Christmas Challenge Update

Friday is New Year's Eve. I have an entire stack of books that came in on interlibarbary loan for another challenge that I am starting with the new year coming, so I think I am going to call myself done with this challenge. This is what I read and blogged about:

A Midnight Carol: A novel on How Charles Dickens Saved Christmas by Patricia K. Davis

The Christmas Scrapbook by Philip Gulley

Christmas at Harrington's by Melody Carlson

While I didn't read a lot, I did enjoy the idea of read books for Christmas and I hope to start earlier next year. This has inspired me to keep a list of Christmas books to refer to for next year! I highly recommend you trying this type of challenge in the future. Thanks to Nely of All About (N) for creating this challenge. 

 

THE CAT WHO.... Series: by Lilian Jackson Braun

Main Characters: Jim Quilleram, Journalist & his 2 cats, Yum Yum and Koko

1. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards   '66
2. The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern    '67
3. The Cat Who Turned On and Off    '68
4. The Cat Who Saw Red    '86
5. The Cat Who Played Brahms    '87
6. The Cat Who Played Post Office    '87
7. The Cat Who Had 14 Tails    '88
8. The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare   '88
9. The Cat Who Sniffed Glue    '88
10. The Cat Who Went Underground    '89
11. The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts    '90
12. The Cat Who Lived High    '91
13. The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal   '92
14. The Cat Who Moved a Mountain   '92
15. The Cat Who Wasn't There    '92
16. The Cat Who Went into the Closet     '93
17. The Cat Who Came to Breakfast    '94
18. The Cat Who Blew the Whistle    '94
19. The Cat Who Said Cheese    '96
20. The Cat Who Tailed a Thief    '97
21. The Cat Who Sang for the Birds    '98
22. The Cat Who Saw Stars    '99
23. The Cat Who Robbed a Bank    '00
24. The Cat Who Smelled a Rat   '01
25. The Cat Who Went Up the Creek    '02
26. The Cat Who Brought Down the House   ' 03
27. The Cat Who Talked Turkey    '03
28. The Cat Who Went Bananas    '04
29. The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell    '06
30. The Cat Who Had Sixty Whiskers  

The Chocolate Cat Caper by JoAnna Carl

So I learned my lesson after reading "The Cat Who..." series and I decided to read the first book in the series first. I will definitely read more in this series. The main character, Lee McKinney, certainly has lead a busy life... accountant, trophy wife, divorcee, Texas beauty queen, etc. And while typing this it seems a little crazy, she does seem to pull off all these roles. She "comes home" to Michigan after divorcing her rich husband (role of trophy wife) to get a fresh start. She explains that as a child she came to this quiet vacation town in Michigan to help her aunt run her chocolate shop, so it seems natural that in a time in her life she in which she needs to rebuild, she finds herself here again.

This particular story sets the scene for how and why she came to work with her aunt. It also introduces you to all of the quaint characters in this town including some from her past. While working for her aunt (and she is there to be the business minded person... remember role of accountant), she talks her aunt into taking any order for Clementine Ripley, the famous... or should I saw infamous... defense attorney. There apparently is a long list of people that hate this woman (hello: she is rich, pretty, and a successful lawyer... duh). Naturally, she has to die in mysteriously in the story... and she does. This the mystery. With so many suspects, anyone could have killed her. Also the way that she dies is by eating a piece of cyanide laced chocolate that Lee delivered and her aunt made, which is how she gets drawn into the mystery.

For the most part, I enjoyed almost all of the characters in this book. And while Lee has this annoying (I think it is suppose to be funny) habit of saying the wrong words when she talks when she is nervous, I do really like her. Like I said, I actually like everyone which is why I will read more in this series. Unlike other mysteries like this, I didn't really feel any connection with the town (setting), but perhaps that will come as I read more.

THEODOSIA BROWNING Series by Laura Childs

Charleston Tea Room Owner

1. Death By Darjeeling
2. Gunpowder Green
3. Shades of Earl Gray   ‘03
4. The English Breakfast Murder   ‘03
5. The Jasmine Moon Murder   ‘04
6. Chamomile Mourning   ‘05
7. Blood Orange Brewing   ‘06
8. Dragonwell Dead   '07
9. The Silver Needle Murder    '08
10. Oolong Dead    '09
11. The Teaberry Strangler    '10

CHOCOHOLIC MYSTERY Series:

Main Character: Lee McKinney, Manager of a Chocolate Shop

1. The Chocolate Cat Caper   ‘02
2. The Chocolate Bear Burglary   ‘02.....Christmas
3. The Chocolate Frog Frame-Up   ‘03
4. The Chocolate Puppy Puzzle   ‘04
5. The Chocolate Mouse Trap   ‘05
6. The Chocolate Bridal Bash   '06
7. The Chocolate Jewel Case    '07
8. The Chocolate Snowman Murders  '08....Christmas
9. The Chocolate Cupid Killings    '09...Valentines
10. The Chocolate Pirate Plot    '10

A Midnight Carol: A Novel of How Charles Dickens Saved Christmas by Patricia K. Davis

I really liked this book. I must admit I am a Charles Dickens fan. I am also a Christmas Carol fan, so to read this seemed like I was going to like it no matter what. I really like retellings or sequels to classical pieces, too.

