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WI 15-16 RwS Completed Tasks - Winter 15/16
20.1 Grazia DeleddaGo Set a Watchman by Harper Lee - approved in task thread, post 59
I was probably around 14 when I first saw the film To Kill a Mockingbird, and first read the book not long after, and have read it probably another 3 or 4 times since. It was the first life changing book I had ever read, and has always been a favourite.
So, it was with some trepidation that I finally came to read this. I delayed, having heard mixed reviews, and I did not feel confident about how I would respond.
In all honesty, I cried at the end. I felt like i was Jean Louise, and some part of my was dying, but also that some part was being reborn. I felt like some things were being turned around and mixed up, but that I was probably more willing to listen than she was.
Perhaps my head is still a little mixed up in all the Independence reading I have just completed, so full still of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and how the racial issues of the US were always going to be difficult and how it was going to be a long, gradual and messy process, which I think is perhaps the perspective of Atticus, and Hank, that Lee was trying to present, rather than the passionate "color-blindness" of Jean Louise. I think that not growing up in an area that is touched by racial issues (and there are areas here in Australia that are), makes it easier to see both these sides of the issue, but not so much the side of the County and the South and so confusingly expressed by Uncle Jack (although he does come out seeming to be the voice of reason and a little heroic as such regardless of his verbose reasoning. I remember quite liking him in Mockingbird also.)
It is hard to separate the two books by Lee, and I am wondering how I would have liked this without having read the first. I don't think this is its equal, but I can't help but love it for how it has opened up my thinking in regards to both.
And now I am wondering if I can watch To Kill a Mockingbird some time this weekend, and what a 9yo will make of it ...
+20 task
+10 review
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 70
Amanda wrote: "20.1 Grazia DeleddaGo Set a Watchman by Harper Lee - approved in task thread, post 59
I was probably around 14 when I first saw the film [book:To Kill a Mockingbird..."
10.9 rating 3.34
From Post 48Tien wrote: "10.9 Realistic Ratings (Cory Day's Task)-
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
avg rating 3.71
Review
This book is written as a sort of ‘memoir’ of Edward Prendrick,..."
10.5 is not eligible as a combo, but I think in this case you mean 10.3.
Joanna wrote: "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!"
Got it. Thanks for including the original post number.
Tien wrote: "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..."
+5 Combo 10.9-3.12 rating
From Post 13Cory Day wrote: "20.1 Grazia Deledda (1926) - Sense of Place
Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman
Review: I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I liked the cast..."
+5 Series
From Post 47Tien wrote: "10.3 Science Fiction Day
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
author #2 on list
Review
One of my good friends is a sci-fi buff and she loved this book t..."
+5 Series
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Amanda wrote: "20.1 Grazia DeleddaGo Set a Watchman by Harper Lee - approved in task thread, post 59
10.9 rating 3.34 "
Thanks Elizabeth, I think that is the only book on my list that I hadn't checked.
10.2 NoelParasite by Mira Grant
This was one of those eagerly-anticipated rereads for me -- book #3 in the series just came out and Mira Grant is one of my favorite authors (also, as I learned from doing 10.5, my #1 most read author too!). Reading it a second time made me think about the series a little differently -- basically, Mira Grant spends her days thinking of different ways that the world will end, and different ways that zombies will arise. Not a bad life! In this series, a company sells designer tapeworms that secrete all our medical needs, which everyone swallows eagerly -- and then, of course, things go wrong. A delightful, humorous science fiction read.
+10 task
+5 combo (10.9 - 3.65 rating)
+10 review
+5 jumbo (512 pages)
+5 series (#1 in series)
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 35
10.9 Realistic RatingsSymbiont by Mira Grant
The second book in the Parasitology series, I think, is even better than the first – now we are well underway in the zombie/parasite apocalypse, and the challenge for Sal (our heroine) and her friends becomes figuring out what is causing the tapeworms to overtake their human hosts, while avoiding the clutches of both the US Army, the evil corporation that sold the tapeworms in the first place, and the tapeworm-human hybrids that are also attempting to wipe out the human race. No biggie. I think what I enjoyed most about this second book is the way that the science was developed. World building is one of Mira Grant’s strong suits as a writer, and here she really outdoes herself with making it seem feasible that tapeworms could end up becoming almost indistinguishable from humans in this fashion.
