Katy’s
Comments
(group member since Aug 04, 2010)
Katy’s
comments
from the Reading with Style group.
Showing 141-160 of 1,214
20.2 A Midsummer Night's Dream Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
+20 task (#96 on the list)
+5 oldies (pub 1997)
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 55
15.2 Ticket to RideThe Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
City = Montreal
+15 Task (Sault Ste Marie -- Montreal --)
Season total: 30
15.1 Ticket to RideSilver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
City = Sault Saint Marie
+15 Task (SSM)
Season total: 15
20.10 Letters All You Have to Do by Autumn Allen
+20 task (one character, Kevin, handwriting a letter to his sister Dawn is a major plot point in the second half of the book)
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 225
Ticket to Ride is one of my favorite games! So excited to play this version :)
Scrabble Quietly Hostile: Essays by Samantha Irby
+10 task (29 points)
+5 multiple (previously posted in post just above this one!)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 205
10.6 September If It Bleeds by Stephen King
+10 task (SK is born Sept 21)
Task Total: 10
Season Total: 180
10.4 Debut Jackal by Erin E. Adams
This was a fascinating read. Challenging in many ways but well worth it. It's a horror novel in the vein of Get Out (which is a description that pretty much guarantees I will pick up the book). Liz, a Black woman who left her small town behind years ago, is back for a friend's wedding, and is drawn into a pattern of disappearances - one Black girl disappears every June. There are times where the book reads like a thriller (a human-based thriller!) and times where it is more supernatural - to me, that's a plus, because I tend to enjoy the human kind of thriller more. But there's also a strong horror element for those who enjoy that. And the threads running through the book around race, class, and gender make it all the more fascinating.
+10 task (published 2022, her debut)
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 160
10.3 Vowels Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney
This is classic Alice Feeney - really twisty, lots of lies, unreliable narrators, and truly surprising moments. I don't know that this is my favorite of hers, but Alice Feeney has become an author I will always pick up. In this particular book, there are a few characters whose stories become linked throughout the story - Edith, an older woman in a nursing home who may or may not really need to be there; Clio, Edith's daughter who doesn't speak to her and put her in the nursing home; Patience, a young woman who works at the nursing home and befriends Edith. Patience is an especially interesting character - you're predisposed to like her because of how she treats Edith, but as the story goes on you see more sides of her.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Multiple (previously posted for this task in message 331)
Task total: 25
Season total: 140
10.1 Over 60 Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
What a beautiful book! I loved this - the octopus info, the characters, the emotion, the different voices. It was just the kind of read I needed in a time when I have a lot going on in my life and want an engaging but also comforting read. The story follows Tova, an elderly woman who cleans up at a small aquarium overnight and is also dealing with grief and loneliness, as well as Marcellus, an octopus who sees and understands more than anyone would expect, and Cameron, a young man searching for direction and focus, but with a good heart. The book, with its themes of love and friendship and loyalty and second chances, was somewhat predictable in its twists but that didn't detract in the least from how much I enjoyed reading it.
+10 Task (#46 on list)
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Season total: 115
20.1 Author! Author!Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
Fascinating look at the world of publishing. This is my first book by Kuang and although I believe her other books are quite different, I would certainly pick up more. In this book, June, a young author, happens to be present when another young author, sort of a friend but perhaps more of a friendly acquaintance, dies in a freak choking accident. This now-dead author is also wildly successful, making lots of money, instant bestseller, the works. June, who has been less successful and quite jealous, steals her friend's unpublished, unshared manuscript, finishes and edits it, and publishes it to huge acclaim. Watching the consequences from this decision play out, from inside June's perspective, is equally cringe-worthy and compelling. I wanted to scream at her most of the time, but I also did not want to put the book down.
+20 task (MC June is an author)
+10 review
Task Total:30
Season Total: 95
10.9 Georgia Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter
Blindsighted introduces Sara Linton and Lena Adams, along with a cast of colorful characters in a small Georgia town. It also introduces a fairly sadistic serial killer terrorizing said town. There is more than enough action, twistiness, and adventure in this book, and of course there are plenty of surprise connections between different parts of the plot. (There were a few times that it felt almost TOO connected - why is everything connected to everything else in this town?!?) I enjoyed this book although there were definitely some places that felt very 1990s - it was published in 2001 so that makes sense. Not bad, just felt dated in places. However, worth reading and I would pick up more in the series!
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 65
10.3 VowelsFinlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano
While this was definitely another fun & easy read, I thought this might have been the best of the series so far. In this installment, Finlay and Vero get signed up (somewhat accidentally) for a citizen police academy where regular people are trained in police procedure as a PR sort of move. (That part sounded pretty fun, actually!). Of course, the Russian mobsters Finlay has continually been involved with are still in play, and the way the plot plays out is complex but very engaging. I also liked the character development in this one - there was some nuance coming up that had been less developed so far.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Multiple (last post #330)
Task total: 25
Season total: 45
10.3 VowelsFinlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano
Another fun, light read. Finlay is a suburban single mom, dealing with kids, her ex, romantic possibilities, her job as a writer, and the Russian mob. Finlay and Vero, her nanny and conspirator in the suburban hit-woman game, are now dealing with the results of their escapades in the last book where they were misidentified as hitwomen. I appreciated that the author actually dealt with the consequences of the previous book! There were loose ends and those were all picked back up (not fully resolved, but there's always book 3) and things were actually complicated, as life really is (and, I imagine, as life in this particular scenario REALLY is).
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Season total = 20
10.10 SummertimeHijab Butch Blues by Lamya H.
+10 Task Title starts with F, G, or H
+100 finisher bonus
Post Total: 110
Season Total: 885
Hooray! Thank you all 3 for doing this - it makes me so happy to still have RWS in our lives!
20.3 Favorites ROUND TWO Blackmail and Bibingka by Mia P. Manansala
+20 Task (Spring 2022 20.3 - set in a small town - this book is set in the small town of Shady Palms IL)
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 775
10.3 SummertimeInvisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez
+10 Task 8 Words in subtitle
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 755
