Dogeared Copy's 2017 Category Challenge

INTRO

This is the year of the simplified challenge!

I have basically broken the categories down into months, a personal cat, two KITS, one official CAT, and BINGOdog!

I will be enumerating the number of books read (this will help me cross index against my master list); and posting updates as to the books I've read each past week.

I decided to let the theme of my personal cat (Asia) be the theme for the whole year! I will place a map of the country that I am focusing on for that month as the image for that month. I love maps; and this should serve as a great reminder as to what to look for when I waffling around!(Yes, there will be plenty of non-Asian titles listed every month!)

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________________________________Satellite Image of North and South Korea*_________________________________

JANUARY

Human Acts (by Han Kang) #litfic #historicalFic #SKorea

Curtsies & Conspiracies (Finishing School, #2; by Gail Carriger) #YA #Paranormal #Steampunk

The Book of Unknown Americans (by Cristina Henríquez) #LitFic #ImmigrantLife

We Were on a Break (by Lindsey Kelk) #Romance #Contemporary #BreakupMisery

The Boy is Back (Boy series, #4; by Meg Cabot) #Romance #Contemporary #SmallTown #Epistolary

Operation Foreplay (by Christine Hughes) #Romance #Contemporary

Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Boycott (by Alfred Hassler & Benton Resnik #GN #comic #NF #bio #history #CivilRights

The Boy Next Door ((Boy series, #1; by Meggin Cabot) #Romance #Contemporary #NYC #Epistolary

Every Boy's Got One (Boy series, #3; by Meg Cabot) #Romance #Contemporary #Italy #Epistolary

See Delphi and Die (Marcus Didius Falco, #17; by Lindsey Davis) #mystery #histfic #AncientRome #AncientGreece

Good Girl (Love Unexpectedly, Book #1; by Lauren Layne) #Romance #Contemporary #Music

A History of the World in 6 Glasses (by Tom Standage) #NF #History #World #Drinks

She Went All the Way (by Meg Cabot) #Romance #Contemporary #FilmIndustry

Waistcoats & Weaponry (The Finishing School series, Book #3; by Gail Carriger) #YA #Paranormal #Steampunk

SHORTS:

The Monkey's Paw (by W.W. Jacobs) #Short #Classic #Horror

The Yellow Wallpaper (by Charlotte Perkins Gilman) #Short #Classic #Horror #Gothic

A Modest Proposal (by Jonathan Swift) #Short #Classic #Satire

NOTES:
☑ ALPHA KIT: M & S
☐ SFF KIT: UNFINISHED BUSINESS FROM 2016
☐ CATWoman: CLASSICS BY WOMEN
☑ ASIA: NORTH/SOUTH KOREA

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*The image (ABOVE) was used during an October 11, 2006, DoD News Briefing, shortly after North Korea conducted a nuclear device test in Kilju County, North Hamgyeong Province. Image from GlobalSecurity.org

FEBRUARY

______________________________
___________________________Map of Cambodia, with city and province names in Khmer*____________________________

Beneath This Mask (Beneath series, Book #1; by Meghan March) #Romance #Contemporary #Ink #GoodBoyBadGirl

Hamlet (by William Shakespeare) #Drama #Tragedy #Classic

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis ( by J.D. Vance) #NF #Memoir #Sociology

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (by Alan Dean Foster; narrated by Marc Thompson) #SFF #Space #StarWars

The Highwayman (Victorian rebels, #1; by Kerrigan Byrne) #Romance #Victorian

The Dispatcher (by John Scalzi; narrated by Zachary Quinto) #SFF #Novella #NearFuture

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (by Meg Elison; narrated by Angela Dawe) #SFF #NearFuture #PostApocalyptic #Virus #DebutBook #PWBest2016

Return to Augie Hobble (by Lane Smith) #MG #Illustrated #Bildungsroman

When Breath Becomes Air(by Paul Kalanithi with a Foreword by Abraham Verghese) #NF #Memoir #Medicine #Cancer

Unspoken (The Woodlands, #2, by Jen Frederick) #Romance #Contemporary #NewAdult #ExMarine #AngerIssues #BadReputation

Sleeping Giants (The Themis Files, #1, by Sylvain Neuvel) #SF #TechnoThriller #GiantRobots #FullCast #Audio

Espero (Silver Ships #6; by S.H. Jucha) #SFF #SpaceOpera

SHORTS

The Bet (by Anton Chekhov) #Classics #Short

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (by Ambrose Bierce) #Classics #Short

Youth (by Isaac Asimov) #Classics #Short #SFF

Mr. Spaceship (by Philip K. Dick) #Classics #Short #Space

The Damned Thing (by Ambrose Bierce) #Classics #Short #Horror

Edward Randolph's Portrait (by Nathanial Hawthorne) #Classics #Short #Horror

The Darling (by Anton Chekhov) #Classics #Short #LitFic

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (by F. Scott Fitzgerald) #short #classic

NOTES:
☑ ALPHA KIT: W & H
☑ SFF KIT: SPACE TRAVEL
☐ CATWoman: DEBUT BOOKS
☐ ASIA: CAMBODIA
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* Map created by Wikipedia contributor Rsperberg; Based on UN map 3860, updated and locations added. Khmer names taken from Cambodian National Institute of Statistics list of "Agreed Cambodia Area Names (Province, District, Commune) in English and Khmer" (formerly located at http://www.stats.nis.gov.kh/areaname/area_name.htm and now found at http://www.nis.gov.kh/index.php/component/content/article/18-others/10-a); 30JAN2008; Released into the Public Domain

MARCH

______________________________
_______________________________________Map of China*________________________________________

Bossman (by Vi Keeland) #Romance #Contemporary #Office

Master of the Mountain (Mountain Masters #1; by Cherise Sinclair) #Romance #erotica #BDSM

The Adventures of Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent (by Larry Correia; narrated by Adam Baldwin) #SFF #Space #Humor

The Song and the Silence: A Story about Family, Race, and What Was Revealed in a Small Town in the Mississippi Delta While Searching for Booker Wright (by Yvette Johnson #NF #Memoir #CivilRights

Alien: Out of the Shadows (by Tim Lebbon; narrated by a Full Cast) #SFF #scifi #space #audio #fullcast

Car Talk Science: MIT Wants Its Diplomas Back (written and narrated by Tom Magliozzi and Ray Magliozzi) #science&tech #automotive #radio #audio

Gulliver's Travels (by Jonathan Swift) #Classic #Satire

The Coyote Hunter of Aquidneck Island by James Conroy) #Lit-Fic

Seabiscuit: An American Legend (by Laura Hillenbrand) #NF #Racehorse

In the Embers: The Great Northern Audio Theatre (by Brian Price and Jerry Stearns; Narrated by Edwin Strout, Robin Miles and a full cast) #SFF #HistoricalFiction #Radio #Audio

Into the Wild (by Jon Krakauer) #NF #TravelWriting

The Storm King: Stories, Narratives, Poems: Spoken Word Set to a World of Music (written and performed by Pete Seeger; edited by Jeff Haynes) #FolkHistory #Autobiography #Performance #Audio

Boy Meets Girl (The Boy Series, Book #2; by Meg Cabot) #Romance #LightRomance #Contemporary #Office

Bad Neighbor (by Molly O'Keefe) #Romance #Contemporary #Erotica #Fighter #Opposites

Pete Seeger: Storm King - Volume 2 (Written and performed by Pete Seeger; edited by Jeff Haynes) #FolkHistory #Autobiography #Performance #Audio

The Play of Death (The Hangman's Daughter series, Book #6; by Oliver Pötzsch) #histfic #mystery

Technophobia: The Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who) (first in a BBC audio drama series, by Matt Fitton; performed by a full cast featuring David Tennant) #AudioDrama #DrWho #TimeTravel #TechnoThriller

SHORTS

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (by Washington Irving) #Short #Classic #American

The Death of Halpin Frayser (by Ambrose Bierce) #Short #Classic #Horror

The Hanging Stranger (by Philip K. Dick) #Short #SciFi #Aliens #Horror

A Hunger Artist (by Franz Kafka) #Short #Classic

Bartleby, the Scrivener (by Herman Melville) #Short #Classics #American

Twenty-Six Men and One Girl (by Maxim Gorky) #Short #Classic #Russian

The Man Who Would Be King (by Rudyyard Kipling) #Classic #Short #EnglishEmpire

The Black Cat (by Edgar Allan Poe) #Short #Classic #Horror

The Pit and the Pendulum (by Edgar Allan Poe) #Short #Classic #Horror

The Blue Hotel (by Stephen Crane) #Short #Classic

With the Night Mail (by Rudyard Kipling) #Classic #Short #SFF #Steampunk

NOTES:
☑ ALPHA KIT: E & K (K Only)
☐ SFF KIT: RELIGIOUS THEMED
☑ CATWoman: GENRES
☐ ASIA: CHINA
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* Map of China; Detail from Repogle World Series 12 Inch Diameter Globe; Terrance E. Donovan, Chief Cartographer; Kevin M. Dzurny, Cartographer; Circa 1975; Personal Item

APRIL


Satellite Map of Indonesia

__________________________________Map of Indonesia*___________________________________

The Tenth Doctor - Time Reaver (Doctor Who, #2; by Jenny T. Colgan; performed by a Full Cast featuring David Tennant and Catherine Tate) #AudioDrama #SFF #DrWho #TechnoThriller

The Tenth Doctor: Death and the Queen (Doctor Who, #3; by James Goss); performed by a Full Cast featuring David Tennant and Catherine Tate) ) #AudioDrama #SFF #DrWho #Death

Allora (Silver Ships Series, Book #7; by S.H. Jucha) #SFF #SpaceOpera #AI

When Beauty Tamed the Beast (Fairy Tales, #2; by Eloisa James) #Romance #Regency #FairyTales

Nutshell (by Ian McEwan) #litfic #humor #Hamlet

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (by Kazuo Ishiguro) #shorts

A Kiss at Midnight (Fairy Tales, #1; by Eloisa James) #Romance #Regency #FairyTales

The Duke is Mine (Fairy Tales #3; by Eloisa James) #Romance #Regency #FairyTales

Brand vs. Wild: Building Resilient Brands for Harsh Business Environments (by Jonathan David Lewis) #Business #Branding #Survival

In Too Deep (Due South series #1; by Tracey Alvarez) #Romance #Contemporary #NewZealand #Diving

Adulthood is Hard (Sarah Scribbles #1; by Sarah Anderson) #Comic #Contemporary #NewAdult #Women

Big Mushy Happy Lump (Sarah Scribbles #2; by Sarah Anderson) #Comic #Contemporary #NewAdult #Women

The Bad Beginning (Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the First; by Lemony Snicket; narrated by a Full Cast starring Tim Curry) #ChildrensBook #Adventure

The Reptile Room (Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Second; by Lemony Snicket; narrated by Tim Curry) #ChildrensBook #Adventure

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (by Robert Louis Stevenson) #Classic #Horror

The Scarlet Pimpernel (by Emmuska, Baroness Orczy) #Classic #HistFic #Adventure

The Wide Window (Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Third; written and narrated by Lemony Snicket) #ChildrensBook #Adventure

The Billionaire Bachelor (Billionaire Bad Boys, #1, by Jessica Lemmon) #Romance #Contemporary #MarriageofConvenience #Hotels

Beginner's Guide: Love and Other Chemical Reactions (Talking Nerdy #1, by Six de los Reyes) #Romance #Contemporary #Science #Philippines

The Miserable Mill ((Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Fourth; written and narrated by Lemony Snicket) #ChildrensBook #Adventure

A Monster Calls: Inspired by an Idea from Siobhan Dowd ( by Patrick Ness; narrated by Jason Isaacs) #YA #SFF #Grief

SHORT STORIES

The Little Mermaid (by Hans Christian Anderson) #Classic #Short #FairyTale

The Crystal Crypt (by Philip K. Dick) #Classic #Short #SFF #Space #Mars

The Wendigo (by Algernon Blackwood) #Classic #Short #Horror

Count Magnus (by M.R. James) #Classic #Short #Horror

Casting the Runes (by M.R. James) #Classic #Short #Horror

The Second Variety (by Philip K. Dick) #Classic #Short #SFF #Horror

Storming the Castle (Fairy Tales #1.5; by Eloisa James) #Romance #Regency #FairyTales

Winning the Wallflower (Fairy Tales #2.5; by Eloisa James) #Romance #Regency #FairyTales

The Insanity of Jones (by Algernon Blackwood) #Classic #Short #Horror

Pickman's Model (by H. P. Lovecraft) #Classic #Short #Horror

NOTES:
☑ ALPHA KIT: D & I
☐ SFF KIT: DYSTOPIAN/APOCALYPTIC THEME
☐ CATWoman: Biography/Autobiography/Memoir
☐ ASIA: INDONESIA

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* Topographical Map of Indonesia from Maphill.com

MAY

______________________________
_______________________________________Map of Laos*________________________________________

Chase Me : A Broke and Beautiful Novel (by Tessa Bailey) #Romance #Contemporary #RomCom

Celus-5 (Silver Ships, #8, by S.H. Jucha; narrated by Grover Gardner) #SFF #SciFi #Aliens

The Austere Academy (Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Fifth, written and narrated by Lemony Snicket #Childrens #Adventure

Baby, Come Back: A Bad Boy Secret Romance #2, by M. O'Keefe) #Romance #Contemporary

Going Nowhere Fast (by Kati Wilde) #Romance #Contemporary #Hate2Love

A Man Called Ove (by Fredrik Backman) #Swedish #Humor

Othello (by William Shakespeare) #drama #tragedy #theBard

The Ersatz Academy (Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Sixth; written by Lemony Snicket; narrated by Tim Curry) #Childrens #Adventure

New Boy (by Tracy Chevalier) #litfic #Hogarth #Othello #tragedy

Good Boy (WAGs #1; by Sarina Bowen) #Romance #Contemporary #Sports #Hockey

To Love Jason Thorn (Hollywood Celebrities #1; by Ella Maise) #Romance #Contemporary #Hollywood #BrothersBestFriend #MarriageofConvenience

Collared (Andy Carpenter series, #14; by David Rosenfelt; narrated by Grover Gardner) #Mystery #Cozy #NJattorney

Dirty: A Dive Bar Novel (Dive Bar series, #1; by Kylie Scott) #Romance #Contemporary #WhiteTrash

Lost Prelude (Alexander & Maya Duology, #1; by Ella Maise) #Romance #Contemporary #Grief

Lost Heartbeats (Alexander & Maya Duology, #2; by Ella Maise) #Romance #Contemporary #Grief

Play Maker (A Sports Romantic Comedy Novel; #1; by Katie McCoy) #Romance #Contemporary #Sports #Hockey #InstaLove

It Ends With Us (by Colleen Hoover) #WomensLit #Relationships #Abuse

A Dog's Purpose (by W. Bruce Cameron)

SHORT STORIES

The Willows (by Algernon Blackwood) #Classic #Short #Horror

The Dunwich Horror (by H.P. Lovecraft) #Classic #Short #Horror

Typhoon (by Joseph Conrad) #Classic #Short #Adventure #Maritime

DNF

West with the Night (by Beryl Markham) #NF #Autobiography #Memoir

NOTES:
☑ ALPHA KIT: C & T
☑ SFF KIT: ALIEN CONTACT
☐ CATWoman: Women in the Arts
☐ ASIA: LAOS

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* Google map of Laos, accessed May 13, 2017.

JUNE

______________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________Map of Japan*___________________________________________

The Little Drummer Girl (by John Le Carré ) #spythriller

Darkfever (Fever series, #1; by Karen Marie Moning) #Paranormal #Romance #Thriller

Bloodfever (Fever series, #2; by Karen Marie Moning) #Paranormal #Romance #Thriller

The Undateable (Librarians in Love, #1; by Sarah Title) #Romance #Contemporary #Librarians #Journalism

Poetry for Dummies (by The Poetry Center and John Timpane) #NF #Poetry #Criticism #Theory

Fearless Living in Troubled Times: Finding Hope in Christ's Return (by Michael Youssef) #Religion&Spirituality #Christianity #Protestant #Paulist

Dating You / Hating You (by Christina Lauren) #Romance #Contemporary #Hollywood #CompetingAgents

Underneath It All (The Walsh series, #1; by Kate Canterbary) #Romance #Contemporary #Architects #CareerAmbitions

His Temptation (by Amber Barden) #Romance #Contemporary #Novella #Daddy

The North Water (by IanMcGuire) #LitFic #HistoricalFiction #Maritime #Noir

Worship: The Reason We Were Created - Collected Insights from A. W. Tozer (by A.W. Tozer) #Religious #Christianity #Potestantism

Faefever (Fever series, #3; by Karen Marie Moning) #Paranormal #Romance #Thrilller

Vicious (Sinners of Saint. #1; by L.J. Shen) #Romance #Contemporary #BadBoy #Millionaire

Blues People: Negro Music in White America (by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)) #NF #History #Music #BlackHistory #AmericanHistory

NOTES:
☑ ALPHA KIT: N & Y
☑ SFF KIT: SERIES
☐ CATWoman: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN
☐ ASIA: JAPAN

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* Flag and Map of Japan; Creator: Margouyab; Source: WikiPedia; License: Creative Commons

JULY

____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________Map of Macau*______________________________________

King (King series #1; by T.M. Frazier) #Romance #Contemporary #BadBoy #CriminalKingdom

Freeing David McCallum: The Last Miracle of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (by Ken Klonsky) #NF #PenalSystem

Monday Starts on Saturday (by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky; translated by Andrew Bromfield) #SFF #Soviet

Omnia (Silver Ships, #9; by S.H. Jucha; narrated by Grover Gardner) #SFF #SciFi #SpaceOpera

The Second Lie (The Immortal Vikings Book #2; by Anna Richland #Paranormal #Romance #Thriller #Grifter #Remington Steele

Stripped Bare: A Vegas Billionaire Novel (by Heidi McLaughlin) #Romance #Contemporary #PrettyWoman

Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times (Second Edition; by Thomas R. Martin) #NF #History #AncientGreece

Dreamfever (Fever series #4; by Karen Marie Moning) #Paranormal #Romance #Thriller

Hooked (by Brenda Rothert) #Romace #Contemporary #Hockey

The Stripped Series (by Emma Chase) #Romance #Contemporary #Vegas #MagicMike

SHORT STORY:

The Tree of Life (by C.L. Moore) #short #SFF #Horror

NOTES:
☐ ALPHA KIT: B & G
☐ SFF KIT: AWARD WINNERS/NOMINEES
☐ CATWoman: WOMEN OF COLOR
☐ ASIA: MACAU

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* Downloadable Map Courtesy of "Discover China" web-site: http://www.chinadiscovery.com/hongkong-tours/maps.html

AUGUST

Shacking Up (by Helena Hunting) #Romance #Contemporary

BLOW: How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel And Lost It All (by Bruce Porter) #NF #Biography #OrganizedCrime #DrugCartels

Accidentally on Purpose (by Jill Shalvis) #Romance #Contemporary #RomCom

Trapped by Scandal (by Jane Feather) #Romance #Regency #ScarletPimpernel

An Unsuitable Bride (by Jane Feather) #Romance #Regency

Solstice (The Alessandra Legacy Trilogy Book 1; by K.W. Keith) #Romance #Contemporary #MobFantasy

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NOTES:
☑ ALPHA KIT: O & F (F ONLY)
☐ SFF KIT: HUMOROUS SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY
☑ CATWoman: NON-FICTION or HISTORICAL FICTION

SEPTEMBER

The Stand (by Stephen King; narrated by Grover Gardner) #Horror #Dystopia #PA

The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut's Windlass (y Jim Butcher; narrated by Euan Morton) #SFF #Steampunk

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (by Laura Hillenbrand; narrated by Edward Herrmann) #NF #Biography #WWII #Japan

Falling for Trouble (Librarians in Love #2; by Sarah Title) #Romance #Contemporary #Librarians #RockStar #SmallTown

Seven Minutes in Heaven (Desperate Duchesses by the Numbers #3; by Eloisa James) #Romance #Regency

The Boy on the Bridge (by M.R. Carey; narrated by Finty Williams) #SFF #ZA

Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation (edited by Roger Housden) #Poetry

Heartless (An Enemies to Lovers Novel #1; by Michelle Horst) #Romance #Contemporary #Enemeies2Lovers #SecondChance

Waking Gods (The Thmeis Files, #2; by Sylvain Neuvel; narrated by a Full Cast) #SFF #GiantRobots #AlienContact

The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower #1; by Stephen King; narrated by George Guidall) #Western #Fantasy

Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America (by Steven J. Ross) #NF

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NOTES:
☑ ALPHA KIT: U & P (U ONLY)
☑ SFF KIT: STEAMPUNK
☐ CATWoman: Children's/YA/graphic novels:

OCTOBER

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Omnibus (by Alan Moore; illustrated by Kevin O'Neill) #GN #Steampunk

The Dead Zone (by Stephen King; narrated by James Franco) #Horror

Midnight Riot (Rivers of London #1; by Ben Aaronovitch; narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith #SFF #UrbanFantasy

Kill the Next One (by Federico Axat; narrated by Maxwell Hamilton) #thriller #serielkiller

The Hotel Tito (by Ivana Bodrozic; translated by Ellen Elias-Bursac) #litfic #easterneurope #croatia

The Remains of the Day (by Kazuo Ishiguro; narrated by Simon Prebble) #litfic

Sweet as Sin (Bad Habit #1; by J.T. Geissinger) #romance #contemporary #rockstar

Make Me Sin (Bad Habit #2; by J.T. Geissinger) #romance #contemporary #rockstar

Sin with Me (Bad Habit #3; by J.T. Geissinger) #romance #contemporary #rockstar

American War: A Novel (by Omar El Akkad; narrated by Dion Graham) #SFF #NearFurure #Dystopia

Wrong (Wrong series, #1; by Jana Aston #Romance #Contemporary #BDSM-ish

A Gentleman in Moscow (by Amor Towles; narrated by Nicholas Guy Smith) #LitFic #HistFic #USSR

Her Best Worst Mistake (by Sarah Mayberry) #Romance #Contemporary #Enemies2Lovers

The Opposite of You (An Opposites Attract Novel, by Rachel Higginson) #Romance #Contemporary #Enemies2Lovers #Chefs

NOTES:
☑ ALPHA KIT: A & V (A ONLY)
☑ SFF KIT: NEAR FUTURE
☐ CATWoman: REGIONAL READING

NOVEMBER

Ruckus (Sinners of Saint #2; by L.J. Shen) #Contemporary #Romance

Mister McHottie (by Pippa Grant) #Romance #Contemporary #BillionaireBoss #BrothersBestFriend #Enemies2Lovers

Lost Without You (The Debt series #1; by Molly O'Keefe) #Romance #Contemporary #SecondChance #TheTransporter

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (by Gabrielle Zevin)

Playing for Keeps (Neighbors form Hell #1; by R.L. Mathewson) #Romance #Contemporary #RomCom

Backwards and in Heels: The Past, Present And Future Of Women Working In Film (by Alicia Malone #NF #Film #FilmHistory #WomenInFilm

Pretend You're Mine (Small Town Love Story #1; by Lucy Score) #Romance #Contemporary #Smalltown #FakeRelationship

Black Roses (Mitchell Sisters #3; by Samantha Christy) #Romance #Contemporary #TWrape

What You Do to Me (The Haneys #1; by Barbara Longley) #Romance #Contemporary #SmallTown #Thor

In the Cards (by Jamie Beck) #Romance #Contemporary #BeautyandtheBest #JaneEyre

The Two-Night One-Night Stand (Two-Night #1; by Ryan Ringbloom) #Romance #Contemporary #RomCom

Happy Endings (McCallister's Paradise #1 by Chantel Rhondeau) #Romance #Contemporary #Beach #Cancer

NOTES:
☑ ALPHA KIT: L & Q (L ONLY)
☐ SFF KIT: HISTORICAL/ALT-HISTORY
☑ CATWoman: LGBT/FEMINIST WRITING

DECEMBER

Sweet Nothings (Sugar Springs #2; by Kim Law) #Romance #Contemporary #CommitmentIssues

Worth the Wait (McKinney/Walker #1; by Claudia Connor) #Romance #Contemporary #SecondChances

This Time Around (by Tawna Fenske)#Romance #Contemporary #SecondChances

The Billionaire's Christmas (Sinclairs #6; by J.S. Scott) #Romance #Contemporary #BeautyandtheBeast

Kulti (by Mariana Zapata) #Romance #Contemporary #MayDecember #Sports #Soccer

Man Hands (Man Hands #1; by Sarina Bowen & Tanya Eby) #Romance #Contemporary #RomCom #HGTVhero

The New American Bible (NAB); by Various #Bible #Catholic

Home to You (Suspicious Hearts #1, byTaylor Sullivan) #Romance #Contemporary #SecondChances #BrothersBestFriend

Win by Submission (Against the Cage #1, by Melynda Price) #Romance #Contemporary #MMAfighterrehab #AbuseVictim

Ineligible Bachelor (by Kathryn Quick) #Romance #Contemporary #RealityShow #RomCom

CURRENTLY READING

The People in the Trees (by Hanya Yanagihara) #litfic

A Perfect Spy (by John Le Carré) #spythriller #coldwar

Things Fall Apart (African Trilogy #1; by Chinua Achebe) #Fiction #Africa #Colonialism

My Lady Jane (by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows #HistFic #AltHist #Fantasy

Rebecca (by Daphne DuMaurier; narrated by Anna Massey) #litfic #gothicromance

PERSONAL KIT: EASTERN ASIA

__________________________________________

________________________ (Detail of RandMcNally World Map, Classical Edition) ________________________

Books about/set in Eastern Asia:

CAMBODIA
CHINA AND/OR HONG KONG
INDONESIA

JAPAN

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (by Laura Hillenbrand; narrated by Edward Herrmann) #NF #Biography #WWII #Japan

LAOS
MACAU
MALAYSIA

NORTH AND/OR SOUTH KOREA

Human Acts (by Han Kang) #litfic #historicalFic #SKorea

THE PHILIPPINES
TAIWAN
THAILAND
VIETNAM

ALPHA KIT

JANUARY: M & S

BY TITLE:

Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Boycott (by Alfred Hassler & Benton Resnik) #GN #comic #NF #bio #history #CivilRights

See Delphi and Die (Marcus Didius Falco, #17; by Lindsey Davis) #mystery #histfic #AncientRome #AncientGreece

She Went All the Way (by Meg Cabot) #Romance #Contemporary #FilmIndustry #GoodBoyBadGirl

BY AUTHOR:

A History of the World in 6 Glasses (by Tom Standage) #NF #History #World #Drinks
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FEBRUARY: W & H

BY TITLE:

Hamlet (by William Shakespeare) #Drama #Tragedy #Classic

The Highwayman (Victorian rebels, #1; by Kerrigan Byrne) #Romance #Victorian

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis ( by J.D. Vance) #NF #Memoir #Sociology

When Breath Becomes Air(by Paul Kalanithi with a Foreword by Abraham Verghese) #NF #Memoir #Medicine #Cancer

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

MARCH: E & K

BY AUTHOR:

Bossman (by Vi Keeland) #Romance #Contemporary #Office

The Man Who Would Be King (by Rudyyard Kipling) #Classic #Short #EnglishEmpire

Into the Wild (by Jon Krakauer) #NF #TravelWriting

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APRIL: I & D

BY TITLE:

Doctor Who: The War Doctor: Only the Monstrous (The War Doctor #1; by Nicholas Brigg); performed by a full cast starring John Hurt) #SFF #DoctorWho

The Duke is Mine (Fairy Tales #3; by Eloisa James) #Romance #Regency #FairyTales

In Too Deep (Due South series #1; by Tracey Alvarez) #Romance #Contemporary #NewZealand #Diving

BY AUTHOR:

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (by Kazuo Ishiguro) #Shorts #lit-fic

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

MAY: C & T

BY TITLE:

Chase Me: A Broke and Beautiful Novel (by Tessa Bailey) #Romance #Contemporary #Comedy

Celus-5 (Silver Ships, #8; by S.H. Jucha; narrated by Grover Gardner) #SFF #SciFi #Aliens

Typhoon (by Joseph Conrad) #novella #adventure #maritime #Classic

BY AUTHOR:

A Dog's Purpose (by W. Bruce Cameron) #genlit #doglit

New Boy (by Tracy Chevalier) #litfic #Hogarth #Othello #tragedy

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JUNE: Y & N

BY TITLE:

The North Water (by IanMcGuire) #LitFic #HistoricalFiction #Maritime #Noir

BY AUTHOR:

Fearless Living in Troubled Times: Finding Hope in Christ's Return (by Michael Youssef) #Religion&Spirituality #Christianity #Protestant #Paulist

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JULY: B & G

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AUGUST: O & F

BY AUTHOR:

Trapped by Scandal (by Jane Feather) #Romance #Regency #ScarletPimpernel

An Unsuitable Bride (by Jane feather) #Romance #Regency

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SEPTEMBER: U & P

BY TITLE:

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (by Laura Hillenbrand; narrated by Edward Herrmann) #NF #Narrative #Biography #WWII

OCTOBER: A & V

BY AUTHOR:

Midnight Riot (Rivers of London #1; by Ben Aaronovitch; narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith #SFF #UrbanFantasy

Kill the Next One (by Federico Axat; narrated by Maxwell Hamilton) #thriller #serielkiller

BY TITLE:

American War: A Novel (by Omar El Akkad; narrated by Dion Graham) #SFF #NearFurure #Dystopia

NOVEMBER: L & Q
BY TITLE:

Lost Without You (The Debt series #1; by Molly O'Keefe) #Romance #Contemporary #SecondChance #TheTransporter

DECEMBER: J & R

YEARLONG: X and Z

BY AUTHOR:

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (by Gabrielle Zevin)

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____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SFF KIT

JANUARY: UNFINISHED BUSINESS FROM 2016

FEBRUARY: SPACE TRAVEL

Espero (Silver Ships, #6; by S.H. Jucha) #SFF #Space #SpaceOpera

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (by Alan Dean Foster; narrated by Marc Thompson) #SFF #Space #SpaceOpera #StarWars

MARCH: RELIGIOUS THEMED SCI-FI/FANTASY

APRIL: DYSTOPIAN/APOCALYPTIC THEMED

MAY: ALIEN CONTACT

Celus-5 (Silver Ships, #8; by S.H. Jucha; narrated by Grover Gardner) #SFF #SciFi #Aliens

JUNE: SERIES MONTH

Darkfever (Fever series, #1; by Karen Marie Moning) #Paranormal #Romance #Thriller

Bloodfever (Fever series, #2; by Karen Marie Moning) #Paranormal #Romance #Thriller

Faefever (Fever series, #3; by Karen Marie Moning) #Paranormal #Romance #Thrilller

JULY: AWARD WINNERS/NOMINEES

AUGUST: HUMOROUS SCI-FI/FANTASY

SEPTEMBER: STEAMPUNK (HOSTING)

The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut's Windlass (y Jim Butcher; narrated by Euan Morton) #SFF #Steampunk

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Omnibus (by Alan Moore; illustrated by Kevin O'Neill) #GN #Steampunk

OCTOBER: NEAR-FUTURE SFF

American War: A Novel (by Omar El Akkad; narrated by Dion Graham) #SFF #NearFurure #Dystopia

NOVEMBER: HISTORICAL SFF

DECEMBER: MAGICAL SYSTEMS

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Illustration from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Volume I (by Alan Moore; illustrated by Kevin O'Neill)

CATWoman

JANUARY: CLASSICS BY WOMEN

FEBRUARY: DEBUT BOOKS

MARCH: GENRES

Bossman (by Vi Keeland) #Romance #Contemporary #Office

Master of the Mountain (Mountain Masters #1; by Cherise Sinclair) #Romance #erotica #BDSM

Bad Neighbor (by Molly O'Keefe) #Romance #Erotica #Fighter

APRIL: BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR

MAY: WOMEN IN THE ARTS

JUNE: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN

JULY: WOMEN OF COLOR

AUGUST: NON-FICTION OR HISTORICAL FICTION

Trapped by Scandal (by Jane Feather) #Romance #Regency #ScarletPimpernel

An Unsuitable Bride (by Jane Feather) #Romance #Regency

SEPTEMBER: CHILDREN’S/YA/GRAPHIC NOVELS

OCTOBER: REGIONAL READING

NOVEMBER: LGBT/FEMINIST WRITING

Backwards and in Heels: The Past, Present And Future Of Women Working In Film (by Alicia Malone #NF #Film #FilmHistory #WomenInFilm

DECEMBER: MODERN (POST-1960) NOVELS BY WOMEN

BINGOdog

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__________________________________(Card Designed my LShelby & Her Daughter)__________________________________

01. Gulliver's Travels (by Jonathan Swift) #Classic #Satire
02. Hamlet (by William Shakespeare) #Drama #Tragedy #Classic #Denmark
03. The Scarlet Pimpernel (by Emmuska, Baroness Orczy) #Classic #HistFic #Adventure
04. A Man Called Ove (by Fredrik Backman) #Contemporary #Humor #Sweden
05. Unspoken (The Woodlands, #2, by Jen Frederick) #Romance #Contemporary #NewAdult #ExMarine #AngerIssues #BadReputation
06. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis ( by J.D. Vance) #NF #Memoir #Sociology
08. Monday Starts on Saturday (by Arkadi Strugatski and Boris Strugatsky) #SFF #1965
09. Into the Wild (by Jon Krakauer) #NF #TravelWriting
10. Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (by Kazuo Ishiguro) #Shorts #lit-fic
11. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (by Gabrielle Zevin) #genfic #books
12. Nutshell (by Ian McEwan) #litfic #humor #Hamlet
13. Bossman (by Vi Keeland) #Romance #Contemporary #Office #CATWoman
16. Car Talk Science: MIT Wants Its Diplomas Back (written and narrated by Tom Magliozzi and Ray Magliozzi) #science&tech #automotive #radio #audio
20. The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (by Meg Elison; narrated by Angela Dawe) #SFF #NearFuture #PostApopcalytic#Virus #DebutBook #PWBest2016
21. Seabiscuit: An American Legend (by Laura Hillenbrand) #NF #Horse
22. Espero (Silver Ships #6; by S.H. Jucha) #SFF #SpaceOpera
23.

Happy Endings (McCallister's Paradise #1 by Chantel Rhondeau) #Romance #Contemporary #BeachResort #Cancer
24. See Delphi and Die (Marcus Didius Falco. #17; by Lindsey Davis) #mystery #histfic #AncientRome
25. Curtsies & Conspiracies (Finishing School, #2; by Gail Carriger) #YA #Paranormal #Steampunk

Good luck with your challenge! I like the simple theme of categories = months. Maybe I'll do that next year.

Welcome back and here's to simplicity! Have fun with your personal KIT. :)

Looks like you have a great year of reading planned, Tanya, I'm all in favor of simplified challenges!

Enjoy your challenge! Interesting to see your Eastern Asia category. I have chosen a personal geographic focus as well, for me it is Africa. I'm looking forward to see what you read!

Enjoy your simplified challenge. I thought of something similar but what I came up with is pretty simple too. I'll look forward to following along, especially your Eastern Asia category.

Looks great to me. Happy reading!

I hear you on the idea of having a simplified challenge!

Simple = good

Great categories (especially Asia). Good luck with your reading!

Less fussy categories, I imagine, will result in more relaxed reading choices and more enjoyable reading. It's easier to track how our numbers wax and wane through the year, too. Good luck on your CATs and Bingo cards! Have a great year!

Good luck!

Simple is good. Hope your year and your reading will be super!

