February RandomCAT - It Takes Two

February is the second month of the year, and also the month of St. Valentine's Day, when we celebrate couples. Your reading challenge for this month is to read a book featuring a pair. This could be a couple, but it could be any other kind of duo: twins, best friends, parent and child, student and teacher, hero and sidekick. Books that mention two people in the title or on the cover would also qualify.

Some ideas: My Brilliant Friend (two friends); Her Fearful Symmetry (twins); Sense and Sensibility (two sisters); The Price of Salt (lovers); The Road (father and son); Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell; The Golem and the Jinni; Eleanor & Park

Please add your selections to the wiki and tell us about them in this thread.

My picks for this month are The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood and Let Me In by John Advide Lindqvist.

My book club's choice for February is Rebecca, which is about the two Mrs. de Mornays even if one of them is offstage for the whole novel.

>3 Robertgreaves: There definitely is a duality in that book! Although I think you mean the two Mrs. de Winters. :-)

Would this cover qualify? Somebody is standing in the bushes.

Would a human and an animal qualify?

What about an inanimate object - i.e. pair of shoes?

Fun theme! I assume any romance would count, and I'm sure I'll be reading at least one of those in February. :)

Ooh, I've been wanting to read another Wooster/Jeeves story so this challenge will be perfect for that. Right Ho, Jeeves is the next up in the series for me.

>5 cyderry:. I'm easy although I did have in mind pairs of living beings. Of course part of the fun of these challenges is seeing how different people interpret them.

I've been meaning to get back to Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff. It's the story of a marriage told from both partners' points of view.

I am hoping to read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell in Feb. for the AlphaKIT so I guess I'm set!

Sounds like the perfect opportunity to read Weird Girl and What's His Name by Meagan Brothers.

I will be joining >2 sturlington: in reading Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindquist which is also my pick for our Horror Group February. I have it on audio, so that will be my format.

>12 luvamystery65: That one doubles as my horror pick too.

I'll try The Sisters Brothers for this CAT.

I've been looking forward to reading The Book of Beasts, which is the third Hollow Earth book by John Barrowman and Carol E. Barrowman. The series revolves around a set of twins, so this is the perfect time, and it will fit in with the Alpha-Cat :)

And by the way, if you like YA or MG fantasy, you should absolutely look into the Hollow Earth series!

I've planned to read And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini for the GeoCat - and I think it qualifies here as well, as the siblings Pari and Abdullah are the center of the story.

I am planning on reading The Mountains Echoed next month as well so that's a bonus that it fits this theme. I am also going to read Ragtime Cowboys a "buddy" book featuring Charles Siringo and Dashiell Hammett as detectives working on a case involving Joseph P. Kennedy.

I'm thinking I might read A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King, the 2nd book in the Holmes and Russell series since it's already on my "possible" list for this year. Or I could read the next one in the Rizzoli & Isles series.

I think The Spanish Bow might work for this so I'll plan on it for Feb.

>18 dudes22: that's one of my favorite "Russell and Holmes" books by Laurie R. King!

Seems like the perfect opportunity to read a Dalziel and Pascoe mystery! The Wood Beyond has been on my shelves the longest, so this is a good push to read it.

>21 rabbitprincess: I've been in the "middle" of Deadheads for about 4 years now! It's really good that I remember. I don't know why I put it aside and never picked it up again. :/

>4 sturlington: I know. I woke up in the middle of the night cursing myself. Rebecca de Mornay is/was? an actress.

I think I will read The Nightingale for this challenge.

Oh, so busy! I barely have time to read for January and I don't know when I'll have time to plan for February! But, my post here will remind me to come back later when I do have time.

I see the February RandomCAT is providing me with the perfect impetuous to get around to reading Arthur & George by Julian Barnes. Another 'off the shelf' possibility is Leon and Louise by Alex Capus. I do own a copy of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell but with Clarissa and War and Peace reads both on the go right now (which will both roll into February), I don't want to add another chunkster to my February reading.

>26 lkernagh: Arthur and George is my favorite book by Julian Barnes. I am going to read The Two Towers for this CAT.

What a wonderful idea for the challenge! I have plenty to choose from on my tbr list:

Angel with Two Faces by Nicola Upson
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
One Plus One by Jojo Moyes
Claude and Camille: a novel of Monet by Stephanie Cowell
Homer and Langley by E.L. Doctorow
And a planned re-read for this year - Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

I'm thinking about reading The Road, father and son, and The Transit of Venus about two orphaned sisters (got the idea for the Shirley Hazzard novel from More Book Lust, which I just finished this morning).

