Stina’s Comments (group member since Dec 11, 2016)

Stina’s comments from the Challenges from Exploding Steamboats group.

Do you have a lot of abandoned books that you'd like to finish? Then this is the reading challenge for you!

Here is the link to my informal Agatha Christie reading challenge: https://cpontius.wordpress.com/2016/0...

My goal is to read all of Agatha Christie's novels, short stories, nonfiction, and plays, more or less in publication order. Since this is an informal challenge, there is no official signup or tracking, so participate however you like -- here, at Exploding Steamboats, neither, or both!

Possibly my easiest book of the whole challenge. And it crosses over to at least one other challenge I'm doing this year. Do you have any cat-cover books to recommend?

Craig Johnson's Longmire series springs to mind, but there are lots of sheriff books out there, both fiction and nonfiction. What will you pick?

Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything I have that fits this prompt, so maybe I'll look for something else by Atul Gawande. Any other ideas?

Just looking around my studio, I see The Secret Life of Anna Blanc, Flying, Ghost Seer, Year of Wonders, Dame Agatha's Shorts, Black-Eyed Susans, and probably a dozen more that aren't facing out at the moment. We'll just see what I get to first.

Yep, pretty much any award. Pulitzer, Agatha, Nebula, Edgar, Tiptree, Audie, Dilys, whatever. I don't think the Goodreads app shows a book's awards, but if you pull a book up on the site it usually lists any awards it has received. And there are lists all over the place. Feel free to add links to award listings as well as your picks.

Bring on the talking cats! Or the sophisticated AIs. Or bug-eyed monsters from outer space. Maybe I will go with Ancillary Justice for this one.

Sorry, kind of a lame prompt, huh? But it seems to be a popular title word these days. What do you recommend?

Another easy one for me. Maybe Seven Locks or The Golden Key. What are your key reads?

No idea what I'll choose for this one. I'm sure something will happen along. What are your favorites?

I've been wanting to read Slade House. Does that qualify?

Other titles that come to mind are The Shining, The Amityville Horror, and The Red Room Riddle: A Ghost Story.

I tend to buy (or download for free) lots of self-published books, so this should be easy. Do you have any favorites?

I will probably finish reading Promises, Promises. It will be interesting to see what variations on the "road trip" theme you all come up with.

Probably Domestick Beings for me. I think this is a tough one because I don't tend to notice one particular book when I enter a bookstore. I just register a wall or table full of books. And I realize some people don't do much actual book shopping, so I'd think a library would be acceptable as well.

My primary occupations are writer and musician, so I might count You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life. Should I start another folder for job-specific book recommendations?

A cousin recommended The Red Dancer: The Life and Times of Mata Hari to me. What are your relatives recommending to you?

I've been meaning to read The Poisonwood Bible for a long time, so maybe I'll finally get that one knocked out. Or Great Expectations, which I've been slogging through for years now.

This Wikipedia article has a list of the books as well as some discussion of the club itself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah&#...

I was thinking either The Mysteries of Udolpho or Paul Clifford. What other old gems should I consider?

Would it be too depressing to read something by Barack Obama or Bernie Sanders? Personally, I find all politics depressing, even when I'm in agreement, so this will be a tough prompt for me.

Please recommend books, but save your rants and raves for your reviews. This is not the place for any actual political discussion or debate, and any incivility will not be tolerated.