Katy’s Comments (group member since Aug 04, 2010)

Katy’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

I'm reading Macbeth by Jo Nesbø (one of the Hogarth Shakespeare retellings) -- it's great! And now I'm wondering if it qualifies for this task -- Macbeth is a police officer and is dealing with two rival drug gangs (one run by Hecate!) who have been running the town. Hecate definitely leads a criminal organization of drug dealers (as does the other "bad guy") -- would that work?

20.10 My Comfort Zone

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I will say I had a difficult time getting into this. I had always meant to read it, having enjoyed all of Oscar Wilde's plays and finding the concept of this book appealing. But for whatever reason, for the first half of the book or so, I just couldn't get into the characters or the storyline. The long philosophical/artistic/social digressions didn't hold my attention and I found myself debating giving up on it. However...once I got a little further, my patience was rewarded and I ended up thoroughly enjoying the second half of the book. The premise of the story is probably familiar to many of you -- the beautiful young man whose wish that his painting, rather than he himself, will age and change, comes true. The painting begins to reflect all of Dorian's sins and mistakes, and his own morality and soul become desperately stained while his outside remains pure. Thematically, it's fascinating, and for me, the second half of the book made up for the slow going of the first half.

+20 task (pub. 1890, Irish author)
+15 combo (10.9 - 222x mystery, 280x historical; 20.4 - Потрет Дориана Грея, 20.5 - focuses on the painting)
+10 oldies (1890)
+10 review

Task Total: 55
Season Total: 655

10.1 Square Peg

Sunburn by Laura Lippman

I picked this up because it was highly recommended on a literary agent's blog I follow, and because I'd previously read and enjoyed another Laura Lippman novel. I would say I enjoyed Sunburn, but didn't love it. The writing is terrific -- Lippman has some real writing chops that make most anything she writes pleasurable. I didn't find the plot quite as compelling. Sunburn tells the story of Polly, a woman with a checkered and mysterious past, who picks up and leaves her husband and child and ends up in a tiny Delaware town, where she ends up in a relationship with Adam, also passing through and an unlikely resident of this small town. The plot is chock full of surprises, and some of them were good enough to take my breath away, but I found a lot of the romance scenes less exciting than the murder and intrigue scenes.

+10 task
+10 review

Task Total: 20
Season Total: 600

10.9 Double Trouble

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

At this point, having a Louise Penny mystery running as an audiobook more or less at all times has become a habit. I enjoy the series and really enjoy the narration. The only downside to this is that I don't listen to audiobooks as often as I read paper/Kindle books, so the books tend to go slower. This book took a while to listen to, and so I did have to do quite a bit of going back and reminding myself of parts, though that's definitely my fault and not the author's! The story, like all the books in the series, is a solid mystery, with some twists and turns, all earned, and some surprises, and a lot of humor and heartwarming Three Pines moments. I am appreciating how Penny pokes a little fun at the genre/herself by slipping in some sly comments about how frequently this small town finds itself the scene of a murder mystery. That's something I often think about with series like this -- just how believable could it be that the very same small town consistently hosts murderers and victims on such a regular basis?? But Penny's lightheartedness about it makes it work. I would definitely recommend this, with the caveat that it will be much better in order -- I would start with book 1 if you're thinking of picking up the Louise Penny series!

+10 task (1284x mystery, 129x cultural)
+10 review

Task Total: 20
Season Total: 580

20.2 The Blazing World

Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy by Angela Garbes

A pregnant coworker (due the same week as me!) came across this book and passed it on to me. Both of us are first timers at pregnancy and we've talked about how interesting some of the experiences and language around pregnancy is -- on a lot of the online discussion forums, etc. (I know, not necessarily the best resources!) there is so much talk of what's "allowed" or not, what's right and wrong, looking for a lot of black and white answers. This book was fascinating and really well-written -- Garbes tackles many aspects of pregnancy and childbirth with a journalist's eye and style, making the book a pleasure to read. Her chapter about the placenta was particularly interesting, since I had really not thought about it at all, and it is kind of amazing that during pregnancy an entire new organ forms -- and then goes away. I'll chalk that up to yet another really weird thing about this whole experience. :)

+20 task (feminist in title and main genre section)
+5 combo (10.5 - 15 ratings)
+10 not a novel (nonfiction)
+10 review

Task Total: 45
Season Total: 555

20.8 Silent Spring

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

My partner was recently in a production of Macbeth locally and I intended to re-read the play before the show. Didn't quite get around to that, but if anything, seeing it reminded me of how much I enjoy the story and prompted me to pick it up. (And that's actually my preferred sequence for Shakespeare - view then read). For those who haven't gotten to Macbeth, it's a good one. One of the things I most enjoy is just how many cultural references I hear all the time come from Macbeth -- book titles (Sound and the Fury, Something Wicked This Way Comes...), sayings, references, songs (even some references in Hamilton, which made me happy!). It's staggering how much of Shakespeare is embedded in general life without even realizing it. And of course with Macbeth, the story is engaging - lots of murder, guilt, suspicion, and paranoia.

