You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Challenge Rules:

Main Page

Badge 1:
📍B - Books about books - Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books
📍C - Childhood - A Good House for Children
📍D - Dogs - Nowhere for Very Long
📍F - Fantasy - Truth and Other Lies
📍G - Ghosts - A House with Good Bones
📍H - History - The Grift: The Downward Spiral of Black Republicans from the Party of Lincoln to the Cult of Trump
📍L - Love - Fourth Wing
📍M - Mythology - The Voyage Home
📍N - Nature - Desert Notebooks: A Road Map for the End of Time
📍P - Pirates - Generations
📍R - Religion - Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology
📍S - Survival - Dead of Winter
📍T - True Crime - The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
📍V - Villainy - The Gemini Paradox
📍W - Women - The House of Eve

Titles:
A - All About Love: New Visions
B - Black Butterflies
C - Cold Wind
D - Dark Night
E - Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI
F - Fire Exit
G - Games Untold: An Inheritance Games Collection
H - The Hollow
I - In the Blink of an Eye
J - Just the Nicest Couple
K - King of Ashes
L - Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve
M - Mayo Clinic The Menopause Solution: A doctor's guide to relieving hot flashes, enjoying better sex, sleeping well, controlling your weight, and being happy!
N - No Ordinary Hate
O - Off the Map
P - Put A Wet Paper Towel on It: The Weird and Wonderful World of Primary Schools
Q - Queen Hereafter
R - The Rosie Project
S - Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism
T - That's Not My Name
U - The Untelling
V - Vanishing Twins: A Marriage
W - White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color
Y - You Can Trust Me
Z - Zora and Langston: A Story of Friendship and Betrayal

Female Authors -
A - Without A Past - Ava Strong
B - Girl One: Murder - Molly Black
C - Babylonia - Costanza Casati
D - A Hate Like This - Whitney Dineen
E - Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism - Eve L. Ewing
F - Violet Is Nowhere - Faith Gardner
G - The Premonitions Club - Gwendolyn Womack
H - A Spartan's Sorrow - Hannah M. Lynn
I - Together We Burn - Isabel Ibañez
J - The Grandest Game - Jennifer Lynn Barnes
K - The Girls of Good Fortune - Kristina McMorris
L - The Goldens - Lauren Wilson
M - Girl Gone Missing - Marcie R. Rendon
N - The Book of Phoenix - Nnedi Okorafor
O - Noor - Nnedi Okorafor
P - The Locked Ward - Sarah Pekkanen
Q - Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake - Anna Quindlen
R - Slow Violence: Confronting Dark Truths in the American Classroom - Ranita Ray
S - The Unraveling of Julia - Lisa Scottoline
T - Listen for the Lie - Amy Tintera
U - The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia - Ursula K. Le Guin
V - Murder on Washington Square - Victoria Thompson
W - Forget Me Not - Stacy Willingham
Y - Fable - Adrienne Young
Z - The Ploughmen - Kim Zupan

