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Winter 13/14 RwS Completed Tasks - Winter 13/14
20.7 Group Read ReduxWatership Down by Richard Adams
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.2, 20.6)
+5 Oldies (1971)
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 685
20.8 DisastrousTriangle: The Fire That Changed America by David von Drehle
+20 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel
+5 Combo (20.7)
+100 RwS Finish
Post Total: 135
Season Total: 820
TtPR Seafarer15.6 Sixth Stop - Malaysia A, C
The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo 1/18/14
+15 Task
+10 Seafarer Bonus
Task total: 25 points
TtPR Total: 140
RwS Total: = 615
Grand Total: 755
10.6 Beginnings/EndingsLife After Life by Kate Atkinson
+10 task (latest book)
+10 Combo (10.3, 20.9)
+5 Jumbo (526 pages)
Task total: 25 points
Grand Total: 810
Task 20.10 - Between the Wars: Read a book written by an author born between the Civil War and WWI (1866-1913). H.G. Wells
Born:September 21, 1866
Died: August 13, 1946
Love and Mr. Lewisham (1900) by H.G. Wells
Review: H. G. Well’s first published novel that was not a “scientific romance” was the 1896 novel lauding bicycle riding, The Wheels of Chance: A Bicycling Idyll . (Scientific romances like: The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man.) This book, Love and Mr. Lewisham, was the second “mainstream” novel Wells published.
H.G. Wells as a young man attended “the Normal School of Science” (later renamed as the Royal Academy of Science). He found his romantic life challenging. He was also acquainted with spiritualists. In this novel, a young man is a student at “the Normal School of Science”. His romantic life is challenging – the conventional young lady or the modern young lady who is also a student at the School of Science? And – later on in the novel – spiritualists become involved with the plot. Write what you know, right?
Wells was part of the “free love” movement, and he was anti-nuclear before the nuclear bomb even existed (he extrapolated the likelihood of nuclear weapons from “airships” and the events of World War I). His 19th century “scientific romances” are interesting even today in the 21st century.
The pacing of this 1900 novel is slower than modern novels. I’m OK with that but the modern reader may be tempted to skim or even toss. The first chapter describes our hero’s bedroom – the second chapter he leaves it, never to return! Maybe Wells was being nostalgic about his student days?
Overall: Recommended for fans of H.G. Wells; for those who like to read novels loosely based on the author’s life; and for those who are interested in novels written in the midst of (or just before) great world changes.
+20 Task
+10 Oldies -76 to 150 years old: 10 points (1864-1938)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 10 +10 = 40
Grand Total: 515 + 40 = 555
Post 554 Heather wrote: "10.7 - Aurealis AwardAcross the Wall: A Tale of the Abhorsen and Other Stories by Garth Nix
No Lexile
+10 task
+10 not a novel
+5 (10.5-goodreads author)
task total: ..."
As this is designated YA fiction and has no lexile, it is not eligible for style points.
10.4 Chinese New YearA Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
Review: This is hard to judge because I love the series, but I'm not sure I liked the way the last two books have gone. There are so many surprise moments in the first three books and then it kind of stagnates in the next two. Book Four tells the story of the Southern area of Westeros and Braavos. This book tells the story of the North and Slavers Bay at the same time period. Near the end the stories converge. I was glad to go back to the stories of Tyrion, Daenerys, and Jon Snow since they are my favorite characters. However, I'm not sure how any of them advanced their causes. Jon and Daenerys are just trying to get through each day. Tyrion has to scramble a lot, but he is still strategizing as he goes.
I only had one "Nooooooo" moment in the book. Of course people still die and plans are thwarted but fans have come to accept this from GRRM. The next book is taking forever to come out and I hope that it goes back to the promise of the beginning of the series.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.3 shelved over 1,000 times, 20.9)
+ 25 Jumbo (1016 pages)
Task Total = 55 points
Grand Total = 415 points
TtPR Seafarer15.7 Seventh Stop - Cambodia A, C
In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner 1/19/14
+15 Task
+10 Seafarer Bonus
Task total: 25 points
TtPR Total: 165
RwS Total: = 615
Grand Total: 780
20.4 TravelOut of Africa by Isak Dinesen
+20 task (#31 on favorite travel books)
+5 Combo (20.6)
+10 Oldies (published 1937)
Task total: 35 points
Grand Total: 845
Connie wrote: "20.5 DisturbingThe Dinner by Herman Koch
Shelved 10 times as disturbing.
