ABC - Read the Alphabet Challenge discussion

I just found this group on shelfari a bit too late, so am starting from scratch here. I am going to put the alphabet here & edit as I read.

Alphabet titles

A
B
C
D - Dog on It by Spencer Quinn
E - Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
F - Faulty Predictions by Karin Lin-Greenberg
G
H - Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
I
J - Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life by CS Lewis
K Probability for Kids by Scott A Chamberlin 2 stars
L - La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith
M - Morning Glory by Sarah Jio 4.5 stars rounded to 4
N
O
P - Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Q - Queen Lucia
R - Room by Emma Donoghue ☆☆☆☆
S
T
U
V
W by Marissa Meyer
X
Y
Z

So now I've seen how to post a book's cover rather than the link. Cool!

Alphabet authors:


A
B
C
D - Mariana by Monica Dickens
E
F
G - Into the Shadows by Harriet Parke and Glenn Beck
H
I
J - England, England by Julian Barnes
K
L
M - Fairest by Marissa Meyer
N
O - A Prayer for Owen Meany
P
Q - Paw and Order by Spencer Quinn
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y - II Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
Z

Paw and Order by Spencer Quinn
★★★.5

Chet and Bernie head to Washington, DC because Bernie is interested in seeing his girlfriend, Suzie Sanchez. Chet doesn’t mind, he likes Suzie and besides, she keeps snacks for him in her car. However, Chet soon finds out that all is not well when they get there. One of Suzie’s sources is murdered and this strange bird with no eyes that no one else notices keeps coming by. When he’s not distracted by thought of food, the scents of members of the nation within a nation (aka dogs) and other doggie things, Chet is tuned into what the humans around him are saying and doing, even if he doesn’t always quite understand what they mean.

I read this because my teen son chose it for me for a holiday gift. To be honest, I expected absolutely nothing from this book, since it’s not something I would normally pick up. However, it did give me some laughs. The story is nothing brilliant, but Quinn does a nice job of writing from the POV of a dog, and if not totally believable, it was doggie enough to be quite fun. I may add this series to my roster of light, funny books to read when I want to give my brain a rest.

Morning Glory by Sarah Jio
★★★★.5 f

Penny is a newlywed in the 1950s, married to the famous artist Dexter Wentworth living in a houseboat in Washington State; Ada is a young widow grieving her husband and daughter about 50 years later who moves from New York City to that same houseboat to help move on with her life away from the pitiful, caring looks of those she knew. As she begins to find that life can still hold some happiness for her, Ada finds an old chest of Penny’s, and learns that there are secrets kept by the longtime residents of Boat Street.

Both Penny and Ada were characters I cared about and hoped the best for. The writing is strong and the two tales are woven together well and with good pacing. The book kept me up past my bedtime. While these are all strong signs, I didn’t love it so much that it was a five star read.

Agenda 21: Into the Shadows by Harriet Parker and Glenn Beck
★★★.5 rounded up to 4
Emmaline and David made it out of the oppressive compound at the end of the first book, having rescued Emmaline’s baby, Elsa and a young boy named Micah. On the lam, hungry, they need to find a way to survive as they run from the authorities. David’s parents, John and Joan, manage to escape early in this book and even though they don’t know where David and Emmaline went, they have a good idea, so deliberately try to leave clues to distract those in pursuit of them. Steven is the Earth Protector in charge of the manhunt, nasty and angry for being forced out to do this one more time since he’s become used to his now easy life.
This sequel was almost as good as the first one was, and I suspect that part of the problem for me was that it’s been too long since I’d read it so had forgotten a few people and events. As with all dystopian novels, the situation created is on the extreme side, but it’s not as unbelievable of a scenario as are some fictional dystopias. I hope there is another book, because I really would like to see what happens next.

Mariana by Monica Dickens

3 stars

Mary Shannon has gone away to brood while her husband is at war in WW II. During a storm she hears on the radio that her husband's ship has gone down; frantically, she tries to telephone to get news, but her line is down. During the long night, she remembers her life from about age 8, and it is part coming of age and part becoming her own person. This is the second novel by Monica Dickens, the great- granddaughter of Charles Dickens, and she said that it was semi-autobiographical.