What with being snow- and ice-bound for the past week, you would have thought I would have gotten more reading done; but perversely, the opposite was true! I spent a lot of time outside enjoying the snow, and then coming back inside exhausted & taking naps! I did manage to get two books read:

Curtsies & Conspiracies (Finishing School Series, Book the Second, by Gail Carriger) - This is a fun, frothy YA paranormal steampunk series about a girl named Sophronia who is sent away to finishing school; but this is a different sort of finishing school than what she was expecting! Intrigue and wit blend with Carriger's signature sense of humor; and the world she builds, filled with mechanical maids, dirigibles, vampires, werewolves, petticoats and tea cakes dazzles the senses. In this installment, there are crossover characters form Carriger's Soulless series: Lord Akeldama, Countess Nadasdy, and even a glimpse of the Earl of Woolsey! But be aware the Finishing School series doesn't carry the same sort of tension or energy that her Soulless series does. (★★★-1/2)

The Book of Unknown Americans (by Cristina Henríquez) - This is a lit-fic novel that features the voices of Latinx immigrants of the US, and uses the story of Maribel's family to highlight the immigrant experience. Maribel is suffering from a traumatic brain injury, and her family has arranged to come to the US to get access to a school that will aid in their daughter's recovery. The plot is best served through the sections told from the point-of-view of Maribel's mother, Alma; and a neighbor-boy, Mayor who falls in love with Maribel; and in fact I found the "other" voices a bit contrived/cliched and superfluous. That said, there is one section from a photographer, sounding off ad hominem, whose story I would love to see developed into a full length novel in its own right. :-) (★★★★)

WEEK 2

We Were on a Break (by Lindsey Kelk) - The book opens with Liv & Adam on holiday in Mexico. Liv is expecting a marriage proposal; but ultimately they end up back in the Midlands of England "on a break." I thought this was going to be a cute rom-com; but it was pretty much 400+ pages of slogging through the misery of a breakup. He's pathetic, and she doesn't some across as being very bright. No chemistry between them, their friends, or their family; No thrill of the chase, or grand gesture to win. I cringed where I think I was supposed to laugh. Sorry, but this was about as anti-rom-com as you could get and still stay in the genre :-/

The Boy is Back (Boy series #4, by Meg Cabot) - I have to admit up front that I accidentally picked this book up: My brain was thinking "Meg Abbot"; but my eyes and hands picked up "Meg Cabot!" Reed Stewart hasn't been back to his hometown in ten years, ever since he drove a golf cart into a swimming pool on prom night, and left his high school sweetheart behind. But now his family needs him as his parents have crossed the line from eccentricity to hoarders and cat enthusiasts... Told in social media formats (texts, e-mails, etc,) this is a fun and funny light romance. Though this is #4 in the Boy series, it works as a standalone from what I gather from reading the summaries of the other books in the series.

Operation Foreplay (by Christine Hughes) - Jared is the little brother of one of Melody's best friends, and as such, didn't get much consideration when they were in high school together. To be fair, he was a scrawny freshman, and she was an A-cup senior... But eight years later they end up in NYC and they have both changed, at least physically. Both are still pretty much hormone-driven bipeds that seem to confuse lust with love... The author represents a female who is sexually aggressive, which is not a bad thing in my book; but the constant emphasis on the physical appearances, a really gross casual sex scene, and some "locker room talk" were a real turn-off.

I also want to give a shout-out to Human Acts (by Han Kang.) It was supposed to be my first read in 2017; but in a surprise move, it ended up being the last book of 2016! This is the fictionalized account of a real event in South Korea: A democratic uprising in a southern province that was brutally suppressed. HK uses her signature "tag" approach or Rohomon Effect to move the plot forward. The plot itself deals with the death of a 15-yo boy. Some of the scenes are rough and ugly; but it's powerful, and better written than, and not as weird as, 'The Vegetarian'

CURRENTLY READING:
The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe (by Václav Havel and Others - This is a collection on political totalitarianism, written by Eastern Bloc dissenters in the 1980s. You kind of have to go back in time when totalitarianism was inextricably linked with socialism (Think Stalin, Mao, etc.) to get a handle on where these writers are coming from. The book is only a couple of hundred pages long; but you really have to work through each essay without letting 21st century biases creep in.

>33 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I'm sad to hear about We Were on a Break, as I was looking forward to reading it and have enjoyed some of Kelk's other novels. But forewarned is forearmed!

WEEK 3

Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Boycott (by Alfred Hassler & Benton Resnik) - John Lewis cites this 16-page comic as being influential in terms of his Civil Rights consciousness. The first section is a short bio of MLK during the bus boycott; The second section is an Everyman tale told from the POV of an African-American who is not sure he can stay non-violent; and the third section is a guide to non-violent protests. I wouldn't normally count this as part of my reading; but its historical significance and contemporary relevance outweighs its length.

The Boy Next Door (Boy series, #1; by Meggin Cabot) - I was utterly charmed by the Meg Cabot novel I accidentally picked up last week, so I went back to the library to see what else they had. This is a light contemporary romance featuring a case of assumed identity: He pretends to be somebody else, and during his masquerade finds his special someone... Published in 2002, it shows its age a little bit: The general public is getting more into e-mail, and there is no Google, FaceBook or Skype... and if there was, this plot would fall apart very quickly! Still, a fun & funny story told primarily through e-mails :-)

Every Boy's Got One (Boy series, #3; by Meg Cabot) - This was the other Meg Cabot book in the Boy series that the library had: The Best Man and Maid of Honor accompany the prospective bride and groom who are eloping to Italy. He's a foreign correspondent and she's a cartoonist working for the same paper. He comes across as a bit anal retentive; and she comes across as a bit flaky... This is less about the chemistry of opposites attracting than it is a wedding comedy. Told via journal entries, it's a great way to chase away a couple of rainy afternoon hours; but not as strong as the other two books in the series that I've read in terms of humor or sexiness.

See Delphi and Die (Marcus Didius Falco, #17; by Lindsey Davis) - The Falco series is generally well-researched, and this installment in the series is no exception: Falco heads into Ancient Greece (c. AD76) to follow up on the deaths of two women who happened to have been on a sightseeing tour through the area, and with the same tour group, just years apart. Falco wants to solve both cases and see if the two cases are connected... Learning about Ancient Greece was interesting; but Lindsey Davis seems to be a bit tired of her creation. Since Book #15, the energy and humor that had been present in her other books up 'til then seems absent.

WEEK 4

Good Girl (Love Unexpectedly #1; by Lauren Layne) - A Contemporary romance novel featuring Jenny Lawson, a country singer who is escaping scandal in Los Angeles; and Noah/Preston, a heir to a fortune hiding out from his ex-fiancee. Jenny takes refuge at one of the properties that Noah has inherited. This is a "Beauty and the Beast" thing; but Noah is such a douchebag it was actually kind of sickening to see Jenny keep coming back for more. Lauren Layne is hit-and-miss with her material. This one is definitely a miss. (★★)

A History of the World in 6 Glasses (by Tom Standage) - Easily digestible micro-history about six beverages that reflected their respective times, and in turn influenced history: Beer in Mesopotamia; Wine in Ancient Greece and Rome; Rum in the New World; Coffee in the Middle East and Europe/Enlightenment; Tea in China and Britain; and Coca-Cola in in the United States/World. There is also and Epilogue about water that brings the work full circle. No number dumps, charts, or power language; but well researched and really interesting! (★★★★)

She Went All the Way (by Meg Cabot) - Continuing my reading #AllThingsMegCabot, I picked this one up at the library last week. This is a light contemporary romance novel featuring Louise ("Lou") Calabrese, an award-winning screenwriter; and Jack Townshend, an A-list actor who stars in a movie franchise that Lou writes. On a trip to a shoot in Alaska, the helicopter they are traveling in goes down, and the two of them find themselves having to navigate blizzard conditions and assassins with nothing but movie-lore and a bit of luck to survive. Incredulous; but fun... The perfect kind of escapist novel. (★★★★)

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CURRENTLY READING

Waistcoats and Weaponry (The Finishing School series, #3; by Gail Carriger) - YA Paranormal Steampunk novel featuring Sophronia Temminnick, a student at a finishing school that's really a training ground for future spies. In this installment, one of Sophronia's classmates, Lady Kingair has werewolf pack issues which necessitates Sophronia and her friends hijacking a train to Scotland. Of course there's intrigue involving crystalline valves (a running plot line in the series,) vampires vs The Picklemen, and a love triangle between Sophronia, Lord Mersey, and "Soap"...

I've not yet tried The Finishing School series, but thanks for reminding me I still have a few Parasol Protectorate-books on Mt. TBR.

WEEK 5

I'm trying out the serial reader app, and finished off three shorts stories:

The Monkey's Paw (by W.W. Jacobs) - A horror story set in rural England. A happy family of three is visited by a sailor who has a talisman that guarantees three wishes... Be careful what you wish for!

The Yellow Wallpaper (by Charlotte Perkins Gilman) - A gothic horror story set in the attic room of a house. A woman becomes obsessed with the wall treatment... This is a re-read for me, and I suspect that it will be again. There's so much to unpack that affects what you think the story is about. Before I read it as a near supernatural tale, now I see it as a psychotropic-drug induced trip...

A Modest Proposal (by Jonathan Swift) - A satirical short story addressing the problem of overpopulation in Ireland. Yes,of course, he's kidding...

Fully realized novels (not on the Serial Reader app):

Waistcoats and Weaponry (The Finishing School series, #3, by Gail Carriger) - YA Paranormal Steampunk novel featuring Sophronia Temminnick, a student at a finishing school that's really a training ground for future spies. In this installment, one of Sophronia's classmates, Lady Kingair has werewolf pack issues which necessitates Sophronia and her friends hijacking a train to Scotland. Of course there's intrigue involving crystalline valves (a running plot line in the series,) vampires vs The Picklemen, and a love triangle between Sophronia, Lord Mersey, and "Soap"... I'm **not** going to spoil this; but I will say that I was disappointed in how the novel seems to end. Perhaps things will turn around in the last book in the series, 'Manners & Mutiny.' (★★★-1/2)

Beneath This Mask (Beneath series, #1, by Meghan March) - A contemporary romance novel set in New Orleans, the set up is a "Good Boy + Bad Girl" (though what seems to make this girl "bad" is the amount of ink, piercings and hair dye color she has!) Great story, graphic sex scenes (but nothing kinky)... but it lacked the kind of energy that maybe a little bit more humor would have lent it. Solid writing; but I probably won't continue this series. (★★★)

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CURRENTLY READING

Gulliver's Travels (by Jonathan Swift; on the Serial Reader app) - The eighteenth century satire about the adventures of an erstwhile sailor. I was a little worried that the dated language would prove to be a hurdle; but the writing is very accessible. Right now, Gulliver is in the land of the Lilliputians, and political forces are starting to be arrayed against him...

Hamlet (by William Shakespeare) - The Classic tragedy from the Bard about the Prince of Denmark. with an existential crisis. A re-read for me; but this is my favorite Shakespearean play, and every time I read it, I pick up something new-to me!

>37 -Eva-: I read The Parasol Protectorate a few years ago (a great eBook deal + vacation time!) I almost didn't continue after the first-in-series, 'Soulless," but the end had me going, "What?!" and starting the second book in the series, 'Changeless' immediately! I'm contemplating re-reading them after I finish The Finishing School series :-)

You are doing well with the Serial Reader app. I love how this installment style of reading allows me to fearlessly tackle many of those classics that I was always avoiding - and, to my surprise, so far I have also found that I mostly enjoy the classics.

WEEK 6

Hamlet (By William Shakespeare) Folger Shakespeare, Updated & Revised Edition - The Classic tragedy about a prince with an existential crisis, this is my favorite play from The Bard. It was the very first play that I studied when I was in middle school, and I think repeated readings and viewings (plays and film adaptations) over the years have provided a foundation of familiarity which is probably why I like it so much. (★★★★)

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (By J.D. Vance) - The author serves up his childhood memories & experiences living with his hillbilly family in Kentucky & Ohio. Vance highlights a lifestyle threaded with themes of love, loyalty and honor; but also fraught with missed educational & professional opportunities that in turns creates a culture of fatalism and "learned helplessness." The sections where the author paints the settings & circumstances of his childhood resonate as true; but ultimately, as Vance closes his work, he addresses the issues of failing Rust Belt communities with a metaphorical shrug, "I don't know what the answer is, I only know what worked for me." People who might be interested in the topic of Rust Belt communities might be interested in following up this memoir with an article from Propublica, "Revenge of the Forgotten Class," by Alec MacGillis. The article brings into the focus the politics of Montgomery County, Ohio - which was very much founded on the backs of the Kentuckian migrants into the Valley. MacGillis doesn't suggest policy changes either; but he does provide the context by which we can understand why this sector of American culture matters. (★★★-1/2)

SHORT STORIES (Not Counting Towards Goal):

The Bet (By Anton Chekov) - A didactic short story about whether the death penalty or life imprisonment is more humane or moral. A young lawyer bets fifteen years of his life against 2 million rubles... The ending is a bit of a surprise, which makes you wonder who really won the bet! ;-)

An Occurrence at Owl's Creek Bridge (By Ambrose Bierce) - A short set during the American Civil War, the story opens at an Alabama bridge near a plantation. The Union soldiers have captured a would-be saboteur and are preparing to hang him. Like Stephen Crane, a writing style that is both dispassionate and breath-taking.

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CURRENTLY READING:

I'm a little over half-way through listening to Star Wars: The Force Awakens (By Alan Dean Foster; narrated by Marc Thompson) - This is a hybrid between an audio drama and single voice narration; and correspondingly, I have mixed feelings about it. I'm not unaware of the challenges in producing a Star Wars audiobook nor the cult following that the SW audiobook franchise has; but the sound f/x & style is so heavy-handed and over-the-top respectively, that it frequently distracts from the actual story. Still, I would be lying if I said I wasn't caught up in the chase! I like Thompson's voice characterizations for Han Solo and Rey; not so much for Leia...

WEEK 7

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (by Alan Dean Foster; narrated by Marc Thompson) - This is the novelization of Episode VII, and an audiobook hybrid between straight narration (single narrator reading) and audio drama (sound f/x.) If you had any questions about the movie (e.g. Did Finn die, or was he just injured?) they will be answered in this presentation; and on the flip side, if you have any questions about how things look or work from the audio, you can recall the scenes from the movie! I'm not keen on the sound effects. While others may find them an aid into an immersive experience, I thought them extremely distracting; and the melodramatic delivery of the narrator wasn't to my tastes either. Listeners who like Graphic Audio titles, or audio drama will probably appreciate this one more than I did. (★★★)

The Highwayman (Victorian Rebels #1, by Kerrigan Byrne) - Dorian Blackwell is a notorious and powerful underground criminal in England; and Farah Mackenzie is the widowed clerk working at Scotland Yard. They cross paths when Blackwell is brought in for interrogation at the Yard. The novel is fairly well researched, and instead of being a frothy romance that reads like a costume party, this echoes more of the pathos and darkness of a Gothic romance (e.g.'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Brontë.) That said, a fairly deep suspension of belief is required to really make this work. The writing was solid; but I'll pas on continuing the series. (★★★)

The Dispatcher (by John Scalzi; narrated by Zachary Quinto) - A novella set in the near-future, "a time of miracles and wonders," in which the murdered are inexplicably returned alive and safe to their homes. Dispatchers are those that expedite certain death; and Valdez is a dispatcher who has been brought into a case involving the disappearance of a colleague. Zachary Quinto showed amazing versatility with character voices; and handled the story expertly, leaving me wanting more. My only complaint: It was too short! (★★★★★)

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (by Meg Elison; narrated by Angela Dawe) - This is the story of a P.A. (Physician's Assistant) in San Francisco who wakes up one day to discover that the city, the country, perhaps the world have been wiped out by "the Women's Plague." The virus causes babies to be stillborn, the mothers to die in a raging fever during delivery, and 98% of the males to succumb as well. As the eponymous character moves though the post-apocalyptic landscape, she does what she needs to do in order to survive and search for meaning in this life. The novel is heavy with import; but it suffers from a surfeit of story. The author includes "off-camera" scenes, which breaks the integrity of the narrative (of a journal written by the main character.) Angela Dawe takes a while to hit her stride, and her male characterizations are not strong. (★★★-1/2)

Sleeping Giants (The Themis Files #1, by Sylvain Neuvel; narrated by a Full Cast) - The pieces of a giant robot have been discovered on the planet. Where did it come from? How does it work? What is its purpose? The story is told through reports and raises a number of questions about service, loyalty, love, bias and cost in the name of science and politics. Most reports are interviews with an unnamed interrogator and a player in the action. It does end with a slight cliffhanger; but I can wait until April to pick up the sequel, 'Waking Gods.' The narrators were well-cast: Andy Seecum (sp?), Eric Meyers, Laura Lefkow, Charlie Anson, Liza Ross, William Hope, Christopher Ragland, Katharine Mangold, and Adna Sablyich, though I cannot tell who played which character(s) in the production :-/ (★★★★)
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SHORT STORIES (NOT counting toward goal):

Young Goodman Brown (by Nathanial Hawthorne) - A young man walks to a meet up in the woods outside of Salem, MA; and has second thoughts about the whole thing from the beginning.... The fascinating thing about Hawthorne's works, is that because of his pedigree with New England and its history, his stories always feel like he is relating non-fiction, no matter how farfetched the premise!

The Canterville Ghost (by Oscar Wilde) - An American family move into a haunted castle in the English countryside... This is a short comedy sans the biting satire :-)

Youth (by Isaac Asimov) - This is a short that reads like a Twilight Zone episode! Two boys capture a pair of small alien creatures; and the boys' fathers equivocate about the value of a prospective business deal... There is a twist at the very end (So, if you find it a little boring, just wait for it!) :-D
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CURRENTLY READING:

When Breath Becomes Air (by Paul Kalinthi) - In the Introduction by Abram Verghese, it's made known that Kalinthi dies and that the author's wife writes the Epilogue. With this in mind, I've been guarding my heart a bit. It seems like the little books (200 pages or so) that have the power to destroy you... I'll finish it tonight when I have the time to mentally recover (no workday tomorrow.)

