December RandomCAT- Season's Readings

I bet you thought the challenge would be to read a holiday season book! Nope!

The challenge for this month is to read a book whose title begins with any of the letters in the month of December. Have fun with it!

Some books that I ran across for myself are:

C is for Corpse
D is for Deadbeat
Careless Love
Circe
Closed Doors

Hopefully everyone has a lot to choose from, I know I do!

Hah! That works out great with the AlphaKIT whose letters for December are E and R.

>2 majkia: Nice, I hadn't realized that!

Fun! I'm sure I have many options that will qualify. :)

This is a fun one. I am planning on reading a number of books that will fit:

Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies
Christmas At The Gingerbread Cafe by Rebecca Raisin
Bones by Jan Burke
Death At Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn

I'm going to use this perfect opportunity to knock off a twofer of Doctor Who audio adventures: Darkstar Academy and Day of the Cockroach.

Are we ignoring "a" "an" and "the" at the beginning?

I thought this one would be easy. But I was surprised how far down my TBR pile I had to go to come with up the correct letter! So it is Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay.

>2 majkia: Nice!

>7 dudes22: I don't know about others, but I always ignore those "leading" words.

>7 dudes22: Hi Betty, sure we can ignore a, an the etc. I want to keep it fun!

I usually do too, but thought I'd just check. So I'll be reading (well, finishing actually) The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff.

I'm looking at The Cotswold Mysteries by Rebecca Tope and A Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths

I should have A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths available from the library by December.

I'm tentatively planning on reading The Editor by Stephen Rowley for AlphaCAT and if I do it will work here too.

I'm going to read Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva.

Oh boy, this is perfect! I might do more than one!

I probably have more that will fit, anyway, but I plan to read this for CalendarCAT, and it fits here, so:

The Right to be Cold / Sheila Watt-Cloutier

I've been able to start December early and today during our cold pouring rain I sat by the window and read The Editor by Steven Rowley. Loved it. 4*

I'm choosing ROOT books for this challenge, those that have been on my shelves, unread, for a year or more:

"B"
The Brave Riders by Glenn Balch

"C"
Celia's House by D. E. Stevenson

"D"
Dingo, The Story of an Outlaw by Henry G. Lamond

"E"
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe

"M"
Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express: A Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov Novel by Stuart M. Kaminsky

"R"
Red-Tails in Love: A Wildlife Drama in Central Park by Marie Winn

or

Rusty by Joyce Stranger

Anyone want to go for a Grand Slam, reading at least one book for each letter?

I'm going to try, anyway...

I love the idea of a Grand Slam!!

>20 fuzzi: - I must admit that the thought crossed my mind. It sure would be fun to do. Would there be three E’s or just one?

ETA: Thinking one E makes way more sense.

>22 LittleTaiko: And I was thinking definitely three Es, lol.

>23 Dejah_Thoris: The completist in me agrees completely with you. The realist in me opted for one E. Not sure I have that many E books. Lol.

How about one book for each letter, extra stars for doing the complete word "DECEMBER"?

If it's okay with @jonesli? 😉

Sounds good to me, I'm assembling my books as we speak!

It's a challenge within a challenge! :-)

I'm starting an "M" book, The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin. I doubt I'll be going for the "grand slam," but it sounds fun and I'm a bit tempted!

I finished an E book, Everywhere That Mary Went by Lisa Scotoline. I'm tempted to do the one book for each letter, but with the way my reading is going lately, doubt I will be able to do it. It'll be fun to try though.

I finished and E book - A Man of Some Repute by Elizabeth Edmondson

Read a D book - A Dangerous Duet by Karen Odden - now on to an E book!

I read Dead Cold by Louise Penny and have started Betrayed by Lisa Scottoline.

The challenge for this month is to read a book whose title begins with any of the letters in the month of December. Have fun with it!

I read Deep River by Shūsaku Endō D for December

I read an E book -- Eat First, Cry Later by Mimi Barash Coppersmith.

>33 Kristelh: Popping Deep River on my list for 2020 - Japanese books in translation. Thanks!

Just realized my last book would count for this: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.

I started this book in November for Alphakit, but finished it in December for RandomCAT. : Dear Thief by Samantha Harvey.

The Right to be Cold / Sheila Watt-Cloutier
3.5 stars

Sheila Watt-Cloutier was born in a Northern Quebec Inuit community and raised by her mother and her grandmother. She was sent away to school in Churchill, and (mostly) enjoyed her time there. She later married, had kids, and went back and forth between her home in Northern Quebec and the southern part of the province.

