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FA 2015 RwS Completed Tasks - Fall 2015
20.2 Innocence Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada - published 1947, same year as death
Every Man Dies Alone centers around a couple living in Berlin during WWII. After their son dies in the war, the couple decide together to oppose the regime by writing postcards critical of Hitler, the war, and the Nazi Party, and leaving them in public buildings. Partly inspired by a true story, the novel does an excellent job of painting what life was like for non-Jewish Germans living in Hitler's Germany. I have never read another book which has given me such insight into the pressures Germans faced and the difficulties of opposing the government in such a tighly sewn and claustrophobic environment: where everyone feels guilty of something, everyone's neighbor is a potential informer, and the government is happy to kill its own citizens for any offense.
I read this book after rave recommendations from a couple whose opinion I highly value. I think because they were so enthusiastic about it, my expectations were a little too high. I found it difficult to immerse myself in the book during the first half of the novel because Fallada uses a quiet realism which slowly and carefully follows disparate characters, some of whom never meet. But as the novel progresses it develops a momentum which the reader follows with some urgency and despair. It is definitely worth reading.
20 pt. task
+10 review
+15 combo (10.9 - post #62, 10.2 - 1893-1947, 10.6)
+5 oldies
+5 jumbo
Task total: 55
Grand total: 55
20.4 BalanceThe English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Yet another book that I have to wonder why I held off so long! This book is so very atmospheric and beautiful, even though all of the characters are damaged, that I didn’t want it to end. I would say the writing is spare and to the point, yet you still have a very good idea of a very small part of the character’s personalities and a feelings. This was one of those books that make me think if “people in charge of these type of political things” were to read it, maybe we could avoid war (of course, they would have to be empathetic). Sad and beautiful, and worth adding to your "to read" list.
20 task
10 review
___
20
Running total (corrected): 120
20.3-DifficultAnimal Farm by George Orwell
+20 task (#108 on list)
+20 combo (10.2 1903-1950; 10.3 A-F; 10.9 post 37; 20.2 pub. 1945, died 1950)
+ 5 Oldies
Task total=45
Grand total=255
From Post 83Will wrote: "Task 20.1 - Celebration
Liberation Movements by Olen Steinhauer
----
'Liberation Movements' is one book in the series of Olen Steinhauer where each book is written fr..."
I am sorry, Will, this has an original publication date of 2006, so is not eligible for 20.1. I have recorded it as 10.9 with a combo for 10.3.
Bea wrote: "20.3 DifficultThe Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Review:
I have been meaning to read this book for some time. It seems to find its way to many lists of books one should read ..."
+5 Combo 20.2-published same year as author's death
From Post 54Lagullande wrote: "20.2 - Innocence
At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
1st pub. 1936; author died 1937
Review: I had never heard of Lovecraft until this book was voted as next ..."
+5 Combo 10.9-post 255
20.1-Celebration!Still Alice by Lisa Genova, published in 2007.
As many of you probably know, this book (which was made into a movie by the same name) is the fictional story of a woman with Alzheimers disease. This touched me in so many ways. I work at a long-term care facility, and though I work in Finance, we still learn a lot about the residents in our communities.
Just last week, the local TV station aired a piece about Music and Memory, a program being tried with our residents with dementia and Alzheimers. The resident is given an iPod shuffle loaded with the type of music he or she enjoyed in the past. It was so touching to hear a resident's son speak of how much this has helped his mother. She has some lucid moments when listening to her songs, and even lets him hold her hand, something she had not done for a long time.
The book also brought to mind my own family members with similar problems. Grandma had dementia, and while she recognized me the last time I saw her before she died, her concept of time was distorted. Asked if my Mom had come with me, I had to remind her that Mom had passed away two years before. She said she was sorry, and that it was so sad that both my mother and hers had died so recently. Later she said that Margie (my Mom) would be home from school soon if I wanted to wait and play with her. It was so sad.
I could go on about an aunt with Alzheimers and another relative I'm starting to worry about. Suffice it to say I thought the book was very well done, and it really hit home with me.
+20 task
+5 combo (10.9 Kevin Bacon message #266)
+10 Review
Task total: 35
Grand Total: 175
15.1 Flight-seerThe Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs by Matthew Dicks
+15 task (set in Massachusetts)
Task total: 15
Grand total: 110
Kate S wrote: "+5 Combo 20.2-published same year as author's death."Thanks for the points, Kate.
