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.

 

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.

 

November Book Challenges

 

Nov # a book published before 1900

Lady Susan

Author: Jane Austen

Genre: epistolary

Page number: 58

First published: 1871

Setting: England in Regency era

Rating: 2 stars

First sentence: My dear brother – I can no longer refuse myself the pleasure of profiting by your kind invitation when we last parted of spending some weeks with you at Churchill, and, therefore, if quite convenient to you and Mrs Vernon to receive me at present, I shall hope within a few days to be introduced to a sister whom I have so long desired to be acquainted with.

One sentence comment: It feels odd to read an epistolary novel full of calculation for marriages written by a young lady under 20.

          It means that Austen never believed in love. A romantic person became realistic because she experiences hardship in life as she grows older. But if Austen saw through the mask of marriages as a teen, how could she write romantic novels in later years? I start to think that Austen had known that marriages are business from the very beginning.

 

Nov # a book with a reading word in the title

Mayhem at the Orient Express ( A League of Literary Ladies Mystery #1)

Author: Kylie Logan

Genre: cozy mystery

Page number:282

First published: 2013

Setting: An island off Ohio at present time

Rating: 2 stars

First sentence: If it weren’t for Jerry Garcia peeing on my pansies, I never would have joined the League of Literary Ladies.

One sentence comment: It's most  disappointing that the author came up with the idea of a book club in a mystery, but had no merit of book discussion.

 

In terms of character building, dialogs, and plot development, this book achieves nothing. From the very beginning, since the three women protagonists appeared, which seemed to signal a possibly interesting mystery, they quarreled up to 50 pages before the murder happened. You would think things could have taken a good turn, but their conflict went on while the author were introducing more flat characters and boring conversation. I didn't give up the book simply because I wanted to find out the solution. Then I can sum up my experience, that is never trust a mystery series if its first book is published after 2010.

 

 

Nov # a book included on Goodread’s 1000 books to read before you die

The Awakening

Author: Kate Chopin

Genre: fiction

Page number: 113

First published: 1892

Setting: Louisiana, USA in the late 19^th century

Rating: 4 stars

First sentence: A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door, kept repeating over and over: ‘Allez ous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi! That’s all right!’

One sentence comment: Told like a slow paced romance, this book, however, activates my investigating mind, eager to find out the outcome.

 

It’s a languid story about Mrs Edna Pontellier, a 21 year-old woman with children, supplied a comfortable life by her husband. She is involved with two men, Robert and Arobin, one she loves and the other she is pursued by. The courting in this book is peculiar and almost unrealistic for a modern reader, like me; however, over a hundred years apart, I get a chance to savor the writing about the powerlessness of a young woman. When she decided that she ‘no longer one of Mr Pontellier’s possessions to dispose of or not,’ I guess it is why the book was banned.

 

Nov # a book you would consider to be light reading

A is for Alibi

Author: Sue Grafton

Genre: soft-boiled mystery

Page number: 308

First published: 1982

Setting: CA, USA, in 1980’s

Rating: 2 stars

First sentence: My name is Kinsey Millhone.

One sentence comment: It’s hard to relate to any of the characters in the book.

 

          The first sentence is bland and so are many others. I’m disappointed about this book since I thought this long running series must be enchanting. It only tried to tell a drama of a group of non feeling people.

July Monthly Challenge

 

July # A book with an author whose first or last name begins with p, l, a, n, or t.

Magpie Murders

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Genre: meta mystery

Page number: 464

First published: 2016

Rating: 3 stars

First sentence: A bottle of wine.

One sentence comment: The idea of a mystery within a mystery is a genius invention; however, the structure of the book is dull.

 

          I ordered the book because the same name TV program adapted from the novel is brilliant so I wonder how Horowitz wrote it. However, I am disappointed because his way of presenting the two mysteries are rigid and can not compare with the TV program. I have a theory that if a TV program is better than a novel then the novel is not successful. Besides, I hardly see any witty sentences while reading. With so many repeated ideas and sentences, the book should be cut in half.

