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

Deedee’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Sam wrote: "Haven't made it to my PC yet tonight, but I did just finish The Shadow of the Wind. I'll try to get it posted in the morning.

One thing I just realised that I haven't been tracking is combo point..."

My tomorrow post will also have +05 Combo points. Now I have to concentrate and write my review so I can make my post! (The book I just finished is: Coming Up for Air (1939) by George Orwell : fits #20.6 WAR and #10.7 "C" in Olympics)

Joanna wrote: "For the B line, we need something from Deedee because any bingo had to have something from everyone. Any chance you could post a review for one of your books?"

I saw this comment right before I was going to post a book for #20.6. I'll add a review and post it tomorrow.

Sam wrote: "You'll have to let me know how you like it, Deedee! I tried one of his other novels (Little, Big) and I just couldn't get through it. I wanted to like it so badly, but it just never clicked.

I'm ..."

Finished Great Work of Time for 20.10 male. I gave it 2 *. I like time travel stories, which this is. It also won the 1990 Award for Best Novella given by the World Fantasy Awards. However .... the way the author told the story was difficult to follow. There were 6 chapters and each chapter seemed like it was from a completely different story. I think the chapters all relate to each other somehow. I, personally, needed some connective prose to follow how they relate to each other. Maybe that style of fiction is why John Crowley is listed under metafiction?

Anyways ..... so far from the BINGO I've finished:

The Dark Ages (Historia Universal Asimov #8) (1968) by Isaac Asimov (Hardcover, 256 pages) counts for 20.7

Murder and Marinara (An Italian Kitchen Mystery #1) (2013) by Rosie Genova (Goodreads Author) (Paperback, 326 pages)
counts for 10.7

Great Work of Time (1989) by John Crowley (Mass Market Paperback, 144 pages)
counts for 20.10 -- male author

I haven't claimed anything in the BINGO thread. Do we have a team captain taking care of that? Let me know if you want me to post to claim points in the BINGO thread.

Still reading Children of Earth and Sky (2016) by Guy Gavriel Kay (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 571 pages)
counts for 10.7 + 05 Jumbo Points

Task 20.10 Meta fiction
Read any book by one of these authors associated with historiographic metafiction.

Great Work of Time (1989) by John Crowley
World Fantasy Award for Best Novella (1990)

+20 Task

Task Total: 20

Grand Total: 200 + 20 = 220

Task 10.7 First Letter (Tien's Task)
Read a book with a title that starts with a letter found in OLYMPICS.

Murder and Marinara (An Italian Kitchen Mystery #1) (2013) by Rosie Genova

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 190 + 10 = 200

I've substituted Great Work of Time (1989) by John Crowley in place of Michael Ondaatje's novel. Still works for 20.10 - male.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 254 Deedee wrote: "Task 10.6 Traveling the DDC way
Read a book shelved in the 900s (900-999)

My local library had The Dark Ages (Historia Universal Asimov #8) (1968) by Isaac Asimov shelved as 940.1 but whatever. I'd like to move the book to:

20.7 "Isaac Asimov" = IA = Iowa.

Grand Total: 170 + 20 = 190

Task 10.6 Traveling the DDC way
Read a book shelved in the 900s (900-999)

940.1
The Dark Ages (Historia Universal Asimov #8) (1968) by Isaac Asimov (Hardcover, 256 pages)

+10 Task
+05 Combo (#20.7 “IA”=Iowa)

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15

Grand Total: 170 + 15 = 185

Sam wrote: "Deedee, for the ones started in June, Elizabeth said same rules as the main challenge apply. So you can use one book started in June that was less than 50% read.

Here's the link for the spreadshe..."

OK then, by the "less than 50% read" standard, both The Dark Ages and By Book or By Crook could count; The Dark Ages was at 30% read and By Book or By Crook was at 45% read at the beginning of the day of July 1. Use whichever one is most helpful for the team.

Specifically:
I'll be starting these two this weekend:

Children of Earth and Sky (2016) by Guy Gavriel Kay for 10.7 and also +05 Jumbo points

In the Skin of a Lion (1987) by Michael Ondaatje for 20.10 male

I'm about halfway through these:

The Dark Ages (Historia Universal Asimov #8) (1968) by Isaac Asimov [940.1] for 10.6 or 20.7

By Book or By Crook (Lighthouse Library Mystery #1) (2015) by Eva Gates for possible 10.1 (but Librarians! in Lighthouses! :)

But since I started both of those in June I'm not sure if they can be used for BINGO

I have a book by Michael Ondaatje I'm planning to start soon (fits 20.10) plus several books that fit 10.7 (including one +05 Jumbo).

