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Winter 13/14 RwS Completed Tasks - Winter 13/14
20.9 Daytona 500Allegiant by Veronica Roth
(526pp)
Task+20
Style: Combo +10 20.5-Veronica Roth is a Goodreads author, 10.6 Beginnings and Endings-latest book
Jumbo +5 (526pp)
Review +10
Review
This is the third book in the Divergent series. It is my least favorite. I really liked Divergent. Insurgent was okay. The plot started to slow down. In this book "Allegiant", the plot is all over the place. It is slow then it speeds up then slow down.
The few things I did like about this book was that is was set in Chicago. There are very few books set in Chicago. I recognized all the places mentioned.
The things I didn't like about this book besides the plot was I felt the book was rushed like the author just wanted to finish the series. I hate when authors do that because this series had potential to be really good.
I didn't like how Divergent were called genetically damaged. It's like saying you are damaged because you have blue eyes. I reminded me of Eugenics where the government in this case is creating the perfect person. Two parents can be genetically pure and still have a genetically damaged child.
I didn't like the betrayal and backstabbing in this book. There was too much double crossing in this book. There were too many groups making the "perfect world". I didn't like how their solution to the problem was erasing people's memories.
Total:45
Grand Total:230
10.2 Reindeer Can FlyAmerican Gods by Neil Gaiman
Review
I started reading this book in paperback much earlier in this challenge. After one chapter I laid it aside to be resumed later. Why? Because I knew this was going to be one of those “can’t-put-down, stay-up-all night” kind of books and at that time I did not have the time I could dedicate to such a large book so I saved it for dessert! I’m glad I did. I found a 10th anniversary collection on Audible.com with a full cast of narrators plus extra explanations, background and history by the author. Finally, my husband is on a business trip, the kids are on school holiday and I ate my dessert until early this morning! It was a non-stop adventure that could include so many genres. There is a ghost/zombie, mythical gods from very culture the author thought of, romance, history, travelogue, mystery, suspense and a heaping tablespoon of philosophy. There were so many little gems I highlighted to copy later that make great quotations. I rate this a winner!
+10 pts - Task
+10 pts - Review
+15 pts - Combo (10.5, 20.6 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... , 20.9)
+ 5 pts - Jumbo (656 pgs)
Task Total - 40 pts
Grand Total -
20.2 - Picaresque novel (Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series)Swords Against Death by Fritz Leiber
+20 task
+10 not a novel
+5 combo (20.10)
+5 age (published in 1970)
task total: 40
grand total: 1200
10.3 Edgar Allan PoeThe Empty Chair by Jeffery Deaver
+10 task
+5 (Combo 10.5)
Task total: 15
Grand total: 205
20.5 DisturbingWhite Noise by Don DeLillo
Review
Satire is fun as well as disturbing. I could easily imagine this as a script for The Simpsons, just more educated and with a stirred, mixed and blended family. Reading it puts one in mind of Sims computer game. All the charades and the blah, blah, blah, personal issues and non-issues with people who seem almost computer generated. It is a noisy book. The characters never stop talking, even alone they keep chattering in their heads. Outside their heads is the TV, radio, tabloids, friends, academic colleagues including over-wired personalities that have jumped in the deep end, whose conversations are mostly the streaming news lines that run underneath the anchors speaking on a completely different topic. The conversations with the doctors were satire at its best. Hilarious! The foundation for all this noise is humanity’s constant fear of death and the anxiety it invokes especially when being blasted by media about the millions of ways people can die and “it could happen to you”, heightening society’s natural fears concerning self preservation to a tipping point high.
