October AlphaKIT - N and H

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. October letters are: N and H

and

Please remember to update the wiki with your reading:
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2023_AlphKIT#October:_-_Letters:_N_and_H

Thank you!

I am planning on reading "Horrorstör" by Grady Hendrix for Halloween

I think I will wait and see how "N" fits in with other challenges

Hopefully I'll get a few done!

✔Babbling Brook Naked Poker Club
Berried to the Hilt
✔Distant Hours
✔Homicide by Hammer
✔Honey Drop Dead
How the Murder Crumbles
✔Lindbergh Nanny
Queen of our Times by Robert Hardman
Take the Long Way Home

Tentatively planning to read John Paul Brammer's Hola Papi and Natasha Lance Rogoff's Muppets in Moscow, though both feel more than usually likely to get bumped by something else before the month is over.

Right now, I'm considering reading The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen and The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys.

I'm planning on Nottingham and A Hole in the Sky at the moment anyway

I am planning on reading Exit Lines by Reginald Hill and Naked Nuns by Colin Watson.

I'm planning on reading No Gods for Drowning by Hailey Piper and The House of Drought by Dennis Mombauer for this month's letters.

I read A Hundred Vicious Turns for H.

For N, I read Philip Pullman's The Shadow in the North. I'm really enjoying the Sally Lockhart series thus far!

H: Celeste Holm Syndrome, David Lazar.

Currently reading Hard Reboot.

For both letters: A Darker Shade of Noir: New Stories of Body Horror by Women Writers an anthology.

I read The Perfect Nine by Ngugi wa’Thiong’o

House Aretoli / K. M. Butler
3.75 stars

In 14th century Venice, when Niccolo and Flavio’s father was murdered by high-ranking senators, the city doge wants to cover it up. Their father was also high-ranking, in politics and as a merchant. Niccolo and Flavio have different ideas on how they want to settle things. Flavio makes a deal with the doge to keep things quiet in exchange for some perks, whereas Niccolo just wants revenge. But he is, of course, in danger with this attitude, so must leave the city to figure out how he will exact that revenge. Their two sisters and younger brother are torn on which brother they agree with.

I didn’t think Niccolo’s stance was terribly brilliant, but of course, I live in a very different place and time. So, initially I agreed with Flavio (in part… not necessarily with the deal he made, just that violence might not be the way to go). Of course, things didn’t quite go as Flavio had hoped. I actually was a bit bored with the very start of the book (up until their father was killed), but from that point on, it got much better, I thought. It was interesting to read the author’s note afterward – though the Aretoli family was fictional, there was a bit of a “mystery” surrounding the doge at that time in Venice, and some of the other characters were also based on real people.

N: The Number Ones, Tom Breihan.

N : Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston

Another one for N: Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson

I have completed both my AlphaKit reads for October with The Naked Nuns by Colin Watson and Exit Lines by Reginald Hill. I enjoyed both of these mysteries.

Starting a twofer, "The Night Hawks" by Elly Griffiths

I just finished the enjoyable Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart.

November thread is up:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/354382

I finished The Glass-Sided Ants' Nest by Peter Dickinson for the N.

H : Blood Hunt by Ian Rankin
The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

And for the H: The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins.

A couple more reads that will fit: Hazard by Stella Riley and Stardust by Neil Gaiman.

COMPLETED The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths

Another H--Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym.

>29 NinieB: That is a fave of mine! Maybe time for a re-read.

Missing You / Harlan Coben
4 stars

Kat is a police officer. 18 years earlier, not only was her (also police officer) father murdered, her fiance, Jeff, dumped her and she hasn’t seen him since. But she is still in love with him. Imagine her surprise when a friend insists on putting her on a dating site and there is Jeff! She is cryptic when she sends a message and the reply makes it seem like he has no idea who she is.

Meanwhile, a teenaged (?) boy comes to Kat; he thinks his mother is missing, and it’s suspicious. Even though his mother told him she was meeting a man she was dating. The other police Brandon had gone to didn’t believe him, so why is he coming to Kat and why does he think she’ll believe him?

There were a lot of different storylines happening in this book, but I found them all interesting. They did all come together at the end. There were times when we followed the POV of “bad guys” and I often find those parts in many books boring, or at least not nearly as interesting as the rest, but that wasn’t the case with this one. Not sure why that was. Maybe the dog helped! :-)

I read This is What Happened by Mick Herron for H.