Part of this book gripped me more than others. I did root for Mary, even if she was often self-centered; I think that is a natural part of most children's development, and if she didn't get out of it as early as many of us think she should have, just look around at how many self-centred teens and early twenties people there are today.

As far as women authors went, Monica Dickens was only outsold at that time by Daphne du Maurier, however, her work hasn't remained as popular over time. I haven't read du Maurier for years, so can't give a good comparison as to why, but I do think it's a shame she's so little known now. I didn't love this book, although I suspect that when I was younger I'd have liked it more.

Faulty Predictions by Karin Lin-Greenberg
★★.5

This is a group of short stories set in the US, and the title of the book is also the title of one of the stories. And, to be fair to this review, it’s hard to win high points from me in a collection of short stories since in fiction I am first and foremost a novel reader. If I were to rate the stories individually, the stories themselves would get between 1 and 5 stars, but for the overall book 2 ½ stars. There were more 1 and 2 star stories than 4 and 5.

On part of the jacket is written, “Lin-Greenberg provides insight into the human condition across a varied cross section of geography, age, and culture.” I’d say yes, but biased. At times the insights were quite excellent, particularly when dealing with things I suspect are closer to Lin-Greenberg’s own experiences, but one of the reasons I’ve given this two stars through all of it there is a clear bias toward liberals tending to be kinder and more giving and conservatives selfish and bigoted. Perhaps because I don’t ascribe to any set political group and therefore have a different bias, I’ve seen all four of those traits across the board, although not necessarily in all people. I suspect Lin-Greenberg has as well, but these are the characters she has chosen to write.

If you are a fan of literary short fiction, you may well like this book more than I did. To be honest, I chose it for a reading challenge that included reading a book by an author who shares my first name. Since I am neither a fan of thrillers (Karin Slaughter, who may be an excellent writer, but that’s not my cup of tea) nor romance novels (I found more than one of those) and Lin-Greenberg is the first I found where I thought I might find a closer match.

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban

There is no question that both before and after she was shot, Malala Yousafzai was a courageous young girl who stood up for what she believed, allowed to do this by her supportive family. This book centres on Malala's life with her family and in her quest not only to become educated herself, but that all girls be educated. Much like Susan B. Anthony, she grew up in a home where the value and opinions of women was valued above society; in this case in a society that, under the fear of the rising terrorism my the Taliban, was moving back in a direction where women would have no value other than as the property of the men controlling their lives.

The story told is generally known, so I won't sum it up here. I was greatly disappointed by the quality of writing; Malala, based on her speaking abilities and grades, is obviously a bright young girl when this was happening. Urdi is her first language, and naturally when this book was being written she was still fairly new in the English speaking world. It's one thing to study English in your home country, but it's an entirely different kettle of fish to suddenly find yourself surrounded by it and to work on becoming fluent while recovering from severe injuries. However, she didn't write it alone. Speeches and books aren't written the exact same way. I felt the writing could have lived more, shown more of the depth of Malala. It was helpful that she was showing that she has normal fears and weaknesses common to youth and even adults, but I never felt it, just read the words about it. Even for a young adult novel I felt we were only scratching the surface and the book felt almost pedantic at times.

This is rather sad, because this story is one of many important stories that join together in a chorus calling for help for women in girls throughout the world. It helps open up a window into what it's like living through a terrorist war, but the writing missed the mark time after time.

I hope that someday as Malala matures, she will write something on her own, perhaps, that will help us understand better. Not everyone is a writer, of course, but I think in this case she was just too young when this was written to write it.

★★★

In this prequel to the Cinder series we follow Levana from the age of fifteen for a number of years, learning her backstory. Some of it we know from other books, but in case you are new to the Cinder series, there’s not really much I can tell you without spoiling those books, especially the first one. Suffice to say that it starts with the death of her parents and her older sister’s ascent to the throne of Luna.

