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Winter 14/15 RwS Completed Tasks - Winter 14/15
Coralie wrote: "10.8 Two for One :The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín (81 pages)
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx (62 pages)
+10 task
RwS Finish: 100 points"
Way to go, Coralie!
20.1 RwS AnniversaryBetween the Acts by Virginia Woolf
+20 task
+10 combo (20.2 - Persephone, 20.4 - 1001)
+5 oldies (published in 1941)
task total: 35, minus 30 points for 15.1 and 15.2 = 5
grand total: 550*
*edited grand total on 2/21 - Keeping End of Your Life Book Club as 15.1, total of 15 points added to grand total.
**I'm moving Between the Acts from 15.1 A - Z (message 51) to 20.1- RwS as I'm not going to be able to complete the A - Z challenge and am trying to complete the RwS tasks for winter. I will subtract 15 points for this and 15 points for 15.2 A - Z The End of Your Life Book Club since I'm no longer trying to compete in that challenge (message 171). Thanks!
20.5 - Mystery WomenThe Blood Spilt by Åsa Larsson
Mysteries don't tend to be my favorite genre...although I was a big fan as a teen. This one I found to be exasperating. It never held my attention. I never connected with any characters. My mind kept wandering and I would have to re-read a page or two. It didn't matter. I'm not sure, but perhaps I missed a major point by not having read the first in the series in which, apparently, the central character there and here, attorney Rebecka Martinsson had to kill three people but was not charged with a crime. Here she is reluctantly part of a legal team that gets involved in the investigation of the murder of a controversial woman pastor. Another murder occurs. Mystery....ooooh! I didn't care. A parallel story of a she-wolf keeps popping up....and although I recognize it was supposed to be symbolic...the specific symbolism escaped me and I found it annoying.
task +20
review +10
total=30
grand total= 895
20.3 HistoricalFingersmith by Sarah Waters
Many of the reviews for this liken it to Dickens, and I was expecting something at least Dickensian. To me, the only likeness is the time period and setting - mid-19th Century London. Of course there are differences in prose (just different, not one better than the other). In Fingersmith the female characterizations are superior to Dickens. I'm not saying Waters does them perfectly, just better. The plot/story itself is nothing like any of the Dickens I've read - and I've read a fair amount.
There were lots of plot twists to this. I've said before I'm not good at forecasting events in books, and there were a couple of times I felt almost whip-sawed. Still, the final plot resolution was foreseeable even by me. How Waters would get us there kept me reading. I thought there were times when she could have done some cutting, but, for the most part, I thought she needed all 575+ pages to get this story told.
I liked this well enough to think I might pick up another, though probably later rather than sooner. I like the time period of this, but I think I prefer to read it from contemporary authors rather than historical fiction.
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.4, 20.10)
+10 Review
+ 5 Jumbo (582 pgs)
Task Total = 45
Grand Total = 720
10.6 - Foreign Language: A Thousand Moons on a Thousand Rivers by Hsiao Li-Hung
+10 Task: Mandarin (Chinese)
+ 5 Combo: 10.4 - Island Dreams (Taiwan)
+10 Non-Western
+ 5 Oldies (1981)
Task Total: 30
RwS Finish: 100
Grand Total: 1540
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 726 Karen Michele wrote: "10.9 - Economical - Tony's Task: Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller
+10 Task: from 2013 Fiction list
+ 5 Combo: 20.8 Exiles and..."
I have checked with Jama and she has approved Derek B. Miller in the 20.8 thread.
Karen Michele wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 726 Karen Michele wrote: "10.9 - Economical - Tony's Task: Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller
I have checked with Jama and she has approved Derek B. Miller in the 20.8 thread.
"
Great! We'll get those points added in next time.
