November AlphaKIT: L and Q

November AlphaKIT letters are: L and Q



Please remember to update the wiki: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2017_Unofficial_AlphaKIT#November

Looking forward to reading The Lies of Locke Lamora and Quick Curtain for this challenge.

I'm definitely planning on reading Monster of God by David Quammen for my 'Q' book; I'm still debating the 'L', but it may end up being White Fur by Jardine Libaire.

Planning on The Quiller Memorandum and The Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

I've got plenty of L's and two Q's The Alice Network by Kate Quinn and "Galaxy Quest" by Mark Zubro

At this point I am planning on The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn and The City Primeval by Elmore Leonard.

Still need to figure out Q (I'm sure I have plenty that start with "queen" in the title!), but there are a few options for L.

Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange / Amanda Smyth
Love Walked In / Maria de los Santos
The Last Battle / Stephen Harding (also fits CultureCAT)
In the Garden of Beasts / Erik Larson (also fits CultureCAT)
The Headmaster's Wager / Vincent Lam (also fits CultureCAT)

For November and December reads I'm going over titles I planned to read during the year and didn't. I don't have an L author but do have L titles:

Landscape of Lies by Peter Watson
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith
Leaving Everything Most Loved by Jacqueline Winspear
The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan

The only Q is:

The Quiet Game by Greg Iles

I'm planning on Case for Three Detectives by Leo Bruce and The Duke and I by Julia Quinn.

I am planning to reread The Loved One & I have plenty of other L titles in my books. Q is more difficult…

Ack. I'm currently reading The Loving Cup, so if I don't finish it for October, I can at least get credit here!

>11 fuzzi: Haha same! Haven't even started The Loving Cup yet...

>12 christina_reads: at the rate I'm reading it, I probably will NOT finish it until the end of next week, which would be November.

Where does the time fly???

Here's my list of possibles:

✔30 Second Death by Laura Bradford
✔And Death Goes To...Laura Bradford
✔Egg Drop Dead by Laura Childs
Hive of Homicides by Meera Lester
✔Leave it to Cleaver
✔Lockdown
The Lost Letter: A Victorian Romance
Love and Death in Burgundy
✔Lucianna
✔Miraculous Mysteries: Locked Room Mysteries
✔Murder in Mayfair by D. M. Quincy
✔This side of Murder by Anna Lee Huber

I got Death of a Red Heroine by Xiaolong Qiu from the library yesterday so that takes care of Q and X!

I've read The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini.

Finished Quick Curtain which was an entertaining mystery set in the theater world told with lovely dry humor.

Finished The Loving Cup last night, first AlphaKIT for November!

I finished The Loved One today -- such a good book if you like satire! Now starting on a ROOT I discovered on my Kindle -- The Queen's Poisoner.

COMPLETED The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

I have finished The Queen's Poisoner - a fantasy set in medieval-like times with lots of political intrigue. Now listening to a Wodehouse novel, The Luck of the Bodkins.

Finished Kim & Kim: Love is a Battlefield #1 by Magdalene Visaggio

Finished The Loving Cup over the weekend, and now I'm on to The Duke and I by Julia Quinn.

COMPLETED Alien Quest by Mark Zubro

I completed The Quiller Memorandum. Ah, the good old days when Russia and Nazis were our enemies.

The Last Battle / Stephen Harding
3.5 stars

There is a castle in Austria called Schloss Itter. During WWII, there were French VIPs (mostly politicians) who were kept prisoner in Schloss Itter; needless to say, it was a fairly comfortable place to be kept prisoner during the war. When the war was over, though, they needed to be rescued. So, after the war had officially ended, American soldiers came together with a few German soldiers to get the French VIPs out, but there was a battle at the castle before they were able to leave.

This is a story from WWII that I knew nothing about. (Even for all I’ve read, I’m sure there are plenty of lesser-known stories.) It was interesting. In addition to information about the war, the castle, and the battle itself at the castle, there was biographical information about the prisoners, as well as the soldiers who worked together to help out (although, there were a lot of people, so it was still a bit tricky to recall who was who!). I also enjoy biographies, so those parts were some of the most interesting to me in this book, in addition to the battle itself. As a Canadian, I found Rene Levesque’s “cameo” in the book (he appeared later as a journalist) interesting. For the most part, I liked the way this book was written. There were a few dry parts, but mostly I enjoyed it.

Is it just me, or is anyone else having a problem editing the wikis? I can open the wikis, but the "edit" button isn't appearing for me.

ETA: I don't see anything mentioned in the "Bug Collectors" group, but I'll ask over there, as well.

RE: the wikis.

I posted here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/274788#6241961

And was referred to another thread where the wikis have been turned off due to spam? Until they get some kind of fix.

Thought I'd better mention it here, as well. Maybe I'll post this in the general CAT threads?

December post is up: http://www.librarything.com/topic/274864

Love Walked In / Marisa de los Santos
3.5 stars

Cornelia works in a cafe and meets someone whom she starts dating. Clare is 11-years old and having a hard time with her mother, as her mother seems to be acting very odd. Clare knows something is wrong and is afraid her mother is sick.

The book started ok for me, but got better. It was ok at the start while I got to know the characters and what was going on. It really picked up for me in the middle after Cornelia and Clare met, but I have very mixed feelings about the ending. I’m settling on rating it “good” at 3.5 stars.

I read Queenpin by Megan Abbott for this month. Really enjoyable noir from a woman's point of view.

>15 leslie.98: I'm about halfway through Don't Cry, Tai Lake by Xiaolong Qiu and really enjoying it. That will take care of X, Q and L.