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Review
+10 pts - Combo (20.6 - #261 on list, 20.7 - Summer 2012)
+ 5 pts - Oldies
Task Total - 45 pts
Grand Total -
10.9 Nobel PrizeNip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburō Ōe
Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids is about a group of reformatory boys evacuated to a remote village of Japan during World War II. During a plague outbreak, the villagers decide to flee, but leave the boys there and block any exit they might have to leave. I believe Oe had recently read Lord of the Flies when he wrote this, and they are frequently compared, but I can't help but see it as its antithesis. Rather than demonstrating kids' wild and violent nature which needs to be kept in check with adult rules and regulations, Nip the Buds juxtaposes the idealism and sincerity of youth with the harsh realism and violence of the war-time adults. This short novel was a quick read, and felt very simple and to the point, but left me with a lot to chew on. I particularly loved Oe's imagery. He described the smells and sights of early spring, and its innervating effects on the kids left to their own devices in the empty village. I swear I could smell thawing snow and pine trees as I was reading it. I am curious to read more by him.
+10 task
+10 review
+10 combo (20.7, 10.6)
+5 oldies
task total: 35
Grand Total: 410
10.10 Group ReadsThe Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman by Andrzej Szczypiorski
The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman follows many different interrelated characters in Warsaw as they make choices about how to respond to the German Occupation. The Polish title for this novel is, I think, Beginnings, and I find it a little curious that the book has the english title that it has, as Mrs. Seidenman plays a relatively minor roll in the book. Rather her predicament (she is passing for gentile, noticed by an old acquaintance and turned in to the Gestapo as a Jew) serves as a catalyst for many characters in the book.
Early on in the novel Szczypiorski introduces the juxtaposition between wanting peace, which can be easily achieved if people give up their liberties, with fighting for freedom. Much reference is given to the way Poland has been the site of countless battles throughout history, and how this has shaped Polish identity. The suggestion is, I think, that it is a site of contention but also a place where people are willing to stand their grounds and fight for freedom. I confess the digressions into Polish identity lost me several times, but this certainly gave me a different perspective of Poland during WWII, especially since the only other book I've read about Poland at this time was Kosinski's The Painted Bird!
+10 Task
+10 review
+5 oldies
Task total: 25
Grand Total: 435
20.5 DisturbingWorld War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
+20 task
+5 Combo (10.5)
Task total: 25 points
Grand Total: 1505
Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Arow wrote: "20.5 DisturbingFlowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
As I started the first page of 'Flowers in the Attic' I was taken back to my teen years and I could..."
I agree; I have seen both and enjoyed the older version better. I decided to re-read it prior to watching the Lifetime tv movie.
20.5 - DisturbingPetals on the Wind by V.C. Andrews
+20 Task
+5 Oldies (1980)
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 260
TtPR Seafarer15.9 (9th stop) China: A & C
In the Pond by Ha Jin
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 1405
From post 527Ashley wrote: "10.2 Reindeer
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Lexile: 730
+20 Task
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 95"
Task 10.2 is only worth 10 points, not 20, sorry, Ashley.
From Post 565Connie wrote: "10.6 Beginnings/Endings
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
+10 task (debut book)
+10 combo (10.5 Goodreads author)
+10 review"
I only see one combo listed here, so I have your total at 5 points less than you do.
20.4 Travel A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
I happened to start and finish this book during subway commutes over the past few days, which in NY have been filled with snow and slush, so reading this made me wish I were out walking in the woods rather than picking through icy streets. But besides the weather, a lot of the rest of the book also made me wish I could take off and hike for a few months. Having both read Bryson before and having walked a very small part of the Appalachian Trail, accompanied by class after class of 5th and 6th graders, year after year, I was looking forward to picking this one up. First, let me say that Bryson and his travel companion complained *almost* as much as my 10 and 11 year olds did (though to be fair, the kids were only walking 3 miles round trip, not the 870 that Bryson ended up walking!). Bryson's complaints, though, were hilarious, and I always enjoy the way he weaves the history of the land into his personal experiences. I found this amusing and enjoyable, though not as hilarious as his Australia book.
