December 2025 ColorCat: 50 Shades of Purple

Purple has many shades. The word purple carries several connotations: royalty, madness, and moods (moody). The amethyst is the birthstone for February. Purple was the color worn by Roman magistrates; it became the imperial color worn by the rulers of the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, and later by Roman Catholic bishops. Similarly in Japan, the color is traditionally associated with the emperor and aristocracy (Encyclopedia Britannica)

This month’s challenge is to read a book with something purple on the cover or the word purple (or any shade thereof) in the title.

Possibilities:
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Secrets of the Lavender Girls by Kate Thompson
Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey
Under the Lilacs by Louisa May Alcott
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

What will you be reading? What can you suggest?

The Wiki if you are so inclined: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/ColourCAT#December

I'm going to go with a very boring book cover that includes purple. I've wanted to get to these short stories for some time and this is the perfect occasion.

I have Mother Mason by Bess Aldrich to read. It's been on my TBR for some time and I really like the cover with it's various shades of purple.

I am reading Lavender Morning by Jude Deveraux

>3 DeltaQueen50: I hope you will love that book as much as I did. I rated it 5 stars and a book rarely receives 5 stars from me.

>3 DeltaQueen50:, >5 Tess_W: I read some of Aldrich's books years ago but I don't think I read this one. I'll plan on reading it too.

>5 Tess_W: Thank, Tess. I read A Lantern in her Hand when I was quite young and I loved it!

>6 clue: Glad you are joining me. Hopefully we will both love the book.

Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction by Christopher Butler has a purple stripe (it looks more purple in real life than the image does):

I've been slowly making my way through the Anne of Green Gables books and this one is up next: Anne's House of Dreams, with purple lettering, some purple flowers and a lovely purple bow in Anne's hat.

I intend to read my copy of Agatha Christie's A Caribbean Mystery which is part of the Agatha Christie Collection published by Black Dog. Each of the covers in this collection features a different color on the cover.

I'll be reading The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear which has a purple sky on the cover.

I’m going to read The Purple Diaries.

I got Kvinden i den lilla nederdel, or The woman in the purple skirt as it is named in english, from the library. I am looking forward to reading a new to me Japanese author.

Starting Six Tudor Queens: Katheryn Howard The Tainted Queen by Alison Weir a couple of days early as a bridge between November and December.

I just bought Mord im Planetarium which has a gorgeous Art Nouveau-style cover highlighted in purple, although it looks blue in the image. (Those covers are my downfall, every time).

I’ll probably read The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo, with a mostly purple cover:

>16 Charon07: I quite enjoyed that one!

My first read of December was Eloisa James's How to Be a Wallflower, which features a purple dress on the cover:

I've started the memoir Persian Girls.

>15 MissWatson: And I have finished Mord im Planetarium which fulfilled my expectation.

I finished The woman in the purple skirt, which was a little odd, but really interesting despite not a lot happening.

COMPLETED Six Tudor Queens Katheryn Howard The Tainted Queen (see >14 Robertgreaves:)

My first two books for this month ended up having purplish covers: Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf & The Alchemist of Brushstrokes and Brimstone by Gigi Pandian.

I finished Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. Montgomery (1917), with lots of purple accents on the cover. I enjoyed this 5th book in the Anne of Green Gables series--an improvement for me over book #4 Anne of Windy Poplars, which felt forced.

I have just finished The Serviceberry. The back cover has the most delicious shade of purple berry.

COMPLETED Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction by Christopher Butler (see >8 Robertgreaves:, though the LT cover is a bit darker than the real thing, so in fact you could argue about whether it's pink or purple)

I finished Persian Girls, a memoir (mostly) about the author's childhood in pre-revolutionary Iran. Mixed feelings: the descriptions of her early childhood were fascinating to me, but the lengthy excerpts from her novels, not so much.

>18 charl08:

I ended up reading The Mystery of the Skelton Diamonds which has a purple cover and is listed as a Detective Lavendar mystery.

I just finished Someone to Watch Over Me - #3 in the Grace and Favor mystery series.

I've finished The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear which has a purplish-gray cover.

Currently reading The Radleys by Matt Haig. The front door shown on the cover is painted purple.

Blood Ink Sister Scribe



I was a big fan of this contemporary fantasy. Johanna lives alone, protecting her family's collection of magic books. Her sister Esther moves every year according to her late father's warnings. Nick, the last living Scribe after his parents' murders, the only one who can write new magic books, is living under the protection of his uncle and the Library of magic books his uncle runs. However, not everything is as it seems...

The mysteries and twists in this story were my favourite kind — ones where I figure them out before they are revealed, but without feeling like the author has hand-fed me the answers. I'm not sure if this story fits the strictest definition of a 'cosy mystery', but it's hard for me to find shelves full of magical books any kind of setting but cosy. I do recommend this book.

Full synopsis/review on my thread.

COMPLETED The Radleys by Matt Haig (see >31 Robertgreaves:)

Starting Hi Honey, I'm Homo by Matt Baume

I read Honeymoon by James Patterson... has a purplish cover

I have completed my read of Mother Mason and found this sory to be charming and entertaining - reminded me of the book Meet Me in St, Louis

The cover is a blue-purple shade so I think it fits here.



What Does It Feel Like? by Sophie Kinsella

COMPLETED Hi Honey, I'm Homo by Matt Baume (>34 Robertgreaves:)

The French version of American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis has a series of purple hues.

Another purple cover with Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout.

His Housekeeper's Christmas Wish by Louise Allen has a horizontal purple stripe at the top of the cover:

Lavender Morning by Jude Deveraux ★★★★

Jocelyn Minton is a woman torn between two worlds. Her mother grew up attending private schools and afternoon teas, but she married the local handyman. After her mother died when Joce was only five years old, her father remarried into his own class, and Joce became an outsider—until she met Edilean Harcourt. Although she was sixty years Joce's senior, Miss Edi was a kindred soul who understood her like no one else ever had. When Miss Edi passes away, she leaves Joce all her worldly possessions, including an eighteenth-century house and a letter with clues to a mystery that began in 1941. In the letter, Miss Edi also mentions that she has found the perfect man for Joce—a handsome young lawyer. Joce is shocked to learn that the mystery, the house, and the future love of her life are all in Edilean, a small town in Virginia that Miss Edi never told her about. Hurt that the woman who meant so much to her kept so many secrets, Jocelyn moves to this tight-knit village in an attempt to understand the legacy that has been left to her. As she begins to dig into Miss Edi's mystery, she soon discovers some shocking surprises about her family's history and her own future—and she meets a man with his own mysterious past.

I had not read a Jude Deveraux book since my teens and had forgotten how much I enjoyed her books. A well-written romance without all the smutty smut the new romance writers think is necessary. I will have to find the next book, as one secret was left unrevealed, and the next book's blurb hints that it will be revealed in it.

>1 Tess_W: Inspired by the challenge - I just started reading "Purple Lotus" by Veena Rao.

I’m reading The Old Woman with the Knife with the purple cover seen in >16 Charon07:, but it’s not likely I’ll finish it today. It’s very good so far!