Our local library has effective (perhaps sneaky?) ways of encouraging their patrons to check out books and keep reading. In December a book bingo card was available, with a prize drawing early this month. The bingo card grid was 5x5 squares and had a free space in the middle. I had already read 2 or 3 books by the time I decided to play book bingo, but placing them in appropriate categories on the card didn't bring me closer to a bingo. In the end, I read 8 books and one magazine before I had a bingo to turn in.
Following are the categories I used to achieve a bingo, and the books I read to do so:
Funny: Unusual Uses for Olive Oil by Alexander McCall-Smith. Yes, it was funny but not all THAT funny.
Holiday Theme: Village Christmas by Miss Read. A very short book. Heart-warming story. It is my own book, but I don't remember reading it before. Maybe I did, years ago.
Magazine: Victoria. January/February 2023. My sister kindly gave me a subscription for Christmas. I'm not into that kind of ornate decor for my own home, but I enjoy seeing how other people use it in theirs. If I had that many pretty and expensive items sitting around in my house, I would be afraid to move around and live.
And I must mention the magazine's wonderful photos of food delicacies, and the recipes to make them. So tempting!
Book With a Long Title: And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer by Fredrik Bachman. My favorite librarian found this one for me. It was a short read, very moving. Poignant. This would also have qualified as a book that was translated, but would not have helped me get a bingo.
Urban Fantasy: Brief Cases by Jim Butcher. More about this book later.
Other books I read and marked off on my bingo card:
Non-fiction: Snake River Country. by Bill Gulick. I bought this one at a used book sale several years ago and happened to decide to finally read it this month, prior to tackling the bingo challenge. I learned a great deal about the early days of exploration and settlements in that part of the country.
It was quite interesting, except for the last 2 chapters, which got really technical about water and electricity.
Odd number of pages: Illusion by Frank Peretti. I was hoping it would qualify as urban fantasy, but after ready all 495 pages of it, I decided that wasn't quite the right genre. Peretti's books always get me sucked right in so that I can hardly put them down, and this was no exception. I certainly don't regret having read it, even though it didn't help me reach my bingo goal.
Inspirational: Lessons From a Sheep Dog by Phillip Keller. A neighbor gave me this short book for Christmas. It's very insightful and thought-provoking.
Re-read a favorite: Cheaper by the Dozen by Gilbreth and Carey. I've read this one many times. I could just as well have used it for the Funny category, as it is a hilarious book. But then I wouldn't have known where to put Unusual Uses for Olive Oil on the bingo grid, so I did it this way.
Now, back to Brief Cases. I'd never read any urban fantasy books before, and wasn't sure I wanted to give it a try. But it was the last square I needed for my Bingo. So a librarian showed me where the urban fantasy books were located, and I basically grabbed one and said, "Okay, I'll read this one."
It turned out to be a collection of short stories. The author inserted some comments at the beginning of each story, explaining where it fit in his Dresden File series, and sometimes telling how he happened to write it. Although I had not read any of his other books, I felt like the short stories were perfectly good stand-alone tales.
My favorites were the three stories featuring Bigfoot. I've read books about Bigfoot before, but nothing like this! Bigfoot has magical powers in these stories, speaks perfectly good English, is very wealthy (thanks to gold nuggets), and has a son whose mother is happens to be a very tall, rugged human. The son has some special powers, coupled with complications from being a very tall boy. Harry Dresden, the wizard from the Dresden Files series, helps the boy learn how to cope.
If you have never read any urban fantasy books, I would recommend this one as a good place to start. The short story format makes it easier to set the book aside if you don't like it. The wide variety of settings and characters, however, lend themselves to continued reading and holding of one's interest.
I may try another urban fantasy author some day, or even another book by this author, but it's not at the top of my priority list. I received two jigsaw puzzles for Christmas, and that's how I intend to fill the next several drab winter days.