August 2015 Challenge - This or That

[Peggy]

Awesome :D I think I found one that most likely works with my five words, but I'm going to search for more options tomorrow.

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

Tasha☺ wrote: "Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "Janice, this is an awesome challenge! ...how did you figure that info out??"

Tasha, since I own that eBook, I used the search feature on my Kindle Fire.

[Janice, Moderator]

That's one of the pros to ebooks. :)

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

You can also use the "look inside" feature on Amazon.

[Stephanie]

I think I'm going to go with A Three Dog Life. It has been on my TBR for a long time and I own it :)

[Sandra, Moderator]

Amazing, Janice! Great challenge!

[Sandra, Moderator]

So far The Alphabet House by Jussi Adler-Olsen and In a Pale Blue Light by Lily Poritz Miller cover 3 or my words. Let's see if I can do better than that.

[Jannene]

I found my book and it is super long! Four Past Midnight: The Sun Dog by Stephen King.

Lily -
Sun - Book title
Beer -
Dog - Book title
King - Author's last name

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

Janice, I have two questions:

1) General Rule #3 reads, "The book may NOT be combined with the Year Long Chunkster Challenge." Didn't you mean the "Serial Killers Challenge"?

2) For the bonus points for red on the cover, can we use any published cover for that book linked in Goodreads? If not, what cover applies if we use an audiobook for the challenge?

Thanks!

[Janice, Moderator]

Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "Janice, I have two questions:

1) General Rule #3 reads, "The book may NOT be combined with the Year Long Chunkster Challenge." Didn't you mean the "Serial Killers Challenge"?

2) For the bonus po..."

Hehehe - how can you tell I copy and paste? Yes, it should read Serial Killer Challenge.

Our challenges usually refer to the issue that you read unless otherwise specified. I will change the wording so that it's clear and not assumed. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Camilla]

After some gophering I've settled for A Month of Italy: Rediscovering the Art of Vacation. There's the sun on the cover and I'm confident that wine will be mentioned at some point, maybe even the ocean. The author's first name is Chris (he's also the MC as this is a memoir), so I can pair that with either chocolate or cat. Looking good so far.

[Tejas Janet]

Looking forward to gophering next week. How fun : )

[Tejas Janet]

Camilla wrote: "After some gophering I've settled for A Month of Italy: Rediscovering the Art of Vacation. There's the sun on the cover and I'm confident that wine will be mentioned at some point, ..."

Looks good, Camilla. Look forward to hearing about it, too.

[Peggy]

I think I'll go for Long Way Down by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman.

My five words
Spice - Might be mentioned in the book, and otherwise location Sudan, one of the visited countries
Chocolate - character name, Charley
Lily - location, Libya is one of the countries they visit
Moon - character name, McGregor, and might even be mentioned in the book
Lake - I'm hoping they will report about visiting at least one of Africa's lakes

[Lisa]

I am going to go for Euphoria by Lily King. I think it will cover three/four of my five words and maybe even all five if I am lucky.

Cat - I think a canoe might be used. ?
Owl - ?
Moon - A tribe called the Mumbanyo are mentioned/the moon itself might be mentioned.
Pink - Book is set in Papua New Guinea.
King - Author's last name is King.

[Peggy]

Lisa, if I understood correctly the first-letter-thing only applies to main characters and locations, not items making an appearance in the book (if that was your intention with cat-canoe and the tribe).

[Lisa]

Peggy wrote: "Lisa, if I understood correctly the first-letter-thing only applies to main characters and locations, not items making an appearance in the book (if that was your intention with cat-canoe and the t..."

Ah, ok. Thanks for pointing that out Peggy. I must have got my wires crossed somewhere :) Hopefully a cat and the moon might be mentioned somewhere in the book.

[Kristie, Moderator]

I know there's a website where you can check to see if words are in a book. Does anyone here know what it is? I have 3 words used, but wouldn't know if something is in the book unless I read it right now.

[Tammy]

Kristie I went on Amazon and opened the sample book. From there you can search specific words.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Thanks, Tammy! I'll try that.

[Lisa]

After some gophering, I think I am going to go for The Vanishing Witch by Karen Maitland instead of Euphoria. It covers four of my five words for definite and hopefully all five.

Cat - a cat/cats appear several times throughout the book/main character is called Catlin.
Owl - an owl is mentioned on a couple of occasions.
Moon - the moon appears several times.
Pink - Some pink blossom on an apple tree is described.
King - King Richard II is talked about a lot but I'm not sure if he actually appears in person.

[Lisa]

Janice, I have a question for you. Does a king actually have to appear in person or can he just be mentioned? Richard II is talked about a lot in my chosen book and several people who work for him appear in person but I don't know if he makes an appearance himself.

[Sarah]

This is awesome. I know what I will be spending my day off tomorrow doing. It gives me a chance to read a non series book too.

[Casceil]

I'm seriously considering rereading The Owl & Moon Cafe. I read it about four years ago, at a time when I was a little depressed and confused, and I remember thinking I would probably get more out of it if I reread it later. I can't remember if there is a cat or a boat, but I'm pretty sure someone drank wine in it.

[Janice, Moderator]

Lisa wrote: "Janice, I have a question for you. Does a king actually have to appear in person or can he just be mentioned? Richard II is talked about a lot in my chosen book and several people who work for him ..."

If it's just a passing mention, I'd suggest that it doesn't fit. But, since he's discussed a lot in your book, it will be fine.

[Janice, Moderator]

I was gophering for a bit myself last night. Spice seems to be the odd word out.

