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Fall 2013 RwS Completed Tasks - Fall 2013
15.3 Pick'n'MixC-4: Page Length 250-350 pages
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan: 288 pages.
+ 15 Task
Grand total: 45 points
This was a great and fun read, highly recommended!
15.4 Pick'n'MixB-1: Publish Date 2001-2013
Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey, published in 2012.
+ 15 Task
Grand total: 60 points
I might actually finish a challenge this season, so exciting!
15.9 Pick N Mix E-3, Short StoriesThe Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter
+30 Task
Grand Total = 245
10.5 Labor Day Small Favor by Jim Butcher
Review:
Is it really possible that I've read 10 of these now? I continue to enjoy the series even though it's not the sort of book that I normally read. I like that although Harry remains an underdog, up against forces more powerful than him, he has more help from more competent friends than in some of the previous books. Jim Butcher is extremely clever in creating an entire world of magic, disgusting creatures, complicated political players, and entertaining battles. This book would not be a good place for a new reader to the series to begin and would not really work as a stand-alone novel. I will definitely be continuing with the series and look forward to reading more of Harry's adventures.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 combo (20.8 – plenty of nonhuman creatures)
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 630
20.8 Stephen King' birthdayWatchmen by Alan Moore
+ 20 Task (Jon was no longer human)
Graphic Novel - no style points
Task Total: 20 points
Grand Total: 730
10.8 - Something Wicked This Way ComesThis Rough Magic by Mary Stewart
Review:
Out-of-work actress Lucy Waring goes to stay with her sister, who has married an Italian banker, on the Greek island of Corfu. A classic Mary Stewart romance follows, with sun, sea, mystery and the heroine falling into deadly peril before she finds her happily ever after in the arms of the hero. To give her her due, Mary Stewart does tend to have her heroines solve their own problems and Lucy is never rescued but fights back and saves herself. She also saves a cute dolphin, which is nice :)
The Shakespearean theme is strong in this book because there's a famous older actor renting a house from Lucy's sister and they are all convinced that Corfu was the setting for The Tempest so it's quoted often.
+10 Task (title is from The Tempest, on the wiki page)
+10 Combo (10.5 Stewart, 20.2 born 1916)
+10 Review
Task Total: 30 points
Grand Total: 755
20.5 - Art in SocietyThe Captive & The Fugitive by Marcel Proust
Review:
In 'The Captive', the narrator has persuaded Albertine, the woman he loves, to live with him. Jealous to the point of obsession and often incapacitated by illness, he won't allow her to go anywhere without somebody who will report back to him on what she did. In 'The Fugitive', he loses her forever.
That's all that happens really, but then we already knew Proust wasn't one for fast-paced action. The descriptive writing is as good as ever but it's Albertine that is the problem. Even more than Gilberte in an earlier volume, she becomes impossible to believe in. She just doesn't seem female. Ever. Even if I hadn't known Proust was gay, I would have been convinced Albertine was based on a young man.
It's also very hard to believe that the narrator, living with a young woman, would be this obsessively jealous about her relations with other women. It never crosses his mind that she might be seeing other men, only that she might be having lesbian affairs. In my experience straight men just don't think that way. They might be jealous of everybody, but they wouldn't suspect her of affairs with women and not suspect her of affairs with other men.
I do see why Proust made his narrator straight: it allowed him to explore the homosexual relationships of other characters with much more freedom than if he was asking his readers to identify with a gay narrator, but I think he fell into a trap of his own creation with Albertine. For that reason I only gave this volume 3 stars.
+20 Task (In Search of Lost Time is on the list and moderators confirmed that any part of it qualifies)
+20 Combo (20.1, 20.2 lived 1871-1922, 20.3, 20.4 autobiographical list)
+10 Review
+10 Canon (In Search of Lost Time)
+20 Jumbo (957 pages)
Task total: 80 points
Grand total: 835
20.9 - WWII FictionThe Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies
Review:
In this story we have Rowbotham, who is half Jewish and of German origin, working for the British interrogating German captives, including Rudolf Hess; Esther the Welsh girl of the title, living on a remote sheep farm but suddenly brought into contact with British soldiers and German prisoners of war; and Karsten, one of the German POWs.
