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

Joanna’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

I have a bunch of books to post. I've been bad about noting them as I read them this month...

15.3 TtUS - Land Cruiser
New York

By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham

Task total: 15
Grand total: 435

Here are my most read authors:

1 Jim Butcher
2 Haruki Murakami
3 Margaret Atwood
4 Paul Auster
5 Jane Austen
5 Chuck Palahniuk
5 J.K. Rowling
5 Jasper Fforde
5 Anne Tyler - last minute addition!

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "To answer a question from the List thread, when you have ties for your 3rd or 4th places, you can include all of those authors, but not any after that position. We're looking at number of authors f..."

So if I have ties for fifth place, do I just pick one of those? Or do I only list the top 4?

10.9 Six Degrees

Armada by Ernest Cline

Review:
Wil Wheaton is an excellent narrator. I liked him when he read Lock In and I liked him here. This book was fun for what it is. Unfortunately, it's inevitably compared to Ready Player One, which is all around a much better book. I'd recommend RPO to almost anyone, even folks who don't think they'll like the book.

This book is more specialized. Folks who aren't interested in first contact alien stories and/or alien fighting video games won't enjoy this story. The book is plot-driven, to the exclusion of full character development or relationships between characters. The humor here is in the slight twisting of these tropes and sly references to video games and alien stories.

Entertaining, but only recommended for regular sci-fi readers.

+10 Task (post 224)
+10 Review

Task total: 20
Grand total: 420

A plan for female authors:

1. The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters (born UK)
2. Visitors: A Novel by Anita Brookner (born UK, pub. 1997)
3. Rapture in Death by J.D. Robb (pub. 1996; death in title)
4. The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal by Laurie Notaro (death in title; first name - Laurie)
5. Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object by Laurie Colwin (first name Laurie; born US)
6. The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld (US author; pub. 2014)
7. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach (pub. 2010; first name Mary)
8. City of Flowers by Mary Hoffman (first name Mary; born 1945)
9. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (born 1945)
10. Testimony by Anita Shreve (born 1946)

20.2 Innocence

The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers by Harry Bernstein

Review:

I had never heard of this book or this author before my bookclub selected this book for this month. I very much enjoyed the memoir of growing up in a working class Manchester neighborhood where Jews lived on one side of the street and Christians on the other. The author wrote this book approximately 80 years after he lived it, so I'm sure some of the memories are colored by age and later life: his father may have become more distant and villainous, his favorite sister more virtuous, his troublesome sister more extreme. Still, the book is gripping and compelling. I'm sure I would have enjoyed talking with the author about his life.

+20 Task (pub. 2006; died 2011)
+10 Review
+10 not a novel (nonfiction/memoir)

Task total: 40
Grand total: 400

20.1 Celebration

Pontoon: A Novel of Lake Wobegon by Garrison Keillor

Review:
Listening to the author read this book was definitely the right way to experience these tales from Lake Woebegon. The novel is essentially an expanded version of the radio bit. If you like the tales in Prairie Home Companion, you'll probably enjoy them here. If you don't, the book likely won't appeal either. The descriptions are wonderfully zany, yet sort of everyman in character. Keillor is a master of one-liners and hilarious descriptions of the sort of stolid midwesterners who occupy his small town: "Our people settled out on the prairie because they like straight lines and neat corners." Recommended to entertain in a long car ride through boring midwestern flatland especially.

+20 Task (published 2007)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.9 - post 221)

Task total: 35
Grand total: 360

20.6 Ratings

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Review:
This book made me cry, but nonetheless disappointed me. The idea is a great premise--a girl in a coma after a motor vehicle accident that killed the rest of her family and her consciousness/soul is thinking over whether to go on living. But the all-in-the-head consciousness never quite reached true emotion for me. There was very little risk taking or vulnerability with the character. Her friendships and her romance were all a bit too neat and tidily perfect. Her dead parents were just the coolest folks around. She was herself a likely Julliard bound cellist. Maybe teens wouldn't mind this, but I don't think it crosses over to an adult audience.

+20 Task (401,524)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.9)

Task total: 35
Grand total: 325

10.2 Agatha Christie

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Review:
I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never read this classic before. I was intimidated by the dialect and could never quite get into it. How did anyone give me a degree in women's studies without first insisting that I read this?

I actually listened to the audiobook, which is fabulous for getting the sound of the dialogue and speech patterns. I normally listen to audiobooks at a speeded up rate, but this one I didn't speed because the dialogue was fast and entertaining without any need for increased speed.

It's frankly unbelievable that this book was published in the 1930s. It resonates today as if written by a modern author.

+10 Task
+10 Combo (10.9, 20.9)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (1937)

Task total: 40
Grand total: 290

15.2 - TtUS - Land Cruiser
Massachusetts

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Review:
A wonderful history of Martha's Vineyard native who makes his way to Harvard and back. I wanted to read this over the summer when I was heading to Martha's Vineyard, but didn't quite get to it then. I loved the lead female character here--Bethia should perhaps have merited title character status as the book was as much her story as Caleb's. Brooks is an impressive writer and handles passages in the style of the time as deftly as she does inner monologue of people of the time. I don't love all of her work, but always admire the writing. Highly recommended to readers of any type of historical fiction.

+15 Task

Task total: 15
Grand total: 250

15.1 - TtUS - Land Cruiser
New Hampshire

Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult

Review:
Maybe this book was unfairly tainted by the way that I got it. A coworker heard me say that I had read something else by this author and brought the book in for me to read. I kind of hate when this happens because then I feel like I have to read the book even if I don't really want to. In any event, I liked learning about Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), but otherwise found the book to be a complete soap opera. I didn't really connect with the characters and find the Picoult format pretty pushy--Look! An ethical dilemma! Affecting all these people! OMG OMG OMG!!!

