January BingoDOG reads

Hello, all! Last year we had monthly threads where we could post what we read for the BingoDOG in that month, so I thought I would continue the idea this year. Has anyone read any books for Bingo yet? I'm about to start my first one, Under a Dancing Star by Laura Wood, which has 3+ consecutive letters of "Bingo" in the title (DancING). Also, don't forget to post your Bingo reads to the wiki! https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2020_BingoDOG

I was looking for this thread myself!
I have read two BingoDOGs so far:
Empress Orchid which I read for the set in Asia square - would also fit the red cover square or the non US/UK female author square (she lives in America but was born in China).
The Things They Carried for the red prominent on cover square.

I had a hold-over from last year that I almost didn't realize would fit one of the squares. So it's Montauk by Nicola Harrison for the "proper name in title" square.

ETA; Montauk is at the eastern end of Long Island in New York, USA.

For square 2, three letters of BINGO, A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell

Small press/publisher

The Forgotten Explorer / Charles Helm, Mike Murtha (editors)
3 stars

Samuel Fay was an American hunter who explored the Northern Rocky Mountains (North and West of Jasper, Alberta) over a few years, in 1912, 1913, 1914. His longest trip was 4ish months between the end of June and November, 1914, when he was hunting and collecting wildlife for the US “Biological Review”. The bulk of this book is Fay’s journals while on that trip, though the foreword is someone else’s summary/account of the trip, and there are appendices that include articles Fay wrote about his travels afterward.

I hadn’t realized before starting the book that Fay was a hunter and that was the purpose of his travel. I don’t like hunting. I did enjoy the descriptions, especially of the wildlife; I just kept hoping the next sentence after any wildlife was mentioned wouldn’t be along the lines of “so we shot one (or more)...”. I think I won the book at a conference, and it’s just been sitting here, waiting for me to read it for a while now. It’s not a long book (page-wise), but I was kept from reading it for a long time due to the tiny font in the book! It’s now done and I will donate the book. Overall, I rated it ok.

I read The Calculating Stars for ING.

I read The Bayern Agenda for Not Set On Earth.

So far I've read

The Bellamy Trial, by Frances Noyes Hart, for "mystery or true crime"
North Korea Journal, by Michael Palin, for "set in Asia" (this would be a good choice for the August GeoCAT, if you're looking for one)

I've marked off:

Read a CAT: The Art of Uzbek Cooking by Lynn Visson - for the GeoCAT Asia I in January
Published in 2020: Much Ado About Nutmeg by Sarah Fox - due out January 14

I have marked off:

From a Legacy Library - This Gun for Hire (aka "A Gun for Sale") (1/4) (Graham Greene's Legacy Library)
3+ letters of BINGO - The Wings of the Dove (1/5) (Wings)
Not set on Earth - Ambulance Ship (1/1)
About birth or death - Star Healer (1/2)

L’Étranger is in lots of legacy libraries.

I read Memory of Fire by Eduardo Galeano. Galeano was a journalist. So this one can work for journalist or for contains historical event. This contains many historical events. History of Americas from 1500 to 1984.

I've finished Dispel Illusion which fits for LT author category.

I have completed the Legacy Library square with The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner, which I found in Virginia Wolff's library.

>14 DeltaQueen50: Not to mention Faulkner's own Legacy Library!

Book by a journalist or about journalism: The Indispensable Composers, by Anthony Tommasini, who is the chief classical music critic for The New York Times.

>14 DeltaQueen50: I have been enjoying looking through the Legacy Librarys! I have chosen a book from Barbara Pym's library.

>15 leslie.98: I never even thought of looking in his own library!!

>17 JayneCM: Oh, what book are you going with from Barbara Pym's library?

>18 DeltaQueen50: I chose Angel by Elizabeth Taylor but I could have chosen so many. Barbara Pym is of the era I really love to read from, so her contemporary choices are perfect for me.
Taylor and Pym certainly corresponded and met on a few occasions. Some of their letters are held in the Pym Special Collection at the Bodleian library in Oxford.
Certainly two people I would love to have at my dinner party!

Question - what's the easiest way to find the Legacy Libraries? Thanks!

In the planning thread, in the first post, in the Legacy Library item, there's a link.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/312084#6943055 1. Book that's in a Legacy Library

Just noticed that there's also a link in the Wiki.

I read Daisy Miller by Henry James for the square containing a proper name.

