May AlphaKIT: I and N

Welcome to the May 2021 AlphaKIT, an unofficial challenge in the 2021 Category Challenge Group.

The rules are: 1. Use these letters any way you wish to select reading for the month. 2. Enjoy your reading.

and

The letter images are thanks to @helenliz ! Thanks so much, they're lovely.

Please remember to update the wiki:
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2021_AlphaKIT#May:_-_Letters:_I_and_N

I've got several possible reads for May, including The Lottery Rose by Irene Hunt.

I'm thinking that I might use Sicily by John Julius Norwich as double duty for this and History CAT this month.

I have set aside The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, Stolen Souls by Stuart Neville and Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim for next months AlphaKit.

I'm planning on Nature of the Beast and In the Market for Murder.

I've got The Quiet Game by Greg Iles and The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo that I'm planning to read next month.

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu for I
and
Outlawed by Anna North for N.

Or something else altogether. :-)

Here are my selections for May:

✔Crown In Crisis
✔Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix
✔Malt In Our Stars
Murder at Mondial Castle by Issy Brooke
✔Murder In a Teacup
✔Murder In the Bayou Boneyard
✔Murder In the Cookbook Nook
✔Strega Nona and the Magic Ring
✔Strega Nona Meets Her Match
✔Strega Nona Takes a Vacation
✔Strega Nona, Her Story
✔Strega Nona Does it Again!

For N, I will be reading "Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern.

I is more difficult, but I think I will go for "The Inivisible Guardian" by Delores Redondo

I'm going to be reading I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid and North American Lake Monsters: Stories by Nathan Ballingrud.

For I, I just finished Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard.

I have completed my "N" read with The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

I read If You Give a Man a Cookie by Laura Numeroff, which was hilarious and only too accurate. I also read The Jam and Jelly Nook by Amy Clipston, which completed the series for me.

For I; The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury.

Also for I and N. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron.

>8 cyderry: I am also reading Strega Nona Meets Her Match for this challenge.

I have started the Nursery Rhyme Murders Collection by Carolyn McCray.

I have completed both In the Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty and Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu for I.

I just finished Just Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane for "N," and for "I" I've begun Imaginary Lands, edited by Robin McKinley.

I read "Die Inszenierung" by Martin Walser. While I appreciated the general artistic idea, I did not like anything else about this novel, and I assume it will be the last one of the author I have read.

Finished In the Market for Murder and started Nolyn

I finished "Die natürliche Tochter" by Johann Wolfgang Goethe as my first N read. It's an enjoyable play, although I can see why it's not considered one of Goethe's greatest works.

Looks like the bug is happening again... Double posting (now from the .com site) to make it disappear.

I read Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim for my "I" read. I quite enjoyed this historical novel set in Virginia in the years leading up to the American Civil War.

I'm starting another "N" book, The Dress of the Season by Kate Noble. It's a novella, so I expect it'll be a fast read.

I've finished The Quiet Game by Greg Iles for my "I" read this month. The first book in a new series for me.

I read Nine Princes in Amber for my 'N' selection. My review is here.

I read "No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference" by Greta Thunberg as my second N book. It's a collection of speeches and they are quite repetitive, although I support the message and thus don't regret reading them.

I am starting Lost In Nowhere by Barbara Pietron for N and for Early Review.

I read my second I book: Irgendwo in Deutschland by Stefanie Zweig.

June thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/332190

I finished Let It Bleed by Ian Rankin. It's the seventh Rebus novel and not my favourite, although it has some good aspects.

I can't believe I didn't already post to this thread! I haven't yet read my books, but it's unusual for me not to post some ideas of what I might read.

These are what I have planned (and still to come!):
- The Invited / Jennifer McMahon
- Headhunters / Jo Nesbo

COMPLETED The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Starting "Classics: A Very Short Introduction" by Mary Beard and John Henderson

COMPLETED Classics: A Very Short Introduction by Mary Beard and John Henderson

I've finished The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo for my "N" book.

I read Iraq +100 by Hassan Blasim. It is a collection of science fiction stories by Iraqi authors. All of the stories take place in Iraqi cities 100 years after the U.S. Invasion of Iraq.

