Reading with Style discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
Archives
>
WI 20-21 Completed Tasks
15.7 Name of the GameThe Fairies of Sadieville by Alex Bledsoe
Square 16D - letter L– An author's last or most recent novel (book)
Square 6D - letter I– Author name has no letter I
Square 14E - letter E– Novel has Eight or more named characters
Word = LIE
Task: 20
Season Total: 1505
...; 10.2; 10.3; 10.4; 10.5; 10.6; 10.7; ....; .....; .....
15.1; 15.2; 15.3; 15.4; 15.5; 15.6; 15.7; ....; ....; .... (3x)
20.1; 20.2; .....; 20.4; .....; 20.6; 20.7; 20.8; 20.9; 20.10
20.5 AfricaAmericanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
#17 in the list
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.5 - heroin is a blog & magazine writer; 10.6 - 2013)
+10 Lost in Translation (written in english, native language french)
+15 Prize-worthy
Task total = 55
Points total = 495
15.3 The Name of the Game - Round 2https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... by M.C. Beaton
Square 13E - letter T = character name in title
Square 5E - letter I = author name w. initials
Square 16E - letter E = 8+ named characters
Word = TIE
15 task
5 pub. 1995
____
20
Running total: 1090
**for some reason the 'add book/author' link is not picking up on this book. It is only showing me the omnibus edition, even if I chose 'other editions' (also tried agatha raisin and * and still not coming up). I can change this later if you like.
Valerie wrote: "15.3 The Name of the Game - Round 2https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... by M.C. Beaton
Square 13E - letter T = character name in ..."
I've been having a heck of time finding a book that popped up readily yesterday when searching it's title...today, I had to go onto the author page and scroll through her works to find it. Weird! I thought I was just doing something wrong--sounds like it could be a site-wide glitch?
Make that two books--just tried to find one that I wanted to post and it's not coming up at all :-/
Guess I'll wait...
20.10 Grand Master (Elizabeth (Alaska)'s Task)The Cheshire Cat's Eye by Marcia Muller
This is the third mystery in the Sharon McCone series and despite flaws, I find the novels enjoyable and easy. Written in 1983, the books seem as if written a generation earlier in regards to their treatment of gays and women. The mysteries themselves are well constructed. Set in San Francisco, I am familiar with most of the locations which helps with the atmospheric context. I also like that the mysteries often have an artistic bent. Here, a special Tiffany lamp...the "Cheshire Cat's Eye", is a key clue. The reader also learns a bit about San Francisco's famous Victorian homes. Three stars.
Task=20
Review=10
combo= 5 (10.4)
Task Total=35
Grand Total= 735
10.1; ....; 10.3; 10.4; 10.5; 10.6; .....; 10.8; 10.9;10.10
15.1; 15.2, 15.3, 15.4, 15.5; 15.6; 15.7
20.1; 20.2; 20.3; .....; 20.5; 20.6; 20.7; 20.8; 20.9; 20.10
Post 703 Marie wrote: "20.5 AfricaAmericanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
#17 in the list
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.5 - heroin is a blog & magazine writer; 10.6 - 2013)
+10 Lost in Trans..."
I'm sorry, this book qualifies for just 2 awards. There was an award on the page that was for authors not the book. I have removed it.
15.10 Name of the GameBuried Alive by Arnold Bennett
Square 3E - letter A - pub'd 1866-1913
Square 8D - letter W - wild card
Square 12B - letter S - page count 75-199
Word = WAS
+45 Task
+ 5 Pre-1996 (1908)
+100 NotG completion bonus
+100 Bonus for three or more 4-letter words
Post Total: 250
Season Total: 1175
15.1 Name of the Game - Round 2The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Square 1B - letter R - Ratings 10K plus
Square 4B - letter D - debut novel (his other books were non-fiction)
Square 14D - letter Y - MPG Mystery
Word = DRY
+15 Task
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1190
15.10 Name of the GameDeath Comes to Cambers by E.R. Punshon
Square 4D - Letter D - Title word Death
Square 5E - Letter I - author published with initials
Square 16B - Letter E - author born in Europe (UK)
Square 13E - Letter T - title has name of a character
Word = DIET
(Note: Cambers in the title could apply to Lady Cambers who was murdered or her husband. It could also apply to the name of the village in which case it doesn't work for 13E. I did not use the Wild Card, so if the title is interpreted to mean Cambers the village, you could note it as 8D, but still using the Letter T.)
