Leslie's Reading the Rainbow in 2015

[Leslie]

        

In honor of my Travis McGee challenge, my theme will be colors. Books can be used in more than one category. I have decided to reduce some of the challenge-related pressure by not specifying how many books in some of the categories...

ideas for my 2015 challenge:
1. 12 short story books (collections) - one per month
2. 12 poetry books (collections) - one per month
3. 24 plays - two per month
4. at least 3 nonfiction books
5. Continue with reading Charles de Lint (5? more new-to-me)
6. At least 25 new-to-me books from the Guardian's 1000 novels everyone should read list, including at least 4 German books
7. Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald (paperback ROOTs)
8. Continue with my "Read the USA" mystery challenge
9. Read at least 15 Kindle books owned pre-2015
10. Read at least 10 books in translation (preferably 2+ from Asia, 2+ from South America, 2+ from Africa & 4+ European)

[Leslie]

Challenge #1, 2, & part of 3: Mysteries

Mysteries remain my main genre of reading, so I have several categories or challenges here. In particular, I would like to finish up several series that I have started and start the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald.

Scarlet challenge #1: (scarlet ibis)
Continue working on (and hopefully finish!) my "Read the USA" Mystery Challenge:
new states
 ·January Exposure {North Dakota} (done 1/9)
 ·Out on a Limb: A Smoky Mountain Mystery {Tennessee} (done 4/15)
 ·A Deal on a Handshake {Wyoming} (done 6/18)
 ·Finger Lickin' Fifteen {New Jersey} (done 9/11}
 ·If Fried Chicken Could Fly {Missouri} (done 9/20)
 ·The Gray and Guilty Sea {Oregon} (done 11/12)
 ·Riders of the Purple Sage {Utah} (done 11/11) {not a mystery}

duplicate states
 ·The Deep Blue Good-By {Florida} (done 1/19)
 ·A Bobwhite Killing {Minnesota} (done 1/24)
 ·Deadly Valentine {Virginia} (done 2/7)
 ·Nightmare in Pink {New York} (done 2/24)
 ·The Quick Red Fox {California & Nevada} (done 4/1)
 ·Open Season {Vermont} (done 4/6)
 ·Friday the Rabbi Slept Late {Massachusetts} (done 4/22)
 ·X {California} (done 9/27)

(copied entire list from the Cozy Mystery group after leaving it)
Here is my READ AROUND THE USA Challenge (starting 8/2012)
Progress: 42 mysteries + 7 non-mystery books = 49 completed out of 51

Alabama -- Dog River Blues by Mike Jastrzebski (1/10/14)
Alaska -- Alaska Virgin Air by Izzy Ballard (4/13/13)
Arizona -- The Ghost Orchid Murder by Nancy Jill Thames (5/26/13)
Arkansas -- Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes by Denise Grover Swank (1/30/13)
California -- Death Turns a Trick by Julie Smith (9/1/12)
Colorado -- Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson (7/20/13)
Connecticut -- Elected for Death by Valerie Wolzien (11/17/12)
Delaware - Corpus Delectable by Mike Billington (2/22/14)
District of Columbia -- Murder on Capitol Hill (8/31/16)
Florida -- Artifacts by Mary Anna Evans (10/8/12)
Georgia -- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (not a mystery) (5/7/13)
Hawaii -- Maui Widow Waltz by JoAnn Bassett (9/1/13)
Idaho -- Dead Aim (9/3/16)
Illinois -- Opal Fire by Barbra Annino (10/22/13)
Indiana -- Death of the Couch Potato's Wife by Christy Barritt (12/11/15)
Iowa -- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (not a mystery) (7/18/13)
Kansas --
Kentucky -- I'm Dreaming of an Undead Christmas by Molly Harper (not a mystery) (12/21/13)
Louisiana -- The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke (5/15/13)
Maine -- The Book of Old Houses by Sarah Graves (9/14/13)
Maryland -- The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart (3/8/13)
Massachusetts -- Going, Going, Gone by Phoebe Atwood Taylor (8/31/12)
Michigan -- Winter Study by Nevada Barr (12/31/13)
Minnesota -- Bingo Barge Murder by Jessie Chandler (8/7/12)
Mississippi --- The Collected Stories by Eudora Welty (not a mystery) (6/19/13)
Missouri -- If Fried Chicken Could Fly by Paige Shelton (9/20/15)
Montana -- Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett (7/13/14)
Nebraska -- One of Ours by Willa Cather (not a mystery) (11/20/12)
Nevada -- Pumpkins in Paradise by Kathi Daley (11/16/13)
New Hampshire -- An Appointment With Murder by Jennifer L. Jennings (6/24/14)
New Jersey -- Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich (9/11/15)
New Mexico -- Red, Green, or Murder by Steven F. Havill (2/19/13)
New York -- Sailor, Take Warning! by Kelley Roos (8/12/12)
North Carolina -- Amethyst Dreams by Phyllis A. Whitney (10/27/12)
North Dakota -- January Exposure by Sunny Benson (1/9/15)
Ohio -- A Shot in the Bark by C.A. Newsome (7/28/14)
Oklahoma
Oregon -- The Gray and Guilty Sea by Jack Nolte (11/12/15)
Pennsylvania -- Never Buried by Edie Clair (10/31/12)
Rhode Island -- Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva (1/10/16)
South Carolina -- Oolong Dead by Laura Childs (3/1/13)
South Dakota -- Nearly Departed in Deadwood by Ann Charles (1/29/13)
Tennessee -- Out on a Limb: A Smoky Mountain Mystery by Carolyn Jourdan (4/15/15)
Texas -- Buck Fever by Ben Rehder (2/13/13)
Utah -- Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey (not a mystery) (11/11/15)
Vermont -- Moonlighting in Vermont by Kate George (9/29/13)
Virginia -- Carbs & Cadavers by Ellery Adams - J.B. Stanley (9/17/12)
Washington -- Murder Spins a Tale A Flock and Fiber Mystery by Veryl Ann Grace (3/24/13)
West Virginia -- Moon Signs by Helen Haught Fanick (6/1/14)
Wisconsin -- Uncommon Grounds by Sandra Balzo (8/12/12)
Wyoming -- A Deal on a Handshake by Loretta Jackson and Vickie Britton (6/18/15)

