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FA 19 Completed Tasks
10.7 AEIOUYThe Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Lindsey Lee Johnson
This was unexpected. I picked this up at a dollar store so I could have some emergency boredom books at my desk. I thought it would be pulpy and trashy. Maybe it would be try too hard and end up lifeless, like His Favorites. Nope. This was a heartfelt, well-written, TERRIFYING book that is all too real.
I have a tween, and I worry. I worry so much, because when I was about his age I got on the wrong side of the popular crowd and they almost destroyed me. As this was before social media, the harassment was limited to school and a few prank calls. If they had been able to attack me in other way? Well.
This book starts with the bullying of a misfit kid, then follows his attackers through high school. They are horrible, spoiled, nasty kids, but they are also broken and lost kids. Sad and real.
If this had not been so beautifully written, it would have been unfinished. It’s lonely and depressing, but there’s also some hope.
Task: 10
Review:10
Task total: 20
Season total: 45
10.4 Replay (20.7 from Summer 2019)Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood
Can Atwood write a bad novel?
I’m a fan, but for some reason I did not expect much from this. I don’t know why, because I already have a soft spot for retellings. Whatever the reason, this was picked up solely to fulfill a task in the RwS challenge (which I let sit), and when it matched another task I picked it up with a lack of enthusiasm. I remember that The Tempest was the final play I had to study back in college so perhaps I never got over the burned-out feeling. Whatever, Prospero.
I was delighted! This was clever, funny, and it really seemed like Atwood was having a blast. And while the whole setup (a play in a play in a novel that’s also a straight-up study guide) could have been forced, it works. It’s fun, it clips along, and there are moments of unexpected tenderness.
Highly recommended, especially for students who have The Tempest as required reading. It’s an excellent analysis.
Task: 10
Combo: 5 (10.2)
Review: 10
Task total: 25
Season total: 70
20.5 Non-linearA Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
While I was reading this, I kept wondering why I hadn’t included ERB on my sci-fi oriented Classic Author list last year – a surfeit of riches I guess. Then the second question came to mind – why have I not delved into his oeuvre before?? That is a mystery.
This was a great introduction to Burroughs. I loved this story. I definitely does fulfil the non-linear task, but by using what is probably the simplest usage of this technique. That is one of the things that makes this story rise above expectations for the genre** – you know from the outset that John Carter is dead and this is his memoir and are privy to his feelings before and after his adventure.
**(Yes, exactly what genre is this? It is generally classed as sci-fi here, but really it is a romance, and a western – that happens to take place on Mars!)
John Carter is an old-fashioned manly man good guy. Normally, I would have a hard time giving a character like that a chance but Burroughs draws a fully rounded human being who never loses sight of his basic decency despite being in a very challenging situation. As well, Burroughs’ female characters (Martians) are no shrinking violets! I also liked that Burroughs has Carter form working relationships with his (Martian) ‘animals’ based on kindness – rather than trying to dominate. The science Burroughs uses in the novel is believable and makes sense for the time it was written.
This book was been very influential to the generation of science fiction writers (and actual scientists!) that followed Burroughs. More currently, it has influenced film makers. 5*
20 task
10 oldie
10 review
10 combo 10.7, 20.7
________
50
Running total: 320
20.4 BoomerImagined London: A Tour of the World's Greatest Fictional City by Anna Quindlen
+20 task (born 1953)
+10 combo (10.2, 10.7)
+10 not-a-novel
Task total=40
Grand total=235
15.7 PnM2 C3The King's Gold by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
+20 Task (1st person narrator)
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 235
15.8 PnM2E4 - non-generic sub-title
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 300
20.5 Non-LinearThe Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali
"The Stationery Shop" opens with 77 year old Roya seeing Bahman, her former fiance who did not show up at their meeting place in Tehran on the day they were going to elope sixty years ago. This was the first time she had seen the politically active Bahman (who had supported Prime Minister Mosaddegh) since the fateful day of Mosaddegh's violent overthrow by the Shah in the 1953 Iranian coup d'etat. Roya went on to attend a small college in California, and live a totally different life in the United States. But she never forgot her first love.
The book has a wonderful sense of place weaving in Iranian culture, customs, history, and family traditions. There were also lots of descriptions of Iranian food with its delicious layering of spices. It was a story of love and loss in several ways. I enjoyed the interesting characters, the intense romantic story, and the immersion in another time and culture.
