plot, simple language. And perhaps I’m being a bit harsh. There were some sections that read well and it tightened up near the end when the focus was mainly on the crime. I hope, however, that other entries in the series are much stronger, or a number of people may be put off reading altogether.

34VioletBramble
Ene 3, 2015, 2:05 pm

Welcome back Dejah! Looking forward to seeing what you'll read this year.

35Dejah_Thoris
Ene 3, 2015, 2:38 pm

>34 VioletBramble: Thank you for the welcome back, Kelly! That's my favorite part about LT, I think - finding out what other people are reading....

36MissWatson
Editado: Ene 4, 2015, 11:44 am

Love the categories, especially the Hobie, Seeking More Readers. I'm really looking forward to what you will unearth there!

ETC. Spelling. Sigh.

37BookLizard
Ene 4, 2015, 8:15 pm

#13 Lucy, officially Lusitania, a disaster waiting to happen.

Love the name! Someone I knew had a Lucy - short for Lucifur (Lucy Fur is also a cat in Rita Mae Brown's books).

Clever CATegories.

38LibraryCin
Ene 4, 2015, 9:32 pm

haha! Yes, I had to pop in here because of your thread title, and what do you know? It really is all about cats! Love it!

39Dejah_Thoris
Ene 5, 2015, 4:47 pm

>27 skrouhan: Hi Sarah! I missed your post the other day. Pet names can be enthralling - I've had an Odysseus and an Athena, which sort of match your two. I find it's tricky to plan names in advance - I've found that animals 'tell' me their names after a while! Of course, it's entirely possible I'm influenced by my reading, too.....

>36 MissWatson: Hi Birgit! Thank you for dropping by - and Hobie is pleased you appreciate the fine qualities of his category. Oh - and I can't spell, either. Or type, apparently. Sigh.

>37 BookLizard: Lucy was dearly loved, but somewhat nuts. Her, shall we say, special qualities were noticeable quite early, hence the name. And the cats are taking all the credit for anything clever.

>38 LibraryCin: Too funny - I figured cat people would be amused. I see you're from Alberta - ancestors of my from Latvia settled there for a while (Stettler). Then most of them moved where it was warmer - California and Florida. I'm planning to visit Alberta one of these years, preferably in the summer.....

40LibraryCin
Ene 5, 2015, 8:38 pm

>39 Dejah_Thoris: Yes, summer would be much nicer! I'm sure you're planning on the Rocky Mountains? They are amazing!!!!

41Dejah_Thoris
Ene 5, 2015, 8:40 pm

>40 LibraryCin: Actually, I made it through a Montana winter (Missoula) but never made it north across the boarder. I do want to see more of the mountains, though.

42LibraryCin
Ene 5, 2015, 11:02 pm

>41 Dejah_Thoris: For Canada, winters are pretty decent here in Calgary. We are close to the mountains which often produces what is called a "chinook" wind. Chinooks can warm up the temperatures fairy quickly. But, we do get a lot of melting and refreezing with it. It can also be very cold, though, and we do get cold snaps that can last a couple weeks at a time before it warms up again.

The weather, though, I think is pretty similar to Montana. I do have a friend in Helena and we often find the same systems are going through.

43DeltaQueen50
Ene 6, 2015, 12:12 am

It is so good to see you back Dejah! I am so happy that you are setting a thread up here as I have decided to forego my 75 thread this year. Looking forward to the book bullets!

44VivienneR
Ene 6, 2015, 12:21 am

>1 Dejah_Thoris: Cats? Fifteen cats? I can't resist! I'll be following along.

BTW I live on the other side of the Rockies from >42 LibraryCin: and the climate here is quite different. Hot hot summers, milder winters, and lots of snow.

45Dejah_Thoris
Ene 6, 2015, 12:22 am

>43 DeltaQueen50: Too funny, Judy - I was just posting to your thread! I wish I'd thought to join the 75ers (so I can do the TIOLI Challenges) but to keep a thread just over here. I think I'll try to limit my interaction over there - too crazy. I can't keep up!

46Dejah_Thoris
Ene 6, 2015, 12:26 am

>44 VivienneR: Thanks for dropping by, Vivienne! I've never been west of the Rockies in wither the U.S. or Canada, but it's on my list. I live in Georgia where we have hot, hot summers and milder winters - but virtually no snow, so my winters are MUCH milder, thank goodness! I got tired of snow shoveling when I lived in NY state. I grew up in Florida and my blood has been diluted since those Lativian ancestors, lol.

47VivienneR
Ene 6, 2015, 12:37 am

>46 Dejah_Thoris: I visited Georgia once and really loved it. I've been recommending the state to people ever since.

48LibraryCin
Editado: Ene 6, 2015, 3:10 pm

>44 VivienneR: Oops, need to read closer.... lots of snow, you are neither in Victoria nor Vancouver! Okanagan?

49electrice
Ene 6, 2015, 3:20 pm

>17 Dejah_Thoris: I think this is so cool....... YEEEES !

>28 Dejah_Thoris: And keep in mind that Duncan is not particularly strong in writing female characters…… That would be a resounding no, then ;)

50Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Ene 6, 2015, 5:20 pm

>47 VivienneR: I'm glad to hear you like Georgia - I do, too. You'll have to tell me where you've visited.

>48 LibraryCin: You're knowledge of Canadian geography far outstrips my own, lol. I didn't think Vancouver got much snow, but who knows?

>49 electrice: BINGO is fabulous - and the cards are marvelous. I'm looking forward to filling one so I can have another. And as for Duncan, well, not every writer does all things well. And he is a man.

Take a look at what showed up at my house today:



I walked out onto the back deck this morning and spoke to one of the kitties who had walked out with me. Suddenly, there was this tragic crying from the woods. I rushed for the trees and saw a small orange cat (kitten - maybe 12 weeks?) waaaay up a tree. He really, really wanted to be rescued and was very vocal about it. Eventually I was able to talk him down. His tree climbing up skills are apparently excellent - the whole climbing down thing, not so much, poor baby.

51electrice
Ene 6, 2015, 5:23 pm

>50 Dejah_Thoris: I'm not a cat person, but I can admit, he is cute :)

52DeltaQueen50
Ene 6, 2015, 5:36 pm

He's a beauty, and it looks like he has good taste in reading material as well - this one is a keeper!

53BookLizard
Ene 6, 2015, 6:20 pm

50> What a cutie! The orange boys are love bugs.

54LibraryCin
Ene 6, 2015, 8:41 pm

>50 Dejah_Thoris: Ah, I spoke too soon on that (and I've since edited my reply!) Neither Vancouver nor Victoria get very much snow, nor are they very hot in the summer. Those were just the first places I thought of when she said she was the other side of the Rockies! Oops! No, both of those cities have probably the most moderate winters and summers, I'd guess!

My next guess is that >44 VivienneR: is in the Okanagan (you'll find lots of wineries there, I believe). I'm sure she could tell you more!

55LibraryCin
Ene 6, 2015, 8:59 pm

>50 Dejah_Thoris: And oh, he's cute! Are you keeping him? Or maybe get him to a vet to see if he already has a microchip or tattoo?

56Dejah_Thoris
Ene 6, 2015, 10:53 pm

>51 electrice: Well, I am a cat person (obviously) so I pretty much think they're all cute.

>52 DeltaQueen50: And I probably will end up keeping him, Judy. The ones that arrive as if by magic usually end up staying.

>53 BookLizard: He's a little love, alright. He thinks I'm wonderful, but he's not too sure about the other cats. I suspect our frequent visitor feral stray tomcat Dobie Gillis is the one who chased him up the tree.

>54 LibraryCin: LOL, re: the geography of western Canada! As for the kitten, I'll put the word out but chances are he was dumped nearby. He hasn't been on his own long and except for a gash on his foot he's in great shape. Very few pets in this area are chipped or tattooed - cats are even less likely to have been than dogs. It wouldn't be the first time someone has dropped off animals near my home.....

A question for everyone - there has been lots of buzz about the new Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London novel Foxglove Summer which was released today, but nobody seems very excited about the 7th Flavia deLuce novel As Chimney Sweepers Come To Dust or the newest Charles Todd A Fine Summer's Day which were also available today. Any idea why the focus is on the one book?

57cbl_tn
Ene 6, 2015, 10:53 pm

>50 Dejah_Thoris: What a sweetie! He looks like a keeper!

58Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Ene 6, 2015, 11:20 pm



Category #7, Winston & Churchill, The British Empire

1. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (BINGO #23, shares ancestor's name)

The ‘Will You Like It” feature on LT predicted, with very high confidence, that I “probably won’t like” The Penelopiad. This time, they got it wrong. There are many excellent reviews of this work, so I’ll just stick to saying while it will never be my favorite Atwood work, I thought it was clever (like Penelope) and biting (like most of Atwood’s work) and would work marvelously well on stage. I’ve read The Odyssey (and for that matter, The Iliad) twice and am generally familiar with Greek mythology which leaves me uncertain as to how readers unfamiliar with the underlying works would feel about it. It’s well worth picking up.

59cbl_tn
Ene 6, 2015, 10:56 pm

>56 Dejah_Thoris: I read an ARC of As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust in the fall. I am more excited about it now that I've read it than I was before reading it. The end of the last book seemed to suggest the series was heading in a new direction that I wasn't sure I'd like.

60Dejah_Thoris
Ene 6, 2015, 11:00 pm

>58 Dejah_Thoris: Thank you, Carrie! I wondered if many of the most interested people might have gotten copies early. I read recently that the original idea was to stop after 6 books, so he did have to come up with something new to keep it going. I'm so glad to here that you weren't disappointed! I'm getting my hands on it tomorrow!!!

And the little orange guy will probably fit right right in. What's a few more books and cats in the big scheme of things?

61lindapanzo
Ene 6, 2015, 11:00 pm

Welcome back!!

62Dejah_Thoris
Ene 6, 2015, 11:02 pm

Thank you - my reading boundaries expand the moment I log on. It's a pleasure to be back!

63Dejah_Thoris
Ene 6, 2015, 11:20 pm



Category #5, Indy - History

1. Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble by Marilyn Johnson (BINGO #19, LT author)

Lives in Ruins is very engaging sampling of the many types of work that archaeologists can do. It’s not a career guide by any means (although anyone thinking of becoming an archaeologist should definitely read it – Lives in Ruins has more than one meaning), but it does attempt the explain the fascination of this often misunderstood line of work. I know a fair amount of archaeology so the generalities taught me nothing new but the specifics of the different work each archaeologist was doing were extremely interesting as were the stories of the archaeologists themselves. I found it to be a pleasant, informative and not particularly demanding read.

