Mimi

My choice for the “book about nature” category in the 2018 Read Harder Challenge. Excellent and disturbing book. It is also the current pick for the PBS Newshour-New York Times book club.

Thanks to Donna for alerting me to Ivan E. Coyote. Loved this book.

Not sure why this one took me so long to finish, because I liked it very much. A gender-shifting Paul (could sort of be compared to Virginia Woolf's Orlando) mutates through college/punk life in Iowa, Provincetown, and San Francisco, pretty much being Paul/Polly throughout, depending on sexual encounter preferences. Lots of Patti Smith, classic rock music, Michigan Womyn's Festival references.

For the Read Harder Challenge, a mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+. The sections dealing with the past genocide of Muslims in Bosnia were gripping, and if the entire book had been as well written, I would have given it at least 4 stars. But the main characters in the detective story are oddly portrayed–the police hardly investigate at all and personalities aren't ever fleshed out. I also kept wondering if I missed an earlier book, although this is #1, because there were so many vague references to past experiences that didn't really move the current story along. I would give these sections a 2 or less, so split the difference with a 3.

For the 2018 Read Harder Challenge: A comic that isn't published by Marvel, DC, or Image. Cute.

For the Read Harder Challenge, an Oprah Book Club selection.

For the Read Harder Challenge–A romance novel by or about a person of color. Very readable, although it dragged a bit in the middle. The two main characters get together fairly early in the book, so there's not a lot of suspense about that. Mostly I liked Maggie's ability to take care of herself and the section at the end where the author discusses her historical research about people of color in the 1880s.

For the Read Harder Challenge category of a book with a female protagonist over the age of 60. Mrs. Pollifax is a retired, yoga-practicing karate expert who gets an assignment from the CIA now and again. A series of silly books, really, but fun to read.

For the Read Harder category “Children's Classics Published Before 1980.” Hadn't ever read Mary Poppins before and didn't know there was a whole series built around her, sort of like The Wizard of Oz. One book was enough, though.

For the 2018 Read Harder Challenge category of sci fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author. This was a challenging book! It had a wealth of details about worlds and space travel, elaborate military titles and family names, puzzling hidden meanings within conversations, but also a great climactic ending. Most interesting to me was the skillful way the author represented gender fluidity throughout. “She” is used as the default pronoun, and the main character is often chagrined when she happens to select the wrong pronoun when referring to individuals she doesn't know. That is, I think the main character is female...

A western for the 2018 Read Harder Challenge. I liked this book about Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp and Dodge City well enough. It captured a different feel about the old west than many other books–gritty and with a more realistic view of how it must have been for women. But it wasn't as engrossing, alas, as Lonesome Dove, which will always be my standard for westerns.

For the category “Read a classic of genre fiction”–I chose romance. And assume anything by Georgette Heyer is a classic.

A book of true crime for the Read Harder Challenge. Two stories are juxtaposed here, as the subtitle implies. I found the memoir much more engrossing than the analysis of the murder, which the author primarily recounts/reconstructs from documentation.

For Read Harder Challenge category “A book published posthumously.” These short stories were written in the 1960s, but the language and characters and issues feel so contemporary. Great writing is like that, I suppose. I listened to the audio version, which was very well done.

For the Read Harder Challenge: “A comic written or illustrated by a person of color.” This first volume of a trilogy is set in 2009, with Lewis telling his story before heading to Obama's inauguration.

Murder mystery within a murder mystery–very clever. Didn't realize at first that the author also created Midsomer Murders (the British tv show), which I also like very much. Heh.

For the Read Harder Challenge: “The first book in a new-to-you YA or middle grade series.” I browsed the YA section of the library and chose this because everything else seems to be dystopian sci-fi. Instead, this is a Regency romance set in an England where magic really works and the women are intelligent and witty. Cute.

Interesting enough to kick off a new annual Book Riot challenge (“Read a celebrity memoir”) and now I want to watch Star Trek: Voyager.

Always have time for a Jack Reacher book.

Amazing.

Had to immediately rewatch The Last Waltz after finishing this. The Band really was all that.

A funny and rather violent mystery by the creator of Bones, the TV series. I liked it, but I am a sucker for Jack Reacher-type characters who outsmart and out-fight all the bad guys.

This was my choice for “a book set in Central or South America, written by a Central or South American author,” and it was a great one. I pretty much loved everything about it: the intelligence, the realistically adult women, the literary references, the plot.

I now have only one category left in order to finish the 2017 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: Read a book that is set more than 5000 miles from your location. I've started The Master and Margarita, which, from what I can tell so far, takes place in Moscow, Jerusalem, and HELL. Should fit.

(Also, why doesn't the “insert book/author” option here work for me anymore?)

Finished this a few days ago, but am still thinking about it. It is a sad and enlightening book about Nigerian views toward women who do not/cannot bear children, and an amazing debut novel. Since I've already read a debut novel for the 2017 Read Harder Challenge, I am using this to fulfill the “Read a book wherein all point-of-view characters are people of color” category.

Ok. Not usually a fan of the genre, but was compelled to read the three books that finish the overall story. The writing gets better as it continues, and I found myself a little teary at the end. Got me!