+10 task (3.64 rating)
+5 combo (10.2)
+10 review
+5 jumbo (608 pages)
+10 series (#2 in series - posted the first in previous message)
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 75
10.4 Valentine's DaySuzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson
Review:
Katie, a book editor in New York, has been left by the man that she hoped to marry someday. Matt, a poet from Martha's Vineyard, drops off a diary by Katie's door to help her understand his actions. His first wife, Suzanne, wrote this diary to their son Nicholas, telling him about her move to Martha's Vineyard, falling in love with his father, and the happiness she found in motherhood.
When Suzanne had health problems, a friend told her a story about getting better balance in one's life. Life is a game in which you are juggling five balls--work, family, health, friends, and integrity. You're trying to keep them all in the air. But work is a rubber ball that will bounce if it is dropped. The other four balls are made of glass, and will be harmed or shattered if they are dropped.
The author had the experience of losing a woman he loved when she developed a brain tumor. Years later he married his present wife. In the book Patterson shows that a person can fear to love again, wondering if they are setting themselves up for more heartache.
The book had some good messages about love, and about keeping balance in one's life. But it was overly sweet with a predictable plot. The author seemed to follow a similar formula as Nicholas Sparks, so fans of Sparks' romance novels would probably enjoy this story.
+10 task (#177 on list)
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 95
20.8 Best of 2015Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
On NYT Notable List
I can see why this book is on a lot of best of books for 2015. Coates somehow pulls off being raw and eloquent at the same time, a completely different type of lyrical than the DuBois I read earlier, with many passages worth remembering or quoting. The book was unsettling, but it wasn’t meant for me. And I read it wanting to see what he saw and wanted to share with his son.
I was struck immediately by his references to “his body”, not to himself, and having to live in fear for it, which, even as a woman, I've been blessed to never need to feel that deeply. And to “the Dream”, which in his view requires exclusion of others as it is currently set, although he says it doesn't need to be that way. I came to appreciate his distinction between genetic differences in appearance and white, or “those who believe themselves to be white”, and black, particularly when he pointed out how different it felt to visit Paris and be not black but American but still recognize those groups that were being treated as lower and other in a similar way.
I appreciated the chance to see the world from this point of view and highly recommend the book.
+20 task
+10 review
Task total: 30
Grand total: 160
10.8 - Winter SolsticeI, Robot by Isaac Asimov
Lexile 820
I approached this book with low expectations because I hated Foundation, but it’s very different. Through the framing device of stories related by the retired chief robo-psychologist to a journalist, Asimov illustrates his “three laws of robotics” that are imprinted into every robot produced, and explores what happens when one or other of the laws is circumvented or results in a situation that humans don’t expect.
As an example, the first law is, "A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." So what happens when a robot is asked questions whose truthful answer would be painful for the questioner to hear? What happens when a robot formulates its own religion and stops believing what humans say?
The first story is so cute - about a little girl who loves her robot nursemaid more than anyone. There’s humour, and the problems and their solutions are fun and interesting. I gave it 4 stars.
+10 task (born in Russia)
+10 review
+10 combo (10.2, 10.3)
+5 series
+5 oldies (1950)
Task total: 40
Grand Total: 310
10.2 Noel, NoelThe Cheapest Nights by يوسف إدريس Yusuf Idris
Review
I learned about Yusuf Idris while reading Tahir Shah's "In Arabian Nights" for the Summer challenge. In that book, Shah searches for old Arabian folktales...and other stories. Idris was apparently a master of writing stories in vernacular Egyptian Arabic....which obviously is lost when reading in English. He was reportedly nominated several times for a Nobel Prize in literature.
