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

Deedee’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Task 20.7 A Month in the Country

Houston, Houston, Do You Read? (1976) by James Tiptree Jr. (Hardcover, Science Fiction Book Club, 150 pages)
This is the MPE version
Hugo Award for Best Novella (1977)
Nebula Award for Best Novella (1976)
Locus Award Nominee for Best Novella (1977)

+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.3 ‘Houston’)
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1943-1993)

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 05 = 30

Grand Total: 400 + 30 = 430

Would Nevil Shute count for this task? He was born in London, England and is described as a "British novelist". He died just days short of age 61. The goodreads description includes: He lived in Australia for the ten years before his death.

Thanks!

Task 20.7 A Month in the Country

Doctor Who: Horror of the Space Snakes (2012) by Gary Russell (Paperback, 160 pages)
No Styles because this is a YA tie-in short novel to the Doctor Who TV Series

Grand Total: 380 + 20 = 400

Task 10.9 = 9, 10, 11
This challenge includes the 9th, 10th and 11th months of the year. Read a book with a 9-, 10-, or 11-letter word in the title.

Sum mon ing

The Summoning (1993) by Bentley Little (Mass Market Paperback, 542 pages)

+10 Task
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1943-1993)
+05 Jumbo 500-699 Pages

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 05 = 20

Grand Total: 360 + 20 = 380

Task 15.2 AbBY Chronological
Moving backwards in time

1955-1959

Butchers Hill (Tess Monaghan #3) (1998) by Laura Lippman
Author was Born: 1959


Task Total: 20

Grand Total: 340 + 20 = 360

Task 15.1 AbBY Chronological
Moving backwards in time

1960-1964

Wherever You Go, There They Are: Stories about My Family You Might Relate to (2017) by Annabelle Gurwitch
Author was Born: November 4, 1961


Task Total: 15

Grand Total: 325 + 15 = 340

Task 20.3 Birds without Wings

Also fits #20.5 – 2 of the women live alone in their own household, one a journalist, the other a singer-dancer. This novel is ensemble, rotating between 5 main characters, and the women are 2 of the 5 main characters.

Orient Express (1932) by Graham Greene

+20 Task
+20 Combo (#10.5 Publisher: Penguin, #20.1, #20.5, #20.7)
+10 Oldies -76 to 150 years old: (1868-1942)

Task Total: 20 + 20 + 10 = 50

Grand Total: 275 + 50 = 325

The Fall Challenge is not going to be one of my best. Real Life took alot of my reading time, and while things are settling down now, the Challenge is half over. I'm going to shift to longer books for the next 6 weeks. I am also going to try to understand the poetry from a poetry collection. I just downloaded 101 Great American Poems to my kindle -- 98 pages long -- and poetry! -- not usually my thing. Poetry still seems like it is prose written in code, indecipherable unless you have the code book. I'll see how it goes. And, lastly, my eldest (disabled) son and my son-in-law both are into graphic novels; I'm going to try and read some of them. SAGA Series is amazingly good (adult themes, not for young readers). Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant was entertaining, even though it is aimed at a middle school audience.

I'm reading The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock (2018) by Imogen Hermes Gowar. There are 2 main characters: a widower; and a 27 year old woman. The woman lives with a female maid/companion (it's set in the 18th century) making a household of 2. So far the widower and the woman have not met (I'm about a fourth of the way through the story). Would this count for this task? Even if the widower and the woman meet later in the story, and, perhaps, get married?

Task 20.1 War's End
Read a book set (at least 51%) in the years 1918-1938.

Rabbit-Proof Fence: The True Story of One of the Greatest Escapes of All Time (1996) by Doris Pilkington [994.042]
Set 60% in 1931

+20 Task

Task Total: 20

Well, the Readerboard shows me having 20 more points as of Post #400 than I thought I had. I suspect the moderators have found some combo points that I missed 😊 So, including those 20 points, my grand total after THIS post is:

Grand Total: 255 + 20 = 275

Task 10.3 Real Place
Read any book that has a real place in the title or subtitle

Real Place = “White House”

Fear: Trump in the White House (2018) by Bob Woodward [973.933] (Hardcover, 448 pages)
Review: The title comes from an interview Bob Woodward had with Donald J. Trump on March 31,2016. Trump said: Real power is – I don’t even want to use the word – fear. I looked at the back of the book, under the section “Source Notes”. Every chapter states The information in this chapter comes primarily from multiple deep background interviews with firsthand sources. Sometimes the reader can make an educated guess as to who Woodward talked to – just determine: who comes out looking really good in the book. The bottom line of how believable this book is: do you the reader trust that Woodward is telling the truth when he reports what “firsthand sources” have told him. Woodward’s track record over the decades of “getting it right” in his writings is excellent.

