April AlphaKIT: K and E

Welcome to AlphaKIT! Each month AlphaKIT selects two letters to help you select books to read. Use them in any way you choose!

April letters are K and E: and

Update the April wiki here

My book club is reading The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths next month, so that's taken care of. I have quite a few 'K's to choose from so I'll wait and see how they fit other challenges

I haven't yet figured out what I'm reading for other challenges to know whether or not something will fit, but if not, I have this for K:

Apollo 8 / Jeffrey Kluger

I'm planning on reading Hasty Wedding by Mignon Eberhart. And I have a number of k author's that I am looking at When We Were Brave by Suzanne Kellerman, A Lady's Easter Romance by Alice Kirks, Survive by Courtney Konstantin, and The Mutual Admiration Society by Leslie Kagen.

Planning on story collections by Edward D. Hoch and Kelly Link.

I plan to read Ketchican Killer which is part of a cruise mystery series. Not sure about E yet.

My plan right now is to read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and The Trees by Percival Everett.

I suppose it will depend on my mood at the time, but I’ve earmarked Every Now and Then, Intimacies, and The Trees * waves at Betty*.

Here's my list this month:
Currently Reading
✅ completed

✅Bodies and Battlements by Elizabeth Penny
✅Body in the Kitchen
✅Booked for Revenge by Karen Rose Smith
Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King
✅Dead Post Society by Diane Kelly
✅Escape to the Rome Apartment
Everlasting by Kathleen Woodiwiss
Hems and Homicide by Elizabeth Penny
Kitchen Front
✅Knave of Diamonds
Madrigals and Mayhem by Elizabeth Penny
✅Modiste Mishap by Erica Ridley
Snape by Lorrie Kim
✅Vice & Virtue by Libby Klein
Winemaker's Wife byKristen Harmel

>8 lsh63: - waves back...

I'm planning on Exposed Nerves by Lucy A. Snyder for my 'E' book, and The Killing Kind by John Connolly for my 'K' book. My reading so far this year has been a little light on both poetry and suspense, so this feels like a good time to up both!

I read Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka by Christine Hanolsy.

Starting Hunger by Knut Hamsun.

For E, I read The French Girl by Lexie Elliott.

Six Oxford friends spent a week in a farmhouse in France where they met Severine, the girl next door, ending in a serious altercation on the night before the friends left. Now a decade later Severine’s body is found in the farmhouse well and the friends are facing the investigation.

Although the story involves the past, Elliott doesn’t jump around in time, which I appreciated - I’m over split time novels. It was a little slow in places as it updates the friends’ lives. I listened to the audiobook version ruined by Katherine Lee McEwan’s painfully bad reading, which lowered my rating.

COMPLETED Hunger by Knut Hamsun

Starting "Romancing the East" by Jerry Hopkins

Finished The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco for E. And for E + K I have finished Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: The Druid's Call by E. K. Johnston.

My first K book is Vor dem Spiegel by Wenjamin Kawerin.

I read Every Valley by Charles King for both letters.

COMPLETED Romancing the East by Jerry Hopkins

Trouble this morning with the touchstone for:

Katherine's Remarkable Road Trip by Gail Ward Olmsted

I have read The Garden of Lost Secrets by Kelly Bowen

I have finished Der amerikanische Traum by Ernst Augustin for E.

I just finished The Dream Gatherer by Kristen Britain.

Bats Sing, Mice Giggle: The Surprising Science of Animals' Inner Lives by Karen Shanor and Jagmeet S. Kanwal

This book was divided into three main sections: Sensing, Surviving, and Socializing, and discusses the different senses, abilities, and social interactions that animals have. I found this book intensely interesting. There was a large amount of information on marine animals, from catfish covered in tastebuds to dolphins creating bubble rings to play with, but the book also discussed the monogamy of prairie voles, the adaptivity of coyotes and cockroaches, parrots that deceive, honeybees that count, long-distance elephant communication, and, of course, singing bats and giggling mice.

There were quite a few times that I wished the authors had discussed a topic more, but I think this is a great book for getting bite-sized pieces of interesting animal information!

I have read three "E" books already this month:

Murder Among Friends by Elizabeth Ferrars
Mirror Mirror on the Wall by Stanley Ellin
The Player on the Other Side by Ellery Queen

Another K book for me: What Maisie Knew by Henry James.

The next K book is Venedig sehen und stehlen by Krischan Koch.

K: Magic for Beginners, Kelly Link.

I have completed both my Alphabet reads for April with Hasty Wedding by Mignon Eberhart and A Ladies Easter Romance by Alice Kirks.

Another E: Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green.

Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow

Simon went viral. He was the only survivor of a school shooting. So, his family does the only thing they can do: move to the only place in the country with no television, no internet, no radio — the National Quiet Zone, where scientists are listening for signs of alien life. Simon gets a chance to start over in the only town that doesn't know his name.

This was a wonderful book with the perfect amount of humour, a lively cast of characters, and touching moments of growth. It treats Simon's PTSD with the gravity it deserves without wallowing in it — overall, it's actually a quite lighthearted book. I appreciated the clear research that into the representation — not only the main character's PTSD but also the representation of autism and of Filipine culture. This was a great, quick read.

