Kim’s
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(group member since Nov 20, 2020)
Kim’s
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from the Reading with Style group.
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10.1 EnjoyedThe Duke and I by Julia Quinn
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 50
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10.2 NameMagruder's Curiosity Cabinet by H.P. Wood
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 40
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So many good choices! Walter Tevis is a Writers Forum author, The House in the Cerulean Sea has been highly recommended, and Into the Forest was a 5 star read from 20 years ago.
Not sure this is the right place for this question, but has anyone seen the new Beta update? It doesn't look like you'll be able to see MPG or at least the number of people who tagged something a certain genre.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Kim wrote: "Does a book published in May (5th month) count, or is it only for publication year?"Only for the pub year."
Thank you.
Should we hold off on posting anything until all the tasks are updated so we don't miss combo opportunities?
Does a book published in May (5th month) count, or is it only for publication year?
Call your daughter home?
C-N The Nickel Boys Colson WhiteheadD-Q Queen Victoria's Matchmaking: The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe Deborah Cadbury
F-R The Forgotten Road Richard Paul Evans
G-W Where the Forest Meets the Stars Glendy Vanderah
H-U Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe
I-T It's Not All Downhill from Here Terry McMillan
J-V A Visit from the Goon Squad Jennifer Egan
K-P Prospice Karen Kelly
L-S The Sweeney Sisters Lian Dolan
N-Y Year One (Chronicles of The One, #1) Nora Roberts
O-K Kindred Octavia E. Butler
10.4 ValentinesThe Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan
I quite enjoyed this novel by Jenny Colgan, having read her tangentially related earlier book The Bookshop on the Corner several years ago. Once again, this book starts out with a young woman who loves books and lives in London, finding herself needing to move with her 4 year old son, Hari. Nina's friend, Surinder, who is the sister to Hari's father, suggests that Zoe might work out as a cover for Nina while she is on maternity leave. At the same time, a nanny position opens in the town, for a family of three children, with a largely absent father and a mysteriously absent mother. Zoe, knowing she hasn't nothing to lose, takes the position, and falls in love with the Scottish town, its people, and the family she is gradually bringing back together. Hari thrives, as well. The ending is not yet necessarily happy ever after, but the makings are there.
Task: 10
Review: 10
Combo: 5 (10.3)
Total: 25
This is to replace Post 57
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 851 Kim wrote: "10.4 ValentinesThe Christmas Table by Donna VanLiere
If you like Hallmark movies, this book is for you. Short, inspirational, and faith-based, t..."
I could substitute The Bookshop on the Shore, which I'll add to the post below. It would be the same number of points.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Kim - a Mega your first season is fabulous. But did we miss seeing a post for 20.2 Jazz?"Thanks! It was message 23 on page 1
20.3 Post ModernLove by Toni Morrison
This is one of the few books I am posting without a review, as I just don't know what to make of it. I'll reread it again in a few years, and maybe read some articles and critiques about it. Perhaps then it will make sense to me.
Task: 20
Prize: 5 Ohioana Book Award for Fiction (2004)
Mega Finish: 200
Task total: 225
Season total: 2335 (I think)
10.8 Lunar (Tien's Task) Neighbors by Danielle Steel
Published 2021
4.0/5.0 stars - A good solid book by an author that sometimes I love, other times I don't. Meredith White, a former award winning movie star, lives in a gated house and has hidden herself away for 14 years following the death of her 14 year old son. Then one day a big earthquake hits, and she opens her home to her neighbors whose homes have been badly damaged. The earthquake is a life changer for most of the neighborhood, and new relationships develop, old ones crumble apart. Meredith finds herself becoming friends with the people she welcomes into her home, much to the chagrin of the couple who she employs to run her home, who have been stealing from her for years. The story unfolds over about a year, and while it's not quite a happy ending for everyone, most of the characters grow and find happiness during that time. The one part that bothered me a bit is the few places where a woman is described as "belonging to" a man. Other than that, it was a nice, comfortable read.
