2023 Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge

I love reading mysteries so signing up again for this challenge is a no brainer. I will sign up once more at the Inspector level. This requires that I read between 26 and 35 books. 

Challenge Rules:

• You can read any book that is from the mystery/suspense/thriller/crime genres. Any sub-genres are welcome as long as they incorporate one of these genres.
• You don’t need a blog to participate but you do need a place to post your reviews to link up. (blog, Goodreads, Instagram, etc.)
• Make a goal post and link it back here with your goal for this challenge.
• Books need to be at least 100 pages long. Please no short stories.
• Crossovers with other challenges are fine.
• The Challenge will run from Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st. (Sign up ends March 15th)

We still have a Facebook group so if you haven’t joined you should check it out. Here is the group’s link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/350512171977943/. It’s a closed group so just ask to join and we’ll let you in. 

There will be a monthly link-up so we can see what everyone’s reading – and probably add some to our own tbr lists. At the halfway mark and at the end there will be a giveaway for those participating.

We are going to continue to use the hashtag #CloakDaggerChal.

Levels:

5-15 books – Amateur sleuth

16-25 books – Detective

26-35 books – Inspector

36 – 55 – Special agent

56+ books – Sherlock Holmes 

I hope you join me in this challenge!

2023 Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge

The Monthly Key Word Challenge is a monthly challenge that runs all year long from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023. Eight “key words” are given for each month. Your task is to read one book that includes one or more of the key words in the title that month. Synonyms and different suffixes are allowed. For example, if the keyword is ‘Lake’ you may also use the words ‘Lakes’, ‘Water’, ‘Sea’, ‘Ocean’. If the keyword is ‘Run’ you may also use the words ‘Running’, ‘Ran’, ‘Runs.' I wish that I had remembered this rule as I struggled to find books in a few months. 

However, this is a fun and easy challenge and I plan on participating next year. A check in post will be published on the host blog, girlxoxo.  Reviews can also be posted on Goodreads GXO Reading Challenges group and on Instagram each month. The challenge is also posted to Storygraph.  If you post what you’ve read to social media please use the hashtag #MonthlyKeyWordGXO. If you are on Goodreads, you can join the GXO Goodreads Reading Challenge Group. You can get book suggestions, do progress check-ins and meet other challenge participants. Below are the key words for 2023.

 

2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

The Historical Fiction Reading Challenge is my favorite challenge so I am signing up to participate again next year. Like this year, I am participating at the Ancient History level which requires that 25 books be read. I probably read more historical mysteries than fiction as some historical fiction books are rather dry. However, I am ready to read both subgenres.

The Rules:

1)    Write a review of the book you read. If you don't have a blog you can post a link to your review if it's posted on Goodreads, Facebook, or Amazon, or you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section of the challenge post.

2)    Any sub-genre of historical fiction is accepted (Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Historical Fantasy, Young Adult, History/Non-Fiction, etc.)

3)    You can choose to participate at

one of the different reading levels:

20th Century Reader - 2 books
Victorian Reader - 5 books
Renaissance Reader - 10 books
Medieval - 15 books
Ancient History - 25 books
Prehistoric - 50+ books

4)    To join the challenge you only need to make a post about it, add your link at the challenge host post at The Intrepid Reader. 

5)    Use the challenge hashtag #histficreadingchallenge, join in on the Facebook page, and grab the challenge badge from The Intrepid Reader.

Happy reading!

Invisible Wounds

Invisible Wounds is Jess Ruliffson's debut graphic novel. For five years she traveled from coast to coast interviewing veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Inside the book are comic strips of twelve veterans detailing their experiences with war. They all had different ranks and job assignments but all suffered in the same way from being involved in a war. 

The veterans are from different backgrounds. One is transgender and another was the only African American in his regiment. They are from different parts of the U. S., from New York City to New Orleans and Vermont. The one problem that they all had in common was trauma from having served. All of them had issues to deal with upon returning home.

The book reads fast. Since mental health issues are a big part of the veterans' homecoming, I wonder whether reading a graphic novel on war would be helpful for them when dealing with their emotions.

5 out of 5 stars.

Granite Kingdom

I received an advanced review copy Granite Kingdom through the Early Reviewer's Program at Librarything in exchange for an honest review. The book was published on November 29, 2022 and it is Eric Pope's debut novel.