64Dejah_Thoris
Ene 6, 2015, 11:33 pm



Category #4 - Nora, Mysteries

2. To Dwell In Darkness by Deborah Crombie

I find it hard to believe that this is the 16th Duncan and Gemma book; Crombie’s writing has certainly changed since the first book, A Share In Death. I have to say, though, that this was not my favorite in the series – not even close. Nor was the appearance of several cats enough to boost it in the rankings, although I’ll admit if the kitten I found today had been female, she probably would have been named Xena.

It’s not a bad book by any means – the mystery was interesting and I didn’t see the solution coming. If you’re interested, go back to the beginning of the series. It’s the character development that makes me keep reading the books.

65Dejah_Thoris
Ene 6, 2015, 11:45 pm



Category #10 - Hilde, Works That Inspired Movies

1. The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers (The Member of the Wedding, 1952)

Scads of marvelous reviews of this book are available (plus the comments from all the recent readers) so I don’t feel obligated to say much about this book. I will say that it is no simple coming of age story – it’s much more. And it’s all the more stunning given when it was published (1946). While I can’t say I enjoyed reading it, I admired much of it immensely. John Henry and Bernice spoke to me more than Frankie did……

66BookLizard
Ene 7, 2015, 1:04 am

56> I think Foxglove Summer is so popular because a bunch of us just discovered the series last year & the last book ended with a surprise twist.

67Dejah_Thoris
Ene 7, 2015, 8:20 am

Ahhh. Perhaps I'm less excited than everyone else because I've been reading the series since 2011 and have become accustomed to cliffhangers and waiting for the next installment! Don't get me wrong - I'm really looking forward to Foxglove Summer, but then it's going to be another year until The Hanging Tree. Sigh.

68LibraryCin
Ene 7, 2015, 3:47 pm

>56 Dejah_Thoris: Aw, that's so sad. :-( Poor little guy.

69LittleTaiko
Ene 7, 2015, 5:43 pm

What a cute cat! Love the orange ones, they remind me of the cat I had growing up.

>64 Dejah_Thoris: - Love the Duncan/Gemma series though I agree this one may not have been the best. I did give it four stars though so maybe I liked it a bit more than you. There were some tense moments where I was seriously worried about the cats. Overall, I think this book was more of a transitional book to get everyone to the next level. The ending certainly left things open for an interesting next book.

70rabbitprincess
Ene 7, 2015, 7:36 pm

I'm excited about the new Flavia as well! I'm fourth in line at the library so hope to receive it soon. In the meantime, my copy of Foxglove Summer has arrived today :)

71hailelib
Ene 8, 2015, 2:37 pm

Cute orange tabby kitten!

Lives in Ruins sounds interesting.

72-Eva-
Ene 9, 2015, 12:19 am

I'm in line for As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust as well - I was worried about which direction it would go until I read cbl_tn's review, so I'm back to being excited about that one! :)

73Dejah_Thoris
Ene 10, 2015, 8:41 pm

>68 LibraryCin: The little guy is doing fine - he's next to me as I type. He's been very happy to have been inside during this cold snap.

>69 LittleTaiko: I agree, Stacy, that To Dwell in Darkness raised more mysteries than it solved! And it wasn't that it was a bad book by any means - it just wasn't what I was expecting. Now we've got another year to wait....

>70 rabbitprincess: How are you faring with Foxglove Summer? I'm still not even on hold for it yet - still 'In Processing.' I knowI'll get it first when it finally reaches my branch, though. I enjoyed Flavia, as always.

>71 hailelib: The cute little guy is a solemn fellow, not what I'm used to from orange tabby cats! Lives In Ruins was very enjoyable and very readable. It made me want to pick up more history books than I have been lately.

>72 -Eva-: Flavia is still Flavia - no worries there. It's not my favorite in the series, but it works to move things along. I hope you get your hands on it soon!

I've been reading madly and now I need to write some comments. Sigh. I also need to make the rounds of the threads! Good thing I planned an evening in.....

74luvamystery65
Ene 10, 2015, 8:50 pm

I've only read the first Flavia so I'm not as excited about a new release but I did like the first one and plan to forge ahead.

I think so many of us were waiting for Peter Grant 5 because book 3 was a bit of a slump and book 4 ended with a bigger bang than the previous ones. The ending made the series exciting for me again.

I just read the fourth Bess Crawford for my Christmas murder mystery read last month. My library mistakenly listed it as a first in series. GRRRR!!! I didn't realize it until I was a bit invested and then what the heck, I just read on. I usually don't do that, but I must have a Christmas themed murder mystery or it just isn't Christmas.

What will you name the kitten?

75Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Ene 10, 2015, 9:05 pm

>74 luvamystery65: Definitely forge ahead with the Flavia books, Roberta. They're fun.

And I agree that Broken Homes ended with a shocker. I can't wait to get my hands on Foxglove Summer - especially now that I've already read two other books that came out Tuesday, the Flavia and the Ian Rutledge - A Fine Summer's Day Speaking of the good Inspector, was the Bess Crawford book the first Charles Todd novel you've read or have you read any of the now 17 Ian Rutledge mysteries as well? Do go back and read the other Bess books; they're good. Like you, I hate to read books out of order. How maddening.

The kitten's name has not yet been determined. He's a reserved little guy....

76luvamystery65
Ene 10, 2015, 9:28 pm

>75 Dejah_Thoris: It was the first Charles Todd I have ever read but I see from their website that they have lots of books out. Being a nurse, I did enjoy Bess but I'll look at this other series since you recommend it.

77Dejah_Thoris
Ene 10, 2015, 9:32 pm

>76 luvamystery65: The Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries tend to be a little dark - Ian is definitely, shall we say, haunted by his experiences in WWI. They're well written, though and I enjoy them.

78LibraryCin
Ene 11, 2015, 1:42 am

>73 Dejah_Thoris: I bet he is happy to be inside!

79Dejah_Thoris
Ene 11, 2015, 8:27 am

>78 LibraryCin: He is! But my goodness, he's the most subdued healthy kitten I've ever met!

I intended to write some reviews last night, but I started visiting threads and before I got very far got really sleepy....so maybe today.

80luvamystery65
Ene 11, 2015, 10:21 am

>77 Dejah_Thoris: I can definitely do dark so I WILL put them on the list. Thanks again.

81VivienneR
Ene 11, 2015, 3:48 pm

>79 Dejah_Thoris: We had a very subdued cat too. When she was a kitten, my husband, thinking she might be ill, sought advice from the vet because "my kitten won't frolic". Vet laughed. In the course of her long life, she frolicked for a total of about 15 minutes!

82Dejah_Thoris
Ene 12, 2015, 12:44 pm

>80 luvamystery65: Excellent! Enjoy.

>81 VivienneR: The little guy is perking up a bit, but I think he may indeed just be a very mellow cat!

I'm finally going to get around to posting some reviews as I find the time today. Reviews is probably a generous description - comments is probably more accurate!

83Dejah_Thoris
Ene 12, 2015, 12:46 pm



Category #7 - Winston & Churchill, The British Empire

2. As Chimney Sweepers Come To Dust by Alan Bradley

BANISHED! Yes, Flavia has been banished her mother’s boarding school, Miss Bodycote’s, in Canada. But Flavia is still Flavia. and a dead body appears right on cue. As always, I am struck by Flavia’s combination of startling genius and incongruous naiveté. This is not my favorite Flavia, but it’s wonderful to have her back. Now I just have to wait until next January to see what happens next…..

84Dejah_Thoris
Ene 12, 2015, 1:00 pm



Category #15 - Tinkerbell, Just Because I Wanted To

1. I Could Pee On This: And Other Poems By Cats by Francesco Marciuliano

This goofy little book was mildly amusing – some of the poems were spot on, others, not so much. The often hysterical photos add to the overall effect. If you’re a cat owner, you’ll probably find someone you know in the pages….

I Lick Your Nose
I lick your nose
I lick your nose again
I drag my claws down your eyelids
Oh, you’re up? Feed me

85Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Ene 12, 2015, 1:21 pm



Category #9 - Dora, The Rest of the World

1. Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart (Austria)

I was bound and determined to read at least one Mary Stewart novel in January to meet TIOLI Challenge #6 (over in the 75ers) which is to read a work by an author who died in 2014 and Airs Above the Ground came first to hand. I’m a big fan of Stewart’s romantic suspense novels – I find them to be highly entertaining period pieces with women who were, given the era in which the books were published, fairly independent and resourceful. But Airs Above the Ground was never a favorite of mine. I think I read it once in my teens or possibly early twenties and never picked it up again until now. I have to say I seem to like it quite a bit more this time. The heroine, Vanessa, is a vet, which comes into play as she travels in Austria in search of her husband who is supposedly on a business trip in Stockholm but has been sighted with a circus in the Austrian countryside. I’ve always enjoyed the sense of place that Stewart conveys and Airs Above the Ground is certainly no exception. The secondary storyline with the Lipizzaner stallions is excellent and if the multiple chase scenes at toward the end of the book are a bit much, well, at least the settings are unusual and well-drawn. Airs Above the Ground hasn’t moved into my top three Stewarts (they would be This Rough Magic, Wildfire at Midnight and Nine Coaches Waiting) but I’m glad I gave it another chance.

86Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Ene 12, 2015, 2:39 pm



Category #14 - Hobie, Seeking a Bigger Audience

2. A Fine Summer’s Day by Charles Todd (BINGO #1, protagonist of the opposite gender)

The previous 16 novels about Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge, a man haunted by his experiences in World War I, have all been set in the post war years. A Fine Summer’s Day departs from this pattern and opens on the 28th of June, 1914; Ian proposes to his ladylove Jean and Archduke Ferdinand and his Duchess Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo and the whole world changes. As always, Ian has a tricky mystery to solve, but I must confess I found the first third or so of the novel to be dreadfully slow. Once it picked up, though, it was great. The impending war and its first few months are never far from anyone’s thoughts and ultimately, there’s no escaping it.

I’m usually very insistent that series be read in order, but this is a rare exception where it would be possible to start with a later book. Of course, then you’d have to go directly back to the first book, A Test of Wills, but it’s worth the effort.

87Dejah_Thoris
Ene 12, 2015, 2:38 pm



Category #7 - Winston & Churchill, The British Empire

3. Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro

I wasn’t at all certain I would like this collection of short stories from Kazuo Ishiguro, but I did. Each one was intriguing; several were lovely. My favorite was the first, “Crooner,” my least “Come Rain or Come Shine” which I felt fit less well with the others.

88DeltaQueen50
Ene 12, 2015, 3:48 pm

You are stirring up memories with Airs Above the Ground which I also remember from my teens. My favorite Mary Stewart was This Rough Magic.

89Dejah_Thoris
Ene 12, 2015, 4:14 pm

>88 DeltaQueen50: I remembered very little of it - just general impressions of the husband, circus and horses. I'm really glad I picked it up again. I may reread This Rough Magic in January, too. I just couldn't stand not to have Mary Stewart represented in that TIOLI Challenge!

