BingoDOG Reading in June

I thought I'd start the month off.

I decided to use my book club's selection, The Reluctant Fortune Teller by Keziah Frost, for the "Set during a holiday" square. The book actually takes place over the course of a year, but the climax and pivotal scenes come during the Christmas holiday season, and there is a nice scene of a Christmas party.

Three older women decide to take on an older neighbor and his pet chihuahua as their "project" when they notice him leaving a food bank with provisions. They intend to teach him card reading so that he can make money as a fortune teller in their small touristy town. However, he has a strong intuition and a knack for fortune telling, and soon is building a reputation. This is a light-hearted read with several nicely developed characters and a positive emotional center. The card-reading theme was well done and presented a certain synchronicity, since I had taken up card reading as a hobby before my book club chose this book. I listened to the audiobook, and I thought the reader, Carly Robins, had a good sense of the characters' voices and set a pleasant pace.

I'm down to about 5 or 6 more to go, but these are the tough ones!

I only have a few left but they will be hard ones for me.

I have 8 left, but I know what I'm planning to read for each of them -- except, oddly enough, the "beautiful cover" square! I figure I'll know it when I see it. :)

I still have eleven squares to go. I have plans for some but not for others. I'm not sure what I'm going to read that is Pacific Ocean related or set during a holiday.

>5 EBT1002: I'm having trouble thinking of a "set during a holiday" book too, at least based on books on my shelves. I can always borrow a Christmas mystery from the library, I guess...

>5 EBT1002: I was having difficulty with one related to the Pacific too. In the end I read one by Graeme Kent set on the Solomon Islands during WWII. The other one I was considering was Full Circle by Michael Palin.

>6 rabbitprincess: The holiday setting is another difficult one to fill. Christmas seems like the obvious choice. After checking the library I found a couple of mysteries set on (or around) July 4, which just happens to be my birthday! I'll definitely have a look at them.

>7 VivienneR: Agreed on both counts! The Pacific one is one of my tricky ones. The holiday one - I'm sure I'll be reading something in Oct/Nov/Dec for that, if I don't have something that fits sooner.

I achieved another Bingo with my "X in title": L'énigme des Blancs-Manteaux. Very erudite historical mystery set in 18th century Paris with lots of polite, wordy conversations among the toffs.

ETC

Last year I finished BINGO early, April I think. I have 11 to finish for this year! I have books planned but so far they haven't fit any of the other CATS so I haven't read them. For the Pacific square I'm going to read Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener.

Yeah, the Pacific square is a tough one! The only angle I can think of is the Pacific theater in World War II, and I have a book that will work for that (Winter in June by Kathryn Miller Haines), so that's what I'm planning to read. I'm very interested to see what others will pick for that square!

I did a quick search for Pacific Ocean in my library and came up with Life of Pi and a couple of Christopher Moore books: Fluke and Island of the Sequined Love Nun, so there are some possibilities. Also Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

Some other ideas from a tag search: In the Heart of the Sea, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Unbroken, Moby-Duck, The Deep.

I would have already filled this square if it had been any ocean, since I read The Lifeboat, but that is set in the Atlantic. In fact, if I don't get a match, I may cheat on this square.

I read a war story by Graeme Kent but he also wrote mysteries set on the Solomon Islands - Devil-devil, One Blood and Killman. I can recommend the first two, but still have to read the third.

Another good book that would work is Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff. Although the descriptions of the book rarely mention her, one of the amazing survivors of this airplane crash in the jungle is a WAC. This takes place in New Guinea.

Holiday square. The book didn't revolve around the holiday, but some major things happened at Christmas

The Good Girl / Mary Kubica
5 stars

When Mia is kidnapped, her hired kidnapper, Colin, doesn’t deliver her to the actual kidnapper; instead, he takes off with her!

