Pick-a-Shelf discussion

Blind Date (10 weeks starting 1-Mar; last draw on 10-May)

This is basically a random read sort of challenge.

Firstly, you'll need to pick about 20 books. All books will need to fit into a Just Read It! Prompt. You may wish to wrap your books and number them 1 to 20. Or if you prefer to do this only digitally; create a list of 20 books and number them 1 to 20. It does not matter how you number/order your books.

A random draw will be conducted weekly and you will read the book with number that was drawn.

The draw will be announced here in this thread so do check in every Sunday, starting 1st of March.

The last draw will be on Sunday 10th of May. While this Mini Challenge officially ends at the end of that week, there is no pressure for you to keep up with the weekly draw during the challenge. You may catch up with these reads outside of the official challenge period. This is just a bit of fun & to help along with Just Read It! challenge overall.

How to use your Pass:
You may use your Pass to skip the book for which number was drawn and read any book you want. The only condition being that book will also be used for Just Read It!. Just note that if you're going to pick a book from your Blind Date pile, that particular number may be drawn later on.

Sunday, 03/01 = #2

Sunday, 03/08 = #15

Sunday, 03/15 = #1

Sunday, 03/22 = #17

Sunday, 03/29 = #4

Sunday, 04/05 = #5

Sunday, 04/12 = #19

Sunday, 04/19 = #13

Sunday, 04/26 = #8

Sunday, 05/01 = #9

Amy

Ashley

Bea

Christina

Christina (AKA Babbling)

Coralie

Dee

Jayme(the ghost reader)

Joanna

Judy

June

Kristina Simon

Lagullande

Lahni

Lusie

LynnB

Marina

Meg

Rosemary

Stacey

Susan

Tien

Mini challenge: Blind Date ❑ ☑ ✔

☑ 01-mar #02: prompt 2 - River God DNF
☑ 08-mar #15: prompt 1 - Dark Matter [9-mar-20] ★★★★
☑ 15-mar: #01: prompt 3 - We Were Liars [19-mar-2020] ★★★
☑ 22-mar: #17: prompt 1 - Eeny Meeny [31-mar-20] ★★★
☑ 29-mar: #04: prompt 1 - His Majesty's Dragon [30-mar-20] ★★★
☑ 05-apr: #05: prompt 3 - The Forgotten Room [30-apr-20] ★★★★
☑ 12-apr: #19: prompt 2 - Lady Midnight [14-apr-20] ★★★★
☑ 19-apr: #13: prompt 2 - The Light of All That Falls [31-may-20] ★★★★
☑ 26-apr: #08: prompt 2 - The Shell Seekers [16-may-20] ★★
☑ 3-may: #09: prompt 4 - The Hypnotist [8-may-20] ★★★

OK, I'm confused. So far, we only know three of the prompts. So does that mean that, in order to be ready for this by March 1, we need to choose 20 books that will fit one of those three prompts? Any of us who have set our goals at 7 or below and have completed a few already won't even have 20 books left on those lists. And many of those will be "big or intimidating."

Also, I have left spaces in each of my prompts for books I'll decide on later (especially for prompt 1, where I chose "reading it only because it's on the monthly shelf" as one of my guides for declaring a book outside my comfort zone." So the most I'll have listed by March 1 will be 17 books, of which 6 are over 400 pages.

Do people with fewer than 20 books to list for either of those reasons just skip a number that's drawn for which they have no book?

My list:

1. The Wisdom of Life - read 17/05
2. Out of Egypt: A Memoir - read 31/03
3. Elsewhere, Perhaps
4. Dhon Hiyala and Ali Fulhu
5. The World of Yesterday
6. My Family and Other Animals
7. I Was a German
8. The Wyvern Mystery
9. Unknown Sands: Journeys Around the World's Most Isolated Country
10. Q & A
11. The Consequences of Love
12. Half of a Yellow Sun
13. The Centaur
14. Twenty Years After
15. Everything You Need - DNF
16. The Play of Everyman: Based on the Old English Morality Play
17. Silent in the Sanctuary - read 19/04
18. The Quick
19. So Cold the River
20. Jezebel's Daughter

Note: I've added the English editions, but I'll be reading some of these books in other languages. Since my goal is in pages rather than number of books, I'll add the actual edition I read in the respective posts in the prompts thread.

