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

Anika’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Kathleen (itpdx) wrote: "I am reading The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War by Jeff Sharlet. Sharlet’s bio says that his father was a secular Jew. I didn’t that would be enough to quali..."

Sounds like this author would qualify…good to go!

Hope everyone is recovering well from their New Year’s Eve celebrations! 😅 Welcome, 2024!!

10.9 Summer, Not Winter

The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein

+10 Task, set 100% in Australia
+10 Female
+10 Not-a-Novel
+10 Combo: 10.5, 20.9: sex worker -> trauma cleaner

Task total: 40
Season total: 585

20.3 The Tempest

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

+20 Task, Winner Best Graphic Novel 2015

Task total: 20
Season total: 545

Tien wrote: "Mira Bartok is mentioned in this article as being Jewish

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/ar...

I've finished reading [book:The Memory Palace: A M..."

Yep—it clearly states her mother was Jewish, that would make Mira Jewish as well. You’re good for the combo!

20.5 King John - Henry VIII

The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman (1150 Lexile)

+20 Task, "The Midwife's Apprentice takes place in the last years of the thirteenth or the first years of the fourteenth century. This is not stated explicitly but is easily established by internal evidence. References are made to 'Summer Is Acoming In,' a Middle English lyric written down in manuscript after 1240 and before 1310, and Edward Longshanks, the first of eight English Kings to bear that name, who reigned from 1272 to 1307
+10 Female
+5 Oldies, pub. 1995
+20 Combo: 10.4, 128 pages; 10.8, pub. 1995; 20.2, #65 on list; 20.10, Alyce was stealing food to keep from starving and sleeping in the dung heap to stay warm at the beginning of the novel and lives at a similar level of poverty for most of the book.

Task total: 55
Season total: 525

Joanne wrote: "For 20.1

The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones was originally published as The Hallow Crown (see GR's main ..."

Unfortunately, since The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors is the MPE title and for our purposes we only use the MPE information, the alternate title won’t work for 20.1. But the book looks great (win!) and is good for 20.5 and Not-a-Novel styles!

Mary wrote: "Anika wrote: "Mary wrote: "At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft has a graphic novel edition that won the British Fantasy Award in 2011. I would like to read the ..."

I don’t know how you feel about graphic novels, but sometimes if there’s a task I’m not in love with I’ll grab a graphic novel because they’re a quick read, they work a different part of my brain, they’re enjoyable/underrated, and did i mention they’re quick? 😜 I know you’d be surrendering style points, but sometimes it’s a nice gift to yourself to be able to tick off a task with a nice GN. (There’s one on our list that I particularly loved…Through the Woods—it’s like fairy tales co-written by Poe and King and you could read it in less than an hour.)

15.5 Ticket to Ride, Oklahoma City

By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie

+15 Task (Sault Ste Marie => Duluth => Omaha => Kansas City => Oklahoma City)

Task total: 15
Season total: 470

10.7 Feasting

Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days by Jeanette Winterson

+10 Task, "Feasts"
+10 Female
+10 Not-a-Novel, short stories/memoir

Task total: 30
Season total: 455

Post 153 Karen Michele wrote: "20.6 The Sonnets

The Carrying: Poems by Ada Limon

+20 Task
+10 Female
+10 Not-a-Novel

Task total = 40
Season total = 330"

+5 Combo 10.4 (MPE 120 pages)

Mary wrote: "At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft has a graphic novel edition that won the British Fantasy Award in 2011. I would like to read the original (not graphic novel..."

Sorry for the delay in answering...we've been in discussion about this one and the final outcome is that the original text would not be allowed for this task. Since the award was for Best Graphic Novel, it's awarded on the merit of the art and the adaptation, not the source text. I apologize that it's probably not the answer you were hoping for, but if your heart is set on reading it you could always use it for 10.6 (and get Oldies points!).

20.10 Boxing Day

Cut Me Loose: Sin and Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood by Leah Vincent

+20 Task, author was sent away from home (a home that was already financially strapped) at age sixteen and when they cut her off altogether, she would starve for days at a time because she had no money for food. Her penury lasted for most of the book.
+10 Female
+10 Not-a-Novel, memoir
+10 Combo: 10.5, author was raised Orthodox (Yeshivish) Jewish; 20.9, author began the book in Pittsburgh, moved to Manchester for a year, Israel for a year, then New York for a few years, finally settling in Washington D.C.

Task total: 50
Season total: 425

20.7 The Wild Life

A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas

+20 Task, "Dog"
+10 Female
+10 Not-a-Novel (memoir)
+5 Combo 20.9, After her husband is hit by a car and suffers a traumatic brain injury, he is moved to an institution and Abigail sells her apartment in Manhattan and moves to a home in "a small country town"

Task total: 45
Season total: 375

20.4 Othello

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

+20 Task (view spoiler)[one character takes the identity of her best friend who died at age 16 to hide from the religious extremist cult she was raised in; another character has changed his appearance and name to hide from his fame; another character finds out as an adult that his "mother" is actually his aunt and the woman he thought was his aunt actually birthed him (hide spoiler)]
+10 Female
+15 Combo: 10.2; 20.7 "Birds" ; 20.9 (view spoiler)[Zoey starts the book in Tulsa and moves to Mallow Island before going to college; Oliver drives cross-country in his move from California to Mallow Island; Charlotte loses her job as a henna artist and has to take a job at Mallow Island Tours (hide spoiler)]

Task total: 45
Season total: 330

10.4 Leap Year

I Am Not Trying to Hide My Hungers From the World by Kendra DeColo

+10 Task, 104 pages
+10 Female
+10 Not-a-Novel
+5 Combo 20.6

Task total: 35
Season total: 285

Apple wrote: "This is probably a stretch, but I started thinking this would work for A Fresh Start, but it isn't obvious that she has changed jobs ...

Anyway, in Diary of a Void, Ms. Shibata pre..."

I saw in one of the summaries that she’s taken the job she’s at after leaving a different job where she was harassed…if the book starts with her at that other establishment and we actually follow Ms. Shibata quit that job and get a new job at the place where she perpetrates the pregnancy hoax, then it would work for 20.9. Otherwise, I don’t think it would fit for 20.9 based on the reviews and summaries I’ve seen for this book (though I am incredibly intrigued by the premise and it’s now on my TBR!). Even though she no longer does the “menial tasks,” she’s at the same workplace in the same position she was hired for.

20.1 Shakespeare

Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston

+20 Task, from "The Winter's Tale"
+10 Female
+5 Combo 20.7 "Bear"

Task total: 35
Season total: 250

Valerie wrote: "Ok, thanks. I actually was thinking of the girl starting the emigration trip with her parents and ending it as a slave. But I’ll take it either way! 😁"

From the GR description, we couldn't tell if the emigration occurred before the book actually began which is why we didn't address that part. No matter what, though, sounds like this book will work for that task. I'm so curious to hear your thoughts on it (so I hope you post a review of it on the book's page *fingers crossed*)!

Post 95 Ed wrote: "20.4 Othello

Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood

Phryne Fisher is a private detective in Australia who has adopted two daughters. One of those daughters goes mis..."

+5 Combo 10.9