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

Deedee’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Krista wrote: Hi Deedee:

Thanks for the recommendation for Among Others. It looks like a ton of books are referenced, and it won a bunch of prizes. It's nice to see that it fits this season's task 10.5 w/the Nebula Award. I just might read it for that task so that I'll have a wide range of books to choose from during the Summer challenge. ..."

It's a good novel, and perfect for this group's spring & summer challenges. Enjoy!

Cloaked was a bit younger than I usually read -- middle school rather than high school -- but enjoyable as the author includes several fairy tales into the story. I'm waiting for whomever checked it out after me to return it so I can check it out again and make a list of books referenced.

______________

From Murder on the Yellow Brick Road (Toby Peters #2) by Stuart M. Kaminsky

Chapter 10: “’His name is Raymond Chandler, and he lives someplace in Santa Monica. He’s listed.’
‘Same Chandler who wrote The Big Sleep’, asked Phil.”

from Farewell, Dorothy Parker by Ellen Meister:

p. 120: “Violet shot her a warning look. The last thing she wanted was a buzz of neighborhood gossip about Violet Epps’s crazy friend who thought she was a character from The Great Gatsby."

p.296-297: “She went through a stack of old battered hardcovers, most of which were missing the book jackets, and was surprised to discover a first edition of Enough Rope, Dorothy Parker’s first poetry collection.”

Task 10.4 – Scrabble!

DOROTHY

Farewell, Dorothy Parker (Dorothy Parker #1) (2013) by Ellen Meister (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 308 pages)

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 190 + 10 = 200

Task 10.6 - Women's Ed:
Read a book written by a woman who has earned a doctorate (not an honorary degree). Please provide a link when claiming points for this task.

Goodreads says about Phyllis Eisenstein: ”For more than a dozen years she has been a member of the faculty of Columbia College Chicago,…” but never says directly that she has a Ph.D. Anyways, here’s the book I read:

Born to Exile (Tales of Alaric the Minstrel #1) (1978) by Phyllis Eisenstein (Paperback, 251 pages)

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 180 + 10 = 190

Task 10.4 – Scrabble!

DOROTHY

Dorothy Parker Stories (1933) by Dorothy Parker (Hardcover, 386 pages)

+10 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel (Short Stories)

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 155 + 20 = 175

Task 20.10 - Canonical

Stone Mattress: Nine Tales (2014) by Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 273 pages)

+20 Task (#20.10)
+15 Combo (#10.1 (Fall 14) Post #0381
, #10.8 Bookrageous Episode 78, #10.9)
+10 Not-a-Novel (short stories)

Task Total: 20 + 15 + 10 = 45

Grand Total: 100 + 45 = 145

Just finished Stone Mattress: Nine Tales (2014) by Margaret Atwood

Story: “Alphinland”, p. 22, “There was a small group that confessed to reading Lord of the Rings, though you had to justify it through an interest in Old Norse.”
Story: “Revenant”, p. 57, “It was when you were working on the The Odyssey translation.”
Story: “Torching the Dusties”, p. 225, “Gone with the Wind is the book she’s struggling with at the moment.”

Young adult novel Cloaked mentions a few classics books but I'll have to get it out of the library again to find the references.

I'll start keeping a list for current/future reads.

The heroine of Nebula Award winning novel Among Others by Jo Walton likes to read; Listopia: Novels Mentioned in Among Others has a list of all the novels mentioned in the novel. I read Among Others when it first came out in 2011, and gave it a 5 * rating. It's a coming of age novel of a young teenaged girl who likes to read fantasy and science fiction.

Task 10.4 – Scrabble!

Cloaked (2011) by Alex Flinn

+10 Task (word: CLOAKED)

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 90 + 10 = 100

Task 10.2 –Women's Lit:
Read a book from the 50 Most Influential Books by Women or a book from Flavorwire's Girl Canon.

From 50 Most Influential Books by Women:

In a German Pension (1911) by Katherine Mansfield (Paperback, 128 pages)

+10 Task (#10.2)
+10 Combo (#10.4 Pension, #20.10 Canon)
+10 Not-a-Novel (Short Stories)

Task Total: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 60 + 30 = 90

Task 10.8 – Podcast

Bitter Greens (2012) by Kate Forsyth (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 496 pages)

Podcast: The Writer and the Critic: Episode 23

Here’s the link:
http://writerandcritic.podbean.com/20...

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 50 + 10 = 60

Just to be clear -- this task can be claimed once per moderator and once per combo? So each moderator can have both one and only one task AND one and only one combo?

Task 10.1 Rants and Raves

(Winter 14/15) Post #0284


Magic of the Angels (Doctor Who: Quick Reads #6) (2012) by Jacqueline Rayner

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 40 + 10 = 50

Task 10.4 – Scrabble!

Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II (2014) by Vicki Croke (Hardcover, 368 pages)

+10 Task (word: COMPANY)
+10 Not-a-Novel: non-fiction

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 20 + 20 = 40

I'm getting read to start reading Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts. I am having difficulty finding a task for it! Do any of y'all have an idea?