Book bullet from susanna.fraser

>36 GraceCollection: That sounds intriguing. Wishlisted

I just finished The Shadow Earl by Stella Riley for E.

I read Loneliness Universe by Eugenia Triantafyllou.

E: The Quests of Simon Ark, Edward D. Hoch.

COMPLETED The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths and The Serpents of Harbledown by Edward Marston.

For E I read The Edge by David Baldacci

I read The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Starting Smoke in the Wind by Peter Tremayne, the pen name of Peter Beresford Ellis

I have read an additional "E" book and two "K" books.

E: Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell

K: The Three Miss Kings by Ada Cambridge
Christmas Day at Kirkby Cottage by Anthony Trollope

ETA: One more E book: A Winter Away by Elizabeth Fair

Finished The Killing Kind by John Connolly as my 'K' book--closer to horror than suspense in terms of how gruesome it was! Full review written. I'll read more of his work, but this one wasn't for the faint and it certainly managed to give me the creeps in more than one scene.

For K: Heart of a Killer by David Rosenfelt
The premise was interesting: Sheryl Harrison, serving a thirty-year sentence for murder wants to commit suicide so that she can donate her heart to her daughter who will die without it. Jamie Wagner, a young lawyer wants to prove her innocence so that she will be released. Even if it works it will take so long that Sheryl’s daughter probably won’t survive the wait. Then Rosenfelt introduced a subplot, a cyber crime that was discordant with the initial plot. I prefer Rosenfelt’s novels featuring his love of dogs.

Another K: The Bump, Sidney Karger.

The Skeptic's Guide to the Paranormal by Lynne Kelly

I sought out a non-fiction paranormal mystery for this month's MysteryKIT. This book addressed many, from seances to UFOs to Nessie. It was refreshing to hear from an actual skeptic and not just a denier. Kelly has a refreshing amount of empathy for, for example, people who seek the services of those who claim to contact their dead loved ones. Of course, this doesn't mean that she spares facts and evidence. She uses historical records, documented magician tricks, optical physics, statistics, psychology, and more to come to about the same conclusion on each topic: so far, we are yet to find convincing evidence that this is true.

Full review on my thread.

COMPLETED Smoke in the Wind by Peter Tremayne (pen name of Peter Beresford Ellis

COMPLETED Fascism: A Very Short Introduction by Kevin Passmore

I read Asunder by Kerstin Hall.

Another K: Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher.

Finished
Crossing the Line by Kareem Rosser. 5*

and Made of Rivers by Emory Hall. Lots of wonderful poems.

I have finished Der Spurenfinder by Marc-Uwe Kling, co-authored by his daughters Johanna Kling and Luise Kling.

Another K: The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley.

COMPLETED One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson. Starting the next in the series, but obviously won't finish it this month.

I also finished one more E book: The school at the chalet by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

My E and K books this month:

E:
The Europeans, Henry James (1878)
In the Steps of Jane Austen, Anne-Marie Edwards (1985)
William - An Englishman, Cecily Hamilton (1919)
When the Emperor Was Divine, Julie Otsuka (2002)
The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage, Edith Blyton (1943)

K
They Knew Mr Knight, Dorothy Whipple (1934)

E and K:
The Soul of Kindness, Elizabeth Taylor (1964)

Only one for me this month (I only count author surnames) - How to Be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis

I finished one more E book last night, The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor.

I also got one more E in: Woodworking by Emily St. James.

Some final E and K to finish the month:

E:
The Case of the Sun Bather's Diary by Erle Stanley Gardner
E and K:
A High Mortality of Doves by Kate Ellis
K:
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Man Who Killed Himself by Julian Symons

I only read one book for AlphaKIT in April, but at least it includes both letters: Die kalte Mamsell by Elsa Dix.

Spiders: Learning to Love Them by Lynne Kelly

Okay, I didn't actually intend to read two books by Lynne Kelly this month. I was just searching out nonfiction books about paranormal mysteries and spiders, and when I got through all the books written for children, hers were the ones that most intrigued me. Having now read two of her books back-to-back, she is now on my list of authors to watch!

After waking her family screaming from spider-related nightmares, Lynne Kelly decided to tackle her arachnophobia. She starts by naming and watching little, less intimidating spiders from the other side of her kitchen window, and ends up becoming obsessed with the life-or-death dramas unfolding in her own backyard. She approaches spiders with empathy, curiosity, and a little humour, which makes for a fascinating book. Go into your own backyard, and you may see something no one else has — archnologists estimate we've only classified 10-20% of the world's spiders, and even those we know mostly about their anatomy and little of their behaviour.

There are many spider pictures in this book, as a warning. But I would highly recommend it, even — or perhaps especially — to the strongest of arachnophobes!

My Diary from the Edge of the World

In a world where our myths, from genies and sasquatches to a literal edge of the world, are fact, spunky twelve-year-old Gracie and her family begin a road trip to try to escape the Dark Cloud following them — because a Dark Cloud takes souls away when they die.

This was a wonderful book. The characters were charming, the world was fascinating, and the messages about grief and love were heartwarming. I did cry reading this book, and I would definitely recommend it. Many thanks to RosetheReader for the recommendation!