Mary’s Comments (group member since Jan 06, 2017)

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

I just read "Troy" by Stephen Fry, and at 496 pages, it would fit. I'm going to try to count a book to just one prompt, though. :)

I think I will read "The Whale Rider" for this one.

I've read several of these already. I'm trying to buy as few new books as possible, so maybe it is time to re-read the Laura Ingalls-Wilder book. I bought the box set for my daughter, and she's never touched it.

My progress:
-A book with a map - "Troy" by Stephen Fry
-Book longer than 700 pages: World Without End by Ken Follett
-Book longer than 450 words: Eragon by Christopher Paolini
-Free Space! Pick any book. (I completed the first parts of this challenge last year, but didn't use the Free Space. I claim it this year!) "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse" by Charlie Mackesy
- Borrowed from a friend - "What's in a Name?" by Cyril M. Harris
- Book with an orange cover - "Whistling for Elephants" by Sandi Toksvig
- A book with a summer cover, a sun on the cover, or "summer" or "sun" in the title - "The Summer of Secrets" by Martina Reilly
- A book by an Indigenous author - "The Whale Rider" by Witi Ihimaera
- A book written by an author of a different race from yourself - "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
- New York Times #1 Bestseller - "Eldest" by Christopher Paolini
- A book by or about a refugee - "The Book of Longings" by Sue Monk Kidd
- Creature with a beak on the cover - "Number One Chinese Restaurant" by Lillian Li
- Read a Victorian diary or collection of letters - "Censoring Queen Victoria: How Two Gentlemen Edited a Queen and Created an Icon" by Yvonne M. Ward
- A book with a purple cover or title - "One Enchanted Evening" by Anton du Beke
- A book by a South East Asian - "Sorcerer to the Crown" by Zen Cho
- Read a romance - "Moonlight Over Mayfair" by Anton du Beke
- A family member's favorite book - "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
-Free Space! Pick any book. "Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945–1955" by Harald Jähner
- A book with an animal on the cover that makes you think of summer: "Sentient: What Animals Reveal About Our Senses" by Jackie Higgins
- A book with the word "river" in the title: "The Riverwoman's Dragon" by Candace Robb
- A book that is over 600 pages: "The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen
- Goodreads winner in 2019: "The Five" by Hallie Rubenhold
- A book written as a journal: "A Woman in Berlin" by anonymous (likley Marta Hillers)
- Read a book set in winter: "Crossroads" by Jonathan Franzen
- A food book about a cuisine you've never tried before: "Eat Cuban" by Andy Rose and Judy Bastyra
- A book shorter than 100 pages: "Flying High in the Sunlit Silence: Aviation Art by Jack Berry"

I just read "Troy" by Stephen Fry. It has a map at the beginning, although it is all so very tiny. Strange in a hardback book with huge typeface in the main part of the book!

Cheryl wrote: "I am going to recreate the list here so I can keep track digitally as well as on my handwritten list

Ooo, think I will do the same. I used to do this on facebook using Notes, but they have cancelled Notes. I'm going to look if I can do this on my own Goodreads page/shelf/whatever it is called.

I read a very slender book, The Emperors’s Soul. I borrowed it from the library. It has won a Hugo Award for Best Novella.

I just finished "God's Playground: A History of Poland, Vol. 1: The Origins to 1795" by Norman Davies. I had thought about using this for the spanning several decades prompt, but chose this one instead.

This one wasn't easy, as a lot of authors I really like started a very long time ago, and their first books aren't still in print. I finally lucked out with Agatha Christie. Her first book, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" was available to borrow through my library service as an audiobook.

I have read "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman and thereby completed the His Dark Materials trilogy.

Mary wrote: "I'm going to read His Dark Materials (hopefully!) for this. I have completed Northern Lights."
I've now completed "The Subtle Knife".

I just read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy. There are a couple abandoned buildings, being ten years after the end of the war in Panem. The Capitol's stadium is mostly abandoned, but is used every year just for the Hunger Games. And there is one in one of the districts which plays a brief but important role.

I liked it, and towards the end, I didn't want to put it down. I just found it difficult to pick up any book whatsoever thanks to the pandemic and how unsettled the world is. It was always just getting beyond the picking-it-up stage.

I'll put "A Tale for the Time Being" by Ruth Ozeki here. It is two stories intertwined, the main one being that of a teenage girl. Her story/diary is being read by a woman in Canada, but most of the action is in Japan.

I read "Objects of Desire" by C.J. Emerson. It was a special Valentine's Day display at the library, so I didn't know what book I was getting. The book has three Goodreads reviews and 24 ratings. Not really my cup of tea. I didn't care for the violence.

I'm going to read His Dark Materials (hopefully!) for this. I have completed Northern Lights.

OK, I'm going to stretch this one a bit. I've just finished reading "Brain Food: How to East Smart and Sharpen Your Mind" by Dr. Lisa Mosconi. The subtitle is "The neuroscience behind the foods that will improve your mental fitness". So, it is about neuroscience and nutrition, specifically how to eat to prevent or delay dementia/Alzheimer's/brain aging. Part of this is that the author looked at how groups of people eat around the word. Special weight and attention is given to groups with a high number of centarians. Pockets of such communities are dotted around the world on the various continents. She also looks at diets that are NOT what she considers to be healthy or promoting good brain health. So, I will count this book for this prompt.

"Waiting for Anya! by Michael Morpurgo. It would also qualify for a book made into a film this year.

"Gold from the Stone" by Lemn Sissay

"The Pale Horse" by Agatha Christie. The BBC just showed this over the last two weekends. I do object to the mini-series being linked to this book, as it is so very, very different. Except for names of characters (but not the characters themselves!), a list of names found in a dead person's shoe (but a totally different dead person), witches, the time and setting, and the actual cause of the deaths, they couldn't be more different! Either one makes a good story, though.