2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge - Finished

2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge hosted by the Literary Exploration Group on Goodreads.

Interesting in becoming a Literary Explorer too? In 2014 Literary Exploration is once again challenging you to try out new genres; with a 12 book, 24 book and 36 book challenge. We give you a list of genres and anyone participating in the challenge has to complete one book from each genre over the course of the year.

I have completed the Insane Challenge and read a book from 36 different genres. Like in 2013 I did struggle with some of the genres but I didn't feel it as bad as last year. But I have decided not to take part again as I have now completed it twice and I would rather take part in new challenges.

  

List:
✔ Action/Adventure: The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
✔ Auto-Biography/Biography - Himmelbegravelsen (Sky Burial) by Xinran
✔ Chick-Lit: What Stays in Vegas by Beth Labonte
✔ Childrens Book: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
✔ Classics - John Macnab by John Buchan
✔ Contemporary/Drama: Speechless by Hannah Harrington
✔ Cyberpunk/Steampunk: A Clockwork Christmas by J.K. Coi, P.G. Forte, Stacy Gail, Jenny Schwartz
✔ Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic: Night of the Purple Moon by Scott Cramer
Epic
✔ Erotica: Seduction and Snacks by Tara Sivec
✔ Espionage: Casino Royale: James Bond 007 by Ian Fleming
✔ Fantasy: Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch
✔ Graphic Novel: Becoming by Kelley Armstrong
✔ Gothic: Dracula by Bram Stoker
✔ Historical Fiction: Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
✔ Horror: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
✔ Humour: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
✔ Literary Fiction: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
✔ Magical Realism: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
✔ Mystery: Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs
✔ Non Fiction: Drifting Home by Pierre Berton
✔ Paranormal/Supernatural: Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews
✔ Philosophical:  The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 
✔ Poetry: The Spell of the Yukon and Other Poems by Robert Service
✔ Pulp: Skin Game by Jim Butcher
✔ Romance: A little Christmas Magic by Sylvie Kurtz
✔ Science Fiction: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams 
✔ Self Help/Educational: Introvert by Anna Skyggebjerg
✔ Short Stories: Steel and Other Stories by Richard Matheson
✔ Thriller: Wild Justice by Kelley Armstrong
✔ Travel: Hell of a Journey: On Foot Through the Scottish Highlands in Winter by Mike Cawthorne
✔ True Crime: PARENTS WHO KILLED THEIR CHILDREN: FILICIDE by R.J. Parker
✔ Urban Fantasy: Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
✔ Victorian: Madman's Dance by Jana Oliver 
✔ Western: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
✔ Young Adult: The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan

Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

For a thousand years, the people of Alera have united against the aggressive races that inhabit the world, using their unique bond with the furies - elementals of earth, air, fire, water and metal. But now, Gaius Sextus, First Lord of Alera, grows old and lacks an heir. Ambitious Lords manoeuvre to place their Houses in positions of power, and a war of succession looms on the horizon.
Far from city politics in the Calderon Valley, young Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. At fifteen, he has no wind fury to help him fly, no fire fury to light his lamps. Yet as the Alerans' most savage enemy - the Marat - return to the Valley, his world will change. Caught in a storm of deadly wind furies, Tavi saves the life of a runaway slave. But Amara is actually a spy, seeking intelligence on possible Marat traitors to the Crown. And when the Valley erupts into chaos - when rebels war with loyalists and furies clash with furies - Amara will find Tavi invaluable. His talents will outweigh any fury-born power - and could even turn the tides of war. From Goodreads.

I enjoyed this fantasy by Jim Butcher, not quite as much as Dresden Files but still a lot. There is lots of magic in this both used for good and bad as is right in a fantasy book. Everybody apart from the main character is able to do some kind of magic. Luckily he is smart and brought up to think logically about things so he is good at finding solutions to tasks and to observe what happens around him. This doesn't end as such in a cliffhanger but there is clearly unanswered questions and more plots to kill the First Lord. I will continue this series.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory - R4: Team Challenge SS
Novel Books & Reading Challenges - Baby Got Book
Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III
A Million More Pages Hogwarts Challenge 

Introvert by Anna Skyggebjerg

Denne bog er til alle de introverte, der ikke længere gider høre på, at det er bedre at være udadvendt. Bogen er den ultimative guide til, hvordan man trives som introvert i en verden, der forventer, at vi er ’på’ hele tiden. I familien, blandt venner og på arbejdspladsen. Bogen er en hyldest til introverte, fuld af forfatterens bedste råd til, hvordan man som introvert lærer at stå ved sig selv og dermed få et bedre liv. From Goodreads.

