#BookBingoNW2019: One Word Titles

Stop by your library and see what one-word titles are on display — and in the stacks.

A few readers have asked if the one-word title reading challenge for Book Bingo can include a book with a subtitle. There are no hard and fast rules for Book Bingo (for any of the squares), but I’m going to weigh in with an enthusiastic and reassuring “YES! Read that book with a long subtitle!” because that opens the door for so many wonderful nonfiction books.

However, I draw the line at an article preceding the one-word title. If there’s an “a” or “the” ahead of the word, it doesn’t count — at least not by my rules. But you should play by your own rules.

Back to the challenge at hand. This is one of the easiest categories for rediscovering the joy of browsing in the stacks. Those one-word titles are easy to spot, and serendipity can lead you to a new author or perspective. You can also start at the Peak Picks collection at your favorite branch, where you’ll find these nonfiction titles:

#BookBingoNW2018: First in a Series

2018 Summer Book Bingo is upon us, so let the booklists begin! This list will focus on that pesky category First In A Series. There are many, many beloved series out there, many of them in genre fiction. Hopefully there will be a little something for every reader here.

The Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St. Aubyn are a delightfully savage take on modern British aristocracy. Never Mind starts the series and is included in the omnibus edition of all 5 novels (Showtime is releasing a miniseries based on the novels starring Benedict Cumberbatch). For a lighter, shopaholic take on modern aristocracies, try Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (also soon to be in film), a voyeuristic look into the lives of China’s uber rich from the perspective of Rachel Chu, the American Born Chinese protagonist and girlfriend to the heir of one of China’s richest families, the Youngs. If snarking about the fabulously rich isn’t your jam, Rachael Cusk stretches the novel to new shapes with Outline, Transit, and Kudos (forthcoming). The novels merge oral history with fiction as a recently divorced woman encounters and listens to the stories of strangers and friends while her apartment is being renovated. Finally, if you haven’t read Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, starting with My Brilliant Friend, maybe this is the summer to check that off your list.

#BookBingoNW2018 : A Mystery or Thriller

If you’re already a mystery or thriller fan, you don’t need our help — this square is a freebie! But what if you don’t usually read crime novels? Not to worry — we have you covered: just find the kind of books you like below, and get reading!

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• Classics: The Shooting Party, by Anton Chekhov. The great playwright and short story writer’s only novel revolves around the mysterious death of a young woman, and the tangled web of suspects surrounding her.
• Cookbooks: Recipes for Love and Murder, by Sally Andrew. This culinary cozy mystery set in dry rolling hills of South Africa’s Klein Karoo region comes complete with recipes!
• Fantasy: The Lie Tree, by Frances Hardinge. Seeking her father’s murderer, young Faith finds a tree that feeds on lies, and bears truthful fruit.
• Gaming: The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss, by Max Wirestone. In this offbeat series, our snarky heroine’s addiction to massively multiplayer online role-playing games draws her into a real life murder mystery.
• Graphic Novels: The Graphic Canon of Crime & Mystery, volume 1: From Sherlock Holmes to A Clockwork Orange to Jo Nesbo, Russell Kick, editor. The title pretty much says it all: a fantastic collection of short graphic crime.

#BookBingoNW2017: Science Nonfiction or Science Fiction

Book Bingo 2017 is nearly at its end, with just two weeks left to get your bingo or blackout and turn in your card. Have you been puzzling over the Science Nonfiction/Science Fiction category? Enjoy these ideas for avenues to explore.

Science Nonfiction

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#BookBingoNW2017: Reread a Book You Read in School

Although we are hard pressed to think of a single drawback to Book Bingo, it is true that for some readers it calls forth unwelcome memories of required reading. Yet the popularity of bingo and similar reading challenges and groups suggests that something appeals to us about being stretched beyond our habitual reading appetites. Might those same restrictions we chafed at in school suddenly feel like a welcome dose of structure, now that we can read whatever we please?

Rereading can be an interesting way of deepening our awareness both of a text, and of our former selves. This is especially true when we willingly and with curiosity take up some book that we have previously experienced as obligatory drudgery. Freed from the need to take notes, uncover themes or prep for a quiz, we can encounter afresh some of the best and most engaging books ever written, reclaiming them for our own.