Carol J's 2025 Reading Challenge

[Carol]

92. The Cat Who Smelled a Rat by Lilian Jackson Braun - There is a rash of fires going on in Moose County and Jim Qwilleren is going to look into it... with the help of his cats, of course. *** 3/10/25

[Carol]

93. Love, Lies and Liquor by M.C. Beaton - Agatha is running her business and feeling lonely for her ex-husband, James Lacey. He shows up again and invites Agatha to come with him to Snoth-on-Sea. They go and Mr. and Mrs. Jankers pick a fight with Agatha. Then Mrs. Jankers was found dead. Strangled by Agatha's scarf. **** 3/11/25

[Carol]

94. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters - 1962. A Mi’kmaq family came down from Canada into Maine to pick blueberries. While the family was picking, the 4 year old daughter disappeared. No one knew what happened to her until years later. *** 3/11/25

[Carol]

95. The Twelve Jays of Christmasby Donna Andrews - Meg and Michael are holding their yearly holiday party. There are friends and family everywhere and this is stressing Meg out. Plus, Meg's grandfather is writing a bird book with some lovely bird art pictures in painted by a Mr. Castlemayne. Then Mr. Castlemayne is murdered! **** 3/12/25

[Carol]

96. The Naturalist's Daughter: A Novel by Tea Cooper - Rose has been assisting her father in the study of the platypus in it's home in Australia. Then he gets sick and it turns out he isn't really her father. Her father left Australia years earlier with his son. What!? He did not know her mother was pregnant. Rose's father who had raised her as his own daughter, sent her to England so she could get her birth father to help her get her present the other's journal to the nature society. *** 3/12/25

[Carol]

97. The Ghost and the Leprechaun by Bobbi Holmes - Is there a Leprechaun messing with the people at Marlow House? *** 3/14/25

[Carol]

98. The Chuckwagon Trail by William W. Johnstone - Mac is running from the law because he was framed for his fiance's father's murder. He hires on with a cattle drive as the cook. After that, one bad thing after another happens. *** 3/14/25

[Carol]

99. Samira's Worst Best Summer by Nina Hamza - Sami has some anxieties. One is that her best friend isn't acting like a friend. One thing after another happens to Sami and she thinks Kiera is behind it, but Sami doesn't feel brave enough to confront her. **** 3/15/25

[Carol]

100. Always Faithful by Sherry A. Burton - A woman's car crashes off the road on a cold and snowy night. There is no sign of help coming for her. Then a huge German Shepherd comes and squeezes into the car and helps warm her. The dog howls and howls and finally help comes. The thing is, there is no sign of the GSD. *** 3/15/25

[Carol]

101. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling - Surprisingly, I liked this better than the Fantastic Beasts screenplay. Both were good, but I felt like this had more of a story. About Harry Potter and his son, Albus. **** 3/16/25

[Carol]

102. Mickey7 by Edward Ashton - In the future, clones are used to study deaths. Mickey falls down a shaft in the outside and is left for dead. Only he isn't and that causes big problems. *** 3/17/25

[Carol]

103. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold - I was dreading reading this book b/c there is a "pivotal" incident that shapes a major character. But, it ended up being my favorite book in the series. Cordelia handles the difficulties with maturity and humor and hope. ***** 3/18/25

[Carol]

104. Broken Fields by Marcie R. Rendon - One day, while Cash was working the fields with her tractor, she saw a car running in front of the farmhouse. As she drove back and forth, she saw it was still sitting there... all day... running... wasting gas. Finally she goes to the house and finds the body of a man on the floor, shot dead. **** 3/20/25

[Carol]

105. The Clue in the Diary by Carolyn Keene - I listened to the audio book version of this. I believe Laura Linney's reading was the difference between a 3 and 4 star review. Nancy and her friends were out and about when the spotted a house fire. Nancy quickly switches to detective mode and discovers the home was owned by an untrusty skinflint and the prime suspect is a Swedish inventor. **** 3/22/2025

[Carol]

106. Romeo & Juliet: The Contemporary Film, The Classic Play by Craig Pearce - This paperback was made up of both the Wm. Shakespeare play and also the screenplay of the Baz Luhrmann movie, Romeo + Juliet. **** 3/22/25

[Carol]