90VivienneR
Ene 12, 2015, 4:30 pm

Good to hear you enjoyed C. Alan Bradley's latest Flavia book. And what a wonderful poem you quoted from Francesco Marciuliano!

91Dejah_Thoris
Ene 12, 2015, 4:34 pm

>90 VivienneR: I do enjoy Flavia. I'm so glad that the series has been extended to nine books - that give us at least two more! As for the poem, some of my cats can be very determined if they think I'm sleeping too late.....

92VivienneR
Ene 12, 2015, 4:41 pm

I hadn't heard that the extent of the series had been decided, so that's good to know. My cat believes in tapping a joint to get attention, ankle, elbow or sometimes shoulder. When I'm under the covers, she has to reach down underneath to tap my elbow. Some cats are so eccentric.

93Dejah_Thoris
Ene 13, 2015, 10:24 am

>92 VivienneR: I read that originally the series was slated to be 6 books, but had been extended another 3. Who knows - maybe we'll end up with 12!

94staci426
Ene 13, 2015, 11:39 am

>84 Dejah_Thoris: I just ordered this in a calendar! Will have to check out the book as well.

Love your kitty theme and the stories behind all the names. I did a cat theme last year.

95Dejah_Thoris
Ene 13, 2015, 11:55 am

>94 staci426: A calendar version of I Could Pee On This would be a hoot - the pictures are excellent.

I'm sorry I missed your cat theme last year - people come up with the the most amazing themes in this group. I'll have to find your thread and see what you're up to this year.

96staci426
Ene 13, 2015, 12:58 pm

>95 Dejah_Thoris: Yeah, it should be fun. Hopefully it will get here tomorrow. No worries about last year. I know it's impossible to follow everyone's threads.

97whitewavedarling
Ene 13, 2015, 5:19 pm

Just catching up on your thread and all of the discussion now--the new orange edition to your family is so sweet looking! I'm glad you found him :) On a book note, that's a McCullers I haven't yet gotten to, and I'm anxious to fit in Nocturnes this year :)

98thornton37814
Ene 13, 2015, 10:06 pm

>50 Dejah_Thoris: Cute!

>64 Dejah_Thoris: It wasn't my favorite in the series either.

>65 Dejah_Thoris: That about sums up how I felt about it.

>87 Dejah_Thoris: "Crooner" was also my favorite.

99Dejah_Thoris
Ene 13, 2015, 10:19 pm

>96 staci426: Well at least I've managed to find this year's thread!

>97 whitewavedarling: Nocturnes was a pleasant surprise; I enjoyed it. The Member of the Wedding falls more into the category of 'I'm glad I read it,' but I'm not in a great hurry to pick up any more McCullers, lol. I found it a little to painful for my present mood I'm afraid.

>98 thornton37814: The cute guy, who just knocked over my glass, is adjusting very well. And I suppose every book can't be fabulous....

100Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Ene 13, 2015, 10:21 pm



Category #12 - Gallie, Nonfiction

1. Tribe of the Tiger: Cats and Their Culture by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (BINGO #3, owned for more than a year)

As is pretty obvious to visitors to my thread, I’m a cat person – but not the kind that buys myself cat books, cat knickknacks and cat t-shirts. I don’t have to; other people buy them for me whether I want them or not, lol. Two prime examples would by I Could Pee On This (see above) and Tribe of the Tiger: Cats and Their Culture. I was disappointed by Tribe of the Tiger. It was really just a bunch of short essays about cats large and small but with very little connecting the; there was a lack of narrative or even organization. I found I seldom was interested in reading more than one or two chapters at a time, which is unusual for me. It was a bad book nor was the writing poor (although Thomas often wrote almost prosaically about things I found rather horrific) and I did learn things, but I can away not certain what I had accomplished by reading it.

101Dejah_Thoris
Ene 13, 2015, 11:02 pm



Category #7 - Winston & Churchill, The British Empire

4. A Stitch in Time by Penelope Lively

This short work of children’s fiction by acclaimed author Penelope Lively grew on me. I enjoyed the descriptions of Lyme Regis and the family’s vacation house and adored that Maria and her friend Martin collected fossils. Ultimately I liked best how Lively expressed that as one grows up how you interact with the people around you changes, with both contemporaries and adults – perhaps most shockingly with adults.

102BookLizard
Ene 13, 2015, 11:06 pm

100> I’m a cat person – but not the kind that buys myself cat books, cat knickknacks and cat t-shirts. I don’t have to; other people buy them for me whether I want them or not, lol.

Amen to that! If I'm buying something for myself, I'll pick the cat one if it's a choice (like calendars or notebooks), but I don't buy everything I see with cats on them. I think I have 2 sets of hand-painted cat glasses that I got from different friends. This year my friend got me a cat nativity set for Christmas. It's actually very cute, but not something I would ever buy for myself.

103Dejah_Thoris
Ene 13, 2015, 11:09 pm

>102 BookLizard: A cat nativity - what a hoot! But that's exactly the kind of thing I mean. I have nothing against cat stuff, it would simply never occur to me to buy it. I think some folks miss the distinction between collecting cats and cat themed items, lol.

And I can't stand the musical CATS.

104Dejah_Thoris
Ene 13, 2015, 11:24 pm



Category #6 - Salem, The United States

1. The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry

In many ways I liked this book. I read it in one sitting (ok, I was in bed, but you get the idea – and it was a good thing I’d gotten in bed early) and for the most part I found the story of the widowed bookstore owner taking in an abandoned child very appealing. But I must confess by the end I felt that an opportunity to dig deeper into the characters had been missed and that my emotions had been rather blatantly manipulated. Now I realize that’s a rather silly thing to say; authors are always trying to engender a reaction. Yet somehow manipulated is the only word I can come up with for how I felt.

My less than wholly positive feelings for this novel put me in the minority, I know, but wouldn’t it be boring if we all liked the same books?

105BookLizard
Ene 13, 2015, 11:34 pm

103> I was always sad that I'd never had a chance to see Cats, then last year it was on PBS and I watched it for like 5 minutes before I'd had enough it. LOL>

104> It's not as manipulative as a Jodi Picoult novel, is it? I have it on request from the library.

106Dejah_Thoris
Ene 14, 2015, 12:15 am

>105 BookLizard: I have CATS on the brain at the moment because the youth group at a community theater with I'm involved is performing it. Yuck. People keep trying to get me to go, and while I feel guilty about not supporting them, there's just no way it's going to happen!

From what I've heard about Jodi Picoult novels, no, it's probably not. Having never read a Picoult novel I can't say for certain....

I'm probably being unnecessarily harsh. Perhaps it had more to do with me than the book. I'll be interested to know how you feel about it! It's very pro books and bookstores, which of course, I appreciated.

107Dejah_Thoris
Ene 15, 2015, 9:17 pm

I believe I've made a mistake with Category #7 - Winston & Churchill, The British Empire. It's already obviously it's going to fill up quickly so I think I need to change it a bit. I think I'll restrict it to Great Britain and Canada and let the rest of the former empire fall to Category #9 - Dora, The Rest of the World. I really do read a lot of British and Canadian authors as well as book set both places. I suspect I'll have no trouble filling this category, even with the new restrictions.

108BookLizard
Ene 16, 2015, 8:07 am

I had to make a few changes to categories last year. At least you're recognizing the problem early. If you find you still fill it too easily, you can always change it. Everyone uses the challenge differently. Some people use it to read outside there comfort zone by using the different categories. Others use it to try to read a certain number of books. Of course, the most important reason is to have fun!

109luvamystery65
Ene 16, 2015, 12:33 pm

>101 Dejah_Thoris: Sounds like a nice book.

>104 Dejah_Thoris: The premise alone made me wonder about having just your reaction.

>107 Dejah_Thoris: Great solution.

>102 BookLizard: A cat nativity? Oh my! Please feel free to post a pic of it on my thread. I must see this. If it's packed away then I will impatiently wait until November. LOL!

110BookLizard
Ene 16, 2015, 6:52 pm

109> I have a picture on my tablet. I'll post it on my thread when my tablet charges. I still have the nativity up. I put it on top of the bookcase to keep it safe from the cats, but my orange boy kept climbing and jumping to get up there. I was joking that he'd found religion. :-D

111luvamystery65
Ene 16, 2015, 7:04 pm

>110 BookLizard: Hilarious! I'll look out for the photo.

112Dejah_Thoris
Ene 16, 2015, 7:52 pm

>108 BookLizard: It's god to know I'm not shocking anyone by changing my Category, lol. I was pretty sure I'm not the only one to realize a little adaptation was in order.

And I can't wait to see the Cat Nativity photo!

>109 luvamystery65: I'm so glad you asked to see the Nativity - why didn't I think of that?

113BookLizard
Ene 16, 2015, 11:20 pm

114Dejah_Thoris
Ene 16, 2015, 11:27 pm

>113 BookLizard: That is simply marvelous! Too, too funny! Thank you for sharing!

115luvamystery65
Ene 17, 2015, 9:56 am

>113 BookLizard: & >114 Dejah_Thoris: I'm still giggling over the three kings.

116lkernagh
Ene 18, 2015, 1:56 pm

I see you are making great progress with your challenge, Dejah! A mellow kitty sounds perfect to me. We always had hyper active kittens/cats that were always climbing things and getting into mischief. ;-)

117Dejah_Thoris
Ene 22, 2015, 8:24 pm

>116 lkernagh: The little guy has perked up quite a bit, but he's nowhere near approaching hyperactive. I'm just glad he's settling in so well.

As for the Challenge, I've been reading up a storm but, as usual, am behind on reviews. Maybe tonight....lol.

118-Eva-
Ene 23, 2015, 2:38 am

>113 BookLizard:
That's simply fabulous!

119BookLizard
Ene 23, 2015, 3:11 am

118> Thanks! I finally took it down Tuesday to put in my storage unit. My brother was helping me move stuff and when I wrote "Cat Nativity" on the box, he was like, "No, no, no . . . it's supposed to be Cativity." LOL.

120-Eva-
Ene 23, 2015, 3:13 am

Haha, Cativity - I like that!

121Dejah_Thoris
Ene 23, 2015, 9:06 am

Cativity is hysterical - and perfect! This is one cat item I may be on the lookout for.....lol.

I am so far behind on both keeping up with threads and with writing book comments/reviews. My reading, on the other hand has been pretty good! I hope to get caught up over the weekend.

122BookLizard
Ene 23, 2015, 12:12 pm

At least you've been reading. I was in a bit of a book slump . . . I went a whole 2 days without deciding which book to start.

123Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Ene 25, 2015, 10:19 pm

>122 BookLizard: I honestly can't remember the last time I didn't read something for two whole days! Well I hope you're firmly back on the path of reading by now.

I am finally forcing myself to post some of the books I've read. I'm just a little behind.....

124Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Ene 26, 2015, 7:16 am



Category #3 - Gandalf, Fantasy

1. Abracadaver by Laura Resnick

I love this very under-read urban fantasy series set in New York City. Esther Diamond is an occasionally working actress who just can’t avoid getting involved with weird stuff; dopplegangsters , vampires (who are more normal than you might think), Nelli (who isn’t actually a dog), a bit of voodoo, cursed fortune cookies, etc. And did I mention this series is funny? Some of the books are simply hysterical!

Abracadaver starts up within seconds of the end of Misfortune Cookie. It’s not my favorite in the series – Dopplegangster, Vamparazzi and Polterheist all beat it, but it was still fun. Start at the beginning: Disappearing Nightly.

125luvamystery65
Ene 25, 2015, 10:22 pm

>124 Dejah_Thoris: Darn you! ;-)

126Dejah_Thoris
Ene 25, 2015, 10:43 pm

>125 luvamystery65: Oho! Did I get you with that one? I hope you give Esther Diamond a try!

127BookLizard
Ene 25, 2015, 10:48 pm

124> Darn you to Heck!

128Dejah_Thoris
Ene 25, 2015, 10:54 pm

>127 BookLizard: Hooray! I'm chortling with glee at the thought that Esther might find a few more fans. The first in the series, Disappearing Nightly isn't my favorite, but it's still pretty entertaining. It's definitely a series for folks who like some humor with their urban fantasy.

129Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Ene 26, 2015, 7:15 am



Category #5 - Indy, History

2. Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff (BINGO #10, other country)

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. Schiff warns that there are very few contemporaneous and/or unbiased source materials for documenting Cleopatra’s life, but she does an excellent job extrapolating from available information, warning her readers as she does. Fundamentally, my problem isn’t with Schiff's work. It’s mainly that Cleopatra is inextricably linked to the Romans, and I’m not a big fan of Roman history in this era. Still, I’m glad I read it. I do have two complaints. First, footnotes would have been more helpful than endnotes. Second, having chosen endnotes, why on Earth would you fail to number them in the text? There are no citations in the text of the work, although there are numbered notes at the end. Madness.

130Dejah_Thoris
Ene 25, 2015, 11:14 pm



Category #14 - Hobie, Seeking a Bigger Audience

3. Pirates of the Outrigger Rift by Gary Jonas and Bill D. Allen (BINGO #2, chosen by someone else)

My favorite librarian handed this one to me. It had just come in – she doesn’t read much science fiction herself, but she thought it looked interesting and wanted to know what I thought of it. So what did I think? It’s idiotic, the world building needs work, the relationships that develop are totally unrealistic and one of the characters is named Mike Chandler, his spaceship is the Marlowe and he speaks and acts like a noir detective for no discernible reason. That said, this wacky space opera was kind of fun. It wasn’t good, mind you, and I won’t be looking for anything else by these guys, but it did have an oddball charm that rescued it from being a total disaster.

131Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Ene 25, 2015, 11:30 pm



Category #14 - Hobie, Seeking a Bigger Audience

-- Terrapin and Other Poems by Wendell Berry, Illustrated by Tom Pohrt (TIOLI #16)

I have a friend who’s a huge Wendell Berry fan, so when I saw this on the (adult) New Books rack, I grabbed it. It’s a slim book of illustrated poetry and it seems to have a bit of an identity crisis. Libraries in our system seem confused as to whether it’s a children’s book or an adult’s. The inside flap doesn’t help: the perfect book for children, grandchildren, or any lover of the book as physical object.
The 17 poems are an interesting mix of those totally appropriate for children and others I think you’d need to be a bit older to appreciate. I particularly liked “The Sorrel Filly” and “Planting Trees.” Here’s a sample:

”The First”

The first man who whistled
thought he had a wren in his mouth.
He went around all day
with his lips puckered,
afraid to swallow.


The watercolors illustrating the poems are nice, but didn’t really do much for me. All in all, an odd little book.

132VioletBramble
Ene 26, 2015, 12:55 am

Wendell Berry was recommended to me as a great writer of nature poetry. I bought a volume of his poetry but haven't gotten around to reading it yet.
I like the cover on your copy of The Storied Life of AJ Fikry. I have that one planned for 2018.

133cbl_tn
Ene 26, 2015, 6:31 am

Hi Dejah! I'm getting ready to start Cleopatra: A Life. I hope I can finish it by the end of the month. Thanks for the warning about the end notes!

134Dejah_Thoris
Ene 26, 2015, 7:23 am

>132 VioletBramble: The friend who loves Berry prefers his essays to his poetry; I confess I haven't read enough to have an informed opinion. I liked the cover of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, too. You don't really plan your reading that far in advance, do you?

>133 cbl_tn: Good morning, Carrie. I hope you enjoy Cleopatra: A Life. I hope you're fonder of the Romans than I am!

I was just looking over some of what I wrote last night, and I must have been more tired than I thought! Wow - there lots of lazy errors in my writing. I hope I found them all.....

135Carmenere
Ene 26, 2015, 7:33 am

Hi Dejah, I'm jumping groups because I was curious when I saw the title of your thread. And you know....wait for it....curiosity killed the cat! yuk yuk
ah hem, anyway, great idea for your challenge. Were all those cats yours?! I like Winston & Churchill for siblings. I wish I would have done that when we adopted brothers. Good luck, your off to a great start!

136Dejah_Thoris
Ene 26, 2015, 7:37 am

Thank you, Lynda! I need to get some pictures up, don't I? Although as I posted somewhere, I don't actually have pictures of some of the kitties who's names I've borrowed but they all did live with me, at least briefly. Javy, for example, was born to a semi-feral mother - he and all but one of his siblings were adopted. Others are from when I was much younger. I've been very blessed with felines!

137lkernagh
Ene 26, 2015, 5:09 pm

Well darn. I don't usually get hit with fantasy BB's but the Esther Diamond book sounds good.

138VioletBramble
Ene 26, 2015, 8:26 pm

>134 Dejah_Thoris: -- Oh yes, my reading is planned that far in advance. When I'm bored I pull my 500 TBR books off the shelves and make piles out of them. I come up with categories and then themes. My 2016 and 2017 themes and categories, plus most of the books for those categories are already figured out. My 2018 theme and categories are works in progress but ~ 75% settled. For now. Nothing is set in stone and, in the past, I have changed my mind and gone with new themes and categories at the last minute. I'm a big planner.

139mysterymax
Ene 26, 2015, 9:35 pm

This is the first year I have tried to plan my books in advance - we'll see how it goes... there are always new books saying read me! read me! don't wait!

140Dejah_Thoris
Ene 27, 2015, 9:18 am

>137 lkernagh: I hope you give Esther a try, Lori! It's a fun, not particularly demanding series. I love the NYC setting and Esther's acting and non-acting jobs are a hoot.

>138 VioletBramble: Wow -- I just don't work or even think that far in advance! But then, as I've said, I'm a self-indulgent reader and tend to read what I want, when I want to. I'm impressed with your organization!

>139 mysterymax: A little planning works for me, but not too much. Good luck with your attempt!

I hope everyone where it's cold and snowy stays warm and safe today.

141Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Ene 27, 2015, 8:40 pm



Category #9 - Dora, The Rest of the World

2. In Search of a Homeland: The Story of The Aeneid by Penelope Lively, Illustrated by Ian Andrew (BINGO #21, mythical creature)

The Aeneid, of course, is a long and complicated tale. This illustrated retelling of the story hits all major points and what it lacks in poetry it makes up for in brevity and readability. I didn’t find the illustrations particularly appealing, but they suited the story.

142Dejah_Thoris
Ene 27, 2015, 8:39 pm



Category #10 - Hilde, Works that Inspired Movies

2. The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden

I’ve been a fan of Rumer Godden’s work for years, so I have no idea why it’s taken me so long finally pick up my copy of The Greengage Summer. A family, five children and their mother, travel to France for what’s intended to be an educational experience visiting the battlefields and graveyards of WWII dead. But when their mother is taken ill and hospitalized, the children, particularly the two oldest girls, are educated and grow in ways their mother never intended.

The narrator is Cecil, a thirteen year old girl who is painfully aware that while she herself is changing, her 16 year old sister Joss is changing even more. I am stunned by Godden’s ability to tell the story through the limited view of a thirteen year old while still giving the reader enough to understand the greater story. Add the beautiful descriptions of the town of Vieux-Moutiers, of their hotel Les Oeillets and of the people they meet, particularly the Englishman Eliot who appoints himself their nominal guardian, and you have a fabulous little book.

143Dejah_Thoris
Ene 27, 2015, 10:46 pm



Category #2 - Pixie, Science Fiction

1. Apocalypse Troll by David Weber

I’ve enjoyed many of David Weber’s books, particularly the first 10 or so of the Honor Harrington series and the fantasy series that begins with Oath of Swords. I have to say, though, that this SF novel from 1999 was a bit of a miss for me. It opens with 65 energetic pages of (mostly) space battle, but then there’s a fair lull when not much happens. Things pick up again and everything gets nicely resolved – maybe a little too nicely. It’s not bad for a light, entertaining work of military SF with a little alternate universe / time travel thrown in. And how could I possibly dislike a book where the male lead makes a crack (to himself) about playing “Florence Nightingale to Dejah Thoris” (p 89 – really). But given the choice between them, I’d reread On Basilisk Station.

144DeltaQueen50
Ene 27, 2015, 10:52 pm

I read Greengage Summer last year, Dejah and found it totally captivating. I also loved how the author was so excellent at setting the scene, that I totally could smell the ripening plums while I was reading it!

145Dejah_Thoris
Ene 27, 2015, 11:01 pm

>144 DeltaQueen50: It's fabulous, isn't it? I'm thinking of picking up Black Narcissus for your RandomCat challenge in February. I read in back in my teens or early twenties, so it's probably time to revisit it. Maybe I'll read / reread a Rumer Godden work every month this year.

146Dejah_Thoris
Ene 27, 2015, 11:34 pm



Category #6 - Salem, The United States

2. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

I enjoy this dual timeline novel more than I thought I would. A modern day product of the foster home system crosses paths with an elderly woman who was sent west from New York City in the last years of the Orphan Train program to resettle inner city orphans with families in the MidWest. The system was rife with abuse and the stories of the two women have some parallels, which occasionally felt a little forced. There is one rather shocking choice made by one of the characters which seems slightly off; its primary purpose seems solely to have been allow the author the ending she wanted. Still, I liked it.

147thornton37814
Ene 28, 2015, 9:55 pm

>146 Dejah_Thoris: I'm pretty sure that one is already on my wish list. I think I remember seeing it there when I was looking through the books that would be available to me when I eventually move.

148staci426
Ene 29, 2015, 4:45 pm

>129 Dejah_Thoris: I'm currently listening to and enjoying the audio version of Cleopatra: a Life. In the audio edition, there are footnotes. This is actually my first audio book where I've encountered footnotes and have always thought they would detract from the flow of the story, but in this case, they do not. I don't think I would enjoy listening to a series of notes at the end of the narration.

