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

Anika’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

20.9 Series

The Absolution by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

+20 Task (Children's House series)
+20 Combo: 10.2 (Yrsa), 10.9 Absinthe: THE ABSolutIN, 20.3, 20.4

Task total: 40
Season total: 85

20.4 Crime

The Reckoning by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

+20 Task
+25 Combo: 10.2 (Yrsa), 10.4 (2015), 10.9 Chardonnay: tHe ReCkONiNg YrsA sigurdArDottir; 20.3, 20.9

Task total: 45

Woo hoo for you, Deedee! I see new books in your future ;-)

Rebekah wrote: "Gee, I was hoping for beer and ale!"

I know, I know...I was going to add some shorter words (beer and ale among them), but didn’t want it to be TOO easy. I’m a sucker for a challenge, thus the longer words with some lesser-used letters. I did use the spelling of “whiskey” which is the appropriate one for Ireland (and the US) if that redeems me at all ;-)

20.9 Nieces

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

A god is missing from his Library (his Olympus), a modern-day Zeus, and his “children” are on a quest to find him. Each of his twelve children have been given a Catalog of the Library—healing and medicine, languages, animal kingdom, war and murder, etc.—to specialize in and any overlap is strictly and brutally forbidden so they must work together using their specific knowledge bases to try to find him.
It reminded me of American Gods and Greek mythology and Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series all rolled into one.
I adored the first 70% of the book but the denouement was a bit drawn out, considering the breakneck pace of the novel’s first three-quarters.

+20 Task (shelved 115 times as “books about books”)
+10 Review

Task total: 30
Season total: 2540

Thanks for a great season! Looking forward to an awesome spring 🤗

20.8 Travel

Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback by Robyn Davidson

“If I could bumble my way across a desert, then anyone could do anything. And that was true especially for women...”

In the same vein as Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, Eat, Pray, Love, and Rough Magic: Riding the World's Loneliest Horse Race (though this book predates those by at least a couple decades), Robyn Davidson’s account of her trek through the Australian outback with her dog and four camels is simultaneously a trek through her internal landscape and a chance to evaluate society, societal norms, and her place within that construct. She encounters snakes and wild bull camels and inhospitable landscapes and some pretty terrible humans on her journey, but just as many stunning, solitary landscapes and lovely people to help her on her way.
Some of the most heartbreaking things to me, though, were the treatment of the Aborigines and the profound effect of climate change that she witnessed...eye opening to say the least.

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task total: 30
Season total: 2510

10.10 Group Reads

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

I love when a writer's curiosity about one random question becomes the spark for a fireworks-show of a novel. In this case: why did Shakespeare never mention "the Pestilence" (the Bubonic plague which took between a quarter and a third of the population of Elizabethan London) in any of his writing? and, what was the cause of Hamnet Shakespeare's death? From this simple query comes one of the most adeptly crafted novels I've read this year.
I love that the focus of the novel is on Agnes (Anne Shakespeare...whose father, in his will, calls her "Agnes," thus the author's use of the alternate name) and their children. The famous writer himself is a bit of a black hole, always away from the family, never there when he's needed. I love that the author doesn't name him--not once!--in the entire novel...he's always "the lad," "the tutor," "the husband," "the glover's son," "the father," etc. His sense of removal from the family is reinforced by not naming him.
I love the fact that Agnes is depicted as a bit of a witchy woman. She's adept with herbs and potions (view spoiler)[and, after the loss of her son, she goes a bit mad--a veritable Ophelia, with her violets, rosemary, rue, and pansies (hide spoiler)] and it's nice to think that maybe he wrote her into some of his plays, with witches and magic to spare.
I loved, loved, loved this book!

+10 Task (great recommendation, Karen Michele!)
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.4, 10.5)
+10 Prizeworthy

Task total: 40
+100 RwS Finish
+200 MegaFinish
Season total: 2480

20.8 Travel

When Asia Was the World by Stewart Gordon

For another challenge I'm in, we needed to read a book about the Silk Road...I don't think this book would have been on my radar *at all* had it not been for that task.
I'm ever amazed (and disheartened) at the poor state of public education in the U.S....perhaps not the whole U.S., but certainly the education I received. In all the world history classes I've ever attended, we'd covered the ancient Greeks and Romans, maybe mentioned ancient Egypt, discussed a bit of the Dark Ages then head straight into the Renaissance. The only mention of the Asiatic and Middle Eastern cultures and their influence on modern day learning (specifically in the sciences and mathematics) is entirely glossed over.
While this may not have been my favorite book ever (at times it read like a dry history book, despite the author's framing of each chapter as following a different historical figure's travels and studies), I loved the things that I learned...things like: the importance of paper in the spreading of ideas (duh! makes total sense...also something I never really considered); in a garbage dump outside of Cairo, they've found swatches of cloth that have been dated to the 13th-14th century; and, "Like Buddhism, Islam demanded personal travel for spiritual development and learning." I love that it's a tenet of the religion to travel! To learn by getting out in the world and experiencing new things in order to change and mold one's mind and soul.
This was a compelling look at the confluence of religion, science, trade, and culture over a millennia. Great for a lover of history.

