Deedee’s
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(group member since Aug 04, 2010)
Deedee’s
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from the Reading with Style group.
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The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick - in chapter 3, one of the major characters, Juliana Finch, is described as a "judo instructor". It's been several years since I read the book, but I don't remember any judo encounters are described in the novel. Instead, we see Juliana going towards the judo parlor to work her shift, or leaving the judo parlor after her shift. Not sure if there's "enough" judo for this task.Then there is
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
described as Fictional characters who practice judo. Not sure how useful the list is.
Wow, it is difficult to find judo in books!
Maybe ... Agent Running in the Field? The goodreads description says: Nat is not only a spy, he is a passionate badminton player. His regular Monday evening opponent is half his age: the introspective and solitary Ed. I haven't read the book yet so I don't know how much badminton is in the book.
Task 20.3 The Madonna of the CatRead a book where a character has a pet cat. Tell us the name of the character (and if you like, the name of the cat).
The butler of one of the murder suspects, Mr. Perkins, has a cat named Scorpion. The cat is rather active in one of the chapters of the novel.
The Murder of Mr. Ma (Dee & Lao #1) (2024) by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan (Hardcover 300 pages)
Review: The Murder of Mr. Ma is the first book in a proposed series of historical mysteries set in London, England between World War I and World War II. The twist in the series: characters and situations are heavily inspired by Sherlock Holmes. The role of Sherlock Holmes played by Chinese immigrant Judge Ren Jie, and the role of Watson played by Chinese immigrant Lao She (who is the ‘author’ of this book.) Judge Ren Jie is so clever at unraveling mysteries! He is also a martial arts champion, and his martial arts skills are needed several times during the novel. Lao She (Watson) has a crush on an ‘English Rose’ woman named Mary. Lao She’s dilemma is that he’s of Chinese ethnicity, and Mary doesn’t want to be part of a mixed-race couple. Recommended for those who like Sherlock-Holmes inspired novels, and for those who enjoy a lot of action in their mysteries.
+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.9 page count ends with 0)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35
Grand Total: 440 + 35 = 475
Task 10.9 Anniversaries (Apple's task). Read a book whose page number (most popular edition) ends in 2, 5, 1, or 0.
Pagecount: 250
The Milkman's Son: A Memoir of Family History, a DNA Mystery, and a Story of Paternal Love (2020) by Randy Lindsay (Hardcover 250 pages) [306.874]
Review: Our author, Randy Lindsay, is requested by his elderly father to construct a detailed family tree. Once complete, the visual of the family tree will be framed and put in his home. A decade goes by, and most of the tree is complete. There’s just one man he’s having a hard time tracking down. The new field of genetic genealogy provides a new tool for him to use to try and locate the missing member of the family tree. Surprise! The DNA results prove that his father is NOT his DNA father. It takes him awhile to accept this. He asks his mother, who flatly refuses to discuss the matter. (Mom and Dad are divorced and remarried.) The rest of the memoir is a detailed account of how his family in Arizona accept that he’s the half-brother, step-son instead of brother, son; and, the same process occurring with his DNA father’s family, all of whom live in New Jersey. The memoir reads like a magazine article that got S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D. The author includes a totally unrelated visit to his step-daughter in Florida, comments about how different the food is in New Jersey than it is in Arizona, and how amazing his wife is. (Author and wife both have a failed first marriage with children, so they have the blended family of his, hers, and theirs.) Readers who enjoy the author’s digressions would enjoy this memoir. Though be warned – the details of his DNA parents union are never revealed.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20
Grand Total: 420 + 20 = 440
Task 10.5 Golden Broadway ShowsBroadway Show:
21. The 5th Dimension WITH Jo Jo’s Dance Factory
Stay with Me (2017) by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ (Hardcover 260 pages)
+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.2 pagecount ends with “0”)
Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15
Grand Total: 400 + 15 = 415
Task 10.4 Baby BoomRead a book by a Boomer Generation author born in the 10 years 1950-1959.
Loren D. Estleman was born in 1952.