149Dejah_Thoris
Ene 29, 2015, 7:06 pm

>147 thornton37814: It's not something I would have normally picked up, Lori, but an elderly lady of my acquaintance read it and expressed a wish to discuss it with me. The topic was interesting to any family historian, though, and if part of the plot felt a little forced, it wasn't egregious. It was a pleasant book. I'm glad you'll have a chance at it after the move!

>148 staci426: It's fascinating to me that they would make the effort to include the footnotes in the audio version while not even bothering to number then in the text of the print version. I say again: madness! I agree with you, though, that footnotes at the end would be boring and fairly useless out of context.

I really want to go into February caught up on book comments, so I need to make more of an effort to get it done! A few sentences here, a few there....

150Dejah_Thoris
Ene 29, 2015, 9:10 pm



Category #5 - Indy, History

3. A Traveller’s History of Croatia by Benjamin Curtis (TIOLI #25, nonfiction)

As part of a series of books for travelers who want to bone up on a region or city’s history, I was impressed by A Traveller’s History of Croatia. By necessity a great deal of detail is lost, but as a concise history I found it surprisingly readable. I knew little of Croatia’s history but I am fairly familiar with the history of other parts of Europe and found I enjoyed the book most when I was able to fit in (rather like a puzzle piece) what I was reading with what I already knew. It was well worth my time to read and I came away with a much better understanding of the collapse of Yugoslavia and the atrocities of the 1990s.

151Dejah_Thoris
Ene 29, 2015, 9:23 pm



Category #13 - Lucy, Disasters

1. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (BINGO #22, centered around historical event, WWI)

YA novels can be very hit or miss for me; happily, I enjoyed Leviathan. I like Steampunk and I found the setting of the book, the beginning of WWI, quite intriguing. I liked Deryn and her part of the story better than Alek and his, but by compensation I quite liked Count Volger. Dr. Barlow was rather fascinating as well, so I’ll definitely make a point of finishing out the series – just not right away.

152cbl_tn
Ene 29, 2015, 9:31 pm

>151 Dejah_Thoris: Glad you enjoyed it! The WWI setting is what drew me to this one.

153Dejah_Thoris
Ene 29, 2015, 9:38 pm

>152 cbl_tn: As I said, with YA I'm never certain how I'm going to feel about it, but this had enough interesting elements that my attention was held. The Steampunk version of the divisions between the warring nations is terrific!

154Dejah_Thoris
Ene 29, 2015, 9:38 pm



Category #3 - Gandalf, Fantasy

2. Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

Finally – the latest Peter Grant / Rivers of London! Now we’ll get a resolution to the cliffhanger that ended Broken Homes! Er. Well. Not exactly. What we did get was a terrific entry in the series in which Peter is out of his native environs and is in the countryside, assisting the locals looking into the disappearance of two girls. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s a terrific series – pick up the first book Midnight Riot (US title) asap!

155Dejah_Thoris
Ene 29, 2015, 9:51 pm



24. Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well by Nancy Atherton (TIOLI #7)

I have to admit that this long running ‘paranormal detective’ mystery series is a little goofy. What makes this series paranormal is that our heroine, Lori Shepherd, communicates with the deceased Aunt Dimity, her late mother’s best friend who Lori never met, by means of a magic diary. Lori speaks; Aunt Dimity writes. I’m not particularly fond of Lori (which may explain why my favorite book is the second in the series Aunt Dimity and the Duke in which Lori does not appear) but overall the series is charming and cozy and definitely NOT FRAUGHT. Sometimes, innocuous and not fraught is exactly what I’m looking for and my timing in picking up Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well was perfect.

156BookLizard
Ene 29, 2015, 10:19 pm

154> Er. Well. Not exactly. So true.

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

157AHS-Wolfy
Ene 30, 2015, 6:55 am

>154 Dejah_Thoris: Glad to see the latest instalment doesn't disappoint.

158Dejah_Thoris
Ene 30, 2015, 9:16 am

>156 BookLizard: I did enjoy it! Of course if I hadn't liked it so much, I wouldn't mind waiting so long for the next one to be published, lol.

>157 AHS-Wolfy: I didn't disappoint me, at any rate. Looking at other threads, the reception has been mixed. I suspect it's cliffhanger hangover with no hair of the dog in sight.....

159hailelib
Ene 31, 2015, 9:20 am

People have this funny habit of wanting cliffhangers resolved right away!

160rabbitprincess
Ene 31, 2015, 9:22 am

I think it will help me knowing that the cliffhanger hasn't been resolved immediately, so thank you very much for reading it first and letting me know!

161BookLizard
Ene 31, 2015, 10:17 am

159> Yeah. But to be fair, Broken Homes had more of a shocking, surprise twist at the end instead of a real cliffhanger. I mean, you know what happened and you know why, so it's not like you're left hanging to find out.

162Dejah_Thoris
Feb 1, 2015, 9:20 am

>159 hailelib: Well I can live with a bit of a wait, but a year often seems too long!

>160 rabbitprincess: Oh dear - I hope I didn't spoil anything but bringing that up. It actually didn't bother me that it wasn't resolved - it's more that I expected it to be. Something to look forward to next year.

>161 BookLizard: You're right, of course, that it wasn't a classic cliffhanger, but I agree that it was a shocker that I did not see coming. I think that the readers with less than positive reactions to Foxglove Summer are in large part disappointed by the lack of follow up, because I think the story itself is excellent.

163rabbitprincess
Feb 1, 2015, 9:49 am

Not at all! :)

164Dejah_Thoris
Feb 1, 2015, 9:53 am

>163 rabbitprincess: Well that's a relief!

165luvamystery65
Feb 1, 2015, 10:55 am

I think the whole Broken Homes ending was a shocker, twist more than a cliffhanger. I think it adds to the whole Faceless Man story arc which likely won't be solved until the end. I was worried that Foxglove Summer would lose the charm of the other books that the author's love for London has infused. I'm glad to hear that it has not. I'll be getting to this book soon.

166Dejah_Thoris
Feb 4, 2015, 6:49 pm



Category #7 - Winston & Churchill, GB & C

5. Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth

This was an interesting combination of autobiography and 20th Century history / social commentary by a young nurse certifying to become a Midwife in London in the 1950s. The writing style was not particularly polished, but it was intelligent and engaging. Some of the events and situations described in this book were quite distressing and I could not help but be reminded that women all around the works still frequently do not receive the pre-natal and birth care they deserve.

167Dejah_Thoris
Feb 4, 2015, 6:59 pm



Category #15 - Tinkerbell, Just Because I Wanted To

1. This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, Illustrated by Jillian Tamaki (TIOLI #24)

This YA GN which tells the story of a summer vacation that isn’t quite like the summers before it was very well done. The Tamakis do a lovely job of showing how growing from childhood to young adulthood can be painful and rife with misunderstandings – how difficult it is to understand that things aren’t right with the adults around you but to be powerless to change anything. Or to no longer be in sync with a longtime friend who isn’t quite the same age. Or to be blinded a crush. Life goes on.

168Dejah_Thoris
Feb 4, 2015, 7:12 pm



Category #9 - Dora, The Rest of the World

3. Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin

My thanks to Carrie (cbl_tn) for bringing this one to my attention. It was charming and a pleasure to read, which is not what I would have thought I would have to say about a book set in Rwanda that touches on genocide, AIDS and the recreation of a nation after a civil war. Angel, her cakes and the people she meets made for wonderful reading

169Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Feb 4, 2015, 8:08 pm



Category #1 - Pye, Plays

1.. Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill

In many ways, the key thing to remember about Cloud 9 is that it was written in 1979. The product of a workshop effort with a theater group to produce a work on sexual politics, this piece was no doubt extremely shocking to many at the time (truth be told, there are many for whom this piece would still be extremely shocking – I don’t expect to ever see a production of this). At times, the play relies too much on being shocking and not enough on the characters and plot which is a definite weakness.

Act I is set in some unnamed British colony in Africa, while Act II in in modern day (ok, 1979) England, although for the characters only 20 years have passed. Actors play roles of other genders, a white man plays a black man, and a female child is played by a dummy – not an actor who’s an idiot, but an actual dummy. There’s sex in virtually all combinations of the people available onstage EXCEPT young children and in Act I this is all tinged with the issues of colonialism as well. I suspect that the issues of colonialism and the comparisons to sex would have had a stronger impact on me had I been British. As a result, I found Act II to be much stronger, if less shocking.

170Dejah_Thoris
Feb 4, 2015, 8:40 pm



Category #3 - Gandalf, Fantasy

3. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophesies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Several people have been bugging encouraging me to read Good Omens and I’m glad I finally did. It’s funny, clever and thoroughly entertaining. That said, I’m afraid I don’t quite get the cult-like following that this work has engendered, although I’ll happily recommend it to others.

171Dejah_Thoris
Feb 4, 2015, 8:52 pm



Category #9 - Dora, The Rest of the World

4. Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai (BINGO #20, animal of importance)

This first novel by the author of The Inheritance of Loss is the tale of a young man who, feeling trapped and bored in his life, runs away and takes up residence in a huge old tree in a guava orchard. This short novel feels like a fable. It’s funny, but just under the surface, under the humor, are painful realities of Indian village life. For example, the description pf the perfect prospective daughter in law to be is hysterical in its contradictions, but how difficult it must be to attempt to meet such standards. In truth, I was more fascinated by the mother’s story than the son’s – there are many stories told. It’s a very memorable book.

172Dejah_Thoris
Feb 4, 2015, 9:09 pm



Category #15 - Tinkerbell, Just Because I Wanted To

2. Serenity: Leaves on the Wind by Zack Whedon and Georges Jeanty

I wasn’t entirely happy with this GN that is a follow up to the film “Serenity.” I have no problem with the storyline, which I definitely enjoyed. I have to say I wasn’t completely happy with the artwork, though. Sometimes characters looked like their on screen counterparts – sometimes they didn’t. For example, at times Mal looked like Mal / Nathan Fillion, sometimes he looked like Han Solo and occasionally he looked like Elvis (yes, I’ve seen that “Castle” episode). The inconsistency in the artwork was distracting to me, but I have to say I don’t read a huge number of GNs, so I don’t know how common this is. If you’re a “Firefly” fan, it’s a must read.

173Dejah_Thoris
Feb 4, 2015, 9:55 pm



Category #4 - Nora, Mysteries

4. Night at the Vulcan by Ngaio Marsh

This was a reread of an old favorite, one of Ngaio Marsh’s theater mysteries. This one is dedicated to a New Zealand theater troop and the focus of this novel is on the actors, particularly Martyn Tarne, a New Zealander recently arrived in London. Inspector Alleyn shows up eventually as does Mike Lamprey, who readers will recognize from earlier books. Pure escapism.

