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

Anika’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

30.48 G48, Title has Go, Going, Gone, Grow, Growing, Grown

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire

I didn't even know the next Wayward novel was out until Coralie posted it! Yay! I *LOVED* this one!
There's another school for "wayward" children, but it's pretty awful. Despite that, Cora requests a transfer to the Whitethorn Institute. Good thing she did, because Cora is a hero and the students there sure needed a hero in their lives. Oh, Cora, my favorite chubby mermaid, you made my heart sing! Loved. So. Much.

+30 Task
+5 Review

Task total: 35
Season total: 1730

30.47 I29, MPE page count 200-299

If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura

Our narrator finds out he has days to live. Enter "Aloha", a.k.a. the Devil Wears Tommy Bahama. Our narrator makes a deal with devil--the devil chooses one thing to take out of the world and if our narrator agrees he gets to live another day. (view spoiler)[It starts with chocolate...then phones...then time. When cats are suggested, the narrator finally has a crisis of conscience. (hide spoiler)]
This was definitely a strange book, and strange in the way that I find most books by Japanese authors. I didn't love the story and you can't blame that on translation--it was stilted and disjointed and for something that feels like it should be a modern-day fable that was a fail.

+30 Task
+5 Review

Task total: 35
Season total: 1695

30.46 I26, International

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones

I remember the first time I ever saw the ocean. I was awed. It was beautiful and powerful and relentless. So of course I was ecstatic to jump in. So I did. And it flipped me over and slammed me on my ass and made my brain hurt from all of the salt water forced up my nose.
Beautiful and painful. That's the ocean for me, and this book.
The writing is stunning, the things that happen to the character are devastating. I didn't know anything about this book before picking it up--I just grabbed it for a different challenge and I'm glad it worked out that way...I don't think I would have read it otherwise and that would have been a shame.

+30 Task, shelved 6 times as international, set 100% in Barbados
+5 Review

Task total: 35
Season total: 1660

Just want to make sure that we can use two volumes of poetry by the same author to reach the requisite 100 page minimum for a task. I know it's normally a rule, but this is anything but a normal season and "better safe than sorry"...

btw: I am loving this season so much! I'm having a blast :-) my reading is all over the map and it is glorious!

30.45 O69, Often: Author you have read before

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

John Green is known for his YA: The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska, and Turtles All the Way Down being the most recognizable. I'm used to his emotional punches so thought I was ready for them here: it's nonfiction, it's essays, it's not gonna make me cry. Wrong. I laughed, I learned, I feel like I made a new best friend, and I most certainly cried (I dare you to listen to his review of the Kaua'i o-o bird, which plays the final recording of the last known living o-o, without your eyes welling up).
Green reviews different aspect of the Anthropocene (or Human) Era...ranging from "The Internet" and "Halley's Comet" to "Diet Dr. Pepper" and "Our Capacity for Wonder", he takes an in depth look at not only the title topic but expands out to the broader influence out in the world and then tightens up the focus to the very personal effects in his own experience. I absolutely loved every second of this book.

+30 Task
+5 Review
+50 Ninth bingo: B13, I23, N42, G57, O69

Task total: 85
Season total: 1625

B 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 27, 28
N 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43
G 46, 47, 49, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 72, 74

30.44 N42, New release (published 2021-2022)

Devil's Highway by Benjamin Percy

Have I mentioned that I keep having these weird details pop up in the books I've been reading lately? Yes, lots of themes and ideas, but also strange minute details. The strangest one yet was found in this and Last Rituals: main characters with body modifications that include a forked tongue :-/
This is a disturbing horror story based on real FBI data (though I'm pretty sure the forked tongues were an added detail to up the creep factor). Women (prostitutes, mainly) are disappearing and showing up dead and mutilated. It's happening all over the country, but law enforcement agencies are not great at communicating with each other so it goes unnoticed that it's a serial thing. Enter Sharon, our badass heroine, who is here for justice (this group has killed her father for trying to help one of their victims who escaped) and vengeance on the men who cross the country unnoticed as they leave a growing mound of bodies in their wake.