The publisher's summary:

It is 1910, and the northern Vermont village Granite Junction is the nation's largest supplier of finished granite for construction. Newspaper reporter Dan Strickland, a stonecutter's son who hopes to find the right wife and climb the social ladder, finds himself caught between the village's two big granite producers, George Rutherford and Ernest Wheeler. Several fatal industrial accidents prompt Rutherford to ask Dan to look for anarchist saboteurs, while Bob Blackstone, Wheeler's right-hand man, bullies Dan for working for the paper that supports their competitor. Despite the prosperity at the top, almost everyone in the village struggles to attain economic security; some fear ending up at the poor farm. Although Dan triumphs in the end, it is not in the way he had imagined.

The story had a slow start. I had a hard time becoming interested in the novel and stopped and started several times before continuing with the story. As a whole, though, the book was a slow read. There was alot of description of the book's many characters with the exception of the characters in the newspaper business. The scenes with them were fast paced. Why the difference?  Perhaps because the author is a retired journalist. In addition, there was too much narrative. If the backstory was given via dialogue the book would have been faster paced.

The setting was interesting. I have never read about a community that worked in the granite industry and the setting helped to inform as well as entertain. The author certainly knows his subject well. It is a good thing when historical fiction readers get a setting different from the usual England, France and Italy, particularly when the setting is an industry. There is also a sense of history to the novel. During the celebration of the 45th anniversary to the end of the Civil War, celebrated in the 3 days before July 4, Dan interviews an old soldier about his experience fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg. The soldier discusses the movements of his regiment in a parlor "unchanged since Lincoln died." 

I liked the novel but have to say that the amount of narrative slowed down my reading.  I am rating it 3 out of 5 stars.

Dust Child

I received an advanced review copy of Dust Child from the Early Reviewer's Program at Librarything in exchange for an honest review. This historical novel will be published in March 2023 and it is a winner. The story is about a Vietnamese man who wants to emigrate to America. He has been mistreated his entire life because he is Amerasian, born to a Vietnamese mother and African American father. Tens of thousands of these children were born and they are called bụi đời (the dust of life). Dust Child is the author's second novel, following her 2020 novel The Mountains Sing.

The publisher's summary:  

In 1969, sisters Trang and Quỳnh, desperate to help their parents pay off debts, leave their rural village and become “bar girls” in Sài Gòn, drinking, flirting (and more) with American GIs in return for money. As the war moves closer to the city, the once-innocent Trang gets swept up in an irresistible romance with a young and charming American helicopter pilot. Decades later, an American veteran, Dan, returns to Việt Nam with his wife, Linda, hoping to find a way to heal from his PTSD and, unbeknownst to her, reckon with secrets from his past.  

At the same time, Phong—the son of a Black American soldier and a Vietnamese woman—embarks on a search to find both his parents and a way out of Việt Nam. Abandoned in front of an orphanage, Phong grew up being called “the dust of life,” “Black American imperialist,” and “child of the enemy,” and he dreams of a better life for himself and his family in the U.S. 

Past and present converge as these characters come together to confront decisions made during a time of war—decisions that force them to look deep within and find common ground across race, generation, culture, and language. Suspenseful, poetic, and perfect for readers of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko or Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing, Dust Child tells an unforgettable and immersive story of how those who inherited tragedy can redefine their destinies through love, hard-earned wisdom, compassion, courage, and joy. 

 

Dust Child is a poignant tale told from three alternating perspectives, Phong, Trang and Dan. The chapters alternate between each of  them which is both a blessing and a hindrance. While all three storylines are interesting, I found that as I became engaged in one I did not want to change to the next one. However, I doubt that the novel would have been as captivating without this literary device. It made me continue reading until the end. The characters have been chosen from among the Viet Cong, American soldiers, the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) and the citizenry of Vietnam so there are even more perspectives for the reader to get to know. Reading about all of these perspectives was an educational experience for me.

I think most people view Vietnam as a poor country. In the beginning of the novel just about all of the characters were living in poverty. When Dan's storyline begins to be fleshed out, he sees it as an urban place. His impression is based on its paved roads and new businesses. However, I would still say that the setting was an impoverished nation. Poverty runs deep throughout the book for all of the characters whether in their past lives or their present. It is always in the back of their minds and shapes their decisions. It is a sad setting appropriate for the difficult lives that the Vietnamese must lead. You want to root for them though, hoping that they can overcome not only the physical but the emotional scars from the past.

5 out of 5 stars.

