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

Denise’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

10.5 -- Teddy Bear's Picnic


God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Pearls Before Swine by Kurt Vonnegut

+10 task (Retro Summer Reading list)
+5 combo (20.9 Fatherly Kurt Vonnegut father of Mark Vonnegut)
+5 Oldies (published 1965)

Task total=20
Grand total=60

Rosemary wrote: "D wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I don't see an immediate place for it, though someone else may know of one. As a last resort, if it indeed doesn't fit anywhere, you can claim it for 10.1 Squar..."

I can't believe I didn't think of that. Thanks, Rosemary!

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I don't see an immediate place for it, though someone else may know of one. As a last resort, if it indeed doesn't fit anywhere, you can claim it for 10.1 Square Peg."

Thanks, Elizabeth. I'll do that if nothing else turns up. I'm curious whether I'll like the book. It's got a 4+ rating at this point, but some of its detractors are pretty persuasive.

Liz M wrote: From wikipedia: "The Night Circus is a phantasmagorical fairy tale set near an ahistorical Victorian London in a wandering magical circus that is open only from sunset to sunrise."

Thanks, Liz. I should have gone to wikipedia instead of spending an hour reading reviews. Usually I do, but didn't think of it this time. I had already decided it didn't sound like Pulitzer-type fiction, and the setting does definitely eliminate it. Maybe I can use it somewhere else.

Can someone who has read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern tell me if it is clearly set in the U.S., or is it an unspecified fantasy world? I just put a hold on the book at the library and plan to read it regardless, but would like to know if it would count for this task. Thanks.

10.3 - Road trip!


Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

+10 task
+15 combo (20.8 Serially - originally published in Holiday Magazine: http://www.biemiller.com/steinhol.htm 20.9 - Fatherly - sons Thomas and John IV are writers 20.10 - Modernly - John Steinbeck on first linked list.
+10 Not-a-Novel (Dewey Decimal number is 917.3)
+5 Oldies (1962)

Task total=40
Grand total=40

10.4 - It's Your Birthday

Hard Times by Charles Dickens

+10 task (On Classic children's literature list- Grades 9 through 12)
+5 combo (20.4 adaptations) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109985/
+10 canon

Task total=25
Grand total=450

10.8 It's a Family Affair

Mothers and Sons: Stories by Colm Tóibín

+10 task
+5 combo (20.10 It's academic - (Princeton University and the University of Manchester) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colm_Toibin
+10 Not-A-Novel (short Stories)

Task total=25
Grand total=425

To add to Elizabeth (Alaska)'s suggestion of John Steinbeck and son John Steinbeck IV, another Steinbeck son: Thomas Steinbeck

I am planning on reading Travels With Charley: In Search Of America by John Steinbeck. It should be good for Oldies and Not-a-Novel, and combo points for 20.4 Fatherly:

John Steinbeck and sons John Steinbeck IV (already mentioned by Elizabeth (Alaska), and Thomas Steinbeck

I'm hoping Travels With Charley will count since the Dewey Decimal number is 917.3.

10.1 - Square Peg
In the Suicide Mountains by John Gardner

+10 task

Grand total=400

20.8 It's alphabetic

Idiots First by Bernard Malamud

+20 task
+10 not a novel (short story collection)
+10 canon

Task total=40
Grand Total=390

20.3 - In honor of Harvard Bookstore
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

+20 task
+5 combo 20.1 banned books: http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Secti...
+10 canon

Task total=35
Grand total=350

10.5 - Rooting for the Bad Guy

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

+10 task
+5 combo (10.7 - 1981 Pulitzer for fiction)

Task total=15
Grand total=315

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "D wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "20.7 Kid's Republic

Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac

Two questions:

1. Combo points for 20.4 - made into a movie

2. Also, would this qualify for combo points..."

Great! I hope you get the points for the family task. French is not a foreign language to many people, but of course it is not my decision to make.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "20.7 Kid's Republic

Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac

Two questions:

1. Combo points for 20.4 - made into a movie

2. Also, would this qualify for combo points for 10.8 It's a Family Affair, Père being French for "father"?

20.2 - In honor of True Colors

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

+20 task
+ 5 combo (20.4 made into a movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108565/)

Task total=25
Grand total=300

10.7 Reading is Awarding

Patrimony: A True Story by Philip Roth

+10 Task (1991 NBCC Biography/Autobiography Winner)
+10 Not-a-Novel
+10 Canon

Task total=30
Grand total=275

10.7 Reading is Awarding

The Counterlife by Philip Roth

+10 task (NBCC 1987 Fiction Winner)
+10 canon

Task total=20
Grand total=245

10.3 - Girls’ Names

The Trial of Abigail Goodman: A Novel by Howard Fast

+10 task

Task total=10
Grand total=225