Connie ’s
Comments
(group member since Nov 11, 2013)
Connie ’s
comments
from the Reading with Style group.
Showing 121-140 of 1,904
20.6 LiteratureAtonement by Ian McEwan
For 10.6, gold on page 71: "No one in the world could do this better than Briony Tallis who would be representing her country next year at the Berlin Olympics and was certain to win the gold."
+20 task
+ 5 combo 10.6 Elementary My Dear Reader - gold
+ 5 combo 20.1 Back to School - Author taught English to non-native speakers
Task total: 30
Half-way finish for 20 point tasks: 50
Mega finish: 200
Season total: 1200
Goodreads has several lists that feature books that pass the Bechdel Test. There are some children's books on the lists, and probably not all the books on the list will qualify. But it's a good starting point.https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/be...
Winter Plan10.1 Stylish Sci-Fi
✓ Orbital by Samantha Harvey
10.2 Holiday Travel (train ride)
✓ The Best American Short Stories 2024 by Lauren Groff
The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie 1928
✓ Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal
10.3 New Year's Resolutions (bucket list)
One of my bucket lists is to read all of Dickens' novels, Christmas books, and other notable books
✓ The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain by Charles Dickens
10.4 Penguin Awareness Day (birds)
✓ Lark Ascending by Silas House
They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell
Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs by Wallace Stegner
10.5 New Year New Date (2 and 5 in publication year)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos 1925
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss 2005
Three Days in June by Anne Tyler 2025
Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey 2025
Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck 2015, Norway
10.6 Year of the Snake (author initials in WOOD SNAKE)
✓ The Doctor's Wife by Sawako Ariyoshi
10.7 Verity
✓ Verity by Colleen Hoover
The City of Fallen Angels by John Berendt
Velocity by Dean Koontz
10.8 Theater (play, or a book that has been adapted into a play)
✓ Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens, reading the book which was adapted into an 8 1/2 hour play in two parts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lif...
✓ Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_a...
10.9 Scandinavia (Set at least 75% in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Norway)
✓ Brightly Shining by Ingvild H. Rishøi
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
10.10 Group Reads
✓ Authority by Jeff VanderMeer #2
20.1 Paul Auster and Alice Munro (Academy of Arts and Letters)
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
Playground by Richard Powers
20.2 Edna O'Brien (Bechdel Test)
✓ Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
20.3 Francine Pascal and Nelson DeMille (pub >20 books)
✓ Christmas at Thompson Hall and Other Christmas Stories by Anthony Trollope
✓ Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer
The Fifth Column and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War by Ernest Hemingway
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
20.4 C.J. Sansom and Caleb Carr (two of Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Crime, History)
Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom
✓ The Couple at Number 9 by Claire Douglas
20.5 Tom Spanbauer (LGBTQ)
Lark Ascending by Silas House Or 10.4
Homage to Barcelona by Colm Tóibín
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
20.6 Akira Toriyama (graphic novel)
20.7 Best Friends Forever (cat or dog)
The Best Cat Ever by Cleveland Amory
20.8 International Women's Year (woman author died or born in 1975, or pub in 1975, or nominated for Orange/Women's Prize)
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (nominated 2006)
20.9 That's Not How It Happened (Alternate History Lists)
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Civilizations by Laurent Binet (Sideways Award 2021)
20.10 The_____ of ______
✓ The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (mystery, historical fiction for 20.4)
✓ The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Connie (and everyone, of course): Last year I read a book that is set just after the Spanish Civil War. I remembered it as giving me more sense of that time period than I'd had before.[book:Winte..."
Thanks, Elizabeth. It's one of the books I put on my Spanish Civil War list, and I usually enjoy the books that you like.
1.My bookcases at home are full, and I hope to read more of those books. (The summer challenge helped, but then I went to some book sales!)2. Read some books for the Mystery Challenge.
3. Read some fictional books set during the Spanish Civil War and the aftermath. (I'm going to read George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia in 2025, and that sparked an interest in the subject.)
4. I have lots of single short stories, mostly classics, that have been recommended by GR friends that I would like to read. I'm also reading multiple stories by John Cheever and Franz Kafka in 2025.
5. I have been making it a yearly tradition since I read Dickens' A Christmas Carol in 2020 to include some winter holiday books in my reading. Sometimes it's just short stories, but I found some anthologies for the winter of 2024-25.
6. I will continue reading British Victorian literature, especially Dickens, and I always enjoy books set in France. This is balanced by the more contemporary books that I will continue to read in my library book groups, and Southern Lit on Goodreads.
7. Read some books written by Japanese authors--fiction and mysteries.
8. Jane Austen was born 250 years ago, and I signed up for some lectures or discussions where I'll need to read some of her novels.
9. I'm reading "War and Peace" in a Buddy Read, and am loving the book so far. The size of the book looks overwhelming, but it's very readable. I enjoy the background history about Napoleon, and am spending way too much time going down interesting rabbit holes!
20.9 haLLowEEnThe End of the Affair by Graham Greene
For 10.6, gold on page 122: "I wondered where, with those looks, those alert good-natured eyes and hair the gold of illuminations, she would end."
+20 task (aFFair grEEne)
+ 5 combo 10.6 Elementary My Dear Reader - gold
+ 5 combo 20.3 Chemistry - Ra, H, Am, Ne
+ 5 multiple
Task total: 35
Season total: 920
10.8 BAD Sydney Crime WritersA Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey
For 10.6, iron on page 64: "He would have killed her on the 'Bars of Iron' set, if no one had been looking."
