Color Coded 22

  Another straightforward challenge that involves picking books based on either their title or the cover.  It is hosted by Bev on MyReadersBlock blog.  

For a full list of challenges I found for 2022 see this blog entry.

Challenge Completed 2/18/22

1. Read book with "Blue" (or a shade of blue):   

• Murder of a Sweet Old Lady by Denise Swanson
• Blog Post and Goodreads Review 2/4/22

2.  Read a book with "Red" (or a shade of red):

• Dachshund Through the Snow (A Very Murder Christmas #1) by Rosie A Point
• Blog Post and Goodreads Review 1/6/22

3. Read a book with "Yellow" (or a shade of yellow): 

Death by the Sea by Kathleen Bridge

Blog Post and Goodreads Review 2/17/22

4.Read a book with "Green" (or a shade of green):

• Matchmaking Can Be Murder ( Amish Matchmaker #1) by Amanda Flower
• Blog Post and Goodreads Review 2/11/22

5 . Read a book with "Brown" (or a shade of brown):

• Guidebook to Murder (Tourist Trap Mystery #1) by Lynn Cahoon
• Blog Post and Goodreads Review 2/1/22

6.  Read a book with "Black" (or a shade of black):

• One Poison Pie (Kitchen Witch #1)  by Lynn Cahoon
• Blog Post and Goodreads Review 2/11/22

7.  Read a book with "White" (or a shade of white):

• Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
• Blog Post and Goodreads Review 2/16/22

8   Read a book with any other color:

• People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
• Blog Post and Goodreads Review  2/3/22

9.Read a book a word/image that implies color (rainbow, polka dot, etc)

•     Mango, Mambo, and Murder (A Caribbean Kitchen Mystery, #1) by Raquel Reyes
• Blog Post and Goodreads Review 1/2/22

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Rating  :  3 1/2 Stars 

This is the first time I have read the original Poirot tome by Agatha Christie.  When I was younger I read several of her works, but they were all Miss Marple mysteries.  This is the 2nd Poirot novel I read, the first being Murder on the Orient Express last year.  Again I found myself visualizing the actor as I read about Poirot but I think it makes it that much easier to become absorbed in the mystery.  

I definitely enjoyed this locked room mystery set in the English countryside.   I found it difficult to initially get involved in the story with Mr. Hastings as the narrator talking about Hercule Poirot in the 3sd person but as the story progressed it was a more natural flow to me.  

There were definitely many twists and turns to the solution to the mystery.   I appreciate how Poirot provides a recap at the end explaining the rational behind his conclusions and why he behaved as he did in certain situations.   

My only real frustration with the story was the decision to alternate between referring to the female characters by their first names and their surnames.  I found this created a difficult task in  keeping the 5 female characters sorted. This is the main reason I did not give the story a 4 star rating.

 All in all I am glad I went back and read the first Agatha Christie mystery.  I plan to read several more of her works this year.  

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars 

My review is actually a 3 1/2 star for this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery and liked all the twists and turns the story took leading the solution to be difficult to predict before Poirot laid it out for the reader. It was definitely a locked room mystery at its finest by the queen of the genre. I enjoyed how the current events were intertwined into the story and it was easy to imagine the countryside and the estate at Styles. I didn't give it 4 stars because I found it difficult to keep all the female characters straight for some reason. I felt as though their names were a bit too similar and the fact that sometimes they were referred to by first name and interchanges with surnames made it more difficult to sort who was who in the story. All in all I am glad I went back and read the first Poirot novel. 

View all my reviews

 

Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book # 1
2. Literary Escapes  #LiteraryEscapes UK/ England
3. AtoZ   #2021AtoZReadingChallenge  "M"
4. Alphabet Soup #AlphabetSoupChallenge    "M"
5. Alphabet Soup Author Edition #AlphabetSoupAuthorChallenge  "A"/ "C"
6. Color Coded yellow
7. Beat the Backlist #BTB2021  #19 character lets out a breath they didn’t realize they were holding
8. 2021TBR  #2021ReadingChallenge #11 first in a book series
9. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2021   Book #1
10. Back List Reader  #Backlistreader  Book #2
11. Calendar of Crime  #CalendarOfCrime2021   July #3 Main action occurs during this month
12. Cozy Mysteries   #6 mentioned in another book 
13. Cruisin thru Cozies  historical #1
14. Cloak & Dagger  #CloakDaggerChal  Book #2
15. Craving for Cozies  Book #2
16. Historic Fiction  #histficreadingchallenge   Book #1
17. PopSugar #popsugarreadingchallenge #13 A locked-room mystery
18. Around the Year in 52 Books #10 A book with a female villain or criminal
19. 52 Book Club  #the52bookclub2021  #15 A Book Mentioned In Another Book
20. The Unofficial Magnus Archives Challenge  #TMARC21  #23 Hunter: involves a MacGuffin
21. BooklistQueen   #47  Debut Novel of Famous Author 
22. NJM Book Challenge  #NJMBookChallenge2021  #4 set during a historic event
23. While I was Reading  # 12  A debut novel
24. Nerd Daily #NERDREADING2021 #48. FIVE WORD TITLE
25. Bookworm  #30 Read a book that has had at least three different covers
26. Magic in the Books 
• Book 2 #2 The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie 
• Blog Post and Good Reads Review 1/5/21
27. Spells and Spaceships Debut Badge: Author's debut novel
28. Pick your Poison # 22-1 A book set in your grandparents' era 
29. Bloggers Bookshelf #bloggersbookshelf #8 a multigenerational story
30. Backpacking Bookworm  #bbReadingChallenge2021 
31. Medical Examiner Challenge  1 Toe Tag- Poison
32. Beachcomber Challenge  
• Crime Scenes 
• Row 5  Bedroom
• Weapons
• Row 5  Medicine or drugs
• Detectives- Hastings/Poirot
• Victims- Emily Inglethorp
33. Six Shooter Challenge  Target #9  Shot #2
34. 52 books in 52 weeks  Row#2-2  different century 
35. Agatha Christie  Book # 1
36. Unruly Reader Bingo  Rabbit Hole- inspired to read more AC books

Color Coded Challenge

 Another straightforward challenge that involves picking books based on either their title or the cover.  It is hosted by Bev on MyReadersBlock blog.  

CHALLENGE COMPLETE 3/19/21

1.√ Read book with "Blue" (or a shade of blue):   

• READ The Sinister Superyacht by Ana T. Drew  
• Blog Post and Good Reads Review  1/4/21

2. √  Read a book with "Red" (or a shade of red):

• READ Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
• Blog Post and Good Reads Review 1/15/21

3.√ Read a book with "Yellow" (or a shade of yellow):  

• READ The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie  
• Blog Post and Good Reads Review 1/5/21

4.√  Read a book with "Green" (or a shade of green):

•  READ: Forests, Fishing & Forgery by Tonya Kappes
• Blog Post and Good Reads Review 2/2/21

5 √ . Read a book with "Brown" (or a shade of brown):

• READ The Three Mrs. Wrights by Linda Keir
• Blog Post and Good Reads Review 1/29/21

6. √ Read a book with "Black" (or a shade of black):

• The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand

• Blog Post and Goodreads Review 2/27/21

7. √ Read a book with "White" (or a shade of white):

• READ South Pole Station by Ashley Shelby
• Blog Post and GoodReads Review 1/18/21

8. √  Read a book with any other color:

• READ Deserts, Driving, & Derelicts by Tonya Kappes
• Blog Post and Good Reads Review 1/26/21

9.√ Read a book a word/image that implies color (rainbow, polka dot, etc)

•     READ Death of an Irish Diva by Mollie Cox Bryan
• Blog Post and Goodreads Review 3/18/21

Novel Art of Murder

This 3rd installment of the VM Burns Mystery Bookshop series continues to be engaging reads.  This book finds Sam and the Senior Sleuthers investigating to clear one of their own again.  It is always enjoyable to read about their antics and see if I can solve the murder before Sam does.  This book gives us a look at more of Nona Jo's character and her stubbornness and tenacity.  The ladies continue to have fun adventures while trying to solve the crime.  This book is full of  people with secrets to keep and that keeps Sam and the ladies guessing as to who is behind the murder.  Secrets have a way of coming out in the end and they do here as well.  Sam's relationship with Frank continues to develop and you cannot help but root for them to stay together.

All in all an enjoyable book and I look forward to finish catching up on the series.


The Novel Art of Murder by V.M. Burns
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another fun installment in the Mystery Bookshop series. I am growing to feel as though I am part of Sam's family and friend group. This book finds Sam and her family dragged into yet another murder, this time a bit close to home. The comical relationships between Nona Jo and her friends are front and center in this book and there are plenty of surprises, not just related to the murder.

Overall a good cozy mystery and I always enjoy the mysteries about Lady Elizabeth and family as well.


