February ColourCAT - Gold

     

Gold is the colour for February

Authors
William Golding: Lord of the Flies
William Goldman: The Princess Bride
Oliver Goldsmith: The Vicar of Wakefield
Whoopi Goldberg: many titles

Titles
Penelope Fitzgerald: The Golden Child
Elmore Leonard: Gold Coast
Greer Hendricks: The Golden Couple
Elin Hilderbrand: Golden Girl
Susan Meissner: A Fall of Marigolds
Donna Tartt: The Goldfinch

Set in the Gold Rush
Pierre Berton: Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush
Vicki Delany: Gold Digger
Eleanor Catton: The Luminaries
Isabel Allende: Daughter of Fortune
Jack London: Call of the Wild
Rose Tremain: The Colour

Awards
Crime Writers’ Association Award: Gold Dagger
ALS Gold Medal (Australian Literature Society)
Gold Pen Award
Parent’s Choice Gold Award

Some more ideas
Golden Age mysteries
Gold Coast
Golden Fleece
Golden Hind
Golden State
Golden Gate
Gold anniversary
Goldfish
Goldilocks
Gold medal/medallist
Gold Star
Pot of Gold said to be found at the end of the rainbow

If you like, add your reading to the Wiki

I've been meaning to read The Gold Persimmon by Linsday Merbaum for some time, so I've had that one earmarked for this month!

I'm planning to read Hurricane Gold by Charlie Higson and Gold Coast by Elmore Leonard.

Hoping to read The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones.

Hope to read GodPretty in the Tobacco Field by Kim Michele Richardson I can recommend the Klimt book.

>5 Tess_W: I'd like to read the Klimt book. Thanks for the recommendation. Unfortunately it's not available at the library, although there are others.

Golden age detective novels and the golden dagger award are excellent inclusions. Thanks Vivienne.

>7 pamelad: Glad you found an option, Pam. They are high on my preferences too!

>6 VivienneR: - I read Essential Klimt by Laura Payne and enjoyed it if your library had that one.

>5 Tess_W: - I'll be waiting to see what you think of that, Tess. I haven't read any of her stand-alone books. Just the Bookwoman series.

I'll be reading The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan.

I have a few.
Currently Reading
✅ completed

✅Aged for Murder - golden sun


✅Daughter's Guide to Mothers and Murder - background


Hearse and Buggy - banner


Mystery in Bloom: Murder in the Marigolds - sunset


Whispers of Murder - golden pastries

I will probably be reading the latest Rivers of London book:

I have two books that fit: Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton, with splashes of gold in the cover design and Nothing Venture: A Golden Age Mystery by Patricia Wentworth.

I am going to read a book I have owned for some time, The Lady in Gold by Anne-Marie O'Connor, following along with the Klimt theme.

>14 JayneCM: - I've seen the movie but not read the book. I might have to see if I can fit it in since I haven't figured out what to read for this.

The Ape Who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth Peters.

I will be reading The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan. The cover has a gold background.

I’m thinking of reading The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard, which will also cover the BingoDOG square “sun on the cover”:



But I may instead/also read The Elephant’s Journey by José Saramago, which will cover the “travel” square and a couple of my personal categories:

I've changed my mind and decided to read Circling the Sun by Paula McLain.

I have so many. I've narrowed it down to four.
Practical Magic
A Splendid Ruin
Dreamland
Relative Fortunes

I'll weigh in when I see what my mood leads me to in February.

>19 dudes22: Ooh, I want to read this one too - look forward to seeing what you think.

>21 JayneCM: - It's been on my wishlist for a while and while I was at the library yesterday, I found it on the "friends of the library" sale shelf.

>22 dudes22: I love these sales. After the sale, my library puts the books not sold in the lobby area with a donation box.

>23 mnleona: - This library has a permanent section for the FOL. So I don't have to wait for a sale. I see I said "shelf" but should have said "shelves. There's usually quite a bit to pick from.

I’m reading A Curse Dark as Gold.
A YA historical fantasy.

I've had A Taste of Gold and Iron on my Kindle for awhile, so I'll probably read that.

>25 nrmay: I really liked that one -- hope you do too!

I found a Nancy Drew book on my shelf that works for this challenge: The Secret of the Golden Pavilion.

>28 LadyoftheLodge: My favorite books as a teenager. I found that Carolyn Keene was more than one person. I watched a Nancy Drew movie on You Tube; it was fun to watch.

I'm planning on reading a golden age mystery, The Secret Adversary.

Haven't checked my library yet, but looking at the covers of books on my tbr here, one that's been there a long time is:
The Kingmaker's Sisters / David Baldwin

So, I'm going to see if I can get my hands on it.

>29 mnleona: Same here! My girlfriends and I read and traded around the Nancy Drew books. I have an interesting book that tells how the books were written and published.

Pre-ordered The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict and it will be perfect for this.

I'm going to read a Golden Age Crime novel and don't plan to be too strict about it. Google tells me that the Golden Age was from 1920 to 1939, but I'm going to count any book by any crime author who was writing during that period. I have Bats in the Belfry by E. C. R. Lorac and Case with No Conclusion by Leo Bruce.

I've got The field of the cloth of Gold on audio.

>34 pamelad: Oh, thanks. I think I’ll follow your example. I have a Margery Allingham on the decks which was published in the sixties...

>34 pamelad: Good plan! Many of the Golden Age mystery authors continued writing until much later than 1939.

I'm going with a gold colored cover for this month, The Concubine's Tattoo.

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to read this:

I will be reading The Golden Book of Fortune-Telling for this month.