It's very well written and there were many parts of it that I loved. Wales and the characters there sprang to life completely, and I thought Karsten and the other German soldiers were well drawn too. I didn't connect with Rowbotham at all. I couldn't see what he and Hess were doing in the story ... or perhaps it should have been their story, and he would have been clearer. But I think I preferred the focus on Esther.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 30 points
Grand total: 865
20.2 - Author alive 1909-1922:Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward (1899-1973)
insert 100+ word review here
+20 task
+5 combo (10.6 - All Saints Day)
Task Total: 25 points
Grand Total: 70
20.2 - Author alive 1909-22The House In Marsh Road by Laurence Meynell
Review:
This is an old pot-boiler from 1960 with a haunted house, a murderous husband, a grasping land developer and an evil "other woman".
Jean Engleton and her unsuccessful writer husband are going from one boarding house to the next leaving a trail of unpaid bills behind them when she unexpectedly inherits a house in the country from a half-forgotten aunt. However, there’s a poltergeist in residence, and when their marriage goes from bad to worse the poltergeist starts taking sides.
I gave this 4 stars because mine was its first rating and it was a lot of fun. Worth wasting a couple of hours on if you come across a copy, but don't expect great literature.
+20 Task (lived 1899-1989)
+ 5 Combo (10.6)
+10 Review
Task Total: 35 points
Grand Total: 900
15.10 E3 Short storiesThe Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft
+30 points
+100 completion bonus
Grand Total: 860 points
20.5 ArtThe Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
+ 20 Task
+ 30 Combo (10.2, 10.3, 10.7, 20.6, 20.7, 20.9)
+ 5 Jumbo (636 pages)
Task Total: 55 points
Grand Total: 915
10.7 - Rebekah's task - Ex-pat experience:War Brides by Helen Bryan
The main characters included a Jewish woman from Austria and a woman from New Orleans who relocated to England during WWII.
My review:
I enjoyed reading War Brides, which was one of the books that I've listened to in the car during my commute and read on my Kindle at home. It was a familiar story line, following the lives of a group of people who came together in England during WWII and the impact of the war on their lives. The characters were nicely developed, and the story kept my interest. Still, (view spoiler) For that reason, I only rated it 3 stars.
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20 points
RwS Total to date: 460
Pick 'n' Mix Total to date: 200
Pick 'n' Mix Completion Bonus 100
Grand Total to date: 760
Task 20.10 - Liz M's Task -Read a book written by an author born in one of the least developed countries:
Ethiopia
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (2007) by Dinaw Mengestu (Hardcover, 240 pages)
Review:Dinaw Mengestu was born in Ethiopia and emigrated to America. This is his debut novel. The narrator: a man who was born in Ethiopia and emigrated to America (write what you know, right?). The novel is set in the poorer areas of Washington, D. C. Our narrator runs a convenience store in the poorer neighborhood, and lives next door to the shop. His friends have made a more successful adjustment to American life than he has. Despite his lack of material success in his new country, he’s content with what he has. Change is coming with gentrification of the neighborhood. Overall, this is a character-driven novel, exploring through the narrator and his friends different ways of coping with the emigrant experience. Recommended for fans of literary fiction.
+20 Task
+05 Combo (10.7 Ex-pat experience)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35
Grand Total: 340 + 35 = 375
15.5 Pick'n'MixA-3: Setting Europe
The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas: set in England
+ 20 task
Grand total: 80 points
Halfway there: This time I shall succeed!