With that said, this tale of the story behind the writing and publishing of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol was quite entertaining. I liked that there were enough factual elements from Dickens life that I found the author and story creditable. Since I have taught high school English for years, I know quite a bit about his life and many of those details were included.

The story picks up with Dickens awaiting the birth of his 5th child, while struggling to write a money maker. His past works had done well but he seems to have fallen out of favor. Once the idea of The Christmas Carol is hatched and written, he attempts to publish it in a way that will offer him the opportunity to make more profit. Naturally there is some underhandedness by his publishers and it creates quite a suspenseful air to the book that I did not expect, but it is what made me sad that Christmas came and I had to put it aside. It is also what got me out of bed at 4:45 am this morning to finish it.

If you like Dickens and or The Christmas Carol, I highly recommend.  

1st Challenge of 2011

2011 Support Your Local Library Challenge

This is my first challenge for 2010. Here is the description...

I participated in this challenge last year when it was hosted by J. Kayes book blog.  But it seems that J. Kaye is no longer blogging and I really wanted to do this challenge again so I thought that I would try my hand at hosting it.


1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate. Just create a post for the challenge and link to your challenge post in the linky below.




--Non-Bloggers: Post your list of books in the comment section of the wrap-up post.


2. There are four levels to this challenge...Pick your poison:




--The Mini – Check out and read 30 library books.


--"Fun" Size – Check out and read 40 library books.


--Jumbo Size – Check out and read 50 library books.


--Mega Size – Check out and read 51+ library books.
(Aim high. As long as you read 30 by the end of 2011, you are a winner.)


3. Audio, Re-reads, eBooks, YA, Young Reader – basically any book counts just as long as it is checked out from the library. Books MUST be checked out like with a library card, books purchased at a library DO NOT count.


4. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.


5. Crossovers from other reading challenges count.


6. Challenge begins January 1st 2011 and goes thru December 31 2011.

The Christmas Scrapbook by Philip Gulley

Okay so back to the Christmas reading challenge. I pick up The Christmas Scrapbook by Philip Gulley because it was short (89 pages) and it was the ONLY Christmas book in our libraries display that was not a romance. Thank goodness this was short. I did not enjoy this book. The idea seemed nice. Husband wants to get wife a "real" Christmas present this year so he take a scrapbooking class at a local junior college to learn how to scrapbook in the hopes of making her a scrapbook for Christmas. Sweet idea right? The execution was horrible. The main character, Pastor Sam, tells his wife that he is going to a men's group on Wednesday nights... which is really the night of his class (lie). His wife starts to believe her friend that he is really having an affair. Once she finds out this isn't true, she then believes the friend again ("Dumb this friend lady" I was wanted to scream at her) that he is secretly dying and is going for treatments on Wednesday nights. The entire town eventually catches onto to this story, so as the Christmas holiday approaches people go out of their way to be nice to Sam. The scrapbook class is totally a failure for Sam and he ends up enlisting help from his assistant to attempt to finish his book. If you are interested in finding out if he does finish the scrapbook, what hiw wife thinks or it, or what happens when they find out he is not ill... you will have to spend an hour of your life reading it.

I felt like I was stuck in a situational comedy. Kind of Bob Newhart like... but not as good.

Christmas at Harrington's by Melody Carlson

My Mom and I joined a Christmas Reading challenge, and this might be one of the first books I have finished for the challenge. We are to read 5 Christmas books by Christmas (or something like that... actually I think it is 5 holiday, but whatever). Christmas at Harrington's by Melody Carlson is a short ( 167 pages) book about a woman that is released from prison after wrongfully serving a prison sentence for embezzlement. She decides not to "go home" but to start a new life in the town of New Haven. The book is a sweet telling of her journey "back into civilization" in which she is embraced and helped by some and shunned by others. In the true sense of character development, the author does a nice job of creating the character of Lena and has her fully develop and change into a more confident and Godly character by the end of the book. It is a season job at Harrington Department store as Mrs. Claus that allows Lena to go through this metamorphosis.

This was a quick read, and a very simple story telling style that makes it great to read in an afternoon or so. I did keep flipping to the back of the book to see if this is a Christian fiction writer, but her bio never really said and I didn't have time to look it up. Through the character of Lena there is a lot of soul search about God specifically. I didn't find it bothersome, just interesting.