WEEK 8

Return to Augie Hobble (by Lane Smith) - A middle grade bildungsroman about a boy who is working at his father's declining amusement park while trying to come up with a project to satisfy his Creative Arts class requirement. The prose is full of clever bits, and the illustrations are pretty cool; but the overall subject matter of death and guilt are rather dark; and the illustrations are in greyscale. I'm alternately fascinated with, and disappointed with the book. (★★★)

When Breath Becomes Air (by Paul Kalanithi with Foreword by Abraham Verghese) - The written testament of a 36-year old neurosurgeon who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, I knew going in that this was going to be a tough one, so I was rather surprised I held up so well for so long. The thing that broke me? What amounted to a love letter to his one-year old daughter. (★★★)

Unspoken (The Woodlands, #2, by Jen Frederick) - A New Adult contemporary romance novel featuring two lab partners in a science class at Central College. Bo is an ex-Marine with anger management issues; Ann Marie is a girl with a reputation that she's trying to live down. This read like a high school romantic fantasy and was awkwardly structured and written. Graphic sex, but not sexy. (★★)
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SHORT STORIES

Mr. Spaceship (by Philip K. Dick - The bio-organic constructs of a planetary system are successfully repelling a technologically well-engineered spaceship, so at one point a plan is hatched to build a spaceship with a human brain as its center. Sort of like H.A.L.; but not as creepy... and of course there is a blatant message at the end of the short. (★★★★)

The Damned Thing (by Ambrose Bierce) - A short horror story re-counting the death of a frontiersman. While not particularly scary, there is an interesting idea about the spectrum of perception at the end. (★★★★)

Edward Randolph's Portrait (by Nathanial Hawthorne) - A sort of horror story in which what lies behind a black-out of a picture hanging in Government House in Boston, MA, is revealed after much conjecture. (★★★★)

The Darling (by Anton Chekhov) - The story of a woman who, chameleon-like, changes her interests and personalities to suit the men in her life. Nothing scary here, just a bit sad in its way. (★★★★)

WEEK 9

Espero (Silver Ships #6, by S.H. Jucha) - While investigating illegal drug distribution at an undercover club, Christine Racine and her two friends are kidnapped and taken to a New Terran moon. Alex Racine, the Haraken president and Christine's brother, raises a discreet force to infiltrate the mining colony/pleasure dome complex where his sister and her cohorts are being held captive. This is series started out as family friendly, and if you mean "no swear words", then it still is; but if you mean politically correct, then no. A case of Haraken exceptionalism is made to justify vigilante justice over legality; and the number of strong female characters is diminishing. (★★)
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SHORT STORIES:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (by F. Scott Fitzgerald) - This is the account of a male born as an old man and who regresses to infancy over his lifetime. This is not a sentimental tale of fragmented relationships that you might think if you've seen the movie; but, surprisingly, a rather callous perspective of Benjamin Button's life. It's also the only F. Scott Fitzgerald piece I find tolerable, probably because of its brevity. (★★★★)

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (by Washington Irving) - Known as the classic tale of the headless horseman who rides through an Old Dutch community on the Hudson, it's really the story of the hapless schoolteacher, Ichabod Crane. Funnily enough, images form the Disney animated short kept flashing through my head while I was reading this, even though I haven't seen it since I was a kid! (★★★★)
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CURRENTLY READING:

Seabiscuit: An American Legend (by Laura Hillenbrand) - The story of an ungainly horse who has captured the attention of a wealthy entrepreneur and a seasoned horse trainer... I've had this book in my stacks for years, to the point that the pages are yellowed; but finally I picked it up and I regret not having done so sooner! Laura Hillenbrand's narrative style is neither overblown or suffocating with number dumps. The story is spooling out in my mind's eye with clarity. Loving it so far...

WEEK 10

!@#% I wrote this detailed summary of what I was reading last week; but then instead of saving the post, I exited! I just don't have the heart to try and re-write it all, so I'll just list the titles:

Bossman (by Vi Keeland) #Romance #Contemporary #Office (3 Stars)

Master of the Mountain (Mountain Masters #1; by Cherise Sinclair) #Romance #erotica #BDSM #porn (2 stars)

The Adventures of Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent (by Larry Correia; narrated by Adam Baldwin) #SFF #Space #Humor #SadPuppy - I actually wrote a review of this one, which you can see by clicking on the title link! (4 stars)

SHORT STORIES

The Death of Halpin Frayser (by Ambrose Bierce) #Short #Classic #AmericanFrontier

The Hanging Stranger (by Philip K. Dick) #Short #SFF #SciFi #Aliens

A Hunger Artist (by Franz Kafka)#Short #Classic

Bartleby, the Scrivener (by Herman Melville) #Short #Classic #WallStreet #Morals #Ethics

Twenty-Six Men and One Girl (by Maxim Gorky) #Short #Classic #Russian

If something catches your eye and you want to know what I think, I'll be be more than happy to elaborate! :-)

>45 Tanya-dogearedcopy: instead of saving the post, I exited!
Been there, done that!!!!

>45 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Yeah, I think we have all done that and it's very frustrating!

>45 Tanya-dogearedcopy: That happens a lot if I'm on vacation and using my iPad to check LT. Annoying!

WEEK 11

IN PRINT:

The Song and the Silence: A Story about Family, Race, and What Was Revealed in a Small Town in the Mississippi Delta While Searching for Booker Wright (by Yvette Johnson) - This is a memoir about the author's research into her grandfather's legacy, a three-minute monologue that aired on an NBC documentary about racism in Greenwood, MS during the 1960s. Booker Wright's little performance belied the White's stance that they loved and cared for the Blacks, even has Greenwood became a hotbed during the Civil Rights Movement. The book is also a memoir that looks at Ms Johnson's relationship with her parents, and her search for her Black identity. The book as a whole is a little unwieldy; but there is a companion documentary, 'Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story' that pulls it all into focus a bit better. (★★-1/2)

Gulliver's Travels (by Jonathan Swift) - This is an eighteenth-century satire and a Classic in its own right. Gulliver has a series of incredible voyages and adventures, all while learning about veracity and honesty in mankind. I was a little worried that the language would be archaic; but it turns out to be easily accessible both in terms of vocabulary and ideas. (★★★★)

The Coyote Hunter of Aquidneck Island (by James Conroy) - This is a lit-fic novel about a Native American sniper who is hired to hunt coyotes in Rhode Island amidst community controversy and political machinations. The sniper's host is a writer who is pulling together material about a Union soldier; and the lives of the author, the Union soldier, and the sniper intersect in a surprising but credible way. I'll be honest in that I didn't think much about the story; but then the end hit me; and I'm glad to have met all the characters. (★★★)

SHORT STORY:

The Man Who Would Be King (by Rudyard Kipling) - This is a short story set in India and Afghanistan during the height of the British Empire. Two guys of questionable integrity decide to head into hostile Afghanistan and carve out a kingdom. Things work out better than expected, until they don't... Deep-seated racism permeates the text, and there's no way to avoid it as it plays a part in the story. Still, it's a good story: (★★★★)

IN AUDIO:

I bailed on Crosstalk (by Connie Willis; narrated by Mia Barron) - After listening to close to nine hours, I realized that I was hate-listening and/or avoiding listening altogether, so I decided to move on...

I'm listening to the Original Works nominated for the Audie Awards. I had already listened to The Dispatcher (by John Scalzi; narrated by Zachary Quinto) when I was listening to the Science Fiction finalists, and which I believe is a very strong contender to win both categories so far. I also listened to The Adventures of Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent (by Larry Correia; narrated by Adam Baldwin) last week. Tom Stranger is a top-rated insurance agent who offers policies and service across alternate dimensions... This is sharp, fast, and funny; but Correira is never gonna stop grinding his Sad Puppy ax! Adam Baldwin keeps up the pace and does some great celebrity impersonations.

This past week, I listened to:

Alien: Out of the Shadows (by Tim Lebbon; performed by a full cast that includes Rutger Hauer, Corey Johnson, Matthew lewis, Kathyrn Drysdale, Laurel Lefkow, Andrea Deck, Mac MacDonald, Tom Alexander )- This is an audio adaptation of the first of three novels that take place between the movie, 'Alien', and the sequel, 'Aliens.' Ripley's ship has been adrift for thirty-seven years when it's picked up by by Chris Hooper's mining ship - which is held together with a wing and a prayer; and they find themselves disabled on LV178 where there's more than precious trimonite to be found! Laurel Leflow voices Ripley so well, I thought Audible had spliced in film dialogue; and Rutger Hauer voices the modified Ash character very nicely too; but the story has a glaring continuity error; seems overly obsessed with decompression chambers, and warning everyone that "acid burns" a lot! It's still a pretty good story though, full of sound effects and music, even if it doesn't really add any new knowledge to the Alien universe. (★★★-1/2)

Car Talk Science: MIT Wants Its Diplomas Back (written and oerformed by Tom Magliozzi and Ray Magliozzi - Tom Magliozzi passed away a couple of years ago, so it was fun to hear takes from the show he did with his brother, Ray. As always, they are guaranteed to put a smile on your face; but I have to admit that listening to them crack each other up segment after segment wore thin even within the short runtime of the audio.(★★)

Right now I'm listening to In the Embers (by Brian Price and Jerry Sterns; performed by Edwin Strout, Robin Miles, and a full cast. A lot of work went into this production: There's the intriguing story of recovering fossilized sound from the ruins of a burnt-out barn; an African-American jazz singer from the 1920s, and an archaeological dig... Robin Miles sings, there are sound effects and voice enhancements galore; but all the effects sometimes are confusing (Who exactly is speaking? Why does the voice sound like that?) or a little superfluous (Did I really need thirty seconds of a bulldozer to tip me off that a bulldozer was being used? Especially after being told that a bullldozer was being used?) It's only a couple of hours long; but I'm a little stuck at a little under an hour. I'll probably just push through this week-end before I start on the last title in the Original Works category, Pete Seeger - Storm King, Volume 2 (written and performed by Pete Seeger, edited by Jeff Haynes,) though I may also listen to Volume 1 first.

WEEK 12

IN PRINT:

Seabiscuit: An American Legend (by Lauren Hillenbrand) - Narrative non-fiction about an unlikely racehorse and even more unlikely racing champion, this is a well-written and engaging story about an underdog contender that earned enormous popularity with Americans during the Depression. Highly, highly recommend, even if you don't think the subject matter will appeal. (★★★★★)

Boy Meets Girl (The Boy Series, Book#2, by Meg Cabot) - Light romantic comedy about a HR rep who is forced to fire a popular employee; and the layer who is sent to defend her. Told in epistolary format (e-mails and text,) this was a charming story that can be read as a stand-alone. (★★★★)

Into the Wild (by Jon Krakauer) - I'm actually going to copy the text on the cover to describe this book:

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter...

Before reading this book, I pretty much thought of Chris McCandless very little, and when I did, that he was an idiot. After reading, this book, my opinion hasn't really changed other than to view Jon Krakauer rather dimly in exploiting McCandless' life and glorifying stupidity. People love to talk about this book though, so I'm glad I read it. (★★★)
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SHORT STORIES:

The Black Cat (by Edgar Allan Poe) - A Classic short story about a mean drunk who abuses his wife and cat... I've read this at least a dozen times and the end is always satisfying in a dark, dark way! (★★★★)

The Pit and the Pendulum (by Edgar Allan Poe) - A Classic short story about a man caught up in the Spanish Inquisition and forced to confront his fears as death becomes imminent. This is another Poe short that I've read a lot; and the end always surprises me in different ways! (★★★★)
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IN AUDIO:

This past week, I finished listening to:

In the Embers: The Great Northern Audio Theatre (written by Brian Price and Jerry Stearns, narrated by Edwin Strout, Robin Miles, and a Full Cast) - An archaeologist heads out to a construction site where developers hope to bulldoze an old barn... This is actually a science-fiction tale taking place in the here-and-now; but which involves audio archaeology (reading a fossilized sound wave,) a ghost in the machine (a digitized personality,) and time travel... The audio is three hours long; but it the play is only about an hour long, so cramming the three concepts into that time frame stretches credulity and torques the script out of shape a bit. There is original music however, and Robin Miles shows off her acting and singing chops to nice effect. Still, this comes across as amateur hour and I wouldn't recommend (see also my comments from last week.) BTW, the second hour of the audio is an interview with the writers, composer, and actors of the audio drama; and the last hour is an interview with just the writers. Some people eat "behind the scenes stuff" up; but I admittedly have little patience for that sort of thing.

Also, I have to mention that the writers totally screwed up on the time travel thing in In the Embers. Someone goes back in time, history is re-written, but the archeologist inexplicably retains all knowledge of the original timeline. Grrrr...

The Storm King: Stories, Narratives, Poems: Spoken Word Set to a World of Music ( written and performed by Pete Seeger; edited by Jeff Haynes) - Pete Seeger's career as a folk musicologist and singer was a little bit before my time, and I admittedly know very little about him. This audio was actually kind of interesting: There were anecdotes that Pete Seeger told cut interstitially with relevant songs, poetry, and even an interview with someone else of note. The audio has pretty high production values; and though I doubt that I'll become a hardcore fan of Seeger's, I have no issues with picking up Pete Seeger - Storm King, Volume 2, also written and performed by Pete Seeger, and edited by Jeff Haynes. I think this is the sort of thing the NPR set would really like.

>50 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I did not care for Into the Wild either.

WEEK 13

IN PRINT:

Bad Neighbor (first in a new series; by Molly O'Keefe) - I picked this up off of Litsy, and expected a quick & dirty read; but I was pleasantly surprised to find a well-written and fairly credible story about two people on the down-and-out who start to believe that they deserve better, and their respective efforts to break out of their old mindsets. Charlotte is a big, introverted girl whose thinner and extroverted twin was always the center of attention; and Jesse is a former collegiate-level wrestler reduced to street fights. Vividly descriptive passages evoke light, texture, and tension; A little bit of voyeurism that may be a turn-off for some; but nothing really kinky. (★★★★)

The Play of Death (The Hangman's Daughter series, #6; by Oliver Pötzsch) - I hadn't read the previous novels in this series because I had gotten the impression that they were YA; but I happened upon this one and took a chance: It turns out that it's historical fiction set in seventeenth-century Germany; and the characters are based on the author's own ancestors and persons taken from research. In this novel, in Oberammergau, a young man has been killed via crucifixion during the rehearsals of a Passion Play... There are a couple of other sub-plots that I expected to tie-in to each other and together; but the story is more complex and realistic than that. For those who need trigger warnings of any kind, this probably isn't for you: Children, Rape, and General Darkness in tone. (★★★★)

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IN AUDIO:

Pete Seeger: Storm King - Volume 2 (written and performed by Pete Seeger et al, edited by Jeff Haynes) - I'm going to copy and paste my description from last week's post about The Storm King: Stories, Narratives, Poems: Spoken Word Set to a World of Music, written and performed by Pete Seeger; edited by Jeff Haynes because it feels like a continuation of the first volume (I do not know why this is sold as two volumes, TBH. It feels like one work that was arbitrarily split into two):

Pete Seeger's career as a folk musicologist and singer was a little bit before my time, and I admittedly know very little about him. This audio was actually kind of interesting: There were anecdotes that Pete Seeger told cut interstitially with relevant songs, poetry, and even an interview with someone else of note. The audio has pretty high production values; and though I doubt that I'll become a hardcore fan of Seeger's... I think this is the sort of thing the NPR set would really like.

The Mountaintop (by Katori Hall; performed by Aja Naomi King and Larry Powell) - This is a staged reading of a play at L.A. Theatre Works depicting Martin Luther King, Jr. and a motel maid in an imaginary conversation on the night before MLK was assassinated. Simple, straight forward, and powerful. There's a little weirdness at one point; but it works... I would love to see this play, but this is the next best thing. (★★★★-1/2)

Technophobia: The Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who) (first in a BBC audio drama series, by Matt Fitton; performed by a full cast featuring David Tennant) - The Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble jump two years into the future and end up at a Technology Museum in London. The thing is, everyone is freaked out and afraid of technology, and the Doctor needs to find out what's going on before he is unable to reason things out... The audio play starts out really fast, and it's a little disorienting; but after things settle down, it's a pretty cool story. BBC always puts out great radio/audio drama; but I have to be honest that David Tennant is not my favorite narrator/voice actor. He has a lovely Scottish lilt and is very expressive; but sometimes his voices drops to near-whisper levels and I end up losing a couple of lines as a result. I had the same issue when he narrated How to Train Your Dragon (by Cressida Cowell.) (★★★)

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SHORT STORIES:

The Blue Hotel (by Stephen Crane) - This is a Classic short story set in Nebraska in the mid-nineteenth century. Three men come off the train that runs through town, and end up staying at the local hotel. A blizzard rages outside while inside one of the men becomes convinced that he is going to be murdered... It's not a blow-your-mind kind of read; but the tension feels real, and Crane's darkness comes through without being a horror story. (★★★★)

With the Night Mail (by Rudyard Kipling) - Whenever I think of Rudyard Kipling, I think of British Empire India or the Just-So Stories; but this is actually science fiction! Kipling imagines a world in which transportation is king; and the mode of transportation is dirigibles ("digs")... This Classic short story is from the perspective of a mail run. It's actually very technical, and the last section isn't really a story; but color like advertisements and bulletins. It feels like the wellspring of steampunk! (★★★★)

The Little Mermaid (by Hans Christian Anderson) - So yeah, not the Disney version, but the original. I was a little taken aback by the little bit of religion that crept in (souls, angels...) but it was interesting to compare the two types of HEA endings... (★★★-1/2)

WEEK 14

IN PRINT:

Allora (Silver Ships #7; by S.H. Jucha) - This is actually a novella in the space opera series that addresses the demands of a SADE (Self-Aware Digital Entity) for cilvil rights in a universe of humans and other biological beings. It was a little bit of a detour from the overall Silver Ships storyline; but also a nice break from the heavy handed politics of the series as well. (★★★★)

When Beauty Tamed the Beast (Fairy Tales #2; by Eloisa James) - I read the first-in-series, A Kiss at Midnight a couple of years ago, but was pretty underwhelmed, I don't even remember the plot of the story all (other than it was supposed to be a take on the Cinderella story.) I wasn't going to continue with the series; but this one happened to be on sale for ninety-nine cents, so I thought, "Why not?" I needed a break from some other reading I have going on in the background... I'm really glad I took the risk because it was head and shoulders above much of the Regency Romance stories out there. The hero in this story is based on House (the TV series); and makes a perfectly credible "beast." The heroine in the story is a noted beauty in the ton; but she's found herself the center of a scandal. To the Welsh countryside she's whisked... Nice story/message about being human/imperfect, and sacrifice. (★★★★)

Nutshell (by Ian McEwan) - Years ago, I used to rant against Ian McEwan, thinking that he was an overhyped author who profited by writing lame stories about older white male anxiety; and masking his lame suspense as "psychological thrillers." But then, someone here (DeltaQueen/Judi?) went to one of his readings, and he had the whole place laughing! Since then, I've been reading his stuff with a different perspective and enjoying his work a lot more! In this book, he lets his ridiculous "Dad" sense of humor let fly: It's a take on Hamlet wherein Hamlet is an unborn baby "witnessing" his uncle and mother plot his father's death. The whole thing is preposterous and erudite and suspenseful and, yes, funny! I loved it; but I see it has mixed reviews at best; and I bet his editors will reign in this sort of thing in the future. (STRONG FOUR STARS: ★★★★)

