1majkia
Welcome to the 2023 AlphaKIT.
This is an unofficial challenge for the 2023 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. J Letters are: O and P
and 
Please remember to update the wiki with your reading:
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2023_AlphKIT#July:_-_Letters:_O_and_P
This is an unofficial challenge for the 2023 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. J Letters are: O and P
Please remember to update the wiki with your reading:
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2023_AlphKIT#July:_-_Letters:_O_and_P
2Robertgreaves
My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk has been sitting on my virtual TBR shelf for far too long.
3majkia
>2 Robertgreaves: Oh, double!
I'll be reading Outland by Dennis Taylor, The Peripheral by William Gibson, and The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley. Possibly more...
I'll be reading Outland by Dennis Taylor, The Peripheral by William Gibson, and The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley. Possibly more...
4clue
My bookclub is reading Orphan's Inheritance by Aline Ohanesianso there's the O, and I'll probably read The Taking of Jemima Boone by Matthew Pearl for P.
6dudes22
I'm planning to read. The Odds by Stewart O'Nan and The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick.
7cyderry
I certainly hope I get a few read!
Caught On the Book
Little Paris Bookshop
Little Shop Of Found Things
Miss Moriarty, I Presume?
Murder Once Removed
Overdue or Die
✔Paper Cuts
Some Touch Of Madness
✔Treacherous Tale by Elizabeth Penney
Caught On the Book
Little Paris Bookshop
Little Shop Of Found Things
Miss Moriarty, I Presume?
Murder Once Removed
Overdue or Die
✔Paper Cuts
Some Touch Of Madness
✔Treacherous Tale by Elizabeth Penney
8majkia
>7 cyderry: I hope things settle down for you Cheli. Hope you manage some reading too.
9DeltaQueen50
I am planning on reading Savage Country by Robert Olmstead and February's Son by Alan Parks.
10LadyoftheLodge
I will probably read If You Give a Pig a Pancake and Jeeves in the Offing by P. G. Wodehouse (for a double).
11LibraryCin
I have a few from other challenges that will fit:
One Thousand White Women / Jim Fergus
Pray for Silence / Linda Castillo
The Perfect Ghost / Linda Barnes
Climate Changed / Philippe Squarzoni
The One Man / Andrew Gross
One Thousand White Women / Jim Fergus
Pray for Silence / Linda Castillo
The Perfect Ghost / Linda Barnes
Climate Changed / Philippe Squarzoni
The One Man / Andrew Gross
12Robertgreaves
Starting "A Parcel of Patterns" by Jill Paton Walsh
13susanna.fraser
I just finished A Manhattan Heiress in Paris for my first P.
15Robertgreaves
COMPLETED The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
16susanna.fraser
Black Panther: World of Wakanda for another P.
17DeltaQueen50
I have completed both of my AlphaKit reads for this month with Savage Country by Robert Olmstead and February's Son by Alan Parks.
21Robertgreaves
Starting The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman
22susanna.fraser
I read There There by Tommy Orange.
24LadyoftheLodge
I read Jeeves in the Offing by P.G. Wodehouse.
26Kristelh
I read The Famished Road by Ben Okri.
27Robertgreaves
COMPLETED The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman
Starting "The People in the Trees" by Hanya Yanagihara
Starting "The People in the Trees" by Hanya Yanagihara
28staci426
I have 3 Ps with books 6, 7 & 8 in the Martin Beck Swedish mystery series by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö: Murder at the Savoy, The Abominable Man and The Locked Room. These books ended up working for multiple different CATS & KITS this month.
29christina_reads
I just finished The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia for O.
30clue
I have read Orhan's Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian.
31JayneCM
I read Dusty In The Outwilds for O, an engaging middle grade reminiscent of Journey To The Centre of the Earth.
32bookworm3091
For P, I read 17th Suspect by James Patterson.
33christina_reads
I just re-read Battle Royal by Lucy Parker. Love this author for contemporary romance and can't wait for the sequel next month!
34susanna.fraser
I got another O with Old Man's War by John Scalzi.
35Helenliz
Started The Legacy of Elizabeth pringle for a P.
39Robertgreaves
COMPLETED The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
Starting Cosmology: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Coles
Starting Cosmology: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Coles
40majkia
Completed the Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley. Really odd 1957 sci fi.
