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

Deedee’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Christin wrote: "Does anyone have any recommendations for an "X" spot author (preferably fiction)? It's the only letter I don't already have a spot lined up for ^_^"

I found only two:

The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai: A Novel by Ruiyan Xu
(author)Xinran

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

Sea without a Shore (Moontide and Magic Rise #2) by Sean Russell (Mass Market Paperback, 598 pages)

+20 Task
+05 Style: 2. Multiple (5 points): Each time you repeat a task
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points):
+05 Style:5. Jumbo (5 to 25 points): -500 Pages: 5 Points

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

Grand Total: 145 + 40 = 185

Review: “Moontide and Magic Rise” is a 1,204 page novel. It was broken up into 2 parts: Book 1: World Without End; and, Book 2: Sea without a Shore. I read World Without End over the summer (alas, it fit no Summer task), and continued with Sea without a Shore just now. Book 2 picks up “the next day” after the end of Book 1; there is no re-introduction of characters and no summaries of what went on in Book 1.
I’ll review the 2 books together as one whole. The novel’s setting is a pseudo-18th Century world, with 2 countries vying for control in the world – a pseudo England and a pseudo France. The plot revolves around a young naturalist who is thrown into court intrigues, combined with magical happenings that not everyone believes are magical. There exists an exotic plant in the King's arboretum (obtainable only from a pseudo-Indonesian island chain) which is a powerful healing plant. The king has lived a longer time than most people, and he believes that is because of the plant. The young naturalist, along with some court ‘players” go on a long ocean voyage to obtain more of the plant. Book One focuses on the young naturalist and his voyage; Book Two focuses on Averil Kent, a senior citizen painter (and spy!) who lives at the Royal Court, and who sorts out for his employers the consequences of the young naturalist’s voyage. The ending resolves all plot points (something that doesn't always occur in novels). Overall, an internally consistent fantasy told in a straightforward style. Recommended for Fantasy fans.

Liz M wrote: "Deedee wrote: "And ... if it is not ... is Northanger Abbey on the list?? ..."

Yes.

The listopia list is: The best gothic novels, ghost stories and early horror 1764-1937

It has lots of Poe, Lov..."

Thanks!
Lots of good ones on the list!

I'm unable to access " top 100 Gothic Novels " :(. goodreads is having an issue with accessing listopia lists. I signed out of goodreads, and went to listopia, and found a list entitled:

Best Gothic Novels/Suspense Novels

Is this the goodreads list being linked to?

And ... if it is not ... is Northanger Abbey on the list??

Task 20.4 written by an LGBT author.

Joanna Russ, Lesbian:
http://www.glbtq.com/literature/russ_...

Picnic on Paradise (1968) by Joanna Russ
Nebula Award Nominee for Novel (1968)


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
pp. 56-57: Tough Trans-Temporal Tour Guide Alyx speaking with fashionable tourist Maundy, one night after they stop for the night:

“I’m a living doll,” Maundy was saying. I’m a living doll, I’m a living doll, I’m a living doll” interspersed with terrible sobs.

They do tell the truth, thought Alyx, sometimes.. “You,” she said firmly, “are a woman. A woman.”

“I’m a doll!” cried Maundy.

“You,” said Alyx, “are a woman. A woman with dyed hair. A silly woman. But a woman. A woman!”


Also fits Task 20.8 "veteran" author:
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?222


+20 Task
+10 Style:1. Combo (5 points): (20.7 “Bechdel Test”, 20.8 "veteran" author)
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points):
+05 Style:4. Oldies (5 to 25 points): -25 to 75 years old: 5 points (1937-1987)


Total: 20 + 10 + 10 + 05 = 45


Grand Total: 100 + 45 = 145


Review: This was Joanna Russ’s first novel, published in1968 and nominated for the Nebula Prize for Best Science Fiction Novel. Our heroine, Alyx, is from Ancient Greece. She has been brought forward in time to the planet of Paradise to act as tour guide to an indulged group of men and women looking for adventure. Part of the “adventure” is to remove modern conveniences from the group, including mechanical devices and mind-altering drugs. Alyx knows how to survive without the modern conveniences, hence she has been recruited as the tour guide. Overall, the novel is dated, very 1960s (Cannabis! Surprise – men cry as well as women! And …. See dialog I included to show Bechdel Test compliance). Overall, it was OK, 1960s science fiction.

Paula wrote: "Is he even a main character? I looked at a few descriptions and summaries and it seems the young Tristam is the only main character, perhaps paired with the white bird, who is the ghost of his uncl..."

This is a 2-book series. World Without End (Part I) was mainly about Tristam (the young dude). Averil (the old dude) was definately a minor character in Part I. Sea without a Shore is Part II. I'm about halfway through Part II, and over half of the pagecount so far follows Averil around. Things happen to Tristam, and Averil figures out why (in between sighing after young women "one-third my age"). Tristam is the main character of the whole of the two parts, mainly because he dominates Part I. I think whomever wrote the goodreads summary did so reflecting on both parts, and not just on Part II.

On a related issue -- how present does Merlin have to be in a King Arthur story for this to fit? (I'm thinking of reading The Once and Future King)

I'm reading a fantasy novel Sea without a Shore. The narrative follows two men: one aged 20ish, and the other (Averil Kent) whose age is never given, but about whom there are numerous descriptions :
p. 90 "Kent tried to smile, though he feared he made a bad job of it. 'No, I am perfectly intact. Only just worn out from all the excitement. A bit much for a man my age, I'm afraid. Do forgive me for not rising ...' He waved a hand vaguely. 'My feet seem unwilling to bear me this day."
p. 143 "He was so very frail."
p. 260 "At moments like this he thought it a cruel trick that his youth had fled. ... He was nothing but a ruin of an old man, not even a prize for an elderly lady."
Would Averil Kent count as a "main character over 60"?

Thanks!

Task 10.2 – an author born in one of countries hosting Oktoberfest festivities: Peter Carey was born in Australia


The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey


And, Peter Carey qualifies for combo points 20.8 as a"veteran" author:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ca...

+10 Task
+05 Style:1. Combo (5 points): (20.8 "veteran" author)
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points):

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 10 = 25

Grand Total: 75 + 25 = 100

Review: The novel started off good – a 30ish year old woman learns that her married lover of 13 years has just died of a massive heart attack, and she goes into mourning. Nobody knows she knew him so nobody is there to help her. Our protagonist is a conservator at a British museum. She starts a new assignment restoring a mechanical duck produced in the 1850s. In the course of the restoration, she discovers journals of the man who designed the mechanical duck and commissioned its building. About midway through the novel, the characters began behaving in unlikely ways. The ending didn’t fit the novel. Maybe there was symbolism in the novel that I missed? Overall, I was disappointed with this novel, and would not recommend it. (I really liked Carey’s novel True History of the Kelly Gang and I WOULD recommend that one. Additionally, I’d give his other novels a try*sometime*. It’s THIS one I’d recommend skipping.)

message 28:
+5 combo 20.9 - biography of Thomas Paine who was an author
Grand Total: 30 + 05 = 35


Task 20.3 collection of short stories or essays by a single author.

Nine Tomorrows (1959) by Isaac Asimov

For style points
20.8 "veteran" author, one that has published books for 20 or more years.
Isaac Asimov
Here’s a list of ALL his books (500+!!!!!)
http://www.asimovonline.com/oldsite/a...

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

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

Grand Total: 35 + 40 = 75


Review: Like Earth Is Room Enough (which I read last summer), this book is a collection of Golden Age SF, all written by Isaac Asimov and first published in the Science Fiction magazines of the 1950s. The point of the stories is the cool idea; the characters are secondary. I liked the collection in Nine Tomorrows better than the one in Earth Is Room Enough . In this one, there are more stories that meld science fiction and mystery. This collection also includes the classic novelette “The Ugly Little Boy”, the story about a Neanderthal which is frequently anthologized. Recommended for people who enjoy 1950s science fiction.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Task 20.8 "veteran" author, one that has published books for 20 or more years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christop...

Thomas Paine's Rights of Man: A Biogra..."

:)
While I'm always glad to get combo points, the book had very little about Paine's life. At 160 total pages, maybe 18-20 pages was about his life, and the rest was about Common Sense and The Rights of Man, the arguements Paine make, and the arguements those opposed to his point of view made.

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

Thomas Paine's Rights of Man: A Biography by Christopher Hitchens

+20 Task.
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points):

Total: 20 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 00 + 30 = 30

Review: Christopher Hitchens focuses his book on the only part of Thomas Paine’s life he found interesting: Paine’s ideas. He provides just enough biographical background to set the scene, and then, the text turns towards Paine’s philosophical arguments. Paine’s arguments include: Why hereditary elites are bad; why absolute separation of church and state is good (without it, you wind up with the Spanish Inquisition); why (p. 109) “poverty and illness were an offence and a threat to the better-off, as well as to the poor and sick”; and so on. Hitchens also traces Paine’s influences on the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. Recommended for when you want to read about government and philosophy.

Does Carson McCullers count as a bisexual writer? Some lists include her, some lists don't. Thanks.

Task 20.2 B Edgar Award-winning authors
1965 Nominee for Best Novel: Stewart, Mary – This Rough Magic

This Rough Magic (1964) by Mary Stewart

+20 Task
+ 05 Style: 4. Oldies - 25 to 75 years old: 5 points (1937-1987)

Task Total: 20 + 05 = 25


Grand Total: 900 + 25 = 925

Review: A young out-of-work actress visits her sister on a lush, tropical Greek Isle. The beautiful setting, complete with (view spoiler)[dolphins (hide spoiler)], is enough to take the reader from the mundane world into vacation world. Recommended for when you want to just get away for awhile.


And, this is the last post for me for the Summer. Thanks to the moderators for all that they do, and congratulations to all who have finished! See ya in the fall.

Task 20.6 – Alliteration

Terribly Twisted Tales (2009) edited by Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenberg

+ 20 Task
+ 05 Style: 1. Combo (5 points) (10.2 Underrated)
+10 Style: 3. Not-a-Novel (10 points): Short Stories

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35

Grand Total: 865 + 35 = 900

Review: This book contained eighteen new stories based on traditional fairy tales. A frequent variation was to make the villain the hero, and vice-versa.
A couple were especially clever (“A Charming Murder” by Mary Louise Eklund, “The Red Path” by Jim C. Hines), and most of the rest were readable, although not especially memorable.

Task 10.2 Underrated (<250 ratings)

Days of Grass (1985) by Tanith Lee (Paperback, 250 pages)

+10 Task
+ 05 Style: 4. Oldies - 25 to 75 years old: 5 points (1937-1987)

Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15


Review: Tanith Lee usually writes horror and dark fantasy novels. This one she tries her hand at science fiction. (The goodreads description have a lot of plot spoilers. Fortunately I didn’t read the goodreads description before reading the novel, and so enjoyed the novel more.) The premise: during/shortly after the invasion of Earth by aliens, human survivors went underground to survive. The novel begins 141 years later, and focuses on the eventful life of one young woman who is living underground. Recommended for readers who enjoy non-traditional fantasy novels (even though this one is science fiction, the word choices and plotting is more fantasy than science fiction).

Grand Total: 850 + 15 = 865

Melanie wrote: "I thought that "V" would be difficult until I realized how many options I had between Kurt Vonnegut & Abraham Verghese.

I'm having some trouble with "I" as well (the only one I was able to come up..."

Leon Uris
Barry Unsworth (frequently nominated for Booker Prizes)
Jane Urquhart
Luis Alberto Urrea - The Hummingbird's Daughter
John Updike
Thrity Umrigar
Harlow Giles Unger (historian)
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich - A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (non-fiction)

D or Q?
Confessions of an English Opium Eater by De Quincey

G or R?
Knight Errant by R. Garcia y Robertson

L or G?
Ursula K Le Guin

Liz M wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Gao Xingjian
Qiu Xiaolong (mysteries in mainland China)"

Neither qualifies for "X". The former is "G" and the latter is "Q" -- these names are both written with the family (last) n..."

My local library has them under "X" ..... ah well, I still have

Xinran

I've read a non-fiction book she wrote about adoption,
Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother: Stories of Loss and Love.

She's written (Non-fiction)
China Witness: Voices from a Silent Generation
Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet
The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices
What the Chinese Don't Eat

and, Fiction,
Miss Chopsticks

right now my only "X" is Xinran, so I'll be watching to see what others find :0)

Gao Xingjian
Qiu Xiaolong (mysteries in mainland China)
Xinran

Task 10.10 -- Group Reads

Chiefs (Will Lee #1) (1981) by Stuart Woods

+10 Task
+ 05 Style: 1. Combo (5 points): (20.2 B Edgar Award-winning authors)
+ 05 Style: 4. Oldies - 25 to 75 years old: 5 points (1937-1987)

Task Total: 10 + 05 + 05 = 20

And …. Ta da! …. With this post I’ve completed the RwS tasks
+100

Grand Total: 730 + 20 + 100 = 850

Review: This was author’s first novel. The novel is divided in thirds: life in a small southern town is described with a focus on the role of three police chiefs in the years 1920, 1946, 1962. Several characters are present in all 3 segments. Race relations hover over the entire novel. The story seems real, and the writing draws you in. Recommended to mystery fans and to people who like to read about Southern living.