December RandomCAT - Wish Upon a Star

Read a book that is about something you wished for when you were little.

It could be a word embedded in a title or author's name. A quest for something you'd want to find, or about something you wanted to be when you grew up. Have fun!

Update the wiki here: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2014_RandomCAT#December_-Wish_Upon_a_...

Starred! :)

Love it! Off to find a book that fits.

What a great RandomCat to finish off the year with. Now I am off to search the stacks as well.

Fabulous choice majkia! I wanted to travel and polar regions fascinated me - still do. I have the exact book for this category One Woman's Arctic by Sheila Burnford.

When I was growing up it was a time when girls weren't allowed to do anything. So I wanted to be a boy because they could go to college, have a career, and not just get married and have babies, and sit in the kitchen with the women.

Because I'm a/was a stubborn little brat, I was an inveterate tomboy, so bad my family was terrified I'd be a (hush, the word is unsayable!) lesbian!

Besides wanting to be a boy, I wanted to be an Egyptologist, or an Astronomer (or travel to the stars!) I also wanted to wake up one day and not be my parents' daughter but:

The Heir to the Empire !

I'm also planning to read The Dreaming Void by Timothy Zahn to satisfy my star faring craving.

I think I'm going to count my Christmas reads here. I can't remember wishing for anything more than Christmas each year when I was a child. It wasn't for the presents. I looked forward to spending the holidays with my grandparents and going to the big family reunion on Christmas Eve in the one-room log cabin where my great-grandmother was born. There were few things I loved more than going to "the cabin". I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about it now. My grandmother was one of 10 siblings, and most of their children and grandchildren made it every year.

This is a great theme for the end of the year. I can think of one idea, but I need to check things out with my TBR to see if that's what I want to read or if my first thought might not be the best.

I have no idea what I'm going to read for this theme, but I am pretty sure that one of my chosen December books will fit. I think I'll have to pick it when I discover it. Great idea for the end of the year!

I'll have to think about this one. I did want to discover that I was an orphan and that my real parents were circus performers, but having already read Water for Elephants, I'll have to think of what else I dreamt of as a child.

>6 majkia: I loved climbing trees and playing "soldier" with my friends (all boys) as a child. I was in 7th grade in 1972, and asked to take Industrial Arts (aka "shop"), but was told I HAD to take Home Ec, even though I had already been taught by my mother at home. Seriously, I knew more than the teacher, and did not learn ONE thing that year, in that class.

I wish it had been different. :(

Now, to find a book that matches this challenge...

>10 RidgewayGirl: If you haven't read Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern it is a magical read to end your year.

I love this theme! I always wanted to be a nurse and I love murder mysteries so I will be reading A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd.

A battlefield nurse during World War I, Bess Crawford, returning to London for a well-earned Christmas leave, finds her holiday fraught with mystery and murder when she agrees to help a bruised and battered woman return to her small village in Sussex.

What a wonderful reading challenge! I don't have a clue what I'm going to read at this exact moment, but I'm looking forward to hunting through my tbr stacks and figuring it out.

I always wanted to be a writer, and I always wanted to work with reptiles and large cats. And then I also wanted to fall through a portal into another world, more than anything. And I wanted to be a lawyer. And I wanted to be bitten by a vampire. And I wanted a horse....

Yep, I'll have lots of choices :)

I remember wishing for a white Christmas when I was a child so one of the books I am going to read for this challenge will be Snowfall In Burracombe by Lilian Harry. As I got a little older my wishes became more universal and I wished everyone Comfort & Joy for Christmas. .

I don't know if this qualifies but I will read The Star of Redemption.

oh sure, why not :)

So many possibilities! I might have to go for a Poirot -- Agatha Christies were my first foray into grownup fiction and I wished I could be a detective like Poirot and Hastings. (I wouldn't have been very good at it, but when you're eight years old anything is possible.)

>19 LibraryCin: me, too!

hmmm, ok. Let's see... I remember wanting to be a librarian (which I now am) or a veterinarian. And I remember wanting to travel to one particular place: Germany.