174Dejah_Thoris
Feb 4, 2015, 10:30 pm



Category #8 - Javy, Latin America

1. The Mirror of Lida Sal: Tales Based on Mayan Myths & Guatemalan Legends by Migel Angel Asturias, translated by Gilbert Alter-Gilbert (BINGO #25, out of my comfort zone)

These short stories were far more challenging than I expected them to be. I’ve traveled to Guatemala twice and have read a fair amount about the Maya including the Popol Vuh, so I thought I was reasonably well prepared. Some of the tales I understood completely but with others I found myself flailing, searching for some bit to latch on to. I felt as though I were lacking some critical frame of reference, some basic common knowledge without which I was doomed to confusion. There is also the factor that these stories were written by a Nobel Prize for Literature Laureate, who put his own stamp on them. The imagery was striking and the language was beautiful and his depictions of Guatemala (always green) resonated with me. But still, I know I missed much.

175VioletBramble
Feb 4, 2015, 10:51 pm

This One Summer is on my wish list. I enjoyed her previous graphic novel, Skim. Have you read that yet? I liked Good Omens. After that one I started reading all the Gaiman I could get my hands on. Then I finally picked up a Terry Pratchett book. I think it was Pratchett's chapters that I enjoyed most in Good Omens and I kinda wished I had read his bibliography before Gaimans. Not that I don't like Gaiman, I just think Pratchett is more to my tastes.
I had no idea there was a Serenity graphic novel. I'll be on the look out for that one. Re: characters looking like their screen counter parts - it has always bothered me that in the Buffy graphic novels the illustrations on the covers are definitely based on the actors who portrayed them on tv, while inside the characters look generic.

176Dejah_Thoris
Feb 4, 2015, 11:03 pm

>175 VioletBramble: I have not read Skim, but I'll add it to my list. I've never read any Terry Pratchett but I have read one Gaiman - Coraline. A friend loaned it to me and I really didn't like it - too creepy for my tastes. I don't read much horror. From what I've read, the chapters with the children were mostly Pratchett, so I suspect that I'll almost certainly prefer his books. So now I have another author!

There are actually several Serenity GNs - Serenity: Leaves on the Wind is the 4th, although you don't need to have read the others. I know this because I've only read the first, but I'm planning to reread it and get to the other two this month. I especially want to read The Shepherd's Tale.

I've never read the Buffy GNs, but it's interesting to know the issue is there, too. Perhaps that's just standard practice?

177Dejah_Thoris
Feb 4, 2015, 11:04 pm

January Recap:

Books read: 33
Extras: 2 short works
Female/Male authors: 21/11 (plus 1 f/m team), extras 0/2
Rereads: 2 (an incredibly small number for me)
Graphic Novels / Graphic Nonficiton: 2/0
Nonfiction (including GNF): 5 (need to do better)

Category #1 – Pye, Plays : 1/15
Category #2 – Pixie, Science Fiction: 1/15
Category #3 – Gandalf, Fantasy: 3/15
Category #4 – Nora, Mysteries: 4/15
Category #5 – Indy, History: 3/15
Category #6 – Salem, The United States: 2/15
Category #7 – Winston & Churchill, GB & C: 5/15
Category #8 – Javy, Latin America: 1/15
Category #9 – Dora, The Rest of the World: 4/15
Category #10 – Hilde, Works That Inspired Movies: 2/15
Category #11 – Lochinvar, Works in the Public Domain: 0/15
Category #12 – Gallie, Nonfiction: 1/15
Category #13 – Lucy, Disasters: 1/15
Category #14 – Hobie, Seeking a Bigger Audience: 3/15
Category #15 – Tinkerbell, Just Because I Wanted To: 2/15

33 books is on the high side, even for me. Quite a few of them were fairly short, which helps to bump up the totals. I’I need to do a better job with nonfiction, but that always seems to be the case. I’m doing outrageously well with my BINGO card, although I am going to have to start picking some books for specific spaces. I’ve done reasonably well with the distribution for my Categories, although I failed to read anything for Category #11, Lochinvar, Works in the Public Domain. I’ll make it up.

I have decided to take on a little reading project. For some reason, I suddenly want to read the works of Robert A. Heinlein in order, including the short stories. His novels are broken into three eras (Early, Mid, Late) so for the moment I’m focusing on the novels and short stories from the Early years, 1939 – 1959 (interestingly, all of his short stories but one were written in this time frame). Most of the short stories were published in magazines like “Astounding” and I’m not going to drive myself crazy over the exact order – I’ll read the stories and novels grouped by years. First up is 1939, in which he published his first two stories “Lifeline” and “Misfit.” But before that, he wrote a novel For Us, the Living which was unpublished in his lifetime, which I’m reading first. The stories are scattered across many collections, so where I can I’ll read them from the earliest available collection, keeping with the story publication dates, not the collection dates.

I won’t be finishing this project in February – I have too many other books I want to read! But I imagine Heinlein will make up a decent percentage of my reading this month, skewing both my rereads and my male authors. Of course, this fits in really well for SFFCat and fairly well for RANDOMCat. It’ll be fun.

178VivienneR
Editado: Feb 5, 2015, 2:19 pm

>168 Dejah_Thoris: I too loved Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin. If you get a chance, I recommend When Hoopoes Go to Heaven by the same author.

179Dejah_Thoris
Editado: Feb 5, 2015, 3:55 pm

>178 VivienneR: I just read your review of When Hoopoes Go to Heaven on the work page and gave it a thumbs up. I'm going to check the library catalog for it now. Thanks!

180VivienneR
Feb 5, 2015, 4:59 pm

>179 Dejah_Thoris: Thank you! That was very nice of you. I don't remember what I wrote, must go and have a look.

181DeltaQueen50
Feb 5, 2015, 5:25 pm

I think I am going to have to add Baking Cakes in Kigali and This One Summer to my wishlist. The last book I read that was set in Rwanda was pretty brutal so to see this one and the word 'charming' in the same sentence is encouraging.

182VivienneR
Feb 5, 2015, 5:52 pm

I can recommend both of Gaile Parkin's books. They don't ignore the horror of what happened in Rwanda and Swaziland, but tell the story of one family moving forward. They are heartening. The boy is a sweetie.

183VivienneR
Feb 5, 2015, 6:02 pm

>17 Dejah_Thoris: Congratulations on your BingoDOG, it looks very impressive.

184cbl_tn
Feb 6, 2015, 6:13 am

I'm glad you liked Baking Cakes in Kigali! I have When Hoopoes Go to Heaven in my TBR stash and I hope to get to it soonish.

Nice to see Ngaio Marsh in your rereads! I plan to reread her books after I finish my Agatha Christie project.

185Dejah_Thoris
Feb 6, 2015, 9:02 am

>183 VivienneR: I'm amazed that so many of my books have worked for the BingoDOG categories, especially unexpectedly. I never thought I'd end up feeling the The Mirror of Lida Sal was out of my comfort zone (I thought that would be my book in translation) and I didn't realize how important animals would by in Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard. It's been fun - but now I need to plan to finish some out, lol.

>184 cbl_tn: I've been thinking about a Ngaio Marsh series reread, although I've done it before. For me it will have to wait until I'm done with Heinlein, which will take a while.

Speaking of Heinlein, I'm done with 1939 and 1940, which are both mainly short stories, novellas and serializations. I know I don't have the order down perfectly, but I'm fascinated to realize how many years earlier he wrote "Requiem" than "The Man Who Sold The Moon."

I'm going to try to get some February reviews up so I don't fall quite as far behind as I did in January.

186mysterymax
Feb 6, 2015, 9:07 am

Baking Cakes - a BB!

187Dejah_Thoris
Feb 6, 2015, 9:17 am

>186 mysterymax: Excellent! It was a surprisingly positive reading experience - I hope you enjoy it.

188lkernagh
Feb 7, 2015, 8:48 am

Great recap! Enjoy your Heinlein reading journey!

189Dejah_Thoris
Feb 8, 2015, 9:21 am

>188 lkernagh: Thanks, Lori! I am enjoying the Heinlein so far. I suspect it's entirely possible to burnout on him, so I'm not pushing too hard.

It's going to be a gorgeous day, but I'll be spending much of it in a darkened theater teaching someone to run the light board for a community theater production of Clybourne Park. The show opens Friday night, so this today is the technical rehearsal - Tech Sunday.

I saw a local production of I Hate Hamlet last night and I'm delighted to say that my friend in the show was great!

190Dejah_Thoris
Feb 11, 2015, 10:22 pm

Totally off the topic of books: I have been convinced by some friends in RL to download Trivia Crack. If anyone would like to play I'm dejah_thoris.

191LittleTaiko
Feb 12, 2015, 5:13 pm

I'm afraid to ask since I currently am enjoying Quiz Up, but what is Trivia Crack? Sounds wonderfully addictive.

192mamzel
Feb 14, 2015, 2:26 pm

My co-worker tried to rope me into Trivia Crack. It's like Trivial Pursuit on a cell phone. The Crack refers to its addictiveness.

193thornton37814
Feb 14, 2015, 9:42 pm

>192 mamzel: We have a few students on campus who seem to be addicted to that. There was also some sort of a children's literature trivia game that one of them was playing the other day. I watched her answer a few of those and offered an answer or two on a couple she didn't know that I did.

194Dejah_Thoris
Feb 15, 2015, 2:36 pm

>191 LittleTaiko: Mamzel has it right - it's an asynchronous trivia game you play against people to know or strangers with whom you're matched up. It's entertaining - and I can see how one could become very addicted! I refuse to pay for games, though, so I'm just using my free lives. I think the truly addicted are forking over money of extra or even unlimited lives or game plays. If you decide to give it a try, let me know!

>192 mamzel: So no chance you're going to give Trivia Crack a try? Readers are always the best trivia players!

>193 thornton37814: I may have to find the children's literature game - that sounds like fun!

I've been reading bits of this and that all weekend. Heinlein short stories, Patricia Briggs novels, a play, a GN - whatever is grabbing my attention. Now I'm going out to play in the sunshine.

195mamzel
Feb 15, 2015, 2:58 pm

>194 Dejah_Thoris: No kidding! I watched her play one round and helped her answer all the questions correctly.

196BookLizard
Feb 16, 2015, 12:53 am

194 & 195> I want to play, too!

197Dejah_Thoris
Feb 16, 2015, 9:11 am

>196 BookLizard: It's free to download and play in a modest way - no unlimited lives for me, lol, I'm too cheap. I'm @ dejah_thoris (no space between @ and my user name) if you decide to play.

198christina_reads
Feb 16, 2015, 2:47 pm

You guys have inspired me to download the Trivia Crack app. I foresee hours of time-wasting ahead! :)

199Dejah_Thoris
Feb 16, 2015, 2:53 pm

>158 Dejah_Thoris: Woohoo! Let me know if you want to play! I thought I'd be worst at Sports but apparently my lack of knowledge about TV means I terrible at Entertainment, lol.

