Reading with Style discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
Archives
>
FA 19 Completed Tasks
From Post 48Ed wrote: "10.8 Double O (Ed's Task)- Note set almost entirely in Chad.
The Roots of Heaven by Romain Gary
I had this book set for last season's 50 point task...but left it for l..."
+5 Combo 20.8
From Post 57Tien wrote: "10.7 A, E, I, O, U, sometimes Y (Anika's Task)
Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
YA with 850L
Review
I loved Zafon's The Cemetary of Forgotten Books series but I must sa..."
+5 Combo 10.1
From Post 70Ed wrote: "20.7 Spec Fic
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
As many of you know, this genre and similar genres are not my favorites. Yet, this novel engaged me despite..."
+5 Combo 20.8
From Post 80Rachelccameron wrote: "20.5 Non Linear
Skitter by Ezekiel Boone
Plot told by multiple characters and narrative, in the style of World War Z.
Review: An excellent sequel to [book:The H..."
+5 Combo 20.4
20.8 Periodic Table (Owlette's Task)An Unconditional Freedom by Alyssa Cole
Alyssa Cole wraps up her U.S. Civil War trilogy with this complicated historical romance. It feels like a culmination, though I think it could technically work as a standalone for an ambitious reader (Daniel does appear in the previous two books, but the romance arc and this book's specific plot are new to this book). The trilogy as a whole, focused on the espionage work of the Loyal League and in particular the Black women and men who work within it, has been a rewarding read, and it's at the vanguard of what historical romance can do.
Though I thought the book started slowly and deep in backstory, I grew more emotionally invested as the story continued and Daniel and Janeta's mission grew more complicated. I was also continually impressed by the difficulty level Cole set for herself with these two characters: traumatized, coping-with-grief-through-anger Daniel and sheltered, losing-her-naivete Janeta, both of them figuring out how to shape a future of true freedom with the limitations of the past and the present. It's a difficult read, an angry read, a sad read, a hopeful read, and one that reflects on what it means to inherit the American project.
+20 Task (Ac = Actinium)
+5 Combo (10.7 AYOE)
+10 Review
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 50
15.2 - PnM2 B2 - pub. 1951-2000Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
+15 task (pub. 1955)
Task total: 15 points
Grand total: 50 points
20.5 Non-LinearA Wild Sheep Chase (The Rat #3) by Haruki Murakami
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.4 - born 1949)
+5 Oldies (pub 1982)
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 165
10.1 Sub-SandwichMaps and Legends: Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands by Michael Chabon
Last season I really enjoyed Chabon's Manhood for Amateurs (including the essay about Legos, of all things!), and was excited about reading more of his non-fiction. Maps and Legends is an assortment of essays, many of which were previously published in magazines or appeared as introductions to other books. Subjects include cartoons and cartoonists, the Sherlock Holmes canon, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series, and D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths. The essays are perfectly good discussions of these works, but I have lost my taste for analysis of books these days. I want to read a book and move on. Luckily for me, the latter part of the collection was Chabon writing more in an autobiographical mode. He discusses how he came to write several of his novels, and it was quite interesting. He is definitely a talented storyteller.
I started a couple of Chabon's novels in the past, but set them aside before getting very far. I think now I am ready to try again. 4 stars.
+10 task
+20 combo (10.2, 10.7, 20.4, 20.8-MC-Moscovium)
+10 not-a-novel
+10 review
Task total=50
Grand total=130
10.5 Banned#113 on list
Grendel by John Gardner
This was a very strange book. The story was in some ways plainly told and in other ways overlaid with unexpected rich imagery and in places highly philosophical, particularly when Grendel talks with the dragon. The idea was certainly interesting, seeing what led up to the Beowulf epic through unusual eyes.
The protagonist cheerfully eats people. And has apparently been around a lot longer than them. I was most taken with the story of the one "hero" he deliberately refuses to kill to mock him and by the regard Grendel has for the main bard, the Shaper. It was odd to see brutishness and deep thought bound together as they were in this characterization.
+10 task
+5 age (1971)
+10 review
Task total: 25
Grand total: 325
20.1 Inaugural Saturday by Ian McEwan
This novel is on Boxall's 1001 list...and I have not been having the best luck selecting books to read from that list lately. This is a winner. The conceit is a revelation of the intricacies of life through one day in the life of a neurosurgeon. I was first struck by how well the author could explain such mundane things...ala Marcel Proust. My interest was also enhanced by the time setting of the work.... days before the US invasion of Iraq. I remember those days fairly well...because my family and I were caring for my Mom at home who was dying from cancer.