2023 Nonfiction Reader Challenge

 

I don't read alot of nonfiction but have enjoyed the 7 books I read for the challenge this year. Thus, I am signing up to participate in the challenge in 2023.  The aim of the Nonfiction Reader Challenge is to encourage readers to make nonfiction a part of their reading experience during the year.  You can select, read and review a book from the categories listed below for a total of 12 books; OR select, read and review any nonfiction book. Books can be in any format such as print, electronic or audio. To participate you need to select one of the goals shown below:

Nonfiction Nipper:  read and review 3 books from any 3 listed categories

Nonfiction Nibbler:  read and review 6 books from any 6 listed categories

Nonfiction Nosher:  read and review 12 books, one for each category

Nonfiction Grazer:  read and review any nonfiction book.  Set our own goal.

Categories:

history

memoir/biography

crime and punishment

science

health

travel

food

social media

sport

relationships

the arts

published in 2023

Additional Rules:

1)    Readers can choose books as they go or create a list in advance. 

2)    You can combine this challenge with others

3)    When a book qualifies for more than one category, it can only count for one category.

4)    Books can be read in any order, at any pace.

5)    To join the challenge, create a blog post concerning your participation in the challenge. Non-bloggers are welcome to join however. 

6)    You can create a shelf for the challenge at Goodreads or Librarything and post via Instagram or Twitter. Just add your name and a link to your shelf/account in the signup.

7)    The challenge runs from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023.  Participants can can at any time before December 1, 2023.

8)    Each time you read and review a book as part of this challenge, please identify the post by adding either a direct statement and/or the challenge image badge to the post. It’s also helpful if you indicate the category the book fulfills.

9)    Use the hashtag #ReadNonFicChal on social media. You can tag the challenge host on Twitter:  @bookdout or Instagram: @shelleyrae _bookdout to share or Mastodon @shelleyrae@aus.social.

My Challenge:

I am signing up for the Nonfiction Grazer level. It would be hard for me to find books that I want to read in categories other than history and memoir/biography. I did read a science book this year but that was a rare read. Most likely all of the books I end up reading for the challenge will be published in 2023. 

2023 Library Love Reading Challenge

I have loved this challenge since it began 6 or 7 years ago. Perusing the library shelves is fun and I find alot of good books and authors from doing so. It saves money too! Nothing bad about that. I am downsizing my personal challenge in 2023 because I am still skittish about COVID-19. Normally I would take the top level challenge of 60 books per year. However, in 2023 I am signing up at the Thrifty Reader level which requires that 24 library books be read and reviewed. I may not even begin the challenge until Spring because infection rates have climbed this month in my state.

The Rules:

 Runs: January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022. You can join anytime. The sign-up will remain open until Dec. 31st, 2022.

 The goal is to find your love of your local library and to read at least twelve (12) books from the library, but you can read more.  While twelve is the minimum; there is no maximum limit.  See the different levels below and pick the one that works best for you.

 Any format will work for this challenge (prints, ebooks, or audios); as long as you checked it out from the library, it counts.

 Books can be any genre (fiction, nonfiction, romance, fantasy, mystery, thriller, horror, etc.).

 Crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed, including re-reads.  The goal is to support your local library and save money.

 You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads, Facebook, LibraryThing, etc.

 If you’re a blogger grab the button and do a quick post about the challenge to help spread the word.  If you’re not a blogger you can help by posting on Facebook or Tweet about the challenge.  Please link back to both hosts: Angel’s Guilty Pleasures & Books of My Heart.

 As an added bonus: The challenge hosts are offering up FOUR GIVEAWAYS plus a few surprise giveaways throughout the year (2022) with this Challenge.  The main giveaways will be posted for (Jan., Feb., & March), (April, May, & June), (July, Aug., & Sept.), & last (Oct., Nov., & Dec.).  A linky will go up on both Angel’s Guilty Pleasures and Books of My Heart; where you can leave your links for the reviews on your library books you have read.  So make sure to stop by to enter.  More details in the giveaway section below. 

 (Optional) Reviews: Write a review to enter the giveaway – 2 sentences or an essay, whatever works for you, but there is a minimum of 2 sentences.  Not sure what to write?  How about something like, “The plot was a delight, but the characters didn’t capture me.” “I enjoyed the story and really liked the characters.”

