Play Book Tag discussion

Mammoth March

March is an amazing and momentous month, and it gives us a reason to celebrate at the Steeplechase. We have provided an interesting set of tasks which are completely optional for participants. Also optional is the number which are completed. Within each number are three options and you only need to complete one, and will not receive extra points unless the book you read has all three and then you will receive extra points and moves.

For the task to be completed, a quote with a page or place number, a tag with number of people tagging or the blurb from the book is required. To meet the requirements, it must be more than an incidental mention, it needs to be an integral part of setting, character, or subject matter. *For Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, it will be acceptable to justify why the woman in your book fits this description as this is a fairly recent concept and there are historical figures to which it could apply.


1. Ides of March/Caesar/Rome
2. Caesar Chavez/Farm workers or migrant workers/grapes
3. Saint Patrick/Ireland/ Snakes
4.Women’s History Month/suffrage/Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (the theme for this year’s WHM) or DEI.
5. Oscars/Actors/Hollywood

• For each item completed you will receive an extra 2 points and 2 spaces.
• If the book also matches the PBTag of the month, 1 extra point.
• It can be outside of your spin, however if it is within a spin, you will receive an extra point and space.
• If the book matches the 5 people requirement for tag of above items, you can count it as a tag completed and gather 2 points.
• If the book contains all 3 items in the numbered points it will receive 2 extra points and 2 extra spaces.
• If the cover of the book has a picture of the item, you will receive 1 extra point and 1 extra space.


This will begin on March 7 and continue through midnight PST on March 21.

Use this thread for questions, discussion, suggestions of books and posting tasks completed.

This sounds challenging. I’m in.

Added

Are we limited to one book per category? In case I wanted to read a book about Ireland (naturally) and a book about snakes (less likely lol) would I get points for both? Or would we only get credit for snakes if they’re in the same book as StPatrick or Ireland? It’s more challenging to read two different books.

I might like to read about St Patrick if I could find a book somewhere in between a children’s book and a dry religious history book. The Last Snake in Ireland looks cute.

Are we able to apply this to a book we've just started? I know I won't have it done by March 7, and my current spot on the racetrack applies to one of these categories.

Cool, I love these extra challenges!

Ideas -
Memento Mori - Rome (9 tags) - latest in a mystery series set in Roman Britain, starring the army doctor Ruso and his Britannic wife - Review:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... - 3/15

In Praise of the Bees - Kristin Gleeson - Ireland - 18 tags
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... 3/15

Women -
Off With Her Head: Three Thousand Years of Demonizing Women in Power - Women
On This Day She: Putting Women Back Into History, One Day At A Time - during Covid, I saw an interview with the authors broadcast from England, evening their time and afternoon for me. That was one of the few good things about that time. But this is more like an almanac, not something you would read straight through. - Read 3/10
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...


All match letters for BWF!

Robin P wrote: "Cool, I love these extra challenges!"

This one is perfect for you, Robin!

Love this, though not quite sure if any of the massive pile of books in this month's TBR Tower fit. But we will see. I'm always amazed at what pops up in what I just happen to be reading.

I am sitting here in the library, and I just turned in book 5 of the Rome series that Hanna and I are doing together. Lady of the eternal city. It was overdue, and I thought I wasn’t gonna get to it right away because of other things to do with the challenges but now I want it back. I already sent it through the machine. That’s OK we’ll see if the gods wish for me to read it now. Although with my book club book being due on the 24th the truth is that I might just have to have this being in April thing and miss the challenge even though though it was perfect. Maybe something else else will turn up for me.

Jen wrote: "Are we able to apply this to a book we've just started? I know I won't have it done by March 7, and my current spot on the racetrack applies to one of these categories."

