2016 Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge

Since I have always been a huge fan of mystery/thriller novels,

this is another of the challenges in which I will enlist for 2016!

And since one of 2016 reading goals is to read/reread mystery series,

this is perfect!!
Click here to follow along on my Cloak and Dagger page!

This is being hosted by Stormi @ Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My!

and Barb @ Booker T's Farm

And since I've already read the first six books in Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series, 

plan to finish reading Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter series and Albert's China Bayles series, and plan to reread McCall Smith's #1 Ladies' Detectives and Isabel Dalhousie series, I'm in!!

With that list I am definitely aiming for Special Agent: Lynn!

LEVELS:

                                         Amateur Sleuth              1-10 books

                                               Detective                  11-20 books

                                               Inspector                   21-30 books

                                          Special Agent                 31+ books

Twitter hashtag  #2016CloakDaggerChal

Challenge will run from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. 

You can register here until April 15, 2016!

** Monthly link-ups for posting reviews will be provided--here is January's!

RULES:

* You can read any book that is form the mystery/suspense/thriller/crime genres. 

Any sub-genres are welcome as long as they incorporate one of these genres.

* You can participate without a blog! You just need a please to post reviews to which you can link: Goodreads, booklikes, LibraryThing, shelfari, a blog, etc.

* Make a goal post and link it back here with your goal for this challenge.

* Books need to be novellas or novels of at least 100 pages in length--no short stories, please!

* Counting these books for other challenges as well works just fine! 

I will include many of mine in some of these other challenges: #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks (I already own most of the above-listed books!), Classics Club, 2016 Southern Literature Reading Challenge.

* There will be a giveaway for participants at both the mid-point and end. 

If you read mysteries or historical fiction mysteries, this might work for you, too!

What other challenges are you participating in this year?

Rules...are made for breaking? :)

Rules by Cynthia Lord

I have seen this cover image so many times, especially as a Borders bookseller!

I never had even read the synopsis to know what it was really about. 

Then, it appeared at a local library book sale for only $.50 and it was mine!

(Well, actually, it was meant for my grandchildren, but grandma must preview, after all!)

This is a realistic yet adorable book with such a message about acceptance and appreciation--especially with regard to really not caring what other people think or will say...

All in all, my kind of book, and the kind I believe we can all gain value by reading!

Perhaps what I found to be the most interesting aspect of this award-winning book, was the fact that although Catherine's brother, David, deals with symptoms of autism, she is still just as worried about "what everyone else thinks" as any other 12-year-old girl. When her mother (with David in tow) picked her up from one of her friend's houses, David began running through the house opening all the doors, looking for the "cellar," though there was none to be found. 
  "Real friends understand," Mom had said on the ride home. But here's what I understand: Sometimes everyone gets invited except us, and it's because of David. (6)
As with most of us at this 'tween' age, Catherine doesn't have many close friends and unfortunately, during the summer, her best friend, Melissa, stays in another state with her father. However, Catherine is already planning how she and the new next door neighbor, also a 12-year-old girl, will do all the same things together that she would like to do with Melissa, were she around...

Catherine willingly accompanies her mother when she takes David to the clinic for weekly therapy appointments. 
  The clinic is a few streets from the ocean, and in the summer sometimes mom and I walk to the waterfront park while David has his appointment. It's the only time in the week that I get Mom completely to myself and someone else is in charge of David. Mom likes to stay in the clinic waiting room so she can here if David has a hard time, but I like when we leave, because then she doesn't look away from me every time she hears him shriek. (14)
Wow. How much pressure is that?!? Not only for Catherine, but especially her mother? I firmly believe such challenging situations affect the caretakers and those in the immediate household as much as those who are disabled. Everyone must adjust and flex and there are rare opportunities for respite for most... 

