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FA 2015 RwS Completed Tasks - Fall 2015
15.9 TtUS - Land CruiserWyoming
The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson
+15 Task
+15 Bonus
Task Total: 30
My computer has died, which means I do not have access to my spreadsheet.
Grand Total: 435 (provided total above is correct)
20.4 BalanceA Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif
I have had this book on my list to read for ages, and it didn't disappoint, though it wasn't quite what I was expecting. It's the story of Ali Shigri, in training for Pakistan's air force, who we eventually learn is trying to figure out and then avenge his father's death by concocting an elaborate plot involving his best friend and the "silent drill" routine he's learning with an American drill sergeant. In some ways this reads like a comedy - there are absurd situations and larger-than-life characters, some of which are quite funny. Hanif's writing pops out the humor well. On the other hand, there are also parts that read more like a drama or a historical fiction piece. Hanif plays with time and point of view expertly -- I was confused at first but it quickly became clear and enjoyed the author's skill as much as the story line.
+20 task (#34 on South Asian Fiction list)
+10 review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 400
15.5 TTUS Land cruiserMethland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town by Nick Reding
IOWA
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 425
10.8 The Horrors!Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
Having watched a few episodes of the Dexter TV show when it was on, I was interested to see how the books stacked up. As is usually the case, the book was better (though it's a pretty good show!). The premise is, without any spoilers, that Dexter is drawn to murder - he's a sociopath killer who wishes to do right, and so only murders people who deserve it. He also works for Miami's forensic investigation unit. (Convenient!) In this book, he is tracking down a serial killer (not the loving kind, either!) whose methods he admires a bit. The book highlights, more so than the show did, Dexter's internal struggles - wanting to do right by his values and lead a good life, but wrestling with what that means. Aside from the serial killer aspect, that I think resonates with most of us as true life work.
+10 task (#125 on list)
+5 Combo (10.9)
+10 review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 450
10.2 Agatha ChristieThe Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
This is Agatha Christie's first book, and being a casual fan, I thought it would be fun to go back to #1. This one, like her others, have held up well against the test of time. Here's where we meet Inspector Poirot and get a bit of his backstory, and here is also where you can really see some of the elements that will ultimately make a Christie a Christie. Fun, relatively light reading in the vein of mystery writing that makes you want desperately to put down the book and solve the case before Poirot - Agatha Christie plays fair, everything is there for you, but I have yet to be able to completely figure out the puzzle in advance.
+10 task
+5 combo (10.9)
+10 oldies (published 1920)
+10 review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 485
20.10 InterconnectedChristmas at High Rising by Angela Thirkell
+20 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel
Task total: 30
Grand Total: 1075
Post 772 Coralie wrote: "20.10 InterconnectedChristmas at High Rising by Angela Thirkell
+20 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel
Task total: 30
Grand Total: 1075"
You'll be pleased to know that all of the stories in this collection were previously published, the most recent in 1942.
+ 5 Oldies points!
20.10 InterconnectedWinesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
Written in 1919, this collection of short stories, each focusing on a different citizen of small town Winesburg, Ohio, could just as easily be describing the residents of a building in New York today or a village in Britain 300 years ago. It's about humanity, about our quirks and foibles, our regrets, our sorrows, our inability to fully express ourselves to another person, our quiet desperations, our small victories, our love and our longing. Thank heaven Anderson consistently used both first and last names every time he would mention a character--there was enough overlap in the stories and the cast of characters was large enough that I would have been completely lost otherwise.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Not-a-Novel
+10 Oldies, 1919
+5 Combo, 10.9 (approval pending)
Task Total = 55
Grand Total = 1320
15.5 - Land Cruiser The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald
Lexile 840
set in Utah
+15 points
+10 bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 190
15.6 - Land CruiserThe Eagle Catcher by Margaret Coel
set in Wyoming
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 215
15.7 - Land CruiserBlue Heaven by C.J. Box
set in Idaho
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 240
10.5 - October AwardsA Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride
+10 task
Task total: 10
Grand total: 250
10.6 - ReunificationBeyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
+10 task
+5 combo (20.2 - pub 1886 died 1900)
+10 not-a-novel
+10 oldies (1886)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 285
10.7 - LibrivoxThe Willows by Algernon Blackwood
+10 task
+20 combo (10.3, 10.8, 10.9, 20.1)
+10 oldies
Task total: 40
Grand total: 325
10.8 - The HorrorsThe Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson
+10 task
+15 combo (10.9 post 342, 20.2 - pub 1889 died 1894, 20.9
+10 oldies pub 1889
Task total: 35
Grand total: 360
20.2 - Innocence Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
