Joy's Challenge for 2021 - CATs, KITs and the DOG

So, another year, another Category Challenge. I’ve spent a couple of weeks now, mulling over various plans for my 2021 challenge — even though I still have a bit of reading to do for my 2020 challenge. Usually I like to wait at least until the middle of December before moving on to a new one, but I guess I’m just REALLY ready for 2020 to be outta here.

This will be Number 10 for me, and for 2021 I don’t really have a theme. I played around with several ideas centered on a Tenth Anniversary theme, but decided that was just too limiting. And too much work!

This year I had so much fun with my reading for AlphaKIT and BingoDOG that I’ve decided to branch out in 2021 and try a few more of the CATs and KITs. For most of the “Official” CATs, KITs, and BingoDOG, I’m not setting any definite goals or making promises. I’m such a slow reader, it’s unlikely I’ll be able to finish a book a month for each and every category — or fill up all the squares on a bingo card. So I’ll probably drop in and out during the year, sampling each one. As long as it remains fun.

Of course, there’s almost a whole month of 2020 left, and I suppose I could decide to do something completely different by the time January gets here. So let’s see what develops. But for now, I think this is it.

( Posted 12/07/2020 )

(The painting of a 'Terrier Playing with Kittens' is by Dutch artist Henriette Ronner-Knip (1821-1909), who did many paintings of adorable critters.)

Nothing to see here . . . move along.

(Reserved for lists, notes, thoughts, doodles, etc.)

BingoDOG

I did really well with 2020’s BingoDOG challenge and actually managed to fill up one whole card. I don’t expect to do that great in 2021, since I’m pretty sure I won’t be reading anything for several of the categories on the list. But that shouldn’t keep me from having lots of fun with it.



The List:
✓ 1. A book about nature or the environment (includes the sea): Planting a Rainbow, by Lois Ehlert
✓ 2. Book with a title that describes you: The Funny Little Woman, by Arlene Mosel; illus. by Blair Lent
✓ 3. Book with a love story in it: The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein; illus. by author
✓ 4. Book you heartily recommend: Death on the Nile, by Agatha Christie
✓ 5. Impulse read!: The Clue in the Crumbling Wall, by Carolyn Keene
__6. Suggested by a person from another generation
✓ 7. Time word in title or time is the subject (includes time travel): Dinosaurs Before Dark, by Mary Pope Osborne
✓ 8. By or about a marginalized group: Dead Dead Girls, by Nekesa Afia
✓ 9. Book you share with 20 or fewer members on LT: My San Antonio Childhood: A Memoir, by Michael L. Hall
✓ 10. Classical element in title (Western: earth, air, wind, fire, aether/void. Chinese: wood, fire, earth, metal, water): The Hollywood Spy, by Susan Elia MacNeal
✓ 11. Set somewhere you’d like to visit: An Extravagant Death, by Charles Finch (Newport RI)
✓ 12. Dark or light in title: The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland, by Angela Youngman
✓ 13. Read a CAT or KIT: Life in Miniature: A History of Dolls' Houses, by Nicola Lisle (GenreCAT: January - Nonfiction)
✓ 14. Author you haven’t read before: Jerusalem Inn, by Martha Grimes
✓ 15. Arts and recreation (covers original suggestions "focus on art", "features a theatre", "games and sports", and "about a writer"): The Postscript Murders, by Elly Griffiths
✓ 16. Senior citizen as the protagonist: Bryant & May: Oranges and Lemons, by Christopher Fowler
✓ 17. Book with a type of a building in the title: Castle Shade, by Laurie R. King
✓ 18. Book less than 200 pages: The Religious Body, by Catherine Aird
✓ 19. Book by two or more authors: Bloodless (Pendergast #20), by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
✓ 20. Book with a character you think you'd like to have as a friend: Murder She Wrote: Killing in a Koi Pond by "Jessica Fletcher" and Terrie Farley Moran
✓ 21. One-word title: Nemesis (Miss Marple #11), by Agatha Christie
✓ 22. Book about history or alternate history: The Return of the Pharaoh, by Nicholas Meyer
✓ 23. A book that made you laugh: 1066 And All That, by W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman
__24. Set in or author from the Southern Hemisphere (Australia, most of S. Amer., part of Africa)
✓ 25. Book with or about magic: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Steig

Link to: 2021 BingoDOG Planning Thread.
Link to: 2021 BingoDOG wiki.

