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Dewey's Read-a-Thon

Read-a-Thon Time!

By Jan
 on April 25, 2013
It’s time for Dewey’s April Read-a-Thon, and I’m pumped up for this one. I’m getting my list of books ready and planning my food and snacks ahead. After all, if I’m skipping everything else that day (including showers and cooking), I don’t want to starve. I might get a late start because of Friday plans, but at least I will get some serious reading time in before my eyelids start to twitch.

To find out more about Dewey’s Read-a-Thon and how you can participate, visit the web site and read the FAQs. You don’t have to spend all 24 hours reading, but it’s fun to try.

My list so far:
One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
The Tale of Hawthorn House by Susan Wittig Albert
Murder on Sister’s Row by Victoria Thompson
A few stories from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine thrown in

© Jan McClintock of We Need More Shelves

In categories Uncategorized Tagged with challenge, historical mystery

Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge 2010

By Jan
 on May 30, 2010

This is a great challenge now hosted by Book Chick City, and we even get a free ARC for participating! Read all the details and sign up here.

Already on my way to this, one of the few challenges I know I can survive (and thus, one of the few I accept). Most will be historical, but I may surprise myself.
1. The aforementioned Seventy-Seven Clocks: A Bryant and May Mystery by Christopher Fowler
2. How to Marry a Murderer by Amanda Matetsky – the third Paige Turner 1950’s mystery
3. Gift of the Desert by Randall Parrish – a western thriller/romance from 1922, the hardcover version of which I found at a vintage shop. Independent young lady from good home is a nurse during WWI and goes out west to work afterward. Isolated on a ranch, she’s helpless when the boss’s son takes over and forces her to marry him. Escape into the desert is the only option, but will the desperado who offers to help be any better?
4. Queen of the Night by Paul Doherty – not the first in a series but hard to find in the U.S.; early 4th-century A.D. Rome and an ex-actress works as a spy for the Empress Helena. Very enjoyable, if far-fetched, story and likable characters with a large body count to keep the mystery interesting.
5. Mr. Timothy by Louis Bayard – fast becoming a favorite author; this mystery is helmed by a grown-up Timothy Cratchit (Tiny Tim) from “A Christmas Carol,” and the characters, settings, and mystery are marvelous, if sobering.
6. Fellowship of Fear by Aaron Elkins – the first in the Gideon Oliver “skeleton detective” series. The professor jumps around Europe as bait for a spy ring. I didn’t fall for this bachelor, I’m afraid, and the further adventures will just have to go on without me.
7. Tell Me, Pretty Maiden by Rhys Bowen continues the mystery adventures of Molly Murphy, female detective (and Irish immigrant) in early 1900’s NYC. This time around she manages to become involved in a Broadway play, meets Nelly Bly and is incarcerated in an insane asylum. Encore, anyone?
8. Die Like a Hero by Clyde Linsley – the third mystery with Josiah Beede, the “boy hero of New Orleans,” investigating the 1841 death of President Harrison in Washington, D.C. while back home in New Hampshire, the husband of his old flame has disappeared. Excellent mystery and enjoyable characters.
9. The Hell Screen by I.J. Parker is the fourth (I believe) mystery of 11th-century Japan with Akitada Sugawara, minor lord and government official who must piece together ragged stories of murder and theft while trying to keep his family from dissolving around him. Again, good supporting cast and intriguing mystery, plus I like the historical aspects.
10. Night’s Child by Maureen Jennings is another interesting Detective William Murdoch mystery from Edwardian Toronto, and this one includes child pornography, typewriting, and labor unrest. Murdoch is also on the fence about his romantic involvements, and big changes are in store for many of the regular characters.
11. Death at Hyde Park by Robin Paige is the tenth time around for Kate and Charles Sheridan and I didn’t find this one as interesting or amusing as past adventures. Anarchists are apparently plotting to kill the royals in 1902. Take a bunch of unique characters, most ahead of their time, and throw in author Jack London for some strange reason for a jumble sale on cozy mysteries. I need a bit more, please.
12. Murder Imperial by Paul Doherty is the first in the series from #4 above. I enjoyed learning the back story and getting to know the heroine Claudia better. The mystery was not difficult but quite clever. I will definitely be following Claudia and company.
13. Random by Craig Robertson – I was lucky enough to receive a proof copy of this thriller from Scotland about a serial killer on the loose in Glasgow. Told interestingly from the murderer’s point-of-view and interspersed with news clippings, this was a fascinating, though morbid, trip through one man’s hell on earth. The dialect will be a stretch for some readers and profanity is rampant. Lots of twists and turns. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
14. Midnight Fires: A Mystery with Mary Wollstonecraft by Nancy Means Wright – This tale stars the young Ms Wollstonecraft working as a nanny and trying to solve a murder while pushing the envelope for women in the touchy Anglo-Irish atmosphere of 1786 County Cork. She was definitely a woman before her time, but much of the story is about class distinction, English dominance and Irish rebellion.
15. & 16. Homicide in Hardcover and If Books Could Kill are the first two Bibliophile mysteries by Kate Carlisle with main character Brooklyn Wainwright, a rare book expert and bookbinder, getting into outrageous situations and her incredibly handsome but mysterious British security officer coming to the rescue. This series is entertaining but pretty far out, but aren’t most of them?

