Mini-Challenge : July 2017

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Mini-Challenge : July 2017

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1Andrew-theQM
Edited: Jun 30, 2017, 5:19 pm

The challenge is simple :

Read three books, one each from three different genres, or three different authors, this month! This should encourage us all to read books from different genres or authors. If however you do stick to one genre there is nothing stopping you reading three books from 3 different sub genres, e.g. If you are a Mystery and Suspense buff this could be 1 Treasure Hunt book, 1 Legal Thriller and 1 Woman Detective book, etc. The options are endless!

This is ideal as a short challenge to complete each month, which is very doable, and can be combined with books from other challenges.

2Sergeirocks
Edited: Jul 25, 2017, 6:59 pm

I'm in...

1) 3 July 2017 - Black & Blue by Ian Rankin 5★s : Tartan Noir
2) 7 July 2017 - A Flag of Truce by David Donachie 4★s : Seafaring Historical
3) 25 July 2017 - Blood Feud by David Robbins 4★s : Western

...And done.

3Andrew-theQM
Edited: Jul 28, 2017, 8:16 pm

I'm going to try something a bit different this month, I'm going to try to read three new authors.

✔️1. The first one will be Ruth Ware and going to read The Woman in Cabin 10. ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
✔️2. Santa Montefiore - The Butterfly Box (which also suits another challenge as it visits Chile) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
✔️3. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

I will tick them off as I read them.

👉 = currently reading
✔️ = Finished

4dustydigger
Edited: Jul 28, 2017, 10:27 am

Dusty's Mini Challenge for July
1. Emily Rodda - The Lake of Tears (children's fantasy) ✔
2. Kate Griffin - The Neon Court (urban fantasy) ✔
3. Jeff VanderMeer - Acceptance(weird fiction) ✔
4. Ken McLeod -The Cassini Division (science fiction) ✔
5. Edward Lear - Nonsense Verse(poetry) ✔
6. Margery Allingham - Tether's End (vintage crime)

COMPLETED 28th July.

5BookConcierge
Edited: Jul 19, 2017, 7:46 pm

Three new-to-me authors

1. The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebekah Crane ✔ - 01July17
2. Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann ✔ - 02July17
3. Eragon by Christopher Paolini ✔ - 04July17
4. Band of Brothers by Stephen E Ambrose ✔ - 07July17
5. The Gatekeeper: Missy Lehand by Kathryn Smith ✔ -08July17
6. Final Jeopardy by Linda Fairstein ✔ - 13July17
7. Malicious Intent by Kathryn Fox ✔ - 17July17

6Andrew-theQM
Jul 15, 2017, 7:24 pm

>3 Andrew-theQM: Finished my first book and currently reading my second.

7dustydigger
Edited: Jul 16, 2017, 5:10 am

I have finished only 2,but am actually reading all the other 4 at once,I will finish with a rush before month's end! lol

8Andrew-theQM
Jul 16, 2017, 7:36 am

9EadieB
Edited: Jul 26, 2017, 7:16 am

✔️1. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith - ★★★★★ - 7/1/2017 - Psychological Thriller
✔️2. No One Writes to the Colonel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - ★★★ - 7/5/2017 - 1001 Books to Read
✔️3. Monkey Love and Murder by Edith McClintock - ★★★★ - 7/9/2017 - Romantic Mystery
✔️4. Early Reviewer - White Sand Blues by Vicki Delany - ★★★★ - 7/15/2017 - Cozy
✔️5. The Alchemy of Murder by Carol McCleary - ★★★★★ - 7/20/2017 - Historical Mystery
✔️6. Manderley Forever by Tatiana De Rosnay -★★★★★ - 7/25/2017 - Biography Daphne Du Maurier

10Andrew-theQM
Jul 16, 2017, 7:42 pm

>9 EadieB: How many of the 1001 books have you read now?

11EadieB
Jul 16, 2017, 7:54 pm

>10 Andrew-theQM: 208 - Still have a way to go. Wish there were all mystery thrillers. Then I would be sure to devour them faster.

12Andrew-theQM
Jul 16, 2017, 8:09 pm

>11 EadieB: Still a massive achievement.