I finished another I book today: Inside Jobs - Ben H. Winters. It is an audible original audiobook with three short stories about crime during the lockdown.

Finished The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (I)

I hit both letters with The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler.

Lily Azerov arrived in Montreal as a Polish refugee after WWII for an arranged marriage into a close-knit Jewish family. Following the birth of a baby girl, she left, without warning, leaving the baby. Richler's story is of the impact of this on the daughter and although there is some suspense it is subdued. The story is contemplative and pensive, qualities that, although pleasing in a way, will bring any story to a slow meander.

This was shortlisted for the Giller Prize which is what drew me to it.

I read Interior Chinatown.

My I and N books:
Kokoro by Natsume Soseki
Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.C. Schwab
Now In November Josephine W. Johnson
Hope Nation: YA Authors Share Personal Moments of Inspiration by Rose Brock (editor)

Headhunters / Jo Nesbo
3 stars

Roger Brown is a headhunter, pretty much the best. He is married to Diana, but can’t really afford the lifestyle she wants. She runs a small art gallery (that he paid for). When the former head of a tech company in Amsterdam comes to Norway, he is the perfect candidate for a big tech company in Oslo. When Roger meets him, he also discovers that he has a rare piece of artwork. Far too tempting for the sometimes-art thief/forger! And things go very awry…

It took me a while to “get into” this. Even when it picked up, unfortunately, my mind was a bit elsewhere, but I did get my mind back on what I was reading after a bit. At first, the twist at the end confused me a bit, but it was explained. It’s kind of one of those things where it’s tempting to go back knowing what you know “now”, at the end of the book, to see how you had been led astray in your thinking. I’m rating it “ok”, but I feel like if my mind had been paying better attention at the moment it picked up, I “should” be rating it good.

I am reading Infinity by Sherilynn Kenyon for my I read this month.

I just finished Imaginary Numbers by Seanan McGuire for both letters.

The Invited / Jennifer McMahon
4.25 stars

In the early 20th century, Hattie was seen as a “witch” because she saw things before they happened. In 1924, she warned people not to send their children to school because it was going to be burned down. She was right – three kids died and the townspeople hanged Hattie for it. (This was the opening chapter, so not a spoiler.)

In 2015, Helen and Nate bought the land that Hattie had lived on. They lived in an old trailer while they built their dream home. Helen had been a history teacher, so she loved to research the history of the land they bought, so she learned more and more about Hattie and her descendants as she went. She brought in antique pieces to build into their home. But, Helen was also seeing Hattie, who seemed to be trying to communicate… Nate, a science teacher with a love for the local wildlife on their land (they live beside a bog), was drawn toward a white doe he catches glimpses of, but can’t seem to get a photo.

Next door, a young Olive, whose mother disappeared a year earlier (she apparently ran off with a man), doesn’t want Helen and Nate living on Hattie’s land. Olive and her mother were convinced Hattie had left a treasure and they were on the hunt to find it. Olive still planned to find it.

The chapters mostly went back and forth between Helen and Olive in 2015. There were only a few flashback chapters to traumatizing incidents. This is another really good book by Jennifer McMahon. She is very good at creepy. It would have been more so if I’d read more at night (tried to, but I fell asleep a couple of times – not due to the book, however!). I found following Helen more interesting than following Olive, but of course the stories do come together with a surprise end (though I guessed it only a few pages before it was revealed).

I squeezed in another "I" book, The Inheritance by Charles Finch.

Naked and Marooned / Ed Stafford
3 stars

The author decided he wanted to maroon himself on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific (I believe in Fiji) for 60 days with nothing, including no clothes! Now, because he got a tv deal, he did have to take a camera and microphone, and there were daily “checks” (via note), if needed; also the drop place for the notes was also meant to replenish batteries. The notes were not to include anything to motivate.

This was interesting. I listened to the audio, though, so as is often the case, I did lose interest at times. I had a real hard time listening to how he hunted and killed, though. (Even the tv show did not air one of his (more brutal) kills.) The book not only looked at how he survived, but also he reflected on his mental state being so isolated.