December AlphaKIT: C and W

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

December AlphaKIT letters are : C and W.

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

Oh, yes! This is my initials month! :-)

>2 LibraryCin: Yay for you!

Lots of options here. One definite is "The Seven Wonders" by Steven Saylor since it's my reading group's choice for December. Otherwise I'm going to wait and see what fits other felines.

I think I may try to read White Christmas with a Wobbly Knee and Choked Off.

>3 majkia: I know, right!? It's also my birthday month, so it's perfect! :-)

>1 majkia: yeah! Thanks.

I was already planning on Wired Love: A Romance of Dots and Dashes by Ella Cheever Thayer, which works for both W and C!

I need to read a ton of books if I'm going to finish up my monthly goals, so we'll see how it goes. Right now, for this challenge, I'm planning on White Pawn by Stevie J. Cole and Spells in Waiting by Michaela L. Cane.

How great is it that December got C & W so that all those "Christmas" books and Wreaths fit too!

I have lots for this month!!

As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles
Chasing Down a Dream
✔Christmas Blizzard
✔Christmas Cake Murder
✔Christmas Revelation
Cold Brew Killing
✔Curious Beginning
Cut to the Chaise
Eggs on Ice by Laura Childs
Gown With the Wind
Hair of the Dog by Carlene O'Neil
Hour of Death byJane Willian
In Cold Chocolate
In Want of a Knife: A Little Library Mystery
✔Murder at the Mansion by Sheila Connolly
Murder Most Fermented by Christine Blum
Name of the Rosé by Christine Blum
Passion of the Purple Plumeria by Lauren Willig
Proposal to Die For by Vivian Conroy
✔Santa Puppy by Lynn Cahoon
✔Slay in Character
Thread Herrings by Lea Wait
Walking Bread
✔Whispered Word
✔Wreath Between the Lines

What a great list! I need to check these out.

I am planning on reading A Far Horizon by Meira Chand and for my "W" read, American Boy by Larry Watson.

As I've looked up a few options for other Dec challenges, I've found two that fit both C and W!

And the Band Played On / Christopher Ward
Watching Edie / Camilla Way

I might read both.

In December, The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber will be doing triple duty for me, garnering C and W as well as satisfying ColourCat.

I'll also be reading Thief's Magic by Trudi Canavan and My Sunshine Away by M. O. Walsh.

C and W seem like really good letters and combo’s

My possibles are
The Alienist by Caleb Carr
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
Crosstalk by Connie Willis
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Zone One by Colson Whitehead

I've got A Wrench in the Works by Kate Carlisle planned, which will cover both letters.

The list of options that I've lined up for this month:

AUDIOBOOKS
Chimera (by T. C. McCarthy; narrated by John Pruden) - I actually just started this one yesterday so I'll get at least one off of my Beginning List done!)
The Chaperone (by Laura Moriarty; narrated by ?)

What It Is Like to Go to War (by Karl Marlantes; narrated by Bronson Pinchot)
A World Undone (by G. J. Meyer; narrated by Robin Sachs)

Washington: A Life (by Ron Chernow; narrated by Scott Brick) - contemplated starting with this one as it's a double-hit, but at 41+ hours, I decided to defer it until next year (unless something happens and I end up with a lot of time on my hands!)

PRINT BOOKS
The Hunger Games trilogy (by Suzanne Collins) - It's been years since I read the first two, and I never got around to reading the third. I might re-read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire before finishing up with Mockingjay.
Catch-22 (by Joseph Heller) - I bought this for the Great American Read this SUmmer, but didn't manage to get around to it after all :-/
The Children Act (by Ian McEwan)
The City & The City (by China Miéville)
Heartsick (by Chelsea Cain)

West with the Night (by Beryl Markham)
Wolf Hall (by Hilary Mantel)
When the Heavens Fell (by Gilbert Morris)
Secret History of the Pink Carnation (by Laura Willig)

E BOOKS
The Country of Ice Cream Star (by Sandra Newman) - Oh! I started this mid-October! This will probably be the one I finish for the month! :-)
Cryptic (by Jack McDevitt)

Wedlock (by Wendy Moore) - I started this one back in January and got sidetracked, so I would love to get back to this and get it archived!