20.4 Roman à clefAll Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
All Quiet on the Western Front is a harrowing tale of the soldiers’ conditions during World War I, and (I would think) during any war since. Of how in order to survive the ordeals of trench war, everyday life becomes distant and unreal, while the trenches and field hospitals become the norm. The soldiers portrayed in this masterpiece show an adaptability which is at once frightening and admirable, as when they have a days-long feast on a hidden store of food, while the grenades are blasting all around them. Away from the front the inhabitants of the narrator’s childhood town seem blissfully and moronically unaware of the realities of war, insisting that the soldiers are heroes on the brink of victory. The novel is short, but poignant and utterly recommendable.
+ 20 Task
+ 10 Review
+ 10 Combo (20.2 (Remarque born 1898, died 1979), 10.6 All Saints Day)
Total: 40 points
Grand total: 120 points
Post 507Jade wrote: "The Book Thief20.9 On the list of WW2 fiction.
+20
+5 combo (also on book lover's list)
+10 review
I really enjoyed this book. I read it in two days because it was a quick and simple read. I as..."
Jade, I'm sorry. You're right, this book is classified as YA and it has a Lexile of 730. It doesn't qualify for style points, but your 20 task points are fine.
10.7 Ex-PatsKaterina's Wish by Jeannie Mobley (Lexile 780)
+10 Task (14 year old Katerina has moved to the United States from Bavaria)
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 845
10.6 Day of the DeadA Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Lexile 810)
Review: When I was around ten maybe, I read a passage from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and told my mom I wanted to read it, but she said I was too young. It became something of an obsession, although by the time I read it I must not have cared that much because upon listening to it now I remembered very little outside the part with the Christmas tree, which was probably the passage that originally got me interested in the book. Whenever it was, I was too old to care much anymore but too young to really understand it. Now, I got so frustrated at the injustices, especially in the educational system – that’s what will stick out in my mind now. It is a coming-of-age story, but it’s also a story of poverty, of determination, of a way of life that in many ways is gone but also remains (although not as much in Brooklyn).
+10 Task (lived 1896-1972)
+10 Combo (10.2, 20.2)
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 875
10.1 Square PegLife After Life by Kate Atkinson
Review: When Ursula Todd is first born in 1910, she dies after taking only a single breath. The next time she’s born she lives a little longer, and so, like her mother always tells her, “practice makes perfect” – in the next few tries, she’s able to live a little longer into her childhood every time. Eventually, the book settles into a sort of time travel novel, although the actual circumstances aren’t ever exactly clear, and the mechanics really don’t hold up to the scrutiny some genre readers would use for such things. Sometimes, especially later in the novel, Ursula is more aware of the feedback loop that seems to be her life and death. When Ursula attempts to effect change upon the larger world, both she and the novel seem to stray. Spanning a period of time that is one of the most significant in recent history, Ursula, and the book overall, are much more successful when focusing on the smaller events in her life and family.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Jumbo (544 pages)
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 900
10.4 Prix Concourtwon Prix Concourt in 1913
Le Peuple De La Mer by Marc Elder
Review:
I actually took it on me to read this in French as it was available as free public domain ebook for Kindle. It was quite hard in the beginning and I wasn’t sure whether I could actually finish it. But I struggled through it and actually managed to finish it.
Peuple de la mer tells the story of the people living in a seafront village, who are mainly living on fishing. It is divided into three parts and actually each part tells an individual story. The events related in this book are based on their ordinary daily life. Their wishes and desires. It does a very nice job at relating these events and made me feel as though I actually knew those people. I’ll probably not read it again but I didn’t regret reading it, either.
+ 10 Task
+ 15 Combo (10.6, 20.1, 20.2)
+ 10 Review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 580
10.1 Square PegShadow's Edge by Brent Weeks
Review:
Shadow’s Edge is the second book in a trilogy (those books should be read in order as they are quite complex and have a continuous storyline) and tells the story of Kylar, who originally lived in the streets of Cenaria and has now become an assassin. In order to make the woman he loves happy he decides to give up his live as an assassin. But that is not as easy as one might think.
