Cory Day’s
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(group member since Aug 18, 2012)
Cory Day’s
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from the Reading with Style group.
Showing 341-360 of 1,205
15.2 – TtUS Land Cruiser (Round 2)Bad Company by K.A. Mitchell
Set Entirely in Maryland
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 1070
10.9 Six Degrees of Kevin BaconStorm Vol. 1: Make it Rain by Greg Pak
+10 Task (pending approval – post 409)
Graphic Novel – no styles
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 1055
1) Alexander Chee wrote [book].2) Alexander Chee was a contributor to the anthology Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York, along with Whoopi Goldberg.
3) Whoopi Goldberg was in Sister Act with Max Grodénchik.
4) Max Grodénchik was in Apollo 13 with Kevin Bacon.
1) Greg Pak wrote Storm Vol. 1: Make it Rain.2) Greg Pak directed Futurestates, which starred Sheetal Sheth.
3) Sheetal Sheth was in Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World with John Carroll Lynch.
4) John Carroll Lynch was in Crazy, Stupid, Love. with Kevin Bacon.
20.5 HistoryMichigan: A Bicentennial History by Bruce Catton
Review: I picked this up at a used bookstore in Traverse City when I was on vacation in September, both wanting to read a little more about the history of the state I was visiting and also realizing it’d fit the challenge. Written in 1976, it’s part of a series of books written about the history of each state to celebrate the bicentennial. The introduction mentions that each author was asked to highlight the most important parts of their state’s history as they saw it, rather than to provide a comprehensive history. I’ve become used to a different type of history book, one that focuses more on the people and less on an overview, so it was not my favorite. The last chapter, however, almost made up for what I felt was a lack-luster beginning – I just wish Catton had expanded on it. His overall thesis is one of Michigan’s inhabitants viewing it as an inexhaustible land of plenty, which he ties at the end into the story of Detroit, which was already showing signs of the shell of its former self it has become in the 21st century. It makes me want to read a book I’ve had on my shelves for years and haven’t gotten around to – Detroit: an American Autopsy – so maybe I’ll find a place for that in next season’s challenge.
+20 Task (Pulitzer Prize for History – 1954)
+10 Not-a-Novel
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (pub. 1976)
+10 Combo (10.9 – post 246, 20.2 – died 1978)
Task Total: 55
Grand Total: 1040
10.3 DictionaryAll Our Pretty Songs by Sarah McCarry (Lexile 820)
Review: I’m starting to wear out on these young adult novels I’m reading for an event I’m attending next week, to the point where I might forego the last one I have on my bedside table. This one was well written, at least in the definition that descriptive prose makes something well written, but it was less than satisfying in its story. There were hints of greatness – it’s evocative and dark and slightly off-kilter but not so much that I felt lost – but it still felt flat to me. This would probably be termed “literary YA” by some, adding “magical realism” to the description if more were needed, but I’m afraid I mostly found it boring and overwrought.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 985
10.9 Six Degrees of Kevin BaconRelish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley
+10 Task (pending approval – post 405)
Graphic Novel – no styles
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 965
10.5 October AwardsThe Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
Review: This is my kind of book – a mix of social history, real people’s stories, and the affects of place on both of those things. It’s timely in the most infuriating way – the story of how black citizens of this country have been held back in manners many of us fail to consider continues to be written, and didn’t end when the Great Migration petered out. I got to the point where I couldn’t read parts of it right before bed, since it kept making me mad. Isabel Wilkerson did a good job chronicling the reasons behind the mass exodus of blacks from the south, the [not always entirely better] circumstances they encountered in the north, and every once in a while ties it back to what’s still going on today. If one managed to sit and read the entire 600+ pages straight through, some of it might have gotten repetitive, but I appreciated the occasional reminders of things that had been mentioned chapters before. I’m going to pair this with another book in my collection that focuses on the Great Migration in Pittsburgh.
+10 Task (2011 Dayton Literary Peace Prize runner-up)
+5 Jumbo (622 pages)
+10 Review
+10 Not-a-Novel
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 955
15.1 – TtUS Land Cruiser (Round 2)No Such Thing by A.M. Arthur
Set entirely in Delaware
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 920
20.8 DAR (1770-1790)The Black Angel by Barbara Samuel
Review: This historical romance was fine to fill in the gaps between slightly heavier books, and my main problem with it wasn’t the author’s fault (my Kindle edition ended at 78%, with filler for the remaining 22%, making the ending feel incredibly rushed). I also was influenced by a negative review I glanced at before reading it, criticizing the book’s references to The Three Musketeers when it’s supposed to be set 16 years before Dumas was even born. I wouldn’t have cared or probably even noticed without that review. Regardless, the book had the makings of something great – a heroine who fought against the double standards of her time (and ours); interesting racial, social, and religious issues that were investigated; and a fun family with plenty of sequel bait. Sadly, it fell a little short in actually developing the main characters and many of the social issues, and there’s only one sequel, so I must not be alone in my indifference.
