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

Deedee’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

This collection of short stories looks like it would fit: Carniepunk - let me know if it doesn't!

Task 20.9 Political
Read a non-fiction book about politics

The Scarlet Sisters: Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in the Gilded Age (2014) by Myra MacPherson (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 432 pages)
Review: This is a non-fiction book about the life of Victoria Woodhull and her younger sister Tennessee Claflin. Victoria Woodhull is the first women ever to run for the President of the United States. She and her sister advocated “votes for women”, elimination of the double standard of behavior between men and women, and spiritualism. (Why should prostitutes be condemned but their customers are not condemned?) Breezy, “People” magazine style of writing, scrupulously keeping to what is known, this book is easy to read and holds the reader’s interest until the end. Over half the book is focused on the 1870s, despite the fact that the sisters had a childhood before the 1870s and lived until after the end of World War I. No original research, but then, the author’s target audience is the general reader and not the historian. Recommended.

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 00 + 30 = 30

I'm getting ready to start reading The Scarlet Sisters: Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in the Gilded Age, non-fiction about Victoria Woodhull (first woman to run for president) and her sister. Second from the bottom of the genres list is the genre POLITICS. I'm mentioning it now in case it drifts off the front page.

Task 20.2-Graham Greene
Read any book written by a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

The Seven Dials Mystery (Superintendent Battle #2) (1929) by Agatha Christie (Paperback, 270 pages)

+20 Task (#20.2)
+10 Combo (#10.4, #20.5)
+10 Oldies -76 to 150 years old: (1866-1940)
+05 Repeat a Task

Task Total: 20 + 10 + 10 + 05 = 45

Grand Total: 1,245 + 45 = 1,290

Task 10.7 4 Letter Names
Read a book by an author who uses at least one four letter name for their publications.

Billy Moon: A Transcendent Novel Reimagining the Life of Christopher Robin Milne (2013) by Douglas Lain (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 272 pages)

+10 (#10.7 “Lain”)
+05 Repeat a Task

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15

Grand Total: 1,230 + 15 = 1,245

Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen

Is the same book as:


Out of Africa by Karen Blixen

Or at least I hope so because the one I have here by my keyboard is Out of Africa by Karen Blixen.

It says elsewhere that Isak Dinesen is a pseudonym for Karen Blixen

Task 10.7 4 Letter Names
Read a book by an author who uses at least one four letter name for their publications.

The Vegetarian (2007) by Han Kang; translated by Deborah Smith; (Hardcover, 188 pages)
Man Booker International Prize (2016) WINNER

+10 (#10.7 “Kang”)
+05 Repeat a Task

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15

Grand Total: 1,215 + 15 = 1,230

Task 20.3-Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Read an author who has a complex surname: surname consists of two distinct words, includes an article, or is hyphenated.

The Beginning Place (1980) by Ursula K. Le Guin (Mass Market Paperback, 183 pages)

+20 Task (#20.3 LeGuin)
+05 Combo (#20.5)
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1941-1991)

+100 RWS Completion Bonus
+200 Mega Finish

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 05 = 30

Grand Total: 885 + 30 + 100 + 200 = 1,215

Task 20.8 A Nod to Tristram Shandy
#153 on the list as of May 23, 2016.

Colors Insulting To Nature (2004) by Cintra Wilson (Paperback, 353 pages)

+20 Task

Task Total: 20

Grand Total: 865 + 20 = 885


one more book to go for a mega-finish!

I've finished the sub-challenge this season and need finish only 2 more books to finish RWS and so have a mega-finish! :) I'm almost halfway through the longer of the 2 books, so I'll make it this time. I've been doing this since (Winter 2010-11) season. This will be my third Mega-Finish. Now back to reading!

Task 15.10- Waters of the World

Baltasar and Blimunda (1982) by José Saramago; translated by Giovanni Pontiero; (Paperback, 346 pages)
Translated from the Portuguese
~first pub. 1982

Atlantic: Portugal

+15 Task (author born & nationality & setting)
+20 point bonus

+100 point for completing Waters of the World
+25 point : all books were originally written in languages other than English
+50 point: all books originally published in 1991 or earlier

Task Total: 15 + 20 + 100 + 25 + 50 = 210

Grand Total: 655 + 210 = 865

Task 10.7 4 Letter Names
Read a book by an author who uses at least one four letter name for their publications.

The Dream Years (1985) by Lisa Goldstein (Hardcover, 181 pages)
World Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novel (1986)

+10 Task
+05 Repeat a Task
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1941-1991)

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 05 = 20

Grand Total: 635 + 20 = 655

I think these will fit:
Ilium & Olympos
Lavinia

Task 10.6 Book Lovers

The Polysyllabic Spree (Stuff I've Been Reading #1) (2004) by Nick Hornby

+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.7 “Nick”)
+10 Not-a-Novel: non-fiction

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 10 = 25

Grand Total: 605 + 25 = 630

Here's my first pass:

1903 The Ambassadors by Henry James

1908 The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett
or
1908 The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson

1913 Chance by Joseph Conrad
1918 The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
1923 A Son at the Front by Edith Wharton
1928 Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon
1933 Testament of Youth: An Autobiographical Study of the Years 1900-1925 by Vera Brittain (non-fiction)
1938 Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell (non-fiction)
1943 The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner

1948 The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen
or
1948 The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene

1953 Cotillion by Georgette Heyer

1958 The Once and Future King by T.H. White

1963 The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré

1968 The Dark Ages by Isaac Asimov (non-fiction)

Well OK then --- see my next post below for the booklist I'm going to do instead of the above :)

Task 15.9- Waters of the World

Thérèse Raquin (1867) by Émile Zola (Paperback, 211 pages)
Translated from the French
~first pub. 1867

Rhine River Basin: France

+15 Task (author born & nationality & setting)
+20 point bonus

Task Total: 15 + 20 = 35

Grand Total: 570 + 35 = 605

Thanks for the quick reply -- apparently there's an ARC (advance reader's copy) printed Dec. 21, 1982 but the copy available to the public wasn't printed until 1983. I'd call it 1983 (like wikipedia and ISFDB does) but hey, whatever. I've found another book for 1983. I haven't completely decided which years to use -- making sure there are books available that I want to read in 5 year intervals is taking more time than anticipated.

I have a question about The Mists of Avalon. Internet sites like wikipedia and ISFDB list the publication date as "1983". A fellow goodreads librarian insists the original publication date is 21 Dec 1982, and whenever I change the date to 1983 she changes it back to 1982. So, whatever, after I've changed a date twice I leave it alone. Date is therefore 21 Dec 1982 for The Mists of Avalon.

I'm thinking of including 1983 in my list. I'll abide by the moderators here whether The Mists of Avalon is "1982" or it is "1983".

Task 10.2-Single Word

Arkwright (2016) by Allen Steele (Hardcover, 336 pages)

+10 Task
+05 Repeat a Task

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15

Grand Total: 555 + 15 = 570

Task 15.8 Waters of the World

All Souls (1989) by Javier Marías; translated from Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa; (Paperback, 210 pages)
Translated from the Spanish
~first pub. 1989

Mediterranean Sea: Spain

+15 Task (author born & nationality)
+10 point bonus

Task Total: 15 + 10 = 25

Grand Total: 530 + 25 = 555