+20 task
+10 review
Task total: 30
Season total: 170
15.2 PnM2 A2 set in South and Central America - ColumbiaChronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez
+15 task
30 Season Total
20.1- InauguralIn a Free State by V.S. Naipaul
Task: 20
Combo: 5 (20.5)
Oldies: first published in 1971: 5
Not a novel: novellas with 2 dairy entries: 10
Post total: 40
Season total: 60
10.10- Group ReadsLynn's pick: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Task: 10
Combo: 5 (10.8)
Oldies: first published in 1943: 10
Post total: 25
Season total: 85
10.7 A, E, I, O, U, sometimes Y (Anika's Task)Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
This fantasy novel is clearly targeted toward young teens. All the characters, beyond the headmistress, are young people at a boarding school for "wayward children". In this case, wayward refers to the fact that each child has slipped through a mysterious portal to another world. Some nonsensical, others morbid...all different with their own casts of vampires, ghouls, unicorns, etc. Each of the children have been cast out of their found world and have returned to our world...only to be misunderstood. A series of murders occur...and must be solved.
Not my sort of book by any means... but I'm sure some teen readers would appreciate the message that castaways and misfits are unique and to be valued for who they are. Two stars.
Task=10
Review=10
Combo= 15 (10.8,20.7, 20.8)
Task Total= 35
Grand Total=285
Tasks Completed: 9
10.3 (35); 10.4 (35); 10.7 (35); 10.8 (35)
15.1(E3)(15); 15.2(B2)(15)
20.1 (35); 20.7 (35); 20.8 (45)
20.8 Periodic TableThe Adding Machine by Elmer Rice
This play was written in 1929 and deals with themes of individuals place in the world. The main character works in a dead end job and has a joyless marriage with little reason to go forward. As his life changes he does not really show much insight into his place in the world until he is given more perspective.
This play uses the device of naming characters as numbers. Mr Zero is the hero and other characters ( with one exception are either just numbers (Mr Six) or job names (policeman) further highlighting the unimportance of the individual.
The is a fascinating play that raises the question of how expectations are driven by our actions or degree of passiveness. While written in the 1920s, this is a play that would resonate with modern audiences if it were carefully staged. Highly recommend
20 pts 20.8 Periodic Table ER = Erbium
10 pts Not a Novel
10 pts Review
10 pts Oldies
Task Total. 50pts
Season Total 150 pts
10.7
20.4 20.8
15.8 PnM2 F6The Rosewater Insurrection by Tade Thompson
+20 Task (author’s name begins T)
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 255
15.9 PnM2C2 - book begins with MC's birth & ends when she is 8 years old
The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas
+30 Task
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 330
10.7 AEIOUYUnnatural Worlds ed by Dean Wesley Smith
This was a solid book of short stories. One of my faavorites was "Life between dreams" by Devon Monk because of how well constructed it was. Information unfolded as, or a bit before, you needed it in a very natural way and yet it was clear there was a depth of world beyond the little we could see in the story. The characters were of interest also, even though they were somewhat to archetype, and I rooted for them. I was also delighted to see a story by Esther Freisner and her excellent twisting of the typical to the unexpected that I have seen in her other works.
+10 task - e a y i
+10 not a novel (short stories)
+10 review
+5 combo 20.4 (correction)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 405
15.4 PnM2E6 - X in title
American Paradox: The Conflict Of Thought And Action by Merle Curti
+15 Task
Task total: 15
Grand total: 100
20.8 Periodic TableMacCarthy on Cross-Examination by Terence MacCarthy
This is a practical trial practice guide for attorneys. Unless you are trying jury trials, there is no reason to read this book. If you are a trial lawyer, this is a basic level refresher about the way to control a witness during cross examination and how to tell a story through cross.
This book may have seemed revolutionary or contrary to the norm when it was published in 2007, but it's right in line with what I learned in trial practice classes at NYU in 2002-2005 and with the way I was taught after that at a BigLaw and an attorney general's office. That said, it's solid advice, well-presented, and always good to be reminded what one should be doing.
The end of the book is an appendix of trial transcripts of cross examinations. I wish the author had annotated these with additional commentary about whether there were ways that the attorneys in those examples could have altered their questions to elicit better testimony and/or to point out places where the system being taught worked or didn't work. Of course I can parse this myself, but it would be more useful if these were incorporated more directly into the text.
+20 Task - Thulium
+10 Not a novel
+10 Review
Task total: 40
Grand total: 140
15.1 PnM2 B1 - published 2012
Coffee, Tea, the Gypsy & Me by Caroline James
+15 Task
Post total: 15
Season Total: 230
20.8 Periodic TableAutumn by Ali Smith
In the autumn of 2016, when the Brexit referendum has just split the UK population along a new line, Elisabeth is around 30 and Daniel is around 100. They are good friends and have been since Elisabeth was a child and Daniel was the neighbour who used to look after her while her mother was out with boyfriends. We are given a lot of flashbacks to that time, as well as earlier moments in Daniels' life. I loved the conversations between the two of them.
