Apple’s Comments (group member since Aug 28, 2021)

Apple’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

I am currently reading my Guernsey and Timor-Leste for 30.1. I think I have 5 books marked for that task, so that is probably the most. I am a bit iffy on one, I don’t know until I read it if it will work, but it will work for international travel if it doesn’t.

So I have Guernsey, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Namibia (maybe), and also Fiji.

It is one of my daughter's favourites (but having said that, she hasn't read a book in about 3 years, unless she HAS to)!

I have a book pencilled for every task, but for 3 so far I have used a different book due to what I have read for another group.

I am also keeping an eye on what others are posting, in case my unallocated, other challenge group reads pop up, so I know where to slot them without having to think about it 😉

I am a little over halfway through, and obviously you have to go behind the captain’s back to overthrow, and no one man does it alone.

It’s like Lord of the Flies, but with grown ups, so nastier, and real.

Set me on an existential journey - all stories with boats are disasters, so why did we sail? And what would the world be like today if we hadn’t????

I am presuming that a mutiny would be considered a conspiracy, as in The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder ?

15.3 HDYGG?

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson

Herbs
397 pages

3, Rue
9, Chamomile
7, Parsley

Flowers

a waLk in the woods: redisCOVERing america on the appalachian trail CLOVER

A wAlk In tHe wooDs: rediscovering america on the appaLachian trail DAHLIA

a Walk in ThE woodS: rediscovering AmErica on thE aPpalachian trail SWEET PEA+

a walk in the woods: ReDiScoveriNG americA ONthe ApPalachian trail SNAPDRAGON

Plants used this post =7
Total plants used = 17

+15 points
+10 flower bonus

Post Total = 25
Season Total = 345

...; ...; 10.3; ...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 10.9; ...
15.1; 15,2; 15.3;
20.1; ...; ...; ...; 20.5; 20.6; 20.7; ...; 20.9; ...

15.2 HDYGG?

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance

Vegetables
Napa Cabbage - Set 100% in North America

Flowers
hILLbilly elegy: A Memoir of a family and cUlture in crisis ALLIUM

hillbiLLy elegy: a memoir of a family And culture in CrIsis LILAC

hillbilly elegy: a mEMOir of A family aNd culturE iN crisis ANEMONE

HiBIllly elegy: a memoIr of a family and CUlture in criSiS HIBISCUS+

hillbilly eleGy: a memoir Of a fAMILy anD cultuRe in crisis MARIGOLD+

Plants used this post =6
Total plants used = 10

+15 points
+10 flower bonus

Post Total = 25
Season Total = 320

...; ...; 10.3; ...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 10.9; ...
15.1; 15,2;
20.1; ...; ...; ...; 20.5; 20.6; 20.7; ...; 20.9; ...

20.6 Fruit Dish, Bottle and Violin

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

Told from the points of view of Isabel, an archivist of the Fleet, Eyas, a caretaker who takes car of the dead and funeral rites, Kip, a boy about to finish school and bored of Fleet life, Tessa, a mother and daughter who is part of the fleet, and Sawyer, an offworlder who has come to try Fleet living, as well as anthropological reports on fleet living by and alien observer who has come to visit.

What is the Fleet? It is a group of ships that carry the descendents of the last Humans that left Earth. They are still living on the same ships, recycling the same materials, and carrying the same ethos forward with them. Not everyone, particularly the younger generation are happy with this existence, and many are leaving, but some are returning.

Whilst this is the third in the Wayfarer's series, each book is only loosely linked, and I think you could probably pick up any book and you would follow it reasonably okay.

What does flow through each of the books is the sense of community, of belonging, of finding your tribe and where you belong. They will mostly leave you feeling good about the human, and the alien, race.

4 out of 5.

+20 task
+10 review
+510combo (10.3 - 3rd in series); 10.7 - pg.2 Space list)

Post Total = 40
Season Total = 295

...; ...; 10.3; ...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 10.9; ...
15.1;
20.1; ...; ...; ...; 20.5; 20.6; 20.7; ...; 20.9; ...

As I left the hairdresser today, I noticed a clapboard sign in the arcade next door - two years after a fire out local secondhand bookshop is open again! He specialises in Golden Age crime fiction and Westerns, his own personal favourites, and after a 5 minute peruse of the 4 shelves he has managed to set up I left with 7 books. So happy to have it back!

