Reading with Style discussion

Thanks, Connie. My library even has a copy!

15.10 CiV -- L-M | 421-460 | 1965-1976

Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima, 421 pgs, pub. 1969

+85 task
+100 CiV Finish

Grand Total: 905 points

Task 10.10 - Group Reads

Ready Player One (2011) by Ernest Cline
Review: In the year 2044, the world is not doing very well. People are starving, and society is controlled by huge corporations. We don’t see very much of this world; it is merely the background. The people of this novel live most of their life in a virtual reality universe called OASIS. One day, the hermit-like creator and owner of OASIS dies. He wills OASIS to the first person who can complete an elaborate game and find the prize “egg”. The world goes crazy trying to do this. Our first person narrator is one of the contestants. The rest of the novel follows his efforts, his friendships with fellow gamers, and his conflicts with a huge mega corporation that wants the “egg” and control of OASIS for itself.
The story is suprising involving for someone (like me) who does not play video games. There was a little too much of sentences like this one:
p.251 “If my suspicion was correct, every copy of the Tyrell Building on Axrenox contained a hidden entrance into the Second Gate, through the Voight-Kampff machines located inside.”
So I gave it 4 * not 5.
Recommended for: those who have played video games; those nostalgic for 1980s pop culture; and those who like to read coming-of-age stories.


+10 Task (10.10)
+15 Combo (20.4 “future”(begins in 2044), 20.8 Anorak’s Almanac, 20.10 “2011”)
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 15 + 10 = 35

Grand Total: 1550 + 35 = 1585

20.7 Baby it's col outsideFinn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson (Finland)

+20 - Task
+5 - Combo (20.8, Fictional Fiction)
+10 - LiT (Swedish)
+5 - Oldies (1948)
+10 - Review

I couldn't find this particular book on the Lexile site but other books in this series range from 710 -810.

Review
A fun little book appreciated by children. The Moomintroll, the Moominpappa, the Moominmamma are of family of creatures that look like tiny hippopotamuses with pendulant noses. They live in a house with a cellar and at least three floors where they invite all their friends and family to live with them. This would include the Snork Maiden, Moomintroll’s girlfriend, the Snork, her brother, the Hemulin, the philosopher and botanist, Sniff, who looks incredibly like a mouse or rat but takes offense to it, Snufkin, a wanderer and probably Moomintroll’s best friend and a cranky, aristocratic Musket. The lush, green Moomin Valley is where the house stands, near a wonderful cave, the beach, and the sea and are able to travel to a Lonely Island where they have a bit of trouble with a bad storm and Hattifatteners. They also find The Hobgoblin’s Hat which cause havoc to anything or anyone that happens to wear it or be in it. Later they take in refugees Thingumy and Bob who have their own leculilar panguage who have stolen the King’s Ruby from the icy, terrible Groke. All is sorted out with a trial and a party. The Hobgoblin returns from the moon on his black panther and grants everyone a wish. Then it will soon be time for all to hibernate for the winter as they did at the beginning of the story. Tove Jansson wrote and illustrated the characters that had become an International success with a comic strip of their own. Her imagination is delightful to any child (and adult). Well worth a bed-time cuddle read with the kiddies

Task Total - 45 pts
Grand Total - 1595 pts
Grand Total - 1635 pts

10.1 Square Peg
The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

+10 pts - Task
+10 pts - Oldies (1889)
+10 pts - Review
+200 pts - completion mega challenge
+100 pts - completioon of both challenges

Review
Oscar Wilde’s humorous ghost story featuring a three hundred year old noble ghost versus a pragmatic, wild American family. The castle was bought by this family with the warning that it comes with a ghost. Over the centuries this evil ghost has driven people to insanity, suicide and out of the castle at the very least. The first night as he rattles his chains, the father steps into the hall and offers him a bottle of oil to get rid of the squeaks. The ghost is gravely insulted but it only gets worse. No matter what tricks, costumes or noises he makes, he can’t frighten them and the twin boys play mean practical jokes on him. In his greatest despair, the daughter of the family offers to console him and then goes on a phantasmagorical journey with him to rescue his soul. His skeleton is found; he is buried in the family cemetery and forevermore rests in peace.

