Anika’s Comments (group member since Dec 25, 2011)

Anika’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Tien wrote: "15.5 HDYGG?
The Romance of Tristan and Iseult by Joseph Bédier

Vegetables:
England - ENDIVE
France - FENNEL"

The requirement for a vegetable is 51%+ set in that location.
Does this book take place mostly in England or France? Only one country would be claim-able. Does it take place 51%+ in one city that you could additionally claim? If it is set a majority in France, you could still claim "Endive" but for Europe...

Valerie wrote: "15.10 How Does Your Garden Grow

Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo"

Congrats on how quickly you grew your garden!!

In reviewing your posts, I found a few things that I think will make you happy :-)

Post 85 15.4: You only claimed plant total 5 for this post, it was actually 6 (ASTER, GARLIC, ENDIVE, HORSERADISH, ROSEMARY, THYME), +1
Post 99 15.5: You can also claim CUCUMBER (California), +1
Post 117 15.6: You can also claim SWEET PEA, +1 (also +5 Flower Bonus since it's an 8-letter claim)
Post 159 15.9: You can also claim ONION (Ohio) and LILY, +2

With those additional plants, your garden total is 46 which gives you the +150 bonus points rather than just +100! Well done you, master gardner!

Joanne wrote: "Before posting, I just want to be sure that this works to avoid my last error-

Talon of the Silver Hawk is book # 1 in the Conclave of Shadows series. The merchant Roo reappears in a ..."

It sounds like it would work. Go for it! <3

15.3 HDYGG?

Gaining Ground: A Story Of Farmers' Markets, Local Food, And Saving The Family Farm by Forrest Pritchard

Berryville = BEET
Clarke County = CUCUMBER

320 pages
3 = RUE

gaininggroundastoryoffarmersmarketslocalfoodandsavingthefamilyfarm = LILAC
gaininggroundastoryoffarmersmarketslocalfoodandsavingthefamilyfarm = MARIGOLD
gaininggroundastoryoffarmersmarketslocalfoodandsavingthefamilyfarm = GARDENIA

6 Total Plants, +10 Flower Bonus

Task total: 25, 16 total plants
Season total: 230

15.2 HDYGG?

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

Illinois = ICEBERG LETTUCE

447 Pages
7 = PARSLEY

tHE Devil iN the white citY muRder mAGic And madness at the fair that changed america = HYDRANGEA
the devIl in THe white city mUrDer magic aNd mAdneSs at the fair that changed america = DIANTHUS
the devil in the white city murder magic and madness at the fair ThaT ChaNged AMerIca = CATMINT

+15 task 5 Plants total, +10 Flower Bonus

Task total: 25, 11 total plants
Season total: 205

20.1 The National Gallery

A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry (800 Lexile)

This was my gateway drug to reading. It's the first book I remember having chosen for myself...not one recommended to me by someone else, read to me, or borrowed from a teacher's classroom. I just picked it up from the older kids' section at our local library (I was in third or fourth grade and felt like I was being so grown up) and that was that. There was no book jacket, no blurb, had no idea what it was about but I liked the picture on the front. Thought I'd reread it forty-odd-years later to see how it stood up to memory. It was just as good as I remembered.

Meg's family rents a house in rural Maine for the summer so her dad can finish writing his book. Her sister, Molly loves flowers, is beautiful, a cheerleader, popular, and kind. She fits right in with the kids her age when they move. Meg--not so much. The only friend she makes is a septuagenarian who shares her love of photography.
As the summer progresses, Meg's art improves and Molly gets sick.

I loved (and still do) the contrast/foreshadowing of fleeting (Molly's love of flowers that die so quickly) vs. lasting (Meg's love of taking and developing photographs that that become a frozen moment that will last forever).
It's a lovely, gentle book that makes me yearn for a simpler time.
Still a five-star read for me (though that might be colored by a bit of nostalgia).

+20 Task, Meg is a photographer and a lot of the book is interpreted through that artistic lens
+10 Review
+10 Combo: 10.5 - "to" from "A Gala Tribute to Joshua Logan"; 10.9 - MPE 120 pages

Task total: 40
Season total: 180

Marie wrote: "Hello ! I wanted to read this french graphic novel called Une place : Peintresses, sculptrices, artistes : réflexions sur la présence des femmes dans l'histoire de l'art - it's abou..."

It most certainly fits the spirit of the task, so yes 🤗

Joanne wrote: "20.8 Fancy Meeting You Here

The White Rose

The character Raven, from previous books, reappears . Other characters in the series saw him killed, or so they thought.

+20 Task
Season..."

Just wanted to follow up on this: from your description, it sounds like it's a character who was introduced earlier in a series who appears later in the same series. Is that accurate?

