January AlphaKIT - V and M

Welcome to a new year of reading!

The rules are... none! Use the letters however you like to choose your reads for the month!

January AlphaKIT letters are : V and M

and

Please remember to update the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2018_AlphaKIT

I'm planning on The Christie Curse by Victoria Abbott and The Scar by China Mieville.

This would call for Val McDermid.

Cruising in January - plan on reading a bunch.

Casual Vacancy
Courting Murder
✔Death Distilled by Melinda Mullet
Doom with a View
✔Hive of Homicides by Meera Lester
✔Macramé Murder
✔Mayhem & Mass
Mind Over Murder
The Mummy Case
✔Murder in Bloomsbury
Murder with Lemon Tea Cakes
✔Murderous Mistral
✔Of Murder and Men
✔Packing for Mars
✔Single Malt Murder
✔A Vintage Murder

I'm hoping to get hold of Property by Valerie Martin. Using the Alphakit to pick authors from the Orange prize shortlist & winners.

>3 sushicat: - I was thinking the same thing! I have one of her books - The Skeleton Road on loan from my dad which is one of my category challenges so that would work perfectly to start the year.

Actually, after looking at my shelves it looks like I have a couple others of hers that I think my dad gave me as a gift - The Last Temptation and A Place of Execution. It's definitely looking like a Val McDermid kind of month.

>6 LittleTaiko: I've got a couple on the shelf as well. I think I'll pick the next Hill/Jordan: Fever of the Bone.

>7 sushicat: you guys are trying your best to lead me into temptation!

I am planning on reading The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M. G. Vasanji for a "V" read, and, The Night Is For Hunting by John Marsden and The North Water by Ian McGuire for the letter "M".

>1 majkia: ooooo..I love the graphics!

I *may* be reading"
The Lake House / Kate Morton

But that's not for sure. It's also not my first choice for that challenge, so we'll see. I'll probably have to investigate and come up with a V, separately from what I'm reading, anyway, but I haven't yet chosen for all my challenges, so we'll see.

Ooh, I have a mystery by a local author whose name starts with V, so I might aim for that one:
Looks Can Kill / Valerie Walker

Under serious consideration:

This Side of Brightness by Colm McCann
Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Arthur Avenue Cookbook by Ann Volkwein

All of these can be used for other CATS as well.

I'll read either Splinter the Silence by Val McDermid or The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels because I have them on the shelf. Maybe both.

Lots of both, but they come together for Where Three Roads Meet by Sally Vickers

I'm definitely planning on reading Mischling, but still debating about my 'V' book, so we'll see what happens!

I have lots of M possibilities:
Martin Eden by Jack London
Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost
Mother by Maxim Gorky
The Marco Effect by Jussi Adler-Olsen (also works for the MysteryCAT)
Mike and Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse
The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne (also works for ColorCAT & ScaredyKIT)

I suppose the Hawthorne could also work for V...

plus I have a nice paperback edition of The Vagabond by Colette

My plan is to read Frangipani by Celestine Vaite for V and The French Gardener by Santa Montefiore for M, though that could (and probably will) change.

I'll be reading mostly SFF.
Waiting on the shelves to choose:
Les ponts (The bridges) by T. Vesaas
A fire upon the deep by V. Vinge
Freedom landing by A. McCaffrey
The metal monster by A. Merritt

For me:

Magpie Murders
Men We Reaped

Maybe something by Val McDermid....

I'm going to read Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett for V and probably The Maltese Falcon to cover M. If I have time after that I might try to work on X or Z...

Updating my list as I'm also thinking I'll participate in the ColourCAT and January's color is Black.

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz - works for both CATs
Murder in the Marais by Cara Black - works for both CATs
Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Honestly, I won't get to all of these since I have some other (Group Read) commitments, but the list is fun to create!

Hmm, I wasn't specifically planning to participate in the AlphaKIT this year, but two of my potential January reads would work -- A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh and A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab!

>23 christina_reads: We love drive bys!

>22 EBT1002: I may be joining you in reading Magpie Murders, Ellen. I have it on order from the library and I am down to about 10th on the list.

