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Winter 14/15 RwS Completed Tasks - Winter 14/15
20.8 Exiles and EmmigrantsStation Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
+20 task
+5 combo (20.10)
Task total 25
Grand total 470
10.10 Group ReadsRestoration by Rose Tremain
+10 task
+10 combo(20.3, 20.10)
+5 oldie (p.1989)
Task total 25
Grand total 495
10.8 - Two for One The Bear and The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
+10 Task: bear, 20 pages + cherry orchard, 96 pages
+ 5 Combo: 10.2 - Nutcracker(Russia)
+10 Non-Western (Russia)
+10 Oldies (1888, 1904)
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 1110
10.4 Sovereign StatesMe Before You by Jojo Moyes
Review: I’m not a crier, as a rule, and when I do it’s usually at happy things (when people win reality TV shows, for some reason, always brings a tear to my eye), but this book – oh, this book. For some reason I had it marked on my shelf as a romance novel, which it really isn’t – but it is a beautiful story, and a bit of a love story as well. Will is at the top of the world, until he decides to be safe and not take his motorcycle on a bad weather day and, ironically, gets hit by a motorcycle. Lou hasn’t thought much about what to do with her life, so when she loses her job, she’ll pretty much take anything. She becomes a personal care companion for Will, and a friendship forms. The story is mostly about the characters, and it’s not perfect, but I wish more pieces of media would address difficult subjects in the way this does. Moyes doesn’t gloss over the difficult parts of this story – it’s pretty much all difficult – but she tells it with sweetness and humor and even a whimsy that’s often lacking in realistic fiction. I had tears streaming down my face for the last few chapters of the book, and wouldn’t have it any other way.
+10 Task (set entirely in the UK except parts of the last 2 chapters)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 885
10.4 Sovereign StatesTrial by Desire by Courtney Milan
Review: I predict that by the end of this season I will have read all of Courtney Milan’s books to date – I just can’t seem to stop. This is the second in her first series, and it’s maybe my least favorite of hers to date, but it’s still better than most historical romances I read. Kate and Ned were in the first book, and to a large extent I liked them better there. They married after being caught in a compromising position, and then Ned left for China. This book picks up three years later, when Ned comes back. It was interesting to see how he dealt with what we would now call manic-depression but was then not able to be diagnosed, but was at the same time rather frustrating. This book shares a theme with most of Milan’s other works – the characters have more modern views about certain things than I expect they really would have – but that remains what I like most about Milan’s books. Having read her most recent contemporary novel, I’m not sure which I prefer, but I’ll keep reading her as long as she produces books.
+10 Task (set entirely in England)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 905
Adding more to the list. It seems that I am at 225 points, so:10.2 Nutcracker
The Case of the General's Thumb
by Andrey Kurkov
If you like Bulgokov, you should like this book. It isn’t as surreal as his situations, yet it is definitely in the same vein. A General turns up dead, and in a circuitous route – it goes from there. I felt, through most of the book, like I had no idea what was going on; but that’s okay because the main characters don’t either. Not to imply that it is a mystery (at least in the conventional sense of the genre). You all end up along for the crazy ride as small pieces of the puzzle are revealed. It’s particularly interesting in that even though you don’t really know anything about the main characters (and half of it doesn’t seem to be true), you end up rooting for them when the situation(s) start becoming very dangerous. Kurkov does bring all of his threads together for a very satisfying end (and by then it all makes sense!).
+10 task
+10 non-western
+10 review
Running total: 285
10.8 2 for 1The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka The novella itself is 51 pages in this version (the rest is analysis and essays)
"Lady Susan" in The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen: Volume VI: Minor Works Jane Austen The novella itself is 70 pages (the rest are other collected works).