LOL, If past months are any indication, I'll probably end up reading more that's not on this list than on it!

COMPLETED Agatha Raisin and the First Two Tantalising Cases by M. C. Beaton. Bridged 'T' for November and 'C' for December :-)

>17 Tanya-dogearedcopy: if you like, give me a heads-up before you start reading Catch-22 as I need to read my copy as well! :)

Finished The Alienist bu Calleb Carr.

COMPLETED The Seven Wonders by Steven Saylor

Finished the amusing White Christmas with a Wobbly Knee by Andrea Frazer

I finished Pony Club Camp and am now working on Roger Zelazny's Visual Guide to Castle Amber.

I hit both letters with The Black Angel by Cornell Woolrich. The plot is highly unlikely but just tag along for some good mid-20th century suspense. It can be summed up with "what not to do if you suspect your husband is having an affair".

Finished The Whites by Richard Price. For a W.

Starting "Wrath of the Furies" by Steven Saylor

My first two December reads ended up fitting here:
The Dance of the Seagull by Andrea Camilleri
Old Christmas by Washington Irving

Yay! I got my first title in for the challenge this month!

Chimera (The Subterrene War #3; by T. C. McCarthy; narrated by John Pruden) - Wrapping up the Subterrene War trilogy on audio! This is a mil-fic story set in a future world in which global wars are fought over the metals in the ground. In this installment, however, the underground wars have ceased and we find our hero, "Bug" lost in civilian life. Soon, however, he is called on a mission into the Southeast Asian jungles to do what he does best: Kill Germline sentients. These are young women who were bio-engineered to be ultimate fighting soldiers. Once in Thailand, however, the shape of the mission changes. Overall, it was a decent story, if borrowing a bit heavily from "Hurt Locker" to form the character, and "Apocalypse Now" to form the storyline. The audiobook narrator and production were very good, though I suspect that John Pruden lent the story a bit more of a parodic tone than I would have gleaned from reading the text, and I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing! :-D

Read Murder at Whitehall by Amanda Carmack for another W/C combo. This was a decent mystery set in Elizabethan times. I would recommend it if you are a fan of that era.

I've entered several separate C's and W's; however, Wednesday's Child by Peter Robinson fit both letters!

COMPLETED Wrath of the Furies by Steven Saylor

Starting "The Suspicions of MrWhicher" by Kate Summerscale

Having a whirlwind of reading while home with a mild cold. Finished Murder in Retrospect by Agatha Christie and The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir by Jennifer Ryan.

Finished Assaulted Caramel and Amid the Winter's Snow.

COMPLETED The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale

Starting The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

I finished A Wrench in the Works by Kate Carlisle, which covers both W and C. It was a fun little addition to the Fuser Upper mystery series.

One more W - Murder at the Brightwell by Ashley Weaver.

I read Wired Love: A Romance of Dots and Dashes by Ella Cheever Thayer, a charming little romance about two people who fall in love over a telegraph wire. I was a bit disappointed in the fates of some of the secondary characters, though!

Now reading A Duke in Shining Armor by Loretta Chase for another "C" book.

I am reading Zone One by Colson Whitehead. Which will work for CW (and Z) and for the ColorCAT with (White)head.

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (by Lewis Carroll; narrated by Michael Page) - I love Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass! I used to collect various print editions, audio editions, movies, etc. I picked this audio edition up in 2012 and see that it has been re-mastered yet again in 2014 (though I can still hear print-though in the audio sample, the result of which makes it sound like there is a conversation going on in the background.) The recording was done on reel-to-reel in 1995 and the remastered version for the digital age hasn't held up well. The narrator "talks" so fast that I did something I rarely do, adjust the speed. I slowed the recording down to 75%. There is some distortion, but it's not too bad. It sounds like it was corrected for the 2014 re-mastered edition. Anyway, though it's not exactly a keeper, I enjoyed the story as I always do. The poetry, the nonsense, and the imagery are fascinating.

