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Spring 2013 Rws Completed Tasks - Spring 2013
20.5 In Honor of EmmaThe Running Dream by Wendelin Van DraanenLexile 650
+20 Task: Female author, narrated by Jessica
Grand Total: 735
Task 10.1Square PegLord of Snow and Shadows (Tears of Artamon #1) (2003) by Sarah Ash (Paperback, 574 pages)
Review:This was the first book of a fantasy trilogy. The setting is very familiar to fantasy fans – small contiguous countries ruled by kings and queens and in conflict with each other. The twist here is that the characters each have a different understanding of how their world works. Some characters do not believe in magic or dragons; other characters believe in magic but not dragons; other characters believe in dragons but not magic; and different sets of characters who believe in magic each have differing understandings of just HOW magic actually works. Characters who understand the way the world *really* works have the upper hand in accomplishing their goals. The novel ends at a natural stopping point in the action. There is also a huge TO BE CONTINUED expectation at the end of this first book of a trilogy. Recommended for fans of “epic fantasy”.
+10 Task
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points)
+05 Style:5. Jumbo (5 to 25 points): -500 Pages: 5 Points
Task Total: 10 + 10 + 05 = 25
Grand Total: 305 + 25 = 330
Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "20th Century Chronologician15.1 Your Republic Is Calling You by Young-ha Kim(published 2010)
Task +15
Grand Total: 90"
Sorry, Jayme, this does not qualify for the 20th century sub-challenge, as it was published in the 21st century.
Anika wrote: "20.6 Northanger AbbeySkinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
I had a friend recommend this book to me about three years ago and I kept putting it off since it didn't at all sound like something I'd be intere..."
I think you forgot to include post 346 (55 points!) in your season total here. Through post 440, I show your season total to be 530.
15.7 ChronologicanDeath at Gallows Green by Robin Paige pub 1995
+15 pts - Task
+10 pts - Bonus
task total - 25 pts
Grand total - 690 pts
Task 20.5 - In honor of Emma, read a book written by a woman with a single female narrator/main character.Bellfield Hall (Dido Kent #1) (2008) by Anna Dean
Review:This is the first book in a historical mystery series. Dido Kent is an unmarried woman in her late 20’s. The setting is southern England. The date is given as 1805. Dido has been invited to a house party. The hosts are the parents of her niece’s prospective fiancé. On page 2, the body of an anonymous, well-dressed woman is found in the shrubbery. Our heroine informally investigates the woman’s death and investigates the solution to the other mysteries present at the manor house. The author tries for a “Miss Marple in a Jane Austen world” story. She succeeds with the “Miss Marple” part – our resolute heroine Miss Dido Kent talks to all humans, maids, young aristocratic men, stablehands, seemingly unaware of class or gender differences. They are more than willing to reveal their innermost secrets to the inquisitive 28 year old unmarried woman that they have just met. To enjoy this story, the reader must suspend disbelief and accept that the British in this story just love to tell Miss Kent everything she wants to know. The mystery is interesting in a jigsaw-puzzle way, and the author plays fair with the clues. Recommended for fans of cozy mysteries.
+ 20 Task
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points)
Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30
Grand Total: 330 + 30 = 360
20th Century Chronologician15.7 -- No Man Is an Island by Thomas Merton, 1st published in 1955.
+15 task points
+10 bonus
Task Points: 25 points
Grand Total: 165 points
10.8 - Spell it outHouse of the Rising Sun by Chuck Hustmyre
+10 Task (CH)
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 290
10.5 Global Youth ServiceWe Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
Review:
Exasperating. Exhausting. The characters in the book react in ways that made very little sense to me. They were described in tremendous detail and I ended up feeling almost like I was reading a memoir rather than fiction, but nothing any of the characters ever did made sense. The central premise of the novel--that the date rape of a sixteen year old girl at prom wrecks this previously happy family--seemed like an interesting way to examine the interrelationships in a family. But the father's complete rejection of the daughter and the mother's willingness to be his accomplice in this rejection was so inexplicable and harsh that it left me sort of hating the story.
But, JCO, how can this be your 26th novel? Egads woman.
+10 Task (Commonwealth Prize 2003)
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 260
20.9 HereticallyThe Fortune of the Rougons by Émile Zola
Zola was inspired to write his Les Rougon-Macquart series by Balzac's Comedie Humaine that investigates all facets of French society. This is the first in Zola's 20 volume series where he explores the descendants in a family, and tests his theory about heredity. The series takes place entirely during the reign of Napoleon III, who came to power via a coup d'etat in 1851 and was overthrown in 1870.
