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

Deedee’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Task 10.9 Magical Realism
Read a book with a main page genre of "magical realism".

Turtle Moon (1992) by Alice Hoffman (Paperback, 292 pages)
WINNER : Hammett Prize (1992)

+10 Task (#10.9)
+10 Combo (#10.2, #10.6)
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1942-1992)

Task Total: 10 + 10 + 05 = 25

Grand Total: 795 + 25 = 820

Task 10.1 Square Peg

Hall of Small Mammals: Stories (2015) by Thomas Pierce (Hardcover, 294 pages)

+10 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel: short story collections

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 775 + 20 = 795

Task 20.6 The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Read a book where the title is a full sentence

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd (Flavia de Luce #8) (2016) by Alan Bradley (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 331 pages)

+20 Task
+05 combo (#10.3)

Task Total: 20 + 05 = 25

Grand Total: 750 + 25= 775

Task 10.3 2016/17
Read any book originally published in a year that includes at least two of the numbers 1, 6, and 7.

To Capture What We Cannot Keep (2016) by Beatrice Colin (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 291 pages)

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 740 + 10 = 750

Tien wrote: "I've voted in the polls and uh, c'mon, peeps, vote Large Countries - Russia, China, Brazil in poll #2 (we have Non-Western style this season!)"

Convinced me! I voted for Large Countries

I'm in! I read approximately 15 books per month (sometimes 10 sometimes 18 you know how it is). I often come close to finishing RWS and/or the sub-challenge but usually, like the Winter Challenge we're just finishing, fall 2-3 books short.

Sounds like fun!

Task 10.6 Obscure Awards

WINNER : Nebula Award for Best Novel (1987)

The Falling Woman (1986) by Pat Murphy

+10 Task (#10.6)
+05 Combo (#10.3)
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1942-1992)

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 05 = 20

Grand Total: 720 + 20 = 740

I have a plan for the Decades Sub-challenge! All of the books I picked come from Spur Award -- they have several categories where they hand out Spur Awards per year, some fiction, some non-fiction, and my list combines books from both the fiction and the non-fiction lists. I'm planning on 1972-1981 which will include 2 books from my new-favorite author Elmer Kelton (who writes what I call "literary westerns"). All books written by men. Maybe if I finish I'll try the WILLA western woman's awards.

Beth wrote: "...Then I realized I had messed up many possible decades with the books I had already read...."

I'm finding the same thing! I've been using awards lists as TBRs for over a decade now, and most popular awards I'm unable to get 10 in a row for the sub-challenge.

On the plus side, there are a lot of obscure prizes out there, obscure prizes awarded to interesting-looking books, so I'll get my list in order by the end of the month

Here's a list of Fantasy & Science Fiction Awards, both major and minor, complete with links to the "Winners by Year" for each of the Awards listed. SF Awards Directory

Task 20.4 Member of the Wedding
Read one of the top 250 books inlcuded on the list of Best Southern Literature.

On February 10, 2017: #216

Lighthouse (St. Simons Trilogy #1) (1971) by Eugenia Price (Paperback, 352 pages)

+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.3)
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1942-1992)

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 05 = 30

Grand Total: 690 + 30 = 720

Task 10.7 New Year's Day Rosemary's Task
Read a book with the name of a month or a day of the week in the title (e.g. June or Monday).

Friday's Footprint and Other Stories (1960) by Nadine Gordimer (Hardcover, 244 pages)
WH Smith Literary Award (1961) WINNER

+10 Task (#10.7)
+25 Combo (#10.3, #10.6, #20.2, #20.8, #20.9)
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1942-1992)
+10 Not-a-Novel: short story collections

Task Total: 10 + 25 + 05 + 10 = 50

Grand Total: 640 + 50 = 690

Task 10.3 2016/17
Read any book originally published in a year that includes at least two of the numbers 1, 6, and 7.

A Case Of Spirits (Sergeant Cribb #6) (1975) by Peter Lovesey (Hardcover 160 pages)

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

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15

Grand Total: 625 + 15 = 640

Task 20.4 Member of the Wedding
Read one of the top 250 books inlcuded on the list of Best Southern Literature.

On February 08, 2017: #134

Crazy in Alabama (1993) by Mark Childress (Goodreads Author) (Mass Market Paperback, 434 pages)
Alabama Author Award - Fiction (1994) WINNER

+20 Task
+10 Combo (#10.2, #10.6)

Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 595 + 30 = 625

Task 15.6 CiV 2

Resurrection (1899) by Leo Tolstoy; translated by Louise Maude; (Paperback, 528 pages)

Bet: B
Squares: 2, 20, 23

+40 Task

Task Total: 40

Grand Total: 555 + 40 = 595

Task 10.10 Group Reads

A Moveable Feast (1964) by Ernest Hemingway (Paperback, 211 pages) [Biography/921]

+10 task
+10 combo (#10.3, #20.3)
+10 Not-a-Novel: non-fiction
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1942-1992)

Task total: 10 + 10 + 10 + 05 = 35

Grand Total: 520 + 35 = 555

Task 10.4 Scandinavian
Read a book set at least 75% in Denmark, Sweden, or Norway.

Italian Shoes (Fredrik Welin series #1) (2006) by Henning Mankell; translated by Laurie Thompson (Hardcover, 247 pages)
Set in Sweden

+10 Task (#10.4 Scandinavia)
+05 Combo (#10.6)
+10 Lost in Translation

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 10 = 25

Grand Total: 495 + 25 = 520

Task 20.3
Read an author's autobiography. Autobiographies and memoirs will both be accepted for this task, but the subject must have authored other works to qualify.

The Princess Diarist (2016) by Carrie Fisher (Hardcover, 257 pages)
This is a memoir of Carrie Fisher’s life in 1976, especially (but not solely) as it related to the filming of Star Wars and her relationship with actor Harrison Ford. Carrie Fisher wrote novels as well as memoirs, including Surrender the Pink and Postcards from the Edge.

+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.3)
+10 Not-a-Novel: non-fiction

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35

Grand Total: 460 + 35 = 495

Task 15.5 CiV 2

Kamouraska (1970) by Anne Hébert; translated from the French by Norman Shapiro
set entirely in the Quebec Province of Canada

Bet: RED
Squares: 1, 19, 32

+35 Task

Task Total: 35

Grand Total: 425 + 35 = 460

Task 10.3 2016/17
Read any book originally published in a year that includes at least two of the numbers 1, 6, and 7.

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge (2016) by Paul Krueger (Goodreads Author) (Paperback, 288 pages)

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 415 + 10 = 425