 

 

July # A book with plants on the cover

Persuasion

Author: Jane Austen

Genre: classic romance

Page number: 295

First published: 1817

Rating: 3 stars

First sentence: Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Boronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents; there any unwelcome sensations, arising from domestic affairs changed naturally into pity and contempt as he turned over the almost endless creations of the last century; and there, if every other leaf were powerless, he could read his own history with an interest which never failed.

One sentence comment: This book is the least persuading romance among Austen’s novels.

 

I can see why Persuasion is the least popular novel among Austen’s six major works. There is a serious discrepancy in the book. On the one hand, the book is far away from Austen's previous romantic novels because it tackles realistic financial matters gravely from the very beginning without jokes. Therefore, it was meant to be treated seriously. On the other hand, the happy ending between Anne and Wenworth is too incredible for modern day readers. In fact, there isn’t much difference between marriages then and now in terms of a trade-off between wealth and youth. It is not unusual for women to chase after well-off men even they are ten years or above older. How could it be possible that Wentworth, considered a capital match for young women with admiration, should come back to Ann, whose beauty and family wealth are both dwindling?

     Persuasion is Austen's last completed novel and published posthumously. I suspect that she intended to review it and to make it as entertaining as her previous books but death came unexpectedly. Therefore, without disguise, we can see Austen's core theme more clearly. It is lament for life going downward without hope when wealth and youth are both used up. However, as a romantic novelist, she still designed a favorable solution for the happiness of the heroine.

     I am not against romantic love but it must be plausible in a novel. Austen is a romantic writer but she is beyond romantic writing and renowned for her realistic social accounts so I expect more from her. Romantic love in P&P and S&S are all plausible, more or less, because male protagonists all have weaknesses so that they are attracted to women inferior to their social and monetary status, but Wentworth just seems self-contained and has no needs to return to Ann. Unless Austen decided to write a pious novel that used Wentworth as a metaphor of Jesus. That’s the only explanation because Jesus is perfect and he comes to save anyone who is repentant.

 

July # a book from your TBR

By Book or by Crook (Lighthouse Library Mystery #1)

Author: Eva Gates

Genre: cozy mystery

Page number: 327

First published: 2015

Rating: 3 stars

First sentence: Only in the very back of my mind, in my most secret dreams, did I ever dare hope I’d have such a moment.

One sentence comment: Using Jane Austen‘s first print collection as a gimmick, this book has turned a mystery into a comedy.

 

I had chosen this book among a few book-related cozy mystery series, perhaps for its book cover, or perhaps for its title, whatever reason I can not remember well. I adore the book cover - a sunny blue view near the sea and I think the title is clever. It is a play of a pun, by hook or by crook. Obviously, this book series use a similar way to glamor each book. Reading this book, sometimes I see witty sentences; sometimes it reads like a boring diary. Characters are described vividly but the protagonist is too young and girl-minded to raise my interest. The plot is terrible, because it's neither effective nor affective. How could a mystery mingle murder, book theft, and ghost stories, along with a detective noted for his handsome appearance and dating attempt to one of the suspects. It's absurd. However, I value this book for its well-written English.

 

 

July # DNF

Silver Pigs ( a Marcus Didius Falco Novel #1)

Author: Lindsey Davis

Genre: historical mystery

Page number: 328

First published: 1989

Rating: 1 star

First sentence: When the girl came rushing up the steps, I decided she was wearing far too many clothes.

One sentence comment: Who would be interested in a frivolous man as a protagonist?

 

          Look at the first sentence, and you will be surprised to see how many pages the protagonist was rambling on the clothes of the woman who ran for her life. As if time stopped. I should really admire the author for her writing technique.

          It took me a long time to wonder: what’s the meaning of this series. Perhaps it tried to tell me that Britain was full of brutal killings during the Roman reign in AD 70; perhaps it tried to show me what the mines and slaves who worked in them were like. Perhaps it told us modern readers that it had divorces and women could live independently at the golden age of Roman Empire. However, I don’t intend to read the Roman history. As a mystery series, it doesn’t propel me to want to read more about the protagonists and the plot.