Katy’s
Comments
(group member since Aug 04, 2010)
Katy’s
comments
from the Reading with Style group.
Showing 721-740 of 1,214
20.7 #AWW2017 Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty
I always enjoy a Liane Moriarty book but this one wasn't my favorite. It was a page turner -- the setup is that 3 couples and 3 children are at a BBQ and something terrible happens. The book goes back and forth between the day of the barbecue and the present day (about 3 months later) as we see the effects of the "terrible thing" on all the players. Much of the book is a tease leading up to the question of what happened at the barbecue already??? And I was pretty confident in what it was 100 pages before the reveal. That disappointed me, but it was still worth reading to find out the nitty gritty -- and because no one builds domestic tension like Liane Moriarty!
+20 task
+5 combo (10.2)
+10 review
Task total: 35
Grand Total: 260
10.5 Circus Caraval by Stephanie Garber
830 Lexile
I was really looking forward to this after reading a ton of good buzz around it. Not my absolute favorite of the genre but worth a read. Caraval is a game (ish) that the mysterious Legend stages once a year somewhere throughout this kingdom. Dark rumors circulate about Caraval, including the stories of a woman who died during the performance years ago. Scarlett and her sister are finally invited, but must first escape the clutches of their abusive father. This was definitely a plot-junkie book - I read wanting to find out what happened next, not for any particular depth or theme. I had a few quibbles, like the vague world-building (Where is this place? Why can't they leave their island? Why is the whole world made of islands?) Setting that aside, though, if you like fantasy and/or romance it's worth checking out.
+10 task (shelved 20x as "circus")
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 225
10.3 English LanguageTuesday's Gone by Nicci French
This is book #2 in the Frieda Klein series, which I picked up for last season, since all the titles have days of the week in them. Super engaging premise and all in all a great ride. In this installment, therapist Frieda Klein, still dealing with the fallout from the case she helped solve in book 1, now faces the mystery of a dead body being tended to by a mentally ill woman. The book is full of surprise twists, and although I did make a few correct predictions, I was definitely surprised, which is nice. I also like the way the characters are drawn. A number of them are quite odd, and even sometimes unlikable, but always interesting and always realistic.
+10 task (2 authors - both born in UK)
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 205
Karin wrote: "Karen Michele wrote: "I'm doing the readathon, too :)"Excellent! I don't always remember who is in which of my groups :)."
Actually the Greek book is done -- I finished mine a week or so ago. The only regular task left is 20.8 which I think Kazen is reading currently...not sure.
20.5 Foundation I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman
Some reviewers of this book have complained it's not really a thriller or a mystery, and that is sort of true. From page 1 (in fact, from the blurb) we know the crime that has happened -- when Eliza was a teenager, she was abducted by Walter and held for 39 days. She was the only one of his victims to live. Now he's on death row and wants to talk to her. I liked, but didn't love, the book. I found it addictive and couldn't wait to see what happened next, but I also went in knowing it wasn't quite a thriller. There was a lot of suspense, but it didn't pay off in anything terrifying. That's ok - that's not what this book is - but if I was hoping for a thriller I'd be disappointed.
+20 task (born in Atlanta in 1959)
+5 combo (10.2)
+10 review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 185
10.6 Spring Equinox Darktown by Thomas Mullen
Wow...this was really good. Highly recommended, if you are ok with some language (including the n-word) and some pretty intense violence. I wasn't sure what to expect, and it was a slow start, but well worth it in the end. It's both a mystery and historical fiction, about the first black police officers in Atlanta. They were called officers but faced racism and cruelty from fellow officers. They weren't allowed to work in the actual station, drive patrol cars, or make arrests. The book follows partners Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith as they tangle with a pair of white cops in their efforts to bring the murderer of a young black woman to justice. I appreciated that the author didn't turn it into a "good white person saves the day" story or "see how this one good white cop is better than all the bad cops" story. The racism of post-WWII Atlanta was portrayed in all its (presumable) complexity. Most of all, this was mainly Lucius's story, and other people played their roles. Everyone felt well-rounded and real.
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 150
20.4 My Family and Other AnimalsDeadline in Athens: An Inspector Costas Haritos Mystery by Petros Markaris
I have a very low-key goal of reading mystery novels set in as many countries as I can, and so this book had been sitting on my TBR for a while -- meaning that this task was a great opportunity to bump it up the list! In this novel, Inspector Haritos takes on the murder of an Albanian couple, and a reporter starts dropping some hints that he is missing something. Before he can investigate further, she is murdered -- after hinting that she has a bombshell to drop on the nightly news. From there, you'll find the usual array of twists and turns, fascinating tidbits of Athens life, and family drama for the inspector. Definitely recommended if you enjoy a good crime novel with just a touch of the heroically-stressed-out detective!