+45 Task
+ 5 Before 1996 (pub'd 1935)
Task total = 50
+100 Completion Bonus
+100 more than 3 4-letter words
Points this post: 250
Season total = 875
15.6 Name of the Game Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King
Square D14 - Letter Y - MPG Mystery
Square E2 - Letter E - END Contained in title word
Square E13 - Letter T - Title includes Name of character
Word: YET
+20 Task
Grand Total: 340 pts
15.3 Name of the GameThe Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich
Square 12C - letter S– #6 in series
Square 11B - letter H– MPG Historical fiction
Square 2D - letter E– 8 or better word title
Word = SHE
+15 Task
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1075
15.4 Name of the GameOlive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
Square 15B - letter L– Literature map of Edith Wharton
Square 2B - letter E– author’s published name has 2 E’s
Square 13E - letter T– title includes the name of a character
Word = LET
+15 Task
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1090
10.1 Square Peg The African Equation by Yasmina Khadra
+10 Task
+10 Lost in Translation
Task total = 20
Season Total: 1110
10.7 La Nina Enid by Cati Baur and Malika Ferdjoukh
This series follows the lives of 5 orphan sisters, this episode focuses on the young one, Enid, who has lost her pet bat during the tempest and aims at finding it back (stated in the french resume here)
+10 Task
(No style points, graphic novel)
Task total = 10
Points total = 500
20.10 Grand MasterKnown to Evil by Walter Mosley
Walter Mosley can really write. This character, in all his flawed glory, pops off the page. This is the second installment in the Leonid McGill series, which follows a mid-50ish private detective in New York City. He has a rolodex to beat all rolodexes (though, this is modern, so it's not a real rolodex). He has disguises and plans, a checkered past, and hot running emotions. There's a noir feel to this, but it's modern and brimming with details.
The plot of this book left something to be desired. There were many characters floating in and out with little backstory and the overall mystery/puzzle never fully engaged me. It just shows how strong the characters and writing are that I'm willing to forgive plot in a mystery/detective novel, which really should be plot driven.
The narrator for the audiobook did an excellent job. He isn't a narrator that I'm familiar with, but I'll watch for his name in other work.
I'll definitely read the next book in this series at some point.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 30
Grand total: 855
15.7 Name of the GameDaddy by Emma Cline
Square 11D - Letter H. - Hot off the Press - published 2020
Square 2B - Letter E - Author name has 2 or more E's
Square 8D - Letter A - Wild Card!
Square 15D - Letter L - Author's most recent book
Word - HEAL
+20 Task
+5 Not a Novel
Task Total: 25pts
Grand Total: 365 pts
10.3 WinterThe Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
This is a play featuring very dark humor. A very rich woman returns to her home town in some unnamed middle-European country. She seeks justice against her former lover. She is so rich that she can command just about anything. In fact, during the short period of the play, she marries and divorces three men. The decrepit town welcomes her visit in hopes that she will endow them with riches...and they hang their hopes on her special link to her former lover until they learn that she seeks revenge against him.
She DOES agree to give the town and each inhabitant abundant riches...but with one condition...which I won't give away here.
I'm not always good at discerning an author's message....but here, in what seems an obvious fable...the author, in an afterward, warns the reader to NOT seek any meaning since none was intended. (I don't think he should be believed...but what do I know.)
Worth a read and would love to see this play enacted. Four stars.
Task=10
Review=10
LiT=10
Prize=5
Task Total=35
Grand Total= 770
10.1; ....; 10.3 (2x); 10.4; 10.5; 10.6; .....; 10.8; 10.9;10.10
15.1; 15.2, 15.3, 15.4, 15.5; 15.6; 15.7
20.1; 20.2; 20.3; .....; 20.5; 20.6; 20.7; 20.8; 20.9; 20.10
15.8 Name of the GameNotorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich
(GR seems to be not working to add books, I'll fix this when the site works.)
Square 9D - letter E– Wild Card!
Square 11C - letter T–MPG: Thriller
Square 12E - letter H– Highly Rated: Read a book rated 5 stars by another RwS member (Cassie rated 5)
Square 15D - letter Y– MPG: Mystery
Square 16B - letter L– Literature Map: See links to the right (Agatha Christie)
Word = ETHYL
Task: 30
Season Total: 1535
...; 10.2; 10.3; 10.4; 10.5; 10.6; 10.7; ....; .....; .....