Task 10.6 - Women's Ed:
Read a book written by a woman who has earned a doctorate (not an honorary degree). Please provide a link when claiming points for this task.

Here is Valerie Paradiz’s website where she says that she has a Ph.D.

http://www.autismselfadvocacy.com/

Clever Maids: The Secret History of the Grimm Fairy Tales (2004) by Valerie Paradiz (Paperback, 222 pages)
+10 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel: Non-fiction

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 00 + 20 = 20

Task 10.8 - Two for One -
Read a combination of 2 or more books, each under 100 pages, that total at least 100 pages when combined.

Most popular version: 54 pages
Downstream - Episode 1: A time travel story (2014) Nick Jones (Goodreads Author) (Kindle Edition, 54 pages)

Most popular version: 53 pages
Downstream - Episode 2: A time travel story (2015) by Nick Jones (Goodreads Author) (Kindle Edition, 53 pages)

+10 Task

Task Total : 10

Grand Total: 835 + 10 = 845

Task 20.9 – Respect Elders-
Read a book by an author who lived at least 80 years
.
Mollie Panter-Downes
Born: August 25, 1906
Died: January 22, 1997

London War Notes, 1939-1945 (1971) by Mollie Panter-Downes (Hardcover, 378 pages)
Review: This book was first published in 1971. It contains an edited version of Englishwoman Ms. Panter-Downes’ twice-monthly columns for The New York Times Magazine, beginning with September 3, 1939 (the day Germany invaded Poland) and ending with the column of V-E Day, May 7, 1945. She writes in a clear and straightforward style. The columns focus on what she saw in London during those days, including a lot of human interest stories. 1940 columns included a heartfelt appeal to America to enter the war and defeat the great evil Nazis. Recommended for those interested in World War II and those interested in “the Home Front” of a war.

+20 Task (#20.9 lived to be 90)
+10 Combo (#10.4 set in London, England; #20.2 Persephone writer)
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1939-1989)
+10 Review

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

Grand Total: 790 + 45 = 835

Task 10.8 - Two for One -
Read a combination of 2 or more books, each under 100 pages, that total at least 100 pages when combined.

Elizabeth(Alaska) approved 56 pagecount for this book.

Most popular version: 56 pages
Somebody's Luggage (1862) by Charles Dickens (Paperback, 56 pages)
Also available online at:
http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis...
Review:The first part of the story describes the Waiter and how he came to have custody of an abandoned piece of luggage. The next two parts might have been written by other writers, or might have been written by Dickens: different and entertaining. Dickens and the Waiter are back for the fourth and final section, which wraps things up. Apparently this round robin style of writing in the magazines happened frequently in the 1800s. Overall, a good piece of Victorian writing. Recommended for fans of Victorian literature.

Most popular version: 64 pages
Honorine (1843) by Honoré de Balzac (Paperback, 80 pages)
Also available online at:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1683/1...
Review:This story by Balzac is a story within a story, very well done. At heart it is a character study of a young wife who has esteem but not love for her husband, and how that all plays out over time. I particularly appreciated how Balzac was able to write a story within a story, and people not being whom they seemed to be, so that the reader can fully follow the events of the novella. (Modern writers take note!!) Recommended.

+10 Task
+15 Oldies -151 to 250 years old: (1764-1863)
+10 Review

Task Total : 10 + 15 + 10 = 35

Grand Total: 755 + 35 = 790

Task 10.8 - Two for One -
Read a combination of 2 or more books, each under 100 pages, that total at least 100 pages when combined.


Most popular version: 42 pages
Steampunk
The Master Mummer's Mummy (Macallister Fogg #1) (2013) by Mark Hodder (Goodreads Author) (Kindle Edition, 42 pages)
Review:A pastiche is a work of literature that imitates the style of the work of another author or authors. This novelette is a pastiche of the popular penny dreadfuls of the nineteenth century, with a modern feminist sensibility. Modern steampunk elements (such as a steam-powered vehicle) abound throughout the novellette. The action was non-stop, and the explanations sparse – I would have preferred less action and more explanations. Recommended for fans of steampunk.

Most popular version: 45 pages
Steampunk
Great Great Great (And So Forth) Uncle Dragoslav (Macallister Fogg #2) (2013) by Mark Hodder (Goodreads Author) (Kindle Edition, 45 pages)
Review:I’m getting more used to the style of Hodder’s“penny dreadful” steampunk novelettes. In this installment, the action was like riding a roller coaster – a long lead-in culminating in a whoosh! of action at the end. We get a specific orientation in time (1857) and we get vampires! Recommended for fans of steampunk.

Most popular version: 32 pages
Horror
Selfies: A Tor.com Original (2014) by Lavie Tidhar (Kindle Edition, 32 pages)
Free online fiction.
http://www.tor.com/stories/2014/09/se...
Review: Straightforward horror story about a teenage girl, her phone, and the selfies she takes with her phone. I liked the writing style, and it fit the story. Recommended.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total : 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 735 + 20 = 755