Shoot (Valentino #4) (2016) by Loren D. Estleman (Hardcover 240 pages)
Review: Shoot is the 4th novel in a mystery series starring Valentino, who is a mild-mannered UCLA film archivist. The first three novels in the series were well-balanced between (1) a mystery involving 1920s movies and also involving a murder; and, (2) setting up relationships amongst recurring characters. Alas, #4 lost its balance. There was no murder. The mystery is solved by a character casually mentioning the solution in passing to Valentino. And the characters didn’t have much to do. Indeed, without reading the first three books in the series, it would be difficult to figure out why they reacted to each other the way they did. In this novel, the author centers on the awesomeness of The Western Film, 1920 – 1950 timeframe. There’s a lot of name dropping interspersed between sadness that such amazing films are no longer being made. There is a helpful filmography of early Western films in an appendix.
Valentino’s best friend Kyle is a widower in his 60s. He’s now engaged to a law student, early 20s and still in college. The earlier books tried to persuade the reader that this is a normal and natural pairing, arguing that the pair have a similar sense of humor and common interests. In this book, the attitude is: forget justifying the 40 year age gap, this couple is in love! and hey, wedding planning can be humorous!
Recommended for those who like Western Films and would enjoy the name dropping. For readers who like mysteries, the first three entries in the series make better choices to read.
+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.9 pagecount ends with “0”)
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 05 + 10 = 25
Grand Total: 375 + 25 = 400
Task 20.6 Fruit Dish, Bottle and ViolinRead a novel with at least 3 different characters' points of view.
POV’s include: Daleina (teenaged girl training to fight the malevolent Spirits); Ven (30ish man who is training Deleina); Sata (a fully trained 30ish woman who fights the Spirits – Sata’s section is only one chapter, but still a different POV); Queen Fara (monarch of the country)
Combo: Task 10.5 Golden Broadway Shows
Broadway Show:
53. A Letter for QUEEN Victoria
BPL shelves this book in the Adult Section.
The Queen of Blood fits the “New Adult” label better than “Young Adult” or “Adult”. “New Adult” is halfway between “Young Adult” and “Adult”.
The Queen of Blood (The Queens of Renthia #1) (2016) by Sarah Beth Durst (Goodreads Author) (Mass Market Paperback 388 pages)
+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.5 Broadway Show)
Task Total: 20 + 05 = 25
Grand Total: 350 + 25 = 375
Task 10.9 Anniversaries (Apple's task). Read a book whose page number (most popular edition) ends in 2, 5, 1, or 0.
Pagecount: 282
Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life (2020) by Christie Tate [616.8915] (Hardcover 282 pages)
Review: Christie Tate was clinically depressed in her early 20s. On the advice of a friend, she begins therapy with Dr. Rosen. After a handful of sessions, he tells her that she would benefit from being in Group Therapy. This book is a memoir of her time in Group Therapy, roughly from 2000 – 2010. Her initial therapy goals were to have normal relations with people she can call friends; and, to have a healthy romantic relationship resulting in becoming married with children. In 2020, Christie Tate reports that both therapy goals have been achieved. She still goes to Group therapy every week so she doesn’t backslide into the lonely, clinically depressed mess she was when she first began therapy.
Part of the therapy was for Christie Tate to exhaustively detail her interactions with men (including what happened in the bedroom!) Dr. Rosen believes that all secrets are toxic. He fundamentally believes that privacy itself is toxic. Christie Tate finds this attitude helpful because she sees secrets / privacy as barriers to the emotional intimacy she craved. She used everyone’s real life names in this memoir (!) though to be fair, only their real life first names. In 2019 she applies this attitude to other parts of her professional life. In 2019 she was writing a column / blog about her life as a mother, and included details about her daughter’s life. Her daughter objected, and asked her to stop. Here’s the article about her daughter’s objections:
https://slate.com/human-interest/2019...
Overall, the book held my attention. While I’d recommend the book as a “good read”, I’m not convinced that privacy is as toxic as Dr. Rosen believes.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20
Grand Total: 330 + 20 = 350
Task 20.6 Fruit Dish, Bottle and ViolinRead a novel with at least 3 different characters' points of view.