As usual, the enthusiasm of January has me creating lists for my lists! But if I can I want to do this challenge, too. So far the potentials are:

Irma Voth by Miriam Toews (double points!)
Vittorio the Vampire by Anne Rice (gotta love a double V!)
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, a SF Masterworks (okay, that is a bit of a stretch for the double, but it is on the cover) ; )

Not sure about a V yet, but for M, my options from potential January reads are:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Dark Flood Rises by Margaret Travel
The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston - pretend that M in Monkey is bolded

ETA:
Looking at my list of books to read sometime this year, I will try to read either:

In the Shadow of the Glacier by Vicky Delany OR
Murder on Sisters' Row by Victoria Thompson

Of course, the Victoria Thompson title covers both letters!

I have so many possibilities for this! In no particular order:

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
Escape Velocity by Christopher Stasheff
An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors by Curtis Craddock
Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge
Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughn
A Matter of Oaths by Helen S. Wright
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan

And there are so many more! I make no promises that I'll read of these this month, but I'd like to.

>19 h-mb: psst, if you're interested in reading for this and a SFF challenge, check out the SFF Kit, too. :) (shameless plug)

I'm busy setting up my threads right now, but will look at what fits V/M and is a ROOT challenge as well (not a plug).

>27 thornton37814: I finally read Frankenstein, and recommend it.

>29 fuzzi: I'm on the SFF Kit :)

I'm currently reading Greenglass House by Kate Milford, so I think I'll use it for this one. It's excellent so far, too.

>30 h-mb: super! :)

I've begun You Need a Budget by Jesse Mecham, and I'm finding it useful and thought-provoking so far!

I just finished A fire upon the deep by Vernor Vinge : it never grabbed me in spite of lots of great ideas. Zones of thoughts, alien races (top notch), plot : everything is fine but the prose didn't fit with me.

Really enjoyed Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder by Gyles Brandreth.

I think I'll start Circus by Alistair MacLean for my first AlphaKIT of the year

I finished Greenglass House by Kate Milford and it was fabulous. Definitely will read the other two books in the series!

Just finished Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Music and the Sixties, by Ian MacDonald.

I just finished my first book for 2018, The Monk by Mathew Lewis and it fits the AlphaKit, ScaredyKIT, ColorCat and I can’t decide which block to use it on the BingoDog as it fits so many.

This afternoon I started Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero. I've heard conflicting reviews, but I'm really loving it so far.

Starting "Where Three Roads Meet" by Sally Vickers.

Currently reading "Vintage Murder," by Ngaio Marsh. My first KIT. I tried the Bingo Dog last year and failed miserably. Hope I do better with this one.

I liked that entry in the Alleyn series, >42 jlshall:; have fun!

40- I read that this summer. It definitely wasn't perfect, but overall I enjoyed it. Great premise.

I just finished PG Wodehouse's A Man of Means. Several connected shorts around a hapless MC who finds that money does not bring happiness.

>44 cmbohn: lol -- I came here to post that I was reading Mike by Wodehouse. I think that I will try to read/reread the Psmith series this year & this is the first book (and one I have never read before!).

I have completed by first "M" read with The Night Is For Hunting by John Marsden. This is the 6th in a YA series about a group of teens surviving the invasion of an unnamed (but obviously Australia) country. I have really enjoyed this series.

> 41 Where three roads meet is in my TBR pile. I'll wait for your thoughts about it.

>44 cmbohn: I finished it (Meddling Kids) this morning, and my final thought was that it was lots of fun. Odd. But good. It reminded me a lot of Welcome to Nightvale, the podcast, which is also odd but fun.

45/ I love the Psmith series! I've only read 2 but they were so much fun.

48/ That's good to know. My daughter keeps trying to get me to try Nightvale.

I completed Jane Glover's Mozart's Women, about the women in Mozart's life and music.

Finished Mischling by Affinity Konar--full review written...

Struggling through a reading funk, I decided on a tried-and-true favorite for a reread, The Pride of Chanur, which has a sequel that qualifies for January's AlphaKIT, Chanur's Venture. They're helping me get back to my books!