This is actually the third time I’ve read (this time: listened to the unabridged German audiobook) this. I’m always amazed about how well Brent Weeks manages to create these unique and believable worlds. He does create quite a dark atmosphere in his books, which normally isn’t my kind of reading, but Brent Weeks writes in such a vivid and captivating way that I couldn’t put the book down when I first read it. The book switches between different perspectives and thus gives the reader an overall picture of what is happening. As an additional bonus the book is full of unexpected turns.
The series is a must-read for fantasy fans.
+ 10 Task
+ 5 Jumbo (645 pages)
+ 10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 605
10.7 - Rebekah’s task – Ex-pat experience:Paris Was the Place by Susan Conley
Overall, I enjoyed Paris was the Place, but I did feel that after being engaged in the story of Willow's work with immigrant girls, their different stories, her attachment to one of the girls and her love for Macon, the lawyer trying to help the girls stay in Paris for half of the book, I was suddenly drawn in to a different story. Willow's gay brother, Luke, is an important part of her life in Paris and her relationship with him and his partner help fill in the backstory of her life before Paris. Then, this suddenly becomes the main focus of the novel in the second half. I really enjoyed both parts of the book, but was beginning to wonder if it would be tied together in the end. Both parts were well written and I loved the descriptions of Paris, so I still closed the book with a positive impression of Conley's writing. I also loved the last line of the book!
+10 Task: Willow is an American living in Paris and she works with immigrant girls
+10 Review
Task Total:20
Grand Total: 1070
20.8 Stephen KingAffliction by Laurell K. Hamilton
Review: There’s really hardly a point to reviewing this book. It’s the 22nd book in a series that’s been going seriously downhill around book 8. I’m really not sure why I still read them, except maybe that it’s habit. In this installment, a couple of the complaints about the series have been fixed – Anita only has sex maybe three times, and there is actually some semblance of a plot. However, the rest of the problems remain, the most egregious of which is an almost complete lack of editing. The dialogue is clunky, the writing ‘tells’ much more than it ‘shows’, we learn far more about every single character’s hair than we ever needed to know, and even well into the book there were large info dumps from previous stories. Hamilton has built a world and some characters that still have things going for them, but it’s all just too much, and her success seems to have led to a point where she doesn’t have anyone she trusts who can reign her in.
+20 Task (Vampires and wereanimals and zombies, oh my!)
+10 Review
+5 Jumbo (570 pages)
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 935
From Post 533Rosemary wrote: "20.5 - Art in Society
The Captive & The Fugitive by Marcel Proust
Review:
In 'The Captive', the narrator has persuaded Albertine, the woman he loves, to live with him. Jealous to the point of obs..."
+10 Combo (10.3 and 10.6)
20.7 - Don's task: In honor of the five important Jewish holidays in September (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah), read a book by a Jewish author.Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden 10/20/13
Arthur Golden is a Jewis Author
My review:
I thoroughly enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha. Arthur Golden did a wonderful job with his character development, and I felt quite drawn into the story. Several themes ran through this book. First was the insight into the Japanese culture and the world of the Geisha. As portrayed here, these women are schooled and disciplined, esteemed within Japanese Society, but could at best rise to the status of a mistress. Here, too, was the story of the interpersonal relationships within the Geisha houses, where a girl’s future can be enhanced or ruined by the other Geishas and apprentices. Finally, there was the theme of honor, wherein characters would forego something they wanted dearly in order not to hurt another. This is definitely a book I would recommend to a friend.
Combo with 10.2 - Celebrate Book Lover's Day
+20 task
+10 review
+5 combo with 10.2
Task Total: 35 points
RwS Total to date: 495
Pick 'n' Mix Total to date: 200
Pick 'n' Mix Completion Bonus 100
Grand Total to date: 795
10.5 In honor of Labor DayThe Love-Artist by Jane Alison
Review: I read this for the Coursera class "Plagues, Witches, and War: The Worlds of Historical Fiction." The story tries to solve the riddle of why Ovid, the most popular poet of his day, was banished by Augustus. Before his Metamorphoses was published, Ovid travels and encounters a women who becomes his muse and brings her back to Rome. Along with this storyline is another of Augustus' granddaughter who is meant to provide a blood heir to the Roman Empire.
