Connie ’s Comments (group member since Nov 11, 2013)

Connie ’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

10.5 400 metres

Dracula by Bram Stoker

+10 task (488 Pages)
+ 5 before 1999 (Published 1897)

Task total: 15
Season total: 240

Rosemary wrote: "Post 346 Connie wrote: "10.8 Pole Vault

Ship Fever: Stories by Andrea Barrett

1996 National Book Award Winner for Fiction

+10 task
+ 5 before 1999 (published in 1996)..."

Thanks, Rosemary. I'm glad you're keeping track of points better than I am.

10.8 Pole Vault

Ship Fever: Stories by Andrea Barrett

1996 National Book Award Winner for Fiction

+10 task
+ 5 before 1999 (published in 1996)

Task total: 15
Season total: 210

10.2 Long Jump

Miss Mole by E.H. Young

Historical fiction

+10 task
+5 before 1999 (Published in 1930)

Task total: 15
Season total: 210

15.7 Olympic Scavenger

On Agate Hill by Lee Smith

Horse-riding Option A: Set in the 19th Century, there are frequent mentions of riding horses on pages 254, 262, 269, 336 and more, such as "Martha rode out ahead on her big gray horse Valentine . . . "

Task total: 15
Season total: 195

15.6 Olympic Scavenger

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Row or Rowing Option A: Water Rat owns a rowboat, and he and Mole spend lots of time rowing in the river throughout the book.

+15 task
+ 5 before 1999 (pub in 1908)

Task total: 20
Season total: 180

10.1 100 metres

Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

Task total: 10
Season total: 160

10.6 Hurdles

After Annie by Anna Quindlen

Contemporary fiction

Task total: 10
Season total: 150

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I'm finding it interesting that so many are able to post books using Option B for the Olympic Scavenger challenge. I don't ever know what words an author is going to use in a book so I don't have a..."

I've been moving my planned books around as I find a word that I can use for Option B. Many books set earlier than the 20th Century have horses or horse-riding. Sometimes the cover can give a clue. If the title has a word about a river or an ocean, I'll flip through the book to look for canoe, rowing, swimming, surfing, or diving. Scenes in bars often have characters talking about sports or watching them on TV. I've been enjoying this fun task!

15.5 Olympic Scavenger

The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer

Dive Option A: A dive into shallow water starts the book.

Task total: 15
Season total: 140

10.10 1500 metres

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

+10 task (560 pages)
+ 5 (500 pages or more)

Task total: 15
Season total: 125

10.3 Shot Put

A Bigamist's Daughter by Alice McDermott

Rating 2.96

+10 task
+ 5 published before 1999 (1982)

Task total: 15
Season total: 105

15.4 Olympic Scavenger

The Coast Road by Alan Murrin

Football - Option B with word "football" in text on pg 207:
"He was staring at a football match on the television."

Task total: 15
Season total: 95

10.4 High Jump

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

Rating: 4.45

Task total: 10
Season total: 80

10.7 Discus Throw

Remembering by Wendell Berry

+10 task (ring)
+ 5 oldie (pub 1988)

Task total: 15
Season total: 70

15.3 Olympic Scavenger

Family Family by Laurie Frankel

Basketball Option B: Page 267
"Can you dunk?"
"A basketball?" said Davis.

Task total: 15
Season total: 55

15.2 Olympic Scavenger

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

Rowing Option B: pg 294 "They had been rowing a long, long time--half a day it seemed at least--yet Liverpool appeared still close at hand . . ."

+15 task
+ 5 oldie (pub 1848)

Task total: 20
Season total: 40

15.1 Olympic Scavenger

The Dark Horse by Rumer Godden

Horse Option B:
Page 11 "A necessary life-line of the Sisters of Poverty was Solomon, their horse."

+15 task
+ 5 published in 1981

Task total: 20
Season total: 20

20.6 Fruit, Dish, Bottle, and Violin

All That Is Mine I Carry with Me by William Landay

In November 1975, Jane Larkin vanished from her Newton home. Jane was the wife of a successful attorney, and the mother of three children.

"All That Is Mine I Carry With Me" is divided into four books. It starts with writer Philip Solomon, an old friend of the middle child Jeff Larkin, deciding to write a book about Jane's disappearance. Decades after she vanished, he interviews the detective in charge of the missing person case. The other three books are told from the points of view of various family members.

Although there is no concrete evidence, the detective, Jane's sister, and some of Jane's children suspect that her husband, Dan, murdered her. Dan was bored with their marriage, and his girlfriend started coming over to their house just weeks after the disappearance. The children don't know if they are sharing a home with the man who killed their mother.

Almost twenty years later, Jane's body is found, and the detectives are back on the case looking for answers, but finding more questions. The book shows how each of the family members change during almost three decades. Miranda's need for her mother was especially poignant.

I like William Landay's writing except that he writes long conversations, once even going through 35 short pieces of dialogue back and forth, without mentioning who is speaking occasionally. It was interesting reading the various points of view in the book over such a long time span. The author kept the reader in suspense almost to the end with an unusual reveal.

+20 task (POV of Philip, Miranda, Jeff, Dan)
+10 combo 10.3 St Patrick's Day (pub 2023); 10.9 Anniversaries (320 pages)
+10 review

Task total: 40
Season total: 725

The Fighter by Michael Farris Smith