Reading Challenge Addict

YES !!! I AM A CHALLENGE ADDICT AND PROUD OF IT!!!
 
You know what they say about the best laid plans....Despite my resolution to read only books from my personally owned TBR stacks (don't worry, I have plenty of books) and the resolution to only sign up for challenges which I can meet reading my own books, I'm still adding challenges to my list like they're going out of style. I may not reach 30-some challenges again-- (Yes, I'm currently rushing around madly trying to cram as many books in between work and end-of-year holiday preparation as I can...)--BUT I have already grabbed up 14 challenges for 2017 and this year isn't even over. So, of course I'm going to have to sign up for the Reading Challenge Addict Challenge.  This challenge support group/group of enablers was the brainchild of two lovely ladies: Cheryl of CMash Reads and Gina at Hott Books.  They are also the Hostesses with the Mostest over at Partner in Crime Tours and Providence Book Promotions.  They got very busy with their book tour sites and asked me to step in and shepherd our little group of Challenge Addicts.  I took up the reins....and here we go for another year of challenge madness.  For details on the challenge rules and levels, hop on the site above. 

And my Challenge Level?  As mentioned, I've already got 14 challenges lined up and I'm sure that more will come along, so....Sign me up for the top level, baby.


Out of This World: 16+ Challenges (Entered & Completed)

As I did last year, I will only track my challenges in one spot.  See my 2017 Challenges tab along the top or click HERE to see which challenges have reeled me in this year....

Craving For Cozies 2017

Craving For Cozies 2017 – Reading Challenge

Cozy mysteries, also referred to simply as “cozies”, are a sub-genre of crime fiction/mysteries in which sex and violence are downplayed or treated humorously, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community. The crime solver is an amateur sleuth, usually but not always a woman, who is thrust into the aftermath of the murder. The protagonist frequently has an occupation or hobby that brings appealing information to the reader.

The challenge runs from January 1, 2017 and ends December 31, 2017

There are several levels of participation (click link above for more info or to join). I plan on doing the lowest level

Peckish – 1 – 10 Cozy Mysteries 

because it fits in with the other cozy challenge I'm doing which requires 10 books.

My List:

1. Murder at the Masque by Amy Myers (1/16/17)
2. Zadok's Treasure by Margo Arnold (2/22/17) 
3. Nun Plussed by Monica Qull (3/30/17)
4. Death with Blue Ribbon by Leo Bruce (4/20/17) 
5. Grounds for Murder by Kate Kingsbury (4/26/17) 
6. The Vanishing Violinist by Sara Hoskinson Frommer (4/30/17) 
7. The Polka Dot Nude by Joan Smith (5/2/17) 
8. Murder at Teatime by Stefanie Matteson (5/9/17) 
9. The Ghost & the Dead Deb by Alice Kimberly (6/16/17) 
10. Publish & Perish by Sally Wright (6/22/17)
11. The Barker Street Regulars by Susan Conant (7/20/17) 
12. Lie of the Needle by Cate Price (7/28/17) 

Cat in an Alien X-Ray by Carole Nelson Douglas

Aunt Dimity's Christmas by Nancy Atherton

Mrs. Malory & the Lilies that Fester

Mrs. Jeffries Pinches the Post

Murder at the Mikado by Julianna Deering

 

Charity Reading Challenge

Charity Reading Challenge
Host: Becky's Book Reviews (sign up here)
Duration: January-December 2017
# of books: You decide

Sign up by leaving a comment.

Read for a good cause! Buy books at a charity shop, or, even a friends of the library book sale, or, donate a certain percentage of money for each book you read for the challenge. You can choose your own goal of how many books to read, what charity you'll be donating money towards, how much money, etc. (For example, you might want to donate $1 for each paperback you read, or, $3 for every hardback you read. You can work out the details yourself.) For full details click on link above.

I'm signing up for another round. It was interesting to to track my charity giving based on books during 2016. I get a great number of my used books from our Friends of the Library [FoL] used book shop and their twice yearly sales as well as the Hoosier Hills [Food Bank] Community Book Fair. I'll be reading books that I've gotten from there over the years--and don't worry, I'm sure I'll be spending more this year. My goal will be at least 12 books from charity buying and I'll also record each time I indulge my book habit at FoL book shop and at the fall book fair in 2017. Last year I spent a total of $268.15 at charity book sales and at FoL shop. We'll see how much I give away in 2017.

