And now 3 down, I’m 10% of the way through my Off the Shelf challenge (it’s been on my shelf for over a year now), and halfway through the What’s in a Name challenge, as this qualifies for “something you’d find on a calendar in the title”.  And on to the review:

Just Another Judgement Day by Simon R. Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very good addition to the Nightside series. This is not a good jumping-on point for the series, though. The relationships between the characters are too informed by events in past books. This book shows just what an impact the previous events have had on the Nightside, and how things are changing. It sets up a rather significant evolution in how the characters interact, and starts to wrap up the series (there are only three books beyond this). I was pleased, in the the ending did not play out as I expected. All in all, a rather quick and enjoyable read.

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And book number two down.  Again, this rather delightfully qualifies for both the Off the Shelf challenge, as this has been on my shelf for about 6 months now (received via PBS on 07/25/11), as well as for the What’s in a Name challenge, to fulfill the “Topographical Feature” requirement (Vesuvius is a rather famous volcano, which certainly makes it a topographical feature).  Finally, here’s my review:

The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Written with Mark Gatiss’ usual wit, this book made me laugh aloud several times. Imagine a novel written by the offspring of Oscar Wilde and PG Wodehouse, and you might come close. This book makes me want to crawl into Mr. Gatiss’ brain and see what other awesomeness lies therein. I will definitely be reading the next book in this series!

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Okay, I’ve finished the first book on my reading challenge!  This qualifies for both the Off-The-Shelf challenge (I’ve had this book for more than a year, after all) and for the What’s in a Name Challenge, to cover “A book with a type of house in the title.”  The book, as noted, is The Alehouse Murders, by Maureen Ash, and here is my review:

The Alehouse Murders by Maureen Ash
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was an interesting historical mystery, and did keep my guessing for quite a while as to the identity of the murderer. However, by setting the events during a fair, we are introduced to a rather large cast of characters, and I occasionally had difficulty remembering who was whom. Still, once I became more used to the writing style and some of the language (the setting is the year 1200, and the names of items and places reflects this), I found this to be a good read.

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And, to help me decide *what* to read, I’m also joining the “What’s in a Name” reading challenge.  The challenge is fairly small - only six books.  But the catch is that you have to read one book for each of six categories.  And these are some odd and challenging ones:

1. A book with a topographical feature in the title.  For this, I’m probably going to read either Wyrmhole, by Jay Caselberg (because that’s definitely a topographical feature if you deal with more than three dimensions) or The Vesuvius Club, by Mark Gatiss (because there’s no rule that it can’t be the proper name of a particular feature). - Edit: Completed. Read The Vesuvius Club, by Mark Gatiss.

2. A book with something you’d see in the sky in the title.  This category is probably one of the easiest for me.  There’s the aforementioned Wyrmhole (assuming I don’t read it for the topographical feature), Black Wings by Christina Henry, Touched by an Alien, by Gini Koch, Mad Kestrel by Misty Massey, A Fate Worse than Dragons by John Moore (I’d rather see a dragon in the sky than on the ground about to eat me!), The Sanctuary Sparrow by Ellis Peters, Alien Taste by Wen Spencer, and Second Sunrise by David & Aimee Thurlo. Edit: Now completed - The Sanctuary Sparrow, by Ellis Peters was my choice!

3. A book with a creepy crawly in the title.  Pretty easy to narrow this one down: either Spider’s Bite, by Jennifer Estep, or Snake Agent, by Liz Williams.

4. A book with a type of house in the title. This one is probably going to be the hardest (since I do want to stick to books I own).  I could either go with The Sanctuary Sparrow (since sanctuary can refer to a monastery), or The Harem of Aman Akbar by Elizabeth Scarborough (It’s a type of home, even if not a type of house).  It’s funny, I’ve got books *about* houses, but barely any mention any type of domicile in the title. - Completed. Read The Alehouse Murders, by Maureen Ash.

5. A book with something you’d carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title.  Another fairly easy one: Mira, Mirror, by Mette Ivie Harrison, Dog Days, by John Levitt (okay, I don’t carry a dog in a purse, but there are plenty of people who do), The Mirror Prince, by Violette Malan, or Books Can Be Deceiving, by Jenn McKinlay (which is the only one I actually do regularly carry around - books!).

6. A book with something you’d find on a calendar in the title.  Well, in all likelihood, it will be Dog Days.  But I could also make the argument for Night Tides, by Alex Prentiss, or for New Moon, by Midori Snyder. Edit: Completed this with Just Another Judgement Day, by Simon R. Green.

Well, that’s all of them, along with my potential books.