I'll have to see what appeals in each of those categories and pick something.

Ok, so one that fits "librarians" is:
- The Uncommon Reader / Alan Bennett

One that fits "veterinarians" is:
- All My Patients Have Tales / Jeff Wells

A couple that fit Germany:
- The Musician's Daughter / Susan Dunlap
- Code Name Verity / Elizabeth Wein

Oh! I know! I need to read something about travel to Mars. When I was in kindergarten I wanted to be the first woman to travel to Mars. That was before I got glasses. And then somehow the trip to Mars never happened, and today I would be way too old and not nearly healthy enough. (I can't handle airplane trips, never mind rockets.) I'll pull a good classic SF from downstairs - probably Sands of Mars unless I see something else at the library.

The Road to Mars is one option.

or Red Mars Does anyone have advice on those?

I can remember wanting to be the first female Prime Minister of Australia. I even wrote a letter to Bob Hawke who was PM at the time asking for career advice, how funny - and I did get a letter back too. Unfortunately, Julia Gillard beat me to it. I'm not too keen on reading a book about her though.

My other ambitions were to be a mum and have 6 kids, and be a secretary. So I might have to find a book about a secretary with six kids! Plus I wanted to win lotto and have a car painted with zebra stripes.

I am going to have to think about this one.

>19 LibraryCin: I had forgotten about my desire to be a librarian! That may be an option.

Excellent theme! I wanted to be a librarian too, and a teacher. Maybe another Miss Read book here.

>19 LibraryCin: thanks, I wanted to be a veterinarian, too. I have James Herriot's Dog Stories unread on my shelf, and it would fit this challenge. :)

Suggestion: check out Joyce Stranger's Vet on Call series. I enjoyed reading them almost as much as the All Creatures Great and Small books.

>21 MarthaJeanne: No advice one the ones you have listed but I have Packing for Mars by Mary Roach and The Martian by Andy Weir on the TBR mountain. I've heard plenty of raves about both and I love Mary Roach's zany approach to explaining the weird and wonderful.

>26 luvamystery65: But the library doesn't have those.

>20 LibraryCin: I ordered a copy of The Uncommon Reader.

>26 luvamystery65: Darn! I forgot you were limited in your library picks.

>25 fuzzi: Thanks for the suggestions. I'll take a look!

Just catching up with this thread, and I'm loving everyone's stories of how they picked which book to read!

When I was around 5 years old, I was seized with the desire to play the piano. Not sure why, as neither of my parents played, but my heart was totally set on the idea. A couple years later, I got my wish when my parents bought a piano and signed me up for lessons. I ended up taking lessons from 2nd grade all the way through college, and the piano still lives with me! So my pick for this RandomCAT is The Devil in Music by Kate Ross, because music became such a big part of my life thanks to that childhood wish!

>24 LadyoftheLodge: Oh, I went through a phase of wanting to be a teacher, I just may have to squeeze in a Miss Read book as well. :)

I wanted to be an explorer -sure I have something on my shelves.

Coincidentally, one of the books I was going to read in December is called What You Wish For - that could work. However, I think I'll try for something that is a bit closer to something I actually wished for.

Let's see when I was younger I wanted to be in no particular order: a librarian, teacher, nurse, gymnast, dancer, tennis player, race car driver, singer, actress, and a CEO. Oh yes, and a detective. I may read Braking Points by Tammy Kaehler which is about a female race car drive who has to solve a mystery.

If not, I'm going with Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively because two things I absolutely adored when I was younger and still do for that matter are the moon and tigers. Something about a full moon sets me at peace. Tigers just because they are beautiful. The sole reason I was a Cincinnati Bengals fan as a child was because of their helmets.

If you like dogs, you might try The Art of Racing in the Rain. It's the story of a race car driver told by his dog - a great read!

I loved that book!! It combined two of my favorite things.

Ok, I have found something that will work perfectly for me. Princess Elizabeth's Spy by Susan Ella MacNeal, is the second in a series about Maggie Hope, who is the secretary to the British Prime Minister. That covers my secretarial and prime ministerial ambitions! How I ended up being a nurse which ambitions like that is a bit of a mystery. This book also contains mystery and espionage according to the tags on the book page.

