Krista’s Comments (group member since Jul 24, 2010)

Krista’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Kath wrote: "15.10 C-V

Voyager in Night by C.J. Cherryh

+30 task
+100 completion bonus

Grand total 625"

Congratulations on completing the A-Z challenge!

Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "Guardian List in Excel

Here's my first pass at putting the Guardian List in Excel. It is filtered, so you can use the drop down arrows by Book and Name to search. I could spiff it up more, but ..."

Great. Thanks so much, this will be a big help!

Sam wrote: "Krista wrote: "Coralie wrote: "There aren't many on the list that I haven't already read."

Me too! I was kind of proud of myself. :-)

I've penciled in:
The Glass Castle,
[book:C..."

Thanks for the info Sam! It seems like these have both been on my TBR list forever. It would be nice to get at least one of them checked off this next challenge. :-}

Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "I pulled the list into Excel so I could make it sortable. Did anyone else find it has only 998 books? If anyone's interested, I could make a Google Sheet to share when I'm finished."

That would be a big help!!

10.8 Two for One
The Iggy Chronicles, Volume One by Spencer Quinn -- 64 ebook pages
Tail of Vengeance by Spencer Quinn -- 64 ebook pages

Review:
I found two short stories from the Chet and Bernie mystery series that just might tide me over until the next book is released later this year.

This series is told from the perspective of Chet (The Jet) who is Bernie Little's canine partner at the Little Detective Agency. Spencer Quinn brilliantly captures what I imagine a dog would be thinking as each of the scenes unfold. They are often laugh-out-loud funny. Chet often puzzles over the true meaning of our clichéd parts of speech that he takes literally. For example someone saying, "It's raining cats and dogs", sets Chet to looking skyward for incoming cats and dogs.

The stories were fun little romps back in the world of Chet and Bernie. Both were set in the Phoenix area. One story involves Iggy, the dog who lives next door, and I thought it was the better of the two stories.

+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total = 20
Grand Total = 1060

I think that The Secret Wisdom of the Earth should work too. It's a coming-of-age story that centers around mountain top removal mining in Kentucky.

I'm hoping it works since I already have this on hold in audiobook format at the library, as luck would have it.

Okay, I'm on a roll now. (Sorry Liz -- I think this task may end up being a lot of work for you --- at least at the start of the challenge.)

There are a few Regency Romance series by Marion Chesney who also writes as (M.C. Beaton) that should work for this.

As luck would have it I just started the first book in one of the series last night (Refining Felicity) since it works for the Women in Mystery task for the Winter challenge. It's such a funny light romp, I'd like to continue on with the series during the Spring challenge.

Series: The School for Manners
The Tribble Sisters take on 6 different girls (in 6 different books) to get them ready for the London Season. Looks like each book includes the Tribble twins, but is told from the pupil's perspective.

Series: The Six Sisters
The six Armitage sisters and their romantic tales

Hey, I think I found a series that would work. Best of all book #4 is free for Kindle on Amazon right now.

Could I get the 20th Century series reviewed for inclusion?

Modern Women by Ruth Harris is free through Feb. 28th on Amazon.

Thanks!

Liz M wrote: "Krista wrote: "Would How Green Was My Valley work? I know it deals with coal mining. But I don't know if a strike was involved. ..."

Read a book containing mining OR labor strikes as plot point.
..."

Great -- thanks!

Coralie wrote: "There aren't many on the list that I haven't already read."

Me too! I was kind of proud of myself. :-)

I've penciled in:
The Glass Castle,
Cutting for Stone or
Into the Wild from still unread books on the list.

Would How Green Was My Valley work? I know it deals with coal mining. But I don't know if a strike was involved.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Krista wrote: "Hi Elizabeth! Thanks for the recommendations. Could I get The Wonderland Quartet series approved for this task? The first book in the series, A Garden of Earthly Delights is even a p..."

Great! And my library has a copy of them oh the shelves! It's a big-un at 576 pages though.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "For you, Krista - I don't know that I'll get to it, but the Night Soldiers should qualify. I think The Wonderland Quartet should qualify also."

Hi Elizabeth! Thanks for the recommendations. Could I get The Wonderland Quartet series approved for this task? The first book in the series, A Garden of Earthly Delights is even a prize winner!

The other series (the Night Soldier) may also work, but I've had my fill of war stories and dark stories for awhile. I certainly appreciate the thought though! Plus the recommendation may spark someone else's interest.

Also the recommendations about romance series would work too. I haven't delved into those too much lately. I'll be interested to see if the 'Pink Carnation' series is approved. I've had the first book in that series, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation on my bookshelf for awhile.

15.10 Z to A
The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman

+ 30 Task
+100 A to Z Completion Bonus (Yay me! LOL)

Grand Total = 1,040

You guys just keep throwing out series suggestions please, because off the top of my head I can't think of any series that I'm reading (or have thought about reading) that fit this task. I guess this one will be a stretch for me.

Thanks for keeping the list of approved series at the top of these posts Liz!

