Octobor Challenges

 According to the October prompts, I picked three books from my three favorite authors. It will be a severe book battle to decide a monthly favorite.

 Oct book 1 A book with an orange cover or spine

The Cat Who Turned On and Off (The Cat Who #3)

Author: Lilian Jackson Braun

Genre: cozy mystery

Number of pages: 265

First published: 1968

Setting: the US in the 1960’s

Rating: 4 stars

First sentence: In December the weather declared war.

One sentence comment: It will be a great read during Christmas time since snow, Santa Clause and gift wrapping are involved.

 I love the tone of the book, relax with a slight slouch in the beginning. It told the situation of the protagonist, Qwilleran, poor and lonely approaching Christmas. In order to get out of his slum-like hotel room, he was going to join a writing competition. Nevertheless, rather than writing a heartwarming Christmas story, he was drawn in a murder investigation. Now the protagonist has two cats, each coming from the former books of the series. I had wondered whether the number of cats would grow with the ending of the book.

 

Each book of the series reveals a circle of artists. The first book is about the book critics, the second, designers, and this book, antique dealers. The traits and dialogues of the major characters, who are also suspects, are unique and funny. The author’s craft of characters are clever; with a new art circle revolving, we read a new set of characters each book so we don’t easily get bored. However, I feel I have enough to read about the protagonist’s doting on his two cats.

 

Oct book 2 an older book written before 1950

My Antonia

Author: Willa Cather

Genre: fiction

Number of pages: 250

First published: 1918

Setting: Nebraska, US

Rating: 4 stars

First sentence: Last summer I happened to be crossing the plains of Iowa in a season of intense heat, and it was my good fortune to have for a traveling companion James Quayle Burden – Jim Burden, as we still call him in the West.

One sentence comment: There are so many anecdotes from the American frontier in the early 20^th century that were told through the book and we shall get to know and remember them.

 I love Cather’s writing, so tranquil even about belligerent events. I like to recite the sentences as if I were watching the extending prairie. The Russian immigrants’ tragedy was very affecting for they were forced to leave their country but could never find a new home in their heart. However we see many people from Bohemia, Norway or Sweden could well settle down and open a new leaf of their life. I think the reason why the book is the most acclaimed among the writer’s works is because it gave various portrayals of people’s realistic situations, the hardship, the problems, and their sentiment of the time.

 However, I don’t like the book as much as O Pioneers, because this book is less structured. The protagonist, Antonia was still a girl after I read half of the book. The emphasis was on all sorts of people at the country and a small town, so It felt like a memoir rather than a novel. We were shown many people’s lives so the book doesn’t live up to the title. I felt distracted to be introduced to one character after another.

 Oct book 3 a book with an odd number of pages

Where Shadows Dance (Sabastian St. Cyr Mystery #6)

Author: C S Harris

Genre: historical mystery

Number of pages: 345

First published: 2011

Setting: London, 1812

Rating: 5 stars

First sentence: A cool wind gusted up, rstling the branches of the trees overhead and bringing with it the unmistakable clatter of wooden wheels approaching over cobblestones.

One sentence comment:

 I love the beginning of the book, which introduced the International affairs when Britain fought with Napoleon in Spain, was prepared for defending Canada from American attack, and pondering about sending troops to defend Russia from Napoleon. While in Britain the invention of the steam engine attracted a crowd’s attention. What a summer in 1812!

 Sabastian St. Cyr Mystery is my most favorite series. There are many loveable and theatrical characters in this series. I don’t get tired of them reading one book after another because their personal stories are evolving along with each murder case investigated. Harris is a masterful writer in delivering ferocious-minded female characters and devious antagonists. Some conversations were so hilarious that kept me laughing and wondering how the serious looking Harris could come up with those witty dramas! Reading her books satisfies my curiosity and fulfills me with entertainment.

 Oct 4 an objectionable book (banned at some point)

The Bluest Eye

Author: Toni Morrison

Genre: fiction

Number of pages: 206

First published: 1969

Setting: 1939-1941, US

Rating: 3 stars

First sentence: Here is the house.