10.10 Group ReadsAll Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
All Passion Spent introduces us to Lady Slane, an eighty eight year old upper class, highly privileged English woman who finely feels freed, upon the death of her husband, to pursue her own interests in her own space. Various blurbs about the novel call it a fictionalized companion to Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, and Sackville-West is clearly using this novel as a feminist critique of marriage and parenthood. While I could appreciate a lot of the points made in the book, I had a hard time taking Lady Slane's character seriously. She spent the book looking back on her life, on how the marriage she felt pressured into entering ruined her chance to be an artist (even though she never took any art classes or did any art, and even though her husband had no problem with her setting up a studio, which she chose not to do since she assumed from his implied tone that it was frowned upon) and how she was too protected and given too much. But she gives hardly a thought to the French maid, two years younger than her, who had been her constant companion since her marriage commenced. When she choses to move into a modest house and allows herself to indulge in absolute leisure, only doing what she wants to, for a change, her maid continues cleaning and serving despite her rhumatism and tiredness. Lady Slane is so proud of herself for giving away a fortune left to her by a doting millionaire, without once thinking how the money would aid her servant. Sackville-West mentions these things in passing, but the classist slant to the narrative grated on me, and I found the reading painfully slow.
10 pt. task
+10 review
+10 combo (20.1, 10.4)
+10 oldies (1931)
task total 40
Grand total: 650
20.9 Respect EldersTime Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt
I love the time travel genre a lot but reading them makes my head hurt and this one was no exception.
Time Travelers Never Die centres around Shel’s search for his father after he goes missing and Shel finds a device which turns out to be a time machine. What ensues is Shel going from place to place in time trying to find his father and exploring historical events. As with most time travel books, the story line gets confusing. I found the plot to be a bit jumbled with not really a main focus or else the focus got lost. It also probably didn’t help that I read it on the Kindle. I find books on the Kindle so much less satisfying.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total=30
Grand Total=310
10.2 NutcrackerBefore I Croak by Anna Babiashkina
+10 task
+10 non-western
Task total 20
Grand total 645
10.4 Island DreamsAt Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie
+10 task
+5 combo(20.9)
+5 oldie(p.1965)
Task total 20
Grand total 665
10.6 Foreign LanguageRain Over Madrid by Andrés Barba (translated from Spanish)
+10 task
Grand total 675
10.9 EconomicalThe Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
+10 task
+10 combo(10.10, 20.8)
+5 jumbo (592 pages)
Task total 25
Grand total 700
20.1 AnniversarySummer by Edith Wharton
+20 task
+15 combo (20.4, 20.8, 20.10)
+10 oldie (p.1917)
Task total 45
Grand total 745
20.7 18th Century PlusThe Lady of the Lake by Walter Scott
+20 task
+5 combo (10.4)
+15 oldie (p. 1810)
Task total 40
Grand total 785
Kath wrote: "15.10 C-VVoyager in Night by C.J. Cherryh
+30 task
+100 completion bonus
Grand total 625"
Congratulations on completing the A-Z challenge!
20.5 Mystery Women :Emily Goes to Exeter by Marion Chesney
+20 task
+5 Combo (10.4 – UK)
+5 Oldies (published 1990)
Task total: 30
Grand Total: 1510
Krista wrote: "Kath wrote: "15.10 C-VVoyager in Night by C.J. Cherryh
+30 task
+100 completion bonus
Grand total 625"
Congratulations on completing the A-Z challenge!"
Thanks. I did indeed find it a bit of a challenge:)
20.9 Respect Elders :Loon Lake by E.L. Doctorow
+20 task (born 1931)
+5 Oldies (published 1980)
Task total: 25
Grand Total: 1535
A to Z15.10 U and A
The Unamericans: Stories by Molly Antopol
+ 30 Task
+ 10 15.9 (I claimed 20 Points instead of 30)
+100 A to Z Finish
+200 Mega finish
Total: 340
Grand Total: 1880
Post 779 Kath wrote: "20.1 AnniversarySummer by Edith Wharton
+20 task
+15 combo (20.4, 20.8, 20.10)
+10 oldie (p.1917)
Task total 45
Grand total 745"
I'm sorry, Kath. This is a title labeled "Assignment" at BPL and it has no Lexile. Task points, but no styles.
20.9 Respect Elders :The Young Unicorns by Madeleine L'Engle
Lexile 820
+20 task (born 1918, died 2007)
+5 Oldies (published 1968)
Task total: 25
Grand Total: 1560
Claire wrote: "20.1 RwS AnniversaryBetween the Acts by Virginia Woolf
+20 task
+10 combo (20.2 - Persephone, 20.4 - 1001)
+5 oldies (published in 1941)
task total: 35, minus 30 poi..."