13EadieB
Edited: Jul 16, 2017, 8:14 pm

>12 Andrew-theQM: I should try to at least read 1 or 2 a month. There are some Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlocks and other mysteries on the list. We should make up our own 1001 Mystery books to read before you die.

14BookConcierge
Jul 19, 2017, 7:47 pm

>5 BookConcierge: .... up to 7 new authors, so far this month

15Andrew-theQM
Jul 20, 2017, 6:02 pm

>14 BookConcierge: You are going great guns!

16threadnsong
Edited: Aug 6, 2017, 11:30 am

I finally realized that I can join in the challenge this month! Three different tellings of the Tam Lin/Thomas the Rhymer legend:

Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner - finished July 7 or thereabouts. Oh, and it's a signed edition. And I pretty much devoured this book in a matter of a few days; it's that good. It tells the tale of True Thomas who meets the Queen of Faerie under the Eildon Tree. According to Wikipedia, the ballad of True Thomas pre-dates Tam Lin by about 200 years, which leads me to believe that they could be part of the same legend, just re-told to accommodate different eras and areas of Scotland. Any thoughts from this group on that possibility?//Ed: Finished early July and 5*****

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean. Finished yesterday (July 22) and preparing to review. It is a modern take on fair Janet and Tam Lin in an early 70's liberal arts college in Minnesota, where there is a Chester Hall where the yarrow still blooms in October, and a bunch of Classicists have a knowledge of Elizabethan theater that is uncanny.//Ed: Finished mid-July and 3***

Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip. I didn't realize that this book encompassed this story until a discussion of the Wikipedia entry on Tam Lin mentioned it. So of course I pulled it from the shelf and will begin reading it. Everyone is on their own for dinner, entertainment, conversation, etc., until I finish given McKillip's amazing way with language.//Ed: Finished late July and 5****. I had read it as a "lunchtime" book the first time and so lost much of the lyricism of McKillip's writing. Caught much more this second time as a re-read.

17threadnsong
Jul 23, 2017, 3:46 pm

>13 EadieB: >12 Andrew-theQM: If you were to make up a 1001 Mystery books list, what would it look like?

18Andrew-theQM
Jul 23, 2017, 3:58 pm

>16 threadnsong: Well done 😊

19Andrew-theQM
Jul 23, 2017, 3:59 pm

>13 EadieB: >17 threadnsong: That would be the biggest mystery of all. I am going to give this some serious thought!

20EadieB
Jul 23, 2017, 4:02 pm

>17 threadnsong: I would list all my favorite books and keep adding to the list. But along with others I think we could have a pretty good list.

21threadnsong
Jul 23, 2017, 4:24 pm

>18 Andrew-theQM: Thank you! I've been trying to figure out how I can "fit" into this group and I'm so glad I finally did so!

22threadnsong
Jul 23, 2017, 4:27 pm

>19 Andrew-theQM: >20 EadieB: You could almost do it by sets:

Famous authors (Doyle, James, Christie)
Historical mystery
Political mystery
"Tough Guy" mystery
Urban mystery (maybe more in the Tough Guy genre; I'm also thinking where to fit Andrew Vachss)
Cozy Mystery
Non-Western writers
Supernatural mystery

23EadieB
Jul 23, 2017, 4:31 pm

>22 threadnsong: Great idea to have categories!

24threadnsong
Jul 23, 2017, 4:45 pm

>23 EadieB: Thanks! there are so many different genres that I've learned about through reading everyone's different reviews, and breaking those categories down would certainly help with the task of naming them.

And I just realized: Dickens wrote one of the first detective fiction novels (Bleak House which has a detective inspector in it) and his buddy Wilkie Collins wrote a mystery, The Woman in White. So maybe another category could be early mysteries?

25EadieB
Edited: Jul 23, 2017, 5:01 pm

>24 threadnsong: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins was also one of the first mysteries. I loved that book and The Woman In White.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moonstone

26threadnsong
Jul 23, 2017, 5:14 pm

>25 EadieB: I've heard The Moonstone was also very good; I was surprised I liked The Woman in White so much given the views of the women characters. But, it was the Victorians, and Collins goes on to give them many admirable qualities that are almost "modern."

27EadieB
Jul 23, 2017, 5:30 pm

>26 threadnsong: I got a whole book from the library on Dashiel Hammett books. I'll be reading those soon. He wrote some good mysteries.