Daniel was a songwriter who in the 1960s fell in love with the artist Pauline Boty (a real person). We also hear about her life and about the Profumo affair (because she painted a portrait of Christine Keeler). Pauline Boty sounds like quite a character!
Non-linear: jumps between 1930s, 1960s, 1990s and 2016.
+20 Task
+15 Combo (20.1, 20.4 born 1962, 20.5)
+10 Review
Post total: 45
Season Total: 275
15.7 P’nM B3 1901-1950The Bradshaws of Harniss by Joseph Crosby Lincoln pub 1944
+20 pts - Task
Season Total - 170
I sure was ready to read this book.! Even though it was published during WW II, it was a comfort read. It was more about the characters, whom I enjoyed especially Grandfather with his Golden heart and his Yankee philosophy and the problems every day people have.
10.10 Group Reads What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
+10 Task
+10 Not a Novel
+ 5 Oldies
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 240
20.8 Periodic Table (Owlette's Task)Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang
+20 Task: Technetium
+10 Combo: 10.1 Sub Sandwich / 20.7 Spec Fic
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total: 40
Season Total: 280
20.5 NonlinearA Soldier's Play by Charles Fuller
A Soldier’s Play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1982 and is staged as an murder investigation in 1943 with flashbacks to the incidents preceding the murder that drove the culprits to the crime. When watching a play, the staging drives the audience’s understanding of the narrative in both time and place. Writing a play requires the author to provide careful stage directions that describe HOW and implicitly WHY the stage should be set up the the way it is described. This is a play that does that extremely effectively.
The play itself focuses on African American soldiers in WWII in the South and the effect that racism has on their interactions within their group and with the white officers in command. The soldiers including the African American lawyer investigating the crime struggle with how they react to racial injustice compounded by criminal behavior within a military structure premised on order, compliance, and conformity.
20 pts 20.5 Nonlinear
5 pts Periodic Table CF = Californium
10 pts Not a Novel
10 pts Review
5 pts Oldies
Task Total. 50pts
Season Total 200pts
10.7
20.4 20.5 20.8
Task 10.2 Book Lover's DayRead a book shelved at least 15 times as Books about Books.
The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep (2019) by H.G. Parry
Review: I really enjoyed this novel. The first line of the goodreads description states the premise: The ultimate book-lover's fantasy, featuring a young scholar with the power to bring literary characters into the world. Almost all of the literary characters are from classics covered in High School English class. (Uriah Heep is from David Copperfield.) I was very entertained by the interactions with the literary characters. The ‘real life’ characters have family dynamics to deal with as well as the complications from literary characters. While eventful, the plot is primarily character-driven, focusing on the literary characters as well as ‘real life’ characters. I don’t want to say more about the plot because I don’t want to spoil the fun.
I’d recommend this book for people who read a lot (like the people in this group!).
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20
Grand Total: 125 + 20 = 145
20.7 Speculative FictionThe Testaments by Margaret Atwood
+20 -Task
+10 - Combo (10.3, 20.1, 20.5 chapters cycle between the voices of 3 different characters)
Task total - 35 pts
Season Total - 205 pts
Karen Michele wrote: "20.7 Spec FicThe Testaments by Margaret Atwood
September 8, 2019
I finished the book two days ago (yes, I was one of the early birds*) and have been thinking about ..."
Karen, I just finished reading this and you can get combo points for 20.5, non-linear. The chapters go between Agnes/Victoria, Daisy/Jade and Aunt Lydia and some of Aunt Lydia’s narration goes back to takeover of the Theocracy in the times of the first book
Rebekah wrote: "Karen Michele wrote: "20.7 Spec FicThe Testaments by Margaret Atwood
September 8, 2019
I finished the book two days ago (yes, I was one of the early birds*) and hav..."
Thanks, Rebekah!
10.2 Book LoverMy Reading Life by Pat Conroy
I have never read The Prince of Tides (or seen the movie) or The Great Santini, although I had heard of them, but I think I now need to pick up one. Now that I know of the love of books and words that went into them and the lushness of prose I expect to find.
I enjoyed the book, study in "raptures of emotion" that it felt like, where I was kind of left blinking at the high drama of it. I could not have loved books that much or lived that interesting a life and my life was certainly not transformed by anything I have read (including War and Peace to which he devotes a chapter) to the extent his had been, at least the way he wrote it.