The story is told “before” and “after” from a few different points of view: from Colin’s, from her mother Eve’s, and from the detective Gabe’s. The chapters tell you whose POV you are following and when, so I found it easy to follow. It was a bit slow-moving at times, but I was still fascinated with what was happening. In my opinion, I thought the author did a very good job of keeping me “on board” with what was going on (as I try to describe it without giving too much away!). The twist at the very end – impressive. If I was one to reread, I would definitely reread and look for potential clues! I did reread the epilogue.

The money square: Rechnung über meine Dukaten – Account for my ducats. This is a novel about the money King Frederick William of Prussia spent on acquiring tall men for his favourite regiment.

For the beautiful cover square, I read Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book by Jennifer Donnelly.

I filled the autobiography or memoir square with Wladyslaw Szpilman's The Pianist. He recounts how he survived World War Two. If you saw the movie of the same name (from about 15 years ago), you know what it's about. Heart wrenching. Well worth the read.

I read Hercule Poirot's Christmas for the holiday square. Three more squares to go and now I have been bitten by the ambition bug: I want to finish my card this month. Currently reading Väter und Söhne for the relative name...

>18 Montarville: I saw the movie...basically 2.5 hours of me just sobbing. But it's very good!

>20 christina_reads: I sobbed too when I saw the movie. I did not have the same reaction with the book. It was more an immense frustration with the unfairness of it all. I had to pause my reading a few times, to calm my nerves.

I used Wildflower by Drew Barrymore for the autobiography/memoir square and finally finished Henry VI Part 2 by William Shakespeare for the poetry/play square.

I have read two children's poetry books. One is written by dogs, I Once Ate a Pie, and the other by cats, Cat Talk.

I read Väter und Söhne (Fathers and Sons) for the relative name in the title. And then, in one mad dash, I completed my card by reading two stort stories: Brokeback Mountain for the LGBQT character and Der Amokläufer for the 1001 list.

I finished Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev. BOTM for #Reading 1001, worked well for this square.

I'm filling the "beautiful cover" square with Du bon usage des étoiles, by Dominique Fortier:

>26 rabbitprincess: I loved that book although mine had a different beautiful cover. I'm a sucker for books related to Arctic exploration.

I'm planning The Accidental by Ali Smith for books on the 1000 list. It will give me my first bingo.

I am using Winnie-the-Poo for the play/poetry square as there is a lot of poetry (songs) in this children's book.

I read Artificial Condition by Martha Wells, which fits both RandomCAT: Unusual Narrators and SFF/SFFF KIT: Series, so I'm counting it for the "Fits at least 2 CATs/KITs" square.

I've finished Sunset Express by Robert Crais for the "X in the title" square.

I finished The Accidental by Ali Smith and was really disappointed. Chapters are told alternately by members of the Smart family. Each one is candid, distinctive, yet prosaic. They deliver their narration in stream of consciousness style, recording each thought, memory, no matter how trifling. The collective accounts provide the complete story of events in the summer of 2003 as if from under a microscope. I can appreciate the quirky ingenuity in Smith's writing but ultimately found the novel unsatisfying and more like a writing class exercise. I wanted more interaction, fewer bodily functions.

And I still don't have a bingo.

Reporting in with my June Bingo reading:

"Autobiography or Memoir" - Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx by Sonia Manzano
"Unread 2017 Purchase" - Us Conductors by Sean Michaels
"Money in the Title" - Mary Coin by Marisa Silver

.... and that give me a Bingo blackout.

>33 lkernagh: Congratulations on filling your bingo card!

>33 lkernagh: Wow, congratulations! Will you do it again in the second half of the year? ;)

>33 lkernagh: Congrats! I think I only have 5 squares left, but they are the tougher ones. I'll probably take most of the year this year to do it, though I've done it much faster in the past. I think in other years, I've only had 2 or 3 where I've had a bit more trouble!

>34 sallylou61:, >35 christina_reads: and >36 LibraryCin: - Thanks guys. I got pretty lucky at the start of the year with even some LTER books fitting certain squares. I think this is the first year I have actually completed the Bingo card.

