Snakes & Ladders 2020


Tracking courtesy of Charlie and Sunny, as always, of course!

 

 SPACES AND DICE ROLLS

1. Author is a woman — Patricia Wentworth: Pilgrim’s Rest (finished April 1, 2020)

2. Genre: mystery
3. Set in the twentieth century
4. Published in 2019
5. Published in 2018
6. Title has a color word in it

7. Author’s last name begins with the letters A, B, C, or D — Margery Allingham: Sweet Danger (finished April 2, 2020)

8. Author’s last name begins with the letters E, F, G, or H.
9. Author’s last name begins with the letters H, I, J, or K
10. Author’s last name begins with the letters L, M, N or O
11. Author’s last name begins with the letters P, Q, R, or S
12. Author’s last name begins with the letters T, U, V, W, X, Y, or Z
13. Author is a man
14. Author is dead
15. Genre: romance

16. Genre: fantasy — Marie Brennan: A Natural History of Dragons (finished April 6, 2020)

17. Genre: horror
18. Set in a school
19. Set in the UK
20. Set in a country that is not your country of residence

21. Set in Europe — Joy Ellis: The Patient Man (finished April 7, 2020)

22. Set in Asia
23. Set in Australia/Oceania
24. Set in Africa
25. Snake – go back to 5
26. Part of a series that is more than 5 books long
27. Set during WWI or WWII
28. Written between 1900 and 1999
29. Someone travels by plane
30. Someone travels by train

31. Road trip — Ellis Peters: A Morbid Taste for Bones (finished April 8, 2020)

32. Genre: thriller
33. Set in North America
34. Snake – go back to 1
35. Has been adapted as a movie
36. Set in Central or South America
37. Has won an award
38. Newest release by a favorite author

39. A reread — Ngaio Marsh: Enter a Murderer (finished April 9, 2020)

40. Characters involved in the entertainment industry
41. Characters involved in politics
42. Characters involved in sports/sports industry
43. Characters involved in the law
44. Characters involved in cooking/baking
43. Characters involved in medicine
44. Characters involved in science/technology
45. A book that has been on your tbr for more than one year
46. A book that has been on your tbr for more than two years
47. Snake – go back to 19
48. A book you acquired in February, 2019.

49. Recommended by a friend — Ngaio Marsh: A Man Lay Dead, plus Death on the Air and Other Stories (both books finished April 10, 2020)

(Rereading the first Roderick Alleyn mystery in honor of the friend who introduced me to them many years ago. — ETA: Tagged on Marsh’s short stories when I noticed that the audio of A Man Lay Dead runs just short of 5 hours 30 minutes.)

50. Has a domestic animal on the cover
51. Has a wild animal on the cover
52. Has a tree or flower on the cover

53. Has something that can be used as a weapon on the cover — Ngaio Marsh: Scales of Justice (finished April 11, 2020)

(I used the present weekend buddy read for this one, as my print edition has fishing tackle on its cover — hook, line and all.)

54. Is more than 400 pages long
55. Is more than 500 pages long
56. Was published more than 100 years ago
57. Was published more than 50 years ago
58. Was published more than 25 years ago
59. Was published more than 10 years ago
60. Was published last year

61. Cover is more than 50% red — Anne Perry: Defend and Betray (finished April 16, 2020)

(Go figure, I could have used the audio version of Scales of Justice fo rthis one as well …)

62. Cover is more than 50% green
63. Cover is more than 50% blue
64. Cover is more than 50% yellow
65. Snake – go back to 52

66. Part of a series that is more than 10 books long — Ngaio Marsh: When in Rome (finished April 17, 2020)

(Nothing like Alleyn in Italy as a palate cleanser after the train wreck that Perry’s book turned out ot be.)

67. Set in a city with a population of greater than 5 million people (link)
68. Something related to weddings on the cover
69. Something related to travel on the cover
70. Something related to fall/autumn on the cover
71. Involves the beach/ocean/lake 

72. Involves the mountains/forests — Charles Portis: True Grit (finished April 18, 2020)

(I checked — their trip takes them through the mountains, at least part of the way.)

