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.