January AlphaKIT: P and M

Welcome to the 2021 AlphaKIT, an unofficial challenge in the 2021 Category Challenge Group.

So glad to see 2020 in the rear-view mirror. I hope everyone is doing as well as possible and looking forward to at least a partial return to normality once vaccine becomes widely available.

As to the AlphaKIT, the rules are: 1. Use these letters any way you wish to select reading for the month. 2. Enjoy your reading.

and

The letter images are thanks to helenliz ! Thanks so much, they're lovely.

Please remember to update the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2021_AlphaKIT#January:_-_Letters:_P_and_...

I have lots of possibilities but my book club's choice for January is The Alchemist by Paul Coelho and I will also be reading Laughter in Ancient Rome by Mary Beard.

I'm planning on The Salvation Sequence - 3 books by Peter F. Hamilton and Ghost Talkersby Mary Robinette Kowal

I'm working on my series for the Alpha this year. For Jan, I'll be reading Glass Houses by Louise Penny and The Prime Minister's Secret Agent by Susan Elia MacNeal.

I'm probably going to read Pilgrimage and Manchild in the Promised Land for this month.

Lots of possibilities with the M for mysteries or murder in the title. Maybe Midwinter Murder by Agatha Christie and Anne Perry's A Christmas Resolution.

I've got The Potter's Field by Ellis Peters on deck for P. I haven't decided on my M book yet, but I know I have lots of options on my shelves!

I have a P already picked out. I'll see what I'm reading for other challenges before picking something out specifically, if need be.

Lady in Medieval England / Peter Coss

I am planning on reading Cop Hater by Ed McBain for my M read, and for P - Dreams of the Red Phoenix by Virginia Pye.

>8 LibraryCin: You'll get both the M and the P with that choice!

I'm going to read Medieval People by Eileen Powers.

>10 NinieB: Oh! I go by only the first word in the title. :-) Good catch, though!

I have several possibilities:

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
The Price of Paradise by Susana Lopez Rubio
The Murder on the Enriqueta by Molly Thynne
The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott
Man's Search for Meaning by Vikto Frankl

My January possibilities are
January..............P M
The Son by Phillip Meyer (A) (strong possible as it is a PM)
Dictionary of the Khazars K
Gormenghast Mervyn Peake
Nocturnes and Preludes by Gaiman (possible)
The Last Unicorn Peter S. Beagle (Possible)
An American Marriage - Tayari Jones (probable, F2F bookclub read).

>14 Kristelh: Oooh Preludes and Nocturnes! I do so love The Sandman - I'm even making one volume required reading for my Mythology course next semester!

There are so many possibilities with these letters!

At the moment I am eyeing

The Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling (also for BingoDOG)
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher (a Christmas novel)

Mystery in the Channel by Freeman Wills Crofts (this is pretty much settled for MysteryKIT)
The Seeker by S.G. MacLean
Murder at the Old Vicarage by Jill McGown (a Christmas mystery)
or anything by Jojo Moyes if I feel like another comfort read.

I have decided to start the challenges on Christmas Eve, so the Christmas books might be a good fit. But I will see, it's all just planning!

>14 Kristelh:
I have taught An American Marriage in a class this year and I was so impressed by this novel! My students thought so, too, although most of them aren't readers and they don't particularly like the English course. It's definitely one of the best books I've read this year, maybe even no 1. I didn't choose it myself, it was on the curriculum, but it was such a great choice!

>16 MissBrangwen:, thanks so much. I am glad to hear that it is a novel worth the read! Now I am looking forward to it.

I'm planning on The Colleen Colgan Chronicles Book 1 by Richard Phelan for my 'P' read, and Water Logic by Laurie J. Marks for my 'M' read.

I've started Intervention by Julian May. A beloved re-read for me.

I ended up reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and Mischief of the Mistletoe and Adventures on the High Teas: In Search of Middle England by Stuart Maconie.

Reading The Blackhouse by Peter May for the double

>21 jeanned: Oh, I loved that one. Those are really great on audio, too.

I see a lot of murder in January!