View all my reviews

Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are: 

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge -  Book  #47
2. Cravings for a Cozy and Cloak and  Dagger #CloakDaggerChal : Book #36 
3. Cruising through cozies -  Free choice #8
4. Calendar of Crime-  #CalendarOfCrime2020  December #3 Primary action takes place in this month
5. Medical Examiner-  2 Toe Tag 
6. Six Shooter-  3rd shot for VM Burns
7. Mystery Bingo: 
   • Red Herring :  key copied
8. Book List Queen #5 by an author of color
9. Color Coded:  # 9 implies color-  "Art"

Furiously Happy is a fun read

While the underlying topic and message of the book is a very poignant one,  Jenny Lawson's stories in her memoir really make this book a joy to read.  She is quite frank and open in discussing how her depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses affect her life on a daily basis.  However, her funny stories really do make it an enjoyable read while still pointing out the struggles she and others experience in daily life. At times they are gut wrenching laugh out loud funny.    I appreciate she is doing her best to help take the stigma out of talking about mental illness and pointing out how it is not any different than having any other health ailment that afflicts our bodies.
Plus how can you not like a book with a smiling raccoon on the cover

I can highly recommend this book




Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny  Lawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is awesome. If you are looking for a book to make you laugh then I highly recommend this book. While the subject of mental illness can still be a hush hush topic among some circles, Jenny Lawson is doing her best to remove that stigma. Her stories are real and point out the struggles she and others like her go through with debilitating depression and anxiety but they are presented in a fun way that gets the message across without being melancholy. There were many times I was laughing out loud and reading funny excerpts to my husband. All in all this is a great book I can highly recommend. Plus who can't smile while looking at a smiling racoon.


View all my reviews

Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge -  Book #30
2. Literary Escapes-  TX
3. Popsugar- #popsugarreadingchallenge  #34 you picked up because the title caught your attention
4. Around the Year in 52 Books- #24 Book with an emotion in the title
5. 52 Books in 52 weeks  #29  An award-winning novel
6. 20 in 20:  #Read20in2020 #7 Book about mental health/dealing with mental illness 
7. Wizarding World Tour  
• Castelobruxo: Read a book with Gold on it
8. While I was Reading  #1 Book with an emotion in the title
9. Color Coded:  #3  Yellow
10. What's in a Name #2  An Antonym
11. Monthly Book Award-   #GXOAwardReadingChallenge  Audie award in 2016
12. Memoirs-  #1 Mental Illness
13. Beat the Backlist #BeatTheBacklist2020 #6

Mumbo Gumbo Murder New Orleans's style

This latest installment in Laura Child's scrapbooking series finds Carmela Bertrand and Ava looking to solve the murder of Carmela's friend Devon.  All the while, perturbing Carmela's fiance, Detective Edgar Babcock. The book is full of plenty of intrigue and New Orleans funk and flair.  It is always enjoyable to see what crazy antics the 2 friends find themselves embroiled in each time.  This book has everything from crafting to matchmaking and all sorts of other activities in between all while trying to solve the murder.  The story twists and turns around Carmela's life and we see how different coincidences and moments of chance help her to solve the mysteries.

I always love reading about the different crafts Carmela designs and the different relationships with the recurring characters.  We get quick glimpses of Shamus, the dogs, and his sister Glory.   Again we find ourselves at a house party in the Garden District and viewing parades in the French Quarter. The Memory Mine regulars pop in, including Gabby and Baby.

An enjoyable, light read with a surprise ending.  I only had a fleeting bit of suspicion as to who the guilty party was in the murder.  The underlying premise of the crime made for an interesting twist to the story.   Grab this book if you want to experience a little French Creole charm while trying to figure out whodunit.


Mumbo Gumbo Murder by Laura Childs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is always fun to read the Laura Childs' scrapbooking series. These books cover both my interests, mysteries and scrapbooking so they don't come out fast enough for my reading pleasure. This series is set in the French Quarter in New Orleans and as such has lots of the aspects one associates with the Big Easy. There are parades, fancy dining, and plenty of drinking in the book. There are nods to the city's links with the mystical and the dead as well as the antiques trade so prevalent there. The antiques business is at the center of this particular installment when Carmela Bertrand and her friend Ava stumble upon the body of their friend Devon in his antique shop while watching a parade as part of the city's legendary Jazz Fest. The story of their amateur sleuthing to solve Devon's murder is intertwined with stories of their everyday lives, including the scrapbook store, Memory Mine, Carmela owns. There are plenty of visits from ex-beaus as well as glimpses of her current relationship with fiance, Detective Edgar Babcock. All in all the story is well paced and enjoyable with enough suspense to keep the reader engaged. I recommend this book if you like cozy mysteries and fun quirky characters.