One sentence comment: It’s astonishing but I don’t enjoy it because of its bitterness.

 The story is about Pecola and her parents, their past and how they become who they are. The author can write the worst melancholy in a person’s heart. Indeed we are often aware of people’s monstrous behaviors but neglect what has made a monster.

 

September Challenges

 Sep 1. A book with a number or color word in the title

The Four Winds

Author: Kristin Hannah

Genre: historical fiction

Number of pages: 499

First published: 2021

Setting: Texas

Rating: 4 stars

First sentence: Hope is a coin I carry: an American penny, given o me by a man I came to love.

One sentence comment: I’m impressed to have a glimpse of the drought, the sand storm, the flood and the worker association during the 1930’s America.

 The first few chapters are eye-catching; it drew me to the struggle of a woman being distained by her native family. She had limited choices and she bravely chose one for her future. The story further impressed me when the protagonist, Elsa and her mother-in-law developed a strong bond. The flaw of the story is the relationship between Elsa and her husband. I could not sympathize with it at all. He was the weakest person in the whole family, but how could she had so much love for him?

 This is the second book by Kristin Hannh that I have read after The Great Alone. I love her story and the way it was told. Never lose hope when the worst kept coming.

 

Sep book 2. A book written for children or classified as YA

The Fault in Our Stars

Author: John Green

Genre: YA

Number of pages: 313

First published: 2012

Setting: Indiana, USA

Rating: 5 stars

First sentence: Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death.

One sentence comment: It’s a young adult fiction that tackles heavy subject, counting your time to death.

 I bought the book because the book title was attractive. it sounded like a line of poem, and it triggered my curiosity. Then I found out it was about tragic stories where the protagonists tried their best to live a fulfilling life. I love their conversations and the philosophy involved. Surprisingly the book with depth is focused on life of the young people whose short lives were embedded with books, movies, thoughts and love. Having a much longer life than them, I felt as if I had not lived when I were young. It is a book that makes me think whether I take life for granted without being grateful and I should have worked harder.

 

Sep book 3 a classic or modern classic which is sometimes required reading in high school or in university

To Kill a Mocking Bird

Author: Harper Lee

Genre: classic fiction

Number of pages: 307

First published: 1961

Setting: Alabama, USA in 1930’s

Rating: 4 stars

First sentence: When he was nearly thirteen my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

One sentence comment: The 7-year-old narrator is fabulous and adorable.

 The beginning of the book cast an intriguing shadow by the ‘malevolent phantom’, which reminded me of another book My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, and I thought perhaps Ferrante got inspiration from this book.

 I enjoy reading the protagonist’s family and school life. Doctors and lawyers were paid by potatoes. You could be scolded by the teacher that you had learned reading and writing at home before going to school. The incidents were so unique that I was surprised that it was like a completely different world in Alabama in the 1930’s. However, I think the heroism related to the protagonist’s father is over the top and unrealistic. Perhaps the author’s next book Go Set a Watchman is better.

 

 

Sep book 4 a book with a word in a title of something that you would find and learn in school (war)

Warbreaker

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Genre: fantasy

Number of pages: 676

First published: 2009

Setting: T’telir

Rating: 5 stars

First sentence: It’s funny, Vasher thought, how many things begin with my getting thrown into prison.

One sentence comment: I am intrigued by the fantastic kingdom of returned gods and awakening magic.

 It’s the first book that I’ve read by Brandon Sanderson, who’s probably the most noted fantasy writer nowadays. I started to read fantasy this year, hoping to be revitalized because young people like to read fantasy. It provides a larger world of imagination and with adventure. I chose a book of which major protagonists are women. However, I somewhat dislike the two female protagonists. I think they are too much into the trope of princesses. On the other hand, I was particularly interested in the male protagonist, Lightsong, who was esteemed in the kingdom but doubted his role and the rules of the system. The line of his story was a mystery, about which I was as much curious as he was. This book makes me want to read more by Sanderson because I reckon he may think like a philosopher

August Book Challenge

 

1 An author you’ve never read

Murder with Peacocks ( Meg Langslow Mystery #1)

Author: Donna Andrews

Genre: cozy mystery

Number of pages: 296

First published: 1999

Setting: Yorktown, Virginia

Rating: 5 stars

First sentence: I had become so used to hysterical dawn phone calls that I only mutered one halfhearted oath before answering.