Mini Challenge: Blind Date (Mar-May)

✅ 1. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster (prompt 1) ~ week 3 ~ Read: 4/20/20
✅ 2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (prompt 1) ~ week 1 ~ Read: 3/11/20
3. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (prompt 1) ~ Read: 5/9/20
✅ 4. The Girl Who Fell to Earth (prompt 1) ~ week 5 ~ Read: 5/26/20
✅ 5. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (prompt 1) ~ week 6 ~ Read: 4/24/20
6. The Moon Within (prompt 1) ~ Read: 4/4/20
7. Cutting for Stone (prompt 2) ~ Read: 4/9/20
✅ 8. Middlegame (prompt 2) ~ week 9 ~ Read: 5/31/20
✅ 9. The Woman in White (prompt 2) ~ week 10 ~ Read: 6/30/20
10. There You Are (prompt 3)
11. Dead Witch Walking (prompt 3)
12. Defending Jacob (prompt 3)
✅ 13. The Whisper Man (prompt 3) ~ week 8 ~ Read: 6/28/20
14. Red, White & Royal Blue (prompt 3)
✅ 15. This Tender Land (prompt 3) ~ week 2 ~ Read: 3/21/20
16. The Water Dancer (prompt 3)
✅ 17. The Sun Down Motel (prompt 3) ~ week 4 ~ Read: 4/4/20
18. He Started It (prompt 3) ~ Read: 4/12/20
✅ 19. The Holdout (prompt 3) ~ week 7 ~ Read: 5/27/20
20. Chasing Fire (prompt 3)

Mini Challenge Blind Date

*1. Crime and Punishment- fits prompt 2 - READ May 7
*2. The Secret History- fits prompt 3- ABANDONED for now
3. Seveneves
*4. The Poisonwood Bible
5. The God of Small Things
6. Schindler's List
7. Wolf Hall
*8. Green Grass, Running Water- fits prompt 3; read May
*9. Americanah
10. Miracle Creek
11. The Old Drift
12. The Tiger's Daughter
*13. The Left Hand of Darkness
14. Oscar and Lucinda
*15. Hamlet- fits prompt 1- READ April 19; 4.5 star
16. Duma Key
*17. Moloka'i- fits prompt 3
18. Jump!
*19. The Likeness
20. The Weight of Ink

Mini-Challenge: Blind Date
March 1 - May 10, 2020
Picked books: 2, 15, 1, 17, 4, 5, 19, 13, 8, and 9

√1 Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption - Prompt 1
√2 Sacred Country - Prompt 1
3 Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street - Prompt 1
√4 Blood Lure - Prompt 3
√5 And the Sea Will Tell - Prompt 2
6 Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer - Prompt 2
7 Flower Net - Prompt 3
√8 Choiring Of The Trees - Prompt 3
√9 Stones for Ibarra - Prompt 3
10 As a Driven Leaf - Prompt 3
11 Mother Earth Father Sky - Prompt 3
12 The Returning - LOST
√13 The Bone Garden - LOST
14 Riding Lessons - LOST
√15 The Deepest Water - LOST
16 So Much Pretty - LOST
√17 The Priest's Graveyard - LOST
18 The Alienist - LOST
√19 Winter Study - Prompt 3
20 Blind Descent - Prompt 3

I used my LOST list to help make up the difference between Prompt books and #20.

What do we do if we read a book on our list, and then its number is drawn at a later date? Replace it with something else, as we finish it? Ignore that draw?

Lagullande wrote: "What do we do if we read a book on our list, and then its number is drawn at a later date? Replace it with something else, as we finish it? Ignore that draw?"

