June AlphaKIT - J and B

Welcome to the 2024 AlphaKIT.
This is an unofficial challenge for the 2024 Category Challenge Group. Each month has two letters selected for you to use however you choose.

There are no rules. Have fun and enjoy reading. June letters are: J and B

and

If You like, update the AlphaKIT wiki with your reading:

I decided on this one as soon as the book arrived: The Bittlemores by Jann Arden.

Both my book club and my reading group have come up trumps this month:

"Before the Coffee Gets Cold" by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
The Day Commodus Killed a Rhino by Jerry Toner.

Planning to read Nine Black Robes by Joan Biskupic.

So far, this is on my list:

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
Streetkid by Jimmy Kelly
A June of Ordinary Murders by Conor Brady

I'm thinking I'll read Any Other Name by Craig Johnson and Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham.

ignore me, wrong thread.

At this point I am planning on reading Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson and Palisades Park by Alan Brennert.

I'm planning on Pebble & Dove by Amy Jones as my 'J' book and The Boys from Santa Cruz by Jonathan Nasaw as my 'B' book. Nasaw is an old favorite of mine, and I've been meaning to read Pebble & Dove for a while now!

I had hoped this might align for me with the RandomKIT, but alas, it does not!

Here are my possibles:

Am I Guilty? by Jackie Kabler
Battered and Buried ✅
Body in the Bookstore ✅
Booked on Murder
Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance genius reinvented architecture
Caught on the Book
Dead Ringer by Joy Patrick
Friday Night Mystery Club by Joanna Campbell Slan
Murder Most Pemberley by Jessica Berg
Murder on Tour by V.M. Burns
Murder, She Barked
Nuts and Bolts ✅
Orchid Throne by Jeffe Kennedy,
Overdue or Die Allison Brook
Party to Murder by Joy Patrick
Reading Between the Lies ✅
To Slip the Bonds of Earth
Trouble Is Brewing✅
Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

For J I'm planning on reading The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson and for B, A Little Love, A Little Learning by Nina Bawden.

I read A Little Village Blend by Nathan Burgoine as my first AlphaKIT read this month. It was a BB by Amber (scaifea). This was a five star read for me!

My first book has both B and J: Das Geheimnis der Porzellanmalerin by Birgit Jasmund.

COMPLETED The Day Commodus Killed A Rhino by Jerry Toner

Starting Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, translated by William Butcher

COMPLETED Errant Justice by R. H. Bishop

I have finished Babel and Im Lande Ur by Hans Baumann for B.

I read The Bittlemores by Jann Arden that conveniently hit both letters.
An imaginative, inventive novel and although rife with Arden’s outrageous humour this is no hilarity-filled romp. The OTT story is set on the Bittlemore’s ghastly farm, home to ill-treated children and animals. The mistreated animals plan a 1984-style protest, while Willa Bittlemore who is just turning 14 is attempting to discover her origins. Could she really be the daughter of this loathsome couple? If you can get past the animal and child abuse, the storytelling, which has more than a trace of verisimilitude, will horrify.

I’m a fan of Jann Arden but this didn’t hit the mark for me. Two stars.

For the J, I read Gideon's Week by J. J. Marric.

For J, I read Virology: Essays for the Living, the Dead, and the Small Things in Between by Joseph Osmundson.

COMPLETED Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne translated by William Butcher

That Night in the Library / Eva Jurczyk
3.5 stars

Seven people, mostly university students including some who work in the library/archives, sneak into the basement of said library on their last night before graduation (those working there will no longer be except for one). Davey has a ritual planned and invited the others to come. In fact, they are locked in the basement for the night; they cannot get out. And when the lights go out, one of them dies. The others try to figure out who did it, while keeping themselves safe.

I like the idea of the story, and I am a librarian, so I liked the library and archives references. But none of the characters were likable, in my opinion. Maybe it’s because they all (except one) took acid at the beginning of the night (part of the ritual) that made them not likable. The POV shifted between a few different characters and I do think that worked well for the reader to see different sides of what was happening. But I did get some of the characters (who were “related” in some way) continually mixed up – there was a dating couple, one was a professor; there was a childhood friend; and a fourth person in that mix somewhere, but I kept getting mixed up as to who was who in that group of four. Overall, though, I’m rating it “good”.

