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from the Reading with Style group.
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Task 20.1 BirthdaysRead a book published between the birth years of our honored authors. 1913-1952
Wikipedia:
Flappers were young, fast-moving, fast-talking, reckless and unfazed by previous social conventions or taboos. They smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol, rode in and drove cars and kissed and “petted” with different men.
Twilight Sleep (1927) by Edith Wharton
Review: Edith Wharton, during the Jazz Age, writes about the Jazz Age. She writes from the perspective of the parents of the young people – young people who are part of “Flapper Culture”, young people who are dancing the night away, drinking alcohol from shoes. Wharton does not have any genuine insights about flapper culture. Her insights are about the flapper’s parents. The insight: the flapper’s parents just don’t get it, they don’t understand why the twentysomethings are acting the way they do. A modern day equivalent is if a World War II veteran went to Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco during the summer of 1967 (AKA ‘The Summer of Love’) and tried to explain in a novel just what was going on.
On the surface, the novel is a pleasant 1920s novel. Wharton has more in mind than pleasantry, however. She had some things to communicate about her times (the 1920s) and she did so. She did it by showing not telling, which is difficult to do.
Recommended for the patient literary reader, who is willing to read 300 pages to get to the payoff of the last 20 pages. (I gave it 3 stars instead of 4 because I’m a 21st century reader and not that patient!!)
+20
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30
Grand Total: 340 + 30 = 370
Task 20.7 RatingsRead an extremely underrated book with fewer than 1000 ratings on GoodReads, or a popular book with over 75,000 ratings.
The Dolphins of Altair (1967) by Margaret St. Clair
Review: Margaret St. Clair is that rare individual: a woman who was a published science fiction writer 1940s – 1960s, and who published under a female name. Other women of the time used male pseudonyms for their stories. (See: James Tiptree, Jr., real name Alice Sheldon). I had seen her mentioned in various ‘history of science fiction’ essays, so when I came across The Dolphins of Altair on the clearance rack of my local used book store, I bought it and brought it home. Alas, there’s a good reason The Dolphins of Altair hasn’t been reprinted – it’s not special or particularly noteworthy. Other writers (men and women) have written better stories with the same themes.
This novel is told first person by a sentient dolphin. Upset and harmed by the pollution of the oceans by humans, the dolphins decide to fight back, with the help of three human eco-warrior allies. They engage in several morally dubious actions. Novel ends on the typical, optimistic, golden science fiction era note. The last sentence is, literally, “The best is yet to come.”
Most of Margaret St. Clair’s published writing consists of short stories / novelettes. I’ve read online that her short stories are ‘polished gems’ and I can see how that could be. In The Dolphins of Altair, there are set-piece scenes that are focused and interesting, with just enough detail to balance the action and interior dialogue. I read that three of her short stories were adapted for television (two for “Rod Serling’s Night Gallery”). Today it’s her short stories that are reprinted in anthologies and also reprinted in curated “Best of Margaret St. Clair” collections. Based on this novel, I’d search out her short stories to read rather than her novels.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Aged (75+years old) (born: February 17, 1911 died: November 22, 1995)
Task Total: 20 + 10 + 10 = 40
Grand Total: 300 + 40 = 340
Task 10.4 TwelveRead a book that has 12 or fewer letters in its title, including leading article if any.
Autumn (Seasonal Quartet #1) (2016) by Ali Smith
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 290 + 10 = 300
Task 20.7 RatingsRead an extremely underrated book with fewer than 1000 ratings on GoodReads, or a popular book with over 75,000 ratings.
Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime (Rat Pack Mysteries #1) (2006) by Robert J. Randisi
Review: This lighthearted mystery is set in Las Vegas in 1960. Our POV character (fictional) is a blackjack dealer at the Sands casino who is asked to discretely discover who is sending death threats to Dean Martin. The Rat Pack are in Las Vegas to film Oceans Eleven. The movie Oceans Eleven is a heist movie that stars the Rat Pack (a group of singers and entertainers, including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford). The author enjoys employing 1950s gangster phrases – “do me a favor”, “how’s your bird?” (meaning girlfriend), ‘Tell your boyfriend to mind his own business”, a “made man” (apparently refers to a thug of Italian descent who has killed at least one human) etc. Author also enjoys describing long encounters with members of the Rat Pack and their fans (very very COOL!) The mystery is OK and reasonably solved, but the point of this novel is to spend reading time with those cool 1950s singer/actor/celebrities. Recommended for readers who wish to do that.
