Reading with Style discussion
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FA 19 Completed Tasks
10.10 Group ReadThe Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo (20.7)
Post total: 15
Season Total: 435
15.7 PnM2 (Round 3)D4 - Biography
Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 920
10.3 Andre GideThe Yield by Tara June Winch
Review
It is always so very hard to read (when you're confronted) with brokenness. Not just of a character but of the country. And one that you belong to. Being an #ownvoices story, the author definitely knows what she's talking about even if it's not quite autobiographical, I do believe this story is rather prevalent in the Aboriginal communities.
It took me a while to appreciate the format of the storytelling though but when it clicked in my head, I was just so astounded by its cleverness: 3 perspectives - 3 different ways of storytelling
1. August Gondiwindi - in third person narrative in present day (or close to) as she worked through her grief, finding herself & where she belongs.
2. Albert Gondiwindi - following his wish to preserve his culture (language), he is writing a dictionary so his perspective is like dictionary where each paragraph begins with a word (in bold), its meaning, and Albert's story relating to this word. He grew up mid to late 20th century and in his search of his people & his land, he related stories of his ancestors, of his childhood, through to his present moment.
3. Rev. Ferdinand Greenleaf - his is a story which is shortest in this novel & told epistolary style; through letters he's written to a 'friend' whom he wished to bear witness to his testimony of the horrible treatment dealt to Aborigines. His letters were dated in the early part of the 20th century during colonisation period.
I'd highly recommend everyone to read this novel & sooner than later!
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.7 - A U E I)
+10 Review
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 945
20.5 Non-LinearThe Dead House by Billy O'Callaghan
"Do you believe in ghosts? . . . There is little about life as we have come to know it that can't be explained away on some basic scientific level. Yet when the wind howls, and we find ourselves alone with only the yellow pool of a guttering candle to hold back the darkness, our instinct, perhaps our innate need for something above and beyond, still screams otherwise." (From Prologue)
"The Dead House" is an atmospheric ghost story set in contemporary times, but seeped with the ancient superstitions of Ireland and tales of the Great Famine. The story is narrated by Michael, the art dealer who sells Maggie's paintings. Maggie is a psychologically frail young woman recovering from a terrible experience with an abusive boyfriend. Although she feels better physically, she decides to leave London to find a quiet, beautiful place to restore herself emotionally, and provide inspiration for her artwork. She finds a crumbling stone cottage on the isolated coast of West Cork and arranges for its renovation. Maggie invites her three closest friends--a gallery owner, a poet, and Michael--to a housewarming weekend. All goes well until one of them pulls out a Ouija board. Her three friends are still feeling fearful in the morning as they are leaving. Maggie is left alone in the remote cottage--or maybe she is not alone.
"The Dead House" is suspenseful, but not terrifying, since the author never gets inside Maggie's mind and the book is told from Michael's point of view. There is a feeling that you're sitting around a fireplace with a group of friends, all lubricated with Irish whiskey, while Michael tells an unsettling story. It has a psychological twist at the end that has him living in fear. Billy O'Callaghan's writing is gorgeous literary fiction with lovely descriptions of the Irish coast, and musings on art, friendship, love, and Irish legends.
+20 task
+ 5 combo 10.7 I, Y, O, A
+10 review
Task total: 35
Season total: 560
15.4 PnM2 D.2. Genre (Mystery, Crime, Suspense, Thriller, Horror)
The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
15 pt task
Task Total = 15
Season Total = 165
20.4 BoomerThe Dying Grass: A Novel of the Nez Perce War by William T. Vollmann
The story of this campaign is one somehow not included in any of my American History classes. The Nez Perce were moved from a large reservation and told to go to another, about 1/10th the size. Most refused. There were some retaliations and the war began. The US Army chased Joseph and his tribe from southeast Washington, across Idaho, into Montana, into Yellowstone, and back north to almost the Canadian border. There were skirmishes along the way. By October 1877, in northern Montana, the People (Indians) were cold, wounded, and beginning to starve.
