July AlphaKIT: E & T

Welcome to the 2022 AlphaKIT. This is an unofficial challenge for the 2022 Category Challenge Group. Each month has two letters selected for you to use however you choose.

There are no rules. Just have fun and enjoy reading. July letters are E and T



and

Please remember to update the wiki with your reading:
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2022_AlphaKIT#July:_-_Letters:_E_and_T

Got plenty!

✔Art of Theft
✔Big Trouble in Little Greektown
✔Bitter Roots by Ellen Crosby
Death Plans a Perfect Trip
Diva Serves High Tea
✔Hammer of Thor
Measure Twice, Murder Once
✔Murder Spills the Tea
✔Seven Threadly Sins
Three Debts Paid
✔Three More Months
Treacherous Tale

My Reading Group's choice for July is Marius' Mules III: Gallia Invicta by S. J. A. Turney.

I also have "In Exile" by Alexandra Turney (no relation as far as I know) for a twofer.

I'm going to be reading Escape Artist by Brad Meltzer for my 'E' book, and Love for Slaughter by Sara Tantlinger as my 'T' book.

I plan to read Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie and Jeeves and the Tie That Binds by P.G. Wodehouse.

I think I've decided on A Dangerous Talent by Charlotte Elkins and Live Bait by P.J. Tracy.

I am planning on reading The Horizontal Man by Helen Eustis and The Flight of the Phoenix by Elleston Trevor.

I hope to read Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler for the Shakespeare CAT which will do T for me.

I have The Enchantress of Florence and Elizabeth is missing for E.

July's Random KIT challenge is dog books, and I have several by Albert Payson Terhune, fit beautifully!

I ended up reading Calamity Town by Ellery Queen for a "cat trick" on this AlphaKit--both letters in one read.

I've just raced through my "T" book for this month - Live Bait by P.J. Tracy.

Also reading "Excellent Women" by Barbara Pym

I read Fruits Basket Vol. 1 by Natsuki Takaya.

Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner
City of Lies by Lian Tanner
Books 1 and 2 in the Lian Tanner's The Keepers series, which I am rereading.

I knocked out both letters with Eight Faces at Three by Craig Rice, a delightful mystery/screwball comedy.

Just finished Rebuilding Coventry by Sue Townsend.
Well known as the creator of Adrian Mole, Townsend writes quirky books of comic satire, and although this one wasn't my favourite (that would be The Queen and I) there were many darkly funny moments in this entertaining novel. The story tells of Coventry Dakin a woman who believes she has killed her neighbour's abusive husband with an Action Man figure and goes on the run, finding herself homeless in London. No one else writes like Townsend who has a remarkably clever sense of humour and can imperceptibly weave political and social comment into the story.

I just finished another T book, Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare.

Just read The Next Best Thing by Kristan Higgins -- a decent contemporary romance but not one I need keep, I think.

They Said This Would be Fun / Eternity Martis
3 stars

The author grew up in the diverse Canadian city of Toronto, but decided to move to the smaller city of London, Ontario for university. Unfortunately, London was not so diverse. As a woman of “mixed” race – her mother was Pakistani and her father (whom she did not have a relationship with) from the Caribbean – she stuck out and had a hard time at her new school. University was supposed to be fun – full of friends and parties. Though she did go to London with a friend, they grew apart during their time there. And Eternity had a number of toxic relationships, and was treated to many microaggressions and abuses.

As someone who went to university about 30 years ago, and even then, wasn’t “into” partying or drinking, I enjoyed her chapters about her family and relationships more than the partying/drinking/campus/student life. The book (though I listened to the audio) read sort of like essays. Obviously as a middle-aged white woman, I am not the target audience! Of course, Eternity brought in some stats to go along with her own experiences. I found the stats easier to swallow, and of course, she went through what she went through, but I questioned some of her generalizations about white people; many of the “stereotypes” or generalizations (about white or black people) she mentioned were things I had never heard of. That’s not to say they aren’t stereotypes, but if they are, I hadn’t heard of (many of) them before.

I feel badly for this kind of review. I hate to criticize, as I know she wrote what she did experience. Am I being a “defensive” white person? I’d like to think not, but I don’t know. The author read the audio herself and did a fine job.

Read Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler (for T).

T seems to be the letter for me this month! Just read Bryony and Roses by T. Kingfisher, a delightful Beauty and the Beast retelling.

I've read and thoroughly enjoyed Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

>23 staci426: Oooh! That's been sitting on my bookshelf for a couple of years now. Time to bump it up in my stacks!

COMPLETED In Exile by Alexandra Turney

Starting "The Engines of God" by Jack McDevitt

For E I read Every City is Every Other City by John McFetridge

Gordon Stewart is a location scout in the movie business and in his spare time a private detective for security company OBC. When he visits any location - the interior of a house, a city, a street - he imagines the movie where might be used. His boss asked him to investigate her missing uncle suspected of going off to commit suicide and he reluctantly accepted the assignment. He followed the man to various locations in Canada, which accommodated his other job nicely. I loved the descriptions of places, some familiar to me, as well as the entertainment and pop culture references, helped along by his girlfriend Ethel, a struggling actress. The profusion of quips could make this one of the most quotable novels I've read. The title is cleverly explained by the current movie, set in the US and filmed in Sudbury, Ontario. Gordon is a likeable guy and Ethel is a smart perceptive woman, a perfect pairing. The mystery part of the story was minor and only provided framework for the rest of the story, which was fine by me, I enjoyed it a lot and hope McFetridge writes more featuring Gordon Stewart.