There is a family history chart on the internet, and, in fact, the edition I read, Complete Works of Emile Zola, includes the chart. I glanced at it briefly when reading another work and noticed there are both birth and death dates on it, which might be spoilers. It's sort of fascinating that Zola created this chart before the first novel was written and kept revising it. He planned the series to be 10 or so novels.
Zola does present quite a bit of history in this first novel which made some parts much slower reading than the story itself. While I was impatient, by the time I got to the last couple of chapters, all of that background was well worth the time and effort.
There are a lot of characters: the progenitor, her children, her grandchildren, of course, and also a myriad of minor characters. Zola seems able to find multiple ways for his characters to deceive each other, ways in which to be scoundrels, ways to find weaknesses in each other. There are some good guys, but they are not very interesting, and, for me, just provide contrast for the villains.
I look forward to the next in the series.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Oldie (pub 1871)
Task Total = 40
Grand total = 380
20.1 Jane Austen's LifetimeEugénie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac
+20 Task (author born 1802)
+5 Combo (20.9)
+15 Oldies (pub 1842-not 1342, I'm pretty sure)
Post Total: 40
Season Total: 530
20.6 In Honor of Northanger AbbeyNaked by David Sedaris
+20 Task (satirist)
+10 Combo (10.2-listed as biography at BPL, 20.3)
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 560
15.5 20th Century - ChronologicianA Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler
1992
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 585
20.3 Pride and PrejudiceOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
+ 20 Task – 229 051 ratings average rating 4.15
+ 5 Oldies 1962
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 420
10.5 In honor of April’s Global Youth Service DayAfter the Quake by Haruki Murakami
He won the Jerusalem Prize in 2009
+10 Task
+10 Non-Western
Task Total = 20 points
Grand Total = 220 points
Kate S wrote: "I think you forgot to include post 346 (55 points!) in your season total here. Through post 440, I show your season total to be 530."Thank you for catching that for me! I really need to be better in my record keeping...
20.5 In Honor of EmmaSex in a Sidecar: A Sherri Travis Mystery by Phyllis Smallman
+20 task
Task total: 20
Grand total: 375
10.8 Spell it OutClose Range by E. Annie Proulx*
Review:
Expansive, heartbreaking, gritty, and just fantastically written--these stories pulled me in and made my commute feel like a drive through the rich plains of Wyoming. The entire collection sets up the closing story, "Brokeback Mountain," making it an even more gut wrenching and painful story than it would be if read in isolation. The ranchers, cowboys, and rodeo men that populate these stories should have felt foreign and distant to this city-girl reader, but they didn't. The language was so beautiful and so compelling and the stories so larger than life and powerful that I became deeply involved in the stories. "Brokeback Mountain" is a phenomenal story. "Blood Bay" was also a favorite of this collection.
The readers for the audio cassette (yes, cassette--my car is old enough to have a tape deck) version were fantastic. I like having several readers for a collection of short stories because it helps create separation between the stories.
+10 Task (*AP - Annie Proulx; I see that Goodreads lists her as "E. Annie Proulx," but that isn't how she is listed on the cover of this book:
The GR description says "She has written most of her stories and books simply as Annie Proulx, but has also used the names E. Annie Proulx and E.A. Proulx."
Let me know if this doesn't work and I can move it to Square Peg)
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 280
Task 10.6: Ides of March- murderI read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
REVIEW:
This is the second book I've read this year about a child with autism. As an educator, I've always been fascinated by this diagnosis. The spectrum is so vast that I don't think we, society, will ever understand it completely. That being said, I enjoyed this book overall. Christopher, the teen with autism, is the narrator and from the first sentence the reader is inside his head. I liked how he explained his mind in terms he understood, the being stuck, time passing, the noise, and confusion. It explained his actions and people's reactions to him. I figured out the murderer pretty quickly and what happened to the mom. I didn't expect Christopher's journey or how the relationships changed at the end. Good book.