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (by Kazuo Ishiguro) - I was expecting something elegant and slow-burning, with a powerful emotive punch in the end; but this wasn't The Remains of the Day by any stretch. I was careful to read only one short as night, so I wouldn't lose any detail in a crush of reading; but I still somehow missed how they are really connected beyond the motifs of music and nightfall; and the rather sad/depressing theme that "Life is much bigger than loving a person."We meet a handful of characters as they pursue their musical ambitions in various modern European settings. The lack of tension, and the mystifying actions on the part of those characters left me un-engaged and disappointed. Maybe a more careful re-read would shed light on how the characters/arcs inter-relate overall. (★★-1/2)
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IN AUDIO:

The Tenth Doctor - Time Reaver (Doctor Who #2, by Jenny T. Colgan); performed by a full cast starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate) - Second in the audio series about the Tenth Doctor, the story takes listeners to the planetary transit hub of Calibris where the head of the Lost and Found department finds something very interesting and possibly dangerous in the wrong hands... or tentacles! Lots of story, and lots of fun (sound effects and the signature Dr. Who theme song); but David Tennant's expressive Scottish lilt sometimes dropped to barely audible levels. Not recommended for the car. (★★★)

The Tenth Doctor: Death and the Queen (Doctor Who #3; by James Goss; performed by a full cast starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate - This final installment in the Tenth Doctor's audio trilogy finds the cast on Earth, albeit in a country that no one has heard of! Donna Noble (the Doctor's sidekick) is engaged to the prince of Guaritania; and the doctor crashes the wedding... This has a lot more direct humor involved (plays more like a comedy as opposed to a science fiction tale); and like the other two installments in the series, corny Foley effects that won't allow the listener to take any of this too seriously; but it didn't really feel like a Doctor Who story. And, frustratingly, David Tennant's voice still drops very/too low at times. (★★★)
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SHORT STORIES:

The Crystal Crypt (by Philip K. Dick) - A trio of saboteurs have wiped out a Martian City during rising tensions between Earth and Mars; and the Martians are trying to track the two men and one woman who they believe are responsible... The bones of a great story are there, though its a little dated: For some reason, in the future, there are salesmen running around with samples of paperweights and letter openers in their briefcases! Still, a solid four stars. (★★★★)

The Wendigo (by Algernon Blackwood) - A man and his nephew head out to the Canadian wilderness on a hunting trip. Two guides are along (as well as a Native American cook)... The party splits up into two (while the cook stays back) in search of moose. The story follows the nephew, and a ex-voyageur named, Defago. The description of the wilderness were awesome and terrifying; but even more frightening is thinking you're not alone when maybe you should be! Probably one of the best campfire stories ever! (★★★★)

Count Magnus (by M.R. James) - This a Classic short shorty about an itinerant writer who heads up to a small town in Sweden. There, he uncovers a near-ancient legend about one family's forefathers; and puzzles out the mystery... much to his detriment. This isn't in-your-face horror, so it loses some of it's "fright power"; but it does incite a weird curiosity. Too bad this wasn't developed into a full story or serial. I would have liked to have known more. (★★★)

Casting the Runes (by M.R. James) - In this Classic short story, a publisher rejects a poorly written manuscript about alchemy; but the author, Karswell isn't haven't any of that. Karswell decides to demand satisfaction; and failing that, revenge! I liked this one for the simple reason that no one was too stupid to live. Even the women in the story understood nuance and tact; and the men strategy. (★★★★)

The Second Variety (by Philip K. Dick - Russia and the US are at war; and the physical landscape in Europe is a wasteland, in no small part to AI developed by the US which seeks out and destroys life indiscriminately. The AI have developed into various editions or varieties, and we meet the first and third varieties. The question becomes, "What does the Second Variety look like?" With this one, we can see where the creators and writers of the film "Bladerunner" might have gotten their inspiration for the androids ;-) (★★★★)

Ooh, The Wendigo sounds creepy! Better read that one with someone else in the house :)

I will take the warnings about Doctor Who audiobook sound levels and apply them to listening in a plane as well (I don't have a car to listen to them in). I find the ambient noise from motor vehicles of any kind makes it more difficult for me to follow audiobooks, sadly.

>53 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Nope, it wasn't me that saw Ian McEwan, in fact I haven't read anything by him. My brother is a big fan and I have some of his works on my shelves, so he is definitely in my future. :)

WEEK 15

IN PRINT:

Two weeks ago, I read 'When Beauty Tamed the Beast', the second book in the Fairy Tales series by Eloisa James. Last week, I mentioned having read A Kiss at Midnight (first-in-series) a couple of years ago; but not remembering much about it, so I went back and re-read the Regency Romance take on the Cinderella Tale. An impoverished prince needs to make a marriage for money, and in fact, is engaged to the perfect woman. Kate is the stepdaughter of her father's mistress-cum-wife; and after her father's death is relegated to running the estate and living in the attic. In a forcefully contrived set-up, she is forced to assume the persona of her step-sister and head out to a castle where the prince of the story lives. I just had to go look at the plot summary online to refresh my memory as for whatever reason, this story just won't stick with me! (★★★)

There is a short story/novella after this one called, Storming the Castle which features the prince's half-brother. It doesn't take on a specific fairy tale; but rather a fairy tale cliche of a prince riding in on a white horse to save the damsel in distress. It felt like this might have been a whole-novel idea that was never fully developed. (★★-1/2)

There's another short story/novella that comes after 'When Beauty Tamed the Beast' called Winning the Wildflower. It's a prequel of sorts to 'The Duke is Mine' (Fairy Tales #3.) In this story, the heroine is a tall, awkward woman who decides to break her engagement after her newfound wealth enables her to find her voice; but Cyrus starts to realize exactly what he's losing... This is something of an imposter in the series as it's not actually based on any fairy tale, but it has its charms. (★★★)

And I did go on to read The Duke is Mine which is base on "The Princess and the Pea" and a little bit of 'The Scarlet Pimpernel'; and it was utterly ridiculous! Olivia has a longstanding engagement to a Duke who seems to have suffered some brain damage at birth; but is sweet, and, hey! He's a Duke! Olivia's sister hopes to be engaged to the Duke of Sconce, so she and Olivia head off to the castle to be presented. The Duke of Sconce seems to have an extreme form of Asperger's Syndrome; but hey! He's a Duke too! Anyway, the Duke of Sconce falls for the irreverent Olivia instead of Georgina, previous engagements and expectations aside. Midway through the book, he undergoes a personality change, that while explained in the book, had me rolling my eyes. I think I've had enough of Regency Romances and Eloisa James for a little while. I still want to read 'The Ugly Duckling'; but I think I'll wait a bit. (★★)

Brand vs. Wild: Building Resilient Brands for Harsh Business Environments (by Jonathan David Lewis) - Whenever I see a business book, I usually groan, thinking it's going to be really boring; but afterwards I'm all like, "I AM GOING TO CONQUER THE WORLD USING THIS BOOK AS MY BIBLE!" Sadly, this was not one of those books. In this book about turning around a failing company, the author makes an analogy between individual/personal survival psychology and corporate behaviour. The analogy just doesn't work, IMHO. (★★)

In Too Deep (Due South #1; by Tracy Alvarez) - This is a contemporary romance novel set in New Zealand (and the ebook is currently free on AMZN!) Piper is a police diver who left her friends and family shortly after her father died in a free-diving accident. West is the boy who cruelly dumped her right before the accident... Piper has returned to her hometown after eight years to help out her brother, and is forced to work alongside West. There's quite a bit of "angstsy" stuff going on with Piper, and I never bought into her being a tough girl, and the personal change in West didn't come off as intense as I think the author was trying to convey, but the descriptions of diving and the area were really interesting. The novel was a bit long, and somehow, not very satisfying, so I won't continue with this series. (★★★)

Adulthood is a Myth and Big Mushy Happy Lump (Sarah Scribbles #1 & #2 respectively, by Sarah Anderson) - These are both short collections of comics written and drawn by Sarah Anderson. These are geared pretty much to Teen Girls through New Adult Women, though there's plenty for all who identify with being an introvert. I prefer the stand-alone bits as opposed to the ones with a narrative arc (several bits), and the talking uterus was too creepy for my taste, but overall they are cute. Black & white ink panels. Perfect gift book and/or FB fodder. I would kill time with another of her collections without hesitation ;-) (★★★★)

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SHORT STORY:
The Insanity of Jones (by Algernon Blackwood) - The Classic short story about a man who lives with both feet in reality; but his mind is split between the here-and-now and the "other" world that lives veiled alongside this one. At one point, it becomes clear that he and his boss are on a fateful trajectory. It's a little dark but has an extremely satisfying ending, and it's my favourite Blackwood story so far. (★★★★)

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IN AUDIO:

This past week, I listened to Doctor Who - The War Doctor 1: Only the Monstrous )(by Matt Fitton, edited by Nicholas Briggs; performed by a Full Cast starring John Hurt and Jacqueline Pierce - The Doctor and the other Time Lords are waging a Time War with the Daleks. In this trilogy, The War Doctor has detonated a time disruptor; and in the fallout, has landed on the peaceful planet of Kesca. However, Cardinal Ollistra is the manipulative head of the Time Lords who will stop at nothing to reclaim The Doctor, while he would rather forget who he is and recover in the hands of a Kescan woman. There is quite a bit of intrigue, betrayal, and even sadness in the stories. Last week I listened to three of The Tenth Doctor adventures which were fun and a bit campy; but The War Doctor series seem to be much different: The scripts are sober and a bit more sophisticated with dreams and flashbacks inserted; and The Doctor is much more cynical and unlikable. Still, I think I like these better than the demi-comedies of The Tenth Doctor's adventures. There are sound effects, natch; and original music (a ten-minute track at the end presents a musical suite in full.) John Hurt as The War Doctor is great, and Jacqueline Pierce is equally amazing as Cardinal Ollistra (and sounds remarkably like Judi Dench!)This is a Big Finish Production; and in looking online, it looks like they are the official licensees of the Doctor Who audio dramas from the BBC. I've gone ahead and ordered the next two trilogies in the series. (★★★★)

John Hurt! *sniffle* He would have been great. I have a great deal of affection for Big Finish despite not having listened to any of their dramas yet. I did buy a lavishly packed Humble Bundle, though, and think I might start one this evening.

Did you watch the season opener of Doctor Who? New companion. I also enjoyed the new spin-off series, The Class, which looks promising. After that I watched Peter Capaldi on the Gordon Ramsey show. Lots of lowered sideways looks promising interesting developments with a new doctor at the end of the series.

>58 mamzel: I used to watch the old Doctor Who episodes when they were on very late at night! My memory, however, is a bit fragmented from those times/half a lifetime ago... When the new Doctor Who episodes started up in 2005, I was a bit busy being a Mom to a toddler, so I didn't see much TV, and missed it all :-/ I tried to catch up when DW was on Netflix; but they got pulled before I got very far; so it's only now that I've started getting into it! Since I'm starting with Eccleston, it will be a while before I catch up with Capaldi! But it;'s a great way for me to "kill time" until the next Game of Thrones season starts up again in July! o_0 I am, however, enjoying the audio dramas much more than I expected to! :-)

They do sound fun!

WEEK 16

It's been a week of light reading as real-life concerns took priority, but for the most part, it's all been good!

IN PRINT

The Scarlet Pimpernel (by Emmuska, Baroness Orczy) - I almost feel like I'm admitting to a guilty pleasure, but I loved this novel! Set during the Reign of Terror in Eighteenth-century France, The Scarlet Pimpernel is the name of a masked hero who rescues doomed nobility from the guillotine; and Lady Blakeney is a treacherous Englishwoman who betrays the French aristocrats to Citizen Chauvelin. Now, she is tasked with tracking down the Scarlet Pimpernel, with the stakes a matter of life and death for those whom she loves. The story has adventure, romance, intrigue, and a ridiculous amount of melodrama... It also introduces the concept of the masked avenger, the precedent for the likes of Zorro and Batman. (★★★★)

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (by Robert Louis Stevenson) - A Classic novella about a respected doctor who explores the duality of his nature... Better living through chemistry. NOT! (★★★★)

The Billionaire Bachelor (Billionaire Bad Boys #1, by Jessica Lemmon) - A contemporary romance novel set in Chicago, this features Reese Crane, the COO of a hotel empire who wants to clean up his playboy image so that he can be elected CEO by the stodgy board members; and Merina Van Heusen, manager of a boutique hotel that has just been sold out from under her! This is a modern marriage of convenience tale that had the potential to offer some true tension and novel relationship dynamics; but inevitably, the author ran with the tried and true. It runs a bit long, and though it was solidly written, won't be particularly memorable. (★★★)

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SHORT STORY

Pickman's Model (by H.P. Lovecraft) - A short story about a painter in Boston who creates photorealistic paintings of horrific aspect. The end becomes obvious about two-thirds of the way through, but it's still a great story. (★★★★)

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IN AUDIO

The Bad Beginning (Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the First, by Lemony Snicket; performed by a Full Cast starring Tim Curry (★★★★)

The Reptile Room (Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Second, by Lemony Snicket; narrated by Tim Curry) (★★★★)

The Wide Window (Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Third, written and narrated by Lemony Snicket) (★★★)

This series follows misadventures the wealthy orphans Baudelaire as they are handed off from guardian to guardian, and aggressively pursued by master of disguise, Count Olaf. I decided that I wanted to re-read/re-listen to at least the first four books in this series before watching the Netflix adaptation, and discovered that my prints books have disappeared, and so I went with the audio this time around. I could have sworn that there was an unabridged edition of the first-in-series, but it looks like the audio drama is all that's available now! But it must be mentioned that the audio drama, A Grammy nominee a few years ago, is very good and highly entertaining. The sound effects aren't overwhelming, and Tim Curry's lines, in particular, are delivered with a delicious sense of fatalism and mystery. The Second book in the series is unabridged, and here you get the full effect of his skills, but the author himself narrates the third book, and it is a disappointment. Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket) delivered the material in his flat American voice and oddly sounded like he was trying to imitate Jim Carrey in some places. A star off from all three if only because you don't get to see Brett Helquist's illustrations; and another off of the third audiobook for having the author narrate it badly.

>61 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I LOVE The Scarlet Pimpernel!

>61 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I also read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this week. What impressed me the most is how this very Victorian story has captured the imagination of people down through the years and is still a popular piece today.

WEEK 17

The Stand (by Stephen King; narrated by Grover Gardner) is over 47 hours long; and I've been listening to it sporadically, and only a few chapters at a time, since last October. I finally decided to commit to it and finish it off before I start anything else, so this past week I've only read a couple of very short/fast reads. I've got less than 15 hours to go on 'The Stand', so next week I should be able to report greater progress toward my goal.

IN PRINT

Beginner's Guide: Love and Other Chemical Reactions (Talking Nerdy #1, by Six de los Reyes) - This is a very unusual contemporary romance story: There are no rich people, dukes or otherwise; and no detailed descriptions of what anyone looks like... It's set in the Philippines, and the girl, Kaya Rubio is a DNA research scientist who decides to set up The Boyfriend Experiment. In the experiment, she sets up controls in order to find a match for herself. The book is full of scientific language; and the whole of the story is told from her point of view. She has a little trouble in social settings owing to her difficulty in reading people's faces for cues, which makes me feel like she has a form of Asperger's. I think her obliviousness is meant to frame the idea that she is an unreliable narrator, the last to see or understand the truth in front of her; but I was kind of weirded out by others sort of forcing the situation, often to her confusion. I don't know. Maybe I'm an ableist asshole? (NO RATING, Because I seriously just don't know what to think about all this)

IN AUDIO

The Miserable Mill (Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Fourth, written and narrated by Lemony Snicket) - In this installment in the series, The wealthy Beauledaire orphans are sent to a lumber mill where they are forced to work in less-than-Dickensian conditions. Count Olaf is suspiciously absent for most of the book; but when he does make an appearance, it seems like the children are well and truly trapped this time! The author narrates, and I can't wait until Book #6 when Tim Curry picks up reading again! Digital dnload with no illustrations. (★★★)

A Monster Calls: Inspired by an Idea from Siobhan Dowd (by Patrick Ness; narrated by Jason Isaacs) - A short novel about a boy, Connor, whose mother is undergoing cancer treatment; and the yew tree in the back yard that comes to tell him three stories. The stories don't seem to make sense at first, but all I can say is, "Wait for it." Patrick Ness takes the late Siobhan Dowd's original sketch for a novel and creates something fantastic and emotionally powerful. Jason Isaacs narrates the tale perfectly and beautifully. I loved it all; but it will break you into a thousand tiny pieces, so have the Kleenex box handy! (★★★★★)

WEEK 18

IN PRINT:

Yes, I read a bit of romance this past week! I'm currently on a couple of medications that make me really tired, and reading or listening to audiobooks a challenge in concentration, so I deliberately went the "light" route!