I'll start off with what I liked about the book. I really do like mythology and so all the references to Greek and Roman myths were appealing to me. The premise of the story was also interesting and the characters felt like real people. Ovid's flaw was authentic. Though I like descriptive writing, I sometimes lost my way in this one. Maybe I should have read with less distractions around. I had trouble staying focused and found myself just closing the book at the end of chapters. I do think that this could deserve a re-read at a later date.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total = 20
Grand Total = 275 points
10.4 Prize worthyThe Shipyard by Juan Carlos Onetti (1909-1994)
+ 10 Task (winner of Miguel de Cervantes Prize)
+ 10 Combo (10.6, 20.2)
Task Total: 20 points
Grand Total: 935
15.9 - D4 - Female author, age 40-60:The Gathering by Anne Enright
(born 1962, published 2007 at age 45)
+30 points
Grand Total: 445 points
20.9 - WWII fiction - #99Snow Falling On Cedars by David Guterson
I’m not exactly sure what I thought of this book, to be honest. Personally, I’m just kind of eh about it. It was well written, but there were a lot of terms used that were a little hard to grasp if one is not familiar with coastal fishing or the Pacific Northwest. I thought it was more of a story of unrequited love rather than anything else, but it was probably intended to be just that. It just wasn’t my cup of tea, I guess. However, if you read and enjoyed Shanghai Girls or similar books, you’d probably quite enjoy this one.
+20 task
+10 review
task total:30
grand total: 430
Cory (Bigler) '00-'05 wrote: "10.6 Day of the DeadA Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Lexile 810)
Review: When I was around ten maybe, I read a passage from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and told my mom I wanted to read it..."
Cory, I'm using this book for 10.5, for the last name Smith so that will give you 5 more combo points
20.4 Roman a clef The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Review:
I feel inadequate to review this amazing book. First, the narrator was fantastic and managed to bring the stories absolutely to life. These linked stories worked on so many different levels: the characters in the stories were entertaining their own right; taken together, the stories are a powerful reflection on the personal losses associated with war. The blending of fact and fiction, and the blurring of the lines between the two, serves to highlight the absurdity of war, at least from an individual perspective. I've been meaning to read this for quite some time, and I'm really glad to picked it up. Highly recommended.
+20 Task (on both lists)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.2 – #112 on the list)
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 665
Rebekah wrote: "Cory (Bigler) '00-'05 wrote: "10.6 Day of the DeadA Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Lexile 810)
Review: When I was around ten maybe, I read a passage from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and t..."
Good catch, thanks!
10.9 Karen's Task Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
+10 pts - Task (#9 on Delightfully Quirky List)
+ 5 pts - Combo (10.2 - #140 on list)
Task Total - 15 pts
Grand Total - 635 pts
10.5 Labor DayA Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
+10 pts - Task (Smith)
+15 pts - Combo (10.2 - #14 on list, 10.6- d. 1972, 20.2 - 1896-1972)
Task Total -
Grand Total -
15.7 Pick N'Mix B2 Published 1976-2000
A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the 19th Century by Witold Rybczynski
+20 Task (published 1999)
Grand total: 185
In post 331, Liz M wrote: "15.3 - A3 Set in Europe:To Each His Own by Leonardo Sciascia..."
I am moving this book to category F5 - Trans. from Italian.
15.10 - A3 Set in Europe:The Judge and His Hangman by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, which is set in Twann, Berne, and other places in Switzerland.