73. Categorized as YA
74. Categorized as Middle Grade
75. Set in a fantasy world
76. Set in a world with magic
77. Has a “food” word in the title
78. Set in a small town (fictional or real)

79. Main character is a woman — Sara Paretsky: Indemnity Only (finished April 21, 2020)

(Somehow I never got around to the first V.I.  Warshawski novel.  Now just may be the moment to make up for that.)

80. Main character is a man
81. Ghost story
82. Genre: urban fantasy
83. Genre: cozy mystery

84. Genre: police procedural — Lee Goldberg: Lost Hills (finished April 22, 2020)

85. Written by an author who has published more than 10 books
86. Author’s debut book
87. Snake – go back to 57
88. Comic/graphic novel
89. Published between 2000 and 2017
90. A new-to-you author
91. Snake – go back to 61
92. Reread of a childhood favorite
93. Author’s first/last initial same as yours (real or BL handle)
94. Non-fiction

95. Memoir — Anne Fadiman: Confessions of a Common Reader (finished April 22, 2020)

and Rafik Schami: Murmeln meiner Kindheit (My Childhood’s Marbles) (finished April 23, 2020) (since Fadiman’s book falls just a bit short of the game’s minimum requirements).

96. From your favorite genre
97. Title starts with any of the letters in SNAKE
98. Title starts with any of the letters in LADDERS
99. Snake – go back to 69

100. Let BL pick it for you: post 4 choices and read the one that gets the most votes!

Poll originally linked separately here. ~~~ Link to poll. ~~~ Link to results.

BL community pick:
Val McDermid: Broken Ground (finished April 27, 2020).

 

RULES OF THE GAME:

Everyone starts on 1. There are two alternative ways to move forward.

1. Read a book that fits the description on the space number as listed below and you can roll two dice to move forward more quickly.

2. However, if you can’t find a book to fit the square, don’t worry about it. You can read any book, and roll one dice on random.org.  This is to ensure that if a reader cannot find a book to fill the square, no one gets bogged down and can’t move on.

All books must be at least 200 pages long. Short stories count, so long as you read enough of them from a collection to equal 200 pages.

You do not need to hit space 100 with an exact roll. In order to win, you must complete space 100 as written.

 

ADDITIONS TO THE RULES

When you start on square 1, you need to read a book before you can roll. If your book fills the square, you get to roll two dice. If your book doesn’t not fit the square, roll one dice only.

With respect to the ladder squares: You must read a book in order to climb the ladder. Once you finish the book for the ladder square, climb the ladder to the ending square. If you read a book that fits the ending square, roll two dice to move on, otherwise, roll one dice.

For audiobook substitutions, either check the print book to determine if it is more than 200 pages long, or any audiobook that is a minimum of 5 hours & 30 minutes qualifies.

 

Snakes & Ladders 2019


Charlie and Sunny helped me keeping track of my progress on the board.

They got to take a break and have some refreshments whenever we reached a new square and I started a new book.

The Squares

1. Author is a woman — Emmuska Orczy: The Elusive Pimpernel

2. Genre: mystery
3. Set in the twentieth century
4. Published in 2019
5. Published in 2018

6. Title has a color word in it — Mary Roberts Rinehart: The Red Lamp

 ladder square, so skipping the next ones …

7. Author’s last name begins with the letters A, B, C, or D.
8. Author’s last name begins with the letters E, F, G, or H.
9. Author’s last name begins with the letters H, I, J, or K
10. Author’s last name begins with the letters L, M, N or O
11. Author’s last name begins with the letters P, Q, R, or S
12. Author’s last name begins with the letters T, U, V, W, X, Y, or Z
13. Author is a man
14. Author is dead
15. Genre: romance
16. Genre: fantasy
17. Genre: horror
18. Set in a school
19. Set in the UK
20. Set in a country that is not your country of residence
21. Set in Europe
22. Set in Asia
23. Set in Australia/Oceania
24. Set in Africa
25. Snake – go back to 5
26. Part of a series that is more than 5 books long

… and shortcutting to:

27. Set during WWI or WWII

Well, I happen to also just have finished Agatha Christie’s Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? … which is set just between the two wars, so:

28. Written between 1900 and 1999
29. Someone travels by plane

30. Someone travels by train

And there can be only one response to this one: Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express.  My umpteenth reread, but who cares.  Screw Mt. TBR!