+10 task (new mystery writer for me)
+ 5 combo 10.6 Elementary My Dear Reader - iron (Fe)
+ 5 combo 20.1 Back to School (She was a physical training teacher)
+ 5 combo 20.3 Chemistry O, Se, In, Te
Task total: 25
Halfway Finish for 10 point tasks: 50
Season total: 885
Anika wrote: "Connie wrote: "Regarding C - Location for the BBR, can we use the over 50% rule for location? I want to use the book The Women which has over 50% set in Vietnam, but also has some ..."Thanks, Anika.
Regarding C - Location for the BBR, can we use the over 50% rule for location? I want to use the book The Women which has over 50% set in Vietnam, but also has some parts in southern California. (Between the main story and the flashbacks later, I'm remembering about 70% is set in Vietnam. The main character is dealing with the trauma of Vietnam after she returns to California.)
15.10 ScrabbleLong Island by Colm Tóibín
Tile: I9 Author name has an I.
Tile points: 1
For the Scrabble Finisher Bonus, the words FIX, COZY, and KEG were used for 39 Scrabble points and a finisher bonus of 150.
Task total: 15
Scrabble finisher bonus: 150
Season total: 810
Ian McEwan taught English to non-native speakers.From The Morning News:
Upon his return to England, McEwan taught English to non-native speakers and proceeded to write two well-regarded story collections, First Love, Last Rites (which won the Somerset Maugham Award) and In Between the Sheets.
See first paragraph of this article:
https://themorningnews.org/article/ia...
Apple wrote: "Okay, I am sticking with my season plan of not planning, but recording that I am going to use a favorite from this season for the sub-challenge, which will be Migrations by [author:..."Apple, I read "Migrations" and loved it too. You might find some ideas for the near future in this Goodreads list:
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
PlanBBR: The Women by Kristin Hannah
A. Read a book with a character or by an author who shares the same first name as a character from your BBR.
Character: nurse Ethel Flint
The Hours Count by Jillian Cantor (which has the character Ethel Rosenberg)
B. Read a book with a character or by an author who shares the same last name as a character from your BBR. Character: neurosurgeon Captain Ted Smith
✓ Autumn by Ali Smith
C. Read a book set in the same city/country/world as your BBR. Vietnam
The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
D. Read a book set in the same time period as your BBR. Set in 1970s.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
E. Read another book by the same author who wrote your BBR.
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
Distant Shores by Kristin Hannah
F. Read a book with a top-three MPG which is also a top-three MPG of your BBR. MPG: Historical fiction, Fiction, or Audiobook.
Augustus by John Williams - Historical Fiction
G. Read another book published the same year as your BBR. Pub in 2024.
✓ The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer
H. Read a book with the same number of words in the title as your BBR. Two word title.
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato
I. Read a book originally written in a different language than the one your BBR was originally written in.
The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato
The Heptameron by Marguerite de Navarre
J. Choose a RwS member who has also read your BBR, and read a book from that member's "favorites" shelf or that the member rated 5-stars. Joanna read it, lots of great reads on her 5 star list! Check library.
Last Orders by Graham Swift
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
10.4 Significant YearAn Unsuitable Job for a Woman by P.D. James
Published in 1972, my college graduation year.
For 10.6, silver on page 55: "The rich blues, greens and reds gleamed and changed in the candlelight as she moved, and emphasized the pale silver of her hair and the almost colourless skin."
+10 task
+ 5 combo 10.6 Elementary My Dear Reader (silver)
+ 5 combo 20.8 Fall Authors (born in 1920)
Task total: 20
Season total: 645
10.7 Helicopter SeasonYou Are Here by David Nicholls
For 10.6, oxygen on page 21: "There'd be no more self-willed illness, no more cosiness, no candles sucking the oxygen from the room, no more relentless self-care. Instead she'd care for others. . . "
+10 task (here)
+ 5 combo 10.6 Elementary My Dear Reader (oxygen)
Task total: 15
Season total: 625
15.9 ScrabbleThe Only One Left by Riley Sager
Tile: G2 Gothic (on page 2 of the list)
Tile Points: 2 points
Task total: 15
Season total: 610
10.6 Elementary My Dear ReaderThe Mistletoe Mystery by Nita Prose
For 10.6, gold on page 38: "After an hour of arranging, Juan and I are down to the final ornament, a bright star that Gran and I made years ago out of dry macaroni that we glued into an elaborate pattern and sprinkled with gold glitter from the dollar store."
+10 task
+ 5 combo 20.1 Back to School - Author was a special education teacher
+5 series
Task total: 20
Season total: 595
20.3 ChemistryFinding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki
For 10.6, gold on page 372: "I feast my eyes on my last glimpses of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Titian--marble and oil and gold."
+20 task - Al, Li, S, Pa
+ 5 combo 10.6 Elementary My Dear Reader
+10 Young - Author was born in 1984, age 39 per Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allison...
Task total: 35
Season total: 575
10.9 Keep It ShortMore of This World or Maybe Another by Barb Johnson
For 10.6, silver on page 32: "Maggie brings Delia to her little silver Airstream."
+10 task (collection of short stories)
+ 5 combo 10.6 Elementary My Dear Reader - silver
+ 5 combo 10.7 Helicopter Season - This
+ 5 combo 20.1 Back to School - Author teaches fiction writing in the MFA program at the University of New Orleans
Task total: 25
Season total: 540