>2 LittleTaiko: My thanks go to whitewavedarling for the bullet earlier this year!

>32 VivienneR:, I'm so glad you're enjoying it!

>33 whitewavedarling: It's excellent! Great characters, a real sense of place, an interesting plot, and it's different (for want of a better word). I'll be reading the others in the series.

I have completed my "Q" read with The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn.

And, today, I have completed my "L" read with City Primeval by Elmore Leonard.

For my L, I read The Couple Next Door by Shari LaPena. Touchstones don't seem to be working.

First AlphaKIT done for November, Little Hawk and the Free Horses.

If the Wiki is up, I'll add it later.

Just finished Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty. What an impressive sci fi book.

I read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn this month. I'm shocked that it took me this much time to stumble across it, but so glad I finally did. Just because it's one of those rare books that I have to think everyone should have read, and passed on to others, I'm going to go ahead and post my full review here, because I can't resist. I hope a lot of you have already read it, and everyone who hasn't picks it up!

Full Review:

A man sees an ad in the personal section: "Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person." And what follows is something as filled with heartbreak and humor as it is with ideas and magic.

File this under philosophical fiction or environmental fiction or weird fiction, or none of the above, but this is a smart and wonderful book--one of those rare ones which I'd say everyone ought to have read, and passed on to more readers, and perhaps read again. I'm thankful I stumbled upon it, and somewhat heartbroken that I Had to stumble upon it, when really I feel like someone should have thrust it upon me even back when I was in high school, demanding that I sit down and start reading, or perhaps once I got to college, at least. This is the sort of book that helps you see the world and yourself in a slightly different manner, and makes you want to be better, and push others to be better. It's the sort that makes me want to write, and keep writing, and discover whatever comes tomorrow in a more careful and clever manner than I saw today. It's also the sort of book that should simply be read, and absorbed, and appreciated, just so much as possible.

In any case, if you haven't read it by now, you should. Really, you should.

>40 whitewavedarling: Uh-oh, Ishmael goes to the wrong touchstone.

I read it at least 20 years ago and would like to reread it. Thanks for the reminder!

>41 clue:, Thanks for telling me! I hadn't even thought to check that, but I just edited the message to fix it :) Did you read the sequels, and if you did, did they at all live up to what Quinn did with the first?

I am still waiting on the hold from the library for my Q book. It should be in soon for me. I don't know if I'll actually get to it this month, but if not, it will be early in December and I am going to come back and post it here, anyway. :-)

The Elephant Whisperer / Lawrence Anthony
4.5 stars

Lawrence Anthony bought a game reserve in South Africa and shortly after, rescued a herd of troublemaking elephants. He was able to calm them down and even befriend them. As the elephants become more well-behaved, his reserve grew with more and more wildlife and stories (good and bad, including poaching, a common threat) on the reserve.

I loved most of this! I listened to the audio, and did lose interest a few times, mostly during parts that weren’t about the animals, and I ended up sobbing as I walked from my work to the train listening at the end of the book!

Took me until the last day of the month but I finally finished an L book - The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Cute little book.

>45 LittleTaiko: oh, that it is! I read that back when I was studying French, and our teacher assigned it as part of the curriculum.

I have finished a bunch of L books: The Luck of Barry Lyndon, Laura, L.A. Dead & The Lost Art of Mixing…

I will update the wiki soon.

>47 leslie.98: I love Laura. The movie and the book are both great.

I can't seem to edit the wiki -- got a notice saying that editing is limited to Administrators. What's going on?

>48 Dejah_Thoris: It was great! But I couldn't get over the fact that Waldo Lydecker is fat -- Clifton Webb was so good in that part but he is clearly not fat! I ended up watching the movie again once I had finished the book & found that it suffered in comparison to the book (though it is still a great film).

>49 leslie.98: Scarcely anyone seems to have read the book, but it's fabulous! It would be even better for someone who hadn't seen the film, though. Clifton Webb is terrific, but Vincent Price with a Southern accent always drives me crazy, lol.

Ah. The wikis. They've been down for quite a while now due to both spam and vandalism problems. There is hope that they'll be available for editing again on Monday. Fingers crossed.

>50 Dejah_Thoris: Oddly enough, the movie "Laura" was my first experience of Vincent Price, so it was quite a surprise to learn about the types of roles he's most famous for!

>51 christina_reads: lol -- my introduction to Vincent Price was as the host to PBS's Mystery show (before it was swallowed up by Masterpiece) back in the 1970s. But he did make all those horror/scary movies that in the pre-cable days used to be shown on TV on Friday & Saturday nights...

Laura was one of my mother's favorite movies, and mine, too. Loved the book when I read it a couple years ago, but still enjoy the movie!

Finished Imagined London by Anna Quindlen.

This was intended for November's AlphaKIT, but I had to wait for it from the library, so I didn't actually get to it until December. I finished it a few days ago, and still am counting it for Nov, as that was the intent.

The Queen's Mistake / Diane Haeger
3.5 stars

Catherine Howard was Henry VIII’s fifth wife; she was also Anne Boleyn’s cousin. Catherine was not even 20 years old yet when she married Henry and Henry was almost 50. Although Henry didn’t know it, Catherine had a bit of a reputation for being promiscuous. When Henry found out, after they had been married for a short time, things did not end well for Catherine.

I have read a little bit about Catherine, but not as much as some of Henry’s other wives. This book didn’t change my opinion of her. I’m not a fan of Catherine herself, although the story was good.