✔Body From The Past
✔Crown Jewels of Europe by Prince Michael of Greece
✔Dead-End Detective: A Piper and Porter Mystery
✔Lavender Blue Murder
✔Little Bookshop of Murder
✔Murder at Chateau sur Mer
✔Murder at the Arts & Crafts Festival
✔Murder at the PTA
Murder in the Bayou Boneyard
✔One Poison Pie
✔Page Marked for Murder
✔Peachy Scream
✔Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum
✔Wedding Bear Blue by Meg Macy

Currently reading "The Glimpses of the Moon" by Edmund Crispin, the pen name of Bruce Montgomery

Finished An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, Marriage for M.

Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield was a quick and delightful book, and it hits both the P and the M!

COMPLETED The Glimpses of the Moon by Edmund Crispin (aka Bruce Montgomery

The Lady in Medieval England, 1000-1500 / Peter Coss
2.5 stars

This is a nonfiction history of “ladies” in medieval England. Ladies - not just meaning women - but upper class nobility “ladies”. It covered things like inheritance, heraldry (coats of arms, usually from the father or husband, used in women’s seals), kidnapping (aka “ravishing”!), marriage, romance…

Too academic for my liking. There were some interesting nuggets, but also a lot of big words, long paragraphs, and quotes in Middle English. When I’m bored by a book, I don’t put it down, but I tend to skim. I definitely skimmed (or just skipped) anything in Middle English, and a bit more. Otherwise, bits and pieces caught my attention, but not enough to even say it was “ok” (in my rating system). The interesting bits gave it the .5 stars above not liking it, as a whole.

I just read Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay.

I didn't read Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher because after two stories taking place over Christmas I had enough and was afraid that I wouldn't enjoy it as much as it deserves. So maybe that's one for next Christmas!

I want to start The Dutch House by Ann Patchett after I have finished my current reads, though, because it works nicely both for this month's AlphaKIT and for BingoDOG (building in the title).

I finished Manchild in the Promised Land yesterday for my M selection.
You can find my review here

Barometer Rising / Hugh MacLennan
3.25 stars

It’s 1917 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Penny (a woman working at the shipyard – very unusual for the time)’s love (and cousin) has been at war and he’s missing. They all think he’s dead. So, when Angus (much older than Penny) asks her to marry him, she accepts. Only days later, the Halifax Harbour goes up in an explosion.

The book only follows just over one week. It took longer than I liked to get to the explosion. Leading up to it wasn’t nearly as interesting as the explosion itself and the aftermath, but not long after, it concluded mostly with their regular lives again. If there had been more focus on the disaster, I would have enjoyed it more, I’m sure. There was an afterword by another “classic” Canadian author, Alistair Macleod – one of those that analyzes the book; one of the ones that should never be an introduction but often is (because it gives away the story)! Luckily, it was an afterword.

I have completed both my M and P reads for this month's AlphaKit. Although I wasn't a fan of Dreams of the Red Phoenix by Virginia Pye, I loved Cop Hater by Ed McBain.

I'm reading back-to-back P books -- just finished The Potter's Field by Ellis Peters and am now reading The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs.

"P" done:


The Confession of Brother Haluin by Ellis Peters

Satisfying entry in the Cadfael series, about a fellow monk with a secret, and a need to atone for it. I guessed the solution to the mystery, but it was still "good fun".

Note: I had an iPad glitch while editing the Wiki...I think I got everything back in place.

Would any of you who added a "P" book this month double-check behind me? I'd hate to mess up your entry.

>36 fuzzi: Thanks for the heads up! Mine's good. :-)

Just finished my PM combo for the month. The Son by Philipp Meyer.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Completed for M:

Jazz by Toni Morrison - 4 stars

and

Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir by Natasha Trethewey - 5 stars

I'm reading Help me! by Marianne Power.

Completed for P:

Magical Negro (poetry) by Morgan Parker

Obviously, it could have counted for either or both of this month's letters.

I have finished Murder in the Queen's Armes and am about to start P.S. from Paris...