+10 task
+10 oldies (Kafka 1915, Austen 1871)
Running total: 305
20.5 Mystery WomenThere Goes the Bride by M.C. Beaton
+20 task
+5 island dreams (10.4)
Running total: 370
20.9 Respect eldersWide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Jean Rhys (b. 1890 in Dominica, died 1979; @ age 88)
+20 task
+5 exile/emmigrant (20.8)
+5 oldie
+5 island dreams (10.4)
Running total: 405
10.6 Foreign Language (Arabic)The Thief and the Dogs by Naguib Mahfouz
I read this 25 years ago and remembered liking it...but recalled nothing about the plot. The narrator is the "thief" who has just been released from prison. He immediately goes to the home where his young daughter lives with his former wife. His dual purpose however is to exact revenge against the "dogs" who informed on him, the dogs being his former partners in crime which included his wife and her new husband. Much of the novel has the narrator's inner voice speaking to the reader. A very interesting view of the misguided but not insane thinking of someone leading a failed life.
+10 task
+10 review
+5 combo (20.9- Mafouz died at age 94!)
+10 non-Western
+5 oldie (1961)
total= 40
grand total= 565
(I'm so confused as to my real grand total...this is my best calculation... I seem to get a different result with every book I post though.)
10.9 EcnomicalThe Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010
Review
Frightening topic. I found the history, the current status and the prospects and hopes of this disease fascinating. In the early 1980’s my first job in nursing as a LPN (Practical Nurse) was in a Children’s Hematology, Oncology, Neurology Ward. At the time, some of my patients weren’t much younger than myself. Certain diagnoses such as Acute Myeloid Leukemia was usually a one-year death sentence. By the time I finished my BS in Nursing, afflicted children had a much better chance. I had done some work at one of the cancer hospitals in Houston mentioned in the book. Bone marrow transplants, new drugs and protocols cause great strides to be made. Being there when some of these theories of cancer were being tested in the teaching hospital where we participated in studies, I didn’t realize how much I was involved in history even in my own small way. The book also explains trends of some deadly cancers now being controlled and some even cured. Finding the cause of cancer has always been the Holy Grail for cancer researchers for with cause, cure could be found. Since the time of the pharaohs until now this disease has been documented and feared. Whereas in ancient times, all cancer was thought to arise from a single source namely Black Bile. Now we know there are multiple factors, environmental, genetic, and viral are three we know of. As cancer cells rapidly grow, so they can rapidly mutate. It is no wonder the quest for cure has lasted for thousands of years and still many, many have poor prognosis.
I often had to go back and re-read some passages because of the technical terms that are now rusty to me. I was wondering if “lay people” found the book especially difficult. I know it was a popular book but was it because so many of us have been touched by cancer, not only as medical professionals, but mostly because of either having had it or have loved ones suffering with it, causing us to understand the lingo of this disease far better than other medical texts?
+10 pts - Task
+10 pts - (10.10, 20.8 India-US)
+10 pts - Review
+ 5 pts - Jumbo (592)
Task Total - 35 pts
Grand Total - 450 pts
20.10 Goodreads FeatureThe Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell
The Siege of Krishnapur was a real event, though Farrell's superbly-drawn characters are fictional. Each of his named characters has a different and unique responsibility in this British outpost in 1857 colonial India.
I consider that I have a decent comprehension and vocabulary - better than some, not as as good as others. I more or less knew the definition of siege. But it's the sort of word that, frankly, I had not spent a lot of time mulling over and picturing it's meaning in a real world application. With what seemed to me perfect prose, Farrell spent 250 plus pages defining it for me.
Farrell gives us an occasional ridiculous moment. Early, he pens
But the Collector admired pretty women and could not feel hostile to them for very long. If they were pretty he swiftly found other virtues in them which he would not have noticed had they been ugly. Soon he began to find Miriam sensible and mature, which was only to say that he liked her grey eyes and her smile. 'She has a mind of her own,' he decided. 'Why can't all women be widows?'These moments are infrequent, but necessary. Some of this is very hard reading. As were the residents of the British compound at Krishnapur, I was worn down. Still, I look forward to the third book in the series, The Singapore Grip.
