BOTNS #282: BOTNS Summer Reading Bingo!

[Victoria]

Oh thank you Michael for my vindication!

[Tina]

Amanda wrote: "Does anyone have any suggestions for "By an author of a different culture"? I searched the Goodreads lists, but nothing really caught my eye."

If you have not chosen anything yet, maybe you'd like books by Khaled Hosseini? Khaled Hosseini Another option that might move fast is Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros.

[Karen]

Amanda wrote: "Does anyone have any suggestions for "By an author of a different culture"? I searched the Goodreads lists, but nothing really caught my eye."

Amy wrote: "Amanda wrote: "Does anyone have any suggestions for "By an author of a different culture"? I searched the Goodreads lists, but nothing really caught my eye."

I am partial to novels by Indian autho..."


I recommend

[Louise]

Amanda wrote: "Does anyone have any suggestions for "By an author of a different culture"? I searched the Goodreads lists, but nothing really caught my eye."

Journey by Moonlight(Hungarian pre-ww2) or maybe something by Roberto Bolaño? By Night in Chile for instance :-)

[Melissa]

I was riding the University shuttle this morning and saw folks reading and I thought: "great maybe I can fill my 'saw someone else reading it' square." No such luck two molecular biology books and one physics! At a recruiting event that is usually rather slow so I hope to make a dent in The Quick.

[Virginia]

To Amanda, who is looking for a novel from a different culture:
Others have already made some excellent suggestions. Another novel worth reading is Disgrace by Coetzee. This is a short and disquieting novel about South Africa after the end of apartheid. Coetzee's prose is extraordinary and this small book really sticks with you.

[Sue]

Yes - fantastic book that has stayed with me for years.

Virginia wrote: "To Amanda, who is looking for a novel from a different culture:
Others have already made some excellent suggestions. Another novel worth reading is Disgrace by Coetzee. This is a short and disquiet..."

[Kate]

Finished which is Historical Fiction (8 boxes done, but no Bingo). Then I cruised through Michael Kindness' Graphic novel shelves and ordered Sweet. Tooth from the library (thanks Michael!). Now reading which will be my One Word Title.

[Michael]

Kate wrote: "I cruised through Michael Kindness' Graphic novel shelves and ordered Sweet. Tooth from the library (thanks Michael!)..."

Can't wait to hear what you think Kate! I can't remember... will this be your first GN? If so, can I recommend you start with Stitches?

[Kate]

Michael wrote: "Kate wrote: "I cruised through Michael Kindness' Graphic novel shelves and ordered Sweet. Tooth from the library (thanks Michael!)..."

Can't wait to hear what you think Kate! I can't remember... w..."

I read Stitches way back when you first recommended it on a podcast and then reread it for Petoskey ( it made me cry both times). Sweet Tooth seems out of my usual zone, but this BOTNS bingo has pushed me in a good way, so I'll give it a try. Also, after I looked at your selections, I remembered Andi on her blog Estella's Revenge has started reading Sweet Tooth and she really seems to like them.

[Victoria]

Curse you Michael for ! (Shakes fist). I saw it on the elibrary last night as available and for whatever reason bypassed all my other books and dove in at 10 pm! At midnight, I forced myself to put it down and managed to grab a bit more on my phone throughout the day. I'm about 1/2 way through. What a great book so far. Excellent recommendation. And it will fill my horror/thriller square I believe (yes, it does tie in to bingo).

[Rita]

Does anyone know of an author whose first name is Rita? I have that as one of my squares and can't think of any.

[Sandy]

Rita wrote: "Does anyone know of an author whose first name is Rita? I have that as one of my squares and can't think of any."

Rita Mae Brown writes a series of cat mysteries that are very popular - I've not read them, so can't recommend

And if you have access to Overdrive (a digital library system) you can search using Rita and get all authors they have with that name - as well as any book with Rita in the title

[Ann]

Rita Mae Brown does indeed write cat mysteries, but she is (or was) best known for Rubyfruit Jungle, one of the first books in the "mainstream" to portray the lesbian experience. It is still considered to be an important work in LGBT history.

There's also Rita Dove, former poet laureate of the US.

[Rita]

Thanks Sandy and Ann! I do have access to Overdrive. I'll have to check it out. Also, I'll check out the Rubyfruit Jungle. I haven't read any LGBT book, so perhaps I'll pick this up and get out of my comfort zone a little.

[Lara]

I used the Goodreads author search and just put in Lara and hit enter. I got more than expected that look intriguing.