+30 Task, published 2021
+5 Review

Task total: 35
Season total: 1540

B 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 27, 28
N 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43
G 46, 47, 49, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74

30.43 G57, Guardian 1000

Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake

What a truly surreal experience this was...a book that is clearly fantasy, but has none of the hallmarks of fantasy. No magic, no dragons or elves or supernatural beings of any sort, no suspension of disbelief required.
It felt more Dickensian (the names telling you precisely about the character), a little Shakespearean (Steerpike reminds me of a conglomeration of Iago, Borachio/Don Pedro, and a bit of Macbeth), quite a bit of Neil Gaiman (I'm thinking specifically of the ghost princes in Stardust). I liked it, but (and I know this is totally sacrilegious to admit) I'll probably watch the tv adaptation rather than read the rest of the series.

+30 Task
+5 Oldies, pub. 1946
+5 Review

Task total: 40
Season total: 1505

B 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 27, 28
N 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43
G 46, 47, 49, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74

30.42 I23, Set in Italy, Iran, Indonesia, Iceland, or India

Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

I've read all of the "Children's House" series by Sigurdardottir that have been translated so far (I WISH THERE WERE MORE ALREADY!!) and was excited to read this first installment of the Thora Gudmundsdottir series...sad to report it's just not as good. The plot feels far more contrived, the characters not as well drawn, the overall effect was pretty "meh." I'm gonna chalk it up to the fact that this was her debut novel and she's matured quite a bit. Maybe I'll give her another try...or just wait for the translations of the rest of the series I love.

+30 Task
+5 Review

Task total: 35, set in Iceland
Season total: 1465

B 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 27, 28
N 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43
G 46, 47, 49, 52, 53, 54, 56, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74

30.41 B13, Bridesmaid

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

I love the Grishaverse and this new duology is proving to be another amazing installment. After Sankta Alina has banished the Dark One and all seems like it will turn out alright for Ravka, signs of his return are popping up all over. Time to get down to business and get rid of this guy once and for all, amiright!? On top of the supernatural business, plain old politics keep on chugging along and Ravka is ripe for takeover by the Shu and the Fjerdans.
I can't wait to see what happens in Rule of Wolves...the set up in this one has me on the edge of my seat!

+30 Task, nominated for Goodread Choice Award and Locus but didn't win either
+5 Review
+5 500+ pages, 527

Task total: 40
Season total: 1430


B 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 27, 28
N 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43
G 46, 47, 49, 52, 53, 54, 56, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74

30.40 O72, Set in Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, or Ontario

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

I was a messed up kid...most kids were scared of the dark or the boogeyman or spiders: I was terrified of another Depression and the dust bowl happening again, i.e.: climate disaster. Reading books about these things gave me a specific kind of terror and still does a bit...
So, sure, why don't I pick up a dust bowl book! I thought: it's a kids book! it's a novel in verse! It'll be fine...and it was for the most part...only a little residual anxiety :-/
Billie Jo has known hardship: not only has she endured personal tragedy, she's living through one of the worst times in American history. But she's still a young girl, one with a passion for music, bemoaning the monotonous chores of school and home, and a crush on the cutest boy in class. I love that the author puts this looming event that has terrified me for so many years into a proper perspective: yes, it was awful, but it becomes background noise to Life and Life endures.

+30 Task, set in Oklahoma
+5 Review
+5 Oldies, pub 1997
+50 Eighth Bingo: B7, I28, N31, G54, O72

B 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 27
N 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43
G 46, 47, 49, 52, 53, 54, 56, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74

Task total: 90
Season total: 1390

30.39 G54, Title has four words

The Lives of Saints by Leigh Bardugo

I love the world that Leigh Bardugo has built. Love even more that she has published works that are central to that world, namely a collection of the fairy tales that are referenced (The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic) and this, the story of the saints revered in Ravka.
I started reading King of Scars and after many references to saints and the church, I remembered about the existence of this book so took a break to brush up on my saints (view spoiler)[good thing I did, because a few of them come back to haunt me further on in King (hide spoiler)].
SO GOOD. And the art! There is a picture depicting each saint at the beginning of their story and the art is absolutely lovely.