POV’s include: Eoghan (Man in 877 B. C. E.); Kevin Donegan (hired to dig holes in the peat bog – he finds the dead man); Nora Gavin (pathologist); Cormac Maguire (archeologist – he lives with Nora Gavin); Claire Finnerty (owner/manager of the local artist retreat/Bed and Breakfast); Police Detective Stella Cusak; and others
For 10.4: Read a book by a Boomer Generation author born in the 10 years 1950-1959.
Erin Hart’s birth year is not on goodreads. However, it can be found elsewhere online:
https://www.booknotification.com/auth... (under Biography)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Hart
https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/edu...
Erin Hart was born on September 1st, 1958
The Book of Killowen (Nora Gavin #4) (2013) by Erin Hart (Hardcover 332 pages)
+20 Task
+10 Combo (#10.4 Boomer Generation, #10.9 pagecount ends in “2”)
Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30
Grand Total: 295 + 30 = 325
Task 10.5 Golden Broadway ShowsBroadway Show:
53. A Letter for QUEEN Victoria
Only two POV’s so no combo there.
Queen of the Dead (The Ghost and the Goth, #1) (2011) by Stacey Kade (YA) (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover 266 pages)
Lexile 810L
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 285 + 10 = 295
Task 10.3 St. Patrick's DayRead a book with the word "three" in the title, the third volume of a series, or published in a year ending in "3."
Published in 2023.
Hotel Laguna (2023) by Nicola Harrison (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover 278 pages)
Review:The story is focused on a young woman named Hazel. She was a “Rosie the Riveter” during World War II, building airplanes at a plant in Los Angeles. Now it is 1946 and the war is over. The “Rosie the Riveter” jobs have disappeared. What is next for our heroine? She decides to remain in California and look for another job. Through a somewhat implausible (but totally possible) set of circumstances, Hazel gets a job as an assistant to an elderly professional painter, Hansom Radcliff. She meets handsome young men, aspiring actresses, and professional painters of both genders.
The Author’s Note at the end explains that Laguna Beach, California, started hosting the Festival of Arts in 1932. (The Festival of Arts is historical, not fictional.) The Festival of Arts stopped after Pearl Harbor, and resumed in 1946. Our fictional Hazel, as an artist’s assistant, becomes involved in all aspects of producing the Festival of Arts.
What I liked: the character of Hazel. She makes mistakes even when her intentions are pure. Hazel’s backstory informs her present decisions. It’s rare to find a fully rounded character in a book marketed as a beach read, and I appreciated finding one.
What I didn’t like: the other characters in the novel were all two-dimensional. Each person’s character can be summed up in one-two words: Narcissist; Opportunist Jerk; Boy-Next-Door; Tormented Alcoholic; and so on.
The somewhat-rushed ending did meet the requirement of a beach read, however, with the main characters all achieving their version of Happily Ever After.
Overall: Recommended for Light Reading.
+10 Task
+05 Combo (#20.1 Viewpoint character Hazel modeled for a professional painter)
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 05 + 10 = 25
Grand Total: 260 + 25 = 285
Task 15.06 HDYGG? The Titanic Survivors Book Club: A Novel (2024) by Timothy Schaffert (Hardcover 303 pages)
Flowers:
tHe tItaniC SUrvIvorS Book club = HIBISCUS, +5
thE titanic surviVORs book CLub = CLOVER
From the goodreads book descripton: After he learns of the ship’s sinking, he takes this twist of fate as a sign to follow his lifelong dream of owning a bookshop in Paris. And, having read the book, I can attest that over 51% of the novel is set in Paris, France.
Vegetables
Paris = Potato
France = Fennel
Herbs = pagecount 303
0 = Peppermint
5 Plants this post
25 Total plants in the garden
+15 task
+05 flower bonus
Task Total: 15 + 05 = 20
Grand Total: 240 + 20 = 260
Task 10.9 Anniversaries (Apple's task)Read a book whose page number (most popular edition) ends in 2, 5, 1, or 0.
