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

Katy’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Rosemary wrote: "Post 491 Katy wrote: "20.6 Fruit, Dish, Bottle, and Violin

A Step Past Darkness by Vera Kurian

+20 task (told from many POVs including Maddy, James, Jia, Casey..."

Ha, thank you! That's quite a math mistake :)

20.9 Beware the Ides of March

The Firm by John Grisham

+20 task (grand financial conspiracy is the main part of the plot)
+25 combo (10.2; 10.4 - author born 1955; 10.9 - 501 pages; 20.6 - POVs include Mitch, Abby, and Ray; 20.7 - characters travel from US to Grand Cayman several times)
+5 jumbo (501 pages - the MPE is a young reader adaptation so I linked the next most popular one that is a full text)

Task Total: 50
Season Total: 540

20.8 Fancy Meeting You Here

The Lantern's Dance by Laurie R. King

+20 task (Sherlock Holmes)
+30 combo (10.4 - author born 1952; 10.5 - "dance"; 10.9 - 300 pages; 20.5 - apostrophe; 20.6 - POVs include Holmes, Mary, and Lakshmi; 20.7 - characters travel from UK to France for a week or so; 20.10 - mystery set in France)

Task Total: 55
Season Total: 490

20.7 International Travel

Castle Shade by Laurie R. King

+20 task (story takes place while characters are on a trip of about a week to Romania from the UK)
+20 combo (10.4 - author born 1952, 10.9 - 360 pages; 20.8 - Sherlock Holmes is a main character, 20.10 - mystery taking place in Romania)

Task Total: 40
Season Total: 435

20.6 Fruit, Dish, Bottle, and Violin

A Step Past Darkness by Vera Kurian

+20 task (told from many POVs including Maddy, James, Jia, Casey, Kelly, and Padma)
+5 combo (20.9 - 440 pages)

Task Total: 25
Season Total: 395

10.10 Group Reads

The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Thanks, Connie, for making this a group read! I really enjoyed it. The premise is clear from the GR summary -- one day, out of nowhere, a box appears for every adult on the planet, containing a string that reflects the length of your life. From that moment, of course, everyone has a decision to make - open the box or not? The book chronicles, through multiple POVs, the way this all plays out for individuals as well as for society. I was interested in the political ramifications that Erlick spins out - like that there would end up being tension between "long stringers" and "short stringers" as people end up separated into camps - and equally interested in the ways people mobilized together to cope with the knowledge that they received (and the many ways that that knowledge impacted people - think about decisions like marriage, children, careers...). I found this a great blend of intellectually fascinating and emotionally resonant.

+10 task
+15 combo (10.2, 20.6 - told from many POVs including Jack, Nina, Hank, Amie, Ben...), 20.7 - a trip from the US to Italy is an important plot point))
+10 review

Task Total: 35
Season Total: 270

15.3 HDYGG?

Refugee High: Coming of Age in America by
Elly Fishman

Flowers:
RefUGEe high: coMINg of Age in america -- GERANIUM, +5

Vegetables:
Chicago--CUCUMBER
Illinois--ICEBERG LETTUCE

Herbs: page count = 211
8--ROSEMARY

4 Plants this post
12 Total plants in the garden

+15 Task
+5 Flower Bonus

Task total = 20

Season total: 235

15.2 HDYGG?

Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish by Dorothy Gilman

Flowers:
mrs pollifax and the whirling dervish -- PHLOX
mrs pollifax and the whirling dervish -- GARDENIA, +5

Vegetables:
Morocco -- MUNG BEAN

Herbs: page count = 211
1--HORSERADISH

4 Plants this post
8 Total plants in the garden

+15 Task
+5 Flower Bonus

Task total = 20

Season total: 215

15.1 HDYGG?

Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Triangle by Dorothy Gilman

Flowers:
mrs pollifax AND the gOLDEN trIangle -- DANDELION, +5

Vegetables:
Thailand -- TOMATO

Herbs: page count = 208
2--LEMON VERBENA
0--PEPPERMINT

4 Plants this post
4 Total plants in the garden

+15 Task
+5 Flower Bonus

Task total = 20

Season total: 195

20.10 World of Crime

Three Assassins by Kōtarō Isaka

+20 task (mystery set in Japan)
+20 combo (10.3, 10.9 - 272 pg, 20.6 - POV of Suzuki, Whale, Pusher, Cicada, 20.9 - conspiracy around the gang Maiden being hunted)
+10 Lost in Translation