Finished Violent Delights: A Dark Billionaire Romance by Linnea May--a fast, easy read of a romance, but probably not something I'd find cause to recommend. Still, not a bad break from the much heavier-in-content other reading I've been engaged in!

COMPLETED The Bass Wore Scales by Mark Schweizer.

Starting the same author's "The Mezzo Wore Mink"

I read Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America by Linda Tirado - an interesting and quick read.

Just finished Splinter the silence by Val McDermid hitting both letters. It was OK, my review is here: review

I just finished Magpie Murders by Antony Horowitz. Very nice story within a story.

So far, my completions fitting this are:

Pusserina the Wondercat by Kenneth B. Melvin
Raised Bed Gardening: How to Use Simple Raised Beds to Grow a Beautiful Vegetable Garden by Dane Alexander
Funeral Music by Morag Joss

COMPLETED The Mezzo Wore Mink, The Diva Wore Diamonds, and The Organist Wore Pumps, all by Mark Schweizer.

Currently reading "Call the Midwife" by Jennifer Worth

I have completed my "V" read with The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M. G. Vassanji, a long, complex but ultimately very good book about Kenya as it emerged from Colonial rule.

COMPLETED Faceless Killers a Kurt Wallander Mystery by Henning Mankell -:- Review

I don't know if I'll get to V.

I finished my V read today: A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voigt.

COMPLETED Altered carbon by Richard K. Morgan

I finished the audiobook of Vivian Apple at the End of the World and am now reading Martin Eden.

I'm still plodding along with my print and ebook reads, but this past week I was able to knock off four audiobooks whose authors' last names begin with the letter "M!"



The Story of God: A Biblical Comedy about Love (and Hate) (written and narrated by Chris Matheson) - This is a short satirical work by one of the co-creators of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures. It's a look at the life of God from the beginning (Genesis) to the end (Revelations) from the POV of God. Irreverent but insightful and wickedly funny, it's also the perfect example of why authors, in general, should not read their own works! Mathseon has a lot of nervous energy which causes him to read too fast and there is booth noise in a couple of places :-/



Tomorrow, When the War Began (Tomorrow series #1 by John Marsden narrated by Suzi Dougherty) - This is a YA adventure story of survival in rural Australia. A group of high school students go camping one weekend and upon their return find that their friends and family have been taken captive by an enemy force. No real issues with the narration (Australian narrator) though I did wonder why Homer was given a foreign accent when he was born in Australia, and I did have to pause a couple of times to figure out that "tints" was really "tents" and "chook" is an Australian term for "chicken." I wish the author had given a clearer idea of what each of characters looked like but I'm guessing that resolves itself throughout the seven-book series. I'm okay with stopping here though.



Bloody Jack (Bloody Jack Adventures #1, by L.A. Meyer, narrated by Katherine Kellgren) - The audiobook community was stunned last week to hear that Katherine Kellgren passed away after a four-year battle with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. In her honor, I pulled this audiobook from my storage drive. Bloody Jack is a children's/YA swashbuckling tale of Mary Faber, who transforms herself into "Jacky" and becomes a ship's boy on one of HM ships. The story is set in the late eighteenth/early nineteenth-century, with the Napoleonic Wars looming on the horizon. The story is full of adventure as the shop goes off in search of pirates, and a touch of romance. Katherine Kellgren performed an array of characters convincingly and with energy (though I will admit that sometimes her pitch hammered my ears a little bit.) This is the first in a twelve-book series. I wasn't pleased with the way the story ended (I'm not big on cliffhangers at all,) and after taking a peek at the next book's description, decided I didn't want to continue. And yes, I went to a fandom site to find out if one of the plotlines was resolved to any satisfaction.



