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

Anika’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

On my local library's website, the description for The Porpoise is simply: " 'A fantastical novel which reworks Shakespeare's Pericles into a parable for today.'--Provided by publisher".
Will this work for retelling? I am not familiar enough with Pericles to know if it holds true to Shakespeare's material based on the goodreads description...

20.4 The Black Prince

Persuasion by Jane Austen

+20 Task
+10 Young (she died at age 41)
+15 Oldies
+ 25 Combo (10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.9--great choice, Tien!, 20.6)

Task total: 830

15.6 RG, 250-999 (phew! glad I got this approved already...I was the 998th person to rate this one! that was close...)

Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics by Stephen Greenblatt

+20 Task
+5 NF

Task total: 25
Season total: 760

15.5 RG, <250

The Distancers: An American Memoir by Lee Sandlin

+15 Task
+5 NF

Task total: 20
Season total: 735

Lynn wrote: "I also had good luck! I read The Time Traveler's Wife for 10.9 All Star Reads. I want to say how much I enjoyed it and appreciate it being a choice. I own the book, because my daugh..."

I read that one years ago and also loved it...it was one of the books I recommended to everyone I knew for a good year after I'd read it <3
We had some pretty amazing recommendations for 10.9!

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Was that A Gentleman in Moscow?"

Yes! Oh, Elizabeth, it was wonderful...

AAAAAHHH!!
I just finished the best book I've read in ages and am having the hardest time picking anything else up because it just doesn't compare. I was entirely on track to complete a MegaFinish, but I'm having serious reader's block because of one amazing, perfect novel and now don't know how long it's going to take me to be able to pick up another book and give it my full attention without falling into reminiscence of said perfect book.
Am I the only one this happens to? I can't be, right?

I am considering Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics but it's already at 995 and also The Distancers: An American Memoir which is at 215 so want to lock them in, just in case!

10.4 Visiting

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

+10 Task (on Historical Fictionistas list)
+15 Combo (10.3, 10.9, 20.6)

Task total: 25
Season total: 715

Shirley, thank you for recommending this! It's been on my TBR since it was released but I kept putting it off until I saw it on our Listopia...it is one of the most perfect novels I've read in ages!! It is officially on my TOP TEN EVER READS!

15.4 RG, 25,000-74,999

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (820 Lexile)

+15 Task
+5 Big

Task total: 20
Season total: 690

10.5 D-Day

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

+10 Task
+25 Oldies
+15 Combo (10.4, 20.6, 20.7)

Task total: 50
Season total: 655

50.1 Project RwS, Turkmenistan

Unknown Sands: Journeys Around the World's Most Isolated Country by John W. Kropf

+50 Task
+15 Combo (10.2, 10.3, 20.6)

Task total: 65
Season total: 605

10.1 Lost in Translation (I love this style bonus; since it's not available this season I'll just use it as my task)

Macbeth by Jo Nesbø (even though not listed on the goodreads page, this book was translated by Don Bartlett)

+10 Task
+20 Combo (10.3, 10.8, 20.6, 20.7)

Task total: 30
Season total: 540

10.2 Jackson's Dilemma

The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton

+10 Task
+10 Combo (10.3, 20.6)
+10 Young (b. 1976)

Task total: 30
Season total: 510

15.3 RG, 5,000-9,999

The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine by Benjamin Wallace

+15 Task
+5 NF

Task total: 20
Season total: 480

10.3 Summer 2017

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa

+10 Task
+10 Combo (10.9, 20.6)

Task total: 20
Season total: 460

20.3 A Severed Head

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

+20 Task
+5 Oldies (pub. 1966)
+20 Combo (10.4--from the "Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)" listopia; 10.9--thanks for the recommendation, Lynn!; 20.1; 20.6)

Task total: 45
Season total: 440

20.6 Characters

Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler

+20 Task
+15 Combo (10.3, 10.8, 20.7)

Task total: 35
Season total: 390

10.7 Summer Shorts

Astray by Emma Donoghue

+10 Task
+10 Young (b. 1969)
+10 Combo (10.3, 20.6)

Task total: 30
Season total: 355

Anika wrote: "20.10 Historical

New Boy by Tracy Chevalier

+20 Task
+10 Combo (20.6, 20.7)

Task total: 30
Season total: 215"

When posting Hag-Seed, I looked to see if anyone else had already claimed the same book so I could just cut and paste their scoring (I'm all about making things easier on myself for summer ;-D) and that's when I noticed that 10.8 had been claimed for it with the accompanying goodreads link to support the claim. I didn't even think of the Hogarth Shakespeare series as working for 10.8! Brilliant! So I was hoping to get an extra +5 Combo for New Boy since it is also a part of this series.