+20 Task
+10 Combo (20.3, 20.4)
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (pub 1973)
Task total = 45
Grand total = 505
Task 10.1 - Square Peg:Coming Home (Alex Benedict #7) (2014) by Jack McDevitt (Hardcover, 358 pages)
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 510 + 10 = 520
20.1 RwS Anniversary :The Dancing Floor by John Buchan
+20 task (published 1926)
+10 Oldies (published 1926)
Task total: 30
Grand Total: 1025
10.2 Nutcracker :A Confession by Leo Tolstoy
+10 task (set in Russia)
+10 Oldies (published 1882)
+10 Non-Western
Task total: 30
Grand Total: 1055
Deedee wrote: "Task 10.1 - Square Peg:Coming Home (Alex Benedict #7) (2014) by Jack McDevitt (Hardcover, 358 pages)
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 510 + 10 = 520"
Jack McDevitt was born 1935, so will fit 20.9.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Task 10.1 - Square Peg:Coming Home (Alex Benedict #7) (2014) by Jack McDevitt (Hardcover, 358 pages)
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 510 + 10..."
Yeah! I missed that because 1935 + 79 = 2014.
Re-done:
Task 20.9 - Respect Elders:
Coming Home (Alex Benedict #7) (2014) by Jack McDevitt (Hardcover, 358 pages)
+20 Task
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 510 + 20 = 530
Deedee - This book/author had me looking at all of our authors again. I added a bunch to the list this morning!
20.2 - Persephone A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf uses a fictional English writer to deliver this essay about the status of women writers and writings. A "room of her own" is a symbol for what she advocates... basically women freed from convention and provided with the tools to acquire and meditate upon experience. A room of one's own is in contrast to how most women novelists (since almost all women writers were novelists in the beginning) would have written in the common sitting room with their families... and would have been compelled by convention to conceal what they were doing. She has us imagine how much better a writer Jane Austen would have been if she had been able to write in private and had had the ability to travel outside her small circles. And what would Shakespeare's sister have been able to produce if she had had similar access to education and opportunities?
+20 task
+10 review
+10 combo ((10.4-UK; 20.1 -1929)
+10 oldie - 1929
total= 50
grand total = 615
20.9 Respect EldersFranny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
+20 task
+5 combo (20.4 1001)
+5 oldies
task total: 30
grand total: 380
Valerie wrote: "20.9 Respect eldersWide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Jean Rhys (b. 1890 in Dominica, died 1979; @ age 88)
+20 task
+5 exile/emmigrant (20.8)
+5 oldie
+5 island dreams ..."
+10 Non-Western
Norma wrote: "10.1 Square PegUntil Proven Guilty by J.A. Jance
+10 task
Task total: 10
Grand total: 55"
+5 Oldies
From Post 529Ed wrote: "20.8 Exiles and Emmigrants
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (Ishiguro was born in Japan and emigrated to the UK)
Perhaps I have been reading too many stream-o..."
+5 Oldies
From Post 543Ed wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Ed wrote: "10.4 Island Dreams
Across the Barricades by Joan Lingard
task +10 (all takes place in Northern Ireland)
Grand Total= 455
It doe..."
+5 Oldies
From Post 529Ed wrote: "20.8 Exiles and Emmigrants
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (Ishiguro was born in Japan and emigrated to the UK)
Perhaps I have been reading too many stream-o..."
+5 Combo 20.3
From Post 538Deedee wrote: "Task 20.2 - Persephone:
Read a book written by a Persephone Books author.
Dorothy Canfield Fisher is a Persephone Books author.
Understood Betsy (1916) by [author:..."
+5 Combo 20.1
From Post 542Jama wrote: "20.2 Persephone
Dimanche and Other Stories by Irène Némirovsky
I was not expecting to love this short story collection, as I was underwhelmed by Suite Francaise when ..."
