New in 2016: #OABookClub

Well, hello there, my sparkly holiday celebrants! This is Samantha, and I'd like to welcome you the first of several book-related posts that will ring in the new year with a bang. Today's topic is an exciting New Thing We're Gonna Do starting in 2016.

Writers are readers, and the Operation Awesome team is no exception. We decided that in the new year, we should get together and have cawfee and tawk about books. Therefore, I bring to you: #OABookClub.

At the beginning of each month, we'll announce a book we're reading. Our criteria are 1) something most of us have an interest in, 2) something stand-alone (i.e. no series), and 3) something that is available in most libraries. Throughout the month--assuming we aren't waiting until the day before the post to cram--we'll be talking away on the hashtag #OABookClub on Twitter. Feel free to join the conversation. On the first of the next month, we'll get together, give our impressions of the BotM, and invite you to weigh in, too.

January's Operation Awesome Book of the Month

For this month, to celebrate the inaugural round of our fabulous new contest, Pass or Pages, we'll be reading an iconic book written by an iconic mystery writer.

In the village of King's Abbot, a widow's sudden suicide sparks rumors that she murdered her first husband, was being blackmailed, and was carrying on a secret affair with the wealthy Roger Ackroyd. The following evening, Ackroyd is murdered in his locked study--but not before receiving a letter identifying the widow's blackmailer. King's Abbot is crawling with suspects, including a nervous butler, Ackroyd's wayward stepson, and his sister-in-law, Mrs. Cecil Ackroyd, who has taken up residence in the victim's home. It's now up to the famous detective Hercule Poirot, who has retired to King's Abbot to garden, to solve the case of who killed Roger Ackroyd--a task in which he is aided by the village doctor and narrator, James Sheppard, and by Sheppard's ingenious sister, Caroline.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is the book that made Agatha Christie a household name and launched her career as a perennial bestseller. Originally published in 1926, it is a landmark in the mystery genre. It was in the vanguard of a new class of popular detective fiction that ushered in the modern era of mystery novels.

Join us! Operatives Wendy Nikel, Katrina Lantz, Kara Reynolds, and I will be posting our impressions on February 1st, and we'd love to chat about it with you in the comments.

Click to Tweet: "I'm reading THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD by Agatha Christie in January for @OpAwesome6's #OABookClub. Join me?"

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But wait! There's more!

2016's Operation Awesome Book of the Year

This is unofficial and possibly the only time I'll do this.

I decided that I need--THAT'S RIGHT, NEED--to read Les Miserables. (Someone might also be demanding encouraging me to write a retelling of it--set in space, because of course--but I have committed to nothing.)

Except, in case you haven't heard, Les Mis is rather long. So I made myself a new year's resolution to read a little bit every day or so and finish it by December 31, 2016. I have been informed by my husband that it is not suitable bedtime reading for my 16-month-old, so that's out. But despite the harrowing setbacks, I'm still planning on doing it.

If you'd like to follow along, I'll be tweeting my reactions on the Twitter hashtag #LesMisRead2016. I'll give an update on the first at the end of our BotM post, too. If you'd like to read along with me, well, go get yourself a copy and we'll start on Friday. (The version I bought is about 1250-ish pages, so it's about 3.3 per day.)

Full disclosure: I struggle with classics. So. We'll just see how this turns out.

Click to Tweet: I'm reading LES MISERABLES in 2016 with @Saboviec. Join me? #LesMisRead2016

Hope you guys can join in! Who's reading along with us?