AlphaKIT



This is probably my favorite of the CATs/KITs. I’ve started really depending on it to help me decide what to read every month.

The Wiki for the 2021 AlphaKIT is HERE.

Letters for 2021:

JANUARY: P M . . . January Thread
• Jerusalem Inn (Richard Jury #5), by Martha Grimes
• The Postscript Murders (Harbinder Kaur #2), by Elly Griffiths

FEBRUARY: T K . . . February Thread
• The Clue of the Tapping Heels (Nancy Drew #16), by Carolyn Keene

MARCH: U R . . . March Thread
• A Guilty Thing Surprised (Inspector Wexford #5), by Ruth Rendell
• Faithful Unto Death (Chief Inspector Barnaby #5), by Caroline Graham

APRIL: A W . . . April Thread
• The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland, by Angela Youngman

MAY: I N ... May Thread
• A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers, by Nancy Willard; illus. by Alice Provensen & Martin Provensen
• In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak; illus. by author

JUNE: C D ... June Thread
• Dead Dead Girls, by Nekesa Afia
• Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot #17), by Agatha Christie
• Castle Shade (Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes #17), by Laurie R. King

JULY: S O ... July Thread
• Summer, by Edith Wharton
• Outside Over There, by Maurice Sendak
• The Hollywood Spy (Maggie Hope #10), by Susan Elia MacNeal

AUGUST: V J ... August Thread
• Wolf Lake (Dave Gurney #5), by John Verdon
• The Victim in Victoria Station (Dorothy Martin #5), by Jeanne M. Dams
• Jumanji, by Chris Van Allsburg; illus. by author

SEPTEMBER: F L ... September Thread
• Five Little Pigs (Hercule Poirot #25), by Agatha Christie
• Our Lady of Darkness, by Fritz Leiber

OCTOBER: H E ... October Thread
• Oh William!, by Elizabeth Strout
• The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories, by Algernon Blackwood

NOVEMBER: B Y ... November Thread
• Bloodless (Pendergast #20), by Preston & Child
• Plot It Yourself (Nero Wolfe #32), by Rex Stout

DECEMBER: G Q ... December Thread
• The Golden Spiders (Nero Wolfe #22), by Rex Stout
• Queen of the Falls, by Chris Van Allsburg; illus. by author

YEAR-LONG: X Z ... Year-Long Thread
• Tom Swift and the Visitor From Planet X (Tom Swift Jr #17), by Victor Appleton II
• Zathura, by Chris Van Allsburg; illus. by author

GenreCAT



A couple of these are genres I just really don’t read, so I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to stick with this one, but I still think I want to try it.

JANUARY: Non-Fiction ... January Thread
•

FEBRUARY: Memoirs/biography ... February Thread
•

MARCH: Action & Adventure (Military/spy/war/Westerns/thrillers etc.) ... March Thread
•

APRIL: Literary Fiction ... April Thread
•

MAY: Short stories/essays ... May Thread
•

JUNE: Historical fiction ... June Thread
• Dead Dead Girls, by Nekesa Afia
• Castle Shade (Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes #17), by Laurie R. King

JULY: Romance ... July thread
•

AUGUST: Poetry/drama/graphic novels ... August Thread
•

SEPTEMBER: YA/children ... September Thread
• Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X (Tom Swift Jr #17), by Victor Appleton II

OCTOBER: Horror/supernatural/paranormal ... October Thread
• The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories, by Algernon Blackwood

NOVEMBER: SFF ... November Thread
•

DECEMBER: Mysteries (inc. thrillers/suspense) ... December Thread
•

...

