April 2017 AlphaKIT: J and D

AlphaKIT letters for April are I and D :



Please remember to update the wiki: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2017_Unofficial_AlphaKIT#April

I'm planning on reading Just Try to Stop Me for my 'J' book and Dance of the Jakaranda for my 'D' book. The second one is a LT Early Reviewer Book, so that one will get priority :) (If it's 'I' instead of 'J' (?), I'll still aim to include the first, but also aim to read Inflictions!)

I thought the letters for April were I and D with the letter J being in December?

I've gotten off to such a slow start in March, and here we are posting April already! G'ack!

I thought it was "I" too. If not, I'll switch around some things.

If it's I, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson will count because I'm hoping to read it for the SFFKIT. If it's J, I will at least be starting Journey to Britannia by Bronwen Riley, which is my online book club's choice for discussion on 3 May. I do have other J's but nothing that's leaping out at me for the moment.

>3 DeltaQueen50: >5 LittleTaiko: Oh oops, you are right! It is I and D. fixed the first entry but can't fix the title.

So very sorry!

I'll most likely end up reading The Invention of Wings and Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams.

Timing is everything...finished already J. D. Robb's last book, now I'll have to look for something else. - now I see that it is an I not a J. Okay, that's better!

Here's my list of possibilities:

Dagger Before Me
Deadly Blessings
Deadly Dog Days
Deadly Notions
✔Death Among the Doilies
✔Death in Advertising
✔Depraved Indifference
✔Earthly Remains by Donna Leon
Herbert Hoover In the White House
Inheritance
✔Invasion of the Tearling
Love and Death in Burgundy
No Charm Intended
No Mallets Intended
Razing the Dead
✔Watching the Detectives

10 of these are from NetGalley and really need to get read!

I too have lots of mysteries starting with D! And also the audiobook of the 2nd Outlander book, Dragonfly in Amber...

For I, I plan to read Invitation to the Waltz & listen to The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.

So far I have these two in mind: To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey and America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray.

I'm planning to hit both letters with Death at the president's lodging by Michael Innes, a mystery to fit with my mysteries-only AlphaKit.

>13 VivienneR: Which reminds me, I've got Operation Pax on my virtual TBR shelf

I am planning on reading The Building of Jalna by Mazo De La Roche, Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas and The Prey by Tom Isbell.

It's like the fates are telling me to wait until April to read my Early Reviewers win, Ill Will by Dan Chaon.

>15 DeltaQueen50: I've got The Building of Jalna on my wishlist. Looking forward to what you think of it.

>17 Robertgreaves: I've been puzzling over the order of reading the Jalna books as I have previously read the 1st in the publication order but the 7th in chronological order. This book perked my interest in the early days so I decided to go with the chronological order and The Building of Jalna starts it off. I'll let you know how it goes.

>18 DeltaQueen50: My grandmother loved the Jalna series and had most of them. I used to read them when staying with her but I haven't read them in about 45 years. I can't remember if I was aware that there was such a thing as publication order or chronological order at the time.

Based on some options for me for the CATs, I'll likely be reading any of these:

The Snow Child / Eowyn Ivey
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet / David Mitchell
Blood and Beauty / Sarah Dunant

Last night before bed I grabbed a book I thought I could read a little without getting involved...a new and not-too-long book, The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo, and finished in the wee hours of the morning. So much for not getting sucked in. ;)

I just read If You Only Knew by Kristan Higgins in basically a single sitting...next up is The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham.

I read In Farleigh Field and really enjoyed it.

My first one is Tales of an Old Horse Trader by Leroy Judson Daniels. Actually, this was an oral history given to his sister Helen Herrick. Daniels was over 100 when this was recorded.

I've completed by first read for the letter "D" with Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas.

My first read of the month hits both letters: Ill Will by Dan Chaon

>23 LittleTaiko: I liked that book a lot as well.

I'm giving up on The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham, but I'm replacing it with another "D" read, The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L. Sayers.

COMPLETED I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Just finished a slow read with Death at the President's Lodging by Michael Innes that hits both letters.

I read The Prey by Tom Isbell for my "I" read.

I am so confused. The Topic for this says J and D. I just went to the wiki to add Jem, by Frederick Pohl, and there is no J for April!

>31 jeanned: See post >7 majkia:

I have received a number of these titles from Netgalley too. I found Deadly Dog Days a rather quirky but enjoyable read. Let me know what you think about it!

Hi everyone, I am pretty new to LT's and still finding my way around the groups and the various challenges. It is okay if I join from this point forward, or should I backtrack to finish the reads for January to March? Looking forward to participating!

>34 LindyCrichtonBez5605: You can jump in anytime. It's not required to participate every month. Welcome!

Thank you! I will finish up the book I am currently reading, which unfortunately does not fall in either the I or D category, and then jump in!

Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg. for D.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet / David Mitchell
2.25 stars

Jacob de Zoet is a Dutch man working in Japan. He meets and falls in love with a doctor’s daughter (??? I think that’s how they are connected). When the doctor dies, the daughter is sent to live in a nunnery, but there is something very wrong at that nunnery.

