Saturday, July 27, 2019

Status of Reading Challenges

Since life is getting in the way of my reading and since we are at the end of July, I thought that I would write a post about where I stand with the nine reading challenges that I signed up for earlier in the year.

For the Read it Again, Sam Challenge 4 books are required to be read.  I have read 2:  Siddartha and Winesburg, Ohio.  The other 2 are just sitting on the bookshelf waiting to be read but I am just not interested in them anymore.  I thought that I would want to reread some of the old classics I had read in high school but they are no longer calling my name.

I have not even begun the Memoir Reading Challenge or the Series Challenge although three graphic novels could have met the requirements for the Series Challenge.  They were all written and drawn by Dan Daughterty and from his Beardo series: Til Debt Do Us Part, Self-Employee of the Month and The Miracle of Creation.  I was expecting to read Laura Joh Rowland's Sano Ichiro Novels for this challenge but haven't started any of them yet. 

I have met the requirements for the Library Love Challenge.  12 books were required and I have read 19:


The Creativity Reading Challenge had no set requirements concerning the number of books to be read.  I have read and reviewed 6 books:  Drawing Comics, Painting Light in Colored Pencil, The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook, Botanical Portraits with Colored Pencil, Drawing Birds with Colored Pencil, and Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches.  I am considering this challenge to be met.

In the My Kind of Mystery Reading Challenge there was no required number of books to read either. However, I have read and reviewed 9 books to date:

Broken Bone China
The Malta Exchange
Harvest of Secrets
A Plain Vanilla Murder
The Satapur Moonstone
The Bengal Identity
A Body in Barcelona
The Persian Always Meows Twice

I have met the requirements of the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge but plan on reading more books for the challenge.  While 10 books were required to be read, I have read and reviewed 13. Many of them overlap with other challenges:

Mememto Mori
The Sisters of Versailles
The Splendor Before the Dark
The Gown
The Rivals of Versailles
The Enemies of Versailles
Murder by Misrule
Tombland
The Island of Sea Women
The Satapur Moonstone
The Queen's Promise

I have been rather slow in meeting the requirements of the 12th Annual Graphic Novel and Manga Challenge.  12 books are required for the level that I signed up for and I have only read 6.  The problem is that my favorite authors put out books every 2 or 3 years and last year was the year that most of them published a book.  The books that I read and reviewed are:

Til Debt Do Us Part
Self Employee of the Month
The Miracle of Creation
Kid Gloves

Finally, for the Christian Reading Challenge 12 books are required to be read.  I knew when I signed up for this challenge that I would not meet it.  However, I thought that I would do better than the three books that I have currently read so far. In fact, there are 4 books that I have already bought that I just don't want to read anymore.  I have read Irresistible, 7 Days that Divide the World and Leading Lives that Matter.  

So, what comes next?  I feel that my interest in reading is waning again as it did about three years ago.  I don't know if it is just because life is getting hard this month and the interest will quickly return or whether I will go back into a lengthy slump.  Only time will tell but in the meantime, I need to return my 5 library books back to the public library because I am not going to read them any time soon.  

The Queen's Promise

This is the first book in the Broken Kingdom Series by Brenda Rickman Vantrease.  It takes place in 1642 England. The book is quite different from Vantrease's earlier books. It is a strictly historical fiction novel while her prior books, i.e., The Illuminator and The Mercy Seller, were historical mysteries.

The book opens with Henrietta, the wife of King Charles, leaving England for Amsterdam with their 10 year old daughter.  The purpose is to marry her off.  However, the real reason is the Queen's unpopularity due to her Catholic faith. Henrietta leaves behind her three youngest children. Shortly after her departure, the Duke of Buckingham is executed for doing the King's bidding in Catholic Ireland. Charles goes on the run to set up an army but has his two youngest children cared for by Buckingham's mistress, Lucy Hay who is also a close friend of the Queen. Hay runs the fanciest salon in London and is a Protestant like the King. She agrees that she will not teach the Catholic mass to the children and is regularly visited by the King's enemies in Parliament and questioned about it.

This was a short book, only 230 pages, but it had a fast pace. I was kept interested enough in the plot to read the book in one sitting. This was a pleasant surprise given my dissatisfaction with some of the books that I have read in the past two months.

While the title is The Queen's Promise, Lucy Hay is the main character in the book. The author has written her to be a sympathetic character even though she cannot be without a lover. It seems strange that a woman who can't stop herself from committing adultery is the sympathetic character but she is. The reader doesn't get to know Queen Henrietta much. Hay's strength is prominent as she tries to protect the children from the warring factions in England who would love to use them as tokens in their war against the king. While the Queen eventually returns to England she must disguise herself. Her character as a queen was not prominent or interesting.

4 out of 5 stars.

Sunday, July 14, 2019

The Satapur Moonstone

This is the second book in the Purveen Mistry Mystery Series by Sujata Massey.  Here Purveen is invited by Sir David Hobson-Jones, councillor to the Governor of India, to travel to the princely kingdom of Satapur to speak with 2 maharanis about the education of their 10 year old heir to the throne. The maharanis are in a state of purdah due to the recent death of their maharaja and cannot see a male attorney. Purveen, being a female attorney, can discuss the issue with them.  The heir's mother wants him to be educated in England while his grandmother wants him to be educated at home.

I enjoyed the book but must admit that it moved a little slower than the first book in the series.  There wasn't a crime to solve as there was in the first book and that plot error affected the pace. This is a historical mystery series, not a historical fiction series. However, there was no mystery here. It still was a lovely book to read. I love reading about other cultures and the author gave the reader her knowledge about travel in 1922 India, especially for women. The differences between the religions that coexist in India were described in detail. The feelings of the Indian people toward their English rulers was also apparent as the Indian characters whispered their thoughts about them to one another.

The moonstone pendant in the title of the book was not mentioned until page 100. It was not mentioned again until page 246 but was only mentioned superficially. Up until that time in the plot there were basically only meals that  Purveen had with the maharanis about the heir's education. Then the 10 year old maharaja disappeared and the remainder of the book was about the disappearance.

When I got this book I  expected to devour it in one sitting. It took me three weeks to read because there wasn't much of a plot to follow.  It was quite disjointed.

The Satapur Moonstone was a good historical fiction novel.  3 out of 5 stars.