A few more squares covered:

Non-US/UK Female Author - The Little Berlin Cookbook by Rose Marie Schulze (native of Berlin)
From a Legacy Library - Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers (Arthur Ransome's LL)
Involves Real Historical Event - Keep Calm and Carry on, Children by Sharon K. Mayhew (WWII evacution of children from London)

Squares covered so far:

Proper name in title--Mrs. Jeffries Forges Ahead by Emily Brightwell
Periodic Table element in title--The Golden Mean by Nick Bantock
LT author--The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie
Journalist or journalism--The Writer's Life by Julie Cameron

>21 pamelad: Ah, thank you so much!!

3+ letters from BINGO in the title: The ReapING by Bernard Taylor

I'm now reading In Milady's Chamber by Sheri Cobb South for the "red is prominent on the cover" square.

I've finished Whose Body? which fits in the Legacy Library square - Arthur Ransome's library.

A few squares crossed off so far:

- Book by a woman from a country other than the US/UK - Optic Nerve by Maria Gainza (She's Argentinian)
- Mystery or true crime - The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson
- Set in Asia - Cosmic Clues by Manjiri Prabhu (set in India)
- Read a CAT - A Trace of Deceit by Karen Odden
- Written by a journalist/about journalism - What the Chinese Don't Eat by Xinran

How did I overlook the Mystery or True Crime square?? I read The Penrose Mystery which will work for that. Off to update the wiki...

I've read two Bingos this month: Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott for the proper name, and Frozen Tracks by Åke Edwardson for the mystery.

I read Your Momma Thinks Square Roots are Vegetables for the Weird Title square. That was great fun! I had not read a Foxtrot cartoon for ages.

I finished The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle for the "proper name in the title" square.

Epistolary - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
By a woman not born in the US or UK - The Secret Lives of Men. Georgia Blain was Australian.
Read a CAT - Our Women on the Ground
Title contains a pun - Nothing Sirius - short story by Fredric Brown

I finished Three Cups of Tea for the Asia square and Thunder at Gettysburg for the Historical Event square.

Just finished Griffin and Sabine for BingoDOG Epistolary or letters square. I get the idea of the correspondence, but its just not my thing. The artwork is weird too.

Another finish--The Italian Cure by Melodie Campbell for the Written by a woman not US/UK square.

I'm claiming Solomon Gursky Was Here, by Mordecai Richler, for the "read a CAT" square. I read it for the January RandomCAT as a book that has been challenging me. The giant hardcover edition I borrowed from my parents has been glowering at me from the on-deck pile since at least August. And now I've read it!

Swapped Our Women on the Ground from Read a CAT to Written by a Journalist.
Used The Cruel Way for Set in Asia.

I filled the mystery square with Der nasse Fisch, first in a series set in Berlin, starting in this book in 1929. Dark, but good enough to continue with the series, and I'm afraid things will get a lot darker still.

For the small press or self-published square I read Needville by Sara M. Robinson, a collection of poetry published by Cedar Creek Publishing, "A Virginia Publisher of Virginia Books" (title page verso).

I have filled the square for Red cover predominates with Red Mars

LT Author

Dead to You / Lisa McMann
3.5 stars

Ethan was only 7-years old when he was kidnapped. He’s now 16 and being reunited with his family – his parents, his younger brother, and a younger sister who is only 6-years old, whom, of course, he hadn’t met until now. Every family member has to learn to deal with this, as they all learn to live together again, after so many years apart. Things definitely are not going smoothly.

I like the premise of this book and liked most of the book itself. I wasn’t a fan of the ending. I feel like the penultimate event that happened “fit”, but I didn’t like the result of that event, what happened at the very end. It’s YA, so it was very fast to read.

Mystery or True Crime - Big Sky by Kate Atkinson

Book about books, bookstores, or libraries - The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes ★★★

Book by a woman from a country other than the US/UK - The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Canada) ★★★ (Hoping a Canadian author was acceptable for this one.)

Book published by a small press or self-published - Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness by Cynthia Li MD (Reveal Press) ★★★★

In all fairness to The Giver of Stars, I had just read a similar book not too long ago. Also, I had to read through several library books (including The Testaments) at a much faster pace than I usually would. All of these thing probably factored into my ratings. I certainly don't want to put off anyone from reading these novels but for various reasons I just didn't love them. Three stars is still a good and respectable rating. I am so glad the library books I put holds on months ago ended up working out for BingoDOG!

I'm reading Play It Again: An Amateur against the Impossible by Alan Rusbridger, for the "by a journalist or about journalism" square. At the time of writing, Rusbridger was the editor of the Guardian, and while the book is about his quest to learn Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G Minor on the piano, he also does discuss his job and the news events that were happening at the time.

