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

Deedee’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Task 20.4-Evelyn Waugh
Read a book written by an author who died during Evelyn Waugh's lifetime (1903-1966)

Irène Némirovsky died August 17, 1942, Auschwitz

The Fires of Autumn (1957 (posthumously)) by Irène Némirovsky (Paperback, 240 pages)

+20 Task
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1941-1991)

Task Total: 20 + 05 = 25

Grand Total: 00 + 25 = 25

doctors who became famous authors

• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes)
• W. Somerset Maugham
• William Carlos Williams
• Robin Cook
• Oliver Wendell Holmes
• Michael Crichton
• Anton Chekhov
• Zane Grey

Guy Gavriel Kay is a lawyer.
He returned to Canada in 1975 to take a law degree at the University of Toronto. He was called to the bar of Ontario in 1981.

10 Lawyers Who Became Authors

1. Erle Stanley Gardner
2. John Grisham
3. Scott Turow
4. Meg Gardiner
5. John Mortimer (Rumpole of the Bailey)
6. Richard North Patterson
7. Wallace Stevens
8. John Buchan (The Thirty-Nine Steps)
9. Louis Auchincloss
10. Henry Fielding (The History of Tom Jones (1749))

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi is a good source for the bibliography of science fiction and fantasy writers. Non-fiction is at the bottom of the page.

So far, I've checked the following:

Poul Anderson (novels, short stories, poems, essays, non-fiction)
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?3

Issac Asimov (novels, short fiction, non-fiction)
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?5

Fredrik Pohl (novels, short fiction, non-fiction)
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?820

Jo Walton (novels, short fiction, non-fiction)
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?6719

Task 10.3 – Science Fiction Day
January 2 is National Science Fiction Day. Read one of the top Science Fiction authors listed on Ranker.com
February 16, 2016: #80

Darwinia (1998) by Robert Charles Wilson (Goodreads Author) (Paperback, 372 pages)
Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel (1999)

+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.9 Realistic Ratings)

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15

Grand Total: 520 + 15 = 535

Task 10.8 Winter Solstice
Read a book written by an author born in one of the countries within the artic circle: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Alaska, U.S.

Born in: Toronto, Canada

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust (Flavia de Luce #7) (2015) by Alan Bradley (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 392 pages)

+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.9 Realistic Ratings)

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15

Grand Total: 505 + 15 = 520

Task 10.3 – Science Fiction Day
January 2 is National Science Fiction Day. Read one of the top Science Fiction authors listed on Ranker.com
February 16, 2016: #131

The Doctor and the Dinosaurs (Weird West Tales #4) (2013) by Mike Resnick (Paperback, 300 pages)
+10 Task
+10 Combo (#10.2 “No L”, #10.9 Realistic Ratings)
+05 Series (#4 of “A Weird West Tale” Series)

Task Total: 10 + 10 + 05 = 25

Grand Total: 480 + 25 = 505

Charles Dickens: novels, short stories (List of Short Stories and Novellas) and non-fiction travelogue (Pictures from Italy)

Would two books of poetry, each under 100 pages but together with page count that adds up to 100+, work for this task? I'm looking at Renascence & Other Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which is under 100 pages.

Looking for: author from Caribbean Sea; published 1991 or earlier; and, originally published in a language other than English. I've been looking but so far have drawn a blank. There are other waterways I could use, of course, but if anyone here can make a suggestion??

Task 15.5 Dominoes – The Fifth Book

The Drylands (1993) by Mary Rosenblum (Mass Market Paperback, 279 pages)

+15 Task (author's first name: Mary: Mary Renault and Mary Rosenblum)

Task Total: 15

Grand Total: 460 + 15 = 475

Task 20.9 Winnie-the-Pooh

Read a book published during author A.A. Milne's lifetime (1882-1956)

The Emigrants (The Emigrants #1) (1949) by Vilhelm Moberg; translated by Gustaf Lannestock (Paperback, 400 pages)

+20 Task
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1941-1991)
+05 Series(#1 of series)

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 05 = 30

Grand Total: 430 + 30 = 460

Task 10.3 – Science Fiction Day
January 2 is National Science Fiction Day. Read one of the top Science Fiction authors listed on Ranker.com
February 05, 2016: #110

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (1976) by Kate Wilhelm (Hardcover, 1st, 251 pages)
Hugo Award for Best Novel (1977)
Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel (1976)
Locus Award for Best Novel (1977)
Jupiter Award for Best Novel (1977)
John W. Campbell Memorial Award Nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel (1977)

+10 Task
+05 Combo(#10.9 realistic ratings)
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1941-1991)

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 05 = 20

Grand Total: 405 + 20 = 425

Task 10.2 Noel, Noel
Read a book with NO "L" in the title and NO "L" in the author name.

Gateway (2009) by Sharon Shinn (Hardcover, 280 pages)
Lexile 870L

+10 Task
+05 (Combo #10.9: realistic ratings)

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15

Grand Total: 390 + 15 = 405

Task 20.1-Grazia Deledda

Read a book which evokes a sense of place.

Life's Little Ironies (1894) by Thomas Hardy

+20 Task
+05 (Combo #10.9: realistic ratings)
+10 Oldies -76 to 150 years old: (1866-1940)

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35

Grand Total: 355 + 35 = 390

Task 10.9 Realistic Ratings

Surrender, Dorothy (1999) by Meg Wolitzer (Hardcover, 224 pages)

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 345 + 10 = 355

Task 15.4 Dominoes – The Fourth Book

Fire from Heaven (Alexander the Great #1) (1969) by Mary Renault

+15 Task (decade of the author's death: 1980 – 1989 :matches 15.3 author Daphne du Maurier)

Task Total: 15

Grand Total: 330 + 15 = 345

Task 10.9 Realistic Ratings


Signal to Noise (2015) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Goodreads Author) (Paperback, 272 pages)
Review: Signal to Noise is a debut fantasy novel first published in 2015. This is an adult novel with teenaged protagonists rather than a “young adult” novel. The story centers on three 15 year old students who are attending high school in Mexico City during the year 1988. Near the beginning of the novel, student Meche (short for Mercedes) realizes that pop music can be used to cast spells. The magic is hard to access and exhausting to use, so not much magic happens. The focus is on the difficulties our three teens encounter as they live through their teen years. Overall impression: an original and interesting novel. I was set to give it 4 stars but I thought that the ending was lame so I wound up giving it 3 stars.

The author has produced a musical playlist on youtube (accessible from America and possibly worldwide) of the music referenced in the novel.

I did not like the novel’s title or the cover. I don’t think either reflects the contents of the novel. Signal to Noise: I would think that was a science textbook or maybe a science fiction novel … not a fantasy novel starring teenagers. And the cover, with a cassette deck backed by neon colors: also does not indicate what kind of a novel this is. JMHO. Maybe if the book had a snazzier title and a better cover, it would be more popular than it is.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 310 + 20 = 330

Task 15.3 Dominoes – The Third Book

Frenchman's Creek (1941) by Daphne du Maurier

+15 Task (decade of the author's birth: 1900 – 1909 :matches 15.2 author Irène Némirovsky)

Task Total: 15

Grand Total: 290 + 15 = 305