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WI 15-16 RwS Completed Tasks - Winter 15/16
10.2 - Noel, NoelDead Watch by John Sandford
+10 task
+5 Combo (10.9 - Realistic Ratings)
Task total: 15
Grand total: 240
20.10 Leap YearThe Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company by David A. Price
all the letters of EXTRA are in "ThE piXAR"
This book was a solid company biography. It balanced well the stories of the decision-making individuals, the technology, and the movie-making. With some of the topics discussed, I expect there are other interpretations of the facts the story was based on. Especially since it delves into corporate politics. But that's okay.
I knew some of the pieces about how the individual movies were made, so I was especially intrigued by the early days when the very idea of computer animation was cutting edge and took ridiculous amounts of computing power in relation to what was available.
I know there's some books about Pixar's creative process. This isn't one of them. But it's still a story of how a few people, particularly John Lasseter, who championed an unorthodox idea managed to bring it to a success, with the participation of many other people and through unexpected manueverings.
+20 task
+10 review
+5 combo (No L)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 1350
From Post 631Rebekah wrote: "10.8 Winter Solstice
As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley (Canada)
+10 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo (10.7, 10.9 - 3.9 stars)
+ 5 pts - series (Flavia de ..."
Sorry, Rebekah, this does not work for 10.7, it doesn't have cozy mystery in it's genre section on the book page.
From Post 646Ed wrote: "20.5-Alice Munro
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje - won Governor General's Award 1992
I'm usually not a fan of novels that rely heavily on flashbacks. This is an..."
+5 Combo 20.1
20.2 Sigrid UndsetSaint Joan by George Bernard Shaw
Review:
George Bernard Shaw took theater patrons in 1923 back to the Fifteenth Century in his drama "Saint Joan". Joan of Arc declared that she heard voices from God and the saints directing her to save France in the Hundred Years War, and have the Dauphin crowned as the king of France, Charles VII. The teenage Joan, dressed in men's clothes, led the soldiers in the Siege of Orleans in 1429. She was later convicted as a heretic by the Inquisition, and burned at the stake. After papal investigations she was later acquitted and canonized as a saint.
Shaw wrote the character of Joan as a strong, intelligent woman who spoke very directly to the male soldiers and clergymen in the play. People have wondered for years whether she was a divinely inspired saint, a lunatic, a genius, or an early feminist. Although Shaw portrays some of the members of the Inquisition as corrupt, many were characterized as people who thought they were doing the right thing for their Church. Political and religious organizations feared strong leaders who might question their authority. The feudal system and the Church were both very powerful at that time. Overall, I found "Saint Joan" to be an interesting, historical play with a complex main character.
+20 task (set in 1400s)
+10 combos (10.9 Realistic rating of 3.76, 20.9 Winnie-pub in 1923)
+10 oldie
+10 review
Task total: 50
Grand total:485
15.8 DominoesAlexandria by Lindsey Davis
Published in the same decade as 15.7
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 270
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 624 Valerie wrote: "10.9 Realistic ratingsBreakfast at Tiffany's: A Short Novel and Three Stories by Truman Capote
rating: 3.89
Despite Capote being a larger th..."
I'm having problems this session! I'm a little surprised, given the p.c. times we live in - I assumed this book would be a little "too real" for the kids! Duly noted + changed my spread sheet score.
10.3 - Science Fiction DayTo Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
Ned Henry is sent back in time from 2057 to Victorian England to correct an incongruity, which one of his fellow historians has caused by bringing back a cat and altering the course of history. Or has she? Incongruity upon incongruity follow, as Ned makes matters worse by going off on the river with a student who should have met the love of his life at the station, and causing him to become engaged to somebody else.
The title is the subtitle of Three Men in a Boat. Since that’s one of the group reads this season, I stopped reading this at the time they went on the river and read that one. It definitely added something! The two books are very different, but there are several references, and the same 'comedy of errors' feel to both.
This is the second book in Connie Willis’s time travel series and I think it’s better known than the first. The travel is to a very different time period—mostly Victorian, with some 1940s, where the first book was medieval—and it could stand alone, but I think I’d have been confused about the mechanics of time travel without reading the first one first.
It was an odd book for me to read because I live in Oxford, the scene of the “present” in the time of the book. Although it’s our future, the book was written in our past, and things exist in 2057 in the story, that don’t exist in reality now, like the Radcliffe Infirmary, which has been knocked down since Connie Willis wrote this book. I have also lived in Coventry, where the 1940s scenes are set (the night of the worst bombing there, when the cathedral and much of the historic city centre was destroyed).
