Connie ’s
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(group member since Nov 11, 2013)
Connie ’s
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from the Reading with Style group.
Showing 441-460 of 1,905
Planning:10.1 Series
The Smiling Country by Elmer Kelton
The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam
10.2 Pronouns
I Am the Clay by Chaim Potok
✓ I Married a Dead Man by William Irish
10.3 Police
The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny
10.4 Twelve
✓ Wingwalkers by Taylor Brown
✓ Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy
10.5 Journey
The Sun Is a Compass: A 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds by Caroline Van Hemert
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
✓ West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge (combo 10.9)
10.6 Map
✓ I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell
Nicholas Evans
10.7 Out of This World
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin 1150 Lexile
The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
10.8 The Threes
The Smiling Country by Elmer Kelton
10.9 Covid 19 Hits
✓ Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus HF, Debut 2022
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver F 2022
10.10 Group Reads
Lots of good choices-check library
20.1 Birthdays (1913-1952)
Miss Pinkerton by Mary Roberts Rinehart 1932
Ashenden by W. Somerset Maugham 1927
20.2 Biography (Biog or Biog Fiction)
✓ Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
The Life of Charles Dickens : Volume II by John Forster
20.3 NYRB
Don't Look Now and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier 1971
✓ In the Café of Lost Youth by Patrick Modiano
20.4 Southeast Asia (Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam)
The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
The Rice Mother by Rani Manicka
Run Me to Earth by Paul Yoon
The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
20.5 Books
South Toward Home: Travels in Southern Literature by Margaret Eby
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
20.6 Industry (Film or fashion industry)
Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
20.7 Ratings (<1,000 or >75,000)
The Ice Garden by Moira Crone
The Smiling Country by Elmer Kelton (343 ratings)
✓ City of Thieves by David Benioff (136,770 ratings)
✓ Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (279,352 ratings)
20.8 Short
✓ Don't Look Now and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier
Ship Fever: Stories by Andrea Barrett
Redeployment by Phil Klay
Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Tenth of December by George Saunders
20.9 Translator (Author who also translates)
Written Lives by Javier Marías
All Souls by Javier Marías
20.10 Mystery
All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda 2016
✓ The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
20.2 KingThe Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
"She was snarling like a cougar. I liked her like that."
"Stealing a man's wife, that's nothing, but stealing his car, that's larceny."
"The Postman Always Rings Twice" is a classic crime novel narrated by a 24-year-old drifter, Frank, who takes a job at a diner/gas station. It was not the job that attracted him, but the owner's wife, Cora, a femme fatale. Lust and greed motivate Frank and Cora to make a series of bad, violent choices.
Fate is a theme that runs through the book. Cats are often symbols of fate, and bring both good and bad luck to the duo. Even the title, "The Postman Always Rings Twice," suggests that Frank cannot escape fate. Missing "the first ring," he goes unpunished for a serious crime, but fate catches up to him later.
This is a fast-paced, short novel with well-written, edgy dialogue. Even though it was published in 1934, the book holds up to the test of time.
+20 task
+10 combo 10.2 Octoberfest (American); 10.3 9, 10, 11
+10 review
+10 oldie (1934)
Task total: 50
Season total: 975
20.9 ABCsThe Good Old Boys by Elmer Kelton
"For a man with just one good shirt to his name, you're about as rich a man as I know. . . You've got the one treasure the rest of us can never have - freedom. Any day the notion strikes you, you can saddle old Biscuit and just ride away."
"The Good Old Boys" tells the story of Hewey Calloway, a cowboy who visits his brother, Walter, and his family. Walter, Eve, and their two sons work long hours on their small Texas farm with the threat of a bank foreclosure hanging over them. Hewey avoids commitment, and comes back with tall tales about his adventures in new places. Eve worries that Hewey will risk loneliness and injuries out on the trail by himself as he ages.
Walter's oldest son, Cotton, has great mechanical skills. He can see his future in the modern industrial world, and is especially interested in the newest invention - automobiles. His interests contrast with Hewey's who has no desire to go any faster than a horse.
The story is about making choices so you are true to yourself and use your special talents. It also celebrates the hard-working people who settled in Texas in the early 20th Century. Although it deals with important ideas, the writing is very humorous so it's a book that's hard to put down. Even though I rarely read Westerns, I found Elmer Kelton to be an exceptional writer with his sense of history and his portrayal of interesting, independent characters.