Chase Me (A Broke and Beautiful Novel; by Tessa Bailey) This is a fun contemporary RomCom that starts off with a girl in a bunny suit having to deliver a singing telegram to a rich guy. It's not clear what the immediate attraction is, but he then spends the rest of the novel tracking her down. Nothing particularly outstanding outside of the opening scene; but a quick, inoffensive read. (★★★)

Baby, Come Back (A Bad Boy Secret Baby Romance, #2; by M. O'Keefe) This isn't a sequel to Bad Neighbor which I read a couple of weeks ago, but more like a companion piece (You can read either novel first); and features a gangster heavy named Jack, and Abby the twin sister of Charlotte from the other book. Abby is a shots girl at the club and is attracted to the guy reading at the bar. After a brief affair, she witnesses a crime that sends her running... And Jack's on her heels. Again, the theme is about acknowledging that we are all flawed humans, but that we can still want to be happy; and that we should not only understand that we all deserve our measure of happiness; but that we can demand our own HEAs. Molly O'Keefe creates painterly scenes with her descriptions of how light and shadows play in a setting, creating atmosphere and mood. (★★★★)

Going Nowhere Fast (by Kati Wilde) This is a contemporary hate-to-love romance novel featuring a recent college grad, Aspen and, Bram, the older brother of her room-mate. There are plenty of sexy times on a road trip, but the most compelling scene in the novel is one in which Bram and Beth (Amber's room-mate) viciously lash out at Amber. It reminds me that the those closest to us wield the license and ability to wound us greatly. With that in mind, the stakes for all the characters were made manifest in that scene; and saved the novel from being a forgettable hodgepodge of sex scenes. (★★★★)

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IN AUDIO:

Celus-5 (Silver Ships, #8; by S.H. Jucha; narrated by Grover Gardner) This is a science-fiction novel set on Celus-5, a planet that the Harakens are exploring for possible colonization. It turns out there are at least two intelligent species on the planet, and one of them has taken former President Alex Racine's son hostage with the landing crew! In previous books in this series, I've often called out the fact that the strong female characters have been reduced to arm candy; but in this instalment, women fare a little bit better: The Dishnya of Celus-5 is ruled over by queens! (★★★)

The Austere Academy (Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Fifth; written and narrated by Lemony Snicket) The wealthy Beaudelaire orphans are sent to an Academy where they are subject to ridiculously harsh punishments for minor infractions and are compelled to live in squalid conditions. Their misery is softened somewhat by the friendship of The Quagmire triplets, but there are all threatened by Count Olaf who is currently posing as Coach Ghengis. Inasmuch as the first four books in the series feel like they are "together", this one feels like the first in a second set... Love the story; hate the author narrating the audio. (★★★)

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SHORT STORIES:

The Willows (by Algernon Blackwood) - This is a Classic Short story featuring two adventurers who are taking a boat down the Danube when they are forced to land on a giant sand spit populated by willow trees. Like The Wendigo, this is an unnerving tale of things that go bump in the night and makes for a great campfire story. (★★★★)

The Dunwich Horror (by H.P. Lovecraft This is a Classic horror short about the inbred community of Dunwich, Massachusetts in which the Whatelys are known to be dark magic practitioners. The father and son manage to conjure something up that cannot be seen; but which is creating havoc and destruction. Very melodramatic; and the story structure is sound... just "too much" to make it believable or scary. (★★★)

Hi Tanya, glad to see that you also loved A Monster Calls. That book certainly brought on the tears, but it also was a lovely and moving read.

WEEK 19

Late posting owing to Sunday being Mother's Day in the US! I hope that for all to whom the holiday applied had a great day!

IN PRINT:

A Man Called Ove (by Fredrik Backman) - Usually, when a book is described as charming and/or tugging at the heartstrings, I become suspicious that it's actually twee, and the author is being manipulative; but in this case, the story of a widower trying to end his days with the same style and logic as he lived his life, really is endearing with its humor and semi-maudlin sentimentality. There are a couple places where I teared up a bit, but I'm looking forward to watching the film adaptation. (★★★★)

Othello (by William Shakespeare) - 'Othello' is William Shakespeare's tragedy about the jealous rage of the eponymous Moor, the fate of his fair and artless wife, Desdemona, and the machinations of Othello's Ancient, Iago. Set on the exotic eastern Mediterranean island of Venetian Cyprus, Othello's role as a defender is rendered moot when the Ottoman Empire's fleet founders in a storm; but isolates the key players in a foreign milieu... A Classic drama that still amazes and breaks my heart with every reading. (★★★★)

Typhoon (by Joseph Conrad) - This is Classic maritime adventure novella about a stalwart ship captain who navigates a steamer straight into a typhoon. The barometer drops, the ocean swamps the boat, the crew and cargo freak out... Not until the final paragraphs does the reader discover if the ship survives what sounds like hell in water form. (★★★★)

IN AUDIO:

The Ersatz Elevator (Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Sixth, by Lemony Snicket; narrated by Tim Curry and Lemony Snicket) - This children's misadventure novel follows the wealthy Beaudelaire orphans as their guardianship passes to Jerome and Esmé Squalor, a rich, pretentious couple who live on Dark Avenue. The orphans themselves are not only in fear for their own safety in regard to the machinations of Count Olaf, but concerned for the two Quagmire triplets' well-being. This instalment is a little longer than the previous five novels, and contains more bait for continuing the series: In addition to discovering what the initials "V.F.D." mean, there is the added mystery as to the significance of a certain tunnel. Tim Curry returns to narrate the audio; but disappointingly, he now renders the voices of the orphans with the same whiny pitch as Esmé Squalor; and at other times tends to be a bit over the top. (★★★)

>67 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I have A Man Called Ove on my TBR. There's a film? Off to IMDB.....

>68 VictoriaPL: If you have Amazon Prime, it's a "free" offering :-)

>69 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I do! I'll have to check it out.

I put off reading A Man Called Ove for a long time because I thought it might be a sentimental story. My doctor gave it to me and I had no idea what her reading taste was like. However, I had to read it in case the next time I saw her she asked me about it. No need to worry, I really enjoyed it.

WEEK 20

I'm a couple of days late posting because I'm a little distracted with trying to get everything ready before I go to NYC next week; but better late than never!

IN PRINT

New Boy (by Tracy Chevalier) - The following is my full review posted here on LT:
"Othello" is William Shakespeare’s tragedy about the jealous rage of the eponymous Moor, the fate of his fair and artless wife, Desdemona, and the machinations of Othello’s Ancient, Iago. Set on the exotic eastern Mediterranean island of Venetian Cyprus, Othello’s role as a defender is rendered moot when the Ottoman Empire’s fleet founders in a storm; but isolates the key players in a foreign milieu.

Tracy Chevalier has chosen to re-interpret Shakespeare’s play through the lens of her own experience as a white “minority… growing up in Washington, D.C.” (from tchevalier.com.) The author has set New Boy in a public elementary school in the DC Metro area (in 1974) wherein a Ghanian boy is a student introduced into a playground of all white children and teachers. Setting the action of the novel in a place where “kids get together at recess and break up at lunchtime,” and where such trial relationships are often intense if ephemeral, rings true; and mirrors Shakespeare’s Cyprian island in its physically limited venue away from home. But it also poses the first issue of the novel in that in inverting the racial composition of the community, the author has completely subverted the WDC culture; and readers familiar with the area and time period will immediately sense the forced contrivance.

Where Ms Chevalier succeeds is in the POV of Dee (the Desdemona surrogate,) the white girl who becomes quickly fascinated with the black student, Osei (Othello); Dee seems to have the most depth of the characters, though the aggressive pursuit of a relationship with Osei seems a bit mature for a pre-pubescent; and ahead of her time in its progressive aspect. Nonetheless, she negotiates the school with an artlessness that seems genuine. Unfortunately, the other characters are rendered as flat stereotypes such as the racist teacher, the popular boy, the schoolyard bully, etc.

Moreover, while The Bard’s play includes the issue of racism (as epitomized in Desdemona’s father,) the issue of Othello’s blackness is muted by his military successes and the esteem of his colleagues. Ms Chevalier touches very briefly on non-racial themes in her novel; but it is, by and large, a book reduced to the racial aspect. The jealousies of Osei (Othello,) Rod (Rodrigo) and Ian (Iago) are all predicated on the issue of Osei being black. By reducing Othello into a story solely about race, the other themes are underdeveloped and/or nonexistent in Tracy Chevalier’s re-telling.

Overall, this was an extremely disappointing read; and underscores a personal suspicion that the idea of the Hogarth Shakespeare series is more appealing than any of its actual executions.

Good Boy (WAGs series, #1; by Sarina Bowen) and Elle Kennedy) - This looks like it's a light contemporary rom-com involving a hockey player, an event planner, and somehow, dogs (There's even a dog on the cover!); but it was really about an immature hockey player, Blake Riley; an event planner who doesn't want to plan events anymore, Jess Canning; and not really anything about dogs at all. Its humour was pretty juvenile and rested solely on Blake Riley's character; and where others may have found him charming in a frat boy kind of way, everything he said made me cringe. This is the first in the WAGs series, but really the third novel in a series whose previous two titles were about M/M romance. Technically, 'Good Boy' is supposed to be a stand-alone/first-in-series; but it is pretty obvious that the reader really should read 'Him' and 'Us' before this one. (★★)

To Love Jason Thorn (First in a duology; by Ella Maise) - This is a contemporary romance novel featuring a movie star, Jason Thorn; and Olive, an author whose novel is being optioned into a screenplay. This story has all sorts of Romance Reader catnip: brother's best friend, workplace intensity, a rich movie star, and a marriage of convenience. You have to suspend quite of bit of credulity to work through the dynamics of the plot; and I would have been okay with it all, but then the end, which was so ridiculously over-the-top, that I rolled my eyes! Though I won't continue with this series, I've been hearing about the Alexander & Maya duology that Ella Maise wrote is better, so I'll give that a try. (★★)

Dirty: A Dive Bar Novel (Dive Bar Series, #1; by Kylie Scott) - Lydia Green is a runaway bride in present-day Coeur d'Alene who ends up in Jason Vaughn's bathtub... From this unlikely introduction, the two start a brief affair with a known end-date as Lydia awaits settlement money that will buy her way out of town; and Jason goes back to the Californian Coast to pick his musical career backup. Lydia gets lots of snarky dialogue lines, but they came across as rather crass most times. The best way to describe this novel is "white trash love." (★★)

IN AUDIO

Not a great week in print; but as always, the Andy Carpenter series was exactly the comfort listen I needed by week's end!

Collared (Andy Carpenter, #14; by David Rosenfelt; narrated by Grover Gardner) - A mysterious woman appears at the dog shelter Andy Carpenter founded, and drops off a border collie. It's no coincidence that this woman and this dog appear at this shelter... The drop-off triggers a series of events surrounding an old child kidnapping case, the man who is serving time for it, the adoptive mother who is the head of a successful DNA company, and a drug lord... I usually have a couple of quibbles with each book in the series: This time it was a courtroom scene about dog hair that really didn't make any sense to me no matter how many times I re-read it; and the fact that a certain police officer sells his ethics so cheaply - basically for beer and burgers; but I digress. Things always work out in the end without too much damage ;-) (★★★)

I hope your next week in print has better books, and that you have a great time in NYC!

>72 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Are you going to NYC for Book Expo America, by any chance? If so, maybe I'll see you there! :)

>74 christina_reads: I'll be at the Javitz Center at the same time as the convention; but attending the Audiobook Publishers Association Convention! There's usually a bit of bleed-over though... so I might catch up with you yet!

WEEK 21

Lost Prelude (Maya & Alexander, Book #1) and Lost Heartbeats (Maya & Alexander, Book #2) by Ella Maise - This is a duology that sets the contemporary erotic romance against a backdrop of grief. In the first book, Maya is a woman mourning the loss of her father. Sent to NYC to try and connect with her estranged uncle, she comes up against Alexander, an enigmatic man who also owns the hotel where she is staying. In the second book, Alexander is dealing with the loss of a friends' son from cancer and seeks out the company of Maya, who would understand... In both books, Maya's grief is handled more astutely than that of Alexander's. It's a little difficult to comprehend how or why Alexander chooses to engage in ameliorating other people's sorrows with such immediacy and intimacy, and so his own sense of loss is even more challenging to relate to. Still, for Maya alone, the books are recommended. (★★★★)

Play Maker (A Sports Romance Novel; by Katie McCoy) - This is a contemporary romance novel featuring a UK footballer/soccer player who comes to the US and pretty much falls into InstaLove with a bartender (Nicole.) Nope. (★★)

It Ends With Us (by Colleen Hoover) - This first part of the novel reads like a romance novel, but the second part takes a dark and challenging turn. It was difficult to get through in parts because you want a HEA, and you do get one of a sort, but it still breaks your heart. If you do decide to pick this one up, read the postscript by the author too. I don't usually issue trigger warnings, but one is definitely warranted in this case for rape and abuse. (★★★★)

WEEK 22

A Dog's Purpose (A Dog's Purpose, Book #1; by W. Bruce Cameron) - The story about a dog who is reincarnated several times, aware that each life is bringing him closer to his/her purpose. I generally do not buy books with dogs on the cover, and this book is a perfect example of why: I felt highly manipulated into crying, and a little angry at WBC for doing the manipulating. I'll give it four stars because there's is no denying that the author can actually write (sound structure, evocative descriptions, sympathetic characters); but I won't read the other book in this duology. (★★★★)

The Little Drummer Girl (by John Le Carré) - Oh, wow. It's been a few years since I picked up 'Smiley's People' and was immersed in Le Carré's world... This novel veers away from Cold War machinations and into the realm of Israeli politics. Written contemporarily in the early 1980s, its reflects the dichotomous worldview of Zionism underpinned by Jewish History and Anti-Semitism provoked by the Seizure of The West Bank... Charlie is an actress playing small roles in ad hoc performance spaces when she is picked up by Kurtz, an Israeli intelligence officer who is tasked with ending a string of bombings in Europe that target Jewish people. A lot of the novel is about the psychological manipulation of Charlie, but the end packs of enough action to satisfy any spy thriller enthusiast. (★★★★-1/2)

WEEK 23

Darkfever (Fever series, #1; by Karen Marie Moning) - This is a paranormal romance thriller featuring 24-yo Mac, an American girl who sets off for Dublin, Ireland to push the Garda into further investigating her sister's death. Once there, Mac discovers that she has heretofore unrealized special abilities, i.e. the ability to see through the glamour of fae; "and then the murders began..." This book is all sorts of stupid with a spoiled girl protagonist with a spectacular lack of imagination for someone who claims to read; lack of fact checking for a storyline set in a post-9/11 world, and a sense of incompleteness. It's not like it really ends on a cliffhanger, so much as it feels like half of the book is missing. (★★)

>77 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Someday I will read The Little Drummer Girl... in the meantime, I had been planning to reread the Karla trilogy this year. Still have 2/3 to go ;)

>79 rabbitprincess: #SmileyIsTheMan ♥

>77 Tanya-dogearedcopy: - Ah.... Le Carre. Perfect summer beach reading, IMO. ;-)

WEEKS 24-28 or "My Summer So Far!"

Oi! It's been a long time since I updated my thread!

Contemporary Romances:

The Undateable (Librarians in Love #1; by Sarah Title) - A librarian, Melissa “Bernie” Bernard, is caught on film rolling her eyes at a flash mob proposal staged at her library; and the video goes viral! She' dubbed "Undateable" and presents a challenge to a journalist, Colin Rodriguez, who is assigned to help her through a "Bachelorette"-type contest. Cute concept; but overall it felt somehow felt incredibly pedestrian; and I never quite "got" Bernie despite thinking I'm just like her (Admittedly, maybe that's why I didn't "get" her! (★★)

Dating You / Hating You (by Christina Lauren) - What an incredible disappointment! Gone is the sizzle and deliciousness of the writing duo's Beautiful/Wild series. Instead, readers get an over-edited contemporary romance about two Hollywood agents who are competing for the same position when their respective companies merge. There's more about Hollywood business than there is relationship chemistry. Sally Thorne did a much, much better job with the concept of hate -> love, and competing co-workers with The Hating Game! (★★)

Underneath It All (The Walsh series, #1; by Kate Canterbary) - A contemporary romance novel set in Boston where Lauren Halsted, a teacher trying to set up a new school meets Michael Walsh, an architect who helps her find the right building. Lauren's ambitions create an obstacle in their relationship, one in which Michael seems ready to commit almost from the moment they meet! The overall message seems to be that you can have it all! Pffft! (★★)

His Temptation (by Amber Barden) - Okay, this was just a little too weird for my tastes: Katie is the dog sitter/-walker for the older Clay "The Grinch" Colson, a former baseball player who is in his second career in construction (on the executive side.) She has Daddy issues, and Clay plays into them. Eeeew! (★★)

Vicious (Sinners of Saint, #1; by L.J. Shen) - Whoa, this is something completely different! Vicious is an unqualified asshole who has never been able to make up his mind about Emilia, the daughter of his parents' groundskeeper & housekeeper. He keeps her at arm's length when they are in high school, going so far as to be cruel. As an adult, he hasn't redeemed himself character-wise when he runs into her at a restaurant where she is working as a waitress. There is a lot of drama at the crazy level, and I love it and hate it all at the same time. There are more titles in the series, but I may just leave this one alone. (★★★★)

King: King Series Book One (by T.M. Frazier) - Okay, another one for crazy-drama team! Jane Doe is a girl who has amnesia; and finds herself at a biker party where she runs into King, an ex-convict and tattoo artist. King and his friends are unrepentant criminals supplying and dealing drugs. As "Doe" tries to survive, and hopefully make her way back to her old life, King is convinced she belongs with them, more specifically with him... I'm totally annoyed that the story wasn't finished at the end of this book! It's the first half of the story, and I'm angry enough to refuse to shell out another couple of bucks, but at the same time I would like to see how this ends :-/ (★★★-1/2)


Paranormal-Romance-Thrillers:

Bloodfever (Fever series #2) and Faefever (Fever series #3) by Karen Marie Moning) -
There were a few things that kept niggling in the back of my mind from the first-in-series; so I bit the bullet and read the next two in the series. I had questions about the timeline, and they were pretty much answered, so I don't think I'll continue on. For those who are interested, however, Mac settles down to be a little bit less of an airhead; and Jericho Barrons remains an enigma. V'lance looks like he's trying harder to understand humans, well, Mac anyway. Books 1-3 have all ended with cliffhangers; but Book #3, in particular, ended with a scene so not sexy, I was more than a little put off. (★★)

First to Burn (Immortal Vikings Book #1; by Anna Richland) - Um, okay. Wulf Wardsen is an immortal Viking dating back to the days of Beowulf, and who now serves in the special forces in Afghanistan. Theresa Chiesa is an Army doctor who discovers Wulf's secret... Even though there is an immortal here, and the relationship between Wulf and Theresa drives the plot, there are no sexy times until 50% of the way into the story; and the gory, graphic injuries and deaths supersede the number of said sexy times exponentially. This is really a mil-fic thriller, and actually pretty well written, even if a bit of a shock considering I was just looking for a little light reading. (★★★★)

Non-Fiction:

Poetry for Dummies (by The Poetry Center and John Timpane) - Epic narrative poetry and music lyrics aside, I really struggle with poetry, so I decided to read this before heading into my postal book club selection, Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love & Revelation (edited by Roger Housden.) Despite my dislike for the "For Dummies" moniker and the goofy guy on the cover, it's actually a pretty good primer for getting into poetry. I read all the sections about reading & understanding poetry and blew off the sections about writing & publishing poetry. (★★★★)

Blues People: Negro Music in White America (by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)) - Amiri Baraka's thesis is that the Blues and Jazz by extension could only have been born of the Black American experience, and is a reflection of Black American history. Really interesting historically and musically. I ended up spending a lot of time googling the performers he mentions, watching videos, and even watching a couple of episodes of Ken Burns' documentary, "Jazz."(★★★★)

Freeing David McCallum: The Last Miracle of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (by Ken Klonsky) - David McCallum was a man wrongly convicted of a crime when he was sixteen-years-old, and he ended up spending the next the next thirty years of his life in prison. His rescuer was another falsely convicted man, a former boxer, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter via the Innocence Project. The whole issue of false confessions and wrongful convictions is more pervasive than you might think, and this NF title, along with the documentary, "Fight for Justice: David & Me" brings it all into focus. Not the best writing, but an important issue. (★★★★)

Religious/Spiritual Works:

Both of these books are Christian writings of Protestant evangelicals/Paulists. While everyone else is reading books like Hillbilly Elegy (by J.D. Vance) to better understand the demographic that drove Trump into the White House, they might also want to read about the religious/spiritual zeitgeist that influences that demographic. I gave them both two stars each; because I found the logic convoluted, and, in Youseff's work, hateful despite his protestations.