I finished Miracle Creek by Angie Kim for M

for M I am reading The Royal Wulff Murders by Keith McCafferty and for P I am reading Pop Goes The Weasel: The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes by Albert Jack

Finished Murder on Brittany shores by Jean-Luc Bannalec. I was interested to learn about the locale, but the story felt emotionally flat to me - I didn't connect with the main character or anyone else.

For my P selection, I read Pilgrimage. You can find my mini-review here.

February thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/328725

The Tattooed Witch / Susan MacGregor
3.75 stars

Miriam’s father is a doctor. They are in a room with important priests (as a 17-year old woman, she shouldn’t be there) and the young handsome priest is dying. Miriam’s father is trying to help when the Grand Inquisitor comes in, insists the young priest needs his last rites and forces him to drink wine – wine with extra powder in it. The young priest convulses and dies. As Miriam and her father try to leave, the Grand Inquisitor accuses them of murder and locks them up. Miriam has to find a way out and she won’t leave her father behind.

That is pretty much the first chapter. I don’t want to go into too much more, as I don’t want to give anything away, but part-way through we meet another character, Joachin, who lost both parents when he was 9- and 11-years old. Joachin is looking for a priest with a scar – a scar Joachin gave him when that priest murdered Joachin’s mother. Joachin plans to kill the priest with the scar.

When Joachin was introduced, initially I wasn’t as interested in his storyline (nor the storyline of another group of people introduced a bit later), until things (and characters) started to come together. The book really picked up in the last ¼ of the book, and though I didn’t increase my rating up to 4 stars (that’s what I’d rate the last bit of the book), I pulled up my rating just that extra bit above 3.5 stars (good). This is a trilogy, so not everything was tied up at the end, as it will continue, and I will continue with the next book, as well.

COMPLETED The Prophet Murders by Mehmet Murat Somer

I read a second book starting with the letter P: Peril at End House by Agatha Christie. I enjoyed it a lot and it was just what I was looking for this weekend.

Earlier in the month I read Common Murder by Val McDermid. And just finished The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, which I really enjoyed.

So far this month I have read the following for this challenge:

Murder on the SS Rosa by Lee Strauss
Pigeons by Andrew Blechman
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
The Price of Paradise by Susana Lopez Rubio
The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott
A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Murder by Dianne Freeman

I finished an "M" book and a "P" book this past week:

This is Wild (This is series #2; by Natasha Madison) and;
Preacher Book One (by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon)

Hopefully I can get Ministry of the Future (by Kim Stanley Robinson) started this week!

Finished Deadly Beloved (Hard Case Crime Novels) by Max Allan Collins. I had a lot of fun with Ms. Tree.

Finished Shakespeare for Squirrels by the remarkably imaginative Christopher Moore.

I've recently read another P book -- How Right You Are, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse -- as well as two M books -- An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson and Mr. Malcolm's List by Suzanne Allain.

>53 LittleTaiko: How was Murder on the SS Rosa? I have that lingering on my Kindle...

>57 christina_reads: Love the Bertie & Jeeves books!

COMPLETED Paris for One by Jojo Moyes

I've finished several Ms and Ps so far this month:

M
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, 4*
The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal, 4.5*
Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire, 4*
Agent 355 by Marie Benedict, 4*

P
When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman, 4.5*
Jingo by Terry Pratchett, 3.5*

Read The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (P in Peter).

>58 leslie.98: - It was a nice start to the series. Since it's a novella it really doesn't take to long to finish. I enjoyed the characters but it didn't completely play fair with the mystery as there are a few details that come out during the big reveal.

>62 Kristelh: and...? Did you like it?

>64 fuzzi:, yes, I liked it. You can tell that the author is a "story teller" and that this book has probably had quite an influence on other works.

>63 LittleTaiko: Ah well, that is a failing with a lot of mysteries after the Golden Age - and to be fair, perhaps during it too in books that haven't succeeded in surviving in popularity.

I read A Prefect's Uncle by P.G. Wodehouse, spurred by >57 christina_reads:'s reading of Wodehouse to check my Kindle for which of his books I had not yet read.

>67 leslie.98: I just downloaded that one for free on Kindle.