Here the war and its absurdities are also reflected in the seemingly everyday existence of the doctor and his family.
The story is told from the point of view of the all knowing narrator.
The novel kept taking a twist when I expected it to settle down... but I also enjoyed how the author mentioned thoughts that we experience but don't often see in literature. For example, the doctor wonders internally whether his wife, who he trusts implicitly, knows secrets about their daughter that she doesn't tell him. He muses about how news watching has become a habit...and unfortunately reveals a "darker longing in the collective mind". We hear his internal dialogue with himself as he structures an argument with his daughter in real time.
I enjoyed learning about how squash is played... but also what our doctor is thinking while playing.
I never thought I would want to read a passage about brain surgery...but McEwan does a wonderful job of explaining the operation without going over the line of grossing me out.
There are some imperfections in the novel...for example, almost all the characters are heroes in their endeavors.....medicine, law, poetry, music. But I felt the implausibility of such a perfect family was obliterated by the novel's other strong points. Five stars.
Task=20
Review=10
Combo=5 (20.4)
Task Total= 35
Grand Total=200
Tasks Completed: 6
10.3 (35); 10.8 (35)
15.1 (15)
20.1 (35); 20.7 (35); 20.8 (45)
20.4 BoomerThe Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
I loved this book! Maybe it's because I've been submerged in a sea of non-fiction, but this one scratched me right where I didn't realize I was itching.
From the author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry comes another unusual tale accompanied by a great soundtrack (my reading was slowed a little since every time a song was mentioned, I cued it up and listened to it as I kept reading). I felt like this one was a mix of High Fidelity, a little John Hughes sensibility (really, just pick any of his movies...), and a little classical flash mob thrown in for good measure (this one, to be exact). It's a love story to a time and place, a love story to music, and a sweet love story to boot.
Frank owns a record shop. He loves the music, knows the stories behind each composer and song, and can prescribe them to anyone who comes into his shop to heal what ails them.
Until Ilsa Brauchmann falls into his life--literally. She passes out in front of his shop and when she comes to, they are both thunderstruck. But, of course, it's not that easy. She's engaged, he's terrified of love--but he loves music and she wants to learn to love music, so he begins giving her weekly music lessons.
I don't want to give anything away...but if you like books that talk (A LOT) about music--of all genre: classical, jazz, rock, punk, it's all in here!--this would be an excellent read for you. If you like odd communities of disparate but such lovely people, that's in here too. It's definitely a romance (which is not usually my genre of choice), but this one was just lovely. I'd give it 4.5, rounded up to a 5.
+20 Task (b. 1962)
+10 Review
+10 Combo: 10.7: A, E, O, Y; 20.5: every other chapter was a flashback to his childhood with his mum, who taught him everything he knew about music
Task total: 40
Season total: 320
20.6 Monster ReduxDuel with the Devil: The True Story of How Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr Teamed Up to Take on America's First Sensational Murder Mystery by Paul Collins
Welcome to "Law and Order: 1800".
We begin with the scene of the crime: the Manhattan Well. The author explains the proposed new water system, proposed by Aaron Burr, to improve the water supply and reduce the occurrence of yellow fever which plagued the city--but also to bolster his failing finances. Then we move on to the victim: a young Quaker woman, Elma Sands, who had recently moved to Manhattan and was living in a boarding house where she met Levi Weeks. They were of similar age and had been seen going about together and rumors started floating that they were engaged. Late Christmas Eve, 1799, Elma stole from her room and left the boarding house. The landlady, eavesdropping through the wall, swears she heard another set of feet following her out though no one saw anything. The next day, Elma hasn't returned. The neighbor who lent her a muff is put out, because she needs it yet Elma still has it. Speculation abounds: was she with child and seeking an illegal abortion? had she run away in despair? had she gone off on her own and been injured and can't make it back? is she staying with friends? No one knows.
Flash forward one week. New Year's Eve party. The neighbor spots her muff on someone else and asks where she got it. Lady says that her son found it and gave it to her for Christmas. Everyone runs to said son to ask where it was: in the Manhattan Well.
Eventually, Elma's body is recovered from the well and the whodunit portion of the story commences.
Levi is arrested (despite any evidence other than the fact that the landlady heard footsteps) and will hang unless he is found innocent by a jury of his "peers" (only moneyed men were allowed to serve on juries, and Levi was a poor carpenter).