+5 Combo 20.1
Lagullande wrote: "20.2 - Persephone:Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky
Review: This is my fifth Nemirovsky this season. It is the one often described as her "masterpiece"; however I ..."
This does not qualify for 20.4, it is 20a on the list of books from the 200s, 20.4 is for books published in the 1900s.
Valerie wrote: "10.10 Group readThe Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
+10 task
Running total: 315"
+5 Combo 10.5
Valerie wrote: "20.3 HistoricalThe Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
+20 task
+5 oldie
+5 jumbo
Running total: 345"
+20 Combo 10.3, 10.5, 20.4, 20.9
Coralie wrote: "10.2 Nutcracker :A Confession by Leo Tolstoy
+10 task (set in Russia)
+10 Oldies (published 1882)
+10 Non-Western
Task total: 30
Grand Total: 1055"
+5 Combo 20.9 (1828-1910)
From Post 25Heather wrote: "20.2
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
+20 task
+10 oldies (1929)
task total: 30
grand total: 70"
+5 Combo 10.4-UK
From Post 165Tuyen wrote: "20.2 - Persephone
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
+20 task
+10 oldies (1929)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 30"
+5 Combo 10.4-UK
Karen Michele wrote: "Kate S wrote: "Karen Michele wrote: "20.2 - PersephoneThe Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
It is fascinating to read a first novel by an established author after having r..."
In light of Jama's response, I have moved Vanessa and Her Sister to 10.4.
Valerie wrote: "Adding more to the list. It seems that I am at 225 points, so:10.2 Nutcracker
The Case of the General's Thumb
by Andrey Kurkov
Running total: 285."
There appears to be an addition error here: 225+30=255
Rebekah wrote: "A-Z15.10 Z,A
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan
Task -30 pts
Bonus - 100 pts
Task Total-130 pts
Grand Total - 360 pts"
Congratulations on your A-Z Finish, Rebekah!
Valerie wrote: "10.8 2 for 1The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka The novella itself is 51 pages in this version (the rest is analysis and essays)
"Lady Susan" in [book:The Oxford Illus..."
Sorry, Valerie, the Most Popular Edition of The Metamorphosis (which is what we use for page count) is over 200 pages and does not work for 10.8.
Valerie wrote: "10.8 2 for 1The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka The novella itself is 51 pages in this version (the rest is analysis and essays)
"Lady Susan" in [book:The Oxford Illus..."
You can use Metamorphosis for 20.1 and pair Lady Susan with another title for 10.8. So, not all is lost. :)
20.6 JewishWhen Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr (Lexile 940)
Review: When I was a kid, I read every children’s/YA book on the Holocaust I could get my hands on. I also used to read random books from when my mom was a kid. This reminded me of the writing style from my mom’s books, and lacked some of the tension of the Holocaust books I read, but was a cute story nevertheless. Kerr wrote it, and the two sequels, as a fictionalized account of her own experience. I don’t know what is true and what is not, but it seems as though her family didn’t suffer as drastic a fate as many Jewish families in Hitler’s Germany – they got out right before he was elected and left France before the war started – so I’m actually interested in the second book in the series, which deals with their life in London during the Blitz. Maybe the tension I was missing will be present in that one, especially since Anna, the main character, will be older.
+20 Task (shelved 10 times as Jewish)
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (published 1971)
+10 Combo (20.8 – born in Germany, settled in England; 20.9 – born in 1923 and still alive)
Task Total: 45
Grand Total: 950
10.4 Island Dreams (UK)Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens
This is Dickens first compilation of his writings....mostly non-fiction observances of common scenes in early 19th century London...church societies, shops and their keepers, the interactions of neighbors and friends, etc. Most of the chapters are amusing. About a third of the book has fictional accounts which focus on the lives and love-lives of ordinary Londoners. These sketches were written for the newspapers of the day. No mundane essays here. Dickens was clearly studying the infinite variety of people - some of whom would become characters in his future works.
task +10
review +10
oldie +15 (1836)
jumbo +5 (688p)
total= 40
Grand Total= 680
Kate S wrote: "Valerie wrote: "10.8 2 for 1The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka The novella itself is 51 pages in this version (the rest is analysis and essays)
"Lady Susan" in [book:..."