I finished last month a book by Margaret Atwood for 10.2 -- too soon to count for this challenge -- she's an amazing author!

Task 10.8 Come to the Fair (Karen Michele's Task) ths one!!
15 short stories all set at the travelling carnival

Carniepunk (2013) edited by Rachel Caine (Paperback, 440 pages)
Review: This book is a collection of 14 short stories / novelettes, all by different authors, all published here for the first time. All 14 stories are set in traveling carnivals, with Ferris wheels and/or cotton candy and/or portals to hell, etc., etc. Seven of the stories are set in paranormal/urban fantasy series; seven of the stories are standalones. Most of the stories have protagonists with tattoos and/or hair dyed colors not occurring in nature (such as pink or lavender). All of the stories have elements of fantasy or magic. As is typical in a collection of stories by different authors, some stories are really, really good, and other stories ….. not so much. “A Duet With Darkness” would probably have been more enjoyable if I had been reading the paranormal urban fantasy series that it is a part of. As most of the stories are really good, I’d recommend this one, especially for fans of paranormal urban fantasy.

+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.7 “C”)
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 15 = 25

Grand Total: 145 + 25 = 170

Task 15.1 FYTS: Time Traveler
1880-1930

1880: Washington Square (1880) by Henry James (Paperback, 223 pages)

+15 Task

Task Total: 15

Grand Total: 130 + 15 = 145

Well, here's another plan:

1880: Washington Square by Henry James

1885: Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant; translated by Margaret Mauldon

1890:

1895:

1900:

1905:

1910:

1915:

1920:

1925: The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

1930: The 42nd Parallel (The U.S.A. Trilogy #1) by John Dos Passos

Task 10.2 Picador/Virago
Read any book by one of the authors (including introduction writers) mentioned in this Picador blog, or any of these Virago authors.
A Virago Author

The Heart Goes Last (2015) by Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 308 pages)

+10 Task
+10 Combo (#20.7 “MA” = Massachusetts, #20.10)

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 110 + 20 = 130

Task 10.7 First Letter (Tien's Task)
Read a book with a title that starts with a letter found in OLYMPICS.

Into the Dim (Into The Dim #1) (2016) by Janet B. Taylor (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 428 pages)
Lexile HL710L

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 100 + 10 = 110

I'm in :)

Task 20.8 Kotick – The British Raj

On June 11, 2016: #32 on Books about the British Raj List

The Temple Tiger and More Man-Eaters of Kumaon (1954) by Jim Corbett (Paperback, 182 pages)
Review: Jim Corbett was a British Game Hunter in the first half of the 20th Century. This book contains 5 chapters, each one focused on one tiger that he hunted in the of Kumaon area of India. (This area is in northern India, near Nepal, in the foothills of the Himalayas). Corbett begins each chapter with a quick but chilling description of some of the humans killed and eaten by the tiger he is planning to track and kill. Whenever possible, Corbett includes family members of tiger-killed humans along with him whilst hunting the tiger. As a reader, this made it possible for me to root for Corbett’s success in the Hunt and in the Kill. The tracking techniques Corbett describes were previously unknown by me and I found the descriptions interesting. My edition included numerous illustrations, which added understanding to the text. My edition also included a map, which was not as helpful as the author thought it would be. Corbett is respectful of the local Indians; they have their ‘superstitions’ but then, Corbett notes, he has his own ‘superstitions’. Recommended.

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 70 + 30 = 100

Task 20.6 War

World War One Literature
#44 on June 09, 2016

Generals Die in Bed: 100th Anniversary of World War I Special Edition (1930) by Charles Yale Harrison (Young Adult) (Paperback, 168 pages)
I don’t think this one is eligible for style points.

+20 Task

Task Total: 20

Grand Total: 50 + 20 = 70

Task 10.7 First Letter (Tien's Task)
Read a book with a title that starts with a letter found in OLYMPICS.

Shadows on the Rock (1931) by Willa Cather (Paperback, 229 pages)
Review: This novel was a gentle story about a 13 year old girl living in 1698 Quebec, Canada with her widowed apothecary father. There were frequent, uniformly positive references to the French Roman Catholic religion (and the Jesuit priests and the nuns). Kind, religious Frenchmen were helpful and charitable towards their less fortunate neighbors. In between descriptions of religious observances and charitable acts, the novel indulges in rather long descriptive paragraphs about the landscape in and around Quebec (or “Kebec” as the novel calls the village). No Native Americans are present in the story. Overall, this was a surprisingly restful and conflict-free novel. Reading it was like listening to classical music in a Catholic Cathedral.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 30 + 20 = 50