One sentence comment: The whole set of quirky cast can sound so real and uplifting.

 

I am fascinated by Mr Langslow, an eccentric retired doctor and the protagonist’s father, who often did strange experiment or brought up unwelcomed bloody topics to dinner table, including the murder case. His detective-minded daughter, Meg, was hilarious while she was organizing three weddings at the same time. The preparation was astonishing and admirable. I would have been highly enjoyable to be part of it. Meg sometimes suspected her parents were involved in the ‘geriatric love triangle’ resulting to murder. What an entertaining fun mystery! No wonder it won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. In addition, the fantastic bookcover will possibly be my favorite of the year.

 

I was intrigued by one of the wedding presents in the book, so I googled and found out what Spanish moss was.

 

2 a book with a blue cover

My Family and Other Animals

Author: Gerald Durrell

Genre: fiction

Number of pages: 373

First published: 1956

Setting: Corfu island

Rating: 4 stars

First sentence: July had been blown out like a candle by a biting wind that ushered in a leaden August sky.

One sentence comment: The author’s beautiful prose and unusual pets are both baffling and intriguing for me to get into an romantic life in the island.

 

All the animals on the lovely book cover are the author’s home pet after he moved to Corfu with his family. There are numerous humorous and heart warming stories about them. The most implausible but inspiring plot is about Dodo, the dog the author’s mother adopted. How Dodo was possessive about Mother and how Mother doted on her are both exceptional.

 

The reason why it doesn’t get my five stars is because of its difficult vocabularies about wildlife and plants.

 

3 free pick

Harvest

Author: Tess Gerritsen

Genre: medical thriller

Number of pages: 512

First published: 1996

Setting: Boston

Rating: 4 stars

One sentence comment: The fictional plot is as dramatic as the realistic crime that horrify the world.

 

It’s probably the first book about scandal of organ transplantation that has raised awareness of the crime happening in China. US medical associations have forbidden doctors from China to gain latest organ transplantation for years. It is high time to read the book when the US government passed a law to prosecute forced organ harvesting recently.

 

4 a book in a series

Royal Flush (Royal Spyness Mystery #3)

Author: Rhys Bowen

Genre: historical mystery

Number of pages: 306

First published: 2009

Setting: Scotland

Rating: 4 stars

First sentence: It is my opinion that there is no place on earth more uncomfortable than London during a heat wave.

One sentence comment: Having been reading the series and known the major characters with little surprise from them, I still quite enjoy the plot about the royal family.

 

In this book, I get to read about the late queen Elizabeth II as a girl at the Balmoral Castle. I guess Rhys Bowen had read The Little Princesses, a biography written by the late queen’s governess, so that she wrote that the young princess wanted to marry a farmer at the time. It’s so interesting to realize how a life turns. Mrs Simpson, who would later become the wife of Prince of Wales, was surprisingly haughty and preposterous. Isn’t it a good luck for the late queen to meet two obnoxious American women at different periods of her time?

 

5 a book with a two-word title

The Stand

Author: Stephen King

Genre: dystopian

Number of pages: 1296

First published: 1989

Setting: The US

Rating: 3 stars

First sentence: “Sally.”

One sentence comment: It is an ambitious work including a large cast and vast reference to literature and Bible.

 

The first part of the book caught my attention. The atmosphere of the world coming to an end kept me on edge. However, I found this book too long and I don’t particular like to read a supernatural character, Flagg. It was considered Stephen King’s best book from many booktubers. However, I am not particularly drawn to the dystopian novel.

 

6 A book with “The” at the first word of the title

The Mysterious Affairs at Styles

Author: Agatha Christie

Genre: cozy mystery

Number of pages: 264

First published: 1920

Setting: England

Rating: 3 stars

One sentence comment: The first book of Poirot is well written but characters in Christie’s books are too simplified comparing with those of modern cozy mysteries.

