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

Joanna’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Sardonicus and Other Stories by Ray Russell

Also: The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural (contains Sardonicus)

became

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Sar...

The Ballroom of Romance and Other Stories by William Trevor

became

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

Back to God's Country and Other Stories by James Oliver Curwood

became

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

"Secretary" by Mary Gaitskill (originally found in Bad Behavior) was made into a 2002 movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secreta...

10.3 Opposites

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Review:
This book was selected by one of my online book clubs and it seemed like a good time to reread this since the first time I read it was in high school, which was, ahem, quite a while ago. About all I remembered about the book was the sense of desperation that the main character felt. I had completely forgotten how everyone around her seemed to behave in completely annoying and inexplicable ways. Of course, the book is told from Esther's perspective, so we're probably not getting a reliable objective picture of the other players. Still, it felt like there was absolutely no sympathy or understanding from any of the relevant family or friends.

The ending is particularly bittersweet knowing, as any reader today does, of the author's suicide.

Recommended.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task total: 20

+100 RWS Finish

Grand total: 990

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I think for the first time since we've had group goals we might not make any of them this season. :-("

Wow...not even that close. Are there fewer participants than usual this season?

ETA: Yes, there are. 33 on the readerboard this summer, compared to 42 last summer and 46 in 2012 when we last had LiT points. At least, that's the info that was in the polls when we picked the goals.

20.9 Politics

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg

This book could have been so much better. The book tells the history of class descriptions, particularly descriptions of poor whites by better off whites. Clearly, a great deal of research was involved and historical documents and quotes are presented. But the book somehow lacked heart. There were no personal stories, no voice given to the poor themselves, and very little analysis of what this all means today.

Also, while the title promises an "untold history," the information in this book didn't feel especially surprising or unrevealed to me. I don't think this is an area about which I'm particularly well-informed, but it surprised me not at all to hear that poor whites were a matter of discussion and derision throughout the nation's founding and history. Maybe I just absorbed this information by growing up in Texas. In any event, I expected something more fascinating or surprising here. Of course class suppression is one of the goals of systematic racism -- allow the lower class whites to elevate themselves above minorities and they will align along race lines rather than engage in populist rebellion. Is this really a new theory? Or one that hasn't been explored? Perhaps, but it wasn't all that interesting to read in this format.

My enjoyment of the book was also hindered by the narrator. While not terrible, the narrator seemed at a loss for how to convey the start and end of quotes in the document that made the reading choppy. Perhaps this is the author's fault, but I think at least some of the blame falls on the narrator. She also just didn't seem enthusiastic about the book at all. I know this is an academic text, but it should have been read in a more upbeat way.

This book was selected by one of my book clubs, so I'm looking forward to the discussion with the group (if we ever find a date to meet).

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task total: 30
Grand total: 870

A-M, female, no duplicates

The Color Master: Stories by Aimee Bender
Petty Magic: Being the Memoirs and Confessions of Miss Evelyn Harbinger, Temptress and Troublemaker by Camille DeAngelis
Something Blue by Emily Giffin
The Ritual Bath by Faye Kellerman
The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh

A,B,C,D,E,F,G,K,L,M

N-Z, male, no duplicates
Mimosa by Zhang Xianliang
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - But Some Don't by Nate Silver
A Happy Marriage by Rafael Yglesias
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff

N,O,P,R,S,T,W,X,Y,Z

15.5 FYTS: Time Traveler
2016-1966

Bound Feet & Western Dress by Pang-Mei Natasha Chang
Pub. 1996

+25 Task
+5 Nonfiction

Task total: 30
Grand total: 840

10.1 Square Peg

The Opposite of Everyone by Joshilyn Jackson

Joshilyn Jackson has become an author whose books I read as soon as I can get my hands on them. I think this is about the sixth book of hers that I've read and enjoyed. They are all well-plotted, the characters are interesting, and they read quickly while nailing some deeper emotions and subjects than the lightness of the tone suggests. While there are similarities, this isn't formulaic stuff. Each story is unique and stands alone. Here, a loner divorce lawyer is forced to reconsider her lone wolf status as family and love come poking into her carefully organized life. A friend of mine described the writing here as "effortless" and that about captures it. She is able to write scenes ranging from a foster home to a client meeting in ways that get right to the heart of the interaction. Very enjoyable book and I also enjoyed hearing the author narrate it herself for the audio version.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task total: 20

Bingo total: 30

Grand total: 810

Rosemary wrote: "Yes it was fun! I changed some of my books around, but it didn't throw me off for RwS. In fact it made me read some of the 'difficult' ones that I'd put on my plan, but might not have got around to..."