I had high hopes for this book as I am quite introvert myself but I was disappointed.
It was very much from her point of view, it was generalized and repetitive.
I don't feel I can use anything from this book unfortunately.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III

Madman's Dance by Jana Oliver

History is melting down courtesy of a multi-century plot to bring the Transitive shape-shifters to power. Only Time Rover Jacynda Lassiter can set things back on course, but that will be difficult. She's been abandoned in a Victorian insane asylum with no memory of who she is.
Her two Victorian friends are facing equal difficulties: Dr. Alastair Montrose is caught between his duty to uncover the truth and powerful foes who wish it buried. Once lauded as a hero, Detective-Sergeant Jonathon Keats is on the run, framed for a woman's heinous murder. Keats' arch enemy, Desmond Flaherty, can prove him innocent, but the Fenian isn't about to come forward, not with the life of his only daughter on the line.
If the anarchist's cache of explosives ignites the biggest conflagration since the Great Fire of 1666, the future will change. There will be no sanctuary from the Madman's Dance. From Goodreads.


 
It has taken me way too long to get to this last book of the Time Rovers series. This continues right where book two finished but as it is 1½ years since I read that book, it took me a bit to sort the characters. I still enjoyed it very much and it had a romance that I hadn't seen coming. I have now read both series which Jana Oliver has written and I will definitely read anything she writes in the future no matter the genre.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (O-toucan)
Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Novel Books & Reading Challenges Tower Teams III

PARENTS WHO KILLED THEIR CHILDREN: FILICIDE by R.J. Parker

A clear-eyed view on the most heartbreaking of crimes
The killing of a child is always an aberration, we can never forget it because it takes such diligence to try to understand, rather than simply lock away the killer and brand him or her a monster. What really incites parents to kill their children? This book portrays ten filicidal killers, people's whose names--Andrea Yates, Diane Downs, Susan Smith, Jeffrey MacDonald--received a great deal of media attention. The author explores the reasons, from addiction to sociopathy, insanity to altruism.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY - "{A}valuable resource and reference book for Criminologists and Psychologists on the fraught subject of maternal filicide, supported with ten case studies." From Goodreads.






This was hard to read. Mothers and fathers killing their children for one reason or another. I read mostly fiction and this is so much more scary because it is true.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
Eclectic Reader Challenge 2014 
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Let's Play Jeopardy!

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The portrait which Basil Hallward painted of Dorian Gray revealed the face of an Adonis, and when he saw the finished picture of himself, the beautiful young aesthete exclaimed: 'Why should it keep what I must lose? Every moment that passes takes something from me, and gives something to it. Oh, if it were only the other way! If the picture could change, and I could be always what I am now!' His perverse aspiration was strangely fulfilled...
[...]
This celebrated fantasy is developed as vividly as one of Edgar Allan Poe's macabre narratives, and the climax is fulfilled in murder and suicide. But although The Picture of Dorian Gray ranks as a tense and full-blooded story, it is distinguished also by the habitual brilliance of Oscar Wilde's witty and epigrammatic style.
The cover shows an engraving by Cecil Keeling. From Goodreads.



I am not sure how much I liked this but it was very interesting. Dorian Gray starts out as an innocent young man but turns to a quite horrible person in the end. There was unfortunately a part in the middle I found boring but I guess the part was necessary to explain the many years that passed.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Bookshelf Battle Team Challenge #4
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (O-muskox)
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
FrightFall Read-a-Thon 2014

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Jonathon Harker travels to Transylvania in Eastern Europe to do business with a mysterious man, Count Dracula.
On his way to the count's castle he is warned by many, even provided with crucifixes, and almost attacked by wolves.
To his surprise, upon reaching the castle, Harker is confronted by a professional and gentle man - that is up until he realises he has been made the count's prisoner. While he is under serious threat in the castle, strange things happen elsewhere - a Russian ship is wrecked and a woman is found with bite-marks on her neck.
The great power and ambition of the count manifests itself in deaths and looming evils, causing a group, including the escaped Harker, to hunt Dracula down and kill him.
Dracula is an intense horror flavoured with the perils of seduction, desire and identity. From Goodreads.




