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

Deedee’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Task 15.2 Reading Globally

Setting: Bulgaria (Europe)

The Shadow Land (2017) by Elizabeth Kostova

+15 Task

Task Total: 15

Grand Total: 370 + 15 = 385

Task 10.4
Read a book shelved in the 800s (800-809.9) at the BPL.


Luke Skywalker Can't Read: And Other Geeky Truths (2015) by Ryan Britt (Goodreads Author) (Paperback, 208 pages) [809.38762]
Review: This is a collection of 15 essays on science fiction TV shows and movies. Some of the content was previously published on tor.com. The author, Ryan Britt, tells us he was born in 1981. A lot of the content of these essays are about how he, personally, has reacted to various science fiction TV shows and movies. His favorite “franchise” is Star Wars; Star Trek is a close second. For “Lord of the Rings”, his big insight is that the movie was better. Ryan Britt includes one sparse chapter on “Doctor Who”. He has one chapter on the “Back to the Future” trilogy, which reads as though it was written as a class assignment (and who knows, maybe it was). “Game of Thrones” gets, literally, one mention in passing, and zero discussion. And, of course, the final chapter was about superheroes and comic books. I was underwhelmed. I expect more from a book on pop culture and/or science fiction. On a positive note, the cover is really cool (see above). And BPL has the book shelved as 809.38762, which is helpful for this season's challenge.

To be fair, if he had focused on MY personal favorite “franchises” (“Doctor Who”, “Game of Thrones”) maybe I would have appreciated his essays more. Then again – maybe not.

+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.8 double letter)
+10 Not-a-Novel: non-fiction
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 10 + 10 = 35

Grand Total: 335 + 35 = 370

My father liked a very clean house. He would often sigh and re-clean something if he didn't think my mother did a good enough job. (She did NOT mind!) When I was in my 20s in my first apartment ever, both my parents came over for dinner. Afterwards, without a word, my father went back to the bathroom and made it spotless. (I was puzzled why he was gone so long.) I made sure my bathroom looked good whenever I knew parents were coming over from then on!

Task 10.6 Governor General's Award

Governor General's Literary Awards / Prix littéraires du Gouverneur général for Fiction (1968)

Dance of the Happy Shades: And Other Stories (1968) by Alice Munro (Paperback, 224 pages)
Review: This is a collection of fifteen short stories, all written by Alice Munro. It was her debut story collection, first published in 1968. The back cover of my book says they are all set in “western Ontario”; however, the stories could be set in any small town/rural town in English-speaking Canada or in the American Midwest / New England area. The timeframe is 1920-1950. All the stories star a late teens/early twentys aged woman. Twelve of the fifteen stories are told in first person. (Personally, I enjoy stories written in first person, but I know that not everyone does.) The stories are “slice of life” stories, concerning ordinary women in everyday situations. Munro is very focused in each story – no extraneous details included. Recommended for the short fiction reader.

+10 Task
+05 Combo
+10 Not-a-Novel (short story collections)
+10 Review
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1942-1992)

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 10 + 10 + 05 = 40

Grand Total: 295 + 40 = 335

Task 10.8 Double Letter Names (Cat's task)
Read a book with an author with a double letter in their name. The double letter can be in either the first or last name.

Somewhere in France (The Great War #1) (2013) by Jennifer Robson
Review: This novel was not what I expected. I was expecting a somewhat serious historical novel set during World War I. Instead, this is a standard non-serious romance novel, with World War I as background. The action occurs either in elegant hotels or in medical tents. Our hero is a medical doctor from a poor family. Our heroine is a daughter of the aristocracy. Love breaking class boundaries! Except – from the first chapter, our heroine rejects all the advantages of her “station” and with no difficulty whatsoever embraces a middle class lifestyle. (The cover mentions “Downtown Abbey” , a TV show that I’ve heard of but never watched, which is supposedly all about the English class system during World War I.) The characters are described as being deeply moved by the horrors of war. The horrors of war are not described. The first kiss, however, gets several paragraphs. Overall, the novel is good for what it set out to do – a PG-rated romance novel set in the past. Recommended for those who are looking for a PG-rated romance novel.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 275 + 20 = 295

And …. Novel is set 99 years before publication, so no #20.5 combo. (Yes, really, 99 years!)