Ok, so my summary is only a small part of the book. Too small for my liking because it was the only interesting part of the book for me and the reason the book got an extra .25 stars. If it had been even a bit more of the book, I would have raised the rating slightly higher; if it had been the focus of the book, my rating would have been considerably higher. The rest of the book – no idea what happened. It was boring boring boring. I wasn’t even a little bit interested, so I have no idea what it was really about, except I think Jacob was working for the Dutch East India Company. Which reminds me, it was set, mostly in 1799.

Starting "One Day" by David Nicholls

They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children / Romeo Dallaire
3.5 stars

Romeo Dallaire was head of UNAMIR, the peacekeeping mission in Rwanda, just before the genocide in 1994. Since then, he has become involved in trying to stop the use of children as soldiers. This book looks at how and why children become soldiers, some as young as 7 or 8 years old, and offers ways to get this stopped. He also talks a lot about the group he has formed to try to stop it; his group is trying to get the military and humanitarian NGOs to work together. He has done a lot of research and has published papers on the topic.

This is terrible. I have read both Dallaire’s Shake Hands With the Devil (which I highly recommend) and Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone (also recommended). There were a few chapters where Dallaire created a fictional boy who became a soldier, then later a fictional peacekeeper who shot a girl soldier; I thought these chapters, in particular, were very powerful. I hadn’t realized how many girl soldiers were also involved, and they have (many sad) issues of their own. Although some of the nonfiction parts of the book weren’t as interesting (in the second half of the book, as Dallaire talks about trying to get agencies to help stop this), I did find myself reading the bibliography at the end for a couple more books to read on the topic. He does repeat himself a bit, but I forgave him that. He is obviously very passionate about what he is trying to do.

I've finished three I reads so far this month:
Inheritor by C. J. Cherryh
I Hate Everyone, Except You by Clinton Kelly
Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason

I have finished Death in the Dentist's Chair, a Golden Age mystery that was quite fun. 3½*

The Snow Child / Eowyn Ivey
4 stars

This is the retelling of a Russian fairy tale. An older couple, Mabel and Jack, have recently moved to Alaska. They never had children, but one evening when they build a snowman (child/girl), she comes to life…

I really liked this. It’s funny that I’m not a big fan of fantasy nor of magical realism, but I like fairy tales. I didn’t know this Russian tale, but I really liked this retelling! I loved some of the snowy/wintery descriptions (though I’m not always a fan of elaborate descriptions, either) – they really were magical – and it was a great story!

May thread is up: http://www.librarything.com/topic/255047

COMPLETED One Day by David Nicholls

I have completed The Building of Jalna by Mazo de la Roche and I liked it well enough to go ahead and purchase the next three books in the series. A light and fun read.

COMPLETED The Killings At Badgers Drift by Caroline Graham and starting the same author's Death of a Hollow Man.

I finished Suffer the Children by Craig diLouie.

I recently finished another "D" book, The Baker's Daughter by D.E. Stevenson. I always enjoy her books as pleasant, escapist reads.

COMPLETED Death of a Hollow Man by Caroline Graham. Starting the same author's "Death in Disguise"

I have finished Invisible Man & The Ivory Grin and am close to done with A Damsel in Distress & The Dreadful Lemon Sky…

I read Purity by Jonathan Franzen

COMPLETED Death in Disguise by Caroline Graham (no touchstones today)

I read Dreadnought by April Daniels.

Finished Dance of the Jakaranda by Peter Kimani.

I finished Universal Harvester by John Darnielle - a very short book, well-written, thought-provoking, ambiguous.

I started the audio of I Dare by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller!

I've completed my fourth and last Alpha for the month:

America's First Daughter - Dray
The Boston Girl - Diamet
Browsing - Dirda
To The Bright Edge of the World - Ivey

I have finished Invitation to the Waltz, Dragonfly in Amber (in audiobook), The Dark Monk, Dubliners and a reread via audiobook of my favorite Nero Wolfe, The Doorbell Rang

>58 clue: I was able to finish another short one, The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle for a total of 5.

Into Thin Air / Jon Krakauer
5 stars

In 1996, Jon Krakauer climbed Mount Everest as an assignment for the magazine he worked for, but also as a personal goal, as he had done a lot of mountain climbing when he was younger. He signed on with Rob Hall’s group (Rob was the head guide of their group). Little did they know that in 1996, Everest would claim a number of lives, guides and clients both.

Probably very few people need a summary of this one. In fact, it was a reread for me, as well, first read at least 10 years ago. It was my first mountaineering book and I’ve read many since, including (but not limited to) other versions of the same year on Everest, so the same disaster, but from other points of view. Krakauer is such a great writer, though. I just didn’t want to put the book down! I feel like the start was “slower” (though that’s not to say “slow”!) with some of the history of Everest and explanations of mountaineering terms, etc, but the last bit of the book is just riveting... and heartbreaking.

I finished Inflictions last week, but only had time to post a review and record it today. For anyone who likes DARK short stories (horror/suspense), it's worth a look :) Full review written!