April AlphaKIT: L and J

Welcome to the 2022 AlphaKIT. This is an unofficial challenge for the 2022 Category Challenge Group. Each month has two letters selected for you to use however you choose.

There are no rules. Just have fun and enjoy reading.

and

Please remember to update the wiki with your reading:
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2022_AlphaKIT#April:_-_Letters:_L_and_J

I think for this one I will read "The Madman's Library" by Edward Brook-Hitching and Barthes: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan D. Culler.

Got lots!

✔Busy Woman’s Guide to Murder by Mary Jane Maffini
✔Closet Confidential by Mary Jane Maffini
✔Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear
✔Death Among the Stars by Sharon Linnea
✔Evil Woman by Julie Mulhern
✔Fatal Family Feast by Lynn Cahoon
✔Journey to Munich
✔Last Princess
✔Leaving Everything Most Loved
✔Lost Coast Literary
✔ Murder At the Lighthouse
✔Murder by the Bookend by Laura Jensen Walker
✔Poppy Harmon and the Backstabbing Bachelor by Lee Hollis
✔Three Tainted Teas by Lynn Cahoon

So far I've got:
Murder at Old St Thomas - L. M. Lane - Early Reviewer
The Darkness - Ragnar Jonasson
City of Blades - R. J. Bennett

I think I'll be reading The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence and A Wish and a Prayer by Beverly Jenkins.

I'm going to plan on reading The Rules of the Road by C.B. Jones as my 'J' book and Love Stories in This Town by Amanda Eyre Ward as my 'L' book.

My alphabet plans for next month are for The False Inspector Dew by Peter Lovesey and Where All Light Tends to Go by David Joy.

Ones I'm contemplating for other challenges (there will be more, I haven't figured it all out yet):

- The Island of Sea Women / Lisa See
- The Tusk that Did the Damage / Tania James
- The Last Wild Wolves / Ian McAllister

I plan to attack my Nancy Drew personal challenge and read The Mystery at the Ski Jump. Also planning to read The Murder of Twelve by Jessica Fletcher and Jon Land.

I'm reading Bridget Jones's Diary. She's alternately making me laugh and making me exasperated with her.

I just finished The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi.

I read The Murder of Twelve by Jessica Fletcher and Jon Land for the "L" challenge. Also Death of a Laird by M.C. Beaton.

>11 susanna.fraser: Looking forward to that one.

Just finished How To Rule an Empire And Get Away With It by K. J. Parker. What a ridiculously fun series.

I read Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell for J.

>13 majkia: It's very fun.

Not fun at all, but thought-provoking and important: I just finished People Love Dead Jews for both letters.

The Tusk that did the Damage / Tania James
2.5 stars

This book follows an elephant, two filmmakers at a sanctuary(?) in India doing a story on a vet, and a poacher. The chapters alternate between the three. The elephants mother was killed when he was a baby and he was stolen, raised to perform.

I didn’t really like this (surprisingly since it’s an animal book). I didn’t care about the humans and those chapters (mostly) bored me. I liked the elephant chapters at first, but they went downhill because they weren’t all from the elephant’s point of view (as I’d expected), but some of those chapters followed the “handlers” more and there was a bit of elephant mythology (which often would interest me, but in this case, I was bored). Overall, though, the book did pick up in the last 1/3 or so and I was more interested, but it was only enough to bring my rating up by a ½ star. Although I’m not even certain what happened at the very end, and although I see other reviews say the three stories came together, I completely missed where the filmmakers’ story fit in.

I've started listening to The Jungle Book I & II (by Rudyard Kipling; narrated by Ralph Cosham).

I read L’Assommoir which works for L if French words are allowed.

Over the weekend I read Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem by Lois McMaster Bujold and Fake It Till You Break It by Jenn P. Nguyen.

I finished Bridget Jones's Diary and Julian of Norwich, both for J. They have very little else in common!

Finished Love Stories in This Town by Amanda Eyre Ward. Full review written. I love this author's work, but this collection isn't one I'd recommend. Her novels are so much better.

Finished Rules of the Road by C.B. Jones, and it was FANTASTIC. Readers and writers of horror, you should look this one up. Full review written.

