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Winter 14/15 RwS Completed Tasks - Winter 14/15
10.4 Island DreamsSoullessby Gail Carriger
Set in England which is part of the UK
Task +10
Style+ 10 Review
Book Total: 20
Grand Total: 125
Review
This is my first Steampunk book. I like the idea of books set in the Victorian age and they use modern items. This book did not impress me. This book had some supernatural elements too like there are werewolves and vampires. The main character is a perternatural which is a type of immortal that is not a vampire or werewolf. In the main character's case, she has super strength and she defends herself with an umbrella. She comes from a well off enough family. She seems to do as she pleases. She calls herself a spinster because she is in her, I would guess mid twenties and is unmarried. That is pretty true to the time period. I liked the idea of they had rogue vampires and the main character was helping to figure out why that was however that plot line was cast aside and then the plot didn't go anywhere. It was just dull. I would be willing to give another steampunk book a try but I won't be reading the next book in this series any time soon.
Ed wrote: "ok Elizabeth.... thanks....I'm still learning. Here is my amended submission:The Tontine by Thomas B. Costain
20.9 Respect Elders
I read this book over 40 yea..."
+5 Oldies
From post 299Tuyen wrote: "20.5 - Mystery Women
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy
+ 20 task
+ 10 oldies (1903)
+ 10 combo (20.3 and 20.9 author was 82)
Task total: 40
Grand total: 315"
+5 Combo 20.8-Jama approved in the help thread
From Post 313Ed wrote: "20.4 1001 list: Middlemarch by George Eliot
A study of life in a fictitious small town in early 18th -century England. The work has numerous characters which are for the ..."
I am so sorry I missed this, Ed. Task 20.4 requires a book from the 1001 list published in the 1900s. So, while this is a 1001 book, it was published too early to qualify for 20.4. I have moved it to 10.4. Your new score will reflect this. Sorry.
From Post 339Angela wrote: "10.10 - Group Reads
Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro
Review: A book of short stories with the feature story about a female nove..."
+10 Combo (10.9 and 20.9)
Deedee wrote: "Task 20.5 - Mystery Women: In honor of The Moai Murders, read a book by one of these female detective/mystery writers AND whose protagonist/narrator is female.
[book:Lady Molly of Scotland Yard|1..."
+5 Combo 20.8-Jama approved in help thread
20.10 Goodreads FeatureHow to be both by Ali Smith
+20 task
+10 review
Review: Brilliant. My first five star read of 2015, and one that I want to immediately start again from the beginning (but which beginning??). I've never read anything by Ali Smith until now and didn't know much about How to be both other than it was a Booker Finalist and showed up on a handful of year end best of 2014 lists. Since I checked this out from the library, I didn't have a choice of which version of the book I received - although I'm actually not sure if I even knew about the clever "one" and "one" conceit until after I'd begun to read it. In any case, I started with "eye" first, and "camera" followed. I am pretty fascinated to know how reading them the other way around might have shaped an entirely different reading experience (I'm tempted to make my husband read this next, starting with camera, and comparing notes, but we have such radically different tastes that I'm not sure I would get any valid feedback from that experiment).
This book is about so much I don't know how to capture even half of it (and I don't want to include any spoilers for those of you who haven't read it, which makes this review somewhat challenging to write). This book, primarily, is about sight - what we choose to see, what we intentionally choose not to see, how seeing beyond the surface can completely change the meaning of anything, how much we miss when we're not paying attention, how what we see first changes what we see next. It's about beauty - about the beautiful that can come from the ugly, how disasters often lead to incredibly positive, lovely transformations. This book is about grief, loss, mothers and daughters, the fine line between friendship and romantic love, about why art matters (a lot of the themes reminded me of The Goldfinch).
Even though this might sound super heavy, it's also FUN. If you're a fan of puns or wordplay, pick this up immediately because this is going to be like the best amusement park you've ever visited. Just wait until you get to the part about minotaurs.
If you feel you don't know what's going on with the story, be patient - you will understand it within a few pages. Smith does this weird cool thing where it's like she's shaking out a parachute and you have to just go with the waves and then it will all settle and you'll have this perfectly shaped circle of goodness if you'll just be patient and give it time to unfurl. I can't recommend this enough.
