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WI 15-16 RwS Completed Tasks - Winter 15/16
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 42 Rebekah wrote: "20.5 Alice MunroThe English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
+20 pts - Task
+15 pts - Combo (10.4, 10.8-Canada,10.9 - 3.87 rating, 20.1)
Task Total ..."
This was in the help thread
"Any book listed for either the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize or the Ondaatje Prize qualify for this task. Also qualified are books where the GR description specifically references "sense of place" or "
Since the link takes us to the list that describes the winners of this prize as The Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize Winners and states;
"This is an annual award of 10,000 for a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place. The Royal Society of Lite ...more "
Then i thought since they named the prize for him it would be because his writing must be a standard.
But just now to be sure, I went to the Royal Society of Literatue to see why they named this particular prize after him and this is what I found;
http://rsliterature.org/library-artic...
10.1 - Design Your Own TaskHotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
From the first chapter I wanted to like this book - there's some beautiful prose in here.
"It was to be supposed that beyond the grey garden... lay the vast grey lake, spreading like an anesthetic towards the invisible further shore."
Sometimes it borders comical:
"Edith Hope, a writer of romantic fiction under a more thrusting name..."
The sad thing is that I had a hard time fully connecting to the story. It all feels hollow, which may be partly intentional as Edith is feeling a bit gutted herself. The plot is very slow, nearly nonexistent, and while the characters are kind of interesting they feel like shells, too.
In my head literary fiction equals "white people sitting around talking" and sadly Hotel du Lac fits that bill. There are parts I appreciate (how Edith's past is unspun) and parts I could have done without (yet another round of tea or coffee with so-and-so). So I'm rating this a big, "Hmm. Enh."
+10 task (read a book that's eligible for oldies points)
+10 review
+5 combo (10.9 - 3.54 rating)
+5 oldies (pub. 1984)
Task total: 30 points
Grand total: 70 points
15.2 dominoesBlack Girl/White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
Born in same decade as previous author. See post #6 in the My Plan thread.
+15 pts - task
Grand Total -80 pts
20.9 Winnie-the-PoohTill We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
Review
Why would Ed read this book dealing with mythology? Well, it fit this task as well as another task for a different book group. The genre is one of my least favorite. Having said that, I did not hate the novel. Not being a student of mythology and only having a passing knowledge about Psyche and Cupid, I had to rely on outside sources to bring me up to speed. The subtitle is "A Myth Retold" and I did like the device in which C.S. Lewis has Pysche's sister, a Queen, relate the re-telling in a book that she is prompted to write when she learns that priests are telling the real story all wrong. I really could have used more explanation of where this story differed from the original versions. I have to say that the reason for the re-telling also escapes me. I understand that the myth is allegorical and somehow exhibits how God or the gods are part of each of us. I'm not sure how Lewis's version differs from that message.
Anyway.... I appreciate that my reading boundaries were stretched a bit...and more times than not I am pleasantly surprised.
task +20 (published 1956)
review +10
oldie +5
total = 35
grand total = 120
20.5 Alice MunroFifteen Dogs by André Alexis
+20 task (Scotiabank Giller Prize 2015)
Task total: 20
RwS Total: 20
Dominoes Total: 15
Grand Total: 35
Post 57Lagullande wrote: "20.5 Alice MunroFifteen Dogs by André Alexis
+20 task (Scotiabank Giller Prize 2015)
Task total: 20
RwS Total: 20
Dominoes Total: 15
Grand Total: 35 "
10.9 Realistic Ratings (3.99 rating)
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 57Lagullande wrote: "20.5 Alice MunroFifteen Dogs by André Alexis
+20 task (Scotiabank Giller Prize 2015)
Task total: 20
RwS Total: 20
Dominoes Total: 1..."
Thanks, Elizabeth. When I checked before posting, the rating was 4.00. Luckily for me, somebody clearly didn't like it so much!
