Joanna’s Comments (group member since Nov 17, 2010)

Joanna’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Post 607:
Karen Michele wrote: "20.3 Chemistry

A Murder Is Announced by Agatha Christie

+20 Task: AgAtHA christie = Ag, Silver; At, Astatine, H, Hydrogen; Ac, Actinium
+ 5 Series

Task Total: 25
Sea..."

+5 Combo 20.8
+5 Multiple

Post 601:
Linda wrote: "15.10 Scrabble

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
C1: Crime writers of color
Letter points: ​ 3

+15 Task

 Scrabble Finish:
Words:
​HAZE: 16
​COY: 8
​..."

Congratulations on the Scrabble finish! The word/letter count is used to determine how many points you get for finishing, but isn't actually added to the season total.

So, with this finish, your season total as of Post 601 is 300 -- 15 points for each of the 10 scrabble tasks + 150 points for finishing with a word count adding up to more than 31 points.

20.4 Home Economics

A Thousand Recipes for Revenge by Beth Cato

+20 Task
+25 Combo -
-->10.6 - "He wore his country's color in a grand coat embroidered in gold."; ; ; (p. 34),
-->10.7 - Recipes
-->20.3 - Be/Th Ca/O
-->20.5 - magic and living gods
-->20.8 - b. 1980
+10 Young (b. 1980)

Task total: 55
Grand total: 585

15.7 Scrabble

Kalooki Nights by Howard Jacobson

A3 - award winner - Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize (2007)

Task total: 15
Grand total: 530

10.2 Gothic Fiction

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

+10 Task
+25 Combo -
-->10.1 (126pp)
-->10.6 - "Mother, I have gold bath taps."
-->10.9 (Short stories)
-->20.3 (Ge/La Ca/Te)
-->20.8 (b. 1940)

Task total: 35
Grand total: 515

Deedee wrote: I also haven't read any of Lee Child's books."

You all are making me feel much better about not having read anything by this author before now! I generally do try to read at least one book by a popular author who has published a bunch of popular books, but somehow Lee Child hadn't risen to the top before now.

Other authors in this general category for me have been Colleen Hoover, Jane Smiley, Danielle Steel, Georges Simenon, Jodi Picoult, Kelley Armstrong, Paul Auster, John Grisham, Dan Brown, and I'm sure others...

A few of these, I've gone on to read a few more books after reading the first. Others, just one was enough to give me the flavor.

Glad to know I'm not the only one! For what it's worth, I thought Killing Floor was an exceptional book for a debut novel, though more violent than I had realized I was getting myself into. I'd definitely read another Jack Reacher book in the future.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Can I assume these can be read in any order?"

Yes: Using the answers to these questions, you will complete the following tasks, which may be completed in any order...

10.8 BAD Sydney

Killing Floor by Lee Child

+10 Task (***I might be one of the only people in the universe who hasn't read a book by this prolific author, but this is my first one***)
+15 Combo (10.5 - pub. 1997, 10.6 - "He peered out through his gold rims.", 20.9 - kiLLing flOOr)
+5 Series

Task total: 30
Grand total: 480

Polls are posted. Go vote for the tasks you want to see for Winter!

Check out the new Subchallenge -- Broken Book Report.

Here's a sample plan:

BBR: Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Task A:
Character - Jake Baldwin --> The Waste Lands by Stephen King --> Jake Chambers

Task B:
Character - Mathilda Morrison --> Crow Lake by Mary Lawson --> about the Morrison family

Task C:
Setting: Chicago --> Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris

Task D:
Time period: contemporary 2020s/near future --> Recursion by Blake Crouch

Task E:
Same author: Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi

Task F:
Same MPG: Fiction --> Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Task G:
Same publication year: 2023 --> Neon Roses by Rachel Dawson

Task H:
Same number of words in title: 2 --> Early Riser by Jasper Fforde

Task I:
Different original language: pub. not in English --> The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon by Sei Shōnagon

Task J:
RWS favorites/5-star: read by Landice, who gave five stars to: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

A few initial clarifications:

Tasks A & B:
Can the spelling be different? (E.g., Sara and Sarah)
--> No. Spelling must be the same.

How important does a character have to be to qualify?
--> Any named character who actually appears in the book will qualify. Characters that are just references (e.g., the President of the United States) but don't appear do not qualify.