Task total: 30
Grand total: 270
20.8 - Exiles and EmigrantsHeart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness is actually a novella of around 100 pages, but it's often printed with other works by Conrad, and the book I read contained four stories altogether. The tone of all of them is intense, to be read slowly and savoured.
Two of them, Heart of Darkness and An Outpost of Progress, are set in what was the Belgian Congo with its isolated trading stations along the river, staffed by one or two white men with African helpers who were drafted in from far off areas, so they wouldn’t be tempted to run away – not slaves but treated almost as such. The point was to trade cheap western goods for precious ivory from the native people and export it back to Europe. The white men as well as the Africans were exploited by the company that employed them, left in a dangerous situation where if they didn’t die of fever, they risked starvation if the company’s boat didn’t bring their supplies, or death by violence if they angered the local people.
Heart of Darkness was the last story of the four and I think that was a good thing, because in the others - especially An Outpost of Progress - we get a lot of the background that Conrad assumes his readers know in Heart of Darkness.
+20 task
+10 review
+10 oldies (1899)
Task total: 40
Grand Total: 470 points
Task 20.10 Goodreads Feature - Elizabeths' Task:The Wonderful Wizard of Oz lists The Jungle Book (Thanks Elizabeth!)
I read:
The Jungle Books (1895) by Rudyard Kipling (Paperback, 373 pages)
Lexile 1140L
Which contains both The Jungle Book and The Jungle Book II
Review:This collection of 15 stories (7 from Jungle Book I, and 8 from Jungle Book II). Eight of the stories feature Mowgli, the boy raised by wolves, and helped by a big bear Baloo and a black panther Bagheera (who was raised in a zoo but escaped). Those are the best stories, and the ones that inspired the Disney movie Jungle Book. The other stories feature other wild animals (a mongoose, elephants, seals, and others). The animals follow the Law of the Jungle, which regulate when they can hunt and eat, and when they cannot. Kipling believes in hierarchy, (man over wolves, wolves over jackals, and so on). The jungle is more noble, less frightening in Kipling’s stories than in real life. I’d recommend the Mowgli stories which are present in both Jungle Book I and Jungle Book II.
+20 Task
+10 Oldies -76 to 150 years old: (1864-1938)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 10 + 10 = 40
Grand Total: 380 + 40 = 420
10.4 - Island Dreams: First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen by Charlie Lovett
This book was a light page turning mystery and completely fictionalized story of the origins of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and her friendship with an older clergyman, Richard Mansfield. It’s coupled with a present day mystery and love story of a bibliophile, Sophie, and the search for original history about the book. The writing is pretty simplistic, but I had fun with this one. IT was a quick read, and if I’m going to read a book with some romance at the forefront, one with some history and mystery is the kind I want to read, so this fit the bill. It was not as good as The Bookman’s Tale, but worth the time investment if you are after a lighter read.
+10 Task: England
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 655
20.8 Exiles and EmmigrantsAda, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle by Vladimir Nabokov
I knew nothing about this book when I started it, other than the fact that I have really enjoyed other books by Nabokov. I had no idea how different it was from his other novels, or what a challenging read it would be. Rather than the straight-forward narrative in Lolita, Ada reads like a combination of Pynchon and a Dylan ballad about super-genius sibling lovers straight out of a Wes Anderson movie. Peppered with phrases in Russian and French, densely filled with wordplay, it would be impossible to read this the first time and catch even half of the references Nabokov alludes to. After about 50 pages I stopped hesitating and trying to figure out everything, and instead plunged into the narrative and let it carry me along with it. Once I did that, I began to really enjoy the book. The imagery in many passages is unforgettable and the story itself is quite engrossing. But it also feels like too much and can be overwhelming and rambling. I know it would reward a second read, but I do not see myself returning to it anytime soon. Even so, I am very glad I read it.
20 pt task
+10 review
+5 oldies (1969)
+5 combos (20.4)
+5 Jumbo (589 pgs.)