"The Dinner" started with satirical social humor as two brothers and their wives dine a..."
Connie, your review is a little on the short side. Could you give us few more thoughts on this one?
Coralie wrote: "20.4 TravelOut of Africa by Isak Dinesen
+20 task (#31 on favorite travel books)
+5 Combo (20.6)
+10 Oldies (published 1937)
Task total: 35 points
Grand Total: 845"
ETA: Never mind, this book has a YA designation at the BPL and no lexile score, it therefore does not qualify for any style points. Sorry about that.
Heather wrote: "10.5Fifty Shades Darker by E.L. James
Ok, so sue me. I’m actually quite enjoying this series. Opponents on either side will deride the story as saying BDSM is so..."
+5 Combo (20.5-shelved as disturbing 11 times)
+5 Combo (20.9-532 pages in Most Popular Edition)
+5 Jumbo (532 pages in MPE)
20.10 Between the WarsTrollope: His Life and Art by C.P. Snow
+20 Task (b. 1905)
+10 Not a Novel
+ 5 Oldie (pub 1975)
Task Total = 35
Grand Total = 370
Kate S wrote: "Connie wrote: "20.5 DisturbingThe Dinner by Herman Koch
Shelved 10 times as disturbing.
"The Dinner" started with satirical social humor as two brothers and the..."
Kate, I edited my post #559 to make the review longer as you requested. I didn't want to write too much and spoil the plot.
10.8 BingoInstruments of Darkness by Imogen Robertson
Review:
Harriet Westerman, wife of a British naval officer currently at sea, becomes mixed up in a mystery involving the estranged older son of a local Earl against the backdrop of the American revolution and anti-Catholic riots in London.
I enjoyed this historical suspense/mystery and thought it was mostly convincing with very little anachronistic thinking/language except you had to wonder what Harriet's husband would think about the amount of time she was spending with her sleuthing partner, Crowther.
All the same it didn't totally grab me, probably because there was no mystery about who the bad guys were, only about how they would be caught. I didn't have any trouble putting it down between chapters.
+10 task (ImOGeN roBertson)
+10 review
Task total: 20 points
Grand total: 895
Task 10.6 Beginnings and EndingsAllegiant by Veronica Roth
*this is the most recent book by this author*
lexile score: 830
+10 task
+5 jumbo (544 pages)
+5 combo (w/10.5 Roth is goodreads author)
+10 review
Task Total = 30 pts
Grand Total = 280 pts
My Review
Divergent is a hugely popular YA dystopian series. If you have read it, you really need to! I read books one and two back to back in 2012 (I think, or was it early 2013?). I immediately went online and pre-ordered book three, Allegiant, and like thousands of readers out there, I counted down the days to its release date last fall. Immediately after the publication date, reviews started coming in and surprisingly not all of them were positive.
Having read some of the negative reviews, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I began Allegiant. I was afraid that I would be disappointed but I wasn’t. I found Allegiant to be a solid ending to the Divergent series. The ending may not have been what readers had hoped for (which I think was the crux of most of the negative reviews) but I think it was the right ending. I actually applaud Veronica Roth for being brave enough to write the ending that she believed in knowing that it might anger some of her fans.
I don’t want to say too much about the book for fear of inadvertently including some spoilers so suffice it to say that while I didn’t feel the urgency to finish this book as I did with the other two, I did still enjoy it and am sad that this is the end of the series. I can’t wait to see what Veronica Roth writes next!
Jennifer if you list 20.9 as your main task, you can get more points. The book is over 500 pps. Then you can use 10.5 and 10.6 as combos plus your review, you could have 45pts.