Task: 10
Review: 10
Combo 10.3: 5
Total: 25
Season Total: 2110
10.4 ValentinesSuper America by Anne Panning
3.5 rounded to 4.0 stars - I normally don't read or enjoy short stories, so this book was a bit of a mixed bag for me. There were some common themes between the ten stories, two took place in Hawai'i - "Tidal Wave Wedding" and "What Happened" and two dealt with devastating bicycle accidents "What Happened" and the novella "Freeze." All were glimpses into what could have been my life or yours. And all had some academic connection - a college student or professor. I enjoyed many of them, but my favorites were "Five Reasons I Miss the Laundromat" and the novella. The laundromat story brought me back to a time in my life when I occasionally would find myself hauling a week's worth of clothing for a family of six, sometimes with one or more of the kids to help, but more often by myself. In a way, it was a respite from a busy family life. The novella, one of several set in a Monroe County college town (Brockport?) spoke to me of a time when I was the person putting on the brave face, managing people and things, while my husband was trying not to die. And like Peter, coming home on Thanksgiving, but not out of the woods yet.
Tomorrow, the college library's book club will meet virtually to discuss this book, written by one of our own faculty. It will be interesting to hear their take, and as Anne is facilitating this, to learn more about it from the author, herself.
Task: 10
Review: 10
Prize: 5 - Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction (2007)
Total: 25
Season Total: 2085
10.4 ValentinesThe Christmas Shoes by Donna VanLiere
5.0 stars - Sometimes a book is more than the story, more than the laughter or a way to pass the time. Sometimes, like now, a book feels like it was written just for you. How ironic that on this day, the 20th anniversary of my mother's death, that this little story, of a little boy who loses his mother to cancer on Christmas Day (with a subplot of another character, a middle-aged man, who loses his mother unexpectedly on the day after Christmas) should be the one I read. A few things stick out to me. First, no matter your age, you're never ready to lose your mother. Second, your mother is never really gone, her love lives on in your heart. Finally, the beautiful lesson, God doesn't take her from you, He receives her with love.
This is the first book of the Christmas Hope series, but the third that I have read. They are short books, classified as Christian Fiction, and each one seems to build from the characters of the previous one. This is a book I will treasure, and may read annually on this day.
Task: 10
Review: 10
Combo 10.3: 5
Total: 25
Season Total: 2060
10.4 ValentinesThe Christmas Table by Donna VanLiere
If you like Hallmark movies, this book is for you. Short, inspirational, and faith-based, this book by Donna VanLiere grabbed me from the New Book shelf. And like many books that do that, it turned out to be the latest installment in a series that I hadn't read any of the previous ones. I now have the first two on hold.
The book is told through a dual timeline - 1972 and 2012, and follows two young families throughout a year in their life. What ties the families together is a handmade walnut table and a stack of recipes written by a loving mother for her newlywed daughter. The story of the original owners and how the second family works to find them - to return the family heirloom recipes makes for an enjoyable holiday read. A cup of tea, a warm fireplace, and a blanket or cat in your lap completes the setting.
Task: 10
Review: 10
Combo 10.3: 5
Total: 25
Season Total: 2035
10.4 ValentinesThe Best of Us by Robyn Carr
3.0 stars - I might have series fatigue because I enjoyed this book the least of the five. None of the Jones siblings played a significant part in this one, but Maggie's father, Sully had a large story line, where he falls in love, at the age of 72, with a mystery writer named Helen. Helen is the aunt of the town doctor, Leigh, and meets Sully while visiting her. I think what bothered me was the use of the "oops, I'm pregnant" plot device so soon after it was used in the previous book. And these are not teenagers, but professionals (the town doctor - seriously?) who it accidentally happens to. But never fear, they all live happily ever after. Also showing up in this book was visiting villain, Johnny, and local troublemaker, Alyssa, but they didn't really add anything to the story, for me. It was interesting to have a trio of love interests, young love - Maia and Finn, main love story, Leigh and Rob, and the mature love story of Sully and Helen. (view spoiler)
Task: 10
Review: 10
Total: 20
Season Total: 2010
10.1 Square PegMy Brilliant Life by Kim Ae-ran
Areum is an only child born to his parents while they were in their teens. He suffers from a rare disease called progeria, which causes him to age prematurely and greatly limits his life expectancy. But he is a curious boy, and although he cannot attend school, he reads everything he can, to learn as much about the world as possible. He decides to write a book about his life to give to his parents to remember him. I found the book just okay, try as I might, I don't enjoy literary fiction. If you do, this translated from Korean, 208 page book about the meaning of life might be just right for you.
Task: 10
Review: 10
Lost in Translation: 10
Total: 30
Season Total: 1990