The stories are surprisingly blunt...almost always dealing with poor people. The tales also are surprising for their realistic portrayal of sexual relations despite all the taboos and dangers. One sad story relates how everyone in a farm town was suspicious of a young woman because she was so pretty. One day, as she was bringing lunch to her brother in the field, she was assaulted by a young man. Of course, everyone assumed the worse and the brother prepared to "honor" kill his sister. Before he could do that, the townswomen forced her to a Christian woman's house to have her "virtue" tested. The woman was innocent...and saved from death...but her life was forevermore led in the shadows.
Task +10
Review +10
combo +15 (10.9- 3.85 rating, 201.- see penultimate paragraph in http://www.wrmea.org/1992-march/book-... ; 20.9- published 1954)
oldie +5 (1954)
total = 40
grand total = 205
10.9 Realistic ReviewsThese Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman
Rating 3.96
REVIEW:
So thanks to books like “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent,” I am now apparently a sucker for young adult dystopia/sci-fi books! “These Broken Stars” is a great mix of action/sci-fi and young romance all bundled up into a great book. The story follows Tarver, a soldier, and Lilac, daughter to what seems like the richest man in the galaxy. They crash land on an unknown planet and the story tells their tale of survival. It seems like a simple tale, but it does become more complex as the story unfolds. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but am still trying to decide if I want to finish the series or not. 4 out of 5 stars.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Series
+5 10.2 "No L NoL"
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 30
10.6 Australia DayThe Childrens Bach by Helen Garner - Adelaide Festival Award for Fiction 1986
One of the things I like about reading Helen Garner is how familiar everything is. When I read "Royal Park" I know I am near the zoo. I have passed the Melbourne Cemetery in my car countless times. I know just the kind of cafe the Paradise would be.
The people and their homes are familiar. Of course, this is from the time before those areas become more up-market and the average person can only afford to live there if they take out a sizable mortgage, but there are still some of the older types, the alternatives, living in those areas, those who were raising chickens and growing their own vegies long before that kind of thing became trendy.
Garner also writes about how lives collide and divide, and how this becomes part of the characters story and who they are. If it wasn't for the chance encounter between Dexter and Elizabeth, reuniting the friends after so many years, would Athena have been content with her daydreams of escape and not run away ? Has her seemingly idyllic life been destroyed by the women who meet her and seem to admire her so much ? Isn't anyone other than Dexter disgusted with this so-called modern love ?
+10 task
+10 review
+5 oldies
+5 combo (10.9, avg. rating 3.4 )
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 105
Task 10.8 Winter Solstice (Rebekah's Task)-Read a book written by an author born in one of the countries within the artic circle: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Alaska, U.S.
Outrage (Inspector Erlendur #9) (2008) by Arnaldur Indriðason; translated by Anna Yates; (Hardcover, 281 pages)
Arnaldur Indriðason was born in Reykjavík, Iceland on January 28, 1961
+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.9 realistic ratings)
+05 Series
Task Total: 10 + 05 + 05 = 20
Grand Total: 40 + 20 = 60
10.8 Winter Solstice (Rebekah's Task)The Hitman's Guide to Housecleaning by Hallgrímur Helgason who was born in Iceland
This book is weird, although it's very rooted in reality, and if it was a film it would be a very gritty one. I wasn't quite sure about it at first, cringing a bit at the absurdity of a hitman pretending to be a priest, but it grew on me, as the plot developed and Toxic's character unfolded.
He's no hero, for certain, but he does have an interesting pride in his work, odd ways of looking at women and Iceland, and a backstory that is highly relevant. He changes, after a fashion, as the story moves on. He's still crass though.
I enjoyed the dark comedy of it and the twists of language and the oddness of the plot. Some reviewers didn't like the ending, but I felt it was appropriate, because there's only so much cleaning one can do after all.