View all my reviews

Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge -  Book #25
2. Literary Escapes-  LA
3. Finishing the Series-  #FinishingTheSeries2020   New Orleans Scrapbooking Series #16
4. Cravings for a Cozy and Cloak and  Dagger #CloakDaggerChal : Book  #17
5. Cruising through cozies -  craft #2
6. Calendar of Crime-  #CalendarOfCrime2020  
7. Medical Examiner-  2 Toe Tag 
8. Six Shooter-  2nd shot for Laura Childs
9. Color Coded:  #4 Green
10. Wizarding World Tour  
• Castelobruxo: Green dust jacket; 
11. 52 Books in 52 weeks  #2 A Hardcover

Enjoyable visit to Narnia

I decided to reread C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for some January challenge prompts.  I last read this book when I was in elementary school.  The specific copy I read was originally a gift from my grandmother.  The most wonderful thing about that, is she always wrote a note in the front of any books she gave me.  So, I got to enjoy that momento as well as the book itself.


Here is my review on Goodreads.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Enjoyed revisiting a childhood favorite. I had taken a college course on children’s literature that discussed the correlation between the Narnia series and religion. I hadn’t read this installment in that context so this reread definitely allowed me to see those parallels. Beyond that the level of detail in the descriptions is amazing. The edition I read had some wonderful illustrations as well.

All in all enjoyed this reread


View all my reviews

Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:

1. Monthly Motif   #MonthlyMotifGXO   
• JANUARY-  Winter Wonderland  Narnia is definitively  a wondrous location.  The magical feel of the land comes alive and well in Lewis' descriptions.  
2. Color Coded:  #6-  Black cover
3. 20 in 20:  #Read20in2020 #13 An Illustrated Book
4. 52 Books in 52 weeks  #34 A book with illustrations
5. NJM #NJMBookChallenge2020  #14 a book with images:
6. Beat the Backlist #BeatTheBacklist2020  #10 Cover redesign is Better
7. Popsugar- #popsugarreadingchallenge  #19 Book with only words on the cover
8. Around the Year in 52 Books- #19  A fantasy book
9. 2020 TBR  #2020TBRReadingChallenge #21 a fantasy book
10. Wizarding World Tour 
• Castelbruxo- Read a book that contains a magical creature
11. Book List Queen #16  Reread a Childhood Favorite
12. Alphabet soup Author- #AlphabetSoupAuthorChallenge  "L"
13. TBR Book #9  #Backlistreader ; #MountTBR2020; #StartOnYourShelfathon

Garlic and Sapphires

Calling all foodies or wannabe foodies.  This is a fun memoir written by Ruth Reichl.  Ruth was the New York Times food critic for many years.   This book talks about her experiences starting with how she landed the position through her decision to leave the post.  It is a great behind the scenes look at what is involved in reviewing a restaurant.  There are many funny stories of her adventures dining at the restaurants as well as other aspects of her career.  She details the disguises/alter egos she used to fool restaurant staff and shares the actual reviews she wrote for the paper.  There are also some recipes included for those who would like to try there hand at some new dishes.

All in all I found this to be a fun book.  My only complaint was with the inclusion of the recipes in the Audiobook format.  They were difficult to skip through and would have been better served as an appendix in this format since it isn't really conducive to listen to a recipes rather than reading it.  All in all a great read by an author with lots of storytelling skills

Here's my link to my Goodreads review as well


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3133496645

Challenge Tracking

The book fulfills prompts for several challenges  I will decide as the year goes along which ones I use it for where it covers more than one prompt within a challenge.

1. Library Love-  Book 6
2. Alphabet soup Author- #AlphabetSoupAuthorChallenge " R"
3. AtoZ and Alphabet soup challenge #AlphabetSoupChallenge  "G"
4. Memoirs-  #4  Food Memoir
5. 20 in 20:  #Read20in2020 #8 a humor book
6. NJM #NJMBookChallenge2020  #2 a non fiction book
7. Color Coded:  #1  Blue cover
8. Booklist Queen  #13 makes you laugh
9. Literary Escapes- New York
10. 52 Books in 52 weeks #21 Written by a blogger or journalist
11. Wizarding World Tour 
    • Hogwarts:  a book with a gem in the title or on the cover
12. Popsugar- #popsugarreadingchallenge #38 book by or about a journalist
13. Around the Year in 52 Books- #15 A book set in a global city

A cozy little Jack O Lantern mystery

Over the weekend we were quite busy running to different sport activities.  I decided to take along a paperback cozy instead of the hardback copy of the Ninth House that I am reading.

I read my library copy of Death by Jack O'Lantern by Alexis Morgan.  This is the 2nd book in the Abby McCree series.  I enjoyed this one as much as the first one I read in 2019.  My review is linked below.

