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FA 2014 RwS Completed Tasks - Fall 2014
Kate S wrote: "Tony wrote: "Task total: 40RwS Finish: 100
Mega Finish: 200
Grand total: 2610"
Congratulations, Tony!"
Well done!
You have a stunning total, Tony - and not finished yet, I'm sure! Congratulations!
What an amazing total, Tony! Congrats!
20.3 Thieves and MysteriesThe Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle
Review: When I went to rate this, I noticed that there were a bunch of low ratings because it wasn’t what people expected from a Sherlock Holmes story. That’s precisely what I ended up liking about it. The first half is a typical Watson-narrated Holmes figuring it out kind of story, which felt like hanging out like friends I hadn’t seen in a while. The second half formed the background of the story, narrated in the third person, and it was a nice change of pace. The thing is, while I love hanging out with Holmes and Watson, they kind of get on my nerves after a while. This setup totally prevented that, so it ended up being one of my favorites of Doyle’s.
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.7, 20.1)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies
Task Total: 50
Grand Total: 990
20.6 UnderratedCold Front by Ann Somerville
Review: This may be the best self-published book I’ve ever read. Somerville seems pretty prolific, so I’m not sure why it’s self-published, but I do think it might be a difficult sell – it’s ostensibly a male-male romance novel, but it’s really much much more. First off, it’s a collection of two short stories, both of which are heavier on the sex and relationship dynamics, plus a novel that reads mostly like a police procedural. The entire thing is set in a science fiction world but with fantasy elements. The world building is mostly subtly done, although it was very slightly difficult to get into at first. The first short story throws you into a new world where the protagonists meet in a BDSM club and have a one night stand, and the combination of the BDSM and the world’s terminology was a tiny bit hard to get into. In the novel, I guessed who done it well before the characters, which was super frustrating. Ultimately, though, I was fully engaged and loved this. It’s very well done and well-balanced.
+20 Task (published 2010, 155 ratings)
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 1020
Karen Michele wrote: "Yay, Tony!"Congratulations!
10.3 - Leif Erikson:Cockroaches by Jo Nesbø
Continuing with Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series and having started in Sydney Australia with book 1, I enjoyed meeting Harry in The Bat and was happy to find him maturing as a man and a detective in Cockroaches, the second book of the series which I am reading in order as I’ve come late to Jo Nesbo’s work. This time Harry travels to Bangkok, Thailand and begins to conquer his addictions as he unravels a more complicated mystery with a wealth of interesting characters. I’m really looking forward to getting to know Harry better as the series moves back to Norway, the Scandinavian noir setting that has grown the popularity of the genre. From what I can tell from the reviews, this series will just get better and better!
+10 Task: Norway
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 2205
20.4 RealismChildren of the Alley by Naguib Mahfouz
Review: The problem with allegories is the distortions that are introduced into the story to make it fit. For instance, the residents of an alley in a desert dig a hole and capture their oppressors and then throw water in so that the oppressors "drown" ala Moses and the Red Sea even though, in order to make it anywhere near believable, they beat the bad guys to death. Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed and modern science appear in this allegorical novel that tells the story of successive belief systems trying to make the life of the poor and humble better. Every now and then there is a period of peace and some prosperity but then each system fails because of evil and greed.
The translation is also awkward. This translations talks about "gangsters" and I have seen them referred to as "strongmen" which I think fits better. Also there are songs and poetry that as translated into English in this edition are decidedly unpoetical.
+20 Task
+5 Combo 10.7 ( Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature)
+10 Review
+5 Oldie (1959)
Task total: 40
Grand Total: 535
20.3 Thieves & MysteryHood by Stephen R. Lawhead
+20 Task (#34 on Thieves List)
+5 Combo 10.9: "steeped in Celtic mythology"-GR description
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 575
20.3 Thieves & MysteryThe Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle YA900
+20 Task (#18 on Thieves List)
+10 Oldies (1883)
+5 Combo 10.4
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 610
Rosemary wrote: "You have a stunning total, Tony - and not finished yet, I'm sure! Congratulations!"And a high percentage of not-a-novels!
Congratulations
20.2 BirthplaceTrue Evil by Greg Iles
+20 Task (Author born in Germany)
+5 Jumbo (512 pages MPE)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 635
10.10 Group ReadTenth of December by George Saunders
+10 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 690
Task 20.8 - Middle EastWith tensions growing once again, read a book set (>90%) in one of these Middle Eastern countries: Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Northern Cyprus, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
For Combo:
10.7 - Honored Authors - Coralie's Task:
Read a book by an author who has a literary award named after them. Please provide a link to the award.
http://www.aucpress.com/t-nmmdescript...
Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth (1985) by Naguib Mahfouz (Paperback, 168 pages)
Review:Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988. This novel, Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth, is about an ancient Egyptian Pharoah, Akhenaten. He is married to the famous Nefertiti. His claim to fame is that, as pharaoh, he sought to convert his country from the worship of many gods to the worship of the one, true sun god, Aten. The story is told by a young scribe. The young scribe is seeking the truth about Akhenaten. Akhenaten had died a few years previously, so many of the people who knew Akhenaten are still alive. Each segment records the scribe’s interview with a different person – the priest of a competing god, Amun; the sculptor who sculpted Akhenaten and Nefertiti; Akhenaten’s childhood tutor; one of Akhenaten’s father’s wives; Nefertiti ‘s half-sister; and so on. While the novel was short – only 168 pages! –everything essential about the subject that the author wants to say gets said. Recommended for those who like literary fiction.
+20 Task (#20.8 Egypt)
+15 Combo (#10.4: Akhenaten has 9 letters; #10.7 literary award; #20.4: on list of Realism authors)
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1939-1989)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 15 + 05 + 10 = 50
Grand Total: 1075 + 50 = 1125
20.10 Higher EducationI Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai Lexile 1000
Review:
When Malala Yousafzai was eleven years old, she wrote a column with a BBC Urdu correspondent about life in Swat, a northern region of Pakistan near Afghanistan, which had come under the control of the Taliban. After speaking out for education for girls, she became a target of the Taliban. In 2012, fifteen-year-old Malala was shot by the Taliban with a bullet entering near her left eye, severing her facial nerve, and lodging in her scapula. She hovered near death until she was airlifted to a hospital in Birmingham, England.
The book is coauthored by Christina Lamb, a foreign correspondent, who probably researched much of the interesting historical material about Pakistan. Malala's family was also a strong focus in the book. Her father is very much her mentor, and also a strong advocate for education for all children in Pakistan. Both Malala and her father placed themselves at great personal risk when they bravely spoke against the violence in Pakistan. She also objected to the killings of civilians from American drones.
Malala and her family miss the beautiful Swat valley of Pakistan. But it will probably be a very long time before it is safe for the Yousafzai family to return. Meanwhile, she still promotes education for all through the international Malala Fund. "I am Malala" is both educational and inspirational.
+20 task (Berkeley, Montana)
+ 5 combo 10.4 (Education has 9 letters)
+10 review
+10 not-a-novel (Non-fiction)
Task Total: 45
Grand Total:530
15.10 BtW - Constant TravelerThe Children Who Lived in a Barn by Eleanor Graham, 1938
+15 task
+15 bonus
+150 Constant Traveler finish bonus
Task total: 180
Grand Total: 1225 points
20.4 RealismThe Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
+20 task
+10 combo(10.4 - innocence, 20.1 - shelved 34 times)
+ 10 oldie (pub 1920)
Task total 40
Grand total 765
+ RwS Finish 100
Grand total 865
10.9 MythologicalOh My Gods: A Modern Retelling of Greek and Roman Myths by Philip Freeman
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.6, 235 ratings 2012 publication)
+10 Not-a-Novel
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 715
10.9 MythologicalHelen of Troy by Margaret George
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.9)
+5 Jumbo (611 pages)
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 735
10.8 Comfort ReadsMusic for Torching by A.M. Homes
+10 Task (I rated May We Be Forgiven 5*)
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 745
20.9 War BabiesThe Woman in Black by Susan Hill
+20 Task
+5 Oldies
+5 Combo 10.2
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 775
20.6 UnderratedWrong: Why Experts Keep Failing Us and How to Know When Not to Trust Them by David H. Freedman
+20 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 805
10.7 Honored AuthorsHickory Dickory Death by Agatha Christie
I was reading a book aimed at writers (or would-be writers) of crime fiction, and some discussion came up about Agatha Christie – was she too “puzzle-y”? Were her mysteries outdated compared to modern work? Facing a long flight, and the fear of my Kindle somehow breaking over the Pacific Ocean, I grabbed a few paperbacks for the trip, and this made the list, largely due to last minute panicked searching of my shelves rather than a really thoughtful consideration. Glad I did, though. And Then There Were None is one of my all-time favorite mysteries, and this reminds of that in some ways. The pace is brisk, there’s some very British-feeling humor, and it was a lively read that kept me engaged throughout my trip. The ending was great -- not a total surprise by the time I got there, but it was an honorable twist (I could have seen it all coming if I had read the clues properly!).
+10 task (Agatha Award)
+5 oldies (originally published in 1955)
+10 review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 460
20.8 Middle EastThe Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay: An American Family in Iran by Hooman Majd
I have mixed feelings about this book. Initially, I thought it might be a sort of humorous look at life in modern-day Iran, as incongruous as that may sound. The title made the book seem like it would take an ironic tone, and I was looking forward to that. Alternately, I thought it could take a more political approach, which would also have been interesting. Neither of these were quite what I got – but I did, in the end, appreciate the earnestness with which the author approached his year in his home country with his American family, and I felt like I learned quite a lot about 2011 Iran and the challenges of living an ordinary, day to day life in a location so caught up in political turmoil.