 

7 A book with a male protagonist

And Then There Were None

Author: Agatha Christie

Genre: cozy mystery

Number of pages: 293

First published: 1939

Setting: an island

Rating: 3 stars

One sentence comment: The famous locked room mystery is intriguing but not interesting.

 

July Book Challenge

 

1.      A book set in the place where you live ~

女二 (Female Supporting Role)

Author: Joyoon Deng

Genre: fiction

Number of pages: 461

First published: 2023

Setting: Taipei

Rating: 2 stars

First sentence: She was barefoot, stepping into her sister’s cloth shoes.

One sentence comment: This is a book full of dialogues, a bit like a play.

 

I seldom read novels written by Taiwanese writers because I don’t relate much to the characters. However, this book was recommended in a philosophical professor’s video, and it got a Taipei Prize last year.

It’s about a young woman’s acting life and her psychology. The reason she wants to be an actor is that she doesn’t need to act the role of herself. She wants to conquer something. I like the idea that after one gets mature, one can be great without depending on dreams.

 

2. A book set in a different world

Revival

Author: Stephen King

Genre: Horror

Number of pages: 466

First published: 2012

Setting: US

Rating: 4 stars

First sentence: In one way, at least, our lives really are like movies.

One sentence comment: I love the first two chapters, which are so vivid that I was brought in the methodist community in the sixties US, and felt similar heart-broken like the characters in the book had felt.

 I started the book in latter June. It was written by King in his mid seventies. The major theme is death and faith, which, I believe, he had personally experienced in his near fatal car accident and aftermath in previous years. King is a master in writing an antihero, especially the pivot of his change. The antihero in the book is most interesting. His surname, Jacobs, is the mixture of job and Jacob from the bible. The former was stripped of everything he loved in life, but the latter was determined to fight with an angle to get up a ladder to heaven. Curiously he also used his middle name Dan, which I think is from Dan Brown, the latest powerful antichrist writer.

 I adore this book either for its theme or characters. However, the weakness of the book is the portion of the narrator‘s band career and love life, which felt like superfluous add-on. Therfore, I only give it four stars.

 

3. A book by an author from a country different than your own

Sense and Sensibility

Author: Jane Austen

Genre: fiction

Number of pages: 353

First published: 1811

Setting: Sussex, Devenshire and London, UK

Rating: 3 stars

First sentence: The family of Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex.

One sentence comment: The story is bland because I was affected by none of the characters.

 

This is the last of the Austen’s six novels that I read. I realized why the film of 1995 directed by Ang Lee was considered excellent because the actors made the characters’  feelings effective. Again it is a story of love constrained by financial situations but Marianne was surprisingly immature considering how they were forced to move out with her father’s death.

 

In my opinion, the theme of the book is Gossip. People who care about the two heroines, Elinor and Marianne, pass gossip for the benefit of finding husbands for them. However, Elinor and Marianne seem to be quite obnoxious, criticizing other people for their lack of taste or vulgar remarks. If these people don't exist, the sisters’ good taste of music or art can't be known for the purpose of either love or marriage. If they don't care for gossips, why are they eager to be informed of Willoughby's fortune and character from those who gossip? Actually the society they sit in is fed by gossip, but they act as if they are better than their companions. I think the two sisters are the most unpleasant characters in Austen's novels.

 4. A book with a place in the title

Murder on Bank Street (Gaslight Mystery #10)

Author: Victoria Thompson

Genre: historical mystery

Number of pages: 326

First published: 2008

Setting: New York City

Rating: 2 stars

First sentence: Danny didn’t like lying to the Doc.

One sentence comment: It becomes the easiest thing to continue this mystery series for everything that happens there seems so familiar to me.

 This book seems repetitive to me since many events happened then were talked by different characters. The readers have to read the same events a few times. The plot is most absurd. I think this is the worst book in the series so far. Had I not already bought a few later books, I may stop here.