Task Total: 45
Grand Total: 240
10.2 - Nutcracker:A Constellation of Vital Phenomena - Anthony Marra
+10 task
+5 combo (20.10 - The Goldfinch)
Post total: 15
Grand total: 15
10.1 - Square PegSous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line by Michael Gibney
An engrossing look at what life is like for a sous chef at a three star restaurant and a must read for any foodie. Throw out any preconceptions you have of a second person narrative, as it works great here. The pacing is tight and I took an extra long bath just to read through service - "I'm in the weeds! The fluke is ruined! How will I get out of this one?!" I may have also watched a random ep of Hell's Kitchen to help me get in the mood. -_^
And oh, the food porn. Watch Chef plate a dish:
Finally there is the monkfish - a stupendous picture. It starts with a gob of carrot puree, dragged across the plate with the bottom side of a small offset spatula. The result is a cadmium orange swatch that looks more like oil paint than food. After that come the lentils, which he arranges in patches like shiny black moss on a forest floor. Then, with a pair of forceps, the endive goes down, its sharp cowlick of leaves saluting the sky. And then, finally, comes the fish. He cuts the shaft into four identical coins and shingles them down the center of the plate. As he does this, you notice that inside the roulade the foie gras has gone molten, which means you've cooked it perfectly.
~drool~
I liked that Gibney explains a lot but not everything; there's a glossary of cooking terms in the back for that. Some reviewers don't like the untranslated Spanish, but this is a kitchen in New York City. Of course there's Spanish. The context tells you what's going on anyway, and sometimes you get an ad hoc translation in the next paragraph. My view is probably skewed because I live in my second language and am used to sussing things out but really, suck it up.
An entertaining read that I can see myself picking up again when I want to head back to the kitchen.
+10 task
+10 Review
Task total: 20 pts
Grand total: 60 pts
20.8 - Exiles and EmmigrantsA Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
+20 task (Bryson okayed in this post)
Task total: 20 pts
Grand total: 80 pts
20.5 - Mystery WomenThe Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
Mary Russell is a young girl with a sharp mind that happens to quite literally stumble upon the retired Sherlock Holmes one day. He is impressed with her powers of observation and deduction and the two embark on a friendship that turns into, you guessed it, an apprenticeship. We watch Holmes teach and Russell grow through a series of ever more challenging cases until their partnership and very lives hang in the balance.
The father/daughter affection Holmes and Russell come to share tugged at my heart and made me smile. The cases themselves grow more complicated and interesting as the novel progresses and by the end I couldn't put the book down. If you're a fan of the original Sherlock Holmes stories there are easter eggs waiting for you ("Quite a three-piper, eh Holmes?"), but even if you've never read them you'll enjoy what King sets before you.
All of the apprentice-y bits rang true, especially when filtered through my own quasi-apprentice experience in college. While any type of relationship, even a professional one, between a teenage girl and a man in his late 50s is ripe with squick possibilities not once did my Ick Alarm go off. I can't wait to see where their adventures go from here, and thrill that at least 12 more books are waiting for me.
+20 task (author on list, story told from Mary's point of view)
+5 combo (10.4 - set in England and Wales, with a short (10-15%) sojourn to Palestine)
+10 review
Task total: 35 pts
Grand total: 115 pts
10.4 - Island DreamsThe Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson
+10 task (set entirely in England)
no combo (low lexile)
Task total: 10 pts
Grand total: 125 pts
20.5 - Mystery WomenA Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King
I am glad I went into this book completely cold and plan to do so for the rest of the series, too. The action is good but not as tight as in the first installment. I love the interaction between Holmes and Russell, and with Holmes out of the picture for chapters at a time I felt a little bereft. There were very good reasons, and all became clear at the end, but I wanted happy verbal sparring, darn it!
And, the end. Ooo boy, the end.
(view spoiler)
It's been a long time since I've been so entranced with a series. I'm looking forward to begging, borrowing, or stealing book three.