Task C:
If the BBR specifies a city, can I still use the country as the setting? (e.g., if the BBR is in New York City, can I still use USA?)
--> No. You must use the more specific setting if your BBR book specifies a city, use the city. If it specifies a state/region, use that.

Task D:
How is time period defined?
--> Use your judgment on this. If your book is set in the "Victorian Era" any other book from the same general era will work. If your book is set contemporaneous to the publication date, other books in the same general era will work. If the book has modern technology like computers or cell phones, your Task D book should have similar technology available.

Can I use this to read a bunch of books from the same series?
--> Yes, go for it. Tasks A, B, C, D, E, and F will definitely allow that.

Broken Book Report

This Winter, you will write a Broken Book Report.

For this book report, first, pick a favorite book--either an all-time favorite or a favorite from last season--to use for your Broken Book Report.

For your book report, you'll need to answer the following list of questions about your chosen book (abbreviated as BBR):

What are the names of the characters?
Where was it set (city/country/or imagined world if it's fantasy)?
When was it set (time period)?
Who wrote it?
What are its top three MPGs (most popular genres)?
What year was it published?
How many words are in the title?
In what language was it originally published?
What other RwS members have read it?

Using the answers to these questions, you will complete the following tasks, which may be completed in any order:

A. Read a book with a character or by an author who shares the same first name as a character from your BBR.

B. Read a book with a character or by an author who shares the same last name as a character from your BBR.

C. Read a book set in the same city/country/world as your BBR.

D. Read a book set in the same time period as your BBR.

E. Read another book by the same author who wrote your BBR.

F. Read a book with a top-three MPG which is also a top-three MPG of your BBR.

G. Read another book published the same year as your BBR.

H. Read a book with the same number of words in the title as your BBR.

I. Read a book originally written in a different language than the one your BBR was originally written in.

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.

Scoring:
Tasks 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, and 15.4 - 15 points each
Tasks 15.5, 15.6, and 15.7 - 20 points each
Tasks 15.8 and 15.9 - 25 points each
Task 15.10 - 30 points

Finisher Bonus:
100 points for completing all 10 tasks.

Repetition:
BBR can be completed three times, but you must use a different book for your BBR each time.

Post 538:
Joanne wrote: "20.3 Chemistry

The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre


Be - Beryllium
Ac - Actinium
Ci - Chlorine
In- Indium

+20 Ta..."

+5 Multiple

Post 545:
Jayme(theghostreader) wrote: "10.6 Elementary My Dear Watson
Moon Calledby Patricia Briggs
"He couldn't hold cold iron" p 18
Task +10
Combo +5 chemistry
Multiple +5 BRIggS
Series +10- #1 in the ser..."

I have this scored as:
+10 Task
+10 Combo - 20.3, 20.9
+5 Series
+5 Multiple

Task total: 30

So the total is the same, but the details are diffferent...

Post 465:
Joanne wrote: "10.4 Significant year

The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan

Published 2014-The year that I joined Goodreads. This site has had a significant effect on my readin..."

+5 Multiple

Post 114:
Valerie wrote: "10.2 Gothic Fiction

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

10 task
15 combos - 10.1, 10.6 *(ch 3 'The gold was still in the sky…'); 20.3 (He, N, Am, Es)
_______
25

Runnin..."

+5 Combo - 20.5 -- we gave this one to Nick later, so you get the points too.

Post 524:
Jayme(theghostreader) wrote: "10.6 Elementary My Dear Watson
Trick or Treat Murderby Leslie Meier
"the tree covered hills wore their fall colors of red and gold" p 6
Task +10
Series+10 #3 in series..."

Jayme, I don't see a previous post where you used a different book from this series this season, so this one is +5 series points, not +10. If you use a different book from the same series for a different task, you can get +10 on that one.

Post 519:
Katy wrote: "10.10 Group Reads

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

+10 task
+5 combo (10.6 - 118: "Greg held up one of his gold medals.")

Task Total: 15
Season Total: 75"

+5 Combo - 20.3

Post 499:
Nick wrote: "10.2 Gothic Fiction

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. p. 1 of list

Task Points: 10
Combo: + 5 -- 20.5 Speech and Debate. Let's say the ghosts are a real supernatural..."

+10 Combo - 10.6, 20.3