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

Deedee’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

I'm not sure I completely understand what fits & what doesn't fit this task. The two non-fiction books I'm considering are:
Jungleland: A Mysterious Lost City, a WWII Spy, and a True Story of Deadly Adventure
The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606

I'm reading The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 now & what the author is doing is comparing Shakespeare's 1606 plays ('King Lear', 'MacBeth', 'Anthony and Cleopatra') with historical events (like the Gunpowder Plot of 1605) -- it's a mash-up of history and literary criticism

Task 15.2

Go, Went, Gone (2015) by Jenny Erpenbeck; translated from German by Susan Bernofsky; (Paperback, 286 pages)

List:
Berlin

130th out of 305 books — 184 voters as of June 29, 2018

Tags: berlin

+15 Task

Task Total: 15

Grand Total: 75 + 15 = 90

Task 10.7 Not Quite Jumbo (Coralie's Task)
Read a book that has between 400 and 499 pages.

Time Shards (Time Shards #1) (2018) by Dana Fredsti (Goodreads Author) and David Fitzgerald (Paperback, 442 pages)

+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.5 pub. 2018)

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15

Grand Total: 60 + 15 = 75

Task 10.5 Inferno
Read a book hot off the presses: originally published in 2017 or 2018.

Florida (2018) by Lauren Groff

+10 Task
+10 Female Author

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 40 + 20 = 60

Added to Post #239:

Not-a-Novel: 5 points per book that qualifies as Not-a-Novel

Task 15.1

Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill (2016) by Candice Millard (Hardcover, 400 pages) [968.0483]

List:

New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2016 (#38)

Tag:

new-york-times

+15 Task
+05 Not-a-Novel

Task Total: 15 + 05 = 20

Grand Total: 20 + 20 = 40

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Would Time Shards qualify for this task? The MPE Kindle version says 300 pages. However, the paperback version (which I'm reading) and the 2nd kindle version say 448 ..."

Thanks Elizabeth!

Would Time Shards qualify for this task? The MPE Kindle version says 300 pages. However, the paperback version (which I'm reading) and the 2nd kindle version say 448 pages. (The paperback version is actually 442 pages, followed by advertisements.)

Task 20.4 The Piano Teacher
Read an author's debut novel.

Etta (2009) by Gerald Kolpan (Hardcover, 336 pages)

+20 Task

Task Total: 20

Grand Total: 00 + 20 = 20

Lalitha wrote: "How wonderful, Elizabeth! Congratulations :)"

Yeah! Babies are awesome! Congratulations Elizabeth!

Task 10.5 Green Stone
In honor of The Green Stone and The Green Stone read a book with 1000 ratings or fewer.

It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Progressives Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics (2018) by David Faris (Hardcover, 178 pages) [324.2736]

+10 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel (non-fiction)

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 675 + 20 = 695

Task 20.6 Dead Souls
Read a book by any author whose surname consists of non-consecutive repeating consonants (i.e. any letter other than A, E, I, O, or U).

The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories (2016) by Penelope Lively

+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.5)
+10 Not-a-Novel (short story collections)

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35

Grand Total: 640 + 35 = 675

Science Fiction Debuts: Locus Award Winners by Category, scroll down to
-FIRST NOVEL-
and, from Book Riot,
100 must read science fiction fantasy debut novels and short story collections

Two 'literary' western awards:

Spur Award AND Willa Literary Award

I've read several books off these lists and have found them to be very well written, focused on characters and not on gun violence.

Additionally, Willa Literary Award are all written by women, Combo Points!

Task 15.7 Reading the Decades

Year: 1950

Cosmic Engineers (1950) by Clifford D. Simak

+25 Task

Task Total: 25

Grand Total: 615 + 25 = 640

Task 15.6 Reading the Decades

Year: 1961

A Severed Head (1961) by Iris Murdoch

+25 Task

Task Total: 25

Grand Total: 590 + 25 = 615

Task 10.1 Square Peg

A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea (2000) by Masaji Ishikawa; translated by Risa Kobayashi and Martin Brown

+10 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel (non-fiction)

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 570 + 20 = 590

Task 20.9 Jumbo (Kate S's Task)

Demons (1872) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky; translated by Robert A. Maguire (Paperback, Penguin Classics, 880 pages)
AND
Demons (1872) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky; translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky; (Paperback, 768 pages) (This is the MPE version)

Review: I listed both translations of Demons because I read Russian novels with 2-4 translations, flipping back and forth between all versions of the novel as I read. Sometimes a passage is not very understandable to me in one translation, and a different translation makes it understandable to me. Of the two above, I prefer the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation, and if the reader only wanted one translation, that is the one to choose. I found the notes to be very helpful, as Dostoyevsky references contemporary Russian events and contemporary Russian authors (including Ivan Turgenev, whom Dostoyevsky strongly disliked). The first half centered on the elite families of a mid-sized Russian town a couple of days journey from Moscow. To this 21st century reader, the novel dwells on insignificant details, and glosses over the interesting bits – very frustrating. The second half has more plot so it is quicker to read. There is a group of young men in the story who are atheists / nihilists / anarchists / “revolutionaries”, the forerunners of Marxists / communists. Dostoevsky skewers them mercilessly for being hypocrites, for using unsavory methods, and for their interest in fighting with each other instead of fighting for their “cause”. Interesting to me is that these young men are forerunners of the men who later successfully overthrow the czar (though of course Dostoyevsky didn’t know that when he wrote this novel). Overall – recommended, though I would start reading Dostoevsky with The Brothers Karamazov or Crime and Punishment instead of Demons, and reading the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translations.

+20 Task
+15 Combo (#10.9 (Cultural-Russia, Historical), #20.4, #20.6(2 S))
+10 Jumbo 700-799 Pages:
+10 Oldies -76 to 150 years old: (1868-1942)
+10 Review

Task Total: 20 + 15 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 65

Grand Total: 500 + 65 = 565

Task 15.5 Reading the Decades

Year: 1972

The Clock Winder (1972) by Anne Tyler

+15 Task

Task Total: 15

Grand Total: 485 + 15 = 500

Task 10.8 Double Continent (Coralie's Task)
Read a book set (at least 20% each) in more than one continent. For the purpose of this task, we will use this list to determine continents for each location. Please include relevant locations/continent in your completion post.

Locations: Europe (England) and Africa (Rhodesia & South Africa)

The Go-Away Bird and Other Stories (1958) by Muriel Spark (Hardback, 215 pages)
Review: One-third of this book is the novella “The Go-Away Bird”. The other two thirds of the book contains 1 novelette and 7 short stories. All stories were written by Muriel Spark. Some of the stories are set in Africa; some of the stories are set in England; most of the stories reference both continents in one way or another, so I believe that this book fits Task 10.8. The short stories all contain an unexpected but completely plausible twist. I found the stories very clever, very well done, and very entertaining to read. “The Go-Away Bird” was evenly split between England and South Africa. Overall, 5 stars, recommended for all readers.

+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.5, #20.8)
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1943-1993)
+10 Not-a-Novel (short story collections)
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 10 + 05 + 10 + 10 = 45

Grand Total: 440 + 45 = 485