I have completed my read of The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones.

I plan to read The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna for this

I have finished Mord im Filmstudio which has a stylised flower pattern on the cover with the thistles picked out in gold.

I've just finished Case with No Conclusion by Leo Bruce, a Golden Age detective novel first published in 1939.

Starting The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovitch

I've finished The Golden Mole on audio.

I’m currently working my way through the Corto Maltese series. As he is a fortune hunter, there are quite a lot of gold treasures of varying origins.
In The Golden house of Samarkand, the treasure he search for is an ancient courting gift from king Cyrus to queen Tamiris.

I read Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark by Hester Chapman. This is a 1972 cover, so quite faded, but there are various shades of gold.

I read Agatha Christie's The Seven Dials Mystery, which is a Golden Age mystery originally published in 1929.

I completed The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan

Just finished Hurricane Gold by Charlie Higson.
The young James Bond is on a Mexican vacation with his aunt, staying with American flying ace, Jack Stone. As a hurricane hits, gangsters attempt to steal the safe from his host’s home. Bond escapes with Stone’s two children. Higson clearly shows the James Bond we all know emerging from the boy Bond. This was exciting all the way and sure to be popular with young readers.

I have finished The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra

I think (my UK) cover for this one counts, although the US one is completely different.

Private Revolutions

Just finished A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie.
I read this Golden Age mystery more than 20 years ago but all I could remember was the announcement in the community newspaper. Although bits and pieces started coming back to me as I read, the denouement still eluded my memory. The reread was worthwhile as I thoroughly enjoyed it again. Christie never fails me.

I just finished My Season of Scandal, which I think has enough gold to count:

I have finished Die goldene Stadt by Sabrina Janesch, a historical fiction about a man obsessed with finding the golden city of the Inca.

I reread one of my favorite children's books, These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I've just finished Circling the Sun by Paula McLain, a biographical fiction book about the life of Beryl Markham, the first woman to fly east to west over the Atlantic Ocean.

March thread is up! https://www.librarything.com/topic/368452#n8762827

I changed my mind and read The Golden Ball by Dame Agatha.

I have also finished Auf der Suche nach dem Goldenen Mann, a non-fiction book about the search for El Dorado.

31. The Golden Book of Fortune-Telling by KC Jones ★★★

In this book lie the answers to your future. Reveal the meanings of your name, birthday, zodiac sign, and dreams. Unveil the significance of your color choices, friendships, and love interests. Discover what is foretold, learn to read auspicious moments, and divine the gift of attracting good fortune. Consult this book and uncover the wisdom of the ages and the power to shape your destiny. (Description from the back of the book)

The book covers the basics with a short section dedicated to each topic. Written simply and good for a beginner, but it does not contain any new information.

>62 lowelibrary: that is a very gold book cover. Wow!
I guess we’ll have to forgive the lack of new information😉

I just finished The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard (cover in >18 Charon07: above). It was a charming fantasy.

>63 amberwitch: That gold is so prominent that the picture does not do it justice. The book is not bad for beginners, but after over 40 years of witchcraft reading, the book was too simple for me.

I just finished (and loved!) Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans, which has an embossed gold border on the cover. Looks a bit flat and yellow in the photo below, but it's very pretty in person!

Reading The Ape Who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth has gold on cover.

Finished The Gold Persimmon, and I'm not sure what to make of it. It was supposed to be an experimental feminist horror novel, and the writing was lovely, but it ultimately felt more like two novellas that weren't quite finished and were pasted together, so I'm not sure what to think.

Haunting of Hill House



I have to disclose something: while I love horror as a genre, it doesn't scare me. Since I was maybe 12 or so, I have been unable to turn off that voice in my head that tells me, 'This isn't real; it's only a book/film/video game; it's all fictional and you're not in any danger.' While I certainly would enjoy being scared, this doesn't stop me from enjoying horror, although I cannot use as a factor in rating horror whether or not it scared me, as the answer is always, 'no'. So, no, Haunting of Hill House did not frighten me.

But, oh! the characters! I loved Eleanor and Theodora most of all, but how compelling I found the characters in general! The shifting dynamics and witty dialogue, in turns affectionate and pointed, really endeared me to this story. Poor Eleanor, such a lonely thing, so self-critical and insecure. In a way, the house giving her a sense of belonging was almost a relief instead of a tragedy. The slow, subtle march towards the inevitable conclusion had me on the edge of my seat to the end of the book.

I have seen the stage play adaptation of the book, which did not do the story justice but which I might appreciate more now, having known the source material. I have also seen the Netflix adaptation; there are elements of the series which reference the book, and echoes of the story within, (I may revisit it now, having read the book,) but it isn't truly an adaptation of the story. That isn't bad, necessarily, as from what I hear the films which did adapt the story ended up terribly, but it really is more of an original work that pays homage to Hill House rather than an adaptation of Jackson's book.

I can see why this book is a classic, but don't let that put you off — it is a very approachable work for a modern audience. I may have to reread this one.

I'm reading Embers of the Hand which is a beautiful black and gold cover and a fascinating look at "ordinary " Viking life. I'm not going to finish it today, however!

>68 mnleona: I hope to finish today.

I had so many plans for this challenge, but alas, none came to fruition. I am currently reading a Georgette Heyer Golden Age mystery, but I will catch up on the others I chose during this year.
This was a fun CAT to follow.

Thanks to everyone for participating in the Gold month! What a wide selection of books we read!

>73 beebeereads: I did not finish my book either but should this weekend.

I ended up reading The Last Empress by Anchee Min for this month. The cover has a lot of gold accents on it.