+20 Task
+05 Combo (#20.10 mpg “mystery”)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35
Grand Total: 255 + 35 = 290
Task 10.2 PronounsRead a book with a pronoun in the title, excluding forms of "it": I, we, you, he, she, they, me, him, her, us, them, myself, yourself, theirs.
Honestly, We Meant Well (2019) by Grant Ginder
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 245 + 10 = 255
Task 15.5 Alpha OmegaI – K
A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons (Saffron Everleigh Mystery #1) (2022) by Kate Khavari
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 230 + 15 = 245
Task 20.8 Short (Connie's Task)Read a book of Short Stories.
The Emerald Circus (The Jane Yolen Classic Fantasy Stories #1) (2017) by Jane Yolen
BPL shelves this in the Adult fiction section.
All the stories were written by Jane Yolen, and most were published elsewhere before being published in this book.
+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.8 Three word title beginning with “The”)
+10 Aged (75+years old)
Task Total: 20 + 05+ 10 = 35
Grand Total: 195 + 35 = 230
Task 20.2 Biography?Read any biography or biographical fiction. Note: for this task, memoirs and autobiographies will not work.
The author says this novel is a fictionalized biography, ‘mostly true’, of an ancestor of his, a woman named Annie Londonderry, who went around the world on a bicycle in under 15 months.
Spin: A Novel Based on a (Mostly) True Story (2021) by Peter Zheutlin
Review: The author, Peter Zheutlin, first wrote a non-fiction account of his ancestor (great-aunt) - Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry's Extraordinary Ride. The main criticism of that book was The author didn't have sufficient information to really tell the story, so he speculated endlessly. "What Annie must have been thinking at this time?" "Whether she actually did this or that is not known, but..." Apparently, several people recommended that he write Annie Londonderry’s story as fiction, as that way he can fill in the “we just don’t know” details of Annie and her journey around the world with his own speculation. That would be unacceptable in non-fiction, but is totally acceptable in fiction, hence this novel.
The novel is told in first person. The framing is that Annie, in 1947, is at the end of her life. She is writing her memoir in the form of a letter to her grand-daughter. That (fictional) memoir is this novel. Annie is very open and frank in her memoir about her *ahem* intimate relationships, more than one would expect from a 19th century woman. There are conflicting accounts of what happened during the race – Annie liked to embellish the truth. In the novel, the author Peter Zheutlin would pick the version that he thinks is most likely, plus he’s invented events that *probably* happened but there is no proof of. He has included photographs and newspaper accounts of the historical Annie, which adds to the storytelling in the novel.
Overall, this novel is interesting because it is based on a woman who actually existed and who travelled around the world on a bicycle in 1894. Recommended for those who find that concept interesting.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+15 Combo (#10.4 title ‘Spin’, #10.5 around the world, #20.7 (ratings < 1000))
Task Total: 20 + 10 + 15 = 45
Grand Total: 150 + 45 = 195
Task 10.8 The Threes (Rosemary's Task)Read a book with a three-word title whose first word is ‘The’. If there is a subtitle, it doesn’t count towards the number of words.
The Final Vow (Living History Museum #3) (2017) by Amanda Flower
+10 Task
+15 Combo (#10.4 (12 letters or less), #20.7 (ratings < 1000), #20.10 (MPG Mystery))
Task Total: 10 + 15 = 25
Grand Total: 125 + 25 = 150
I'm thinking of reading Spin: A Novel Based on a (Mostly) True Story for this task. The author Peter Zheutlin is described as "a descendent of Annie". He originally wrote a biography of Annie, entitled: Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry's Extraordinary Ride; however, the criticism of that book is that there was insufficient documentation for a non-fiction book. Zheutlin then took the information about Annie and wrote
Spin
, a novel starring Annie Londonderry, wherein his filling in the blanks of what is known about her with speculation is acceptable because it is fiction, not non-fiction. I'll let y'all know how it turns out!