Yes

Fran, these mini-challenges are awesome! I am hoping to find something for this one, been in such a slump lately maybe it will help me out of it

Joanne wrote: "Fran, these mini-challenges are awesome! I am hoping to find something for this one, been in such a slump lately maybe it will help me out of it"

I’m sampling How the Irish Saved Civilization. I don’t think I could get through the whole thing, but the transition period in history following the fall of the Roman Empire might be interesting.

I keep thinking about my favorite historical mystery series set in Ancient Rome and how the next in series I have to read just never quite gets to the top of the TBR. Can I fit it in this month? It won't be a long read. Hmmm, and I think it spells for BWF...

Love how these minis get me rummaging in the TBR Towers!

That looks interesting Nancy-I will have to see if my library has it

Theresa wrote: "I keep thinking about my favorite historical mystery series set in Ancient Rome and how the next in series I have to read just never quite gets to the top of the TBR. Can I fit it in this month? It..."

I am going to listen to Memento Mori, from the series about Gaius Ruso, a Roman surgeon in ancient Britain. There is also a series that starts with The Silver Pigs which I haven't gotten to yet.

Robin P wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I keep thinking about my favorite historical mystery series set in Ancient Rome and how the next in series I have to read just never quite gets to the top of the TBR. Can I fit it i..."

Absolutely recommend LIndsey Davis' Falco series that starts with The Silver Pigs - one of my alltime favorites. She has continued the series with his daughter Flavia but really need to read at least the first 3 or 4 Falco to get the setting, background, characters and relationship down. I've not read all of them but just love them. Falco is funny and quirky to boot.

Another really good mystery series that's darker and bloodier than Falco is by John Maddox Roberts and starts with The King's Gambit - series is called SPQR. Don't confuse that with SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard!

I don't know if I'll get any of these, but if I do, do we note additional points on our own game boards, or are you keeping track of that? I've been noting extra spaces I can use, so I don't forget I have them to use (and crossing them off as I use them), but I wondered about points.

Thanks!

LibraryCin wrote: "I don't know if I'll get any of these, but if I do, do we note additional points on our own game boards, or are you keeping track of that? I've been noting extra spaces I can use, so I don't forget..."

Cindy, I recorded them in two ways on my tracking log. They’re noted first with the dated entry for the book, tags, points, etc. I also keep a list of rewards earned, and a list of rewards spent. When you get to your next round, you can carry over the rewards you haven’t used. Last month my monument books didn’t all match my spins. You can take a look at my tracking log to see how I documented them.

Cindy - you need to track your points and spaces and any other special earnings. Look at any of those in the upper levels to get a sense of how to organize the tracking.

LibraryCin wrote: "I don't know if I'll get any of these, but if I do, do we note additional points on our own game boards, or are you keeping track of that? I've been noting extra spaces I can use, so I don't forget..."

You keep track.

Booknblues wrote: "You keep track...."

Theresa wrote: "Cindy - you need to track your points and spaces and any other special earnings. Look at any of those in the upper levels to get a sense of how to organize the tracking."

Thank you both!

ETA: Are we supposed to keep track of ALL our points or just the bonus points? If all the points, can someone point me toward what amount of points everything is worth? If just bonus points no need. Thanks, again.

LibraryCin wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "You keep track...."

Theresa wrote: "Cindy - you need to track your points and spaces and any other special earnings. Look at any of those in the upper levels to get a sense of h..."

Cindy, I sent you a direct message showing the points you earned in each move so far (up to tag #28). 14 points total. You recorded your reward spaces (earned and used) properly. Sabrina’s post just below yours summarizes the key rules re points. I hope this helps.

LibraryCin wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "You keep track...."

Theresa wrote: "Cindy - you need to track your points and spaces and any other special earnings. Look at any of those in the upper levels to get a sense of h..."

The points are here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Also keep track of your extra spaces/moves.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I realized that I needed to clarify one of the items:

Caesar Chavez/Farm or migrant workers/grapes

I've corrected it to read:
Caesar Chavez/Farm workers or migrant workers/grapes.

Nancy, thank you so much for doing that for me!

