Reading Challenges Update: August 2014

Here is where I stand with the challenges I have joined after the month of July (only challenges that I read books for this month are featured here):

Audio Book (14/25)
13. Death Cloud by Andrew Lane
14. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

100 Books in a Year (70/100)
64. Death Cloud by Andrew Lane
65. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
66. Judging a Book by Its Lover by Lauren Leto
67. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
68. Extremities by David Lubar
69. Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little
70. Dreamspinner by Lynn Kurland

Historical Fiction (9/15)
9. Death Cloud by Andrew Lane

British Books (9/12)
7. Death Cloud by Andrew Lane
8. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
9. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Free Reads (28/30)
27. Death Cloud by Andrew Lane
28. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Elsewhere Online: August 2014

As you know from my Stacking the Shelves posts, I review for another website (bookloons.com). As I cannot post my reviews there and here, but I would still like to count the books I read for the challenges, I am going to have a post like this at the end of the every month listing the books I reviewed and what challenges the went towards.

Title: Extremities
Author: David Lubar

Challenges: 100 Books in a Year

Title: Dear Daughter

Author: Elizabeth Little

Challenges: 100 Books in a Year

Title: Dreamspinner

Author: Lynn Kurland

Challenges: 100 Books in a Year

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Title: The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Author: Neil Gaiman

Publisher: William Morrow
ISBN: 978-0-06-225566-2

Why Read?: Book Club
Challenges: British Books, 100 Books in a Year

Thoughts:  Gaiman has totally outdone himself.  This shorter work creates a whole new mythology and plenty of mind-blowing thoughts.  Definitely one of his best works.

Rating: 5 stars

Judging a Book by Its Lover

Title: Judging a Book by Its Lover
Author: Lauren Leto

Publisher: Harper Perennial
ISBN: 978-0-06-207014-2

Why Read?: For Fun
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year

Thoughts:  Part memoir, part field guide, this is a fun book for anyone who loves books.  While the anecdotes about Leto's life are fun, the best part is when she talks about the books and the people who love them, stereotyping all the way.

Rating: 4 stars

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Publisher: Blackstone Audio
ISBN: 9780786105113

Why Read?: For Fun
Challenges: Audio Book, British Books, Free Reads, 100 Books in a Year

Thoughts:  I think I prefer Sherlock Holmes stories one at a time.  This many all at once just made them seem so similar.  I can appreciate how Doyle was a pioneer in the mystery field, but the story that I liked the best was the most gothic, "The Adventure of the Copper Beaches".

Rating: 3 stars

Stacking the Shelves: 8/10-8/16

For possible review (here and on Bookloons):

Don't Forget Me, Bro by John Michael Cummings

Kill My Mother by Jules Feiffer

First Reads from Goodreads:

The Forgotten Girl by David Bell

Requested from Paperback Swap:

The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis

Stacking the Shelves: 8/3-8/9

For possible review:

Nest by Esther Ehrlich

Won:

Soul Catcher by Leigh Bridger

LibraryThing Early Review:

Closure by Angela Ford

Death Cloud

Title: Death Cloud
Author: Andrew Lane

Publisher: Macmillan Young Listeners
ISBN: 9781427211224

Why Read?: For Fun
Challenges: Audio Book, Historical Fiction, British Books, Free Reads, 100 Books in a Year

Thoughts:  This was a good old-school teen mystery.  Some of the action, though, felt like it came out of nowhere, but the mystery was solid and very thought-provoking (like you would expect from a Holmesian novel), even if the denouement was a little early.

Rating: 4 stars

Stacking the Shelves: 7/27-8/2

Won:

A Fantasy Christmas by Stephanie Fowers, Cindy C. Bennett, & Sherry Gammon

First Reads from Goodreads:

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

Latticework by D. B. Libby

LibraryThing Early Review:

Risk of Love and Magic by Patricia Rice

Requested from Paperbackswap:

Corpse on the Cob by Sue Ann Jaffarian

Bought on Amazon:

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Received as a gift:

At This Theatre by Louis Botto