This meets the October #8 category for the Calendar of Crime challenge.  I have completed my 3rd cozy of the year for my Craving a Cozy challenge and my 4th Cloak and Dagger mystery.  I also submitted another toe tag for the Medical Examiner challenge.  I have also journeyed to Washington for the Literary Escape challenge with this story. 

Death by Jack-o'-Lantern by Alexis Morgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was the second book in the Abby McCree series set in Snowberry Creek,WA. The book was a typical mystery set around the Halloween season. There were the typical clues and false leads found in cozies. The relationship between Abby and her tenant, Tripp, continues to develop awkwardly. This book did have a bit of a thought provoking undertone about how veteran are often misunderstood and the sad realities of the suffering some of them experience due to their times on active duty. All in all an enjoyable book


View all my reviews

Challenge Tracking:

Be sure to check out my Challenge tracker tab at the top of the page to see how I am doing on my different challenges.

1. Library Love-  Book 5
2. TBR Book #5  #Backlistreader ; #MountTBR2020; #StartOnYourShelfathon
3. Alphabet soup Author- #AlphabetSoupAuthorChallenge  "A"
4. AtoZ and Alphabet soup challenge #AlphabetSoupChallenge "D"
5. Cravings for a Cozy and Cloak and  Dagger: Book 4 
6. Cruising through cozies -  Holiday Cozy 
7. Medical Examiner-  1 Toe Tag 
8. Mystery Bingo:  
• Red Herring :  Dog didn't bark
• Clues:  Rain storm
9. Color Coded:    #8  Other color-  Orange
10. Finishing the Series- Book #4 -the Abby McCree series as of Jan 2020
11. Literary Escapes-  Snowberry Creek, WA
12. Calendar of Crime-  October #8 month related item on cover- scarecrow
13. Beat the Backlist #15 author who writes multiple genres
14. Around the Year in 52 Books- #18 A book by an author you've only read once before
15. 52 books in 52 weeks-  #8  Orange on the cover 
16.  Popsugar- #popsugarreadingchallenge #12  passes the Bechdel test
17. NJM #NJMBookChallenge2020  #9 a book with a sassy heroine
18.   Wizarding World Tour  Uagadou-  Read a book that includes an animal

Color Coded Challenge

The next few challenges I wanted to post about are still pretty straightforward and not too overwhelming, but they do have a bit more specifics to them than just tracking how many you read of a certain type of book.

This post is about the Color Coded Challenge hosted by Bev at myreadersblock.  As the name implies you will read books that have a color meeting a category prompt. 

The Basic rules are as follows:

• The Color can either be named in the Title or be the dominant color on the cover.  
• Books must be read between Jan 1- Dec 31, 2020.
• You may signup for the challenge until Nov 1, 2020 and count any books you read after Jan 1.  
• Sign up link is here https://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2019/10/color-coded-read-it-again-sam-reading.html
• Cross over books used in other challenges is allowed.

Starting to sort the challenges

Right now I am trying to get myself all set up for the different challenges I want to try in 2020.  This means I have listed all the prompts to select books from into a separate tab for each challenge.  I have then brainstormed ideas and cross referenced where a book can count for more than 1 challenge.  I don't realistically see myself having the time to read unique books for each challenge although there are readers out there who want cross utilize a title for different challenges.  I think half the fun for me is the setup and the research and planning.

Some of these challenges require a monthly commitment whereas others are a less demanding approach.

My plans for this year are:

Popsugar Reading Challenge

Around the Year in 52 Books on Goodreads

52 books in 52 weeks on mommymannegren 

A to Z challenge on gingermomandcompany

A color based challenge on myreadersblock

Girlxoxo.com is hosting several that interested me.  They also have a listing of book challenges to reference.

•  A monthly book award challenge

• A monthly motif and

• A monthly keyword challenge

There are several challenges based on genre of the books.  I am using the prompts in the 52 week challenges to address many of these categories

• For my love of mysteries I found  Calendar of Crime on myreadersblock

• Memoir lovers can find a challenge on jannghi.blogspot.com

• Historical Non Fiction is being hosted over at hiberantors library 

Several of the challenges just involve a tally of how many books you finish falling into the category.

The two I want to track are:

Mount TBR on Goodreads- to track how many books you read that you already own physical or ebook.  You set a goal of how many on your list you want to tackle.  If you reach that mountain top you can scale something higher.

Like Mount TBR, Craving for a cozy is about tracking how many cozies you read.  I found this challenge on www.escapewithdollycas.com

Since I have bitten off so many challenges I decided it was only fitting that I join a challenge tracking how many challenges you are doing.   I found this at reading challenge addict.  

Stay tuned over the next few posts for descriptions of the individual challenges to see if you might be interested in joining in.