August (!!) thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/342885

I just finished A Dangerous Talent by Charlotte Elkins.

Starting Silence (by Shūsaku Endō) this weekend. It's only about 200 pages, but I suspect it's not a book to whip through!

I have completed both my AlphaKit reads for July with The Horizontal Man by Helen Eustis, and Flight of the Phoenix by Elleston Trevor.

I just finished Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie, which works for both letters.

Just finished Silence (by Shūsaku Endō) for the letter, “E” and; am now looking to tackle my first Georgette Heyer, These Old Shades for the letter, “T”!

Finished The White Tiger for T.

Finished The Escape Artist by Brad Meltzer. It was a great thriller, though it didn't for me live up to Meltzer's other works.

Read The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles for (T)

I just finished These Old Shades (Alastair-Audley #1; by Georgette Heyer) for the letter, “T” :-)

COMPLETED The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt

Starting The Majesties by Tiffany Tsao

COMPLETED The Majesties by Tiffany Tsao

I read Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth which meets the E criteria.

Starting The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths.

COMPLETED The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths.

Starting the same author's Smoke and Mirrors

Just finished Dying to Tell by Robert Goddard for T.

How to Pronounce Knife / Souvankham Thammavongsa
3.5 stars

This is a book of short stories. She is a Lao-Canadian author, so the stories focus on Lao immigrants’ experiences.

I enjoyed the stories as I read them, so I’m giving this a “good” rating, but like with the majority of short stories I read, I forget them. Even by the end of the (short) book, I have forgotten most of the stories. I give plenty of short story collections an “ok” rating, since I usually find they vary – I like some, but not others – but these (even listening on audio) were almost all ones I liked. I’m not sure if the author meant to set the stories in Canada or the US. I initially assumed Canada, since she is Canadian, but one of the stories referred to all the money being green, so that would be the US. I guess it doesn’t matter, overall.

Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology / Leah Remini
4 stars

Leah Remini is an actress, mostly known (I think – at least by me!) for her role as Carrie on “The King of Queens”, which ran for 9 years in the late ‘90s into the 2000s. The bulk of this book, however, focuses on her 35 years as part of the Scientology community before she left the church.

When Leah was a child, her mother’s boyfriend was a Scientologist, so her mom, sister, and Leah all became very involved in the church. Leah always knew she wanted to act and when she was 18, she got her first tv role. In Scientology, celebrities are highly regarded, as they can bring good PR to the church and recruit more people. It was, in particular, after Leah met Tom Cruise, though they initially got along well, that things took a turn when Leah started questioning things.

I don’t read many celebrity biographies/memoirs, but I wanted to read this one after reading another book about someone (a non-celebrity) who escaped Scientology, so that was my initial interest. Leah’s career brought her in contact with other celebrity Scientologists and so the two topics are entwined. I did find some of her stories of her acting and tv life interesting, as well. It was frustrating, angering, and sad for Leah (and the reader) as she learned of more and more transgressions of higher authorities in the church. She never did find out where the wife of the leader disappeared to after years of hearing nothing from a woman Leah had considered a friend (and it appears that is still unknown). There are photos included from when she was little to not long before the book was published.

I just reread Connie Willis's ever-delightful To Say Nothing of the Dog.

I got in another T with This Will Not Pass.

COMPLETED Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths

Started The Adventures of Roderick Random by Tobias Smollett.

Another T book: Twice Shy by Sarah Hogle, a fun but uneven contemporary romance.

Finished Love for Slaughter by Sara Tantlinger. I love sinking into poetry collections, and there were aspects of this one which I enjoyed, but it left me somewhat underwhelmed. Full review written.

My E & T books this month:
E
--The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot (1860)
--The Absentee, Maria Edgeworth (1812)

T
--The Warden, Anthony Trollope (1855)
--Typical American, Gish Jen (1991)
--Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love, Haruki Murakami (2021)--a fun little book about Murakami's T-shirt collection

Starting "Battles at Thrush Green" by Miss Read

I just finished Ladies of the House by Lauren Edmondson, a contemporary retelling of Sense and Sensibility.

COMPLETED Battles at Thrush Green by Miss Read

I finished A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters for both E & T.

Well, technically I met this challenge, but I don't usually count prepositions.
For I
Lessons in Chemistry

For T
Going There

The Virgin Queen's Daughter / Ella March Chase
3 stars

Although Nell’s mother was once at court, she has kept Nell from going. But when Nell meets Queen Elizabeth, she is intrigued and vows to go when she’s old enough. And she does. But after she is there, things become dangerous.

Ok, not a great summary. I listened to the audio and did lose interest a number of times. Unfortunately, for some reason, although historical fiction used to be one of my favourite genres, it doesn’t always grab me like it used to. Also, Elizabeth has never been my favourite historical person to read about. I’m not sure what it is (or isn’t) about her, but books abour her don’t usually catch my interest for long. I’m rating it 3 stars (ok), but I feel a bit like I’m rating it higher than I should.

Finished One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters, another for both E & T.

I finished one more T book yesterday, One Thing Leads to a Lover by Susanna Craig. A fun, light Regency romance.

Finished 2 Es and 1 more T:
The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope by Rhonda Riley, 5*
Indistractible by Nir Eyal, 3*
Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai, 4.5*

>55 beebeereads: OOPS!!! Just realized I had the letter wrong. No E for me this month unless I count The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du bois Fabulous book...highly recommend.