The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (by Mathias Malzieu, narrated by Jim Dale - This is a story about a boy whose life is saved when he is given a cuckoo-clock heart. He is cautioned against strong emotions but falls in love with a girl... Translated from the French ('la Mecanique du Coeur') and narrated by Jim Dale of Harry Potter audiobook fame. The first thing I want to mention is that, despite elements akin to "Hugo Cabret," the protagonist being a boy, and Jim Dale narrating, this is not a children's story! Filled with erotic imagery, a word I really wish I hadn't had to explain to my daughter, and some graphic violence, this is really for mature audiences only. Secondly, I haven't rated this book on LT yet, because I'm really not sure what it is that I just listened to. I'm very confused as to what happened in the last third of the book, and what the takeaway was supposed to have been. I'll think about it for a few more days, listen to the music CD that someone gave me (there is a clip of the music used in the audiobook,) and maybe get my French friend to explain some things to me before I render final judgment.

Another book completed for "M". I wouldn't recommend The North Water by Ian McGurie to everyone, but for those who can handle the brutality, gore and violence, this is an excellent read.

>66 DeltaQueen50: OMG, I love The North water! I read it last year, and the best description I can come up with for it is, "Maritime Noir." ;-)

Three books into 2018 before I manage to complete one to fit this month's AlphaKIT:

The Road to Ever After by Moira Young

>67 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Tanya, I also read The North Water for the RandomCat - and you got full credit for that book bullet!

I read my first V book - The Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate.

I finished Command Decision by Elizabeth Moon. I do love this series!

Reading From Solon to Socrates by Victor Ehrenberg

I finished The wine of violence by James Morrow: an ambigous reflexion on the capacity of violence of human beings and wether violence is inherent or not to human beings. The whole packaged in SFF tropes.

Looks Can Kill / Valerie Walker
3.5 stars

Laura is on holiday in Italy and is kidnapped due to her resemblance to a woman who has just died. Her kidnapper has an elaborate plan to get money out of this.

It’s a good story, but a bit simplistic. That is, things happened too easily, I thought – too many coincidences, nice people to help along the way, etc. I didn’t realize, until reading the note about the author at the end, that this was meant to be YA. It does read more like YA, so the simplicity makes more sense knowing that, though the main character being 21-years old, I wouldn’t have actually guessed it was meant to be until reading it at the end. However, I still enjoyed the story, overall. It is told from a few different viewpoints (including the kidnappers) but I was most interested in Laura’s own story.

I finished Martin Eden and Monster & am now reading a vintage mystery, The Vanishing Man.

I never expected to finish a V book before an M book. I figured I'd have lots of books that just happened to fit M, but that hasn't happened this month. I still have an M book coming up, but I had expected there would be more, by chance!

>51 whitewavedarling:, the review you have posted on the book page for Mischling is spot on and very well written. I have given it a thumb.

I have finished Mister Nightingale, by Paul Bowdring.

>77 Roro8:, thanks :)

I have just started Sunday Morning Coming Down by Nicci French. It is the seventh book in her Frieda Klein series. All the others have been excellent so I think I am in for a great read.

I have finished The Vagabond by Colette -- beautiful prose!

Read Vittorio the Vampire by Ann Rice. Not her best.

>82 Berly: Agreed! I wasn't crazy about that one.

Last week I managed to read two more books that fulfill the "M" requirement of this challenge:



Man Card (Man Hands, #2, by Sarina Bowen and Tanya Eby) - This is a contemporary rom-com novel about a residential real estate agent and her co-worker, a metrosexual who sparks more than her competitive desire! I loved the first-in-series, Man Hands, literally laughing out loud but this was a bit of a disappointment. I think I just can't get onboard with a guy who spends a lot of time primping but is trying to be sold to the reader as an alpha-ish type.



Moon Over Soho (Rivers of London/Peter Grant, #2, by Ben Aaronovich, narrated by Kobna Holbrook-Smith) - This is an urban fantasy novel set in London about a police constable named Peter Grant who is a nascent wizard. One of his skills is that he can detect "vestigia" off of a recently deceased person (Vestigia is sort of like an echo of the last sensory imprints the victim or deceased had before s/he passed away from a magical assault.) In this story, PC Grant detects the notes of a particular cover of the jazz song, "Body and Soul" which leads him to connect with the jazz scene in London and with his father, a jazz musician. The writing is fast, fun, clever and very British... about what you would expect from a writer for the new Doctor Who series! I actually read this one in print a couple of years ago but without Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's performance, it just didn't "pop" for me, so I came back to it in audio.