+30 task
+100 bonus
Grand Total: 575 points
20.6 - In Search of Lost TimeThe Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
+20 Task author approved here:
Task total=20
Grand total=230
10.2 Books About Books The Haunted Bookshop byChristopher Morley
Style Combo +10 (10.6 Day of the Dead, died 1957, 20.2(1890-1957)
Review +10
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Task+10
Style +20
Book Total: 30
Grand Total: 110
20.2 In Search of Lost TimeEdna St. Vincent Millay: Selected Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay was notorious for her love affairs--with both men and women, conducted both before and during her marriage--and the reading public ate it up. While these things seem far less scandalous these days, her rich writing and powerful imagery are still relevant and moving. Her poems are not difficult to decipher (unlike several of her contemporaries...Eliot and Cummings immediately come to mind), but the rich vocabulary and melodic phrasing of her poems create a lasting beauty. "Renascence," the longest poem in this collection, particularly struck me with its complexity and maturity--and was written when she was a mere 20 year old.
While she was renowned for her love affairs, I found her most moving poems to be about the loss of love. My particular favorite:
What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in the winter stand the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.
+20 Task (Millay, 1892-1950)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.6, died 1950)
Task Total = 35
Grand Total = 275
15.5 Pick'n'Mix #5A.3 - Saphirblau by Kerstin Gier (set in London, Europe) (Lexile 810)
Task Points: 20
Pick'n'Mix Points: 80
Grand Total: 90
10.10 Group ReadsIn the Woods by Tana French
I've had it on my TBR shelf for ages and was ecstatic to see it on the group reads list. I wanted to love this book. And, for the first half, I did. The characters seemed so real to me, so authentic. The story was compelling and complex...but about 60% in, it just seemed to unravel for me. I don't normally read mysteries or crime novels and I was reminded why with this one: the ending is always so unsatisfying! And this one, in particular, felt messy.
I was watching The Falls (an Irish crime drama series starring Gillian Anderson) at the same time I was reading this and had the same experience--great story, fantastically nuanced characters, HEINOUS ending. So maybe the dissatisfaction with the one bled into the other?
I'm glad I read it to get it off my TBR shelf; I wish I could have had some closure by the end of it. Ah, well.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total = 20
Grand Total = 285
10.5 Labor DayCurses! I never even thought of "thief" as being a profession until I saw Isabell's post! I was planning on this one for my Square Peg. Well. Ugh.
Please remove The Little Giant of Aberdeen County (which I currently have as 10.5) and replace it with this:
The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (low lexile)
Task Total = 10
Grand Total = 275
You don't have to replace it, You can move it out of 10.1 spot and put The Dream Thieves into the 10.5, since that can be repeated twice. You get the extra 10 points. You still have your square peg free.
15.2 Pick 'n' MixC5 (MPE 352 pages)
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker
Task Total = 15
Grand Total = 290
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
Gunnerkrigg Court, Volume 4: Materia (other topics)The Piper's Son (other topics)
The Name of the Rose (other topics)
The Name of the Rose (other topics)
The Blue Mountain (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Thomas Siddell (other topics)Melina Marchetta (other topics)
Umberto Eco (other topics)
Umberto Eco (other topics)
Meir Shalev (other topics)
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Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
My review:
I read this book many years ago in high school, but it was one of the required readings that I probably sped through too quickly to really appreciate it. For school books I developed my own form of speed reading 60-100+ pages per hour to get through heavy reading.
This time around I used a combo of the audio and Kindle version of the book, since I like to take advantage of my daily commuting time to get in 1 1/2 to 2 hours of a current book in the car. The narrator, Anthony Heald, does an excellent job of reading this one.
I found that I really enjoyed this novel, even though it was rather dark. Once I got used to the names of the characters, which is itself a challenge when each character seems to have both formal and informal names used, I settled down and got involved in the story. Dostoevsky does an amazing job of developing a variety of characters, particularly that of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, the protagonist from whose viewpoint the novel is written. I can now appreciate the brilliance of the author, and I am sorry it has taken me so long to truly read the book!
+10 task
+15 combo (10.2 - Celebrate Book Lover's Day, 10.3 - Conjunction Junction, 10.6 - All Saints Day)
+10 non-Western
+10 canon
+10 review
+5 jumbo (564 pages)
Task Total: 60 points
RwS Total to date: 440
Pick 'n' Mix Total to date: 200
Pick 'n' Mix Completion Bonus 100
Grand Total to date: 740