Fearless Living in Troubled Times: Finding Hope in Christ's Return (by Michael Youssef) (★★)

Worship: The Reason We Were Created-Collected Insights from A. W. Tozer (by A.W. Tozer) (★★)


Science Fiction

Monday Starts on Saturday (by Arkady Strugatsky & Boris Strugatsky; translated by Andrew Bromfield)) - This is a story about a computer programmer in Soviet Era Russa who picks up two hunters on his way into town to meet up with another friend... Pretty soon, he's been put up in a storage closet with an unusual sofa, and eventually, he ends up working for an Institute of Magic & Thaumaturgy. The absurdist style and the rough translation made this a challenging read, but if you work through it, the result is a rather clever and entertaining story! (★★★★)

Omnia (Siver Ships #9; by S.H. Jucha) - I've complained about Jucha's treatment of female characters in the past; but starting with the last book in this series, Celus-5, and including this one, he has the Dischnya - a species on a planet that, in my mind, look like the Anubis figures in Ancient Egyptian civilization... And the head of the Dischnya is queens! Anyway, in this novel, the Dischnyan planet of Celus-5 is opened up for colonization; while Alex Racine (the main character throughout the series), searches for the vector from which the enemy Nu'all came...★★★★)


★★★★★ Literary Fiction AND My Favorite Book Read in 2017 So Far ★★★★★:

The North Water (by Ian McGuire) Maritime Noir! Is this a thing? If not, can we make it a thing?
Dark, dark, dark story about a whaling ship that heads out into the Arctic in 1859. All is not as it seems though, including the polar bears (which could be just polar bears, but could also be a metaphor!
(★★★★★)

Hi Tanya, great to see you posting. You got me with "Maritime Noir" and I am off to see if my library has The North Water. It does! :)

Glad to see you back again! I love those Arctic stories so The North Water goes on my wishlist too!

>82 Tanya-dogearedcopy: This is kind of tangential, but I just wanted to say I LOVED The Hating Game! I can't wait for Sally Thorne's next book...looks like it is coming out in September in the UK, but not until February in the US! I may need to place a Book Depository order....

>85 christina_reads: I have The Comfort Zone on my radar; and as soon as the pre-orders are up in the UK, I'll include it in one of my bi-annual international orders! It drives me crazy that so many authors, including some from the US, are published over there first!

EDIT: I decided not to wait! I just put in a pre-order for it now so I wouldn't forget! :-)

>86 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Haha, nice! I'll be doing the same very soon.

WEEKS 29-30

The Tree of Life (by C.L. Moore) - A short story written by one of the first female authors in the SFF genre, this was originally published in the 1930s in a pulp magazine. The story is about a soldier on Mars feeling an enemy, who is lured by a beautiful woman into the shadows of the Tree of Life. The world-building is really interesting; but the main character, Northwest Smith (who I understand is a recurring character in a number of Moore's stories,) is flat; and the word "queer" is over-used. Maybe if I were to read all the Northwest Smith stories? (★★)

The Second Lie (Immortal Vikings #2; by Anna Richland) - A couple of weeks ago, I read the first in this (Paranormal Romance Thriller series, so I was prepared for this story to be more action oriented than romance or paranormal. Stig is a con man who works his way into a scheme a la Remington Steele wherein he poses as a wine agent. Christina is the actual wine agent who had created a pseudo-identity as a male to get an edge in the industry. Lots of explosions, cameo appearances by the characters in the first book; and an outrageously over-the-top escape sequence involving Komodo Dragons. The lack of clarity and resolutions regarding issues about being immortal; what immortality entails for the mortal woman who fall in love with the Vikings; what exactly seems to be the issue plaguing the Immortals after their respective run-ins with their nemesis... There's a distinction between the hook or tease that forces you to pick up the next title in a series versus a seemingly elusive resolution that keeps moving farther away. The two books in this series so far fall into the latter camp. I probably won't continue with this series; but I'll give the author stars for unforgettable scenes (★★★-1/2)

Stripped Bare: A Vegas Billionaire Novel (by Heidi McLaughlin) - A contemporary romance novel running along the lines of Pretty Woman. Nothing particularly memorable; but perfect when you want a light, fun read. (★★★)

Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times, Second Edition (by Thomas R. Martin) - This is a brief; but insightful NF overview of Ancient Greek history. No hoity-toity academic language to obfuscate the subject matter; and clean charts maps and photos that match the text! My only quibbles were that the e-book was formatted oddly (with some pages half blank); and the photos were b&w (and often images grabbed from wikipedia under the Creative Commons license.) Still, the next time I'm in NYC, I want to check out the Ancient Greek section of the Met Museum ;-) (★★★★)

Dreamfever (Fever series #4; by Karen Marie Moning) - Gone is the ever-pink-loving Mac that readers were introduced to in the first-in-series; and we are now introduced to the idea that she may be something other than human. There are some sexy times at the beginning of the book, sort of; but readers of the series recognize that this is the slowest of burns romance-wise. KMM is the master of the serial hook, leaving you with a cliffhanger that mandates that you read the next book to find out what happens. This showed up on my e-reader as a Libary2Go loan, and I'm not sure why I requested it, or decided to read it after having decided that I was finished with the series after book #3, except that I have this perverse thing about loving to hate this series. (★★)

>82 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I too liked The North Water very much and I think the "Maritime Noir" label is a perfect one!

WEEK 30-31

Last week, I forgot to include the Stripped Series (by Emma Hart which contained the two contemporary romance novels Stripped Bare and Stripped Down. These are set in Las Vegas are pretty much Magic Mike fantasies wherein the male stripper in each of the stories finds his true love. In Stripped Bare, a bride buys one of her bridesmaids a lap dance at a strip club... Later, as a marketing executive, the bridesmaid returns to the "scene of the crime" to discover that her lap dancer was actually one of the owners of the club... In Stripped Down the other owner of the club gets drunk and married to a female stripper; and she's a lot unhappier about the whole thing than he is! Both were interesting in that they showed the reluctance on the women's part to be committed to their respective relationships, as opposed to the male commitment-phobe which is all too familiar territory. The second novel had some serious continuity errors (e.g. putting a kid to bed only to wake her up minutes later to get her ready for school, etc.); but overall not the worst I've read in the genre. (★★★) and (★★)

Shacking Up (by Helena Hunting) - This was light-hearted contemporary romance featuring Ruby, an out-of-work actor facing eviction; and Bane, an ex-rugby player who happens to own a sweet penthouse. Things start off terribly when Bane, narced up on cold & cough medicine and a Scotch, mistakenly kisses Ruby at a social event; and ends up contaminating her with a vicious bug that ruins her audition the next day... And before you say that sounds pretty far-fetched, I'm gonna fess up here: I pulled a Bane on a really hot guy once! I was coming down with something truly evil, but I didn't want to blow the first date. So literally gobbled up packets of cold & flu meds while standing under a shower chugging a gallon of orange juice! It worked! Until it didn't. About 12 hours after the date was over, I crashed, and nothing was helping me out. Then the guy called and told me that he felt like he was coming down with something. He was really sorry that he might have given me something... I never let on. Not then, and not in the four years that we were dating. And not now all these years later (we're still friends!) (★★★)

BLOW: How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel And Lost It All (by Bruce Porter) - The subtitle pretty much says it all! This is a narrative Non-Fiction/True Crime story about a drug runner, George Jung, who started out transporting marijuana in the sixties; but who then got involved in moving cocaine. The book is oddly sympathetic to George, a feat accomplished by not detailing the incredible violence that the drug cartels wrought in this time period. Yes, it does cover it a little bit; but it really takes some googling to get the full, ugly picture. I also find it interesting that some narrative NF authors can write a story with such style, that it's like reading a novel; whereas other write narrative NF that barely passes journalistic muster. Unfortunately, Blow falls into the latter group. Still, I'm interested in seeing the movie! (★★★)

>90 Tanya-dogearedcopy: - Nice to see you are still friends with the individual you 'accidentally' pulled a Bane on. :-)

WEEKS 32-33

The momentum I held earlier in the year has slowed, and I find my self in a bit of a reading slump. Part of it has to do with the massive, time sensitive amount of research I had to do in the six weeks prior to leaving for vacation (which left me a little brain-dead for anything more than a little fluff at day's end,) actually being on vacation when I didn't really feel like reading at all, and the feeling like my brain has been "re-mapped" (away from reading a bit) by my experiences in France. It's hard to explain; but being in the world instead of reading about it has changed me (in a good, yet still indefinable way.)

These were the bits of fluff that I mentioned above, all romance novels:

Accidentally on Purpose (A Heartbreaker Bay Novel, #3/stand-Alone; by Jill Shalvis) - This is a contemporary romance novel featuring Ellis Archer, a woman who struggles to maintain distance from her sketchy past; and Archer, a security expert who, ten years earlier a rookie cop, sabotaged his career by helping Ellie out. Ellie is now a building manager, and archer the head of the security firm responsible for the building. Light, fun, and from an established author in the genre, it's god for a Friday night read; but not particularly memorable. (★★★)

Trapped by Scandal (by Jane Feather) - A Regency Romance tale strongly influenced by The Scarlet Pimpernel (by Emmuska, Baroness Orczy), this features Lady Hero Fanshawe who heads into France during the Revolution to rescue her brother. Disguised as a young man, she is thrown into a prison cell with another man, William Ducasse, Viscount St. Aubrey. Ducasse himself is secretly running nobles out of France onto English shores. After the mission is over, Ducasse terminates the budding relationship, knowing the dangers of unconventional women (Beware those who say they have nothing to lose!~); but Hero is having none of it... It's been more than ten years since I've read a Jane Feather novel, but her signature literary devices are there: The experienced heroine, the historical research, and the call of her females characters to rise above the social norms/mores of her time. The author doesn't refashion stories with modern sensibilities into costume parties (cf Stephanie Laurens, Johanna Lindsay); and over the years Jane Feather has learned to more artfully integrate her research of the period that she writes into the story. I admit that I stopped reading her all those years ago because the research used to be rather ham-fistedly inserted into the narrative, making her stories seems a bit instructional. Also, her books used to be quite the chunksters; but this book (and the next one I read by this author) were more reasonably sized at less than 400 pages each. (★★★-1/2)

An Unsuitable Bride (Blackwater Brides, #3; by Jane Feather) - A Regency Romance novel wherein Alexandra Douglas is running a con against the person responsible for cheating her sister and herself of their inheritance: She has disguised herself as an estate librarian managing the sale of rare and valuable book from the usurper's book collection. Peregrine Sullivan, the youngest and last of three brothers to find an unsuitable bride (as per the terms of an elder's will,) visits the estate; and it isn't long before he discovers the old, dull librarian is anything but! This was a little unusual for Jane Feather in that the female lead is a virgin at the start so the readers are left with more an an ingenue than is expected. Still, the heroine isn't looking to be rescued, reflecting a new trend in romance novels where satisfaction isn't gained form having the hero be a deus ex machina; but rather someone who has your back. (★★★)

(The Alessandra Legacy Trilogy Book 1 (by K.W. Keith) - This is a contemporary romance and mob fantasy novel: Solana Trent is a journalist with the NYT who covers the mob beat; but has her own secrets to hide; and Raine Mathison is the head of a mob family. The author goes through a lot of contortions to make the plot work (e.g. Why an Irishman os the head of an Italian family); and there is a lot of name-brand dropping. This is also only the first part of the story, a deliberate cliff-hanger (a trend I despise.) (★★)

And then, there were WEEKS 34-35 in which I didn't read a single word! I'm back from France now, recovered from jet-lag, the bug I caught from a fellow passenger, and enduring the poor AQI here in Southern Oregon (400+ !) that's a by-product of the wildfires surrounding us; so I expect to start getting back into my reading groove; but TBH, probably not as much as before. :-)

Hi Tanya, I often find vacation time is the exact time when reading is difficult. There is usually so much else going on. I live a fairly routine life and my reading is definitely part of that routine so breaking out of my routine while on vacation often means less reading time for me. We've been under some smoke coverage for the last week so I know what you mean about the air quality. It's finally raining here today and I hope this rain spreads all over the Pacific Northwest and helps put out all these fires!

WEEK 36

It took me eleven months but I finally finished the audio edition of The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition (by Stephen King; narrated by Grover Gardner!) To be fair, I felt like this was my third time through as when my DH read the original and then this new uncut edition, I would get daily updates. And, of course, when he thought he was getting sick while reading it, I had to deal with someone who thought he was dying of Captain Trips! Interestingly, while there were literally weeks between the time I listened to each of the three sections of the book ("Captain Trips," "On the Border," and "The Stand,") it was very easy to get right back into the story!

For those who may not be familiar with the plot, it's about a virus that wipes out most of the US population (no word on the rest of the world); and the survivors who are called to meet-up in Colorado or Las Vegas via a series of dreams communicated to them through the religious mystic Mother Abigail or The Dark Man, Randall Flagg respectively. This ultimately leads to a showdown between good and evil...

It's worth mentioning that the audio is 48 hours long; and I was good with it despite the clunky social commentary (as poured forth by the character Glen,) the repetition of some details, and the clunky updating of the material from a 1980 setting to a 1990 one... until about 45 hours in when I ended up furious at the anti-climatic showdown. I've been yelling at my husband ever since (with all the convos we've had about it, he did not warn me about the poor writing in this scene!)

The narration was excellent, and I'm glad I tackled this in audio, but it is unlikely I will re-read this chunkster as so many King fans do!

>92 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I love the tone of all these reviews! It's very clear what you're reading and what you're thinking about it, even though the reviews themselves are not at all formal. It's a slick balance and very nice to read through for me!

WEEK 37

This past week, I knocked a couple more audiobooks form my TBL queue! Without the need to pick up my daughter from school, audiobook consumption becomes virtually nil over the summer; so now that the school year has begun, I have more automatic listening time built into my schedule!

The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut's Windlass (by Jim Butcher; by Euan Morton) - A demi-Steampunk adventure story about a disgraced and grim aeronautic captain, his piratical crew, and a trio of cadet Guardsmen who are called to serve when their spire (the off-surface realm they live on) under attack from another spire... I had very mixed feelings about the story: I loved the world building, level of adventure, and the overall plot; but I was less enamoured of the nautical jargon, the somewhat tedious battle choreography, and the talking cats. As for the audiobook narration, Euan Morton is a young-sounding pissy British narrator who manages to make all his characters sound pissy, so I was a bit put off by it. Character differentiation was very good (you could always tell who was speaking); but I often wished they wouldn't. :-/ So, three-and-a-half stars for the writing; and two-and-a-half stars for the narration.Rumor has it that the next book in the series is due to be released in 2018; but I'm probably not going to pre-order it, though I might grab it if it goes on one of Audible's famous $4.95 sales.