And can I just say that I adore this mother's relationship with her daughter?!? Although Catherine is twelve and quite capable of reading the Harry Potter books on her own, her mother still reads each new release in the series aloud to her. Sharing special books together! Ah, it makes my soul smile! (Okay, especially HP! Some of my favorite books ever written!) This definitely resonated for me. During David's appointments her mother reads quietly to Catherine while she draws with colored pencils. It is her artistic ability that first connects her to Jason, another patient who is in a wheelchair and unable to speak. Catherine is uneasy looking at Jason, not knowing where to put her eyes on him, then realizes 
  Maybe by drawing Jason, I could look at him easier. 
     Looking closer can make something beautiful. 
  Sometimes I can change how I feel about something by drawing it. (19)
I could understand this sentiment, much as getting to know a person can allow us to learn to appreciate something about that individual that we might otherwise never know... And one of the communication issues most cited by disabled individuals is that other people do not look them in the eyes, just as they would any "normal" person. I have never forgotten this after first reading it about 30 years ago and have always coached myself to just look people in the eye, no matter who they are or their circumstances, and it typically is a well-received gesture. Though this doesn't work out exactly had Catherine had planned, it does initiate a friendship between herself and Jason. They learn they have things in common: love of music, appreciation of humor and sarcasm, and love of running.

The Rules generally referred to by the title are those Catherine lists and teaches to David. 
     Chew with your mouth closed.
     Say "thank you" when someone gives you a present (even if you don't like it). 
     If someone says "Hi," you say "Hi" back.
     When you want to get out of answering something, distract the questioner with 
        another question.
     Not everything worth keeping has to be useful.
     If the bathroom door is closed, knock (especially if Catherine has a friend over).
     Sometimes people laugh when they like you. But sometimes they laugh to hurt 
        you.
     No toys in the fish tank.  [Hence the cover image!]
This last one is the one he most often delights in "breaking." Though she also creates some rules for herself along the way. :) The major one of those is

     No dancing unless I'm home alone in my room or it's pitch-black dark.

Though ironically, she learns, with Jason's help, how much fun it can sometimes be to break one's own rule!
She and David also have a communication ritual revolving around Arnold Lobel's children's classic, Frog and Toad are Friends. It seems to be very calming for David to be able to quote lines from this book. He and Catherine will converse just as if they were themselves frog and toad. It is adorable! This certainly resonated for me since my three sons would often quote from the Disney movie Robin Hood. They would often act out whole scenes. (Yes, they virtually had the whole movie memorized verbatim!) It was fun for them...and me! (Some times they even allowed me to play a part.) The voices of those characters are adorable! 

This is one award-winning book with which I definitely concur that it deserves all these accolades...and more: 

A Newberry Honor Book

A Schneider Family Book Award Winner

An ALA Notable Children's Book

A Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year

An NCTE Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts

A Michigan Library Association Mitten Award Winner

This is such a rewarding read! Fun and heartwarming!

Have you read this one? Or do you know someone who might appreciate it?

Top Ten Tuesday for January 12, 2016!!!

Top Ten 2015 Releases I Meant To Get To... 

But Didn't

And yes, there may be some books listed that released BEFORE 2015, too! :)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.

Although this is hosted weekly, I participate only when I have the time

and am extremely interested by the posting topic!

Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart

Yep! I still want to read this one! :)

Circling the Sun by Paula McClain

Yes, I still want to read this one! :)

Uh...I even own it! (No excuses...)

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

And I own it! Come on... :)

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

(At least I don't own this one!)

                                              

She IS back and I really want 

to revisit Lisbeth!

The Girl in the Spider's Web

by David Lagercrantz

Uhm...yes, I own it!

The Violinist of Venice: A Story of Vivaldi

by Alyssa Palombo

This was released December 15, 2015, but was somehow never on my radar!

Unforgettable: A Son, A Mother, and the 

Lessons of a Lifetime by Scott Simon 

I love Simon as a radio commentator/host 
and although I listened to part of the NPR interview with him regarding the release of this book early in 2015, 

it somehow fell off my radar!

The Martian by Andy Weir

Meant to read this one all through 2015!

(It was released in 2014!)

But have added it to my 

Book Challenge by Erin 4.0 list and have my fingers crossed!

After Her by Joyce Maynard

From my RIP X challenge list!

I love Maynard! And I own this one!
Although released in 2013, still unread! :(

And finally...I fully realize this book wasn't published anywhere close to 2015!

(Initial publication in 1938!)

But I really really want to read this one in 2016!!

It was also listed for the RIP X challenge!

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

And that, my friends, is only TEN books listed!!! :)
(Pretty unusual for me!)
What are you looking forward to reading that you have meant to read in the past?