Heart of a Child Challenge Completed

After finishing Harriet the Spy I was able to check off another challenge as completed. The Heart of a Child Challenge was hosted by Becky (watch out she’s a prolific challenge creator and once you get sucked into the Vortex, she finds a way to keep you coming back for more and more challenges!!

I loved the idea of this challenge and it was an easy one:

How many? Read 3 to 6 books
When? from February 1, 2008 to July 14, 2008
What? Books and authors that you discovered, loved, or adored as a child.
How am I defining "child" --I'll be generous. Anything and everything that you read through the age of 18 would qualify.
Why? Because sometimes it's fun to reread books and see if they still hold the same "magic."

These are the books I read for this challenge:

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Tree Wagon by Evelyn Sibley Lampman

The Borrowers by Mary Norton

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

All of these were enjoyable trips into my memory and still held up over the years. They reminded me of people and places from my childhood and I was pleased to find that I still thought all of these books were fun reads even as an adult.

Themed Reading Challenge Completed

Now that I’ve finished Harvest, I have another challenge to move to the completed list. The Themed Reading Challenge was the brainchild of Wendy of Caribousmom. The great thing about this one was it was kind of a build your own challenge opportunity. Participants had to choose at least 4 books that shared a theme. It didn’t matter what the theme was, it was our choice.

I confess I lacked the creativity of many of the participants when it came to the theme I chose, but what the heck – it was my choice.

My theme was “Books with One Word Titles”. These are the books I read for this challenge:

Faithless by Karin Slaughter – book # 5 in her Grant County series. It’s a brutal but well written series that I continue to enjoy despite the cringeworthy aspects and one character that I really don’t like at all.

Amnesia by G.H. Ephron – a new series for me. Good enough that I’m planning #2 for the Medical Mystery Challenge.

Undercurrents by Ridley Pearson – another new series for me. This is the first in his Lou Boldt / Daphne Matthews series and I really enjoyed it.

Lottery by Patricia Wood – A utterly charming book with an utterly charming hero. I’d love to meet Perry L. Crandall.

Harvest by Tess Gerritsen - A well done medical mystery. I may add another one by Gerritsen to my Medical Mystery Challenge list.

What’s in a Name? Challenge Completed

I completed another challenge this week. Hosted by Annie, The What’s in a Name? Challenge had such a fun premise that I couldn’t resist. We had to choose our books based on words in the titles, and read one book from each category. It was surprisingly easy to find books to fit most of the categories and surprisingly difficult to find books for all six.

The books I read for each category were:

A book with a color in its title: Leavin’ Trunk Blues by Ace Atkins – a moody nourish mystery with a blues soundtrack to the writing style.

A book with an animal in its title: The Monkey’s Raincoat by Robert Crais – my first Crais and his first Elvis Cole book – lots of fun.

A book with a first name in its title: Peter the Great by Robert K. Massie – A complex biography of both the man and the world of his time.

A book with a place in its title: London Bridges by James Patterson – typical Alex Cross mystery.

A book with a weather event in its title: Black Wind by Clive and Dirk Cussler – another one of my brain candy series.

A book with a plant in its title: Jasmine Moon Murder – a cozy mystery set in one of my favorite cities (Charleston, SC)


This challenge led me to choose quite a variety of genres and I had a great time. I need to keep an eye out for what Annie’s got up her sleeve next.