Preferably don't read any book on the list until drawn. It is only for 10 weeks so it shouldn't be too difficult, I hope.

However, if you really do have to read that book right at that time, then feel free to replace. I think most of us aren't that tight with choices.

Susan wrote: "OK, I'm confused. So far, we only know three of the prompts. So does that mean that, in order to be ready for this by March 1, we need to choose 20 books that will fit one of those three prompts? A..."

That was one of the reasons where I tried to push for participants to shoot for the stars with their goals :)

Even if you only have space for less than 20 books for all 3 prompts, I'm thinking you may have choices/options of at least 20 books for those spots? Hoping I'm making sense here...

This Mini Challenge will only go for 10 weeks so there'll be only 10 draws (ie. 10 books), so you won't be reading all 20 books in that 10 weeks.

1. Snow Crash
2. The Windup Girl
3. Matterhorn
4. The Alienist
5. The Pillars of the Earth
6. It
7. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
8. The Passage
9. Why We Don't Suck
10. Brimstone
11. All the Light We Cannot See
12. Pandemic
13. Death du Jour
14. Roar Of The Heavens: Surviving Camille, the Worst Storm in American
15. The Winter Sea
16. The Terror
17. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
18. The Judas Strain
19. Lover Unleashed
20. Of Blood and Bone

3/1 Roll: 2. The Windup Girl
3/7 Roll: 15 The Winter Sea 4/19/20
3/14 Roll: 1 Snow Crash DNF
3/22 Roll: 17 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life 4/28/20
3/28: Roll: 4. The Alienist
4/4: Roll 5: The Pillars of the Earth
4/11: Roll 19: Lover Unleashed
4/19: Roll 13: Death du Jour
4/26: Roll 8: The Passage
5/2: Roll 9: Why We Don't Suck

1) The Matchmaker-03/15
2) The Rumor-3/1 completed
3) Acorna's Quest sub
4) Tales of the Wolf 3/29/20
Completed 5/1/20
5) Exile's Return 4/5/20
6) Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
7) Pegasus in Flight
8) The 8th Confession
9) The Hills Have Spies
10) The Lavender Garden
11) Double Cross
12 Cross Country
13Dead Until Dark sub 04/18/20
14) A Study in Sable
15) Storm Cursed-3/8
Completed 04/19/20
16)The Oathbound
17) A Scandal in Battersea completed
18) Cry Wolf
19) Page 04/12/20
20) Squire completed 05/8/20

I'm in!

1.Tentacle ***Week 3*** FINISHED
2.Convenience Store Woman ***WEEK 1*** FINISHED
3.Akin
4.Normal People ***WEEK 5*** FINISHED
5.The Mandibles: A Family, 2029–2047 ***WEEK 6*** FINISHED
6.Spring
7.Xenocide
8.Holy Fools ***WEEK 9*** FINISHED
9.The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices ***WEEK 10**'
10.All My Puny Sorrows
11.Maybe
12.Murder Most Royal
13.Us Against You ***WEEK 8*** PASS: sub Blindness FINISHED
14.Shantaram
15.Macbeth ***WEEK 2*** FINISHED
16.Kushiel's Justice
17.4 3 2 1 ***WEEK 4*** FINISHED
18.Written in My Own Heart's Blood
19.Earthly Joys ***WEEK 7*** FINISHED
20.The Animals in That Country

subs:
Supernova Era 352pp
The Name of the Rose 536pp
The History of Bees 352pp
We, the Children of Cats 320pp
The Wreath 305pp
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly 134pp

I’ll try to get a list up before 3/1. I’m traveling, so time is limited (that’s why I stopped SRC early!), but we may have a couple hours free time this afternoon.