+20 task
+20 combo (10.9 - 298x historical, 42x mystery); 20.4 - Макбет; 20.6 - S; 20.7 - King Duncan, etc.)
+20 oldies (1606)
+10 not a novel
+10 review

Task Total: 80
Season Total: 510

20.4 Night Watch

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

This has been on my TBR for what seems like forever -- many people have recommended it to me since I like mystery novels and historical mysteries. I definitely enjoyed it and would read further in the series, though it wasn't quite what I expected. Maisie grew up in poverty but lands as a housemaid (giving up her dreams of going to school) with a lady of the house who has an interest in philanthropy. Luckily for Maisie, she ends up benefitting from this, works her way to Cambridge, but then WWI interrupts those plans. The book starts post-war, as Maisie has set up a private detective agency, but significant chunks are her young adulthood pre-war and during the war, where she works as a nurse. I did enjoy the historical aspect (though didn't need the love interest particularly) but at first it felt like it interrupted the case. She began investigating a case, then we had the historical interlude, then the case returned. Initially the case was pretty bland -- though it heated up!! -- but it was somewhat disconcerting having it come and go. Not bad, and not a dealbreaker for reading more by any means, but at first, disconcerting. I do imagine I'll read further in the series.

+20 task - Мейси Доббс. Одного поля ягоды
+10 combo (10.6; 10.9 - historical 1257x, mystery 2676x)
+10 review

Task Total: 40
Season Total: 430

Congrats, Elizabeth!!

20.5 The Queen's Necklace

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

I think someone else in this group has said it, but I am so regretful I didn't discover Wilkie Collins until so recently! We read so much Dickens in school; I wish Wilkie Collins got as much love! (But thanks to this group, I did eventually find him). As a mystery fan, it's fun to see the progression of mystery writing from Collins on, and I've thoroughly enjoyed both The Woman in White and this one. In The Moonstone, the story centers on the stolen Indian jewel, the moonstone, which is brought to England and ends up with the family at the center of the story. It's stolen again, and detection and intrigue ensue. The descriptions of the Indians in England to chase the jewel are pretty cringe-worthy but not the worst, and I definitely liked reading some of the narrators better than others, but I found the story and Collins' style engaging. Well worth a read!

+20 task
+20 combo (10.9 - mystery 1771x, historical 84x; 20.4, 20.9, 20.10)
+10 Oldies (pub. 1868)
+5 Jumbo (528 pages)
+10 Review

Task Total: 65
Season Total: 390

20.2 The Blazing World

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

With the Handmaid's Tale TV series so popular, I'd heard quite a bit about this novel as a Handmaid's Tale-like retelling of The Scarlet Letter, which is actually a very good description of the book, I think. I enjoyed the story and I also enjoyed the references to The Scarlet Letter. Some reviewers have said that the beginning is much stronger than the ending, and that the rapid pace of events toward the end made it less enjoyable and less believable. I think Hillary Jordan's writing is excellent and that carried me through parts that otherwise might have seemed less believable, and I felt okay about the rapid-fire sequence of events towards the end. I definitely did not want to put the book down once I got past the first 15% or so, and to me that signals a good read!

+20 task (discussed in help thread, on this list: https://www.sbs.com.au/guide/article/...)
+5 combo (10.7)
+10 review

Task Total: 35
Season Total: 325

One bit of news from me to share -- I'm expecting a baby in about a month!! We are really excited, and terrified, in equal measure. I'm guessing that this will probably have an impact on my reading and posting, too :) So I may be around here a bit less after June 19 (or whenever she decides to make her grand entrance!).

10.9 Double Trouble

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

WOW! I can't recall where I heard about this book -- I think actually from a Goodreads email -- but I am so glad I did. I read a lot of suspense as it is, but this was a terrific addition for me. The premise of the novel is that a woman, Amber, is in a coma. The book is told from the perspective of "now" (while she is in a coma but can hear and think), "then" (the week leading up to the coma) and "before" (childhood diary). Throughout, we're trying to figure out what happened to land her in the hospital and whose fault it is - the intense sister? The maybe-cheating husband? The boss? Friends? The title suggests an unreliable narrator, and the book delivers in so many ways. It's hard to review this without spoilers, but I'll say this: this must have been an incredibly hard book to plan out, and the author did an unbelievable job of it. There are several big reveals, twists and turns I didn't see coming, but when I look back, the hints were right where they should have been. I will say the book started slowish - the first 25-30 pages I wasn't hooked - but by the time I got into it, it was a book I stayed up incredibly late to finish because I just couldn't stop. Highly recommended if you like thrillers, especially with unreliable narrators!