If I had understood how Vollmann writes, I might never have started this and that would have been my loss. While the novel is long - War and Peace long - that isn't the real challenge in reading this novel. The prose itself flows easily enough. Vollmann has chosen to have nested paragraphs and sometimes he interrupts himself - often in mid-sentence - to provide a character's thoughts. There might be a conversation and one of the characters then has private thoughts, which might also lead to a side conversation between characters not party to the original. He does this by indenting the paragraphs, so there is at least a visual of when this is happening. When the reader is returned to the original conversation, it might be more than a page later, when I had all but forgotten where the side-tracking began.
Dialogue doesn't have quote marks. In almost any other context I might have been exasperated, but in this, for some reason, the exchanges were clear. Much of this is General Howard talking with his officers. We see him try to administer the campaign. He gives orders, he sends dispatches to headquarters, and he also writes letters of condolence to the family of the fallen. Vollmann uses either indents or italics so that what is being said and to whom is clear.
While there are women Nez Perce, there are no European women, other than the women the men left behind. Like it or not, men think about women a lot and in a sexual context. We are privy to their thoughts, though there isn't any graphic sex. Very rarely do they speak to each other on the subject.
Can I buy a squaw?
What for?
What else?
he wrote in first person ominiscient. At first, I wondered if this was Joseph talking, but then he would refer to Joseph in the third person. I finally came to realize this was simply the way Vollmann wanted to represent the Nez Perce. Maybe he does the same in the other novels in the series. His prose in these sections was different, in that the cadence was more appropriate for a Native speaker, which still has the trace of an accent despite being English speakers for several generations, and isn't as fluid as Europeans who have been here for many generations.
Sometimes the Indian names slowed me down. Each time I encountered Toohhoolhoolsote, Peopeo Tholekt, or Heinmot Tooyalakekt, I stumbled. But there were other beautiful Indian names as well such as Sound Of Running Feet or Springtime. When writing from the Indian point of view, he changed some of the white names. General Howard was Cut Arm. But more challenging were Chapman and James Reuben, who became Tsepmin and Tsams Lupin. I didn't understand at first, of course. There are extensive glossaries, one of which is personal names. I didn't refer to them immediately, thinking there might be clarification. I didn't find it necessary to look up everything.
Did I say this is long? There were times when I simply wished they'd get to the end of it. But the Indians kept ahead of the Army and the Army kept chasing them. When the end happened, it wasn't the real end. Not all of the Indians were killed and, of course, something had to be done with them.
And so I have reiterated everything that could possibly be wrong for a reader. And yet I was fascinated. Another reviewer has said, though he knew how it turns out, Vollmann has written a thriller. For me, "thriller" isn't in the ballpark for this. I simply found it sad - not tears running down my face sad, just that the clash of the cultures is sad. I'm glad I didn't know all of the negatives. I'm probably not interested in most of the others of this series, but I have added his The Rifles to my over burdened wish list.
And so I come to the final decision. How do I rate this? A couple of days ago, when I despaired they wouldn't put an end to chasing the Indians to the ends of the earth, I would have said no more than 4-stars. But this is an experience I won't long forget.
+20 Task (b. 1959)
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (20.5)
+15 Jumbo (1300 some-odd pages)
Task total = 60
Season total = 140
10.3 Andre Gide The Farm by Joanne Ramos
This was a FANTASTIC read. I'm so happy I chose it and waited out the interminable library hold line! The story is a sort of near-dystopian setting, in modern day New York but with the twist of a "farm" for gestational surrogates, where women who are carrying babies for extremely wealthy couples are confined in luxurious surroundings. Though the surrogates are well paid and well treated, they are tracked and surveilled, unable to leave, and as the story goes on, darker sides to the "farm" are revealed. The story is told from alternating perspectives -- Mae, the founder of the farm, Jane, a Filipino surrogate, Jane's cousin who is caring for Jane's baby in her absence, and other characters.
Obviously the idea of gestational surrogacy isn't fictional (or dystopian) but the small twists that the author puts on what is a commonly acceptable practice make it slightly dystopian and really compelling, raising questions of class and what it's okay for money to buy, and how money can control our lives. Joanne Ramos's writing is sharp, nuanced, and really readable. I very much enjoyed this one!
