May Random CAT: Color Your World

Happy spring! Hopefully spring has sprung and you are already surrounded by the beautiful colors of spring. If it hasn't quite made it there yet at least there is the promise of color to come.

The theme this month is to choose a book with a color in the title, the word color, or even something rainbow related.

Hope you are able to find something bright and fun for springtime!

As always don't forget to update the wiki. http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2016CC_RandomCAT#2016_RandomCAT

Spending time in my garden as well as looking through my shelves is what inspired me as I have quite a few books that fit this category. Here are my options for this challenge:

Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
The Lemon Table by Julian Barnes
The Green Road by Anne Enright
A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch
Black Skies by Arnaldur Indrioason
A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym

>1 LittleTaiko: what about a color in the author's name?

Does "white" qualify as a color?

Thanks!

Oh yeah - totally forgot about that. Yes, an author's name definitely counts. I'm also considering "white" as a color - if it's in a crayon box then it totally counts!

>4 LittleTaiko: excellent, thanks!

Of the books in my To Read collection, four have blue in the title, two have black, one has green, and one has rose. But I think I'll do the "rainbow" aspect and read All the Colours of the Town, by Liam McIlvanney.

Edit: Or I might read The Blue Ice, by Hammond Innes, because it has been nagging me for ages.

Tricky. I've got one book by Rose Macauley and one by Edward Lucas White. The only eligible title is Black Salamander

I have a couple of possibilities. I was already considering Into the Blue by Robert Goddard for the British Authors Challenge in the 75 Books group, and Black Sheep and Kissing Cousins is a possibility for the DeweyCAT. I'll likely read one or both of them.

I am planning to read Something Must Be Done about Prince Edward County by Kristen Green (379.263) for the May DeweyCAT challenge. I may still read it but also Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman (365). Both of these books fit both the Random and Dewey challenges.

I have wanted to read Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys, so now I have a good reason.

I'll plan on reading Red Bones by Ann Cleeves which is on my TBR challenge list.

I already had Lavender Lies by Susan Wittig Albert on my potential reads for his year, so I'll start with that one. And I might also read The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chaevlier.

My first book will be Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet, because it also fits the DeweyCAT. After that I'll see, I have several choices on my tbr and on the wishlist. Maybe I'll go for:
- Grønt Støv by Sara Blædel ("Green Dust" - Danish crime fiction)
- Der goldene Handschuh by Heinz Strunk ("The Golden Glove")

Or maybe another book, Eine Zierde in ihrem Hause. Die Geschichte der Ottilie von Faber-Castell, but it doesn't officially fit the theme. No colour or rainbow in the title. Inofficially I'd say it fits, though, it's about the woman who owned the company Faber-Castell - a company everyone in Germany knows and I think every German child has grown up with Faber-Castell's coloured pencils.

I'm going to read The Whites by Harry Brandt/aka Richard Price.

I've got The Yellow Birds waiting, so that will be my plan :)

I may read Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.

I've had The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen on my shelf for a long time so it's the one.

I posted this a few minutes ago but it's disappeared!

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen has been on my shelf a long time so that's the one for me.

I have a lot of books that fit this category, even if I ignore the Travis McGee series I am making my way through!

I will also try to get to The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears

I have a few options:
Blue Highways / William Least Heat-Moon
White Oleander / Janet Fitch
Or, I have a couple by John Green on my tbr:
Paper Towns
The Fault in Our Stars

I plan to read Red Glass by Laura Resau. As it is set in Mexico it will also fit May's GeoCAT.

Hmm, what about The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater, since "raven" is a synonym for "black"? Is that pushing it a bit too far? :) I'm sure I have plenty of other books that qualify as well!

I think that works and pushes it just far enough. If you were to describe something as raven colored, I'd totally know what you meant.

>20 majkia: I used to have the whole series but some of them have disappeared (frowny emoticon)

>24 LittleTaiko: Thanks! In that case, I'll probably also count Like Water for Chocolate, since chocolate is a shade of brown. :)

I love this one. There are plenty of choices on my Wishlist.

Would Ink count as a color?

>28 VioletBramble: I think it counts. In books, the ocean is often referred to as "inky" or ink black.

>28 VioletBramble: & >29 VivienneR: - Agreed!

I just got confirmation that the library is delivering the book I had hoped to read for this challenge, My Name Is Red by Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk. Excellent!

Red seems to be my color of choice for May as I will be reading Red Glass by Laura Resau and Tomato Red by Daniel Woodrell.

I was hoping to get to Between Shades of Gray for the GeoCAT but I didn't manage to fit it in last month, so I'll read it in May for this RandomCAT.