+20 task (set entirely in Athens)
+5 combo (10.2)
+10 review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 130
10.2 3, 4 or 5 Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple
I enjoyed Maria Semple's last book quite a lot, but didn't LOVE it. Just enjoyed it enough to put a hold on this one. She definitely has a style, and I like it, and I think I enjoyed this one more. This is the story of one of Eleanor's days (with some digressions to the past) -- an especially screwball kind of day, full of missed connections, lies emerging, slapstick comedy, and screaming. I didn't quite like Eleanor, but I don't think I was supposed to. I was rooting for her, but partly in an "Oh my God, there can't be something ELSE happening to you now" kind of way. However, despite not loving the character, Eleanor was very well drawn, the book was funny, and I didn't want to put it down to go to bed. I even jotted down a few quotes. All things considered, I recommend it -- but if you read and disliked Where'd You Go Bernadette, you probably won't love this one either.
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 85
I am about halfway through with my 20.4 book -- Karin, if you finish Plato, great! I anticipate finishing Friday...
And I did a 15 so instead of moving other people's around, I just added mine and colored it in. That's why it looks weird :)
15.1 AotD (Time Traveler)The Vegetarian by Han Kang
+15 task (Man Booker Prize, 2016)
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 65
So if Amanda wants to, she can post 10.7, then Karen Michele is doing 10.10, and Kazen just claimed the square peg. I have a 10.2 that's done that I was just waiting to see if we needed -- I can post it whenever.Today I started a Greek book for 20.4 -- it's reasonably short so depending on a couple things this week, I'll finish it in a couple days. If someone finishes a Greek book sooner, great! I also started a 15 point book that I may finish up while we still need some 15s.
Amanda wrote: "I'm still waiting for you to tell me where to post A Study in Scarlet. I am leaving in 2 hours and have a lot to do between now and then, and I won't be back online for about 60 hours..."I know you're probably not online right now, Amanda -- I don't know if I'm the best person to answer this (though I don't know who else is, either!). But it seems, from looking at the spreadsheet, that putting A Study in Scarlet in 10.2 would work. It depends on how far along Karin is with her 10.7, I think -- if that is going well or almost done, we've got 10.7 covered, then we'd have 10.2. I think we now have a square peg from Karen.
10.9 A Wrinkle in Time Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
I was so excited to see this task, because I love time travel fiction. I've loved it ever since I was a kid and first encountered A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court -- and I was definitely not above trying to "accidentally" bump my head in school so I could potentially get sent back to some other time period. As an adult, one of my perennial favorite authors is Connie Willis -- and this book is in that mold. In the first 100 pages or so, I felt like Jodi Taylor's work was derivative of Connie Willis's - but that that was okay with me. By the end, there were more stark differences. This book is like Willis's Oxford Time Travel series plus some good-versus-evil, a lot more battle scenes and a lot more romance, and a much snarkier heroine. I think no one can displace Connie Willis in my top ten list, but this book was a definite good read that I didn't want to put down, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!
+10 task (#135 on the list)
+5 combo (10.3)
+10 review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 50
I have a relatively quick Square Peg I can read after I finish my 10.9 book. I'll keep you guys posted! :)
10.4 International Question DayThe Thing with Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human by Noah Strycker
You may not be surprised to realize that I picked this up for Karen Michele's task last time and never got to it...but I am so glad I did, because I would never have read this without the task, and it was terrific! I appreciated that the prose was clean, concise, and entertaining, but I REALLY loved all the fascinating bird info! It's organized into sections for body, mind, and spirit, and each section features short chapters about a particular bird's talent or behavior that illuminates something about the topic. One of my favorite chapters was about the pecking order in chickens, and I also loved the chapter about bowerbirds. Apparently they craft these amazing, elaborate huts that are basically art projects used to lure female mates. The subtitle of the book hints at the author's larger project of connecting all this bird knowledge to humans, and he does do this in the chapters, but honestly I found that less compelling than just reading about the birds.
+10 task
+5 combo (10.2)
+10 review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 25
Oh, I also have a 10.2 book done that I was waiting to see if I could use for 20.7 -- but I can't! So I can post that at any time -- if someone has a book they'd rather get 20 for rather than the 10 combo, I can post it immediately.
I should be finishing 10.4 tonight and posting. I am partway done with my 10.9 and anticipate being able to post that on Friday night or Saturday morning.I have a 20.7 on my Kindle already that I plan to read -- will be quick but I'll finish the other two first and see where we are!
I just added the 3 new tasks that were posted to the spreadsheet. Conveniently, I have one on had for 10.9 that I was hoping to find a place for!
