MY READER'S BLOCK: November 2024

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Calendar of Crime 2025

photo credit: Ellery Queen's Calendar of
Crime (Signet edition)

Ready for another year of mysterious months and dangerous days? I'm pleased to sponsor the 2025 edition of the Calendar of Crime. Just a reminder that this mystery-based challenge allows readers to include any mystery regardless of publication date. If it falls in a mystery category (crime fiction/detective novel/police procedural/suspense/thriller/spy & espionage/hard-boiled/cozy/etc.), then it counts and it does not matter if it was published in 1895 or 2025.

The Rules
~Challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2025. All books should be read during this time period. Sign up at any time. If you have a blog, please post about the challenge. Then sign up via the form below and please make the url link to your challenge post and not your home page. If you don't have a blog, links to an online list (Goodreads, Library Thing, etc.) devoted to this challenge are acceptable OR you may skip that question.

~All books must be mysteries. Humor, romance, supernatural elements (etc.) are all welcome, but the books must be mysteries/crime/detective novels first.

~Twelve books, one representing each month, are required for a complete challenge. You may find the spreadsheet with monthly categories HERE. We will be using the 2024 version again this year.

~To claim a book, it must fit one of the categories for the month you wish to fulfill. Unless otherwise specified, the category is fulfilled within the actual story. for instance, if you are claiming the book for December and want to use "Christmas" as the category, then Christmas figure in some in the plot. Did someone poison the plum pudding? Did Great-Uncle Whozit invite all the family home for Christmas so he could tell them he plans to change his will?

~The "wild card" book is exactly that. If July is your birth month (as mine is), then for category #9 you may read any mystery book you want. It does not have to connect with July in any way--other than a July baby chose it. The other eleven months, you must do the alternate category #9 if you want to fulfill that slot.

~Chinese Zodiac: Animal must be important to the book in some way. Examples: animal name appears in title (stand-alone, not part of another word); animal itself is important to the story; animal appears on cover; important character is associated with the animal (nickname--for instance, owns one as a pet, etc.) OR book may have been published in a year that corresponds to the Zodiac year.

~Books may only count for one month and one category, but they may count for other challenges (such as my Vintage Scavenger Hunt Challenge). If it could fulfill more than one category or month, then you are welcome to change it at any time prior to the final wrap-up.

~Books do not have to be read during the month for which they qualify. So--if you're feeling like a little "Christmas in July" (or May or...), then feel free to read your book for December whenever the mood strikes.

~A wrap-up post/comment/email will be requested that should include a list of books read and what category they fulfilled. [Example: January: The House of Sudden Sleep by John Hawk (original pub date January 1930)]

~The headquarters link in the left-hand sidebar will be updated in January for 2025 for easy access to this original challenge post, monthly review link-ups, and the final wrap-up. The final wrap-up link will not go live until the end of 2025, so please save your notification until that time.

~If you post on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media to log a book, please use #CalendarOfCrime2025.

Reading by the Numbers 2025

Year number four for the Reading by the Numbers Challenge on My Reader's Block! Over the years various blogs have sponsored reading challenges that were all about tracking how many books you read. But those that I participated in are no longer active, so I have decided to create my own. This is the reading challenge at its most basic--just track everything you read. Anything counts--graphic novels or comic books, hard copy, e-books, audio novels, etc. If it is a book, it counts. Books with numbers in the title are not required. I merely used those above as a play on the challenge name. And, although the covers shown in the challenge image are all mysteries, you may read from any and all genres that interest you.

~Challenge runs from January 1 through December 31, 2025.

~No pre-set challenge levels. You decide on your personal goal.

~May be used concurrently with other "number" reading challenges (such as the Goodreads Challenge) or with any other challenge.

~A blog and reviews of the books are not required to participate, but if you have a blog, please post your sign-up for the challenge and link the post in the form below. You are also welcome to link up other media sites where you log process (Instagram; Goodreads; etc.).

~As with my other challenges, I will update the Headquarters link in the left sidebar of the blog at the beginning of the year.

~If you post on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media to log a book, please use #ReadingByNumbers2025.