+10: task
+10: review
+20: TASK TOTAL
+530: RwS TOTAL
15.4 20th Century--ChronologicianWinter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip, pub. 1996
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 555
15.5 20th Century--ChronologicianCompanions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde (870 Lexile), pub. 1995
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 580
20th Century Chronologician15.7 Flesh and Blood by Michael Cunningham published 1995
My Review
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task total: 25
Grand Total: 295
20th Century - Chronologician15.10 Wild Justice by Phillip Margolin published 2000
+15 task
+10 bonus
+150 Chronologician Bonus
Task total: 175
Grand total: 550
Nice job, Norma -- Congratulations!
20.5 - In honor of EmmaLessons in French: A Novel by Hilary Reyl
I adore Paris, so the best part of reading Lessons in French was revisiting some of my favorite locations again. I feel extremely lucky to have been able to travel there twice in my lifetime and "sitting" in the cafes and the Rodin Museum gardens was a treat. I also found the writing particularly strong for a debut effort. Most of the characters were quite memorable if not likable In fact, every time I thought something was developing in a predictable way, I was fooled. The expat family living in Paris was a real piece of work! Katie, the main character was young and naive, but really just hadn't yet developed true adult strength of character. I found this refreshing because sometimes I feel authors overdo the young person as heroine. I thought the writing was concise and stayed away from the "soap opera" dramatics that this plot could have encouraged. The history of the time period informed the story, but not enough for the book to rate as historical fiction. I'm not sure if the Paris setting made me overlook faults that other reviewers have noted or not, but I enjoyed it thoroughly.
+20 Task: female writer, Hilary Reyl, and female main character, Katie.
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 765
WTG, Norma! Are you the first to complete a challenge?
10.10 Group ReadsThe Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
Review
This book begins with a secretary for the pope who becomes the greatest saver of ancient (pagan) texts during the Renaissance, Italian Poggio Bracciolini. His greatest find in a German monastery in 1417 is a poem by Epicurean adherent, Lucretius, written 500 years before.
As it is copied and translated, the book begins a new life as an influence on several notable people throughout history from Bracciolini’s contemporaries until Puritan, Lucy Hutchinson and founding father, Thomas Jefferson. On the Nature of Things is the epic, which denies that a god or gods would even be interested in the small human lives or any other lives much less, would spend time directing them. That humans were not personal puppets for the divine and the earth is not the center of the Universe. There is no such thing as immortality for us lowly creatures; therefore since we only live once, everyone should spend their time of existence looking to experience pleasure as long as it does no harm. Dangerous thoughts for the times especially later during the Inquisition, yet the poem refuses to be destroyed. I thought the title was not appropriate to the book. The sub title would have it that the book explains how this one ancient text made society as it is today.It seemed to be more of a history of Bracciolini and his times than about the poem's influence.Furthermore, I wouldn’t give it that much importance over several other amazing books and literature that has passed down though generations. I don’t think this poem may be the sole reason for the American Declaration of Independence and the reason there is a USA today. Jefferson did admire the poem and had several copies as well as several copies of the Bible and many Greek and Roman literature. But of course, now I really want to read this intrepid work of literature.
+10 pts - Task
+10 pts - Review
Task Total - 20 pts
Grand Total - 710 pts
20.6 - In honor of Northanger AbbeyThe Importance of Being Earnest: And Other Plays (Modern Library Classics) by Oscar Wilde
I loved reading three plays by Oscar Wilde. I found I enjoyed the common features: the humor mostly, but not completely, through satire, the characters of an interesting era and the small mysteries surrounding the varied plots. Witty and polished writing is evident throughout the plays as well. Lady Windermere is an example of the women of the disappearing Victorian age that Wilde seems ready to abandon as soon as possible! All of the women in the three plays that have strict values for their own lives have some trouble standing up to the men in their lives and being independent women. The more independent women tend to be crafty and even mean-spirited. The men don't fare much better. They are rather silly and wishy-washy. My favorite by far was The Importance of Being Earnest. I loved the humor, the characters, even with their obvious faults and the writing itself, which I thought was pure perfection. I read An Ideal Husband last and was a bit let down by the seriousness of it after laughing out loud throughout The Importance of Being Earnest, but all three plays were well worth the time!
+ 20 Task: Oscar Wilde is on the Satirists list
+ 5 Combo: 20.2 Sense and Sensibility: all 3 plays http://www.bbcshop.com/drama+arts/the...