Even though I have two or three books that qualify for the "V" part, I'm not sure that I'll finish Vinium (Silver Ships #10, by S.H. Jucha) in time (though it will be close); and I haven't started Dirt (by David Vann) or Annihilation (Southern Reach Trilogy, #1, by Jeff VanderMeer) yet.

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women / Kate Moore
5 stars

In the early 20th century, radium was touted as being beneficial to one’s health. Clock dials were being painted with radium so they would glow in order to be read in the dark. Young women, mostly in their late teens or early 20s, were working in factories, hand painting the radium on to those dials, and being paid very well to do so. Not only hand painting them, but licking the brushes they used to paint, in order to make a nice sharp tip to be able to paint perfectly. Eventually, many of these women began having health problems, from their teeth falling out to carcinomas in various parts of their bodies. The companies that employed these women continued to insist it wasn’t radium that was the problem.

Wow! Scary stuff! Imagine your jawbone disintegrating and breaking through into your mouth in pieces. These women were still young, wanted to get married and have families. Even worse was when a group of women who worked at a factory in New Jersey successfully sued for their health problems, but the company in Illinois told their employees that the radium the company used in NJ wasn’t to blame – it was something additional they put in theirs that wasn’t used in the Illinois factory… so the “lip, dip, paint” method continued in Illinois.

This book is nonfiction, but read like fiction. It kept me wanting to read, and it was a surprisingly fast read. Even more horrifying, ”lip, dip, paint” was still being used in Illinois in 1978!!!!!!. I guess it’s nonfiction, so I shouldn’t need a spoiler there, but I’m putting it in, anyway.

I loved Radium Girls! Just read it this past year. And nice job on the review.

I've finished three books that fit so far for this month:
The Man on the Balcony by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo ***1/2
The Black Tongue by Marko Hautala ****
The Christie Curse by Victoria Abbott ***1/2

I would like to get to one more book with a V in the title.

YAY! I was able to finish this one last night, so it looks like I'll be able to get to Annihilation (Southern Reach Trilogy, #1, by Jeff VanderMeer) this week!



The Owl Killers (by Karen Maitland) - This is a historical-fiction novel set in 14-century England: Superstitions and pagan beliefs are at war with the nascent Roman Catholic Church as floods, crop failure, floods, cattle murrain, and disease strike the village of Ulewich. Power, greed, and human weaknesses play out between the ruling Lord and his family, the local priest, and the Beguinage (a devotional community of women laity) that all struggle to survive on the land. Karen Maitland has provided a well-researched and graphic portrait of the community as they face down their hardships. While not always pretty, it's a story that reads fast though the page count is high. There's a touch of the paranormal but it falls well within the realm of credibility. If you're a fan of Oliver Pötzsch, you'll probably like this too.

>86 Berly: Thank you!

In memory of Peter Mayle who died last week, I read The Corsican Caper.

Fun, short and filled with mouth-watering food and drinks. Not a brilliant story, but good for an afternoon's entertainment.

Finished Property by Valerie Martin.
Good book, well written, somewhat eye opening. Not quite sure who my sympathies lay with, a little everywhere, I think.

I have finished The Vanishing Man and a long overdue reread of Metamorphosis.

>90 VivienneR: Oh, I didn't realize that Peter Mayle had died; sad news. I have a couple of his books on my TBR since I enjoyed his A Year in Provence.

It turns out that Annihilation (Southern Reach Trilogy, #1, by Jeff VanderMeer) is a 200-page novella so I was able to tackle the whole of it within a couple of hours last night!



This is the story of an unnamed woman who joins the twelfth expedition going in to explore Area X, land that is naturally pristine, hypnotically beautiful and exotic. Area X is also fraught with its own dangers not the least of which what happens to the people who come to unravel its mysteries. The story doesn't exactly end on a cliffhanger but does leave the reader wanting to know more about Area X and with a certain kind of hope for the protagonist. This falls into the "weird science" sub-genre of SFF so while the alien quality may not be to everyone's taste, I found the descriptions of the land, events, and the interior thoughts of the main character to be well-written.