+20 task (author on list, story told from Mary's point of view)
+5 combo (10.4 - set entirely in England)
+10 review
Task total: 35 pts
Grand total: 160 pts
(This is the last one, I swear - I only had an iPad over the holidays so the books piled up -_-)10.4 - Island Dreams
Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart by Sarah MacLean
+10 task (set entirely in England)
Task total: 10 pts
Grand total: 170 pts
10.6 - Foreign LanguageLove in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
(on pg. 203/424 before challenge)
I hate to admit it, since most people seem to love it, but I really didn't enjoy this one. It was long and tedious and, for something that's supposed to be a great love story, it lacked a whole lot of romance. I hated all the characters, with the exception of Fermina Daza who I merely disliked. Yes the prose was beautiful, but I couldn't have cared less by the end who ended up with who or how. I just wanted it done! Not to mention I just don't see the "true love" in boning a bunch of women (and preteens under your care, ick) while you wait for your teenage puppy love's husband to die. The whole thing just made me angry and I'm just glad to be done with it!
+10 task
+10 review
+5 oldie
+10 non-western
+25 combo (10.3 - best of 1980s; 10.5 - author achievement; 20.4 - 1001 book; 20.8 - emigrated to Mexico; 20.9 - passed away at 87)
Post total: 60
Grand total: 85
10.8 - Two for OneThe Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
Chess Story - Stefan Zweig
+10 task
+5 oldies
+5 combo (20.8 - both exiled)
Post total: 20
Grand total: 105
20.8 - Exiles and EmigrantsCutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese
+20 task
+5 jumbo
Post total: 25
Grand total: 160
20.3The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
+20 task
+5 jumbo (661 pages)
+5 combo (10.4 - England)
task total: 30
grand total: 290
20.3 - Historical:Beloved by Toni Morrison
Review: A modern classic that has been on my TBR for a while, but which I had put off reading several times although I'm not sure why. Many of the top reviewers on GR seem to have given it 5 stars or 1 star, with some of the 1-star readers saying they "hated this book". "Hate" is a very strong word....especially given the subject matter. In no way did I hate the book, but neither did I love it. The story was interesting and moving. The characters were engaging. The timeline was challenging. There was enough ambiguity to keep me thinking. And the writing was impressive. But a book has to be one I want to tell everyone about before I give out 5 stars, and this didn't do that. I felt I OUGHT to be giving it 4 stars, but I don't think that would have been an honest reaction. So in the end, I decided on 3 stars - I'm glad I read it and I would recommend it to others, but I don't think I would have even considered anything more if the book and its author didn't already have the reputation they do.
+20 task (no. 69 on the list)
+15 combo (10.3 no. 4 on list, 20.4 no. 223 on list, 20.9 born 1931 still living )
+10 review
+5 oldies (published 1987)
Task total: 50
RwS total: 525
AtoZ total: 15
Grand Total: 540
10.3 - 1980s:Lexile=1270
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez
Review: This has one of the best opening lines I have read: "On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning to wait for the boat the bishop was coming on." That just made me stop right there and ponder for a while on where the story might go (maybe because I knew I would be having dinner with a real-life bishop a few days later).
It's the story of a killing. Everyone in town (except Santiago Nasar) knows it's going to happen, and who is going to do it, and why. The book is narrated by a former resident of the town who returns many years after to interview an assortment of inhabitants as to their viewpoint of what really went on, many of whom could probably have prevented the murder taking place. The style is journalistic, reflecting Garcia Marquez's career prior to becoming a novelist. There is a series of coincidences, good intentions and misunderstandings, and in the end the reader is left to draw his/her own conclusion as to who was really responsible for the "crime" of which Nasar was accused.
+10 task (no. 105 on list)
+20 combo (10.5 Neustadt 1972, 10.6 Spanish, 20.8 born Colombia died Mexico, 20.9 1927-2014)
+10 review
+10 non-Western
+5 oldies (pub 1981)
Task total: 55
RwS total: 580
AtoZ total: 15
Grand Total: 595
15.3 A to ZH-S
Happenstance: Two Novels in One About a Marriage in Transition by Carol Shields
Task total: 15
Grand total: 225
20.10 Goodreads FeatureThe Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
The Storied Life is a sweet little tale which engages the reader quickly and holds their attention. The author could have easily made this story into a much longer novel given the time that it does span across but she doesn’t and I think it works and I think that’s why so many people seem to like it so much. It’s a good story told in a concise fashion with real characters that you can relate to. They are not perfect and they have their faults but that’s what makes it so believable. It’s a quick read which left me satisfied.