>35 christina_reads: - Nooooo.... I think once was enough. ;-0

For the LGBTQ central character square: Eleanor and Hick: the Love Affair that Shaped a First Lady by Susan Quinn -- finished reading June 22nd -- 5 stars -- Hick (Loretta Hickok) was a lesbian, and Eleanor (Roosevelt) had numerous lesbian friends.

This gives me two more bingo lines: the left column and the middle horizontal row. I still have 5 more squares to go but a couple of them are going to be difficult.

I filled in 3 more squares during June. For 'A Book Over 500 Pages' I used Kristin Lavransdatter, Dog Songs by Mary Oliver filled the 'Poetry or Plays' square and 'Set During a Holiday' was filled by Born Scared.

This leaves me with 3 empty squares yet to fill.

Congrats >33 lkernagh:.

For the Fat Book square I read Broken Harbour by Tana French.
French's mysteries are excellent, filled with rich detail and strong characters. Make sure you have some time to spare before picking one up, because they are impossible to put down until the last page. I'm already looking forward to the next one.

But I still don't have a bingo!

>41 VivienneR: That one is on deck for me for July, so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it!

I have finished the Pacific Ocean square with Typhoon and the Published in 2018 square with Neogenesis so all I have left is the Autobiography/Memoir square...

Related to the Pacific Ocean

Ghosts / Raina Telgemeier
4 stars

Cat’s little sister, Maya, has cystic fibrosis, so in order to help her health, they are all moving from southern to northern California, to a town beside the ocean with more cloud, rain, and fog. Not only that, but when they arrive, Maya is excited, and Cat nervous, to learn that the town they’ve moved to is known for the ghosts. Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), Nov. 1, is very big in this town.

I enjoyed this. The girls are learning more about their Mexican heritage, and I found it really interesting to also learn about Dia de los Muertos. I also learned a little bit about cystic fibrosis. This is a YA graphic novel and I loved the illustrations; they are fairly simple, bright, and effective. For the Dia de los Muertos celebration, I thought the illustrations showed the joy and fun of the night.

For the Read a CAT square, I used Hell Hound by Ken Greenhall, which I read for the RandomCAT.

This past Monday I went to my eye doctor for a follow-up appointment concerning my cataract surgery earlier this month. He mentioned it was 6 months before Christmas; my next appointment is in approximately 6 months (sometime in December). I then decided to read a Christmas book for the holiday square for BingoDOG.
In the past two days, I've read both Santa Clawed, a Mrs. Murphy mystery by Rita Mae Brown for my first card, and Christmas in the Trenches, a picture book by John McCutcheon and illustrated by Henri Sorensen for my second card.

I didn't want to wait until Christmas to fill in these squares. Santa Clawed gave me two more Bingos: the 2nd horizontal row and the right vertical column. I'm 4 squares away from filling the first card, and 10 for the second card (although no bingos yet for it). I may not fill the entire second card.

I wasn't planning on doing two Bingo cards this year, but found that in my bookclub and CAT reading that I was filling a lot of squares -- and I had a lot of books that fit into the squares. Therefore, I started a second bingo card in February. I'm trying to read books from my backlog for bingo, but buying some for book clubs, OLLI adult education classes, etc. So far, Santa Clawed is the only book on either card which is a library book; all the other books I own.

Just added Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone for the square to read a book with a famous person in the title. Think he counts >;-)

I'm down to needing 4 squares. 3 of them I have a book lined up for, I was going to leave "Read a CAT" for the last square, just because...

>47 Helenliz: Perfect choice! HP must be one of the most famous people on LT.

Congratulations on your progress.

>13 VivienneR: I've added Devil-devil to my wish list and will try to acquire a copy. It looks like it will fit the bill. I have connections with that part of the world so I may also do some searching for books in/about/of Micronesia, Palau, etc.