Summer 2013 10.10 In Memory

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

10.10 In Memory In memory of our scorekeeping database designer, read a book where the author name (first or last) is Richard, Rich, or Dick. These are the only forms which apply.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Perhaps you are wondering about the "in memory" rather than "in honor". My brother died the end of February. His birthday was June 28 - so it seems appropriate to have the task in summer. I've shared our "task" with family and with the backgammon site where he played several hours a day. There will be lots of us reading for this!

[Karen Michele]

I was wondering, Elizabeth, and I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your brother. I will be honored to read for the task in his name.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Thank you, Karen. I am planning to read something by Richard Russo - his Mohawk, I think.

[Jenifer]

Elizabeth, I am so sorry about your loss.

[Karen Michele]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Thank you, Karen. I am planning to read something by Richard Russo - his Mohawk, I think."

I'm going to go with
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo and maybe some by Richard Powersthat I've been meaning to get to, also.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Thank you, Jenifer.

Karen, I don't think you'll be sorry for Bridge of Sighs. It's my favorite of this author and makes my Top Ten List.

[Karen Michele]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Thank you, Jenifer.

Karen, I don't think you'll be sorry for Bridge of Sighs. It's my favorite of this author and makes my Top Ten List."

That's good to know. I've read most of the rest and loved them and I own that one and just haven't gotten to it.

[Bea]

I am glad to honor your brother, Elizabeth. I found a book on my home shelf that will fit the bill nicely.

OK "add book/author" will not open for me. It keeps taking me to the top of the page.

The book is The Haunting of Suzanna Blackwell by Richard Setlowe.

[Rebekah]

My condolences, Elizabeth. I think it is wonderful that we can honor him as a group for the contribution he made.

[Rosemary]

I'm sorry to hear about this. It's a lovely idea to dedicate a task to him.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Thank you everyone. Before the database, Liz and Kate worked hard in a very mentally taxing way to keep score. Nothing done with the database made our scorekeeping less convoluted, but it is certainly less taxing - and perhaps more accurate because it eliminates most of the human factor of checking and comparing.

The database calculates your score on the fly and compares it to make sure we agree. Richard gave us an easy way to make sure you've gotten all the oldies and jumbo and canon points you deserve. He also found a way to make sure that everyone gets the same combo points. The database calculates your scores and puts them in the the proper way to present it, so that all we have to do is copy and paste. Same with group reads scores and most strategic scores. His last enhancement was to allow us to collect all the author information that makes these "author born in" tasks possible and to record which authors are non-western.

[Liz M]

Christine wrote: "Need an official OK/rejection. I was gonna listen to this: The Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick, Vol. 1, which it turns out is only available in audiobook form. So I can't get page numbers for it..."

My completely un-statistical survey seems to find that books are read at the rate of 20-40 pages an hour, so 100 pages would be anywhere from 2.5 hours of audio (easier/pop-culture/ya books) to 5 hours (harder/literary/canon books).

Over eight hours of audio must be more than 100 pages. You are good to go on this one.

[Rebekah]

I was about to read Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach . Goodreads says 112 pages, but once I started looking at the book it seems like an awful lot of pictures and doesn't have 100 pages of words. Should I not use it for this task?

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Rebekah wrote: "I was about to read Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach . Goodreads says 112 pages, but once I started looking at the book it seems like an awful lot of pictures and doesn't have 100 pages ..."

You are welcome to use this book - thank you for reading for this task.