1. Against the Odds completed March 24
2. Barkskins completed April 1
3. Black Juice
4. Cadenza completed March 31
5. City of Blades completed April 16
6. The Comforters
7. European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman or The Seamstress
8. Merchanter's Luck completed April 30
9. The Death of the Necromancer completed May 15
10. Hope Farm
11. Kingyo Used Books, Vol. 3 or The Warlock's Curse
12. Last Call
13. The Call completed April 24
14. One Night for Love
15. The Psychology of Time Travel completed March 15
16. The Secret Lives of Codebreakers: The Men and Women Who Cracked the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park or The Element of Fire
17. Serpent's Reach completed April 5
18. Stamboul Train
19. Heaven's Net Is Wide completed April 24
20. Universal: A Journey Through the Cosmos or Bannerless

Completed May 15

Mini Challenge: Blind Date (Mar 1-May 16)

1/10 READ

1. The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom prompt 1 - Week 3 - Drawn 3/15
2. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West prompt 1 - Week 1 - Drawn 3/1
3. Romeo and Juliet prompt 1
4. Time Will Tell prompt 1
5. Bel Canto prompt 1
6. Lolita prompt 1
7. A Little Princess prompt 1
8. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood prompt 1
9. To the Lighthouse prompt 1
10. The Plague prompt 2
11. Fight Club prompt 2
12. Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time prompt 2
13. The Lotus Eaters prompt 3
14. Eye of the God prompt 3
15. Borrowed Light prompt 3 - Week 2 - Drawn 3/8
16. Icy Sparks prompt 3
17. Educated prompt 3 - Week 4 - Drawn 3/22
18. The Art of Disappearing prompt 3
19. Walk Two Moons prompt 3
20. The Summer of Riley prompt 3

Tien, is it okay if I use my bookopoly shelf instead of making a list. All the books are owned and some work for other prompts too. That way I can keep reading books that are on the list without having to rearrange things. I'll sort the list by date added asc and use the first 20 books

Tien wrote: "Even if you only have space for less than 20 books for all 3 prompts, I'm thinking you may have choices/options of at least 20 books for those spots? Hoping I'm making sense here...."

Ah, that does help a lot!

Lusie wrote: "Tien, is it okay if I use my bookopoly shelf instead of making a list. All the books are owned and some work for other prompts too. That way I can keep reading books that are on the list without ha..."

Lusie, that's okay but I would suggest that you take a snapshot/screen print of the 20 books, in case, you inadvertently remove or add a book that change the order you currently have it.

Sure, I'll do that. Thanks Tien.

Completed: 10/10!

✔1. Who Fears Death (Prompt 3) - Mar 15 (completed 3/23/20)
✔2. Under the Net (Prompt 1 or 3) - Mar 1 (completed 3/12/20)
3. Two Girls, Fat and Thin (Prompt 1 or 3)
✔4. Come Tumbling Down (Prompt 3 or 4) - Mar 29 (completed 4/5/20)
✔5. Apex Hides the Hurt (Prompt 3) - Apr 5 (completed 4/22/20)
6. Men Without Women (Prompt 3)
7. The Souls of Black Folk (Prompt 1 or 3)
✔8. NW (Prompt 1) - Apr 26 (Shelf pass used since I already read this) --> Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk (Prompt 5) (completed 4/29/20)
✔9. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (Prompt 1 or 3)- May 3 (completed 5/11/20)
10. Unfamiliar Fishes (Prompt 3)
11. The September Queen (Prompt 3)
12. The Swimming-Pool Library (Prompt 3)
✔13. The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller (Prompt 1 or 3) - Apr. 19 (completed 5/7/20)
14. Oscar and Lucinda (Prompt 1 or 3)
✔15. The Woman Who Died a Lot (Prompt 3) - Mar. 8 (completed 3/20/20)
16. The Ministry of Special Cases (Prompt 3)
✔17. The Name of the World (Prompt 1 or 3) - Mar. 22 (completed 4/12/20)
18. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (Prompt 1)
✔19. Let the Great World Spin (Prompt 1 or 3) - Apr. 12 (completed 4/26/20)
20. Bodily Harm (Prompt 1 or 3)

DONE!