28LibraryCin
Jul 24, 2017, 12:52 am

I haven't been keeping track this month. Tomorrow, I'll try to remember to go back through and see how many different genres I've read so far in July!

29dustydigger
Jul 28, 2017, 10:28 am

finished! Cutting it a bit fine,but I scraped through! :0)

30Andrew-theQM
Jul 28, 2017, 10:40 am

>29 dustydigger: Well done Dusty 😊

31Andrew-theQM
Jul 28, 2017, 8:15 pm

>3 Andrew-theQM: Finished the mini-challenge for July.

32LibraryCin
Edited: Jul 30, 2017, 2:19 am

1. Savage Girls and Wild Boys / Michael Newton. 2.5 stars (Nonfiction)
2. Cool Water / Dianne Warren. 4 stars (Contemporary Ficiton)
3. Drums of Autumn / Diana Gabaldon. 4 stars (Historical Fiction)
4. Blood Bound / Patricia Briggs. 4 stars (Supernatural) - not sure this really counts as a "genre", but...
5. The Sandman. Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes / Neil Gaiman. 3.5 stars (Graphic Novel) - not sure this really counts, either, but I suppose you could say "fantasy" or "horror". Either could fit for "Blood Bound", as well.
6. The Girl on Legare Street / Karen White. 3 stars (Mystery)
7. As Seen on TV / Sarah Mlynowski. 3.75 stars (Chick Lit)

And, I am currently reading (and should finish before the end of the month... hopefully this weekend):
8. Dying Inside / Robert Silverberg (Science Fiction)
I'm not counting this one, as there is no "science" in this supposed science fiction. I am considering it "supernatural", and I've already got that covered! So, final tally for me in July is 7.

This has been a good month for variety!

33JulieLill
Jul 28, 2017, 10:36 pm

The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg
4/5 stars Fiction

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
Claire North 4/5 stars Science Fiction

Hard Times
Charles Dickens
3/5 stars Classics

The Shoebox Bible
Alan Bradley
4/5 stars Autobiography

Mr. Adam
by Pat Frank
3/5 stars Science Fiction

34LibraryCin
Jul 29, 2017, 12:23 pm

>13 EadieB: We should make up our own 1001 Mystery books to read before you die.

I love that idea! We could start smaller, and not necessarily to 1001. In my mind, we'd keep series to the first book in the series (representing the entire series, maybe?). But, that's because I don't like ROOing!

If we stuck to book 1 of the series, that's why maybe a smaller number than 1001. Maybe even just start with a list of 100 and add if that fills up quickly. Do we take every recommendation or vote? I like the voting idea, but that means some less well known might not make the list. Hmmmmm...

And I'm not even the biggest mystery/thriller reader here (not by a long shot! I'm probably read amongst the fewest number in this group), but this really sounds fun to me!

(And to expand - though it wouldn't be in this group - probably my favourite genre is historical fiction! THAT is one I could come up with a lot for! See my CATWoman thread for this month, which includes both historical ficiton and nonfiction: http://www.librarything.com/topic/265237. It was so hard to cut that down to a "manageable" level (and that was only women authors! Though it does also include nonfiction.)

35LibraryCin
Jul 29, 2017, 12:23 pm

>11 EadieB: And that is a pretty amazing number!

36EadieB
Edited: Jul 29, 2017, 4:57 pm

>34 LibraryCin: Maybe we could start with everyone making their own list. Maybe start with 25 or 50 and if we have duplicated an author or book, then we know it belongs on the list. Then with the other authors on everyone's list, we could vote for which ones should make the final 100 books. Then we can add books as we read them. If someone wants a book on the list then others have to read it too and see if it should be put on the list. Just a few ideas here - nothing is set in concrete yet.

Also in looking over the authors I read, I would have to break down the categories into:

1. Thrillers have action, sudden events, and how the main character is going to make it through to the next chapter or scene.

thriller: the protagonist is in danger from the outset.

2. Suspense focus more on building psychological tension before the action occurs.

suspense: the main character may become aware of danger only gradually. In a mystery, the reader is exposed to the same information as the detective, but in a suspense story, the reader is aware of things unknown to the protagonist. The reader sees the bad guy plant the bomb, and then suffers the suspense of wondering when or if it will explode.