To be continued…

© Jan McClintock of We Need More Shelves

In categories List Tagged with challenge

Book Blogger Hop – Let’s Party!

By Jan
 on March 16, 2010
Jennifer over at Crazy For Books has a great idea for sharing book blogs: a Book Blogger Hop.
“Every day I seem to find another book blog that I start following. In the spirit of the Friday Follow, I thought it would be cool to do a Book Blog Hop to give us all bookies a chance to connect and find new blogs that we may be missing out on!  It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed!”

“Pretty please – Your blog should have content related to books, including, but not limited to book reviews.”

I love this plan and hope to “meet” a lot of other bloggers this way. Thanks, Jennifer!

© Jan McClintock of We Need More Shelves

In categories Uncategorized Tagged with challenge

451 Challenge

By Jan
 on February 12, 2010

Oh, just what I need, another challenge! But this one looks so wonderful, I can’t pass it up. (That’s what I said about the others, too, of course.) The 451 Challenge originates from the book “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, and is hosted and managed by Elizabeth at the As Usual, We Need More Bookshelves blog (no relation :-).

What would we do if all books were suddenly banned and/or destroyed? What ideas are worth saving? Which volumes would you want to memorize or even “become” in order to pass it on to the next generation? That is the premise and worthy challenge. Join me!

My TBR list, so far:
Collected Poems of Robert Frost [WORKING ON]
Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card [DONE, see Recent Reads]
The Stand – Stephen King
Time and Again – Jack Finney
Water for Elephants – Sara Gruen [DONE, see Recent Reads]

© Jan McClintock of We Need More Shelves

In categories Reading Tagged with challenge

The Short Story Reading Challenge

By Jan
 on January 28, 2010

The Short Story Reading Challenge is hosted by Kate and has different options for readers on varying levels. This is a genre that more people should try, in my opinion, and one in which you can find as much variety as novels.

I have to admit that I’m a sucker for a good short story. The ability to tell a compelling story and not waste words is something I admire. This harks back to my technical editing (once an editor, always an editor), but also to the love of language. I only wish I had the imagination to produce it myself.

My ongoing list for 2010
1. Pedro Antonio De Alarcon’s “Captain Veneno’s Proposal”
2. Pedro Antonio De Alarcon’s “The Nail”
3. Robert Barr’s “How the Captain Got His Steamer Out”
4. Robert Barr’s “My Stowaway”
5. Voltaire’s “Zadig the Babylonian”

To be continued…

© Jan McClintock of We Need More Shelves

In categories Reading Tagged with challenge, short story

Challenge Progress

By Jan
 on February 1, 2009

I’m new to this challenge thing. I’ve no idea whether it will really change my reading habits or not at this point, but I do hope it brings me new options.

