Pick Three (3) Mini Challenge - July 2020

Remember that you may combine 3 books from any of the categories any way you wish. You may choose one book from 3 different ones; 3 books from the same; 2 from one and 1 from another etc…just so you end up with 3. Happy Reading!

Pick 3 Mini Challenges – Celebrating July 2020

July 1 – Canada Day and National Postal Workers Day

July 4 - Happy Independence Day America – We're 244 years old!! and it's also National Country Music Day

July 10 – Nation Teddy Bear Picnic Day

July 30 - Father-Law Day as well as International Friendship Day

The Challenge

1. Choose 3 books that are written by Canadian authors OR are set in Canada OR choose 3 books that the authors first or last initial can be found in POSTAL.

2. Choose 3 books that are set in any of the 50 states in America OR 3 books with a picture of food on the cover.

3. Choose 3 books that have a bear (real or stuffed) on the cover OR 3 books with a country scene on the cover.

4. Choose 3 books that you would recommend to your friends or was recommended to you by a friend OR 3 books that feature a father or father like figure in the story.

OK, this challenge will work for me! My goal is to finish 3 outstanding books in July that I haven't finished in June, and they do all fit with your category 4:

Journal of a Plague Year because I am recommending this book to all my friends. The parallels between then and now are mind-blowing. ✔
The Image of the King because it discusses the father/son Charles I and Charles II. Plus, I'll probably be able to fill in some UK places on the "Separated by a Pond" tour when I'm done. ✔
Prairie Fires because both Pa and Almanzo are fathers (and all of us "Little House" readers know how important Pa was to Laura). ✔

Happy early Birthday, Canada!

>2 threadnsong: Happy reading!

Carol's 3 Friends Will help Her Read 3

📌 - ★
3/3 - DONE
Choose 3 books that are set in any of the 50 states in America.
1.📌Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng - 5★ (Ohio)
2.📌Zero At The Bone - Mary Willis Walker - 5★ (Texas)
3.📌 Boys of Alabama- Genevieve Hudson - 3★ (Alabama)

📌 - ★
3/3 - DONE
Choose 3 books that you would recommend to your friends or was recommended to you by a friend.
📌1 Murder Takes The High Road - Josh Lanyan - 5★ - (would recommend)
📌2.Every Missing Piece - Melanie Conklin - 5★ (recommended by a friend)
📌3.Girl Last Seen - Nina Laurin - 3★ (recommended by a friend)

📌 - ★
3/3 -DONE
Choose books that the authors first or last initial can be found in POSTAL.
📌1.Just Before I Died - S.K. Tremayne - 5★ (T)
📌2.Give A Boy A Gun - Todd Strasser - 4★ (T & S)
📌3.Grief Is The Thing With Feathers - Max Porter - 0★ ((P)

Finished 3 that meet the challenge.

Recommended by an LT friend -
Duke and I by Julia Quinn. Humorous, historical romance. :)

Father and father figure -
Orphan monster spy Matt Killeen. YA historical Fic, WWII era. :)

Will recommend to my little granddaughter in another couple years!
Emily and Jackson hiding out Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Old west adventure :)

>5 nrmay:



Good Job!

Alrighty then! First book finished, and despite the length of 500+ pages (plus a gazillion footnotes) it was a quick read. Fraser's introduction by way of the US-Dakota war of 1862 and her epilogue bookend this woman's life. The description of how many other early settlers left the Great Plains and the promise of homesteading at the same time was very eye-opening. In addition, Fraser discusses in her Epilogue the vast costs of farming on the famers, and the shame associated with taking monies from social programs.

Finished 3 more -

Iron Lake by William Krueger. Set in Minnesota

Viscount who loved me: the 2nd epilogue, Julia Quinn. recommended by someone on LT for its humor.

Little dog, lost, Marion Dane Bauer. Another to recommend to my granddaughter in a couple years!
She'll be 4 tomorrow. Alas, she's far away in California . .

>8 nrmay:



Aren't you the busy little beaver??:) Doing good.

I'm pretty much staying home to avoid the virus. Lots of time to read...

Finished 3 more -

on target by Mark Greaney. Recommend for fans of Jack Reacher action thrillers.

Borrowers afloat, Mary Norton. Delightful British fantasy, recommended to kids of all ages! Also a father in the story.

ghost eye, Marion Dane Bauer. Another juvenile fantasy I would recommend to kids, old ladies and other cat lovers, and fans of the wonderful illustrations of Trina Schart Hyman.

Authors' initials can be found in 'POSTAL':
1. The Other End of the Line - Andrea Camilleri 4.5★s
2. Everywhere That Mary Went - Lisa Scottoline 4★s
3. A Caribbean Mystery - Agatha Christie 4★s

finished these - authors' initials can be found in 'POSTAL'

we are not from here, Jenny 'S'anchez. :)
blue moon, 'L'ee Child. :)
the Rosie result, Graeme 'S'imsion. :)

Finished the second book, which fits your #4 category, Carol: The Image of the King. The father and son are Charles I and Charles II, and I was able to fill in a location for England in our "Across the Pond" tour.

It was difficult to read as a book but the subject matter and the research were excellent. I bought it because I was in a bookstore and it was there. On the shelf. Asking me if I wanted to learn more about this period in English history. Of course I said "Yes!"

>13 threadnsong:



I'm glad you enjoyed your book. I'm also happy to know that I'm not the only one that has heard books talk to them:)

>14 Carol420: Thank you Carol! And can I just say, you are, too, with moderating these chats?

Yeah, when those little books start talking, it's hard to turn away, isn't it? Just a moral imperative to listen to them :)

>15 threadnsong: Thank you for your kind words. These chats are just giant "lists" and I love lists...I am the Queen of lists:)) I have listened to some really good books that I visit often... but some have been shysters.

I read three authors whose first initials are in POSTAL:

Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie
The Gate of Angels by Penelope Fitzgerald
Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery--also by a Canadian author, set in Canada, features a father AND has a country scene on the cover!

>17 kac522:



Good work! You did very well!

Whew! I did it! Even though it's August by now, finished Journal of a Plague Year last weekend.

And I totally can't stop talking about it and recommending it. The few times I've found a pub or brewery with good outdoor seating, I've had a beer and this book and recommended it to the bartender/server, as well as reading bits from the Appendices to neighbors and just really talking about it to anyone who would listen.

Which goes for my LT friends: if you haven't read this yet, I highly recommend it for this time we're all living through. The parallels between then and now are astounding. It's also a quick read because Defoe writes observations, bits of things, rather than a day-by-day story. I won't gush, overly much, but I will say I just could not put it down. The Penguin edition uses the original 1722 English, just as fair warning.