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

Deedee’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Task 20.8 The Big 5-0 (Anika's task)
Choose a life story to read from one of these top 50 lists:

From the list
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/5...

for Combo #20.9 – In 1965, Steve Martin moved from his home in Orange County, California, 400+ miles north to San Francisco, California to perform at Coffee and Confusion. He describes the move as: p. 13: “I was about to start my life.”

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life (2007) by Steve Martin

+20 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel (a memoir of the author’s life in stand-up comedy)
+05 Combo (#20.9)

Task Total: 20 + 10 + 05 = 35

Grand Total: 155 + 35 = 190

Task 20.4 Othello
"Men should be what they seem."
Read a book where a character's true identity is hidden.

The Brethren's scam involves 'catfishing' closeted homosexual men who can't risk being outed. catfishing is defined as the process of luring someone into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona..

The Brethren (2000) by John Grisham

+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.2 MPG Mystery NOT part of a series)

Task Total: 20 + 05 = 25

Grand Total: 130 + 25 = 155

Rosemary wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Another borderline question -- I'm reading The Brethren by John Grisham. The three criminals in the story are running a scam to score big money. From a revie..."
Thanks for the quick reply!

Another borderline question -- I'm reading The Brethren by John Grisham. The three criminals in the story are running a scam to score big money. From a review: The Brethren's scam involves 'catfishing' closeted homosexual men who can't risk being outed. . catfishing is defined as the process of luring someone into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona.. Would that fit this task? Thanks

Task 15.1 Ticket to Ride – Circular

WashingTon

Mockingbird (1980) by Walter Tevis

+15 Task

Task Total: 15

Grand Total: 115 + 15 = 130

Task 10.4 Leap Year
Read a short book (MPE has 100-150 pages).

Mapping the Interior (2017) by Stephen Graham Jones (Paperback 109 pages)
Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction (2017)
World Fantasy Award Nominee for Novella (2018)

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 105 + 10 = 115

Circular Route

✔ 1/ Washington - Walter Tevis - Mockingbird (#0187)
✔ 2/ New York - Emi Yagi - Diary of a Void (#0343)
✔ 3/ Boston - Tony Ballantyne - Dream London (#0419)
✔ 4/ Montreal - Mark Twain - Pudd'nhead Wilson/Those Extraordinary Twins (#0466)

5/ Toronto
Naam, Ramez – Nexus SF
Nayler, Ray – The Mountain in the Sea
Nissen, Thisbe (female) –
O’Brien, Tim – The Things They Carried
Obreht, Téa – The Tiger’s Wife
Okorafor, Nnedi
Oliveira, Robin – My Name is Mary Sutter
Onyebuchi, Tochi – Beasts Made of Night
Ore, Rebecca
Osman, Richard – The Man Who Died Twice
Roberts, Nora
Tessier, Thomas – Fog Heart
Thorne, Rebecca – Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea
Tokarczuk, Olga – Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Tolstaya, Tatyana – The Slynx
Tremain, Rose

6/ Chicago
Achebe, Chinua
Adams, Guy – The Good, The Bad, and The Infernal
Allende, Isabel
Asimov, Isaac
Calvino, Italo
Carter, Angela
Crawford, Isis
Hartnett, Annie – Unlikely Animals
Hendrix, Grady
Hoffman, Ada – The Outside SF
Hoffman, Alice
Holton, India – The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels
Horowitz, Anthony – Magpie Murders
Oakley, Colleen – The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise
Orlando, Carissa – September House
Oyeyemi, Helen

7/ St. Louis
Lawless, Shauna – The Children of Gods and Fighting Men SF
Lee, Tanith
Lusk, Sean – The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley
Obreht, Téa – The Tiger’s Wife
Scobie, Omid
Steiger, Isabelle – The Empire’s Ghost
Sturgeon, Theodore
Sullivan, Tricia – Occupy Me
Swann, Leonie – Three Bags Full
Tan, Sue Lynn – Daughter of the Moon Goddess SF
Taylor, Laini – Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Taylor, Sarah Stewart
Tepper, Sheri S. – Grass SF, The Gate to Woman’s Country SF
Thorne, Sally – Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match
Tidhar, Lavie – Neom SF
Tokarczuk, Olga – Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Tolstoy, Leo
Toltz, Steve – Here Goes Nothing
Turgenev, Ivan