Task total - 230 pts
Grand total - 1825 pts
Grand Total - 1965 pts

Whooopeeee!

Liz M wrote: "15.10 CiV -- L-M | 421-460 | 1965-1976

Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima, 421 pgs, pub. 1969

+85 task
+100 CiV Finish

Grand Total: 905 points"

Congrats on finishing CiV!!

Liz M wrote: "15.10 CiV -- L-M | 421-460 | 1965-1976

Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima, 421 pgs, pub. 1969

+85 task
+100 CiV Finish

Grand Total: 905 points"

Hey! Good job!

Rebekah wrote: "+100 pts - completion of RwS tasks
+100 pts - completioon of both challenges ."

Whoo-hoo! Good job! AND - you actually get 200 for the mega finish!

Congratulations, Rebekah!!

Kate S wrote: "Congratulations, Rebekah!!"

Thanks! You top 6 people are my inspiration. I am so glad Liz will get help from you! I waste a lot of her time because although I think I'm doing great at addition, I just now find out I was off by 40 pts!
Welcome to her nightmare! (smile)

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "+100 pts - completion of RwS tasks
+100 pts - completioon of both challenges ."

Whoo-hoo! Good job! AND - you actually get 200 for the mega finish!"

LOL Ok, I guess I'm off 140 pts!........BAck to do more striking

Congrats, Rebekah!

And your addition was much improved this season, for which I am grateful. >grin<

20.4 In Honor of The Christmas Carol
I Am Half Sick Of Shadows: A Flavia De Luce Novel by Alan Bradley
(on page 198,"....1929 had been twenty-one years ago..."

+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo (20.8 The Cry of the Raven, 20.10, pub 2011)(20.7 Canadian author)
+10 pts - Review

Review
Flavia de Luce strikes again! The precocious eleven year old chemist/detective must now spend the Christmas Holidays at the family’s grand, old but defunct country manor with half of the village, a film crew and two brilliantly famous actors. A terrible and rare snow blizzard comes blocking them all in the house after half the village shows up to see their two screen idols do a live performance of Romeo and Juliet as a charity fundraiser. The movie people are there because it has been discovered to be the perfect setting for The Cry of the Raven and Father desperately needs the money to keep the old elephant of a house going. Naturally there is a murder in the house and a la Hercule Poirot, all suspects snowed in. But unlike Poirot ,the local inspector has a secret, although unwanted, weapon, Flavia’s brain and her complete chemical laboratory. Twisting boundaries and lying though her teeth, she snoops enough to find clues the police miss and solves the crime as she faces the perpetrator on a snow covered roof top. Flavia is the type of girl you would love to have known and I’m hoping there will be many more of her adventures to come.

Task Total- 40 pts
Grand Total - 2005 pts

Task Total - 45 pts
Grand total - 2010 pts

20.7 Baby it's cold outside

What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt, US author

+20 task
+10 Combo (10.3-NYC, 20.8)

Task total: 30
Grand Total: 935 points

Don wrote: "CiV 15.4

Over Sea Under Stone by Susan Cooper, pub. 1965, 196 pgs."



This is actually CiV 15.3 for you. You accidentally claimed The Clowns of God for both 20.8 & 15.3. I assigned the book to 20.8, as it didn't fit CiV (you had already used the page-range the book fits into). See post 718 in this thread.

itpdx wrote: "20.3 Great Expectations
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Lexile 810
#1 on the Exceeded Expectations list

+20 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 30..."

+5 combo for 10.6 - Uncommon Letter ("z" in author's name)

Christin wrote: "20.2 Tale of Two Cities

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy - Paris and London

+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.6, 10.9)
+10 Oldie (published 1903)

Task Total: 40..."

+5 combo 20.4 - Christmas Carol

I'm still working on Bleak House. I hope I make it under the wire. Maybe I should have read Great Expectations instead!

Christin wrote: "20.4 Looking Back

The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan

+20 Task
+25 Combo (10.8, 10.9, 20.2, 20.7, 20.10)

Task Total: 45"

For which country are you claiming 20.7? And how does it fit 10.9, it appears to be her 4th book and not part of a series?