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Season Total:
20.8 ElementsLa - Lanthanum
Masked ed by Lou Anders
+20 task
+10 not a novel
+5 combo (10.7 o u a e)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 1465
15.7 PnM2 Round 2 E4Empty Space: A Haunting by M. John Harrison
+20 Task (non-generic subtitle)
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 700
10.10 Group ReadsThe Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
I did enjoy this novel. A well-written cohesive tale of a woman who is at first foolish and then sinful and then remorseful and charitable before becoming sinful again. Maugham makes me somewhat uncomfortable however with the clear religious motifs. I think the story would have been so much better without the heavy-handed religious symbolism or characters (Kitty, the woman in question has her transformation while in the midst of a group of nuns).
Having said all that....Maugham knows how dialogue works, how people actually think and make decisions- big and small. I wish Hemingway would have taken some lessons from him.
Four Stars.
Task=10
Combo= 5 (10.7)
Review=10
Oldie=10 (1925)
Task Total= 35
Grand Total=780
Tasks Completed: 25
10.1 (40); 10.3 (35); 10.4 (35); 10.5 (30); 10.6 (30); 10.7 (35); 10.8 (35); 10.9 (40); 10.10 (35)
15.1(E3)(15); 15.2(B2)(15); 15.3(F6)(15); 15.4(D4)(15); 15.5(F2)(20); 15.6(C4)(20); 15.7(D6)(20); 15.8 (E5)(20)
20.1 (35); 20.2 (65); 20.3 (35); 20.4 (50); 20.5 (40); 20.7 (35); 20.8 (45); 20.9 (40)
20.4 BoomerZero Day by Ezekiel Boone
- I could not find a birthdate for this author but someone added this as a combo to Skitter so I assume I am good for it!
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo 20.5 Non Linear
Task Total: 25 pts
Grand Total: 130 pts
15.10 PnM2, C5 (unreliable narrator)The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris
+30 Task
Task total: 30
+100 PnM2 Completion
+200 MegaFinish
Season total: 1470
10.9 Science!The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change: The Science, the Solutions, the Way Forward by Danny Chivers
Probably a bit out of date now - published 2010 - but one can assume things have got worse. There was plenty of information here for me. As usual with science books, I'm not sure how much of it I will retain, but it was good to read the specifics rather than having vague ideas that CO2 and methane are Bad Things without knowing how or why.
At the end he is optimistic about people rebelling and forcing governments to start to act, and perhaps that is finally happening. Also, I liked his idealistic pen picture of how life might be lived in a world without fossil fuels.
I found this listed at the Toronto Public Library system:
https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/d...
The call number 551.6 is under "Copies and Availability".
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo (10.7)
+10 Review
+10 Not a novel
Post total: 35
Season Total: 470
15.7 - Pick 'n Mix 2D2 - Genre - Mystery
Dark Sacred Nightby Michael Connelly
+20 task
Task total: 20
Grand total: 210
15.8 - Pick 'n Mix 2E6 - Title - Q, X, Z
Buzz Off by Hannah Reed
+20 task
Task total: 20
Grand total: 230
15.9 - Pick 'n Mix 2F3 - Author Name - I-K
Deadly Stakes by J.A. Jance
+30 task
Task total: 30
Grand total: 260
15.10 - Pick 'n Mix 2F4 - Author Name - L-O
Most Wanted by Michele Martinez
+30 task
+100 Bonus
Task total: 130
Grand total: 390
Post 467 Anika wrote: "+100 PnM2 Completion
+200 MegaFinish"
Congratulations! Well Done!
10.9 Science! (Mary's Task)Bring Me Sunshine: A Windswept, Rain-Soaked, Sun-Kissed, Snow-Capped Guide to Our Weather by Charlie Connelly
approval
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.7 - A I E O Y)
+10 Not-a-Novel
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 970
20.8 Periodic Table (Owlette's Task)Dead Man Switch (A Billie Walker Mystery #1) by Tara Moss
Author's initials, TM, found on period table as Thulium
Review
Firstly, loved the cover!
Secondly, it kinda reminded me of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series... albeit set a couple of decades later (in comparison between first books) and in different countries BUT that is the best thing about this book, it is set in my own backyard or rather Sydney & the Blue Mountains. I recognised all the landmarks and that was just added an extra layer of sweetness to this novel.
