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

Deedee’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Task 10.1 Authors-
Read an author you've never read before.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant (2015) by Seth Dickinson (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 400 pages)
Review:I picked up this book because several sf/f bloggers have said that they expect it to be nominated for numerous science fiction/fantasy awards for 2015. The Traitor Baru Cormorant is Seth Dickinson’s debut novel. The story is set in a world wherein a Rome-like nation-state ‘Falcrest’ is busily conquering and assimilating the countries located just beyond its’ border. When (female) Baru Cormorant was a child, Falcrest takes over her island-nation state of Taranoke. Falcrest replaces local customs – and local governance – with individuals loyal to Falcrest. Falcrest believes itself to be a merit-based society, so they scoop up the brightest and most assimilated young adults of its conquests and incorporates them into the Falcresti system. Baru is one of those young adults. She is not as assimilated as she pretends, however; she has the hidden desire to free Taranoke from Falcresti control. This novel sets up the Falcresti world, and sees Baru through the first steps of her quest for power. The events flowed naturally – and brutally – from event to logical consequence to event. Game of Thrones is an obvious inspiration. The novel ends with a definite "To Be Continued....". Recommended for fans of Game of Thrones.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 215 + 20 = 235

Task 10.9 Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

The Doctor and the Rough Rider (Weird West Tales #3) (2012) by Mike Resnick (Paperback, 303 pages)
(Post #361)

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 205 + 10 = 215

Task 10.9 Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Palace of Spies (Palace of Spies #1) (2013) by Sarah Zettel (Hardcover, 368 pages)
Lexile 860L
(Post #267)

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 195 + 10 = 205

1) Frank Harts was in In the Cut with Kevin Bacon.
2) Samuel R. Delany was in The Ogre's Feathers with Frank Harts.
3) Anthology: World's Best Science Fiction 1969 edited by Donald A. Wollheim includes stories by:
Samuel R. Delany
and also by:
Brian W. Aldiss
4) The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1988 contains
Traveler, Traveler, Seek Your Wife in the Forests of This Life • shortstory by Brian W. Aldiss
and
Kirinyaga • [Kirinyaga • 2] • novelette by Mike Resnick
5) any novel by Mike Resnick

Task 10.9 Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

The Sands of Mars (1951) by Arthur C. Clarke (Paperback, 206 pages)
(Post #274)

+10 Task
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1940-1990)

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15

Grand Total: 180 + 15 = 195

Task 20.2- Innocence
Read a book originally published no more than 20 years prior to the author's death. Include both year of publication and year of death in your post.

1888 Year of publication
1903 Year of death

A Life's Morning (1888) by George Gissing(Paperback, 348 pages)
Review: This is the third book by George Gissing that I have read. Gissing’s book The Nether World was about a couple of families living just at the poverty line in 1880s England. It was a gritty and engrossing novel. The other novel of his I read was The Odd Women. That one concerned how adult women living without husbands, fathers or brothers can survive in the world and still adhere to conventional moral codes. After I read those two novels, I put Gissing on my one-day-I’ll-read-them-all list.

A Life's Morning is different from the other two novels. Maybe Gissing had to write it for survival money? Maybe I’m missing the social commentary? Anyways, this novel is a conventional Victorian England melodrama. There is a poor heroine with a pure soul (Gissing’s description of the heroine). There is a villain Snidely Whiplash and a hero Dudley Do-Right (with different names, of course, because this novel was written long before cartoons were invented). The ending has a conventional Victorian ending. Overall, not a bad novel, but also a novel without the insight and pointed zingers of the other two novels of Gissing’s that I’ve read. And lastly …. I’m still going to continue to check out his other writings : ).

+ 20 Task (#20.2)
+05 Combo (#10.3: A L M)
+10 Oldies -76 to 150 years old: (1865-1939)
+10 Review

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

Grand Total: 135 + 45 = 180

Task 20.5-History
Read a book written by an author who has won the Pulitzer for History.

Margaret Leech
Born: November 07, 1893
Died: February 24, 1974

Reveille in Washington, 1860-65 (1941) by Margaret Leech (Paperback, 624 pages)
Review:This Pulitzer Prize winning book focuses on life in my hometown of Washington, D. C. from 1860-1865. It begins with Lincoln’s arrival into D.C. and ends with the trial for his assassination in 1865. Secretary of State Seward is referenced more often than Mary Lincoln; and, Mary is referenced more often than her husband, President Abraham Lincoln. The author is interested in what prominent political figures were doing in D.C. during those years. She is also interested in the activities of Union soldiers while they were in D.C. The average resident of D.C. gets barely a glance, even though the majority of residents were neither politicians nor soldiers.

This is the kind of book to read after you’ve read a dozen or so books on the American Civil War. Generals, Battles, and terminology are referenced without background – Leech assumes the reader knows items such as: who General Tecumseh Sherman is; the importance of the Union victory at the Battle of Vicksburg; and that “contraband” was a term referring to escaped slaves. Overall impression: Interesting book for the the American Civil War buff.

+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.2 (lifespan within 1890-1976))
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1940-1990)
+05 Jumbo 500-699 Pages: 5 Points
+10 Not-a-Novel: non-fiction
+10 Review

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 05 + 05 + 10 + 10 = 55

Grand Total: 80 + 55 = 135

My Land Cruiser Itinerary (subject to change)

1. New Mexico: Finding Casey (2012) by Jo-Ann Mapson

2.
Arizona
Colorado
Oklahoma
Texas

Task 10.3 Dictionary

Dust Girl (The American Fairy #1) (2012) by Sarah Zettel (Hardcover, 304 pages)
Lexile too low for Style points.