10.9 Six Degrees Driving over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucía by Chris Stewart
details in post 118)
+10 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel (autobiography)
Task total = 20
Points total = 45
10.3 DictionaryGreat House by Nicole Krauss
Review:
This is a novel made up of eight interlocking stories woven around a large desk. The reader first encounteres the desk when it is loaned (along with other pieces of furniture) by Daniel Varsky to a woman without any furniture of her own. And, thus the interwoven story of this desk begins.
Among the stories, the reader meets Mr. Weisz, his two children (Yoav and Leah), Mr. and Mrs. Bender, and Mrs. Fiske, among others and learns slowly how their lives intercepted around this desk, which never was the central point of any of the stories; rather it hovered in the background. Death and the missed life swirls in and around the stories with the desk a witness of it all.
I, at times, found this book hard to follow but that is because I missed the hint of its organization. It is divided into two parts. Each part contains a story with the same heading in both parts (e.g., "All Rise", "True Kindness"). So instead of 8 separate stories, the novel is made up of 4 interconnected stories.
I think, if I went back and read it again with that understanding, I would follow it even more closely than I did. I gave it 3*.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.10 - connected stories approved post 34)
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 130
10.9 - Six DegreesThe Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
+10 task ( post 25)
Task total: 10
Grand Total: 85
10.9 Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon-Ed's Task-Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
When I was a junior in high school, I had a teacher who taught American History in an unusual way. He appealed to our emotions through folk music by singers like Buffy St. Marie and challenged us to think by assigning reading outside the realm of the common textbook like The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South. I learned more about slavery from that reading experience and from his lectures than I could have learned in any other way in my practically all “thought we were white” community. His views were radical for the late 60s and a number of parents accused him of communism, in fact he only had the job for one year. His teaching gave me the gift of empathy and respect for all people and I’ve continued to seek further understanding through reading and life experiences when they arose. Reading Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book let me know that I still have the ability to empathize, but that that ability is not and never will be enough to make an impact on the politics and history that has brought our country to this point. There really is no way for me as a white, retired woman to truly walk in the shoes of Coates or like Trayvon Martin’s family who must live with loss and fear. I will speak up and step up with my vote to try to impact change and I will continue to learn. I will continue to read books by authors of color that push my comfort level to help me understand the state of our country and the world today. Between the World and Me is powerfully written and I thank Coates for the gift of his words.
+10 Task: Approved Author Post #226
+10 Review
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 145
10.6 ReunificationSonnets to Orpheus and POEMS by Rainer Maria Rilke by Rainer Maria Rilke
+10 Task (originally written in German)
+5 Combo (20.9)
+10 Not-a-Novel
+10 Oldies (1922 for Orpheus; for the selected poems, it's several different pub dates but none I could see were after 1939...if so, I can just not claim "Poems" since "Orpheus" alone is enough pages)
Task Total = 35
Grand Total = 260
15.1 - TtUS Land Cruiserset in Hawaii
The Big Island Posse: An Hawaiian Western by Robert B. Olafson
+15 task
Task total: 15
Grand total: 110
15.2 - TtUS Land CruiserSet in California
The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider - 930Lexile
+15 task
Task total: 15
Grand total: 125
15.3 - TtUS Land CruiserSet in Arizona
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver - 900Lexile
+15 task
Task total:15
Grand total: 140
15.4 - TtUS Land CruiserSet in Nevada
Beautiful Children by Charles Bock
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 165
20.8 DAR-Rebekah's TaskJohnny Tremain by Esther Forbes 840 Lexile
+20 task (set 1773-1775)
+20 combo (10.2 1891-1967; 10.3 J-T; 10.9 post 198; 20.5 1943 winner)
+ 5 Oldies (1943)
Task total=45
Grand total=300
10.8 The Horrors!Welcome to Dead House by R.L. Stine
Low lexile, no combos!
( And that's my last R.L. Stine, as I promised my daughter I would read 3 )
+ 10 task
Task Total = 10
Grand Total = 175
20.2 InnocenceThe View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
Lexile 870
+20 task (published 1996, died 2013)
Task total: 20
Grand Total: 270
Task 10.9 Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon The Nightingale (2015) by Kristin Hannah (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 438 pages)
(Post #107)
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 40 + 10 = 50
10.8 The Horrors!-Karen's Task-Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
The experience of listening to the incomparable Will Patton read a novel is worth every minute of the time it takes! He is a master of characterizations through the vehicle of the voice. He enhanced Mr. Mercedes with his portrayal of the villain and the cast making it a tense thriller. Of course, Stephen King gets lots of credit, too. His writing is solid and readable here, as it always is. I haven’t read as much of his work as I would like to, but I liked this one and will follow it up with Finders Keepers soon. I find that I’m often more spooked and fearful when I read books like this that could happen and this one was no exception. It was grisly at times, but not overly so and a 4 star read for me.