GeoKIT



I could be getting in over my head here, but right now this sounds like fun — reading one book per region, throughout 2021.

The 2021 GeoKIT Wiki is HERE

The REGIONS:

Africa - Year-long Thread
• The Return of the Pharaoh, by Nicholas Meyer (set in Egypt)

Asia - Year-long Thread

Europe (includes Russia) - Year-long Thread
• The Lost Village, by Camilla Sten (set in Sweden)

Central and South America (includes the Caribbean) - Year-long Thread

North America (includes Mexico, Canada, and USA) - Year-long Thread
• Dead Dead Girls, by Nekesa Afia

Oceania (includes Australia and New Zealand) - Year-long Thread

Polar (includes Antarctica and tundra regions) - Year-long Thread
• Smilla's Sense of Snow, by Peter Høeg

..........

(The illustration is another painting by Dutch artist Henriette Ronner-Knip (1821-1909), called 'The Globe-Trotters.')

MysteryKIT



I’ve always been a mystery fanatic, so this seems like a natural choice.

The MysteryKIT Wiki

JANUARY: Featuring Water ... January Thread
• Suspicious Death (Inspector Thanet #8), by Dorothy Simpson

FEBRUARY: Pastiche Mysteries ... February Thread
•

MARCH: Locked Room Mysteries ... March Thread
•

APRIL: Senior Citizen as Detective ... April Thread
•

MAY: Mysteries Set in Europe ... May Thread
• The Lost Village, by Camilla Sten (trans. by Alexandra Fleming) - set in Sweden

JUNE: Golden Age Mysteries ... June Thread
• Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot #17), by Agatha Christie (1929)

JULY: Cops 'n Robbers--Lady Style (lady cops or lady robbers) ... July Thread
• The Hollywood Spy (Maggie Hope #10), by Susan Elia MacNeal

AUGUST: Cozy Mysteries Featuring Animals ... August Thread
•

SEPTEMBER: Mismatched Detectives ... September Thread
•

OCTOBER: Minorities/Diverse ... October Thread
•

NOVEMBER: Historical Mysteries ... November Thread
•

DECEMBER: Detectives in Ancient Greece and Rome ... December Thread
•

...

RandomCAT



Again, I might drop in and out of this one, depending on what turns up each month.

The 2021 RandomCAT Wiki is HERE

JANUARY: LOL (Laughter) ... January Thread
• 1066 And All That: A Memorable History of England, by W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman, illus. by John Reynolds

FEBRUARY: Fruits & Veggies ... February Thread
• Oranges and Lemons (Bryant & May: Peculiar Crimes Unit #17), by Christopher Fowler

MARCH: It's a Surprise! ... March Thread
• A Guilty Thing Surprised (Inspector Wexford #5), by Ruth Rendell

APRIL: Let's go to the library without leaving the house ... April Thread
• Faithful unto Death (Chief Inspector Barnaby #5), by Caroline Graham (in 3 other members' libraries)

MAY: Let's play Monopoly! ... May Thread
• A Body at the Tea Rooms (Kate Palmer Mystery #3), by Dee MacDonald (house on cover)

JUNE: Everything Old Is New Again ... June Thread
• Castle Shade (Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes #17), by Laurie R. King

JULY: Summertime ... July Thread
• Summer, by Edith Wharton

AUGUST: On the Road Again ... August Thread
• Wolf Lake (Dave Gurney #5), by John Verdon

SEPTEMBER: Literary Award Winners ... September Thread
• Our Lady of Darkness, by Fritz Leiber (1978 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel)

OCTOBER: A Character Who Gives ... October Thread
•

NOVEMBER: Fortune and Glory! ... November Thread
• Plot It Yourself (Nero Wolfe #32), by Rex Stout (focuses on writers)

DECEMBER: Seasonal Reading ... December Thread
•

(The illustration for this category is the center panel from a wonderful three-panel painting, "Fifty-three Stations" by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1850) — via Wikipedia)

Personal Category #1: Adult Literature



The three personal categories are mainly just a way of tracking my reading through the year — both fiction and nonfiction.