I have Authority, the second in the series in audio (narrated by Bronson PInchot) and I'm eager to get to it!

And I've officially completed both the "M" and "V" parts of this months challenge! :-)

I just finished Packing for Mars by Mary Roach. Really fun read. Also a Bingo square and a ColorCAT.

I finished the magnificent Tell Me How it Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions by Valeria Luiselli for V. Five stars and highly recommended.

I've not yet updated the wiki, but I have finished three books so far:

Circus by Alistair MacLean
Chanur's Venture by CJ Cherryh
Penguin the Magpie by Cameron Bloom

I managed to squeak in another "M" title this past week:



All Our Wrong Todays (written and narrated by Elan Mastai) - This is a science fiction novel about a beta-male f---up from a Utopian version of 2016 who uses his fathers time machine to travel back to 1965 to correct a mistake. Instead, he ends up messing up things even further and then finds himself in our 2016! Elan Mastai addresses time travel paradoxes and provides an interesting and original story. In the best of science fiction tradition, he also embeds some conjecture about space and time and possibilities... Mastai (author and narrator) has an uptick at the end of his sentences which can make him sound a bit whiny but I prefer to think of it as "a la John Cusack" and, it is in keeping with the main character's personality. ;-)

>97 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Ooh, glad to see a good review for this one! I'm fascinated by the premise and keep meaning to check out this book.

>96 fuzzi: and one more, picked up and read on impulse:

Racing Manhattan by Terence Blacker

Probably my last 2 of the month will be Moving Pictures and Very Good, Jeeves…

Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town / Jon Krakauer
4 stars

In Missoula, Montana, many of the reported sexual assaults go unprosecuted, even if there seems to be evidence that should take these cases to trial and even when the victim wants to go ahead with charges. Even still, the prosecuting attorney often decides not to press charges. One of the tricky things in Missoula is that it’s such a football town and athletes are revered, so when they are the ones accused, there is a huge backlash. The US Department of Justice also stepped in around 2010ish to find out why rapists weren’t being prosecuted and how it can be made better to help the victims. Krakauer focuses on a few separate cases of celebrated football players being accused of rape, and the various ways this played out in and out of court.

Wow! Pretty scary that it happens so often. I had no idea! I have to admit, though, that because Krakauer went back and forth between cases in parts of his book, I did – a few times – get mixed up on who was who, and which case we were looking at at which times. There is a lot of information and stats that are quite horrifying. As soon as I finished the book, though, I had to go look up Beau Donaldson (a former football player and one of the rapists Krakauer focuses on) to see if I could find out where he is now.

I just finished The bridges de Tarjei Vesaas. This completes my challenge for January.

Finished Maids of Misfortune which was okay. Mostly I wasn't crazy about the ending. Otherwise, not bad.

One more M book for me - Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.

I finished The Jaguar's Children by John Vaillant. Highly recommended.

COMPLETED From Solon to Socrates by Victor Ehrenberg.

Starting The Fire Gospel by Michel Faber.

I will get Cat’s Cradle done for my V before the end of the month.

My last M is Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

I just finished Authority (Southern Reach Trilogy, #2; by Jeff VanderMeer; narrated by Bronson Pinchot) - This is a Weird Science Fiction novel about Jack Rodriguez (a.k.a. "Control") who is the new director of the Southern Reach base located at the border of Area X. Bureaucratic politics, paranoia, and the odd behavior of his co-workers leave Control struggling to figure out what is going on. Bronson Pinchot furthers the unease by instinctively dropping into parenthetical voice at certain points, blurring interior thought with dialogue, and imaginings and ruminations with reality. Aside from being "Weird," it's also a slow-burn suspense story that literally left me with a sharp intake of breath at the end!

I've got maybe one more book that will fall into the "M" part of this challenge, and another for "V," and then onwards to "J" and "P!"

I reread a favorite from high school & realized it fits the Z & the M category: My friend Madame Zora by Jane Duncan.

Am also counting Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly.

>110 markon: I remember reading the My Friend series as a teenager though I forget how I came across them. I have a vague idea my grandmother may have had them.