31. Road trip
32. Genre: thriller
33. Set in North America
34. Snake – go back to 1
35. Has been adapted as a movie
36. Set in Central or South America
37. Has won an award
38. Newest release by a favorite author
39. A reread

40. Characters involved in the entertainment industry

Hmmm.  I just said I’d pick Ngaio Marsh but probably not this particular book, but what the heck — I only read this once, long ago, so it can definitely do with a dusting.  So:

Ngaio Marsh: Vintage Murder

41. Characters involved in politics
42. Characters involved in sports/sports industry
43. Characters involved in the law
44. Characters involved in cooking/baking
43. Characters involved in medicine
44. Characters involved in science/technology
45. A book that has been on your tbr for more than one year
46. A book that has been on your tbr for more than two years
47. Snake – go back to 19

48. A book you acquired in February, 2019.

Peter Grainger: An Accidental Death

49. Recommended by a friend
50. Has a domestic animal on the cover
51. Has a wild animal on the cover
52. Has a tree or flower on the cover
53. Has something that can be used as a weapon on the cover
54. Is more than 400 pages long
55. Is more than 500 pages long

56. Was published more than 100 years ago

Elizabeth Gaskell: My Lady Ludlow

57. Was published more than 50 years ago
58. Was published more than 25 years ago
59. Was published more than 10 years ago
60. Was published last year
61. Cover is more than 50% red
62. Cover is more than 50% green
63. Cover is more than 50% blue
64. Cover is more than 50% yellow
65. Snake – go back to 52
66. Part of a series that is more than 10 books long
67. Set in a city with a population of greater than 5 million people (link)

68. Something related to weddings on the cover

Virginia Woolf: The String Quartet (the words “string quartet” — as in “music for the bridal waltz”, plus there is an embroidered pattern and the color blue on the cover of my audio edition, as in “something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue” for the bride to wear) … combined with

Agatha Christie: The Lost Plays and

Agatha Christie – Close Up: A Radio Investigation into the Queen of Crime

 another ladder square, so again skipping the next ones …

69. Something related to travel on the cover
70. Something related to fall/autumn on the cover
71. Involves the beach/ocean/lake
72. Involves the mountains/forests
73. Categorized as YA
74. Categorized as Middle Grade
75. Set in a fantasy world
76. Set in a world with magic
77. Has a “food” word in the title
78. Set in a small town (fictional or real)
79. Main character is a woman
80. Main character is a man
81. Ghost story
82. Genre: urban fantasy
83. Genre: cozy mystery
84. Genre: police procedural
85. Written by an author who has published more than 10 books
86. Author’s debut book
87. Snake – go back to 57
88. Comic/graphic novel
89. Published between 2000 and 2017
90. A new-to-you author
91. Snake – go back to 61
92. Reread of a childhood favorite
93. Author’s first/last initial same as yours (real or BL handle)
94. Non-fiction
95. Memoir
96. From your favorite genre
97. Title starts with any of the letters in SNAKE

98. Title starts with any of the letters in LADDERS

Ngaio Marsh: Died in the Wool

… aaaand how’s that for a perfect finish?  (Even though as per the rules I wouldn’t even have needed it …) So:

99. Snake – go back to 69

100. Let BL pick it for you: post 4 choices and read the one that gets the most votes!

My four choices were:

Chitra Banerjee Divakarumi: Sister of My Heart
Rosario Ferré: The House on the Lagoon
Alexandra Fuller: Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight
Elif Shafak: Three Daughters of Eve

Link to full results.

— and of these, the winning selection was (by way of tie-breaking executive decision):

Rosario Ferré: The House on the Lagoon.

Finished March 11, 2019, ca. 10:30 pm CET!

 


My little helpers — also helping me pick books!
(And who’d have known … they’re both mystery fans!)