Task 10.5 Grandparents

The Amazing Dr Darwin: The Adventures of Charles Darwin's Grandfather (2002) by Charles Sheffield (Paperback, 343 pages)
Review: This book is a collection of 6 standalone novelettes, originally published 1978-1998. Charles Sheffield was a science fiction author (emphasis on “science”). The stories in this book are not really ‘science fiction’; instead, I would describe them as fictional mysteries starring scientists and featuring scientific concepts (electricity or oxygen or even the Loch Ness monster). All the stories have, as their main protagonist, medical doctor Erasmus Darwin acting like a detective, (like Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes), and co-stars Col. Pole as his friend & assistant (similar to Holmes’ Dr. Watson). Both Erasmus Darwin and Col. Pole really existed in the real world– although, Sheffield informs the reader, there is no evidence that they were close friends in *real* life. Erasmus Darwin, in *real* life, was the grandfather of Charles Darwin and a noted 18th century scientist. Recommended for readers who like Sherlock Holmes or who enjoy the sub-genre of “science fiction mysteries” – and who doesn’t mind reading a collection of stories that fail the Bechtel test.

+10 Task
+10 Combo (#10.8 double letters, #20.1 set 100 years (or more) before publication)
+10 Not-a-Novel: short story collections
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 40

Grand Total: 235 + 40 = 275

Task 15.1 Reading Globally

Setting: Australia (Oceania)

The Strays (2014) by Emily Bitto

+15 Task

Task Total: 15

Grand Total: 210 + 15 = 225

Task 10.4
Read a book shelved in the 800s (800-809.9) at the BPL.

> BPL 808.3

How to Read a Novel (2006) by John Sutherland (Hardcover, 263 pages) [808.3]
Review: This book is a collection of 28 essays that can loosely be described as “about novels”. The author begins with the reader – today there are thousands of readily available novels to read. Today’s readers’ problem? How to choose one of those novels. (He wrote this book before goodreads existed.) He goes through the pluses and minuses of each method of choosing a novel to read. Next up is a set of essays on the marketing of books, and how the marketing affects the readers’ choice of books. The next set of essays focus on factors that influence the readers’ enjoyment of a novel. Mr. Sutherland is very interested in references inside the text to contemporaneous world events outside the text and to other novels. Knowing what was going on in the world at the time the author was writing a novel can help today’s reader better understand the novel. He ends with a few essays on what I presume is his pet peeves in the literary world of 2006.

The author, John Sutherland, is a Professor of Modern English Literature; he writes book reviews for prestigious newpapers; and “was the committee chairman for the 2005 Man Booker Prize”. The writing style of the essays is easy to follow, and the essays are interesting to read (assuming that the reader is interested in the topic of the essay, like the one Mr. Sutherland calls “intertextuality”). I’d recommend this book for those interested in "books about books".

+10 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel: non-fiction
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 10 +10 = 30

Grand Total: 180 + 30 = 210

Task 20.5 Old
Read a book with a main story line set 100 years (or more) before publication.

Novel set in the 1890s and published in 2016.

The Essex Serpent (2016) by Sarah Perry
Review: This quirky historical fiction novel is set in the 1890s. In the afterward, the author reveals that the inspiration of the novel came from a real event that occurred in Essex, England. The novel follows an ensemble group of characters, the majority of whom are economically comfortable. There are men and women of leisure; medical doctors; a vicar and his family; and their privileged children. We also are introduced to a beggar and a working class man, but their roles in the novel are small. The style of the novel is such that I kept expecting it to veer into ‘magical realism’ territory but it never quite does so. The plot – such as it is – revolves around a “serpent” that may or may not exist near the Essex coastline, and how our characters interact with the “serpent” mystery (when they are not busy interacting with each other). Recommended for fans of low-action literary fiction.

