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Fall 2013 RwS Completed Tasks - Fall 2013
20.1 French author, written in FrenchClaudine's House by Colette
This book is delightful! The simple elegant prose was perfect after the dense sinuous prose of Carpentier. Colette immediately draws you in with the first chapter titled "where are the children?" which describes some of the oddities of her siblings and her self as well as the other-worldliness of her mother. I loved the mention of the book left open on the lawn that was included in her opening description of the house. It is a charming novelized memoir that jumps around a little bit chronologically, but unfortunately seems to lose steam once the narrator leaves the house of the title.
+20 task
+20 combo (10.6 - All Saints Day, 10.9 - Single name author, 20.2 - Alive 1873-1954, 20.6 - Influenced by Proust)
+10 review
Task total: 50 points
Grand Total: 690 points
20.4 Roman a clefThe Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Review: This is another book that I should have read years ago. I don't think I have read a book about war before that was so poetic. The way it was written makes the reader wonder if it is truth or fiction. It is told in vignettes and the different chapters focus on the different soldiers in LT Jimmy Cross' platoon. It goes back and forth in time so the reader can be with them as they encounter the atrocities in Vietnam and the after effects of war on their lives back in the States. By the end of the book I felt as if I knew more and more about the boys and their struggle to come to terms with everything. War is hell and it is echoed throughout.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.2 #120 on list)
Task Total = 35
Grand Total = 340 points
20.2 - Read a book written by an author alive between 1909 and 1922.The Shadow of the Pomegranate by Jean Plaidy10/30/13
Jean Plaidy lived from 1906 to 1993
Review:
The Shadow of the Pomegranate by Jean Plaidy continues the story of Henry VIII and his first wife, Katharine of Aragon, after the events chronicled in Katharine, the Virgin Widow. The marriage of the young Henry and his older Spanish bride is plagued by their failure to produce a male heir to the throne. Political intrigues do not help their situation, either. Eventually Henry becomes quite frustrated with his life, sometimes blaming his misfortunes on having married his older brother’s widow. (view spoiler) I did like the story, but it was a bit drawn out, hence my 3* rating.
Combo 10.6 - Jean Plaidy died before September 1, 2013.
Combo 10.7 - Katharine of Aragon came to England as a young girl and had to adapt to a new language and culture.
+20 task
+10 review
+10 combo (10.6, 10.7)
Task Total: 40 points
RwS Total to date: 565
Pick 'n' Mix Total to date: 200
Pick 'n' Mix Completion Bonus 100
Grand Total to date: 865
20.8 - Kate's Task: In honor of Stephen King's birthday, read a book with a non-human MAJOR character.Frankenstein by Mary Shelley1 0/31/13
The monster created by Frankenstein is non-human.
Review:
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a classic that has been made into so many movies that one loses sight of her original tale. In reading the novel for Halloween this year, I realized that it is a much deeper story of humanity than a simple horror story. No one here is perfect, and their frailties contribute to the dark and tragic end befalling all the major characters.
(view spoiler)
Combo 10.6 - Mary Shelley died before September 1, 2013.
+20 task
+10 Canon
+10 review
+5 combo (10.6)
Task Total: 45 points
RwS Total to date: 610
Pick 'n' Mix Total to date: 200
Pick 'n' Mix Completion Bonus 100
Grand Total to date: 910
Books in Canon: 4
15.4 B4 Published 1900-1950The Living and the Dead by Patrick White
published 1941
+15 points
Grand Total: 1395 points
20.7 - Don's task: read a book by a Jewish authorThe Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud (1914-1986)
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.6, 20.2)
+10 Canon
Task total=40
Grand total=405
20.5 Art in Society(book is on linked wikipedia list)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
Review:
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall tells the story of a young woman who recently moved into Wildfell Hall. Of course the neighbours are curious about her, especially Gilbert Markham, who can’t help but feel drawn to her. However, Helen Graham is withdrawn and doesn’t want to share her secrets.
I won’t go into further detail concerning the content here because this is one of these books that one has to enjoy on one’s own and discover every revelation in its proper time. It was very easy for me to feel compassionate with Helen and Gilbert. The story is told partly by Gilbert, partly by Helen. While Gilbert remained a bit flat Helen is a character with quite a bit of depth to it, who is presented realistically. I could almost see her before me, writing in her diary.
The book probably isn’t the right choice for people looking for a lighthearted story, because I found it quite tragic at times. There are bright points in it, however, and I found this to be a very good piece of literature. I’ll probably return to it one of these days.