Connie wrote: "Kate, I edited my post #559 to make the review longer as you requested. I didn't want to write too much and spoil the plot."Thank you, Connie! I completely understand, I find that particular title is difficult to discuss without giving away too much. Nicely done. :)
10.8 - BINGO!Ten Years in the Tub: A Decade Soaking in Great Books by Nick Hornby
+10 Task ( Ten Years in the Tub: A Decade SoakING in Great BoOks)
+5 Combo (10.6-debut)
+10 Style (Not-a-Novel)
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 235
itpdx wrote: "TtPR Seafarer15.5 Fifth Stop-China A,B,C
The Ancient Ship by Zhang Wei
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 310"
I show 310 and the Reader Board shows 300. Did I miss a correction?
10.5 - Goodreads AuthorizedA Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean
Heroine Penelope is 28, has a failed engagement and several refused proposals to her name, and refuses to settle for second best. Her latest suitor could very well be her last, though, and the family pressure is on. Hero Michael, on the other hand, gambled away his massive fortune on a single hand of vingt-et-un. Disgraced and humiliated, he spends the next ten years earning back his fortune and more as part-owner of the most exclusive gambling hell in London. But what he wants most is his former estate - a parcel of land that is now part of Penelope's dowry. (Dun dun DUN!)
While misunderstandings and friends-to-lovers stories are not my thing I was still enthralled. MacLean is right up there with the best of them. The most amazing part of this series, I think, is how planned out everything is. If you know what the book three reveal is (*~shakes fist at the podcast that spoiled her~*) you can see how it's worked up to and hinted at oh so slowly. This is the advantage of a shorter series - all the bits can fall perfectly into a coherent, awesome whole and it's fun to watch happen.
+10 task (Goodreads author)
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 290 pts
10.9 - Nobel PrizeHateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories by Alice Munro
+10 Task (The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013)
+ 5 Combo (10.7 - 1997 PEN/Malamud Award)
+10 Not-A-Novel (short stories)
Task total=25
Grand total=740
20.6 - 20th CA Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.10-b. 1882)
+10 Not a Novel
+10 Oldies (p. 1929)
----------
Task Total: 45
Grand Total: 185
itpdx wrote: "itpdx wrote: "TtPR Seafarer15.5 Fifth Stop-China A,B,C
The Ancient Ship by Zhang Wei
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 310"
I show 310 and the Reader Bo..."
No, you did not miss anything, I did. I will correct it during my next scoring session and you will see it updated on Sunday when I do the Readerboard. Your score of 310 is correct.
Task 10.5 - Goodreads authorized: Read a book written by a goodreads author.
Doll Bones (2013) (YA) by Holly Black (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 250 pages)
Lexile 840L
Review:I was really impressed by this YA novel. Holly Black has successfully described how children actually play with their toys and with each other. In this story there are 3 pre-teen children. They have an elaborate, many-day play going, starring their dolls/action figures. (mermaids, pirates, etc.)
Each of the three children have a unique and different backstory. Only the minimum details necessary from the backstory are included. The focus is on the three children and their one last adventure (“quest”) related to their many-day play. The quest involves an ancient doll owned by the mother of one of the children. (mild) (view spoiler) The adults act like real adults also, which is not always the case in YA novels. Overall, recommended for fans of coming-of-age stories.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20
Grand Total: 555 + 20 = 575
TtPR Seafarer15.6 (6th stop) Malaysia: A, B & C
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 1110
20.5 DisturbingThe Road by Cormac McCarthy
Review:
It's hard to know what to say about this book. It's sad, it's scary, it's brilliant, it's also much easier to read than I expected. Although difficult emotionally, the short sections and bleak action-driven language pull you on and on - much as the man and his son are moving on and on through a bleak and cold post-apocalypse landscape where almost nothing grows and anyone they encounter has to be assumed to be a cannibalistic enemy. (view spoiler) Chilling.
+20 task
+10 review
Task total: 30 points
Grand total: 925
20.3 – Post-Colonial:The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje
I have always been fascinated by books that take place primarily on boats or ships. I'm not really sure why because I do not sail or travel often by boat, but the sense of a unique community in a special environment interests me. In The Cat's Table, Ondaatje develops that camaraderie within the group that sits at that table on the ship; it is pretty much the opposite of the captain's table and so includes some rather unsavory characters as well as the young people that are the focus of the story. I listened to this one and it was well narrated. Sometimes it is difficult to follow Ondaatje's writing style in print. I don't know if that's true for The Cat's Table, but listening presented a straight forward story different from other reading experiences I've had with his work. I'm looking forward to reading Coming Through Slaughter, his first full length novel, now that I have read his most recent book.