Male Authors -
A - The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American - Andrew L. Seidel
B - Their Accomplices Wore Robes: How the Supreme Court Chained Black America to the Bottom of a Racial Caste System - Brando Simeo Starkey
C - Razorblade Tears - S.A. Cosby
D - Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One - Joe Dispenza
E - The In-Between Bookstore - Edward Underhill
F - The Therapist - S.A. Falk
G - The Final Girl Support Group - Grady Hendrix
H - The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource - Christopher L. Hayes
I - The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories - Ilan Pappé
J - I Was a Teenage Slasher - Stephen Graham Jones
K - Icebound - Dean Koontz
L - Whispers in the Shadows - Jason N. LaVelle
M - The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey - Walter Mosley
N - Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization - Neil deGrasse Tyson
O - American War - Omar El Akkad
P - The Cabin at the End of the World - Paul Tremblay
Q - Cold Comfort - Quentin Bates
R - Middle of the Night - Riley Sager
S - Copy, Kill, Repeat: A BRAND NEW dark and gripping serial killer thriller - Steve Cornwell
T - Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again - Jake Tapper
U - Good Night, Irene - Luis Alberto Urrea
V - Cat’s Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
W - The Book of Accidents - Chuck Wendig
Y - The Monstrumologist - Rick Yancey
Z - Marina - Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Cover Objects -
📍A- Airplane - The Silver Waterfall: How America Won the War in the Pacific at Midway
📍B- Butterfly - When Things Are Alive They Hum
📍C- Chair - Old God's Time
📍D- Dishes - Hot and Sour Suspects
📍E- Elephant - Elephants Can Remember
📍F- Fruit - Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them
📍G- Gate - Moon Called
📍H- Horse - It Rides a Pale Horse
📍I- Insect - Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories
📍J- Jewel/Jewelry - We Were Kings
📍K- Key - The Time Collector
📍L- Lighthouse - To the Lighthouse
📍M- Mansion - Craven Manor
📍N- Night Sky - Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End
📍O- Orange Fruit OR 75% Orange Cover - The Stuff of Nightmares
📍P- Picture within a picture - The Union
📍Q- Quilt - The Quilter's Apprentice
📍R- Rose - An Easy Death
📍S- Sky - Somehow: Thoughts on Love
📍T- Tea Cup - Whiskey in a Teacup: What Growing Up in the South Taught Me About Life, Love, and Baking Biscuits
📍U- Umbrella - Soulless
📍V- Vase with flowers - Murder in Bloom
📍W- Water - All the Water in the World
📍Y- Yacht OR 75% Yellow Cover - The King in Yellow
📍Z- Zeppelin - Flight of Dreams

Specified Location

📍A- Alaska - Thin Ice
📍B- British Columbia - Starlight
📍C- Congo - Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives
📍D- Detroit - Say Nice Things About Detroit
📍E- Egypt - The Murder of King Tut
📍F- France - The Paris Hours
📍G- Georgia US - Play Dead
📍H- Hawaii - Nation Within: The History of the American Occupation of Hawai'i
📍I- Iceland - The Darkness Knows
📍J- Jamaica - Wildblood
📍K- Kenya - Running with the Kenyans: Passion, Adventure, and the Secrets of the Fastest People on Earth
📍L- London - How to Stop Time
📍M- Moscow - The Spy in Moscow Station: A Counterspy's Hunt for a Deadly Cold War Threat
📍N- Nevada - What Really Happens in Vegas: True Stories of the People Who Make Vegas, Vegas
📍O- Oslo - Blood on Snow
📍P-Pakistan - The Return of Faraz Ali
📍Q- Queensland, Australia - Crimson Lake
📍R- Rome - The First Man in Rome
📍S- Spain - Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain
📍T- Tuscany - Aged for Murder
📍U- Ukraine - The Silver Bone
📍V- Venice - Maddalena and the Dark
📍W- Wisconsin - The Unlucky Ones
📍Y- Yellowstone - Yellowstone Standoff
📍Z- Zurich - Hausfrau

Specific Word in Title

📍A- Away - My Sunshine Away
📍B- Black - Black on Black: On Our Resilience and Brilliance in America―A Collection of Essays on Black Resilience and Survival
📍C- Crow - Candle & Crow
📍D- Dark - We Ate the Dark
📍E- Evening - Evenings and Weekends
📍F- Fortune - The Fortune Seller
📍G- Girl - Girl, Silenced
📍H- Hand - Shake Hands Forever
📍I- Island - Hemlock Island
📍J- June - My Jasper June
📍K- Kind - A Particular Kind of Black Man
📍L- Lord - Keturah and Lord Death
📍M- Murder - The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers who Inspired Chicago
📍N- Name - My Name Is Not Easy
📍O- Opal - The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
📍P- People - City People
📍Q- Quiet - The Quiet Librarian
📍R- Rain - Shouting at the Rain
📍S- Silver - The River of Silver: Tales from the Daevabad Trilogy
📍T- Tree - The One Tree
📍U- Under - Under the Knife: A History of Surgery in 28 Remarkable Operations
📍V- Valley - Valley of Shadows
📍W- West - The West Wind
📍Y- Young - A Young People's History of the United States
📍Z- Zebra or Zero - 81 Days Below Zero: The Incredible Survival Story of a World War II Pilot in Alaska's Frozen Wilderness