+20 task
+20 combo (10.7, 10.9, 20.3, 20.6)
+15 oldies
+5 jumbo
Task total: 60
Grand total: 420
20.3 - DifficultThe Red and the Black by Stendhal
+20 task
+10 combo (10.9 - post 39, 20.2 pub 1830 died 1842)
+15 oldies
+5 jumbo
Task total: 50
Grand total: 470
20.7 - MicrohistoryThe Invention of Air by Steven Johnson
+20 task
+5 combo (10.9 - 112)
+10 not-a-novel
Task total: 35
Grand total: 505
20.8 - DARThe Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer
+20 task (set 1776)
+5 combo (10.2 born 1902 died 1974)
+10 oldies pub 1934
task total: 35
Grand total: 540
(and now I'm up to date with the books i read in September - oops)
15.6 - Land CruiserThe Shore by Sara Taylor
set in Virginia
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 1275
20.8 DARThe Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+20 Task (set 1771/2)
+5 Combo (10.6)
+15 Oldies (published 1774)
Task total: 40
Grand Total: 1120
20.2 InnocenceThe Lost Honor of Katharina Blum by Heinrich Böll
+20 Task (published 1974, died 1985)
+5 Combo (10.6)
+5 Oldies (published 1974)
Task total: 30
Grand Total: 1150
10.9 Six DegreesAdeline: A Novel of Virginia Woolf by Norah Vincent
+10 Task (post 117)
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 1300
20.2 InnocenceMinding Frankie by Maeve Binchy
+20 Task (p 2010 d 2012)
+5 Combo 10.9-post 377
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 1325
20.2 InnocenceAmerican Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms by Chris Kyle
+20 Task (published same year as author's death)
+10 Not-a-Novel
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 1370
10.3 DictionaryAbove the Waterfall by Ron Rash
Review:
Ron Rash has written an atmospheric novel of guilt and redemption set in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. The sheriff, Les, is a bit of a loner haunted by his failed marriage to a woman he could not help. He has a relationship with Becky, a park ranger, who had been traumatized by a harrowing school shooting as a child as well as experiences with an eco-terrorist. Becky has found solace in the natural world and poetry. She is also close to an old farmer named Gerald who reminds Becky of her grandparents.
When someone poisons a trout stream at a fishing resort, fingers are pointed at Gerald. The environmentalist Becky feels in her heart that Gerald would never harm the fish. Les investigates the crime in the last few weeks before he retires as sheriff. The sheriff's office is also involved in hunting down another kind of poison--meth--and seeing the damage it has done to some of the town's younger citizens.
The mystery takes a back seat to the stories about Les, Becky, and Gerald--all complicated, flawed characters with good hearts. Les narrates his chapters with normal prose. Other chapters are narrated by Becky in very poetic prose filled with observations about nature. The wonder of the natural world is also expressed through Becky's poetry, and phrases from the poet G.M. Hopkins. Ron Rash's lyrical writing is beautiful as he weaves together a story about an Appalachian small town and the challenges faced by the people who populate it. It also reminds us to stop and open our eyes to the natural beauty in our world.
+10 task
+ 5 combo (10.9 Six Degrees post 423)
+10 review
Task total: 25
Grand total: 545
15.10 TtUS. LandcruiserNew York
Awakening by Wendy Corsi Staub
+15 pts - task
+15 pts - bonus
+100 pts - completion
Task total - 130 pts
grand total - 1095 pts
10.3 DictionaryGramercy Park by Paula Cohen
Review:
"Gramercy Park" transports us to Victorian New York City in 1894. Mario Alfieri, a renowned tenor who will be performing at the Metropolitan Opera, is looking to rent the home of the recently deceased wealthy Henry Slade. Mario meets Clara Adler, the ward of Mr Slade, a destitute but beautiful young woman. It's love at first sight, and the couple are married within a few weeks. Mario soon suspects that Clara has a terrifying past because she is so frightened, and the truth about her parentage and disturbing childhood comes out layer by layer.
The book is a glimpse into New York high society, a Gothic romance, and a mystery with the dashing Mario saving Clara from the evil villains. The plot of Clara's backstory has as much intrigue as the operas at the Met. It's good storytelling written in a Victorian style, full of suspense, with likable romantic main characters.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 565
10.4 - MathStreet Smart: A Fifty-Year Mistake Set Right and the Great Urban Revival by Samuel I. Schwartz
I am the wrong person to write a review for this book - I was an urban planning major in college and transportation planning was one of my favorite classes. Schwartz is my kind of guy, emphasizing the awesomeness of density, transit, and smart design. (Kudos for that - Urban Design was my other favorite class.) The writing is solid and down-to-earth without a hint of academic pretentiousness.
In short: this planning geek liked the book but didn't learn much new stuff. People less familiar will find it an interesting and readable look at the future (and past) of transportation and transit.
+10 task
+10 review
+10 not-a-novel
Task total: 30 points
Grand total: 300 points
20.10 Inter-ConnectedThe Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett
I'm glad I finally got to this. It is a collection of vignettes that make a novel, in much the same way as is Olive Kitteridge a novel. The stories are in the individual chapters, but the thread between them is strong. This is a quiet book, told in the first person by a visitor to a Maine fishing village. Ketchikan was one such town before tourism arrived and a good portion of our population continues to make its livelihood by harvesting the sea. Though we are on opposite coasts, I was able to recognize ourselves 100 years later.