Although I took out both the book and the audiobook from the library, I ended up listening to the entire thing. The audiobook performer does a great job of capturing Levana, but there is nothing likable about this twisted woman (that is not really a spoiler, since the is the chief antagonist throughout the Cinder series), despite the feelings and trepidations she may have. I liked this, but didn’t love it. It’s not required reading for the series, and I strongly recommend that you wait and read it after you read Cinder and Scarlet at the very least. I’m glad I read it after I read Winter, but given that there is a preview of Winter in it, you can read it either before or after; either way you’re going to know at least something about the last book you read

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
★★★

This novel of sorrow and humour, isn't just the story of Owen Meany, but also of his best friend, John Wheelwright who narrates it. The book starts when they are eleven and in the first chapter Owen accidentally kills John's mother, although they are able to remain friends. It then covers many parts of the next 35 or so years in John's life.

Owen is unique. He is tiny, has a highly unusual voice and is extremely bright. He also, for much of the book, evidently knows the date of his death and what he's doing (this is not a spoiler). He has a driving faith that there is a Christian God, but he's neither pious nor zealous for the religious life. Much of this novel covers the events surrounding this vision of Owen's, but also how he and John both navigate the trials of youth and education, the pitfalls and joys of love, and how Owen helps John find out who he is and what he's good at. It is also, regretfully, rather political in the later parts, and I was not interested in hearing about Ronald Reagan and other issues of the time when this novel was being written.

The writing is strong, and Irving does an excellent job of filling out his characters. I liked this somewhat better than the only other book of his I've read, The World According to Garp, but I certainly didn't love it.

Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
★★★

Chet and Bernie are Private Investigators, or at least Bernie is, and Chet is the K-Nine school failure who almost passed but for one small glitch, and this is the first book in the Chet and Bernie Mysteries. Bernie is hired to find a missing girl who was missing, found and then missing again. We meet Suzie Sanchez, a reporter doing a story, who sticks around once the story is done, and it turns out this was for the best, for everyone concerned. As Chet and Bernie do their work, Chet has some adventures on his own, although not of his own choosing.

This is the second book I’ve read in this series; I first read the seventh book when my youngest teen gave it to me for Christmas. How could I not read a book from my son who worked so hard to find a gift he’d thought I’d like, even though he doesn’t really know my reading tastes, and who I would like to see read more. I have to say that I liked the seventh one a bit better, and laughed out loud. It may well be because the writing improves over time. It might also be the nature of the mystery; as a mother it’s harder to laugh in a book where it’s a missing teen at stake. It could be that it’s one of those “funny the first time but then the novelty wears off” for me type series as well. The only way I’ll know for sure is if I read one more.

If you like cozy mysteries, dogs and humour, then this is a series for you. Three stars means I liked it, but then I am not a big reader of mysteries (I read a few) and rarely read a book with a dog as the protagonist.

La’s Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith
★★★★

La (Lavender) goes to Oxford with no intention of being married before her late 20s, but ends up romanced, in love, married and then abandoned by her husband. Her inlaws, displeased with their son’s actions, kind and honest people, give her their summer cottage as a home and promise to take care of her after the divorce. She is living there when World War II breaks out. At that time she volunteers to help, and so ends up with two jobs. The official one is to help an arthritic farmer take care of his chickens and collect the eggs. The second one is to organize and conduct an orchestra which can only rehearse once per month.

This is a stand-alone, historical fiction novel by McCall Smith, and one I tend to like better than I think I will during parts of it where I might not be happy with what he’s doing with La’s life or something else. There is something endearing about La and the other characters in this novel, which, although the bulk of it is during WW II, spans a good thirty years or so. I think that one of the reviews on the back or the novel that has a sentence that fits, “A fresh and unforgettable story about the power of human kindness.” From the Booklist starred review, and, as the reviewer from The Scotsman wrote, “An excellent re-creation of a woman of her time.”

I recommend this novel.