Ruby    (ruby-throated hummingbird)

Foreign mysteries (mysteries originally not written in English): including finishing Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö's Martin Beck series and continuing the Andrea Camilleri Montalbano series, Arnaldur Indriðason (Icelandic), Georges Simenon (French), Boris Akunin (Russian) plus miscellaneous others

Italian:
 ·The Voice of the Violin (done 2/2)
 ·Excursion to Tindari (done 3/17)
 ·The Smell of the Night (done 7/29)

Icelandic:
 ·Strange Shores: An Inspector Erlendur Novel (done 3/3)

Danish:
 ·The Purity of Vengeance (done 4/28)
 ·The King's Hounds (done 6/26)
 ·Oathbreaker (done 9/26)

Swedish:
 ·The Locked Room (done 7/20)

[Leslie]

Maroon challenge #2:
Read paperback mysteries already owned, focusing on finishing Michael Innes' Inspector Appleby series & starting the Travis McGee series
Goal=24+    Progress=13

Inspector Appleby series
·The Weight of the Evidence (done 1/2)
·Appleby's End (done 2/24)
·A Night of Errors (done 4/19)
·The Paper Thunderbolt (done 7/9)
·Silence Observed (done 8/29)
·One-Man Show (honorary entry as I don't own this one) (done 9/16)

Travis McGee series
·The Deep Blue Good-by (honorary entry as I don't own this one) (done 1/19)
·Nightmare in Pink (done 2/15)
·The Quick Red Fox (done 4/1)
·A Deadly Shade of Gold (done 5/31)
·Bright Orange For The Shroud (done 7/24)
·Darker Than Amber (done 9/2)
·One Fearful Yellow Eye (done 11/30)

miscellaneous mysteries already owned
·The Three Coffins (done 4/16)
·Journey Into Fear (read in the omnibus "Intrigue") (done 9/25)

[Leslie]

✔Brick challenge #3:
Books in translation (world lit):
3 major parts to this challenge are A) classics & books from Guardian list; B) Around the World type challenge; and C) foreign mysteries (mysteries originally not written in English) (see Ruby challenge above)

Books read for Parts A and B (Goal=10+; Progress=23)
Europe:
 (French)
  ·The Three Musketeers; Bel-Ami; The Narrow Gate; Twenty Years After; Chéri;
  The Vicomte de Bragelonne; Ten Years Later; The Miser; Louise de La Vallière;
  The Man in the Iron Mask; Suite Française
 (German)
  ·Austerlitz; Lovers' Vows; Across the Land and the Water: Selected Poems, 1964-2001; Heidi (Swiss)
 (Italian)
  ·Invisible Cities; Right You Are! (If You Think So)
 (Russian)
  ·Uncle Vanya; The Seagull
 (Greek)
  ·C. P. Cavafy: Collected Poems
 (Polish)
  ·Facing The River; Bells In Winter