+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.8 double letters)
+10 Review

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35

Grand Total: 145 + 35 = 180

The vicar is part of the ensemble cast of the novel. He is one of the main characters – but there are 6 main characters – and his “screentime” is not the majority one. I therefore didn’t include a 20.6 Clergy combo. Now, if our moderators thinks Rev. Ransome’s presence justifies a 20.6 combo, I won’t complain – it’s a borderline call either way.

Hi all -- well, I'm excited. My son's wedding date is set for Dec. 27, 2017 -- my daughters & I are going to do the wedding planning as they are overseas until Dec. 23 -- they want a small wedding so this is doable

Task 20.3 Ghost Story
Read a book shelved at least 6 times as Ghost Stories.

The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories (1906) by Algernon Blackwood
Review: This is a collection of ten ghost stories, all written by Algernon Blackwood, with original publication dates of 1899-1906. Eight of the stories appeared in this collection for the first time; two were published in magazines prior to 1906. All the stories stars a man, aged 20-40, who encounters paranormal activity AKA a ghost. The effect is that of a brief thrill for the reader, rather than full-out horror. Two of the stories use negative stereotypes of Jewish men to advance the story (those were also the two weakest stories in the collection). Much of Blackwood’s storytelling style is similar to this sample from one of the ten stories:

From “A Case of Eavesdropping”: His nerves were steady enough, and he felt no diminution of physical courage, but he was conscious of a curious sense of malaise and trepidation, such as even the most vigorous men have been known to experience when in the first grip of some horrible and deadly disease.

Overall, recommended for those looking for mild-mannered Edwardian ghost stories – other writers do it better, but this collection is still a good read.

+20 Task
+10 Combo (#10.8 double letter, #20.1 gothic)
+10 Not-a-Novel (short story collections)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies -76 to 150 years old: (1866-1941)

Task Total: 20 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 60

Grand Total: 85 + 60 = 145

Task 10.8 Double Letter Names (Cat's task)
Read a book with an author with a double letter in their name. The double letter can be in either the first or last name.

Death by the Dozen (Cupcake Bakery Mystery #3) (2011) by Jenn McKinlay
Review: This is the third book in a cozy mystery series. Our heroine, Mel, and her best friend, Angie, own and manage a bakery shop in Scottsdale, Arizona, that specializes in Cupcakes. Scottsdale has an annual Food Festival. Part of the Food Festival is a “Challenge to the Chefs” wherein entrants are given a “mystery ingredient” and inside of one hour must create a tasty baked good. One of the judges is found dead. Questions of the novel: how & why did the judge end; will Mel & Angie’s bakery win the “Challenge to the Chefs” contest; and, which of two men pursuing Angie will she choose to be her boyfriend. (All questions are answered, though with a hint that Angie might change her mind in book #4.) The novel is written with a nice degree of fluff, as is the standard for the “cozy mystery” genre. That said …. The “mystery” part was weak, and Mel (our Point of View character) is unlikeable in this novel. Mel exhibits “entitled” behavior, whether it is hobnobbing with the contest’s judges or acting as though rules that everyone else must follow don’t apply to her …. Ugh. Mel was OK in books #1 and #2, though, so I’ll give the series another chance. Maybe book #4 can get back to Mel’s complicated romantic life & Mel’s entertaining relationship with her feisty, widowed mother, things that made books #1 & #2 of the series so much fun to read.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 65 + 20 = 85

Task 20.7 Single Word (Lagullande's task)
Read a book with a title consisting of a single word. All words count for this task.

Chemistry (2017) by Weike Wang
Review: This is the debut novel of Weike Wang. The hardcopy of the novel has a brief bio: She “is a graduate of Harvard University, where she earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry and her doctorate in public health.” From the photo she looks Asian. The novel is told first-person by a young woman with an undergraduate degree in chemistry, who is also the daughter of immigrants from China. Hmmm, write what you know, right? The novel is told in sparse prose, in semi-linear timeline (but with numerous digressions that involve events from many random times in her life). She also includes random facts of chemistry, and whimsically relates those chemistry facts to real life. Our narrator has to deal with major changes in her life, which is something she finds difficult. I really enjoyed this novel. Usually when I read a sparse-prose novel, I can’t figure out what is going on, and I don’t finish reading it. This one, for whatever reason, I can follow quite easily the story, and I found all the asides and digressions interesting/amusing. Recommended for readers of literary fiction.

