Sam’s Comments (group member since Jul 23, 2010)

Sam’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Post your general questions about the Reading w/Style challenge, Style point rules, or the Winter 2010-11 Challenge here.

Here is the oft-requested folder where Reading with Style participants can discuss whatever they would like.

20.1 - "Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse"
Read a book about life after the end of the world. Choose one of the top 50 books from Goodreads' list of post-apocalyptic fiction.

20.2 – "While visions of sugarplums danced in their heads"
Forget fantasies of dancing candied fruit...read about swords and horses instead! Choose one of the top 50 books from Goodreads' list of best epic fantasies. (Note: Some of the Top 50 are entire series...don't pick those unless you plan on reading the entire series.)

20.3 – Shortest Day/Month of the Year
Winter contains the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, as well as February, the shortest month of the year. Read a book with a short title...so short that it only consists of one word. For this task, no subtitles are allowed.

20.4 - A Short Detour to Sweden
The first Nobel Prizes were awarded on December 10, 1901. Read a book by an author who has won The Nobel Prize for Literature.

20.5 – "Put on your yarmulke, Here comes Hanukkah!"
Read a book from the Yiddish Book Center's 100 Greatest Works of Modern Jewish Literature.

20.6 – African-America History Month
February is African-American History Month. Read a book by one of the authors listed on The Public Library of Cincinnati's List of African-American fiction writers.

20.7 – Goodbye, So Long, Good Riddance...
Read a non-fiction book about an event that took place between the 00's-10's (e.g., 1400-1410, 1500-1510, etc.). Selections can be a biography/autobiography of someone who was born or who died in those years or about a specific event that took place during those years. You may repeat this task as many times as you like, but each time you repeat it you should read a book about an event in a different century. When posting for points, make sure you include a description of the event/date.

20.8 - Krista's Choice: The Time of Your Life
New Year's Eve is often a time when people look back and review events that occurred during the past year and look forward to imagine how they can shape the upcoming year. In honor of that tradition, read a Time-Travel book. The character(s) in the book must actually do some time-traveling. They can't simply imagine what the future may hold or what the past was like. Examples can be found here, here, and here.

20.9 - Sam's Choice: Best of 2010
I thought I’d take a break from tasks related to crime fiction this season and lighten up just a bit. Read a book from Amazon’s Best Books of 2010 (as chosen by their editors).

20.10 - Colleen's 1st Place Task - President's Day
Choose a book (fiction or non-fiction) whose title contains the last name of a US president: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Obama. Plural and possessive case are both acceptable, and subtitles are considered part of the title for this task.

10.1 – Turkey Coma
Since the holiday season is full of epic feasts and leftovers, sometimes it's difficult to more than a few pages before losing consciousness. Read a collection of short fiction/essays by one author.

10.2 – A Special Gift from Reading with Style
Choose one of the following:
A) Read a book that you received as a holiday gift.
OR
B) Read a book that was released in October, November, or December of 2010 that you really, really want to read.
(This task cannot be repeated or used to claim Combo Points.)

10.3 – V-Day
To celebrate Valentine's Day, choose one of the top 50 books from Goodreads' list of Best Romance Novels of the Twentieth Century . (Make sure your selection is actually from the twentieth century!)

10.4 – William and Kate: The Private Lives of Public Figures
Prince William and Kate Middleton have finally announced that they're getting married. In honor of events like this one that people can't seem to get enough of, read a non-fiction book about the private life of a monarch, elected official, or candidate.

10.5 – New Year's Resolution
Celebrate the beginning of the year with a book known for its beginning. Choose one of the top 50 books from Goodreads' list of best beginnings.

10.6 – Noel, Noel
Read a book with NO "L" in the title and NO "L" in the author name.
(If task is repeated, a different author should be used each time.)

10.7 – The Booker Prize
Since we've already used the Whitbread/Costa Prize in a RwS challenge previously, it seems only fitting to use the Man Booker Prize now. Read a book that has won or been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

10.8 - nsfancy's 3rd Place Task - The Tropic of Capricorn
The Tropic of Capricorn, or Southern tropic, marks the most southerly latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead at noon. This event occurs at the December solstice when the southern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun to its maximum extent. Read a book set in one of the countries that will lie directly below the sun on Dec.23, 2010. Be sure to list which country your book is set in when posting for points.