I must admit though that it meant I did a lot of comparing between Billie Walker (the protagonist in this novel) to Maisie Dobbs and while there are a number of similarities (eg. losing their loves to war, setting up private investigation agencies, injured returned soldier as assistant, etc), there were enough differences that I could appreciate especially the fashion (!) If you love fashion in novels, in combination with mysteries, you'd love this book.
Billie Walker is working hard to push her grief aside. She's also working hard because things are tough after the war; everyone is looking for work & are mostly strapped for cash. At the same time, she also loves her work. She loves solving puzzles and seeing justice served. She's a character one can easily loved. It was also quite easy to love the secondary characters from her toff mother, her most reliable assistant, to the enigmatic detective inspector; Moss has created a most appealing set of characters.
The mystery itself was pretty interesting and the author has done well in connecting the dots. I do love the car chase scene and Billie's overall capability as a private investigator. There is no bumbling about like an amateur, she's all professional.
There were 2 things which I found a little bit weird... Instead of using words like 'gut instinct' or 'intuition', she used 'little woman'. There was a paragraph in the book explaining why she's chosen this phrase of 'little woman' but really, it just didn't sit right with me. Maybe I've just got a dirty mind (?) because when we have a male protag and he refers to 'little me', he's usually referring to his private parts. Can I just say that I therefore automatically applied the same meaning and had to work really hard to steer myself in the right direction? That was just too strange.
Also, there were too much 'looking into people's eyes' - not staring as such but Billie seems to like to make sure she's looking into whoever's eyes a lot... but then again, I read an uncorrected proof so maybe there have been some changes since.
Dead Man Switch was an absolute delight to read. I loved walking through Sydney in the 40s in the high-heeled shoes of a fashionable, capable & brave young woman. If you love historical mystery set in Australia or those like Maisie Dobbs series, I'd highly recommend that you get on board with Billie Walker!
Thanks to HarperCollins AU via Netgalley for ecopy of book in exchange of honest review
+20 Task
+10 Review
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 1,000
10.7 A, E, I, O, U, sometimes YHow We Die: Reflections of Life's Final Chapter by Sherwin B. Nuland
In the introduction, the author proposes to "demythologize" the death process by discussing common causes of death. In chapters on heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's, murder/accidents/suicide, AIDS, and cancer, the book describes how the bottom line is the body's dependence on oxygen. The writing is conversational without being too dumbed down.
The book indulges in many personal anecdotes and opinions, often taking up most of a chapter. Some of the analogies were overdrawn. For example, cancer cells are compared to maurading teenagers who have no regard for society's rules. Unfortunately the analogy is belabored almost to the point of silliness. Then there was the strange statement that cancer is "immoral." What?? Cancer is a deadly process, but can it have any concept of right and wrong?
Published 25 years ago, much of the information is badly out of date, particularly the two chapters on HIV. It wasn't a total waste of time, but I probably wouldn't have read it had I been aware of the style in which it was written.
+10 task
+10 not-a-novel
+10 review
+ 5 oldies (1994)
Task total=35
Grand total=590
Task 15.6 PnM2 D-6Main Page Genre: Classics
Less Than Angels (1955) by Barbara Pym (Paperback, 256 pages)
D-6. Genre: contemporary, realism, literary fiction, classics
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 325 + 20 = 345
15.5 PnM2 D.4 Genre - Non-Fiction
Red River Girl: The Life and Death of Tina Fontaine by Joanna Jolly
Task Total = 20 pts
Season Total = 185 pts
20.6 Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
I first read this in high school, as a babygoth, and I LOVED IT SO MUCH.
It was absolutely a formative book for my dark and angsty years. LOVED IT. SO MUCH.
Returning to it decades later? Sigh. It made me feel old and jaded. I found my re-read a little boring. There were bits where I was totally captivated again, but I just wasn’t captivated cover-to-cover like the first time. The re-read could not hold up to the memory.
I will say though that when I originally read this, I was all about the traditional Dracula/Nosferatu lore. This was my first modern take on vampires and it blew my mind. I really bought into the world.