So far, I’ve read the following for Read Your Own Books 2009:
1. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd; I found this to be a lovely, simple story about the spiritual awakening of the heroine — of growing up. It didn’t take itself too seriously. Definitely character-driven, with the hot South as an atmosphere, vividly described.
2. Killdeer Mountain by Dee Brown; historical fiction from 1866 with flashbacks to the Civil War, this puzzler set in the early Dakota Territories is a character soup with plot twists aplenty. The ending wasn’t a neat as I desired, but was ultimately satisfactory.
3. Goodnight, Sweet Prince by David Dickinson; historical mystery from the 1890’s concerning the British royal family and a nobleman acting as detective. First in a series and quite enjoyable with some suspension of belief inevitable, of course.
The latter also qualifies for the 2009 Suspense & Thriller Challenge, either under murder mystery or possibly private detective mystery. Woohoo!

© Jan McClintock of We Need More Shelves

In categories Uncategorized Tagged with challenge

Suspense & Thriller Reader Challenge

By Jan
 on November 22, 2008

I hope I’m not getting in too deep with this new book blogging hobby. I’ve committed to another challenge, but this one is not only compatible with the first (RYOB 2009, below) but involves a genre — or two or three. The idea is to read twelve books of my choice, not necessarily chosen ahead of time (whew!), each of which represent one sub-genre of Suspense & Thriller.

In case you think this might limit my choices, take a look at the list of sub-genres which sponsor J. Kaye has presented, and you will understand that this covers a lot of ground. There are certainly some that I find more appealing than others, but I believe the idea is to broaden one’s range of subjects.

Since the Challenge started last January, I’m a little late to the game, but I have created my ’08 list from books that I’ve read this year (to make up for my tardiness):

“Still Life With Crows” by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child -(Serial Killer Thriller)

“The Crystal Skull” by Manda Scott -(Supernatural Thriller)

“Black Order” by James Rollins -(Spy Thriller, rather than Historical, IMO)

“State of Fear” by Michael Crichton -(Eco-thriller)

“Thursday Next: First Among Sequels” by Jasper Fforde -(Comic Thriller)

“O’ Artful Death” by Sarah Stewart Taylor -(Cozy Mystery)

NOW comes the difficult part. I have a year to choose six more from the other sub-genres.

UPDATE: The 2009 Suspense & Thriller Reader Challenge is underway and I’m in for a dime…

© Jan McClintock of We Need More Shelves

In categories Reading Tagged with challenge

Read Your Own Books Challenge 2009

By Jan
 on November 18, 2008

OK, it’s time for a challenge. I think I’ll start out with something manageable and see if I can stay committed. [Oh, how fickle we are these days. I’m currently reading Erik Larson’s “Thunderstruck” and marveling at Marconi’s steadfast chase after the harness of radio waves over many, many years. Then there’s my maternal grandfather who worked for the same company for 64 years; that is, of course, never going to be lived down in our family. Yikes.]

I like the Read Your Own Books 2009 idea, because I do have a lot of books on my shelves that I consider ‘auxiliary’ reads, or perhaps as a backup TBR stack. Some are untouchables, however, since they are orphans in a series. Until I have the correct order, I won’t do it — I just won’t. 
But I have set a goal of 25 and think I can do it. Double advantage: clear some shelf space and save money on new books. Thanks, MizB!

My List, so far:
The Triumph of the Sun by Wilbur Smith
Quieter Than Sleep by Joanne Dobson
Funeral Music by Morag Joss
Flatlanders and Ridgerunners: Folktales from the Mountains of Northern Pennsylvania by James York Glimm
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Killdeer Mountain by Dee Brown

© Jan McClintock of We Need More Shelves

In categories Reading Tagged with challenge