If so, it wouldn't work for this task: "Regular series books won't work as they are the same character written by the same author working in an already established 'world'."
If it's a character who was introduced in one series that pops up in an entirely different series, then you're good to go.

Karen Michele wrote: "15.3 HDYGG?

The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenberg

Flowers

thE vOLuptuous DelIghts of peANut butter aND jam= DANDELION
the voluptu..."

"Dandelion" was already claimed in post 73 (the accidental highwayman: being the tale of kit brIstol, his horse midNight, a mystEriOus priNcess, and sunDry mAgicaL persons besiDes = DANDELION +5), so plant total for The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam is 5, total plants in your garden is 20.

I don't know if you already have "tulip," "lupine," or "anemone" slated elsewhere, but with the letters from "dandelion" opened up, you could use one of those to keep your plant total 6 for this book...let me know if you'd like to make a change to your post!

20.8 Fancy Meeting You Here

Salt & Broom by Sharon Lynn Fisher

In this retelling of Jane Eyre, Jane Aire is a teacher of witchcraft at Lowood School. Mr. Edward Rochester is in need of a witch to identify and cleanse his house of the curse that hangs over it so contacts the school and requests the presence of a suitable employee. Thus, Jane ends up at Thornfield Hall.
At first, I was not impressed by the writing--like it was trying to be Charlotte Bronte but failing as NO ONE writes like Charlotte Bronte! But as the story progressed, I was sucked in. Witches and fairies and zombies, oh my! (view spoiler)[I liked that in this retelling, all the things that I dread in the original are averted. (hide spoiler)]
I don't know if I can recommend this, since the writing was not super my favorite...but I did enjoy the changes to the plot and it was nice to peek back into Jane's world and experience the slowly growing love of Jane and Edward.

+20 Task, Mr Brocklehurst, Mrs Fairfax, Antoinette Mason Rochester, and Edward Fairfax Rochester maintained their names from the original story
+10 Combo: 10.3, pub. 2023; 20.3, Jane has a cat named Sibyl
+10 Review

Task total: 40
Season total: 140

20.6 Fruit Dish, Bowl, and Violin

True Biz by Sara Nović

+20 Task, told mainly from the points of view of February, Charlie, and Austin (with a few chapters from some minor characters thrown in for good measure)
+5 Combo, 10.10

Task total: 25
Season total: 100

Jayme(theghostreader) wrote: "20.10 world of crime
Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith
Set in Botswana
Task +20
Grand total: 40"

I hate being the bearer of bad news, but the official language of Botswana is English.
If you read something by the author last season, you could use it for 10.1 or if you choose to use it for the subchallenge I see some potential plants you could use (“Lupine” in the title, Garlic and Beet for Gaborone, Botswana, and Parsley for MPE page count)…

Karen Michele wrote: "15.1 HDYGG?

The Accidental Highwayman: Being the Tale of Kit Bristol, His Horse Midnight, a Mysterious Princess, and Sundry Magical Persons Besides

My initial planting is a big on..."

For your vegetable plantings, You can claim Garlic for Great Britain and Endive for England (or Europe), but “Great” is not a place so couldn’t be accepted on its own.

Also: kudos on the massive initial planting!

Marie wrote: "Locking in Once There Were Wolves as i see the Nature tag pretty far away in the list !"

Got it ☺️

Apple wrote: "I know possessives are allowed, but working the other way? I read The God Desire, and God's Favourite appears on the list, so will it work?"

I feel like your logic is sound—use it!

20.4 The Fighting Temeraire

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis, 970 Lexile

+20 Task, #6 on list
+5 Combo: 10.3, Chronicles of Narnia #3

Task total: 25
Season total: 75

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Duh. Thanks. I was too blind to see such possibilities."

You’re in good company—I didn’t even consider it until we started discussing the logistics of this subchallenge 😜

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "If the location has to be 51%, then we can’t have more than one vegetable per book. Or can we?"

You can! For example, if you read a book that takes place at least 51% in Paris you could potentially claim Paris, France, and Europe.

Mary wrote: "Joanna wrote: "In Post 17, Mary wrote: "30.1. Go for the Green Redux

Bouvet

[book:BOUVETOYA, SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN-- RESULTS FROM THE NORWEGIAN ANTARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITIONS 1976/77 and 1978/79 -..."

When I researched it (specifically on the website for the Norsk Polarinstitutt), all of the viewable research and public records were originally in Norwegian. It leads me to believe the original language for these papers was Norwegian also. Enjoy the points!

10.3 St. Patrick's Day

Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily by Rachel Cohn, 780 Lexile

+10 Task, Dash & Lily #3
+10 Combo: 20.5 (comma), 20.7 Lily lives in New York and travels to London to surprise her boyfriend for Christmas break

Task total: 20
Season total: 50