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

Anika’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

I loved this whole season and am so excited to start working my way through the giant pile of books I have prepared for summer! I also wouldn't be sad to revisit Blackjack--I have my deck of cards already written up and ready to reuse ;-) Thanks for the fun times <3

15.10 Blackjack (round 2)

The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal

♠9 (pub. date year ends in "9" = 2019)
♥Q (title/subtitle contains a "Q" = "Queen") = 19

Task total: 45
+150, 25 cards used
Season total: 1970

That's it for me this season...we're about to head out to the mountains for the weekend and won't be in range to post anything else. Cheers to a fantastic season and can't wait to see what everyone is reading this summer!

20.3 Theodore White

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

I've never heard of this author or any of his books before now. To be honest I was just looking for an audio book, any audio book (preferably one that fit an RwS task), to listen to while I was working out in the yard. I saw this one and grabbed it on a whim, not even bothering to read the blurb since I saw that it was a nominee for the Pulitzer so assumed it was a worthy read. When I started listening and realized it would fall into the category of "Western", I was a little disappointed: not my favorite genre.
How misplaced was my disappointment!? It was such a fantastic little book--made me feel all of the feels and the writing was luminous. So glad I happened upon it! It's like listening to your grandpa recount the story of his life, bouncing between seemingly-insignificant remembered moments and momentous occasions in a scattered chronology, mixing joy and heartbreak, hope and devastation in such a way that you're not allowed to dwell in any emotion for too long...There was no Pulitzer awarded for 2012 of the three nominees, which is disheartening. This one really deserved it. (And I'll choose it for my group read selection if I get to choose one--it's a really short book and I'm guessing most libraries carry it...just a heads up for anyone interested in this title who is trying to get their hands on all their books for summer season before Monday.)

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task total: 30
Season total: 1775

20.3 Theodore White

The Witchcraft of Salem Village by Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson is well-known for stories of subtle terror (The Haunting of Hill House, The Lottery, etc.). This is a departure in that it is non-fiction, discussing a dark time in U.S. history with which many people are familiar, but she does it in such a way that the horror becomes almost personal.
The evil perpetrated by the lying mouths of a few people and the inaction/assistance of those with the power to put a stop to it leads to the death and undoing of hundreds--it feels a little too familiar and oh-so-unsettling. It was a relief to hear a little from the perspective of people outside of that situation (visitors from New York or Boston) to realize that it really was an isolated incident of a town gone mad and not the prevailing mindset of the times--but the fact that a five-year-old child was accused and imprisoned, a pious grandmother was tossed in jail, twenty people lost their lives, and hundreds of people lost their property and livelihood all because of the ravings and accusations of a group of the town's Mean Girls (and the head Mean Girl's mother?!) is terrifying. I hope that there is a hell and that those girls (and ESPECIALLY the mother) are in some circle of it.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (pub. 1956)
+25 Combo: 10.2 = 27 letters; 10.4; 10.8; 20.6; 20.7

Task total: 60
Season total: 1745

15.9 Blackjack (round 2)

A House of Pomegranates, the Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde

♠8 (author born in a country beginning with "I" = Ireland)
♥9 (pub. in the 19th Century = 1888) = 17
+5 Not-a-Novel
+5 Pre-1995 publication

Task total: 40, 23 total cards used
Season total: 1685

15.8 Blackjack (round 2)

Moon Signs by Helen Haught Fanick

♥A (pub. date has two "1"s = pub. 2011)
♣6 (one of author's names has exactly six letters) = 17
+5 Female

Task total: 35, 21 cards used
Season total: 1645

15.7 Blackjack (round 2)

Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva

♣2 (200-299 pages = 271 pages)
♥7 (author's initials found in "SEVEN" = S. S.)
♥10 (historical fiction set 100+ years before pub. date = 174 years gap) = 19
+5 Female

Task total: 25, 19 cards used
Season total: 1610

15.6 Blackjack (round 2)

Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique

♠K (has a title word ending in "ing" = "Drowning")
♦K (set +75% in a Caribbean country = U.S. Virgin Islands) = 20
+5 Female

Task total: 25, 16 total cards used
Season total: 1585

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "10.4 High Five Day

Death of an Expert Witness by P.D. James

RwS Finish = 100
Mega Finish = 200 (my first and probably only ever!)"

