You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Please report your challenge books completed during the toppler here. Remember, you need to start and finish your book within the timeframe of the toppler. Also, please let us know what challenge you were reading for and what you thought of the book. (Just a quick sentence or two and no spoilers.) Were you able to finish up a challenge?

I finished for the December Toppler: Holiday Challenge Christmas Tree in which a tree had to be on the cover.
This book was charming and whimsical and filled with the best kind of magic - love.

I finished reading A Journey To The New World for YLTO's year-long challenge. It was a quick story told in a diary format. I learned a lot about what it was like traveling on the Mayflower, and the difficulties of starting a new community from scratch.

Thanks for the boost to finish the challenge, Kristie.

Finished Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan for Candy Cane Challenge

This is a wonderful story about a twelve-year-old girl in New York City who grows up to work in the Naval Shipyard during WWII and ultimately become the first female diver. I truly enjoyed every moment I spent reading this book and would give it 4.5 stars.

I've finished Edgedancer.

I loved this. It is a glimpse into the life of Lyft, a little known character from The Stormlight Archives. Lyft is a streetwise orphan, she is funny, irreverent, hungry, and totally awsome! I can't wait to meet her again B-)

Finished Family Life for yearly challenge

Read a book that contains one of your names in some way – author, title, character. (Surname of author matches mine).

It's a sad but very reality oriented book. Paints a picture of immigrants, (loss) of a child/ sibling, and how life changes due to it. It's a quick read, around 4hours. I rated in 3 stars.

I can't link on my iPod but I want to report finishing my book. I read We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby. This was for the Toppler Challenge for Humor.

I listened to the audio version read by the author. I did not enjoy listening to her. I did not like her voice. I understand that she writes a blog and is considered quite amusing. Humm. I admit that I thought some of her situations were amusing but in reality, it went on too long. 9 hours 16 minutes - too much. I could sympathize with some of her situations - being overweight, dieting and exercising. The dating, bar scenes - not so much. She claims that she hates herself and she is never so alive as when she wishes she were dead. I'm really not sure why I stuck it out.

I'm going to bed now.

I did the Holiday Challenge: Candy Cane. I've read The Foster Child. I was surprised as I've never read anything by her, but it was a really good book. Intense and dark from beginning to end. It had all the elements a psychological thriller needs.

I read the delightful Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters for:

Holiday Challenge:
~ Santa: Santa is a jolly, old soul. Read a book in the humor genre.

I thought this 5-star read was very clever, funny, and just shy of being a bit dark at times (I feared the worst in this cautionary tale). It had to have taken a LOT of skill to write. I learned about, and fully experienced, the usage of pangrams (a sentence or verse that contains all the letters of the alphabet: the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog) and lipograms (a composition from which the writer systematically omits a certain letter or certain letters of the alphabet). Wonderful stuff!

For the Holiday Challenge I completed the Santa task. I read The Colour of Magic.

This was a fun read I really the style of writing. The satire of the fantasy genre and some real life issues were very enjoyable as I like that kind of humour. The world crafted by Terry Pratchett is very colourful and quirky characters. Even though the book felt very one-sided, the Sword and Sorcery theme was great.
I watched the two-part TV adaptation, it did not change a thing for me. I am ready to continue this series after this very good introduction. I gave it a 5-star rating.

(view spoiler)[Rincewind will return (hide spoiler)]
(view spoiler)[Flat-Earthers will love this book! :p (hide spoiler)]

Holiday Challenge: Santa: Santa is a jolly, old soul. Read a book in the humor genre.

I finished (10:35am) Things I've Learned from Women Who've Dumped Me. As any other anthology some contributions are funnier than others, but in the overall I rated it 3 stars.

I read Going, Going, Ganache for Gingerbread Man (treat on the cover, in this case cupcakes. I realized this morn it would also qualify for Candy Cane, as the author is Jenn McKinlay. It's a cozy mystery set in Scottsdale, Arizona (a neighborhood I know) at a bakery that specializes in cupcakes. I consider the book a mixed success. Interesting characters, It held my attention. But the murder plot began to get a bit contrived by the end, and I felt like the author was not completely playing fair.

I have finished a book for one of my challenges (leaving me with one more to go to totally finish that challenge).

is the story of twelve year old Cedar and Leo, the boy who befriended her shortly after Cedar moved into his neighborhood. Cedar's father and brother were killed in a car accident and Cedar is now finding things that her brother would have liked appearing on her window sill. Where are these objects from and why are they being left there?

Read

The Long Drop This completed a Crazy Challenge Connection Group/Pick a Theme Challenge./DAGGER Award Nominations. The trial aspects of this mystery, based on a true crime incident, are interesting to witness. Not one of the three main characters are likeable. Some of their interactions are convoluted and puzzling. Mind games and cons perpetrated by all.

Twilight Is Not Good for Maidens for MY ECHO,SHADOW and ME/2017 Survey Says Yearly Challenge. Seven more to go, getting much closer. Interesting backdrop of the plight of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and their reputation. Injustices had my blood boiling!

Finished The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld for Christmas Tree.

Young Madison disappears without a trace in the forest of the Pacific Nortwest while on a family outing to find a Christmas tree.
In desperation her parents finally turn to a private investigator known as the Child Finder, Naomi, to help them recover Madison.
I enjoyed the suspense of the book and the way Naomi tracked Madison. It is about child abduction, so beware if this is a subject that distresses you.

I finished my book while driving! I’ll edit this later to add details. :)

I read The Magician's Nephew for a color challenge. This completed the challenge for me, which I didn't think I was going to do this year.

Book completed: No Place Left to Run

Challenge: YLTO 2017 all about you challenge

An M/M romance about a musician and his bodyguard. Interesting story line with a mystery element to it and a lovely, touching romance.

I finished Chef by Jaspreet Singh, for the candy cane challenge, (first name begins with J).

The focus of the book is a bit different than I anticipated. Food is a significant factor in the narrative, but to me it was more a story about the India/Pakistan territorial dispute over Kashmir and the protagonist’s relationships during the conflict. The writing provides a very descriptive picture of India as viewed through the eyes of the MC’s travel by train and his reminiscing about the past. And now I know how to eat a mango!

I finished Brownies & Betrayal by Heather Justesen for the Holiday Challenge -- Candy Cane Challenge.

I enjoyed this cozy mystery. Most of it kept me guessing, which obviously, is a good thing in a mystery. I liked the characters especially the main character and I was glad that she didn't fall deeply in love, 2 weeks after breaking off her previous relationship. In the romance department it had a more realistic feel to it than some cozy mysteries I've read. Plus it also included some delicious sounding recipes! Anyway, I gave it 4 stars and am planning on continuing the series.

Badges are posted!

Thanks, Kristie!

Great badge, Kristie. Thanks!

Thank you, Kristie.

Thanks Kristie!