Pagecount: 24 5
Devotion: a memoir (2010) by Dani Shapiro [Biography/921] (Hardcover 245 pages)
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 230 + 10 = 240
Task 15.05 HDYGG? The Madwoman Upstairs (2016) by Catherine Lowell (Hardcover 339 pages)
Flowers:
THe maDwomaN UpStAIs - DIANTHUS+, +5
Vegetables:
Onion = Oxford, University
Herbs: pagecount = 339
9 = Chamomile
3 Plants this post
20 Total plants in the garden
+15 task
+05 flower bonus
Task Total: 15 + 05 = 20
Grand Total: 210 + 20 = 230
Task 15.04 HDYGG? Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach (2018) by Kelly Robson (Paperback 232 pages)
Flowers:
GoDs, monsteRs, ANd the luckY pEAcH – HYDRANGEA+, +5
gOdS, MOnsterS, and the lucky peaCh - COSMOS
Herbs: pagecount = 232
2 = Lemon Verbena
3 Plants this post
17 Total plants in the garden
+15 task
+05 flower bonus
Task Total: 15 + 05 = 20
Grand Total: 190 + 20 = 210
Task 20.1 The National GalleryRead a book that focuses on a particular piece of art or an art collection, or has a visual artist as a main character (painter, sculptor, or photographer).
Main character, Nellie Burns, is a professional photographer.
Moonshadows (Nellie Burns and Moonshine Mystery #1) (2015) by Julie Whitesel Weston
Review: Nellie Burns, our main character in the novel, is 25 years old and a professional photographer. Overwhelming sexism in 1922 drives her from Chicago to the wilds of Idaho. She’s hoping that a series of photographs that are clearly hers (no male boss to take credit for her work) will establish her reputation. With a good reputation, she can support herself with her photographic work. She makes the first set of photographs at dusk, consisting of “moonshadows” on snow. Surprise! In addition to artistic considerations, the photos show something unexpected – a dead body. There are a lot of descriptions of the Idaho countryside, along with descriptions of the photographic process. The reader is introduced to several characters (and their backstories!) who will all be present for the next several books of the series. The mystery solution is …. Okay …. Adequate, but clearly not the central focus. Recommended for those interested in photography and for those who enjoy reading about spunky heroines.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30
Grand Total: 160 + 30 = 190
Task 20.5 20.5 Surprised!Read a book with one of the following punctuation marks in the title: exclamation mark ! question mark ? brackets ( ) apostrophe ' quotation marks " hyphen or dash - forward slash / colon : semicolon ; comma , ellipsis ... period .
For 10.7 Combo:
On March 24, 2024:
Located on Page One of SPACE list.
For 20.6 Combo:
Three segments in the novel, each from a different POV. (First segment: Moon-watcher; Second segment: Dr. Heywood Floyd; Third segment: Astronaut David Bowman)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Space Odyssey #1) (1968) by Arthur C. Clarke (Paperback 297 pages)
Review: I saw Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” when it first came out in 1968. I enjoyed the movie but didn’t understand the last 20-30 minutes. Looking at fan accounts online, I noted that several people posted that if you read the novel by Arthur C. Clarke, then the ending makes sense. I decided to give it a try.
The novel reads as being a bit …. Dated. The Cold War is in full swing, the USSR is a major player in the novel (as opponent), and women are relegated to being secretaries and stewardesses. Everyone is of European ancestry. Clarke includes a digression into the existence of a Tablet that can access all the world’s Newspapers with just a touch of a fingertip(!). How might that work? How do humans react to having all that information literally at their fingertip?
Some of the suspense is gone from the reading experience … anyone in techie fields already know about the computer HAL and what it did.
I appreciated the clear, straightforward style of writing. I know it isn’t considered “artistic” but it is understandable, which is a good thing.
+20 Task
+10 Combo (#10.7 on Page One of SPACE list; #20.6 three POV’s)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 10 + 10 = 40
Grand Total: 110 + 40 = 150