I've completed 1941 in my Heinlein Project - some of the short stories are great but others, my, not so much. I find that I really do prefer the ones he published under his own name and that were picked by Campbell for "Astounding."

For 1942 I have the novella "Waldo" that is the first half of Waldo & Magic, Inc., the novella "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" (which I don't recall particularly liking), Beyond This Horizon which was serialized in "Astounding" in 1942 and published as a novel in 1948 plus 3 short stories. I'll get to the really fun stuff one of these days......

200LittleTaiko
Feb 18, 2015, 5:22 pm

>194 Dejah_Thoris: - Okay, all signed up - littletaiko. I think I challenged you to a game. Still figuring out how this works.

201Dejah_Thoris
Feb 18, 2015, 5:51 pm

>200 LittleTaiko: You challenged me to s Challenge, which I haven't done before! That was cool - as best as I can tell we both got the same 12 questions and went head to head, which is a little different from the other style of game. I'll challenge you to the other type now.

202LittleTaiko
Feb 18, 2015, 5:57 pm

See what happens when you do things by accident? Congratulations on your win! I wish there was a way to see which questions we both got right/wrong.

203Dejah_Thoris
Feb 18, 2015, 6:05 pm

I missed the Castro question - if they had offered baseball player as one of the options for his profession, I would have been alright, lol.

204BookLizard
Feb 20, 2015, 5:51 am

book_lizard has challenged you to a game of Trivia Crack.

205Dejah_Thoris
Feb 20, 2015, 10:55 am

>204 BookLizard: Oho! I haven't played since sometime yesterday - I'll take a look as soon as I can!

206Dejah_Thoris
Mar 3, 2015, 9:08 am

I've been ignoring all my threads - the pace of life has picked up again - but I'm still reading! I'm really trying to keep my reading updated, even if I'm not being active on my own and other people's threads.

I may try to get to a February summary today - we'll see how it goes.

Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs is being published today while I'm in the midst of a Mercyverse reread. Since I'm going in chronological (as opposed to published) order, I still have a few books and stories to get through before I can pick up Dead Heat, so there will be a lot of Briggs in the next two weeks or so.

I'm continuing with my Heinlein reread (in order as written by year) and I've found myself a little bogged down with so many short stories across so many books to read. I'm getting there, though.

I have lots of other books picked out to read - I'll just have to see what floats to the top!

207-Eva-
Mar 7, 2015, 5:51 pm

"I'll just have to see what floats to the top"
That's a great approach!

208Dejah_Thoris
Mar 18, 2015, 2:53 pm

Greetings, all!

I've been ignoring my own thread (except to keep my books updated) and everyone else's - sorry! Life has been busy and more than a little stressful. Hopefully, things will calm down soon.

Happy reading to all!

209DeltaQueen50
Mar 18, 2015, 5:03 pm

Hi Dejah, glad to see you back among us!

210Dejah_Thoris
Mar 18, 2015, 6:47 pm

>209 DeltaQueen50: Thank you, Judy! When time gets tight, I tend to read rather than post. Oh well - I always pop back up!

211BookLizard
Mar 18, 2015, 9:19 pm

211> If you're stressed out, reading is much better than posting. You can just get lost in a good book instead of having to think of what to write.

212-Eva-
Mar 21, 2015, 9:12 pm

Whenever you have time to come by, we're happy to have you!

213Dejah_Thoris
Mar 23, 2015, 11:06 pm

>211 BookLizard: Reading is my comfort and solace - and it's a lot of fun, too. Everyone here on LT is wonderful and I do miss keeping up with everyone. For the moment I'll just keep tracking books, but one of these days I'll be able to put more time in.

>212 -Eva-: Why thank you! Lters are the best!

214thornton37814
Mar 30, 2015, 10:16 pm

>213 Dejah_Thoris: We do miss you when you vanish. Of course, I vanished a bit lately too.

215Dejah_Thoris
Mar 31, 2015, 6:21 pm

>214 thornton37814: Thanks, Lori. At least I'm not as vanished as I am sometimes. I've managed to keep up with adding my books to my Category Challenges and my BINGO cards, but that's about it. I'm going to try to do at least a little better!

We have a show that opens Friday - "The Civil War." It's a musical. I'm somewhat appalled. I've never been a big fan of tragic musicals or those largely without plot and this one is both! One of my tech volunteers had to drop out and it's been a bit of a scramble to get her spot covered at the last minute (we open Easter weekend - insane). Plus, I'm covering on the light board for several shows, so it's been busy. Plus work. Plus RL. You know how it is.

216mathgirl40
Abr 1, 2015, 8:25 pm

>215 Dejah_Thoris: Sounds like you have a busy weekend ahead of you. Good luck! I too am having trouble keeping up with my own thread as well as everybody else's, so you're not alone.

217Dejah_Thoris
Abr 28, 2015, 6:54 pm

Ok - so I'm posting on my thread about once a month. Good glory - how lame of me!

>216 mathgirl40: Hi Paulina! I did have a very busy stretch and I am here to report that there is in fact such a thing as life after Civil War. I've still got theater activities, though. This upcoming Saturday is our annual Preview Party during which we announce our forthcoming season and perform short scenes or songs from the plays and musicals. I have a brief rehearsal tomorrow night and performance Saturday. On Thursday night several of us are going to see a performance of God of Carnage in the next town south.

Last Saturday night I went to see a production of The Tempest with a dear friend (her husband stole the show as the drunken butler Stephano) . After it was over I turned to her and said that I'd have to hear home and dig up my copy of Mary Stewart's This Rough Magic. She cracked up and said she'd been thinking the same thing! Aren't friends who read a fabulous gift?

Even though I haven't been posting, I've been reading and keeping up with my Category Challenges and my BINGO cards. I'm on BINGO card #2 and I think it's filling up more quickly than number one.

I'm still in the midst of my Robert A. Heinlein chronological reread and am up to 1950. The shift from short stories to novels is well under way. It has been fascinating watching for changes in his writing as the years pass.

BTW, today is my 4th Thingaversary! I've been on a book buying moratorium for months now, but I knew I'd need to order some plays eventually. My order placed with Samuel French included:

Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward
Calendar Girls by Tim Firth
Sabrina Fair by Samuel Taylor
Don't Dress for Dinner by Robin Hawdon
I'll Be Back Before Midnight! by Peter Colley

218cbl_tn
Abr 28, 2015, 6:58 pm

Happy Thingaversary!

219Dejah_Thoris
Abr 28, 2015, 7:45 pm

Thank you, Carrie!

220rabbitprincess
Abr 28, 2015, 9:17 pm

Hurray, happy Thingaversary! And yay Blithe Spirit!

221Dejah_Thoris
Abr 28, 2015, 9:27 pm

>220 rabbitprincess: Thank you! And isn't Blithe Spirit wonderful? I've read it before (years ago) and I just learned the other day that one of the community theaters in the area is doing it this summer. My heart be still, lol! I have wanted to play Elvira for years - although Ruth wouldn't be bad, either. I'll save Madame Arcati for a few more decades.

222cbl_tn
Abr 28, 2015, 9:30 pm

>220 rabbitprincess: >221 Dejah_Thoris: I'm not familiar with the play, but I love the title! And won't it make a great answer somewhere in the end-of-year meme!

223Dejah_Thoris
Abr 28, 2015, 9:38 pm

>222 cbl_tn: I hadn't even though of that, Carrie, but you're absolutely right! It's a very funny piece about a rather ne'er do well writer being haunted by his deceased first wife (Elvira). His second wife (Ruth) is not amused! Angela Lansbury spent much of last year wowing audiences with her turn as Madame Arcati, a medium - or a fraud.

224MissWatson
Abr 29, 2015, 4:04 am

Happy thingaversary!

225AHS-Wolfy
Abr 29, 2015, 8:43 am

Happy Thingaversary!

226DeltaQueen50
Abr 29, 2015, 6:22 pm

Great to hear from you, Dejah. I did notice that you tore through all the April TIOLI Challenges! So congrats on that. :)

227lkernagh
Abr 30, 2015, 9:30 am

Happy belated Thingaversary, Dejah!

228Dejah_Thoris
mayo 4, 2015, 10:18 am

>224 MissWatson: >225 AHS-Wolfy: >227 lkernagh: Thank you for all the Thingaversary good wishes! It was nice to break my book purchasing fast - it was a good excuse!

>226 DeltaQueen50: Hi Judy! The TIOLI sweep for April was fun, but I'm not certain I'm good to do it again any time soon. Thank for the congratulations, though!

Overall, I'm really pleased with my 15 CATs progress. I wanted to end April with at least 5 books read in each CAT, and while I came up short by one in two categories, I'm in pretty good shape otherwise. In fact, I'll almost certainly hit 15 in Category #3, Gandalf / Fantasy in May. I need to start paying a little more attention to my distribution, lol.

I LOVE the BINGO cards! I'm on card #2 and I think it's filling more quickly than the first one did. For some reason, the read a book about language square is the one for which I've had to go out and look for something specific for both cards. Just about all the others have come up naturally.

I'm still reading a lot of plays which ups my total numbers and I'll be reading books about volcanoes this month, which will help with my Lusitania/Disasters Category.

So many books!

229LittleTaiko
mayo 6, 2015, 4:38 pm

>228 Dejah_Thoris: - Yes, the language square has been the one I'm most challenged by. Nothing has come up naturally and it will most likely be the square I finish last.

230VivienneR
mayo 7, 2015, 3:35 pm

Happy belated Thingaversary! My 8th Thingaversary comes up later this month, just in time to celebrate with purchases from the library book sale.

And congratulations on completing your bingo card - as well as a start on card 2. A couple of difficult squares make me hesitate about starting a second.

>221 Dejah_Thoris: What a wonderful play Blithe Spirit is. My friend did a fabulous job of Elvira in a local production.

231Dejah_Thoris
mayo 11, 2015, 5:15 pm

>229 LittleTaiko: I really enjoyed The Riddle of the Labyrinth about the deciphering of Linear B, so it's a good thing that I was forced to find a book about language. I've said it before - I can be a very lazy and self indulgent reader. Lt helps me counter that. I do hope you find something you like for space!

>230 VivienneR: Library book sales can be dangerous! But if it coincides with your Thingaversary, what can you do but purchase!

I've decided I'll keep filling up BINGO cards all year. I particularly like when I realize partway through a book that it's going to count for a square I never expected. As for the harder squares to fill, well, I need a little push now and then anyway.

I would love to play Elvira! We'll see what happens.

232Dejah_Thoris
mayo 21, 2015, 10:37 am

I've been reading volcano books in May - the 35th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helen's just passed (May 18th) and there are, as always, a number of volcanoes around the world grumbling and rumbling.