These ancient seafarers had houses and lands not outwardly different from other Dunnet Landing dwellings, and two of them were fathers of families, but their true dwelling places were the sea, and the stony beach that edged its familiar shore, and the fish-houses, where much salt brine from the mackerel kits had soaked the very timbers into a state of brown permanence and petrifaction.I don't know that I have others by Jewett on my Goodreads shelves, but if I found another that fits a challenge, I would be happy to consider it.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (20.2 - p. 1896, d. 1909; 20.9)
+10 Oldies
Task Total = 50
Grand Total = 525
10.1 AuthorNew to me author
Right as Rain by George Pelecanos
Review:
I do not know why it took me so long to read this book, but I suspect it was the cover which did not excite me. This is a nitty, gritty detective story which deals with drugs, prejudice, and love.
Strange is an older disillusioned black detective who takes a case involving the shooting death of a black cop by a white cop. The story develops both characters as the truth about the death of the black cop begins to move beyond simple prejudice to something more. That something more involves the search for the black cop's sister (who has disappeared into the world of drugs).
Pelacanos has filled his book with people who are flawed yet filled with strength of character (in the case of the good guys) and fatally flawed (in the case of the bad guys). I really enjoyed this writer and his gritty world.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total = 20
Grand Total = 455
20.4 Balance - 2nd readFifth Business by Robertson Davies
List: Best Canadian Literature #9
Review:
Another book that has lingered on my shelves for a while. I was really surprised to find it on this particular list as the book cover did not seem so attractive and the author was unknown to me.
This is a fictional memoir of a retired head master/instructor in a Canadian all boys school. For most of the book, it was so-so as I struggled to care about his war experiences and his intellectual hobby of saints. BUT...in the end, it is revealed what all that history of his childhood had to do with the ending. And, it was just right...the ending, that is. It made all that previous average re-telling of his life make sense. Perhaps that is how each of our lives are - they make most sense to us, who can see the connections.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.1 - pub year 1970)
+5 Oldie (1970)
Task Total: 40
Grand Total = 495
Kate S wrote: "From Post 723Valerie wrote: "10.7 Librivox
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
shelved 14x
Even though I’ve enjoyed the movies based on his novels, this is the first ..."
Oh well, at least it's good for the task!
From Post 772Coralie wrote: "20.10 Interconnected
Christmas at High Rising by Angela Thirkell
+20 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel
Task total: 30
Grand Total: 1075"
+10 Combo (10.2, 20.2)
From Post 787Coralie wrote: "20.8 DAR
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+20 Task (set 1771/2)
+5 Combo (10.6)
+15 Oldies (published 1774)
Task total: 40
Grand Total: 1120"
+10 Combo 10.8, 20.9
Rebekah wrote: "15.10 TtUS. LandcruiserNew York
Awakening by Wendy Corsi Staub
+15 pts - task
+15 pts - bonus
+100 pts - completion
Task total - 130 pts
grand total - 1095 pts "
Congratulations on you TtUS Finish, Rebekah!
20.5 - HistoryRevolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence by Joseph J. Ellis
+20 task
+10 combo (10.9 Post 280, 20.8)
+10 not-a-novel
Task total: 40
Grand Total: 580
15.8 - Land CruiserBreakaway by Catherine Gayle
set in Oregon
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 565
15.9 - Land CruiserThe Perfect Cast by T.K. Chapin
set in Washington
+15 task
+15 bonus
Task total: 30
Grand total: 595
15.10 - Land CruiserJuly by Kathryn Gilmore
Alaska
+15 task
+15 bonus
+100 completion bonus
Task total: 130
Grand total: 725
10.1 Authors-Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star by Tab Hunter
I'm not usually a Hollywood biography reader but I picked this one up on impulse when I saw it at the library. I really didn't know much about Tab Hunter... I'm a little too young for the movies he made in his heyday. But I had seen him in a John Waters film and remembered that he had come out recently as gay while in his 70s. The autobiography, of course, reveals how he was a young kid caring for horses (some of them used in movies) when he was "discovered". He eventually got an agent who was known or became known for guiding other closeted gay actors... such as Rock Hudson. He had to struggle with Hollywood gossip writers who not so shyly hinted at his being gay. The studios would pair him off at functions with Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood in order to allay the rumors. I had had no idea at all that Hunter had become a hit recording artist. (I checked him out on You Tube...and I am sure the sales were driven by his teenage fans.) He eventually broke from the studio contract system and struggled...even making some spaghetti Westerns. He did a lot of dinner theater. He had an awful period when he was accused of being an animal abuser. He had a revival of sorts when making a few films with Divine.
My major takeaway was that Hunter was a hard worker...and but for his sex appeal, he probably would never have made it as a top actor in Hollywood. He also made a lot of poor choices....in his choice of roles, his business ventures, his spending, and his personal life. But overall, you get the feeling that he has led a full life, mostly happy and dignified.
task +10
review +10
combo +5 (10.6- post 375)
not a novel +10
total= 35
grand total = 480
20.9 - Authors With Three NamesAmericanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
+20 task
+5 combo (10.9 - Six Degrees, post 156)
task total: 25
grand total: 280
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Reading with Style
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South Dakota
Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 405 (I think)