19. Birth or Death - The Weekend by Charlotte Wood

Red cover - Scandal Above Stairs by Jennifer Ashley
Book about books - Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters by Anne Boyd Rioux

Just finished A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway for the Read a CAT square.

I just finally finished reading Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls for the written by a journalist square. Hemingway was a journalist covering the Spanish Civil War prior to writing this novel about the same war.

Small press or self published - Poems From a Life by Des Greene (Ringabella Publishers)
Involves real historical events - An Autobiography by Agatha Christie

Two more squares filled in:

An LT Author: Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
Written by a Journalist: Dispatches From the Edge by Anderson Cooper

Filled the "periodic table element in title" square with Gold from Crete, by C. S. Forester.

I read The Tribe by Bari Wood, which I'm putting in the Mythology or Folklore square since the plot relies on Jewish folklore.

A real historical event

Triangle / Katharine Weber
2.5 stars

Esther was working at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York in 1911 when it burnt down. Her sister and fiancee both died in the fire, but she managed to get out. She was pregnant at the time. In current day, she is 106-years old. A historian, Ruth, has been interviewing her to find out more about the fire. When Esther passes away, Ruth contacts Esther’s granddaughter, Rebecca, to find out how much she knew.

I didn’t find any of the characters likable. The whole music thing with Rebecca’s husband was boring – way too much detail on that, and it really didn’t seem necessary. The info about the fire itself was interesting, but retold a few times in a few different way (interviews, trial transcripts, etc). The very end confused me a little; I may have it figured out, but I’m not positive. The current-day storyline was definitely not one I was interested in, though of course, the fire itself (even if I didn’t like the way it was told), was the best part of the book.

January Bingo
by journalist or about journalism Century of Wind by Eduardo Galeano
LT author: Luis Alberto Urrea
Involves Real Historical Events: The Three Musketeers by Dumas

I read Under the Volcano which I put in the about death but I probably will move that to Legacy Library.

Filling the "by a journalist" square with Verdict of Twelve, by Raymond Postgate.

>36 rabbitprincess: "The giant hardcover edition I borrowed from my parents has been glowering at me from the on-deck pile since at least August.

It's amazing just how some books can "glower". I have some that have been glowering for years. I hide them on the bottom shelf.

>56 VivienneR: LOL! Me too!

Used Little Women for the Legacy library square. Among many other people, it was part of Katharine Hepburn’s library which makes complete sense since she starred as Jo in one of the movie versions.

>56 VivienneR:, >57 leslie.98: I have a few of those too! When Books Went to War is one of those and I have moved it several times so I do not have to see the soldier on the cover. I am sure I will get to it.

>59 LadyoftheLodge: For me, it has been The Life of Samuel Johnson and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. But almost all of my unread print books are beginning to glower now that I mostly read either Kindle or audiobooks...

>59 LadyoftheLodge: I really liked When Books Went To War - very interesting.

I've finished The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell for the "by a journalist or about journalism" block. Malcolm Gladwell is a writer for The New Yorker magazine.

I read The Library Book for the square book about books, bookstores, or libraries. I could have used it for library or thing in the title, but I'm planning to read The Thing around Your Neck, a collection of short stories by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for that square.

I read The Buried City of Pompeii for the Red on the Cover square, and My Librarian is a Camel for the books, bookstores, or libraries square.

>60 leslie.98: Oh, direct hit there! I never thought of my print books being envious of how much I read on my Kindle.

Mystery (or True Crime, but this one is a mystery)

Royal Flush / Rhys Bowen
3.5 stars

In this third book in the series, Georgie (Lady Georgiana, 34th in line to the British throne) is headed back to Scotland to her family’s castle, where she plans to help her (hated) sister-in-law with an influx of (unwanted) visitors. While there, she is asked by someone at Scotland Yard to watch and listen. It seems that some of the royals’ lives may be in danger! And there do seem to be way too many “accidents” for comfort.

It’s funny, as I started reading this, I wondered why I kept adding this series to my tbr, as it started off slow, and there aren’t very many characters I actually like! I tend not to be impressed even with Georgie – at least at first. I think it’s the interaction between Darcy and Georgie that I keep reading for. Anyway, in the end, I did like it, and I do plan to continue with the series.

I read A very pukka murder for the GeoCAT and used it to fill the CAT square.

I'm just starting Sherwood by Meagan Spooner, which is a retelling of the Robin Hood legend. So I'm counting it for the "mythology or folklore" square.