+10 task (mystery 280x, contemporary 46x)
+10 review

Task Total: 20
Season Total: 290

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "We're glad you got to participate - you did get some postings in, I think."

Yep, I got some good big ones up there early! Just wish I could have thrown in a nice Oldies :)

Oh whoops, just realized the challenge already ended!! I was way too slow on The Moonstone, though it's a good one! Was calculating April 15 not 14. Oh well. Great game, team!

Go team!!! I'm trying to finish up one, maybe two, books today, both of which will have a lot of style points...we'll see!!

20.6 Dead Souls

The Blood Promise by Mark Pryor

I read the previous two books in this series quite some time ago, so it took me a little bit to get back into the world of the story. I found that it actually stands alone reasonably well, though. The series follows Hugo Marston, a US State Dept employee in Paris, as he investigates various crimes. This one was a complicated one, as it involved a visiting US Senator, plenty of aristocratic French families, and a two hundred year old secret. It was an enjoyable read - great, easy reading for subways and travel. I found by the end that I was a bit confused and didn't fully grasp the stakes involved. I wondered if it was a case of the author not leaving all the clues in the text (sort of cheating, in my opinion!) or it just being a relatively convoluted plot. So the ending wasn't everything I hoped for, but again, a light and easy read.

+20 task
+10 combo (10.3 - #3 in series, 10.5 - 746 ratings)
+10 review

Task Total: 40
Season Total: 270

10.5 Green Stone

Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children by Sara Zaske

I don't recall where this was recommended to me but I'm glad it was. It's a memoir with a good bit of research embedded - Sara Zaske tells the story of when she, her husband, and young daughter move to Berlin for her husband's job. They stay there for 6 years or so, have a second child, the kids start school, and so on. Each chapter details a different stage of her life as a mom, her kids' lives, and so on, contrasting German parenting with her experience as an American parent. With the caveat that I've read reviews that suggest she is glossing over some big differences by describing "German" habits (versus "Berlin" habits), I enjoyed it a lot. I found it to be thought-provoking and made me reflect a lot about our sometimes-unexamined beliefs that end up influencing a ton of decisions - about children, independence, how we structure our lives, and more.

+10 task (197 ratings)
+10 not-a-novel
+10 review

Task Total: 30
Season Total: 230

10.9 Double Trouble

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

This was my second time reading this beautiful, creepy little book -- I reread it for a book club. Talking about it in a club made all the difference to how much I enjoyed the book. I realized, on this second read and discussion, how much this book feels right in the classic Gaiman style -- some religious allusions, lots of symbolism, timeless-feeling children, creepy parents, fairy tale feel, magic. The story is pretty simple: A lonely young boy meets the family at the end of the lane - 3 generations of women who have some unique powers and roles in managing the unseen magical creatures of the world. And like any fairy-tale-ish world, the boy makes a mistake and doesn't listen, with frightening consequences.

+10 task (shelved contemporary 323x and mystery 65x)
+10 review

Task Total: 20

Season Total: 200

20.1 The Double

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

As it turned out, I had read this about 15 years ago and only had hazy memories. I think I probably liked it more this time around. The story is of a group of eccentric classics students at a small college who descend into some twisted morals and near-madness. The storyline itself is interesting but requires a little bit of putting aside the feeling of "What's wrong with these incredibly, incredibly privileged young people making insane decisions and living absurd lives?" However, as weird as it sounds, if you can and want to put that aside, it's a good read. Having read The Goldfinch, and liking it, I can see where this fits right into Tartt's style -- wordy, slightly weird, brooding characters that aren't quite likable, sprawling plots.

+20 task (the twins are major characters)
+25 combo (10.9 - myst, contemp; 20.3; 20.4 - Тайная история; 20.6, 20.9)
+5 jumbo (559 pages)
+5 oldies (published 1992)
+10 review

Task Total: 65

Season Total: 180

Ooooh, and it looks like Ed just finished another one -- by my count we're up to at least 205 (and I could definitely be counting wrong!).

I'm about to finish a Donna Tartt book -- and today's snow day has kept me at home (unfortunately still doing some work but with more reading breaks built in :) so I'll probably finish today. Should get us 45 more points!