10.9 - Cheryl TX's 2nd Place Task - Alphabet Soup
This task is about matching two different letters of the alphabet between title and author.
First, here's the list of letters that "match": A - N, B - O, C - P, D - Q, E - R, F - S, G - T, H - U, I - V, J - W, K - X, L - Y, M - Z.
Now, if your book's title has a word beginning with A, then your author's first or last name (or if the author consistently uses a full third name (i.e., Gabriel Garcia Marquez)) must start with N (or vice versa). Authors' initials cannot be used for this task nor can articles (i.e., a/an/the), conjunctions (e.g., and/or/but), or prepositions (e.g., in, on, around, between). You can repeat this task as many times as you wish but you may only use each pair once.

10.10 - Group Read
Read one of the following selections from the moderators and previous challenge winners/finishers.
Sam - The Ice Princess
Krista - Bless Me, Ultima
Colleen (Mega Finisher) - In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences
Cheryl (Mega Finisher) - The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption
Nsfancy (Mega Finisher) - The Devil and Miss Prym
Liz M (Mega Finisher) - The Remains of the Day
Rebekah (Mega Finisher) - The Old Gringo

15.1-15.10 - Backpacking through Europe

1. Combo (5 points): Read a book in for one task that could have applied to another task as well. If a book will applies to one other tasks, you will receive 5 style points. If it applies to two other tasks, you will receive 10 points...and so on.

2. Series (5 points): Read a book to complete a task that is part of a series and receive 5 points. Read a book from that same series to complete another task and receive 10 points...and so on.

3. Canon (10 points): Distinguishing literature from popular fiction is an imperfect science, but we're trying anyway. This spring, you'll receive 10 extra points when you read a work of literature in the Western canon to complete a task. We'll be using famous uber-critic Harold Bloom's Western Canon as the arbiter...Any work that is listed here will qualify.

4. Oldies (5 to 15 points): Put down the bestseller list and read something with a bit more mileage on it. Based on a book's original publication date, style points will be awarded based on the following scale:-
-25 to 75 years old: 5 points (1935-1985)
-76 to 150 years old: 10 points (1860-1934)
-151+ years old: 15 points (1859 and older)

5. Jumbo (5 to 25 points): Receive extra points for reading books according to the following scale:
-500 Pages: 5 Points
-700 Pages: 10 Points
-800 Pages: 15 Points
-900 Pages: 20 Points
-1000+ Pages: 25 Points

Completion Bonuses:
1. RwS Finish (100 points): Complete all Reading with Style tasks.

2. Mega Finish (200 points): Complete all Reading with Style tasks and Reading through Time tasks.

A note on YA: If you want to claim style points for a YA novel, you can do so--with one catch: You must have read a YA novel with a Lexile score of at least 700. Not familiar with Lexile? Want to find out if your book has a high enough score...go here.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "At this stage in life, I surely shouldn't be wishing even one day of my life away. BUT (there's always a but, right?) why isn't it on or about Nov 20th and the new tasks out yet?"

Well, hopefully it will make you feel better to know that I actually have almost everything ready to post on Saturday.

Reading through Time - Constant Traveler
15.4: Agnes Grey - Ann Bronte
+25 points

15.3: A Study in Scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle
+25 points

10.4 - One Hit Wonders: The Gun Seller - Hugh Laurie (only novel published)
+ 10 Task Points
Task Points: 10

20.1 - Monsterfest: The Witches of Eastwick - John Updike
+ 20 Task Points
+ 5 Combo Points (10.5 - Eastwick)
+ 10 Canon Points
Task Points: 35

20.5 - Freedom Season: As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner (Mississippi)
+ 20 Task Points
+ 5 Combo Points (10.3 9/25 bday)
+ 10 Canon Points
Task Points: 40


New Points: 130
Grand Total: 555

Christy wrote: "I'm looking at The Passage by Justin Cronin. He's written a couple of other novels, but this looks like his first foray into post-apocalyptic science fiction. Would ..."