Vintage Scavenger Hunt 2025

It's time to start posting the reading challenges for next year and once again I've got the vintage mystery fans covered. I hope you all are ready for another round of mystery cover scavenging.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to find as many objects on the scavenger hunt list as possible on the covers of the mystery books you read. As always, you may play along in either the Golden or Silver Mystery Eras (or, for the more adventurous, both). See check lists below.

Rules
* All books must be from the mystery category (crime fiction, detective fiction, espionage, etc.). The mystery/crime must be the primary feature of the book--ghost stories, paranormal, romance, humor, etc are all welcome as ingredients, but should not be the primary category under which these books would be labeled at the library or bookstore.

*For the purposes of this challenge, the Golden Age Vintage Mysteries must have been first published before 1960. Golden Age short story collections (whether published pre-1960 or not) are permissible provided all of the stories included in the collection were originally written pre-1960. Please remember that some of our Golden Age Vintage authors wrote well after 1959--so keep an eye on the original publication date and apply them to the appropriate card. Silver Age Vintage Mysteries may be first published any time from 1960 to 1989 (inclusive). Again, Silver Age short story collections published later than 1989 are permissible as long as they include no stories first published later than 1989. Yes, I admit my dates are arbitrary and may not exactly meet standard definitions of Golden or Silver Age.

*Minimum number of items to complete the challenge and to be eligible for an all-Reader's Block Challenge prize drawing at the end of the year is eight items from the covers of books read from a single Vintage Mystery Era. If you choose to do both eras, you must use separate checklists. You may not, for example, find three golden age items and five silver age items to claim the minimum eight.

*Challenge runs from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025. All books should be read during this time period. You may sign up at any time. Any books read from January 1 on may count regardless of your sign-up date. If you have a blog, please post about the challenge and a little bit about your commitment—if you’re going Silver or Gold…or maybe both. Then sign up via the form below. And please make the url link to your Challenge post and not your home page. If you do not have a blog, links to an online list (Goodreads, Library Thing, etc.) devoted to this challenge are also acceptable OR you may comment below to indicate your sign up.

*"On the cover" may apply to either the front or the back cover of the book. For example, if you need a map or a chart for your scavenger hunt list, then Dell Mapbacks are perfect--with the map in question on the back cover. Also, the item should be found on the cover of the edition that you read. If at all possible either post a picture showing the item on the cover in the monthly review linky or provide a link to a page showing us. Exception: If the edition you read has no picture whatsoever (hardbacks that have no dust jacket, e-copies, etc.), then you may go on another scavenger hunt online to find a cover image--again, please provide a link to the edition used. Bottom line: if I choose to check up on entries, I must be able to find the item claimed on a cover for the book read.

*No double-counting within the challenge. If a book's cover has both a shadowy figure and a weapon, you may only use it to check off one item from the list. You are welcome to change the item claimed at any time prior to submitting it for prizes.

*Books read for this challenge may be used for other challenges as well.

*Reviews are encouraged, but they are not necessary to participate. If you do not have a blog, post to the comments below that you intend to join and then post again at the end-of-year wrap-up site when you have completed your challenge (include a list of books read, categories you have completed, and how to find images of covers).

*The Vintage Headquarters link which appears on my sidebar will be updated for the 2025 version once the new year begins. You can go there for review links and information.

*If you post on social media, please use #2025VintageScavengerHunt.

*PRIZE Opportunity: Challengers who complete the minimum eight books from a single era will be eligible for a drawing at the end of the year for a book from the prize list. Please keep track of your progress and be prepared to submit a final wrap-up post or comment at the end of the year. Please do not submit completion notifications prior to the posting of the Wrap-Up Link. Thank you.

*Pictures of the Scavenger Hunt lists are below (click photo to enlarge). To help you track your progress, you may find a spreadsheet with tabs for lists in Gold & Silver HERE. You can download the sheet for your own use.

Monday, November 11, 2024

Murder Every Monday: Purple Prose? Nah, Just the Cover

Kate at Cross Examining Crime hosts a fun mystery cover game on Instagram called Murder Every Monday. Our assignment, should we choose to accept it, is to display book covers and titles from books you own that meet prompts which she posts well in advance (see link).

Today's theme is covers that are predominantly purple.