I've been meaning to read The Annotated Sense and Sensibility--here's my perfect excuse!

I have My Brilliant Friend on this year's want to read list and it's also a TBR so I think this is the perfect time to read it.

>28 VivienneR: I'll be trying to join you in reading Angel with Two Faces in February.

I just realized that my American Authors Challenge book for February will also fit this challenge. Elsewhere is author Richard Russo's memoir, and it apparently focuses on his relationship with his mother.

I have at least two books for February's challenge: Joseph and Chico a picture book about Pope Benedict XVI as told by his cat and Dreaming Death a fantasy novel about a man who dreams visions and the woman who interprets them.

I've decided to read Two's Company by Joyce Stranger: it's been on my shelves, unread, for a couple years, at least!

Would The Pact by Jodi Picoult fit for this? That's where I'm currently leaning.

>36 LibraryCin: The cover I see shows two people so go for it.

>37 sturlington: Thank you! That's what I'll plan for!

The Essential Calvin and Hobbes-- I think this winter calls for more laughter. Love this challenge!

>39 donan: good choice, I love Calvin and Hobbes.

Have you seen this C & H tie in with Star Wars?

http://briankesinger.deviantart.com/art/Rey-and-bb-8-582497856

>39 donan: A+ choice! My Calvin and Hobbes books are still at my parents' place, so I try to reread at least one of them every time I visit.

I used to especially like the Calvin & Hobbs with the snowmen cartoons. I always thought they were very inventive.

>42 dudes22: there's a talented artist on Deviantart who is doing Star Wars/Calvin and Hobbes mashups, and they are hysterical.

Here's his snowman picture: http://briankesinger.deviantart.com/art/Han-And-Leia-583858940

>43 fuzzi: Too funny!

I've been trying to come up with something for this CAT and wan't having much luck until I realized a book I was looking at for the GEOCat would be a perfect fit: Joe and Azat by Jesse Lonergan. It's set in Turkmenistan so it'll be a double CAT and works for the AlphaKit, too!

>43 fuzzi: - that's cute.

Welp, I already finished my first read for this challenge: The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood. It is about a married couple, and it's really 2X2 because in the utopian-dystopian community where they live, they each have alternates and swap out living in the house with being in prison each month. I was pretty disappointed in this novel by a favorite author.

Working on my first book that fits this challenge, Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey. For those who don't know the author is a pseudonym for two writers, Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham.

At least I hope this will fit?

Starting The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber.

>48 Robertgreaves: Read that last year and really liked it!

I've finished A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R King, another mystery in the Holmes and Russell series.

>50 dudes22: that's a good one!

I'm considering Charlie and Algernon (the mouse) a pair.

Flowers for Algernon / Daniel Keyes
4 stars

Charlie is mentally disabled, but is given the opportunity to have an “operashun” to make him smart. He has wanted to be smart his entire life, so he happily accepts. It turns out he is the first human to undergo this experiment.

This was really good. It's heartbreaking – the ups and downs. He said it himself in the book – there are pros and cons to both. For a while I considered rating this slightly higher, but overall, I think this is the best rating for me. However, I suspect this is one that will stick in my head and the rating – at least in my mind – may go up, as well.

I just finished Sophiechen und der Riese, which also counts for my Roald Dahl centenary. This is great fun.

I just finished Jackaby, a YA historical fantasy set in New England that features a detective pair who investigate supernatural crime. He is a seer who may be mad and she is fresh off a Romanian dinosaur hunt, what could possibly go wrong?

I just finished Ragtime Cowboys by Loren D. Estleman and it was a great "buddy" book. The author took the liberty of putting real life ex-Pinkerton Detectives Charlie Siringo and Dashiell Hammett together in 1920s California resulting in a humorous adventure story that was light and quick.

I just read Uncharted Territory by Connie Willis, which works for this CAT on multiple levels! The two main characters are partners in a scientific expedition on an alien planet, and a romance also develops between them. A fun read, although not as enjoyable or thought-provoking as Willis' longer works.

I just finished Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff, which is the story of a marriage, focusing first on the husband and then on the wife.