 

5. A book with a landscape on the cover

Circle of Friends

Author: Maeve Binchy

Genre: fiction

Number of pages: 722

First published: 1990

Setting: Ireland

Rating: 4 stars

First sentence: The kitchen was full of the smells of baking.

One sentence comment: It’s disappointing that there isn’t a mature female leading role as in the author’s previous books.

 

The story revolves around three 20 year old girls. Everyone has to cope with their drawbacks and yearnings. It’s a great story but not as great as the author’s earlier novels. Still, I enjoy reading a devious young woman in formation.

 

June Monthly Challenge

1.      A book about a parent, siblings, or other family members

The Shining

Author: Stephen King

Genre: horror

Number of pages: 659

First published: 1977

Setting: small town

Rating: 5 stars

First sentence: Jack Torrence thought: Officious little prick.

One sentence comment: This is my first book by Stephen King then I know the scariest horror is from human.

 

I misunderstood Stephen King as the mainstream art world did. He is ahead of our time at least by 20 years.  In the book, he talked about addiction, hatred, trauma, and madness, which are the major topics when we deal with kids’ problems nowadays. He will be one of my favorite authors that I read every year.

2. A book with a child or a house on the cover

O Pioneers

Author: Willa Cather

Genre: fiction

Number of pages: 230

First published: 1913

Setting: Nebraska in 19^th century

Rating: 5 stars

First sentence: One January day, thirty years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away.

One sentence comment: It’s a very beautiful book that took me by surprise.

 

I love the two women protagonists that are very different but lovable in the same way. Symbolic scenery and inner thoughts of the characters are fascinating like poetry. The culture and the ensuing sin and crime are responded drastically different by the people then from our era. It provokes me to have a better understanding of human condition.

 

3. A book that was first published during your parent’s lifetime

When the Bough Breaks (# 1 of Alex Delaware series)

Author: Jonathan Kellerman

Genre: mystery

Number of pages: 426

First published: 1985

Setting: Boston

Rating: 3 stars

First sentence: It was shaping up as a beautiful morning.

One sentence comment: I like the part about the psychologist world but not the action packed plot.

 

I can be drawn to any book with Freudian elements, but a psychologist with an Indian Jones trope is ridiculous. However, considering the author’s good language ability, I will give the series anther two chances to see whether he can give the protagonist a better shape. 

 

4. A book by an author who is/was a parent

Neverwhere

Author: Neil Gaiman

Genre: fantasy

Number of pages: 372

First published: 1996

Setting: London

Rating: 2 stars

First sentence: The night before he went to London, Richard Mayhew was not enjoying himself.

One sentence comment: The story has no spine, and I have the problem of finding my way through it.

 

Gaiman’s prose is OK, but what’s the point of putting on two ugly and brutal baddies from the beginning? I have absolutely no interest in them. It would be more appealing to tell about the protagonist’s relationship with his girlfriend in London Above. I was quite taken by the starting point of the book.

 

May Book Challenge

 

May *1  Pick the shortest book (fewest pages).

The 39 steps

 

Author: John Buchan

Genre: spy mystery

Number of pages: 118

First published: 1915

Setting: first world war

Rating: 4 stars

First sentence: I returned from the City about three o’clock on that May afternoon pretty well disgusted with life.

One sentence comment: I enjoy the plot which involved psychological consideration.

It’s amazing how people can disguise in front of the enemy. It takes a strong personality that can control fear. This is an absolute classic spy novel.

 

May *2 Pick the one with the longest title (most letters)

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

Author: Lori Gottlieb

Genre: memoir

Number of pages: 415

First published: 2019

Setting: present

Rating: 5 stars

First sentence: Have compassion.

One sentence comment: I have been ravished to meet such a candid therapist.

It’s a surprisingly honest memoir as if she were facing a group of patients to whom she needed to unfold herself to help understand that it is a first step to healing. I can find myself in each case she talked about, so that I got lots of advice from her. She is such a good story teller that I feel I actually meet these cases.

 

May *3 Pick the one with the cover you like best.