I have moved The End of Your Life Book Club to 15.1 for now. I don't see a place for it after a cursory glance, but you might as well take the 15 points for the book. I will remove it, if you want. :)
10.8 Two for OneThe Lady Always Wins by Courtney Milan (74 pages)
and Dueling Magics by Stephanie Burgis (4,370 words=14 pages)
and Good Breeding by J.L. Merrow (5,941 words=19 pages)
Review: The Lady Always Wins is a stand-alone novella by Courtney Milan about a man coming back for his childhood sweetheart. Of course, being Courtney Milan, it’s not that simple – Simon thinks things are a certain way, but Ginny completely subverts his expectations. I was pretty much left wanting more, as I often am with shorter stories, but it was a good story nevertheless.
Dueling Magics is very short and serves as a quick interlude between the first and second in Burgis’s Kat, Incorrigible series. Kat is fun and it shines a little light on what is yet to come – I want to go back to the series and read the second book at some point, definitely.
J.L. Merrow is quickly becoming one of my favorite romance authors, and I’m sad that my library doesn’t have more of her work. Good Breeding was a free short story, and I would totally read an entire novel or even series based on the characters. I have to be careful or I’ll spend way too much money and time just reading all of her books. They aren’t just simple male-male romance stories – they deal with issues of class and tolerance in a subtle way that really works.
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.4 – set entirely in the UK)
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 1435
Kath wrote: "15.10 C-VVoyager in Night by C.J. Cherryh
+30 task
+100 completion bonus
Grand total 625"
Congratulations on your A-Z Finish, Kath!
Karen Michele wrote: "A to Z15.10 U and A
The Unamericans: Stories by Molly Antopol
+ 30 Task
+ 10 15.9 (I claimed 20 Points instead of 30)
+100 A to Z Finish
+200 Mega finish
Tota..."
Way to go, on both finishes, Karen!
20.7 - 18th Century PlusHyperion, or The Hermit in Greece by Friedrich Hölderlin
Supposedly, “The novel works on several levels as a fictionHyperion, or The Hermit in Greeceal reflection on, and interpretation of, the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.” I'm afraid I did not find any of those levels. I did, however, find the most extensive use of exclamation points I have seen outside of a pre-teen's diary. I might have found some of the thoughts expressed in Hyperion's letters beautiful if I wasn't so irritated by the constant "What! I cried,...." "Dear youth! he cried;...." "O it is bitter, I cried...." And on and on and on.
The most enjoyable aspect was the physical book -- a lovely edition published by a smallish Brooklyn press.
+20 task
+10 review
+15 oldies (pub. 1799)
Task total: 45
Grand Total: 425
Task 10.6 - Foreign Language: Read a book originally published in one of the world's most spoken languages: Mandarin (Chinese), Hindi, Spanish, OR Arabic.
This book was originally published in Spanish.
Purity of Blood (Adventures of Captain Alatriste #2) (1997) by Arturo Pérez-Reverte; translated by Margaret Sayers Peden (Paperback, 268 pages)
Review:This book is the second in a series of the swashbuckling adventures of Spanish soldier Captain Alatriste. It is a stand-alone book, however, with only a couple of brief references to the events of book #1. Our hero, captain Alatriste, is an accomplished swordsman who defends his HONOR whilst serving his friends and his King. The “purity of blood” in the title means: “no Jewish ancestors”. Set in the early 1600s, during the height of the Inquisition, our heros main opponents are the Inquisition and the mercenaries that the Inquisition hires. It’s an OK read. I expected more swashbuckling and less lectures.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total : 10 + 10 = 20
Grand Total: 595 + 20 = 615
10.2 - NutcrackerDead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
+10 Task
+10 Non-Western
+15 Oldies (1842)
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 1915
20.10 - Goodreads Feature - Elizabeths' Task:Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins
+20 Task
Grand Total: 1935
10.4 - Island DreamsThe Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde
+10 Task: United Kingdom
+10 Oldies (1887)
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 1955
Well in that case, I think I'll keep it... ;) Thanks!Kate S wrote: "Claire wrote: "20.1 RwS Anniversary
Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf
+20 task
+10 combo (20.2 - Persephone, 20.4 - 1001)
+5 oldies (published in 1941)
task total: 3..."
