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

Anika’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

I know I sound like a total noob asking this: where would I find that list? (After all these seasons—just found an old notebook with my Spring 2012 reading plan!—I still have no idea about some of the features of this group’s page...)

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Anika wrote: "Would Inferno by Dante Alighieri work here?"

Yes!

I love the take you all are having with this task!"

Yay! I'm torn between re-reading Inferno (which I read YEARS ago) or branching out into something I've not yet read. I'm also trying to use this task to reach my personal reading goal of reading a book from each of Bloom's four "Ages" in his Canon...
with that in mind, I wanted to see if perhaps Le Morte d'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table might fit here? Or if perchance you could see somewhere that it would fit that I'm not seeing...

Also: relieved to hear that you're safe and sound!

Would Inferno by Dante Alighieri work here?

20.10 Fall Equinox

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer

There were some very interesting ideas covered in this--ideas about politics, about gender roles, equality, feminism, love, family, betrayal, and the list doesn't end there. Sadly, they were portrayed by highly unsympathetic (bordering on unlikable) characters. The two characters about whom I was most curious were the two who were given very little "airtime." This is the second book I've read by Meg Wolitzer--and the second time I've been underwhelmed by a book which so many people rave about.
I think that as I get older, I tend to judge a book on not only the writing and the treatment of ideas, but on the population of the book and whether or not I want to be spending 9-15 hours with them (the typical time it takes to read or listen to a book of this size). In this case, the two characters who take up the bulk of the book would not fit that bill. They're supposed to be inspirational, relatable, strong women...I found them bordering on self-important, disloyal, and petty. Perhaps if I had read this one rather than listened to it I might have a different perception (I find that when I read the written word, I'm more inclined to feel sympathy and an affinity with the characters while, oddly, I feel more judgemental of them when I listen to their stories).

+20 Task (the female pErsUAsIOn)
+10 Review
+10 Combo--10.5: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... ; 10.9: "persuasion=10 letters

Task total: 40
Season total: 2880

I've never set a reading goal before (other than the minimum number of books that I want to complete in a year), but after seeing everyone else setting goals I thought 2019 might be my year...
but I'm gonna set my sights low ;-)

I haven't been extending myself as far as my reading goes--I tend to stick to fiction/non-fiction/poetry from exclusively the mid-late-20th Century/21st Century. I stepped outside of that a little bit this past season, but I want to step it up next year.
My goal is to read at least two books per "Age" from Bloom's Canon.
I'm starting small...like, really small.
Oh! And I want to complete a Mega Finish at least twice in 2019. I would say all four seasons, but I don't want to set myself up for failure and imagine that I'll be lazy at least half of the year.

A. Theocratic Age, 2000 BCE - 1321 CE (previously read 11 from this list)
1. The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
2. The Epic of Gilgamesh by Anonymous
B. Aristocratic Age, 1321-1832 (previously read 11 from this list--although that number is counting the complete oeuvre of Shakespeare as "1")
1. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
2. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
3. As You Like It by William Shakespeare
C. Democratic Age, 1832-1900 (previously read 51 from this list)
1. Hard Times by Charles Dickens
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
D. Chaotic Age, 20th Century (previously read 62 from this list)
1. Westward by Amy Clampitt
2. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

20.10 Fall Equinox

Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump by Michael Isikoff and David Corn

I'm just going to put my whole review as a spoiler, as I don't want to risk offending anyone on here as I have great respect for this group and its members. Politics can be so divisive and they've found their niche on social media and not a forum such as this, but I find it impossible to review a political book without talking politics.

(view spoiler)[While reading this book (and while living through the time it described), I was reminded again and again of this bit by the comedian, Eddie Izzard:

"We think that you kill somebody, that's murder, you go to prison. You kill ten people, you go to Texas they hit you with a brick, that's what they do.
Twenty people you go to a hospital, they look through a small window at you forever.
Over that, we can't deal with it. Somebody's killed a hundred thousand people, we're almost going... 'Well done! You killed a hundred thousand people?! You must get up very early in the morning! I can't even get down to the gym! Your diary must look odd: Get up in the morning--death, death, death, death, death, death, death--lunch--death, death, death--afternoon tea--death, death, death--quick shower...' "