Badge Planning
Badge 1:
📍B - Books about books - The Reading List
📍C - Childhood - A Good House for Children
📍D - Dogs - Nowhere for Very Long
📍F - Fantasy - Truth and Other Lies
📍G - Ghosts - The Ghost of Marlow House
📍H - History - Countdown 1960: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of the 312 Days that Changed America's Politics Forever
📍L - Love - Slow Dance
📍M - Mythology - The Voyage Home
📍N - Nature - Desert Notebooks: A Road Map for the End of Time
📍P - Pirates - Generations
📍R - Religion - Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology
📍S - Survival - Dead of Winter
📍T - True Crime - A Daughter's Deadly Deception: The Jennifer Pan Story
📍V - Villainy - The Gemini Paradox
📍W - Women - The House of Eve

Yay! 1st book!
1. Badge 1 Book 1
2. Badge 1 Task M - Mythology
3. The Voyage Home
4. Audio 9h 36m
5. Theme of mythology
6. This is a retelling of the aftermath of the Trojan War focusing on the women

Congrats! We have 3 books already done this year. :)

1. Badge 1 Book 2
2. Theme List - S Task (Survival)
3. Dead of Winter
4. Audio 11h 17m
5. Theme of survival
6. A group of people end up stranded in the Rocky Mountains during the winter and a killer is bumping them off one by one

You and Beth must be in a race. :)

1. Badge 1 Book 3
2. Theme list - F task (Fantasy)
3. Truth and Other Lies
4. Audio 8h 7m
5. Theme of Fantasy
6. This is a fantasy based on Norse mythology

1. Badge 1 Book 4
2. Theme list - V task (Villainy)
3. The Gemini Paradox
4. Audio 8h 17m
5. Theme of Villainy
6. The main character "Zeke" is a low-level demon who was gifted a sword. Now Hell's high council gives him jobs to do but then betrays him, frames him and tries to assassinate him. Prince of Lies indeed!

Janice wrote: "You and Beth must be in a race. :)"

We're close!

1. Badge 1 Book 5
2. Theme List G Task (Ghosts)
3. A House with Good Bones
4. Audio 6h 53m
5. Theme of ghosts
6. The house in this book is being haunted by a ghost

1. Badge 1 Book 6
2. Theme List - R Task (Religion)
3. Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology
4. Audio 7h 12m
5. Theme of religion
6. This is about Leah Remini growing up in Scientology and then leaving it

1. badge 1 Book 7
2. Theme List - T Task (True Crime)
3. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
4. Audio 10h 19m
5. Theme of true crime
6. This book takes a deep dive into the lives of the 5 women killed by Jack the Ripper

1. Badge 1 Book 8
2. Theme List - C Task (Childhood)
3. A Good House for Children
4. Audio 11h 30m
5. Theme of childhood
6. I don't want to be spoilery so I'll just say this book involves some connections between sets of children whose parents move them out to the English countryside

Eight books already! Awesome!

1. Badge 1 Book 9
2. Theme List - H Task (History)
3. The Grift: The Downward Spiral of Black Republicans from the Party of Lincoln to the Cult of Trump
4. Audio 10h 14m
5. Theme of History
6. As the title suggests, this book is a history of black republicans from Lincoln to present day

1. Badge 1 Book 10
2. Theme List - W Task (Women)
3. The House of Eve
4. Audio 10 h 37 m
5. Theme of women
6. This book follows the lives of two women whose stories interconnect in 1950s America

You'll have this badge done in no time, but will the badge be ready for you? That is the question.

Janice wrote: "You'll have this badge done in no time, but will the badge be ready for you? That is the question."

:) I have faith!

1. Badge 1 Book 11
2. Theme List - N Task (Nature)
3. Desert Notebooks: A Road Map for the End of Time
4. Audio 11h 42m
5. Theme of nature
6. This book is a really interesting mix of things but there is definitely a theme of man's connection to nature throughout. It is a bit depressing though.

1. Badge 1 Book 12
2. Theme List - D Task (Dogs)
3. Nowhere for Very Long
4. Audio 6h 31m
5. Theme of dgs
6. The author's two dogs, Bucket and Dagwood, are important parts of this memoir (and I was crying fat tears in my classroom after school today over one of those dogs)

Sounds like an awesome read.

1. Badge 1 Book 13
2. Theme List - L Task (Love)
3. Fourth Wing
4. Audio 21h 22m
5. Theme of Love
6. This is an enemies to lovers romantasy where the two main characters end up falling madly in love

Did you enjoy it? My niece really liked it.