Task 15.4 Alpha OmegaB – F
Paper Valentine (2013) by Brenna Yovanoff
Lexile 970L
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 110 + 15 = 125
This one has made it onto my reading radar as it has won SF/F awards:Amatka (2012) by Karin Tidbeck
It does not say this on goodreads, however, in the ISFDB (The Internet Speculative Fiction Database) it says that the author wrote the novel in Swedish and then she translated her book into English. Here's the link:
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.c...
Does this qualify? As I don't know if she translated anything other than her own book, but ISFDB says that she translated her own book.
At any rate, I got a copy from the library and so will give it a try --
Task 15.3 Alpha OmegaJ – L
The Last Curtain Call (Haunted Home Renovation Mystery #8) (2020) by Juliet Blackwell
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 95 + 15 = 110
Task 10.9 Covid 19 Hits (Rebekah's Task)Read any nominated book from the Goodreads Choice Award Polls for the years 2020, 2021, 2022 in these genres: Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, Horror, Humor, Non-Fiction, Memoir/Autobiography, History/Biography, Poetry and Debut.
Nominated Goodreads Choice Award for ROMANCE in 2020
In a Holidaze (2020) by Christina Lauren
Review: I rated In a Holidaze 5 stars because it was a 5 star chicklit romance book. It was a pleasant read about a twentysomething woman named Mae who is spending Christmas with her parents and her parent’s friends in a log cabin located in the snowy Utah hillside. She has always been in love with Andrew (twentysomething son of one of her parent’s friends). This is the story of how Mae and Andrew get to their happily ever after. The romantic interludes were PG to PG-13 in detail, which is how I prefer chicklit books to be. I also enjoyed the whole Groundhog Day vibe – I would have liked a bit more of that vibe, but the authors remembered that they were writing a lighthearted romance and not a science fiction adventure story …. more does he like me? And less I’m living through this day again! Recommended for when you’re in the mood for a lighthearted romantic novel.
+10 Task
+10 Combo (#10.2 title 11 letters, #20.7 >75,000 ratings)
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 10 +10 = 30
Grand Total: 65 + 30 = 95
Task 15.2 Alpha OmegaQ – G
When Red Is Black (Inspector Chen Cao #3) (2004) by Qiu Xiaolong (Paperback 310 pages)
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 50 + 15 = 65
And ... good news from here ... Isabella Marie, 6 lb. 14 oz. has arrived into our world! Mom & baby are doing fine, and they go home from the hospital today.
Task 15.1 Alpha OmegaC – D
Little Eve (2018) by Catriona Ward
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 35 + 15 = 50
Task 20.10 Mystery (Elizabeth (Alaska)'s Task)Read any book with an MPG of mystery.
Open Season (Joe Pickett #1) (2001) by C.J. Box
Review: Open Season is the first book in a 20+ book series starring Joe Pickett, a Wyoming Game Warden. I really liked Joe Pickett – he’s a ‘straight arrow’, enforcing the Game laws (because it’s the right thing to do!), immune to taking bribes (because taking bribes is wrong!), and is a loving and loyal husband and father. He’s not perfect – a bit too trusting in other people’s goodness, a bit too naïve about how situations would resolve – but, as a reader, I enjoyed reading about a character who was not snarky or manipulative or who cuts corners. The mystery made sense, and its resolution was reasonable. I’d include a ‘trigger warning’ but doing so involves a major spoiler, so I’ll just say that (view spoiler).
According to goodreads, this novel has won the following awards (deservedly so):
Barry Award for Best First Novel (2002)
Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel (2002)
Anthony Award for Best First Novel (2002)
Gumshoe Award for Best First Novel (2002)
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best First Mystery Novel (1)
Edgar Award Nominee for Best First Novel (2002)
Recommended for mystery readers.
+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.4 (10 letters in title))
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35
Grand Total: 00 + 35 = 35
I've been reading a series of mysteries by Loren D. Estleman - Here's the link:https://www.goodreads.com/series/5147...
Here's a subset of what goodreads says about it:
Valentino, a mild-mannered UCLA film archivist, just wants to restore a decrepit movie palace to its old Hollywood glory - in the process, he comes across dead bodies and, for various reasons, needs to solve the murder to (1) have justice and (2) acquire rare films. Estleman has obviously spent a lot of time in Hollywood and weaves film lore into the murder mystery.
If it doesn't fit here, it should fit 20.10