Asia:
 (Chinese)
  ·Wolf Totem
 (Japanese)
  ·The Guest Cat

South America:
 (Spanish)
  ·Love in the Time of Cholera (Colombian)

[Leslie]

✔Pink challenge #4:
Read 15+ Kindle books owned before July 2014 (Kindle catch-up)
1. *The Vicar of Wakefield (done 1/9)
2.  January Exposure (done 1/9)
3.  A Bobwhite Killing (done 1/24)
4.  Indiscretions of Archie (done 1/28)
5.  In a German Pension (which finished the omnibus Selected Stories as well, done 2/13)
6. *Bel-Ami (done 2/5)
7.  Deadly Valentine (done 2/7)
8.  Yellow Crocus (done 2/12)
9.  Indian Summer of a Forsyte and in Chancery (contained in the omnibus "The Forsyte Saga - Complete") (done 2/21)
10. Awakening (done 2/22) & To Let (done 3/18) (contained in the omnibus "The Forsyte Saga - Complete")
11. Caesar's Wife A comedy in three acts (done 2/24)
12. Dutch Me Deadly (done 2/27)
13. Twenty Years After (done 3/11)
14. The Duchess of Malfi (done 3/16)
15. Room with a Clue (done 3/22)
------------------------------------

16. Uncle Vanya (done 4/3)
17. Open Season (done 4/6)
18. Ruth (done 4/14)
19. Out on a Limb: A Smoky Mountain Mystery (done 4/15)
20. Wine of Violence (done 4/27)
21. Right You Are! (If You Think So) (done 5/27) (contained in omnibus Three Plays)
22. The Vicomte de Bragelonne (done 5/28)
23. Ten Years Later

Having met and exceeded my goal, I am no longer going to list books in this category. I will include this challenge in my summary/review posts when appropriate but won't post reviews which only fit this category and no other.

[Leslie]

✔Orange challenge #5:
Read 12 short story collections (one per month): Done!
1. Rain and Other South Sea Stories
2. In a German Pension (contained in Selected Stories) (done 2/13)
3. Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories (done 3/15)
4. The Very Best of Charles de Lint
5. The Grey Woman And Other Tales (done 5/11)
6. The Complete Stories of Evelyn Waugh (only read ~250 pgs)
7. A Deal on a Handshake (done 6/18)
8. Curious, If True: Strange Tales (abandoned 6/26)
9. The Chronicles of Clovis (done 7/27)
10. The Awakening and Selected Short Stories (done 8/18)
11. Problem at Pollensa Bay (done 8/28)
12. Collected Short Stories (done 9/25)

13. I Hate To See That Evening Sun Go Down: Collected Stories (done 10/11)
14. The Faulkner Reader {reread of just the short stories} (done 10/15)
15. Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories (done 10/25)
16. The Blue Fairy Book (done 11/24)

[Leslie]

Tan challenge #6:
Historical fiction & Adventure
A) Read/reread the whole d'Artagnan series by Dumas - Done!
  ·The Three Musketeers (audiobook) {reread} ✔
  ·Twenty Years After {reread} ✔
  ·Vicomte de Bragelonne ✔
  ·Ten Years Later ✔
  ·Louise de La Vallière ✔
  ·The Man in the Iron Mask {reread}✔

B) read 3+ Sabatini off my shelves
  ·

C) miscellaneous other historical fiction
  ·The Luminaries (done 1/16)
  ·Regeneration (done 1/21)
  ·Wide Sargasso Sea (done 2/9)
  ·Yellow Crocus (done 2/12)
  ·Affinity (done 2/22)
  ·Wolf Totem (done 3/16)
  ·Room with a Clue (done 3/22)
  ·Niccolò Rising (done 6/17) {reread}
  ·The King's Hounds (done 6/26)
  ·King John (done 7/11)
  ·The Grand Sophy (done 9/5) {reread via audiobook}
  ·The Old Brown Suitcase: A Teenager's Story of War and Peace (done 9/9)
  ·Oathbreaker (done 9/26)
  ·Run with the Horsemen (done 10/13)
  ·Faro's Daughter (done 10/30) {reread via audiobook}
  ·The Long Home (done 11/10)

[Leslie]

✔ Yellow challenge #7: (yellow warber)

Read at least 25 books (new-to-me) from the Guardian's list of 1000 novels -- Done!