42Kristelh
Completed Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje for O.
43Robertgreaves
Starting "Carbo and the Thief and Other Tales" by Alex Gough.
44Robertgreaves
COMPLETED Carbo and the Thief and Other Tales by Alex Gough
45msf59
I have read Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje and Harmony by Carolyn Parkhurst.
This has sure been helping me get books off shelf. 😁
This has sure been helping me get books off shelf. 😁
46LadyoftheLodge
>45 msf59: My problem with getting books off my shelves is that I seem to add "new" ones just as fast.
48VivienneR
I read Girl Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo for O.
49susanna.fraser
I finished Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk for another P.
50LibraryCin
The Wild Trees / Richard Preston
4 stars
The author starts by looking at the lives of three people in the 1980s. In 1987, Steve was a university student when he climbed his first really tall tree (can’t recall if it was a redwood in California or a Douglas fir in Oregon); also 1987, Michael was a rich kid in college, but not really interested in attending classes… he also discovered the really tall trees; and Marie (early 80s) in Ontario, who lost her mother at a young age and enjoyed rock climbing. Eventually, the three would cross paths as they (formally or informally) studied the tallest trees in the world, mostly those California redwoods and Oregon Douglas firs.
I really liked this. It’s a mix of biographies of each of the main people, as well as information about the trees and forests and – until the late 80s – no one had been up to the tallest reaches of these trees. There are ecosystems that live high up in the trees, and it’s tricky to know how to safely (as much as possible, anyway) climb the trees. It was interesting that the author himself did learn to do it and joined the scientists on their adventures in the trees. He even went climbing with his kids. I really liked this – all parts of the book: I like biographies, and I like (popular) science, so I enjoyed all of it.
4 stars
The author starts by looking at the lives of three people in the 1980s. In 1987, Steve was a university student when he climbed his first really tall tree (can’t recall if it was a redwood in California or a Douglas fir in Oregon); also 1987, Michael was a rich kid in college, but not really interested in attending classes… he also discovered the really tall trees; and Marie (early 80s) in Ontario, who lost her mother at a young age and enjoyed rock climbing. Eventually, the three would cross paths as they (formally or informally) studied the tallest trees in the world, mostly those California redwoods and Oregon Douglas firs.
I really liked this. It’s a mix of biographies of each of the main people, as well as information about the trees and forests and – until the late 80s – no one had been up to the tallest reaches of these trees. There are ecosystems that live high up in the trees, and it’s tricky to know how to safely (as much as possible, anyway) climb the trees. It was interesting that the author himself did learn to do it and joined the scientists on their adventures in the trees. He even went climbing with his kids. I really liked this – all parts of the book: I like biographies, and I like (popular) science, so I enjoyed all of it.
51bookworm3091
Finished a couple more Ps last week
The Joy Project by Tony Reinke
Case of the One-Eyed Tiger by Jeffrey Poole
The Joy Project by Tony Reinke
Case of the One-Eyed Tiger by Jeffrey Poole
52christina_reads
I just finished another O book, The Only Game in Town by Lacie Waldon. It's a cute small-town contemporary romance with Westing Game-esque hijinks.
53LibraryCin
The One Man / Andrew Gross
3.5 stars
The American military recruits a Jewish Polish man, Nathan Blum, who managed to get out of Europe before the rest of his family was rounded up to Auschwitz. He already works for the U.S. military and they convince him to go to Auschwitz with a detailed plan to help get someone out! But he only has 72 hours.
Meanwhile in the camp, Professor Mendl is an expert in physics and recruits a young 17-year old, Leo, to memorize a bunch of his formulas. The professor is pretty sure he won’t make it out, but is hoping Leo might one day. This info he is having Leo memorize is very important, though he won’t tell Leo why it’s so important. In his “spare” time, Leo plays chess with one of the camp’s SS officer’s wives.
