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

Joanna’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Can someone who has read Prodigal Summer tell me if 50% is in Virginia or is it mostly in Kentucky? Looking around on the web gives mixed answers, but it looks like maybe Virginia?

Thoughts?

15.10 10-20 Time Traveler

The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

pub. 2006, b. 1969

+15 Task
+10 Bonus
+100 Completion Bonus

Total: 125
Grand total: 340

15.9 - Time Traveler

First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde

b. 1961, pub. 2007

+15 Task
+10 Bonus

Task total: 25
Grand total: 215

15.8 Time Traveler

Helping Me Help Myself: One Skeptic, Ten Self-Help Gurus, and a Year on the Brink of the Comfort Zone by Beth Lisick

b. 1969, pub. 2008

+15 Task
+10 Bonus

Task total: 25
Grand total: 190

15.7 Time Traveller

Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk

b. 1962, pub. 2009

+15 Task
+10 Bonus

Task total: 25
Grand total: 165

Tanya wrote: "I just edited my plan--was not feeling Pygmy at this time. Let me know if adjustment is fine before I start again."

I just finished Pygmy and it was a slog. Don't bother with it. I wish I'd just quit, but it fit so nicely in my plan that I kept on with it.

15.6 - Time Traveler

Changes by Jim Butcher
b. 1971, pub. 2010

+15 Task
+10 Bonus

Task total: 25
Grand total: 140

15.5 - Time Traveler

Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory
b. 1971, pub. 2011

+15 Task
+10 Bonus

Task total: 25
Grand total: 115

yes, I'm an idiot. Sorry to confuse! 1975 was the birthdate of the previous author on my list.

15.3 - 10-20 - Time Traveler

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
b. 1975 1969; pub. 2012

+15 Task
+10 Bonus

Task total: 25
Grand total: 90

From Me Before You:

The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble

Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories by Flannery O'Connor

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

15.3 - 10.20 - Time Traveler

Data, A Love Story: How I Gamed Online Dating to Meet My Match by Amy Webb

+15 Task
+10 Bonus

Task total: 25
Grand total: 65

15.2 - 10.20 - Time Traveler

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

+15 Task
+10 Bonus

Task total: 25
Grand total: 40

15.1 - 10.20 - Time Traveler

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi

+15 Task

Task total: 15
Grand total: 15

My bookclub has picked The Vacationers by Emma Straub for August. I don't think it fits any task, so I think I have my square peg, but I haven't found a birthdate for the author to confirm that she's over 30. Anyone see her birthday or any other hitch for this as a square peg?

I mentioned this in 10.7, but I'm considering sticking TransAtlantic here. I started reading it before knowing if it would fit anywhere, so I'm glad to have two possible spots for it.

TransAtlantic is my choice here, I think, though I might use it in 20.9 instead.

Second plan, for birth years 1941-1960:

Our Souls at Night: A novel by Kent Haruf (pub. 2015, b. 1943)

We Are Water by Wally Lamb (pub. 2013, b. 1950)

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (pub. 2012, b. 1955)

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks (pub. 2011, b. 1955)

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach (pub. 2010, b. 1959)

Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler (pub. 2009, b. 1941)

Pontoon: A Novel of Lake Wobegon by Garrison Keillor (pub. 2007, b. 1942)

Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout (pub. 1998, b. 1956)

Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore (pub. 1997, b. 1957)

Strip Jack by Ian Rankin (pub. 1992, b. 1960)

Ack, edited when I meant to just copy for this new post. I've added Cloud Atlas, deleting a 1960 birthdate, which I'm going to throw into my second round picks instead.

Revised plan, with slightly revised birth years:

Plan for birth years 1961-1980

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi (pub. 2015, b. 1972)

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (pub. 2014, b. 1979)

Data, A Love Story: How I Gamed Online Dating to Meet My Match by Amy Webb (pub. 2013, b. 1975)

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (pub. 2012, b. 1969)

Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory (pub. 2011, b. 1971)

Changes by Jim Butcher (pub. 2010, b. 1971)

Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk (pub. 2009, b. 1962)

Helping Me Help Myself: One Skeptic, Ten Self-Help Gurus, and a Year on the Brink of the Comfort Zone by Beth Lisick (pub. 2008, b. 1969)

First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde (pub. 2007, b. 1961)

The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi (pub. 2006, b. 1969)

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (pub. 2004, b. 1969)

OR

The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud (pub. 2004, b. 1970)

If you start the book over, I don't think it counts as the "one per challenge" book that was started before the official beginning of the season.

Also, in TBR Roulette, you asked:
Just out of curiosity, those of you who normally have quite long TBR-lists, how do you use them?

My "to-read" shelf is books that I already own, but have not read. That list has a whopping 697 books on it. Egads! Many of those are books that other family members of mine have bought or given to us, but also a lot are mine. I buy faster than I read...106 are unread ebooks, 94 are unread audiobooks...the rest are paper books.

My "wishlist" shelf is books that sound interesting, but that I haven't purchased. That's another 488 books and it grows frequently as I hear about books that other people are reading.