Me too. I read a couple of books that weren't in my plan that I ended up really enjoying and I liked working with a team. It was fun to think through possibilities together.

Posted from phone, so not well formatted.

Another for Team 5:

Diagonal from B1 to O5.

Only new square is G4 (canon):

Rosemary posts 523 and 575.
Joanna post 583, Tanglewood Tales: A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys

20.7 US

Tanglewood Tales: A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Review:

I listened to many of these with my children as well as some by myself. They work beautifully as an audio since they were written as if being told to children. It really amazes me how many of our familiar stories have roots in Greek myths and tales. One of the stories is about pygmies who have a giant who lives with them and it remains me so much of Gulliver's travels.

I picked this completely randomly because it was available from my library and my team needed a canon book. I'm so glad I came across it. I'm sure my kids and I will listen to this again a few more times.

+20 task
+10 review
+10 canon
+5 combo (20.2)

Task total: 45
Grand total: 755

I can probably squeeze in one short audio this weekend.

Do we need one more canon book for the diagonal?

20.4 Go for the Gold

Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

Review:

Tim Winton is a heck of a writer. He brings characters and places alive and makes them feel like real people -- sort of like distant relatives that you've heard stories about. The whole book had the feel of sitting down with a great-uncle and having him tell you about the Australian branch of his family tree (not that my family actually has an Australian branch, but still). I've seen this called a "family saga" and that seems about right -- this is more a chunk of life book than a plot-driven story. Mind you, the characters do things, but there's no central story other than the interactions and lives of these characters.

I think I should have read this book in print. While Peter Hosking has a pleasant reading voice, I kept getting the characters mixed up in my head and had to keep reviewing which ones were part of the Lamb family and which part of the Pickles.

The only other book by Winton I've read is Breath, which I liked a bit better that this. Still, I'll definitely read more of his novels.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+20 Combo (10.2, 10.5, 10.7, 20.3 - Miles Franklin 1992)

Task total: 50
Grand total: 710

I'm finished with Cloudstreet. I'll post it now.

10.8 Come to the fair

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

Review:
I was enjoying this book for the setting and the discussions of alligators and even for the side story of Kiwi moving to the mainland and trying to find work and send money home. The swamp descriptions really created a sense of place and the Swamplandia amusement park was great. But the way the book went off the rails toward the end really didn't fit with the rest of the story. There was a lot of potential here, but it never quite filled out. The readers for the audiobook did a fine job with the story, particularly the male reader. I'd definitely read more by this author; I have a feeling she'll improve over time.

+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.3 - 2012 NYPL Young Lions)

Task total: 25
Grand total: 655

Rosemary wrote: "No stress, Sam! We have already done great and anything more we can claim by Sunday is a bonus. There are no extra points for claiming earlier rather than later now :)

I've finished Crime and Pun..."

Oh, yes, go for it! I just finished Swamplandia, so can put it in either spot.

20.4 Go for the Gold

Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather by Gao Xingjian

Review:
I really liked three of the five stories in this collection: the title story is excellent, as are "The Temple" and "Cramp." The books ends with what I found to be the worst story, "In an Instant." The author tells us that he isn't trying to write plot, he's trying to use language and evoke feeling. When the stories are effective, they provide almost poem-like windows into a moment or a place. But "In an Instant" is so very experimental that this reader just lost interest in keeping up. Not only is the story dream-like in sequence, but it's also confusing and not specific to a character or feeling. Still, I'm glad to have read this book, my first by this Nobel prize winning author. If his novels are more like the stories I liked, I'd be interested in reading one of his novels, but if they're more like the experimental story I really didn't like, I would definitely not make it through a whole book.

+20 Task (China)
+10 Review
+10 LiT

Task total: 30
Grand total: 630