+20 task (set in Iran)
+10 not a novel (nonfiction)
+10 review
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 500
10.4Your Thoughts Are Not Your Own: Mind control, mass manipulation and perception management by Neil Sanders
+10 task
+10 not a novel
task total: 20
grand total: 1720
10.5 Dr. SalkMy Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor
Review:
I listened to the author read this memoir. The first half of the book is a five-star read. She describes some of the science behind brain functioning and describes in detail the feelings that she felt on the morning of her stroke. She also describes the process of relearning everything after the stroke. About halfway through, the book veers off into a self-help/spirituality memoir about positive feeling, rejecting negativity, and feeling at one with the universe. Ms. Taylor tries to relate these feelings to the science of brain chemistry, but this part of the book felt like a prolonged anecdote mixed with a bit of positive psychology. I think the spirituality part of the book may resonate with some readers, but it left me cold. Still, highly recommended for the description of the stroke.
+10 Task
+10 Not-a-novel (nonfiction)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.4 - scientist's)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 770
+100 RwS Finish
Grand total: 870
10.3 Leif ErikssonDoppler by Erlend Loe
+10 task (shelved 7 times as Norway)
Task total: 10 pts
Grand total: 170 pts
15.2 BtW - Constant TravelerSiddhartha by Hermann Hesse
+30 task (pub. 1922)
Task total: 30 pts
Grand total: 200 pts
20.3 Thieves & MysteriesRed Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
+20 task (10th n the list of thieves)
+5 jumbo (558 pages)
Task total: 25 pts
Grand total: 225 pts
20.9 War BabiesPontoon: A Novel of Lake Wobegon by Garrison Keillor
+20 task (Born in 1942)
Task total: 20 pts
Grand total: 245 pts
20.4 RealismA Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
It was an interesting experience reading this play as an adult. I read it repeatedly in high school and college drama classes, performed scenes from it, etc. At the time, I knew the play quite well. When I started, the characters felt familiar, but as I went on, I couldn't quite recall the way the story wrapped up, and found myself just as eager to follow the story as I was the first time I read it. I also found myself viewing Nora differently than I did as a teenager. I have a good bit more sympathy for Nora's dilemma than I did - I can better understand the fear and anxiety that can come from having a secret and from feeling stuck in a situation. Though she still reads as somewhat silly and abrupt to me, I'm more sympathetic (and of course, more aware of the historical context that makes Nora feel trapped, and then feel like bursting free).
+20 task (on list)
+15 combo (10.3, 10.7 - here, 20.1)
+10 review
+10 not-a-novel (play)
+10 oldies (1879)
Task Total: 65
Grand Total: 565
20.6 - UnderratedPink Smog by Francesca Lia Block, no lexile
+20 Task: published 2012, 930 ratings
Grand Total: 2225
20.6 - Underrated:The Epigenetics Revolution by Nessa Carey (648 ratings)
Review:
Thousands of books have been written and dozens of documentaries made about DNA and genetics. Even schoolchildren know that DNA is the blueprint of life that is inside every cell of a living organism, including humans.
But only during the last couple of decades scientists have begun to realize that there must be more to genes than meets the eye. How can we have liver cells, red blood cells, neurons and skin cells, all of them having completely different roles in the body, when the nucleus of every cell contains the exact same DNA? How is it that genetically identical twins aren't exactly the same in terms of their physique, their behaviour and diseases and health problems they have? Similar, yes, but not identical. How can there be worker bees and queen bees, the latter being twice the size as the former, having 20 times the life span of the worker bee and being able to lay eggs, when all the bees in a colony are genetically identical? How can an animal in a temperate region have a brown coat in the summer and a white coat in the winter, when the genes coding for coat colour remain the same? Why do cells sometimes suddenly start to multiply like crazy, giving rise to tumours and cancers of different types?
Those and many more phenomena are examples of epigenetics. Every cell has the same DNA, yes, but the picture is much more complicated than that: there exist complex molecular mechanisms that determine which genes are turned off in response to environmental factors, or expressed differently. This is how a body adapts to the changes throughout life while the underlying DNA doesn't change (because changing the DNA is always dangerous for an organism, as it can bring about potentially lethal mutations). It's the way the DNA code is "read" and "used" that changes.