[Amanda]

Thank you, Lara, Amy, Tina, Karen, Louise, Virginia, and Sue for the recommendations! You all have now given me a large list to choose from. I will hopefully get to read all of them at some point in my lifetime.

[Valerie]

Did a search for Valerie and found this one: The Ghost of the Mary Celeste. Here's some of description. Who knew about this maritime mystery! Would have never found this without a bingo square to fill.

In 1872 the American merchant vessel Mary Celeste was discovered adrift off the coast of Spain. Her cargo was intact and there was no sign of struggle, but the crew was gone. They were never found.

This maritime mystery lies at the center of an intricate narrative branching through the highest levels of late-nineteenth-century literary society. While on a voyage to Africa, a rather hard-up and unproven young writer named Arthur Conan Doyle hears of the Mary Celeste and decides to write an outlandish short story about what took place.

[Sue]

Second mention of that book I've heard today! The first was on greatnewbooks.org whose giveaway today is a book by Ann Lewis Hamilton who talks about The Ghost of the Mary Celeste as one of her recent favorites!

Valerie wrote: "Did a search for Valerie and found this one: The Ghost of the Mary Celeste. Here's some of description. Who knew about this maritime mystery! Would have never found this without a b..."

[Victoria]

Valerie wrote: "Did a search for Valerie and found this one: The Ghost of the Mary Celeste. Here's some of description. Who knew about this maritime mystery! Would have never found this without a b..."

I read that earlier this year. It was an enjoyable read.

[Valerie]

Thanks for the feedback on this book!

[Donna]

My first BINGO! Second row across: Borrowed from the Library - The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout, Set in Another Country - The Queen's Head by Edward Marston (England), By an Author of a Different Gender - Cop Hater (87th Precinct) by Ed McBain, Published before 1970 - The Case of the Careless Kitten (Perry Mason 1942) by Erle Stanley Gardner, Historical Fiction - The Alienist by Caleb Carr.

The second Bingo shouldn't be too hard to achieve.

[Donna]

Where can I find a list of "Booktopia Authors?"

[Linda]

Amanda wrote: "Does anyone have any suggestions for "By an author of a different culture"? I searched the Goodreads lists, but nothing really caught my eye."

I'm probably too late to this but I might suggest Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America which tells of a mother and daughter trying to adapt to our culture - they even go to the store looking for "elbow grease".

[Linda]

Donna wrote: "Where can I find a list of "Booktopia Authors?""

Vermont 2011

• Chris Bohjalian, Secrets of Eden
• Jon Clinch, Kings of the Earth
• Wendy Clinch, Fade to White
• Matthew Dicks, Unexpectedly, Milo
• Susan Gregg Gilmore, The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove
• Steve Himmer, The Bee-Loud Glade
• Ellen Meeropol, House Arrest
• Elizabeth Stuckey-French, The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady
• John M. Thompson, The Reservoir


Vermont 2012

• Susan Cain, QUIET
• Kenneth C. Davis, DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT® HISTORY
• Sara J. Henry, LEARNING TO SWIM
• William Landay, DEFENDING JACOB
• Leslie Maitland, CROSSING THE BORDERS OF TIME
• Richard Mason, HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER
• Madeline Miller, THE SONG OF ACHILLES
• Howard Frank Mosher, THE GREAT NORTHERN EXPRESS


Oxford 2012

• Kevin Brockmeier, author of The Illumination
• Ellen F. Brown, author of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, A Bestseller’s Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood
• Tom Franklin, author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
• Russ Kick, editor of The Graphic Canon
• Suzanne Marrs, Eudora Welty’s biographer and the author of What There Is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell
• Michael Parker, author of The Watery Part of the World
• Jesmyn Ward, 2011 winner of the National Book Award for her novel Salvage the Bones (did not attend due to illness – Susan Gregg Gilmore pinch hit)


Santa Cruz 2012

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks,
The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy,
The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
Swim Back to Me by Ann Packer
Murder in the Marais and Murder at the Lanterne Rouge by Cara Black.
South with the Sun by Lynne Cox
Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
plus book narrators Simon Vance (Bringing up the Bodies) and Grover Gardner (The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro)


Vermont 2013

• Nichole Bernier, THE UNFINISHED WORK OF ELIZABETH D.
• Amy Brill, THE MOVEMENT OF STARS
• Jon Clinch, THE THIEF OF AUSCHWITZ
• Sara J. Henry, A COLD AND LONELY PLACE
• Elizabeth Kelly, THE LAST SUMMER OF THE CAMPERDOWNS
• Paula McLain, THE PARIS WIFE
• Chris Pavone, THE EXPATS
• Will Schwalbe, THE END OF YOUR LIFE BOOK CLUB
• Steve Yarbrough, THE REALM OF LAST CHANCES


