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Extra Book 5: The Haunting of Torre Abbey

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So here ’s another extra book I read for the category “Book set in an Abbey, Cloister, etc.” Snort! I found this title at work, which conveniently is the library. I was desperate for a story for the category as I did not wish to listen to fifty-four hours of The Mists of Avalon . The Redwall audio ended up being a group performance of the work, rather than one person reading it. I was worried I’d lose some of the tale if I didn’t get a “full” version. The catalog thankfully directed me several books with an abbey as the setting. Once I had the print version of Redwall , I sent back the other books. Except for this one. I ’m a Sherlock junkie. I love the old books and the new show with Mr. Cumberbatch. (I could watch him read the dictionary and be entertained.) The Complete Sherlock Holmes Vol. 1 took me years to read, and I loved it. Volume Two is in the wings for someday.   I love the logic, the puzzles, the characterization. But I have been hesitant to read retelling
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Extra Book 4: A Morbid Taste for Bones

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A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters fulfilled the “Book that Takes Place in an Abbey, Convent, Monastery or Cloister” category for the PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge. Well, almost. I had some difficulty finding a story for the category. I downloaded Mists of Avalon only to realize I bought the fifty-four-hour version. Yeah, too long. I scoured the forums and feeds for another novel. About two weeks ago, I discovered The Cadfael Chronicles, cozy mysteries about a monk in the twelfth century. And he lives in an abbey! Perfect. Except in Book 1, A Morbid Taste for Bones , the monks leave the abbey to travel to Wales to retrieve (steal) the bones of a saint who is buried there. They leave the abbey. They were only there for two chapters. I feel like I ’ve tweaked a few categories for the challenge and this one seemed too big of a cheat. I mean, two chapters are hardly the setting for the book. Sigh. I think the second book might be at their abbey. I have to
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Extra Book 3: My Sister, the Serial Killer

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My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite fulfilled the “Book from Asia, Africa or South America.” I read it by accident after reading Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. I thought Mr. Noah’s book had more bite to it, so I included it in the original fifty. My Sister, the Serial Killer was a short read but a fun one. Talk about dark comedy. It’s up there with The Royal Tenenbaums and Heathers. The story is set in Nigeria. Two sisters still live at home with their mother in a huge house purchased years ago by their father. The elder sister, Korede is a shout-out to Elinor of Sense and Sensibility . She is the rational calm woman, living her life, trying to get ahead and get out from the shadow of her father. Her little sister, Ayoola, on the other hand, has a small issue. Sometimes she does not like her boyfriend and kills him. She always says it ’s an accident or not her fault and big sister has to come save her. The book cranked up the darkness in how ordinary th
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Extra Book 2: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

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The puzzle book was another category I doubled up on. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello ’s Library by Chris Grabenstein fulfilled the category “Book revolving around a puzzle or game” in the PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge. I read the book for the challenge not realizing I had already fulfilled the category with The Lying Game . I went with Ruth Ware’s book instead of this one because it was a kid’s book. I have a great affinity for children ’s stories. Some of the greatest stories ever written were intended for children. But I didn’t want to bog the blog down with too many choices in the children’s lit category. The blog is for adults and how many adults still read kid’s books? I know you’re out there but not the majority. The story was perfect, an escape room in a novel. My family has become obsessed with escape rooms. I ’ve always loved a good puzzle. Many of the computer games I enjoy are puzzle-oriented. And this book hit all my favorite things. The tale begins with thre
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Extra books 1: Bird Box and Inspection

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I accidentally read more than one story for the “Book Written by Musician” category of the PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge. In fact, I read three. Which is funny because I struggled to find one that was not ginormous and still interesting. I tried Wildwood, but it was huge and the audio did not suit me. Keith Richard’s book just scared me by the size and what I expected in the contents. (I love sex, rock-and-roll, and antics, but something said the tome might go very far into those subjects. No thanks.) I joined a Horror Reading group at my local library because I knew the librarian running it loved the horror genre. I ’ve been reading Stephen King since I was eleven years old and have not finished his works yet. I love a good scary book. (I like it better when there’s a love story buried in it.) Anyway, our second book was Inspection by Josh Malerman. At our first meeting where we read We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix, the librarian and I discussed my reading blog a
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