1. Death of a Racehorse by John Creasey [bought at the Hoosier Hills Book Fair October 2016] (1/7/17)
2. Murder at the Masque by Amy Myers [FoL Bookstore, 7/12/14] (1/16/17)
3. The Black Count by Tom Reiss [FoL Bookstore, 4/18/15] (1/21/17)
4. I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison [Hoosier Hills Book Fair October 2015] (1/24/17)
5. Deception Island by M. K. Loren [FoL Bookstore 7/12/14] (2/13/17)
6. Zadok's Treasure by Margot Arnold [FoL Bookstore 5/29/14] (2/22/17)
7. Silence Observed by Michael Innes [Hoosier Hills Book Fair October 2016] (3/28/17)
8. The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm by James Napoli [FoL Bookstore 1/2/16] (4/14/17)
9. Death with Blue Ribbon by Leo Bruce [Red Cross Book Fair October 2013] (4/20/17)
10. Who Is the Next? by Henry Kitchell Webster [FoL Book Sale] (4/24/17)
11. The Fennister Affair by Josephine Bell [Hoosier Hills Book Fair October 2016] (4/28/17)
12. Storm Center by Douglas Clark [Hoosier Hills Book Fair October 2016] (5/1/17)

Complete!

European Reading Challenge 2017

The European Reading Challenge January 1, 2017 to January 31, 2018

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THIS PAGE

TO POST A REVIEW, GO TO THIS PAGE.
TO ADD YOUR WRAP UP POST, GO TO THIS PAGE.

Gilion is once again offering the European Reading Challenge in 2017 – where participants tour Europe through books.  And have a chance to win a prize.  Please join us for the Grand Tour!

THE GIST: The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country – it's supposed to be a tour. (Check out the full details at her page)

THE LIST: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Vatican City.

NOTE: Even after Brexit, the United Kingdom is still one country, in Europe, that includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. So one book from any one of these four counts as your one book for the United Kingdom.
I'll be aiming for the FIVE STAR (DELUXE ENTOURAGE): Read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries. 

My Reads:

1. Death at Swaythling Court by J. J. Connington [England--UK] (1/4/17)
2. Murder at the Masque by Amy Myers [France--Cannes] (1/16/17)
3. The Golden Bird: Folk Tales From Slovenia by Vladimir Kavčič [Slovenia] (5/16/17)
4. Decision at Delphi by Helen MacInnes [Greece] (5/28/17)
5. Frame Work by Anne G. Faigen [Czech Republic] (6/26/17)
6. The Arctic Patrol Mystery by Franklin W. Dixon [Iceland] (6/26/17)
7. The Far Traveller by Manning Coles [Germany] (9/2/17)
8. The Contest adapted by Nonny Hogrogian [Armenia] (9/10/17)
9. McGarr at the Dublin Horse Show by Bartholomew Gill [Ireland] (9/13/17)
10. Blue Ice by Hammond Innes [Norway] (10/31/17)
11. The Budapest Parade Murders [Hungary] (11/18/17)
12.

Color Coded Reading Challenge 2017: My Sign-Up

I keep thinking that I've used up all the shades of brown on my TBR piles (I insist on having the color in my titles) and I keep finding another. So, I'll be signing up for my Color Coded Reading Challenge one more time...

Here's the basic rule: Read nine books in the following categories.  