107. This Just Speaks to Me: Words to Live By Every Day by Hoda Kotb - Every day she tells a true story, gives inspirational words, gives inspirational quotes, etc. ***** 3/23/25

[Carol]

108. The Master Falconer by C.J. Box - A short story about Nate Romanowski. A former friend of Nate's wants to do business with him and buy some of his falcons. Nate refuses, but that isn't good enough for the man. *** 3/23/25

[Carol]

109. Murder, She Wrote (Original): The Murder of Sherlock Holmes by James Anderson - Jessica's new publishing company threw a costume ball for Jessica's new book. Unfortunately someone killed Sherlock Holmes. *** 3/23/25

[Carol]

110. The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens - 2nd reading - I got a hold of an advanced copy of this book from the Minnesota author, Allen Esken and really enjoyed it. Nura Divjak was a Bosnian teenager in 1995 one day she witnesses atrocities by Serbian soldiers and is on the run, yet dreaming of revenge. **** 3/29/25

[Carol]

111. Dune by Frank Herbert - Paul Atreides is the teenage son of the Duke whose new position is on the desert planet of Arrakis. Then all hell breaks loose. The Duke is kidnapped and killed and his wife and Paul escape their kidnappers. Then Paul finds his own role on the new planet. **** 3/29/25

[Carol]

112. The Lost Tomb: And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder by Douglas Preston - Short stories based on real life bones, burials, and murder. *** 3/29/25

[Carol]

113. The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera - 1923 - Stories in the life of two El Salvadoran sisters. *** 3/29/2025

[Karol]

Carol wrote: "111. Dune by Frank Herbert - Paul Atreides is the teenage son of the Duke whose new position is on the desert planet of Arrakis. Then all hell breaks loose. ..."

Dune is one of the few SciFi books I've ever read and I enjoyed it a lot.

[Carol]

Karol wrote: "Carol wrote: "111. Dune by Frank Herbert - Paul Atreides is the teenage son of the Duke whose new position is on the desert planet of Arrakis. Then all hell breaks loose. ..."

There are a lot of sequels and prequels to it.

If you like that, you may like The Vorkosigan Saga book series by Lois McMaster Bujold. I loved the world she created.

[Carol]

114. The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson - After WW1, many ladies find themselves without prospects. The men are returning from the front and taking the jobs that the ladies "temporarily" took while the men were at war. *** 3/31/24

[Karol]

Carol wrote: "111. Dune by Frank Herbert . . .If you like that, you may like The Vorkosigan Saga book series by Lois McMaster Bujold. I loved the world she created. ..."

Thanks for the recommendation, Carol!

[Carol]

115. Death at the Chateau Bremont by M.L. Longworth - A local nobleman falls to his death. It looks like an accident, but "juge" Antoine Verlaque believes it is something more. **** 4/2/25

[Carol]

116. The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel - Jane is a widow and she is trying to make a living to support herself and her two teenage daughters. She gets an opportunity to go to Siberia to work on a wooley mammoth project, but she has to bring her daughters. *** 4/4/25

[Carol]

117. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins - Hunger Games prequel that focuses on Haymitch Abernathy. **** 4/7/25

[Carol]

118. A Traitor in Whitehall by Julia Kelly - Evelyne Redfern is a young woman workduring WW2 England. She get's offered a job working at Prime Minister Winston Churchill's Whitehall. Then one of the other secretaries gets killed and Evelyne investigates. **** 4/8/25

[Carol]

119. Keep Moving: And Other Truths About Living Well Longer by Dick Van Dyke - Some wonderful words of wisdom from Dick Van Dyke on life, living, death, and everything in between. ***** 4/9/25

[Carol]

120. Tarzan the Terrible by Edgar Rice Burroughs - (view spoiler)[Jane is alive! (hide spoiler)] Tarzan goes off to (view spoiler)[rescue her and has to (hide spoiler)]travel through unexplored lands where he runs into extinct prehistoric beasts! **** 4/10/24

[Carol]

121. News of the World by Paulette Jiles - 2nd read - What a delightful book! Captain Kidd was paid to deliver a little girl who was captured by the Kiowa Indians in the mid 1800s. ***** 4/12/25

[Carol]

122. Rules of Prey by John Sandford - Lucas Davenport is assigned to the "Maddog" serial killer case. A very dark mystery. *** 4/12/25