20.10 Goodreads Feature
Fin & Lady: A Novel by Cathleen Schine

(Approved from The Goldfinch)

Review:
This book by Catherine Schine is the coming-of-age story of Fin Hadley and his older half-sister, Lady Hadley. (Yes, Lady is her first name.) Even though Lady is 24 when Fin becomes an orphan at the age of 11 and she becomes his legal guardian; this is as much as a coming-of-age story for Lady as it is for Fin. Fin moves from a bucolic dairy farm in Connecticut to a brownstone that Lady just bought in Greenwich Village. The book chronicles their lives together as they go through the tumultuous 1960’s and beyond. Fin is an old soul, and Lady is really flighty. They both inherited money, so Lady has the luxury of being self-centered and pretty unfocused without endangering Fin’s security. She has three suitors that she can’t choose between. She’s asked Fin’s help in picking out her husband. That request seemed strange to me since she kept insisting that she didn’t really want to get married.

I’m not going to describe too much more of the plot for fear of revealing a spoiler. This is a character driven book. I like Fin. He seemed so right. I didn’t like Lady so much, but I suppose that’s where the tension of the storyline comes in. The story is told from the 3rd person perspective, and the narrator isn’t revealed until almost the end of the book. I kept wondering who was telling Fin and Lady’s story as the book unfolded.

Rating: 4 stars

+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 910

Liz M wrote: "Krista wrote: "If the genre is shown as "Mystery > Crime" on the book page, does that count? "

Yes! That is exactly what is meant by "OR where “Crime” is listed as one of the genres on the book's..."

Yay! Thanks for the clarification! -- and the quick answer. I know what I'm penciling in for this task now. LOL

20.8 Exiles and Emmigrants
Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill

(Author approved in 20.8 task thread)

Review:
This is the fourth book in the Dr Siri Paiboun series by Colin Cotterill. The series is set in Laos in the late 1970’s, not long after Laos has won it’s independence from France and became the communist, Lao People's Democratic Republic. Dr Siri Paiboun is 74, and the country’s only coroner. In this book Siri and his friend Civilai set out to find the killer of a blind dentist. Their travels take them out to the countryside. While there they become reacquainted with an old friend from their revolutionary days, and stumble across a whole new mystery to solve.

I really like this intelligent series. There is some magic realism woven throughout the books, and a lot of wry observations about how the communist ideals that Siri and Civilai fought so long for haven’t materialized as they’d expected. I like the cast of supporting characters that continue from book to book. This book in particular had more surprises at the end than I anticipated. I can’t wait to start the next book in the series!

Rating: 4 stars

+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 880

20.7 18th Century Plus
Catherine the Great by Henri Troyat

Review:
This biography of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, was written by Henri Troyat and published in 1977. I thought that the story was fascinating. It detailed how Princess Sophia, of Anhalt-Zerbst (born in 1729) who at 15 married Peter Ulrich of Holstein, who was the grandson of Peter the Great and possible heir to the throne of Russia. Sophia changed her name to Catherine and converted from the Lutheran church to the Russian Orthodox church. Peter did become Emperor Peter III, and Catherine eventually became Empress Catherine II of Russia, and ruled Russia for decades on her own. She became almost more Russian than the Russians themselves. Catherine lived from 1729-1796, and was the most renowned and the longest-ruling female leader of Russia. She ruled from 1762-1796.

I thought that Troyat’s book was a fair representation of Catherine’s life experiences. He also did a good job of describing the broader geo-political events going on around her in Europe, Asia and beyond. So I felt like I got to know Catherine better, but I also better understood her era and the events that influenced her decisions as her reign unfolded. Troyat was born in Moscow in 1911, but fled with his and travelled around Europe and Asia before setting in Paris in 1920.

Rating: 3 stars (Good solid biography)

+20 Task
+10 Review
+15 Combo (10.2, 20.8 approved in Task thread, 20.9 96 years)
+ 5 Oldies (Publ 1977)
Task Total = 50

+5 Kate's Post #707 -- City of Thieves Task 10.2, points claimed in Post 681 - also eligible for Combo points w/Task 20.3 - Historical. (Thanks Kate!)

Grand Total = 850

If the genre is shown as "Mystery > Crime" on the book page, does that count?

I'm specifically looking at The Handsome Man's Deluxe Café

20.6 Jewish
Away by Amy Bloom
(Shelved 14 times as Jewish)

Review:
This story about Lillian Leyb’s life, set in the early to mid-1900’s, had promise that I just don’t think delivered. Lillian’s family was killed during a pogrom in Russia in the early 1900’s. She then journeys to America where she seems to float along, making a life for herself in in the Yiddish theater district in New York City. When a cousin brings word to Lillian that her young daughter, Sophie survived the slaughter in Russia and was adopted by a family who moved to Siberia, Lillian sets out on a quest to find her daughter.

I had to suspend disbelief as Lillian made her away across the US in a broom closet on a train, then stayed in Seattle for awhile with a prostitute named, Gumdrop Brown. From there she went to Alaska to attempt to walk across Alaska and then sail across the Bering Sea to Siberia to find Sophie. I wasn’t compelled to like Lillian. A lot of the gritty scenes in the book might be historically accurate for the era, but they seemed more like a loosely connected set of short stories rather than a cohesive novel. Many of the stories seemed too far-fetched for me.

I found myself thinking, “Oh brother, what now? Really?” as more and more outlandish stories were piled one on top of another as the book progressed.

Rating: 2 stars

+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total = 30

+5 Combo points missed in Msg 681 - for City of Thieves - Combo w/task 20.6 This book is shelved 11 times as Jewish

Grand Total = 795