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task total: 30
Season total: 2140

20.6 Caribbean

Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat

I read Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory and Krik? Krak! some 20-odd years ago on the advice of a fellow avid reader I'd met through work...someone who introduced me to In the Time of the Butterflies and The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother and so many other books I loved that I was sure I would love those, too. I did not. I don't quite know what it was at the time that didn't work for me--great scott, it was over 20 years ago and I can barely remember what I had for lunch yesterday--but I just remembered the author's name and the feeling of, "Tried it, didn't like it," associated with it.
Luckily, I decided to try one more time with Claire of the Sea Light. I loved the way the stories of children and their parents are strung together like a pearl necklace and, like a necklace, the two ends finally connect at the end. The first half of the novel, you're a little thrown off as the stories jump from one to another and you get the feeling that it's just a collection of stories of the people in the village of Ville Rose, but the second half starts to tie everything together and you realize how these lives fit together.
It was a 3.75 read for me, rounded up to 4.

+20 Task (set in Haiti)
+10 Review
+10 Combo 10.4, 10.6 (2013)

Task total: 40
Season total: 2110

20.9 Nieces

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Nora Seed, burdened by her sorrow and regrets, decides to die.
The night she has chosen for this to happen, she wakes up in a library filled with books as far as the eye can see. Every book is a possible life she could be living if she would have changed one little choice. All she has to do now, is pick up the book of the life she'd like to try out to see if it's finally the one she'd like to stay in--but the second she feel disappointment in that life, she fades from it back to the library to open the next book, the next life.
I love this idea. I find the whole string theory/quantum physics/Sliding Doors thing utterly compelling--perhaps because I'm plagued by my own relentless Book of Regrets? or just because I'm a sucker for relatable Sci-fi themes?
Though "sci-fi" might be a bit of a misnomer, I can't think of another way to describe this...it's "sci-fi" in the way that Jasper Fforde's "Thursday Next" series or The Time Traveler's Wife is--no spaceships or computers, no aliens or planet jumping: just a premise based on something that isn't a scientific reality in our world.
I loved this book and was sad when it ended...I wanted it to go on so much longer. Though: had it gone on much longer in the same vein, it certainly would have gotten tiresome. Haig played the premise out the exact right amount of time and ended it satisfactorily. Def a 5-star read for me.

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task total: 30
Season total: 2070

15.10 Name of the Game, Round 3

Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier

4E--Letter D--Double Trouble (mariLLier)
9E--Letter I--SET IN or author born in Ireland
12C--Letter S--Series #4-7 (#4 in Sevenwaters series)
13D--Letter T--Title words of "TO," "too," or "two"
Word: DITS (plural of Morse code dot)

+45 Task

Task total: 45
+100 Completion bonus
+100 Word bonus (wits, wing, tear, hired, hell, rant, tenet, dits)
Season total: 2030

10.3 Winter

Harriet Wolf's Seventh Book of Wonders by Julianna Baggott

I feel so lucky: I have been on a roll of 5-star books and they're all books that I never would have picked up had it not been for one RwS task or another.
This was a fantastic read--one that took me five weeks to complete (because of a library return and having to wait to re-check it out, but that's a story for another time)...but that five weeks is nothing compared to the EIGHTEEN YEARS it took the author to finish writing it. Eighteen years to live with those fantastic characters in her head. Eighteen years to polish and research and confirm that every adjective was the exact right one, every article absolutely necessary, every plot point properly planned. And she managed perfection.
Harriet Wolf, the brilliant author of the "Book of Wonders" series, has died without ever releasing the seventh and final installment. Literary scholars debate its existence, fans from around the world have descended upon her home in attempts to search out the phantom tome. Her daughter, Eleanor, swears that her mother burnt it before her death. Ruthie, Eleanor's oldest who ran away from home at sixteen, wants it to exist so that she can read it (but doesn't particularly care about sharing it with the world--or her husband, a Harriet Wolf expert and university professor). Tilton, Eleanor's youngest daughter who has never left her mother's side and seems equal parts simpleton and savant, was the only one Harriet told about the manuscript's whereabouts.
The chapters bounce between the points of view of these four women and their stories span nearly 100 years. I'm so glad I got to share headspace with them for five weeks. I don't think I'll soon forget these ladies.

