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

Denise’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

15.1 Olympic Scavenger Round 2

Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson

Rowing-Option A: person engages in rowing: “On the river, a rower in a scull skimmed along its placid surface.” pg. 6

+15 Task

Post total=15
Season total=310

15.10 Olympic Scavenger

The Fabulous Clipjoint by Fredric Brown

Dive-Option B: “I hoped nobody had noticed my lack of dignity in that dive for the water.” pg. 100

+15 Task
+ 5 Before 1999
+100 finishers bonus

Post total=120
Season total=295

Joanna—55 is really impressive! I’ve read only 20 of them, with 10 TBR. The century is still young. I wonder how many of these titles will be on the final list 75 years from now.

15.9 Olympic Scavenger

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay

Cycle-Option B: "The never-ending loop of her life: Evan Pine fixating on a clue, running it into the ground, getting discouraged, swearing he was done with it all, then identifying a new clue and repeating the cycle.” pg. 300

+15 Task

Task total=15
Season total=175

15.8 Olympic Scavenger

The Canyon of the Green Death by F.R. Buckley

Horse-Option B: "And now,” said the stranger who had ridden up on the tired horse, speaking as if he were not violating every social law of southern California, “I’d like you to tell me just what happened to your arm.” pg. 1

+15 Task
+ 5 Before 1999

Task total=20
Season total=160

15.7 Olympic Scavenger

The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson

Wrestle-Option B: "You could have made it worse," Lily said. If you'd tried to wrestle the gun away he might have shot everyone in that classroom." pg. 158

+15 Task

Task total=15
Season total=140

15.6 Olympic Scavenger

Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

Boxing-Option B: "As he ran, he performed little boxing moves, punching like he was Rocky Balboa." pg. 251

+15 Task

Task total=15
Season total=125

Opening Ceremonies

(A) 1896-1909/USA McTeague: A Story of San Francisco by Frank Norris, 1899
(B) 1910-1923/Germany The Fairy Tales of Hermann Hesse by Hermann Hesse, 1919
(C) 1924-1937/Belgium The Murderer by Georges Simenon, 1937
(D) 1938-1950/UK Coming up for Air by George Orwell, 1938
(E) 1951-1963/France The Wicked Go to Hell by Frédéric Dard, 1956
(F) 1964-1976/USSR The Molecular Cafe, 1968 or Roadside Picnic, 1972 by Arkady Strugatsky
(G) 1977-1989/Australia Water Under the Bridge by Sumner Locke Elliott, 1977
(H) 1990-2002/Canada Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, 1996
(I) 2003-2014/Sweden An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell, 2004
✔️(J) 2015-2024/Finland The Man Who Died by Antti Tuomainen, 2016

15.5 Olympic Scavenger

Postscript to Nightmare by Dolores Hitchens

Athletic-Option B: "The man looked young, with a wiry athletic build." pg. 5

+15 Task
+ 5 before 1999

Task total=20
Season total=110

I am using Rosemary's very useful method described in message two of the Olympic Scavenger thread:

"For option B (books that contain the word):
The best place I know of to search inside a book without buying or borrowing an ebook is https://openlibrary.org..."

It eliminates the guessing!

15.4 Olympic Scavenger

The Class of '49 by Don Carpenter

Football, Option B - "Sissy never dated boys who were not fraternity members, unless they were on the football or baseball teams and were exceptionally well-behaved, but as her senior year began to come to an end, she wondered more and more what she was missing."

+15 Task
+ 5 before 1999

Task total=20
Season total=90

15.3 Olympic Scavenger

Fear Itself by Walter Mosley

Sail, Option B - "Maybe I’d never get on a steamship and sail to Europe, and maybe I’d never know the elegance of a fine hotel room on the Seine, but at least I could imagine it in my bookstore." pg. 103

+15 Task

Task total=15
Season total=70

15.2 Olympic Scavenger

From a Distant Place by Don Carpenter

Tennis, Option B - "But Sandy came back that first year for summer vacation, worked as a busboy at Horizons in Sausalito, swam a lot, played tennis and spent his nights with a woman at least twenty-five, and when fall came, refused to go back to Dartmouth." pg. 140

+15 Task
+ 5 published before 1999 (1988)

Task total=20
Season total=55

15.1 Olympic Scavenger

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson

Golf, Option B - “Out stepped a clean-cut man dressed in what looked like golf clothes to Jack.” pg. 139

+15 Task

Task total=15
Season total=35

20.1 Opening Ceremonies

The Man Who Died by Antti Tuomainen

(J) 2015-2024
Author born in Finland

+20 Task

Task total=20
Season total=20

10.2 The Dispossessed

The Arm by Clark Howard

+10 task

Task total=10
Season total=140

10.1 100-199 pages in the MPE
Somebody's Done For by David Goodis 176 pgs.