This is a classic and worth a read, but I couldn’t recapture the magic of that first time. Claudia was more disturbing this time though!
+20 task
+20 combo (10.1, 10.10, 20.5, 20.8 Ar - Argon)
+5 Oldie
+10 review
Task total = 55
Season total - 310
20.4 BoomerFlight or Fright: 17 Turbulent Tales by Stephen King
This is a collection of short stories about one of my favorite things--and one of Stephen King's least favorite: airplane travel.
It's nice to hear King's "voice" in the book's introduction (where he goes into deeper detail about his fear of flying) and in the introduction to each story. King's story contribution, "The Turbulence Expert," was enjoyable but was not my favorite in the collection. That would be a shared honor for Joe Hill ("You Are Released") and James Dickey (his terrifying poem, "Falling")--though I think it's because they scared me the most, especially Hill's as it's the one most couched in reality. The stories run the gamut from the birth of the flying age (the Arthur Conan Doyle story had a very Jules-Verne-in-the-sky feel) to a sci-fi future. We have military flights, a murder mystery in the air, and the classic Nightmare at 20,000 feet which was made into a Twilight Zone episode (and later included in the Twilight Zone movie).
It was an interesting mix of stories, more hits than misses. (And that Hill story is gonna stick with me for a while--it gave me goosebumps and a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that will not soon be forgotten.)
+20 Task (Stephen King, first listed author, b. 1947)
+10 Not-a-Novel
+10 Review
Task total: 40
Season total: 1510
(Thanks for the congrats, Elizabeth <3 You always make my day!)
20.8 Periodic Table (Owlette's Task)Sinful Seduction by Ann Christopher
+20 Task (Ac = Actinium)
+5 Combo (10.7 AIOE)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 435
10.7 A, E, I, O, U, sometimes Y (Anika's Task)Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
A dark collection of short fiction, concerned primarily with the dynamics and intersections of race, violence, and capitalism. Nearly all these stories fit under the umbrella of speculative fiction, and while they lean hard (and sometimes flashily) on the chilly edge of satire, there's a deep emotional core to most of them. My favorite story, "The Lion & the Spider," involved a complicated father-son relationship and the retelling of an Anansi story. I would give a heads-up that there is massive and explicit graphic violence depicted in most of the stories, but then again, most of the stories are interested in violence and the big question of when there's a seemingly insatiable desire for violence, what is beyond that? Or, if violence is the answer accepted by a group of people (or a society at large), then what is the next question?
I thought a lot about Derrick Bell's Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism while reading this, as well as Violet Allen's "The Venus Effect" and Rebecca Roanhorse's "Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™".
+10 Task (AEIY)
+10 Not-a-Novel (short story collection)
+10 Review
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 465
10.2 Book Lover's DayI'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life by Anne Bogel
This was a light but enjoyable read. There weren't too many revelations ... but there were many chapters or passages that rhymed with my experience. For example, the author talks about her love of lists and keeping information about all the books she has read. (I have been doing that since 1980!). She discusses how she was a precocious reader...as was I.
She has a chapter about how she and her friends have different methods for shelving their books....some by color or genre, or date published, etc. She did not identify my method: I am a traveler. The rooms in my house are divided by continent (the living room is Asia, The dining room is South and Latin America, etc. I have all my artifacts collected during my travels festooned appropriately in each room. And my books are classified that way too.
Along the way I learned about a few books which got added to my TBR or my To Be Considered lists.