I needed to read this for several challenges but I have kept putting it off as I have a problem with classics. This was better than expected and of course it helps it is in my favourite genre of paranormal.
We don't actually see much of Dracula but everything is about what he does, what he can do and how to hunt him.
Dracula is a truly evil vampire and nothing matters to him but his own survival.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
Eclectic Reader Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory - R4: Team Challenge SSS
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Let's Play Jeopardy!
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #9
FrightFall Read-a-Thon 2014

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

All the Pretty Horses, the first novel of the Border Trilogy, published in 1992, was an international bestseller, winning both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. It tells the tale of John Grady Cole, who at sixteen finds himself the last bewildered survivor of generations of Texas ranchers, cut off from the only life he ever imagined. With two companions, he sets off for Mexico on a sometimes idyllic, sometimes comic journey to a place where dreams are paid for in blood.  From Goodreads.

This wasn't as good as I had hoped. It is an interesting tale of John Grady, a young man (16 years old), and his friend going from Texas to Mexico and all that happens on this trip. It just didn't grip me and I found it quite depressing. I don't think I am going to continue this trilogy.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Bookshelf Battle Team Challenge #4
The Challenge Factory - R4: Team Challenge SSS
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Let's Play Jeopardy!
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (A-zorilla)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Casino Royale: James Bond 007 by Ian Fleming

'Surround yourself with human beings, my dear James. They are easier to fight for than principles'
In Casino Royale, the first of Fleming's 007 adventures, a game of cards is James Bond's only chance to bring down the desperate SMERSH agent Le Chiffre. But Bond soon discovers that there is far more at stake than money. From Goodreads.

Classic James Bond. The beautiful woman who has to be his partner of course dies. It was okay and a fun read.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges Wheel-A-Thon
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Let's Play Jeopardy!
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (I-yeti)
Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

As a child, Kathy – now thirty-one years old – lived at Hailsham, a private school in the scenic English countryside where the children were sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe that they were special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter. Kathy had long ago put this idyllic past behind her, but when two of her Hailsham friends come back into her life, she stops resisting the pull of memory.
And so, as her friendship with Ruth is rekindled, and as the feelings that long ago fueled her adolescent crush on Tommy begin to deepen into love, Kathy recalls their years at Hailsham. She describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together, unperturbed – even comforted – by their isolation. But she describes other scenes as well: of discord and misunderstanding that hint at a dark secret behind Hailsham’s nurturing facade. With the dawning clarity of hindsight, the three friends are compelled to face the truth about their childhood–and about their lives now.
A tale of deceptive simplicity, Never Let Me Go slowly reveals an extraordinary emotional depth and resonance – and takes its place among Kazuo Ishiguro’s finest work. From Goodreads.

This is dystopian though it is set in the past. I won't say why these kids are special as that would be a spoiler but to me the scary part is that I fear this could actually happen in the future. I hope not but I wouldn't put it past human nature that it could.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
Eclectic Reader Challenge 2014
2014 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge
2014 Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges Wheel-A-Thon
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Let's Play Jeopardy!
Crazy Challenge Connection - Sub-Genre Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (N-toucan)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Alaska, the 1920s. Jack and Mabel have staked everything on a fresh start in a remote homestead, but the wilderness is a stark place, and Mabel is haunted by the baby she lost many years before. When a little girl appears mysteriously on their land, each is filled with wonder, but also foreboding -- is she what she seems, and can they find room in their hearts for her? From Goodreads.

Another book I have had on my TBR pile for a while. I have always loved fairy tales and this seems to be a retelling of an old Russian one which I think I will have to find and read.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
CCC A-Z Authors 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (E-leopard)
Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on 28 September 1330. Nearly seven hundred years later, he is acknowledged as the greatest Alchemyst of his day. It is said that he discovered the secret of eternal life. The records show that he died in 1418. But his tomb is empty and Nicholas Flamel lives. The secret of eternal life is hidden within the book he protects - the Book of Abraham the Mage. It's the most powerful book that has ever existed. In the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. And that's exactly what Dr. John Dee plans to do when he steals it. Humankind won't know what's happening until it's too late. And if the prophecy is right, Sophie and Josh Newman are the only ones with the power to save the world as we know it. Sometimes legends are true. And Sophie and Josh Newman are about to find themselves in the middle of the greatest legend of all time. From Goodreads.