Enter Hamilton and Burr, political rivals and longtime frenemies, both in debt to Weeks's family so obligated to defend him (pro bono). At the time, constables were not in the habit of looking for evidence and coroners were inept (their conclusion after seeing the body was basically, "Yep. She's dead"). The burden of deciphering and breaking the case were left to the lawyers. Burr and Hamilton were up to the task!
Okay. This is already ridiculously long. I just have to convey how interesting and shocking it was: a) that this case was lost to history, especially considering the current obsession with Hamilton; b) the real murderer was sooooo obvious and it was frustrating that he never got pinned for it (of course, hindsight is 20/20, even 200+ years later); c) how much the justice system has changed! The trial itself lasted TWO DAYS...granted, it went until after midnight on the first day and wrapped up at 2:30 a.m. the following day, the deliberations lasted between two and ten minutes, depending on who your source is.
The last eighth of the book is a "where are they now" of sorts, which includes the infamous Duel.
Great mix of true crime and history.
+20 Task ("Devil")
+10 Not-a-Novel
+10 Review
+5 Combo, 10.7: A, U, O, I
Task total: 45
Season total: 365
20.8 ElementsMg - magnesium
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know Malcolm Gladwell
I borrowed this book because of the author and was expecting networking or some such, instead I got an analysis of one aspect of how some crazy things can happen, like police shootings and Cuba bamboozling the CIA. It was deeper and darker.
And it boiled down to a very interesting review of how we are very bad at detecting bold liars and nervous truth tellers. But we think we are much better at knowing things about strangers than we are partially because we have a built in preference for truth. Most of us anyway, there are skeptics.
The police tie in was also unexpected in that many areas are deliberately doing multiple pullovers with a planned low truth threshold because it worked substantially at protecting people in a test case - but they are ignoring the subtleties, so getting hostility and issues instead of results.
+20 task
+10 review
+10 not a novel
+5 combo 20.4 (corrected)
Task total: 45
Grand total: 370
10.4 ReplaySummer Task: 10.7 Summer Shorts (Mary's Task)
Read a book of short works (stories, essays, poems, plays etc) where no single work in the book is more than 100 pages OR read two or more short (<100 pages each) works that collectively total 100+ pages. Reminder: If using the 2 book option, both works must qualify for any style points.
Underdog: #LoveOzYA Short Stories edited by Tobias Madden
YA - not found on BPL
Review
Wow what a great & diverse collection of stories; very eclectic & holistic:
There were LGBT protags
There were ethnic protags
There was angst
There was grief
There was contemporary setting
There was magic
There was magical realism
there was a lot more than I could ever fit here
There is basically everything to have in this anthology. An absolutely top job by editor, Tobias Madden (his story is also in there and just so heartbreaking - most especially so since I heard it was inspired by his own experience)
The very first story though by Michael Earp was just the KEWTEST!!!
Suffice to say, I have very high hopes for each of the authors featured and will be keeping an eye out. I note 2 of them have debuts coming out this year so excuse me while I hunt those books down...
+20 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel
+10 Review
Post Total: 40
Season Total: 205
15.2 PnM2 D5The Carter of 'La Providence' by Georges Simenon
+15 Task -- Historical Fiction (locked in on the help thread)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 65
15.5 PnM2D2 - mystery, thriller, crime
Broken Promise (Promise Falls #1) by Linwood Barclay
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 225
20.8 Periodic TableThe Test by Sylvain Neuvel
+20 Task (Sn=Tin)
+15 Combo (10.3, 10.7 AEIUY, 20.7)
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 195
15.4 P’nM E3The Patient Will See You Now: The Future of Medicine is in Your Hands by Eric Topol
+15 pts - Task
Season Total - 110 pts
20.8 Periodic TableConvenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
This is a strange little story about a woman who didn't conform to society's expectations. She was happy just working part-time at a convenience store, but her family and friends were pressuring her to marry and "be like everyone else." Although clearly unable to read social cues, she was actually an excellent employee, doing everything she could to please the customers and help the store be a success. The arrival of a newly-hired young man named Shiraha (one of the biggest jerks I have encountered in a book in a long time) upset her orderly life.
The book is short and reads very quickly. I would rate it 4 stars for holding my interest and making the convenience store seem so real.
+20 task (SM Samarium)
+ 5 combo (10.1)
+10 review
Task total=35
Grand total=165
Rebekah wrote: "20.1 Inaugural The Sellout by Paul Beatty
(2016 winner)
+20 pts -Task
+30 - Combo (10.3, 10.7: 10.10, 20.4 -1962 on GR page, 20.5 - starts in court, childhood flash..."