3 stars
Task=10
Review=10
NaN=10
Task Total= 30
Grand Total=810
Tasks Completed: 26
10.1 (40); 10.2(30); 10.3 (35); 10.4 (35); 10.5 (30); 10.6 (30); 10.7 (35); 10.8 (35); 10.9 (40); 10.10 (35)
15.1(E3)(15); 15.2(B2)(15); 15.3(F6)(15); 15.4(D4)(15); 15.5(F2)(20); 15.6(C4)(20); 15.7(D6)(20); 15.8 (E5)(20)
20.1 (35); 20.2 (65); 20.3 (35); 20.4 (50); 20.5 (40); 20.7 (35); 20.8 (45); 20.9 (40)
15.9-C#✔
Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris
3. First Person Narrator
Task=30
Task Total= 30
Grand Total=840
Tasks Completed: 27
10.1 (40); 10.2(30); 10.3 (35); 10.4 (35); 10.5 (30); 10.6 (30); 10.7 (35); 10.8 (35); 10.9 (40); 10.10 (35)
15.1(E3)(15); 15.2(B2)(15); 15.3(F6)(15); 15.4(D4)(15); 15.5(F2)(20); 15.6(C4)(20); 15.7(D6)(20); 15.8 (E5)(20); 15.9(C3)(30)
20.1 (35); 20.2 (65); 20.3 (35); 20.4 (50); 20.5 (40); 20.7 (35); 20.8 (45); 20.9 (40)
10.5 Banned BooksThe Age of Reason by Thomas Paine
+10 pts - Task
+10 pts - Not a Novel
+15 pts - Oldies (1794)
Task Total - 35
+10 pts Kate found for me in Post #383 on a previous Task
Season Total - 345 pts
Kate S wrote: "From Post 383Rebekah wrote: "20.3 Author
Drood by Dan Simmons
+20 -Task
+15 - Combo (10.8, 20.4- 1948 on Goodreads Page, 20.8 - Darmstadtium )
Task total - 35 pts
S..."
Why, thank you very much! I listened to the audio and didn’t notice page count.
20.5 Non-LinearThe Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar
+20 pts - Task
+ 5 pts - Combo (20.7)
Story goes back and forth between a young girl caught in the Syrian Civil War of the present time and far back to the 11th century of the Norman King Roger of Sicily to a girl in a legend, who fights flying monsters, has a magic stone from the eye of one of the monsters. Both characters survive the sinking of ships, the girl in modern times survives two but none are the featured part of the story and just some of the many challenges they face to get to a place of safety.
Task Total - 25 pts
Season Total - 370 pts
20.7 Spec FicThe Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
+20 Task
+5 Jumbo (640 pages)
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 745
20.8 Periodic TableThe Ruin of Angels by Max Gladstone
+20 Task (Mg=Magnesium)
+5 Jumbo (576 pages)
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 770
This is my first time participating. So I hope I do this correctly.20.3 Author
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
This is a beautiful book with both uplifting and depressing stories, rich character development, and historic significance. It takes place in the 1960s and is written primarily from the perspective of a young white woman, nicked-named Skeeter, who has grown up in the loving care of a black maid, Constantine. Skeeter returns from college to find that she is gone. Over the following months, she tries to find out what happened to Constantine. As we see glimpses of Skeeter's childhood and the love that developed between the two, Skeeter begins to see from a new perspective the dynamic between the black maids in her town and the white women who employ them. This soon becomes a writing project for the aspiring writer.
Clandestinely, she collects compelling stories from these hardworking and often disregarded women, of whom two -- Aibileen & Minny -- narrate several chapters each. They and the other maids share stories detailing the love they have for the white children they've raised, the trauma of being regarded as less in society, and the details of their personal struggles. Add into their current situation the dangerous precariousness of what they're doing in writing a tell-all book, and you have a touch of suspense. From start to finish, I found this book difficult to put down, and I was eager all the while to finish so that I could watch the movie!
+20 Combo (10.2, 10.7, 20.5, 20.7)
+10 Review
Task total: 50 pts
Seasonal total: 50 pts
15.6 Pick 'n' Mix 2A1 Set in USA
Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope by Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Edward Kelly
Task total: 20
Season total: 580
20.7 Spec FicThe Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
Melanie is kept caged, let out each day to attend class but only when bound and muzzled. “I won’t bite,” she tells her jailers, but they are not amused. Like many kids she idolizes her favourite teacher, Miss Justineau, and feels a special bond with her. But Melanie and her classmates are not like the kids they read about in stories. They’re part of an experiment.