+20 task (#1 on the Favorite Travel Books list)
+10 review
+10 not-a-novel (non-fiction)
Task total: 40 points
Grand Total: 190
20.8 Disastrous ReadingThe Gathering Wind: Hurricane Sandy, the Sailing Ship Bounty, and a Courageous Rescue at Sea by Gregory A. Freeman
I ran across this book only because I was looking specifically for this task -- and I feel so lucky Kate came up with this task! This was quite a find and I highly recommend it. I had never read any of Freeman's books before, but I found his style to be engaging, bringing the people and places to life, without losing the seriousness of the situation or straying from the facts. The story itself was fascinating -- it hadn't really been on my radar before, possibly because while it was happening (apparently televised), I had no power myself, and once I had news back, a lot of my local news was focused on what was happening here in NJ. I've seen a number of the tall ships in NYC and was shocked to learn that one sunk during Sandy -- at first I assumed there was some horrible accident, like the crew unable to navigate to land or swept from a safe harbor or something. The real story was more perplexing, and led to fascinating questions for me that led me to constantly want to Google during my reading. In the end, I was left with the completely satisfying sense that the answers were more complicated than they seemed on the surface. Fascinating, tragic story that was well told!
+20 task (nonfiction about a Hurricane Sandy shipwreck)
+10 combo (10.6 -- most recent book; 10.8 -- BINGO in title)
+10 review
+10 not-a-novel (nonfiction)
Task Total: 50 points
Grand Total: 240
10.4 Chinese New YearHour of the Rat by Lisa Brackmann
+10 task
+10 combo (10.5 GR author; 10.6 most recent published book)
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 260
10.1 ResolutionsMajipoor Chronicles by Robert Silverberg
+10 task
+5 Oldies (published 1982)
+10 Not a Novel (short stories)
Task total: 25 points
Grand Total: 1530
Joy wrote: "20.7 - Group Reads ReduxThe Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
+20 Task (Group read: 2013/09/01-2013/11/30)
+5 Not-a-Novel
Task total: 25
Grand total: 330"
FYI: Not-a-Novel is worth 10 points.
20.6 20th CenturyLady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
YA Assignment (Lawrence would have loved that!) - no Lexile score
+20 task
Task total: 20 points
Grand total: 1090
Joy wrote: "20.7 - Group Reads ReduxThe Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
+20 Task (Group read: 2013/09/01-2013/11/30)
+5 Not-a-Novel
Task total: 25
Grand total: 330"
+5 Combo 20.4
Katy wrote: "20.4 Travel A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
I happened to start and finish this book during subway commutes over the past..."
+5 Combo 20.6
Rebekah wrote: "20.5 DisturbingWhite Noise by Don DeLillo
Review
Satire is fun as well as disturbing. I could easily imagine this as a script for The Simpsons, just more educated and wi..."
+5 Oldies
Kate S wrote: "Joy wrote: "20.7 - Group Reads Redux"Thanks for the corrections, Kate!
Correction to post 764:20.7 - Group Reads Redux
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
+5 Not-a-Novel
Task total: 25
Grand total: 330
+20 Task (Group read: 2013/09/01-2013/11/30)
+10 Not-a-Novel
+5 Combo (20.4)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 340
10.8 - BINGO!Ruined By Reading: A Life in Books by Lynne Sharon Schwartz
+10 Task (Ruined By ReadING: A Life in BoOks)
+10 Not-a-Novel
Task total: 20
Grand Total: 360
Task 10.8 - BINGO! Read a book that has the letters "b i n g o" in the title and the original subtitle.
Lea g ue of De ni al: The NFL, C o ncussions and the B attle for Truth
League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth (2013) by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru
Review:Two ESPN journalists researched and wrote this book about professional football player’s brain damage. The book is half telling the lifestory of a few players, and the rest describing what various neurologists have said and what the NFL has done. The authors have included extensive and helpful source notes for all major statements in the book. The short version: repeated small (and not so small) concussions professional football players experience over the course of their career resulted in permanent, irreversible brain damage. Nobody financially dependent on the pro-football wanted this to be true; so, when the data showing the brain damage was uncovered by neurologists, the industry in general (and the NFL specifically) went into “denial”, and disputed and minimized the results. Over time, the football industry has come to acknowledge the damage to the players’ brains. As of the book’s publication in 2013, the league is changing its policies as regards to player concussions and as regards to retired players’ pensions and healthcare.
Recommended to those interested in American football; American labor relations; and (layman level) neurology.
+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.6 author's most recently published book)
+10 Not-a-Novel
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 05 + 10 + 10 = 35
Grand Total: 725 + 35 = 760
15.9 - PhilippinesNoli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) by José Rizal
+15 task
+10 bonus
task total: 25
grand total: 1185
15.10 - MalaysiaThe Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
+15 task
+10 bonus
task total: 25
sightseer bonus: 50
megafinish bonus: 200
grand total: 1460
TtPRStop # 9. China.
I read Rice by Su Tong. Fits all three: A B and C.
10 point bonus for every stop beyond # 5.
Points this post: 15 + 10(bonus) = 25
Grand Total: 175
TtPRI saved the U.S. for last, so I could end up at home.
The most recent book I've read set in the U.S. by a U.S. author is:
Stop # 10. U.S.
American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon by Stephen R. Prothero.
10 Point bonus for each book beyond #5.
50 Point Bonus for completing the "Aviator" journey.
Points This Post: 15 + 10 + 50 = 75
Total Points: 250
I might come back and post one of the group reads. But aside from that, I've had fun Flyin' around! Thanks!
TtPR Seafarer15.10 (10th stop) Japan: A,B & C
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
+100 TtPR Finish
+200 Mega Finish
Points Total: 325
Grand Total: 1730
10.5 – Goodreads authorized:In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson
I have read a lot of historical fiction and other nonfiction materials about the Holocaust, but never anything about Dodd and his family and their roles in Germany in the early 1930s. This book was well researched and intelligently written. I think the most interesting thing about the book was the exposure of how much the United States government knew about how much power Hitler was grabbing. In hindsight, we of course know what’s coming and can hardly believe that there was no real outrage over the horrific actions taking place. I found Dodd’s daughter Martha’s story much less engaging. It just seemed to be about one affair after another and never really drew me in. Dodd should be given credit for realizing how brutal the leaders were and In the Garden of the Beasts gives him that recognition. Unfortunately, I was somewhat bored with parts of the book because I knew the history so well already and nonfiction writing just doesn’t create an empathy for the characters like fiction does.
+10 Task
+10 Combo: 10.6: Beginnings/Endings (most recent) / 10.8 Bingo: IN Garden Of Beasts
+10 Review
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 1770
10.2. Reindeer:
The Alchemist Paulo CoelhoThis was my first Coelho's book. I think that it is overrated. I have heard so many about this particular novel so I expected something really great but was disappointed. I wonder why is it so popular, why Coelho is so popular... Maybe I am just the minority of those who see no point in this book. The plot is useless, the writing style is plain and boring. The philosophical message didn't reach me and I count this novel as a waste of my time. I choose to listen to an audio book. It was 4 hours long but unfortunately I tortured myself with it for 4 days. It was so uninteresting that it took a real effort to get through it.I know that this is Coelho second novel so I will give him the second chance with some of his recent writings - maybe his writing now will please me more.
+10 - Task (1108 times)
+10 - review
+5 - Oldies (1988)
+15 - Combo (10.5., 20.6., 20.4.)
Task Total - 40 Points
Grand Total - 555+40=595
TtPR - Seafarer15.8 Eighth stop - US A,B,C
Woke Up Lonely by Fiona Maazel
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand total: 435
10.5 Goodreads authorizedThe Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
This enchanting book was one of my favorites from 2012 so I was happy to read it again for a book discussion. The Snow Child is a delightful combination of hard reality with the magic of a Russian folktale. Jack and Mabel are childless, older homesteaders in Alaska in 1920. The life is harder than they had visioned with the long, dark winters and short summers. But they have good, helpful neighbors and a deep love for each other that helps them through their first year in Alaska. When the snow first falls, they play in the snow like children, building a snow child which they decorate with a red scarf and gloves, and yellowed grass for the hair. In the morning, the show child is gone. But they occasionally see a little blond girl with a red hat and gloves lurking behind the trees in the following weeks. The illustrator, Alessandro Gottardo, has beautifully pictured her on the cover. She is a child of the wilderness that Jack and Mabel soon love like a daughter. Is she a real girl, or is she an imagined child that brings great joy to this childless couple? This is a beautiful tale about love, children, nature, resilience, helping others, and magic.