+ 20 Task
+ 10 Review
+ 5 Jumbo (535 pages)
+ 5 Combo (10.6)
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 860
Pick & Mix15.9 B2 1976-2000: 1997
The Way I Found Her by Rose Tremain
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 1260
Pick'n'Mix15.6 - C4 - 252 pages
Slavery in the Roman World by Sandra R. Joshel
+20 points
Grand Total: 935 points
Pick'n'Mix15.8 - D1 - born 1871, pub 1895, age 24
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Canon, and the full version on Lexile has a score of 900
+20 points
Grand Total: 975 points
Pick'n'Mix15.9 - D5 - born December 27th 1934, pub 1999, age 64
Postcards from No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers
Lexile 900
+30 points
Grand Total: 1005 points
20.2 - Author alive 1909-22On the Other Side: Letters to my Children from Germany 1940-46 by Mathilde Wolff-Monckeberg
Review:
I think this should be required reading for anyone who (like me) enjoys cosy, self-congratulatory British World War II stories. Tilli Wolff-Monckeberg and her second husband, plus one married daughter, lived in Hamburg during the Second World War while her other four children lived overseas in Allied or neutral countries (South America, USA, Wales, Sweden). She was sometimes able to send and receive letters through the daughter in neutral Sweden but they were strictly censored, so in spite of the danger she kept a kind of diary where she wrote the letters that she would have sent them if she could. Meanwhile she lived through the near-starvation of German citizens towards the end of the war and the devastating fire-bombing of Hamburg by the British. While not supporting Hitler by any means, this shakes you out of the "anything the Allies did was right" frame of mind.
+20 Task (lived 1879-1958)
+ 5 Combo (10.6)
+10 Review
Task Total: 35 points
Grand Total: 1040 points
20.2 - Author alive 1909-22The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh
Review:
I first read this satirical novel set in two LA funeral parlours - one for pets, one for humans - as a teenager but all I remembered about it was that I enjoyed the easy read and humour at a time when I had a lot of much more difficult books to read. We studied Waugh's 'A Handful of Dust' for A-level and that is quite devastating in its bleakness while in 'The Loved One' you feel that most of the characters will at least survive, although as you would expect from a satire set in Hollywood some of them come to a very sticky end.
+20 Task (lived 1903-66)
+10 Combo (10.6, 10.7 main character is a Brit living in LA and having a hard time adjusting)
+10 Review
Task Total: 40 points
Grand Total: 1080 points
15.5 C3 175-275 pagesKilling Bridezilla (A Jaine Austen Mystery #7) (2008) by Laura Levine (Hardcover, 248 pages)
Grand Total: 635 + 20 = 655
Pick'n'Mix15.6 C-5 Page length: 325-425
The Princess Bride by William Goldman, 398 pages.
+ 20 Task
Grand total: 140 pts.
Pick'n'Mix15.7 D-6 Female 60+ or posthumous
Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin who was 79 years ole when the book was written.
+ 20 Task
Grand total: 160 pts.
20.3 - Proust's lifetime is almost exactly that of what has been termed the Belle Époque (beautiful era). Read one of the top 100 Belle Epoque books.The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka 11/3/13
This book is #7 on the list.
Review:
I liked this short but thought-provoking story. It was easy to read and left me thinking about the story and it's meaning. Furthermore, it left me wanting to read more works by Kafka.
(view spoiler)
Combo 10.6 - Kafka died in 1924.
Combo 20.2 - Kafka lived from 1883 to 1924.
Combo 20.7 - Kafka is a Jewish author.
Combo 20.8 - The main character Gregor has become a bug.
+20 task
+10 Canon
+10 review
+20 combo (10.6, 20.2, 20.7, and 20.8)
Task Total: 60 points
RwS Total to date: 670
Pick 'n' Mix Total to date: 200
Pick 'n' Mix Completion Bonus 100
Grand Total to date: 970
Books in Canon: 5
Rosemary wrote: "20.2 - Author alive 1909-22The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh
Review:
I first read this satirical novel set in two LA funeral parlours - one for pets, one for humans - as a teenager but all I remembe..."
+5 Combo 20.6 (from wiki page-https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...)
From Post 627Isabell wrote: "10.9 It IS Unusual
(#21 on "Books with Innovative Book Design / Structure"-list)
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Review:
Considering that this is a classic in German l..."
+5 Combo (20.5-from linked list)
From Post 469:Isabell wrote: "20.7 Jewish Author
Neil Gaiman is featured on this list of Jewish authors
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Review:
I’ve already read several books by Neil Gaiman, so I know what to..."
+5 Combo 20.8 (see post 657)
From Post 589Tanya wrote: "20.7 Don's Task=Jewish Authors
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Review:Why has it been so long since I have read another of Gaiman's work? I read American Gods and a long time ago..."
+5 Combo 20.8 (see post 657)
15.6 B3 1951-1975Birds of America (1965) by Mary McCarthy (Paperback, 348 pages)
Grand Total: 655 + 20 = 675
10.2 - book lovers - #19 on listThe Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Lexile 810
+10 task
task total: 10
grand total: 625
Pick n' Mix - E6 - Dewey Decimal 741.50915.8 - Supervillains and Philosophy: Sometimes, Evil is its Own Reward by Ben Dyer
+20 task
task total: 20
grand total: 645
15.6 Pick 'n' MixE6 (shelved as non-fiction at 817 K at BPL)
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
Task Total = 20
Grand Total = 360
15.7 Pick 'n' MixF5 (translated from Portuguese)
Blindness by José Saramago
Task Total = 20
Grand Total = 380
10.3 - Conjunction JunctionGive Me Your Heart: Tales of Mystery and Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates
+10 Task (and)
Task total=10
Grand total=415
15.8 Pick 'N' Mix D2: Woman Under 40
The Pregnancy Project by Gaby Rodriguez
Task Total = 20
Grand Total = 365 points
Pick'n'Mix15.10 - F3 - Translated from Japanese
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
+30 points
+100 Pick'n'Mix finish
Including the extra points that Kate found for me, I think my total is now:
Grand Total: 1215 points
20.10 Undeveloped countriesAnd the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
+ 20 Task (born in Afghanistan)
+ 5 Combo (10.3 - and)
Task Total: 25 points
Grand Total: 1440
10.3 - Conjunction Junction.Read a book whose title contains one (and one only) of these conjunctions: and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet.The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov 11/5/13
The title includes "and".