>29 VivienneR: >30 LittleTaiko:, Yay! That's good because it was my only option. I'll be reading Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink - by Elvis Costello

I have a lot of choices--not sure what I'll get to yet.

Here's a little list with some ideas, and feel free to add your reads to the list as well! http://www.librarything.com/list/9906/all/A-Rainbow-of-Books

Decided to listen to Olive Kitteridge for this challenge.

I've got two more I want to read this month: Brown Girl, Brownstones which is also a Virago Modern Classic and By the Light of the Silvery Moon, a short story collection.

I just received an LTER book that would also fit within this CAT: Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly.

Just finished Yellow Birds; full review written...

Even Cat Sitters Get the Blues / Blaize Clement
4 stars

Pet sitter Dixie rides her bike past a rich house with a guard. She is going to take shelter from the rain in the guardhouse, until she sees the guard is dead! She returns to the place later to realize that the person who hired her over the phone last-minute to take care of his iguana lives in that house!

This was the third in a cozy mystery series. I'm really enjoying the series, and I really enjoyed this one. Dixie has a bit of romance happening in this book (with two men!). It's tame, but I'm enjoying that, too. I learned more about iguanas than I ever thought I would, and I am impressed with the knowledge the author has of the various animals (and that she's obviously passionate about opposing declawing of cats!).

I've finished Lavender Lies by Susan Wittig Albert which is another in her series about an herb shop owner who gets involved in solving mysteries.

Planning on reading Orange is the New Black which will also fit this month's DeweyCAT

I've finished The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addiison Allen. A story of friendship, loyalty and love spun with a little magical realism. Just plain fun to read.

>42 donan: Orange is the New Black also takes place in North America (GeoCAT) so it is a CAT trick fitting all 3 official CATS.

I'm currently reading it, and finding it fascinating.

I love this RandomCAT! So many choices! I am currently listening to an audiobook version of Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White. Only 4 hours into this 28 hour audiobook read. What a wonderful read/listen so far!

>35 sturlington:, Great list

Red Glass by Laura Resau, a YA book, was wonderful. Demonstrates an ability to overcome all your fears.

I have finished Tomato Red by Daniel Woodrell. It is not only the title that is colorful in this book, his writing paints a very vivid picture of white trash life in the Ozarks.

Finished A Beautiful Blue Death which was quite a delightful mystery.

>45 lkernagh: I've also just started listening to Woman in White on audiobook and I love the narration by Roger Rees. Is that the same edition you have?

I finished The White Cottage Mystery earlier this month.

I've read and reviewed my first book for this month's challenge: The Children of Green Knowe, a children's book straddling the line between magical realism and fantasy set at an English country house.

All right, this is probably pushing it a little bit, but I'm starting Words and Rules by Steven PINKER.

I just finished Red Glass by Laura Resau, a lyrical YA read about a trip to Mexico.

I finished One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd. This was a very interesting fictional story about a group of white woman who are part of a government program to provide white brides to the Cheyenne tribe in 1875 with the hope that it will help integrate the Cheyennes into the white American world. Fortunately this is fictional as it leads to an expected tragic ending. The storyline was intriguing and compelling and some of the characters were real. It presented a very good account of life in that time.

I finished Red Bones third in the Shetland trilogy . She does such a good job of making the islands seem as if they are right outside my window.

ETA: fixed the touchstone

I read The black robe by Wilkie Collins, where a Jesuit priest tries to convert an English gentleman to the Roman Catholic faith, and to inveigle him to return his property, which was seized by Henry VIII, to the church. Not as viciously anti-Catholic as some Victorians, but Father Benwell makes for a very hissable bad guy. I sadly missed the plucky woman in a supporting role that Collins normally provides. My edition also lacked a few paragraphs, I had to check a digitised version on Project Guternberg for the full text. And choosing a portrait of the Reformation hero Ulrich Zwingli for the cover was a very bad call.

I finished Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins, an interesting dystopia in which California has been overcome by drought.

COMPLETED Words and Rules by Steven Pinker.

Starting Andivius Hedulio by Edward Lucas WHITE.

I will be starting Black and Blue today.

I completed My Name Is Red, a historical mystery and treatise on miniaturist Persian art.

I took a little detour and read the 10th Travis McGee book, The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper before starting the Ian Rankin...

>60 jeanned: That does sound intriguing

>62 Robertgreaves: Very intricate, and at times I felt totally asea because I know nothing about Persian art and not a lot of history for the period, 16th century Istanbul. But wonderfully done.