15.1; 15.2; 15.3; 15.4; 15.5; 15.6; 15.7; 15.8; ....; .... (3x)
20.1; 20.2; .....; 20.4; .....; 20.6; 20.7; 20.8; 20.9; 20.10
Task 15.05 Name of the GameA Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America (2005) by Stacy Schiff (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 489 pages) [327.73]
Square 8C – Letter E – Wild Card! Use: E
Square 6A – Letter N – Not a Novel
Square 4D – Letter D – Author name has consecutive letters that are the same
Word = END
+20 Task
+05 Not fiction (Not a Novel)
Task Total: 20 + 05 = 25
Grand Total: 290 + 25 = 315
20.7 LifetimeJapanese Girls and Women by Alice Mabel Bacon
20 pts 20.7
10 pts Review
Written in 1891 by an American woman, This is a description of the lives of Japanese women about 30 years after the Meiji Restoration. The author has long standing relationships with Japanese women who came to the US as part of a Japanese effort to educate girls in the American way and culture. Her friends were raised in her New England home and returned to Japan in early adulthood
Perhaps because of the long standing relationships between the women, this book seems to be an accurate and balanced description of Japanese culture 120 years ago. There is little of the cultural condescension that is typical of period travel narratives. Read Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back by Janice P. Nimurafor the story of the Japanese girls who cameto the US
Task total: 30 pts
Season total: 510 pts
10.1 ... 10.3 10.4 ... ... 10.7 10.8 ... ...
20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 ... ... 20.7 ... ... 20.10
15.1. 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 - Four Letter Word (NoG)
10.9 The Fifth Season (Ann's Task)Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
5.0/5.0 - I'm always pleased when a book that I pick for a challenge, one that I would not normally have grabbed off a shelf, turns out to be so good. This author was not on my radar, the genre - dystopian science fiction, would never be a first choice for me, yet I was drawn in from the very beginning. The book takes place is the near future, 2025, when society has broken down due to extreme poverty, climate change, drugs, and the lack of education and well paying jobs. Communities survive behind walls, but are always subject to attack. Lauren is 15 when the story opens. She lives with her father, a Baptist minister and college professor, her stepmother, who also holds a PhD, but stays at home to care for her family and teach the local community, and four brothers. She can see where things are headed and decides to prepare herself for a future where she must survive and thrive on her own. For years, she has been thinking about what she wants her future to look like, and has written her thoughts in a book she calls Earthseed: The Books of the Living. She learns all she can, she packs a bug-out bag, and when the time comes, she escapes the night of madness. Slowly, she starts building the community of earthseed, along the road, with other survivors. Community and change, traveling to the stars - these are the principles in which she believes. How successful will her new community be? I guess you'll have to read Parable of the Talents to find out.
Review: 10
Task: 10
Combo - 20 (10.5 & 10.7 & 20.1 & 20.3)
Task total: 40
Season Total: 1575
...; 10.2; 10.3; 10.4; 10.5; 10.6; 10.7; ....; 10.9; .....
15.1; 15.2; 15.3; 15.4; 15.5; 15.6; 15.7; 15.8; ....; .... (3x)
20.1; 20.2; .....; 20.4; .....; 20.6; 20.7; 20.8; 20.9; 20.10
15.1 - Name of the GameThe Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
Square 3C - letter A - author born August 02, 1950 (on GRs profile)
Square 6C - letter N - MPG Nordic Noir
Square 10D - letter T - Translated (originally published in Danish)
Word = ANT
+15 Task
Task total = 15
Season Total: 85
10.8 - Lunar (Tien's Task)The Bat by Jo Nesbø (first published 1997)
+10 task
+10 Lost in Translation (originally published in Norwegian)
+10 combo (10.3; 10.4)
+10 prize-worth (Glass Key Award (1998), Rivertonprisen (1997))
Task total = 40
Season Total: 125
10.4 Valentine's DayRomantic Hero by Candida Crewe
Wealthy and beautiful India Ashford, a successful magazine feature writer at the unlikely age of 22, is supposed to be the heroine of this 1980s romance. Unfortunately for the reader, she is a horrible character, rude to everyone and treacherous to her friends. She spends 90% of the novel chasing a man as nasty as herself, and I doubt she will be happy ever after. If ever a heroine didn’t deserve a happy ending, it’s this one. However, I gave the book two stars because there was something about the writing style that made me go on reading. I’m sure the author could write better novels.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Season Total: 1210
10.10 Group ReadHamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Hamnet Shakespeare, who died in 1596 aged 11, was the only son of the playwright. He was born and lived all his short life in Stratford upon Avon with his mother, two sisters, grandparents, and a mostly absent father. That’s about all we know for sure. In this novel, Maggie O’Farrell fleshes out Shakespeare's marriage and the lives of his wife Anne or Agnes and their children.
