January is almost over and I’m posting my wrap-up for this challenge because I don’t think I’ll be adding anything to it in the next week. Carolyn is a fun host and I have enjoyed being a part of her community. Here is my reading for this year and look for my sign-up post for her 2016 adventures!
Gentle Spectrums 2015
**** (A) LIMITLESS PALLET **** Choose a colour level! Accepted now: Colourful, colour, bright, light, iridescent, iridescence, dark, shade, hue, spectrum, rainbow, prism. I am choosing Colourful: Any 10 colours!
I got twelve colors for this year!
The Orchid House, Lucinda Riley
Touch Blue, Cynthia Lord
These High, Green Hills (Mitford #3), Jan Karon
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, Candice Millard
On the Banks of Plum Creek, Laura Ingalls Wilder
By the Shores of Silver Lake, Laura Ingalls Wilder
These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Light from Heaven (Mitford #8), Jan Karon
Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles #2), Marissa Meyer
Lavender Lies (China Bayles #8), Susan Wittig Albert
Black Dove, White Raven, Elizabeth Wein
Big Cherry Holler (Big Stone Gap #2), Adriana Trigiani
**** (B) GENTLE SUBJECTS **** Please complete 1 each, of these 10 subjects. Keep on adding anything that fits for extra points.
(1) STONES~Variations of the word, gems, jewellery, ruins, geological formations.
These High, Green Hills (Mitford #3), Jan Karon
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
In This Mountain (Mitford #7), Jan Karon
Big Stone Gap (Stone Gap #1), Adriana Trigiani,
Rock with Wings (Navajo Mysteries #20), Anne Hillerman
(2) CHEERFUL~Uplifting, positive messages; conveys pleasant thoughts, images.
Jan Karon’s Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader: Recipes from Mitford Cooks, Favorite Tales from Mitford Books
At Home in Mitford, Jan Karon
A Light in the Window (Mitford #2), Jan Karon
Come Rain or Come Shine (Mitford #11), Jan Karon
(3) NATIONS~Cultures, locations: lakes, towns, even well-known places; fictional included.
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Daniel James Brown
Death in Kenya, M.M.Kaye;
At Home in Mitford, Jan Karon
Out to Canaan (Mitford #4), Jan Karon
(4) PLANTS~Trees, flowers, lawns, fields, grasses, grains, and gardening paraphernalia.
The Orchid House, Lucinda Rile
Hangman’s Root (China Bayles #3), Susan Wittig Albert;
Rosemary Remembered (China Bayles #4), Susan Wittig Albert
Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Chile Death (China Bayles #7), Susan Wittig Albert
Lavender Lies (China Bayles #8), Susan Wittig Albert
Mistletoe Man (China Bayles #9), Susan Wittig Albert
The Walnut Tree (Bess Crawford #4.5), Charles Todd
Cold Sassy Tree, Olive Ann Burns
(5) WATER~Water bodies, proper names, closely-connected components: taps, sinks, pools.
English Creek, Ivan Doig
Rogue Wave: Waterfire Saga #2, Jennifer Donnelly
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, Candice Millard
On the Banks of Plum Creek, Laura Ingalls Wilder
By the Shores of Silver Lake, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Home to Holly Springs, Jan Karon
A Girl of the Limberlost, Gene Stratton Porter
Gap Creek, Robert Morgan
(6) SPACE~The sky, its contents, spatial matter, concepts, tools. Star Trek / Star Wars-related.
Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2), by Laini Taylor
Sunshine on Scotland Street (44 Scotland Street #8), Alexander McCall Smith
The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency #16), Alexander McCall Smith
(7) DAUNTING~Any title that has you thinking: “Oooo! That does not sound good”!
A Sudden, Fearful Death (William Monk #4), Anne Perry
Dangerous Deception, Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (Dangerous Creatures #2)
A Christmas Escape (Christmas Stories, #13), Anne Perry
(8) STRUCTURES~A building, its rooms, proper names, any of a structure’s parts.
The Orchid House, Lucinda Riley
A Light in the Window (Mitford #2), Jan Karon
The House at Riverton, Kate Morton
The House of Velvet and Glass, Katherine Howe
(9) TIME~Any signifiers of time, like seasons. Any unit-measurers, like watches and calendars.
Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2), by Laini Taylor
A Brief History of the Future: From Radio Days to Internet Years in a Lifetime, by John Naughton
On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon, Kaye Gibbons
These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Whistling Season, Ivan Doig
The Queen of the Big Time, Adriana Trigiani
The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #1), Rick Riordan
(10) HUMOROUS~Odd, or anything that gives you a grin. I’ll accept a ‘pun laid on too thick’ grimace too!
Owls Well That Ends Well (Meg Langslow #6), Donna Andrews
Exceptionally well done, Sue! A few duplicates among Gentle Subjects (Starlight, Orchid…) but those tweaks don’t change how well you did. In fact, you could add “Light In The Window” to Limitless Palette for 13. 🙂 Congratulations on a challenge creatively completed!
I wonder if we agree on “House At Riverton”. I loved it but saw a lot of room for editing down detail; 100 pages fewer. We knew too much about the tiniest character or incident, to the point of it being an essay. Yet it is a memorable, emotionally-rewarding novel. I’m going to read Kate Morton’s next one this year.
Your kind, warm words about me being a fun hostess and providing a good community mean the world. Thank you, Sue! I love your fitting, animal conclusion: “Owls Well That Ends Well”! My gratitude and best from Manitoba to Utah, Carolyn. https://cmriedel.wordpress.com/riedel-challenges-2016/