Sometimes...in winter...in Minnesota...you run out of ways to entertain yourself. The snowfall has died down by now but it was pretty brutal this year in the earlier winter months, which is how I ended up with a new Bookish Challenge to keep myself occupied.
When you put peanut butter and jelly together, you get a PB&J sandwich. When you smash two hobbies together (reading and fitness) you get...this:
BOOKISH CHALLENGE:
MATCH YOUR COVERS TO YOUR WORKOUT OUTFITS
Ireland by Frank Delaney
3 STARS
A young boy named Ronan lives in the Irish countryside. One night, an old man knocks on their door asking for lodging. In exchange, he offers to entertain Ronan's family and neighbors with stories and legends of Ireland. The next day, the storyteller disappears, but by then the damage is done; Ronan is obsessed. For the next decade, Ronan searches everywhere for the storyteller, trying to understand why his mother was so against the old man from the start and why the storyteller intentionally kept his distance from Ronan after that one magical night.
A Dangerous Fortune
by Ken Follett
3 STARS
In 1866, two students, Mickey and Edward, play a dangerous trick on another boy, resulting in his death. Time passes, but they grow up to become every bit as corrupt as they were ruthless as boys, only now they hold positions of power in England's banking scene. But Edward's cousin, Hugh, is a decent sort--albeit poor--and he works to right the wrongs committed by his cousin and his cousin's evil friend, all while pining after the woman he once loved and lost.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
4 STARS
It's Harry's 5th year at Hogwarts. The Ministry of Magic is infiltrating the school by installing an evil secretary with more power than anyone wants to accept. The Minister himself is more worried about the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, than about fighting the Dark Lord, who Harry and the headmaster both claim has returned. As new threats emerge and a great prophecy is discovered, Harry learns that the bond he has with his friends is more important than ever before.
Angels & Demons
by Dan Brown
4 STARS
Professor Langdon is summoned to investigate murders in Europe when he realizes that the murders are connected to the illuminati, whose sole purpose is to bring down the catholic church. With each new murder, Langdon follows the clues one step further, finding that the danger is more embedded in Vatican City than anyone thought possible...
The English Wife
by Lauren Willig
TBR (To Be Read)
From Goodreads: Annabelle and Bayard Van Duyvil live a charmed life: he’s the scion of an old Knickerbocker family, she grew up in a Tudor manor in England, they had a whirlwind romance in London, they have three year old twins on whom they dote, and he’s recreated her family home on the banks of the Hudson and renamed it Illyria. Yes, there are rumors that she’s having an affair with the architect, but rumors are rumors and people will gossip. But then Bayard is found dead with a knife in his chest on the night of their Twelfth Night Ball, Annabelle goes missing, presumed drowned, and the papers go mad. Bay’s sister, Janie, forms an unlikely alliance with a reporter to uncover the truth, convinced that Bay would never have killed his wife, that it must be a third party, but the more she learns about her brother and his wife, the more everything she thought she knew about them starts to unravel. Who were her brother and his wife, really? And why did her brother die with the name George on his lips?
What the Wind Knows
by Amy Harmon
5 STARS
Anne Gallagher journeys to Ireland to spread her grandfather's ashes, but when she rows out into one of the lochs, she comes out of the mist and finds herself in a whole other time period... almost 100 years in the past! The odd thing is, the locals mistake her for a woman who had disappeared only 1 year previously. She takes up the missing woman's place and finds herself falling for the best friend of the missing woman's deceased husband. But the Irish Revolt causes turbulence not just in their relationship but in her ability to remain in that time period...
Fleishman is in Trouble
by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
DNF (Did Not Finish)
Toby Fleishman, who recently underwent a divorce, is suddenly reintroduced to the concept that women everywhere actually want him. Hook-up apps become the crux of his life and he welcomes the change after thirteen years of marriage. But then his ex-wife suddenly disappears, forcing him to re-evaluate his situation and the reasons why his marriage really failed...
The Prize
by Brenda Joyce
5 STARS
Devlin O'Neil is determined to reap revenge on the man who murdered his father before his own eyes, and Virginia is just the one he can use to get it. Stealing her off a ship and keeping her captive, Devlin launches a master plan to cripple his enemy, not just financially but by taking an axe to his reputation as well, and by ruining Virginia in the process. Only...Virginia's suffering ends up being more difficult to bear than he thought...
Eat, Pray, Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert
4 STARS
When Elizabeth goes through an unexpected divorce and suffers a mid-life crisis, she drops everything to travel around the world. While going through the various stages--grief, confusion, hope--she applies stages of her own, based on the country she's visiting. In Italy, she learns to Eat again. In India, she learns to Pray again. And in Indonesia, she learns to Love again. It turns out her sabbatical is exactly what she needed all along...
Speaking in Tungs
by Karla M. Jay
5 STARS
A speech pathologist winds up in rural Pennsylvania where she starts practicing her career in the homes of the locals, only to learn that a serial killer is on the loose in the area. She befriends (AKA suffers through steamy tension with) a local fireman, who's caught up in hunting down the serial killer, but then they learn the true motive behind the murderer's plans and it's much worse than they first thought...
And that's a wrap on this Bookish Challenge! Onto the next one!
What other fun book-themed challenges have you seen or participated in?
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