Katy’s
Comments
(group member since Aug 04, 2010)
Katy’s
comments
from the Reading with Style group.
Showing 861-880 of 1,214
Would Lewis Carroll work? He published novels, mathematics nonfiction books, and poetry according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_C....
20.10Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen
This book took me a REALLY long time to read. I started, stopped, started, stopped...so it wasn't riveting! On the other hand, it was definitely interesting material - I just needed some breaks. I had hoped for more -- I'm fascinated with diseases and one of my best friends in college was a biology student (who now works as an epidemiologist) who kept all kinds of dead and alive insects around our apartment. I enjoyed the parts of the book where Quammen was describing the work that scientists undertake (crawling through snake- and bat-infested caves!) to hunt down new diseases. On the whole, his scientific explanations were clear and useful, too. And having recently traveled to Cambodia and seen monkeys clamoring for tourist food around a temple, I was interested to read about the disease-spreading potential of these monkeys! (I felt very vindicated, too, since I had refused to get in touching distance from them!) Not a 5 star read, but a good one.
+20 task
+5 jumbo (592 pages)
+10 review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 885
Thanks, moderators! Great challenge, as always!
10.9 Realistic RatingsThe Hanging Girl by Jussi Adler-Olsen
+10 task (3.87 rating)
+5 series (Department Q series)
+5 jumbo (512 pages)
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 850
20.3 Toni Morrison How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon
low Lexile, no styles
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 830
Kate S wrote: "Katy wrote: "10.5 Favorite AuthorsThe Guilty by David Baldacci
+10 task
+5 series (Will Robie series)
+5 jumbo (672 pages)
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 655"
So..."
Thanks, Kate! I clearly was not paying as much attention as I needed to when I posted! ;)
20.6 Svetlana AlexievichThe Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith
This book was even more interesting than #1 in the series. I was fascinated by the history embedded in this book -- and realized that I don't know a lot about the Soviet Union's history. (Maybe next season I'll read some more history!) Tom Rob Smith doesn't shy away from addressing the really horrific aspects of the Stalin years while telling a compelling story. This installment of the series is less of a murder mystery and more of a complex political and character based story – but very enjoyable. The writing is crisp and fast, and the characters are compelling. Definitely recommended!
+20 task
+10 combo (10.2, 10.9 - 3.77 rating)
+10 review
+5 series (Leo Demidov series #2)
Task Total: 45
Grand Total: 800
10.9 Realistic RatingsMrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha by Dorothy Gilman
+10 task (3.99 rating)
+10 combo (10.7, 20.10)
+15 series (prev. claimed this series in post 1131)
+5 oldies (published 1985)
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 755
10.8 Winter SolsticeBlack Seconds by Karin Fossum
+10 task (Norwegian author)
+5 combo (20.4)
+10 series (Konrad Sejer series - previously claimed the series in task above!)
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 715
20.4 Elfriede JelinekThe Indian Bride by Karin Fossum
+20 task (pub in Norwegian, Norwegian author)
+10 combo (10.2, 10.8 - Norway)
+5 series (Konrad Sejer series)
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 690
10.5 Favorite AuthorsThe Guilty by David Baldacci
+10 task
+5 series (Will Robie series)
+5 jumbo (672 pages)
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 655
20.8 Best of 2015Descent by Tim Johnston
This is a book that I think benefitted from being read as a group. I had it on my to-read list, but I acquired it by convincing a friend she would enjoy reading it on the plane, causing her to buy it, then lend it to me. We then shared it with a friend who loves to read as much as we do. It was a quick read, engaging and well written, but didn’t grab me the way I anticipated. However, in discussing the book with my friends, I noticed a number of aspects I didn’t see at first, like themes of twin-ness and doubles. This added to my enjoyment of an otherwise just-okay book.
+20 task (on NPR list)
+15 combo (10.2, 10.9 - 3.64, 20.1)
+10 review
Task Total: 45
Grand Total: 630
10.10 Group ReadsBeing Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
I anticipated this being a morbid, depressing read. After all, it is about death and old age. But I have loved everything that Atul Gawande has written and this ended up being no exception. I found it much less depressing than expected. One of the most powerful themes that kept emerging is the idea of all of us as authors of our own life stories – he writes “In the end, people don’t view their life as merely the average of all its moments – which, after all, is mostly nothing much plus some sleep. For human beings, life is meaningful because it is a story. A story has a sense of a whole, and its arc is determined by the significant moments, the ones where something happens.” In a way, this makes the idea of dying and old age a little less intimidating.