On an emotional level, I thought this was a wonderful book. Agnes and her husband and children are magnetic characters, and the descriptions brought a Tudor household to life for me. Agnes is given magical ‘wise woman’ powers which were less convincing for me, and I found the links with Hamlet the play quite a stretch. But a worthy 4 stars.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.4, 10.5 William Shakespeare is a main character)
+10 Prizeworthy
Task total: 40
Season Total: 1250
10.10 Group ReadsThe Dutch House by Ann Patchett
I’ve been on a diet of mysteries and dystopia, so a novel that I would call literary fiction is quite a change. Luckily, it is an enjoyable and well-written change.
Patchett has written a story about a family, ultimately a small family of a brother and a sister (the actions of the mother and father impact them greatly, but their stories are less finely drawn), and ‘The Dutch House’. The house itself is a character because of the meaning it has for various characters and the memories it holds. The way she has written this is so vivid, that I probably could draw you a plan of the house and tell you about the psychology of the main characters. The novel takes place over the course of decades and examines actions and their consequences. It is very readable, and now that I am finished I am sad to leave that world. 4*
10 task
10 review
5 combo 10.6
_____
25
Running total: 1115
15.4 Name GameI, Alex Crossby James Patterson
8C-wild card-letter A
4D-letter D Author has consecutive letters in their name-TT
15D-genre mystery-Y
Word: Day
Task +15
Grand Total: 135
15.10 Name of the GameRound 3
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
Square 11B - letter H - MPG: Historical Fiction
Square 16B - letter E - author born in Europe (London)
Square 8B - letter W - author's last name begins with W for Williams
Word: HEW
+45 Task
+100 Finisher
+100 4x 4-letter words (TINY, LASH, STAG, TRAY)
Post Total: 245
Season Total: 1,925
Task 20.5 AfricaIn honor of Chinua Achebe, read one of the top 225 books from the list Africa (fiction and nonfiction).
On February 07, 2021: #58
Homegoing (2016) by Yaa Gyasi (Hardcover, 305 pages)
+20 Task
+10 Combo (#10.6 Notable – 2016, #20.1 Black History Month: On February 07, 2021: #111)
Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30
Grand Total: 315 + 30 = 345
10.7 La NinaWenjack by Joseph Boyden
4 stars
(Contains spoilers, though really it’s a true story so the ending isn’t a surprise for people who have heard of Chanie Wenjack before)
This novella is beautifully written and hard to read. It tells the story of Chanie Wenjack, a boy who has been stolen from his family and forced to attend a Residential School hundreds of miles away from his home community. While there he is forbidden to speak his language and is often beaten and sexually abused. He runs away from the school and tries to make it home. This novella tells his story through the eyes of Manitou (spirits) that are following him as he travels. Chanie doesn’t realize how far away from home he truly is and with no proper clothes or shelter he freezes to death in a winter storm.
Chanie’s story is a true story. It was first published in McLean’s magazine in 1967 and though it helped spark an inquiry into the harm being done by Residential Schools, it wasn’t until 1996 that the last school closed in Canada. Chanie’s story became very well known a few years ago thanks to Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip who created the Secret Path, an album and graphic novel to tell his story.
I am really glad that I read this book. I am very familiar with the Secret Path so it was really interesting to see the story through a different lens. I know that there have been some questions about the legitimacy of Joseph Boyden’s claim to Indigenous identity but despite that I do think that this book is important and more Canadians in particular should read it. I also wish that the book had more context in the form of a longer afterword or appendix that outlined concrete ways that non-Indigenous Canadians can help move the country forward on the path to reconciliation.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.3 Winter)
Post Total: +25
+5 as per the readerboard (I can’t find what I missed but I assume it was a combo or something)
Season Total: 520
20.5 Africa (#81 on the list)We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
+20 Task
+10 Awards (Betty Trask Award. Hemingway Foundation Award)
Post Total: +30
Season Total: 550
20.10 Grand MasterThe Camelot Caper by Elizabeth Peters
Three Stars
I am very new to the mysteries genre. So far I have really only read two Agatha Christie novels so I wasn’t really sure what to choose for this task. Ultimately I chose this book based on the fact that it sounded like the mystery revolved around Camelot and a King Arthur element which is something that really fascinates me. Unfortunately the King Arthur element wasn’t very strong in this particular story.