Just substitute "lie" or "commit crimes" for "death." Every day a new crime is uncovered, a new lie told or revealed, and yet he is never held accountable. Anyone else who did ONE of the things he has done would be in jail for years. I think it just becomes so overwhelming that one person could be so unabashedly corrupt that we can't wrap our heads around it and we become immobilized.
While much of the content covered in this book has been touched on by other similar books or by various news outlets, it more fully elaborates Trump's Russian and mob connections and how they may be influencing his presidency.
Also, hearing more fully about when Obama's presidency and the Information Community knew about the Russian interference and how they chose to act (or, rather, NOT act) was like watching footage of a horrific car crash--you already know the cars are totaled, the drivers are hospitalized, the aftermath dealt with but seeing it unfold is almost more traumatic since you already know the outcome. It was awful.
I read this one because my mother-in-law lent it to me and I wanted to get it back to her at Thanksgiving; otherwise, I don't think I would have picked up yet another book that was attempting to explain the mess we're currently in (I've already read the Comey book as well as Fear: Trump in the White House this season). I think I need to give myself this gift for the holidays: no more political books, no more political commentary on tv (though that might be impossible, since that's my husband's go-to viewing when he gets home from work), no podcasts or network news or anything where I might hear the word "Trump"...I want to go full-on, ostrich-with-my-head-in-the-sand for the next six weeks. (hide spoiler)]

+20 Task ("rUssIAn rOulEtte")
+10 Review
+5 Combo: 10.3--America

Task total: 35
Season total: 2840

also: Thank you so much, Rosemary and Elizabeth, for your congrats <3 They made my day :-)

Adam Haslett December 24

Kent Haruf February 24

Kevin Brockmeier December 6

And all of these also fit 20.2 :-)

Land and Sea:

Russia (A, B, and C): Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin

Finland (A, B, and C): The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson

Sweden (A, B--and C?): Estrid by Johanne Hildebrandt

Denmark (A, B, and C): The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well by Meik Wiking

Germany (A and B): The Lion's Courtship by Annelie Wendeberg

Switzerland (A and B): The Course of Love or The News: A User's Manual by Alain de Botton

France (A, B, and C): French Rhapsody by Antoine Laurain

Spain (A, B, and C): Marina or The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

U.K. (A, B, and C): Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days by Jeanette Winterson

Iceland (A and B): The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson

Ireland (A, B, and C) A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy

15.10 AbBY, Chronological 1925-1929

Pronto by Elmore Leonard (born 1925)

+60 Task

Task total: 60
+100 Finisher
Season total: 2805

(and that completes my two MegaFinishes in one season...I don't imagine I'll ever do that again, but it was fun!)

20.10 Fall Equinox

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman

I've had this on my shelf for ages. It was written by the wife of Michael Chabon, one of my all-time favorite authors, and was curious to see what she had to say.
I quite enjoyed the writing and several of the characters--sadly, though, the main character/narrator did not fit in this category. She felt false and hollow and not relatable in many ways--Emilia is married to Jack, step-mother to precocious William, and grieving mother to Isabel, who died when she was only a few days old. This book is a document of her grieving process. Mostly (oddly) though, this book mostly felt like a love letter to Central Park. So much of the action takes place in different parts of the park and the surrounding neighborhoods, it took me right back to the time I lived near that beloved place so I think I may have been swayed to give it a higher rating than I otherwise might have. ("Grace is when something is more beautiful than we deserve, more elegant and lovely than it should be. Grace is like Central Park. Carved from schist and swamp, boulders and undergrowth, by a vast construction project of thousands of surveyors, dirt carters, blasting teams, roadbuilders, stonemasons, blacksmiths, and bricklayers, Central Park is, in this city of steel and glass, marble and asphalt, brick and stone, 843 acres of grace.")

+20 Task ("lovE And Other Impossible pUrsuits")
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.5--https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... ; 10.9--"impossible"=10 letters)

Task total: 40
Season total: 2645

15.9 AbBY, Chronological 1920-1924

Farewell Summer by Ray Bradbury (born 1920)

+45 Task

Task total: 45
Season total: 2605

15.8 AbBY, Chronological 1915-1919

Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl (born 1916)

+45 Task

Task total: 45
Season total: 2560

15.7 AbBY, Chronological 1910-1914

The Fur Person by May Sarton (born 1912)

+30 Task

Task total: 30
Season total: 2515

15.6 AbBY, Chronological 1905-1909

Selected Poems by Theodore Roethke (born 1908)

+30 Task

Task total: 30
Season total: 2485

10.8 Cli Fi

Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich

I’m glad I read this one *after* having read The Unwomanly Face of War...it was interesting to see the overlap in the narratives. I love her style of writing—I know it’s her compiling and editing other’s words, but what she is able to extract from people is stunning.
“[We] always lived in terror, we know how to live in terror, it’s our natural habitat. In this our people have no peers.” Truer words were never spoken! The fear of your government and the Gulag, the fear of the German enemy in WWII, to the fear of contamination from the meltdown of the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl, those poor people never catch a break. I’m absolutely awed by the grace with which they talk about the horrific things they went through, the homes they lost, the family members they watched die unspeakable deaths, the poor pets who were hunted down and destroyed....and everything was so beautiful—the trees, flowers, everything seemed fine but no one understood that radiation was raining down on the land or what that even meant.
The part that was hardest for me to read was how much Moscow knew, yet they willfully and consistently lied to the people, saying everything was just fine...
I think I have a new favorite non-fiction writer...just wish more of her books were translated and available!