+20 Task: Ondaatje is on the given list
+ 5 Combo: 10.6 Beginnings and Endings (most recent book)
+10 Review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 1145
10.3 Edgar Allan PoeFreaky Green Eyes by Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is such a prolific writer that it's no surprise that she turns out some YA books along with her large collection of adult books. I enjoyed Freaky Green Eyes, but I do think it might appeal more to adults that read YA than teens. That is because Oates includes a lot of the story of the adults, and even though the events are seen through Franky's (aka Freaky) eyes, I felt a connection to the mom that Franky was unable to understand until the end. The writing was excellent, the characters believable and the plot kept me reading, so for me it was a 4 star book.
+10 Task: on linked list
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 1165
Task 20.6 - Best Books of the 20th Century . On January 22, 2014 this book was #167 on the list.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1994) by John Berendt
Review:This book is considered non-fiction. I’d say it was non-fiction with an asterisk: the author states in his Author’s Note that “I have taken certain storytelling liberties, particularly having to do with the timing of events. Where the narrative strays from strict nonfiction, my intention has been to remain faithful to the characters and to the essential rift of events as they really happened.” In other words: not a valid source for one’s history paper.
The first half of the novel consists of the author interviewing various longtime residents of Savannah, Georgia. All of this is presented with a light touch, even when dealing with subjects like prostitution or gun violence or anti-Semitism. Several of the anecdotes are proof that truth is stranger than fiction --- oh, wait, MAYBE it’s truth, or MAYBE it is “storytelling liberties”.
The second half of the novel is centered on the murder of an individual mentioned (but not focused on) in the first half of the novel. In between trial updates, the author includes sketches of eccentric Savannah residents. Recommended for light reading.
+20 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 10 + 10 = 40
Grand Total: 575 + 40 = 615
From Post 288Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "10.5 - Goodreads authorized: Read a book written by a goodreads author.
Allegiant by Veronica Roth 12/28/13
Veronica Roth is a Goodreads Author.
This book is li..."
This book now has a lexile score over 800. It therefore qualifies for the following styles:
+5 Jumbo (over 500 pages)
+10 Combo (20.9, 10.6)
From Post 586Rosemary wrote: "10.8 Bingo
Instruments of Darkness by Imogen Robertson
Review:
Harriet Westerman, wife of a British naval officer currently at sea, becomes mixed up in a mystery ..."
+5 Combo 10.6-This is her first novel.
From Post 587Jenifer wrote: "Task 10.6 Beginnings and Endings
Allegiant by Veronica Roth
*this is the most recent book by this author*
lexile score: 830
+10 task
+5 jumbo (544 pages)
+5 com..."
+5 Combo (20.9-over 500 pages)
Kate S wrote: "This book now has a lexile score over 800. It therefore qualifies for the following styles:+5 Jumbo (over 500 pages)
+10 Combo (20.9, 10.6) "
Thanks, Kate S! I've updated my records to add the extra points
Kate S, may I also add my review of Allegiant? I hadn't posted it before since it didn't qualify for styles. Now that it has a Lexile over 800, here's my Goodreads review:I finished listening to the audio version of Allegiant by Veronica Roth, the third and final book in her Divergent Trilogy. Sadly, I found this one a disappointment. It just was not as interesting as the first two, and the only plus was the addition of a male narrator, Aaron Stafford, reading the parts attributed to Tobias (aka Four). I really felt as though the author had lost interest in the series and was struggling to tie it all together. (view spoiler)
+10 Review
Updated totals:
TtPR Total: 165
RwS Total: = 640
Grand Total: 805
Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "Kate S, may I also add my review of Allegiant? I hadn't posted it before since it didn't qualify for styles. Now that it has a Lexile over 800, here's my Goodreads review:I fini..."
Yes! I will include this in your updated score on Sunday.