20.7 - 18th Century PlusPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
+20 task
+15 oldies (1813)
task total: 35
grand total: 585
20.5 - Mystery WomenThe Bone Bed by Patricia Cornwell
This is the 20th novel in the Kay Scarpetta series. I first started reading them literally decades ago (the first one was published in 1990, even though I probably read it about 5 years later) and really loved the series as it progressed. A strong and intelligent female main character surrounded by other interesting people; cleverly constructed murder/crime plots with lots of forensic science but also psychology: these were the sorts of books that you couldn't put down because you just desperately needed to know what happens next. I would usually devour the books in a day or two and still remember the details of some of them, as they were so unusual and so surprising.
Two decades later, things are different. Somewhere along the way the focus changed from the crime and the figuring out what had happened to the victims to Scarpetta herself. Her relationships with her husband, her co-worker/friend and her niece, old hurts and betrayals, her moods were the main bit now and not the crimes or the finding out who had committed them. Lots of times the perp was including her in their sick fantasies and would try to either hurt her or someone close to her and that was just plain unrealistic. Character development stalled and it seemed like they were doing and saying the same things over and over and over again. The actual writing used to be a lot better too.
The books are still interesting and I still stay up long reading them, but it's complicated. It's like calling someone you've known for a very long time but have sort of grown apart from. You still feel the need to occasionally catch up and do it, but more because there's a shared history there and you feel an obligation, not because they contribute much to your life as it is now. You can look back and remember the past fondly, but know there's not much of a future for you.
+20 task
+10 review
Task Points: 30
Total points: 225
Task 10.4 - Island Dreams: Read a book that takes place (at least 75%) on an island country listed under Sovereign states.
After I was done reading this 5 star Dickens novel, I went back and counted pages; depending on how you assign “letters written”, between 76% to 78% of the novel was set in England, the remainder occurring on the Continent. Yeah!
Little Dorrit (1857) by Charles Dickens (Paperback, 889 pages)
Most popular edition had 985 pages.
Review:Dickens is amazing, easily the best English novelist of the 19th Century. The best way to read a Dickens novel, including this one, is to read 1-3 chapters every couple of days. That is how the original readers in the 1850s read his novels, and it works well for modern day readers as well..
This novel focuses on prisons – both the physical Debtor’s Prison called Marshelsea, and the psychological prisons various characters create for themselves. The first half of the novel, called Poverty, is set in the prison Marshelsea itself, and in nearby working class neighborhoods. The second half of the novel, called Riches, is set in more upscale locations, including a long visit to Italy (Venice and Rome). The characters are well-drawn, their reactions are realistic, and the social commentary is shown not preached. My only criticism is that the ending is wrapped up very quickly – Dickens could easily have an additional 100 pages or so of text if he wanted to. (In my edition, Appendix A summarizes a confusing aspect of the novel, and I found it very helpful.) Recommended for all readers.
+10 Task
+15 Oldies -151 to 250 years old: (1764-1863)
+20 Jumbo 900-999 Pages:
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 15 + 20 + 10 = 55
Grand Total: 615 + 55 = 670
Kate, I think you might have omitted to deduct the 10 Non-Western points I included in error in post 741? Elizabeth (Alaska) noted my mistake in post 743, and I posted a revised total of 1140 in post 744. The readerboard (up to post 745) shows me with 1150.
20.1 - RwS AnniversaryThe Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore
The novel was originally written in Bengali and composed as three first-person narratives. I was mostly interested in the narrative of Bimala (the wife). Her component of the novel is told in uncomplicated sentences and is most rooted in the concrete world. Her secluded life and reaction to Sandeep's charm was very relatable. Nikhil, the husband, was voiced with more complexity. By turns idealistic and philosophic, his rationally progressive views are most likely the representation of the author's views. And then there is Sandeep, a suave, intellectual bulls--t artist. Easily able to charm Bimala and with an abundance of words, if not out-argue Nikhil, to at least subdue him. Caught up in and encouraging the home-rule movement, Sandeep manipulates those around him to disastrous results.