Deedee wrote: "Task 10.10 - Group Reads

Ready Player One (2011) by Ernest Cline

+10 Task (10.10)
+15 Combo (20.4 “future”(begins in 2044), 20.8 Anorak’s Almanac, 20.10 “2011”)
+10 Review..."

+5 combo for 20.2 - Tale of two Cities

Rebekah wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "20.8 Fictional Fiction
Cornelli by Johanna Spyri

This wouldn't have worked anyway because it is also underrated so can I get the extra 5 combo points?"

Yes, they have been added to your task total.

Rebekah wrote: "20.4 In Honor of The Christmas Carol
I Am Half Sick Of Shadows: A Flavia De Luce Novel by Alan Bradley
(on page 198,"....1929 had been twenty-one years ago..."

..."

Oops! I forgot he is a Canadian author so can I also claim the 5 pts. I'll start striking out the post.

Liz M wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Task 10.10 - Group Reads

Ready Player One (2011) by Ernest Cline

+10 Task (10.10)
+15 Combo (20.4 “future”(begins in 2044), 20.8 Anorak’s Almanac, 20....

+5 combo for 20.2 - Tale of two Cities
"

Grand Total: 1585 + 05 = 1590

Task: 10.8 - Chinese New Year: Asian Country: China

In honor of the Chinese New Year celebrated in January, written by an Asian author or read a book set in Asian country (excluding Russia).
This book was written by a native of China and is set in Beijing, China.

Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth (2008) by Xiaolu Guo (Hardcover, 172 pages)
Review: Xiaolu Guo’s novel A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers was an Orange Prize Nominee for Fiction in 2007. In the acknowledgements, the author states that Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth was the first novel she had published in China. For this edition, she took the English translation of her first novel and reworked it, thus improving the result.

The novel is told in first person by a 21-year-old woman. She fled the farming village of her youth, travelling 1800 miles to Beijing. After a series of menial jobs, she lands a job as a movie film extra. The novel has very few descriptions – it is all “what I did” and “what I thought”. The author has included a handful of photos she took while travelling in China. The author is successful in “showing” (and not “telling”) how Beijing is in transition between true-believer Communism and “new China” with more freedom and some capitalist reforms. Recommended for those interested in modern day China, and for those looking for a coming-of-age novel. 3*

+ 10 Task
+ 10 Style: 1. Combo (10.5 “underrated”, 10.6 “X”)
+ 10 Style: 2. Review (10 points):

Task Total: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30

Complete all Reading with Style tasks (!!!!)

Grand Total: 1590 + 30 + 100 = 1720

Deedee wrote: "Complete all Reading with Style tasks (!!!!)"

Whoo-hoo!!! Congratulations!

Deedee wrote: Complete all Reading with Style tasks (!!!!)

Good work Deedee!

15.4 The Giver by Lois Lowry, 208 p, pub in 1993 (L-M; 181-220/581-620; 1989-2000)

Task Total = 30 points

Grand Total = 475 points

Liz M wrote: "itpdx wrote: "20.3 Great Expectations
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Lexile 810
#1 on the Exceeded Expectations list

+20 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 30..."

+5..."
+5 combo for 10.6 - Uncommon Letter ("z" in author's name)

Whoops! Cool! I will edit. Thanks.

10.7 What's Your Type? INTJ
Untouchables: My Family's Triumphant Journey Out of the Caste System in Modern India by Narendra Jadhav (NJ)

Review: There seems to be disagreement on what this book is. My library has it classified as a biography. Maybe it is narrative nonfiction, a classification that I haven't been able to get my mind around. The book is about the author's parents. They were Dalit (Untouchables) Indians who grew up in small villages, moved to Mumbai, were involved in the political movement to bring equality to the Dalits. The father, Domu was only semi-literate. The mother, Sonu, never learned to read. The author has them take turns telling their story. It is a glimpse into rural India in the early 20th century and the migration into the large cities. We see them struggle with jobs, living conditions and discrimination. We have the perspective of an under-class Indian family as the country attains its independence from the British and sets up its government. We see the father's determination to see that his children get educated. And we see the children thrive.
It almost reads like a novel and I learned a lot about India and the Dalits.