Hi Kate:
Your link is not "hot" so I can't see which version it is. Nonetheless, this book is a well known novella (the word count being approx. 22,000) and there is no way it could be stretched out to 200 pages. I can only assume the copy you have linked to contains essays and critical analysis as my copy did.
Kate S wrote: "This does not qualify for 20.4, it is 20a on the list of books from the 200s, 20.4 is for books published in the 1900s. "Oops, yes, sorry Kate. I must remember to read the small print every time!
20.8 - Exiles and Emigrants:Not My Father's Son: A Memoir by Alan Cumming
Review: When actor Alan Cumming agreed to film an episode of BBC's genealogy show, Who Do You Think You Are?, he thought he would be finding out about his maternal grandfather's life story and, in particular, solving the mystery surrounding his death. But as filming was about to begin, Alan's father called with some devastating news, that could explain a lot about what had happened during Alan's childhood. The title suggests what that news may have been, but all is not straightforward.
I listened to this on audio, narrated by Alan himself. Who better could imbue the tale with such feeling and humour (I loved the bit about Alan and Antonio Banderas playing "Eurovision trivia" much to the bemusement of American colleagues)?
This is not just your usual celebrity memoir. It's a fascinating story and it is my first 5 star read of 2015.
+20 task (approved in help thread message 72)
+5 combo (10.4 over 75% set in Scotland and London, both in UK)
+10 review
Task total: 35
RwS total: 920
AtoZ total: 15
Grand Total: 935
10.9 EconomicalTrain Dreams by Denis Johnson
Economist list - 2011
+10 task
+10 review
I also (like Krista) absolutely loved this novella by Denis Johnson. The only other book of his I've read is Jesus' Son - it's been over ten years, but I don't remember liking it that much, which makes my enthusiasm for this quiet, beautiful book all the more surprising.
Train Dreams features the life of one Robert Grainier, an orphan who lands in Idaho by train in the late 1800s to be cared for by distant relatives. The story is simple but powerful - it's a story of civilization; modernization; the lonesome, menacing west. It's a novel where the fantastical and the real integrate seamlessly. It reminded me very much of Brokeback Mountain, which I recently read and adored.
This quote from the NY Times book review does a great job of explaining how Johnson's style works so beautifully here:
The novella also accumulates power because Johnson is as skilled as ever at balancing menace against ecstasy, civilization against wilderness. His prose tiptoes a tightrope between peace and calamity, and beneath all of the novella’s best moments, Johnson runs twin strains of tenderness and the threat of violence.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/boo...)
This is a gorgeous, tragic, yet hopeful book - a story to fold into for a few hours on a cold winter's day. Highly recommended.
task total: 20
grand total: 400
10.3 - 1980sWinter's Tale by Mark Helprin
I really liked this book. The book was set in New York around the turn of the 20th century and in present times, yet it wasn't quite our world. The author gave the story a sense of fantasy by making the world just a bit different from our own, by adding characters, weather, and places that could not be found in the real world. Horses are magical beings, architects are magicians, and dead people come back to life. The story jumps between the decades and characters, but it is not hard to follow along at these leaps. The author's descriptive prose brings the story to life.
Task +10
Review +10
Jumbo +10 (768 pages)
Oldies +5 (1983)
Task Total= 35
Grand Total= 55
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (other topics)Dirty Cop (other topics)
Ghosts (other topics)
One Con Glory (other topics)
The Winner (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Milan Kundera (other topics)Kyle Adams (other topics)
Paul Auster (other topics)
Sarah Kuhn (other topics)
David Baldacci (other topics)
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Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
+30 task
Grand total 445