+20 Task (set 1786)
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 905
10.3 DictionaryControl Point by Myke Cole
Review: This is another book I was reading primarily because the author will be at an event I’m attending, but it had also gotten great reviews from people I respect (and mediocre but relatively neutral ones from others). I ended up on the low side of mediocre in my response to it – I never fully engaged with the characters, and barely engaged with the story. The worldbuilding is interesting, but I wasn’t a fan of the point of view – mostly because it was relatively haphazard and hard to pin down. I might be sensitive to it, but like North of Beautiful, I wasn’t in love with the characterization of body type (use a different word from chubby to describe adolescent girls, maybe?). If you like military jargon, it might be your thing, but I’ll pass on the sequel (even though I’ve heard it’s better than this one).
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.9 – pending approval from post 397)
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 875
1) Lucy Knisley wrote Relish: My Life in the Kitchen.2) Lucy Knisley did comic art for Cartoon College, which Blair Sterrett was in.
3) Blair Sterrett was in Glorious Things Are Sung of Zion with Neil LaBute.
4) Neil LaBute was in Film Trix 2004 with Kevin Bacon.
10.3 DictionaryNight Whispers by Alisha Rai
Review: I read this because the author will be at an event I’m attending soon, and none of her other books were available at my library. It’s not the one I would’ve chosen – zombie books are not really my thing – but I ended up enjoying the heck out of it. It’s really more of a post-apocalyptic romance, and the zombies act more like gross versions of vampires, at least in that they drink blood and transmit the disease that way, rather than eating brains or whatever. The romance was, if slightly undeveloped on the page, very cute, and the hero was a geek and not a jerky alpha hero. I’m super sad there isn’t a second book showing up anywhere, but I’ll be tracking down more of her other work eventually, regardless of whether or not she writes a sequel.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 850
15.10 – TtUS Land Cruiser Second Hand by Heidi Cullinan
Set entirely in Colorado
+15 Task
+15 Bonus
Task Total: 30
Land Cruiser Completion Bonus: 100
Grand Total: 830
15.9 – TtUS Land Cruiser Topaz by Beverly Jenkins
Set >50% in Oklahoma
+15 Task
+15 Bonus
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 700
10.9 Six Degrees of Kevin BaconNorth of Beautiful by Justina Chen (Lexile 850)
Review: North of Beautiful tows the line between a more realistic, “literary” YA book and a kind of stereotypical YA romancey book, ending up kind of failing in some ways at both. I usually prefer the stereotypical kinds, although I’ve moved away from YA more recently, so in this case the extended map metaphors and other more “literary” things just kind of made the book drag for me. The moral of the story seems to be to accept yourself as you are and that beauty doesn’t come in one flavor, but at the same time I’m not certain the book embraces that notion entirely. I was a little uncomfortable at the way it addressed weight and “health,” even if I did feel the main character managed to learn a little about what really matters in life. It wasn’t a bad book, just not one I can totally get behind.
+10 Task (pending approval from post 396)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 670
10.9 Six Degrees of Kevin BaconGirl at War by Sara Nović
Review: When I was in college, I took a political science course that focused a lot on the Balkans. The professor assigned this huge book that I never thoroughly completed reading that tried to make sense of the centuries worth of conflicts in the area, but I remember feeling like it still made no sense. Girl at War is set half during the Croatian War of Independence in the early 1990s, shown through the eyes of a 10 year old girl, and half a decade later when the same girl is in college in New York City. This fictional account showed the same thing that I ended up feeling after my college course – none of it makes any sense. Ana doesn’t understand who are the “good” guys and who are the “bad” guys, and most of the horrible things that happen seem arbitrary. In the end, I think that is kind of the point – it doesn’t really make all that much sense. Nović writes clearly about a convoluted issue, and while I didn’t love the time jumps, it was a great debut novel. Someday would love to visit Croatia, since by all accounts it is beautiful, at least along the coast, but I think I’d want to do my homework first. The wars might have subsided, but I can’t imagine all the pain is gone.
+10 Task (post 391)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 650
15.8 – TtUS Land Cruiser Jason by Laurell K. Hamilton
Set entirely in St. Louis, Missouri
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 630
15.7 – TtUS Land CruiserThe Bollywood Bride by Sonali Dev
Set approximately 75% in Illinois
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 605
10.9 Six Degrees of Kevin BaconThe Gospel of Winter by Brendan Kiely
+10 Task (post 386)
YA Low Lexile – no styles
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 580