(And the fact that GR won’t let me delete one of the two versions off my Read shelf will not take away from my enjoyment of this book. It is irking me, however but that has nothing to do with my review, I just needed to vent somewhere and you guys will understand. :-))
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total=30
Grand Total=125
10.9 Economical :The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
+10 task (from 2014)
+5 Combo (20.10)
Task total: 15
Grand Total: 650
20.1 RwS Anniversary :The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Lexile 1000
+20 task (published 1937)
+5 Combo (20.9 1892-1973)
+10 Oldies
Task total: 35
Grand Total: 685
Task 10.8 - Two for One - Read a combination of 2 or more books, each under 100 pages, that total at least 100 pages when combined.
Most popular version: 96 pages
The Strange Library (2005) by Haruki Murakami; translated by Ted Goossen (Paperback, 96 pages)
Most popular version: 30 pages
Sleeper (2014) by Jo Walton (ebook, 30 pages)
Free online fiction, available at;
http://www.tor.com/stories/2014/08/sl...
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 420 + 10 = 430
10.8 - Two for One - Karen Michele's Task:The Nose,The Overcoat and The Calash by Nikolai Gogol
I liked these 3 separately published stories enough to go back and read a full collection someday. For this challenge, I still have Dead Souls on my list!
+10 Task: the edition of The Calash is the only one with page numbers: 31, 48 + 28 = 107
+ 5 Combo: Combo: 10.2 - Nutcracker (Russia)
+10 Non-Western
+15 Oldies: 1836, 1835 & 1836
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 710
10.1 Square PegEighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World by Matthew Goodman
Review:
My bookclub selected this book, which I hadn't otherwise heard about. I enjoyed the story of the race, particularly in the details the author added to put these women in the context of their time. Still, during the actual description of the travels, I wondered whether I should just read the primary source instead of the selected quotations. This author also felt the need to editorialize nearly every time a newspaper article was quoted. When discussing reaction to Bly's post-travel lecture tour, Goodman frequently notes that a paper was "unkind" or "disapproving." While I never found the characterizations incorrect, the frequent commentary distracted from allowing the material to speak for itself. Overall, an interesting story, but only middling writing by Goodman. I won't be rushing to find more by this author.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 245
20.2 PersephoneA New System of Domestic Cookery by Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell
Review:
I found this book quite enjoyable to read. I read a bit each day during my lunch as well as at other odd times waiting on hold and such. This isn't a novel - it's an instruction book filled with information that a middle to upper class household would need for food preparation and preservation, as well as a few tips for how to clean certain items, in the 1800s. It serves as a strong reminder of how all parts of animals were used for all meals -- many of the desserts used suet or other specific animal fats, gelatin was made for use in fruit jellies by boiling calves' feet and other similar sources. The quantities were often huge in the recipes and all the descriptions related to different levels of cooking fire. I'd be hard pressed to actually follow any of the recipes, but I enjoyed reading about them.
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.7 - originally pub. 1806)
+10 Review
+15 Oldies
Task total: 50
Grand total: 295
10.10 - Group ReadsThe Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
‘Half Dorothy Parker, half Desperate Housewives’ says the quote from the Independent on the front of my copy, and it’s a good pithy description of this retelling of the myths surrounding Odysseus by his wife, Penelope, who famously held off numerous suitors while he was away by weaving in the daytime and undoing all her work at night. Now, in our time, still wandering in the fields of Asphodel in the Greek afterlife, Penelope feels it’s time to tell things from her point of view. Punctuating her narrative is a chorus of her 12 slave maids who were hanged when Odysseus finally returned.
I enjoyed this but somehow it wasn’t that different from the version in the Odyssey as I vaguely recall it. You’d think, from the way she starts off, that her version is going to turn things around completely, but not so much. Still, it was fun and funny, and lighter than most Greek myths you might pick up.