I didn’t dislike this book, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. It definitely felt dated. It was published in the 1960s and the way that the female lead and the male lead relate to each other is definitely a throw back to prevailing gender stereotypes of the time. The main character Jessica is so clueless about everything and the male “protector” David that she randomly picks up is very bossy and condescending to her. The plot really meanders as some unknown entity seems to be after Jessica, presumably because of a ring that her father left to her that rightfully belongs to her grandfather who she is trying to go visit. The first half of the book is just weird encounters with the antagonists who are very bumbling and incompetent. I didn’t really pick up on the “clues” that supposedly helped the characters to figure out the mystery so the ending just seemed very convenient to me. I don’t think I will be picking up anything else by this author though I hope to continue exploring different mystery authors.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.4)
Post Total: +35
Season Total: 585
10.2 ChristmasNever Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
+10 Task (no 291 on list)
+5 Combo (20.3)
+10 Prizeworthy (ALA Alex 2006, Corine Internationaler 2006)
Points this post: 25
RwS total: 300
NoTG total: -
Season Total: 300
10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 .... 10.10
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
20.1 20.2 .... .... .... .... 20.7 .... 20.9 20.10
10.2 ChristmasCat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams
10 pts 10.2 Christmas
5 pt Cherubs
10 pts Review
10 pts Prizeworthy
I have never seen either the play or the movie of this classic play. After having read it, I will be watching it as soon as I can!
Like many Tennessee Williams plays this is the story of a disfunctional family where the faultlines in the relationships become more and more clear over time. No character is appealing for their own personality but the reader comes to sympathize with both Maggie and Brick and even Big Daddy despite them having created their own drama within the family. Without spoilers, the other characters are unlikeable be very well drawn
The action takes place over only a few hours but represents a culmination of lives that are fatally intertwined.
Task total: 35 pts
Season total: 545 pts
10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 ... ... 10.7 10.8 ... ...
20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 ... ... 20.7 ... ... 20.10
15.1. 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 - Four Letter Word (NoG)
10.10 Group ReadsThe Dutch House by Ann Patchett
3.5/5.0 - It dragged in the middle, but had a strong finish. I found Cyril, the father, and Danny, the son to be kind of clueless men, who don't listen well to others, especially their wives. Both of them buy a house and present it to their wives, without getting their input at all. Who does that? So many secrets are kept and then revealed in the end.
I heard an interview with the author today and here are a few interesting things she said. Originally she had planned to title the book "Maeve" but decided that because it really set the tone for the rest of the book, she changed it to be The Dutch House, as that was the main character. The other thing that hit home with me was her description of literary fiction versus commercial fiction. The first leaves you wondering about the characters and the latter wraps everything up and ties it with a bow.
Task: 10
Combo 10.7: 5
Review: 10
Task total: 25
Season Total: 1600
...; 10.2; 10.3; 10.4; 10.5; 10.6; 10.7; ....; 10.9; 10.10
15.1; 15.2; 15.3; 15.4; 15.5; 15.6; 15.7; 15.8; ....; .... (3x)
20.1; 20.2; .....; 20.4; .....; 20.6; 20.7; 20.8; 20.9; 20.10
10.8 LunarNick by Michael Farris Smith
Michael Farris Smith has written a prequel to "The Great Gatsby" showing the earlier life of Nick Carraway, the character who narrates F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic book. Nick was the quiet observer, the cousin of Daisy Buchanan, and the confidant of Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan. When Nick moved to wealthy West Egg, New York, in 1922, he had recently fought in the Great War and he was bored with working in his Midwestern family's hardware business. Prohibition had started two years earlier. Nick was trying to make a new beginning, but what prompted his fresh start? The prequel imagines the reasons behind Nick's move to New York to start anew.