[Lara]

Here's mine:

Dress or Jeans: Jeans
Beer or Wine: Beer
Cat or Dog: Dog
Ocean or Lake: Ocean
Blue or Pink: Blue

I plan to read A New Hope

[Sarah]

One of my chosen words is Country, so if it's set in the country(side) does that count? Or is in a country (say US)? Also I have chosen Boat, is a mention of a ship or yacht ok or does it have to be the word boat which appears (I don't mean in the title but in the story).

I have quite a few options and weirdly they all seem to appear to contain just 3 of the 5 words. Obviously I won't know 100% until I've read it.

[Lisa]

Janice wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Janice, I have a question for you. Does a king actually have to appear in person or can he just be mentioned? Richard II is talked about a lot in my chosen book and several people who ..."

Great! Thanks Janice!

[Tammy]

Think I am going to read Roam: A Novel with Music. The main character is a dog. There is a body of water on the cover that could be an ocean. There are chocolate, wine and jeans mentioned in the book.

[Janice, Moderator]

Sarah wrote: "One of my chosen words is Country, so if it's set in the country(side) does that count? Or is in a country (say US)? Also I have chosen Boat, is a mention of a ship or yacht ok or does it have to b..."

Yes - country as outside of a city.
Yes - a ship or yacht is a type of boat.

The challenge is hard enough as it is without being too anal about semantics.

[jaxnsmom]

I'm late to the party, and am so glad I picked my five before reading post 2! Madame Tutti Frutti chose my pairs, so I have:

country/city -> country
sun/moon -> moon
flowers/chocolate -> chocolate
cat/dog -> dog
ocean/lake -> ocean

Now I'm off to gopher.

[Amanda (Mandy)]

I think I am going to read Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Here are my 5 words:

1) Boat--?
2) Country--Location; she is hiking wilderness trails
3) Chocolate--This appears to be a major staple of her diet
4) Cotton--Author's name Cheryl
5) Ocean--?

[Tejas Janet]

I have a couple of prospects picked out.

Probably will go with either Suspect or Tiger Lily.

Boat, Lily, Beer, Leather, and Dog are my five watchwords.

[Ariane]

I think I will read Persuasion

My words:
rose - Russel, a charachter's name
country - location of some of the story
wine - Wentworth, character's name
chocolate - Croft, character's name
pink - Penelope, character's name

I think I'm good with these, so I can't wait to start!

[Peggy]

Janice wrote: "Yes - a ship or yacht is a type of boat.
"

Does this apply to spice as well? If cinnamon or nutmeg is mentioned for example, does that count?

[Sarah]

Thanks Janice for the clarification.

[Kristie, Moderator]

So far, I'm thinking about going with The Light Between Oceans, though I still may do some more gophering. Does anyone know if there is a dog in the book?

country - setting? (sounds as if it's all or mostly set outside of the city)
dog - ??
ocean - in title
blue - cover color
jack - setting letter: Janus Rock

[Peggy]

Country will definitely work for setting. I read it too long ago to remember if there's a dog in the story.

[Lori]

Wedding the Widow

Beer or Wine ~ Wine
Country or City ~ Country
Apple or Orange ~ Apple
Sugar or Spice ~ Sugar
Sun or Moon ~ Moon

[Janice, Moderator]

Peggy wrote: "Janice wrote: "Yes - a ship or yacht is a type of boat.
"

Does this apply to spice as well? If cinnamon or nutmeg is mentioned for example, does that count?"

Crickey! I guess if I accept yacht for boat, I need to accept cinnamon/nutmeg for spice. If you are going for the matching initials for character or location, you'll need to stick to the S in Spice. (Or B for Boat if that applies.)

It might make my selection easier too, since spice is spicing things up for me.

[Cherie]

Janice, I updated my original post (message 52)with my book info instead of re-posting. I love it! I cannot believe how lucky I was with my word choices and a book that I already owned but have never read.

[Janice, Moderator]

Cherie wrote: "Janice, I updated my original post (message 52)with my book info instead of re-posting. I love it! I cannot believe how lucky I was with my word choices and a book that I already owned but have ..."

Isn't it great when things fall easily into line like that? Who knows, there may be a character or location that starts with "O" to cover the owl word.

[Roz]

I've picked out my book.
I'm going to read Crow Hollow

Cotton: Prudence Cotton (main character)
Jeans: James Bailey
Country: large portions take place in wilderness in New England
Ocean: Atlantic
Dog: dogs are mentioned

I've had this one on my Kindle for a while and haven't read it yet.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Thanks, Peggy! There's at least 4 out of 5.

[Lisa]

Kristie wrote: "So far, I'm thinking about going with The Light Between Oceans, though I still may do some more gophering. Does anyone know if there is a dog in the book?

country - setting? (soun..."

I don't remember there being a dog in the story Kristie. I think there might be a few references such as someone feeling 'dog-tired' but no actual dog appears.

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

Kristie, I pulled up The Light Between Oceans on Amazon, and "..the dog with the ribbon tied to his collar..." is discussed on page 19.

FYI, I liked that book, too!

[Kristie, Moderator]

Excellent! Thank you, Theresa! I've been wanting to read it for such a long time and I own a copy. Somehow, it always gets pushed aside for other reads. I'm looking forward to it.

[Sandra, Moderator]

I liked it too, Kristie. Really interesting moral discussion there.

[Theresa~OctoberLace]

I did some more gophering and found that I own at least 9 books over 500 pages that fit all 5 of my words: Hawk, Wine, Ocean, Flowers, and King. I'll probably read several of those in August, including American Gods by Neil Gaiman, to which I'm already committed.

For this challenge, though, I'll start with The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty by G.J. Meyer. I own both the Kindle and Audible versions, it's 612 pages long, it's non-fiction, and it fits most of the bonus categories.