Task Total: 50
Season Total: 175

10.9 Anniversaries

Sightseeing by Rattawut Lapcharoensap

I got this book because I was going to Thailand for work (just got back and it was AMAZING!!!) - I love reading books from places I'm traveling to, and I was excited to find this one. It's a short story collection featuring characters in Thailand. I really enjoyed each story - a lot of the characters were well developed and the setting came through in such detail. The first story, "Farangs", won prizes, but wasn't even my favorite (though it was good). I think my favorite was the title story, "Sightseeing" - it has stuck with me for a few weeks now with the simplicity and power of the storyline. A son and mother are on a train journey to celebrate the son's impending start to college -- but also to grapple with the mother's impending blindness. Highly recommended!

+10 task (250 pages)
+10 review

Task Total: 20
Season Total: 125

Would The Maltese Falcon work here? Since it centers on the statuette which would be a work of art...?

10.8 Elemental

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

This was a beautiful book and definitely a worthwhile read. The Goodreads summary gives a good idea of the plot and the central conflict, but for me the most interesting features were really well-drawn, strong characters. I liked that the author was able to create characters I generally could sympathize with, while also understanding that they were not perfect and in fact, in some ways, very flawed. (I didn't love EVERYONE but there were definitely a number of characters I could sympathize with). I liked the depth with which the book explores a really difficult situation and while it doesn't shy away from "taking sides", it also doesn't shy away from nuance. And I liked the reflectiveness the book led to for me - about world issues, about how we raise children, about what we owe our kids and our parents, and what we should do (or not do) when we make mistakes.

+10 task (fires)
+10 review

Task Total: 20
Season Total: 105

10.6 Modernism

The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie

+10 task (pub 1929)
+5 combo (10.9 - 375 pages)

Task Total: 15
Season Total: 85

10.4 Baby Boom

The Exchange: After The Firm by John Grisham

This was, unfortunately, a bit of a disappointment. I don't think I had too high expectations - I read John Grisham for a fun, low-key suspense read, and I'm not too worried about a few plot holes. I reread The Firm recently and while it's not great literature, it was fun., so I thought I'd read the follow up. I was curious what could possibly have happened to Mitch and Abby after the events of The Firm! Unfortunately, this book was not nearly as enjoyable. The central plot event is potentially really interesting - there is international diplomacy, kidnapping, terrorism, and more. But the solution is a bit TOO realistic - it's a lot of fundraising and meetings, which are not any more interesting to read about than they are to participate in. Mitch has also become a pretty heroic figure, whereas in The Firm he was morally a bit more questionable, which made him decidedly more interesting!

+10 task (Grisham was born 1955)
+30 combo (10.2; 10.3 - pub 2023; 10.9 - 352 pages; 20.6 - we read from POV of Mitch, Abby, and Giovanna; 20.7 - much of the book is Mitch taking international trips from the US to Libya, Rome, London, etc!; 20.9 - heart of book is a criminal conspiracy to kidnap a lawyer and steal ransom)
+10 review

Task Total: 50
Season Total: 70

10.2 The Dispossessed

The Teacher by Freida McFadden

+10 task
+10 combo (10.9 - 400 pg; 20.6 - Eve, Addie, and Nate's POV)

Task Total: 20
Season Total: 20

15.10 Ticket to Ride

Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century by Lauren Slater

City = Sault Ste Marie

+30 Task (Sault Ste Marie -- Montreal -- Toronto -- Chicago -- St Louis -- Kansas City -- Omaha -- Duluth -- Winnipeg -- Sault Ste Marie)
+150 Circular bonus

Task Total: 180

Season total: 775

15.9 Ticket to Ride

Stateless by Elizabeth Wein
920 Lexile

City = Winnipeg

+30 Task (Sault Ste Marie -- Montreal -- Toronto -- Chicago -- St Louis -- Kansas City -- Omaha -- Duluth -- Winnipeg --)

Season total: 595

Rosemary wrote: "Post 605 Katy wrote: "15.4 Ticket to Ride

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley

City = Chicago

+15 Task (Sault St. Marie -- Montreal -- T..."

Whoops, I just realized this - Sorry!!! I am getting tired late in the season I guess!

20.1 Shakespeare

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

+20 (references Hamlet and also Winter's Tale)
+5 combo (10.6)
+10 female

Task Total: 35
Season Total: 565