Progress: 32/25 plus 4 from Discworld series (see Powder Blue challenge #10)

1. The Vicar of Wakefield (done 1/9)
2. Regeneration (done1/21)
3. Austerlitz (done 1/30)
4. Bel-Ami (done 2/5)
5. Wide Sargasso Sea (done 2/9)
6. Affinity (done 2/22)
7. The Narrow Gate (done 2/5)
8. Tales of the City (audiobook) (done 3/16)
9. Invisible Cities (done 4/1)
10. The Man In The High Castle (done 4/10)
11. Ruth (done 4/14)
12. Love in the Time of Cholera (audiobook) (done 4/17)
13. Friday the Rabbi Slept Late (done 4/22)
14. Cloud Atlas (done 4/23)
15. The Three Coffins (done 4/26)
16. Chéri (done 5/5)
17. The Left Hand of Darkness (done 5/24)
18. The Remains of the Day (done 5/31)
19. The New York Trilogy (done 6/6)
20. The Riddle of the Sands (done 6/28)
21. Three Men in a Boat (done 7/19)
22. Love in a Cold Climate (done 7/29)
23. The Awakening (done 8/16)
24. Suite Française (done 8/29)
25. Sanctuary (done 8/30)

26. Cop Hater (done 9/3)
27. At Swim-Two-Birds (done 9/22)
28. Journey Into Fear (done 9/25)
29. The Monk (done 11/3)
30. Molloy (done 11/4)
31. Crome Yellow (done 11/16)
32. How Green Was My Valley (done 11/28)

[Leslie]

✓ Green challenge #8:

Read 24 plays (2 per month): -- Done! (11/12)
1. Antony and Cleopatra (done 1/10)
2. Much Ado About Nothing (done 1/21)
3. Caesar and Cleopatra (done 2/9)
4. Caesar's Wife A comedy in three acts (done 2/24)
5. The Duchess of Malfi (done 3/16)
6. Uncle Vanya (done 4/3)
7. Fanny's First Play (done 4/15)
8. Right You Are! (If You Think So) (done 5/27)
9. The Seagull (done 6/1)
10. Long Day's Journey Into Night (done 6/15)
11. The Two Gentlemen of Verona (done 6/22)
12. Pericles, Prince of Tyre (done 7/10)
13. King John (done 7/11)
14. The Doctor's Dilemma: A Tragedy (done 7/18)
15. The Miser (done 7/22)
16. Major Barbara (done 8/13)
17. Lovers' Vows (done 8/28)
18. The Mousetrap (done 9/4)
19. The Hollow: A Play (done 9/10)
20. Press Cuttings (done 10/12)
21. The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (done 10/17)
22. The School for Scandal {reread} (done 10/17)
23. The Good-Natured Man (done 10/28)
24. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (done 11/12)

25.

[Leslie]

Challenges #9-11: Science Fiction & Fantasy

I really enjoyed my sci fi/fantasy category this year so I am expanding it for 2015 to be 3 challenges, although each is an "author" challenge...

✔ Navy challenge #9:
Finish reading Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series: (done 12/3)

✔Shards of Honor -- book 1
✔ The Warrior's Apprentice -- book 2
✔ Ethan of Athos - book 3
✔ The Borders of Infinity - [novella] 3a
✔ Falling Free -- book 4
✔ Brothers in Arms -- book 5
✔ The Mountains of Mourning -- [novella] 5a
✔ Labyrinth -- [novella] 5b
✗ Borders of Infinity -- Book 6 = novellas 3a,5a,5b
✔ The Vor Game -- Book 7
✔ Barrayar -- Book 8
✔ Mirror Dance -- Book 9
✔ Cetaganda -- Book 10
✔ Memory -- Book 11
✔ Komarr -- Book 12
✔ A Civil Campaign -- Book 13
✔ Diplomatic Immunity -- Book 14
✔ Winterfair Gifts -- [novella] 14a
✔ Cryoburn -- Book 15
✔ Captain Vorpatril's Alliance -- Book 16

✗ Dreamweaver's Dilemma: Short Stories and Essays by Lois McMaster Bujold (contains prequel)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Omnibus editions:
1) Cordelia's Honor = 1 & 8
2) Young Miles = 2,5a,7
3) Miles, Mystery & Mayhem = 3,5b,10
4) Miles Errant = 3a,5,9
5) Miles in Love = 12-13,14a
6) Miles, Mutants and Microbes = 4,5b,14

[Katy]

My favorite is the pre-owned kindle books. I think that I need to do the same thing :)

[Leslie]

Indigo (indigo bunting)
Continue reading Charles de Lint's Newford series (and his other books as well, such as Yarrow)

·The Very Best of Charles de Lint (done 4/7)
·The Onion Girl (done 9/9)

Powder blue challenge #10:
Read 5+ books from the Discworld series:
1. Men at Arms (done 2/1)
2. The Color of Magic (done 5/30)
3. Feet of Clay (done 6/19)
4. The Light Fantastic (done 10/30)
5.