8/ Nashville
Lawless, Shauna – The Children of Gods and Fighting Men SF
Lee, Tanith
Lusk, Sean – The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley
Obreht, Téa – The Tiger’s Wife
Scobie, Omid
Steiger, Isabelle – The Empire’s Ghost
Sturgeon, Theodore
Sullivan, Tricia – Occupy Me
Swann, Leonie – Three Bags Full
Tan, Sue Lynn – Daughter of the Moon Goddess SF
Taylor, Laini – Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Taylor, Sarah Stewart
Tepper, Sheri S. – Grass SF, The Gate to Woman’s Country SF
Thorne, Sally – Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match
Tidhar, Lavie – Neom SF
Tokarczuk, Olga – Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Tolstoy, Leo
Toltz, Steve – Here Goes Nothing
Turgenev, Ivan

9/ Raleigh
Acevedo, Elizabeth – Family Lore
Adams, Ellery
Adams, Guy – The Good, The Bad, and The Infernal
Adams, Riley – Delicious and Suspicious
Adler, Rebecca – Here Today, Gone Tamale
Allende, Isabel
Asimov, Isaac
Ellis, Lindsay – Axiom’s End
Emrys, Ruthanna – A Half-Built Garden SF
Enright, Anne
Erdrich, Louise
Evans, Lissa – Old Baggage
Everett, Anthony – The Rise of Athens
Ewing, Al – The Fictional Man
Goldstein, Lisa – Ivory Apples
Hart, Emilia – Weyward
Hartnett, Annie – Unlikely Animals
Heinlein, Robert A. – The Door Into Summer
Hendrix, Grady
Hoffman, Ada – The Outside SF
Hoffman, Alice
Holton, India – The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels
Horowitz, Anthony – Magpie Murders
Lang, Ruth Emmie – Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance
Leckie, Ann – Ancillary Sword SF
Lim, Roselle – Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck & Fortune
Royer, Amber – Free Chocolate
Rue, Gretchen – Steeped to Death
Ryan, Anthony – Blood Song SF

10/ Washington
***MANY***

Task 10.2 Singular Mystery
Read a book with MPG mystery that is NOT part of a series.

When the Moon Turns Blue (2023) by Pamela Terry

+10 Task
+10 Female Author

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 85 + 20 = 105

Task 10.7 Feasting (Karen Michele's Task)
Read a book with a food or drink named in the title. General food-related words, such as "feast," "lunch," or "dinner" are also acceptable. Plurals and possessives will be accepted, but no other variations.

Stealing Buddha's Dinner: A Memoir (2007) by Bich Minh Nguyen [977.4]

+10 Task
+10 Female Author
+10 Not-a-Novel (a memoir of the author’s life)

Task Total: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 55 + 30 = 85

Task 20.9 Fresh Start (Joanna's task)
Read a book in which a character moves to a new city, a new house, or a new job. The move should be an important part of the story. Please explain how your book fits the task when you post.

This book is a memoir of Emma Brockes – subtitle: “Panic and Joy on my solo path to motherhood.” Part of her “solo path” involved the author relocating from London, England to New York City, New York. One of the reasons for relocation is that in vitro fertilization of a single “unpartnered” woman using donor sperm is something that can be done in New York City in the 2013-2014 timeframe, but is prohibited in London, England in the 2013-2014 timeframe.

An Excellent Choice: Panic and Joy on My Solo Path to Motherhood (2018) by Emma Brockes (Hardcover 290 pages) [Biography/921]

+20 Task
+10 Female Author
+10 Not-a-Novel (Non-Fiction Memoir)

Task Total: 20 + 10 + 10 = 40

Grand Total: 15 + 40 = 55

Rosemary wrote: "Deedee wrote: "The goodreads description of Diary of a Void states that our protagonist pretends to be pregnant .... however .... she's not pregnant. Would that work for this task?"..."

OK I think I get it -- thanks for the quick reply!

The goodreads description of Diary of a Void states that our protagonist pretends to be pregnant .... however .... she's not pregnant. Would that work for this task?

Task 10.9 Summer, Not Winter (Apple's Task)
Read a book set at least 75% in one of my Southern Hemisphere "Neighbours".