The book itself is written in that to-the-point, easy to understand newspaper style taught in Journalism school. The time frame of the book is August 2016 – April 2018. There is an emphasis on Trump’s actions in foreign policy. Domestic policy and the Mueller investigation is also substantially covered. Overall, this is a well-written, timely book, well worth taking the time to read.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 215 + 20 = 235

Task 20.10 Fall Equinox (Elizabeth (Alaska)'s Task)
Fall Equinox contains all 5 vowels. Read any book whose title contains all of the letters A-E-I-O-U. The book may have a subtitle, but all of the letters should be in the title.

The A dv e nt u res of J o hnny Verm i llion

The Adventures of Johnny Vermillion (2006) by Loren D. Estleman (Hardcover, First Edition, 272 pages)

+20 Task
+05 (#10.9: Ver mil lio n)

Task Total: 20 + 05 = 25

Grand Total: 190 + 25 = 215

Task 10.2 Next?
Start a new series or read the next book in a series you are reading. (Book must be labeled as part of a series on GoodReads and must be have at least 3 books).

#1 of a Series:

The Trouble With Magic (A Bewitching Mystery #1) (2006) by Madelyn Alt

+10 Task
+05 Combo (#20.5 – Heroine lives by herself; she works for a 40ish woman who owns her own home, and is single)

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15

Grand Total: 190 + 15 = 205

Task 10.9 = 9, 10, 11
This challenge includes the 9th, 10th and 11th months of the year. Read a book with a 9-, 10-, or 11-letter word in the title.

Com mit tee

Dear Committee Members (2014) by Julie Schumacher
Thurber Prize for American Humor (2015)
Review: Dear Committee Members is an epistolary novel. All the letters were written by one man (named Jason) over a one year period (September 2009 to August 2010). Jason is a tenured professor of English at a Midwestern American college. (The author is a female professor of English at the University of Minnesota – write what you know!) The majority of letters are “Letters of Recommendation” for various students and colleagues. Some of the letters made me laugh out loud – they were written to reflect what professors would really like to say in a “Letter of Recommendation” instead of the rather bland statements that they normally do say. This book was a quick, entertaining read, perfect for lighthearted reading time.

+10 Task
+10 Review
+05 Prize-worthy

Task Total: 10 + 10 + 05 = 25

Grand Total: 165 + 25 = 190

Task 10.4 Bookshelves
Read any book off of one of these two groups' bookshelves:
21st Century Literature AND The Next Best Book Club

Book found on bookshelf of The Next Best Book Club

News of the World (2016) by Paulette Jiles
Review: News of the World is set in Texas during the year 1870. The central plot of the novel revolves around Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, aged 71, and a 10 year old girl named Johanna. Captain Kidd is hired by an African-American Texas ranger to transport Johanna 400 miles south to San Antonio, and there reunite her with her aunt and uncle. Johanna was captured by the Kiowa tribe when she was 6 years old (her parents and sister were killed by them), and raised as a Kiowa tribe member from age 6-10. She identifies completely with the Kiowa, and has even forgotten her native language. The novel traces her journey from Kiowa to white American society. Captain Kidd, a widower who raised daughters, relates to Johanna as a protective grandfather towards his grandchild. Captain Kidd makes his living by travelling from town to town, and giving readings in each town from the newspapers he has gathered during his visits to Texas cities like Dallas or San Antonio. (Hence the book’s title: News of the World.) Overall, this was a soothing, heartwarming tale. Recommended.

+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.10 Valerie's choice)
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 10 = 25

Grand Total: 130 + 25 = 155

Task 20.5 Singled Out
Read a book with a single female as the main character. The woman may be never-married, widowed, abandoned, etc, but should be the main character and obviously head of her own household.

Secondhand Spirits (A Witchcraft Mystery #1) (2009) by Juliet Blackwell (Goodreads Author) (Paperback, 313 pages)
Review: This is the first book of a series of paranormal mysteries. Our heroine, Lily Ivory, is a good witch, who uses her witchy abilities for the benefit of those she chooses help. Most of the first half of this book is spent in worldbuilding – what abilities Lily have at her disposal, what abilities she does NOT have at her disposal, what other paranormal individuals are in the area. Paranormal abilities are seen as morally neutral – the abilities could be used for good purposes OR used for bad purposes, depending on the individual. (In that way, paranormal abilities are like a knife that can be used to kill or be used to perform lifesaving surgery.) The novel also introduces the de rigueur love triangle – which handsome man will Lily ultimately join with? I suspect that book #2 of the series will take the world for granted, and get into the plot quicker than this one did. Recommended for fans of paranormal cozy mysteries.