+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 LiT translated from Marathi
+5 Combo 10.5 Underrated (105 ratings)

Task Total: 35
Previous Total: 940
New Grand Total: 975

Liz M wrote: "nsfancy wrote: Task total 185

Total points 1095 ..."

Your previous total (post 788) was 985. 985 + 185 = 1170.

At the moment, I have your grand total as 1325, which is 90 more points than yo..."

"And carry the 1..." Hmm, maybe I need a new system for tracking my score, or , alternatively, learn to add. 1325 works for me Liz. Thank you so much for your patience and persistence.

So moving on from 1325:

Task 10.1 Square peg From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne

+10 task
+10 oldie (1874)
+10 LiT

Task total 30

Total points = 1325 + 30 = 1355

itpdx wrote: "10.7 What's Your Type? INTJ
Untouchables: My Family's Triumphant Journey Out of the Caste System in Modern India by Narendra Jadhav (NJ)

Review: There seems to be disagreem..."

I think this would get Combo Points for 10.8. It's an Asian country and H.H. Dalai Lama lives in Darhamsala,India where he is the head of state for the Tibetian Government in Exile.
That verifies the Buddism plus Sikkim is a state in India that is primarily Buddhism and contains the only open border between India and China.

Rebekah wrote: "I think this would get Combo Points for 10.8. It's an Asian country and H.H. Dalai Lama lives in Darhamsala,India where he is the head of state for the Tibetian Government in Exile.
That verifies the Buddism plus Sikkim is a state in India that is primarily Buddhism and contains the only open border between India and China. ..."

India is not on the list of countries that are eligible for 10.8.

Oh. When I went to the Wiki page, I just saw India was one of the colored-in countries and didn't go all the way down to see the actual list. Sorry!

10.1. Square Peg

for the finish I'm using the joker... :)

Zauberin von Darshiva by David Eddings

+ 10 task
+ 10 lost in translation (originally in english, I read german (my mother tongue) translation)

Task total: 20 points

Grand Total: 270 points

15. 4 CiV

A Bend in the River

N-0, 261-300/661-700,1977-1988

+30 Task Points

Total Points: 30

Grand Total: 545

Task 10.8 Chinese New Year Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik (Temeraire Series #2, Temeraire is a dragon)

+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.2 2 countries - England and China)

Task total 15

Total points 1355 + 15 = 1370

+100 RwS finish
+200 Mega finish

Grand total 1670

Congrats to all those who have completed the challenge and thank you to all who have participated. And, as always, a special thanks to the mods. This is a great challenge and just keeps getting better. I am off to plan my spring reading!

Phoebe wrote: "10.1. Square Peg

for the finish I'm using the joker... :)

Zauberin von Darshiva by David Eddings

+ 10 task
+ 10 lost in translation (originally in english, I read ger..."

Does this feature a dragon?

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Does this feature a dragon?"

It depends...it does feature a dragon, though not a "real" one.
The "evil" sorceress can take the form of a dragon, and does so multiple times in fights. I wasn't sure if it counts for 10.8...

Congratulations to all of the new finishers!

Task 20.7 Baby it's cold outside Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

+20 Task (Russia)
+5 Combo (10.4 Love is in the Air)
+5 Combo (20.3 In honor of Great Expectations)
+10 Translation (Russian)
+10 Oldies (1877)
+25 Jumbo (1170)

Task Total: 75
Grand Total: 185

10.4 Love is in the Air
The Age of Innocence (Illicit Love list #16)

+10 task
+10 oldie (pub. 1920),
+10 combo 20.10, 20.4 (set in 1870)

10.8 Chinese New Year

Death of a Red Heroine (set in Shanghai) by Qiu Xiaolong

+10 task
+10 combo 10.5 (686 ratings), 10.6 (Q and X)

post total=50

By my accounting, I finished the RwS challenge!!!

Grand total= 665+100=765

CiV 15.9

The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton 408 pages, pub. 1938

V-W-X-Y-Z; 381-420/781-820; 1929-1940

Task Total = 75

CiV 15.10

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith 489 pages, pub. 1943

S-T-U; 461-500/861-900; 1941-1952

Task Total = 85

Mega Finish (completed both RwS and CiV) = 200

Missed points (as per posts 960 and 983--thanks for finding those!) = 20

Grand Total = 1485

Kelly wrote: "Task 20.7 Baby it's cold outside Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

+20 Task (Russia)
+5 Combo (10.4 Love is in the Air)
+5 Combo (20.3 In honor of Great Expectations)
+10 Transla..."