+10 Task
+10 Review
+15 Combo: 10.4, 10.5, 10.6 (2015)

Task total: 35
Season total: 1785

20.3 Post Modern

The Tent by Margaret Atwood

This woman has such a way with words. I read her most recent collection of poetry which pierced me right through the heart. The slim volume only whetted my appetite for Atwood so decided to pick up this collection.
It was a bit uneven...some of the stories left me scratching my head, think I missed the point entirely. But the stories and poems that hit, hit hard. Her poem, "Bring Back Mom: An Invocation," is still stuck in my brain. There's tongue-in-cheek/bleak, there's hopeless and hopeful and pretty much everything in between...
While I wouldn't recommend this volume to a new-to-Atwood reader, I would definitely tell anyone who is an Atwood lover who has missed this one to pick it up.

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task total: 30
Season total: 1750

10.8 Lunar

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (Lexile 830)

This book was an absolute delight. It's a little bit Anne of Green Gables, a little The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a dash of Dickens and a fair amount of Darwin (every chapter begins with a passage from On the Origin of Species as a hint as to that chapter's adventure).
Calpurnia, the middle child of seven and the only girl, is eleven years old in 1899. She lives on a thriving farm in West Texas with her parents, brothers, and a grandfather whom has always slightly frightened her. He's always working in his "laboratory" behind the house, traipsing off to the local river and surroundings to find "specimens." One day, Calpurnia notices that there are two different types of grasshopper in the fields, green and yellow, and that the yellow ones are much larger than the green. She gathers up all of her courage to ask her grandfather why only the yellow ones get big and it is the beginning to a beautiful friendship between the two, all based on their love of the natural world and their desire to explore that world through the lens of science. It was well-written and, even though it's a book for younger readers, appeals to all ages--it reminds you that there is still such magic in the world if only you look closely.

+10 Task (pub. 2009)
+10 Review
+15 Combo: 10.3, 10.4, 20.4
+15 Prizeworthy: Josette Frank Award (2010), Audie Award (2011), Judy Lopez Memorial Award (2010) and more

Task total: 50
Season total: 1720

15.9 Name of the Game, Round 3

Love Voltaire Us Apart: A Philosopher's Guide to Relationships by Julia Edelman

2B—Letter E—2 or more “e”s in author’s name
2D—Letter E—8+ word title
6B—Letter N—Not a novel
10E—Letter T—No “the” in title
13E—Letter T—Title includes name of character
Word: TENET

+30 Task
+5 Not Fiction

Task total: 35
Season total: 1670

15.8 Name of the Game, Round 3

The Legacy by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

1E--Letter R--Series name contains an "r" (Children's House)
3C--Letter A--Author has August birthday (24 Aug 1963)
6C--Letter N--MPG Nordic Noir
13C--Letter T--Title: The (Plus)
Word: RANT

+30 Task

Task total: 30
Season total: 1635

15.7 Name of the Game, Round 3

Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan

2C--Letter E--"Ex" word in title
11D--Letter H--Hot off the presses (pub'd 2020)
15D--Letter L--Author's last/most recent book
15E--Letter L--MPG LGBT
Word: HELL

+20 Task

Task total: 20
Season total: 1605

15.6 Name of the Game, Round 3

Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter

1B--Letter R--+10K Ratings (+27K)
4B--Letter D--Debut novel (noted in author GR bio)
9B--Letter I--Set on an island (UK)
11E--Letter H--Highly rated (5-star ratings from Bucket, Madly Jane, and more)
16B--Letter E--Author born in Europe (UK)
Word: HIRED

+20 Task

Task total: 20
Season total: 1595

15.5 Name of the Game, Round 3

The Torrents of Spring by Ivan Turgenev

1C--Letter R--MPG Romance
3E--Letter A--Pub'd 1866-1913 (1872)
10D--Letter T--Translated (from Russian)
16E--Letter E--Novel has +8 named characters
Word: TEAR

+20 Task
+5 Pub'd pre-'96

Task total: 25
Season total: 1575

15.4 Name of the Game, Round 3

Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman by Peter Korn

6E--Letter N--New to you author
7B--Letter G--No "g" in author's name
8C--Letter W--Title contains "who," "what," "when," "where," or "why"
9C--Letter I--Character is an instructor
Word: WING

+15 Task
+5 Not fiction (philosophy/biography)

Task total: 20
Season total: 1550