I was being a punk about it and not reading it because it was on too many lists, but the hype was deserved. I haven't devoured a fantasy like that in a minute! Dragons aren't usually my thing, but this book was really good

Maybe I'll add it to my wish list. I was concerned that it might be too YA and too hyped.

1. Badge 1 Book 14
2. Theme List - P Task (Pirates)
3. Generations
4. Audio 7h 18m
5. Theme of Pirates
6. The crew of Serenity are space piratey (rogues with hearts of gold) . They come into possession of a map and follow it hoping to score something good and find a generation ship from early earthlings who fled the destroyed Earth - and then find more than they bargain for.

One to go. Badge is done and ready. :)

Janice wrote: "One to go. Badge is done and ready. :)"

Badge 1 here I come!
1. Badge 1 Book 15
2. Theme List - B Task (Books)
3. Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books
4. Audio 10h 13m
5. Theme of books
6. This has a theme of banned books and the importance of books to change lives

Congrats on earning Badge 1, Katrisa

I have Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books as a possibiilty for this task. The other is The Reading List. How did you like Lulu Dean?

I gave it a 3.5 stars. It was enjoyable but didn't quite make it to 4 stars. The reading list was totally my other choice so if you end up choosing that I'd love to hear what you think!

Funny that we had the same two books as possibilities for that task. I picked an audiobook and a print book for each task and decided to whichever would fit into my schedule.

I had chosen the reading list first because I own it, but my sister recommended Lula Dean so I switched.

I own both books, so I'll be reading them both eventually.

For Badge 2 I am going to do the Location List.

Badge 2 Planning:
Specified Location

📍A- Alaska - Thin Ice
📍B- British Columbia - Starlight
📍C- Congo - Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives
📍D- Detroit - Say Nice Things About Detroit
📍E- Egypt - The Murder of King Tut
📍F- France - The Paris Hours
📍G- Georgia US - Play Dead
📍H- Hawaii - Nation Within: The History of the American Occupation of Hawai'i
📍I- Iceland - The Darkness Knows
📍J- Jamaica - Wildblood
📍K- Kenya - A Grain of Wheat
📍L- London - How to Stop Time
📍M- Moscow - The Spy in Moscow Station: A Counterspy's Hunt for a Deadly Cold War Threat
📍N- Nevada - What Really Happens in Vegas: True Stories of the People Who Make Vegas, Vegas
📍O- Oslo - Blood on Snow
📍P-Pakistan - The Return of Faraz Ali
📍Q- Queensland, Australia - Crimson Lake
📍R- Rome - A Comedy of Terrors
📍S- Spain - Red Queen
📍T- Tuscany - Aged for Murder
📍U- Ukraine - The Silver Bone
📍V- Venice - Maddalena and the Dark
📍W- Wisconsin - The Unlucky Ones
📍Y- Yellowstone - Yellowstone Standoff
📍Z- Zurich - Hausfrau

Enjoy!

1. Badge 2 Book 1
2. Location List - H Task (Hawaii)
3. Nation Within: The History of the American Occupation of Hawai'i
4. Audio 12h 26m
5. Set in Hawaii
6. This is a nonfiction book about the annexation (nice way of putting it) of Hawaii by the US

1. Badge 2 Book 2
2. Location List - L Task (London)
3. How to Stop Time
4. Audio 10h 1m
5. Set in London
6. A man who has lived for hundreds of years returns to London and his life changes

Those are two interesting looking books to start off your location list.

They were both good! The Congo book I am reading right now is depressing.

1. Badge 2 Book 3
2. Location List - C Task (Congo)
3. Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives
4. Audio 11h 18m
5. Set in The Democratic Republic of the Congo
6. This book details the horrors of cobalt mining in the DRC and how all of our rechargeable batteries run on the blood of the Congolese.

That sounds like a heavy read, Katrisa.

Ya I'm going to need something lighter coming up for sure.

1. Badge 2 Book 4
2. Location List - N Task (Nevada)
3. What Really Happens in Vegas: True Stories of the People Who Make Vegas, Vegas
4. Audio 8h 13m
5. Set in Las Vegas Nevada
6. This book is a collection of true stories of some of the people who made Vegas what it is today