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo: 10.9 Kevin Bacon Approved Author Post#20
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 170
10.9 Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon-Ed's Task-Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Hmmmm… well, I wasn’t as entranced with this book as I thought I would be. I started out liking it a lot, but by the last 50 pages, I wasn’t too sure about it. The world wasn’t making sense, but not in a good way. I had liked the interplay between the different roles of the characters and thought that would play a bigger part in the book than it did. The writing rambled at times and I lost the thread of the story at times. I’m curious about where the rest of the trilogy will go, but I think it will be a while before I pick up the next book. I need to read up on what people who have finished the trilogy, though, and reserve more judgement until I have finished the whole thing.
+10 Task: Approved Author Post #145
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 190
20.2-Innocence Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare
I found Measure for Measure unusual in the Shakespeare comedies I’ve been listening to lately. It doesn’t quite fit comedy or tragedy. The play revolves around the extremes of power and punishment set opposite romance and desire. I enjoy the full cast audios because they help me catch the nuances of the language and underlying actions of the characters. It enhanced my enjoyment of this particular play considerably. The “comedy” was found more in the irony of Angelo using his power to ask for the very thing Claudio was sentenced for doing and the melodramatic response of Isabella to his request than it was in ribald humor or joking. Overall, I enjoyed the play and think it showed another side of Shakespeare and perhaps an effort to do something a bit different.
+20 Task: 1603 - 1616: 13 years
+ 5 Combo: 10.9 Kevin Bacon Approved Author Post #264
+10 Review
+10 Not a Novel: Play
+25 Oldies: 1603
Task Total: 70
Grand Total: 270
10.7 LibrivoxAnne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
I'm sure I read these books when I was about 10 or 11, but my memory of them had almost completely faded. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook version of this one and revisiting Anne's wonderful mix of precociousness and innocence. There are several recordings of this available; the one I read was narrated by Colleen Winton. I'm not familiar with anything else that Ms. Winton narrated, but she did an excellent job here with Anne's monologues. Somehow, I had completely forgotten that these books were set in Canada. I was interested to see which of the scenes I recalled and which I had forgotten. Overall, a really fun read and I'm glad to have revisited it.
+10 Task
+15 Combo - 10.9 (post 215); 20.4 (Canada list); 20.6 (462,085 ratings)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (published 1908)
Task total: 45
Grand total: 45
10.10 Group ReadsOur Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
I loved this quiet book. The narrator did an excellent job telling this story of two older people meeting and sharing their reflections on their lives. I was reminded of the romance my grandfather had in his later years. After his wife of 36 years died, he had another relationship with a woman whose husband had also died. Like the characters in this story, the two of them had known each other from living in a small town, but became companions during her last years, until the woman also died. As happened in the story here, the woman's children were suspicious of the relationship. So much about this book rang true and it gave me a wonderful chance to reflect on the remarkable life of my grandfather as well as the lives of the characters so fully realized here. Lovely book and highly recommended.
+10 Task
+5 Combo - 10.9 (Post 39)
+10 Review
Task total: 25
Grand total: 70
20.9 Three NamesMaidenhead by Tamara Faith Berger
This is an extremely hard book to rate or review. The entire reading experience is disconcerting and uncomfortable. The relationships described are disturbing. The main character isn't exactly likeable, yet her feelings resonated. I remember the raging hormones of being sixteen. I remember feeling at that time like I was a real adult and could make my own choices and should be given the freedom to do so. Looking back from the perspective of twenty more years of experience, I see how much I was still a child. But that's not how I felt at the time; the time when I was first awakened to being a sexual person; the time when I was first experimenting with power dynamics in relationships. Unlike Myra, I was more enthralled with my own power over men than with their power over me. But the gritty confusion compelled me through this story. Not for the feint of heart or the easily offended. Not for those with rape triggers or concern about teen sexuality. Probably not for those who are parents of teens.
