Kim’s
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(group member since Nov 20, 2020)
Kim’s
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from the Reading with Style group.
Showing 101-120 of 438
50.55 B8 Author first name is Bob, Brian, Barry, Beverly, BarbaraA Week at the Shore. Barbara Delinsky
+50 - task
Post total: 50
Season total: 2070
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50.54 B13 Bridesmaid: Book nominated for 2+ awards, never a winnerWalter Scott Prize Nominee for Historical Fiction Shortlist (2021), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Historical Fiction (2021)
The Dictionary of Lost Words. Pip Williams
There were many things that spoke to me in this book. First, it was so interesting to watch the creation of the great Oxford English Dictionary (10 volumes, 44 years in preparation) come to life in the context of woman suffrage and World War I.
Beyond that, there were certain passages that I marked:
"Not even the Queen is permitted to borrow from the Bodleian." In my former life, I worked for several years in Interlibrary Loan for a university college, and it was a great thrill to me to borrow books from the Bodleian Library.
"We can't always make the choices we'd like, but we can try to make the best of what we must settle for." I think that's a truth of life, take what life gives you, and do your best with it.
"No graduation, of course. No degree. But it's satisfying to know I would have achieved both if I wore trousers.(May 1909 - Oxford)" I found this passage interesting, because I recently read Bloomsbury Girls, which takes place in 1950, and the main character is a member of the first female graduating class in Cambridge.
The pace of the book seemed a little off to me, the beginning too long, the ending a little hurried, but overall well worth my time.
+50 - task
+5 - review
Post total: 55
Season total: 2020
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50.53 B14 Set in: BC (Can), Brazil, Belgium, Botswana, BahamasBad Monkey. Carl Hiaasen
As a rule, humor is not a genre I seek out, but this book, though convoluted in parts wasn't bad. Andrew Yancy is a disgraced Miami police detective trying to salvage his career, which lately has taken a turn for the worse. He gets involved in an investigation when a disembodied arm shows up, and the explanation doesn't ring true to him. He follows the case to the Bahamas, where the story unfolds in ways you probably wouldn't predict.
+50 - task
+5 - review
Post total: 55
Season total: 1965
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50.52 G57 Guardian 1000 (any on list)Howards End. E.M. Forster
This is a book that begs to read again. It is considered Forster's best book. The setting, early 20th century England plays an important role. It is a time of have and have nots, country homes, and the desire for social change. The book was interesting to see the interactions of three levels of English society (the wealthy, represented by the Wilcoxes, the comfortable middle class, the Schlegel sisters, and the impoverished, shown by the Basts). This was written in 1910, before either World War, so it presented a very different view of Germany than would happen just a few years later.
I understand that there is both a movie and mini-series associated with this book, and I may try to watch one of them soon.
+50 - task
+5 - review
+5 - published in 1910
Post total: 60
Season total: 1910
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50.51 G53 Group Reads! (On RwS bookshelf)A Single Thread. Tracy Chevalier
Violet Speedwell is a 38 year old maiden aunt, who lost her fiancé in World War I. Her life feels empty, she cares for her hypercritical aging mother. When she walks into Winchester Cathedral and discovers a group of women call broders, her life changes. The women embroider kneeling cushions for worshippers, and provide friendship and support to each other. This group gives her the courage to strike out on her own.
I enjoyed this book, the narrator was excellent, and the historical details were interesting. The characters were believable, and the setting and time period were well described.
+50 - task
+5 - review
Post total: 55
Season total: 1850
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30.50 I29 MPE Page count 200-299 (295 pages)Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Jesse Andrews
I've had a run of meh books lately, this one being worse than the last. Greg and Earl are high school seniors, definitely not in the in crowd, just trying to make it through their last year. They make parodies of films, although none are very good. Greg's mother makes Greg visit Rachel, a girl he was friends with in 6th grade, who now has leukemia. They make a film for/about her. My take on this book is that it's trying to channel John Green, but failing.
+30 - task
+5 - review
Post total: 35
Season total: 1795
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30.49 I21 INFLOW: First letter of title is found in "inflow"Lowcountry Summer. Dorothea Benton Frank
The book irritated me most of the way through. Most of the characters were unlikeable, especially Caroline and the teenage girls. The death of one of the few likeable characters, halfway through the book almost made this a DNF for me. The fact that it was an audio book with an enjoyable narrator/reader, and that I could listen to it while doing other things, made me decide to finish it.
+30 - task
+5 - review
Post total: 35
Season total: 1760
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30.48 I23 Set in: Italy, Iran, Indonesia, Iceland, Indiaset in Mumbai, India
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. Katherine Boo
This book has been nominated or won many prizes including Pulitzer, National Book and Andrew Carnegie Medal to name a few. The author spent more than three years documenting the people living in extreme poverty in Annawadi, a settlement that grew up from the marshlands near the Mumbai airport. The people exist by sorting through garbage for items that they can resell to recyclers, from scraps of metal to cigarette butts. They live, as best they can, crammed into tiny huts with no running water, a communal bathroom, next to a lake of sewage.
This book is nonfiction that reads like fiction. The stories of the various people, Abdul, who holds out hope that garbage sorting will lead to a better life for his family, Asha, the wannabe slumlord, and crippled "one-legged" Fatima, are told with compassion. This is a hard book to read. Don't read it, if you are triggered by suicides, police corruption, individual lives that are given no value, and filicide. But if you do read it, you will never forget it.