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 585
20.10 Leap YearMrs. Pollifax on the China Station by Dorothy Gilman
I'm continuing my slow, lazy re-read of the Mrs. Pollifax series. They feel so dated, with a few cringe-worthy references, but at the same time, they're like comfort food - they remind me of being a kid pulling out my mom's mystery books - and they're such great commute books, light and enjoyable. In this installment, Mrs. Pollifax is sent to China to help provide cover in order to smuggle an engineer out of a labor camp. As always, the book is inspiring me to dig into some of the history - this takes place after Mao's death but before modern day Chinese history, so it brought up a lot of ideas and questions for me.
+20 task
+5 combo (10.7 - 11 users, main page)
+10 review
+5 oldies (1983)
+10 series (#6 in series, previously claimed this series for 10.7)
Task Total: 50
Grand Total: 565
10.3 Science Fiction DaySeveneves by Neal Stephenson
I ended up loving this book, somewhat unexpectedly. In the first part of the book we find out that all life on earth is going to be extinguished in 2 years and we watch the preparations for keeping humanity going in space, which are fascinating. Then we see the event itself, and then finally, in last chunk of the book, we see the results - thousands of years later, humanity is back! I would say better than ever, but not really, in a lot of ways. A lot of reviewers disliked this last part - and I will say I didn't find it quite as engaging as the technological parts earlier -- but it was interesting to imagine how society might look and turn out in this particular situation.
Stephenson is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine - he's just so sprawling and BIG. There's always new stuff to think about in his books.
+10 task
+5 combo (10.9 - 3.98, 20.8)
+10 review
+15 jumbo (881 pages)
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 515
Rosemary wrote: "Haha Amanda, couldn't wait huh?I bought two books by Dana Stabenow in our library sale today, following reviews and recommendations from people on here, especially Elizabeth. They..."
I think they will make sense, although there will be some references to people/events you won't know about. Nothing that should prevent you from enjoying the story - she generally explains a little bit about them, or otherwise makes it clear that you don't need to really know the details.
15.4 Book DominoesA Pleasure and a Calling by Phil Hogan
+15 task (published in same decade as 15.3 - this is in 2014, that was in 2015)
Grand Total: 475
15.3 Book DominoesHome by Nightfall by Charles Finch
+15 task (author is born in the U.S. like the author of 15.2)
Grand Total: 460
20.2 Sigrid Undset The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Wow! This book was SO much better than I expected! I guess I'm not quite sure WHAT I expected, except that I'm not generally interested in the medieval era (I may now have to rethink that general categorization!). The characters felt real to me - which is something I often struggle with in historical fiction (and which may leave the author open to charges of anachronism!). The plot felt like a high-end soap opera, which kept my commutes flying by. Granted, much of the time I was enraged at how the entire system of medieval justice seemed to be built around who knows who and how powerful you are. Eventually I came to care ridiculously much about whether or not this cathedral would get built! And the historical aspect was fascinating - I found myself eager to look up everything from whether all the different power players in the book were real to how flying buttresses work. Surprise 5 star for me!
+20 task (set 1123-1174)
+5 combo (10.4 - #266 on list)
+10 review
+5 oldies (pub 1989)
+20 jumbo (973 pages)
Task Total: 60
Grand Total: 445
10.1 Your Own TaskFar from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon
This book has really been a project -- I've been at it in some form since early December. I picked it up because the author spoke at a conference my organization managed (but I didn't hear him) and he's going to speak again soon (which I will hear!). I am so glad I did commit to it, though - it was well worth the length and density. Basically, Solomon is exploring how parents conceptualize their childrens' "horizontal identities" - identities not passed through families but instead, making connections horizontally. For instance, he has chapters devoted to autism, transgender children, crime, deafness, etc. The fascinating thing, as the book progressed, was to see the connections between different sorts of identities, and to imagine how that impacted the parents and children involved. So, clearly, having a child with multiple severe disabilities who may never speak or move is different from having a deaf child -- and both are different from having a child in prison. In all cases, though, you and/or your child is, willingly or unwillingly, part of a community of people who share something that may be hard for others to understand. The book is quite long and quite dense but entirely readable - Solomon does a great job interspersing personal stories with bits of history and science - and very compelling reading.
+10 task (my task = nonfiction book)
+10 review
+20 jumbo (976 pages)
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 385