+20 Task
+5 Combo - 10.9 (Post 213)
+10 Review
Task total: 35
Grand total: 105
10.1 New AuthorWhiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer
My bookclub chose this book largely on the strength of the reviews. No one had read the book before we selected it. I'm generally the bookclub curmudgeon, but I enjoyed this choice. The book isn't one that I'll be rushing to recommend to everyone I know, but I was pleased to have read it and felt entertained during the week I spent with the story. I particularly fell for Leo, the trust fund son who was having trouble putting his life together. There is a definite hip feel to the dialogue and the characters -- these are people that you'd feel cooler for having as facebook friends. I hear the book is being developed as an HBO comedy and that seems wonderful. I'd watch it.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 125
15.2 Travel in the US (Land cruiser)California
The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck
15 task
______
15
Running total 135
Valerie wrote: "15.2 Travel in the US (Land cruiser)California
The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck
15 task
______
15
Running total 135"
Valerie, before you get too far, this title is a YA Assignment at BPL and has no Lexile. It does not qualify for TtUS.
10.3 Dictionary-Grace Notes by Bernard MacLaverty
As the book begins, there were some hints of mystery to it. There were times that I got really curious as to Catherine’s current situation is... This is one of those books that I picked up without paying too much attention to the blurb and as it happens, it is exactly as described and no more :p
Unfortunately, I’m not a very literary minded either so whilst I appreciated some nuances, others I’ve completely missed. I appreciated the triumphant ending note of the novel but can’t help wonder if that is the only reason the 2 parts of the books were place un-chronologically. I’m left a little dissatisfied.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Total this post: 20
Total points: 20
Valerie wrote: "20.4 BalanceThe English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Yet another book that I have to wonder why I held off so long! This book is so very atmospheric and beautiful, eve..."
+5 Combo 10.9-post 140
D wrote: "20.3-DifficultAnimal Farm by George Orwell
+20 task (#108 on list)
+20 combo (10.2 1903-1950; 10.3 A-F; 10.9 post 37; 20.2 pub. 1945, died 1950)
+ 5 Oldies
Task tota..."
+5 Combo 20.6-1.5 million ratings
Anika wrote: "10.6 ReunificationSonnets to Orpheus and POEMS by Rainer Maria Rilke by Rainer Maria Rilke
+10 Task (originally written in German)
+5 Combo (20.9)
+10..."
We are just using Orpheus, it has enough pages alone and does not need the second title (hope you enjoyed the poems).
+5 Combo 20.2
+5 combo for my post #3 10.9 post 15320.7 Microhistory
A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World from Prehistory to Today by William J. Bernstein
Review:This book looks at world history thought the lense of trade from the movement of obsidian in pre-history to the WTO. I found the part about pax Arabia fascinating. I have been trying to figure out why the Moslem world thrived during the European Dark Ages. Astronomy, math, architecture, navigation all made advances in the Moslem world while Europe regressed. The exchange of goods and ideas that was facilitated by peace and rules seems to have been the key.
I struggled with the section of the book that deals with more recent history. Bernstein follows free trade vs. protectionism through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Maybe I am too close to see the big picture. In trying to make the theories work labor has to be split between high skill and low skill, farming is based on land and not labor and I am not sure that capital is currently bound by any national boundaries. But this does provide an interesting perspective.
The book includes wonderful maps that really add to the narrative.
Unfortunately I am going to miss the book club discussion with the author. It should be fascinating!
+20 Task
+10 Not a novel (nonfiction)
+10 review
Task total: 40
Grand total:75
10.6 ReunificationAll Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Review:
Paul Baumer and his friends were encouraged by their teacher to enlist in the German army to fight in World War I. The young men had dreams of glory, and had no idea that they would be spending the next few years trying to survive and seeing their friends die. The author was wounded five times in combat so he knew firsthand the horrors of war. Remarque shows us trench warfare, the damage of poison gas, starving prisoners, and the meaningless loss of lives. The comradeship among the soldiers is what keeps them going.
Even the men who physically survived the war suffered emotional damage and found it difficult to fit back in their home towns. Remarque calls them "the lost generation", the young men who went to war before they had an occupation, or a wife and children. They had nothing to return to when they came back so damaged from the war.
Although the book is written from the point of view of a German soldier, any soldier in the Great War would have a very similar story to tell. The book is eloquent and moving, and certainly deserves its status as a classic.