COMPLETED The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

My review:
A multi-national company called USIC selects Peter Leigh as a Christian missionary to a planet called Oasis but he must go alone and leave his wife behind. Once he arrives, he finds that as he gets closer to the Oasans, he gets further away from his wife.

A wonderful book that works as a SF story and also takes the main characters' faith and their emotional interactions seriously. It left me wanting to know what happened next for the characters on Earth, the Earthlings on Oasis, and the Oasans but I suspect a sequel would only spoil it. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would.

>58 Robertgreaves: I've heard great things about this book. I do need to pick it up soon.

My review:

A multi-national company called USIC selects Peter Leigh as a Christian missionary to a planet called Oasis but he must go alone and leave his wife behind. Once he arrives, he finds that as he gets closer to the Oasans, he gets further away from his wife.

A wonderful book that works as a SF story and also takes the main characters' faith and their emotional interactions seriously. It left me wanting to know what happened next for the characters on Earth, the Earthlings on Oasis, and the Oasans but I suspect a sequel would only spoil it. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would.

>58 Robertgreaves: I'm so happy you enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I read that Michel Faber had decided to stop writing novels.

I finished a thick tome from my TBR, Lilienbanner und Preußenaar, a historical novel from the Seven Years' War about the adventures of two brothers, one in Canada, the other in the Prussian army. Not bad, but not worth keeping either.

>58 Robertgreaves: Oh, wow. And that was the first one of his I'd read.

>63 Robertgreaves: Yeah, me too.

>58 Robertgreaves: and others. Wow. I have that book in Planet TBR but think I need to give it a pass. I have major issues with missionaries (personal issues), so I think I need to avoid it.

I read and enjoyed The Annotated Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen with annotations by David M. Shapard. I've read enough annotated editions of Jane Austen's novels that I did not need to read many of the annotations of this book.

I finished Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf, about two elderly people who find friendship after struggling with loneliness. It's on this year's Tournament of Books list and I thought it was very good, definitely worth reading.

I finished Beastly Bones, which was not quite as good as Jackaby, but still worth picking up if you liked the first book. This time our duo gets involved shape shifting predators, who may have been responsible for wiping out the Dodos, and dinosaur bones that may be provoking murder.

>67 mathgirl40: I've been thinking about this title for the BINGO square that needs a book where the protagonist is a senior. Glad to hear you liked it.

I finished Me Before You yesterday, which I think qualifies, being a love story. It was a lovely book, and as soon as I recover from it, I'll be reading the sequel.

>69 clue: Our Souls at Night would indeed be perfect for that category.

Finished Joe and Azat, graphic novel by Jesse Lonergan, based on author's experience as a Peace Corps worker in the former U.S.S.R. Interesting and entertaining, about a little-known part of Asia.

thanks to an LT member for bringing it to my attention!

Finished Miss Buncle Married by D.E. Stevenson. It follows the affairs of Mr. and Mrs. Abbott nee Buncle as they move to the small English village of Wandlebury and become involved in village life. A quiet, whimsical book depicting the villagers' interactions with the Abbots firmly established in the middle of it all.

I've read 2 books so far this month with notable couples:
The Broken Kingdoms, by N. K. Jemisin
A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent, by Marie Brennan

I started The World of Jeeves by Wodehouse and I'm really enjoying it. There is nothing like a few stories about Jeeves and Wooster to brighten the day. It's in the 800 page range which is a struggle for my arthritic hands but well worth it.

>73 dallenbaugh: I really liked Miss Buncle Married, and have The Two Mrs. Abbotts waiting in the wings.

>76 fuzzi: My library doesn't have the next in the series, but it has two unrelated Stevenson novels. Maybe after I've worked my way down the stack of library books waiting for me I will try them.

I am reading The Places In Between. It just dawns on me that perhaps this will work for It takes two. Rory Stewart walks between Herat and Kubul. He also does part of the trip with a mastiff named Babur after the man who walked the same route in 1500s. Does it work?

>78 Kristelh: Sounds like it to me.

Love it!

Starting Daphne Du Maurier Omnibus 4. This contains TWO of her books: Rebecca with the TWO Mrs de Winters and My Cousin Rachel, which I don't think I've read before so I don't know if it fits or not.

Finished The Places in Between. This fits,
Between Herat and Kabul
Rory and his dog Babur
Rory Stewart and Emperor Babur (1500s) walk the same route.