10.3 Science Fiction DayIn the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson
Review
Robert Louis Stevenson traveled to several small islands with his wife and a Chinese cook in the late 1880s and early 1890s. He relates personal relationships he developed usually with the chiefs or Kings of these islands...and with some of the few Europeans that had set up homes on the islands. We learn that cannibalism was still practiced on some of the islands...and not merely as a ceremonial exercise. Alcohol and disease were a huge problem. On one island there was a taboo against alcohol...but the king lifted the taboo for 48 hours....which turned into a month-long debauch and orgy and scary for the Europeans who operated the bars and would be expected to stop the flow of the booze.
Surprising to me was all the islanders already had firearms...and Stevenson was on some small out of the way islands in Micronesia and the Gilbert Islands. Also surprising is not so much that there were missionaries...but that the Mormons were already set up with their missionaries on some of the islands. Some things detracted from my enjoyment of the work however:
- Stevenson's style here seemed old fashioned (much moreso than his novels) and his allusions were numerous and beyond me often.
- the footnotes were usually worthless and unnecessary. A footnote might indicate that Stevenson was alluding to a Shakespearean character and nothing else. Other footnotes would needlessly inform us who Captain Cook was or the meaning of "al fresco".
- he hardly ever mentions his wife.
- the book is not chronological but an amalgam of experiences over time...and sometimes do not jive with accounts given in the writings of his wife...so, one or the other of them or both took poetic liberties.
task +10
review +10
combo +10 (10.9- 3.7 rating, 20.9- published 1896)
oldie +10 (1896)
total = 40
grand total = 160
20.3-Toni MorrisonQuicksand by Nella Larsen
Review:
This book, published in 1928, tells the story of a woman named Helga who was born to a Scandinavian immigrant mother and a black father, who soon abandoned the family. Helga did not feel accepted by either whites or blacks, and her life was spent trying to fit in somewhere. She managed to receive an education qualifying her to teach in a black college, but before long she had to escape to find a place where she felt she belonged. She traveled from the South to Chicago to Harlem to Denmark and eventually back to the South. I wasn't expecting the turn the story took at the end. The introduction to the edition I read had a brief biography of the author, which was particularly relevant because this novel is said to be autobiographical. She wrote only one other novel, Passing. I have read and enjoyed both of them but I enjoyed Quicksand a little more, in spite of (view spoiler). Her writing is good and the story held my interest.
+20 task
+15 combo (10.9 - 3.60 rating; 20.1 - approved in post 67; 20.9 - 1928)
+10 review
+10 oldies (1928)
Task total=55
Grand total=160
15.3 DominoesThe Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Word "Girl" in title as previous book. See post #6 in My Plan thread.
+15 pts - task
Grand Total - 95 pts
10.4 Valentine's DayA Room with a View by E.M. Forster
#70 on list
I struggled with this story even though the language was simple and clear and some passages were fantastic.
But I had a hard time suspending my disbelief and getting into a culture where a 2 second kiss caused such turmoil. I understand the historical context. I've read plenty of stories where I've accepted similar premises. But it felt hollow here. Although maybe that was the point, since the book poked fun at the absurdity of two levels of the "right" type of people.
I felt emotionally detached from most of the resulting actions and was disappointed as a result of my detachment.
I did find Lucy's determination to cut off her nose to spite her face, to present herself as a certain kind of person, at the end was interesting, especially as it was related back around to the chaperon. And that this book that started out as a simple romance did turn into something where I understood why it was put on a list of feminist fiction was pretty neat.
+10 task
+20 combos
*10.2 No L
*10.9 rating 3.91
*20.7 feminist fiction #199
*20.9 between 1882-1956
+10 review
+10 oldies (1908)
Task total: 50
Grand total: 135
From Post 7Ed wrote: "20.3-Toni Morrison
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
I had no idea what to expect when I picked up this book.... I usually have an aversion to anythin..."
+5 Combo 20.7
From Post 10Rosemary wrote: "10.4 - Valentine's Day
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Lexile 800
How could I have had this on my kindle for over a year and not read it? It's magical! Funny, ..."