Miscellaneous sci fi/fantasy books:
  ·Robots and Empire (ROOT) (done 1/18)
  ·The Foundation Trilogy (BBC audiobook adaptation) {reread} (done 2/2)
  ·Pebble in the Sky (done 2/28)
  ·The Man in the High Castle (4/10)
  ·The Left Hand of Darkness (5/24)
  ·The Waters Rising (done 7/14) {reread}
  ·Fish Tails (done 7/17)
  ·The Handmaid's Tale (done 8/26) {reread}
  ·Artemis Fowl (11/2)

[Leslie]

✔ PURPLE challenge #11 2015 Reading Bingo -- Done!! 11/3



I think I will try for a row and a column, so a total of 10. Right now, I am thinking column A and row 3... to do the whole grid!

1A) A book with more than 500 pages: The Three Musketeers (done 1/7) ✔
1B) A forgotten classic: The Vicar of Wakefield (done 1/9)
1C) A book that became a movie: The Forsyte Saga (done 3/18)
1D) A book published this year: X (done 9/27)
1E) A book with a number in the title: Twenty Years After (done 3/11)

2A) A book written by someone under 30: The Luminaries (done 1/16) ✔
2B) A book with non-human characters: Robots and Empire (done 1/18)
2C) A funny book: Indiscretions of Archie (done 1/28)
2D) A book by a female author: A Bobwhite Killing (done 1/24)
2E) A book with a mystery: The Weight Of The Evidence (done 1/2)

3A) A book with a one word title: Affinity (done 2/22) ✔
3B) A book of short stories: Rain and Other South Sea Stories (done 1/8) ✔
X) FREE CHOICE - Poetry book Collected Poems, 1909-1962 (done 1/16) ✔
3D) A book set on a different continent: Austerlitz (done 1/30) ✔
3E) A book of non-fiction: Life on the Mississippi (audiobook) (done 1/25) ✔

4A) The first book by a favourite author: Pebble in the Sky (done 2/28) ✔
4B) A book you heard about online: Corpse Diplomatique (done 4/7)
4C) A bestselling book: The Guest Cat {NYT Bestseller} (done 4/2)
4D) A book based on a true story: Regeneration (done 1/21)
4E) A book at the bottom of you TBR pile: The Monk (done 11/3)

5A) A book your friend loves: The Name of the Wind (done 4/25) ✔
5B) A book that scares you: Locke & Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft (done 10/13)
5C) A book that is more than 10 years old: She Shall Have Murder (done 1/13)
5D) The second book in a series: Nightmare in Pink (done 2/15)
5E) A book with a blue cover: January Exposure (done 1/9)

BINGO! row 2 done 28 Jan.; row 3 done 30 Jan.; diagonal (top left to bottom right) done 22 Feb.

[Leslie]

✓ Violet challenge #12:
Read 12 poetry collections (one per month) -- Done!! (10/19)
1. Collected Poems, 1909-1962 by T.S. Eliot {AAB Seasonal Poet} (done 1/16)
2. New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver (done 2/12)
3. Classic Love Poems, narrated by Richard Armitage (done 2/15)
4. The Poetry of Derek Walcott 1948-2013
5. This Great Unknowing: Last Poems by Denise Levertov {AAB Seasonal Poet} (done 4/12)
6. Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth y Adrienne Rich (done 4/23)
7. The Jacob's Ladder by Denise Levertov {AAB Seasonal Poet} (done 5/20)
8. C. P. Cavafy: Collected Poems (done 6/23)
9. Facing The River by Czesław Miłosz {AAB Seasonal Poet} (done 7/20)
10. Bells In Winter by Czesław Miłosz {AAB Seasonal Poet} (done 8/29)
11. Across the Land and the Water: Selected Poems, 1964-2001 by W.G. Sebald (done 9/13)
12. The Wild Swans at Coole by W.B. Yeats (done 10/19)

