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

Deedee’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

What a fun sub-challenge! Now I have to choose my city -- New York City, Paris or London. (I'm leaning towards London.)

Does anyone know if The Old Curiosity Shop is 90% London? I looked at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_... and I couldn't tell. Thanks!

Task 20.5 Read a book with a realistic scientist
http://www.lablit.com/article/677#cro...



Also fits Task 20.8 "veteran" author, one that has published books for 20 or more years.
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?109

Timescape (1980) by Gregory Benford
Nebula Award for Best Novel (1980), Locus Award Nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel (1981), British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel (1980), John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1981)

+20 Task
+05 Style:1. Combo (5 points): (20.8 “veteran” author)
+05 Style:4. Oldies (5 to 25 points): -25 to 75 years old: 5 points (1937-1987)
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points):

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 05 + 10 = 40

Grand Total: 935 + 40 = 975


Review: This award-winning science fiction novel was first published in 1980. It is set in the “future” of 1998 (a “future” without cell phones, internet or cable TV; maybe we can just say an “alternate world” future); and also in the past of 1962/3. The Earth is on the brink of ecological disaster. A British physicist, working in 1998 Oxford, England, is doing research on sub-atomic particles and is on the verge of understanding “tachyons” (particles that move faster-than-light). The “tachyons” can be used by 1998 scientists to communicate with scientists in a Southern Californian physics lab in 1963. The way of communication: to use tachyons to “interfere” with the experiment that the 1963 Southern Californian lab is doing. (A new explanation for why lab results are so off: it wasn’t human error, it was interference from future scientists! LOL) The novel establishes the premise quickly. The optimistic scientists (from 1963 and from 1998) act with great determination to Save The World. I liked it. Recommended for fans of science fiction.

Kate S wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Task 15.7 - 7th book - letter U(1999)

Losing Nelson (1999) by Barry Unsworth

+30 Task

Task Total: 30

My total is different from the Readerboard Total. My records show: 890, rea..."

Yep, that's it, so the total as of post 774 is 910.

Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip (2009) by Matthew Algeo
post #794 = 20 points
post #827 = 05 points
total 25 points
910 + 25 = 935

Task 10.6 a nonfiction book about an elected official

Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip (2009) by Matthew Algeo

+10 Task
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points):

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

(my records)
Grand Total: 920 + 20 = 940

(Readerboard)
Grand Total: 930 + 20 = 950

Review: This non-fiction book covers a few months in the life of Harry Truman and his wife, beginning on the day Dwight Eisenhower was inaugurated as President of the United States (January 20, 1953). January through May 1953 is covered in 2 chapters. The rest of the book covered June 19, 1953 through July 8, 1953, during which time Harry and Beth went on a road trip from their home in Missouri, through locations in the Midwest and the Northeast, and ending up back home in Missouri at the end. The author retraces their trip, and, where possible, talked to people that the Trumans talked to in 1953. The author also interweaves anecdotes from Harry Truman’s life, including tales from his childhood and pre-White House days. The maps included in the book were helpful. Recommended for those interested in American presidents and for those interested in books about road trips.

Task 15.7 - 7th book - letter U(1999)

Losing Nelson (1999) by Barry Unsworth

+30 Task

Task Total: 30

My total is different from the Readerboard Total. My records show: 890, readerboard 880. So:


(my records)
Grand Total: 890 + 30= 920

(Readerboard)
Grand Total: 880 + 30= 910


Review: This book is told in first person by a man who is obsessed with Horatio Nelson. Our narrator obsesses over the smaller details of Nelson’s life; he also spends a lot of time imaging how it must have felt for Nelson to live through some of the more prominent events of his life. In between long rants about Nelson, the reader learns about our narrator’s life (not surprisingly, he’s seeing a psychiatrist, and has issues that he’s using the Nelson obsession to hide). The novel is not told in a linear fashion; however, unlike a lot of non-linear novels, this one is easy to follow. Barry Unsworth has won the Booker Prize for one of his other books. Recommended for readers who like literary fiction.