The ending in particular was annoying and unnecessary, but really it just topped off an overly dramatic and after-school-special type story. And the way the jurors were picked is either entirely fabricated or New Hampshire has super-wacky voir dire procedures.

+15 Task

Task total: 15
Grand total: 235

20.10 Interconnected

Side Jobs: Stories From the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

Review:
James Marsters is a masterful reader for these stories (and for the whole series). I love listening to him. He struggled more with these stories because two of them are first person narrations by Thomas (Harry's half-brother) and Murphy (Harry's police officer lady friend). Still, the collection added some nice depth to the Dresden universe. The story told by Thomas in particular allowed Butcher to give more background on vampire society and projects than he can with the first-person Dresden books. Also, the short story format allows Harry to be his jokey sarcastic self without having to carry a whole book. I think Butcher had fun with some of these stories and I enjoyed the prefaces that explained why the story was written and where it first appeared. Perfect reading to get in the mood for Halloween. I'm looking forward to continuing this series.

+20 Task
+10 Not a novel (stories)
+5 Combo (10.9 - post 214)
+10 Review

Task total: 45
Grand total: 220

10.8 The Horrors

Under the Dome by Stephen King

Review:

This book had its moments, but it was infuriatingly less good than I kept wanting it to be. King is a wonderful writer, most of the time. He can really get inside of the heads of his characters and delineate the contours of disturbing and evil behaviors. But the villains here were so decidedly bad and the good guys so ultimately good that there wasn't real tension. The idea of the dome was intriguing, but the concept felt sort of haphazard when actually explained. The use of convenient aliens too easy. Something like that.

In any event, I was glad to be reading this on my kindle app on my phone and not lugging around the 1000+ page hardcover. The book was good for reading late at night when I didn't have high levels of concentration. While there were dozens of characters, I didn't have trouble keeping them straight.

+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.9)
+25 Jumbo (1000+ pages)

Task total: 50
Grand total: 175

Charles de Lint appears as himself in Mythic Hero.

Jeff MacGregor is in Mythic Hero and also in Spaceballs.

John Candy was in Spaceballs and also in JFK.

Kevin Bacon was in JFK.

I'd also like to point out that Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint is currently at #120. I'm considering this one for this or perhaps for 20.10.

Thanks.

10.1 New Author

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer

My bookclub chose this book largely on the strength of the reviews. No one had read the book before we selected it. I'm generally the bookclub curmudgeon, but I enjoyed this choice. The book isn't one that I'll be rushing to recommend to everyone I know, but I was pleased to have read it and felt entertained during the week I spent with the story. I particularly fell for Leo, the trust fund son who was having trouble putting his life together. There is a definite hip feel to the dialogue and the characters -- these are people that you'd feel cooler for having as facebook friends. I hear the book is being developed as an HBO comedy and that seems wonderful. I'd watch it.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task total: 20
Grand total: 125

20.9 Three Names

Maidenhead by Tamara Faith Berger

This is an extremely hard book to rate or review. The entire reading experience is disconcerting and uncomfortable. The relationships described are disturbing. The main character isn't exactly likeable, yet her feelings resonated. I remember the raging hormones of being sixteen. I remember feeling at that time like I was a real adult and could make my own choices and should be given the freedom to do so. Looking back from the perspective of twenty more years of experience, I see how much I was still a child. But that's not how I felt at the time; the time when I was first awakened to being a sexual person; the time when I was first experimenting with power dynamics in relationships. Unlike Myra, I was more enthralled with my own power over men than with their power over me. But the gritty confusion compelled me through this story. Not for the feint of heart or the easily offended. Not for those with rape triggers or concern about teen sexuality. Probably not for those who are parents of teens.

+20 Task
+5 Combo - 10.9 (Post 213)
+10 Review

Task total: 35
Grand total: 105

10.10 Group Reads

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

I loved this quiet book. The narrator did an excellent job telling this story of two older people meeting and sharing their reflections on their lives. I was reminded of the romance my grandfather had in his later years. After his wife of 36 years died, he had another relationship with a woman whose husband had also died. Like the characters in this story, the two of them had known each other from living in a small town, but became companions during her last years, until the woman also died. As happened in the story here, the woman's children were suspicious of the relationship. So much about this book rang true and it gave me a wonderful chance to reflect on the remarkable life of my grandfather as well as the lives of the characters so fully realized here. Lovely book and highly recommended.

+10 Task
+5 Combo - 10.9 (Post 39)
+10 Review

Task total: 25
Grand total: 70

10.7 Librivox

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

I'm sure I read these books when I was about 10 or 11, but my memory of them had almost completely faded. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook version of this one and revisiting Anne's wonderful mix of precociousness and innocence. There are several recordings of this available; the one I read was narrated by Colleen Winton. I'm not familiar with anything else that Ms. Winton narrated, but she did an excellent job here with Anne's monologues. Somehow, I had completely forgotten that these books were set in Canada. I was interested to see which of the scenes I recalled and which I had forgotten. Overall, a really fun read and I'm glad to have revisited it.

+10 Task
+15 Combo - 10.9 (post 215); 20.4 (Canada list); 20.6 (462,085 ratings)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (published 1908)

Task total: 45
Grand total: 45

1. Ernest Cline wrote Armada.

2. Ernest Cline also wrote Fanboys (movie).

3. Sam Huntington appeared in Fanboys.

4. Sam Huntington also appeared in Raising Genius with Justin Long.

5. Justin Long appeared in Beyond All Boundaries with Kevin Bacon.