December AlphaKIT: Y and W

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. December letters are Y and W.

and

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

Have a wonderful holiday season and we will continue this in 2023!

I just started The Passion of the Purple Plumeria (Pink Carnation #10; by Lauren Willig) and;
For “Y”, I have You Better Not Cry (written & narrated by Augusten Burroughs) which I will probably start in a couple weeks.

I've got The Salvage Crew - Yudhanjaya Wijeratne for both!
Also:
Wicked Autumn, The Praxis by Jon Williams.

I have books planned for this but, I'm so far behind in my reading, I'm not sure I'll get to them.

Auntie Lee's Deadly Specials by Ovidia Yu
An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear.

I hope to read Everything, everything by Nicola Yoon, and I have several options for W, so I am still undecided when it comes to that letter.

I've got lots for W, but I am probably going to choose The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood. Fewer choices for Y but maybe Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson.

Last chance for 2022!

25 Bridge Conventions You Should Know
✔Bread Over Troubled Water
✔Children's Blizzard by David Laskin read by Paul Woodson
✔Darkest Year
Knit Fast, Die Young
Princes at War
✔Under the Siena Sun by T.A. Williams
✔Witch Collector
✔World of Curiosities

I will probably read something with Yuletide in the title, and maybe a NetGalley On the Way to Christmas that is on my review list.

I am planning on reading American Boy by Larry Watson and Run Me To Earth by Paul Yoon.

I finished The Passion of the Purple Plumeria (by Lauren Willig) and am started the next in ther PInk Carnation series, The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla -- both for the letter, "W".
Later on this week I hope to start You Better Not Cry (written & narrated by Augusten Burroughs) for the letter, "Y".

I finished The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla (Pink Carnation #11 by Lauren Willig) and thought I had You Better Not Cry (written & narrated by Augusten Burroughs) in my library; but it turns out not to be so! I have to wait until my next credit rolls in-- so in the meantime, I'm starting The Wright Brothers (written & narrated by David McCullough).

Take Your Breath Away by Linwood Barclay
A satisfying twisty thriller. When Andrew returns from a trip with his business partner he finds his wife missing. Six years later, when Andrew has moved on to a new town, new relationship and new name, a woman shows up at the site where their home had stood shouting "Where's my house?" setting off alarm bells for some individuals.

I read The Seventh Scroll by Wilbur Smith

Currently reading The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson

COMPLETED The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson

I read A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks.

I finished When will there be good news

The Wife's Tale / Lori Lansens
3.5 stars

Mary is obese and much of her thought is taken up with her weight and food. On their 25th anniversary, her husband “Gooch” (Jimmy Gooch) has left her with no notice. He just didn’t come home. Mary, although she has never or rarely left her small hometown in Ontario, takes it upon herself to follow clues first to Toronto, then to California, to try to find him.

The first half of the book was hard to read with all the moaning about her weight and food, etc. But maybe that is accurate for some people battling obesity? It’s nice to see Mary become somewhat independent (with the help of people in the small town in California she ends up in). The ending was left a little bit open, but I suppose in doing that, that might mean something, too.

I read Die eisblaue Spur (in English: The Day is Dark) by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir. It was rather disappointing, though, although I will continue with the series nonetheless.

I ended up reading On the Way to Christmas which was composed of three stories and A Mackenzie Yuletide which was a fun read once I got the characters straight (I had to make a list . . .) and was an introduction to a new-to-me series by a fave author.

Starting Golden State by Ben Winters

I just dnloaded the ebook edition of You Better Not Cry (by Augusten Burroughs). I'll start it tonight!

I finished both The Wright Brothers (written and narrated by David McCullough) and You Better Not Cry (by Augusten Burroughs) this morning (couldn’t sleep).

And for the first time in all the years I’ve been doing the AlphaCAT/KIT challenge, I have finally managed to read for every letter prompt! 🙂

>23 Tanya-dogearedcopy: That's impressive! Sorry you couldn't sleep, but excellent use of the time. >:-)

I have completed both my December AlphaKit reads with American Boy by Larry Watson and Run Me To Earth by Paul Yoon.

I've not been able to get much reading done this month but managed to finish this audiobook.

The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill
Long, but a marvellous novel, with a complex and thoroughly clever plot. It has more in common with a fairy tale from Grimm than with Dalziel and Pascoe, however, I missed Dalziel's sardonic humour. No one but Reginald Hill could have given us this great read.

COMPLETED Golden State by Ben Winters

For Y I did How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton M. Christensen

I finished Maybe It Happened This Way for W.