The Western Writers of America Cookbook I completed fits both letters. I need to add it to the wiki!

>40 Kristelh: C, W, and Z all in one! Nice!

Completed two so far ...both 'C'


Christmas Camp – Karen Schaler
3***

From the book jacket: Haley Hanson’s idea of the perfect Christmas is escaping to the Caribbean to work so she can avoid all the traditional Christmas distractions. Over the years, she’s sacrificed her personal life to climb the corporate ladder at a prestigious Boston advertising agency. Now she just needs to land a coveted Christmas toy company account to make partner. But first her boss thinks she needs a holiday attitude adjustment and ships her off to Christmas Camp at Holly Peak Inn to help her find her Christmas spirit.

My reactions:
As I read this, I kept thinking it was remarkably like a Hallmark TV movie I had seen last week. Then I noticed the author’s note at the end, where she states she wrote the script for the movie first. No matter, really. It seems that all those movies have the same plot. They’re still fun to watch, and the schmaltzy Christmas romance books are fun to read. Total escapism.

Now I need some cookies ….

================== *** =================


The Christmas Scrapbook – Philip Gulley
3***

This little novella is book 5.5 in the Harmony series featuring Quaker minister Sam Gardner, his wife Barbara, and the Friends of the Harmony meeting house.

I love the gentle stories of one man’s efforts to make a difference in his community. This time his focus is on his wife. He’s determined to give Barbara a better gift than the usual bought-on-Christmas-eve potholder from the local five-and-dime. So, Sam signs up for a scrapbooking class. The results are predictably hilarious. But also impart a lesson about faith, tolerance, love and the spirit of Christmas. As well as a caution about jumping to conclusions and engaging in gossip.

Oh ... realized I finished another for author Mary Higgins CLARK


Two Little Girls in Blue – Mary Higgins Clark
Book on CD narrated by Jan Maxwell.
3***

Three-year-old identical twins Kathy and Kelly are kidnapped while their parents are out for the evening, the babysitter left gagged and unconscious. An excessive ransom is demanded of this young, middle-class couple, and Steve’s employer agrees to put up the $8 million ransom as a gesture of goodwill (and to temper the bad press of some dicey business dealings). But things do not go as planned.

This is a fast-paced thriller with a building sense of suspense. The reader is always in on the crime, knowing the identity of the kidnappers and even the “secretive” Pied Piper long before the characters catch on. But the changing points of view, keeps the novel moving forward and helps maintain that sense of suspense.

My main problem with this book is how the twins are portrayed. I get that they have a sort of “twin telepathy” but I think Clark takes this to extremes. Also, their speech (although stated as advanced) seems just too complicated in both grammar and vocabulary for their age and experience.

Still it kept me interested and entertained, and certainly meets the standards of the genre.

Jan Maxwell does a fine job narrating the audiobook, though I did read the last half in text version. She sets a good pace and has sufficient skill as a voice artist to differentiate the many characters. I particularly liked the way she voiced Angie/Mona …. Really brought out her psychopathology.

Finished White Pawn by Stevie J. Cole for both C and W! Full review written...

COMPLETED The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Starting "The Crossing Places" by Elly Griffiths

And the Band Played On / Christopher Ward
4 stars

Jock Hume was a young violinist, playing in the band on the Titanic – the band that famously played bravely on, as the ship sank. Jock, along with the rest of the band, died that night. The author of the book is a descendant of Jock and is looking not only at the aftermath of the Titanic disaster, but is looking closely at Jock’s life and volatile relationship with his musician/violinist and violin-maker father. Ward also looks at, in the aftermath of the Titanic disaster, the woman that Jock left pregnant, Mary, whom he intended to marry. The baby that resulted, Johnann (later called Jackie), is the author’s mother.