5 stars and I’ll look for the next in the series.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand Total: 1040
20.10 Leap YearFelix Holt: The Radical by George Eliot
Ugh. Double Ugh. I struggled with this almost from the beginning and, frankly, wish I'd abandoned it before I got far enough that I felt I had too much invested in it to do so. Eliot kept going off on tangents. Sometimes my mind would wander and I'd read passages again, just to make sure I hadn't missed anything. And I hadn't. Not all of the tangents were of the religious nor even the political sort. The below was more understandable than many, but gives you a glimpse. Keep in mind that not one character ever plays chess, there is never any suggestion of a match.
Fancy what a game at chess would be if all the chessmen had passions and intellects, more or less small and cunning: if you were not only uncertain about your adversary's men, but a little uncertain about your own; if your knight could shuffle himself on to a new square by the sly; if your bishop, in disgust at your castling, could wheedle your pawns out of their places; and if your pawns, hating you because they are pawns, could make away from their appointed posts that you might get checkmate on a sudden. You might be the longest-headed of deductive reasoners, and yet you might be beaten by your own pawns. You would be especially likely to be beat, if you depended arrogantly on your mathematical imagination, and regarded your passionate pieces with contempt.I found the characterizations to be mostly one-dimensional and the plot to be fairly predictable. (Remember, I'm the one who doesn't know what will happen next!) Read others by George Eliot. Read this only if you insist on reading her entire oeurvre.
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.9 - 3.63, 20.1)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (1866)
+ 5 Jumbo (MPE 540 pgs.)
Task Total = 55
Grand Total = 395
20.1 Grazia Deledda Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume
+20 task (approved in message 175)
+5 combo (10.9 ave rating=3.90)
Task total: 25
RwS Total: 230
Dominoes Total: 100
Grand Total: 330
20.6 Svetlana AlexievichThe Fatal Eggs by Mikhail Bulgakov
Review:
On the surface, this is a science fiction story about a microscopic ray of red light which gets into the wrong hands. It is set in Moscow in 1928. An eccentric professor, Vladimir Persikov, inadvertently discovers the red ray when he is attempting to focus his microscope. He notices the ray causes amoeba to reproduce rapidly, producing over-sized offspring. The professor merely wants to to be left alone to continue his experiments with the new ray. Eventually a journalist shows up and the discovery is leaked. Things go downhill quickly from there. On another level, this book is thought by many people to be a satire on the Soviet revolution. I really enjoyed the first part of this short book. Persikov was quite crotchety and I enjoyed his rants. The tone at the beginning of the book was almost comic. But things did take a turn. The book is worth reading, and I liked it enough that I still want to read Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita eventually. The science is certainly not taxing, the story moves quickly, and it is very easy to sympathize with the curmudgeonly Persikov.
+20 task (approved here)
+10 combo (10.9 - 3.79 rating; 20.9 - pub. 1925)
+10 review
+10 oldies
Task total=50
Grand total=520
10.3 Science Fiction DayDarkness on his Bones by Barbara Hambly
+10 task (#112)
+5 Series
Task total: 15
Grand Total: 780
20.4 Elfriede JelinekThe Lover by Marguerite Duras
+20 task (French female author, translated)
+ 10 combo (20.7 Feminism-# 118 on list, 10.9 realistic ratings 3.77))
+ 5 oldie (pub 1984)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 520
10.2 Noel, NoelThe Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh, low lexile
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 815
10.8 Winter Solstice (Rebekah's Task)A Fatal Thaw by Dana Stabenow
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo: 20.1 Grazia Deledda
+10 Series 2 (second claim for Kate Shugak series)
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 840
10.2 Noel, NoelDead In The Water by Dana Stabenow
+10 Task
+10 Combo: 10.8 Winter Solstice / 20.1 Grazia Deledda
+10 Series 3 (third claim for Kate Shugak series)
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 870
20.4-Elfriede Jelinek (2004)The Hidden Child by Camilla Läckberg
+20 Task
+10 Combo: 10.8 Winter Solstice / 10.9 Realistic Ratings (3.90)
+ 5 Series 1
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 905
20.8 Best of 2015 Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta
+20 Task (NPR)
+ 5 Combo: 10.9 Realistic Ratings (3.94)
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 930
10.8 Winter Solstice The Murder of Harriet Krohn by Karin Fossum
+20 Task
+15 Combo: 10.2 Noel, Noel / 10.9 Realistic Ratings / 20.4 Elfriede Jelinek
+10 Series 2 (second claim Konrad Sejer)
Task Total: 45
Grand Total: 975
10.2 Noel NoelSir Thursday by Garth Nix
Lexile 980
+10 task
+5 Combo (10.9 – 3.94)
+5 Series
Task total: 20
Grand Total: 800
20.10 Leap YearThe Phoenix and the Carpet by E. Nesbit
Lexile 1000
+20 task (EX in phoenix, TRA in carpet)
+10 Combo (10.2, 20.9)
+10 Series (previous 20.9)
+10 Oldies (published 1904)
Task total: 50
Grand Total: 850
10.10 Group ReadsMr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Well, as many of you know, I'm not a fan of science fiction or fantasy works......BUT,... this novel drew me in. It helps that the plot involves a bookstore and 500 year-old books. There are places where the reader must suspend belief. A tech savvy guy takes a job as a bookstore clerk out of desperation. The bookstore is strange...and the clerk stumbles upon a secret that leads to more mysteries. His friends and a new relationship with a Google employee help him in his search. Along the way, we learn some history of printing...but it is mixed with parallels to wizards and Dungeons and Dragons references. 3 1/2 stars.
