stonepicnicking_okapi: books (books)
stonepicnicking_okapi ([personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote2022-06-02 08:53 pm
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Book Bingo 2022: June



LGBTQ: Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green. This is a true crime book of a serial killer who targeted gay and bisexual men in the 1990s. It won an Edgar award and deservedly so. I read it in 48 hours (on the second day I stayed up until 4 am to finish it) it was such a gripping story told very well, and it made the victims seem like very real people. It included bits of queer history as the killer picked his victims up at a gay bar in NYC.

Collection/Anthology: Game Without Rules by Michael Gilbert [e-book]. A short story collection (the stories were originally published in the 1960's). I read about this on [personal profile] smallhobbit's Book Bingo. There are two old spies named Calder and Behrens and they continue to do missions. So it's as if Holmes and Watson had retired to Sussex but were Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy chaps and got pulled into cases still. Bits of it were dated but most of it was enjoyable. Would I read the other collection? Maybe if my TBR weren't so tall.

Fairy Tale or Fairy Tale Retelling: A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow [book]. This is YA, probably short enough to be considered a novella. I don't usually read YA so it was okay. A terminally ill modern Ohio teenager is obsessed with Sleeping Beauty and her best friend arranges a scene for her birthday and the girl pricks her finger on a spinning wheel and is transported to a fairy realm where she meets Sleeping Beauty and rescues ensue. Very meta and philosophical. A lot about living with a hereditary disease that is going to kill you.

Classic or Published before 1985: The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell [book, 1949]. This is a classic in comparative mythology. The author discusses his theory of the mythological structure of the journey of the archetypal hero found in world myths. Probably the densest book I've read in a long time. It compares so many mythologies from so many cultures, I couldn't help but wonder how the author kept them all in his head. But in terms of storytelling and arcs, very interesting. But it took me four months to read it, and I had to read some lines more than once to understand them.


Full List

Sci Fi or Fantasy: Companion to Wolves by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette. [book]
Graphic Novel: I Know What I Am: The Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi by Gina Siciliano [book]
Crime or Mystery: Riccardino by Andrea Camilleri, trans. by Stephen Sartarelli. [book]
Author You've Not Read Before: The Holladay Case by Burton E. Stevenson. [audiobook] Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. 4 hours, 33 minutes.
Audiobook or E-book: Audiobook or E-book: The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman. Narrated by Lesley Manville. 11 hours 49 minutes [audiobook].
Non-Western Setting: Almond by Won-pyung Sohn, trans. by Sandy Joosun Lee.
Translated Book: Moonlight Rests on my Left Palm: Poems and Essays by Yu Xiahua, translated by Fiona Sze-Lorrain. [book]
Seasonal Read: The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny [book]
Crime or Mystery: Crossed Skis by Carol Carnac [e-book]
Book that is Part of a Series: Network Effect by Martha Wells. [audiobook] Narrated by Kevin R. Free. 12 hours, 48 minutes.
Published in 2022: The Maid by Nita Prose [audiobook narrated by Lauren Ambrose, 9 hours and 37 minutes].
YA or Children's: Amina's Voice by Hena Khan. [book]
Non-fiction: Mark Rothko From the Inside Out by Christopher Rothko. [book]
More than 300 pages: Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton [book]
Horror or Paranormal: The Dead Hours of Night Stories by Lisa Tuttle [book]
Title is at least 5 Words Long: Murder as a Fine Art by David Morrell [book]
Collection/Anthology: Game Without Rules by Michael Gilbert [e-book]
Fairy Tale or Fairy Tale Retelling: A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow [book]
Classic or Published before 1985: The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell [book]
kingstoken: (Clint and Lucky)

[personal profile] kingstoken 2022-06-03 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
Bingo card is looking great!
smallhobbit: (Book pile)

[personal profile] smallhobbit 2022-06-03 08:41 am (UTC)(link)
Not far to go now! Very impressive. I'm glad you enjoyed the Michael Gilbert book.