Bellingham 2013

• Peter Clines, Ex-Heroes

▪ Jonathan Evison, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving
▪ Ru Freeman, On Sal Mal Lane

▪ Caroline Leavitt, Is This Tomorrow 

▪ Rhonda Riley, The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope

▪ Jan-Philipp Sendker, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

▪ Maggie Shipstead, Seating Arrangements


Petoskey 2013

• Melanie Benjamin, The Aviator’s Wife
• Jamie Ford, Songs of Willow Frost
• Peter Geye, Safe From the Sea, and The Lighthouse Road
• Susan Gregg Gilmore, The Funeral Dress
• Peter Heller, The Dog Stars
• Jill McCorkle, Life After Life
• Edward Kelsey Moore, The Supremes at Earl’s All You Can Eat
• Bill Roorbach, Life Among Giants
• Mary Doria Russell, Doc


Vermont 2014

• Gail Caldwell, author of NEW LIFE, NO INSTRUCTIONS: A MEMOIR
▪ Kelly Corrigan, author of GLITTER AND GLUE: A MEMOIR
▪ John Demos, award-winning historian and author of THE HEATHEN SCHOOL: A STORY OF HOPE AND BETRAYAL IN THE AGE OF THE EARLY REPUBLIC
▪ P.S. Duffy, author of THE CARTOGRAPHER OF NO MAN’S LAND
▪ Bruce Holsinger, author of A BURNABLE BOOK
▪ Jennifer McMahon, author of THE WINTER PEOPLE
▪ Rupert Thomson, author of SECRECY


Boulder 2014

• Justin Go, THE STEADY RUNNING OF THE HOUR
• Peter Heller , THE PAINTER
• Kristi Helvig, BURN OUT
• Colin McAdam, A BEAUTIFUL TRUTH
• Jonathan Miles, WANT NOT
• TaraShea Nesbit, THE WIVES OF LOS ALAMOS



 Asheville 2014

• Krista Bremer, MY ACCIDENTAL JIHAD
• Wiley Cash, THIS DARK ROAD TO
• Kim Church, BYRD
• Denise Kiernan, The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II
• Ariel Lawhon, THE WIFE, THE MAID AND THE MISTRESS
• E. Lockhart, WE WERE LIARS
• Anthony Marra, A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA

[Summer]

Thanks, Linda, for this incredible list! I was wondering the same thing so this will definitely come in handy!

[Sue]

I had no idea Anthony Marra was a Booktopia author. And, Simon from The Readers will be in Asheville, too. And E. Lockhart! I thought I was sad to miss Vermont, but this may be the one I'm most upset about.

Fingers crossed, next year will be my year!

Summer wrote: "Thanks, Linda, for this incredible list! I was wondering the same thing so this will definitely come in handy!"

[Readnponder]

Thank you, Linda. I copied and pasted your list into a word document for future reference. This is most helpful.

[Readnponder]

I have a square for "on the bestseller list." How have people been interpreting that? NYT bestseller? Top 10 or extended list? What about the indie bestseller list?

My problem is that by the time it's my turn at the library for a NYT bestseller, the title is no longer on the list. (I used "The Goldfinch" for "a book over 500 pages." Maybe that was the wrong move.)

[Victoria]

I had already received The Silkworm from my library hold list and was reading it anyway when I found it on the NYT list that week. I'd say as long as it was on some best seller list since we started the challenge, it qualifies.

[Victoria]

I got another bingo! And it's on the same card too (I have 4 total going). This must be my lucky card.

Audiobook: Shantaram
On your TBR list for more than two years: Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
Free Square
With a red cover: Fourth of July Creek
Booktopia author: The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress

[Gabby]

I started this as a challenge with a group of friends (we're doing small prizes for BINGO winners and for Blackout winners). I got my first BINGO a few weeks back, and am about to hit my 2nd BINGO with my 15th book. So, only ten books to go! (I have most lined out, except for a few that I'm struggling where to put.) Having problems figuring out my 500-pager. Like someone mentioned earlier, they put The Goldfinch for that one, but I put it in my Bestseller slot and am wondering if that was a bad move for ME! *LOL* (Hubby has Words of Radiance, but that clocks in at over 1,000 pages, which is a time suck!)