Fiction read:

1. Nemesis (Miss Marple #11), by Agatha Christie ✭✭✭½
2. 1066 And All That, by W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman, illus. by John Reynolds ✭✭✭✭
3. Jerusalem Inn (Richard Jury #5), by Martha Grimes ✭✭½
4. Suspicious Death (Inspector Thanet #8), by Dorothy Simpson ✭✭✭½
5. Bryant & May: Oranges and Lemons (Peculiar Crimes Unit #17), by Christopher Fowler (ARC: NetGalley) ✭✭✭✭½
6. The Clue of the Tapping Heels (Nancy Drew #16), by Carolyn Keene ✭✭✭
7. The Clue in the Crumbling Wall (Nancy Drew #22), by Carolyn Keene ✭✭✭½
8. A Guilty Thing Surprised (Inspector Wexford #5), by Ruth Rendell ✭✭✭✭
9. Faithful Unto Death (Chief Inspector Barnaby #5), by Caroline Graham ✭✭✭
10. The Postscript Murders (Harbinder Kaur #2), by Elly Griffiths ✭✭✭✭½
11. An Extravagant Death (Charles Lenox Mysteries #14), by Charles Finch ✭✭✭½
12. A Body at the Tea Rooms (Kate Palmer Mystery #3), by Dee MacDonald (ARC: NetGalley) ✭✭✭½
13. The Lost Village, by Camilla Sten; trans. by Alexandra Fleming (ARC: NetGalley) ✭✭✭✭
14. Dead Dead Girls, by Nekesa Afia (ARC: NetGalley) ✭✭½
15. Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot #17), by Agatha Christie ✭✭✭✭½
16. Castle Shade (Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes #17), by Laurie R. King (ARC: NetGalley) ✭✭½
17. Killing in a Koi Pond (Murder, She Wrote #53), by "Jessica Fletcher" and Terrie Farley Moran (ARC: NetGalley) ✭✭½
18. Smilla's Sense of Snow, by Peter Høeg ✭✭✭✭
19. The Religious Body (Inspector Sloan #1), by Catherine Aird ✭✭✭✭½
20. Summer, by Edith Wharton ✭✭✭✭
21. The Hollywood Spy (Maggie Hope #10), by Susan Elia MacNeal ✭✭✭
22. Wolf Lake, (Dave Gurney #5), by John Verdon ✭✭✭½
23. The Victim in Victoria Station (Dorothy Martin #5), by Jeanne M. Dams ✭✭✭
24. The Return of the Pharaoh: From the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. (Holmes Pastiche #5), by Nicholas Meyer (ARC: NetGalley) ✭✭✭✭½
25. Five Little Pigs (Hercule Poirot #25), by Agatha Christie ✭✭✭✭
26. Palm Springs Noir, ed. by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett (various authors) ✭✭✭✭½
27. Our Lady of Darkness, by Fritz Leiber ✭✭✭
28. Oh William!, by Elizabeth Strout (ARC: NetGalley) ✭✭✭½
29. The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories, by Algernon Blackwood ✭✭✭
30. Bloodless (Pendergast #20), by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (ARC: NetGalley) ✭✭✭✭
31. Plot It Yourself (Nero Wolfe #32), by Rex Stout ✭✭✭✭
32. The Golden Spiders (Nero Wolfe #22), by Rex Stout ✭✭✭✭

Nonfiction read:

1. My San Antonio Childhood: A Memoir, by Michael L. Hall ✭✭✭✭✭
2. The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland, by Angela Youngman ✭✭✭
3. Life in Miniature: A History of Dolls' Houses, by Nicola Lisle (ARC: NetGalley) ✭✭✭½
4. John Prine Beyond Words, by John Prine ✭✭✭✭½
5. Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era, by Laurence Leamer ✭✭✭

Personal Category #2: Children’s and Young Adult Lit



Won’t have any trouble with this one. I love kiddie lit. Some of these will be very short, but I’m OK with that.