Eventually, she would become an activist; she is most commonly associated with environmental activism, but really she is an activist for her Inuit culture, for education and health care, and yes, for the environment and climate change, and how it is currently affecting the Inuit culture and lifestyle. They are seeing the effects of climate change now, and they feel that they deserve “the right to be cold” – they need that cold – in order to sustain their traditional culture.

This was good. I expected more of the environmental aspect in the book (and a lot of that did come in the 2nd half), but actually ended up enjoying the biographical part of the book best. Much of the 2nd half of the book included her travels to various conferences and counsels to tell the story of the Inuit to put a “human face” on the environmental crisis in the Arctic. Surprising to me, I just didn’t find that part as interesting. Overall, though, I liked it.

COMPLETED A Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths (D)

I finished The best Christmas pageant ever and loved every bit of it.

>40 MissWatson: That is one of my faves too.

I read A Wedding in December by Sarah Morgan, and Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella.

Read Eva's Eye by Karin Fossum

Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller.

Finally finished Capital Dames by Cokie Roberts.

I finished Eva's Eye, Dead Man's Folly, and Both Ways is The Only Way I Want It.

>45 lsh63: - How funny that we both read Eva's Eye. What did you think?

>46 LittleTaiko: I thought it was ok, it's the first in the series , but maybe not the first book that was translated. I thought it was maybe just a tad bit too centered on Eva and not Sejer.

I read The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves.

I finished two more: Mary of Nazareth by Marek Halter, 3.5* and Buried Deep by Margot Hunt, 3*.

>47 lsh63: - Agreed. I enjoyed him as a character but the second half that was basically all about Eva dragged a bit.

Black Rose / Nora Roberts
3 stars

Roz is running a gardening business out of her home and has hired Mitch to help investigate who might be the ghost that has been in her historical home all her life. She suspects one of her ancestors, but wants to find out for sure.

This is the second book in a series (trilogy, I think). Unfortunately, it took me about 2/3 of the book to figure out who most the supporting characters were (though two of them would have been the main characters in the first book; I just remembered nothing about it!). Even after figuring out most of the characters, there were still a few that confounded me until the end. Anyway, I’m rating the book ok. The ghost story is the interesting part of the story. The romance – meh. Roz, I think, was 47 years old (my age), but to me, for some reason, I pictured her in her 60s! I’m not sure if I’ll read the last book or not, although I am curious to find out more about the ghost.

Read another E book - Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life by Jessica Nutik Zitter - maybe not the most cheery of books for this time of the year but super informative.

Mr. Dickens and His Carol was a very quick read, perfect for the holiday.

Another B book: Blood feud by Rosemary Sutcliff is a tale about Vikings taking service with the Byzantine emperor.

>53 LittleTaiko: I have that one waiting for me at the library. This is not helping my plan to read all of my library books before the start of January!
I also have A Christmas carol on audio book, as an accompaniment.

Finished another M, A Merry Christmas and Other Christmas Stories by Louisa May Alcott, 3.5*

I have completed Death At Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn. I really enjoyed this cozy mystery.

Emma by E (Jane Austen). I've done B and D and E so far. Currently read Mill on the Floss and if I finish that will work for M.

So far I've read:

Dead Cold by Louise Penny
Betrayed by Lisa Scottoline
The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith

and I'm planning:
Embers by Richard Wagamese
The Act of Roger Murgatroyd by Gilbert Adair

I've read Butterfly Girl and Criss Cross.

COMPLETED The Cotswold Mysteries Collection (C) by Rebecca Tope

I'm slow going, but I've gotten two down, working on two more:

"B"
The Brave Riders by Glenn Balch - Currently reading

"C"
Celia's House by D. E. Stevenson - Read and reviewed

"E"
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe - struggling with this one, sloooow going

"R"
Riding For the Brand by Louis L'Amour - Read and reviewed

I have completed a short seasonal read with Christmas at the Gingerbread Cafe by Rebecca Raisin.

Currently reading Eight for Eternity by M. E. Mayer (E)

I finished Rules of Engagement by Elizabeth Moon

I am reading A Bride For Christmas by Heather Graham which contains all the letters of DECEMBER

I gave up on my "E" book, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Maybe it was too dated for me to appreciate, or perhaps reading about hippies doing drugs wasn't interesting enough to keep my attention.

I need to find another "E" book...

The Brave Riders is read and reviewed.