10.2 Mystery<-->Fantasy
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

10.3 Rating lower than 3.0
The Grudge by Dolores Hitchens 2.8 rating

10.4 Rating higher than 4.25 (min 4.26).
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller 4.33

10.5 400-499 pages in the MPE.
The Keys to the Street by Ruth Rendell

10.6 Fantasy
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

10.7 ring in the title
With Shuddering Fall by Joyce Carol Oates

10.8 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulitze...
Independence Day by Richard Ford 464 pgs. 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

10.9 author initials found in JAVELIN THROW
In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War by Tobias Wolff

10.10 at least 500 pages in the MPE.
Wonderland by Joyce Carol Oates 528 pgs.

20.3 The Madonna of the Cat

The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham

+20 task (Lucy Bellringer owned a cat named Wellington)
+20 combo (10.9 261 pgs, 10.10 group read; 20.1-MC Michael Lacey was a painter; 20.5 apostrophe)

Task total=40
Season total=130

Thanks for this selection Valerie! The series had escaped my notice, but I enjoyed this and plan to read more.

Round 2, completed

✔️ Athletic-Option B: We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer “Behind her the door clicks open, we snap back to real time, and in steps Officer Kelly Kiernan, the Bureau’s lead detective. Clean-shaven head, athletic build.” pg. 282

✔️ Basketball-Option B: Traces of Mercury by Clark Howard  "Keep in mind that this is a legal proceeding, not a basketball game." pg. 237

✔️ Boxing-Option B: The Dispossessed by Don Carpenter  “He moved toward Valerie, bringing up his fists in the boxer’s stance, but before he could actually start boxing, Valerie hit him again, on the nose,...” pg. 71

✔️Dive-Option B: A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson "It's a dive called the Bullpen." pg. 169

✔️Football-Option B: The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson “Football highlights were playing on the TV mounted above the bottles, and I pretended to be interested.” 45%

✔️ Horse-Option B: Pop. 1280 by Jim Thompson "I got my horse and buggy out of the livery stable, and drove out of town." Ch. 10

✔️ Rowing-Option A: Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson person engages in rowing: “On the river, a rower in a scull skimmed along its placid surface.” pg. 6

✔️ Sailing-Option B: You Like It Darker by Stephen King “Clear sailing!" he exclaims, and treats himself to a cigarette out of the pack in the glove compartment.” pg. 277

✔️ Surfboard-Option B: Challenge The Widow-Maker And Other Stories Of People In Peril by Clark Howard “All I've ever been was a soldier, a convict, and a surfboard maker.” pg.64

✔️Swimming-Option B: The Grifters by Jim Thompson "He turned swimming eyes on the clerk, eyes flooded with pain-filled puzzlement.” pg. 5

Round One, completed

✔️1. Athletic-Option B: Postscript to Nightmare by Dolores Hitchens  "The man looked young, with a wiry athletic build."  pg. 5

✔️ 2. Boxing-Option B: Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson "As he ran, he performed little boxing moves, punching like he was Rocky Balboa." pg. 251

✔️3. Cycle-Option B: Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay “The never-ending loop of her life: Evan Pine fixating on a clue, running it into the ground, getting discouraged, swearing he was done with it all, then identifying a new clue and repeating the cycle" pg. 300

✔️ 4. Dive-Option B: The Fabulous Clipjoint by Fredric Brown. “I hoped nobody had noticed my lack of dignity in that dive for the water.” pg. 100

✔️5. Football-Option B: The Class of '49 by Don Carpenter. "Sissy never dated boys who were not fraternity members, unless they were on the football or baseball teams and were exceptionally well-behaved, but as her senior year began to come to an end, she wondered more and more what she was missing."

✔️6. Golf-Option B: Nine Lives by Peter Swanson. “Out stepped a clean-cut man dressed in what looked like golf clothes to Jack.” Pg. 139

✔️ 7. Horse-Option B: The Canyon of the Green Death by F.R. Buckley  "And now," said the stranger who had ridden up on the tired horse, speaking as if he were not violating every social law of southern California, "I'd like you to tell me just what happened to your arm."  pg. 1

✔️8. Sail-Option B: Fear Itself by Walter Mosley "Maybe I’d never get on a steamship and sail to Europe, and maybe I’d never know the elegance of a fine hotel room on the Seine, but at least I could imagine it in my bookstore." Pg. 103

✔️9. Tennis-Option B: From a Distant Place by Don Carpenter "But Sandy came back that first year for summer vacation, worked as a busboy at Horizons in Sausalito, swam a lot, played tennis and spent his nights with a woman at least twenty-five, and when fall came, refused to go back to Dartmouth." pg. 140

✔️10. Wrestle-Option B: The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson "You could have made it worse," Lily said. If you'd tried to wrestle the gun away he might have shot everyone in that classroom." pg. 158