YAY, ELIZABETH!!! Congrats, friend! That is a huge accomplishment :-D

I'm planning on using only books I own ("@") or will have in my possession ("*" for currently in possession, "&" for books I'm planning on having in possession but do not have to date) by June 1 deadline; also trying to put a dent in my US Roadtrip challenge (a book set in each of the 50 states, "$" for those books):

10.1 Pick a Card, Any Card
♥5 Setting +75% in one of the 50 United States
@$The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
*$The Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard
*$The Exact Nature of Our Wrongs by Janet Peery

10.2 Author Name
*$In Calamity's Wake by Natalee Caple
*$Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
@$Educated by Tara Westover
*$All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
*$The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller
@$The Last Bathing Beauty by Amy Sue Nathan
*$Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
*$Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

10.3 One at a Time, Please
@$The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
*$Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
*$The Descendants
@$One American Robin by E.A. Mann

10.4 P.D. James
*$Sunburn by Laura Lippman
@$I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

10.5 Suffragettes
*The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope

10.6 Postal
*$Close Range by Annie Proulx
@$Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes
@$Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
*$Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

10.7 Ed’s Task
@$Educated by Tara Westover


10.8 The Big 4-0?
@$Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes

10.9 Hug a Tree
*$Welcome to the Pine Away Motel and Cabins by Katarina Bivald

10.10 Group Reads
@The Return of Mr Campion: 13 Collected Stories by Margery Allingham

20.1 Africa
@Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively

20.2 Asia
@The Holder of the World by Bharati Mukherjee
@Love and Longing in Bombay by Vikram Chandra
@Red Earth and Pouring Rain by Vikram Chandra

20.3 Middle East
@The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar
@Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia by Janet Wallach

20.4 France
@French Rhapsody by Antoine Laurain

20.5 Russia
@Spring Torrents by Ivan Turgenev
@The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia

20.6 Latin America
@Zorro by Isabel Allende

20.7 Canada
@The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
@Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You: 13 Stories by Alice Munro

20.8 Beatrix Potter
*$The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski

20.9 Birthday
*$Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman

20.10 Over/Under
*At the Center of All Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life by Fenton Johnson

30.1 Go for the Green
@The Hidden Light of Objects by Mai Al-Nakib, Kuwait
*Golden Child by Claire Adam, Trinidad and Tobago
*Pitcairn's Island by Charles Bernard Nordhoff, Pitcairn
*The Master Blaster by P.F. Kluge, Northern Mariana Islands
@Enchanted Islands by Allison Amend, Ecuador
@Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet, British Virgin Islands
*We Are All That's Left by Carrie Arcos, Bosnia and Herzegovina
*Dreams of Significant Girls by Cristina García, Switzerland
*The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers, Yemen
*The Disappeared by Kim Echlin, Cambodia
@The Museum of Abandoned Secrets by Oksana Zabuzhko, Ukraine
*The City Where Dreams Come True by Gulsifat Shakhidi, Tajikistan
@A Spare Life by Lidija Dimkovska, Macedonia

15.5 Blackjack (round 2)

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

♣A (only novel by an author)
♣10 (orig. pub. date '10s of any century = 2017) = 21
+5 Female

Task total: 25, 14 total cards used
Season total: 1560

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I have a completely unreasonably-sized list of possibles for summer and I don't even know all of the tasks yet.

How is the planning going for you?"

I know I'm getting over-excited and doing some serious over-planning (also trying to finish up a challenge for another group to read a book from all 50 U.S. states), but I've been able to find most of the books I need either on my bookshelves at home, on my mom's or sister's shelves (we're meeting for lunch at my mom's house today and I'll be leaving with a decent-sized box of books they're lending me), or on my virtual shelves (thank you, Amazon Prime monthly free books!). There was only one book I have planned that I couldn't find anywhere so ordered off of ebay and am keeping my fingers crossed it arrives before June 1!