>65 Kristelh: I'm glad. I first read that book when I was in high school and enamored of unicorns. I liked the animated feature, too, despite the musical numbers. Upon a recent reread I was pleased that the suck fairy did not damage my fond memories!

Beagle recently published another book, In Calabria, which I also loved.

>66 leslie.98: - I liked it enough that I read the next in the series over the weekend. The mystery was stronger but still some things to work out. Maybe as the series develops that part of the story will improve.

>70 LittleTaiko: Thanks for the update - series often do improve as the author gains experience.

Another M book for me -- Murders in Volume 2 by Elizabeth Daly, which I enjoyed.

I finished The Blackhouse by Peter May which completely blew me away.

>73 MissBrangwen: I loved that one, too.

Wow, I have read two books for each of the challenges this month!

The Confession of Brother Haluin by Ellis Peters
The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois

The Rescuers by Margery Sharp
Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey (reread)

Wiki updated :)

>75 fuzzi: Dragonsinger is one of my favorites from that series - I also reread it (via audiobook) just a few months ago :) And though I haven't thought about it in years, as a kid I loved The Rescuers...

I have finished a couple more books:
A Prefect's Uncle by P.G. Wodehouse
Meet the Sky by McCall Hoyle
The Princess Bride by William Goldman

I read The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, another P.

In addition to Miracle Creek, I read two books by Louise Miller
The City Baker's Guide to Country Living
The Late Bloomers Club

I re-read Evicted by Matthew Desmond

Both my P reads are long audio books which I will not finish for quite some time. I list them here in case others are interested. Those who follow other categories will see these show up when I complete each one.
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
Fevers, Feuds and Diamonds by Paul Farmer

I've managed to finish my "M" book for this month with The Prime Minister's Secret Agent by Susan Elia MacNeal.

Two more books, one for each letter!

M: Ministry of the Future (by Kim Stanley Robinson)
P: Dream with Me (The O'Callaghans #1 by Kristen Proby)

And that wraps it up for me this month! I'm pleased to have gotten a title ('Ministry of the Future' and Natasha Madison) and author ('Preacher: Book One' and Kristen Proby) in for each letter and knock off a coiple more titles from my TBR stax :-)

I finished On A Rising Tide by Charlie Phillips, my third P book this month. This category has been a lot of fun and has led me to read a great variety books that I'm sure I wouldn't have picked anytime soon otherwise!

One for each letter for me this month:

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark
The Skeleton Road, by Val McDermid

Final book for PM, Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake for a PM. Audio by Simon Vance, Good job!

The Drowning Kind / Jennifer McMahon
5 stars

Jax and Lexie are sisters and spent their summers growing up with their Gram, who lived in a house with a “spring” pool in the yard. The spring, for decades, was someplace where people believed there were healing powers in the water. Locals, however, also believed that if you took something from the spring, the spring demanded something back.

Jax and Lexie always knew, growing up, that their Gram’s sister, Rita drowned in that spring. But, they loved it there, anyway. As adults, Lexie was diagnosed with a mental illness, and she had bouts of mania. Jax is a social worker, but had been estranged from Lexie for about a year – for her own mental sanity, she had to stop trying to fight Lexie’s battles for her when Lexie was off her meds. When she ignores Lexie’s calls one night, Jax is devastated to learn, the next day, that Lexie has drowned in the spring. (This is not a spoiler, as it happens almost immediately in the book.)

That was the current-day (2019) storyline. There was another storyline, set in 1929, when the property Jax’s Gram lived on was once the location of a hotel, where people came to use the spring for its healing powers. Ethel and Will are a couple without kids, but they desperately want a child. They head to the hotel for a short stay, and Ethel “asks” the spring to grant her her wish… and it does.

Really really good. This is one you may not want to read by yourself, in the dark, at night. Not all of it, but there were enough parts (as I read just before bed a couple of nights!) that were creepy and chilling. The atmosphere in the book was done really well, and there are even more family issues and secrets than what I’ve mentioned here.

I have read Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey for M.

For P - read The Hunted by Kathryn Parcel
For M - Red Noise by John P Murphy

(Wiki updated!)