+30 - task
+5 - review
Post total: 35
Season total: 1725
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30.47 I27 Main character is a Private Eye (not a police detective)U is for Undertow. Sue Grafton
3.5 rounded to 4 stars - Kinsey Millhone is probably my favorite modern female sleuth. She is independent, smart, and fallible enough to be human. In this book, Kinsey is approached by an unreliable witness (he was 6 at the time) who thinks he has information about a twenty year old case. The timeline then goes back and forth between the 1960s and the 1980s, as the pieces fall into place. And Kinsey, true to form, is still using her note cards, typewriter and the public library for information. You go, girl!
+30 - task
+5 - review
+50 - Bingo #9: B12, I27, N34, G47, O73
Post total: 85
Season total: 1690
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30.46 O73 OutdoorsSnow Falls. Gerri Hill
+30 - task
Post total: 30
Season total: 1605
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30.45 G47 GothicThe Shadow of the Wind. Carlos Ruiz Zafón
There was so much to love about this book. The language is beautiful, there are many memorable passages that especially speak to people who love books. The way that Daniel's life parallels Julian's, the gothic elements, the mystery, and the setting all add to the way it just draws the reader completely into the book.
I alternately read and listened to the book, and both experiences were great. Highly recommend.
+30 - task
+5 - review
Post total: 35
Season total: 1575
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30.44 N34 Nebula Award, winners and nomineesThe Ten Thousand Doors of January. Alix E. Harrow
I have to admit, this took me a bit to get into, and I ended up alternately listening to it from Audible, and reading a print edition from my library. January LaVoy does an excellent job as narrator (and how interesting is her name?) and added much to my enjoyment. It was interesting to watch January (the protagonist) grow up, (view spoiler), but sad to see her realize that someone she trusted all along was not who she thought he was.
I will continue to look for new books by this author.
+30 - task
+5 - review
Post total: 35
Season total: 1540
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30.43 G51 Glass Slipper: Any retellingBeauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast. Robin McKinley
I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling of the folktale Beauty and the Beast. In this book, Beauty's real name is Honour, and she is an honorable person, caring and empathetic. She voluntarily goes to live with the Beast when her father must pay a forfeit for picking one of his roses. Over time, she grows to understand and comes to love the Beast, not realizing it herself, until she almost loses him. And who doesn't love a happy ending?
+30 - task
+5 - review
+5 - published in 1978
+50 - Bingo #8: B11, I22, N39, G51, O75
Post total: 90
Season total: 1505
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30.42 G58 Ghosts! (or other paranormal)The Girl On Legare Street. Karen White
I have read various books in this series, some better than others. I won't lie, I find Melanie whiny and not very likeable as a character, but I do enjoy the historical parts about the city of Charleston, the mystery involving ghosts (can they really cause physical harm?) and the reunion with her mother. While I might finish the middle books of the series eventually, it's not something I'm going to rush out to do.
+30 - task
+5 - review
+50 - Bingo #7: B10, I19, N36, G58, O72
Post total: 85
Season total: 1415
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I'm enjoying the freedom of the summer challenge, and it's possible I could actually complete the challenge. But, like Ann says above, reading fatigue is kicking in. What was super fun for me was to be able to pair each book from another seasonal challenge to a requirement for this one, it's never happened before.Without challenges, I tend to be a lazy reader, picking books off the new book shelf, or the back list of an author. Since I've started reading for challenges, I read much more eclectically - more nonfiction, older books, genres I wouldn't normally pick up.
A few of my favorites so far this challenge have been:
A Prayer for Owen Meany,
The Cartographers,
A Night in the Lonesome October, and the book I am currently reading, The Shadow of the Wind.
30.41 N39 MPE Page count 300-399 (390 pages)The Giver of Stars. Jojo Moyes
This has been often compared to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek due to its similar theme and setting (the packhorse librarians of depression era Kentucky), but having read both, I can see each author's unique spin on the subject. This book focused less on the books, and more on the lives of individual librarians. It's almost as if the story could have been told without the WPA project.
+30 - task
+5 - review
Post total: 35
Season total: 1330
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30.40 I19 Author first name is Ian/Iain, Isaac, Ivan/a, Isabel, IrisA Long Petal of the Sea. Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende has a gift for weaving epic family sagas that cross decades and country boundaries, inserting historical details and making her characters believable and interesting. From the Spanish Civil War to Chile, over the course of 60 years, the book kept me engrossed all the way.
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+5 - review
Post total: 35
Season total: 1295
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30.39 N45 Set in: Nicaragua, Norway, Netherlands, New ZealandThe Half-Drowned King. Linnea Hartsuyker
I am sure some of the enjoyment I got from this book came from my Scandinavian ancestry (a grandmother who emigrated from Norway, and a grandfather who came from Sweden). I loved the character development, the strength of Svanhild, the MC's sister, and all the historical detail about life in 9th century Norway.
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+5 - review
Post total: 35
Season total: 1260
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30.38 I22 Title has 2 wordsSomething Wilder. Christina Lauren
This falls under the category of summer reads, one that is light, quick, full of adventure, love, and a mystery, to boot. If those are the criteria you are looking for, this cute book that will not disappoint.
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+5 - review
Post total: 35
Season total: 1225
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30.37 O75 75 Years: Author is AgedAchebe died at age 82 following a brief illness.
Things Fall Apart. Chinua Achebe
Takes place in pre and post colonial Benin Empire, now called Nigeria, in the Igbo heartland. The protagonist, Okonkwo, has three wives and several children. He isn't kind to his family, but is considered a powerful man in his tribe. The book describes the customs and culture of tribal life in the late 1800s, and how colonialism and Christian missionaries changed it. This is one of the most widely read novels in modern African literature.
+30 - task
+5 - review
+5 (published in 1958)
Post total: 40
Season total: 1190
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