Task 20.7 Bechdel Test:

The work must (i) have at least 2 female characters who (ii) talk to each other about (iii) something other than a man/men
Numerous conversations in the novel fit the criteria, including:
Part I: Our heroine Naomi and a female intern at the hospital discuss the architecture of the heart while a family member is having heart surgery
Part II: Naomi is attending an all-female college (Wellesley); she and fellow female students discuss what they are planning to do after graduation (attend Law School? Teach?). They perform Hamlet with an all-female cast, and 2+ female characters talk to each other about the play, who got cast in what role and why, when and where the cast party after the play will occur, and so on.
There are numerous other examples.

An Uncommon Education: A Novel by Elizabeth Percer

+20 Task
+05 Style: 2. Multiple (5 points): Each time you repeat a task.
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points):

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35

Grand Total: 855 + 35= 890

Review This debut novel by Elizabeth Percer is told in first person by a young Jewish woman named Naomi. From the time she is young and throughout the novel, Naomi plans to become a cardiologist. The novel follows her through high school and college. She’s introverted and a bit nerdy – definitely not a social butterfly! I liked that Naomi doesn’t envy the blonde-hair-blue-eyes-cheerleader types. About 2/3rds of the novel follows Naomi through her four years of college at Wellesley. Apparently the author is a Wellesley graduate, so the details of college life are inspired by her experience there. It’s a “slice-of-life” novel, with the feeling that it began before page one and will continue after the last page. Recommended for those who like literary fiction, or fiction about life at college.

@Rosemary - I don't think Cam is dead in that passage. (But then, I don't know what Woolf was trying to communicate, so maybe she is dead.)

I'm going to the library today and I'm going to look for Rosemary's and Karen GHHS's suggestions. The library has The Master of Go by Yasunari Kawabata (thanks Elizabeth (Alaska)!), and a few books by James Tiptree Jr., so I'm sure there will be one in that group for me to read.

To the Lighthouse (1927) by Virginia Woolf
I tossed this one when I read, mid-chapter 4 (p. 21 in my copy):
“Yes. That was it. He finished. He turned from the view. And, turning to walk back the other way, up the drive, Mr. Bankes was alive to things which would not have struck him had not those sandhills revealed to him the body of his friendship lying with the red on its lips laid up in peat – for instance, Cam, the little girl, Ramsay’s youngest daughter.”

Why write a novel if you don't want people to understand what you want to communicate? What, after all, is meant by "lying with the red on its lips laid up in peat – for instance, Cam, the little girl, Ramsay’s youngest daughter"?

Not sure if I'm up for Ernest Hemingway's macho posturings, so I'm on the search for 20.10

Liz M wrote: "Glad to hear our Alaskans are safe and hoping all the East Coasters weather Sandy Frankenstorm just as well."

Me too.

Task 20.9 an author's autobiography, memoir or diary

I picked up this book after reading a review by Isabell:
Chapters from My Autobiography: 1906-1907 (1907) by Mark Twain

Also fits Task 10.5: a non-fiction book by an author that was 60 or older when it was published.: Twain was 70 when the publication of this began

Also fits Task 20.8 "veteran" author, one that has published books for 20 or more years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twa...

+20 Task
+10 Style:1. Combo (5 points): (10.5 author >60; 20.8 “veteran” author)
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points):
+10 Style:4. Oldies (5 to 25 points): -76 to 150 years old: 10 points (1862-1936)

Task Total: 20 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 50

Grand Total: 805 + 50 = 855

From goodreads description: “Beginning in 1906, Clemens dictated a long and complex autobiographical manuscript. He published selected chapters from this extensive dictation in the North American Review, in 26 installments, and it is this version that is published here.”
My Review The autobiography contains anecdotes from various times in his life, in no particular order. On page 1, Twain says: “Moreover, this auto-biography of mine does not select from my life its showy episodes, but deals mainly in the common experiences which go to make up the life of the average human being”. The anecdotes are not in time order, so that a recollection of Mark Twain’s when he was a child would be followed by a fond memory of when his daughters were children. Many of the installments at the beginning of the book contain long passages from his daughter Suzy’s biography. Poor Suzy! She died rather suddenly from meningitis at the age of 24, before this autobiography was written, and the reader can tell that her presence is missed. Later ones include “everyday occurrences” during Twain’s travels along the Mississippi and the “Wild West” (Nevada?). Recommended for fans of Mark Twain, or for when you want a book you can dip into for a highly entertaining few pages and then lay aside.