Nick grew up in a small Minnesota town where he helped his father in his hardware store, and often read to his mother who suffered from long, dark periods of depression. After attending Yale, he volunteered to fight in the Great War and was sent to France. His horrific experiences in the trenches and the tunnels, and the loss of an important relationship devastated him. Suffering from PTSD, he didn't feel ready to face his hometown and headed to New Orleans instead. Always willing to help the downtrodden, he cared for a seriously disabled war veteran. He became involved with the lives of a group of people in the violent city as he searched for redemption.
Michael Farris Smith writes about traumatized people very well. The reader feels like they are in Nick's head as he listens for enemy footsteps as he sits in a tunnel in France, or as he is haunted by memories going around and around his mind. Smith's Nick seems more troubled at the end of "Nick" than Fitzgerald's character in "The Great Gatsby." But that is partly due to his different role in the classic book--acting as the observer of the interactions among the other characters. "Nick" does not try to rewrite "The Great Gatsby," but gives the reader a greater understanding of Nick Carraway, the returning soldiers, the general mood of the country at that time, and the difficulty of moving on in life after trauma.
+10 task (published 2021)
+10 review
Task total: 20
Season total: 475
20.10 Grand Master The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie
+20 Task
+10 Lost in Translation (written in English, first language is French)
Task total = 30
Points total = 530
10.8 LunarLe temps des Marguerite by Vincent Cuvellier
Published 2009
No style, graphic novel
Task total = 10
Points total = 540
15.10 – Name of the GameInto the Forest by Jean Hegland
C4 - MPG : Dystopia - D
C5 - Title word: in, inn, into - I
C11 - Author's first or last name begins with H - H
E12 - MPG : science fiction - S
DISH
+45 Task
+5 Published 1996 and earlier (published 1996)
+100 Completion Bonus
Task total = 150
Points total = 690
10.1 Square PegLa légèreté by Catherine Meurisse
+10 Task
No style, graphic novel
Task total = 10
Points total = 700
10.3 WinterThe Cheltenham Square Murder by John Bude
This is the second Bude I’ve read. It is the third in the ‘Superintendent William Meredith’ series (of which there are many). It was amusing, but not the strongest Golden Age mystery you will read. It is a bit over long, and some of the plot is implausible. However, to make up for that the characters are interesting, particularly the local Inspector; and the setting which plays a large role is interesting and well described. I also enjoyed the language Bude used, it seemed more colloquial (or even slangy) than I remember from the previous one I read. I found this quite amusing since one word in particular was used in late 1990s popular culture (I’m not going to tell you, so you can enjoy the same surprised amusement!). 3.5*
10 task
10 review
10 combo 10.4, 10.5 (Super. Meredith is staying with + aided by his friend who is a mystery author)
_______
30
Running total: 1145
15.10Celtic Empire by Clive Cussler
10C - T - mpg thriller
14D - Y - mpg mystery
16E - E - novel with more then 8 named characters
Word - YET
Task total: 45
Finish: 100
Used three 4 letter words: 100
Grand total: 1185
15.1 Round 2What Great Parents Do: 75 Proven Strategies for Raising Fantastic Kids by Erica Reischer
8C - W - title has word "what"
2D - E - words in title more than 8
6D - N - title has a number
Word - NEW
+15 task
+5 not a novel
Task total: 20
Grand total: 1205
10.1 Square PegThe Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis
I had already watched the Netflix series, which very closely tracks the book. Since I let my children watch the series, I also let them listen to the audiobook with me. Note to parents: this is not children's literature--there is drug use, sex, and some bad decision-making. But my son loves chess and he really wanted to watch the series.
I loved the book. Even if you don't understand the details of the chess (which I mostly don't), the tension of the tournaments prickles with electricity. The story of genius, addiction, competition plus the brilliant setting of changing society in the 1950s and 1960s is just fantastic.
The narrator for the audiobook managed a perfect tone for the book.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 875
10.4 Valentine's DayCutter and Bone by Newton Thornburg
Strikingly handsome Richard Bone is a former marketing manager from the Midwest who has abandoned his job and family and is now a disillusioned gigolo in Santa Barbara. When the book opens he's staying with caustic disabled Vietnam veteran Alexander Cutter IV, Cutter's girlfriend Mo, and their baby. On Bone's way to their house one night, he witnesses the dumping of a woman's body. Events soon snowball way beyond his control.