This was good. It may also be a “victim” of me being fully saturated with WWII books (as I know many others are, as well). I listened to the audio and I had no issues with it. In all honesty, I can’t imagine anyone would agree to do that rescue, as they knew enough about Auschwitz by then. Oh, but the test they had Nathan do ahead of time to “prove” he could? No. Just no. If they wanted him to go so badly, I think he could/should have called them on it and not done it. He was already trained by then. I can’t imagine they’d find anyone else to do it, so let them call it off; I can’t imagine Nathan wanted to go in so badly…
3.5 stars
The American military recruits a Jewish Polish man, Nathan Blum, who managed to get out of Europe before the rest of his family was rounded up to Auschwitz. He already works for the U.S. military and they convince him to go to Auschwitz with a detailed plan to help get someone out! But he only has 72 hours.
Meanwhile in the camp, Professor Mendl is an expert in physics and recruits a young 17-year old, Leo, to memorize a bunch of his formulas. The professor is pretty sure he won’t make it out, but is hoping Leo might one day. This info he is having Leo memorize is very important, though he won’t tell Leo why it’s so important. In his “spare” time, Leo plays chess with one of the camp’s SS officer’s wives.
This was good. It may also be a “victim” of me being fully saturated with WWII books (as I know many others are, as well). I listened to the audio and I had no issues with it. In all honesty, I can’t imagine anyone would agree to do that rescue, as they knew enough about Auschwitz by then. Oh, but the test they had Nathan do ahead of time to “prove” he could? No. Just no. If they wanted him to go so badly, I think he could/should have called them on it and not done it. He was already trained by then. I can’t imagine they’d find anyone else to do it, so let them call it off; I can’t imagine Nathan wanted to go in so badly…
54christina_reads
Not sure why O is turning out to be the easier letter for me this month! But I read Better Off Wed by Susanna Craig, which was a decent read if you enjoy historical romance.
55dudes22
I've finished The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick for my "P" book this month.
57staci426
I have several more Ps and only 1 O for the month:
Pulp Friction by Julie Anne Lindsey, 3.5*
Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym, 3.5*
Cop Killer by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö, 3.5*
The Terrorists by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö, 4*
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, 4.5*
Pulp Friction by Julie Anne Lindsey, 3.5*
Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym, 3.5*
Cop Killer by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö, 3.5*
The Terrorists by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö, 4*
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, 4.5*
59whitewavedarling
Finished my O book: Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor. It was fantastic--even better than the first in the series, which I loved!
60kac522
Checking in for this month:
O:
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (1764)
P:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813); a re-read
Tove Jansson by Paul Gravett (2022)
O:
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (1764)
P:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813); a re-read
Tove Jansson by Paul Gravett (2022)
61LibraryCin
Pray for Silence / Linda Castillo
4 stars
When an Amish family – the entire family of 7! - is murdered in their home, Kate (formerly Amish herself), the local chief of (“English”) police, is horrified and, despite no initial leads, insists she will bring the killer to justice. The men of the family (dad and two boys) were all killed inside the house; mom and baby shot outside; and two teenage daughters were tortured and killed in the barn. The Amish are peace-loving people, so what could have been the motivation for this kind of carnage?
This was good, though be warned it’s also quite graphic. It’s a bit jarring, to be honest, reading about an Amish community and being faced with the violence. But it’s a good story. I’m not a big fan of the personal side of Kate’s life, though, at least not her relationship with Tomasetti. I just don’t “get” the connection there. So, the mystery/detective work is definitely the draw for me in this book (and series? I don’t recall the first in the series enough to say for sure).
4 stars
When an Amish family – the entire family of 7! - is murdered in their home, Kate (formerly Amish herself), the local chief of (“English”) police, is horrified and, despite no initial leads, insists she will bring the killer to justice. The men of the family (dad and two boys) were all killed inside the house; mom and baby shot outside; and two teenage daughters were tortured and killed in the barn. The Amish are peace-loving people, so what could have been the motivation for this kind of carnage?
This was good, though be warned it’s also quite graphic. It’s a bit jarring, to be honest, reading about an Amish community and being faced with the violence. But it’s a good story. I’m not a big fan of the personal side of Kate’s life, though, at least not her relationship with Tomasetti. I just don’t “get” the connection there. So, the mystery/detective work is definitely the draw for me in this book (and series? I don’t recall the first in the series enough to say for sure).
62christina_reads
One last O book, The Orchid Affair by Lauren Willig. Another good installment of the Pink Carnation series, though not one of my top faves.