(No Westerns or crime books were purchased this time, I am on a non fiction kick.)

10.9 Anniversaries (Apple's task)

The God Desire by David Baddiel
112 pages

I first became aware of David Baddiel many years ago when Fantasy Football League screened on television, I would guess at the time of the 1998 World Cup, and i have to admit to having had a little crush on him. A grungy, intelligent, funny man with an English accent, what is not to love?

I had also been aware of his various controversies in regards to his atheism and Judaism. Baddiel, whilst and atheist, does identify as Jewish, and it is in this book that he discusses both of these things.

It is an intelligent, funny, and relatively short text, I found it interesting in that it is a book by an atheist who understands the desire and need for religion, including his only longing for it, whilst dismissing it at the same time because of the exact same reasons.

Obviously, not a book for everyone, 4 stars.

+10 task
+10 review
+10 combo (10.3 - published 2023; 10.5 - as approved in help thread)

Post Total - 30
Season Total = 255

...; ...; 10.3; ...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 10.9; ...
15.1;
20.1; ...; ...; ...; 20.5; ...; 20.7; ...; 20.9; ...

10.3 St. Patrick's Day

Hit Parade of Tears by Izumi Suzuki
First published 2023

This is another text that kept popping up in front of my eyes on a screen, so I filed away for later without really knowing much about it.

Now, I have read quite a bit of Japanese fiction, and am used to the quirky, unusual nature it often expresses. Much of it is magic realist in nature, which is a genre I enjoy.

That said, this collection of short stories was seriously disturbing. Aliens, madness, and a missing brother, who in one story ends up dismembered, all appear across the collection. Sometimes it was hard to tell where one story finished and another began, even though each was introduced by title.

I didn't realise that Izumi has been gone for nearly 40 years, but it appears that not much of her writing has been translated into English, which is why her name is new to me. That said, I am not sure hers is a body of work I feel the need to revisit, 3 stars.

+10 task
+10 review
+10 LIT

Post Total - 30
Season Total = 225

10.3;
15.1;
20.1; ...; ...; ...; 20.5; ...; 20.7; ...; 20.9; ...

20.5 Surprised!

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
apostrophe

I had not originally planned to read this when it was plastered EVERYWHERE when it first came out. My mind changed when, one day, my husband wanted me to listen to an episode of Maron that he had just listened to and thought was incredible - the episode where he interviews Jennette McCurdy. We spent that day's car trip listening to the interview, and then I decided to give this a go.

I have, only recently, seen one episode of iCarly, and a little bit of one episode of Sam & Cat, so I really don't have any sense of McCurdy's work, or who she even is, but this isn't really that important. What is the main focus is the relationship she has with her mother, the driving force behind her acting career, and how this impacted her relationship with food and her body.

I listened to the audiobook, and McCurdy keeps this very disturbing upbringing relatively light - it is shocking, but it is never dark. You understand how this upbringing could occur between a child who loved their ill parent (not realising that there is a mental illness beyond the physical one).

This one is for anyone who is interested in the mindset behind food and body issues, celebrity, and weird family dynamics. 4 stars.

+20 task
+10 review

Post Total - 30
Season Total = 195

15.1;
20.1; ...; ...; ...; 20.5; ...; 20.7; ...; 20.9; ...

20.1 The National Gallery

The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing

I am so glad this book picked up on my screen somewhere, I think it was Goodreads. It gave me a lot to think about, and a lot of artists and performers to look up and observe whilst I made my way through the many names of outsiders and embodiments of loneliness mentioned in this book.

If you enjoyed Johann Hari's Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions, you will also enjoy this. If you are interested in art, particularly of the 1960's onwards, or have an interest in gay and AIDS history, you will enjoy this.

The book focuses on various artists, firstly Edward Hopper, who I had a small familiarity with, Andy Warhol, who I had a teenage obsession with (or, at least with The Factory, but isn't this a Gen X thing?), David Wojnarowicz, whom I didn't know, and Henry Darger, who I surprisingly had watched a documentary on about 20 years ago. Many others are mentioned - photographer Nan Golden, performance artist Klaus Nomi, Valerie Solanis (the woman who shot Andy Warhol), and a couple of Hitchcock films are also referenced, but the main focus would definitely be Warhol and Wojnarowicz, which is why the gay and AIDS history becomes relevant.