Journey Toward Justice / Dennis Fritz
4 stars

In 1982, Debbie Carter was raped and murdered in Ada, Oklahoma. Four or five years later, Dennis Fritz and his friend Ronnie Williamson were arrested. Dennis knew nothing at all about the murder, but he was tried and sentenced to life in prison, based on next-to-no evidence. In prison, Dennis spent as much time as he possibly could in the law library to figure out how to prove his innocence and get out of there. Finally, after 11 (12?) years, DNA set him (and Ron) free.

The is the same murder covered in John Grisham’s “The Innocent Man”, though Grisham focused on Ronnie, and of course was an outsider’s point of view, whereas Fritz’s book is a memoir, so we see what all happened through his own eyes – an innocent men arrested and on trial for a murder he knew nothing about. Interesting book (and frustrating – between the lack of evidence to begin with and all those letters Dennis wrote to higher and higher levels of court to try to get someone to listen to him!).

Dennis did learn a lot about how the law works while he was in prison, and there were times in the book where he used legal terms and phrases and I wasn’t quite sure what exactly he meant, though the gist was there. But a bit of an explanation would have been nice. Oh, and Dennis was a single dad with a 13-year old daughter at the time of his arrest, so really sad that his daughter had to go through that, as well.

COMPLETED The Madman's Library by Edward Brooke-Hitching

I read Peace Talks by Jim Butcher for J.

I just finished a light YA steampunk novel, Lady of Devices (Magnificent Devices #1; by Shelley Adina) - The “Arabian Bubble”—the promise of an oil-fueled future— has burst! It’s 1889 and steam technology is where it’s at. Unfortunately, the Viscount Treveleyne has mortgaged his family’s fortune on oil and has left his family in ruins. His daughter Claire must now fend for herself using her intellect and courage. The author doesn’t waste time, moving the plot along at a fast clip while deftly providing you with all that you need to know in an English world of manners, locomotives, the prerequisite airships, and the introduction of electricity.

>27 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Ooh, I think I have that book on my e-reader...thanks for reminding me of its existence! Sounds like a fun one.

I read this for Bingo and Z but just realized it fits L too: Dead Lagoon: An Aurelio Zen mystery by Michael Dibdin.

>28 christina_reads: It’s a couple of hours of escapism! I very nearly downloaded the next one (ironic considering this one had been on my own e-reader for years!) but decided that sleep was more important than binging the series. Adulting is hard, LOL!

May AlphaKIT is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/341191

Read Crucible by James Rollins

>28 christina_reads: Sounds like a good one! Checking it out.

The Stone Monkey / Jeffery Deaver
4 stars

When a ship full of Chinese illegal immigrants comes close to shore in the U.S., the Coast Guard heads out to meet them. But the “snakehead” (nicknamed “the Ghost”) -- the guy they paid to get them to the U.S. -- locks everyone (including the captain and crew) except his assistant below deck, and blows up the ship! A few people manage to escape, but it seems the Ghost won’t stop until he kills them all.

I thought this was really good. The story was told from multiple points of view, including Amelia Sachs, the Ghost, a Chinese cop that came on the boat and managed to escape the blast, and two families that also escaped the ship. It’s darker than I usually like (although some darker ones I do like – and this was one of them). I don’t see that this is tagged noir or hard-boiled, but it seemed pretty gritty and dark to me. There was a good twist in this one. Have to admit, I’m not a big fan of Lincoln and Amelia’s relationship, though.

Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King by Antonia Fraser

I've read several of Fraser's books and she never disappoints. What I liked best in this one was that she concentrated on details of Louis' personal life and that of his lovers while the topics of politics and war were minimal. This must have been a joy for Fraser to write because there is so much known about the Sun King whose every move was noted by someone in his circle. Because her topic is so focussed, she is able to include significant details about general life (for royalty) such as birth control, childbirth, hygiene and medical treatments. However the mistresses and numerous offspring (all having similar names) form a mass of individuals that is tricky to follow, it is wise to make notes. Highly recommended.

I read this for L but I see Louis XIV will also fit X so it's going there too.

>35 VivienneR: Antonia Fraser can always be relied upon to be thorough.

COMPLETED Murder Past Due by Miranda James. Starting the 2nd in the series, Classified As Murder

I read Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde which I guess I can use for J. Not doing well with alpha this month.

Over the weekend I finished The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. An appropriate Lent/Easter read!