Fran, I'm going to add (some of) the info about the points and the extra spaces at the top of my post with my board, so I don't have to go looking again later!

Thank you, both (again)!

Apologies for confusion: is it possible to apply more than one of the 5 to a single book? I know you mentioned that for the individual line item, you'd need all three to get extra points, but I have a book that's got one for line 3 and one for line 4. Am I allowed to claim both, or just one?

Jen wrote: "Apologies for confusion: is it possible to apply more than one of the 5 to a single book? I know you mentioned that for the individual line item, you'd need all three to get extra points, but I hav..."

Yes, that is possible.

Yes, that is possible.

Hooray! I will definitely "math out" my rationale when I post mine for group checking of errors entirely possible on my part.

BnB, Can you clarify this sentence in the rules for me: "Within each number are three options and you only need to complete one, and will not receive extra points unless the book you read has all three and then you will receive extra points and moves."

Example:
4.Women’s History Month/suffrage/Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (the theme for this year’s WHM) or DEI.

Does the book need to include "women's history" "suffrage" AND "women who advocate for..."

OR

Can you read a book that just contains one of the three elements, eg "suffrage"

Also, what are the tags? I get "suffrage" but is there a tag that states "women who advocate for ...." (I could not find it).

ETA - I just finished a book that would fit the last bit "women who advocate..." but did not include "suffrage" or much about women's history. Does this qualify for the challenge?

Joy D wrote: "BnB, Can you clarify this sentence in the rules for me: "Within each number are three options and you only need to complete one, and will not receive extra points unless the book you read has all t..."

I assumed it would work like this:
If your book fits any part of suffrage/history/advocate, you just have to state how it fits. It doesn't have to fit all of them, but if it does, you get extra points and spaces.

As far as the tags, my understanding is that if you read the book about women and it has at least 5 tags for Feminism, History, or something else on our list, you can cross that one off, so that when you get to it on your track, you will skip over it. Is that correct?

Joy D wrote: "Women’s History Month/suffrage/Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (the theme for this year’s WHM) or DEI...."

So for each number I included 3 options for which you could get points. What you can't do is get points for Women's History Month and then for suffrage, but if you find all 3 in a book you can get extra points.

I said "Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (the theme for this year’s WHM) or DEI", because there is a tag for DEI. That is also one, I'm inclined to give leeway for, because the DEI terminology is relatively recent but women who advocated for them isn't, so you would really need to show that the woman in the book was an advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in some way.

Basically you can get points for the 5 items not 15 items.

Ah, I see! Thanks to both of you for the clarifications.

The book I read for Diversity is actually tagged "diversity" and the author is a feminist writer writing a poetry memoir. So, I think it qualifies. I will find quotes and perhaps a third party evaluation for DEI and post it.

milk and honey by Rupi Kaur - 3/8/24 - 3* - My Review

4. Women’s History Month/suffrage/Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (the theme for this year’s WHM) or DEI.

Quotes from book:
“i want to apologize to all the women i have called pretty before i’ve called them intelligent or brave i am sorry i made it sound as though something as simple as what you’re born with is the most you have to be proud of when your spirit has crushed mountains from now on i will say things like you are resilient or you are extraordinary not because i don’t think you’re pretty but because you are so much more than that” p. 179

“our backs
tell stories
no books have
the spine to
carry - women of color” p. 171

“you tell me to quiet down cause
my opinions make me less beautiful
but i was not made with a fire in my belly
so i could be put out
i was not made with a lightness on my tongue
so i could be easy to swallow
i was made heavy
half blade and half silk
difficult to forget and not easy
for the mind to follow” p. 30

“my issue with what they consider beautiful
is their concept of beauty
centers around excluding people
i find hair beautiful
when a woman wears it
like a garden on her skin
that is the definition of beauty
big hooked noses
pointing upward to the sky
like they’re rising
to the occasion
skin the color of earth
my ancestors planted crops on
to feed a lineage of women with
thighs thick as tree trunks
eyes like almonds
deeply hooded with conviction
the rivers of punjab
flow through my bloodstream so
don’t tell me my women
aren’t as beautiful
as the ones in
your country” p. 170

Link to article "Pioneering Change: Rupinder Kaur’s Advocacy for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" published in The Chicago Journal:
https://thechicagojournal.com/pioneer...

