Portfolio Category: Completed

2021 Holiday Reads
We’re less than two weeks away from Advent and the beginning of December, this year’s incarnation of “Festive Tasks” includes a “holiday books” square, CrimeReads recently published their 2021 Holiday Gift Guide, and I just succumbed to the purchase of electric tealights for my holiday candle holders so as to be able to enjoy them […]
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24 Festive Tasks 2021
Books: Christmas Tree & Ribbon Tasks: Holiday Socks Door 1: Southern Hemisphere Book: Read a book set in the Southern Hemisphere, or that has a beachy scene on the cover. => Peter Temple: The Broken Shore Task 1: In Australia, it’s common to brag about having the “biggest ‘X’ in the Southern […]
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Halloween Book Bingo 2021
My Card and Game Progress The Books Amateur Sleuth: E.C. Bentley & H. Warner Allen: Trent’s Own Case – finished Sept. 18. Relics & Curiosities: Barbara Hambly: Graveyard Dust – finished Sept. 15. Halloween: Washington Irving: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – finished Sept. 18. Mad Scientists and Evil Geniuses: Barbara Vine: The Blood […]
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Summer Games 2021
So, I’ve finally come up with a summer reading theme: Seeing as both the Olympic Games and the European Football (Soccer) Championship have been pushed back to this year from 2020 due to the pandemic (and 3 of the four tennis Grand Slam tournaments are also set while it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere), I […]
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An Alphabet of My Likes and Dislikes
This project is based on a very similar series of blog posts that I saw in BeetleyPete‘s blog and liked so much that I decided I’ll have a go at it, too — not least because it may also serve as an introduction to those of you who haven’t been following me for a long […]
Read MoreDiversity Bingo
Central America – Laura Esquivel: Like Water for Chocolate South America – Gabriel García Márquez: El coronel no tiene que escriba / Nobody Writes to the Colonel, and Other Stories Caribbean – Various Authors: Trinidad Noir (Akashic Noir series) North Africa – Assia Djebar: L’amour, La fantasia Sub-Saharan Africa – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Dear […]
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Christmas Reading 2020
My usual Christmas reads / movies: Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (book & movie) Agatha Christie: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (aka The Royal Ruby) (short story & TV adaptation) Arthur Conan Doyle: The Blue Carbuncle (short story & TV adaptation) Dorothy L. Sayers: The Nine Tailors (book & TV adaptation) Charles Dickens: A […]
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24 Festive Tasks 2020
Books: Festive Branch Tasks: Ornaments Door 1: Winter Solstice Book: Read a book that takes place in December, with ice or snow on the cover, where all events take place in a single day or night, that revolves around the solstice, set in Persia / Iran, China or the American Southwest or […]
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2020 Summer Sojourn
As current events make actual travel — at least, leisure travel — either undesirable, unwise or flat-out impossible, I decided to devote my 2020 summer reading to literary armchair travel, and to call it the 2020 Summer Sojourn. Then the BookLikes meltdown happened and I had to start sprucing up my WordPress blog … as […]
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Halloween Book Bingo 2020
My Blacked-out Card: The Books: Sleepy Hollow: Alice Hoffman: The River King – finished Sept. 26, 2020. Film at 11: Ellis Peters: The Devil’s Novice – finished Sept. 24, 2020. Southern Gothic: Sharyn McCrumb: The Ballad of Tom Dooley – finished Sept. 19, 2020. Murder Most Foul: Michael Connelly: The Night Fire – […]
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BL-opoly 2020: The Pandemic Edition
Game abandoned prematurely due to BookLikes Meltdown. My marker was based again (of course) on my little assistants and good luck charms, Sunny and Charlie, who again helped me pick my books (this time around, properly pandemic-proofed). My Progress Spreadsheet The Books and the Board The Questions Who?: Why?: Pete Brown: […]
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Snakes & Ladders 2020
Tracking courtesy of Charlie and Sunny, as always, of course! SPACES AND DICE ROLLS 1. Author is a woman — Patricia Wentworth: Pilgrim’s Rest (finished April 1, 2020) 2. Genre: mystery 3. Set in the twentieth century 4. Published in 2019 5. Published in 2018 6. Title has a color word in it 7. Author’s last […]
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24 Festive Tasks 2019
The Markers: Books: Candles Tasks: Stars The Squares DOOR 1: DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS Book: Ngaio Marsh: Death and the Dancing Footman (audio version, read by James Saxon) Task 1: Miss Marple limerick. Task 2: Chili con carne. Task 3: Epitaph for The Disappearing Spoon. Task 4: Gaby in Mexico (& Guatemala). Points: 5 […]
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Halloween Book Bingo 2019
THE BOOKS: OFFICIAL CARD International Woman of Mystery: Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments – finished September 29, 2019. Locked Room Mystery: Clayton Rawson: Death from a Top Hat – finished September 23, 2019. Murder Most Foul: Michael Gilbert: Smallbone Deceased – finished September 13, 2019. Psych: Sofi Oksanen: Fegefeuer (The Purge) – finished September […]
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BL-opoly 2019
A HUGE thank you to Moonlight Reader and Obsidian Blue for hosting another fabulous game — I had a total blast! Final Stats Final status of my bank account: $181 37 books counting towards the game * 35 books finished * 2 DNFs * 11,640 pages read Somehow I managed to steer clear of […]
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Detection Club Bingo
The Squares / Chapters: 1. A New Era Dawns: Ernest Bramah – The Tales of Max Carrados; Emmuska Orczy – The Old Man in the Corner 2. The Birth of the Golden Age: A.A. Milne – The Red House Mystery 3. The Great Detectives: Margery Allingham – The Crime at Black Dudley, Mystery Mile, Look […]
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Snakes & Ladders 2019
Charlie and Sunny helped me keeping track of my progress on the board. They got to take a break and have some refreshments whenever we reached a new square and I started a new book. The Squares 1. Author is a woman — Emmuska Orczy: The Elusive Pimpernel 2. Genre: mystery 3. Set in the twentieth century 4. Published […]
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24 Festive Tasks 2018
The Markers Books: Meteor Tasks: Bows The Squares DOOR 1: DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS Book: Agatha Christie: Miss Marple – The Complete Short Stories (audio version, narrated by Joan Hickson, Isla Blair and Anna Massey) Task 1: Task 2: Favorite Epitaph (William Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon) Task 3: Sherlock Holmes Altar Task 4: Mexican Food Points: 4 DOOR 2: GUY FAWKES NIGHT Book: Georgette […]
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Women Writers Bingo
Read: A – Margery Allingham: The Crime at Black Dudley, Mystery Mile, Look to the Lady, Police at the Funeral, Sweet Danger, Death of a Ghost, Flowers for the Judge, The Case of the Late Pig, Dancers in Mourning, The Fashion in Shrouds, Traitor’s Purse, and The Tiger in the Smoke (all new); The Man With the Sack (revisited on audio); […]
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