+10 task
+10 review
+10 not a novel
Task total: 30
Grand total: 435
15.3 PnM2 -F6F. Author Name- 6. T-Z
A House at the Edge of Tears by Vénus Khoury-Ghata
Task=15
Task Total= 15
Grand Total=300
Tasks Completed: 10
10.3 (35); 10.4 (35); 10.7 (35); 10.8 (35)
15.1(E3)(15); 15.2(B2)(15); 15.3(F6)(15)
20.1 (35); 20.7 (35); 20.8 (45)
15.10 PnM2C3 - first person narrator
The Doubleman by Christopher J. Koch
+30 Task
+100 Completion
Post Total: 130
Season Total: 460
10.10 Group ReadThe Friend by Sigrid Nunez
When I looked at the colorful cover with the beautiful Great Dane, I thought I would be reading a cute dog story. Instead I was treated to a wonderful, contemplative book of literary fiction. The narrator is a woman who is grieving after the suicide of her best friend and mentor. He was a charming writer, professor, and womanizer. She inherited his huge Great Dane, Apollo, who was also very much in mourning for the friend. Her tiny rent-controlled apartment did not allow dogs, and she needed to convince her landlord to let Apollo stay.
The book is about friendship, loss, and grief. The grief gets so much more complicated emotionally when the person you loved is a suicide. There are also many interesting thoughts about teaching, literature, writing, and bonds with pets. Both Apollo and the narrator were heartbroken, and I'm not sure who provided the most tender comfort to each other in their time of need. The writing is spare, and the plot is minimal so it's not a book for everyone. It's partially a thoughtful group of observations that speak of the mystery of life and death.
+10 task
+25 combo 10.3 Andre Gide, 20.2 Author (both the narrator and the friend are authors), 20.4 Boomer (born 1951), 20.5 Non-linear, 20.8 Periodic Table SN=Tin
+10 review
Task total: 45
Season total: 215
Task 10.10 Group ReadsA Month in the Country (1980) by J.L. Carr (male) (Paperback, 135 pages)
Booker Prize Nominee (1980)
Guardian Fiction Award (1980)
Review: A Month in the Country is a gentle, nostalgic, short novel, told in first person by Tom Birkin. He’s a World War I veteran, suffering from the effects of the war. In the summer of 1920 Birkin is hired to clean and restore a religious mural located in a small chapel in the small town of Oxgodby, Yorkshire. Birkin grows to appreciate the beauty of the physical world that surrounds him which helps him heal from the horrors of war. He gets to know the townspeople, kind, upstanding men, women and children. The overall impression is very mellow, peaceful, and kind. Very little conflict in the story but plot and conflict are not what the story is about. Recommended.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+05 Combo (#20.1 Booker Prize Longlist 1980)
+05 Oldies -25 to 75 years old: (1944-1994)
Task Total: 10 + 10 + 05 + 05 = 30
Grand Total: 145 + 30 = 175
10.3 Andre GideThe Reactive by Masande Ntshanga
Set in South Africa, this short novel recounts the lives of an HIV positive Lindanathi and his two friends. They spend their days taking drugs and trying to sell anti retroviral drugs that Lindanathi receives to treat his HIV.
I can’t say that I enjoyed this book. While arguably well written, it was difficult to follow and didn’t seem to generate much interest in why the characters acted as they did. The death of Lindanathi’s brother 10 years before is a driving factor in his life and decisions, but by the time that secret is fully revealed, I had largely lost interest.
10 pts 10.3 Andre Gide
5 pts MN = Maganese
10 pts Review
Task total: 25 pts
Season Total 225 pts
10.3 10.7
20.4 20.5 20.8
Task 15.2 PnM2 E4Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World (2009) by Claire Harman [823.7]
+15 E-4. Title has a non-generic sub-title
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 175 + 15 = 190
20.10 DifficultCatch-22 by Joseph Heller
This is my first time reading Catch-22 and I don’t know if I ever would have if it hadn’t been for the Hulu series that my husband wanted to watch...
I never realized that it was a humorous book—I guess I always assume that WWII books are going to be bleak/heavy/sad/tense This one was definitely funny—which made the horror of the war even more pronounced.
I listened to this one and the reader was fantastic. It was a little confusing at times since the timeline is all over the place (thought I’d accidentally replayed a file I’d already heard a time or two), but those flashbacks were used to devastating effect: the absurdity of the war machine, the greed fueled by the Syndicate, the ever-growing mission quota to glorify the man setting the quotas—this backdrop of futile tragicomedy repeatedly juxtaposed with a wounded Snowden’s mantra, “I’m cold”....it’s giving me goosebumps just thinking about it, of Yossarian finding out why he’s so cold.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (pub. 1961)
+20 Combo (10.1, 10.5, 10.6, 20.5)
Task total: 55
Season total: 420
10.10 Group ReadsThe Alice Network by Kate Quinn
I didn’t know a thing about this book before picking it up...that is one of my favorite things to do and I don’t know why I don’t do it more often! I loved going into this one blind, never having read a synopsis or book flap, just letting it all unfold as the author intended.