Tagged "diversity" x28:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...

PBT Mammoth March
* For each item completed you will receive an extra 2 points and 2 spaces.
* If the book also matches the PBTag of the month, 1 extra point.
* If it is within a spin, you will receive an extra point and space.
* If the book matches the 5 people requirement for tag of above items, you can count it as a tag completed and gather 2 points (Diversity x28), also tagged coming of age x33

Will note on my board a total of 6 points, 3 spaces.

Link to PBT review:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Category 2 - Migrant Workers and Grapes

Esperanza Rising, byPam Muñoz Ryan.
18 Migrant workers tags, 136 coming of age tags, 5 food tags
Grapes- The first and last full chapters are titled Las Uvas (Grapes), and grapes are first mentioned about 5-10 minutes into the audio:
”The clusters were heavy on the vine and ready to deliver….
He swept his hands toward the grape vine signaling Esperanza…
She put the knife to it and with a quick swipe the heavy cluster of grapes dropped into her waiting hand… 0le”
Fiesta … baskets of grapes on every table. “

• For each item completed you will receive an extra 2 points and 2 spaces.
• If the book also matches the PBTag of the month, 1 extra point.
• It can be outside of your spin, however if it is within a spin, you will receive an extra point and space.
• If the book matches the 5 people requirement for tag of above items, you can count it as a tag completed and gather 2 points.

6 points+ 3 spaces. ( Corrected)
New Migrant worker tag

I landed on the Strong Women tag, and it’s giving me more ideas for women’s history month. I’m probably going with I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. I suspect it covers all three of the topics. She definitely made history, and she has spoken all around the world about women’s rights and DEI topics, including some suffrage issues I think.

I also want to recommend a powerful book I read last month - When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir. She doesn’t just talk about social justice, she does the real work, and she made a huge difference. She describes many of the steps that they took to improve prison conditions and treatment, especially for nonviolent and mentally ill people (like her brother). This book fits the first and third topics, and might even cover some voters right projects for suffrage. (Suffrage is defined more broadly than I used to think.). It was inspiring.

5. Oscars/Actors/Hollywood

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou 3.5 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

A major subplot to the story is the decision of the university to show a play written by Xiao-Wen Chou which has a number of racism issues already but they also choose a white actress to play the main Asian woman role leading to multiple protests. Ingrid joins the protests but is cast from the POC Caucus when she goes into the theater.

Page 137, "This is scarcity of of representation," someone with a pixie haircut piped up, "I'm an actor. There are barely any roles written for someone like me. So when those roles appear, they should be wasted."

Page 166, "At the final rehearsal of Chinatown Blues, the protestors chanted more lustily, flapped their signs more vigorously, eyeballed the actors more murderously."

Page 186, "a white man who has been living as a Chinese American by wearing "yellowface" makeup- a tradition in Hollywood."

I think this works but let me know if not and I will look for another one.

Potential Points:
• For each item completed you will receive an extra 2 points and 2 spaces.
• If the book also matches the PBTag of the month, 1 extra point. - Coming of Age x 8
Total: 3 points and 2 spaces

Saint Patrick/Ireland/Snakes

Saints for All Occasions (Read for the tag "secrets")

A family saga, written well, with a deep family story filled with secrets, heartache and yes love.

Nora and Theresa, young girls, Irish immigrants, come to America alone to escape the poverty of Ireland in the 1950's. Nora the oldest has no desire to marry her childhood friend. Theresa anticipates a large adventure. Their life in America becomes unsettled and the 2 girls part ways, and not in a good way. Through out the story we meet the family Nora had and we see how secrets kept can disrupt and unsettle a family. In the end, can it be too late to be forgiven?