Really good fantasy. I enjoyed this so much I bought the next two books in this series two minutes after finishing this book. As with a lot of fantasy books it is about saving the world from a greater evil, in this book it is Nicholas Flamel and the twins Sophie and Josh.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Yahtzee Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Sub-Genre Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (A-toucan)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

The Spell of the Yukon and Other Poems by Robert Service

Assigned by his employers at the Canadian Bank of Commerce to the Yukon Territory in 1904, Robert Service became renowned as the poet who chronicled the Klondike gold rush. Service's memorable tales in verse relate the adventures of One-Eyed Mike, Blasphemous Bill, Dangerous Dan McGrew, and other colorful characters.
In this omnibus volume is included the verse of Robert Service from the beginning of his remarkable career up to 1940. From Goodreads.

I am still not fond of poetry to say the least. For me the only reason to read poetry is because I need it for a reading challenge.
That said, it of course makes poetry more interesting when it is read in the place it is about.
While reading this book I was sitting at the shore of Lake LeBarge in Canada. This meant I actually really liked the first part of this book that was about that particular area. I found the rest of the poems rather dark and not as interesting as most of them were about death.
It gets 3 Polar Bears because of the Yukon and Lake LeBarge poems.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
2014 Full House Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014

Drifting Home by Pierre Berton

In the 1970s, Pierre Berton and his family recreated the trip down the Yukon made by his father, Francis George Berton, in 1898. This compelling story of the later journey is a valentine from son to father, a magical tale of a family adrift, and a poetic exploration of the region’s rich history. In experiencing this great wilderness, Berton and his family discover their deep connection to nature — and each other. From Goodreads.

I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting story about a family trip down the Yukon river. It describes how it looked in the 1970s when this trip takes place but also about the thriving place it was in 1898 when Pierre Berton's father made the trip for the gold rush.
I am looking forward to see some of the places described in this book.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
2014 Full House Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - UnCover It
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (D-leopard)
Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Wild Justice by Kelley Armstrong

Ex-cop Nadia Stafford has a dark secret. After taking the law into her own hands she was kicked off the force... and entered the shadowy world of guns for hire. She has her own strict code - works only for one crime family, only kills the really bad guys. But when a hit goes tragically wrong, Nadia is devastated. Is it time to leave the business for good?
Before she has time to decide, Nadia discovers that her own life is under threat. And worse - that terrifying events from her past may have triggered the attacks. With the help of Jack, her enigmatic mentor, Nadia is forced to upon a dark path - towards the truth and towards her final destiny. From Goodreads.

Another excellent book from Kelley Armstrong. I remember not liking the first book in this series so much but it might have been the missing paranormal aspect in it. Now having gotten used to that I really like Nadia, an ex-cop turned lodge owner and assassin. In this book it all goes back to when she was 13 and horrible things happened to her and her cousin. Nadia is a strong likeable heroine. I hope Kelley Armstrong writes more of this series.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (A-polarbear)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Skin Game by Jim Butcher

Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard, is about to have a very bad day….
Because as Winter Knight to the Queen of Air and Darkness, Harry never knows what the scheming Mab might want him to do. Usually, it’s something awful.
He doesn’t know the half of it….
Mab has just traded Harry’s skills to pay off one of her debts. And now he must help a group of supernatural villains—led by one of Harry’s most dreaded and despised enemies, Nicodemus Archleone—to break into the highest-security vault in town so that they can then access the highest-security vault in the Nevernever.
It’s a smash-and-grab job to recover the literal Holy Grail from the vaults of the greatest treasure hoard in the supernatural world—which belongs to the one and only Hades, Lord of the freaking Underworld and generally unpleasant character. Worse, Dresden suspects that there is another game afoot that no one is talking about. And he’s dead certain that Nicodemus has no intention of allowing any of his crew to survive the experience. Especially Harry.
Dresden’s always been tricky, but he’s going to have to up his backstabbing game to survive this mess—assuming his own allies don’t end up killing him before his enemies get the chance…. From Goodreads.

I have been waiting for this book and it did not disappoint. It is quite difficult for Harry being the winter knight as it often works against his own ethics and now he also has a psychic parasite in his head that will kill him. 
Mab, the winter Queen, threatens him to work for a fallen angel to pay of a debt she owns him.
I like that Karrin, Michael and Butters are back, all with quite important roles to play. 

This is a fabulous series that I recommend to anyone who likes fantasy or paranormal books.  