Books Read:

1. Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House #1), by Mary Pope Osborne; illus. by Sal Murdocca ✭✭✭✭
2. Planting a Rainbow, by Lois Ehlert (illus. by author) ✭✭✭
3. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Steig (illus. by author) ✭✭✭✭
4. The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, by Dr. Seuss (illus. by author) ✭✭✭✭
5. Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, by Dr. Seuss (illus. by author) ✭✭✭✭
6. A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers, by Nancy Willard; illus. by Alice & Martin Provensen ✭✭✭
7. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak ✭✭½
8. Franklin Endicott and the Third Key (Deckawoo Drive #6), by Kate DiCamillo; illus. by Chris Van Dusen ✭✭✭✭½
9. Outside Over There, by Maurice Sendak (illus. by author) ✭✭✭
10. The Funny Little Woman, retold by Arlene Mosel; illus. by Blair Lent ✭✭½
11. Jumanji, by Chris Van Allsburg (illus. by author) ✭✭✭✭
12. The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein (illus. by author) ✭✭½
13. Zathura, by Chris Van Allsburg (illus. by author) ✭✭✭✭
14. Queen of the Falls, by Chris Van Allsburg (illus. by author) ✭✭✭
15. Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X (Tom Swift Jr #17), by Victor Appleton II (audiobook) ✭✭½

Personal Category #3: Other Stuff

This category is mainly for magazines....

I subscribe to several, and I never read them as much as I should. So I’m giving them a category and hope that will shame me into doing a little better job of keeping up. I’ll probably just try to keep a list of articles read, since I seldom read a magazine cover to cover.

(Update: I sort of wiped out on this category. I did read some magazine articles over the course of the year, but obviously did a terrible job of keeping track.)

And I think that’s it! (That’s enough, right?) So, let the challenge begin….

And Happy Reading, everyone!

Happy Reading to you too! I love your bookplates! I'm a mystery fanatic too--looking forward to seeing what you read in 2021.

Happy reading! And having fun is the reason I do this - no point in "having" to read - that was college.

Nice setup! I too am looking forward to getting rid of 2020. (Haha! I just typed 2021! I must REALLY want time to pass :D)

I'm finding I have fewer books earmarked for 2021 than I did for 2020. My categories are the same as always, and of course I have the challenge prompts, but I have fewer ideas of specific books to read. It will be interesting to see what I end up reading.

Nice pictures. Good luck with your categories.

Great pictures! Hope the setup works well for you.

Enjoy your 2021 reading year.

Have fun reading in 2021.

Hope you have a great year of reading!

Good luck with your 2021 reading.

Have a lovely reading year!

Wishing you a wonderful year of reading in 2021!

>13 NinieB:, >14 markon:, >15 rabbitprincess:, >16 hailelib:, >17 majkia:, >18 DeltaQueen50:, >19 VivienneR:, >20 thornton37814:, >21 Tess_W:, >22 MissWatson:, >23 lkernagh: Thanks, everyone, for the encouraging words. Hope we all have lots of wonderful reading in 2021. Happy New Year!

1. Nemesis (Miss Marple #11 or #12), by Agatha Christie



Finished reading: January 17, 2021
Rating: ✭✭✭½

In this next-to-last Miss Marple novel by Agatha Christie, Jane Marple receives a posthumous request from recently-deceased millionaire Jason Rafiel to investigate a mystery. If she accepts the job and solves the mystery, she'll receive a legacy of £20,000. Problem is, Mr. Rafiel doesn't leave any information about the mystery — no clues, no suspect or suspects, no advice about where to start. All she knows is that he wants her to go on a coach tour of English gardens and country houses, which he has arranged and paid for. Now in her eighties, Miss Marple is a bit reluctant at first, but ultimately can't resist the intriguing challenge.