And what a story! I was loathe to put the book down, but life being what it is had other plans—otherwise, I’d have devoured it in one sitting. I liked the format of the book (each chapter alternating between a WWI and post-WWII storyline), mostly liked the characters, quite enjoyed the writing, SUPER loved the fact that some of the characters I loved most were *real people* whose story (while embellished and altered some for the sake of the storytelling) would have remain largely unheard of it were not for this book. When I got to the end and read the author’s note about the historical figures, my jaw physically dropped open in shock at the truths she had woven into this story. Katy, thanks for a great recommendation!
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Jumbo (MPE 532 pages)
+10 Combo: 10.7 (A, E, I, U), 20.5
Task total: 35
Season total: 455
Please add +5 for Combo: 20.5 Non-Linear found by Rebekah post 181 and 182 above to my message 93 The TestamentsPost total added: +5
Season Total: 285
20.9 Shipwrecked! (Kate S's Task)Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge
+20 Task
+10 Combo: 10.7 A, E, I, O, U, sometimes Y / 20.1 Inaugural
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 315
15.2 F4 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
+15 Task (L-O Author Name)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 330
20.2 Wolf HallPub 1596
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
It is a shame that Shakespeare did not pick a different villain because this play overall is so hard to enjoy as it stands. That he put in parts to make Shylock more human to his contemporary audience does not diminish how awful the depiction is with so much institutionalized and overt racism.
I remembered this was the play with the three caskets and really enjoyed reading that portion. I had completely forgotten or never knew that it is Portia who figures out how to save Antonio and that the play concluded with a trick and its resolution. This play definitely messes around with what it means to to be faithful and honorable.
+20 task
+10 not a novel
+10 review
+25 age
+5 combo (10.5)
Task total: 70
Grand total: 505
20.8 Periodic TableThe Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
Shaun Bythell is the owner of the second-largest used bookstore in Scotland and this is a year in his (work)life. Not only are you treated to the stories of strange/obnoxious customers (I was flabbergasted at how many people would ask for a discount or try to haggle at checkout—it’s a shop, for crying out loud, not a bazaar or flea market) and the quirky employees/regulars, you get an insider’s view of running a bookstore in the age of Amazon. Bythell, who of necessity sells books through Amazon, makes no bones about his feelings for that company and their Kindle: a must-see feature of the shop is a trophy-mounted Kindle “Shot by Shaun Blythell, 22nd August 2014”.
It killed me when he would mention when people would be browsing and say within his hearing, “You could find it cheaper on Amazon”...and was mortified at my own behavior, because I’ve been guilty of that same thought process myself. I know that’s not entirely what this book was about, but the thing that has stuck with me most after having finished it was being more aware of my purchasing habits and making a renewed effort to buy local.
Sometimes the book felt repetitive, but I suppose that’s a true reflection of a business that doesn’t vary much from day to day. 3.5 stars.
+20 Task (Sb=Antimony)
+10 Review
+10 Not-a-Novel
+15 Combo (10.2, 10.7—A, E, U, Y, 10.8)
Task total: 55
Season total: 510
15.3 PnM2 C6American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera
+15 Task -- Multiple Point of View Narrators
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 90
From Post 147Penny wrote: " 10.7 AEIOU Y
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger (I, A, U, E)
+10 Task
Task Total = 10
Season Total = 60"
+5 Combo 20.4
From Post 163June wrote: "10.10- Group Reads
Lynn's pick: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Task: 10
Combo: 5 (10.8)
Oldies: first published in 1943: 10
Post total: 25
Season total: 85"
+5 Combo 10.1
From Post 169Beth wrote: "10.7 AEIOUY
Unnatural Worlds ed by Dean Wesley Smith
This was a solid book of short stories. One of my faavorites was "Life between dreams" by Devon Monk because of..."
+5 Combo 20.4
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Reading with Style
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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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B. Publication Date (original publication date):
2. 1951-2000
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
pub. 1999 (Lexile 1010)
Task=15
Task Total= 15
Grand Total=250
Tasks Completed: 8
10.3 (35); 10.4 (35); 10.8 (35)
15.1(E3)(15); 15.2(B2)(15)
20.1 (35); 20.7 (35); 20.8 (45)