Title contains a pun - Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen.

Two so far:

Xenocide - not set on earth

The Help - involves real historical event (Medgar Evers' assassination in 1963, and other events during the Civil Rights movement)

I just finished The Amish Marriage Bargain which covers both birth and death for that square.

Pen name

The Woman in the Window / A.J. Finn
4 stars

Anna, a psychologist who is suffering from agoraphobia (she is scared to leave her house), has a tendency to watch her neighbours through the window. When a new family moves in (parents and a teenage son), she soon meets both Ethan (the son) and Jane, his mother. The more she talks to them and the more she watches the house, she is afraid for them. One day, she sees something horrible, but the police don’t believe her.

I really liked this. The beginning reminded me of “Rear Window”, the Alfred Hitchcock movie (which was later mentioned, as Anna is a huge classic thriller movie buff). It drew me in from the start and, at least for me, the pace kept up almost the entire way through the book. Anna also drinks, so it was hard to figure out what she really saw and what she didn’t. It seems many are tired of psychological thrillers/unreliable narrators, but I’m still enjoying them, this one included! I did figure out a couple of small things along the way, but not the big twists.

Published in 1820 or 1920 - Jack O' Judgment (1920)

I finished Anthony Trollope's The Bertrams for the Proper Name square and am reading Rex Stout's The Golden Spiders for the Element square.

It's not cover-up yet, but I've got a BINGO.



1.
2.
3. An Incomplete Obituary for Damien Stewart Wilson by Sean Rose
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. Death Finds a Way by Lorine McGinnis Schulze
9.
10.
11.
12.
13. The Art of Uzbek Cooking by Lynn Visson (GeoCAT)
14.
15.
16. The Little Berlin Cookbook by Rose Marie Schulze (Berlin native)
17.
18. A Killer in King's Cove by Iona Whishaw
19.
20.
21.
22.
23. Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers (Arthur Ransome's Legacy Library)
24. Much Ado About Nutmeg by Sarah Fox
25. Keep Calm and Carry On, Children by Sharon K. Mayhew (World War II evacuation of children from London)

>75 thornton37814: Wow! That was quick! Congrats!

>75 thornton37814: Congratulations! I'm amazed that you've already read 8 books that all fit on the Bingo card!

Congrats >75 thornton37814:!

Congrats >75 thornton37814:, I have a ways to go for a bingo.

>77 christina_reads: I actually just finished book 26 for 2020 on the drive home, but I haven't looked yet to see if it will fit anything or not.

>75 thornton37814: Awesome work!

I filled the "proper name in the title" square with Gold for Prince Charlie, by Nigel Tranter.

>75 thornton37814: Congratulations! I haven't even thought to look if any of mine are in a line yet!

>82 JayneCM: I have read books to fill half the squares on my card, but they do not earn me a Bingo yet!!

I've finished Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger for the "mystery or true crime" block.

I'm currently reading A Question of Proof by Nicholas Blake for the "pen name/anonymous author" square. The author's real name is Cecil Day-Lewis, and he was Poet Laureate of the UK from 1968 to 1972.

There can't be a book more suited to a square than The Starless Sea is to the Books about Books/Libraries/Bookstores square (as it prominently features all three) so that's where I put it.

>75 thornton37814: Congratulations, Lori! I'm envious because I've only just finished my first square. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson fill the true crime square.

>87 VivienneR: I've read lots of mysteries, but like you, I want to fill that square with a true crime. I've got some coming up at some point so I'm not worried about filling it.

Proper name in title

Michelle Remembers / Michelle Smith, Lawrence Pazder
3 stars

This was published in 1980. In 1977, Michelle Smith recounted repressed memories (from when she was 5 years old in 1954/1955) to her psychiatrist (co-author Lawrence Pazder). This book follows that therapy. When Michelle was only 5, her unstable mother gave her away to a cult of Satanists to be abused and used in various rituals.

So, I’ve owned this since I was in high school, but I don’t think I read it back then. The first half was more interesting than the second half, when Satan appeared. The second half got much more religious, and it was less interesting to me. Now, this has since been debunked, and I found that out in the middle of reading it, but I don’t think it affected my rating (though it appears that many rated it 1 star, simply because it’s not true); I actually didn’t want that knowledge to affect how I rated the book.

Mystery or true crime: The Long Way Home, by Louise Penny. It's the 10th installment in the Armand Gamache series.

Not set on Earth: The Colour of Magic, by Terry Pratchett. It is set on Discworld, and as everyone knows, Discworld is on the back of four elephants standing on a giant turtle swimming through space.