Emily: Evan's Girls / Elle Klass
3 stars

Emily was adopted when she was young enough that she doesn’t remember her biological family. She is happy and isn’t interested in learning about them. All she knows is that they died in a car crash. As she grows up, though, she overhears discussions that make her wonder, though she never questions it. However, things get dangerous for her as an adult once she is married and has a family of her own.

I really liked the first ¾ of the book, but it took an odd turn and I wasn’t crazy about the ending. This was book 2 in a series; I “won” the book in a giveaway without realizing there was a book 1, so I hadn’t read it. Up until the end, I don’t think I needed to, but the main character (based on the title of book 1) does make an appearance at the end. Since I found the ending, not just odd, but somewhat confusing, I wonder if it would have been better to have read the first one first? Either way, up until the end, I thought I was going to (go back and read book 1), but the odd turn the ending took just didn’t… I just didn’t like it, so I don’t think I’ll plan to read the first one (nor will I plan to read the 3rd). I still gave it an “ok” rating, though, as I did really liked most of the book.

I finished The Raven Boys. Very atmospheric, almost gothic in texture and plot. Not at all what I expected going in, and that's a good thing.

COMPLETED Eight for Eternity by M. E. Mayer

Currently reading Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

D: Deep River Shusaku Endo
E: Emma by Jane Austen
C:
E:
M: The Mill On the Floss by George Eliot
B: Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller
E:
R:

>71 Kristelh: woo, keep going!

I can't find an "E" book that interests me, so I'll work on the other letters remaining.

Woohoo! I managed to do the full set for December. Some I’ve posted already and some were recently finished. To recap:

D: A Dangerous Duet by Karen Odden
E: Eva’s Eye by Karen Fossum
C: Capital Dames by Cokie Roberts
E: Extreme Measures by Jessica Nutik Zitter
M: Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva
B: Bramton Wick by Elizabeth Fair
E: Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
R: Rocket to the Morgue by Anthony Boucher

This was such a fun challenge that prodded me to read a variety of books from different genres. Great way to end the year!

>73 LittleTaiko: Awesome work!

I am very impressed with the "December" completists! Congratulations.

>73 LittleTaiko: Wow! What a reading feat. I got a whole one book read for this challenge.

>73 LittleTaiko: Impressive! I only did BER.

Completed Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Starting The Bone Garden by Kate Ellis

Completed The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths.

It seems I really wanted to read a lot of "M" books this month! In addition to The Moving Toyshop, I read Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly, Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon, and Murder Most Malicious by Alyssa Maxwell. Also read Discerning Religious Life by Sr. Clare Matthiass for "D."

Well, it took me three tries to find a third E book I was willing to finish, but Vonda N. McIntyre came through for me! Here's my DECEMBER line-up:

D Died in the Wool by Melinda Mullet
E Equalize by Ryan DeBryun
C The Christmas Princess by Patricia McLinn
E Echoes in Emerald by Sharon Shinn
M Murder at the Palace by Margaret Dumas
B Bryony and Roses by T. Kingfisher
E The Exile Waiting by Vonda N. McIntyre
R Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Very light reading, but fun - which fits the time of year, I suppose. I actually had a second book read for all the consonants, but those Es were tricky!

>80 christina_reads: Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand is an old favorite of mine - I hope you enjoyed it!

>69 majkia: I just got The Raven Boys from the library, and I'm looking forward to it.

My December recap:

Dead Man's Folly
Eva's Eye
Criss Cross
Milkman
Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It

Not a grand slam, but I had fun with it!

For E I read Embers: One Ojibway's Meditations by Richard Wagamese.

I was going for a grand slam but got sidetracked. I got D, C, E, B, and R.

For this CAT, I read Blue Moon by Lee Child. It was fun.

My final stats:
"B"
The Brave Riders by Glenn Balch

"C"
Celia's House by D. E. Stevenson

A Child's Calendar by John Updike

"R"
Riding For the Brand by Louis L'Amour

Four books, three letters. Not too bad. 😁

Finished!

D--Death in a Tenured Position, Amanda Cross

E--Elizabeth Bowen, Allen Austin

C--Celia's House, D. E. Stevenson*

E--The Enchanted April, Elizabeth von Arnim*

M--The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie

B--The Big Four, Agatha Christie

E--Enemy Women, Paulette Jiles

R--The Road to San Giovanni, Italo Calvino

*especially charming reads for December.

>86 kac522: woo! Excellent job.

>86 kac522: - Congratulations!!

>86 kac522: whoo hoo!