Can I just thank you and Kate one more time for all of the work you put into this group? It has been my saving grace during this troubling time (and at several different difficult times in my life, as I've been a member of this group for, what, at least eight years now--really bad break-ups, the passing of my father, a murder in my front yard, etc.)...I know I'm not a frequent commentator in the Socializing groups, but I always read what is going on and feel warmed and a kinship with everyone in this group.
Thanks for creating and maintaining this haven/heaven on the internet.

15.4 Blackjack (round 2)

Stories We Never Told by Sonja Yoerg

♣3 (300-399 pages = 328 pages)
♦4 (Yours, Mine, and Ours = "We")
♦7 (Title begins with "S")
♠7 (Title has a 7-letter word = "Stories") = 21
+5 Female

Task total: 20, 12 total cards used
Season total: 1535
♠10 (orig. pub. date '10s of any century =

15.3 Blackjack (round 2)

The Echo Killing by Christi Daugherty

♠3 (3-word title)
♥5 (setting at least 75% in one of the 50 U.S. states = 100% in Georgia)
♣J (title contains a "J" or "K" = Killing) = 18
+5 Female

Task total: 20, 8 total cards used
Season total: 1515

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Egypt is a country that lies in two continents, so eligible for either task. (Russia is another - not sure there is a third.)"

Thank you! Also: I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS SEASON!
You mods are seriously the best...thanks for giving me something to look forward to this summer :-D

I see that Egypt is on the list for "Middle East" but is on the African continent...so, can I use Egypt for 20.1 or since it's specified on the "Middle East" Wiki does it become ineligible for this task?

15.2 Blackjack (round 2)

The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

♠A (1st in series)
♣4 (main page genre adventure, western, mystery, or thriller = mystery and thriller)
♥4 (400-499 pages = 482 pages) = 19
+5 Pre-1995 published = 1992

Task total: 20, 5 cards used
Season total: 1495

15.1 Blackjack (round 2)

Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh

♦A (75-199 pages = 160 pages)
♠10 (short stories or essays = collection of essays) = 21
+5 Pre-1995 published
+5 Not-a-novel

Task total: 25, 2 cards used
Season total: 1475

Thank you for the congrats, Elizabeth <3

15.10 Blackjack

The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King

♦2 (author publishes under two distinct names: Stephen King also publishes under the name Richard Bachman)
♦8 (original publication date in '80s of any century: pub. 1987)
♥K (author's name has "King" in it) = 20
+5 Pre-1995 publication

Task total: 50, 29 cards used
+150 Finish bonus
+200 MegaFinish
Season total: 1450

20.5 Jeffrey Eugenides

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

I adored Ng's first book and am disappointed in myself that I didn't get to this one before it was made into a tv series (which I haven't yet seen, but I have seen commercials thus know who was cast in the roles which swayed my understanding and interpretation of the characters).
The ethical questions raised in this book made my brain hurt and made me feel uncomfortable in my own skin and that is something I value highly in a novel, especially in one where I'm not necessarily expecting it (I hadn't read the book flap or any reviews before jumping into this one...only knew the author and the setting). Each of the characters was clear in my mind, had believable motives, and acted truly (I never thought, "Yeah, so-and-so would never do that," which happens so often in books to move the plot along). I especially appreciate the empathy with which Ng writes: there were characters I wanted to hate and see no good in, but she always shines a light on the good in them to reinforce the point that no matter how terrible a person seems there is some good in them (and also: no one, no matter how good they seem, is always good).

+20 Task (Cleveland, Ohio)
+10 Review
+15 Combo: 10.2 = 21; 10.6 4.11 avg. stars, 572K+ reviews; 20.8 "She pulled an extra mug from the cupboard and put the kettle on...At the stove, Mia pretended to busy herself with opening a tea bag..."

Task total: 45
+100 RwS Finish
Season total: 1005