ABC Book Challenge K – O

 

K – No one gets killed                       The Door By The Staircase (2016) by Katherine Marsh

Fabulous YA book that Lia shared with me. I’ve always loved the stories about Baba Yaga and I quickly learned early on that she was in this book. Mary lives in a REALLY sucky orphanage and is grateful when a mysterious woman named Madame Z chooses her from all the others to take home with her. She slowly realizes that things are not quite normal, but her life is so much better that she doesn’t really look too deeply. Things get weirder and weirder until she finally realizes just who it is who adopted her. Very satisfying ending. Wish there was a sequel.

 

L – Book from a list                          The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The list was “10 Top Books To Read in Your Lifetime”. I read this book many years ago, long before the original movie was made. I found it rather depressing, not counting the death of Gatsby. The lives of the very rich seemed so empty. Without any real purpose. Sure, I’d love to have a nice house and someone else to do the cooking and cleaning, but what’s the point of just sitting around with nothing worthwhile to do other than spend, spend, spend. (However, if someone wants to give me a ton of money, I will not say no…)

 

M – Month in the title                       The October Country (1955) by Ray Bradbury

Bradbury is one of my sci-fi favorites. This collection of odd stories is remarkable in the feelings they elicit. At least from me. I always felt a great amount of melancholy when reading his works.

 

N – Your name in the title                Dot For Short (1947) by Frieda Friedman

I read this when I was in grade school, and loved it. I was later able to get this at a library sale of discarded books. Dot is much shorter than her two older sisters, and not much taller than her little brother. She hates being small and her greatest wish is to be tall and beautiful. She lives with her siblings, parents and grandmother in a small New York apartment. They have very little money, but they are rich in family love. A very sweet book.

         

 

O – Orange cover                              Siberian Gold (1927) by Theodore Acland Harper

I did a book report on this before, but I kept the book because it had a very pretty cover and I intend to use it for an altered book. I might read it once more before doing that, because it was a pretty good story. A mining engineer tries to establish a gold mine in Siberia and deals with thieves, Russians and a possible romance.