This should have been a 4 star read for me-for some reason the sadness in it just overwhelmed too much, At another juncture I would have set it down for a later time. Thus, the difficulty of challenges, I suppose.

If you love a good family story and are in the right frame of mind to digest the sadness that envelopes the 2 main characters, than this is a great book. Nora and Theresa are fine characters and J. Courtney Sullivan writes a fine story.

2 points for theme of Ireland
2 moves for the theme of Ireland
2 points for completing the tag of "Ireland" (tagged 75 times)
Total 4 points, 2 extra moves

3. Saint Patrick/Ireland/Snakes

Mr. Flood's Last Resort by Jess Kidd - 4 stars - My Review

Maud Drennan is serving as a caregiver for Cathal Flood, and older cantankerous man who lives in a Gothic mansion with overgrown foliage, many cats, a “pet” fox, and lots of hoarded “stuff.” His son Gabriel comes around occasionally and seems to be looking for something. It is clear they are estranged. Gabriel wants his father to move to a care facility, but his father does not want to go. The storyline is driven by multiple mysteries. Mr. Flood’s wife died after falling down a flight of stairs in a household accident (or was it?) They lost a daughter and a local girl had gone missing years ago.

Maud and her landlord Renata believe a crime may have been committed, or possibly multiple crimes. It is unclear whether these beliefs have any foundation in reality or if they are influenced by Renata’s hobby of reading mysteries and the host of Catholic saints that Maud sees and hears. These saints (St. Valentine, St. George, St. Dympna, St. Monica) have to do with Maud’s own traumatic backstory involving another mystery of what happened to her sister. As a child, Maud obsessively read a book about saints and felt responsible for her family’s tragedy.

This book is filled with colorful Irish characters, folklore, and Gothic elements. The author walks the line between supernatural and real. It is possible that Maud is having mental issues based on whatever happened to her sister in the past. The host of saints provides an entertaining diversion, with their sarcasm and acerbic comments. This provides a bit of comic relief from the tense and foreboding atmosphere. It is an unusual book that pulls the reader along through curiosity - it is hard to imagine where this bizarre mix of elements will end up. I can also recommend Jess Kidd’s Himself.

Tagged "Ireland" x29:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...

Fits the following:
• For each item completed you will receive an extra 2 points and 2 spaces.
• If it is within a spin, you will receive an extra point and space.
• If the book matches the 5 people requirement, you can count it as a tag completed and gather 2 points.

Total: 5 Points, 3 Spaces

Link to PBT Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Quote:
”I would certainly have agreed that Mr. Flood and myself, both being Irish, share a love of fiddle music, warm firesides, and a staunch belief in the malevolence of fairies. Not to mention the innate racial capacity to drink any man alive under the table whilst we dwell, in soft melancholy on the lost and wild beauty of our homeland.” P. 5

The Oracle of Stamboul

My PBT review>

3. Saint Patrick/Ireland/ Snakes
pg 253 - "And thick as my arm. It was the largest snake I've ever seen."

2 points
2 spaces


Total to date for MAMMOTH MARCH
points - 2
spaces - 2

1. Ides of March/Caesar/Rome


Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World

My PBT review

2 points - item completed
2 spaces - item completed
2 points tagged 31 times as "ROME"
1 point - COVER shows Rome
1 space - COVER shows Rome



Total to date for MAMMOTH MARCH
points - 7
spaces - 5

Women’s History Month

The Indigo Girl

Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Eliza Lucas lived in the 1700's, She is credited with aiding the planting and processing of Indigo, in South Carolina. Indigo became the main export of South Carolina and is an important part of it's history.

extra 2 points and 2 spaces

2. Caesar Chavez/Farm workers or migrant workers/grapes

One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World


pg 89 - "Renzo Rossi was in his late thirties, a successful businessman and entrepreneur .... he cultivated grapes - wine was just one of his entrerprises (his vineyard, CAIR, is still producing today). Before long he and Stella became friends, good friends. " (He continues to play a role in her life and that of her family throughout the book.)