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 35 + 30 = 65

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Okay so I have a question for the people who live in the US, I have received three automated calls now saying there are allegations against me and I need to call this number. I looked up the number..."

I got those calls too! I just ignored them and eventually they stopped calling. It is TOTALLY a scam, don't even breathe at them, just hang up.

Task 20.10 Uncommon Letter (Elizabeth (Alaska)'s Task)
Read a book where a Q, X, or Z is the first or last letter of any word in the title (but not the subtitle) or the first or last letter of one of the author's names, hyphenated names included.

Murder by the Book (Nero Wolfe #19) (1951) by Rex Stout (Paperback, 246 pages)
Review: When I was young, middle-school aged, I used to go to my mother’s side of the couch where she had her stack of paperbacks that she was reading. The game I played was to ‘borrow’ one of her books BEFORE she read it. I learned to read carefully, so that afterwards it would be hard to tell if the paperback had been read or not (though she usually figured out where her new novel had disappeared to). Her ‘authors’ included: Georgette Heyer, Victoria Holt, Phyllis A. Whitney, Dell Shannon, ….. and Rex Stout. I know I read Rex Stout because I can remember the overweight man (Nero Wolfe) with his orchids. I don’t remember which novels of the Nero Wolfe series that I read. I think Murder by the Book is a new-to-me read. I picked this one up for nostalgia reasons, not expecting very much. I was therefore pleasantly surprised.

Mr. Nero Wolfe is a private detective. He cooperates with the police more often than not (and always when legally obligated to do so); he has a client who pays his bill; he employs several private detectives on a freelance basis to do a lot of the running around for him. These facts make this novel more plausible than most of present-day “cozy mysteries”.

For a 1951 novel, I expected sexism. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to read in this novel that: only INTELLIGENT women are attractive; and that the women in this novel all had their own lives and agendas unrelated to the mystery Mr. Wolfe was investigating and unrelated to dating & marriage. Thinking on it, I do believe this would pass the Bechtel test, as there were a couple of conversations between female characters unrelated to men.

Overall, I’d recommend this for someone looking for a 1950s mystery that doesn’t insult one’s intelligence nor insult women as a gender. I will have the caveat that I don’t know how the other 71 novels in the series are – long series tend to be uneven in quality – I’ll just say that this one was good.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1942-1992)

Task Total: 20 + 10 + 05 = 35

Grand Total: 00 + 35 = 35

List has
Arthur Conan Coyle

should that be
Arthur Conan Doyle

??

Task 10.10 Group Reads

The Bear and the Nightingale (The Bear and the Nightingale #1) (2017) by Katherine Arden (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 322 pages)

+10 Task
+10 Combo (#10.2 no “O”; #20.3 “historical”)
+100 ****RWS Completion****

Task Total: 10 + 10 + 100 = 120

Grand Total: 775 + 120 = 895

Task 20.4 Trilogies

Pre-approved by Elizabeth (Alaska): in the Help Thread (Thanks!)

The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter (Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire #1) [ANGRY ROBOT] (2014) by Rod Duncan (Goodreads Author) (Paperback, 375 pages)
Philip K. Dick Award Nominee (2014)

+20 Task
+15 Combo (#10.2 no “O”; #10.3 “U”; #10.5 nominated)

Task Total: 20 + 15 = 35

Grand Total: 740 + 35 = 775

Happy birthday, Jayme! :)

Task 10.2 No O
Read any book by an author whose name as published contains no letter O.

Frogkisser! (2017) by Garth Nix (YA) (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 372 pages)
Lexile 840L

+10 Task
+05 Repeat

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15

Grand Total: 725 + 15 = 740