Soup: page 47 "She pulled a pot of stew and another of beans out onto the stove's flat top to warm for supper."
+20 task
+20 combo 10.2 Octoberfest; 10.3 9,10,11; 10.4 Series (Hewey Calloway #1); 20.8 Soups On!
+10 review
+ 5 oldie (pub 1982)
Task total: 55
Season total: 925
That sounds like a wonderful place to spend a holiday, Kim. Enjoy!
10.5 AutumnThe Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne
A.A. Milne is best known for his Winnie the Pooh stories, but he also published one mystery book, "The Red House Mystery," in 1922. The locked room murder mystery is set at an English country manor. Two friends, Antony and Bill, set about solving the mystery together while pretending they were working in the style of Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson. Their humorous banter and love of the classic duo kept the story entertaining. While I guessed the killer, the story is more about why and how the murder happened. "The Red House Mystery" is a light, enjoyable book from the Golden Age of Detection.
+10 task (red)
+10 combo 20.5 Faulkner; 20.10 Birthday (1922)
+10 review
+10 oldie
Task total: 40
Season total: 910
Ideas Revised:#1
R-D Robert Olmstead Savage Country DONE 15.8
M-A Megan Miranda All the Missing Girls DONE 15.10
H-Y Horace McCoy They Shoot Horses, Don't They? DONE 15.1
J-I Jhumpa Lahiri The Namesake DONE 15.7
T-S Tayari Jones Leaving Atlanta DONE 15.9
P-O Paolo Giordano Like Family DONE 15.2
E-B Emma Straub This Time Tomorrow DONE15.4
C-N Claire Keegan Small Things Like These DONE 15.3
L-F Lauren Groff Matrix DONE 15.6
W-K Walter Van Tilburg Clark The Ox-Bow Incident DONE 15.5
#2
C-Y Clare Pooley Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting DONE 15.1
B-R Barbara Kingsolver Demon Copperhead (or 10.9)
10.9 NFLThe Sentence by Louise Erdrich
"The Sentence" is an unusual book - a ghost story that also captures the mood in America during the early months of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests. The story begins years earlier when Tookie, an Indigenous woman, became involved in a zany body-snatching incident which was a Federal offense. While imprisoned she developed a love of books, and landed a job at the Birchbark Books after her release. Her most annoying customer was Flora, a white woman who pretended to be Native American. Flora died on All Souls' Day "when the fabric between the worlds is thin as tissue and easily torn." Her spirit haunted the bookstore, especially when Tookie was working.
Life changed for everyone as Covid hit Minneapolis. Bookstores were considered essential businesses and went online - a lifeline for many isolated people who needed books as a distraction. George Floyd was murdered in the city, setting off protests. Meanwhile, Tookie was taking care of the people she loved at home, and trying to get the spirit of Flora to move from the bookstore to a place of eternal rest.
The book had many colorful, quirky characters who were very involved in preserving Native American culture, history, and language. Places like Birchbark Books, which specializes in Indigenous literature, helps to keep their culture alive. "The Sentence" touched on many serious topics, but Tookie's crazy humor kept it from being too dark. This tale also celebrates the importance of books, and a love of bookstores. It even has lists of Tookie's favorite books at the end.
Soup: Page 29 "Sometimes I'd see a tiny restaurant I liked the look of so I'd get off at the next stop and go inside, order soup. I took a tour of world soups."
+10 task (Minnesota)
+15 combo 10.2 Octoberfest; 20.1 Jeminsin (Native American and Black characters); 20.8 Soups On!
+10 review
Task total: 35
Season total: 870
20.8 Soup's On!The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan
Great Britain had a food rationing system during World War II that restricted the amounts of meat, dairy products, sugar, tea, and other foods that could bought. Home cooks had to be careful to cook the fruits and vegetables that were in season, plant kitchen gardens, and forage in the woods and fields. German U-boats had cut off the supply of imported food. To help home cooks deal with a limited supply of ingredients, the BBC radio program "The Kitchen Front" had a three round cooking contest. The competitors had to come up with recipes for a starter, a main dish, and a dessert, and present their creations. The winner of the contest would become the co-host of the radio program.
The historical novel tells the story of the four women contestants, each who had to overcome adversity. The women used their cooking skills to support themselves financially, feed their family members, and participate in the contest. This is a tale of transformation as the women came to depend on each other and forged strong friendships.
The book contains lots of interesting historical material about rationing. Recipes of most of their creations were included. The desserts sounded delicious but I'll pass on the Spam and Game Pie, and the Sardine Rolls. This was a lighter World War II novel that kept getting better as the women's backstories were revealed.
Soup: Pg 141 "Wild Mushroom Soup was a clever choice."
+20 task
+10 combo 10.3 (9, 10, 11); 20.9 ABCs
+10 review
Task total: 40
Season total: 835
10.8 HouseThe Witching Hour by Anne Rice
I enjoy reading a supernatural novel around Halloween, and this doorstopper-sized book kept me busy reading all month. The book tells the story of the Mayfair family of witches through the centuries starting in Scotland, moving to Haiti, and finally spending most of the book in New Orleans. Suzanne Mayfair called up a demon, Lasher, when she was burned at the stake in the 1600s. The supernatural Lasher is devious and seductive. He has an important wish that he wants Rowan Mayfair, the thirteenth witch, to fulfill. Rowan is a brilliant neurosurgeon who has used her special powers for healing, but under Lasher's influence, she wonders if she is also capable of evil.
Rowan and her lover, Michael, move into the Mayfair's decaying haunted house in New Orleans when she inherits the Mayfair legacy. Michael is a contractor who wants to bring the old mansion back to its former beauty. The house has a history of unexplained accidents, dead bodies, and sightings of the supernatural spirit.
"He didn't want to confess to Rowan that he couldn't shake an underlying apprehensiveness, an underlying certainty that they were being watched. That the house itself was something alive. Maybe it was only the lingering impression of the images in the attic . . . But the place had absorbed the personalities of all the Mayfairs, hadn't it, as old houses are supposed to do."
An organization called the Talamasca studies supernatural phenomena around the world. Aaron has been investigation the Mayfair witches for years, and has shared information about their history with Michael and Rowan. But nothing can really prepare them for their encounters with the demon Lasher.
Anne Rice's writing is colorful and sensuous. The book is a page-turner except for the middle where it slows down in the more scholarly Talamasca histories. The story could have been edited down a bit, but the author's imagination is impressive.
+10 task
+25 combo 10.2 Octoberfest (USA); 10.4 Series (trilogy); 10.9 NFL (New Orleans); 20.9 ABCs; 20.10 Birthday (1990)
+10 review
+ 5 oldie (1990)
+25 jumbo (1207 pages)
Task total: 75
Season total: 795
20.5 FaulknerLetter to His Father by Franz Kafka
+20 task
+10 combo 10.3 9, 10, 11; 20.9 ABC
+10 oldie (orig pub 1919)
+10 Lost in Translation (from German)
Task total: 50
Season total: 720
20.2 KingDangerous Women by Hope Adams
In 1841, the Rajah transported 180 females convicted of petty crimes from England to Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania). Kezia Hayter was the matron on board in charge of the prisoners. She selected a group of them to work on a quilt as a bonding experience and a chance to develop their sewing skills. The Rajah Quilt is now hanging in the National Gallery of Australia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajah_Q...
Kezia recognized that poverty, abuse, and the need to feed their children were often reasons behind the women's crimes. A few of the women suffered from depression or other mental illnesses. She believed that the transportation to Australia was enough punishment, and that the women could be rehabilitated to lead productive lives. The women had to live under miserable conditions during the three month voyage.
A fictional serious crime involving one of the women in the sewing circle had everyone on edge since the perpetrator had to be onboard. Although I guessed the culprit, it was interesting to find out the backstories of the women's lives since more than one could have had a motive.
Many of the characters are based on real people, although most names have been changed since their descendants still live in Australia. I enjoyed learning more about Australian history, and especially liked Kezia Hayter as a character.
+20 task (debut novel)
+10 review
Task total: 30
Season total: 670
10.1 TBRTess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Tess Durbeyfield is a beautiful young woman from a country village who meets misfortune over and over again. The cad, Alec D'Urberville, does harm to the innocent Tess that sets her oppression in motion. The son of a preacher, Angel Clare, seems to offer her love, but is upset when her past becomes known. Tess is proud and very resourceful under difficult circumstances. She worries about the survival of her young siblings as well as her own situation, and often sacrifices for their well-being.
Author Thomas Hardy's writing is beautiful as he describes the natural rural area where Tess feels comfortable, especially a dairy farm where she works as a milk maid. In Victorian England, industrialization was changing the country as well as the cities. Modern farm machinery, such as a steam thresher, is depicted as a shaking, roaring monster on another farm. It's obvious that Hardy loved the natural beauty of the country villages of southwestern England.
There are characters with different senses of right and wrong in this story. Organized religion and social attitudes are different from the laws of Nature. Descriptions of Angel and Tess on the lush dairy farm bring the Garden of Eden to mind. Another scene shows Alec with a pitchfork in a smoky field looking like a hellish vision. Hardy's writing shows what a double standard exists for men and women in matters of sex and divorce.
The novel does have so many misfortunes and coincidences that it does stretch the limits of credibility at times. However, the human reactions of sorrow, guilt, pride, uncertainty, love, and joy seem very realistic. Tess is a young woman trying to cope with all that life and society are throwing at her, and she is often depicted like a bird in a trap. The novel swept me up with its tragic story and poetic language.
+10 task (added to TBR on 4/30/21)
+ 5 combo 20.5 Faulkner
+10 oldie (1891)
+ 5 jumbo (519 pages)
+10 review
Task total: 40
Season total: 640
Elizabeth, you're whipping through your mystery challenge! Impressive!
20.9 ABCsApples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
After raising four children in their Australian tennis-focused family, Joy and Stan Delaney were now retired. Stan had done most of the coaching while Joy ran the business and took care of the family. Now that her life has slowed down, sixty-nine-year-old Joy wished she had handled some things differently.
"Regret" can be my memoir's theme, she thought, as she tried to shove the cheese grater into the dishwasher next to the frying pan. "A Regretful Life" by Joy Delaney.
When the four Delaney adult children receive a strange text message from their mother that she's gone off-grid, and she just disappears, secrets about the Delaney marriage and sibling rivalry come to the surface. Stan is suspected of involvement in his wife's disappearance.
Adding to the confusion, a young woman named Savannah had shown up at the Delaney home about six months earlier saying that she was a victim of domestic violence. The couple let Savannah stay with them, but who was she and what else did she want?
The title "Apples Never Fall" is appropriate for this family whose kids did not fall far from the tree. The book shows the fallout within a family that did everything together. Their lives were totally interwoven with the tennis business and the hope that the kids would be tennis stars.
This contemporary family drama is suspenseful with lots of humor in the flashbacks. I didn't totally buy into the character of Savannah, but felt that the other characters seemed realistic. The Delaney marriage was no exception to the fact that no one knows what goes on behind closed doors.
Soup: Page 236 "Savannah is making you soup, and Dad is asleep in front of the television." (minestrone)
+20 task
+10 combo 10.2 Octoberfest (Australia); 20.8 Soup's On!
+10 review
Task total: 40
Season total: 600
20.1 JemisinRu by Kim Thúy
"I first saw the light of day in Saigon, where firecrackers, fragmented into a thousand shreds, coloured the ground red like the petals of cherry blossoms or like the blood of two million soldiers deployed and scattered throughout the villages and cities of a Vietnam that had been ripped in two."
Vietnamese-born Canadian novelist Kim Thúy wrote a semi-autobiographical novel about a wealthy family in Saigon that needs to escape as the Vietnam War was winding down. Instead of a chronological plot, the book was written using quick impressions and fragmented descriptions in a series of vignettes that go back and forth in time.
The family escaped by boat and spent time in a refuge camp in Malaysia. They immigrated to the town of Granby in Quebec, Canada. Kim Thúy's story is not a political history, but a personal story about immigration and survival, learning new languages, the American Dream, motherhood, and identity. She felt that she was in a "hybrid state: half this, half that, nothing at all and everything at once."
The author writes about the burdens that the frail women of Vietnam carry. The old women are hunched over from working in the fields, many young women are emotionally changed from working as prostitutes to survive, and the women vendors carry soup and other foods, bowls, and portable coal stoves on long bamboo poles balanced on their shoulders.
Kim Thúy has prospered in Canada and has now written several books in French. Her poetic prose is a delight, and the vignettes in Ru are opportunities for reflection.