I've begun Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys, a YA novel about a Lithuanian girl deported to Siberia.

I finished Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet, the memoirs of a savant on the autism disorder spectrum. Very interesting and fascinating! (also fits this month's DeweyCAT)

I am still making my way through the audio of Olive Kitteridge and enjoying it very much. I am going to have to extend this theme into next month as I just picked up Ruby and White Is for Witching. So many great possibilities for this CAT!

>63 jeanned: wishlisted

COMPLETED Andivius Hedulio by Edward Lucas White

I finished and reviewed The Lady in the Blue Cloak: Legends from the Texas Missions by Eric A. Kimmel & Susan Guevara, my first ever CAT-trick.

Congrats on the CAT trick!

>70 LoisB: Thanks!

>69 inge87: Well done with the CAT trick! I love it when I can get multiple challenges done with a single book but I haven't made a CAT trick yet :)

The Amber Room / Steve Berry
2.5 stars

During WWII, the amber-panelled room in Catherine's Palace, just outside St. Petersburg, Russia was “stolen”. That is, the panels were stolen and they have yet to be found. This book follows Rachel and Paul as they try to find the Amber Room. Rachel's father was very interested in the room, and after he dies (possibly was murdered?), they take up his interest in finding the room.

Audio: The narrator should be good, but for some reason, he just can't seem to hold my interest. He has a nice voice and does accents well, but for whatever reason, he just doesn't work for me (I have listened to a couple others he has narrated and I'm pretty sure I felt the same way). Unfortunately, because my interest was not being held, I missed a heck of a lot of the book. Because of that, I can't say I liked it. I was somewhat interested in Rachel and Paul, but other than that, it just wasn't enough to hold my interest. The extra half star mostly comes from the narrator's interview with the author after the book is finished.

It's really too bad because I've been to Catherine's Palace and have seen the Amber Room replica, so I really wanted to like this book. Speaking of that, I bought a small book while there that has photos (not allowed to take our own photos in the room) and the story behind the room... which I still need to read! Hopefully soon.

>64 RidgewayGirl: I also read Between Shades of Gray for this challenge and thought it was very good.

>74 LisaMorr: Between Shades of Gray was well researched and did a good job as a YA novel in describing what life was like without being too grim. But YA is not the genre for me (I know! I was so glad that my husband wanted to read The Giver when my son was all excited about it) and so I spent the book longing for a deeper, more nuanced look at that slice of history. Still, even I could recognize that it was well done.

>74I
>75 RidgewayGirl:

I thought Between Shades of Gray was a wonderful book, but I would definitley call it grim and harrowing.

>75 RidgewayGirl: I struggle with the definition of YA. I would say that I don't believe I'm a fan of YA and I don't seek it out. Two books that I've read that I thought were very good are The Book Thief and Between Shades of Gray which I didn't really consider YA because of the difficult subject matter. Is it YA just because it has a young adult as a main character?

>76 nrmay: I definitely thought Between Shades of Grey was very grim.

>77 LisaMorr: No, it's the way it's written. A more simplistic structure and less in the way of nuance. Less ambiguity, more action (in the sense of the plot moving forward, not in the Jack Reacher sense). Between Shades of Gray was written for a younger teen reader. I would have eaten this up in middle school. I certainly read a number of books written for older children that were all about escaping the Nazis.

I know The Book Thief is marketed as YA, but it didn't read that way to me. I also read I Am Messenger, which certainly was. I really liked both of those.

I looked for a good explanation of what makes a novel "YA" and while there is no shortage of reasons given, none are really satisfactory. Sites for writers brought up things like a lot of forward momentum and the emphasis being on things the age range you're writing for being interested in. Which begins to answer the questions. it's not the age of the protagonist (plenty of novels written for adults have teenagers as protagonists, or even children). Like all the other genres, the borders are blurry.

>77 LisaMorr:
>78 RidgewayGirl:

I'm a big proponent and fan of YA lit.
You might be interested in a couple of NYTimes essays on the appeal of YA for adults.

The Kids’ Books Are All Right http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/books/review/Paul-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r...

The Power of Young Adult Fiction
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/28/the-power-of-young-adult-fiction...

Just finished A Stranger at Green Knowe by L.M. Boston.

Green Knowe is a wonderful place!

My color book was Sky of Red Poppies by Zohreh Ghahremani, also a well-written YA book.

I'm currently reading another book for this CAT (and also the GeoCAT), but won't finish it tonight: The Whites by Richard Price

I just finished The Whites by Richard Price just before midnight.

I'm very happy to say that I finished Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase, a very enjoyable four star read for me.

A little late, but I finished Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.