+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Prizeworthy
+25 Combo (10.2; 10.3; 10.5–https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... ; 10.9–“Chernobyl”=9 letters; 20.2)

Task total: 65
Season total: 2455

(That completes my second RwS Finish! Yay! Goal completed....now to see if I can finish a second AbBY before the month is out.)

10.9 9, 10, 11

The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Andersen Brower

I quite enjoyed this inside look at the running of the White House—I especially liked the fact that it was (mostly) fair to both Democratic and Republican presidential families. It didn’t so much dish on the families as it shared amusing anecdotes which were mostly harmless (Johnson’s demanding a shower strong enough to knock him against the wall; JFK’s penchant for swimming naked; Chelsea Clinton learning to cook from the White House chef so she’d have the skills to feed herself when she went to college; Amy Carter roller skating around the residence). It also addressed situations that effected the entire nation—JFK’s assassination, Nixon’s resignation, the Clinton impeachment, and 9/11– from a very unique perspective. It was a quick, interesting read. 3 stars.

+10 Task (“residence”=9 letters)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.3–White House)

Task total: 25
Season total: 2390

Rebecca wrote:
Anika wrote: "20.8 Autumn

The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

When I was in college, I read this and Candide in the same week for two different ..."

There is a city in Germany named Werther https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werther...


I love that you knew this, Rebecca! I never would have even thought to look it up as a possible place...
Mods: is that an acceptable combo, even though the "place" name isn't used as place in the title?

Also, Rebecca: WOW on your 80-point post! I don't think I have ever seen one book worth that many points...kudos :-)

20.5 Singled Out

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Nikki has disappointed her family--not only has she dropped out of law school, she's moved into her own apartment--which happens to be above the bar that (unbeknownst to her parents) she works in--and she has no prospects for marriage. Her sister, on the other hand, is ready to get married and asks her sister to post her personal ad at a Sikh temple in the Punjabi neighborhood of Southall in London. After begrudgingly posting her sister's personal, she sees a listing for a teaching position--to teach writing to the Sikh women of the community. Nikki needs to increase her income (her father has recently and unexpectedly passed away and now her mother is struggling to make ends meet) and decides to apply.
What follows is a little bit romance, a little bit mystery, surprisingly erotic (I thought the title was being a little facetious--NOPE!), and a whole lot of fun. This was the perfect audiobook to listen to while painting my room (every time I see the new color, I'm going to think of this book and blush a little bit).

+20 Task (Nikki is the main character, single never married, head of household)
+10 Review
+15 Combo (10.5--https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... ; 10.7--author born in Singapore; 20.10--erotIc storiEs fOr pUnjAbi widows)

Task total: 45
Season total: 2365

15.5 AbBY, Chronological 1900-1904

The Panther and the Lash by Langston Hughes (born 1902)

+30 Task

Task total: 30
Season total: 2350

20.8 Autumn

The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

When I was in college, I read this and Candide in the same week for two different courses so they will forever be inextricable in my mind--they're published within 15 years of each other, both slim volumes, both about a young man who is madly in love with someone he can't have. Since I recently re-read Candide, I figured it was time to revisit Werther as well.
THAT was a terrible idea! Candide was much as I'd remembered--a hopeful hero who has Job-level trials and still sees this as "the best of all possible worlds." Werther did not age as well. He's insufferable! Self-absorbed, narcissistic, and indefatigably pursing Charlotte who is TAKEN (engaged and then, halfway through the book, married to Albert). I hate the character. I hate the writing, especially in the first 2/3 of the book which is a compilation of letters from Werther to his friend, Wilhelm, whining about how much he wants to be with Lotte and how he can't stand to see Albert touch her and how insufferable everyone is yet everyone wants his company so much blah blah blah. The last third is an account of what happens after (view spoiler)[he has killed himself. I don't know that this is much of a "spoiler," as I'm pretty sure "Werther" and "suicide" are synonymous, but just in case, I'll keep in as a spoiler. I guess, at the height of the books popularity, it caused a string of copycat suicides among the young and brokenhearted (hide spoiler)].
Perhaps I hated it because I read it in such small bursts, a few pages here a few pages there over several weeks. Perhaps it's because as a modern reader I don't find the Sturm und Drang style appealing in the slightest. Perhaps I missed the point entirely.
But that was the LONGEST 149 pages of my life.

+20 Task (German author, pub. 1774)
+10 Review
+15 Combo (10.3; 10.5--https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... ; 20.7)
+5 Prizeworthy
+15 Oldies

Task total: 65
Season total: 2320