+5 Combo 20.7
From Post 19Katrina wrote: "20.1 - Grazia Deledda
Wolf Winter, Cecilia Ekbäck
From The Guardian Review:
There is some breathtaking writing here. Ekbäck is wonderful at evoking place, and whe..."
+5 Combo 10.8
Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "15.2 DominoesVanishing Grace: What Ever Happened to the Good News? by Philip Yancey
+15 Task
Task Total:15
Grand Total: 15"
I show this as your first post of the season, should this be 15.1? Or did I miss something.
From Post 36Heather wrote: "10.9
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
+5 oldies - published 1957
Task total: 15
Grand total: 35"
Sorry, Heather, this is on Assignment at the BPL and has a lexile score of 780. Task points, but no styles.
From Post 33Rosemary wrote: "20.1 - Grazia Deledda
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Lexile 1240
Review:
A memoir of part of the author’s childhood spent on the Greek island of Corfu w..."
+5 Oldies
20.3 Toni MorrisonBefore You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans
+20 task
+5 combo (10.9 rating 3.87)
Task total: 25
Grand Total: 110
20.9 Winnie-the-Pooh:I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (first published 1954)
Review:
I initially wanted to read the novel because I liked the Hollywood movie starring Will Smith that was based on it, and also because post-apocalyptic and dystopian plots always fascinate me.
Turns out, the novel is really nothing like the movie (which I would have known if I'd read any reviews, but I tend to avoid them before reading a book). The movie has created an entirely different story, a much more positive one, and turned the idea of the novel upside down.
The novel is quite hopeless, dark and uneasy in its tone. Yes, there are vampires, but it's not Twilight.
I'd say that the main theme is loneliness. Robert Neville is, as far as he knows, the only person alive who hasn't turned into a "vampire" by a bacterium. It's a study of what isolation does to a human being. It was interesting to read about the different stages his mind goes through, in order to cope with the situation.
And what happens when suddenly, after several years of loneliness, the prospect of other survivors arises? What kinds of emotions will he feel? What will he do?
The resolution was a very gripping, powerful one. The whole novel was an uneasy read, but very well written and thought-provoking. I'd recommend it to even people who do not consider themselves sci-fi fans.
+20 task
+10 review
+5 oldies
+5 combo (10.3 Science Fiction Day, #43 on the list)
Task total: 40
Grand total: 40
Kate S wrote: "From Post 36Heather wrote: "10.9
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
+5 oldies - published 1957
Task total: 15
Grand total: 35"
Sorry, Heather, this is on Assignment at t..."
See what I get for not scrolling down far enough. >.<
20.7 - #54Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
+20 task
+10 combo (10.3, 10.9)
+5 series
task total: 35
grand total: 110
15.2 DominoesThe Silver Dark Sea by Susan Fletcher
same word in title as 15.1 = Silver
15 task
___
15
Running total 55
As an aside, (since this task doesn't qualify for reviews!) this book is fantastic.
20.4 - Elfriede Jelinek Manja by Anna Gmeyner
Review:
Manja is the story of five children born in 1920, a girl (Manja) and four boys, and their families. It begins (shockingly for the time, I imagine) with five very different conception experiences, and follows the children (and their parents) as they become friends and grow up in Germany in the 1930s, ending with them aged 14 or 15 and the Nazis firmly in power.
Manja is from a Polish Jewish immigrant family and very poor; Harry is one quarter Jewish, and rich; Karl’s father is a communist; Heini’s father is a liberal doctor; Franz’s family starts out poor, but his father becomes a powerful Nazi leader in their district. We see, of course, the rise or fall of the parents as the balance of power switches, and the strain the children’s friendship undergoes as their loyalty to each other is stretched to life-threatening points.
It was published in 1938, before the war started, and the author had fled Germany in 1935, around the time the story ends. I hadn’t realised how bad things already were at that point.