It's almost impossible to comment on this book without spoilers. I found the beginning a bit slow before realizing my lack of attention nearly caused me to miss some key plot information. Maggie left her sister and abusive boyfriend and moved to London to work in the mail room of a large office building. She was approached by an MI5 agent, Harvey, who offered her the chance to become an agent. All she had to do was install a flash drive containing a surveillance system in a top-floor office computer. It is during this operation where the reader meets Maggie at the beginning of the book.

The plot seems familiar, it must have been used before. Without doubt, Herron does it well here, combining espionage, mystery, horror and even some evil wit - after all, this is Herron. I could see where it was going from early on, but that was fine, I was happy to go along for the ride. It doesn't reach Slow Horses excellence, but he hooked this reader.

I've read a few H books so far this month, but no Ns yet:

All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny, 4*
Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins, 4*
Great Classic Hauntings by various, 3.5*

Spinning Silver / Naomi Novik
2.75 stars

Miryam is a Jewish girl whose father is a moneylender, but he’s “soft” and doesn’t force the matter when people won’t pay him back. When Miryam’s mother gets sick, Miryam takes over for her father and manages to bring in some money. In addition, when one person is unable to pay what is owed, Miryam takes on his daughter, Wanda, to help out to pay back the loan.

In fact, Wanda prefers this than having her father hire her out to do all manner of things, and the abuse he piles upon her. Later on, one of Wanda’s younger brothers also comes to work for Miryam’s family. Miryam, unfortunately, catches the eye of a “winter king” of sorts, and is forced to marry him.

Meanwhile, Irina’s family has plenty of money and Irina is forced to marry the Tzar. She discovers that he seems to be “controlled” by some demon in a fire. The three storylines do converge.

I listened to the audio and was interested in the set up of the story, but it was hard to follow and I missed much of the middle section. We switched perspectives in the story a lot, and there was nothing obvious to indicate when the switch happened. Add to that, many (though not all) Russian names I don’t know and it remained difficult for me to figure out who we were following at various times. There were other perspectives we followed in addition to Miryam, Wanda, and Irina, as well. It always took me a while to figure out whose perspective we were following, so that probably a. took me out of the story, and b. half the time I never did figure it out. I missed too much of the story to rate it any higher, though I wanted to, especially at the start.

I re-read Mary Balogh's The Notorious Rake and enjoyed it once again! Her books can be hit or miss, but this is definitely a hit for me.

And another H book -- It Happened One Fight by Maureen Lee Lenker. I liked the 1930s Hollywood setting more than the actual story, unfortunately.

Another N : Blueberry Cupcake Mystery by Naomi Miller

For H - The River by Peter Heller
An enthralling story of a canoe trip in Canada's northern wilderness. I love outdoor adventure stories so this was right up my street. Two college friends face a forest fire, a badly injured woman and some unwelcome company. It is filled with suspense that made it a page-turner, hard to put down. And although the ending was disappointing it did not lower my rating.

>38 VivienneR: - I've already taken a BB for this and am hoping to get to it next year. I've seen this author mentioned by a few people.

I read The Woman They Wanted by Shannon Harris for another H. It's a memoir by the ex-wife of Joshua Harris, notorious for having authored I Kissed Dating Goodbye as a very young man. (He has now repudiated the book and left Christianity altogether.)

For both the H and the N, I read Where Nests the Water Hen by Gabrielle Roy.

Just an FYI that the 2024 group is live, and we are in the process of suggesting CATs for next year, so stop by if you'd like to join the discussion! https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/24125/2024-Category-Challenge

Starting Stolen Focus by Johann Hari

I haven't started either of the books I wanted to read for this month. Maybe I can get to them net month. I was so busy this month that not much reading got done.

One last H book, The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller. I really enjoyed this historical romance!

Not a very good H/N month--just 2:

The Home-Maker, Dorothy Canfield Fisher
The Old Nurse's Story, Elizabeth Gaskell

N
A Noël Killing, by M. L. Longworth

H
The Morning After: The 1995 Quebec Referendum and the Day That Almost Was, by Chantal Hébert and Jean Lapierre
More Stories for Late at Night, by Alfred Hitchcock

Got the wiki entries done!

Now, on to November...

I still have something to add: I read A Bird in the Hand by Ann Cleeves. It was rather disappointing, though!