Lots about soup since the Vietnamese eat soup for breakfast. p 106 "Each soup had its own vermicelli: round ones with beef, small and flat with pork and shrimp, transparent with chicken."
+20 task
+30 combo 10.2 Octoberfest (Vietnam) 10.3 9, 10, 11 (K); 20.2 King (debut); 20.8 Soup's On!; 20.9 ABCs; 20.10 Birthday (pub 2009)
+10 review
+10 Lost in Translation (from French)
Task total: 70
Season total: 560
10.3 9, 10, 11The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner
"That's exactly what Austen gives us. A world so a part of our own, yet so separate, that entering it is like some kind of tonic. Even with so many flawed and even silly characters, it all makes sense in the end. It may be the most sense we'll ever get to make out of our own messed-up world."
Jane Austen wrote her last novels in a cottage in the sleepy English village of Chawton, and her brother lived in the larger Chawton House on the same estate. When it looks probable that the cottage and mansion might be lost to developers in an estate settlement in the 1940s, some fans of Jane Austen come to the rescue and form "The Jane Austen Society."
Although this is a fictional account of events, it is a warm story about a disparate group of people, each who have experienced some emotional damage due to grief, World War II, or other circumstances. They work together to save the cottage, valuable books, Jane's jewelry, and more. They bond over a shared love of Jane Austen's books, and heal in the process.
Natalie Jenner's debut novel is a pleasant, cozy read, although it is a bit rushed at the end. A little familiarity with Austen's books or the gorgeously filmed movies based on her writing would make the reading experience more enjoyable.
+10 task (J)
+ 5 combo 20.2 (debut novel)
+10 review
Task total: 25
Season total: 480
You're really zipping through the mysteries, Valerie!
10.2 OctoberfestWeeds by Edith Summers Kelley
"Weeds" is a forgotten novel of the 1920s that was reissued several times in the 70s, 80s, and 90s during the feminist movement. It's a character study of Judith, an effervescent child of nature who followed her father around the farm helping with chores. She was full of energy, had an artistic talent, and took great joy in observing the outdoor world. Her life changed as the wife of a Kentucky tenant farmer and the mother of three children. She found that the endless cycle of household chores, difficult pregnancies, and constant childcare was a soul-crushing existence. Even though she had a hardworking husband, the weather could wipe out any hope of escaping poverty. Judith went through times of anger and depression dealing with her unrelenting duties.
Uncle Jabez, an old man and the neighborhood fiddler, seemed to be the only one who understood the young woman. Joy in the beauty of the world, laughter, and contemplation were qualities they shared. He took the time to watch the beauty of a sunset, and compared life to the vivid changing colors which gradually muted to gray:
"It's a heap like a man's life, hain't it. . . . It begins happy an' simple, like them innocent pinks an' blues; then turns flame colored when he grows to be a man an' learns to know the love o' wimmin. But it don't stay that color long. First thing you know it's gray, like his hair, what he has left of it. Yaas, Judy, the young time's the on'y time."
This naturalist novel about the hard life of a farming family is notable because it's told from the point of view of a woman. Both a farmer and his wife did backbreaking work, but often had little more than corncakes to feed their families by mid-winter. Pregnancies and nursing took their toil on the malnourished women, and they aged quickly. Author Edith Summers Kelley and her artist husband raised tobacco as tenant farmers in Kentucky for several years so the experiences of a restless young farmer's wife and her neighbors feels brutally authentic.
Chicken broth pg 43 "But when the chicken broth was made Mrs Pippinger could eat none of it."
+10 task (born in Canada)
+15 combos 10.3 9, 10, 11 (K); 20.2 King (debut); 20.8 Soup's On!
+10 review
+10 oldie (pub 1923)
Task total: 45
Season total: 455
20.10 BirthdayThe Dinner by Herman Koch
"The Dinner" started with satirical social humor as two brothers and their wives dine at a posh restaurant. But the disturbing story gets psychologically darker and totally riveting as it moves on. What secrets is this unreliable narrator hiding? How far will the two couples go to protect their sons who are responsible for a terrible event? Why do they have such a strong sense of privilege? I couldn't put the book down!
+20 task (pub 2009)
+10 combo 10.3 9, 10, 11 (K); 20.9 A, B, Cs
+10 review
Task total: 40
Season total: 410