+10 task
+10 review
+5 10.9 rating 3.23
Task total: 25
Grand total: 185
15.2 - DominoesRisk Wise: Nine Everyday Adventures by Polly Morland
+15 task (published 2010s, same decade as 15.1 - post 18)
Task total: 15
RwS Total: 25
Dominoes Total: 30
Grand Total: 55
10.7 Cozy HolidayAunt Dimity and the Wishing Well By Nancy Atherton
shelved 28X as cozy
I particularly enjoy this series, and am happy to see the author is relatively young (so will continue with it for some time!). This is the 20th book in the series, and doesn’t seem tired. One of the things I like about the Aunt Dimity books is that even though it is very much a “cozy” mystery it isn’t old fashioned or behind the times. The characters have more realistic personalities, foibles and body art(!). This book introduces a new character, Jack, who may be staying awhile in the village or foretell other changes coming in future books. This book deals with Jack’s arrival in Finch, due to his Uncle’s death and having to deal with the estate. Along the way a wishing well is discovered on the Uncle’s property and some people’s wishes come true. Of course, that’s not always a good thing – and how is this possible anyway? Wishing wells are fantasy…. aren’t they? On the other hand, if you are a fan of the series, the paranormal help from Aunt Dimity is completely plausible!
10 task
5 series
5 combo (10.9 RR 3.77)
10 review
___
30
Running total 85
20.7 FeminismThe Subtle Knife, Philip Pullman (book 2 in The Northern Lights Trilogy No.43 on the list)
(This is a YA book but has a lexile score of 890 https://lexile.com/book/details/97803...)
+20 taks
+10 review
Total this post: 30
Overall points: 60
15.1 DominoesAstoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival by Peter Stark
+15 Task
Grand Total: 40
15.3 - DominoesThe Gap of Time: The Winter's Tale Retold by Jeanette Winterson
+15 task (published 2010s, same decade as 15.2 - post 126)
Task total: 15
RwS Total: 25
Dominoes Total: 45
Grand Total: 70
20.3 - Toni MorrisonQuicksand by Nella Larsen
Helga Crane is the daughter of a white woman and an African American man, but since her father left when she was young, she has grown up surrounded by white people. When the book opens she’s a teacher, but she doesn’t feel she fits in with the community there either. She resigns and, rejected by her white relatives, goes to Harlem, then to her mother’s sister in Denmark (where she is accepted, but always seen as a curiosity) and back to the USA.
This is a fascinating book, apparently based in part on Nella Larsen’s own life. I found Helga difficult to like because she runs away from anything the least bit challenging, but it’s clear that’s because of her upbringing. She’s learned that avoiding attention and hiding her feelings – even from herself – is the only way to survive.
+20 task
+10 review
+15 combo (10.9, 20.1, 20.9)
+10 oldies (1928)
Task total: 55
Grand Total: 365
20.3 - Toni MorrisonPassing by Nella Larsen
I found this much more accomplished as a novel than Quicksand. There's more unity and structure, and my loyalties as a reader were caught and divided. But it's shelved as Assignment and has no lexile score, so no style points.
+20 task
Task total: 20
Grand Total: 385
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I'm sorry, Tien. Kindred is a YA Assignment at BPL and has a Lexile of 580. Task, but no style points. "oh wow, ok... I just assumed it's adult so didn't even check. Thanks, Elizabeth.
Post 123 Amanda wrote: "10.6 Australia DayThe Childrens Bach by Helen Garner - Adelaide Festival Award for Fiction 1986
One of the things I like about reading Helen Garner is how familia..."
Amanda, I'm sorry, but the MPE of this book is only 96 pages and does not qualify for tasks.