+10 task (born in Osnabruck, Germany)
+15 combo 10.9 (post 243), 20.9 (3 names), 10.2 (lived 1898-1970)
+10 oldie (pub 1928)
+10 review
Task total: 45
Grand total: 155
20.1 Celebration!Later, at the Bar by Rebecca Barry
This is a collection of interconnected short stories about the regulars of Ruth's Tavern. I loved it. It's just like showing up every night at your local bar where you see all the usual suspects, hearing their stories and adventures and witnessing the nights of crying into their beer and misguided hook-ups, the nights of hammered buddies planning trips to the neighboring town to slash the tires of the guy they think is hooking up with their girlfriends. It's humanity stripped down and naked in only the way that can happen when you're a few in. It's equal parts funny and heartbreaking and completely familiar and as enjoyable as a hot toddy on a cold night.
+20 Task (pub. 2007)
+10 Not-a-Novel
+5 Combo (20.10)
+10 Review
Task Total = 45
Grand Total = 310
20.8 DARThe Winter of Red Snow: The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1777 by Kristiana Gregory (870 Lexile)
This diary novel is written from the point of view of Abby, an eleven-year-old girl living in Valley Forge, PA, at the time when Washington and his army were stationed there. I am the first to admit that I'm woefully unknowledgeable about this part of our nation's history, so I appreciated reading a novel not only from the point of view of a preteen but one that was not academic or history-heavy--rather than feeling like I was being bogged down by facts, I was there with snow up to my knees with only a shawl while watching a ragtag group of hundreds of men march by with no shoes creating trails of blood. Abby and her family end up getting work doing laundry for General and Mrs. Washington and as a result they end up meeting several big names in the early days of the war, like Baron von Steuben, Marquis de Lafayette, Benedict Arnold, and the artist Charles Willson Peale.
I quite enjoyed this novel and am curious to read more about this time period. Thanks for the task suggestion!
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 340
POST 8 :Amanda wrote: "20.2 InnocenceThousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata
I've given this 3 stars, because my feelings are a little mixed on this one. I enjoyed it, but I found it hard to..."
additional +5 combo, 10.9, refer to 10.9 thread post #294
Grand Total = 180
Anika wrote: "20.8 DARThe Winter of Red Snow: The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1777 by Kristiana Gregory (870 Lexile)
This diary no..."
I've read Kristina Gregory writing this type of book before, and I love the series those books derive from and am collecting them for my daughter. Here they are called " My Story " or "My Royal Story".
10.6 - ReunificationSiddartha by Hermann Hesse
+10 task
+15 combo (10.7, 20.4, 20.6)
+10 oldies (published 1922)
task total: 35
grand total: 65
20.2 InnocenceMockingbird by Walter Tevis
+20 task (published 1980, died 1984)
+5 Oldies
Task total: 25
Grand Total: 310
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Valerie wrote: "15.2 Travel in the US (Land cruiser)California
The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck
15 task
______
15
Running total 135"
Valerie, before you get too ..."
Hmmm, good thing I looked at this now. Boo, and I personally think they don't know what they are talking about. However, onward and upward. Unfortunately, this book doesn't qualify for any of the other categories. Thanks for the catch, Elizabeth (I think - ha, ha... ;) ).
Also, this means my corrected (+5, -15) Running total is 125
Valerie wrote: "Boo, and I personally think they don't know what they are talking about. "When the books are designated "Assignment" they are being taught in the classroom, and are thought appropriate for school-age, usually high school/teenagers. It's why we instituted the Canon exemption rule to try to include as many of the classics as possible when they might have been caught by the Assignment/no Lexile situation.
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Ich und Kaminski by Daniel Kehlmann
(I and Kaminski)
Review:
The first person narrator of the book, Sebastian Zöllner, is an arts reviewer, who is on his way to meet the famous (fictious) painter Manuel Kaminski to interview him in preparations to write his biography. With his publisher it is already settled, that the book gets published shortly after Kaminski's death - because that's when a biography sells best.
Not only arrives Zöllner two days earlier than expected, but he ignorantly invites himself to dinner at the Kaminski home. When Kaminski's daughter leaves for work, he bribes Kaminski's maid/house keeper to leave for a day so he, Zöllner, can talk to the old man without anyone interrupting all the time - of course now he has the chance to look through the household for private information to spice up the biography...and he goes as far as going on a road trip with Kaminski.
In a subtle yet humurous way the author makes fun of the art industry and its superficial reviewers and critics. In the end, there is a lesson to be learned about life as well, and as a reader I almost started to like Sebastian Zöllner.
+10 task (see 10.9 Six degrees thread -> message 265)
+ 5 combo (10.6 Reunification: Kehlman is a German author and the novel is written in German as well)
+10 review
Task Total: 25 points
Grand Total: 25 points