Kelly, the edition you have linked has only 940 pages. You will want to edit your post to link to the edition that has that greater number of pages.

Anika wrote: "Mega Finish (completed both RwS and CiV) = 200"

Congratulations! Good job!

I think you might be cheating yourself of some points, but our scorekeeper extraordinaire will make sure you get them all.

Liz M wrote: "Christin wrote: "20.2 Tale of Two Cities

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy - Paris and London

+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.6, 10.9)
+10 Oldie (published 1903)

Task ..."

Ooh, really? I thought that in order for a book to qualify it had to go back 25 years. The Scarlet Pimpernel is historical fiction but it all takes place at the same time so I guess I'm a little confused?

Liz M wrote: "Christin wrote: "20.4 Looking Back

The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan

+20 Task
+25 Combo (10.8, 10.9, 20.2, 20.7, 20.10)

Task Total: 45"

For which country are you c..."

Ah, gotcha! I assumed that a stand alone book counted like a first book of a series, whoops! And I was using the US as Amy Tan is an American writer ^_^

Christin wrote: "Ah, gotcha! I assumed that a stand alone book counted like a first book of a series, whoops! And I was using the US as Amy Tan is an American writer..."

In post 984, you claimed combo points for 20.7 for I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis. She is also an American author & the combo points can only be claimed ONCE per country.

Christin wrote: "Ooh, really? I thought that in order for a book to qualify it had to go back 25 years. The Scarlet Pimpernel is historical fiction but it all takes place at the same time so I guess I'm a little confused?..."

The Scalet Pimpernel was written in 1905 and set during the French Revolution (1789-1799).

Liz M wrote: "Christin wrote: "Ah, gotcha! I assumed that a stand alone book counted like a first book of a series, whoops! And I was using the US as Amy Tan is an American writer..."

In post 984, you claimed c..."

Ooh, I didn't think Historical Fiction counted! Thanks! And I went back and updated the two posts to reflect the corrections ^_^

10.7 Myer's Briggs - My Type is INFJ

The Phantom Tollbooth 50th Anniversary Edition by Norton Juster (N - J) - 1000L

I grew up loving fiction and fantasy books...and yet somehow I missed out on reading The Phantom Tollbooth. I don't know how that happened but it did and so I've been meaning to read it for years. What a delightful book! Teaching the importance of Rhyme and Reason in ruling Wisdom as well that any task can be accomplished, even impossible ones, if we just think it possible. Milo encounters all the things we need in life: from the balance of Numbers and Words, Silence and Noise, to the avoidance of the Doldrums and the Demons of Self-Delusion. The book identifies the many ways we can lead ourselves astray and Milo comes away from his journey with renewed vigor for life, suddenly seeing all the possibilities and the joy around him. While technically young adult fiction, it was a great book to read as an adult who has happened upon more than my fair share of the Doldrums or the Demons of Self-Delusion as well.

+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Oldie

Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 730

10.6 The Uncommon Letter (Q, X, Z)

False Notes by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

The second book in the series following Charlie Moon, Attorney at Law, this installment in the series felt more personal than the first book. While the first book of the series was interesting, this next book focused more on Charlie's interactions and moral uprightness within the context of the case, along with a growing personal life outside of it. Called in to represent a group of Foreign nationals when a murder is committed on stage at the San Francisco Opera House, Charlie begins to examine the case and all of the participants - learning that every single one of them had motive to kill the deceased. A secondary plot line also follows a case that Charlie has protecting the rights of a battered spouse trying to seek protection within the law from her husband. The first book was extremely heavy handed in demonstrating the rampant sexism/racism that still existed in the 70's. In the second book much of this is constrained more to the secondary plot line with the battered wife as the police refuse to properly act as they view her as simply "hysterical." An interesting series and I will definitely pick up the third one.

+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.5, 20.6)
+5 Oldie

Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 765