This book fits this task as our heroine, never-married Lily Ivory, lives by herself in an apartment above the Vintage Clothing Store that she owns and manages. She is definitely the head of her own household.

+10 Task
+10 Combo (#10.2(series), #10.9(10 letters = Sec ond han d)
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 100 + 30 = 130

Task 20.06 The Stone Carvers

Man Booker Prize Nominee for Longlist (2018)

Warlight (2018) by Michael Ondaatje (Hardcover, 285 pages)
Review: This Booker Prize Longlisted novel is another novel told in a non-linear fashion. The novel begins with our narrator describing his life at age 14, in the year 1947, in London, England. At that time, he and his slightly older sister are left in the care of two responsible male guardians, while his parents move to a new job in Asia. (But that’s not what the novel is about.) The non-linear style is used as the narrator, now an older adult, tries to reverse-engineer what was really going on when he was too young to understand the meaning of what he was seeing. This involves a certain amount of skipping around in time. I can see why this one was nominated for the Booker Prize – it is very clever. I won’t say what the novel is really about as that isn’t revealed until the last third of the novel and would constitute major spoilers. Recommended for those who like challenging literary novels.

And, after having read, one right after another, two novels told first person in non-linear fashion, I’m going to try and pick as my next novel a novel told in sequential order. 😊

+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.7 Born in Sri Lanka)
+10 Review

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35

Grand Total: 65 + 35 = 100

Task 10.10 Group Reads
Read one of these books recommended by other RwS readers.

Ann: Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente

Locus Award for Best Novella (2012)

Silently and Very Fast (2011) by Catherynne M. Valente (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 127 pages)
Review: This novella was nominated for several science fiction / fantasy awards the year it was published. It’s written in first person, from the perspective of an AI (artificial intelligence) entity. Catherynne M. Valente writes poetry as well as prose. She’s comfortable with making the reader work to understand what is meant by what is written.

The story is divided into three parts. I found that reading the first part twice helped me in understanding the remainder of the novella. Most books are written like this: event == followed by == reaction to an event. This one is written: reaction to unknown event == followed by == references to miscellaneous events that happened a long time ago == followed by, almost reluctantly, the event itself. Once you figure out what is going on, it’s a cool story. Recommended for readers of challenging science fiction.

+10 Task
+05 Combo
+05 Prize-worthy
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 05 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 35 + 30 = 65

Task 20.10 Fall Equinox (Elizabeth (Alaska)'s Task)
Fall Equinox contains all 5 vowels. Read any book whose title contains all of the letters A-E-I-O-U. The book may have a subtitle, but all of the letters should be in the title.

A Most E xtr ao rdinary Purs ui t

A Most Extraordinary Pursuit (Emmeline Truelove #1) (2016) by Juliana Gray (Goodreads Author) (Paperback, 430 pages)
Review: Our heroine, Miss Truelove, is the personal secretary to the Duke of Olympia. The year is 1908. When the Duke dies unexpectedly, the Duke’s wife sends Miss Truelove to locate his heir, one Max Haywood. She also sends Lord Silverton as chaperone/protector. Lord Silverton is a standard regency romance hero – charming repartee, reputation as a “rake”, a bit of a bad boy who knows how to party hard, but is a decent caring man underneath the ‘bad boy’ mask. I believe that Juliana Gray has written several regency romances. This book is not a romance novel, even though its setup is similar to one. Gray portrays the relationship between Miss Truelove and Lord Silverton more realistically – a proper Edwardian lady would be annoyed not entranced by such rakish behavior. The mystery of: Where in the World is Max Haywood?: takes center stage as our heroine leaves England. (Where did the romance go??) The ending made sense but felt unsatisfying. Still, the ending to this novel sets up an interesting situation for the sequel, and I put the sequel on the TBR. Recommended for light reading.

Oh, and another goodreads reader posted:
Basically, this is a really weird book in reality. It's a big mishmash of historical romance, mystery/adventure story, with a soupcon of the supernatural (and an extraordinarily random one at that). I am not opposed to any or all of those elements on their own, or in combination with each other, but somehow they don't come together quite right in the end.
I agree with that assessment.

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 00 + 30 = 30

Does the "White House" count as a real place? I'm thinking of Fear: Trump in the White House.