Novel set >75% in Queensland, Australia.

For #20.9 combo: The main female character and a 6 year old boy move from Boston, Massachusetts to rural Queensland, Australia.

His Illegal Self (2008) by Peter Carey

+10 Task
+05 Combo (#20.9 character moves to a new city, a new house, or a new job.)

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15

Grand Total: 00 + 15 = 15

Task 10.5 October (Karen's Task)
Read any book by an author on this List of Horror Fiction Writers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

STEPEHEN GRAHAM JONES

The Only Good Indians (2020) by Stephen Graham Jones (Goodreads Author) (Paperback 310 pages)

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 400 + 10 = 410

Task 10.4 Debut (Tien's Task)
Read a debut novel by a female author published in the last 10 years (2013-2023 inclusive)

The author’s goodreads bio states that Diamond Head was Cecily Wong’s debut novel.

Diamond Head (2015) by Cecily Wong

+15 Task

Task Total: 15

Grand Total: 385 + 15 = 400

Task 20.4 Golden Age
Read any book of science fiction originally published in the 1930s, 1940s, or 1950s.

Wasp (1957) by Eric Frank Russell
Review: Wasp was published by SF Masterworks. Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SF_Mast... ) says: SF Masterworks series began publication in 1999. Developed to feature important and out of print science fiction novels, the selections were described by science fiction author Iain M. Banks as "amazing" and "genuinely the best novels from sixty years of SF. Goodreads helpfully has a listopia of the books published by SF Masterworks: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... .

Now for the review of the novel. This short novel focuses on the human resistance movement against the conquering alien Sirian Empire. Our hero Mowry is recruited to be a “wasp” – a small but effective agent within a Sirian city, busily disrupting Sirian war plans, encouraging Sirian public to not support Sirian war aims, etc., etc. The idea is that a wasp, buzzing around a driver of an automobile, can distract the driver so much that the automobile crashes. Mowry is to be a “wasp”. The author Eric Frank Russell may have had direct personal experience during World War II of “wasp”-like operations against the Germans. The Wikipedia biography, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Fr... , states: Russell was too old for active service, and instead worked for Military Intelligence in London, where he "spent the war dreaming up nasty tricks to play against the Germans and Japanese", (although Wikipedia warns that confirmation of this part of Russell’s biography is shaky) After reading Wasp, I think it is likely to be true, as our rugged action hero is very inventive with his actions to muck up the Sirian war machine. The Sirians are very human-like. I suspect Russell made them purple-skinned and “alien” to remove 1950s politics from the story (no Germans or Russians!!) It should be noted that, as often happens in 1950s science fiction, there are zero female characters in the novel. Recommended to readers of 1950s science fiction. Additionally, I think readers who like to read about unconventional military tactics would also enjoy this novel.

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 355 + 30 = 385

Task 15.4

Not a Novel

If You Would Have Told Me: A Memoir (2023) by John Stamos [791.4502]

+15 Task

Task Total: 15

Grand Total: 340 + 15 = 355

Task 10.7 Scrabble (Anika's Task) The popular word game finally hit it big when, in 1952, the owner of Macy's first played the game, loved it, and began stocking it at his famous store. Now it's 2023. Read a book whose title would score at least 23 points using the Scrabble scoring system:

The scrabble total for this title is:

27

A Stopover in Venice (2008) by Kathryn Walker

+10 Task
+05 Repeat a task

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15

Grand Total: 325 + 15 = 340

Rosemary wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Initials for these authors:
Ursula K. Le Guin = UKLG
Charles de Lint = CDL
R. Garcia y Robertson = RGYR
[author:L.E. Modesitt Jr.|130..."

Thanks for the clarification. Now I can go start planning!!

Initials for these authors:
Ursula K. Le Guin = UKLG
Charles de Lint = CDL
R. Garcia y Robertson = RGYR
L.E. Modesitt Jr. = LEMJ

Do I have that correct?

and ...
do books with more than one author count? Like:
The Last Theorem written by a collaboration of
Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl -- initials be ACC + FP ??

do anthologies count? and, if yes, is the editor's initials the one used?
Galaxy Awards 1: Chinese Science Fiction Anthology edited by Francesco Verso = FV

Thanks