Joy’s Comments (group member since Dec 09, 2012)

Joy’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

10.5 Favorite Authors

Stone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood
#4 most read

+10 task
+20 combo (10.2, 10.3 - #61, 10.8 - born in Canada, 10.9 - 3.94)

Task total: 30
Grand total: 75

10.2 Noel, Noel

Rising Strong by Brené Brown

+10 task

Task total: 10
Grand total: 45

10.8 Winter Solstice

Morning in the Burned House by Margaret Atwood
Born in Canada

Review: I wanted to start reading more poetry, but was intimated about where to start. And then I realized that Margaret Atwood has written several collections of poetry and I knew she was the answer to how to get started reading contemporary poetry. As with her novels, Atwood draws you in with writing that's easy to connect with and then hits you with something that stops you in your tracks. It takes a lot of talent to write something that seems simple but is complex and full of meaning. I was continually amazed at how she can strip a phrase down to only the essentials to express something so insightful. I certainly enjoyed having this collection on hand to read a poem or two (instead of looking at my phone) during the day, and have already obtained another of her books of poetry.

+10 task
+15 combo (10.2, 10.3 - #61, 10.5 - #4 most read)
+10 review

Task total: 35
Grand total: 35

Read a book checked out from the library.

1 Kurt Vonnegut (16)
2 William Shakespeare (15)
3 Jane Austen (9)
4 David Sedaris (8)
4 Margaret Atwood (8)

10.8 - Podcast Reading

Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line by Michael Gibney

+10 Task (BOTNS #273: Fan-tastic Reading)
+10 Not a novel

Task total: 20
Grand Total: 260

20.2 - Series

In the Woods by Tana French

+20 Task
+15 Prize-worthy (Barry Award, Macavity Award, Anthony Award, Edgar Award)
+10 Combo: (10.8 - BOTNS #196, 20.6)

Task total: 45
Grand total: 240

As previously mentioned in this thread, Among Others by Jo Walton mentions over 150 books, however, I will just include several of the books I'm interested in reading for the Summer 2015 challenge:

Cat's Cradle p. 29
The Lord of the Rings p. 39
I Capture the Castle p. 57
The Magus p. 73
The Hobbit p. 109

10.3 – Borrowing from the Mods

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard

+10 Task: Sam read in Oct. 2014
+10 Not a Novel
+10 Combo: 10.4 (Darkest is 7 letters), 10.8 (BOTNS #156: Narrative Nonfiction)

Task total: 30
Grand total: 195

10.5 - Nebula

Among Others by Jo Walton

+10 Task
+15 Prize-worthy (Hugo Award for Best Novel - 2012, Nebula Award for Best Novel - 2011, British Fantasy Award for Best Novel - 2012)
+5 Combo (10.8 - Galactic Suburbia: Episode 40)

Task total: 30
Grand total: 165

Deedee wrote: "The heroine of Nebula Award winning novel Among Others by Jo Walton likes to read..."

Thanks for the recommendation of Among Others! I just started it and am loving it. How can you not love a book in which the heroine states: "I have books, new books, and I can bear anything as long as there are books.” :)

Cory Day wrote: "+5 Combo (10.8 - http://bookrageous.podbean.com/e/book...) "

Thanks, Cory!!

10.4 Scrabble

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

+10 Task (Madness = 7 letter)
+10 Not a Novel (memoir)
+5 Combo (10.8 - http://bookrageous.podbean.com/e/book...)*

Task total: 25
Grand total: 135

*edited 3/30/15 to add combo points

20.6 - Crime

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

+20 Task: crime is listed as a genre on the book's page
+15 Combo: 10.1 (message 640: by Karen Michele on Feb 04, 2015), 10.3 (Sam, Aug 2014), 10.8 (BOTNS #291)

Task total: 35
Grand total: 110

10.8 – Podcast Reading

Elsewhere by Richard Russo

+10 Task: Books on the Nightstand podcast #207 in the BOTNS Holiday Gift Guide (approved in message 39 by Liz M on Mar 14 in the 10.8 – Podcast Reading thread)
+10 Not a Novel: memoir
+5 Combo: 10.3 (Kate S. 11/2013)

Task total: 25
Grand total: 75

Liz M wrote: "I'll accept it. Please refer to this post when claiming the points..."

Thank you!

Using the Books on the Nightshelf index, I found that Elsewhere by Richard Russo was included in podcast #207: It’s great to give *and* receive!, however, instead of listing books in the summary of the episode, they linked to a separate BOTNS Holiday Gift Guide. Is this acceptable?

20.2 - Series

Early Warning by Jane Smiley

+20 task: #2 in the Last Hundred Years series
+10 combo: 10.4 (WARNING), 10.6 (Ph.D. from the University of Iowa)

Task total: 30
Grand total: 50

10.4 - Scrabble!

The Answer to the Riddle Is Me: A Memoir of Amnesia by David Stuart MacLean

+10 Task (Amnesia = 7 letters)
+10 Not-a-Novel (nonfiction)

Task total: 20
Grand total: 20

(edited 3/14 to correct style point value)

Will the Last Hundred Years: A Family Saga by Jane Smiley be acceptable?

It is a multi-generational story of a family that is planned as a trilogy. The second book, Early Warning, picks up where the first book, Some Luck, left off, but with the subsequent generation of characters narrating. For example, in the first book the matriarch of the family Rosanna and her sister Eloise were two of the (many) narrators, but in the second book Rosanna's grandson Henry and Eloise's daughter Rosa are now narrating from their perspectives.

Thanks--fun challenge idea!