13. The Wind Among the Reeds by W.B. Yeats (done 10/30)
14. Collected Poems by Philip Larkin (done 11/22)

[Leslie]

✔ Silver challenge #13:
Read at least 3 nonfiction books: (done!)
1. Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain (done 1/25)
2. The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois (done 2/21)
3. The Story of Mount Desert Island by Samuel Eliot Morison (done 8/3)

4. The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss (done 8/20)
5. Klondike House - Memories of an Irish Country Childhood by John Dwyer (done 11/2)
6. 84, Charing Cross Road (done 10/13)
7. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (done 10/23)

[Leslie]

✔ Alabaster challenge #14:
A-to-Z challenge (restricting it to titles); Mysteries are in bold.

0 2 left to go... X, Z -- Done, only one non-mystery!! (11/18)

A = Austerlitz (done 1/30) or Appleby's End (done 2/24)
B = A Bobwhite Killing (done 1/24)
C = Caesar's Wife: A Comedy in Three Acts (done 2/24) or Corpse Diplomatique (done 4/7)
D = The Deep Blue Good-By (done 1/19)
E = Excursion to Tindari (done 3/17)
F = The Foundation Trilogy (done 2/2) or Friday the Rabbi Slept Late (done 4/22)
G = The Guest Cat (done 4/2) or The Gray and Guilty Sea (done 11/12)
H = How the Light Gets In (done 2/12)
I = Indiscretions of Archie (done 1/28) or If Fried Chicken Could Fly (done 9/20)
J = January Exposure (done 1/9)
K = The King's Hounds (done 6/26)
L = The Luminaries (done 1/16) or The Locked Room (done 7/20)
M = Much Ado About Nothing (done 1/21) or The Masuda Affair (done 3/19)
N = Nightmare in Pink (done 2/15)
O = Open Season (done 4/6)
P = Pebble in the Sky (done 2/28) or The Purity of Vengeance (done 4/28)
Q = The Quick Red Fox (done 4/1)
R = A Red Herring Without Mustard (done 1/15)
S = She Shall Have Murder (done 1/13)
T = The Three Musketeers (done 1/7) or The Three Coffins (done 4/26)
U = Uncle Vanya (done 4/23)
V = The Vicar of Wakefield (done 1/9); The Voice of the Violin (done 2/2)
W = The Weight Of The Evidence (done 1/2)
X = X (done 9/27)
Y = Yellow Crocus (done 2/12) or Yesterday's Body (done 6/11)
Z = The Zero Trap (done 11/18)

[Leslie]

✔ Black challenge #15:
(stolen from Pink-- thanks!)
Hoarder's Corner
# of Books for this challenge: 10

Progress: 10/10 books -- Done!! (10/10)

✔1. A book that has been on my TBR shelf for years -- Our Mutual Friend (done 7/16)
✔2. A book that I think I'll hate -- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (done 4/23)
✔3. A book I received for free -- A Darker Shade of Magic (received from Ford) (done 10/10)
✔4. A book recommendation from a friend -- The Name of the Wind (done 4/25)
✔5. A book club selection that I missed -- The Grand Sophy {GR Heyer group BoTM for August} (done 9/5)
✔6. A book with a hideous cover -- A Deadly Shade of Gold (done 5/31)
✔7. A book that is so long I want to cry -- Twenty Years After (done 3/11)
✔8. A book that is so short it's barely a book at all -- Awakening (done 2/22)
✔9. A book that I know nothing about -- The Souls of Black Folk (done 2/21)
✔10. A book that has won awards -- The Luminaries (done 1/16)

[Tawallah]

Looks like a great challenge for the new year. Hope you make a good dent in the list. I admire how well thought out the reading challenges for the new year.

[Leslie]

Thanks June & Katy! I am sure that I will tinker with this for a while yet but am pleased to have the main outline done...

[Bionic Jean]

Lovely :)

I think you win the prize for the prettiest challenge Leslie! Really creative too :)

[Leslie]

Jean wrote: "Lovely :)

I think you win the prize for the prettiest challenge Leslie! Really creative too :)"

Thanks Jean -- I was inspired by my idea to read the Travis McGee mysteries next year. Have you read those? By John D. MacDonald. Anyway, those all have a color in the title (The Quick Red Fox, Pale Gray For Guilt, etc.).