The Cat Who Ate Danish Modewrn (The Cat Who Mystery #2)

Author: Lilian Jackson Braun

Genre: mystery

Number of pages: 247

First published: 1967

Setting: the US in the 1960’s

Rating: 5 stars

First sentence: Jim Qwilleran prepared his bachelor breakfast with a look of boredom and distaste, accentuated by the down-curve of his bushy moustache.

One sentence comment: The description of the intelligent cat in the novel is so vivid that a person like me, who never try to have a pet, would see the cat as if he were beside me.

 I used to think the covers of the series were too bright to be tasteful, but now I know they are just right for this modern art world. I love the mysterious title with red herring items on the cover. I don’t mind the murder happened later in the book, as long as I met David the charmer, and the down-to-earth photographer, not to mention the protagonist who didn’t have a house, a wife or a satisfactory job, but he was a cat lover. This series seems to plow in the art world full of quirky characters, which has given me joyful time of reading.

 

May *4 Pick the one by the author whose last name is alphabetically last.

A Wrinkle in Time

Author: Madeleine L’engle

Genre: sci-fi and fantasy

Number of pages: 212

First published: 1962

Setting: outside Earth

Rating: 3 stars

First sentence: It was a dark and stormy night.

One sentence comment: It can be the first book for children to appreciate science fiction and fantasy.

 The personality of the protagonist Meg showed that it is an outdated book where the female character was moody and irrational but full of passion.

 

April Book Challenge

 

April *1 author’s first or last name begins with A, I, or R.

Death at Bishop’s Keep (#1 A Victorian Mystery)

Author: Robin Paige (Bill Albert & Susan Witting Albert)

Genre: historical mystery

Number of pages: 296

First published: 1994

Setting:1894

Rating: 5 stars

First sentence: Kate Ardleigh glanced warily over her shoulder.

One sentence comment: I was amazed to find the Victorian mystery series I had been seeking.

 

As an Irish American, Kate is the perfect protagonist to plunge into a late Victorian society. An empire passing its prime is perfect for a quirky heroine and aristocrats that sought marriages with financial consideration. Of course we have a Charles Darwen like man to give us another spirit of the era, science and invention. The backstory is dense such as crime that may have nothing to do with the thematic murder in the story. I love the language that refrains me from gobbling the novel without tasting its flavor. The ending is marvelous and I am sure to follow this series.

 

April *2 fire colored spine

Murder in Chinatown (Gaslight Mysteries #9)

Author: Victoria Thompson

Genre: historical mystery

Number of pages: 305

First published: 2007

Setting: New York in the end of nineteenth century

Rating: 4 stars

First sentence: “I’m not in labor, am I?”

One sentence comment: The ending is great for it brought a solution and a new beginning.

 

It’s the ninth book in this series, and it read as good as the previous books. I have a slight criticism, which is the first 100 pages can be reduced into one third of the length. The conversation in the middle of the book is very interesting, and the ending is heart-warming.

 

April *3 With an Earth words

A Puzzle in a Pear Tree (Puzzle Lady Mystery #4)

Author: Parnell Hall

Genre: mystery

Number of pages: 349

First published: 2002

Setting: an American village

Rating: 3 stars

First sentence: “No, no, no,” Rupert Winston cried, silencing the piano and vaulting up onto the stage with all the spry grace of a much younger man.

One sentence comment: This book demonstrates why I love a village life – a musical pageant and real people posing the stable scene for Christmas.

 

The book introduces a new puzzle, acrostics, which is quite amazing. The weak point of the book is that I can’t find any characters to relate to so I can only watch ridiculous characters committing impossible crimes. The conversation between protagonists for discussing the crime is repetitive and boring.

 

April *4 with a water setting

Tell No One

Author: Harlan Coben

Genre: thriller

Number of pages: 369

First published: 2001

Setting: present

Rating: 3 stars

First sentence: There should have been a dark whisper in the wind.

One sentence comment: The author tried to create a mysterious atmosphere that doesn’t convince me.

 

I was put off by the lovesick feelings of the protagonist from the very beginning. The secret was so overdone that it was later revealed like a pretense. The author’s writing is good but I just couldn’t appreciate the storyline.

 Local Book Club Choice

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide