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

Connie ’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Up until yesterday, I thought I was doing pretty well keeping my list within reason. But with the addition of the last 4 tasks, I know I simply can't get to everything I want to read this season. S..."

I feel like the glass is overflowing. The fall is a busy time for me so I know I won't get to everything on my list too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony...

Anthony Powell wrote reviews for several newspapers. See the 5th paragraph of the "Writing" section of Wikipedia.

Thank you to all the moderators for all the time and effort they put into the summer season. The fall tasks look terrific too!

William Kent Krueger

The GR page said that he worked as a freelance journalist.

Here's some that I'm considering:

From Walt Whitman: Frances Mayes, Anton Chek(h)ov

From Edith Wharton: Willa Cather

From Kurt Vonnegut: F. Scott Fitzgerald

From Mikhail Bulgakov: Michael Ondaatje

From Ha Jin: Jess Walter, Tim O'Brien

I would like to read Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton.

10.7 First Letter

In Another Life by Julie Christine Johnson

Julie Christine Johnson's lovely writing transported me to beautiful Languedoc in southwestern France. Lia, a young widow, is finishing her research for her dissertation on the Cathar Crusade, a violent conflict between the Catholic Church and the Cathar religion in the 13th Century. One of the Cathar beliefs is that the soul could be trapped in a cycle of rebirth or reincarnation until it had achieved redemption and peace. The book makes use of this belief in some paranormal incidents when several characters from the 13th Century slip across time into the present. The assassination of archdeacon Pierre de Castelnan in 1208 was the spark that ignited the fighting in Languedoc. As Lia gets close to the truth of what happened 800 years ago, she finds links to her personal life today. This is a story of love, loss, and healing as well as guilt, forgiveness, and redemption.

The book has a marvelous sense of place, set in an area filled with vineyards, farms, old stone churches, and ruins from medieval times. The descriptions of food and wine are intoxicating. The characters from the 13th Century are intriguing--flawed people that also possess an element of goodness. Although everything is not tied up with a big bow at the end, the characters seemed to be on a healing path. I loved the combination of historical fiction, suspense, fantasy, and passion.

+10 task
+10 review

Task total: 20
Grand total: 1020

20.6 War

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

Xavier Bird struggles on crutches as he descends from the train in northern Canada in 1919. He is in terrible pain and addicted to morphine since a war injury resulted in the amputation of his leg. The relentless horror in the trenches of the Western Front have also taken their toll emotionally. His aunt Niska, an Oji-Cree medicine woman, takes Kavier home in a three day journey in her canoe.

The Canadian government had a forced residential education program, attempting to eradicate the First Nation's culture, but Niska had escaped into the bush as a teenager. She later rescued her nephew Xavier, and his friend Elijah from the harsh environment of the school. They were taught the skills of tracking and hunting game, and both became skilled marksmen. The two young men volunteered for service in the Canadian Army, mostly because Elijah had a taste for adventure. Their skill with rifles is soon recognized, and they become an expert sniper and scout team. The taking of lives has a different cumulative effect on each of the two friends. While one becomes repelled by the bloodshed, the other turns into an obsessive killer.

The First Nation has a long tradition of storytelling. As Niska paddles her canoe, she tells Xavier stories from her youth to distract him from his pain. In flashbacks, Xavier relives the years on the Western Front in morphine-induced memories. Xavier's supply of morphine is running low. Will Niska be able to heal her troubled, broken nephew?

The Canadian Second Division fought bravely in Flanders, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, and the Somme. Joseph Boyden has melded history, First Nation culture, and good storytelling to create an absorbing tale. The author's family background is part Ojibwa, and includes military men. Boyden's World War I story pulled me down into the trenches, and into the sniper's nest. I'm looking forward to the next two books in the trilogy.

+20 task (#23 on WWI list)
+10 review

Task total: 30
Total: 900
+100 for RwS Finish
Grand total: 1000

(I think I'm a few points different than your calculations, but we'll go with whatever your total is.)

10.9 It's Personal

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Real life is such a disappointment for Emma Bovary. The beautiful young French woman loves to read novels filled with sophisticated men, romance, and riches. But she is married to Charles Bovary, a goodhearted but incompetent country doctor. Although Charles adores her, Emma finds him boring and longs for a passionate, cosmopolitan lover. She has no interest in mothering, and leaves her daughter's care to the servants. She creates a web of lies to cover up the debts she runs up with her extravagant spending.

As a middle-class woman in the 1840s, Madame Bovary does not have the career opportunities that would be open to a man. So there is no way for Emma to obtain the funds she needs for an idealized life. Emma is always looking for more--lovers, excitement, material goods--but nothing will ever live up to her dreams. The self-absorbed woman feels trapped with no way to escape her provincial life.

Author Gustave Flaubert slowly and skillfully builds the story to its inevitable conclusion. The life of Emma Bovary culminates in a perfect storm of despair and tragedy. Flaubert has created an unforgettable character--Madame Bovary.

+10 task
+10 canon
+ 5 combo 10.7 first letter
+10 LiT
+10 review

Task total: 45
Grand total: 870

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Connie, Bill Clegg and Alice Hoffman will not work for this task based on the information in their GR profiles. Having their work published in newspapers and magazines is not the same as reporting ..."

OK, thanks, Elizabeth.

Alice Hoffman

Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, Redbook, Architectural Digest, Gourmet, Self, and other magazines.

Bill Clegg, author of Did You Ever Have a Family

Jackie Copleton, author of A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding

http://www.jackiecopleton.com/about-me/

Jeffrey Toobin , author ofThe Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey...

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Better link please?"

Sorry, Elizabeth. I edited the post.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Connie wrote: "I could read for a month just using this task alone! Love it!

Charles King, author of Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern Istanbul

http..."

I didn't know there were two of them, but the "wrong one" looks like a real military man!

Anthony Powell served in WWII

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony...

I could read for a month just using this task alone! Love it!

Charles King, author of Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern Istanbul

http://www.charles-king.net/about-cha...

Rick Bragg is also a journalist according to his GR profile.

Wonderful banner, Amanda.