BingoDOG - May reads

I hope it's ok I started this. I looked, but didn't see a thread already going. I also hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes (I haven't noticed if one or two people have taken the lead in starting these threads or not!).

So, here is a new thread for what we read in May for BingoDOG. Or any other BingoDOG related discussion.

Don't forget to post what you've read in the wiki:
http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2016_BingoDOG

Using this for the "free" Read a CAT square (which I kept forgetting to use!)

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 have a question. I'm having trouble with the "wordplay" square.

This feels more like (really IS) a play on a book title, but could I use Of Dice and Men? Thoughts in this?

I think Of Dice and Men works perfectly. I would consider this title a play on words with the changing of such a well known title.

>4 DeltaQueen50: That's what I was hoping! Thank you so much. I will use it for that square!

Wordplay

Of Dice and Men / David M. Ewalt
4 stars

This is a history of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. The author played himself as a child, gave it up for about ten years, then went back to it, and got particularly involved again as he was researching for the book.

I really enjoyed this. I haven't played much D&D myself, but I did play occasionally when I was a kid in the early 80s (only when cousins visited!). More recently, I played a different role playing game that is pretty much the same thing, but not officially D&D. We were a group of women playing, but the Game Master (GM... vs DM/Dungeon Master) was a man (one of the player's husbands). Reading this makes me want to play again! I enjoyed learning the history of the game and it was humourous at times, as well. The author interspersed the history with narratives from some of the games he has played with his friends, as well as the research he was doing (various gaming conventions, and even one weekend doing a LARP (Live Action Role Play).

About indigenous people

People of the Deer / Farley Mowat
3 stars

In the late 1940s, Farley Mowat spent a couple of years in Northern Canada (what would be part of Nunavut now). This recounts his time there, spent with the local Inuit. He tells the story of the people and also explains the habits of the “deer” (caribou).

I like Farley Mowat, but (no surprise) I definitely prefer his books when the focus is on animals. In this book, I really enjoyed the parts about the caribou, but the rest varied – some of it held my interest and other parts didn't. I was impressed with his suggestions to help the people at the end of the book, though (and it's sad to see some things still haven't changed).

Wordplay

Booked to Die by John Dunning. Using his knowledge as a bookstore owner and Denver resident, Dunning created the Cliff Janeway Bookman series. This is the first of five Bookman titles. It's a good mystery with lots of booktalk, beginning with Janeway being a Denver detective and ending with him being a member of the booktrade. 4 stars.

I love this series. One of my favorites. I only wish he'd write some more.

I read Jaycee Dugard's A Stolen Life: A Memoir which fits this months DeweyCAT (364) and it also fits the BingoDOG for the 'debut book' square since this is Jaycee's first book now that she has a new one coming out July 12th. It is graphic and rough reading in the beginning, but after that she only refers to things in a general way and there are no more graphic details. For people who can't take reading the book I recommend checking out the website and YouTube channel for the foundation she and her family started. Links to both are here: http://thejaycfoundation.org/ and https://www.youtube.com/user/TheJAYCFoundation. I have a review of the book on my thread here https://www.librarything.com/topic/204813#5577001.

I just finished Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood which I'm using for the square: Wants the protagonist's job/hobby. She is an artist and even though I have no artistic abilities, I've wanted to be able to do art of some kind.

I am using Station Eleven for the 'Book That Features A Theatre" square.

I've read the first of Agatha Christie's Poirot mysteries, The Mysterious Affair At Styles and it will fill the square "published before you were born".

Today I finished Citizens Creek by Lalita Tademy. I loved this historical novel that follows a Black/American Indian family from the years prior to The Trail of Tears through the transition from Indian Territory to Oklahoma statehood.

I read the Flanders Panel for the in translation square.

>15 majkia: oooo! I've got that one on my shelves. It's been on my TBR list for ages. Thanks for the idea.

I read Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay for the "body of water in the title" square. The Cherwell is a river in Oxfordshire.

I've decided to use The English Breakfast Murder by Laura Childs as my book for the "protagonist has Job/Hobby you want" block. The protagonist owns a tea shop, which I would love to have.

I'm using Working Stiff, a memoir by Judy Melinek about her two years learning to be a medical examiner in New York City for the
"protagonist has Job/Hobby you want" block. I think this would be very interesting work although not a suitable profession for me.

This gives me my first bingo -- the diagonal from upper left to lower right:

1. Less than 200 pages: Five dollars and a Pork Chop Sandwich by Mary Frances Berry.

7. Author born in 1916: James Herriot's Cat Stories by James Herriot.

13. Read a cat: When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning -- DeweyCAT for January (028).

19. Debut book: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.

25. Protagonist's Job: Working Stiff by Judy Melinek.

I am going to use That They May Face the Rising Sun for the square, protagonist job or hobby you would like. The story is about rural life on a farm in a small rural lake community in Ireland in a simpler time. A very pleasant place filled with wildlife, nature and everyday life.

I finished Frank Linderman's Pretty-shield: Medicine Woman of the Crows for the indigenous square and Dorothy L. Sayers' mystery Gaudy Night for the "book about a writer" square. This gave me my first vertical bingo, down the "O" column:

5. About a Writer: Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers (Harriet Vane writes mysteries)
10. One-word title: Survival by Julie E. Czerneda
15. About an indigenous person: Pretty-shield by Frank B. Linderman (Pretty-shield is Crow)
20. In translation: Dshamilja by Chinghiz Aitmatov (German translation of a Russian-language book)
25. You want the protagonist's job/hobby: Mary's Monster by Ruth Van Ness Blair (fossil-hunting)

>21 inge87: Congrats on your bingo! Gaudy Night is one of my favorite books about a writer.

I finished Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko for the "about/by an indigenous person" square.

I finished The Engines of God yesterday which I'm using for the 'adventure' square, and finally gives me a bingo (a double bingo)!

Today I completed Hatchet by Gary Paulsen and it will fill the survival square. This is a children's book, just under 200 pages, and is a great adventure story for kids and adults.

I have three squares to go to complete the card and I'm reading one of those now. I'm very surprised to be this far along because last year this is about as far as I got all year!