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 70 + 10 = 80

Task 20.1-Celebration!
Help celebrate Elizabeth's 70th birthday this season by reading a book whose original publication year contains both a 7 and a 0. Yes, doubles qualify (1770 and 2007 are fine)!

The Penguin Who Knew Too Much (Meg Langslow #8) (2007) by Donna Andrews (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 262 pages)

+20 Task

Task Total: 20

Grand Total: 50 + 20 = 70

Task 10.9 Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

The Nightingale (2015) by Kristin Hannah (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 438 pages)
(Post #107)

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 40 + 10 = 50

Ed wrote: "Deedee wrote: "#1: Kevin Bacon was in The 53rd Annual Golden Globe Awards with Richard Dreyfuss
#2 Richard Dreyfuss was in The Real History of Science Fiction
With: Arthur C. Clarke"

Oh OK .... well ....

For Ursula K. Le Guin:

1) Frank Harts was in In the Cut with Kevin Bacon.
2) Samuel R. Delany was in The Ogre's Feathers with Frank Harts.
3) Anthology: World's Best Science Fiction 1969 edited by Donald A. Wollheim includes stories by:
Samuel R. Delany
and also by:
Robert Silverberg

and

4) Anthology: The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction
Table of Contents
Tales from the Venia Woods • [Roma Eterna] • (1989) • shortstory by Robert Silverberg

and also:

Coming of Age in Karhide • [Hainish] • (1995) • novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin


and, for Arthur C. Clarke :

1) Arthur C. Clarke wrote the novel 2010

2) John Lithgow appeared in the movie 2010.

3) John Lithgow and Kevin Bacon both appeared in Footloose.

Yeah! Anthologies count! So:

1) Frank Harts was in In the Cut with Kevin Bacon.
2) Samuel R. Delany was in The Ogre's Feathers with Frank Harts.
3) Anthology: World's Best Science Fiction 1969 edited by Donald A. Wollheim includes stories by:
Samuel R. Delany
and also by:
Robert Silverberg

and

4) Anthology: The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction
Table of Contents
Tales from the Venia Woods • [Roma Eterna] • (1989) • shortstory by Robert Silverberg

and also:

Even the Queen • (1992) • shortstory by Connie Willis

Lobsters • [Macx Family • 1] • (2001) • novelette by Charles Stross

#1: Kevin Bacon was in The 53rd Annual Golden Globe Awards with Richard Dreyfuss
#2 Richard Dreyfuss was in The Real History of Science Fiction
With: Arthur C. Clarke
and
With: Ursula K. Le Guin

Yeah! Anthologies count! So:

1) Frank Harts was in In the Cut with Kevin Bacon.
2) Samuel R. Delany was in The Ogre's Feathers with Frank Harts.
3) Anthology: World's Best Science Fiction 1969 edited by Donald A. Wollheim includes stories by:
Samuel R. Delany
and also by:
Poul Anderson
5. Anthology: The Hard SF Renaissance edited by David G. Hartwell includes a story by Poul Anderson
and also a story by: (alphabetical by first name):::
Charles Sheffield
David Brin
Frederik Pohl
James P. Hogan
Joan Slonczewski
Kim Stanley Robinson
Michael Flynn
Nancy Kress
Paul Levinson
Robert J. Sawyer
Sarah Zettel

Task 20.9 Authors with Three Names

The Affinities (2015) by Robert Charles Wilson

+20 Task

Task Total: 20

Grand Total: 20 + 20 = 40

If anthologies count, then:
1) Frank Harts was in In the Cut with Kevin Bacon.
2) Samuel R. Delany was in The Ogre's Feathers with Frank Harts.
3) Anthology: World's Best Science Fiction 1969 edited by Donald A. Wollheim includes stories by:
Samuel R. Delany
and also by:
Poul Anderson
Robert Silverberg
Brian W. Aldiss
Kurt Vonnegut

1) Frank Harts was in In the Cut with Kevin Bacon.
2) Samuel R. Delany was in The Ogre's Feathers with Frank Harts.
3) Samuel R. Delany was nominated for James Tiptree Jr Memorial Award
4)Sarah Zettel was also nominated for James Tiptree Jr Memorial Award

wow, Samuel R. Delany gives a pathway to all award-winning authors of fantasy & science fiction! Now to check other fields.

1. Kevin Bacon and Toby Jones were both in Frost/Nixon
2. Toby Jones and Matt Smith were both in Christopher and His Kind
3. Matt Smith played the 11th Doctor in the Doctor Who series
4. all of the novels in the series Doctor Who: New Series Adventures (without style points)

1) Frank Harts was in In the Cut with Kevin Bacon.
2) Samuel R. Delany was in The Ogre's Feathers with Frank Harts.
3) Samuel R. Delany is a member of Science Fiction Hall of Fame
4) other members of Science Fiction Hall of Fame include:
Connie Willis
Philip K. Dick
Harry Harrison
Brian W. Aldiss
Mary Shelley
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Ursula K. Le Guin
Poul Anderson
James Blish
Robert Silverberg
Theodore Sturgeon
Jules Verne
Ray Bradbury
Frederik Pohl
Gordon R. Dickson
Arthur C. Clarke
Isaac Asimov
H.G. Wells

:)