I didn’t count up my combo points right.
But I have my score should be 80 but Readerboard says 75.
15.6 PnM2 A4Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog by Boris Akunin
+20 Task (set in Russia)
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 215
10.8 Double O (Ed's Task)Too Many Murders (Carmine Delmonico #2) by Colleen McCullough
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.8 - CM for Curium)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 240
15.6 P'nM 2A3 Europe (England)
The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley
20 task
_____
20
Running total: 270
20.4 BoomerRich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Robert Kiyosaki was the son of a schoolteacher, his “poor dad” who believed in the middle-class values of getting a good education and a steady job, and was constantly struggling for money. But according to the book, Robert’s best friend was the son of an entrepreneur, the “rich dad”, who taught both boys how to build wealth from jumping on business opportunities. Robert profited from these lessons, obviously, and summarises them in this book. There’s not much specific financial advice – it’s more things like buy assets (investments) rather than liabilities (things that will cost you, like a bigger house than you need).
There wasn’t much here that was new to me, and a lot of it sounded ethically dubious, but I imagine it was groundbreaking 20 years ago, and I enjoyed the “dads” story whether true or false (though I felt sorry for his actual father).
+20 Task (1947)
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.7, 10.8)
+10 Not a novel
Post total: 50
Season Total: 145
20.4 BoomerThe Trick to Time by Kit de Waal
Mona is approaching her sixtieth birthday, living alone and running a little shop where she sells the dolls that she makes. There’s something unusual about some of her dolls, and it’s tied in some way to her past, when she was briefly very happy until things went badly wrong. We follow Mona in the present, on the brink of new friendship or love, and in the past, where her losses are gradually revealed.
Nothing in this book turned out quite as I expected – there’s no time travel, for example, which the cover seems to suggest (“If you lost the love of your life, what would you do to live again?”). But some of the twists and turns were charming, and I enjoyed this story of sadness and renewal.
+20 Task (1960 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_de_... )
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (20.5 switches between present day and 1970s)
Post total: 35
Season Total: 180
20.5 Non-LinearPossessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker
Despite the title (ironic, a quote from a white American in the slavery era) this is a dark story of female genital mutilation and its horrifying effects on women.
The main character in this book, Tashi or Evelyn, appeared briefly in The Colour Purple. Now in her 60s, she is on trial in Africa for murder. We then meet her at different points in her life, sometimes for very short sections, as her own history and the details of the practice of cutting slowly become clear.
The story jumps about in time so much that it’s not always easy to work out what happened when, but that doesn’t really matter, because everything of significance is still very real and present in making Tashi who she is in the end, no matter when it happened to her.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (1992)
Post total: 35
Season Total: 215
10.8 Double O (Ed's Task)My So-Called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma
Shelved as YA, no Lexile
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 75
Task 20.7 Spec FicRead a book shelved as speculative fiction by at least 20 GR users.
Severance (2018) by Ling Ma
Review: The premise of Severance is that there is a global pandemic (the Shen Fever) which brings an abrupt halt to civilization as we know it. The novel follows a millennial aged American woman (of Chinese descent) named Candace. Circumstances have left her an orphan, her barely-known extended family living back in China. Candace has moved to New York City, eventually landing a job with a book publishing firm. She has lived in New York City for 5 years when the Shen Fever hits. The story is told in a non-linear fashion – mixing chapters of Candace’s childhood with chapters on pre-Shen Fever New York City life and post-Shen Fever life. The individual chapters are quite entertaining (A millennial NYC party! Work life in an office! Life as a child in China! Survival techniques post-apocylpse! Etc.). However, the chapters don’t really connect well together to tell one story. And the ending …. well … is weak. I’d recommend Station Eleven over this one for a literary apocalyptic novel.
+20 Task
+05 Combo (#20.5 non-linear)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35
Grand Total: 85 + 35 = 120
20.4 BoomerIn the Footsteps of Marco Polo by Denis Belliveau
In the 13th Century Marco Polo, the Venetian explorer and merchant, dictated his memoir, "Book of the Marvels of the World", also called "The Travels of Marco Polo". It told of his wonderful adventures along the Silk Road from Venice to China, as well as the sea route back to Venice. Denis Belliveau, a photographer, and Francis O'Donnell, an artist and ex-Marine, decided to pay homage to Polo by journeying to 200 places mentioned in Polo's book using no air travel. They prepared for a year, studying the Turkish language, getting sponsorship from Kodak and other groups, obtaining visas, and getting letters from regional warlords.