I have finished another one for B: Das Geheimnis von Salem by Birgit Rückert. And another with "secret" in the title, maybe I should aim for a hattrick?

B : The Finisher by David Baldacci

I read Abide with Me: A Sister Agatha and Father Selwyn Mystery by Jane Willan and A Match for the Reluctant Bride by Tess Thompson.

I finished Total Creative Control by Joanna Chambers and Sally Malcolm for another J.

I finally read The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.

Death of My Aunt by C. H. B. Kitchin gave me the B.

The Finders / Jeffrey B. Burton
3.5 stars

When a dog is left behind and almost dies at a crime scene, dog-trainer Mason adopts her and names her Elvira, or Vira for short. The type of training Mason does is for cadaver dogs – to find human remains. Vira is exceptional at this, and is able to pick out the perpetrator from quite a ways away, so is recruited to help with a current case.

I listened to the audio and was hopeful this one would really hold my attention. It did… until we heard from the killer, “Everyman” he called himself. I am rarely interested in the killer’s POV in any book, and it’s just way too easy for me to lose where I am in an audio book, so put the two together... It flipped back and forth too often and without warning, unfortunately. I loved the dogs, though… not just Vira, but Sue (a male dog… “A Boy Named Sue” – Mason liked to name his dogs after songs), as well (and there were a few other dogs, too). I’m rating it “good” and do plan to continue the series.

I have completed Der arme Awrosimow by Bulat Okudschawa for B.

I have also finished Meurtre dans le boudoir for B. A not entirely successful historical mystery with Voltaire in the role of the sleuth.

I just read The Soul Mirror by Carol Berg, a dense but enjoyable fantasy novel. It's book #2 in a series and definitely does not stand alone!

COMPLETED:

Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Before the Coffee Gets Cold; Tales From The Cafe
Before Your Memory Fades
Before We Say Goodbye

All by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Starting "Six Tudor Queens: Anne Boleyn, A King's Obsession" by Alison Weir

Lone Wolf / Jodi Picoult.
4 stars

Luke and his 17-year old daughter, Cara, are in a car crash. Luke ends up on life support. He and his wife are divorced, and their adult son, Edward, has been in Thailand for six years. Luke’s doctors have given him a poor prognosis (he is extremely unlikely to ever wake up), but someone needs to make the decision on what to do. Cara is too young, so Edward comes home. Edward wants to let him go, but Cara refuses, so they head to court to decide who will make the decision.

Luke studies wolves and I loved all the parts about his integration with the wild wolves in Quebec. I easily sided with Edward on this decision, as hard a decision as that must be (it’s hard enough with my cats…). Like many of Picoult’s books, there are multiple points of view. There are also a few surprises along the way.

I continue to rack up the J's with A Jewish Paul by Matthew Thiessen.

Resistance / Jennifer A. Nielsen
4 stars

Chaya is a 16-year old Jewish girl in Poland in the early 1940s. She is a “courier” that is helping Jewish people in the ghettos. Mostly she smuggles in food and fake identification papers. She looks Polish so is easily able to fit in outside the ghetto, as well. As time goes on, though, things get more and more dangerous. Especially as the resistance fighters start planning bigger events.

I don’t know if I knew about the various uprisings in some of the ghettos during the war. If I did, I’d forgotten. There were a couple of big ones, particularly one in Warsaw, where the resistance fighters got into the ghetto and between themselves and some of the others in the ghetto fought back. Although the main characters in this story were fictional, there is an author’s note that mentions specific people, higher up in the resistance, who were real people; some were minor characters in this story. I have one complaint about the cover of the book, though. Chaya is pictured with a dark-coloured braid down her back, but she was able to easily fit in as Polish, in part due to her blond hair.

For B, I read Starlight by Alfred Bester.

For yet another J, Julieta and the Romeos.

July thread is up.

For J I have reread The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien and for B I have The Rule Book by Sarah Adams.