Task 15.6 - 6th book - letter T(1998)

Night of Many Dreams: A Novel (1998) by Gail Tsukiyama

+20 Task

Task Total: 20


Grand Total: 785 + 20 = 805


Review: This story follows a Chinese family; two sisters, their mother, their aunt and their cook through their lives, beginning in
Hong Kong in 1940. The focus is completely on the women in the family. (Men have occasional walk-on roles.) The author repeatedly mentions that the women are wearing a traditional Chinese dress called “cheongsam”. Repeatedly. The daughters made the transition from traditional to modern lifestyles with few, easily overcome obstacles. Overall, this book is a light, readable, upbeat novel about young Asian women who want a modern life outside the home.

Task 15.5 - 5th book - letter S(1994)

Hot Sky at Midnight (1994) by Robert Silverberg

+20 Task

Task Total: 20

Grand Total: 765 + 20 = 785

Review: This was a science fiction novel set approximately 200 years in the future. The Earth is reeling from the effects of global warming and massive air pollution. The various characters are involved in projects (led by the Japanese) to ensure human survival in the face of ecological disaster. Additionally, the various characters have private lives and personal ambitions, which sometimes aides, and sometimes hinders, the save-humanity projects that they are involved in. One character had had his genes modified when he was in utero; he does not have eyes but instead has “blindsight” which is an alternative sensing mechanism. Sometimes Silverberg describes the action from his point of view, which was cool. I liked this novel. Recommended for science fiction fans.

AMENDMENT FOR POST 608 (thanks Karen GHHS)

+05 Style:1. Combo (5 points): (20.8 “veteran” author)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Koo...


Grand Total: 760 + 05 = 765

Task 10.9 Read a book that continues a series of which you've already read the initial installment.

I’ve read the first 4 books in the “Odd Thomas” series.

Also fits Task 10.7 published (2000-2012) with a spooky and imaginary character in it. (Ghosts. And (view spoiler)[hungry pig-men beasts (hide spoiler)])

Odd Apocalypse(Odd Thomas #5) (2012) by Dean Koontz

+10 Task
+05 Style:1. Combo (5 points): (10.7 Monsterfest IV)
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points):

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 10 = 25

Grand Total: 735 + 25 = 760

Review: The first Odd Thomas book is one of my favorites. We are introduced to our hero, Odd Thomas, a moral young man who can see ghosts and who pursues justice. Novels #2-#4 were good reads, although not as good as the first one. (The fourth book of the series, Odd Hours, read like an episode of the TV thriller series “24”. ) This, the fifth book of the series, begins a few hours after the end of the fourth book. Koontz assumes that you know the characters and the basic premise of the series already, and so he gets right into the action. There is a lot of supernatural action in this novel. Odd goes to location X. Supernatural beings confront him: action! Repeat. And repeat. And repeat. Yawn. And then ….. I thought the ending was lame. (view spoiler)[That said … I liked Nikola Tesla’s bit part (hide spoiler)]. . Recommended for fans of books with a lot of supernatural action and for fans of horror novels.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Connie wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Yep, it's non-fiction. I've already used Square Peg. So, I guess this one has no points for this challenge."

Did you use up your Canada Oktoberfest alr..."

Ok, but there are no multiple points for Oktoberfest. ..."

OK

Grand Total: 745 - 10 = 735

Connie wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Yep, it's non-fiction. I've already used Square Peg. So, I guess this one has no points for this challenge."

Did you use up your Canada Oktoberfest already?"

No I haven't -- yeah! -- I don't know why I overlooked Oktoberfest but am glad y'all caught that one --

10.2 – an author born in one of countries hosting Oktoberfest festivities: CANADA

+10 Task
+05 Style: 2. Multiple (5 points): Each time you repeat a task.
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points):

Task Total: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 715 + 30 = 745

Connie wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Kate S wrote:

Unfortunately, "green" in this title is referencing a life-style or attitude, not the actual color. Would you like to move it to one of the other tasks for which it q...

Deedee, 20.7 Bechdel Test calls for a novel, this seems to be non-fiction? "

Yep, it's non-fiction. I've already used Square Peg. So, I guess this one has no points for this challenge.

Grand Total: 750 - 35 = 715

Task 10.6 a nonfiction book about an elected official
The first elected president of the United States George Washington

Also fits Task 10.5: a non-fiction book by an author that was 60 or older when it was published.
Joseph J. Ellis was born in 1943; the book was published in 2004.
2004 – 1943 = 61 years old

Also fits Task 20.8 "veteran" author, one that has published books for 20 or more years
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_E...

His Excellency: George Washington (2004) by Joseph J. Ellis

+10 Task
+10 Style:1. Combo (5 points): (10.5 non-fiction author > 60, 20.8 “veteran” author)
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points):

Task Total: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30


Grand Total: 720 + 30 = 750

Review: The focus of this biography is the character of George Washington (as opposed to the actions of George Washington). Joseph Ellis spends time explaining how George Washington was a member of the Virginian planter elite, and how that position informed Washington’s views on the military, on the American Revolution, and on forming a new nation. In this biography, Washington is not perfect; he is a man of his times as regards to issues like slavery or the role of the common man in society. He is exceptional in his behavior after the American victory at Yorktown in that he desired a government controlled by representatives elected by the landed gentry rather than a government (like England’s) controlled by a hereditary aristocracy. America is fortunate that Washington believed and acted as he did after the war was won. Recommended for those interested in 18th century American history, and for those interested in studies of leadership.

Kate S wrote:

Unfortunately, "green" in this title is referencing a life-style or attitude, not the actual color. Would you like to move it to one of the other tasks for which it qualifies? ..."

Sure -- I'll move it to 20.7 Bechdel Test

Sleeping Naked is Green: How an Eco-Cynic Unplugged Her Fridge, Sold Her Car, and Found Love in 366 Days by Vanessa Farquharson

+20 Task
+05 Style: 2. Multiple (5 points): Each time you repeat a task.
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points):

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35

Grand Total: 685 + 35 = 720

Task 10.4 book with a color in the title

Also fits Task 20.7 Bechdel Test: the work must (i) have at least 2 female characters who (ii) talk to each other about (iii) something other than a man/men
Vanessa talks about “reducing her carbon footprint” with her sister, and with her best (female) friend. She also discusses “what brand of car should we rent?” with her mother.

Sleeping Naked is Green: How an Eco-Cynic Unplugged Her Fridge, Sold Her Car, and Found Love in 366 Days by Vanessa Farquharson

+10 Task
+05 Style:1. Combo (5 points): (20.7 Bechdel Test)
+05 Style: 2. Multiple (5 points): Each time you repeat a task.
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points):

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 05 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 685 + 30 = 715

Review: This is one of those do-it-for-one-year books. In this one, Vanessa Farquharson decides to make one change per day for a year that reduces her carbon footprint on the planet. Apparently she was inspired by Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth”. Each chapter starts out with a list of changes she made that month. The chapter contains a selection of the changes (not all) from that list and how she went about it and whether she was successful. Surprisingly, items like “turn off your refrigerator” was not that big a deal for her, but giving up some of the beauty products (like shampoo) was a big deal. About half way through she gets a bit bored with the ecology side of the project and she starts including in the text romantic interludes with men she is meeting through the project (like vegan hikers). No Impact Man was more serious about the ecology, but this one was more entertaining. Recommended for those who want a peak into what is meant by an uber-environmentally conscious, vegan lifestyle.