I loved this, though I was not expecting to. In some ways it reminded me of I Am Legend, although this was a different story from a different perspective. It did sometimes put me off my breakfast, but that’s what you get for being unable to put a book down at the table…
+20 Task (shelved 111 times)
+ 5 Combo (20.4 on database spreadsheet)
+10 Review
Post total: 35
Season Total: 505
20.5 Non LinearI Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell
Review: In this biography, readers time travel through different moments of Maggie O'Farrell's life as she relives 17 near death experiences. While the episodes do not read in chronological order there is still a sense of progression of time, of moving deeper and forward through her life, even as she looks back. O' Farrell's life has in some was been an envious adventure and in others, a terrible struggle. While the events of each chapter have obviously impacted her life (some more than others), the reader does not get a sense that her entire being is defined by them nor is her life one death-defying action packed day after another. Her prose is beautiful, thoughtful, poetic but easily readable. There are moments where she discusses everyone's place in society and makes you think about how you live day to day. The inward consideration of her reminiscences are evident as is her sense of being one small person in a big world. Not my typical read but I really enjoyed this book.
+20 Task
+5 Combo 10.7 Vowels
+5 Combo 20.8 Periodic Table Molybdenum MO
+10 Not a Novel
+10 Review
Task Total: 50pts
Grand Total: 180 pts
20.8 ElementsCurium - Cm
The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore
An amusing mashup, not as good as Fool, but still enjoyable. Knowing Othello and The Merchant of Venice made following the plot a bit easier, because I knew the names, and a bit more difficult, because I didnt entirely know the characters or plot so the differences popped out at me, interrupting the flow of the story instead of enhancing it, like it sometimes can in other books based on classics. The greater depth to the characters was appreciated, though, although it is not emptional depth, more like 3D props instead of 2D. It was humorous, as intended, and ended in the style of a comedy, not a tragedy.
+20 task
+5 combo (20.4 b 1957)
+10 review
Task total: 35
Grand total: 1500
15.6 PickNMix2)A6 - Africa
The Tremor of Forgery by Patricia Highsmith
+20 Task (takes place in Tunisia)
Season total = 160
20.3 AuthorUnlocking the Millionaire's Heart by Bella Bucannon
A sweet and low angst romance between two writers who are implausibly thrown together to work on fixing each other's manuscripts. Fittingly for the Harlequin Romance line, this felt like a very classic romance, one focused on fantasy (the pleasure of all the house descriptions, and they're all very different houses!, and also I'd be happy for them to both keep going out to eat and hearing about what they order) and a romance between two attentive and fundamentally kind people both intent on guarding their hearts. There's also a kitten who everyone plays with when given half a chance, so that was also very sweet and lovely.
I really appreciated how emotional but not angsty this was. Nate's past as a war journalist--and his resulting PTSD and his physical scars--was not milked for angst. He attends a support group throughout the book. (If Bucannon writes Tess's book, I'd be so happy to read it.) I also thought Bucannon did such a good job with Jemma in this book, with her shyness and ability to be bold, and to demonstrate her strength, her creativity, her assertiveness and her vulnerabilities in a compelling way.
I liked this a lot. While I was annoyed with the unbelievability & implausibility & terrible business sense of the premise, as well as the stupid gender stuff that's the usual background radiation in large swathes of Romancelandia, I was won over by the characters, the sweetness of their falling for each other, and the smoothness and details of Bucannon's writing. I'm looking forward to reading more of her backlist.
+20 Task -- the two protagonists are a romance novelist and a war reporter revising his first novel
+5 Combo (10.7 EAUO)
+10 Review
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 500
15.10 PnM2B2 Publication Date 1951-2000
The Ideal Wife by Mary Balogh
+30 Task -- published 1991
+100 Completion bonus
Post Total: 130
Season Total: 630
10.6 WWIIThe Alice Network by Kate Quinn
+10 Task
+15 Combo: 10.7 A, E, I, O, U, sometimes Y / 10.10 Group Reads / 20.5 Non-Linear
+ 5 Jumbo
Task Total: 30
Adjustment: +10
Season Total: 865
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
Moon Tiger (other topics)I Am Charlotte Simmons (other topics)
Lost in Shangri-la: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II (other topics)
Arsenic and Old Lace (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Penelope Lively (other topics)Tom Wolfe (other topics)
Mitchell Zuckoff (other topics)
Joseph Kesselring (other topics)
Mitchell Zuckoff (other topics)
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D2 Genre - Mystery
Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott
Task total: 15
Season total: 160