+10 task
+ 5 combo (10.6 beg/end--first book)
+10 review
Task total: 25
Grand total: 780
10.3 Edgar Allan PoeDirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
+10 task
+5 Oldies (published 1987)
Task total: 15 points
Grand Total: 1545
20.5 - DisturbingIf There Be Thorns by V.C. Andrews
I have been re-reading the 'Dollanganger Series' and I have to say, for me the most disturbing of the series is by far 'If There Be Thorns'. I believe it is due to how Cathy and Chris's lives turn out and what they have succumbed to in the end.
The third novel in the series is told from the perspectives of Cathy’s children, Jory and Bart. Each chapter goes back and forth between them and I personally found this style of storytelling unique but lacking. I do not believe that V.C Andrews had the format under control and I found it hard to track what was happening in the story. I personally found it difficult to understand how much time had passed between chapters and within the chapter themselves.
My favourite so far is still ‘Flowers in the Attic’ but there are still two left for me to read in the series so who knows if I will change my mind.
+20 Task (listed Disturbing 7 times)
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (1981)
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 295
Kate S wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "20.5 DisturbingWhite Noise by Don DeLillo
Review
Satire is fun as well as disturbing. I could easily imagine this as a script for The Simpsons, just more..."
Thanks, Kate!
Rosemary wrote: "20.6 20th CenturyLady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
YA Assignment (Lawrence would have loved that!) - no Lexile score
+20 task
Task total: 20 points
Grand to..."
lol
20.10 - Between the WarsA Boy's Will & North of Boston by Robert Frost
+20 Task (born 1874)
+ 5 Combo (A Boy's Will was Frost's debut book)
+10 Not-A-Novel
+10 Oldies (1913 and 1914)
Task total=45
Grand total=955
10.6 - Beginnings/EndingsNight Magic by Thomas Tryon
+10 Task (most recently published book, posthumous)
Task total=10
Grand total=965
10.6 Beginnings /EndingsSoulless by Gail Carriger
+10 task (author’s first book)
+10 Combo (10.2, 10.5)
Task total: 20 points
Grand Total: 1565
15.4 Seafarer PERU!In Praise of the Stepmother by Mario Vargas Llosa
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task Total: 25 points
Grand Total: 465 points
10.4 Chinese AnimalsThe Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
lexile 970
Review: This book feels rather different than the first two book in the Narnia series. Maybe because it is set in the country of Calormen and Lewis successfully creates a different culture. It took me a while to get through such a short book, not because it wasn't good but I guess I found it hard to get invested in the story. I like how the ending turns out but I wish there had been more of Susan, Lucy , Edmund and Peter. My favorite idea from the text is that "each person shall be told only his story". So while your story will intermingle with others', you will only find clarity in the events that happened to you and about your character. It kind of reminds me of the Neverending Story where many chapters end with " but that is another story which shall be told another time."
+10 Task "Horse"
+ 5 Combo 10.2 shelved 5000+ times
+ 5 Combo 20.6 Best of 20th Century
+ 5 Combo 20.10 Lewis born 1898
+10 Review
+5 Oldies published 1954
Task Total: 40 points
Grand Total: 505 points
10.2 ReindeerThe Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.5-GR Author)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 835
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Reading with Style
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Heather wrote: "10.3
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
+10 task
+10 oldies
task total: 20
grand total: 270"
+5 Combo (20.6-#255 on the linked list)