+ 10 Review
+ 10 Oldies (1895)
Task Total: 45
Grand Total: 810
Task 10.8: Spell It OutI read Never Say Diet: Make Five Decisions and Break the Fat Habit for Good by Chantel Hobbs
REVIEW:
For the last two years I have been on a journey to lose weight. I've had some success, but am always looking for additional resources. This book was the personal story of Chantel Hobbs and her journey to lose over 200 lbs. Her commitment to health and exercise really motivated me. The book details out a plan for eating and exercise over four phases for a total of 16 weeks. She is honest about the struggles and difficulties that she faced during her goal to take control of her life and get healthy. I plan to incorporate her exercises into my food plan over the next few weeks. Quick, easy read, but packed full of information--I was taking notes throughout the book.
+10: task Chantel Hobbs
+10: review
+20: TASK TOTAL
+550: RwS TOTAL
Karen GHHS wrote: "Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "Karen GHHS wrote: "10.10 Group ReadsFencesbyAugust Wilson
I was really glad to see another review of the play, Fences, in the completed task thread, because I realized..."
Doesn't it also qualify for 10.5, Global Youth Services Day?
Never mind. I see he won the award for Dramatic arts in 1994 instead of Literature as there was no winner for that category that year.
20.6 Northanger AbbeyGoing Postal by Terry Pratchett
+ 20 Task – on list of satirists
Task Total = 20
Grand Total = 440
Christine wrote: "15.10This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald published 1920
Note: Since I switched to Chaostician after messing up my order accidentally on my eighth book, I realized I need to adjust my sc..."
Congratulations on the finish, Christine!
15.6 - 20th Century - ChronologicianThe Holder of the World by Bharati Mukherjee, pub. 1993
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task Total: 25 points
Grand Total: 235 points
15.7 - 20th Century - ChronologicianHow Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman, pub. 1994
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task Total: 25 points
Grand Total: 260 points
20.5 In honor of Emma - The Paris Wife by Paula McLain - (Female authour, first person POV with female main character)I very much enjoyed this novel depicting the tumultuous five years of Hadley Richardson marriage to the budding novelist Ernest Hemingway. The book is told in first person from Hadley's perspective based on research that the Ms. McLain did at the Hemingway library. My vision of Hemingway was as a misogynist and an egotistical man who when through women and whiskey like a house on fire. This novel does bear this out. However this story is told through Hadley's eyes so the reader is introduced to the young Hemingway by his first muse. The novel also lovingly conveys Europe between the two World Wars and all the literary figures that populated that world and helped make Hemingway who he became. Richardson is depicted to be very much one of them, but also not willing to live the way many of them did with open marriages.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+30 Task total
Grand Total = 310
20.3 - In honor of Pride & Prejudice177,226 and 4.31 Rating:
Watchmen by Alan Moore
+20 Points
Grand Total: 830
Joanna wrote: "10.8 Spell it OutClose Range by E. Annie Proulx*
Review:
Expansive, heartbreaking, gritty, and just fantastically written--these stories pulled me in and made my commute feel like a drive throu..."
This author will be carried in our group as Annie Proulx, so, yes she qualifies for this task. And she's one of my favorites!
20th Century Chronologician15.8 -- Wildfire at Midnight by Mary Stewart, 1st published in 1956.
+15 task points
+10 bonus
Task Points: 25 points
Grand Total: 190 points
20.5 - In honor of EmmaWhite Tiger: A Hero's Compulsion by Tamora Pierce
+20 Task: female author Tamora Pierce and female main character/narrator The White Tiger
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 850
Coralie wrote: "20.3 Pride and PrejudiceOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
+ 20 Task – 229 051 ratings average rating 4.15
+ 5 Oldies 1962
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 420"
I'm completely confused about whether this one counts for 10.7. It's at #1 on the list of fiction ideas given in the help thread. But in that same help thread, Rebekah says it's not a good portrayal of nurses, and I see that Coralie is not claiming 10.7 combo points. So does that mean it's not acceptable for 10.7?
It's not in the spirit of the task. Try to get closer to what a real nurse experiences. This task is to honor nurses and although I liked that book, it's really about the patients and Nurse Ratched is a stereotype for the repressive authority figures in an institutional setting.
20th Century - Chronologician15.6 The Moat Around Murcheson's Eye
published 1993
+15 Task
+ 10 Bonus
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 465
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Reading with Style
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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Margarita Nights by Phyllis Smallman
+20 task
Task total: 20
Grand total: 355