+30 Task
+5 Review

Task total: 35
Season total: 1300

B 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 27
N 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43
G 46, 47, 49, 52, 53, 54, 56, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 70, 74

30.38 N31, New to me author

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa

Rintaro is a high school student whose grandfather has just died and left him his secondhand bookstore. He knows he needs to sell it (I mean, he IS just in high school, for crying out loud!), but he loves it so every spare second he has he's there. One day, Tiger the tabby shows up and demands his help to "save books." What follows is a fable about reading today, with Tiger as our Virgil leading us (and Rintaro) through strange circles of madness: to men who keep books as prisoners on their shelves, men who chop up entire books into synopses so people can read them faster, and men who throw books out windows unless they're wildly popular and can make him mounds of money.
This was a sweet and simple read and as both a cat and book lover, the cockles of my heart were warmed that it was a cat on a mission to save the written word.
[Side note: one FASCINATING thing I learned in the note on translation--"Japanese lacks true pronouns"!? What!? That's AMAZING! There is so much hullabaloo in English when people choose different pronouns--how wild (and wonderful?) to have a language where it would be a non-issue! People could just BE, without the inherent judgement attached by requesting pronouns other than the "expected".]

+30 Task
+5 Review

Task total: 35
Season total: 1265

B 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 27
N 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43
G 46, 47, 49, 52, 53, 56, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 70, 74

30.37 I25, ITW Thriller Award

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

This was dark and moody and a little past belief, much like the city it's set in. Seattle, late 90s: Angela, the popular cheerleader, and her less-popular sidekick, Geo, go to a party. Craziness ensues; only one of them survives. Angela's body is found years later, after Geo has graduated college, quickly risen the corporate ladder at a pharma company, and gotten engaged.
Everything comes tumbling down as layers of history are uncovered.
It was a compelling story, but only a three-star read for me: the characters were meh and the ending was GARBAGE--a little too "ta da!" turns into "blah" for me.

+30 Task, winner 2019
+5 Review

Task total: 35
Season total: 1230

B 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 27
N 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43
G 46, 47, 49, 52, 53, 56, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 70, 74

30.36 O70, Book published in the '70s any century

The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy

This is my carryover book from last season. It shouldn't have taken me so long to read, but the only time I'd read it was a few pages before bed every night so it took a lot longer than it should have.
This is the memoir of Pat Conroy, who taught black children in the '60s on an island off the coast of South Carolina. It was beautifully written and fearless, showing not only the insidious racism and prejudice of the whites in power but also of the people on the island and of the author himself. While at times infuriating, this memoir told with generosity and humor was a worthy read.

+30 Task, published 1972
+5 Oldies
+5 Review
+50 Seventh Bingo: B8, I22, N41, G47, O70

Task total: 90
Season total: 1195

B 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 27
N 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43
G 46, 47, 49, 52, 53, 56, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 70, 74

30.35 G47, Gothic

Northanger Abbey by Nancy Butler

I love me some Austen, but I will be the first to admit that the language sometimes trips me up. I have to develop an ear for it (it's the same reason that I tend to read a lot of Shakespeare at once: it takes me a while to remember how to "hear" him, so once I've got that developed I want to indulge in it before I step away). Often, if I'm familiar with the story, it's easier to just jump in. Well, Northanger is the only Austen I'd never read, seen a production of, or even known an inkling of the plot...so I thought I'd ease into it by reading this graphic novel adaptation.
Now I know why I've never encountered it before. It was *annoying*. I realize it was written to poke fun at the gothic novels that were so popular at the time, but it has lost its piquancy in the intervening years I fear. Perhaps when I read the novel itself (now that I'm familiar with the plot/characters/relationships) I won't find it so, but I fear I will (the graphic novel was essentially an abridged version of the novel, the language taken directly from the book).