✔1. An Enemy of the People - Week 3 - Completed 3/18/20
✔2. The Nix - Week 1 - Completed 3/29/20
3. Survive the Night
✔4. Iron Gold - Week 5 - Completed 5/2/20
✔5. Way Down on the High Lonely - Week 6 - Completed 4/26/20
6. The Invasion of the Tearling
7. The Nature of the Beast
✔8. The Border - Week 9 - Completed 5/4/20
✔9. Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers - Week 10 - Completed 7/23/20
10. A Study in Charlotte
11. The Amulet of Samarkand
12. Bronx Masquerade
✔13. A Twist of the Knife - Week 8 - Completed 4/24/20
14. Cilka's Journey
✔15. The Devil's Highway: A True Story - Week 2 - Completed 3/25/20
16. The Great War: Stories Inspired by Items from the First World War
✔17. Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad - Week 4 - Completed 4/30/20
18. The Cairo Affair
✔19. When You See Me - Week 7 - Completed 5/9/20
20. Shadows on the Moon

Question: So can the 20 books not be changed during that 10 weeks? Can I not read one of the books without its number coming up and replace it with another one? I might have to rethink my list if I can't make changes as we go. Several of the books I'm planning to read soon are on there!

Message 11:
Tien wrote: "Preferably don't read any book on the list until drawn. It is only for 10 weeks so it shouldn't be too difficult, I hope.

However, if you really do have to read that book right at that time, then feel free to replace. I think most of us aren't that tight with choices."

All of these fit prompt 3:

✔ 1. Despised And Rejected
Drawn 15 March, finished 7 April
✔ 2. Truth or Dare
Drawn 1 March, finished 9 March
3. The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals
✔ 4. Arthur & George
Drawn 29 March, finished 10 April
✔ 5. The Mountain in My Shoe
Drawn 5 April, finished 2 June
6. The Silence of the Girls
7. The Lion Tamer Who Lost
✔ 8. The Life and Death of Harriett Frean
Drawn 26 April, finished 29 May
✔ 9. Miss Julia Lays Down the Law
Drawn 3 May, Finished 29 May
10. Claudine at School
11. Murder Every Monday
12. Trent's Last Case
✔ 13. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay
Drawn 19 April, finished 4 June
14. Mapp and Lucia
✔ 15. Keeper: One House, Three Generations, and a Journey into Alzheimer's
Drawn 8 March, Finished 29 March
16. Ask Him Why
✔ 17. Worthy
Drawn 22 March, finished 8 April
18. Say Goodbye for Now
✔ 19. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Drawn 12 April, finished 28 April
20. Casanova's Chinese Restaurant

Mini Challenge: Blind Date (Mar-May)

Books were chosen randomly from my list of owned books but were replaced if they were not the next one in a series.

✔1. La niña alemana - (Chosen 3/15/2020) Use Pass #3 Halo - Read 9/11/2020
✔2. The City of Ember - (Chosen 3/1/2020) Read 3/28/2020
3. Starglass
✔4. The Sight - (Chosen 3/29/2020) Read 4/28/2020
✔5. Quantum Break: Zero State - (Chosen 4/5/2020) Read 7/4/2020
6. Dancer
7. Goddess of Yesterday
8. A Book of Spirits and Thieves - (Chosen 4/26/2020)
✔9. Airhead - (Chosen 5/3/2020) Read 8/28/2020
10. Over Sea, Under Stone
11. The Duchess
12. Impossible
✔13. The Misfits - (Chosen 4/19/2020) Read 4/24/2020
14. Wish
✔15. Found - (Chosen 3/8/2020) Use Pass #2 Shadow Kiss - Read 8/31/2020
16. The Prophecy of the Stones
✔17. The Race - (Chosen 3/22/2020) Read 4/4/2020
18. Witch and Wizard
✔19. The Fox Run - (Chosen 4/12/2020) Read 5/8/2020
20. Shiver