>27 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I snagged Lady of Devices for free over the weekend.

I started a new cozy series with Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay, the first book in the Library Lover's Mystery series. So, L for the series and J for the author.

I read Jalna by Mazo de la Roche for the L and the J.

>40 LadyoftheLodge: I love it when the first-in-series by a new-to-me author is free or even just ninety-nine cents! ;-)

A Dubious Legacy by Mary Wesley
A very subtle story centred on Henry, who married a woman that his now deceased father chose to rescue by making her Henry's wife, the dubious legacy of the title. When Henry takes Margaret to his home she went to bed and there she stayed. It's a sparsely-written story - spread over 40 years, more of a saga - that is in places hard to believe but nevertheless packed with passion. The outdoor dinner party was like a scene from a horror version of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

>44 VivienneR: It must be 20 years since I read Mary Wesley's novels. Perhaps it's time to dig them out for a re-read

Starting "The Silence of the Library" by Miranda James

I'm going to count Messenger by Craig Johnson for my "J" book this month even though it's only a short story - one of those ".5" books in a series.

>45 Robertgreaves: I remember enjoying Mary Wesley's Camomile Lawn and have been on the lookout for more. This one got a bit confusing towards the end when the two young women were suddenly old and with grandchildren. It took a while for my mind to adjust. However, it didn't affect the point of the story.

I finished Sleep No More: Six Murderous Tales by P.D. James for J.

COMPLETED:

Murder Past Due
Classified As Murder
File M for Murder
Out of Circulation and
The Silence of the Library

All by Miranda James

I have completed both my reads for April's AlphaKit with Where All Light Tends to Go by David Joy and The False Inspector Dew by Peter Lovesey.

How We Got to Now: Six Innovations... / Steven Johnson
3.5 stars

This book looks at connections in inventions – one thing had to be invented or discovered, which created a chain reaction for the next thing and the next thing, etc. Glass, then spectacles, then the printing press caused more people to need spectacles, then microscopes, etc.

I found this interesting – the connections more than how the things were invented. Many inventions would have happened even if the person who invented had not been the one to do so – someone else would have done so soon after. I listened to the audio. The narrator was mostly fine, but there was the occasional odd pause that was noticeable, though the content was enough to (mostly) keep my interest in the book, anyway.

COMPLETED Return to the Enchanted Island by Johary Ravaloson

I just finished another L book, Miss Lattimore's Letter by Suzanne Allain. It's a breezy, fast-moving Regency romance that I enjoyed but don't plan to keep.

COMPLETED The Bone Ritual by Julian Rees

Starting "The Strange Journey of Alice Pendelbury by Marc Levy

COMPLETED The Strange Journey of Alice Pendelbury by Marc Levy

Starting "Life, the Universe and Everything" by Douglas Adams

My books this month:
J:
Jenny Wren by E. H. Young
Emma by Jane Austen
Old Filth by Jane Gardam
L:
A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym; a lovely re-read

The Island of Sea Women / Lisa See
3.5 stars

Set in Korea and primarily spanning from the 1930s to the 1970s (with some “current day” tidbits in 2008), the main character is Young-sook, “now” in her 80s. When she was 15, on Jeju island in Korea, she began training with her mother and best friend Mi-ja to become haenyeo, a diver. As a woman, Young-sook would be primarily responsible for feeding her family and making money from the diving she would be doing. After they are married and have children, Young-sook is unable to forgive Mi-ja for a huge betrayal.

The book takes us through a number of historical events, starting with Japanese occupation, WWII, American occupation, the Korean War, and an event in Korea that wiped out (i.e. they were murdered) many of the villagers on Jeju.

Good story, though it didn’t move quickly. I learned a lot about Jeju island (which I had never heard of) and the historical happenings there and in Korea, in general. Also learned about the women divers, which was definitely interesting. It was a bit frustrating, though, with the women being so prominent in that society, yet boys were still more highly prized. The women worked not only to feed their family and make money, but that money was to be spent on educating the boys. Overall, though, it was a good and interesting book.

COMPLETED Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams

>5 dudes22: I love the Blessings series!

For this month's AlphaKIT, I managed one L book: Death at the Château Bremont, by M. L. Longworth.

I just finished my "L" book for this month which is the same as rp - Death at the Chateau Bremont by M. L. Longworth.