January 2023 thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/346535

I just read You May Kiss the Bride by Lisa Berne for Y. It's an enjoyable but not at all unique Regency romance.

COMPLETED Deep Waters by Kate Charles

Year of the Reaper from Makiia Lucier completes a prompt from my Popsugar challenge this year, "By a Pacific Islander" because she grew up on the island of Guam.

Just finished Not Like the Movies by Kerry Winfrey, a fun and well-written contemporary romance.

COMPLETED The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller

I got in another W, How to Keep House While Drowning.

I read Where the Crawdads Sing by Della Owens.

You Take it From Here / Pamela Ribon
3.5 stars

Danielle and Smidge are in their mid-30s and have been best friends for a long time. Smidge stayed in Louisiana, got married, and had a daughter. Danielle went away to California; she also got married, but that ended in divorce. When Danielle comes home to visit, Smidge has an unhappy surprise and (odd) request for her. Possible spoiler (it is mentioned in the blurb, but it comes a bit of the way into the book): Smidge has cancer and she wants Danielle to take over her life after she dies of cancer; that is, she wants Danielle to marry her husband and take care of her daughter.

Wow, I really really didn’t like Smidge and wondered why anyone would be friends with her (or why anyone would marry her). So selfish (and this includes before the cancer). I felt badly for Danielle. I did like Tucker. Despite my intense dislike for Smidge, I still liked the book, as a whole. And no, I didn’t cry at the end – because I didn’t care about Smidge even a little bit and I thought Danielle’s life would be much better with Smidge gone.

I finished the Salvage Crew by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne. Twofer.

I've finished An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear.

The Swiss Family Robinson / Johann Wyss

This is the story of the family (mom, dad, and four boys) who were shipwrecked on a deserted island and how they managed to survive.

2022 reread (on audio)
3 stars
This was an unintentional reread – I forgot that I read it a few years back. This time, though, I listened to the audio. I actually wish I hadn’t reread my review from the first time around, as I noticed my main complaint right away after reading my review: Dad was a walking encyclopedia! He knew everything about everything. It didn’t seem very believable, either. The variety of animals on the island, plus they never seemed to miss when they were hunting. It was all too easy. Not only that, they wanted to stay on the island (at least at one point)! The audio: although it did seem to hold my interest at the start… it lost me part way through and my interest came in and out. I’m rating it ok this time around.

2014 read (ebook):
3.5 stars
It was entertaining, but not believable. The father knew everything about everything, and pretty much everything went right. Every animal they came across they were able to kill or capture for some kind of use – food, eggs, pets, or something else. Not only that, there was quite an international variety of plants and animals: hyena, ostrich, kangaroo, lion, penguin, walrus, boa, pineapple and much more... Overall, I thought it was still enjoyable, but one has to be able to suspend reality. I did (mostly) like the ending.

Finished Edge of the Moon by Rebecca York as my 'Y' book and Greener Pastures by Michael Wehunt as my 'W' book. York's paranormal romance was a nice escape read, though it didn't quite live up to the other book in the series I read. Wehunt's short stories are somewhere between eerie literary fiction and horror, mostly speculative but some not, and pretty fantastic. Maybe a little more abstract than I'd prefer, but I really enjoyed them.

The Wicked Awakening of Anne Merchant / Joanna Wiebe
3.5 stars

In book 2 of the trilogy, Anne is back at school, but she knows more about what is going on around her at this so-called boarding school. Possible book 1 : The students are actually dead and “vivified” (brought back to life via a deal with the parents). And the teachers are demons. . But there’s more that Anne hasn’t learned yet about herself. She has come back to get revenge on the person who is the new headmaster.

I don’t think it was as good as the first one, but overall it was still good. There was a recap, but it was quick and I was still trying to get back into the “world” and was a bit confused. There were also a couple of characters with similar names I kept mixing up. But when we got away from the odd vocabulary and I was able to get more into the story, it got better for me.

My W books this month (sadly, no "Y" books):

The World of Thrush Green by Miss Read (1988): a nonfiction reflection by Miss Read on how this series came about, with excerpts from the books
The Getting of Wisdom by H. H. Richardson (1910): a classic Australian coming of age novel
Kids at Work: Lewis Hine by Russell Freedman with photos by Lewis Hine (1995): YA nonfiction biography of the photographer Lewis Hine, who documented young children working in the early 20th century in factories, farms, and other dangerous occupations. His photographic work led to reforms in child labors laws and working conditions.

This month an audiobook reader gave me a W: Doctor Who: Babblesphere was performed mostly by Lalla Ward.