 Please use #LibraryLoveChallenge when sharing your reviews, library pictures, etc…

Levels: 

• Dewey Decimal: Read 12 books
• Thrifty Reader: Read 24 books
• Overdrive Junkie: Read 36 books
• Library Addict: Read 48 books
• Library Card on Fire: Read 60+ books 

If you are interested, there is also a Goodreads Group for the Library Love Challenge, where we talk, share, and discuss the books we snagged/read during the 2022 Library Love Challenge – Click Here

Alice Guy: First Lady of Film

Alice Guy is a real life person from the 19th century.  She was one of the pioneers in  filmmaking. Guy was also one of the first filmmakers to make a narrative fiction film, as well as the first woman to direct a film. From 1896 to 1906, she was probably the only female filmmaker in the world. This graphic biography covers her life from childhood to her death in 1969.

The publisher's summary:

In 1895 the Lumière brothers invented the cinematograph. Less than a year later, 23-year-old Alice Guy, the first female filmmaker in cinema history, made The Cabbage Fairy, a 60-second movie, for Léon Gaumont, and would go on to direct more than 300 films before 1922. Her life is a shadow history of early cinema, the chronicle of an art form coming into its own. A free and independent woman who rubbed shoulders with masters such as Georges Méliès and the Lumières, she was the first to define the professions of screenwriter and producer. She directed the first feminist satire, then the first sword-and-sandal epic, before crossing the Atlantic in 1907 to the United States and becoming the first woman to found her own production company. Guy died in 1969, excluded from the annals of film history. In 2011 Martin Scorsese honored this cinematic visionary, “forgotten by the industry she had helped create,” describing her as “a filmmaker of rare sensitivity, with a remarkable poetic eye and an extraordinary feel for locations.” The same can be said of Catel and Bocquet’s luminous account of her life.

This book is over 400 pages. The first and last 100 pages were engaging but I got a little bored in the middle. I must say, though, that the history of movie making is covered in detail. Readers more interested in movies than I will love this novel. Readers will see the progression of filmmaking here. When Guy and other filmmakers began, they made one reel films. Then 5 and 6 reel films became popular, but filmmakers didn't make much money from them, forcing many out of the industry. 

Guy created many firsts in cinema, defining the professions of screenwriter, director and producer.  Another first was her film A Fool and His Money which had an all African American cast. Guy died in 1969 and has been excluded from film history until recently. There are full biographies of her that have been written. It was interesting that she began her career as a secretary to a photographer who worked in chronophotography. Chronophotography is photographs affixed to a round disc. As viewers rotated the photographs movement was created. Then the cinematograph was invented and the rest of history. 

At the back of the book is an extensive section that includes a timeline of pivotal events in the invention of cinema, biographical notes of other filmmakers, and Guy's filmography bibliography. It is a great resource for those interested in movie history.

5 out of 5 stars.

The American Adventuress

The American Adventuress is a biography of Jennie Jerome Spencer-Churchill, the mother of Winston Churchill. This novel is Gortner's 7th. He writes historical fiction accounts of women and in the past has written about Catherine de Medici, Coco Chanel and Lucrezia Borgia. He holds an MFA in writing, specializing in Renaissance Studies, from the New College of California.  

The publisher's summary:

Daughter of New York financier Leonard Jerome, Jennie was born into wealth—and scandal. Upon her parents’ separation, her mother took Jennie and her sisters to Paris, where Mrs. Jerome was determined to marry her daughters into the most elite families. The glamorous city became their tumultuous finishing school until it fell to revolt. 

Fleeing to Queen Victoria’s England, Jennie soon caught the eye of aristocrat Randolph Spencer-Churchill, son of the Duke of Marlborough, one of Britain’s loftiest peers. It was love at first sight, their unconventional marriage driven by mutual ambition and the birth of two sons. Undeterred by premature widowhood or society’s rigid expectations, Jennie brashly carried on a lifelong intimate friendship with Edward, Prince of Wales—a notorious bon vivant—and had two later marriages to younger men. When her son Winston launched his brilliant political career, Jennie guided him to success, his most vocal and valuable supporter.

By turns scandalous, tragic, and exciting, Jennie Jerome lived an unconventional life full of defiance—one that enshrined her as an American adventuress.

The American Adventuress is a fantastic read.  Gortner did a great job of telling Jennie's story. I knew before reading the book that she married into the British aristocracy when she married Randolph Spencer-Churchill and that she was the mother of Winston Churchill. I did not know though that she was a playwright, entrepreneur, interior decorator, and publisher. I also was not aware of her affair with Edward, Prince of Wales who later was crowned King Edward VII. Jennie also married twice after Randolph died. Both of these husbands were half her age which was scandalous at the time. She was definately a woman ahead of her time. 