Review:
I truly enjoyed listening to The Master and Margarita. I was so engrossed in the delightful tale written by Mikhail Bulgakov and Julian Rhind-Tutt's great narration that I managed to fit in 17 hours of listening time in two days. The story, for those not familiar with the book, is extremely imaginative, with such characters as Moscow poets, artists, police, restaurant managers, managers of the tenant’s association, physicians, bus drivers, and others you might expect in a novel set in Russia. Then he adds in a huge cat that walks upright, Satan, a witch, a female vampire, flying horses and broomsticks, a man who turns into a pig ridden by a woman, and many more fanciful characters. To further add to the mix, there is a sub-plot on Pontius Pilate and Yeshua Ha-Nozri (Aramaic for Jesus of Nazareth). I won’t give away the plot, but just say the story is quite unusual.
Having read the book and enjoyed the tale, the next step for me is to digest what I’ve read in conjunction with Bulgakov’s life. He was born during the reign of Czar Nicolas II and lived through Stalin’s regime. I know that the book has strong political undertones, and the next step for me is to do a bit of research on the underlying meanings of the book’s themes.
Combo 10.2 - #160 on the list
Combo 10.6 - Bulgakov died in 1940
Combo 20.2 - Bulgakov lived from 1891 to 1940.
+10 task
+10 Canon
+10 review
+15 combo (10.2, 10.6, 20.2)
+10 Non-Western - Bulgakov was born in and lived his life in the USSR
Task Total: 55 points
RwS Total to date: 725
Pick 'n' Mix Total to date: 200
Pick 'n' Mix Completion Bonus 100
Grand Total to date: 1025
Books in Canon: 6
Pick 'n' Mix15.4 C4 250-350 pages
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan
+15 Task (307 pages)
Season Total: 1290
20.8 Stephen King's BirthdayTwenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
+20 Task (Aunt Sadie is a ghost)
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1310
20.7 Jewish AuthorsThe History of Love by Nicole Krauss
+20 Task (author identified as Jewish on Wikipedia)
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1330
20.4 Roman a clefLunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.8-several major non-human characters)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 1355
10.1 - Square pegThe Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
+10 Task
+10 Non-Western (approved by Liz here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...)
Task total=20
Grand total=435
15.8 Pick 'n' MixE2 (shelved under "Mystery" at BPL)
The Baker Street Letters by Michael Robertson
Task Total = 20
Grand Total = 400
20.7 Don's TaskMaus I : A Survivor's Tale : My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
+20 Task
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 105
15.10 - A6 - Setting in AustraliaFlying Too High by Kerry Greenwood
+30 task
+100 bonus
Task total: 130
Grand total: 365
15.1 - A4 - Setting in AsiaThe Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall
+15 task
Task total: 15
Grand total: 380
15.2 - D5 - Male +60Storm Prey by John Sandford - born 1944 - published 2010
+15 task
Task total: 15
Grand total: 395
15.3 - D6 - Female +60Dangerous by Diana Palmer - born 1946 - published 2010
+15 task
Task total: 15
Grand total: 410
15.4 C2 - 100 - 200 pgsMurder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood - 151 pgs
+15 task
Task total: 15
Grand total: 475
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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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The Lost Steps by Alejo Carpentier
At the start of the novel, the narrator is leading an unfulfilling life in a modern city. Over the years he has fallen away from his passions and has settled for the mundanity of commercial work and the weekly visits to his wife. In a chance meeting, he is offered a commission to travel to the remotest jungles in search of primitive musical instruments and at the behest of his lover, he reluctantly agrees.
The book is written in a dreamy style, full of lush description that becomes more and more apt as the narrator travels into the jungle. The further he travels from civilization, the more he remembers his childhood and the more he becomes his true self. This is humorously contrasted with the reaction of his lover who is much less able to adapt to "uncivilized" life. The three week trip extends into months as the narrator struggles to renounce his societal constructs and to ignore the reawakened creative passion that is drawing him back to the modern world.
+20 task
+25 combo (10.4 - Cervantes prize, 10.5 - Labor Day, 10.6 - All Saints Day, 10.7 - Ex-pat experience (view spoiler)[The "surprising decision" in the book description is that he returns to modern life long enough to make the necessary sacrifices in order to return to live in the "uncivilized world" (hide spoiler)], 20.2 - Alive 1904-1980)
+10 Canon
+10 review
Task total: 65 points
Grand Total: 640 points