2 points
2 spaces


Total to date for MAMMOTH MARCH
points - 9
spaces - 7

My PBT review

Ok let's see if I can brain this correctly.

The Lost Girls of Ireland by Susanne O'Leary

Completed: 2 pts and 2 spaces
Matches the spin I am currently on (Ireland): 1 pt and 1 space
Matches tag requirement (12 people tagged it Ireland): 2 pts
The cover shows the coast/cliffs of Ireland: 1 pt and 1 space.

Now, here's where it gets potentially a little tricky? While it's not tagged with any of the tags for DEI, one key component to the storytelling is about the main character learning about the aunt that she inherited the house from and discovering that she wasn't the quiet little mouse she had always assumed.

Here are a couple of quotes:
-- Very sharp even in her old age. Knew a lot about politics and history. She was a librarian in Waterville before she retired and then she used to write little articles for the local newspaper.

-- "I don't even know why she left me this house in her will, but I was told it was because I was the only girl in the family." "That would fit," Saskia said. "She wanted to support girls and give them independence."

Would this be sufficient for that category, and if so, how would I count it? Is that another 2 points/2 spaces for completed?

If yes, then my total would be: 8 pts, 6 spaces
If not, my total is: 6 pts, 4 spaces

Jen wrote: "Ok let's see if I can brain this correctly.

The Lost Girls of Ireland by Susanne O'Leary

Completed: 2 pts and 2 spaces
Matches the spin I am currently on (Ireland): 1 pt and 1 space
Matches ta..."

I think we need a little more for it to count as DEI.

Booknblues wrote: "Jen wrote: "Ok let's see if I can brain this correctly.

The Lost Girls of Ireland by Susanne O'Leary

Completed: 2 pts and 2 spaces
Matches the spin I am currently on (Ireland): 1 pt and 1 space..."

Okie dokie, will scratch that part of the extra points. Thanks for the feedback!

I ended up completing the 3 items I expected, see Msg 4. I highly doubt I'll have anything for the other 2.

Lady of the Eternal City coming down the pike!!!!

1. Ides of March/Caesar/Rome

Conspirata by Robert Harris - 4.5* - My Review

This book is the second in the Cicero Series. I read the first, Imperium, several years ago and enjoyed it. I found this one even more fascinating. It centers on Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC) and the politics of Rome around 63 BC. The story is told by Tiro, Cicero’s (real) scribe (and advisor and slave). It focuses on Cicero’s oratory skills and his rise to power as Consul in the Roman Senate. It highlights the many conflicts with his contemporaries, particularly Julius Caesar. Other key characters (among many) include Pompey, Clodius, and Cicero’s wife Terentia.

It is obviously well researched and follows the historic record. It starts with the murder of a young slave, but this is not the primary topic of the book (it’s not a murder mystery). It is top rate historical fiction. Although this is a trilogy, both the first and second books can be read as standalones. It probably helps to be at least somewhat familiar with this time frame in history, but Harris provides a list of players and terms for those who are not. I am impressed by Harris’s ability to write such an engrossing novel related to the workings of the Roman Senate. The characters are easy to picture and come across as real people. The machinations of Julius Caesar are particularly well drawn, leading up to his conversion of the Roman Republic into a dictatorship, the topic of the final book in the Trilogy, Dictator, which I definitely plan to read.