1. A book with "Blue" or any shade of Blue (Turquoise, Aquamarine, Navy, etc) in the title/on the cover.
Death with Blue Ribbon by Leo Bruce (4/20/17) 

2. A book with "Red" or any shade of Red (Scarlet, Crimson, Burgandy, etc) in the title/on the cover.

The Little Red Guard by Wenguang Huang (6/7/17)

 
3. A book with "Yellow" or any shade of Yellow (Gold, Lemon, Maize, etc.) in the title/on the cover.
The Golden Bird Folk Tales from Slovenia by Vladimir Kavčič (5/16/17)

4. A book with "Green" or any shade of Green (Emerald, Lime, Jade, etc) in the title/on the cover.

The Green Turtle Mystery by Ellery Queen, Jr. (3/19/17)

5. A book with "Brown" or any shade of Brown (Tan, Chocolate, Beige, etc) in the title/on the cover.

The Secret of the Wooden Lady by Carolyn Keene (6/19/17)

6. A book with "Black" or any shade of Black (Jet, Ebony, Charcoal, etc) in the title/on the cover.
The Black Count by Tom Reiss (1/21/17)

The Ebony Bed by Rufus Gillmore

7. A book with "White" or any shade of White (Ivory, Eggshell, Cream, etc) in the title/on the cover.

Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon (6/11/17)

8. A book with any other color in the title/on the cover (Purple, Orange, Silver, Pink, Magneta, etc.).
When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin (1/24/17)

9. A book with a word that implies color (Rainbow, Polka-dot, Plaid, Paisley, Stripe, etc.).

The Polka Dot Nude by Joan Smith (5/2/17)

2017 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge

Dollycas at Escape With Dollycas Into a Good Book is hosting another A-Z Challenge in 2017.

January 1, 2017 – December 31, 2017

The Alphabet Soup Challenge means that by December 31, 2015
your bowls must be full of one book for each letter of the Alphabet.
Each Letter Counts As 1 Spoonful

Basic Details
You can join anytime.  You do not have to review the book.
For those pesky Q, X AND Z titles the word that starts with the challenge letter can be anywhere in the title.

For full details and to sign up, click on the link above.

List of possible books--will confirm as I go:

A: The Arctic Patrol Mystery by Franklin W. Dixon (6/26/17)
B: Battle for Venus by William F. Temple (1/7/17)
C: The Constantine Affliction by T. Aaron Payton (5/23/17)
D: Death at Swaythling Court by J. J. Connington (1/4/17)
E: Episode of the Wandering Knife by Mary Roberts Rinehart (2/17/17)
F: Fit to Kill by Hans C. Owen (3/22/17)
G: The Green Turtle Mystery by Ellery Queen, Jr. (3/19/17)
H: The Hidden Planet by Donald A. Wollheim, ed (1/9/17)
I: I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison (1/24/17)
J: Juliet Dies Twice by Lange Lewis (7/17/17)
K: The Killing of Katie Steelstock by Michael Gilbert (6/30/17
L:  A Losing Game by Freeman Wills Crofts (1/31/17)
M: Murder at the Masque by Amy Myers (1/16/17)
N: Nun Plussed by Monica Quill (3/30/17)
O: The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm by James Napoli (4/14/17)
P: The Polka Dot Nude by Joan Smith (5/2/17)
Q: Quick Curtain by Alan Melville (7/14/17)
R: Room for Murder by Doris Miles Disney (7/22/17)
S: The Silent Invaders by Robert Silverberg (1/7/17)
T: They Tell No Tales by Manning Coles (4/19/17) 
U: The Unconscious Witness by R. Austin Freeman (1/28/17)
V: The Vanishing Violinist by Sara Hoskinson Frommer (4/30/17)
W: A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion by Ron Hansen (2/18/17)
X: Mink Is for a  Minx by Leo Margulies, ed (6/23/17)
Y: Your Turn, Mr. Moto by John P. Marquand (7/25/17)
Z: Zadok's Treasure by Margot Arnold (2/22/17)

TNB: History & Mystery...and A Theory of the Cycle of Crime

This month at our Tuesday Night Bloggers meetings we will be examining mysteries within a historical context--either historical mysteries (written, say in 1930 but set in the Victorian period, for example) or which take place during or around a historical event or which address historical issues. The field is wide-open so if you have historical mysterious thoughts to share, please stop by for group discussion and I'll add your posts to the list. We tend to focus on the Golden Age of crime fiction--generally accepted as published between the World Wars, but everyone seems to have a slightly different definition and we're pretty flexible. Essays on more recent crime fiction are welcome as well.