+30 Task
+5 Review

Task total: 35
Season total: 1105

B 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 27
N 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43
G 46, 47, 49, 52, 53, 56, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 74

30.34 N41, Title includes a number

Year Zero Vol. 1 by Benjamin Percy

This graphic novel follows the stories of five people around the world (Antarctica, Mexico, Japan, Afghanistan, USA) at the dawn of the zombie apocalypse. I'm not normally a fan of zombie fiction, but every once in a while I'm pleasantly surprised (Zombieland, Warm Bodies, and the iZombie tv series specifically). This will definitely expand my "pleasantly surprised" list.
It not only shows us our patient zero (which is normally the thing that makes me crazy about zombie stuff--I want a HOW zombies happened and not just a "take it on faith" situation), but shows different scenarios as they play out on the world stage.
Now if I could just get my hands on volume two :-/

+30 Task
+5 Review

Task total: 35
Season total: 1080

B 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 27
N 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43
G 46, 49, 52, 53, 56, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 74

30.33 B7, Best books, rating 4.0 or better

The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes

This is Hughes's first published collection of poetry. He was just twenty-four and the man had already lived hard and wide: he'd lived all over the US before finishing high school then signed onto a ship where he saw the world.
This seasoned-beyond-the-author's-years collection has jazz beats and sings the world. It contains odes to women, cries for equality, strains of hope and sorrow. It's got some of the greatest hits in here: Epilogue ("I, too, sing America"), Proem, and my longtime personal favorite, Mother to Son ("Well, son I'll tell you: / Life for me ain't been no crystal stair").
Love. Love love love.

+30 Task, 4.45 avg rating
+5 Review
+5 Oldies, pub. 1925

Task total: 40
Season total: 1045

B 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 27
N 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 43
G 46, 49, 52, 53, 56, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 74

30.32 I22, Two word title

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

I was totally sucked in by the cover and title. I knew it was gonna be funny and sweet and it didn't disappoint...though I felt a little meh about it by the end.
GUP (Gay Uncle Patrick) used to star on a tv show and when the show was canceled, he ran to the desert to hide.
Maisie and Grant, his niblings, have just lost their mother (Sarah, Patrick's best friend) to cancer and their father (his brother) to rehab and find themselves leaving their East Coast home to stay with him in Palm Springs for the summer.
I loved the characters and the tender, humorous way the story is told. I adored the flashbacks to Patrick and Sarah's friendship in college and afterwards living in NYC.
I did not love it read by the author. He voiced Patrick wonderfully, but often the kids ventured into shrill and annoying. I hated that details would be dropped in such a way that they were gonna be a "thing" in the story, and then they just fell off the face of the earth.
It was a 3-star, fun-ish summer read for me.

+30 Task
+5 Review

Task total: 35
Season total: 1005

B 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 27
N 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 43
G 46, 49, 52, 53, 56, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 74

30.31 B8, Author first name Bob, Brian, Barry, Beverly, Barbara

Ex Machina: The Deluxe Edition, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan

Mitchel Hundred, a civil servant and engineer by training, becomes a real life superhero: think Spiderman, but instead of being bitten by a spider he's "bitten" by a machine. Now he can "talk" to all machines and they follow his will. He makes a costume and a jetpack and becomes a vigilante superhero, trying to stop crime and help people but ultimately realizes he's hurting just as many people in his attempt to help.
So he runs for office and is elected mayor of NYC.

I was glad to get my hands on the deluxe edition, which combined volumes one and two...that way I got to read the story line of Mayor Hundred conducting the first gay marriage in New York (this was first published on the heels of the first gay marriage in US history, so I love that the author is showing his support through his story).

+30 Task
+5 Review

Task total: 35
Season total: 970

B 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 27
N 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 43
G 46, 49, 52, 53, 56, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 74

20.30 O66, Title has a repeated word

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver

The first couple of stories in this collection had me slitting my eyes: really, Carver? You're gonna just end those stories like that? Hmph.
The next couple, I was loosening up a bit: okay, I see you. I see what you're doing.
By the end, I was sold.
The man can write. Even when I don't like a character, it's because he's so well-drawn that I can recognize him as people I've known...an entire life and personality conjured in the matter of two sentences.
It was masterful. Even when I didn't love the stories, I still recognized his talent.

+20 Task
+5 Review
+5 Oldies, pub. 1981
+50 Sixth Bingo: B5, I19, N33, G46, O66

Task total: 80
Season total: 935

B 1, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12
I 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 27
N 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 43
G 46, 49, 52, 53, 56, 60
O 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 74