Blind Date (10 weeks starting 1-Mar; last draw on 10-May)
1. Infamous (#3)
2. Lady Midnight (#2)
3. The Lord of the Rings (#2)
4. If I Stay (#3)
5. Dead Ice (#2)
6. Strange Candy (#3)
7. House of Leaves (#2)
8. Tiger Lily (#3)
9. Enclave (#3)
10. The Diary of a Young Girl (#1)
11. The Help (#1)
12. Wicked Nights (#3)
13. The Bachman Books (#2)
14. Catch-22 (#1)
15. The Book Thief (#1)
16. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (#2)
17. Radiant Shadows (#3)
18. A Conjuring of Light (#2)
19. My Sister's Keeper (#3)
20. Moonshine (#3)

Mar -May Mini challenge

Picked randomly from the lists of the three prompts

1. Ashley's War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
2. Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer
3. The Book Jumper by Mechthild Gläser
4. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
5. Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory by Ben Macintyre
6. The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Krista Davis
7. Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs
8. Back in the Fight: The Explosive Memoir of a Special Operator Who Never Gave Up by Joseph Kapacziewski
9. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
10.Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
11. The Traitor's Wife: The Woman Behind Benedict Arnold and the Plan to Betray America by Allison Pataki
12. The Diva Sweetens the Pie by Krista Davis
13. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
14. Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden
15. The Truth About Lady Felkirk by Christine Merrill
16. Color Me Murder by Krista Davis
17. The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards
18. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
19. An Unlikely Duchess by Mary Balogh
20. Spartacus: A Novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon

=================================
3-1: Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer 5 October 2020 ★★★★
3-8: The Truth About Lady Felkirk by Christine Merrill 26 March 2020 ★★★★
3-15: Ashley's War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon 24 March 2020 ★★★★★
3-22: The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards 9 April 2020 ★★★★★
3-29: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee 18 April 2020 ★★★★
4-5: Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory by Ben Macintyre 11May 2020 ★★★★
4-12: An Unlikely Duchess by Mary Balogh 30May 2020 ★★★
4-19:The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern 18 May 2020 ★★★
4-26: Back in the Fight: The Explosive Memoir of a Special Operator Who Never Gave Up by Joseph Kapacziewski
5-3: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin 7 June 2020 ★★★

March - May mini-challenge:

1 The Way of Kings, 1007 pages
2 Glitch
3 Seveneves, 880 pages
4 The Diamond Age, 499 pages
5 Imaginary Things, 400 pages
6 Lost Boys, 528 pages
7 Ylem
8 The Bar Code Tattoo
9 You Know Me Well
10 Ruins
11 Footsteps in the Dark
12 Refugee
13 A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea
14 Island of Glass
15 The Moonlit Garden
16 The Ice Owl
17 Limits
18 Wonderstruck
19 Strangers in Their Own Land
20 I am a Strange Loop

It turned out this didn't work for me at all. The first several draws came at a time when I was barely reading anything except one huge buddy-read. I'm declaring bankruptcy here, so I can use some of these books on the next mini-challenge.

Blind Date (10 weeks starting 1-Mar; last draw on 10-May)
--will be reading 10 of 20/ 1 each wk for 10 weeks
--all fit at least Prompt #3
COMPLETED 8 May 2020

✔ 1. America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie, read 26 Apr 2020
✔ 2. The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish, read 18 Mar 2020
3. The Things They Carried
✔ 4. Mrs. Hemingway by Naomi Wood, read 6 Apr 2020
✔ 5. Today We Go Home by Kelli Estes, read 2 May 2020
6. The Peppermint Tea Chronicles
7. Backstage Stuff
✔ 8. Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life, read 30 Apr 2020
✔ 9. The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris: A Novel in Recipes by Jenny Colgan, read 3 May 2020
10. Meet Me in Monaco
11. The Huntress
12. The Forest Lover
✔13. Far From the Tree, read 8 May 2020
14. The Bookshop on the Shore
✔15. A Long Shadow by Charles Todd, read 26 Mar 2020
16. Paper Wife
✔17. The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld, read 18 Apr 2020
18. The Myth of Perpetual Summer
✔ 19. A False Mirror, Charles Todd, 28 Apr 2020
20. The Girl From the Train

I got my books all wrapped up and my 5yo picked our first call!!