I enjoyed the New York City, Parisian and English settings. Jennie's childhood was in New York City where her parents attended and hosted banquets for the Guilded Age millionaires. When her mother separated from her father, they moved to Paris where Jennie met Randolph. Former Empress Eugenie became a friend of Jennie's mother so they were in the top social circles. After her marriage, Jennie and Randolph moved into Blenheim Palace where Randolph's family lived. I was surprised to read that it was cold and oppressive inside it's walls. That is not how I believed living in a castle is really like. The Palace did not appeal to me but Jennie and Randolph's London homes did. This is where they did their politicking and hosted many parties. Another fact that I learned was that Randolph's oldest brother Charles, the heir of the Dukedom of Marlborough, married an American himself, Consuelo Vanderbilt. 

I loved this historical biography and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

2023 Calendar of Crime Challenge

I love mysteries and have my favorite authors.  This challenge, however, makes me search for new authors and new books fit for this challenge so I am signing up for the 2023 challenge. The challenge is hosted by the My Readers Block blog.

This challenge allows readers to include any mystery regardless of publication date. If it falls in a mystery category (crime fiction/detective novel/police procedural/suspense/thriller/spy & espionage/hard-boiled/cozy/etc.), then it counts and it does not matter if it was published in 1893 or 2023. 

 

 

 

A larger version of the spreadsheet may be found HERE. Click on the 2023 tab at bottom. 

 

The Rules

1)    Challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2023. All books should be read during this time period. Sign up at any time. If you have a blog, please post about the challenge. Then sign up via the form below and please make the url link to your challenge post and not your home page. If you don't have a blog, links to an online list (Goodreads, Library Thing, etc.) devoted to this challenge are acceptable OR you may skip that question.

2)    All books must be mysteries. Humor, romance, supernatural elements (etc.) are all welcome, but the books must be mysteries/crime/detective novels first.

3)    Twelve books, one representing each month, are required for a complete challenge.

4)    To claim a book, it must fit one of the categories for the month you wish to fulfill. Unless otherwise specified, the category is fulfilled within the actual story. for instance, if you are claiming the book for December and want to use "Christmas" as the category, then Christmas figure in some in the plot. Did someone poison the plum pudding? Did Great-Uncle Whozit invite all the family home for Christmas so he could tell them he plans to change his will?

5)    The "wild card" book is exactly that. If July is your birth month (as mine is), then for category #9 you may read any mystery book you want. It does not have to connect with July in any way--other than a July baby chose it. The other eleven months, you must do the alternate category #9 if you want to fulfill that slot.

6)    Chinese Zodiac: Animal must be important to the book in some way. Examples: animal name appears in title (stand-alone, not part of another word); animal itself is important to the story; animal appears on cover; important character is associated with the animal (nickname--for instance, owns one as a pet, etc.) OR book may have been published in a year that corresponds to the Zodiac year.

7)    Books may only count for one month and one category, but they may count for other challenges (such as my Vintage Scattergories Challenge). If it could fulfill more than one category or month, then you are welcome to change it at any time prior to the final wrap-up.

8)    Books do not have to be read during the month for which they qualify. So--if you're feeling like a little "Christmas in July" (or May or...), then feel free to read your book for December whenever the mood strikes.

9)    A wrap-up post/comment/email will be requested that should include a list of books read and what category they fulfilled. [Example: January: The House of Sudden Sleep by John Hawk (original pub date January 1930)]

10)    If you post on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media to log a book, please use #?CalendarOfCrime2023. 

2023 Cruisin' Through the Cozies Reading Challenge

This challenge is another one of my favorites.  There are two ways to participate.  You can read only cozy mysteries of your choice, which I will do, or read one book from each of the following sub-genres.

1)    culinary

2)    animal related

3)    craft related

4)    paranormal

5)    career based

6)    based outside the U. S.

7)    holiday

8)    travel 

9)    historical (I tend to prefer these types of books)

10)  wild card or a book of your choice

In addition, there are four levels from which you can choose to join:

Level one (Snoop):  read 10 cozy mysteries

Level two (Investigator):  read 20 cozy mysteries

Level three (Super Sleuth):  read 30 cozy mysteries

Level four (Sleuth Extraordinaire):  read 40 cozy mysteries

The challenge runs the 2023 calendar year.  Books do not need to be chosen in advance and can overlap with other challenges. Also, books can be in any format such as paper, audio and ebooks. Reviews are not required but welcome. 

I am joining at the Snoop level and will be selecting 10 books of my choice. Most of my choices will be career related or historical cozies.  If you would like to join the challenge, sign-ups are at the Socrates Book Reviews blog.