There is so much more I want to explore after reading this, I just can't tell you all the thoughts and feelings this narrative, and it is a narrative in that it is Laing's exploration of her own period of loneliness and how it leads to her research of these various artists, raised for me. It was somewhat overwhelming, particularly since I completed this in to days.

Well written, well researched, and oh, so relevant to our current world. 6 out of 5 stars.

+20 task
+10 review
+5 combo (20.5 - semi colon)

Post Total - 35
Season Total = 165

15.1;
20.1; ...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 20.7; ...; 20.9; ...

Awesome!

I know possessives are allowed, but working the other way? I read The God Desire, and God's Favourite appears on the list, so will it work?

20.9 Beware the Ides of March (Joanna's task)

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

Monks are dying, and they are all connected to the secrets of the library in a wealthy Italian abbey. Is it related to some illicit and sinful activities that monks should not be getting up to, or does it have to do with the books themselves? Why is no one allowed in the library except for the librarian? And just how do you get in there? Why are so many monks moving around at night?

I had trouble following this, I did listen to the audiobook, and the parts in Latin, and the religious discussion did have me zoning out. It took me a VERY long time get through this, and I feel I am not being fair to the text, and am willing to give it another go in print form at some point.

Is there a conspiracy? Yes, there is a secret being kept, or multiple secrets, and one of those is being kept by multiple people and is resulting in multiple deaths. And, there are some secrets that are being kept by multiple people that is not related to the deaths at all. Is it because there are monks from different religious backgrounds living together, and their personal beliefs are different and conflicting? Hard to say.

Perhaps there is just a bit much going on and I am not at a time and place in my life that I could give this the full attention it deserved.

3 stars, but I am sure it is me, not the book.

+20 task
+10 review
+10 LIT
+10 1001
+5 jumbo
+15 combo (10.2; 20.7; 20.10)

Post Total - 70
Season Total = 130

15.1;
20.7; ...; 20.9

15.1 HDYGG?

Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback by Robyn Davidson

Flowers
traCkS:a wOMan's SOlo trek across 1700 miles of australian outback COSMOS
tRacks:a WomaN's solO trEk aCrOss 1700 miLEs oF australian outback CONEFLOWER +5
tracks:a woman's solo trek across 1700 Miles of AUSTRalIaN oUTback NASTURTIUM +5

Vegetables
Artichoke - set 100% in Australia

Plants used this post =4
Total plants used = 4

+15 points
+10 flower bonus

Post Total - 25
Season Total = 60

15.1;
20.7;

20.7 International Travel (Owlette's task)

Scary Monsters by Michelle de Kretser

Ugh! This one is a little different, in that there are two stories, but, rather than one coming after the other, you flip the book over to read the other, so you could read either one first.

To be honest, if I had read Lyle's story first (and if I was not reading this for one of my RL book clubs) I would have returned the book unfinished. It takes place in a recognisable future, climate issues, pandemics, rampant materialism and "lookism" (phrase borrowed from Ted Chiang) and an Australia were the racism has become legislated. The characters are horrible, and the world is horrible, quite possibly because they are so easily recognisable in all the people and things I already dislike in the world. As a writer, I think de Krester has hit her mark with this one.

Lili's story is completely different, set in the 1980's in France, where Lili is teaching for 12 months. Her colour sets her apart from most, although her Australian passport means she does not face the same discrimination as others, or does she? Would her landlord treat another tenant in the same way? But, just as threatening to her existence is the fact that she is a woman, and what exactly is her creepy neighbour going to do?

Would I have read this if it were not for my bookclub? It is hard to say. The near future Australia would have piqued my interest, but other than that, there is not much to really get me excited about this book.

3 stars

+20 task
+10 review
+5 combo (10.4)

Post Total = 35
Season Total = 35

20.7

Asking for combos ....

will The Name of the Rose work? Brother William is from England, and Adso is from Melk, and Austrian Abbey (why did I think abbey's were for nun's only?!), whilst the novel takes place in an Italian monestary.

I am reading Scary Monsters for one of my RL book clubs, it is 2 stories split almost exactly 50/50.

The story of Lili sees her teaching in France, I have already forgotten her country of origin, but her place of residence is Australia.

Lyle's story is one of migration, having moved from an unnamed country to Australia with his wife, and then later bringing across his mother.

Will it qualify?