B is definitely going to be the letter for me this month! I just finished Better Left Unsent by Lia Louis.

I read my first J book this month: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, which was a reread for me, too.

>40 staci426: Looks like we had the same idea! :-)

...and I read my second J book: Ariadne by Jennifer Saint.

I finally got a B with Pests by Bethany Brookshire.

I have finished another book for B: Verwandlung am Bodensee which was a very nice book for young girls from 1960.

>42 MissBrangwen: My library finally had the Andy Serkis audio narration edition available which I had been wanting to check out. It was excellent, highly recommended.

I finished another J, No Time Like the Future by Michael J. Fox.

COMPLETED Six Tudor Queens: Anne Boleyn, A King's Obsession by Alison Weir

I have finished another book for B: Der Zwölfte by Gertrud von Brockdorff. Historical fiction about an event unknown to me, but not very good, unfortunately.

J: The Hanging Judge, Michael Ponsor.

While on vacation I finished Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson.

For another B, I finished Blades of Freedom, a children's graphic novel take on the Haitian Revolution and its impact on the Louisiana Purchase.

Starting The Mummy! by Jane Webb Loudon.

Read Bobbles and Broomsticks and Joy Moody Is Out Of Time.

I just completed Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau, an enjoyable contemporary romance.

Just read and loved Green for Danger by Christianna Brand.

Guilty Creatures: Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida / Mikita Brottman
4 stars

In Tallahassee, Florida, Mike and Denise & Brian and Kathy were all friends in high school and continued that friendship beyond once Mike and Denise were married, as well as Brian and Kathy. They were fairly religious Baptists. It was only on (or near) Mike and Denise’s 6th anniversary in 2000 when Mike disappeared while on a hunting trip. Not long after, Brian and Kathy divorced and Brian and Denise began seeing each other. It seemed pretty obvious – Brian and Denise likely had something to do with Mike’s disappearance (death? murder?). After years of Brian and Denise’s marriage, things started to crumble.

I knew nothing about this, but I found it quite interesting. And kind of crazy that Brian and Denise could do such a good job of convincing themselves they’d done nothing wrong. God-fearing and all… sure. I was focused when reading and was happy to just continue reading; it was unfortunate when I had to put the book down. But, life…

I've completed The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson.

Finally read another J book, The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent.

I have read:

For Whom the Book Tolls by Laura Gail Black
Dear Mrs Bird and Cheerfully Yours by A. J. Bruce

An Inquiry into Love and Death / Simone St. James
2.5 stars

In the 1920s, university student Jillian’s Uncle Toby fell off a cliff while he was ghost hunting in a small town and she is the only one able to go pack up his things. She can immediately tell there are ghosts where she is staying. There is also a young detective from Scotland Yard who is there to investigate Toby’s death.

I listened to the audio, so I suspect it’s (at least in part) why I missed “half” (or more) of what was going on. Not sure if I would have liked it better in print or not. I’ve really liked other books I’ve read by this author, so this was disappointing. (And I have listened to at least one other of hers.) I definitely missed a lot of the “reveal” at the end. I would hear something and think – who is that? What is this about? How did this tie in? And I have no idea. And I still don’t even really know how it wrapped up, though I got to the end of the book.

Another B book finished: Das Buch Alice by Karina Urbach where she tells how her grandmother, father and uncle escaped from Nazi Vienna.

Starting "Belladonna at Belstone" by Michael Jecks

COMPLETED Belladonna at Belstone by Michael Jecks.

Starting the same author's The Traitor of St. Giles

For a final B I read The Body Is Not an Apology.

My final book for B is Alexander in Babylon, about the death of Alexander the Great.

I had one more J to finish out the month: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.

ETA: I forgot about two more Bs that I had:
The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo
Monstrous Beauty by Marie Brennan

I didn't complete much in June, but did manage a couple here:

B
A Day of Pleasure, Isaac Bashevis Singer
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett (re-read on audiobook)

J
Revolutionary Summer, Joseph J. Ellis

I finished another B book in June which I have not reported here so far:

The Perfect Deal by Sara Breaker

Unfortunately I did not like it that much.