I really liked this. The first half of the book was more focused on both Jock and the aftermath of the Titanic. There was also some look (I think for comparison purposes) at millionaire John Jacob Astor and his subsequent recovery and his body’s trip home. The second half really did focus on Jock’s family; his father did not like Mary and there were “squabbles” (to put it mildly) and legal battles. I love reading more about the Titanic and I also love biographies, so this worked really well for me. There are plenty of nice photos included, as well. I read the paperback, which had a few updates that didn’t get into the hardcover edition.

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

Racism, bullying, child abuse, self-harming, neglect, drug addiction, adultery, sexual assault, extreme poverty: there is nothing likeable in this book. Rowling must have been trying for the 'most swear words per page' award when she wrote this. When the hoopla wound down soon after it was published, I realized it wasn't for me but I came across a copy at the bottom of a dusty heap in a used bookstore. I should have left it there.

Abandoned about three-quarters in, I couldn't take any more.

Fortunately Rowling eventually redeemed herself with the Cormoran Strike series written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

I gave it a generous 2.5 stars.

Two more for "C!"

A Christmas Carol (by Charles Dickens; narrated by Simon Vance) - It wasn't until a few years ago, that I really got into this perennial favorite! I had never quite understood the horror aspect of it until I found out that it the Victorians used to tell ghost stories on Christmas Eve (!?!) This Classic tale of Ebeneezer Scrooge and the ghosts who haunt him on Christmas Eve is well-known, at least in the Western world, with seemingly innumerable iterations, and yet I find myself discovering new aspects to this novella with each re-reading. This is an audiobook edition from 2011, narrated by the superlative Simon Vance.

and

The Chimes (by Charles Dickens; narrated by Richard Armitage) - This is a novella written by Charles Dickens and published a year after A Christmas Carol. I was not familiar with this one, but it turns out to be much in the same vein as its better known sibling. It's is also a ghost story with social commentary and melodrama; And here again, the main character is led on a sort of overview of his life, guided by a preternatural being. But I have to admit, I was not sure what was going in what were, in retrospect, key or pivotal moments. For a clearer understanding, I'll probably re-read this in print next time. This was my first time listening to Richard Armitage and I know there are people out there who just adore him; but I found his lisping and slurring a bit hard to decipher at times, and it may have contributed to my not getting parts of the book. I'll try something else by him in the future though.

COMPLETED The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

January thread is up: http://www.librarything.com/topic/300228#

We Were Liars / E. Lockhart
3.5 stars

Cadence and her (mostly rich) friends spend every summer on an island owned by Cadence’s grandfather. When Cadence is 15, something happened that she can’t remember. She and her mother skip going to the island the following summer, but when they return the next year, she tries so hard to remember, and her friends have been told that it’s better if she remembers on her own.

I didn’t like any of the characters, and didn’t feel badly for them. (Possible, though vague, I think) They did it to themselves! Stupid teenagers! I did feel badly for the dogs, though. The story itself was good, and it’s one where, after the twist, it is tempting to start over again to see if you can pick out any of the clues. I listened to the audio, and it was fine.

Starting "Ruth's First Christmas Tree" by Elly Griffiths

Finished the Dread Wyrm by Miles Cameron, third in the Traitor Son cycle. What a terrific series this is.

Knights, magic, dragons, creatures, and a hero who always has plans within plans that don't always go quite to order. And he's a smart ass. What's not to love?

Finished Crosstalk by Connie Willis for C (x2) and W. Enjoyed this light hearted sci fi romance.