Despite the heavy subject matter and the large cast of characters, I raced through this. The characterisation is so good, I had no trouble remembering who was who among the 5 children and total 12 parents and step-parents, plus siblings, neighbours, etc. (view spoiler)
Qualification for task: the book was written in German. Anna Gmeyner was born in Austria, lived briefly in Germany and France, and was resident in the UK from 1938 to her death in 1991.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Gm...
+20 task
+10 review
+10 combo (10.2, 20.9 1938)
+10 oldies (1938)
+5 jumbo
Task total: 55
+10 points found by Kate S (thank you, Kate)
Grand Total: 225
I need to move a book already.In post #8, I posted Sarah's Key for 20.4. I'd like to move it to 20.7. There is no change in points from this.
Thanks!
10.5 Favorite Authors (a.k.a. Moderator Gift):The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb
Review:
Of course I am highly biased when it comes to reviewing any work by Robin Hobb. She is definitely one my favorite authors because I really enjoy her style, not because I've happened to read many of her books.
This was one a bit different from all the previous ones. It was a short novel, just 150+ pages, when she usually writes stuff that will definitely earn you jumbo points (and in most cases, not just 5 points). This also means you don't really get the intense and slow character development that Hobb does so well, or the world building. It was more of a background story to the realm of the Farseer books, an ancient legend set in the same world. I did however still enjoy it very much and it gave a nice history of the discrimination against Witted folk, a important plot point that has been referenced so many times in her other, longer works.
I must also add that the illustrations by Jackie Morris were absolutely beautiful! You can see some recent examples here:
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-...
+10 task
+10 review
+5 series (Realms of the Elderlings series)
+5 combo (10.9 Realistic Ratings, 3.88 average rating)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 70
10.10 Group ReadsBeing Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
Review
I listened to this in audio form and I really appreciated the narrator’s succinct voice as it helps the message to get across. In saying that, it doesn’t mean that he sounded absolutely dry and cold as there were points that he did sound compassionate about. However, as the message of the book is rather educational, I believe both author and narrator have done a very good job. It was a well structured book with theories supported by evidence and case studies. It was also a very hard book both in facing the mortality of our existence and what I could face in my old age (only in mid thirties and my mom, whilst in her 70s, thankfully, is still fairly healthy and very independent). In the end though, we all must face and answer the question as to what living a good life means for us and follow its guidance in seeking medical care.
+10Task
+10 Review
Total this post: 20 points
Total points: 170 points
10.6 Australia DayThe Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
2009 winner of Vince Palmer Prize (now Victorian Premier's Literary Award)
review
Honestly, the whole premise of this novel (a man slapping someone else’s child) makes me cringe. That’s only the beginning though… there is a lot more to this slap than just the act of violence against a child. The Slap is deeply set in multicultural Australia and I find it to be that it proclaimed the clashes (in this novel anyway) across cultures, race, age, socio-economic etc. I knew this slap happened quite near the beginning but yet, I was still shocked when it happened that I almost missed my station (got off just as the door was closing!).
There are 8 perspectives in this novel, one section per perspective, but time does not stand still. Time continue to flows so as readers we continue to follow on the consequences of the slap at different levels. Each characters also have their own unique concerns but the disadvantage is then we don’t get to hear from characters of earlier chapters on their thoughts of others’ concerns.
The Slap was a very engaging and very naked read. I find that I disliked most of the characters but two (of the shortest chapters) and I reckon that’s due to all the layers being peeled off… the best and the ugliest parts are both revealed to the readers’ eyes. So, whilst I enjoyed being embroiled vicariously in this Aussie drama, it was such a relief to have it over with… back to my rather ‘normal’ and boring life :)
+10 Task
+5 combo (20.1 - review)
+10 Review
Total this post: 25 points
Total points: 195 points
10.7 Cozy Holidays (Karen Michele's Task)-Dead Wrong by Leighann Dobbs
It was cute but not memorable, but this isn’t really my genre either. The mystery progressed at a good pace with an appropriate set of twists and turns. It was a solid set up for a series of similar cozy mysteries. But I’m just not going to get 100 words out of this!