Unbroken (by Laura Hillenbrand; narrated by Edward Herrmann) - This narrative non-fiction biography covers the life of Louis Zamperini, a one-time Olympic contender for the 1936 games in Berlin, B-24 bombardier during WWII, survivor of extremely harsh Japanese interments and slavery; and Christian evangelist. The subtitle of this book is, "A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" which pretty much covers it. Solidly written, I didn't think it is as strong as Seabiscuit: An American Legend: There were a couple of times the number dumps bogged the story down, but it's still a great and inspiring story. There was a Christian element to it that I wasn't crazy about, but I had to remember that this was Louie's story; not mine ;-)

WEEK 38

Falling for Trouble (Librarians in Love #2; by Sarah Title) - Joanna Green is a promising rock star if only she would cave into the demands of her manager to be a bit more mainstream. Handed a bunny tail to wear onstage, which runs counter to her punk attitude, she walks offstage and goes back home to her grandmother in Halikarnassus, New York. Halikarnassus is a small town that she couldn't wait to leave when she was younger, but things look a little different with the new librarian, Liam Byrd running around. The parts where the librarian deals with the book club, and the mayor (who wants to cut library funding) are fun and funny, and for a light read to serve as mental floss, it's okay, but it's not a "must-read." #Romance #Contemporary (★★★)

Seven Minutes in Heaven (Desperate Duchesses by the Numbers #3; by Eloisa James) - Lady Eugenia Snowe runs a registry for governesses though she is not a governess herself. For engaging in trade, she is sometimes slighted, but her upscale clientele needs her more than she needs them. Enter, Edward Reeve, the recent ward of his much younger half-siblings who needs a governess to accommodate his brother's and sister's eccentricities. Mrs Snowe enters the fray, willing to set aside her mourning for her late husband and follow her attraction to the head of the disgraced family. There were some clever bits of dialogue; but for some reason, Eloisa's James' writing never "sticks" with me after I close the book. I'll be hard-pressed to remember this story a couple weeks from now. #Romance #Regency (★★★)

The Boy on the Bridge (by M.R. Carey; narrated by Finty Wiliams) - This is a prequel to The Girl with All the Gifts, and despite the mixed reviews I see on it, I loved it! It's a different story than "TGWATG" not least because we know how off-camera events play out years later. The "wow" factor lies not in the ending but in the journey itself. The story of a team of scientists and their escort as they venture out into the ZA landscape and what they find is superbly narrated by Finty Williams. Also, there is an epilogue which served both "Girl" and "Boy" well. #SFF #ZA (★★★★)

Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation (edited by Roger Houseman) - I've been reading a poem a day, by author, every day over the summer (I actually finished the day before Fall started!) Even though I love epic poetry and can generally navigate a Shakespearean sonnet, poetry tends to be a bit challenging for me. So I got the book, Poetry for Dummies and read the sections about reading and interpreting poetry first. Then, before I tackled each author in the anthology, I read their respective biographies on PoetryFoundation.org. I worked each poem, reading each several times and taking a pencil to the page to mark out things that caught my eye. Some poems spoke more to me than others, and I'm glad that I took the time to read this collection. It's been quite the "Summer of Poetry" and now I'm more open poetry books in general. :-) #Poetry (★★★★)

WEEK 39

'Heartless' (Friends to Enemies #1; by Michelle Horst - A contemporary romance novel featuring two grad students: Carter Hayes, a manwhore who is a member of the Screw Crew, and Della, graphic arts deisigner who discovers the Screw Crew has put up a $400 bet as to who will get to sleep with her first... Besides being a friends to lovers novel, this is also a novel about second chances: Carter runs into Della at a diner where she is working a few years later. You would think there would be lots of angsty stuff going on, but things actually go pretty smoothly. Unfortunately, without the tension, the story lacks depth. (★★)

Waking Gods (The Themis Files #2; by Sylvain Neuvel; performed by a Full Cast - At the end of Sleeping Giants, there is a rather bemusing incident, and that is where Waking Gods not only picks up but runs with it as pretty much the central theme in this science fiction novel goes. It flirts a little with "jumping the shark," until you remember that this is a story about giant robots from outer space. So, a little camp, but a lot of fun, the multi-voice audio production made the most of the epistolary form of the book. There were a couple of sections where the audio processing hurt my ears a little bit, so I went to stereo speakers instead of earbuds or headphones. Looking forward to the third and final book in the trilogy, 'Only Human' due out MAy 1, 2018. (★★★★)

The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (by Stephen King; narrated by George Guidall - This is a Western Fantasy that I've seen other readers criticize as being too slow, and/or too long, but I loved the allegorically rich atmosphere and the journey of The Dark Man. This is a novel that King wrote relatively early in his career, but the first of his books published chronologically where I've sat up and taken notice that this guy can write! George Guidall commits to an engaged performance, but he's a little long in the tooth for the role. You can tell he has dentures and it's a little disconcerting. Five stars for the story, three for the narration. (★★★★)

Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America (by Steven J. Ross) - This is actually a really interesting and little-known chapter in US history when a Jewish attorney set up a spy ring in L.A. in the 1930s to counter the growing Nazi threat in Hollywood. Unfortunately, the writing was terrible: There was no sense of who these people actually were, nothing that breathed life into them, and no sense of the physical dimensions of the people or places. I actually ended up only really reading the first two of the four parts and skimming the last two parts. This is the kind of non-fiction that needs a filmmaker to come along and turn it into a movie script.(★)

WEEK 40

In the past four weeks, I've been listening to audiobooks more than I've been reading any sort of print:

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Omnibus (by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill) - This is the single edition comprising volumes I and II of Alan Moore's steampunk adventure written in 1999 and 2004 respectively. The stories are set in Victorian-era England and feature a cast of contemporary literary figures (e.g. Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde, Alan Quartermain, etc.) In the first volume (six issues), a team is assembled to track down a substance called cavorite that enables flight; and in the second volume (another six issues,) an invasion is launched from Mars... The artwork and plots at times dip into the graphically lurid and prurient, which makes it fairly adult fare. There is also an episodic story between the two illustrated volumes featuring Alan Quartermain, an addict who takes one hit too many of an exotic drug; and a travelogue and the end of the collection written in the nineteenth-century style (which I found tedious, to say the least!)

The Dead Zone (by Stephen King; narrated by James Franco) - Johnny Smith gets in a terrible car wreck and wakes up fifty-five months later from a coma to find the world very much changed. One of those changes is that Johnny himself can sometimes see the future of those whose hands he touches... Though the setting is clearly the mid-1970s, it is surprisingly relevant today: In the novel, the people vote for a rogue candidate, not unlike our current president; and the question of "Would you kill a Nazi?" is addressed. As far as audiobook narrators go, I've heard worse, but James Franco tended to focus more on creating character voices than paying attention to contextual clues (e.g. one character is described as having a high, thin, little girl voice, but Franco gives the character a whisky growl); and I'm not sold on his female characters at all (sound oddly neutral as opposed to feminine.)

Midnight Riot (Rivers of London/Peter Grant #1; by Ben Aaronovitch; narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) - After the bittersweet tone of The Dead Zone, I needed something a bit lighter! I don't often re-listen to audiobooks, but this was just what I needed: It's fun, funny, and clever! Peter Grant is a police constable in London who discovers he has some magic skills. As a series of bizarre and extremely violent homicides grip the city, Peter relies on both magic and his limited knowledge of science to figure out what's going on. The production values in this are terrible (mouth noises, booth noises,) bu Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is cast perfectly, so much so that when I tried to read the next book in the series, Moon Over Soho it fell flat without his performance.

WEEK 41

Kill the Next One (by Federico Axat; narrated by Maxwell Hamilton) - This is a thriller about a serial killer and one of the most original and interesting stories I've read in a long time. I actually can not divulge more without risking spoiling the plot, but I will say that the first two sections ("cycles") may mess with your mind a little bit until the second half of the novel settles things down to manageable proportions. Maxwell Hamilton is a new-to-me audiobook narrator, and while I appreciate his clarity, he sounds too young and too "bright" for the material. So, strong four stars for the writing, and I will be generous with three stars for the narration.

The Hotel Tito (by Ivana Bodrozic; translated by Ellen Elias-Bursac) - This is the story of a young girl (nine-years-old) who is forced from her home during the Serbian-Croatian War in 1991. Heavily autobiographical, Hotel Tito focuses mainly on the family's housing situation and not knowing what has become of their father. I found the ending abrupt and unsatisfying.

The Remains of the Day (by Kazuo Ishiguro; narrated by Simon Prebble) - This is the story of a butler who serves Darlington House under two owners over the course of decades. It is the ruminations of an Englishman on the nature of dignity and service against the backdrop of changing times. Some find this novel slow, but I find the tempo the perfect foil against the impact of the final chapters. I read this in print a few years ago and I find it interesting that some of my perspectives on some of the topics had changed a bit, and that I cried at a different place in the story as a whole. The audiobook narrator, Simon Prebble doesn't hit the elegiac tone I associate with this book, but he did bring a nice upper-crust voice to the audio.

WEEK 42

The Bad Habit series by J.T. Geissinger: Sweet as Sin (#1,) Make Me Sin (#2,) and Sin with Me (#3) - Each contemporary romance novel in this trilogy is 380+ pages long which means they aren't quick or one-night reads; but perfect for a weekend binge. Each is packed with insanely high levels of DRAMA about the members of a rock band and the women they respectively fall in love with, conveniently, a trio of best friends. The major theme is the danger of secrets. Sex is graphic, but pretty vanilla in the first two books, slightly kinkier in the last. The last novel is also the only one with a male POV. I enjoyed these as a break from the run of admittedly rather tepid romances I've been reading lately, but I don't think I could sustain a diet of over-the-top scenarios like these other than every once in a while. (★★★★)

American War: A Novel (by Omar El Akkad; narrated by Dion Graham) - Against a backdrop of extreme climate change and triggered by a fossil fuel ban & the assassination of a president, the US is launched into a second civil war. One family's daughter in the Red country becomes radicalized, and her actions change the course of history... In this thought-provoking near-future dystopia, Dion Graham lends a great performance, creating a varied and authentic cast of characters. Four strong stars all around. (★★★★)

Pride and Prejudice (by Jane Austen; narrated by Rosamund Pike) - This is leagues better than the edition narrated by Flo Gibson that has been a library staple for many years, but still pretty awful. Rosamund Pike played Jane Bennett in the 2012 film version starring Keira Knightly, which I guess is her "cred" for narrating this; but if I didn't already know this Classic satire of 19th-century manners and mores, upside down and inside out, I don't think I would know what was going on. The audiobook narrator makes some ridiculous choices for character voices, and in other places, you cannot, or barely tell, who is speaking in dialogues. Love the story (★★★★★), but bailed on the narrator (★.)

WEEK 43

Wrong (Wrong series, #1; by Jana Aston - This is a contemporary "romance" novel featuring Sophie, a 21-year old virgin coed who works part-time as a barista. She has a crush on one of her customers, an older professional who turns out to be her gynaecologist when goes to her school's clinic for birth control. The exam, and later the scene in which she got a Brazilian wax were off-putting, to say the least, and the sex scenes were BDSM lite and a bit focused on "alternative entry points." Beyond the bedroom, there was no sense that there was any chemistry between the couple at all, and what went on in the bedroom I'm not sure I would call chemistry. Poor character and plot development, simplistic (bordering on crude) writing, and just an overall "ickiness" to the whole story. The ending and epilogue slightly redeemed the story; but really, this was little more than thinly disguised porn. (★★)

A Gentleman in Moscow (by Amor Towles; narrated by Nicholas Guy Smith) - This is the story of a Russian Count who ends up under house arrest at the Hotel Metropol Moscow for thirty-two years. More than half of the novel seems a bit slow, even maddeningly digressive at times even though the nostalgia-tinged stories are entertaining, but the last third to a quarter of the plot gels, and all I can say is, "Wow." I loved this story and after finishing, I was left with a bit of book "afterglow." I listened to the audiobook edition, but if I were to re-read this, I would go with the print. Nicholas Guy Smith is a British narrator and one who sometimes adds an "r" to the ends of words that end with vowels, and I would have liked a more Russian flavour to the audio as well as a better facility with the foreign phrases as they appeared in the book. Five stars for the book, two-and-a-half for the audiobook narrator.

Her Best Worst Mistake (by Sarah Mayberry) This is a contemporary romance novel with the "Enemies to Lovers" theme. Violet has been hating on her best friend's fiancé, Martin for six years. Temperamentally polar opposites, things accelerate quickly when the engagement is broken, leaving stuffy Martin being pitied by the flamboyant Violet. However it starts though, the relationship moves along rather realistically and rather satisfactorily. Solid writing bumps up a rather pedestrian plot to a four-star rating. :-)

So glad to hear you enjoyed A Gentleman in Moscow. I thought I had it on the shelves but when I went to pull it off, it can't be found. I will definitely put it on the to-buy list.

I understand your annoyance with the narrator's extra "r". Many years ago I had an English boss who called my friend "Sylvia-r" and we had to stifle giggles when she spoke of the "drawer", a word that garnered at least one extra "r", maybe two.

Stopping by and making note of all the great reading you have been doing!

>82 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I have found that, despite the name of the series, the Dummy books do help a lot. This one for poetry sounds like one I should probably read since I have not ever been able to get past one stanza of any poem.

You certainly have read a wide assortment of books! I hope it continues for the rest of the year.

WEEKS 44-46

I'm currently reading The People in the Trees by (Hanya Yanagihara) for a postal group I'm in and I'm finding it tough going. I've been picking at it for close to six weeks and was the reason why I was escaping to audio books there for a while. Then I hit a wall with two audio books back-to-back: Pride and Prejudice (by Jane Austen; narrated by Rosamund Pike) and The Book of Etta (Road to Nowhere series #2; by Meg Elison; narrated by Adenrele Ojo.) I have been resorting to a bit of light reading instead: lots of romances, a short novel, and a concise look at women in the US film industry:

The Opposite of You (An Opposites Attract novel by Rachel Higginson - A contemporary romance novel featuring dueling chefs, one of whom heads a premier restaurant kitchen and the other who runs a food truck. Vera has some serious emotional baggage which has landed her in the food truck, and Killian Quinn is the bearded competition (even though they serve different markets.) I never really bought into the tension and the romance itself is nothing particularly memorable, but I'll give it three stars for its insight into how kitchens are run when customers aren't in-house :-)

Hate to Want You (by Alisha Rai) - This is a contemporary romance novel featuring two lovers who only meet once a year on her birthday for a night of wild sex. Livvy Kane and Nicholas Chandler have a long history together and apart. Their respective families are at odds with each other, and the author seems to have confused complexity of character with loading each protagonist and other family members with tons of issues. Messy dreck of a novel. (★★)

Ruckus (Sinners of Saint #2; by L.J. Shen) - Contemporary romance novel featuring Rosie LeBlanc (sister of Millie LeBlance from the first-in-series book, Viscious) and Dean Cole (friend and business of partner of Vicious from the eponymous novel.) Rosie has cystic fibrosis, and Dean has issues involving his paternity that get in the way of him being there for Rosie. This installment doesn't have the same intensity as the first, and the seriousness of Dean's primary problem is glossed over, but Shen delivers a tear-jerker HEA which others may find satisfying. I loved the first book, but I'll stop here (There's a prequel, Defy and another full novel, Scandalous which just came out two months ago.) (★★)

The Red: An Erotic Fantasy ( by Tiffany Reisz) - This is a contemporary erotic novel told from the point-of-view of Mona Lisa St. James who has inherited an art gallery from her mother. Malcolm, the enigmatic and charismatic patron, strikes a deal with Mona: To get the gallery back onto sound financial footing, Mona will submit to approximately half a dozen sexual encounters over the course of a year. This story has a touch of the paranormal to it, and the erotic scenes are explicit and "advanced," but Reisz saved this from being outright porn by writing an intriguing premise that will have you googling famous paintings. The ending could have stood more attention, but overall, it was an original and engaging story. (★★★★)

The Book of Etta (Road to Nowhere series #2; by Meg Elison) - This is the follow-up to The Book of the Unnamed Midwife which I also listened to earlier this year. The setting is a post-apocalyptic world in which a virus has decimated much of the female population. Ten years after the events of the first-in-series book, this story features Etta, a scavenger who disguises herself as "Eddie" as she searches the area around what was known as St. Louis for women and children to rescue. The world is richly drawn, but the plot was taking too long to take off. I lost patience and DNF-ed this one. (★)

Mister McHottie: A Billionaire Boss / Brother's Best Friend / Enemies to Lovers Romantic Comedy (by Pippa Grant) - The subtitle of this book pretty much tells you what to expect of this contemporary romance novel, but what it doesn't mention is that the protagonists act like high school students, effectively picking up where they left off ten years prior. Ambrosia works for an organic grocery store that Chase Jett has recently purchased. I hate the title, and probably won't read any more in the series if there are more in the series, but it was light and fun reading while it lasted. (★★-1/2)

Lost Without You (The Debt #1; by Molly O'Keefe) - Tommy and Beth spent time together at an abusive foster home but went their separate ways after a fateful night. Years later, as part of a non-negotiable debt, Tommy acts as a transporter for an unspecified cargo which turns out to be Beth herself. Lost Without You is Part One of a duology, so it ends on a cliffhanger. I hate it when publishers do this, and on principle, I'm not buying the second part. (★★)

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (by Gabrielle Zevin) - A short, charming novel about a bookseller on a New England island who finds himself in care of a two-year-old left in his shop. There are a surprising number of supporting characters that are deftly drawn, and the humor and pathos save this from being twee. (★★★★)

Playing for Keeps (Neighbor from Hell series #1; by R.L. Mathewson) - In this contemporary romance, Haley and Jason are neighbors and co-workers at a prestigious private prep school. This novel is a bona fide romantic comedy which literally had me laughing out loud. There are several more books in the series, and I might check them out in due time :-) (★★★-1/2)

Backwards and in Heels: The Past, Present, And Future Of Women Working In Film (by Alicia Malone - Alicia Malone, film critic, and social media maven, has written a clear and engaging non-fiction book about the roles of women in the film industry. The first section is a brief but concise history, the second part is a look at the industry now, and the third section takes an optimistic look into the future. Published before the Weinstein scandal broke, it is nonetheless an excellent primer into how sexism in Hollywood has been and continues to be institutionalized. (★★★★)

WEEKS 47-51

I've been slumming through Romance novels:

Pretend You're Mine (by Lucy Score) #Romance #Contemporary #SmallTown #Fakeship (★★★-1/2)

Black Roses (Mitchell Sisters #3, by Samantha Christy) #Romance #Contemporary #Trauma (★★★-1/2)

What You Do to Me (#1, by Barbara Longley) #Romance #Contemporary #SmallTown (★★★)

In the Cards (by Jamie Beck #Romance #Contemporary (★★-1/2)

The Two-Night One-Night Stand (#1, by Ryan Ringbloom) #Romance #Contemporary #RomCom (★★★)

Happy Endings (McCallister's Paradise #1 by Chantel Rhondeau) #Romance #Contemporary #BeachResort #Cancer (★★)

Sweet Nothings (Sugar Springs #2, by Kim Law) #Romance #Contemporary #CommitmentIssues (★★-1/2)

Worth the Wait (McKinney/Walker #1, by Claudia Connor) #Romance #Contemporary #SecondChances (★★★-1/2)

This Time Around (by Tawna Fenske) #Romance #Contemporary #SecondChances (★★★)

The Billionaire's Christmas (Sinclairs #6, by J.S. Scott) #Romance #Contemporary #BeautyAndTheBeast (★★★)

Kulti (by Mariana Zapata) #Romance #Contemporary #MayDecember #Soccer (★★★)

Man Hands (Man Hands #1, by Sarina Bowen & Tanya Eby) #Romance #Contemporary #RomCom #HGTVhero (★★★-1/2)

Home to You (Suspicious Hearts #1, by Taylor Sullivan) #Romance #Contemporary #SecondChances #BrothersBestFriend (★★★)

Win by Submission (Against the Cage #1, by Melynda Price) #Romance #Contemporary #MMAfighterrehab #AbuseVictim (★★-1/2)

But after a year and a half, I finally finished "the Catholic Bible!" It's not as poetic or flowery as the King James, but it does have excellent footnotes and it also includes some books the Protestant versions don't (The Apocrypha.)

The New American Bible (by Various) #Bible #NAB #Catholic

Wow! Finishing the Bible is a big achievement! Well done!