The book was sometimes a bit difficult to follow because it occasionally went into too much detail and contained references to a countless number of genes, enzymes, molecules and proteins. But it did open up a whole new way of looking at genetics and had lots of really interesting information. For example, I never knew about X-inactivation. Since the cells of a man (or a male animal) contain just one copy of the X-chromosome but the cells of women (or female animals) two copies, this could lead to all manner of problems with producing proteins from the chromosomes. So very early on in the embryo and consequently, every time a cell divides, one of the two copies is epigenetically turned off. This is irreversible and total, no RNA is ever transcribed and no proteins produced from that chromosome. It's completely random which one will be shut down for the rest of the life of the organism. Look at any tortoiseshell cat (who are all female) and you see it in action: some skin cells have randomly turned off the X-chromosome coding for ginger hair, while others have turned off the chromosome coding for black hair, and we get a coat that is a random mix of the two colours.
The author has clearly outlined why and how epigenetics is the number one evolving strand of biology these days and how lots of new drugs might come out of the field quite soon, if we find out more about how it all works.
+20 task
+5 combos (10.4 - 9, 10, 11: epigenetics, revolution)
+10 review
+10 not-a-novel
Task total: 45
Grand Total: 355
I also realized that one of the books I read already in September fits a category:10.4 - 9, 10, 11:
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Mockingjay - 10 letters)
Review:
I'd been meaning to read the Hunger Games series for the longest time, as I am generally a big fan of Sci-Fi and dystopian novels. I finally got round to it this year, thinking that at least I will have read the final book before the movie comes out.
Lots of the reviews on this site and elsewhere have been poorer for the final book than the first two installments of the series. People have complained that after the action-packed, quick-paced Hunger Games and Catching Fire, the final book is slow and quite boring. Plus the younger female readers find it is too low on the "Will I choose Peeta or Gale" moments. I think lots of these people have just missed what's been happening to Katniss and what it must have been for her to go through all this action.
I actually enjoyed it just as much as the first two books, if not more. The majority of the time Katniss spent being utterly confused, healing from yet another injury and shock or grieving. That's what made it much more real for me. This is a tale about a child who did have some qualities to start with that made her more likely to survive the Games - she could shoot a bow, hunt animals, track the movements of someone. But in the end, she is still only a child. A child raised in a world of constant hunger, cold and misery. A child who's been through elaborate entertainment designed to have people kill each other off, not just once but twice. A child who's lost friends, family and loves ones. A child who survived the odds twice, only to find herself in the midst of war, with people in power using her for their own secret plots, even though she wants nothing to do with it.
I think the book captures it perfectly. There's an acute sense of loss and confusion and pain and even though the ending can be described as happy, it's the sort of happiness that comes with knowing that you can never quite recover from what you've been through, because it's just been too much.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 375
From Post 810Rebekah wrote: "20.2 Phineas Finn
The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien (Ireland)
+20 pts - Book
+10 pts - Combo (10.4, 20.7)
Task Total - 30 pts
GRand Total - 340 pts"
+5 oldies (1967)
20.6 UnderratedBereft by Chris Womersley
+20 task (920 ratings, published 2010)
Task total: 20
Grand Total: 640
From Post 814Phoebe wrote: "20.1 19th Century
Die Jagd nach dem Schnatz by Lewis Carroll
(this is the edition I read: English + German translation + epilogue = 110 pages)
[book:The Hunting Of The..."
+5 Combo 10.7-Honored Authors
From Post 826Karen Michele wrote: "10.3 - Leif Erikson:
Cockroaches by Jo Nesbø
Continuing with Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series and having started in Sydney Australia with book 1, I enjoyed meeting Har..."
+5 Combo 10.4-Cockroaches has 11 letters
Rosemary wrote: "15.10 BtW - Constant TravelerThe Children Who Lived in a Barn by Eleanor Graham, 1938
+15 task
+15 bonus
+150 Constant Traveler finish bonus
Task total: 180
Grand ..."
Congrats on you BtW finish, Rosemary!
Kath wrote: "+ RwS Finish 100"Way to go, Kath!
From Post 843Katy wrote: "10.7 Honored Authors
Hickory Dickory Death by Agatha Christie
I was reading a book aimed at writers (or would-be writers) of crime fiction, and some discussion came..."
+5 Combo 20.3-#92 on list of thieves
From Post 847Joanna wrote: "10.5 Dr. Salk
My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor
Review:
I listened to the author read this memoir. The first half of the..."
+5 Combo 20.10
Joanna wrote: "+100 RwS Finish"Great reading, Joanna!
Nice job, Rosemary and Kath!Thanks for the +5, Kate!
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
Quantum Leap: Obsessions (other topics)The Secret Place (other topics)
Dracula (other topics)
The Trial of Andrew Johnson (other topics)
Stranger Things Happen (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Carol Davis (other topics)Tana French (other topics)
Bram Stoker (other topics)
Noel B. Gerson (other topics)
Noel B. Gerson (other topics)
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RwS Finish: 100
Mega Finish: 200
Grand total: 2610"
Congratulations, Tony!