Connie ’s
Comments
(group member since Nov 11, 2013)
Connie ’s
comments
from the Reading with Style group.
Showing 1,441-1,460 of 1,905
10.9 Magical RealismOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
+10 task
+10 combo (10.6 obscure awards, 10.3 pub 1967)
+10 lost in translation (from Spanish)
+ 5 oldie
Task total: 35
Grand total: 220
I'm amazed at the amount of information you have about each book, Elizabeth. All the mods are terrific!
Happy New Year and Happy Reading in 2017!
Good idea, Ed.
What a nice surprise to get a free book, Ed! I enjoy short stories for a change of pace occasionally.
10.8 For the BirdsH is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
+10 task
+10 not a novel
+15 combo (10.5--598.944 at Brooklyn Public Library, 20.3, 20.6)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 175
That's a beautiful photo, Elizabeth. The photographer caught the light at just the right moment.
Best wishes to everyone for a wonderful holiday!Karen, I hope your Dad is on the mend soon. It's good that you're able to be there for him at a time when he needs family help.
10.3 2016/17The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood
+10 task
+10 combo (10.2 double trouble, 10.8 for the birds)
Task total: 20
Grand total: 130
In 2017 I'll continue to work my way through the historic counties of the UK, and the historic regions of France. It seems like I've read a bunch of books set in London, Paris, and Provence for book groups. Now I want to read more books set in the countryside.I also try to read some of the monthly group reads for some other GR groups. One group reads Southern Lit. Another group reads works either set in 1900-1945, or published during those years. That era deals with the two world wars and the interwar period, and I often read the nonfiction choice to learn more about the history of that time.
I'm continuing to read Anthony Powell's series, "The Dance to the Music of Time". Six books down, six more to read.
I also belong to two library book groups, and enjoy their monthly selections which are usually historical or contemporary fiction.
10.5 DarwinLetters to a Young Scientist by Edward O. Wilson
+10 task (570.92 at Brooklyn Public Library)
+ 5 combo 20.3 memoir
+10 not a novel
Task total: 25
Grand total: 115
10.6 Obscure AwardsWhen Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning
+10 task (Goodreads Choice nominee)
+ 5 combo 10.2
+10 not a novel
Task total: 25
Grand total: 90
20.6 The Heart is a Lonely HunterMy Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
+20 task
+ 5 combo 10.3 (pub 2016)
Task total: 25
Grand total: 55
Deedee wrote: "Does anyone here know if The Bookshop on the Corner fits 16 Read a book where the setting is at least 51% in a book store ?
From the book description it looks like it does ....... ..."
I just read it and felt like less than 50% was set in the bookmobile. It's more about Nina changing as a person, taking chances with new experiences in her life.
10.2 Double TroubleTen White Geese by Gerbrand Bakker
+10 task
+10 combo (10.6 obscure awards, 10.8 for the birds)
+10 lost in translation (from Dutch)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 30
10.4 Hubert SelbyJourney Into Fear by Eric Ambler
Eric Ambler has chosen "an everyman" to be the protagonist of this suspenseful novel. Graham is a nice, quiet, intelligent armaments engineer from northern England who has just finished a long business trip advising the Turkish navy. He goes back to his hotel room in Istanbul and is surprised by a man who shoots several times before disappearing out the window. Fortunately, he is not seriously hurt. Graham thinks the intruder might be a thief, but Turkish intelligence tells him that the Nazis are trying to kill him. It's just at the start of World War II, and the Germans do not want Graham to bring the classified armaments information that he has memorized back to his English employer. His travel plans back to England are changed, and he sets off on an Italian freighter. A small group of international passengers is on the boat. During the voyage, we are in Graham's mind as he tries to determine who he can trust. The tension and fear increase as the voyage continues, and the true identities of the passengers are revealed. Graham's fear intensifies as he is put in a no-win situation where his survival hangs by a thread.
One of the passengers on the boat is a leftist Frenchman who thought that wars were created by international bankers and armaments manufacturers who would profit from the conflicts. Ambler was known for his leftist views, especially in his early works prior to World War II. Another passenger is a Serbian nightclub dancer who remembers the atrocities of World War I and will not associate with the Turkish passenger. A French couple will not sit at the same table as a German archeologist as a political statement. Although the book is mainly an entertaining international psychological thriller, it is interesting to read the political messages too. When the book was published in 1940, at the advent of World War II, the author did not know exactly which countries would be allies, or the outcome of the war.
Eric Ambler is known to have been an influence on authors Graham Greene and John LeCarre, as well as filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock.
+10 task
+10 oldie (pub 1940)
+10 review
Task total: 30
Grand total: 680
10.9 Next?A Christmas Beginning by Anne Perry
I was hoping for a heartwarming Christmas story when I read "A Christmas Beginning", part of Anne Perry's "Christmas Stories" series. But the book was a short cozy mystery. The only reference to Christmas was that the main character has time off from work around the holidays.
Superintendent Runcorn is spending his holiday time on the isolated island of Anglesey, located off the northwestern coast of Wales. He enjoys walking, and explores the beautiful island while he is staying at a boarding house. One morning he discovers a murdered women, the sister of a clergyman, in the graveyard. Runcorn helps the local constables with their murder investigation since he is more experienced in that type of work after many years in London.
The lonely Runcorn also gets reacquainted with Melisande, the only woman he has ever loved. She lives on Anglesey with her brother who belongs to the landed gentry class. Runcorn comes from a lower class so he has never told Melisande of his love. Runcorn is told by the supervising constable to be extremely tactful when questioning the upper class friends and family of the free spirited murder victim. Is something being hidden?
This is a cozy mystery with a touch of romance and a likable main character. It's a short, fluffy read that's not especially memorable.
+10 task (#5 of Christmas Stories series)
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 650