Quotes:
From the front flap:
“Caught in a political shell game that leaves him forever putting out fires only to have them ignite elsewhere, Cicero plays for both the future of the republic and his very life. There is a plot to assassinate Cicero, abetted by a rising young star of the Roman Senate named Gaius Julius Caesar – and it will take all the embattled consul’s wit, strength, and force of will to stop it and keep Rome from becoming a dictatorship…Harris vividly evokes ancient Rome and its politics for today’s readers, documenting a world not unlike our own.”

p. 17 “The steward took our cloaks and showed us into the atrium, then went to tell his master of Cicero’s arrival, leaving us to inspect the death masks of Caesar’s ancestors. Strangely, there were only three consuls in Caesar’s direct line, a thin tally for a family that claimed to go back to the foundations of Rome.”

Ides of March quote is on p. 64
“Whatever the truth, by the time the vote was held on the Ides of March, Caesar must have known that defeat would mean his ruin….He (Caesar) announced he would either return as Pontifex Maximus or not return at all.”

Qualifies for:
• For each item completed you will receive an extra 2 points and 2 spaces.
• If the book matches the 5 people requirement for tag of above items, you can count it as a tag completed and gather 2 points.
• If the book contains all 3 items in the numbered points it will receive 2 extra points and 2 extra spaces.
• If the cover of the book has a picture of the item, you will receive 1 extra point and 1 extra space.
(Note: The cover includes the symbol of the Ancient Roman Legions. The eagle statuette was a prominent symbol used by the Roman legion, an eagle sculpture raised on a pole with its wings spread wide. Each legion had an “eagle-bearer”, who carried this standard.)

Total for this read: 7 points, 5 spaces

Once again, I'm surprised that a book I happen to be reading will fit at least one of the Mammoth March categories, be finished and reviewed before the deadline, and earn me a couple of points. It's got to be Bessie's influence -- as I did not have time to pull out another book or two to read that would fit though I have plenty. As it is I have only 30 more pages to read in the book that miraculously fits and haven't had a minute in the last 20 hours to read them!

Women’s History Month/Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (the theme for this year’s WHM) or DEI.

The Lithium Murder by Camille Minichino

3 stars - Review

The author and the main character in this book are retired physicists, and the murder mystery revolves around science which has the retired physicist working with the police as a consultant and of course she gets too involved in solving the murder beyond the scope of her employment. The book was written and is set in the 1990s, so there is much about the lack of women in science or even as detectives. However, where this fits both Women's History/DEI is that along with solving the murder, Gloria the MC is preparing a lecture for European History and Italian Langaguage and literature classes at the local high school about a young 18th Century female mathematician. There is much in the book that is the author's efforts to educate about women's contrictutions to what we now call STEM. She especially has interwoven this young 18th century mathematician throughout the plot, including:

... and looked forward to my class for them on the eighteenth-century Italian mathematician Maria Agnesi. I'd planned a presentation to coincide with her birthday, May 16, which gave me only a few days to edit my transparencies and collect a few more anecdotes. My favorite was the story of how she came to be known as the With of Agnesi, thaks to a mistranslation of the word "versiera," meaning "versied sine curve" but also an Italian word for witch.

I sat in my rocker and reviewed mu Maria Agnesi notes. I thought the students would get a kick out of an anecdote about her adventures as a somnambulist. Often, it was said, she'd go to her study while walking in her sleep and solve a mathematics problem she'd failed to complte when she was awake. In the morning she'd be surprised to find the solution carefully worked out on paper.

I can still keep the Maria Agnesi theme. She was a teenager when she did her greatest work, so it will fit right in." That also fits with DEI because Gloria is asked to change her lecture to a graduation commencement address, and Agnesi provides an example of what a woman and a teen can go on to accomplish at a young age. Gloria decides she can keep most of her speech about Maria as her commencement address.

At midnight, I went to bed hoping to dream of Maria Agnesi's beautiful cubic curve with the graceful lines of a bouquet of flowers.

MC also gives these lectures to the class monthly, centering on historical women in science and mathematics and at one point comments I told Peter about one young woman who'd handed me a note privately after a class. She'd written to thank me for inspiring her to continue in science. It was my dream response.