Samurai William
I wanted to travel and explore, just as they did in the past. To be one of the first to see a culture or place.

Great theme Jean!

When I was little I wished for:
1) I wanted to travel to England. Specifically Liverpool. Because of the Beatles.
2) I wanted to live in our town library. It was in a big, gorgeous old house.
3) I wanted to play the guitar
4) I wanted to be named Donna. Or any name that was a non-gender ambiguous "real" girl name actually. (I was placed in boys PE at the beginning of every school year except 12th grade. Oy! )

I wanted to be, in order, as best as I can remember: a teacher, a botanist, a writer, a special education teacher, a teacher of the deaf.

I think I'm going to have to go with botany for a book that will fit this challenge. I'll be reading some of the Susan Wittig Albert Herb Shop Mysteries for the December MysteryCAT and one or two books from the Poisons of Caux series for my Poison category. One of those should have some botany or a botanist. Failing that, I will pull Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library off of my 2015 reading list

I have finished my first book for this month's RandomCat. As with all the books in this series, Snowfall in Burracombe is a lovely comfort read that harkens back to a quiet English Country village in the 1950's.

I just finished The Uncommon Reader for this CAT.

When I was a child, I desperately wanted to find a secret land, specifically Narnia, hiding around some corner. So for this challenge, I read The Magician King which is the sequel to The Magicians by Lev Grossman. The book begins with Quentin being one of the four high kings and queens of Fillory, a version of Narnia that has a dangerous and unpredictable side. This was a better book that The Magicians.

#42 by RidgewayGirl> I didn't get very far into The Magicians. So it is worth slogging through it to get to book 2?

>39 VioletBramble:, I had to check to see what your name is, then I had to laugh. I named my daughter Kelly and when she got her passport, visa to visit China, she had to prove she was a female.

>39 VioletBramble: - >44 Kristelh: - I had to laugh at the comment too since I actually have the gender neutral name of Stacy. It seems like a girls name to me, but the doctors and nurses really argued with my mom about my name. They kept telling her it was a boys name and that it would be too confusing. Interestingly enough, in my little bitty school of 120 people or so (K-12), there were three Stacy's (or some version of the spelling) and all were female.

When I went to school there was a family of girls named Courtney, Stacy, and Brook.

>45 LittleTaiko: I've never thought of Stacy (or Stacey) as a boy's name! I grew up with one Stacey (girl) in my town and the only other Stacey I know now is also female. Huh!

My name, Kay, is a man's name in Germany. I was once sternly told that I was not allowed to use my husband's credit card. The clerk was really embarrassed when I explained. The school also had us listed as Mr and Mr Hardtmann on the children's forms. They were thrilled to be living in such a modern family, but I did call and get it changed. I tend to use my first name here, rather than my middle name, which is the one I'm usually called because it's easier.

>43 majkia: I'm not sure. The Magicians was a weaker book, but most of the weaknesses were in the second half. If you didn't like the beginning of The Magicians, I'm not sure you'll like the sequel. It's very much about how those magical worlds that sound so lovely (Hogwarts (in the first book), Middle Earth, Narnia, etc..) might also be dangerous, that people are still complicated even in special places, and bring that baggage with them, and that magic is dangerous (or as Once Upon a Time puts it, it has a price). The main character does quite a bit of maturing in The Magician King and the women in the book are no longer props to move the story along or provide a love interest, which is a refreshing change. I love the way Grossman both understands and subverts the genre.

My problems with the beginning of The Magicians was one of teen angst and the 'poor me' syndrome. I don't think I got much beyond the first couple of chapters.

When I was little, I wanted to be a heroine in the British novels I loved to read. I just finished Cold Comfort Farm and Flora Poste is exactly my kind of British heroine.

>50 sturlington: That's funny. I wanted to be sent to a British boarding school, like the ones in Enid Blyton novels. And then I read the one with the American character they all despised and wouldn't have anything to do with until she learned to speak properly and not be so horribly American. I rethought things after that.