[Pink]

Your challenge looks fantastic Leslie, so many good ideas and set out beautifully. I really should tackle my kindle books at some point too and I need to read more short stories and plays as well.

[Bionic Jean]

I haven't Leslie, no! I had been wondering who on earth he was and about to google to find out ... LOL!

So thank you :) It's probably a goldmine for authors to get an idea like that! Such as the alliteration in Simon Brett's "Fethering" series (Death on the Downs etc) or Sue Grafton who is gradually working her way through the alphabet starting with A is for Alibi.

And it makes it a lot easier to remember the titles too!

[Leslie]

Pink wrote: "Your challenge looks fantastic Leslie, so many good ideas and set out beautifully. I really should tackle my kindle books at some point too and I need to read more short stories and plays as well."

Well, you see that I stole a few of your ideas! :) And since you had 15 challenges, my competitive side made me do 15 as well :P

[Pink]

The trouble once I got started was keeping it down to 15!

[dely]

What a colorful challenge, really very nice! Yours too is a demanding challenge so I wish you good luck.

[Charbel]

Leslie, your challenges are so creative and so lovely to browse through. Good Luck.

[Leslie]

Charbel wrote: "Leslie, your challenges are so creative and so lovely to browse through. Good Luck."

Thanks Charbel! I probably shouldn't spend so much time on them though :P

[Leslie]

Maroon Challenge #2: Paperback Mysteries already owned
Alabaster Challenge #14: A-to-Z
The Weight Of The Evidence, (done 1/2)

Owned since 2006 when I acquired it from my parents (who owned it since the 60s!).
3½ ★ Decent police procedural. Innes has some sly wit in his writing in this one somewhat similar to that of Edmund Crispin. I am not sure that this mystery "played fair" in the sense of the reader being able to solve the case but I did enjoy trying.

Also fits into the Purple BINGO challenge (2E) but not within the row/column I am working on

[Leslie]

Tan Challenge #6: Historical Fiction
Brick Challenge #3: Books in Translation
Purple Challenge #11: Book Bingo 1A

The Three Musketeers,    (done 1/7)

5★ Although I have read this French masterpiece several times, this was my first time listening to it as an audiobook. John Lee did a marvelous job with the narration, although I did get distracted a few times by how much his voice sounded like Sean Connery's!

Despite being over 700 pages long, this book never seems to drag. I look forward to reading the rest of the series :)

[Leslie]

Orange Challenge #5: Short Stories
Purple Challenge #11: Book Bingo 3B

Rain and Other South Sea Stories,    (done 1/8)

4½★ This collection was originally published under the title "The Trembling of a Leaf: Little Stories of the South Sea Islands" in 1921. The new title was inspired by the fact that the short story "Rain" was made into a movie starring Joan Crawford. These short stories, mostly set in Samoa, vary in length from almost as long as a novella to less than a page.

[Julia]

I remember reading this book in my early 20's and loved it. I do have it on my TR shelf as I would like to re-read.

[Pink]

It looks like you've read a few good books already from your challenge list. I like how you're keeping track of which books are marked off different lists, I've been wondering how to do this myself!

[Pink]

In fact, it's so well organised, would you mind if I copy how you're keeping track?

[Leslie]

Pink wrote: "In fact, it's so well organised, would you mind if I copy how you're keeping track?"

Feel free!

[Leslie]

Scarlet Challenge #1: Read the USA mystery {North Dakota}
Pink Challenge #4: Kindle Catch-up (owned since 2013)
Alabaster Challenge #14: A-to-Z

January Exposure,    (done 1/9)

3★ Pretty good cozy mystery, set in North Dakota. I liked the protagonist, Ellie Craven, although her ignorance about some of the scientific apparatus seemed far-fetched as she is an analytical chemist by profession.

Also fits into the Purple BINGO challenge (5E) but not within the row/column I am working on

[Leslie]

Yellow Challenge #7: Guardian books
Pink Challenge #4: Kindle Catch-up (owned since 2012)
Alabaster Challenge #14: A-to-Z

The Vicar of Wakefield, and (Librivox audiobook)

4★ I found this satire of mid-eighteenth century English society quite amusing. However, it wasn't as good as Goldsmith's famous play, She Stoops to Conquer.

Also fits into the Purple BINGO challenge (1B) but not within the row/column I am working on

[Leslie]

Green Challenge #8: Plays - #1

Antony and Cleopatra,   (done 1/10)

3★ For some reason this play just didn't work for me. Perhaps I need to try it when I am in a different mood or see it being performed... I gave it 3★ because of the basic plot elements and because it is Shakespeare but if I follow GR's rating system strictly, it should get 2★.