A "suspense novel or film" keeps you "on the edge of your seat", whereas a "thriller" makes you "jump off your seat".
Using Hitchcock's movies as examples of the two genres, Vertigo would be "suspense" while Psycho would be "thriller".

3. Mysteries have mystery, i.e., something you don't know until the end

mystery: the main character is occupied in tracking down the truth about an event, usually a murder. If the protagonist is in any danger, it is usually moderate, and becomes a problem only as the detective approaches the truth.

4. Cozy

5. Historical

More info:
Crime fiction is the blanket term used to describe books that deal with any aspect of crime – including those who commit and solve it. If a book deals with detectives, police officers, lawyers, and of course, criminals, as a general rule, it’s a crime fiction novel. Of course, you’ll find some crossover with mainstream fiction, but in the broad sense, books about criminal acts, motives, murder and the like are considered crime fiction novels. The genre has a full array of subgenres that continue to evolve, including hard boiled fiction, spy novels, police procedurals, and the newer ScandiCrime. Mysteries and thrillers are also subgenres of crime fiction.

A mystery novel is built around a secret and usually asks the question “Who?” Something has already happened – a jewel has been stolen, a person has been murdered – and both the reader and the hero know about it. The whole novel is dedicated to uncovering who is responsible for that event. In a mystery, the protagonist – usually a detective or amateur sleuth – must gather evidence, uncover clues, and suss out suspects to solve the puzzle. He may find himself in danger when he gets closer to the truth, but he’ll never be seriously injured since his survival is necessary to reveal the villain and solve the mystery. Mystery subgenres include the cozy mystery, which minimizes violence with a lighthearted tone, along with the whodunit, in which the reader gets enough clues solve the mystery before it’s revealed at the end of the books.

In a thriller, a reader usually asks the question “How?” and is propelled through the story by action. Both the reader and the hero of a thriller novel already know who’s responsible for the crime, and both are waiting to see how that criminal will be brought to justice. The protagonist in a thriller may be a bounty hunter or a lawyer – or they may be a normal person in a terrible situation. That character is in danger from the outset and runs the gauntlet of scary events before the book ends. The thriller gets its name because it’s loaded with thrills –violence, riots car chases, bomb scares, explosions, bank heists – and gets a reader’s heart pounding as they turn the pages, as in the Jack Davis series. Subgenres include psychological thrillers, in which the hero and criminal play a game of cat and mouse, and legal thrillers – like the Alex Stone and Lou Mason series – which revolves around lawyers bringing a criminal to justice.

37LibraryCin
Jul 29, 2017, 5:37 pm

>36 EadieB: Maybe we could start with everyone making their own list. Maybe start with 25 or 50 and if we have duplicated an author or book, then we know it belongs on the list. Then with the other authors on everyone's list, we could vote for which ones should make the final 100 books.

Whee! This could be fun! Maybe we should start a new thread to get this going?

38EadieB
Jul 29, 2017, 5:51 pm

>37 LibraryCin: Sounds like a good idea to start a new thread.

39LibraryCin
Jul 29, 2017, 6:09 pm

>38 EadieB: It was your idea, so I'm going to leave that to you. :-)

40EadieB
Jul 29, 2017, 6:30 pm

>39 LibraryCin: Already started.

41LibraryCin
Jul 30, 2017, 12:09 am

>40 EadieB: Great! Thanks!

42threadnsong
Aug 6, 2017, 11:25 am

>40 EadieB: >41 LibraryCin: What a great idea! I enjoy different mysteries, and I really like how you explained it >36 EadieB:. My list was getting a bit long in different subject areas and keeping it simple is a great way to go.

43threadnsong
Aug 6, 2017, 11:27 am

Finished all 3 Tam Lin/Thomas the Rhymer in July! All have their different takes on these ballads (and does anyone but me think they may be related in their origins?) and have decided on a theme for August Mini-Challenge. Thank you Andrew for keeping this Mini-Challenge going!

44Andrew-theQM
Aug 6, 2017, 12:09 pm

>43 threadnsong: Thanks, but Thanks should also go to Dusty who started this challenge off initially. Still one of my favourite little challenges.

45LibraryCin
Aug 6, 2017, 1:36 pm

>42 threadnsong: Just to point you to the thread, it's in a different group!
You'll find it here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/266289