>51 RidgewayGirl: I also remember wanting to be sent to a boarding school. I have no idea why!

Me, mostly I wanted to be a boy because they got to have adventures and girls got to have babies. So, I guess I should count Burn Me Deadly for this CAT. Not only do I like the male lead, I really really like his girlfriend. She's my kinda gal.

>51 RidgewayGirl: I remember wanting the same thing, also inspired by Enid Blyton. One of my novels, probably not by Blyton, was about English Girl Guides and featured an American girl who was the envy of all. When she lit a campfire she managed to stay clean; even with primitive facilities she was always well groomed; in an emergency she made jam - without instructions! I believed she was the epitome of American girls, a paragon.

All My Patients Have Tales: Favorite Stories From a Vet's Practice / Jeff Wells
4 stars

This is a collection of stories told by a veterinarian. Jeff Wells also includes chapters on how he became a vet and when he started out as a brand new vet at his first job.

I really enjoyed this. Living in a city with only cats, I often don't think about all the other types of animals that vets care for, including horses, cows, pigs and there is even one story of a yak! The book had a few cute illustrations, and I liked that each chapter had a very small illustration of whichever type of critter would be focused on in that chapter. Definitely an enjoyable book.

>55 LibraryCin: try James Herriot if you like reading about vets. I never tire of reading his books, but my favorite is still his first: All Creatures Great and Small.

Oops, already recommended, posted previously...

#56 by fuzzi> yeah, but sure can be mentioned again!

>56 fuzzi: No worries, fuzzi! Thanks, again! :-)

The Uncommon Reader / Alan Bennett
3 stars

This is a novella. The Queen becomes interested in reading when a travelling library stops nearby. Unfortunately, this starts to affect her duties, so the people around her are concerned about it.

It was ok. I'm not sure I was as enchanted by it as a lot of people. It only took a couple of hours to read.

I was trying to think of the name of this book the other day ( for some reason unknown at this time) and here it is. I don't think I realized it's novella.

I thought it was fun. I don't think it's meant to be anything else.

>60 dudes22: It is very short. I think it was only about 120 pages.

I am counting The Long Way Home by Louise Penny because of the Quebec setting. I've wanted to go to Quebec ever since a project I did in 5th grade. It must have been for social studies. I planned a road trip and all the places I would visit. It's why I studied French in high school instead of Spanish or Latin. I still haven't been there. I think I became interested after hearing my grandmother talk about going to the 1967 Montreal Expo with my uncle and aunt.

I read The Devil in Music by Kate Ross for this CAT, because I desperately wanted a piano when I was little and took music lessons for many years. The book was bittersweet for me, because I love the Julian Kestrel series and am sad to have reached the end of it! But like the rest of the series, it's a great read, and it also provides an origin story of sorts for Kestrel.

I read White Mars. (>21 MarthaJeanne:) I should have stuck with the classic stuff downstairs.

>63 cbl_tn: Aw! I love it! If you get a chance to visit Quebec and your itinerary includes Montreal, let me know and I shall do my best to trundle down and meet up with you. (I'm in Ottawa, but Montreal is an easy day trip.)

I have just finished Als der Weihnachtsmann vom Himmel fiel, a story about meeting Father Christmas. As I wanted to do as a child.

I read Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich. As a child reading my Christmas books, I always wondered what sugar plums were. I thought our holiday must be sorely lacking. Though I never asked for one, I always hoped that sugar plums would show up some Christmas.

>63 cbl_tn: I did go to Quebec for 3-4 days, with my 10th grade French classmates. We stayed in a little one-room-wide "hotel" in old Quebec, a short stroll to the boardwalk. I have fond memories. :)

I am using Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan for this CAT. I always wanted to be a librarian, working in a book store would be a close second.

I read Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively mainly because I loved the title which reminded me of two things I adored when I was a child. Turned out, the main character was an author which also tied in nicely, as I always thought that would be a fantastic job to have.