10.7 Keep It ShortDear Life: Stories by Alice Munro
Sometimes it's the little decisions in life that take us on a completely different path than the one that was planned. Alice Munro's latest collection of short stories are set in small towns in Ontario, Canada in the 1940s and 1950s. With most of the stories, she shows us something unexpected about the characters that sets them in a new direction. Train trips, car rides, and changing residences--all ways of moving on in life--are involved in many of the stories. I especially liked "Train", "To Reach Japan", "Corrie", and "Leaving Maverley".
The end of the book features four works that are more autobiographical in nature about her early life, her parents, and the village where her family lived. Alice Munro won the Pen/Malamud Award for Short Stories in 1997, and the Noble Prize for Literature in 2013.
+10 task
+10 combo (10.6 Beginnings/Endings, 10.9 Nobel Prize)
+10 not a novel (short stories)
+10 review
Task total: 40
Grand total: 615
20.9 - 579 pagesFifty Shades Freed by E.L. James
I really don’t understand why there’s such a hate-on about this book. People evolve – that’s human nature. I guess some readers just don’t want main characters to develop into better people in romance novels. Personally, I quite enjoyed it. I like that the characters’ issues are addressed as part of the storyline and that they work TOGETHER to resolve them – not without some drama, of course. The ending is a bit sappy for my tastes, but you’ll have that. However, after reading all three books, I find myself wondering just how much experience the author has in the BDSM scene…. She seems to know an awful lot of detail for an onlooker. That aside, I actually quite liked this book.
+20 task
+10 review
+10 combo (10.5, 20.5 - 11 times)
+5 jumbo
task total: 45
grand total: 925
TtPR Seafarer15.6 Sixth stop-Japan A,B,C
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 335
15.7 - New ZealandThe Luck Of Brin's Five by Cherry Wilder
+15 task
+10 bonus
task total: 25
grand total: 975
20.1 1964Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Review:
I enjoyed this book so much more than I expected I would. I didn't like the cover or the description that was told to me when this book was picked for my bookclub and I expected something sappy and annoying. Instead, I found the book warm but witty and sarcastic in fun ways. I have two friends who moved from the east coast to Seattle in the last few years, so I was especially enjoying the gentle fun being poked at Seattleites.
The reader for the audiobook did a fantastic job. It's not always easy to convert an epistolary novel into an audio format, especially where, as here, the book is made up of emails, reports, notes, and different non-letter items. I think I also would have enjoyed this book in print, but the audio experience was so good that I'd highly recommend it even for folks who don't listen to many books.
+20 Task (author born in 1964)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.5)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 565
20.9 Daytona 500Few Eggs and No Oranges: The Diaries of Vere Hodgson 1940-45 by Vere Hodgson
Review:
I had a lot of trouble with the first 3 months of this diary when it seemed to me she was just cataloguing bombs and there was none of the housekeeping information that I expected from the title. But after that it did improve and became more of a record of living in London during World War II, as I expected.
There is not much about housekeeping at first because Vere Hodgson was a single woman living in rented rooms, eating in cafes and working for a spiritualist organisation. But as it goes on, we hear much more about day to day life in the Blitz and after. As such it is a very interesting record, however you feel about its bias.
I don't think I would have got on very well with Vere in real life and I was left with a lot of questions at the end - e.g. were Dr Remy's wife and family in Germany okay? and how did Vere really feel about that, because I felt she was very attached to Dr Remy ... but that is the way of true stories, there is never a neat ending. As a genuine record of one person's point of view it is very valuable regardless of how you feel about her as a person.
+20 task
+10 Combo (10.6 first and only book, 20.10 born 1901)
+10 not a novel (real life diary)
+10 review
+ 5 oldies (first published 1976)
+ 5 jumbo
Task total: 60 points
Grand total: not sure, I think something has gone wrong with my spreadsheet :(
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
A Dance with Dragons (other topics)Tracks (other topics)
Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops (other topics)
The Frenzy (other topics)
The Counterfeiters (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
George R.R. Martin (other topics)Robyn Davidson (other topics)
Jen Campbell (other topics)
Francesca Lia Block (other topics)
André Gide (other topics)
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July's People by Nadine Gordimer
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.9)
+5 Olides (1981)
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 650