BingoDOG reading in August

I didn't see a thread for this month, so I went ahead and created it.

I've started off with the money square: L'argent des autres – Les hommes de paille by Émile Gaboriau. Interesting look at financial speculation and greed in1872 Paris.

I've just read Daughter of the Stars by Phyllis A. Whitney for the Something in the Sky square. I had read books by Ms. Whitney years ago as a teenager, and had wanted to read something by her. Yesterday I picked this book as a prize in our public library's summer reading program. This completes my BingoDOG card.

>2 sallylou61: Congrats!

>2 sallylou61: Very nice.

I decided to use The End We Start From for the Poetry/Plays square. It is not poetry, exactly, but the author, Megan Hunter, is a poet and it reads like a long prose-poem. And I'm not likely to fill this square otherwise.

I read this in one sitting. It is an account, narrated in poetic snippets, of a cataclysmic flooding of London just as the unnamed narrator goes into labor. She, her husband, and her baby become refugees. The narrator is less concerned with giving details of this apocalyptic event than with observing how her son grows and reaches his milestones, just as all new mothers do. The effect is a reminder of what's important, a cutting through of the detritus of modern life to the basics of just being alive. This works, I think, because of the spare and simple style of the writing, which omits the details but retains the emotions, and its structure like an epic poem, interspersed with lines from religious and mythological texts.

With Americanah for July's AlphaCAT, I've filled in the "Read a CAT" square and have completed my bingo card.

I've found this year's trickier than the past 2 years. I usually get most of them by this time except maybe 1 or 2. I still have 4 to go this time. I guess that's not too bad, but I'm not sure if I'll have anything that fits for another challenge, that I can read at the same time, or if I'll just have to bite the bullet and read something specifically for them!

>5 Helenliz: Congrats!

I'm reading Enduring Love by Ian McEwan for the LGBT central character square. Not sure yet if it's a good fit, but it sure is a good story!

>5 Helenliz: Congrats on completing your Bingo Card! :)

I filled the "more than 500 pages" slot with Mademoiselle de Maupin by Théophile Gautier.

I have filled two squares so far this month.

Published in 2018: Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo", by Zora Neale Hurston. It waas written in 1927, but published only this year.

More than 500 pages: SPQR:A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard.

I have just filled in my last square, LGBTQ Central Character with Ash by Malinda Lo. My 2018 BingoDog Challenge is complete. :)

Congratulations, Judy!

Congrats!

I got another Bingo with Full Circle by Michael Palin to fill the "story involves travel" square. Although dated, Palin is always entertaining. I missed the tv series when they were aired.

In a follow-up to the Gautier novel, I found a non-fiction biography of the real Mademoiselle Maupin which I used for the LGBTQ character: La Maupin – Sa vie, ses duels, ses aventures. No touchstone yet. Quite interesting, despite the author's dated attitudes.

I listened to the audiobook of Trevor Noah's memoir Born a Crime - this completes my BingoDOG card!

>17 leslie.98: well done!

>17 leslie.98: Congrats!

Published over 100 years ago

The Woman in White / Wilkie Collins
3 stars

When Walter comes across a mysterious “woman in white”, he must find out who she is. In the meantime, he has fallen in love with Laura, who will be married to Sir Percival, though she is in love with Walter.

The book is told from many different points of view – technically, all “secondary” characters to the story. I actually thought this was kind of a cool way to tell the story, it’s just that I didn’t enjoy all the perspectives – many of them bored me.

I was bored by the beginning and the end. It did pick up for me about ¼ of the way through (in my edition, that took about 125 pages), but then it slowed down again for the last 175 pages. It was the middle section, as told by the sister, Marian, that I really liked. This was when Laura/Lady Glyde was married. I’m not sure if it was just that part of the plot that kept my attention the best, or if I preferred the narrative as told by a woman? I quite liked Marian’s character, but thought Laura was pretty much a non-entity – she had no personality… despite being so much part of the plot, she seemed to mostly be in the background. I suppose that could be due to the fact that it was told by everyone else’s perspectives?

Averaging out that I wasn’t crazy about the beginning and end, but that I really did enjoy the middle part, I’m giving it 3 stars, “ok”.

For the "humorous book" square, I just finished My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows. It's a silly send-up of Jane Eyre and other gothic fiction, and I found it lightweight but enjoyable.

I'm about to start James Thurber's The 13 Clocks, which is on the 1001 books list: https://1001bookreviews.com/the-1001-book-list/ (number 536).

I filled the 2017 purchase with The remains of the day.

>22 christina_reads: I love that book! Hope you enjoy it too.

>24 leslie.98: I did like it! (Ended up reading the whole thing last night.) It's so strange, but in a very good way!

Just finished Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin, an American classic set in 1950s Paris for a book with an LGBT character. Excellent.

I used a historical mystery, Die Affäre Carambol, for the read a CAT square. Not as good as I had hoped.

Just finished the wonderful Mr Mac and Me by Esther Freud describing an 11-year old's friendship with architect and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife Margaret in Suffolk just as the Great War was beginning. Highly recommended. This fills the square for a book with a famous person in the title.

One more, from the 1001 books list: Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë. A little pedestrian, but enjoyable.

>28 VivienneR: YAY! :D

>30 rabbitprincess: :)