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge 
2014 Full House Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Sub-Genre Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet
Nothing but Reading Challenges - 50 States Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon 

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE is a fable that reshapes modern fantasy: moving, terrifying and elegiac - as pure as a dream, as delicate as a butterfly's wing, as dangerous as a knife in the dark - from storytelling genius Neil Gaiman.
It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond this world are on the loose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, and menace unleashed - within his family and from the forces that have gathered to destroy it.
His only defence is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is an ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang. From Goodreads.





I enjoyed this. It was scary. I really like this kind of fantasy where the creatures and other things from beyond this world mixes with this world and catches people unaware. Of course there is, as there should be, the good "creatures", the three women who help the boy.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge
Nothing but Reading Challenges - April Showers
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014 
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (O- dragonfly)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014

The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan

What dangers do runaway demigods Luke and Thalia face on their way to Camp Half-Blood? Are Percy and Annabeth up to the task of rescuing stolen goods from a fire-breathing giant who doesn't take kindly to intruders? How exactly are Leo, Piper, and Jason supposed to find a runaway table, dodge a band of party-loving Maenads (who just might be a little psychotic), and stave off a massive explosion...all in one hour or less? With his trademark wit and creativity, Rick Riordan answers these questions and more in three never-before-seen short stories that provide vital back-story to the Heroes of Olympus and Percy Jackson books. Original art, enlightening character interviews and profiles, puzzles, and a quiz add to the fun in this action-packed collection. From Goodreads.

Fun to be back with the Demigods. I enjoy reading about their adventures and it makes me want to read the last book in the series, The Blood of Olympus, now. Just have to wait till July.
I am impressed by the story written by Haley.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Quick fix Challenge (242 pages)
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
Jumble Your Genres Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - April Showers
Paranormal Addicts & Newbies - Paranormal Creatures Seasonal Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (R- kestrel)
Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch

A WHOLE NEW REASON TO MIND THE GAP
It begins with a dead body at the far end of Baker Street tube station, all that remains of American exchange student James Gallagher—and the victim’s wealthy, politically powerful family is understandably eager to get to the bottom of the gruesome murder. The trouble is, the bottom—if it exists at all—is deeper and more unnatural than anyone suspects . . . except, that is, for London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant. With Inspector Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, tied up in the hunt for the rogue magician known as “the Faceless Man,” it’s up to Peter to plumb the haunted depths of the oldest, largest, and—as of now—deadliest subway system in the world.
At least he won’t be alone. No, the FBI has sent over a crack agent to help. She’s young, ambitious, beautiful . . . and a born-again Christian apt to view any magic as the work of the devil. Oh yeah—that’s going to go well. From Goodreads.

I am enjoying listening to this series. Peter Grant isn't doing things quite like they should be done or as his superiors want but he gets there in the end. I like that Leslie is back and playing a bigger part again.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Audio Book Challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge (fantasy)
2014 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory Spell It Out - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (P)
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge (#3)
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (A-hawk)
Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #3

Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs

Assaulted by the bitter cold of a Montreal winter, the American-born Dr. Temperance Breman, Forensic Anthropologist for the Province of Quebec, digs for a corpse where Sister Elisabeth Nicolet, dead over a century and now a candidate for sainthood, should lie in her grave. A strange, small coffin, buried in the recesses of a decaying church, holds the first clue to the cloistered nun's fate. The puzzle surrounding Sister Elisabeth's life and death provides a welcome contrast to discoveries at a burning chalet, where scorched and twisted bodies await Tempe's professional expertise. Who were these people? What brought them to this gruesome fate? Homicide Detective Andrew Ryan, with whom Tempe has a combustive history, joins her in the arson investigation. From the fire scene they are drawn into the worlds of an enigmatic and controversial professor, a mysterious commune, and a primate colony on a Carolina island. From Goodreads.



I keep having to tell myself that the TV-series Bones is only loosely based on this book series. The Dr. Temperance Brennan is a very different woman than on TV. She is an ex-alcoholic, mother and quite emotional. I still enjoyed the book and I am definitely going to continue reading this series.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge (mystery)
2014 Full House Reading Challenge (crime)
Eclectic Reader Challenge 2014
CCC A-Z Authors 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge (#2)
Crazy Challenge Connection - Dr. Seuss
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Setting Alphabet Reading Challenge
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (K-kestrel)
Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Book Buffs’ Battleship
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #3