Denise’s Comments (group member since Dec 26, 2011)

Denise’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

15.1 Sweet Sixteen Bingo

Square N4 - 1 and 6 in MPE page count

The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers by Thomas Mullen (416 pages)

+15 task

Task total=15
Season total=75

20.6 Fall Equinox (Fall 2018)

Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit by Charles Bukowski

+20 task

Task total=20
Season total=60

20.4 Uncommon Letter (Fall 2017)

Desperate Characters by Paula Fox

+20 task
+10 combo (10.6 pub.1970; 10.9 "Otto, a piece of cheese in one hand, gestured to her with the other...Otto stuffed the cheese in his mouth , then snatched the phone from her hand and replaced it with a bang in its cradle." pg. 26)
+10 female

Task total=40
Season total=40

Row 4

✔️B4: title starts/ends with same letter
The Only One Left by Riley Sager

✔️I4: essays Life and Art: Essays by Richard Russo

✔️N4: 1 and 6 in MPE page count
The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers by Thomas Mullen

✔️G4: 4-word title All the Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson

✔️ O4: No E in title or author name Last Contract by Clark Howard


Column B
✔️B1: equal letters in names Prison Noir by Joyce Carol Oates

B2: foreign capital city An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine

✔️B3: latest book: Never Flinch by Stephen King

✔️B4: title starts/ends with the same letter
The Last Great Death Stunt by Clark Howard

✔️B5: 1 and 6 in publication year On Love by Charles Bukowski

Sending good wishes your way, Ed. Very glad you are back!

20.3 Francine Pascal and Nelson DeMille

Three Bedrooms in Manhattan by Georges Simenon

+20 task (from GR author page: “A prolific author who published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, ...”)
+ 5 combo (Kay takes a train trip from New York to Mexico City to visit her daughter who is ill)
+10 aged (1903-1989)
+10 oldies (pub. 1946)

Task total=45
Season total=315

20.3 Francine Pascal and Nelson DeMille

A Movement Toward Eden by Clark Howard

+20 task (from GR author page: “…he has written sixteen novels, six books of non-fiction, and has two published collections of short stories”)
+10 aged (1932-2016)
+ 5 oldies (pub. 1969)

Task total=35
Season total=270

Forever by Pete Hamill

MPG’s A: Literary Fiction and B: Fantasy

20.3 Francine Pascal and Nelson DeMille

The Christmas Kid: And Other Brooklyn Stories by Pete Hamill

+20 task (23 books on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Ha...)
+ 5 combo (10.2 "we took a Pullman to Florida, the two of us sleeping in the train, and it made clackety clack sounds all through the night, and soon we could smell the oranges" pg. 48)
+10 aged (1935-2020)

Task total=35
Season total=235

20.3 Francine Pascal and Nelson DeMille

The Hunter by Richard Stark

+20 task (24 books in the Parker series)
+15 combo (10.2 MC rides a train from NYC to Albany; 20.2 two women talk about hair rinses; 20.4-Mystery, Crime)
+10 aged (1933-2008)
+ 5 Oldies (pub. 1962)

Task total=50
Season total=200

The Hunter by Richard Stark, MPG’s Mystery and Crime

(I think it’s been shifting around.)

20.3 Francine Pascal and Nelson DeMille

Not in the Flesh by Ruth Rendell

+20 task (24 books in the Wexford series alone)
+ 5 combo (20.4-Mystery, Crime)
+10 aged (1930-2015)

Task total=35
Season total=150

20.3 Francine Pascal and Nelson DeMille

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_C...

(over 150)

Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates

+20 Task
+15 Combo (20.1, 20.2-MC and her housekeeper have many conversations about the household, children, meals, etc., 20.4-MPG's Mystery, Historical Fiction, Crime)
+10 Aged (born 1938)

Task total=45
Season total=115

20.3 Francine Pascal and Nelson DeMille

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Up...

“… novelist, poet, critic and essayist noted for his prolific output over a 50-year period. His bibliography includes some 23 novels, 18 short story collections, 12 collections of poetry, 4 children's books, and 12 collections of non-fiction.”

Your Lover Just Called: Stories of Joan and Richard Maple by John Updike

+20 Task
+10 Aged (1932-2009)
+ 5 Oldies (pub 1980)

Task total=35
Season total=70

Locking in MPG’s Mystery, Crime, and Historical Fiction for Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates

20.3 Francine Pascal and Nelson DeMille

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_C...

(over 150, not counting poetry, plays, and YA, for which I don't have the energy to check page counts)

Flint Kill Creek: Stories of Mystery and Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates

+20 Task
+ 5 Combo (20.1)
+10 Aged (born 1938)

Task total=35
Season total=35

Is it okay to lock in genres on this thread?

The Cat Saw Murder by Dolores Hitchens - Mystery, Crime

(Not a cozy, BTW)

Coralie wrote: "I plan to do something that I have been thinking about for a long, long time and just read the same task over and over again all season."

I came close to doing that this season. Of the 19 books I read, 15 were for 20.3 Chemistry. The Multiple style was a nice bonus.

20.3 Chemistry

No Man's Nightingale by Ruth Rendell

RU TH RE ND
Ruthenium, Thorium, Rhenium, Neodymium

+20 Task
+15 Combo:
10.5-seven letters in Rendell
10.6-"...when I was a young copper my contemporaries used to call me Wex.” pg. 13
20.8-born 1930
+5 Multiple
+5 Series

Task total=45
Season total=800

10.1

10.2 train Dread Journey by Dorothy B. Hughes

10.3 bucket list

10.4 bird Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

10.5

10.6

10.7

10.8

10.9

10.10

20.1 arts & letters

20.2 Bechdel test

20.3 >20 books
Joyce Carol Oates:
✔️Flint Kill Creek: Stories of Mystery and Suspense
Ruth Rendell
Patricia Highsmith
Dolores Hitchens
Georges Simenon
John Updike

20.4 2 MPG’s Harm Done by Ruth Rendell (Mystery, Crime)

20.5 LGBTQ Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

20.6 none

20.7

20.8 1975 The Seduction and Other Stories by Joyce Carol Oates

20.9 Alternate Histories The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead

20.10 The _____ of _____ The King of Fools by Frédéric Dard