+10 task
+5 series
+5 10.9 combo
Task total: 20
Grand total: 155
15.2 DominoesThe Little Disturbances of Man by Grace Paley
+15 Task (author born in USA, like 15.1)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 30
15.3 DominoesA Lost Lady by Willa Cather
+15 Task (author born in USA, like 15.2)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 45
10.5 Favorite AuthorSilent Night: A Christmas Suspense Story by Mary Higgins Clark
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.9-3.64 rating)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 60
10.2 Noel, NoelThese Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.9-3.84 rating)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 75
15.2 - DominoesLove Marriage by V.V. Ganeshananthan
+15 task (same word as 15.1)
Task total: 15 points
Grand total: 85 points
Task 15.1 Dominoes – The First BookA Vintage Affair (2009) by Isabel Wolff
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 25 + 15 = 40
20.5-Alice MunroThe Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
Governor General's Award
+20 Task
+20 Combo (10.2 ; 10.8 - born in Canada ; 10.9 - 3.83 ; 20.1 - review ;
Task total = 40
Points total = 40
Post 49 Tien wrote: "20.3-Toni Morrison (1993)Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Review
I am a sucker for time travel novels though they are usually some romance involved. Kindred, however, diff..."
I'm sorry, Tien. Kindred is a YA Assignment at BPL and has a Lexile of 580. Task, but no style points.
Post 65 Beth wrote: "10.4 Valentine's DayA Room with a View by E.M. Forster
#70 on list
I struggled with this story even though the language was simple and clear and some passages were fa..."
I'm sorry, Beth. This is shelved as YA Assignment at BPL and has a Lexile of 760. Task, but no styles.
15.2 DominoesBig Data, Big Analytics: Emerging Business Intelligence and Analytic Trends for Today's Businesses by Michael Minelli
Published same decade as 15.1's Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography
Task total: 15
Grand total: 130
After subtracting 40 style points from A Room with a view being YA... Bummer.
20.6 - Svetlana AlexievichJourney into the Whirlwind by Evgenia Ginzburg
Review:
Eugenia (or Yevgenia) Ginzburg was a member of the Communist party accused of political crimes along with many thousands of others during Stalin’s purges in the 1930s. She was sentenced to 10 years solitary confinement, the standard sentence for any party member who wasn’t shot, but after two years Stalin must have realised he’d locked up too many people of working age – not only were they not producing, but they had to be (minimally) fed and (maximally) guarded at the state's expense – and she and many others were sent to do physical labour in Siberia instead.
This is the story of her arrest, her time in prison and the first few years at the work camp. It’s a grim tale but she keeps a note of hope throughout. It was written afterwards, not at the time, so maybe that helped. Still, it’s a very sad story. She and her husband were both separately arrested, leaving their 3 children from various marriages to be divided between relatives. (view spoiler)
Reading this straight after Manja, set in the rise of Nazi Germany in the same decade, makes me realise that the peace and freedom I have known in my lifetime is the exception for human societies, not the rule. I wonder how long it will last...
+20 task (set in the USSR in 1935-40)
+10 review
+10 combo (10.8 Russia, 20.4 written in Russian, she was Russian)
+5 oldies (1967)
Task total: 45
Grand Total: 270
10.1 Design Your Own TaskCatch Up On Some YA Series and New Releases
Angelfall by Susan Ee
+10 Task ( no lexile)
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 25
10.9 Realistic Ratings (Cory Day's Task)-Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 45
10.9 Realistic Ratings (Cory Day's Task)-The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 55
10.9 Realistic Ratings (Cory Day's Task)-The Trouble with May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 65
Dominoes15.2 The word "coming":
Death Coming Up the Hill by Chris Crowe
+15 Task: Lexile 930
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 80
20.1-Grazia Deledda (1926)Life's Little Ironies by Thomas Hardy
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo: 10.9 Realistic Ratings
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 105
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
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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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The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
+20 pts - Task
+15 pts - Combo (10.4, 10.8-Canada,10.9 - 3.87 rating, 20.1)
Task Total ..."
I forgot