+10 task
+10 review
+ 5 combo (10.5)
Task total: 25
Grand Total: 495 points
From Post 356Tanya wrote: "20.8 - Exiles and Emmigrants
Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah
+20 Task (born in Sierra Leone, now resides in the US)
Grand Total = 140 points"
+10 Non Western (still considered of Sierra Leone nationality)
From Post 357Coralie wrote: "10.7 Black Humor :
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
+10 task (#46 on list)
+5 Combo (20.9-1922-2007)
+5 Oldies (published 1973)
Task total: 20
Grand Total: 635"
+5 Combo 20.4-on the 1001 list, published 1973
From Post 390Coralie wrote: "20.1 RwS Anniversary :
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Lexile 1000
+20 task (published 1937)
+5 Combo (20.9 1892-1973)
+10 Oldies
Task total: 35
Grand Total: 685"
+5 Combo (20.4-on 1001 list, pub 1937)
From Post 396Joanna wrote: "20.2 Persephone
A New System of Domestic Cookery by Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell
Review:
I found this book quite enjoyable to read. I read a bit each day during my ..."
+5 Combo (20.9-1745-1828)
10.1 Square Peg1919 by John Dos Passos
1919 is the second novel in John Dos Passos USA trilogy. I gave it a three star rating because I'm conflicted about the work. I appreciate the techniques Dos Passos uses to infuse biography, stream-of-consciousness and the "Newsreel" collage of whirlwind events into the stories of several characters. And I liked how we meet the same characters at times through a different perspective. However, the Newsreels and stream-of-consciousness moments were much too cryptic. I like how the reader learns something about the history of labor in America...a subject often neglected in our schools. However, the socialist/communist slant is laid on too thickly. Note that Dos Passos was an admirer of communism but later changed course to become a total right-winger.
Another quibble.... for a work that is part of a trilogy called "USA", about 75% of the book takes place in Europe... ok, its during WWI...but still, I didn't see the compelling reason to have so much of the focus there. Overall, although I will read the third part of the trilogy, "The Big Money", I'm not really looking forward to it.
+10 task
+10 review
+10 oldie (1932)
Total= 30
Grand Total 175
Ed wrote: "10.1 Square Peg1919 by John Dos Passos
1919 is the second novel in John Dos Passos USA trilogy. I gave it a three star rating because I'm conflicted about the work. I a..."
Hi Ed - the USA trilogy is on the 1001 list, so this qualifies for 20.4. It also qualifies for 20.1, having been published in those years. Feel free to edit your comment for either of those tasks and take your combo points.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Ed wrote: "10.1 Square Peg1919 by John Dos Passos
1919 is the second novel in John Dos Passos USA trilogy. I gave it a three star rating because I'm conflicted about th..."
I didn't consider it as a 1001 book since it is the trilogy on the list not this volume...but ok. And I totally missed the 20.1 category. So...
20.1 Books Published 1906-1951
1919 by John Dos Passos
1919 is the second novel in John Dos Passos USA trilogy. I gave it a three star rating because I'm conflicted about the work. I appreciate the techniques Dos Passos uses to infuse biography, stream-of-consciousness and the "Newsreel" collage of whirlwind events into the stories of several characters. And I liked how we meet the same characters at times through a different perspective. However, the Newsreels and stream-of-consciousness moments were much too cryptic. I like how the reader learns something about the history of labor in America...a subject often neglected in our schools. However, the socialist/communist slant is laid on too thickly. Note that Dos Passos was an admirer of communism but later changed course to become a total right-winger.
Another quibble.... for a work that is part of a trilogy called "USA", about 75% of the book takes place in Europe... ok, its during WWI...but still, I didn't see the compelling reason to have so much of the focus there. Overall, although I will read the third part of the trilogy, "The Big Money", I'm not really looking forward to it.
+20 task
+10 review
+5 combo (20.4 1001 list
+10 oldie (1932)
total= 45
Grand Total=190
(I'm gonna get that Square Peg yet!) Thanks Elizabeth
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
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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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Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
+10 task (#46 on list)
+5 Combo (20.9-1922-2007)
+5 Oldies (published 1973)
Task total: 20
Grand Total: 635