Back in the beginning of April I read Island on Fire about several volcanic eruptions in Iceland, both historic and recent. This motivated me to do some concentrated reading in May.

The list so far includes:

Tambora: The Eruption That Changed The World
Super Volcano: The Ticking Time Bomb Beneath Yellowstone National Park
Rain of Fire (fiction)
The Violins of Saint-Jacques by Patrick Leigh Fermor (fiction)
The Burning Mountain (children's fiction)
The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano That Darkened the World and Changed History

I'm currently reading No Apparent Danger: The True Story of Volcanic Disaster at Galeras and Nevado Del Ruiz, which is quite good.

Actually, it feels as though I've read more volcano books than these - and I still have several more kicking around, at least a few of which I'll get to.

Several of these books have worked out very well for BINGO squares! Who knew?

I think the most surprising book for me(so far) was The Violins of Saint-Jacques - I ended up loving this short novel.

233Dejah_Thoris
mayo 31, 2015, 9:52 pm

May’s reading turned out to be interesting. I read 8 ‘volcano’ books, four of which were nonfiction (I finished up with The Twenty-One Balloons in addition to the books above). I read 8 works of nonfiction total (one of which was a graphic memoir). I finished 7 plays, 3 of which one a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and another by a Nobel Laureate. This has motivated me to read all the Pulitzer Prize winning plays – whenever I get around to starting a new thread, I’ll add it to the top. Only 4 things I read were rereads – that’s great for me.

In April I read quite a few Heinlein works in my quest to read him in order – in May I read none. June will definitely see me getting back to his works. On the other hand, I finished my Mercyverse reread – except for one story I haven’t gotten my hand on yet! One of these days…..

I’m planning on a number of time travel and alternate history books in June for the SFFCat this month. I also think I’ll be reading several works in honor of Junteenth. There may be a few volcano holdovers, too.

At the end of June, I'll take a good look at how I'm doing in all my categories.

The world is full of wonderful books!

234DeltaQueen50
Jun 1, 2015, 3:38 pm

It is full of wonderful books and I am looking forward to all the ones I discover in June. Looks like you have a busy reading month planned. I find it difficult to read books about the same subject or even by the same author in a row, so you have my admiration for your volcanoe books and your Heinlein reads.

235Dejah_Thoris
Jun 2, 2015, 11:43 am

>234 DeltaQueen50: I'm not sure it's worth your admiration, Judy, but thank you! I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it. This month I'm finding myself drawn to the time travel SFFCat - there are so many great options! I don't know how many I'll be able to read before I overdose (so to speak), though. I suspect I may find I have a genre limit, I just don't know what it is yet.

236rabbitprincess
Jun 2, 2015, 6:05 pm

I have The Year Without Summer on the TBR and should request it from the library once I've got through this current batch of books. Thanks for the reminder!

237-Eva-
Jun 2, 2015, 6:16 pm

Very belated Happy Thingaversary!! Isn't "legitimate" book-shopping great?! :)

238Dejah_Thoris
Jun 3, 2015, 10:33 am

>236 rabbitprincess: I think I should give you a bit of a warning about The Year Without Summer. Before I read it, I read Tambora: The Eruption That Changed The World, which was written by a meteorologist. He touches on the effects of the eruption worldwide (occasionally with some slim evidence) and while I enjoyed it, I often wished for a little more substance.

With The Year Without Summer, I got plenty of substance - too much at times. Written by what I believe to be a father / son team of historian and meteorologist, The Year Without Summer is at times overwhelming in its evidence. There are chapters in which it seems that every letter, journal and newspaper account that mentions the adverse weather is quoted - the repetition is a bit much. That said, the research is impressive. I found the later chapters of the book to read better. The impact the weather had on the U.S. and Europe is impressive - and the events it set in motion quite intriguing.

>237 -Eva-: Thank you! I've been so restrained in my book buying it really was a pleasure to indulge.

239rabbitprincess
Jun 3, 2015, 5:30 pm

>238 Dejah_Thoris: Very good to know! I will request it from the library when I'm in a very sciencey mood.

240Dejah_Thoris
Jun 4, 2015, 11:20 am

>239 rabbitprincess: Actually, it's more repetitive on the historian's side, but please don't let me put you off the book - it's fascinating in its own way!

241Dejah_Thoris
Jun 30, 2015, 9:53 pm

You know I really do visit this page - I add books and BINGO markers on a pretty regular basis. I just don't post much.....

242lkernagh
Jul 1, 2015, 1:25 am

RL can sometimes make it a bit difficult to make the rounds of the threads but \i am here now and happy to see that RL hasn't totally consumed you.... RL can consume an awful lot when it sets its mind to it! Not much else to say for now by I will be back. ;)

243rabbitprincess
Jul 1, 2015, 8:58 am

Wow, you're already on your fourth Bingo card!! Amazing!! :D

244luvamystery65
Jul 1, 2015, 1:39 pm

Howdy!

245Dejah_Thoris
Jul 4, 2015, 8:28 pm

>242 lkernagh: I haven't been completely consumed by RL, but it keeps trying! Thanks for dropping by - I appreciate it!

>243 rabbitprincess: I love the BINGO cards - and for some reason my reading seems to fit the categories really well. Who knew?

>244 luvamystery65: Howdy right back at you, Roberta! Thanks for dropping by.

246cbl_tn
Jul 4, 2015, 8:41 pm

Hi Dejah! You're doing really well with your categories. You'll have this finished in no time!

247Dejah_Thoris
Jul 4, 2015, 8:48 pm

>246 cbl_tn: Some come more easily than others, I have to admit. I think some of my categories may have been overly broad, lol.

248DeltaQueen50
Jul 5, 2015, 2:22 pm

Nothing wong with broad categories! I have stuck with pretty much the same categories for years now and find that most of my reading fits in, and of course, I always have the mandatory open category for books that don't fit.

249LibraryCin
Jul 5, 2015, 9:57 pm

>248 DeltaQueen50: That's pretty much what I do, as well. It's rare that something doesn't fit for me. (So far this year - 80ish books - everything has fit!

250thornton37814
Jul 6, 2015, 9:28 pm

I made the mistake of making categories too narrow the first year I joined the category. This year, some of the categories have filled/over-filled more quickly than others. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I didn't have much time for reading things beyond my challenges in the spring. It's also easy for me to grab library books when I go to pick up one for a challenge which has led to that one being quick to fill. I will probably make some adjustments next year. I only had 5 categories this year (although I always name my abandoned books category to fit the theme also).

251Dejah_Thoris
Dic 30, 2015, 2:10 pm

Ack! The first time I visit this thread in months and my post disappears! Surely my thread isn't punishing my inattention.....

I did finally manage to finish all my categories along with completing 5 BINGO cards. I did a fair job of reading books for the variously assorted CATs and the AlphaKit, but I did little more than post them to the wiki - I rarely joined any of the discussions. I'm going to work on improving that in 2016.

>248 DeltaQueen50: >249 LibraryCin: >250 thornton37814: I've been trying get my categories for 2016 nailed down - broad enough so I have some flexibility, but not so broad they are meaningless, lol. Some categories in 2015 overflowed, while others were more of a struggle. I'm hoping for a little more balance in 2016.

252LibraryCin
Dic 30, 2015, 4:05 pm

>251 Dejah_Thoris: I have a lot of my challenges as various categories, so that really helps! I have only one category as a "genre" (though it's not really) and that's Animals. I have had others over the years, but I like books about animals so much, that I've just left it at that.

I do have a f2f book club, so those are the ones that I'm never sure if they will fit somewhere, but I've been lucky this year. Also (like I'm doing now), if I join a shorter (seasonal) challenge, that I hadn't planned on at the start of the year - that sometimes brings in a few books that may or may not fit elsewhere.

253Dejah_Thoris
Dic 30, 2015, 5:08 pm

I definitely want all of my books to fit SOMEWHERE, so I'm trying to frame my 2016 categories with that in mind. I'm also trying to determine how - or if - I want to change what I'm reading. I always think I want to read more nonfiction, but do I really????

254LibraryCin
Dic 30, 2015, 7:31 pm

And to add to my >252 LibraryCin: post, I just added my first book for this year to my "overflow" category because it doesn't fit anywhere else. It was an Early Reviewers book! Those sometimes end up there, as well.

>253 Dejah_Thoris: haha re: the nonfiction! I don't know - do you? One of my categories is Nonfiction, but I enjoy reading it - mostly history or biographies... some science (or "popular" science, anyway).

255luvamystery65
Dic 30, 2015, 8:03 pm

Howdy lady! Have you posted your 2016 thread yet? Will you post a link please when you do or if you did?

;-)

Happy New Year! (I'm working 12 hour shifts 31st and 1st so I'm just getting this out there.)

256Dejah_Thoris
Dic 30, 2015, 8:23 pm

>254 LibraryCin: Re: the nonfiction. I really do enjoy nonfiction, but I tend to not pick it up as readily as fiction. And sometimes I just want something that's easy, and not all nonfiction is. I suppose it really all comes down to habit.....

>255 luvamystery65: Greetings, Roberta! I have NOT posted my 2016 thread yet, but I might get to it tonight. I will post a link once I get around to it.
I hope you're shifts aren't too exhausting and that you get the rest of the weekend off! Happy New Year!

257LibraryCin
Dic 30, 2015, 9:25 pm

>256 Dejah_Thoris: You're right. Not all nonfiction is easy. If you had is as one of your categories, would it help you to pick up more? If you are doing a 12x12, do you think you could read 12 nonfiction in a year? Just be sure to put any nonfiction you read in that category, and you're good! If picking up 12 in a year would be tricky, and you want to keep it easier to fit stuff in, then maybe not. Unless you want the push to read more. Decisions, decisions!!! :-)

258Dejah_Thoris
Dic 30, 2015, 9:53 pm

>257 LibraryCin: Actually, I had both Nonfiction and History categories this year - although I confess I did use Georgette Heyer's An Infamous Army as one of the History books. I figured since it was long held to have some of the best descriptions of the Battle of Waterloo written, I could count it!

I think I should consider what percentage of the books I read I want to be nonfcition. OK. I just went and counted. 12.5% of the books I read in 2015 were nonfiction - 1 in 8. And here I was thinking it ought to be 1 in 4 - sheesh! I think I'll aim for 1 in 6, and see where that gets me.

259LibraryCin
Dic 31, 2015, 3:52 pm

>258 Dejah_Thoris: That sounds like a good plan!

260lkernagh
Ene 1, 2016, 12:37 pm

As I didn't see your 2016 thread - I may have missed it - I thought I would hedge my bets and pop on over to this thread to wish you a Happy New Year and best wishes for 2016!

261Dejah_Thoris
Ene 2, 2016, 10:04 am

>260 lkernagh: Thank you, Lori, and a Happy New Year to you, too!

I have set up my 2016 thread, but it's nothing fancy. Everyone is welcome to come and visit me here.