10.8 Winter SolsticeThe Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews
Canadian
This is the third M. Toews novel I’ve read, and the first one that I like (I felt “meh” about the others). She doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects in her novels – this one is about mental illness and it’s effects on a family. The mentally ill person is Min, who has two children. The narrator is her sister, Hattie. Hattie has to come to help Min, by checking her into the hospital, and take care of the kids. A road trip ensues, and is the basis of the novel. It is a story of people coping with an unenviable situation, and taking care of each other in their own way. The story is told through their conversations and Hattie’s remembrances of growing up with her ill sister. What Toews does well as a writer is depicting real people and situations, there are no pat answers or rose colored glasses – although there is a bit of happiness at the end and along the way despite the situation (of course, like real life).
10 task
5 combo (10.9 real ratings 3.68)
10 review
___
25
Running total 110
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 123 Amanda wrote: "10.6 Australia DayThe Childrens Bach by Helen Garner - Adelaide Festival Award for Fiction 1986
One of the things I like about reading Hel..."
Oh no !!! Back to the drawing board for this task then!
10.2 NoelEasy by Tammara Webber
Review: I messed up my dominoes almost immediately and accidentally switched my first two books, but luckily this one fit into 10.2 just fine. It’s a ‘New Adult’ romance novel, although it could be argued that the romance often takes a backseat to some more difficult issues. I’m a sucker for stories of people falling in love during college, having experienced that myself, so I ended up staying up way too late reading this. At 1:45 AM, it was a four star read, but in thinking about it later I’d probably downgrade it by one star. The romance and the harsher parts of the book almost conflicted with each other, and like others I almost immediately figured out things that took forever for the main character to realize. Plus, reviews of the second book make me not want to continue the series, which is a shame. I may just skip to the third or something – we’ll see.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Series
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 85
20.2 Sigrid Undset (1928) - Middle Ages (500-1500 CE)Katherine by Anya Seton
Review: This was a weird book for me. While I was reading it, I was pretty much completely sucked in and wanted to keep reading and reading. Somehow, however, each time I went to pick it up next, I wasn’t that enthusiastic. It is a good book, and the kind of thing teenaged me would’ve devoured. Not quite a romance novel but not quite not one, it’s the kind of historical fiction I love – multiple times I started reading information about Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt to try to distinguish fact from fiction. I may pick up a biography sometime, although I’m not sure it’d surpass the story told here.
+20 Task (set 1366-1396)
+20 Combo (10.2, 10.4, 20.1, 20.9)
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (pub. 1953)
+5 Jumbo (500 pages)
Task Total: 60
Grand Total: 145
10.8 Winter SolsticeA Forbidden Rumspringa by Keira Andrews
Review: The title of this book is so silly, and the content is actually not. It is, indeed, a gay Amish romance, but because the story continues in the next two books, I think the series as a whole is going to dive deeper into things like family dynamics than most romance novels have time for. This one is the lead up, and I actually felt like the parts where Isaac and David were together were the weakest bits, but I really want to pick up the next installment and see where it goes next. I only wish libraries were better at stocking M/M romances – this is hard on my budget.
+10 Task (born in Canada)
+5 Combo (10.2)
+5 Series
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 175
20.8 - Best of 2015After the Parade by Lori Ostlund
(from NPR's Book Concierge)
+20 task
task total: 20
grand total: 45
20.7 Feminism Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood
Review:
This early book from Atwood is her third published novel. Written in the first person, it is the often-humorous story of an author who felt compelled to fake her own death so she could "start over". She had a miserable childhood because of not getting along with her mother, in addition to being very overweight. Atwood really captured the cruelties school children inflict on each other. As an adult she secretly became a successful writer of trashy novels which she referred to as Costume Gothics. I enjoyed the story up to the point when she became an adult. Every man she got involved with was a dud, and it was exasperating. I ended up rating the book 3 stars because of the tedious and confusing story-within-a-story involving one of the "Costume Gothics," which ran parallel to the narrator's real life. Also the ending was (view spoiler). But the book was worth reading for the enjoyable parts, and Atwood was already a great writer in 1976.