Involves real historical events: Life Sentence: Stories from four decades of court reporting, or how I fell out of love with the Canadian justice system (especially judges), by Christie Blatchford. It's recent history (the past four decades), and some of the cases may not be big enough to be called events, but I consider that it fits.

Self-published or small press: Text Publishing https://www.textpublishing.com.au/about A local, Melbourne, publishing company. They also publish lots of Australian classics.

Text published Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, which I just finished. Highly recommended.

>91 pamelad: I have that book on my TBR (still waiting for my library hold!) but I did not know Text published it. I have just been collecting from their Australian classics series so I guess that is all that has been on my radar.

I've finished Scones and Bones by Laura Childs for the "pen name or anonymous author". Laura Childs is the pseudonym used by Gerry Schmitt.

I finished A Perilous Promise by Kate Kingsbury for the "pen name" square. Kate Kingsbury is the one of the pseudonyms for British author Doreen Roberts Hight.

Also finished Much Ado About Nutmeg by Sarah Fox for the "pun" square, and that gives me my first Bingo!

I filled in the "set in Asia" square with When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi.

I'm starting Henrietta's War: News from the Home Front 1939-1942 by Joyce Dennys, which is an epistolary novel, so I'm counting it for the "epistolary or letters" square. Obviously it would work for the "proper name in the title" square too!

I've finished four squares this month:
Proper name in title: Angelica's Smile by Andrea Camilleri
By a journalist: The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Mystery/true crim: Heartstone by C. J. Sansom
A book about books: Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction by Grady Hendrix

1. Pen Name or Anon After Leaving Mr Mackenzie by Jean Rhys Ella Gwendoline Rees Williams

I read The mysterious affair at Styles by Agatha Christie which was published in 1920.

I've finished Slash and Burn by Colin Cotterill for the "set in Asia" block (Laos)

I finished one more. Square #7 (predominantly red cover): The Thief of Auschwitz by Jon Clinch

>100 dudes22: I'm listening to the first in that series for my Asia block. I'm over halfway through.

I am finishing out January with my fifth bingo square. The Loudwater Mystery by Edward Jepson completes the "Published in 1820 or 1920" square.

I finished The Whispering Statue which is number 14 in the Nancy Drew series. This completes the "contains consecutive letters of BINGO" square.

I used Alan Rusbridger's Breaking news for the journalism square.

>103 DeltaQueen50: That title and/or author strikes a bell with me. I see that I haven't read it but I wonder if it is on my Kindle somewhere...

I completed a couple more squares:

Based on real events - Bright As Heaven by Susan Meissner which is set in Philadelphia during the Spanish Flu.
LT Author - Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea

I filled the Mystery/True Crime square with This Sweet Sickness by Patricia Highsmith.

How do you tell if a book is in a Legacy Library? Is it obvious on the book's page?

>108 sturlington: An easy way to find a book in a legacy library among the books you have added to your collection was suggested by NinieB in the Unofficial BingoDOG book selections: https://www.librarything.com/topic/313255#6975837

Use the link
https://www.librarything.com/profile/XXX/stats/legacy#
and replace the XXX with your user name

The list will probably be very long since the titles in a person's legacy library are listed. If you have a particular title in mind, you could do a search for that title -- or, you could glance through the lists looking for a title of interest to you.

>109 sallylou61: Ah, thanks!

>109 sallylou61: That is helpful! Thank you.

>108 sturlington: Just wanted to add that you can also find out the Legacy Library info by going to a book's main page on LT. If it's part of a Legacy Library, it will say so under the "Members" heading. If it's not, no info will appear.

Also, I've started a thread for February! https://www.librarything.com/topic/316272

>106 leslie.98: Some of Jepson's mysteries are available for the Kindle at fairly reasonable prices so I bet there is a good change you may a book of his tucked away. This was the second on of his I have read.

Reporting in a little bit late on some January squares:

Set in Asia: Inspector Ghote Goes by Train by H. R. F. Keating

Books about books: Houses of Stone by Barbara Michaels

Legacy Library: Carrie by Stephen King

Non-US/UK woman author: Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery

Real historical event: A Chorus of Detectives by Barbara Paul (Caruso's last performance)

My January squares are:

Read A CAT : The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson

3+ letters of BINGO : Learning To Ride by Erin Knightley

Read a Mystery : The Falcon at the Portal by Elizabeth Peters

I forgot to post one other January read that was a BingoDOG - Invisible Cities, which is in Maria Àngels Anglada legacy library.