COMPLETED Ruth's First Christmas Tree by Elly Griffiths

Starting "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens

COMPLETED A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Starting The Long Way to A Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Watching Edie / Camilla Way
4 stars

Heather and Edie were friends when they were 16, but there was some kind of falling out. They are now in their 30s. Edie long-since moved away and is now pregnant and on her own. After Edie has her baby, she is unable to function, and Heather shows up to take care of them. But once Edie comes to her senses, she can’t get past what happened when they were younger and asks Heather to leave. But Heather doesn’t want to go…

The story is told in alternating chapters between Edie in her 30s and Heather at 16, so the reader hears the story from both characters’ perspectives and as things happen at each age. I thought this was very suspenseful; it kept me wanting to read to find out what had happened when they were 16, plus what was going on in “current” day and how things were going to turn out. I did prefer Edie’s viewpoint, but I think it really made a difference for the suspense to get into Heather’s head, as well. I was almost going to “up” my rating just a touch near the end, but the end, itself, was a little too open-ended for me. Some things were tied up, but not everything.

COMPLETED The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Starting the same author's A Closed and Common Orbit

>60 Robertgreaves:. did you enjoy the Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. I liked it very much when I read it.

I finished Zone One by Colson Whitehead. This one also is a Z. Also worked for SFFkit which was "this is how it ends" theme. And also for ColorCAT for White.

One more C! - True Grit by Charles Portis. What a fun read!

>62 LittleTaiko: love that one, glad you read and enjoyed it!

>61 Kristelh: I did enjoy it, but found it very episodic, like watching a Star Trek series.

>64 Robertgreaves:, yes, it does have the feel of watching a TV series. Agree. I think I heard that it resembles something that was a TV series. I am not a TV person so don’t remember the name.

Elephant Company / Vicki Constantine Croke
4 stars

Jim (“Billy”) Williams went to live in the jungle in Burma in the 1920s and had such a connection with the elephants there, he stayed for decades. He was English and working for a teak logging company that used elephants as labour. Williams brought a kinder way of working with the animals, a way that seemed to work better for everyone – the company and the elephants alike.

The subtitle of the book talks about WWII, but that was only about the last 1/3 of the book, and not my main interest in the book, though it was a pretty amazing story in itself! I loved learning about the elephants and reading about the incredible things they do. Billy, himself, I found interesting, as well, and loved that he was in favour of training the elephants with positive reinforcement. Hard enough to read of the working animals (not there by their own choice), but Billy’s way with them made it better. He also opened “hospitals” for the elephants. The book had photos interspersed, and the notes at the end were actually really interesting – there were quite a few good tidbits and stories added in there.

I just realized The Romanov Empress: A Novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna by C. W. Gortner will work for C.

Finished Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb a re-read that is nostalgic of Christmas in the sixties.

I completed Love And War by Dee Williams.

Finished The Atrocity Archives by CHarley’s Stross today. It’s a geeky, horror, Sci Fi book.

The Woman Who Smashed Codes / Jason Fagone
3.5 stars

Elizabeth and William Friedman met while learning to decode messages. They both went on to various jobs where they were decrypting messages, but Elizabeth’s work seems to have been forgotten. They were part of the beginning of cryptography. Elizabeth did some decoding during WWI, during prohibition in the 1920s, and during WWII.

This was good. It was interesting to learn about the history of cryptology and even more interesting that a woman was at the forefront of it! I listened to the audio, and while the narrator was fine, and mostly I was kept interested, my mind did wander occasionally. I think that’s why I sometimes forgot who was who and why I kept my rating down just a bit from the 4 stars I’d like to give! I would recommend this be read in print, though, as there is plenty I think I would have liked to have seen on a page rather than heard read out to me. Apparently, there was an “enhancement” to the audio that should come with the audio, but not via my library (though I have had one other book in the past from the library that came with a pdf I could (and did) download to look at graphs and charts).

>71 LibraryCin: BB for me -- I find codebreaking fascinating!

>72 christina_reads: Hope you like it!

Did you notice there is a "cryptology/code breaking" month in the Reading Through Time group? Let me check, it's in... June.

>73 LibraryCin: I did not know that! I haven't kept up with RTT in a couple years, unfortunately. But perhaps that will give me the extra little push to read The Woman Who Smashed Codes!

Finished a couple others in December. Christmas Stories by Diana Secker Tesdell and Kneaded to Death by Winnie Archer.

Only one entry for the AlphaKIT this month: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, by Agatha Christie.