Renee’s Comments (group member since Feb 03, 2014)

Renee’s comments from the The Reading Challenge Group group.

We just got another bucket of snow so I’m happy to have this Readathon!

Nice! Nifty! Neato!

Looking forward to hearing what you think of Rover. I read Oroonoko last year & found it interesting.

Lol. I haven’t read much Blackwood, but I completely agree!

Beware! Beware!

Welcome, Everyone!

Great job, Nancy! So happy you had so much fun. It was a crazy winter in the northeast this year!!! Sheesh!

I’ve finished two more mysteries.
1) The second in the Maggie Hope WWII series: Princess Elizabeth's Spy, which I liked very much. Lots of cool details about England at the time period.
2) The first in a coffee shop series: On What Grounds, which I also liked for its interesting period details and coffee shop trivia.

Off to find another one!

Nice! I’ve always wondered if that would be an interesting read.

I read Mr. Churchill's Secretary. The prelude really grabbed my attention, but it got a bit tedious through the first third. Still it ended with me contemplating the next in the series so I’m giving it a thumbs up.

Hahaha! March definitely came in like a lion! Congratulations on finishing!

Mission: Read one book during March which celebrates women.

Possible reads might include:
1) Biography/Autobiography: such as The Story of My Life or No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington or Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life
2) Female Author, written before 1900: such as North and South
3) Female Author, written after 1900: such as Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail or The Bell Jar
4) Women's Studies: such as Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide or Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
5) Feminist Studies: such as The Feminine Mystique or Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics
6) Fiction with a strong female character: such as A Wrinkle in Time or The Hunger Games
7) Women in History: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War or Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

According to tradition, Julius Caesar was warned by prophecy to "Beware the Ides of March." For this mini-mini, read one book with paranormal activity by March 31, 2016.

For more info on the assasination of Caesar...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ides_...


From Dictionary.com...

Paranormal: —adjective
"of or relating to the claimed occurrence of an event or perception without scientific explanation, as psychokinesis, extrasensory perception, or other purportedly supernatural phenomena."

This single book challenge is only good for one month! From March 1 to March 31.

Mission: Find and read one book with a story or cover/title that is somehow associated with the "Irish" experience. Books set in Ireland, Irish immigrant stories, anything by Maeve Binchy, etc. For cover/title, this could mean green, orange, luck, clover, lucky charms (rabbit's foot, etc.), or whatever else means "Irish" to you. (Without being offensive, of course. This is a happy, welcoming book group. Everyone on the planet has to deal with some stereotype, but we want to focus on the positive.

Any genre is welcome. Finding the books is part of the fun! For example, the books below could be counted for this challenge...

Green Mansions
Orange Is the New Black
The Lucky One
Plum Lucky
How the Irish Saved Civilization
My Left Foot


Please include something about the "Irish Connection" in your post, so we can all enjoy your creativity. :)

P. S. You can do this challenge more than once in March.

That looks like an amazing read!
*adds another book to the TBR*

Update
So far for this February challenge I’ve read:
Helen
Faro's Daughter
Emily and Einstein
Neanderthal Seeks Human

I also read:
The Hallowed Hunt
Penric's Demon
Penric and the Shaman
Penric’s Mission
And I’m in the middle of The Curse of Chalion

The first four can definitely be housed under the Romance title, but the last five are Fantasy with elements of Romance. Either way, they were corking good stories! ;-)

Great advice, Allison! I loved Penric & can’t wait to start Chalion.

Additional Information:

In doing a little research I discovered that Black History Month is has an annual observation in the United States, Canada (in Feb) and the United Kingdom (in Oct). I also believe there are celebrations in Germany as well. I'm including some Wikipedea links below for anyone who might wish to explore the history a bit more...

African-American History
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black...
African Diaspora
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afric...
African Union
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afric...

This mini-challenge was created to promote cultural awareness, as well as expand our reading interests. (Which is probably true of most of the challenges we do here.)

Sorry for the delayed posting. Let’s make this run into March so there’s time to read.

Mission: Read one book in February/March that speaks to African-American or Black History. I’m hoping to open this up to more than American History, but to the story of people across the globe.
Dates: Feb. 1 - March 31

So sorry! I’m behind on posting. Yes! I’ll get that up ASAP.