This book tells about Belliveau's and O'Donnell's 25,000 mile journey, accompanied by stunning photographs. Belliveau shot 3,000 rolls of film, kept journals, and made drawings. They were held at gunpoint in Afghanistan, crossed the Wakhan Corridor, got caught in a dangerous sandstorm in the Taklamakan Desert, saw the Monlam festival in Tibet, stayed in a yurt and ate homemade cheeses in Mongolia, walked through the jungles of Sumatra, and saw carved Buddhas in Sri Lanka. Quotations from Marco Polo are highlighted in gold italics next to their experiences at the same location. In some locations there had not been much change in the way of life in 700 years. The duo completed their journey in Venice in 1995, the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's travels.
The explorers were good storytellers, and the writing felt like they were talking to a group of friends. The photographs by award-winning Belliveau were magnificent. They have also made a documentary about their expedition.
+20 task born 1964 https://www.google.com/search?client=...
+20 combo 20.5 Non-linear, 10.7 AEIOU, 10.8 Double O, 20.8 Periodic Table Dubnium
+10 review
+10 not a novel
Task total: 60
Season total: 140
10.4 ReplayReplaying Summer task 10.3 Summer 2017
-Read any book by an author whose name as published contains no letter I.
Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley
Most of the stories in this collection fell flat for me. The stories are an interconnected series featuring characters on the seedier side of New York City life back in the Vietnam War era. One of the recurring characters is a writer...so, perhaps the stories have some autobiographical connections as well. The overall theme is loneliness or emptiness even when surrounded by one's family and neighbors. Almost all the characters are struggling to keep their heads above water. Almost all confront disappointments with someone else. One of my friends recommended Grace Paley...so, I'll read something else by her. I didn't hate these stories... but I wouldn't have published them. 2 stars.
Task=10
Review=10
NaN=10
Oldie = 5 (1977)
Task Total= 35
Grand Total=235
Tasks Completed: 7
10.3 (35); 10.4 (35); 10.8 (35)
15.1 (15)
20.1 (35); 20.7 (35); 20.8 (45)
15.6 PnM2F5 - author's first name starts with S
The Small Hand by Susan Hill
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 260
15.7 PnM2A3 - Setting: 100% Germany, Europe
The Taste of Apple Seeds by Katharina Hagena
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 280
20.8 Periodic TableCity of Thieves by David Benioff
+20 task (DB - Dubnium)
+10 combo (10.6, 10.7)
Task total=30
Grand total=195
15.4 PickNMix2B3 - Pub Date 1901-1950
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
+15 Task (pub'd 1928)
Season total = 60
15.1 C6 A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum
+15 Task (Multiple Point of View Narrators)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 135
10.4 ReplaySummer 2019: 20.6 Characters
Read a book with at least 9 named characters.
Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo: 20.5 Non-Linear
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 150
10.7 A, E, I, O, U, sometimes Y (Anika's Task)A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+10 Task
+10 Combo: 20.5 Non-Linear / 20.7 Spec Fic
+10 Oldies (1912)
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 180
20.3 AuthorFaces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli
+20 Task: Author character is writing the other stories
+15 Combo: 10.1 Sub Sandwich / 10.7 A, E, I, O, U, sometimes Y / 20.5 Non-Linear
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 215
10.7 AEIOU Y This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger (I, A, U, E)
+10 Task
Task Total = 10
Season Total = 60
From Post 99Deedee wrote: "Task 10.1 Sub-Sandwich
Read a book that one of our members read for a sub-challenge within the last year (Fall 2018-Summer 2019).
Convenience Store Woman (2016) by [author:Sayaka M..."
+5 Combo 20.8
From Post 100Tien wrote: "In post 57, I claimed Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón for task 10.7
I would like to move it to task 10.1
+10 Task
+10 Combo (10.7; 20.4 - born 1964)
+10 Review
Post Tota..."
Moved
From Post 119Beth wrote: "20.8 Elements
Mg - magnesium
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know Malcolm Gladwell
I borrowed this book because of the author and..."
+5 Combo 20.4
Rebekah wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "20.1 Inaugural The Sellout by Paul Beatty
(2016 winner)
+20 pts -Task
+30 - Combo (10.3, 10.7: 10.10, 20.4 -1962 on GR page, 20.5 - starts in court,..."
Found, should be correct in the next Readerboard update
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
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)
Lost in Shangri-la: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II (other topics)
More...
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)
More...
The Library of Lost and Found (2019) by Phaedra Patrick
+15 F-5 First letter of Author’s name: P-S
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 70 + 15 = 85