[Carol]

123. The Witch Who Trades with Death by C.M. Alongi - Khana is a witch who had to start trading with death. *** 4/12/25

[Carol]

124. Round Up the Usual Peacocks by Donna Andrews - Kevin, Meg's nephew is involved with a podcast specializing in Virginia cold cases and asks her help. At the same time, Meg tries to help with her brother's wedding. *** 4/13/25

[Carol]

125. The Ghost Who Lied by Bobbi Holmes - It turns out that a newly murdered ghost had been lying all along. *** 4/13/25

[Carol]

126. Dracula by Bram Stoker - The familiar story of the young solicitor, Johnathan Harker traveled from England to Transylvania to help a Count Dracula purchase and sign papers on England's Carfax Abbey. Johnathan suffers nightmarish events while there and barely makes it home. Meanwhile his fiance's friend, Lucy is suffering ill health and finally succumbs. Later in the novel it looks like Johnathan's fiance, Mina, may suffer the same fate as her friend! **** 4/15/25

[Carol]

127. Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon - It is hard to here these stories of abuses against Native American women and children. While this book is a work of fiction, many of the instances were based on true stories. *** 4/15/25

[Carol]

128. Hip-Hop Is History by Questlove - I really enjoyed this non-fiction book on a subject I did not know much about: Hip Hop - noun) a popular culture movement originated by Black performers in New York City in the 1970s and characterized by rap music, break dancing, and graffiti art.

Questlove presented this information in a way a Hip Hop beginner could appreciate. **** 4/16/2025

[Carol]

129. Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom by Jan Burkins - I loved this book! In real life, I am a reading tutor and we have been trained to use a lot of these exercises, so it really hit home. **** 4/16/25

[Karol]

Carol wrote: "126. Dracula by Bram Stoker - The familiar story of the young solicitor, Johnathan Harker traveled from England to Transylvania to help a Count Dracula ..."

Oh my goodness - when I read Dracula I was totally creeped out! There's something about Victorian Era mood setting that gets me fairly jumpy. Glad you enjoyed the book.

[Carol]

130. The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer - A great, short, non fiction book read by the author who discusses Indigenous economics and gratitude. Kind of a pass it on, keep it going, gratitude attitude. GIVE your extra things away. If you have more than enough apples, give a bag to your neighbor. They will make two pies and perhaps give you one. The author was so "zen" while reading this. I think it is something for the world to think about. ***** 4/19/25

[Carol]

131. Beast of the North Woods by Annelise Ryan - Morgan is a cryptozoologist who is asked to look into the brutal death of a Rhinelander, Wisconsin man, thus clearing her friend, Rita's nephew. She is asked to prove that a hodag was the killer. **** 4/19/25

[Carol]

132. The Great Hippopotamus Hotel by Alexander McCall Smith - The ladies of the detective agency are investigating unfortunate events at The Great Hippopotamus Hotel. **** 4/21/25

[Carol]

133. Leslie F*cking Jones by Leslie Jones - I was really surprised how much I enjoyed this book. Yes there was a lot of the F bomb being thrown around (like every sentence, seriously!), but I am OK with that. She is a very passionate person and you can tell by the way she narrates her book. Everything you ever wanted to know about Leslie Jones but was afraid to ask. Unfortunately, I think I am now desensitized to the F bomb and am scared I'm going to let it slip! **** 4/22/25

[Carol]

134. Tooth and Claw by Craig Johnson - A flashback to a 1970s Henry and Walt working for an Alaskan oil company, when there are what seem to be, crazed polar bear attacks. **** 4/23/25

[Carol]

135. Take Us to a Better Place by Madeline Ashby - Short stories from various authors about well-being and the future of health and the planet. ** 4/23/25

[Carol]

136. Nancy's Mysterious Letter by Carolyn Keene - Nancy Drew receives a letter stating she is to inherit a large fortune. She knows that this is a mistake and is on the hunt for the right Nancy Drew. *** 4/24/25

[Carol]

137. Roadside Crosses by Jeffery Deaver - Roadside crosses are popping up along the highway. They are not memorials to past fatalities, but marking future deaths. Throw in some mother trouble, online blogs and cyber bullies and Katheryn Dance has her hands full. *** 4/25/25