This week's Historical Experts:
Brad @ Ah Sweet Mystery Blog: "Coming Home: Two Examples from Christie's Post-War England"
Kate @ Cross Examining Crime: "War Mysteries"
JJ @ The Invisible Event: "Finding Satan in the Subtleties (if not the book) of The Devil in Velvet (1951) by John Dickson Carr"
The Puzzle Doctor @ In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel: "The Death of the Read King by Paul Doherty"
Moira @ Clothes in Books: "The 1950s Again"
 

Previous Posts
Week #1 Post  
Week #2 Post 
Week #3 Post

**************
My entry may be a bit of a cheat this week. But life here on the Block has been all sorts of horri--er--crazy and my plans to do a comparison between Dorothy L. Sayers Wimsey books (from the period) and David Roberts' Lord Corinth books (historically set in Wimsey's time) have gone right out the window. Partly due to the fact that my local library seems to think it a brilliant idea to have the last three books of the Corinth series but NOT the earlier books. Hmph!
 
Sorry...back to business. It will be brief--but I do have a small connection to our History & Mystery topic. My most recent read was Sax Rohmer's The Dream-Detective (click for general review). As mentioned in the write-up, this book does not feature Rohmer's most notable character, Dr. Fu Manchu and focuses on antiques dealer Moris Klaw. Klaw also has a deep interest in the mysteries of the Orient and ancient Egypt and several of the short stories in this collection rely on knowledge of the past--whether it is the history of a famous jewel or the legends surrounding a valuable vase and an Athenian harp or the mysteries of the followers of Isis. Klaw's theory of the Cycle of Crime helps him to see patterns from the past in the crimes and conundrums of the present. It makes for an interesting collection of stores--though some of Klaw's deductions may need to be taken with a grain of salt. 
 

Crusin' Thru the Cozies 2017

Yvonne at Socrates’ Book Reviews is changing things up this year at the Cruisin’ Thru the Cozies Challenge. Instead of open cozy reading, she is asking us to meet 10 cozy sub-genres in order to fulfill the basic level. There are higher levels if cozy mysteries are really your thing and you want to go crazy. I’m going to give this a shot (I hope I have at least one of each kind of cozy sitting on my TBR piles….) and commit to the first level--Snoop. I'll fill in titles that I can and then add/change later.

To find out exactly what a cozy mystery is, check out Cozy-Mystery.com. This site is dedicated to cozy mysteries and does a great job of defining them as well as giving a list of cozy mysteries. This challenge is NOT restricted to what is on their list, it's just to be used as a guideline in case you need some hints on what to read.

Whatever you might like, I thought it might be fun to read a bit of everything. So here is this year's cozy mystery reading challenge:

Level one (Snoop) - Read one book in each of these cozy sub-genres (total of 10 books)

- One from culinary (anything dealing with food:  restaurants, baked goods, etc.)

Murder at the Masque by Amy Myers [Chef Auguste Didier as amateur sleuth] (1/16/17)

  

- One from animal related (cats, dogs, birds, etc.)
The Barker Street Regulars by Susan Conant (7/20/17)
 
- One from craft related (any kind of hobbies - knitting, crocheting, scrapbooking, etc.)

Lie of the Needle by Cate Price [sewing/antiques] (7/28/17)

- One from paranormal (witches, vampires, etc.)

The Ghost & the Dead Deb by Alice Kimberly [ghost as main character] (6/16/17)

- One from British cozy mysteries (example:  Belinda Lawrence series)

Death with Blue Ribbon by Leo Bruce [Carolus Deene, British history master as sleuth] (4/20/17)

- One career-based cozy mystery (housekeeping, wedding planner, etc.)

Grounds for Murder by Kate Kingsbury [hotel owner/innkeeper] (4/26/17)

- One holiday based (set during any holiday - Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentines, etc.)

Murder at Teatime by Stefanie Matteson [Midsummer's Night (Summer Solstice) and July 4th] (5/9/17)

- One travel mystery (character could be on a cruise, touring another area, etc.)

Zadok's Treasure by Margot Arnold [murder at an archaeological dig in Israel] (2/22/17)

- One historical mystery (any mystery not set in the present) 

Publish & Perish by Sally Wright [set in 1960s; archival researcher as amateur sleuth] (6/22/17)

- One is your choice!  (freebie!)
Nun Plussed by Monica Quill (3/30/17)