+20 task (#105 on list)
+15 combo (10.3; 10.8; 10.9 - 3.66 rating)
+10 review
+ 5 oldies (1976)
Task total=50
Grand total=210
20.10 Leap Year Rabbit Redux by John Updike
Review
What a dysfunctional set of people. Almost no characters that you love...or even like...but you feel that redemption is possible. But, like a car wreck on the side of the road, I could not take my eyes from the scene. I felt like I was on edge most of the time. At first I couldn't believe the bad choices some characters were making... but then I realized, I probably know people just like this in reality. I enjoyed this more than Rabbit Run. I didn't appreciate Updike's straightforward style in the first book...but here, I realized that he probably decided to not have the prose interfere with the story. I would rate Rabbit Run 3.5 stars, Rabbit Redux at 4 stars and now looking forward to something even better with Rabbit is Rich.
task +20
review +10
combo +15 (10.2; 10.9, 20.1)
series +5
oldie +5 (1971)
total = 55
grand total = 260
10.2 Noel, NoelStone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood
I always seem to enjoy Atwood's short stories more than her longer fiction. This collection was no different.
At least half of the stories were told from the perspective of older people as they are at the end of their lives, and they are very amusing, most definitely my favourites.
The first 3 stories were linked through characters. To hear the widowed, world-famous fantasy writer and grandmother discuss blow-jobs was hilarious, and it was probably my favourite of the nine stories. I am still trying to work out if the fantasy of becoming a murder victim and subject of an investigation became a reality or not, and if Wilma and Tobias made it out of the attack on the retirement home alive.
Highly humorous and thoroughly enjoyable.
+10 task
+10 review
+15 combos ( 10.3, 10.8, 10.9 - 3.94)
Task Total = 35
Grand Total = 110
20.4 Sigrid UndsetKatherine by Anya Seton
I hoped for so much more, but perhaps the problem wasn't the book, rather this reader. I'm having a hard time putting my finger on just what I think was wrong. (Of course, I'll try.)
Firstly, the preface says that those who know English history will recognize all the main characters. I immediately wondered "if you don't know English history will it matter?" I decided it might be better if I didn't - that I could just experience the story. Then, between the preface and the table of contents, was a genealogy chart. If you don't know the history and you just want to experience the story, my suggestion is to not look at the chart. But if you want to know every spoiler, the chart will really help.
The story is a good one, even if you are now armed with the spoilers. I liked the prose and intend to read another by Seton that I have on hand.
What I found in this one, though, is that I don't care about the trappings of royalty. I don't care how many jewels they have and how fine is their clothing. And I especially don't care to read any more medieval novels. The time period is too foreign to me. I think a varlet is a servant of some sort, but the Kindle dictionary doesn't have a definition and I was too lazy to look it up. Hanaps came about while they were eating but isn't food, I think.
For me, the beginning - in my anticipation of a good read - was a solid 4 stars. Then a downward spiral began and by 350 pages I just wanted it to end, but I had too much time invested to abandon it. I'm being generous with 3 stars.
+20 Task
+20 Combo (10.2, 10.4, 20.1, 20.9)
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldie (pub 1953)
+ 5 Jumbo (500 pgs)
Task Total = 60
Grand Total = 95
10.9 Realistic RatingsWe Are Water by Wally Lamb
Review:
A flawed book, full of flawed characters and excessive sprawl that made the book feel either far to long or not nearly long enough. The audiobook narrators, a full cast, valiantly tried to control the narrative and give each character's story a unique voice. Really, their performance is almost enough to push this from three stars to four. Sadly, I walked away from the book feeling that I had learned nothing of value about human stories or emotions. After 23 hours with these characters, I have very little to say. I'm very glad not to have read this with my book club because this would inevitably be one of those discussions that amounts to a conversation about which characters were liked and which disliked.
The book also suffered from not knowing how to get off stage. The ending was one of those epilogues that almost always leave me unsatisfied and this one was a failure.