Finished The World of Jeeves by P.G. Woodhouse. There is nothing like Jeeves and Wooster to brighten a February day.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette? / Maria Semple
3.75 stars

Bernadette was an architect and won a prestigious award for it. She left it behind when she and her husband Elgie moved to Seattle, where Elgie was working for Microsoft. Their daughter, Bee, is rewarded with a trip to Antarctica when she does well in school, but that seems to set off some kind of panic in Bernadette.

This was written from many different points of view, and apparently (at least partially – hard to tell with audio) via letters, invoices, etc., so it was a bit hard to follow at times. I liked the end better, but for the first 3/4, I wasn't sure how I was going to rate it. It was definitely a little odd. I didn't really like any of the characters. But I liked the "story" (if you could call it a story!). The extra .25 is for the very "enthusiastic" narrator of the audio book.

I just realized that the audiobook I finished today would work for this -- Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

This is basically a retelling of Romeo and Juliet with a young adult paranormal twist. The South Carolina setting was well done & the "mortal" teenage world of school & cliques rings true. As all teens do, Ethan and Lena struggle with questions of identity but in their case there is an added urgency. Lena is a "Caster" whose fate as either good or evil will be decided on her 16th birthday. Ethan is a mortal -- will their love be strong enough to bridge the gap between their two worlds?

I've finished a couple more books that work for this CAT. First, Belief or Nonbelief?: A Confrontation by Umberto Eco and Cardinal Martini has two authors and takes the form of a debate between two opposing concepts. I found it very interesting and loved the fact that both Eco and Martini are respectful and open-minded about each other's point of view. I wish all public debates were conducted with such civility!

Then I completed Read Bottom Up by Neel Shah and Skye Chatham, a romance with two authors. I liked the epistolary format -- the whole story is told through emails and text messages. It's also a very realistic depiction of what dating is like in the age of the Internet.

I just finished The Sisters Brothers for this CAT and I think I had my hopes up too high. It wasn't bad, but my expectations were set wrong - not the book's fault, but it's going in the donation bin.

Curious as to whether the non-fiction book His Needs, Her Needs would qualify?

Another installment of the Lacy Flint series (A Dark and Twisted Tide) completed and thoroughly enjoyed. Flint and Joesbury are such an interesting couple.

>88 thornton37814: I don't know the book but it sounds like it's about couples, so yes.

>77 dallenbaugh: does your library have InterLibraryLoan (ILL)?

When I want to read something that my local public library does not own, and I hesitate to buy, I request an ILL. Only once or twice have they not been able to find the book for me.

Yesterday I finished Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited co-authored by the twins, Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein, which I definitely think qualifies for this RandomCAT. I enjoyed the book despite finding the twins annoying. My review is on my thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/204813#5477077.

I just finished I Always Loved You by Robin Oliveira which was about the relationship between Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas. I really enjoyed it.

I finished the novel The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto which describes the relationship between two young people in Tokyo who are both recovering from grief and trauma in their lives. Their tentative trials to reach out and trust one another is touching and beautifully portrayed.

I finished Richard Russo's memoir, Elsewhere. The focus of the book is his relationship with his mother. His parents divorced when he was very young and his mother became increasingly dependent upon him (while proudly proclaiming her independence at every opportunity). He didn't realize that she had a mental disorder until after her death.

I finished Let the Right One In for this challenge, about a 12-year-old boy and his vampire friend. I'm unhappy because this was my challenge and both my reads for it only got 2 stars! I think I jinxed myself. :-(

Just finished The Book of Beasts, the third book in the YA fantasy series, Hollow Earth. Heavens, it was so good. About twins, and written by a brother & sister, so it worked perfectly. If you like fantasy or YA, you really have to check out the Hollow Earth series.

I finished Two's Company by Joyce Stranger this morning, a book about her experiences with her two dogs. Both had champion bloodlines, but that didn't help with obedience training!

Like Carrie, I also read Richard Russo's Elsewhere, focused on the author's relationship with his mother. A sorrowful story filled with ‘what ifs’ and leaves the reader with no happy redemption, optimistic realism or any satisfying answers, but even with the bleakness, I still found it to be a beautiful, honest story.