Also fits into the Tan Historical Fiction challenge!

[Greg]

Leslie, I do find that I get a lot more out of Shakespeare plays once I've seen a good production of them. It was that way for me with As You Like It.

In my case, it could just be that I'm a dunce with wit & puns; the most tortuous, indirect, symbolism comes to me fairly easily - I seem to have an intuition for it. But wit goes over my head 90% of the time - it is really embarrassing how bad I am; so unless I see the plays performed, I miss so much of the humor!

[Leslie]

I was just discussing this evening about the fact that Shakespeare didn't really do humor that well -- not nearly as good as Moliere for example. Definitely improves with viewing it performed as you say!

[Greg]

I agree totally Leslie - Molière is hilarious for me even on paper, but Shakespeare's humor is often too subtle for me to catch.

[Pink]

Oh that's good to read your comments on Shakespeare and Moliere. I prefer to watch Shakespeare performed and struggle with reading and enjoying the plays, but assumed that was due to my uncultured brain! Perhaps I should try reading Moliere instead.

[Leslie]

Pink wrote: "Oh that's good to read your comments on Shakespeare and Moliere. I prefer to watch Shakespeare performed and struggle with reading and enjoying the plays, but assumed that was due to my uncultured ..."

Yes, try a Moliere play sometime. Tartuffe or The Misanthrope are both very funny and easy to read IMO.

[Pink]

Thanks for the tip

[LauraT]

Leslie wrote: "Yes, try a Moliere play sometime. Tartuffe or The Misanthrope are both very funny and easy to read IMO. "

Definitly agree! We read The Imaginary Invalid last year, and I've seen them all at theatre, along with The Bourgeois Gentleman - exhilarating!

[Leslie]

Alabaster Challenge#14: A-to-Z (S)

She Shall Have Murder,    (done 1/13)

4★ I was pleasantly surprised by this 1940s British cozy -- the author maintained the 'cozy' style (nonprofessional detective) without becoming too caught up in romance (a common flaw in many cozies). I felt the balance between Jane & Dagobert's personal life and the mystery was just right. Ames also managed to have several plausible motives within a fairly restricted circle of suspects.

This could also be used in the Purple BINGO challenge (5C) but not in the row/column I am working on

[Leslie]

Alabaster Challenge #14: A-to-Z (R)

A Red Herring Without Mustard,   (audiobook) (done 1/15)

3★ This is the third book in the Flavia de Luce series and I still don't like any of the main recurring characters (except perhaps Dogger). I rounded up my rating from 2½★ based on Jayne Entwistle's narration and the slight twist at the ending of an otherwise predictable plot.

I know many people really like this series and being a chemistry nerd myself, I was hoping to be one of them. Unfortunately, I find the main character, 11-year-old Flavia, unlikable and unrealistic. So this is my last outing of this series.

[Leslie]

Violet Challenge #11: Poetry
Purple Challenge: Bingo (Free Square 3C)

Collected Poems 1909 - 1962,    (done 1/16)

4★ While I love some of the poems, others I didn't care for at all. So it is hard to rate the book as a whole... These poems were selected by Eliot himself just a few years before he died as the best of his work and it certainly contains all of his most famous work EXCEPT for the fact it doesn't even have one poem from "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats". With that in mind, I cannot whole-heartedly recommend it as a single sole volume of Eliot's poetry.

I am not much of a modernist, so it is perhaps not surprising that I found many of the so-called "minor poems" more enjoyable than the more serious (and to me often more obscure) verses. My favorites:

- The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
- Portrait of a Lady
- The Waste Land
- Ahe-Wednesday V (If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent)
- Five-finger Exercises (esp. I Lines to a Persian Cat)
- Landscapes (esp. V Cape Ann)
- Burnt Norton from Four Quartets
- To the Indians Who Died in Africa

[Leslie]

Purple Challenge: Bingo (2A)
Black Challenge: Hoarders (#10)
Tan Challenge: Historical Fiction (Part C)


The Luminaries, (done 1/16)

2★ Although well-written, this historical fiction epic of the New Zealand goldfields lacks heart. Catton created an intricate plot with a nicely chosen cast of characters but she never managed to make me care about them.

[Pink]

I'll be starting this at the end of the month. Interesting to see what you thought of it, I've been wary since reading the first few pages, which didn't inspire me at all, so I put it down again for now.