I was expecting this to be another hardboiled Californian crime story, but it's so much more. Heartbreaking at many levels, it twists love and friendship, loyalty and betrayal, in the mixed-up world of the 1960s/70s, picking out stark contrasts between different strata of society and different areas of the USA.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Season Total: 1270
10.4 ValentinesThe Executioner Weeps by Frédéric Dard
... it was the sight of the smashed violin case on the road with the strings poking out of it that got to me most. It summed up the accident more completely than the young woman lying by the ditch, with her fingers dug into the dry soil and her skirt rucked up over her superb thighs.And so it begins. You will be relieved to learn that the woman with the superb thighs was very much alive. But she has amnesia and doesn't even know her name. This man who has both run her over and has rescued her falls in love. Does he want to learn her past or accept her present and create her future?
There is a short biography of Dard included at the back of the edition I read. It is said that Dard was greatly influenced by the renowned Georges Simenon. Dard was very prolific and had his own series of "a James Bondesque French secret agent", while Simenon's series was of the French policeman Maigret. But both had their harder novels - Simenon his roman durs and Dard his "novels of the night". I have not read any of Dard's series, but I suspect, again like Simenon, the non-series novels may be better.
In other places this is the only book mentioned as having won an award, so I assume it is the only one. Is it his best work? I simply don't know but am happy to look for others. This is a strong 4-stars.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (10.3)
+ 5 Prize Worthy
+10 LiT (French)
Task total = 40
Season total = 915
Season total =
10.9 The Fifth SeasonThe Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
I'm enjoying this trilogy, though not quite as much as the author's Broken Earth trilogy. If you've already read The Fifth Season and the other books in that trilogy, continue on. If you haven't read those yet, go read those, then come back to this Inheritance trilogy.
Jemisin is a masterful world-builder. Her universes are interesting and fantastical and full of lore reinvented and turned upside down. In this trilogy, we find gods and godlings and demons (children of a god and a mortal) interacting with a complicated political system. The heroine here is a blind artist who, despite blindness, is able to see certain magic. I loved the heroine, even during moments where I wanted her to take action already instead of waiting for someone to save her.
For all her strength in world-building, and in writing cool heroines, Jemisin falls flat on her romantic encounters. The heroine here is supposed to have had a relationship with one godling, then develops a relationship with another god. These are supposed to be powerful feelings. There's a sex scene describing just how amazing this all is. But I never felt the emotional connection at all.
I'll definitely read the third book in this trilogy. Soon, so I don't forget the details of all these characters.
Note on narration: the narrator for the audiobook did a fine job, though this is not the easiest book to adapt to audio format because there are so many characters and so much strange world-building. I'd recommend reading the print version of this instead.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Prize worthy
Task total: 25
Grand total: 900
10.4 ValentinesBecoming a Democracy: How We Can Fix the Electoral College, Gerrymandering, and Our Elections by Kristin Eberhard
Since I have been an active volunteer with the League of Women Voters for several decades, much of this was not new to me. But Eberhard lines up the arguments for reforms in our (the US) political system in a coherent and succinct format. She gives the reader direction to ways to effect the changes that we would like to see. Some of them like breaking up populous states and combining low population states are probably beyond reach. But some like automatic voter registration and ranked choice voting are already happening in some places.
What was new to me and intriguing is the idea of citizen assemblies. A citizen assembly was at the core of the Irish repeal of their constitutional ban on abortion. A surprising outcome. It looks like a powerful way to get past political stalemates.
I recommend this book to people in the US who are looking for solutions to our political gridlock.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Season total: 530
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
Gods of Jade and Shadow (other topics)The Inn (other topics)
Rogue Protocol (other topics)
The Inn (other topics)
The Escape (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Silvia Moreno-Garcia (other topics)James Patterson (other topics)
Martha Wells (other topics)
James Patterson (other topics)
David Baldacci (other topics)
More...
Emma: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith
Square 2D - letter R– A Re-Telling
Square 4C - letter A– Author born in August
Square 14E - letter T– Title includes the name of a character.
Word = RAT
Task: 20
Season Total: 1485
...; 10.2; 10.3; 10.4; 10.5; 10.6; 10.7; ....; .....; .....
15.1; 15.2; 15.3; 15.4; 15.5; 15.6; ....; ....; ....; .... (3x)
20.1; 20.2; .....; 20.4; .....; 20.6; 20.7; 20.8; 20.9; 20.10