Manday's comments (member since Mar 07, 2009)

Manday's comments from the The Next Best Book Club group.

If you looked at my bookshelve, you would think that I have gone to school way too much, do a lot of politics and economics. LOL. I await anxiously the day when my pleasure books out number my "work" books!!! it shall come sooN!

The Fall Challenge has been posted. Because the challenge got so big Cynthia made it its own group.

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/2175...

18 Books
196 shelves

My final post -

5.5 Strawberry Hill by Mary Ann Hoberman
5.6 Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evonovixh
30.6 A Short Wait Between Trains and The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

Point Total: 540
Page Total: 14620

My original goal was 475, so I am quite pleased with the results :-)

When is the deadline tomorrow? Noon or midnight, and what time zone?

LOL. Yes. I a couple more tasks I am trying to squeeze in!

I finished task 25.10 by reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Really there are four secret societies in the book. First there is the fact that all of wizarding society is kept from non-magical people. Second, the Death Eaters are a secret society trying to reshape society. Third, the Order of the Phoenix is trying to stop the death eaters without being found out, and last Dumbledore's Army wants to learn defensive spells without being found out.

I have had this thought about Harry Potter several times, but reading the book within the context of secret societies really drove home the point that much of the conflict that occurs in Harry Potter occurs due to lack of information. Many of the things that happen in this fifth installment would not have happened if the Order of the Phoenix had shared information with non-members (like Harry). Of course then perhaps we would not have a book, and I do like my Harry Potter books!!

Point Total: 500
Page Total: 13394

I completed task 15.10.

My initials are AY. I read At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances and The Year of Living Biblically One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible As Literally As Possible

The first was a completely random choice (chosen blindly off the shelf without so much as a description). It was surprisingly relevant to my life, it makes fun of academia. The second was OK - more self help and less humor than I expected.

Point Total: 475
Page Total: 12524

I just completed task 5.10 by reading When the Emperor Was Divine. It takes place during WWII and is about the Japanese Internment Camps.

It was a fast read, and engaging enough. It read more like a short story or novella than a novel. I see it as a snap shot of this stain on American history, from the POV of the victims. It was not incredibly thought provoking, but its an important perspective to have.

Point Total: 460
Page Total: 12028

I was confused at times when the two Henrys would meet and one told the other, I only have a few minutes... I thought, huh? Its the first time they've met, how can he know when he is going to fade away? But I just went with it.

It seems like a lot of the confusion people are having has to do with the actual order of his time travel, which is admittedly very complex. I was impressed by the logical consistency of it though.

Your specific question - if 30 year old Henry visits 20 Year old henry (for example), then for 20 year old henry it is a new experience, but for 30 year old henry POV he already lived it once (as 20 year old), so he knows what he already said to himself and how long he will be there. Does that make sense?

I finished task 30.9 by reading Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo

Here is the cover:


If its too small to tell, it is blue-tinted with the bridge of sighs on one half and a foot bridge on the other (meeting one another in the middle). I picked it because ever since I listened to Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery as a child I have had an obsession with the Bridge of Sighs, so the image really sucked me in.

The book was good, incredibly complex. Russo is a great author.

Point Total: 455
Page Total: 11868

I just finished task 25.9. (Reading through the ages)
I read The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (1886)
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (1977) and
Away by Amy Bloom (2007)

The first was mediocre, the second quite good, and the third horrible.


Point Total: 425
Page Total: 11180

5 books
113 shelves

I finished task 30.1. I have literally been working on this one all summer. I read Wife No. 19, the autobiography of Ann Eliza Young, and The 19th Wife A Novel. It was hard to get a hold of a copy of Wife No. 19. I always seem to choose books that are hard to get a hold of!

Anyways, I enjoyed both books. Wife No. 19 was a bit long (624 pages). After 400 pages you get the point: Polygamy sucks and Brigham Young was a bad man in a lot of ways. The fictional version was much more engaging and personal than the non-fiction.

Point Total: 400
Page Total: 10475

(yay for breaking 10K!)

3 books, 94 shelves

I completed task 10.8 by reading You Drive Me Crazy Love Poems for Real Life, as I live on a Drive. It was a decent read, trying to make poetry accessible. I thought the commentary was a bit over bearing though.

Point Total: 370
Page Total: 9333

Hey Cynthia,
Is there a reason I did not get my last 55 points added in the updated list? Should I repost the updates?
Thanks!

Seeing as the summer is rapidly drawing to a close, I am sorting out what books that I read for multiple book tasks can be consolidated into to mean something, instead of having half finished tasks lying around.

I have therefore completed task 30.8. I read The Picture of Dorian Grey and Animal Farm.

I can see why both of these books are classics. As a political scientist, Animal Farm was overkill, making arguments and pointing out weaknesses I have studied and considered thoroughly. I found Picture of Dorian Grey to be highly disturbing, a picture of the degradation of humans... of course that word assumes there was something good to begin with. Is that pessimistic enough for you?

I also wanted to add that I intended to read The Crying of Lot 49 for this task, but after 50 pages wanted to gouge my eyes out and decided it was not worth it.

Point Total: 360
Page Total: 9133

I just completed task 25.8. I read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and
Neverwhere A Novel by Neil Gaiman .

Both were good books. I was a bit disappointed in the organization of The God Delusion, but it still had interesting arguments. I really enjoyed Neverwhere and plan to read more Gaiman in the future.

Point Total: 330
Page Total: 8881

1 book
54 shelves

I am officially giving up on the presidential biography task, since its clear I am not going to finish the challenge anyways and have lots of other things I would rather be reading for other tasks. I was trying to read General Ulysses S. Grant The Soldier and the Manand it was just horrible to read. I got to page 100 or so. Very textbook like "he did this on this date (source), and then did this (source), and then did this (source)..." like the mother of all 7th grade reports. I prefer my biographies either to have an argument/point or read more like stories.

So.. I am still at 305. But trust me. I will finish something else A LOT faster.