Also her students after her speech about Maria Agnesi, present her with a thank you gift: a beautifully illustrated book of Italy. Which actually helps her in the end identify the murderer.

Lastly, MC is also reading a biography of the first computer programer - a woman - which shows even further how the author promotes women in STEM, as DEI looks to achieve via her characters and storyline. I had a book in my lap - a new biography of Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's only legitimate daughter adn the world's first computer programmer.

The author even goes so far as to include a restaurant near the physic lab The Periodic Table .... run by three retired lab chemists. The pale brick walls were covered iwth chemical equations, written graffiti-like in bright colors, and the glasses and dishes and vases were right out of scientific supply catelog - beakers, oversized petri dishes, and tall graudated cylinders. That's just a bit I had to share - there's even a science joke on the menu of the restaurant = ''hydrogen soup".

It's a shame this series is mostly OOP (and has no tags to speak of let alone any matching more than 1x) as there is nothing like it being written today. Few writers inform on STEM or spend the time highlighting the accomplishments of women in STEM in any mystery, let alone a cozy series.

Completed 2
Earned: 4 points and 4 spaces.

Women’s History Month/suffrage/Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion or DEI.
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai

This book fits all three items in this topic. She made history by winning a Nobel peace prize for speaking out for (advocating for) women’s rights and education. She discussed diversity, equity and inclusion in numerous ways. Suffrage is less direct (she’s not a “suffragette”), but suffrage is defined as “the right to vote in elections,” which is discussed in the book. Most specifically “…women in our area don’t vote.” (Page 52 of 266.) The fight for equal education is a crucial first step. Her father taught her the importance of education rights to other rights, such as voting in elections. He believed that education was necessary to fight against religious extremists. People need to learn how to interpret the Quran themselves, to avoid being manipulated by false (and violent) interpretations by the Mullah.

Relevant Tags: diversity-60, women's history-17, women's rights-10, dei- 8 , women in history 7, womens history month - 5. Coming of age -57.

• For each item completed you will receive an extra 2 points and 2 spaces. YES
• If the book also matches the PBTag of the month, 1 extra point. YES
• It can be outside of your spin, however if it is within a spin, you will receive an extra point and space. YES
• If the book matches the 5 people requirement for tag of above items, you can count it as a tag completed and gather 2 points.
YES
• If the book contains all 3 items in the numbered points it will receive 2 extra points and 2 extra spaces. YES
• If the cover of the book has a picture of the item, you will receive 1 extra point and 1 extra space. - Maybe.

8 (9)points
5 (6) spaces
Tags- DEI, or Women’s-history or womens-history-month

Re the picture - she is one of the most recognizable women fighting for women’s rights today, so I think it fits. The only better picture would include multiple historical women.

5. Oscars/Actors/Hollywood
Finding Me by Viola Davis

This book fits all three items in this category. Viola Davis is a well respected famous actress in Hollywood, who won an Oscar award (and Tony, Grammy and Emmy). Her Oscar nominations were discussed primarily in the last 10% of the book. 93% - "I was nominated for an Oscar again in 2012, this time for best actress for The Help." 98% - "It's not so much getting the Oscar for Fences... rather for shooting a movie that gave me so much joy."

Relevant tags: Actors - 15, Hollywood - 19, Coming of age - 15

• For each item completed you will receive an extra 2 points and 2 spaces. YES
• If the book also matches the PBTag of the month, 1 extra point. YES
• It can be outside of your spin, however if it is within a spin, you will receive an extra point and space. YES
• If the book matches the 5 people requirement for tag of above items, you can count it as a tag completed and gather 2 points. YES
• If the book contains all 3 items in the numbered points it will receive 2 extra points and 2 extra spaces. YES

8 Points
5 Spaces
New tag - actors

I didn’t count the cover picture of her, though she IS a Hollywood actor who won an Oscar. If she was on the stage holding the Oscar it would be more obvious.