This was a fun read and a good book to start the year with. It would have been a four-star read if there hadn't been so much repetition throughout the book. It seemed like every few pages, we'd get another summary of the story so far, or recap of the assignment Miss Marple was working on. That got very tedious very quickly. But any Miss Marple is better than no Miss Marple, and I'm very sad to realize that I've almost finished the series! Guess I'll have to start over from the beginning.

2. 1066 And All That: A Memorable History of England, by W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman, illus. by John Reynolds



Read: January 27, 2021
Rating: ✭✭✭✭½

First published in 1930, in Punch, this is laugh-out-loud inspired British silliness. I've had it on my TBR pile for decades now, and finally pulled it out to read for this year's RandomCAT January category (Laughter). A lot of it reminded me just a bit of those crazy monologues Ronnie Corbett used to do on The Two Ronnies TV show.

A few samples:

"Canute had two sons, Halfacanute and Partacanute, and two other offspring, Rathacanute and Hardlicanute, whom, however, he would never acknowledge, denying to the last that he was their Fathacanute."

"Robin Hood was a miraculous shot with the longbow and it is said that he could split a hare at 400 paces and a Sheriff at 800."

"There was also in Queen Victoria's reign a famous inventor and poet called Oscar Wilde who wrote very well but behaved rather beardsley; he made himself memorable by inventing Art, Asceticism, etc., and was the leader of a set of disgusting old gentlemen called 'the naughty nineties.' "

>26 jlshall: I adore 1066 and All That. Several phrases have become in-jokes with my family and friends. And it's my lifelong ambition to die of "a surfeit", lol.

Laughing out loud here at: "Oscar Wilde who wrote very well but behaved rather beardsley;"

P.S. "For sausage read hostage."

>27 spiralsheep: I loved it too, and sort of wish it had been a much longer book! I started out reading "the funniest bits" to my husband, and ended up reading him almost the whole thing. Definitely just what I needed to start off the new year.

Count me in as another fan of 1066 and All That! Every so often I still think to myself, "What is a Plantagenet? Do you agree?"

JANUARY Reads

+++

1. 1066 And All That, by W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman, illus. by John Reynolds ✭✭✭✭
2. Nemesis (Miss Marple #11), by Agatha Christie ✭✭✭½
3. Jerusalem Inn (Richard Jury #5), by Martha Grimes ✭✭½
4. Suspicious Death (Inspector Thanet #8), by Dorothy Simpson ✭✭✭½

FEBRUARY Reads

+

1. Bryant & May: Oranges and Lemons (Peculiar Crimes Unit #17), by Christopher Fowler ✭✭✭✭½
2. The Clue of the Tapping Heels (Nancy Drew #16), by Carolyn Keene ✭✭✭

After getting my reading year off to a pretty good start in January, I had a real falling off in February. Winter doldrums and lots of medical/dental adventures interfered with my bookish activities. The Bryant and May book is definitely one of my favorites this year; the Nancy Drew was enjoyable, but not as good as some of the earlier books in the series.

MARCH Reads

++++

1. Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House #1), by Mary Pope Osborne; illus. by Sal Murdocca ✭✭✭✭
2. Faithful Unto Death (Chief Inspector Barnaby #5), by Caroline Graham ✭✭✭
3. A Guilty Thing Surprised (Inspector Wexford #5), by Ruth Rendell ✭✭✭✭
4. Planting a Rainbow, by Lois Ehlert (illus. by author) ✭✭✭
5. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Steig (illus. by author) ✭✭✭✭

March was obviously a good month for comfort reading -- whodunnits and kiddie lit.