COMPLETED Daphne du Maurier Omnibus 4

My review:
Rebecca
A young girl working as companion to a wealthy American woman in Monaco meets Maxim de Winter, a rich and handsome widower who asks her to marry him. But how can she possibly compete with the beautiful, witty Rebecca, the first Mrs de Winter, who had all the social poise and elegance the narrator, with her crippling lack of self-confidence, does not?

Although I can sympathise with the narrator's continual fantasies, second-guessing other people's reactions to her (I have been known to do it myself), it does get tedious after a while. The story after the big reveal does raise uncomfortable questions about where the reader's sympathies should lie. The narrator, if not the author, wants our sympathies to go in one direction but should they?

There were obvious echoes of "Jane Eyre", which I re-read last year, but not as many echoes as I thought from my memory of "Rebecca" from when I read it 35 or so years ago.

My Cousin Rachel:
Philip Ashley's cousin and foster father, Ambrose Ashley, travels to spend the winter in Italy for the sake of his health. There he meets and marries a distant cousin, Rachel, the widow of an Italian count. He stays in Italy for a year longer than he had planned and then dies before he can come home again. Are his last letters home due to paranoia brought on by a brain tumour, or is Rachel really up to no good? Philip must decide when Rachel comes to stay with him.

Spoiled by what seems to me to be a major plot hole: Wouldn't the will leaving the estate to Philip have been invalidated by Ambrose's subsequent marriage, so Rachel as his wife would have got everything anyway?

I finished Still Missing by Chevy Stevens. It's not quite in the spirit of "celebrating couples" since the pair involved are victim and kidnapper, but I think it fits this month's category. Annie is a realtor who is kidnapped just as she's finishing an open house. The events of her captivity, the police investigation and her attempt to move on with her life after she's back home are told entirely from Annie's point of view via her sessions with a psychiatrist. Brutal and disturbing at times, but this book captured my attention from the beginning and kept me turning the pages late into the evening. 4 ½ stars.

I've finished and reviewed this year's Caldecott medal winner, Lindsay Mattick's Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear, which I really liked. There are three parts to the story and each part features a couple: Lindsay and her son Cole, Harry Colebourn and Winnie, and Winnie and Christopher Robin Milne.

I finished The Transit of Venus today; I picked it for this month because it centers on two orphaned sisters from Australia. As I read the book, it also focused on the relationships between these sisters and their husbands and lovers, so lots of 'couples' in this one.

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
3.5 stars

Will's mother, Mary Anne, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. There is no cure. Will was often with her at her appointments and treatments, when they would discuss books. They made their own two-person book club.

I liked this book. I was impressed with how positive Mary Anne was. She also had an amazing life, traveling all around the world to help people, particularly refugees. At the time she was diagnosed, she was trying to raise money to build a library in Afghanistan. It was a fairly simple book, in that not a lot happened, but I enjoyed it.

I found a second book for this CAT: Die preußischen Brüder about the relationship between Prince Henry of Prussia and his brother, King Frederick the Great. Lots of stuff I didn't know, since he pretty much dropped from history.

Several of my February reads fit into the RandomCAT this month:

Arthur and George, Julian Barnes - 2 men; one working on behalf of the other to clear his name. Very detailed into the men's personalities.
The Daughters of Mars - 2 sisters in Australia join the nursing service and are posted to Gallipoli during WWI. Strong sense of place and personality.
Joe and Azat, Jesse Loonergan - 2 friends from different cultures - Turkmenistan and American.
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini - 2 boys in Afghanistan, friends from different social classes. Strong sense of place and culture.
My Name is Lucy Barton, Elizabeth Strout - daughter and mother. A relationship explored.
News of the World, Paulette Jiles - an unlikely friendship between an old man and the young Indian captive he is entrusted to return to her relatives.

>106 countrylife: Arthur and George is a perfect choice for this theme! I really enjoyed it when I read it last year.

>106 countrylife: Arthur and George is my favorite Barnes

It's true that the month isn't quite over yet, but this was my first RandomCAT, and I had a lot of fun doing it. It was a blast seeing what everyone chose to read.

>109 sturlington: Glad you enjoyed your first RandomCAT!

I have finally finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell :)

I've finished and loved The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber, which is the story of a married couple, one who is a pastor who gets a job ministering to aliens on another planet, and one who is a nurse who remains on earth.

I finished a couple more books that fit this challenge: The New World by Chris Adrian and Eli Horowitz and The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood, both about married couples in extremely unusual circumstances.