You can check a quick vid on my insta story, if you want...

Our first draw is...

Blind Date
10/10 books read

Sunday, 03/01 = #2 - Scardown (Jenny Casey #2) by Elizabeth Bear -Read 03/13

Sunday, 03/08 = #15 - The Ultimatum (The Guardian #1) by Karen Robards -Read 03/18

Sunday, 03/15 = #1 - Godsgrave (The Nevernight Chronicle #2) by Jay Kristoff -Read 03/31

Sunday, 03/22 = #17 - A Curse of Ash and Embers (Tales of the Blackbone Witches #1) by Jo Spurrier -Read 04/07

Sunday, 03/29 = #4 - The Tower of Ravens (Rhiannon's Ride #1) by Kate Forsyth -Read 04/23

Sunday, 04/05 = #5 - The Killing Moon (Dreamblood #1) by N.K. Jemisin -Read 05/13

Sunday, 04/12 = #19 - On Agate Hill by Lee Smith -Read 06/25

Sunday, 04/19 = #13 - Nylon Angel (Parrish Plessis #1) by Marianne de Pierres -Read 07/14

Sunday, 04/26 = #8 - Jack Maggs by Peter Carey -Read 07/23

Sunday, 05/03 = #9 - Lair of Dreams (The Diviners #2) by Libba Bray -Read 08/09

Blind Date

Sunday, 3/1/20: #2 Sacred Country by Rose Tremain

Blind Date
0/10 books read

Sunday, 3/01 = #2 - The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish

Mini-Challenge: Blind Date
March 1 - May 10, 2020

Sorry, a bit late posting this. I promise I didn't look at the first number drawn yet.

10/10 books read

1. ✔️My Cousin Rachel: Week 3 - started 19/12/20, finished 27/12/20, Prompt 1
2. ✔️Clouds of Witness: Week 1 - started 1/3/20, finished 6/3/20, Prompt 3
3. The Division Bell Mystery
4. ✔️Portrait of a Murderer: Week 5 - started 29/3/20, finished 4/4/20, Prompt 3
5. ✔️ At the Villa Rose: Week 6 - started 5/4/20, finished 10/4/20, Prompt 3
6. The Pebbles On The Beach
7. Inspector French's Greatest Case
8. ✔️ The Three-Body Problem: Week 9 - started 26/4/20, finished 2/5/20, Prompt 2
9. ✔️ Hotel Tito: Week 10 - started 3/5/20, finished 8/5/20, Prompt 1
10. One Another
11. Ice Road
12. My Name is Leon
13.✔️A Spell of Winter: Week 8 - started 20/6/21, finished 13/7/21, Prompt 3
14. Fugitive Pieces
15. ✔️Valley of the Dolls: Week 2 - started 8/3/20, finished 15/3/20, Prompt 1
16. Cloud Atlas
17. ✔️Career of Evil: Week 4 - started 23/3/20, finished 27/3/20, Prompt 3
18. Fire from Heaven
19. ✔️Dimanche and Other Stories: Week 7 - started 12/4/20, finished 24/4/20, Prompt 1
20. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards

Blind Date

3/10 books read + 1 DNF

✔Sun 01/03: #2 Out of Egypt: A Memoir by André Aciman - read 31/03
✔Sun 08/03: #15 Everything You Need by A.L. Kennedy - DNF
✔Sun 15/03: #1 The Wisdom of Life by Arthur Schopenhauer -read 17/05
✔Sun 22/03: #17 Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn - read 19/04
Sun 29/03: #4 Dhon Hiyala and Ali Fulhu by Abdoulla Sadiq
Sun 05/04: #5 The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig
Sun 12/04: #19 So Cold the River by Michael Koryta
Sun 19/04: #13 The Centaur by Algernon Blackwood
Sun 25/04: #8 The Wyvern Mystery by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Sun 03/05: #9 Unknown Sands: Journeys Around the World's Most Isolated Country