task +10
review +10
combo +5 (10.9- 3.76 rating)
total = 25
grand total = 645
Kate S wrote: "From Post 631Rebekah wrote: "10.8 Winter Solstice
As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley (Canada)
+10 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo (10.7, 10.9 - 3.9 star..."
Ok. Fixed it on the post
20.7 FeminismThe Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd ( #290 on list)
+20 pts - task
+10 pts - combo(10.2, 10.10)
Task total - 30 pts
Grand Total - 510 pts
20.9 Winnie-the-Pooh (1882-1956)Palladian by Elizabeth Taylor
Review: The description of Palladian says it subverts the conventions of a traditional novel telling the story of a governess who falls in love with her employer. Reviews say it’s a satire, and the introduction in my copy calls it a ‘fairy-story’ of sorts. All of those are true, yet I found it fell completely flat for me. It’s clearly both influenced by and criticizing books like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and the works of Jane Austen, explicitly mentioning all three as well as referencing them indirectly. But to me it felt more like a combination of loosely connected short stories than a novel, and the atmospheric qualities of all the references were missing. I also guessed at least part of the twist at the end, if you can call it that. My overall impression was that I feel like I skimmed the book rather than truly engaging with it, although whether that was my fault or the book’s I’m not sure.
+20 Task (published 1946)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.9 – 3.63)
+5 Oldies
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 1060
20.1 Grazia Deledda (1926) - Sense of placeProvoked by Joanna Chambers
Review: This might be my first historical male-male romance (although, I will warn, it is very much part of a trilogy). I’ve always found myself having a harder time buying into any kind of happy ending for homosexual couples much earlier than present day, even though I know that’s kind of a ridiculous thing to think for a number of reasons. Anyway, I got over myself and read this, and kind of want to go straight on to the next one in the series. The story follows David, a young lawyer with strong ideals that have led him both to helping a group of Scottish rebels with their legal trouble and also to thinking that having feelings for other men is a great sin. Not a ton of character development happens during this installment, but the end promises a good deal more of it from future books.
+20 Task (http://dearauthor.com/misc/reading-li... - in the comments by Jorrie Spencer)
+10 Review
+5 Series
+5 Combo (10.2)
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 1100
20.8 Best of 2015Three Moments of an Explosion: Stories by China Miéville
Review: China Miéville has so many ideas and such attention to language that his writing can tire me out a little. Short stories work really well for that – one ends, and I can pick something up to cleanse my palate. As with most collections, I found these a little hit or miss, but some of them will really stick with me. In one of the earliest (the first?) reminded me of an episode of Doctor Who, the things that have been disappearing from the environment (icebergs, coral reefs, rainforests, etc.) begin reappearing in strange locations. Most of the stories trend closer to magical realism than anything else, but some could technically happen now, but would make for a scary world, like the one where some psychologists take to assassination in order to help their patients.
+20 Task (NPR Book Concierge)
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2 – 3.62, 20.10)
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 1140
20.5-Alice Munro (2013)Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis
+20 Task: Scotiabank Giller Prize 2015
+ 5 Combo: 10.9 Realistic Ratings (3.94)
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 1000
10.1 Read a Kindle book that I pre-orderedMy Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
This is written in the first person from the perspective of someone who is a writer. In this way it feels autobiographical, but I am reluctant to believe that it is so. I think Strout is simply an extraordinary writer and, in this case, just chose to write in this manner.
The book opens with Lucy Barton telling us she spent 9 weeks in the hospital when her children were young. In the early days of this hospital stay, her mother, whom Lucy has not seen for several years and who lives over 1000 miles away, suddenly and unexpectedly appears in the hospital room. Strout was able to convey these two instances of family ties in a very moving way, such that I became an instant blubberguss. She did give me respite occasionally, but the entire novel struck an emotional chord with me throughout.
Lucy attends a writing seminar given by a woman she met casually.
... and, recording this now I think of something Sarah Payne had said at the writing class in Arizona. "You will have only one story," she had said. "You'll write your one story many ways. Don't ever worry about story. You have only one."This made me think further about Strout's books. Each of them is about the relationship between parent and child. Children not only do not understand what it is to be a parent, but they can never completely understand what it was like for their parent to have been a child.
I don't know if this is quite as good as her Olive Kitteridge, but I know that I will look forward with great anticipation to the next Elizabeth Strout. I say that about as impatiently as I can, even though Lucy Barton was released less than two weeks ago.
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo (10.9 - 3.79)
+10 Review
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 420
15.3 DominoesThe Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brené Brown
same last name as 15.2 (Brown)
task total = 15
Grand total = 180
15.4 DominoesThe Art of Falling by Kathryn Craft
same birth country as 15.3
task total = 15
grand total = 195
20.1 Grazia Deledda (1926)11.22.63 by Stephen King
approval on help thread, #147
Review
I love love love this book! I’ve only read a handful of Stephen King’s books as horror isn’t my cup of tea so I’ve primarily read his fantasy works plus a few of the ‘horror’ stories (horror in quotation as I try to pick ones that aren’t too scary for me). What’s to love about 11.22.63? Firstly, it’s time travel –my most favourite kind of story! I love the setting (late 50s / early 60s in US) and I just adore the many possibilities, the uncertainties, and cause & effect etc. There are so much to love about this book and even with the size (740 pages) which therefore, took me some time before I dared pick it up but still, there wasn’t enough!
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.2 Noel Noel, 10.3 - author #27 on list)
+10 Review
+10 Jumbo (740 pages)
Post total: 50 points
Total points: 975 points
From Post 656Louise Bro wrote: "10.7 Cozy Holidays
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
Marked as cozy mystery by 56 users.
Review:
You get plenty of bang for your buck with [book:One for the Money|68..."
Sorry, Louise, this does not qualify for 10.7. 'Cozy Mystery' does not appear on the book's main page. I have recorded it as 20.7 with a combo for 10.2.
From Post 672Connie wrote: "20.2 Sigrid Undset
Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw
Review:
George Bernard Shaw took theater patrons in 1923 back to the Fifteenth Century in his drama "Saint Joan". J..."
+5 Combo 10.2-Noel
From Post 694Cory Day wrote: "20.8 Best of 2015
Three Moments of an Explosion: Stories by China Miéville
Review: China Miéville has so many ideas and such attention to language that his writing ..."
+5 Combo 10.3
From Post 683Karen Michele wrote: "10.2 Noel, Noel
Dead In The Water by Dana Stabenow
+10 Task
+10 Combo: 10.8 Winter Solstice / 20.1 Grazia Deledda
+10 Series 3 (third claim for Kate Shugak series)
..."
Third book in a series is worth 15 points.
From Post 684Karen Michele wrote: "20.4-Elfriede Jelinek (2004)
The Hidden Child by Camilla Läckberg
+20 Task
+10 Combo: 10.8 Winter Solstice / 10.9 Realistic Ratings (3.90)
+ 5 Series 1
Task Total..."
+5 Jumbo (506 pages in MPE)
Cory Day wrote: "15.10 – Dominoes Too Good to Be True by Kristan Higgins
(from One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean – word Good in title)
Dominoes Completion Bonus: 100"
Congratulations, Cory Day!
20.7 FeminismThe Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
+20 Task (#50 on list)
+5 Combo 10.9
+5 Jumbo 640 pages
+5 Oldies
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 720
20.1 Grazia DeleddaX by Sue Grafton
+20 Task (author's work approved on spreadsheet)
+5 Series
+10 Combo (10.2-Noel, 10.9-rating)
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 765
20.8 Best of 2015Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.9)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 790
10.9 Realistic RatingsAquarium by David Vann
+10 Task (3.70)
+5 Combo (10.2-Noel)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 805
Kate S wrote: "From Post 672Connie wrote: "20.2 Sigrid Undset
Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw
Review:
George Bernard Shaw took theater patrons in 1923 back to the Fifteenth Centur..."
Thanks, Kate!
20.4-Elfriede JelinekDans la nuit brune by Agnès Desarthe
Agnès Desarthe is a french writer, the book was written in french.
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.9 - 3.19)
Task total = 25
Points total = 170
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
The Night Ranger (other topics)The Drop (other topics)
Shoot the Dog (other topics)
The Whites (other topics)
Between the World and Me (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Alex Berenson (other topics)Brad Smith (other topics)
Harry Brandt (other topics)
Ta-Nehisi Coates (other topics)
Alex Berenson (other topics)
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Partner in Crime by J.A. Jance
+10 task
Task total: 10
Grand total: 205