+20 task
+10 combo (20.4, 20.9)
+10 non-Western
+10 review
+10 oldies (1916)
Task total: 60
Grand Total: 485
20.8 - Exiles and EmmigrantsS. by Slavenka Drakulić
Mostly set in the Balkans, it is a story of one women's experiences of the attempted ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serbs.
The crystal language of the opening chapter drew me in immediately, but strangely enough the same language also held me at a distance once the story transitions to the woman's camp. In abstract the events of the novel are horrific but the narrator's coping mechanism is to be not there, so there is a detachment in the story. At least, having never experienced even the mildest form of the traumas described, it didn't affect me as I think it should have -- the experiences were alien to myself (and to the narrator as well, as if they didn't happen to her). Oddly it was an event at the end of the novel, after the narrator escaped to Sweden, that angered me the most.
+20 task (a Croatian novelist and non-fiction writer who lives in Sweden)
+5 combo (20.4)
+10 review
Task total: 35
Grand Total: 520
20.2 PersephoneFire in the Blood by Irène Némirovsky
+20 task
+5 Combo (20.8)
+10 Non-Western
task total: 35
grand Total: 620
20.1 - RwS Anniversary!Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini
+ 20 task
+ 10 oldies (1921)
+ 5 combo (20.8)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 485
10.3 1980'sHousekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Review:
Having read, and really enjoyed Marilynne Robinson’s second book, Gilead– I was surprised by how nonplussed I was by this, her much lauded debut book. Some of the passages in the book were very poetic, but the story just didn’t seem to have a lot of heart to me. Water (in many forms) played a big role in the book, and at times I felt that I was slogging through water when trying to connect with the main characters, Sylvie and her niece Ruthie.
For me the beautiful scenes and exquisitely descriptive writing wasn’t enough to make me care about the quirky characters or their story. I would recommend this to friends, but I would suggest that they approach it in a contemplative state.
Rating: 3 stars
+10 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (Publ 1980)
Task Total = 25
This marks the completion all 20 RwS tasks for me. For the first time ever, I get to claim the Mega Finish Bonus since I completed the A to Z tasks a week or so ago! Wa-hoo
Mega Finish = 200
Grand Total = 1285
PS: Kate -- you and I are off by 10 points somehow in our point total. I'm basing my current 1,285 points on from the last total of 1,060 points from my tally....
20.5 Mystery WomenRefining Felicity by Marion Chesney
Review:
This book was such a nice change of pace. It was a lighthearted Regency romance that had a many comic scenes provided by the Tribble sisters., Amy and Effy. This is the first book in Marion Chesney's six book series; “The School for Manner’s”. I’ve read all of Chesney’s “Agatha Raisin” series, and enjoyed her humorous turn with Agatha’s character. (Chesney wrote the Raisin series under the pseudonym of M.C. Beaton.) In this opening book in the series, the genteel but poverty stricken Tribble sisters open a boot camp of sorts for young women who lack the traditional feminine training to successfully complete their first London Season.
Their first reluctant pupil is Lady Felicity, and boy does she give them a run for their money. This book had me laughing out loud quite a few times due to Amy Tribble’s antics for the most part. It’s a fun little book that that is an entertaining way to while away a few hours when you just want a break from it all.
Rating: 4 stars
+20 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (10.4, set in England)
+ 5 Oldies (Pulb 1988)
Task Total = 40
Grand Total = 1325
10.4 Sovereign StatesBeauty from Pain by Georgia Cates
Review: I haven’t read Fifty Shades of Grey, and I know there are a ton of billionaire romances out there, but I feel like this one might be a tame homage to Fifty Shades. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it – the characterizations were rather shallow and the emotions were clunky. Laurelyn is on vacation in Wagga Wagga, Australia when she meets a mysterious man who wants a three-month relationship – the only catch is that he won’t divulge his name. Jack acts a little like a stalker at the beginning, and all the secrecy is silly and probably pretty easily broken in a world with Google, but he kind of won me over by the end, at least enough to kind of want to read the next book since this one ended less than satisfactorily.
+10 Task (set entirely in Australia)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 1470
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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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The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman
+ 30 Task
+100 A to Z Completion Bonus (Yay me! LOL)
Grand Total = 1,040 "
Congrats on your A-Z Finish, Krista!