>70 Kristelh: Your comment reminds me that I can add the audio I just finished. I am a librarian (one of the things I wanted to be when I was younger), but you're right - book store was up there, too!

My current ebook has a zookeeper as the main character, so I'll probably use that here, too. Though it was a veterinarian that I thought of when I was younger, really it was just wanting to work with animals, and vet was the one thing I knew of as a kid that fit that.

So, my review is coming soon for the audio I just finished for:
Sentenced to Death / Lorna Barrett

And, the ebook with the zookeeper is:
The Anteater of Death / Betty Webb.

Yes, they are both being read for MysteryCAT, as well.

Sentenced to Death / Lorna Barrett
3.5 stars

One of Tricia's friends and fellow bookstore owner, Deborah, is killed at the Founder's Day celebration when a plane comes crashing down. No one else sees it, but Tricia is suspicious Deborah was killed on purpose. In the meantime, Deborah's store is quickly sold by her husband and Tricia's best employee is asked to manage the store. And more nefarious things start to happen...

I liked this. I listened to the audio and it managed to hold my attention (always a bit trickier via audio). It might have helped that I already know many of the characters from the previous four or five books in the series. I will be continuing this series, for sure.

The Anteater of Death / Betty Webb
4 stars

Lucy, the anteater at Gunn Zoo, is pregnant. When a man is found murdered in her enclosure, she is initially blamed, but they soon find out he was shot before he ended up in her enclosure. Her zookeeper Teddy (Theodora) tries to help out her former (high school) boyfriend (now sheriff), Joe, with the investigation.

I really liked this – of course a lot of my enjoyment was due to the zoo animals. I also loved that the first and last chapters were from Lucy's point of view. I'm definitely planning to read more in the series.

I ended up reading People in the Trees--as a kid, I always wanted to go off to jungles and explore as a scientist or biologist, and I loved the idea of discovering a new species. As a result, this was a perfect find, though certainly not the idealistic and nature-centered vision I had as a child. Still the turtle figure on the cover is so wonderful that the cover of the book held onto some of that beauty of the vision and wonder. In any case, I've written a full review...

Excellent review, Jennifer. I go back and forth on whether I want to read that one. You've pushed me towards reading it.

>75 whitewavedarling: Nice review of People in the Trees. I loved this book. I agree with you that it's not for everybody, but I thought it was very skillfully written.

I've really enjoyed reading all the personal stories in this thread. I myself had always wanted to travel in an airplane when I was a child. My parents told me that I had been on a flight with them when I was a toddler, but of course, I had no memory of this. So when finally, at age 18, I went on my first flight, it felt like a new and exciting experience. Fortunately, the flight was less eventful than the one featured in Agatha Christie's Death in the Air, the book I had read for this challenge.

I read Silks by Dick Francis. My mother was an accomplished seamstress, and I learned to sew at a young age. I loved going to the fabric store and I dreamed about having dresses like the movie stars did! My cousin and I "designed" the clothes we would wear as adults, where I thought I would be wearing those glamorous dresses I don't know! My mother died 20 years ago but I still have a couple of garments she made for me in my closet!

I have run out of time, and will not be able to read my choice, but I, too, have enjoyed reading about others' stories.

Yes, everyone's stories were an added bonus!

Forgot to post my thoughts on my book. Here is my review.



A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd is 4th in the Bess Crawford mysteries. She is a British World War I nurse and she is home in England for Christmas leave. She finds a woman beaten and frightened at her doorstep. Bess is pulled into the woman's problems and heads to Sussex with her. While there a murder is committed and everyone is a suspect. The plot was a bit thin and the characters from the mystery were unlikeable except for Bess and Brandon, her friend. The ending was a bit of a left turn and wrapped up very quickly. I like Bess enough to try out book 1.

*Rant*

When I checked this book out for the Christmas Murder Mystery group read and RandomCAT read, my library had it listed as Book 1 in the series. I don't like to read series out of order but I don't think it gave too much away and I wasn't lost in the story. It is still frustrating. Not the first time this has happened, but I've been able to catch it because I verify the order independently. Lesson learned.