That'll be fine.

nsfancy wrote: "Just read Kennedy's Brain: A Novel by Henning Mankell; does it qualify for this task? I know he is listed as an acceptable author but this is not one of his Wallander ..."

It looks fine to me.

Karen GHHS wrote: "Does a dairy farm count for this task? I'm reading Front and Center, book 3 of the Dairy Queen trilogy and all three of the books have included lots about milking the cows, taking over farm tasks, ..."

That's fine.

Karen GHHS wrote: "Is "dark" a scary enough word for A if used as an adjective? I have to move Dark Flame to a different task. If not, I was reading it because I got to see the author at our library conference and it..."

That's fine.

Rebekah wrote: "how many suggestions can we post for winter 2010-2011?"

As many as you can!

Around 11/1, I'll be sending out a request for task ideas, but I've already started building the winter challenge, so suggestions are welcome now.

Reading through Time - Constant Traveler
15.7: Paradise Lost - John Milton (1667)
+25 points

15.6: Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure - John Cleland (1748)
+25 points

15.5: Candide - Voltaire (1759)
+25 points

10.1 - Football Season: Of Love and Other Demons - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Demons)
+ 10 Task Points
+ 5 Combo Points (20.6 - Colombia)
+ 10 LiT Points
Task Points: 25

20.4 - Just the Facts: O Pioneers! - Willa Cather
+ 20 Task Points
Task Points: 20

20.10 - Late One Night: I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
+ 20 Task Points (List D #6)
Total Points: 20

New Points: 140
Grand Total: 425

Rhea wrote: "Does Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery count as a novel that takes place on a farm? Anne lives on the Green Gables Farm, but I'm not sure because the action doesn't take..."

I would accept the first book in the series, but the farm is such a non-entity thereafter that I have to say "no."

Dan wrote: "I suppose we'll get into some serious literary debate if we try and debate what does and does not constitute a novel, but I suppose I'll just have to count it elsewhere if Sam upholds that opinion."

What Liz says is usually right...she's basically our "fifth Beatle."

As to the "novel" discussion, while the definition of the term is up for debate in a broad sense, it has a more narrow definition for challenge purposes:

Novel = Long-form fiction
Book = Non-fiction, drama, poetry, short & long-form fiction.

Reading through Time - Constant Traveler
15.9: Titus Andronicus - William Shakesepeare
+25 points

15.8: Macbeth - William Shakespeare
+25 points

10.8 - Harvest Moon:
+ 10 Task Points
+ 20 Combo Points (10.2 - Stephenie Meyer Lit Map, 20.1 - Grave used as adj, 10.3 - 11/25/51 bday, 20.5 - set in Memphis)
+ 5 Series Points (Harper Connelly #2)
Task Points: 35

10.10 - Group Read: Kitchen - Banana Yoshimoto
+ 10 Task Points
+ 5 Combo Points (20.7 - 1988, Japan)
+ 10 LiT Points
Task Points: 25

20.8 - Just the Facts: Renegade: The Making of a President - Richard Wolffe
+ 20 Task Points
+ 10 Combo Points (10.3 9/17/68 bday, 10/4 only solo booklength publication)
Task Points: 30

20.9 - Scandinavian Noir: The Ice Princess - Camilla Lackberg
+ 20 Task Points
+ 10 LiT
+ 5 Series (Patrik Hedstrom #1)
Total Points: 35

New Points: 175
Grand Total: 285

Karen GHHS wrote: "So if a book is half and half like this one

Island Beneath the Sea: A Novel

in which the first half takes place in Haiti and the second half is set in New Orleans, Louisiana, it do..."

You're right...it would need to be completely set in the South.

Krista wrote: "nsfancy wrote: "Task 20.4 The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (Starch in title)

Task points 20
+10 Canon
+10 Combo (20.2 Banned book, 10.4 One hit wonder - as p..."

It's okay...it's a crop associated with harvest that's not a fruit.

Rebekah wrote: "Krista wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "A couple of questions please.
1) If on of the books we are reading that was originally published in Spanish and has the word Luna in the title even t..."

It's fine with me.

I did a quick Google image search, and I saw that there are actually two versions of the book that have a moon on the cover.