Wrapping Up What's In a Name 4

This reading challenge was a lot of fun and it's one I wish I had found before this year.  I'm still speculating about my reading (and book buying) habits for next year, but I hope it will work out where I can do this challenge again.  It will all depend on what the specifications are for the next one.  Below is a list of the titles I read and which category they went into.  You can click on the title to link to my review. 


What's in a Name 4 hosted by Beth Fish

A book with a number in the title:  Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich

A book with jewelry or a gem in the title:  Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

A book with a size in the title:  The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith

A book with travel or movement in the title:  The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

A book with evil in the title:  Deliver Me From Evil by Alloma Gilbert

A book with a life stage in the title:  Being Dead Is No Excuse by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays. 

Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich

The "Stephanie Plum" series by Janet Evanovich is formulaic, prone to ridiculously unbelievable situations, and probably needs to be brought to an end.  That said, I still found myself laughing out loud in parts as I read the latest paperback installment, Sizzling Sixteen.  It's filled with the usual (and that's part of the problem...it's so much of the "same ole") antics from Stephanie, Lula, Connie, Vinnie, and Grandma Mazur along with the usual tension and indecision concerning Morrelli and Ranger.  The premise for this one?  Vinnie is kidnapped for ransom over some major gambling debts.  Add in stink bombs, a guard alligator, cows, Hobbits, Moon Man's special brownies... wait.  I don't want to give away the entire book!

I'm a glutton for punishment, so I'm sure I'll read her latest (Smokin' Seventeen) when it comes out in paperback.  Oh, and according to IMDb the Stephanie Plum movie that was due out this month is now set for release in January 2012.


This book completed the What's In A Name 4 Challenge (book with a number in the title) and the Cozy Mystery Challenge for me. 

Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

I've wanted to read Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier for years. Having read two other Chevalier novels (Burning Bright and The Lady and the Unicorn), I felt sure I would like it. When I saw that one of the requirements for the What's in a Name 4 challenge was a book with a jewel or gem in the title, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to finally read it.

Chevalier has a knack for taking an historical person or item and weaving a fictional story around it that is that is totally believable. In Girl With A Pearl Earring we enter the 17th century world of Dutch artist Jan Vermeer. The story follows Griet, a young woman who enters the Vermeer household as a maid after tragedy befalls her own family. Not only must Griet deal with the burdens of her new household duties, she also must face the moods of a mistress who dislikes her, a child who wants nothing more than to cause her trouble, and the dilemma of trying to keep secret her role as an assistant in Vermeer's studio.

I loved this book every bit as much as I expected to and the ending was completely satisfying. I'm tempted now to watch the 2003 movie with Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

I knew from all the reviews I'd read for The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein that I would like it. How could I not - it's narrated by a dog!

As the story begins, Enzo is comtemplating his transition from this world to the next. He knows from a TV documentary about Mongolia that when a dog is finished living his lifetimes as a dog, his next incarnation will be as a man. He feels he's ready.

First, though, he shares his story and in doing so we learn all about Denny and Eve Swift, their daughter Zoe and all the tragedy that befalls them. And, wow, what a story!

I really enjoyed this book until about half way through. At that point things started happening that totally frustrated and angered me. Still... that didn't stop me from pressing on, totally absorbed with Enzo's tale. Death, false accusations, custody battles, financial woes, and racing. Lots and lots of auto racing. It's not a topic for which I have much interest, but that didn't matter. Enzo, with his humor and insight, made the whole journey worth it.

This novel was read for the What's in a Name challenge: a book with movement (racing) in the title.

Being Dead Is No Excuse by Metcalfe and Hays

The full title is: Being Dead Is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays. Bob has been urging me to read this book ever since he found out it was in my TBR pile. I should have followed his advice sooner.