Go read one of Lamb's other books instead.
+10 Task (3.77)
+10 Review
+5 Jumbo (561 pgs.)
Task total: 25
Grand total: 90
15.4 - DominoesGreat Tales from English History, Vol 3 by Robert Lacey
+15 task (author born in UK, same as 15.3 - post 130)
Task total: 15
RwS Total: 25
Dominoes Total: 60
Grand Total: 85
10.8 - CanadaStation Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
+10 task
+5 combo (10.9)
task total: 15
grand total: 135
15.1 DominoesThe Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
+15 Task (Author born in the UK)
Task total: 15
Grand total: 105
10.2 Noel, NoelThe Road to High Saffron (Shades of Grey #1) by Jasper Fforde
Review
I read this for my f2f bookclub as it suits out theme of the year: colour. In the beginning, I can’t help but to continue in comparing this to The Giver and A Corner of White –both YA and also revolve around colours. It was a little difficult getting into the book in the beginning due to the world set-up and not quite liking the MC however The Road to High Saffron improves on me at around halfway and the ending almost made me bang my head on the wall (only because the next book isn’t yet available!). Whilst the MC kind of grows on me, I still didn’t particularly like him and wished that the book is told in an alternating perspective as the female character really intrigues me. Nevertheless, a fairly fun book to read though I still prefer The Thursday Next’s series.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Series
Total this post: 25 points
Total points: 215 points
10.8 Winter Solstice (Rebekah's Task)-Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist by Michael J. Fox
born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Review
“An Incurable Optimist” is such an apt phrase in describing Michael J. Fox. This book was so very upbeat and quite uplifting. I don’t like that such a giant of a person is trapped in a very limited body but I do believe that he’s become this person from having it and having risen so far above it that we all can learn from him. His passion for life, his family, and others were very obvious and though he acknowledged to having bad days, this part of his life wasn’t dwelt upon. It was stated in a simple way and most times included embarrassing moments but neither were they depressing in any way. It’s become a part of his life which he’d, of course, rather do without but have learnt to deal with and move on. It’s a wonder that he can be so positive!
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.9 - avg 3.8)
+10 Review
Total this post: 25 points
Total points: 240 points
10.9 Realistic Ratings (Cory Day's Task)-Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Review
I’ve avoided this book for so long because I thought it will be a very hard book to get through. I opted for the audio version through Librivox (a fairly good narrator!) and I still had to have breaks every 20% or so. That seems to be the average time that something heartbreaking will happen and I need to stop for some days before I can continue on. Harriet Beecher Stowe definitely was not afraid in exploring the horrifying reality of slavery! I read Kindred at the same time and whilst I still found terrible things in it, I found that Uncle Tom’s Cabin ten times more confronting. What I didn’t expect though was just how religious this book is. I don’t particularly mind it and whilst I understand faith flourished especially in the prosecuted or the oppressed, I do wonder if it was like that for the Christian slaves... The author’s note seemed to say that most events were based on true events and though the characters themselves are fictional, they are also based on real people so it seemed that this was all true in a way. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a very heartbreaking novel that underscores faith in God will bring you through any circumstances no matter how hard.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+15 Oldies (pub. 1852)
Total this post: 35 points
Total points: 275 points
15.3 Book DominoesNaughty Shakespeare by Michael Macrone
same first name as author of 15.2's Big Data, Big Analytics Michael Minelli
Task total: 15
Grand total: 200
From Post 98Karen Michele wrote: "10.4 Valentine's Day
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 35"
+5 Combo 10.2-Noel
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Reading with Style
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The Night Ranger (other topics)The Drop (other topics)
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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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Eva's Eye by Karin Fossum
+20 Task: Translated from Norwegian
+15 Combo: 10.2 Noel, Noel / 10.8 Winter Solstice (Born in Norway) / 10.9 Realistic Ratings
+ 5 Series (#1 Inspector Konrad Sejer)
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 145