I started the book for this today, but didn't like it. I'm not going to finish it.
Should I replace the book, Tien? Or just wait for next month?

bit late in posting but to counter, i used random.org to randomize my list:

1. Circle of the Moon (audio) - 3/15 - finished
2. Fallen Ink - 3/2 - finished
3. Crave
4. Between Me & You - 3/29 - finished
5. Criminal (audio) - 4/5 - substituted The White Lioness on August 1, 2020 - finished
6. Sniper's Nest
7. The Debt
8. Baby Its Cold Outside - 4/26 - finished
9. Shore Lights - 5/01 - finished
10. A Seductive Melody
11. This Is Our Song
12. Lips That Touch Mine
13. Mercy Blade (audio) - 4/19 - finished
14. Love's Last Call
15. Indecent Exposure - 3/8 - finished
16. Heiress Without a Cause
17. By Her Touch - 3/22 - finished
18. In the Red Zone
19. Secret Lovers - 4/12 - finished
20. The Iron Wyrm Affair

Sunday, 03/01 = #2

Sunday, 03/08 = #15

Sunday, 03/15 = #1

Sunday, 03/22 = #17

Sunday, 03/29 = #4

Sunday, 04/05 = #5

Sunday, 04/12 = #19

Sunday, 04/19 = #13

Sunday, 04/26 = #8

Sunday, 05/01 = #9

Lusie wrote: "I started the book for this today, but didn't like it. I'm not going to finish it.
Should I replace the book, Tien? Or just wait for next month?"

aw I'm sorry to hear that, Lusie. I gave River God 1 star so good decision on your part :)

Just wait for next draw on Sunday. It's a weekly draw.

Tien wrote: "aw I'm sorry to hear that, Lusie. I gave River God 1 star so good decision on your part :)"

And I gave it five stars! It felt very similar to Clan of the Cave Bear, for which I have a warm spot in my memory having read it as an impressionable middle-schooler. I never read any more of the series though...maybe I should track down the second book.

Oooh, I enjoyed Clan of the Cave Bear but didn't like River God - how funny!

Will do. Thanks Tien!

Tien, where you able to finish River God?

Joanna, most people think that book is great. Not me though.
I haven't read Clan of Cave Bear

I did finish it, Lusie... was still time where I have to finish everything I started! lol

How times change ;p

You have to read Clan of Cave Bear!! So good! even with that 1 traumatising incident at the beginning... the only thing that marred my love for that book.

Be back to post my books!

lol Tien. It was not doable for me to finish this one, especially since it is such a big book! I'm easier with not finishing book now.

Thanks Tien! The Clan of the Cave Bear been on my list for a long time, because I think I might like it but am not sure if it really is for me. It probably is the kind of book you have to try to be able to say for sure.

i liked Clan of the Cave Bear and the second one (Valley of the Horses) after that they just went downhill. The last book in the series is still unread (I tried and DNF'd it - so if anyone wants to tackle it)

Dee wrote: "i liked Clan of the Cave Bear and the second one (Valley of the Horses) after that they just went downhill. The last book in the series is still unread (I tried and DNF'd it - so if anyone wants to..."

yep, DNF'd 3rd & left it at that :p

Tien wrote: "Dee wrote: "i liked Clan of the Cave Bear and the second one (Valley of the Horses) after that they just went downhill. The last book in the series is still unread (I tried and DNF'd it - so if any..."

Totally agree that the series declined, and the final (6th) book was probably the worst book I've ever read. I really liked this series, mostly because these were the raciest books my pre-teen self had ever read. I still think Clan of the Cave Bear is a good book, but you can happily skip the rest of the series and not miss anything.