This has to be one of the most entertaining books I have read in a long time! A Southern funeral is not just an activity in which deceased is eulogized and buried... it's an event. An event with rules and rituals. Metcalfe and Hays, both Mississippi Delta natives, share these rules and rituals in a fun, light-hearted book filled with recipes and running commentary. Although I live in Arkansas rather than Mississippi, and not even in the Delta region of my state, I found so many things I could relate to! Not only is the book hilarious, the recipes included look delicious. Of course being the good Southern Lady that I am, I already have my own versions of many of the recipes included. However, there are some that I have never prepared and may have to try in the future. You certainly don't have to be from the American South to enjoy this book.

I read this as a "book with a life stage in the title" (being dead) for the What's In A Name challenge.

Deliver Me From Evil by Alloma Gilbert

Deliver Me From Evil by Alloma Gilbert is the true story of a girl who, along with several other children, suffered horrible abuses while in the foster care of a woman named Eunice Spry.

The story begins as Gilbert is preparing to testify in court against the woman who took her into her home at the age of six then embarked on an eleven year nightmare of abusiveness. It then steps back into time, beginning with Alloma's birth in 1985, and recounts the events of her life leading up to the trial. I won't say I enjoyed the book, it was too disturbing for that, yet I had trouble putting it down once I began.

I found it amazing how many times over the course of Gilbert's "captivity" there were opportunities for outsiders to question what was happening and possibly intervene. It also struck me how easily a child can be "brainwashed". I can't begin to comprehend how a person could treat another human being, let alone a child, in the manner Alloma and her foster siblings were treated. I don't recall reading about this in the news, but that could be because it occurred in the UK rather than in the US.

My biggest complaint about the book was from an editing standpoint. There were quite a few typos, most notably contractions without their apostrophes. I lost count of the times "she'd" appeared as "shed". It was fairly distracting.

This was my first book read on my Kindle (which I got for Christmas) and counted as the "book with evil in the title" for the What's In a Name challenge.

The Double Comfort Safari Club

I always have a feeling of contentment when I finish a book in the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series by Alexander McCall Smith. The Double Comfort Safari Club was no exception.

I love the picture of Botswana that Smith paints with his storytelling. In many ways it seems a slower, kinder, gentler world than the one I live in. However, flaws in human nature are universal and this is evidenced by many of the situations that Mma Ramotswe finds herself in. This keeps the narrative from being too "sappy".

This eleventh book in the series contains a variety of storylines including a tragic accident involving Mma Makutsi's fiance and a trip to the Okavango Delta to locate the recipient of a final bequest.

Kindness. Hospitality. Decency. These are some of the traits found in the characters from this little part of Botswana. Traits that we all should all hope to possess.


This first book of 2011 counts towards both of my reading challenges. The author was born in what is now Zimbabwe and the novel takes place in Botswana, so it is my first "Africa" book for the Global Reading Challenge. It also meets the "book with a size in the title" requirement (double) for the What's In A Name Challenge.

What's in a Name 4

Can you believe I'm signing up for another reading challenge?!

I saw this challenge on several blogs this year and when Dorte mentioned it I knew I had to join in. Hosted by Beth Fish, the What's in a Name 4 challenge runs for the entire year and requires reading one book in each of the following categories:

1. A book with a number in the title.
2. A book with jewelry or a gem in the title.
3. A book with a size in the title.
4. A book with travel or movement in the title.
5. A book with evil in the title.
6. A book with a life stage in the title.

I know I said in an earlier post that I don't like speculating on my choices too much, but on this one I think I already know some of the books I'll read.

1. Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich
2. Possibly Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (I've read and enjoyed other Chevalier books )
3.
4. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
5.
6. Being Dead is No Excuse by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays (Bob has been telling me to read this for years and you can't deny "being dead" is a life stage!)

I'm open to suggestions for my two blanks (and #2).

Unless some of the books overlap, I've now committed myself to 20 books for 2011. Plus, I want to do a couple of challenges again that don't come up until later in the year. Then there are always books that don't fall into a challenge, not to mention magazines. Looks like I'm gonna have to really focus on reading!