USA Fiction Challenge: State By State in 2014

Hosted by: Kerrie of Mysteries in Paradise
Dates: Throughout 2014 (or longer)

See the challenge announcement/sign-up page HERE

Guidelines (quoted from the challenge announcement/sign-up page):
"Read just one novel from each state - you choose whether the link is the setting or the author. You choose whether you confine yourself to a particular genre or not."

I'm signing up for this one knowing, going in, that I'll never finish it in one year.  So I'm going to consider it an ongoing challenge and just see how far I get.  Should be interesting.

Kerrie says it's OK to start reading for the challenge now, so I can get going. Here's my list of states, with a few possible titles (all from my TBR list).  During the year, I'll be tracking my progress and listing the books I've actually read, over on my challenge blog.

1. ALABAMA 
2. ALASKA 
3. ARIZONA 
4. ARKANSAS 
5. CALIFORNIA
   Tales of the City. Armistead Maupin
6. COLORADO 
7. CONNECTICUT 
8. DISTRICT of COLUMBIA 
9. DELAWARE 
10. FLORIDA 
11. GEORGIA 
12. HAWAII 
13. IDAHO 
14. ILLINOIS 
15. INDIANA 
16. IOWA 
17. KANSAS
    In Cold Blood. Truman Capote
18. KENTUCKY 
19. LOUISIANA 
20. MAINE
    The Burgess Boys. Elizabeth Strout
21. MARYLAND 
22. MASSACHUSETTS
    The Cranefly Orchid Murders. Cynthia Riggs
    Night Passage (Jesse Stone #1). Robert B. Parker
23. MICHIGAN 
24. MINNESOTA 
25. MISSISSIPPI 
26. MISSOURI 
27. MONTANA
    The Whistling Season. Ivan Doig
28. NEBRASKA
    My Antonia. Willa Cather
29. NEVADA 
30. NEW HAMPSHIRE 
31. NEW JERSEY 
32. NEW MEXICO 
33. NEW YORK
    The League of Frightened Men. Rex Stout
34. NORTH CAROLINA
    Guests on Earth. Lee Smith
35. NORTH DAKOTA
    Ancient Shores. Jack McDevitt
    The Beet Queen. Louise Erdrich
    Born Brothers. Larry Woiwode
36. OHIO 
37. OKLAHOMA 
38. OREGON
    The Quick and the Thread (Embroidery Mystery #1). Amanda Lee
39. PENNSYLVANIA
    Mickelsson's Ghosts. John Gardner
40. RHODE ISLAND
    The Ivory Tower. Henry James
    Theophilus North. Thornton Wilder
    The Witches of Eastwick. John Updike
    The Widows of Eastwick. John Updike
41. SOUTH CAROLINA
    The House on Tradd Street. Karen White
42. SOUTH DAKOTA 
43. TENNESSEE 
44. TEXAS
    Texas. James Michener
45. UTAH 
46. VERMONT
    The Secret History. Donna Tartt
47. VIRGINIA 
48. WASHINGTON
49. WEST VIRGINIA 
50. WISCONSIN 
51. WYOMING

Book Beginnings on Friday: Evil Under the Sun

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays. As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.

This week, I'm just starting Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie, a mystery novel featuring her Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot.  I've had this one on my TBR list for years now.  Here's the first sentence:

When Captain Roger Angmering built himself a house in the year 1782 on the island of Leathercombe Bay, it was thought the height of eccentricity on his part.

Initial thoughts: Standard Christie opening - many of her novels begin with a bit of "back story" to set the scene. Also fairly typical of the Poirot novels to find the master detective off on a jaunt somewhere - this time to an out-of-the-way resort in the south of England.  And we also have one of those wonderfully unpronounceable surnames Christie is so fond of throwing at us - Angmering (apparently, also the name of a village in West Sussex).

I generally love Poirot, and so far I'm enjoying the book, although I'm only a few pages into it.

I'm reading this on my Kindle - so, no interesting cover. Above is the first American Edition from 1941.

Teaser Tuesdays: Heroic Measures

This week my teaser lines come from Jill Ciment's lovely little novel, Heroic Measures.  I bought the book when it was published back in 2009, but it's taken me all these years to get around to reading it. What a mistake - it's a brilliant read.  In this snippet, one of the main characters is waking up on what might turn out to be a life-changing morning:

For Ruth, the spectacle of sunrise is less inspiring than comforting. The rise of the sun is like the opening of a novel she's read so many times that she can take pleasure in the details and nuances without having to race to the end to find out what happens. (p.57)

Well, with this book, even though it's not a re-read, I'm going through very slowly and savoring each line. It's that good.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.

Vintage Mystery BINGO 2014

One more challenge that's just too enticing to pass up! Bev at My Reader's Block is hosting another Vintage Mystery reading challenge for 2014, and this time there's a bingo-card twist that sounds like a lot of fun. And two versions - Silver Age or Golden Age mysteries (you can choose to do either version, or both).  See the announcement/sign-up page to read all the rules and guidelines. 

I'm going to start with the Gold Edition card (mysteries published before 1960), and try to complete one whole line (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally - haven't decided which yet).  Then if I can complete that one I might go for the Silver as well - that would be a total of 12 books, and I definitely have that many want-to-read mysteries on my shelves.

So we'll see how it goes.  During the year I'll be tracking my progress over on my challenge blog (HERE). This one should be fun.

Teaser Tuesdays: The Shooting Party

This week my teaser lines come from The Shooting Party by Isabel Colegate, a book I've been meaning to read ever since 1985 when I saw the movie based on the novel.  This quote comes very early in the book, on page 2:

"It's not a bad idea to get in the habit of writing down one's thoughts. It saves one having to bother anyone else with them."

I've kept a diary or journal of some kind almost since I learned how to write.  And this has always been one of my favorite quotes about journal keeping.  I knew it was by Isabel Colegate, but I never knew exactly where it appeared in her works.  So I was pleasantly surprised to discover it here. (And, by the way - do you keep a journal?)

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.

New Author Reading Challenge 2014

I really am trying to be a little more selective about signing up for reading challenges in 2014, after doing so badly with my 2013 crop.  But the New Author Challenge (hosted by Jackie over at Literary Escapism) is one of my favorites.  For some reason, I forgot to sign up this year.  Not making that mistake again.  I'll be committing to fifteen new authors, but hope to do a little better than that.  Since I don't know who those authors will be yet, I won't be making an advance list, but during the year I'll be tracking my progress on my challenge blog (HERE), and here too (if I can remember):

1. Marguerite Yourcenar: Coup de Grâce
2. Julia L. Sauer: Fog Magic
3. Gavin Extence: The Universe Versus Alex Woods
4. C.C. Benison: Ten Lords A-Leaping 
5. 
   

Wrapping Up the Chunkster

The 2013 Chunkster Challenge actually runs through December 31st, but I'm wrapping it up now - even though I've only read two of the four books I intended to read when I signed up at the "Chubby Chunkster" level.  Realistically, I don't think it's likely I'll have time to read any other BIG books before the end of the year, so I'm admitting partial defeat and bowing out now.

The two chunkies I finished were:

The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown
(509 pages in hardcover)

and

Night Film, by Marisha Pessl
(602 pages in hardcover)

I cheated just a smidge with that second one, as I started reading it on my Kindle.  But almost immediately I realized I needed to read a print version to see all the illustrations, which are a major part of the narrative.  So, I actually ended up reading nearly 600 pages of it in print.  (No, really - I did!)  Will get my review up in a day or so and add the link.

So, that's about it.  My thanks to Wendy and Vasilly for hosting - it was a fun challenge, even though I only made it halfway.  Maybe next time....