I do like this challenge -- I've read a few things I normally might not have. (But then, others I've had to push through to finish! *LOL*)

[Meredith]

This is so fun! I printed my card and whipped through Gone Girl because "everyone but me has read it." But what now . . . ?

I've got my eye on the free square row which requires me to read a book by an author who shares my first name!

Any good "Meredith" authors out there? So far mostly romance is coming up in my searches!

[Michael]

Victoria wrote: "Curse you Michael for ! (Shakes fist). I saw it on the elibrary last night as available and for whatever reason bypassed all my other books and dove in at 10 pm! At m..."

Mwah-hah-hah-ha

[Michael]

Readnponder wrote: "I have a square for "on the bestseller list." How have people been interpreting that? NYT bestseller? Top 10 or extended list? What about the indie bestseller list?"

You should chose whatever bestseller list you like! NYT. USA Today. Indie Bestsellers. The list from a local store. Maybe your library has a "most checked out" list?

[Linda]

Wah! I turned in my bingo card with the ones for the games from my library. I sure hope they saved it for me.

[Louise]

OH no Linda - hopefully they did - or the can see who borrowed it after you?
Maybe you'll inspire someone :-)
I'd love to do this bingo thing next year, but this year I'm up to my ears in other challenges and books I've promised to review...

[Kate]

I just finished Sweet Tooth Volume 1 for my graphic novel square and am totally, shockingly hooked on the story ( I borrowed it from the library and my son called me when he went to pick it up for me because I had never read one before except for Stitches). So I have 11 squares done, but no Bingo although I am close.

Now to deal with frustration: the New York Public Library has the rest of the Sweet Tooth series except for the second volume. Don't you hate that?

Big thanks to Michael Kindness for introducing me to Sweet Tooth!

[Linda]

Linda wrote: "Wah! I turned in my bingo card with the ones for the games from my library. I sure hope they saved it for me."

Phew! Got it back. I've got 2 books to add.

[Marchelle]

http://mashable.com/2014/07/10/top-pu...

this cements my "everyone but you has read" pick.

[Victoria]

Marchelle wrote: "http://mashable.com/2014/07/10/top-pu...

this cements my "everyone but you has read" pick."

So funny, Marchelle! I've read it. As well as the DC pick. Fitting since I do live in the metro DC environs.

[Michael]

I know Ann and I keep telling you to interpret the categories as you see fit and that no one is policing you, but I need your ruling on something.

Can I use a kid's picture book for one of my categories? I promise to go with the consensus decision!

p.s. doing so will really not get me any closer to a BINGO!

[Melissa]

I think you can Michael. Especially if it fits the category. A book is a book!

So I just perused the aisles of the Amtrak train I'm on for the "something you've seen someone else reading" square. Didn't get a good look at many books so I will do another lap shortly. I've got a couple more hours to go! Love this little challenge.

[Linda]

Michael wrote: "I know Ann and I keep telling you to interpret the categories as you see fit and that no one is policing you, but I need your ruling on something.

Can I use a kid's picture book for one of my cate..."

Absolutely! I agree with Melissa, "A book is a book!"

[Meredith]

Most definitely, Michael! I'm using The Little Prince for my TBR for more than 2 years and it's one of those books that I feel absolutely criminal for not having read yet! Seems like a good excuse to finally cross it off the list.

[Laura]

Michael, you should decide for yourself (as you and Ann are so kindly telling us all we should do.) I think, myself, that I probably wouldn't count it, only because I've got the "Young Adult" square and the "Middle Grade" square already. I'd probably read adult books for the rest of my card. (Still clinging to the idea that I will fill out the whole card, except I keep borrowing ebooks from the library and not finishing them before they "expire" -- ugh! Probably my least favorite aspect of borrowed ebooks -- you can't renew them!)

[Amanda]

Of course you can, Michael! As some of the others have said, "A book is a book." I own 260+ picture books and my husband thinks I am crazy sometimes for it-- we don't have kids yet. Picture books are literature- kids books are literature- audiobooks are literature.

[Tawny]

Of course, and I heartily recommend The Arrival by Shaun Tan. I can't think how this book could have the same impact had it used words instead of pictures. Be sure to check it out. A beautiful "read."

[Louise]

I love Shaun Tan! Have you read The Viewer?

[Rachel W]

Hey, I got a BINGO! :)

A Play: The Crucible

Published before 1970: Olivia: A Novel

Science Fiction: Mort

Borrowed from the Library: Longbourn

By an author of a different gender: Hogfather

I'm not going to be able to finish filling in my card, but I do expect one more bingo before the summer ends :) It's been a lot of fun playing along with you guys!