APRIL Reads

++++

1. The Clue in the Crumbling Wall (Nancy Drew #22), by Carolyn Keene ✭✭✭½
2. The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland, by Angela Youngman ✭✭✭
3. An Extravagant Death (Charles Lenox Mysteries #14), by Charles Finch ✭✭✭½
4. My San Antonio Childhood: A Memoir, by Michael L. Hall ✭✭✭✭✭
5. The Postscript Murders (Harbinder Kaur #2), by Elly Griffiths ✭✭✭✭½

MAY Reads

+++++

1. The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, by Dr. Seuss (illus. by author) ✭✭✭✭
2. A Body at the Tea Rooms (Kate Palmer Mystery #3), by Dee MacDonald ✭✭✭½
3. Life in Miniature: A History of Dolls' Houses, by Nicola Lisle ✭✭✭½
4. The Lost Village, by Camilla Sten; trans. by Alexandra Fleming ✭✭✭✭
5. A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers, by Nancy Willard; illus. by Alice & Martin Provensen ✭✭✭
6. Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, by Dr. Seuss (illus. by author) ✭✭✭✭

JUNE Reads

+++++

1. Dead Dead Girls, by Nekesa Afia ✭✭½
2. Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot #17), by Agatha Christie ✭✭✭✭½
3. Castle Shade (Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes #17), by Laurie R. King ✭✭½
4. Killing in a Koi Pond (Murder, She Wrote #53), by "Jessica Fletcher" and Terrie Farley Moran ✭✭½ (no touchstone for this one yet)
5. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak ✭✭½
6. Smilla's Sense of Snow, by Peter Høeg (reading now)

JULY Reads

+++++

.

1. Franklin Endicott and the Third Key (Deckawoo Drive #6), by Kate DiCamillo; illus. by Chris Van Dusen ✭✭✭✭½
2. The Funny Little Woman, retold by Arlene Mosel; illus. by Blair Lent ✭✭½
3. The Hollywood Spy (Maggie Hope #10), by Susan Elia MacNeal ✭✭✭
4. Outside Over There, by Maurice Sendak; illus. by author ✭✭✭
5. The Religious Body (Inspector Sloan #1), by Catherine Aird ✭✭✭✭½
6. Summer, by Edith Wharton ✭✭✭✭

AUGUST Reads

++

.

1. Wolf Lake (Dave Gurney #5), by John Verdon ✭✭✭½
2. Jumanji, Chris Van Allsburg; illus. by author ✭✭✭✭
3. The Victim in Victoria Station (Dorothy Martin Mystery #5), by Jeanne M. Dams ✭✭✭

SEPTEMBER Reads

......

1. Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X (Tom Swift Jr #17), by Victor Appleton II (audiobook) ✭✭½
2. The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein (illus. by author) ✭✭½
3. The Return of the Pharaoh: From the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. (Holmes Pastiche #5), by Nicholas Meyer ✭✭✭✭½
4. Five Little Pigs (Hercule Poirot #25, by Agatha Christie ✭✭✭✭
5. Palm Springs Noir, ed. by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett (various authors) ✭✭✭✭½
6. Our Lady of Darkness, by Fritz Leiber ✭✭✭
7. John Prine Beyond Words, by John Prine ✭✭✭✭½

OCTOBER Reads

+

1. Oh William!, by Elizabeth Strout ✭✭✭½
2. The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories, by Algernon Blackwood ✭✭✭

NOVEMBER Reads

..

1. Bloodless (Pendergast #20), by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child ✭✭✭✭
2. Plot It Yourself (Nero Wolfe #32), by Rex Stout ✭✭✭✭
3. Zathura (Jumanji #2), by Chris Van Allsburg (illus. by author) ✭✭✭✭

DECEMBER Reads

..

1. Queen of the Falls, by Chris Van Allsburg (illus. by author) ✭✭✭
2. Capote's Women, by Laurence Leamer ✭✭✭
3. The Golden Spiders (Nero Wolfe #22), by Rex Stout ✭✭✭✭