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WI 20-21 Completed Tasks
10.5 - AuthorLove Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin by Pamela S. Meyers
3.5/5.0 - In 1933, Meg Alden wants nothing more than to be a reporter and live the life that God intended for her. Meg is the older of two daughters in a deeply religious family, and at 25 still lives at home under her parents' jurisdiction. When she is unable to complete college due to low grades and financial worries during the depression, she takes a job with the local weekly newspaper writing want ads and the occasional society piece, all the while hoping to further her career as a reporter. When one male reporter leaves, Meg hopes that she will be given an opportunity to prove her ability, but that is dashed when handsome Jack Warren, of the Chicago newspaper family is given the job instead. But as time passes, Jack and Meg find themselves drawn to each other. Initially, they struggle to communicate and be open with each other, Meg about the man who hurt her in the past, Jack about his feelings for her. But the more they work together, the stronger their partnership grows.
I enjoyed this book, even though Christian fiction isn't my normal genre. The historical details about the town were interesting and I'd like to learn more. The peak into the newspaper world of that time also interested me, as I had a job at a local newspaper 50 years ago.
Task - +10
Review - +10
Combo - +5 w/20.2
Total - 25
Season - 95
10.5 AuthorCrossing the Lines by Sulari Gentill
Review
Oh wow, that last 50 pages was totally intense!! It's like sitting in a driver's seat of car going downhill without a working brake and heading into a certain and tremendous crash. I was ever more thankful that I was being a responsible adult last night and made myself stop before this happened (more of a lucky chance that I decided to stop reading where I did). As it was, I found it hard to sleep as this book and characters were banging around in my head all night!
This is a very different novel to author's historical mystery series as it is set in the present time. I see that she's inserted a part of herself in the novel; Madeleine, the protagonist, being 'brown' with Sri Lankan descent, living in the country, and an author to boot! Of course, everything else is fictional...
Crossing the Lines is a very interesting style of novel where the lines between fictional and life were crossed with astounding consequences. To me, it reads somewhat like a subtle psychological thriller though more on the psychological than the thriller. The lines were so blurred that I really had a hard time distinguishing which fictional character is supposedly the real one except that we're told of it in the book description. It took some adjusting but after a while, you've really got to admire the seamless transference between voices.
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.4 - C for Crossing)
+10 Review
+5 Prize-worthy (Ned Kelly Award for Best Fiction 2018)
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 85
15.2 Name of the GameArtificial Condition by Martha Wells
RIGS
R - 1B 10K+ ratings
I - 5D no letter I in author name
G - 7C Goodreads author
S - 12E MPG Sci Fi
Task total = 15
Season total = 30
10.7 La Nina (Valerie's Task)Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon
+10 Task ("I sure got snow. It snowed through the whole story, only stopping just before the end.")
+15 Combo (10.3 J , 10.8 1937, 20.2 )
Points this post: 25
RwS total: 25
NoTG total: -
Season Total: 25
.... .... .... .... .... .... 10.7 .... .... ....
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
10.3 - WinterThe Christmas Table by Donna VanLiere
3.5/5.0 - If you like Hallmark movies, this book is for you. Short, inspirational, and faith-based, this book by Donna VanLiere grabbed me from the New Book shelf. And like many books that do that, it turned out to be the latest installment in a series that I hadn't read any of the previous ones. I now have the first two on hold.
The book is told through a dual timeline - 1972 and 2012, and follows two young families throughout a year in their life. What ties the families together is a handmade walnut table and a stack of recipes written by a loving mother for her newlywed daughter. The story of the original owners and how the second family works to find them - to return the family heirloom recipes makes for an enjoyable holiday read. A cup of tea, a warm fireplace, and a blanket or cat in your lap completes the setting.
Task - +10
Review - +10
Combo - +5 w/10.4
Total - 25
Season - 120
10.3 WinterCodex Born by Jim C. Hines
As much as I want to read this series, I found myself dragging through this second one for some reason I can't quite place. It felt more of a modge podge than Libriomancer somehow, with characters blipping in and out of relevance.
I did like the build of the plot arc overall, with separate issues combining into a single issue in a believable way. I liked the way the backstory of Lena was given a bit at a time in chapter intros instead of all at once. I liked how the new plot elements circled around the theme of expanding the view of the main character as to what was really possible, and not the simplistic assurance of a fixed reality he had at the beginning of the first book. This was a good continuation and is building towards more interesting things happening.
+10 task
+10 review
+5 combo (10.4)
Task total: 25
Grand total: 100
20.7 LifetimeOur Nig by Harriet E. Wilson
+20 pts - Task
+ 5 pts - Combo(10.5)
+10 pts - Review
Task Total - 35 pts
Review
Could anyone have had a more tragic life than Frado, the one dubbed “Nig”? Only the author herself, whose life closely follows all the befell her main character. The only difference is the change of all names. Although the setting is slavery-free New Hampshire in the early 19th century, Frada’s existence was not much different than had she been born in the deepest South as a slave. Her tragic story begins the generation before her. Her white mother, Mag Smith, committed the atrocity at a young age of falling for the promises of a sweet talking man who abandoned her when she became pregnant. Naturally she was ostracized by the village for what greater sin could there be for a woman (only) that she become pregnant out of wedlock? Apparently far more worthy of censure than beating and torturing an orphan near to death causing permanent disability.
As Mag despairs of having enough work to keep herself alive, she is befriended by a free African man who has a barrel making shop. When she is totally without fuel and food, he suggests marriage she agrees, taking the last step of social suicide. Her husband is a good man and works hard @nd they have children, one of which is Frado. But Alas, the good must die young and so he dies of consumption again leaving a widow and mother alone in cruel destitution. She marries his partner who seems to not manage getting work and they decide to abandon Frado at the home of a family Mag did washing for. Then they skip to parts unknown..
So Frado as a young child grows up as an indentured servant where except for three years schooling she is nothing more than a slave, yet the family is praised for taking in the orphan. At 18, her indenture ends but her health has been so broken that she has little relief an$ often cannot support herself. Another faithless man, another child unable to be supported and the cycle repeats. Frada’s life never improves and when she can no longer work, she turns to writing her story, hoping the sales would provide her with enough to eat. Although the genre page lists this as fiction, every event in Frada’s story happened in reality in the life of Harriet Wilson. At the end of the book, there are letters of commendation and testimonies of friends who state they know the story to be true.
So while the Northern society touted abolition, their alternative was just has soul crushing and cruel as slavery. Of course the author in order not to offend the self -righteous among her northern society claimed the sadistic mistress of the family had “SOUTHERN values”
Interesting look at the those other ante-bellum victims of racial injustice in the “free North”
15.3 Name of the GameLilian's Story (Singer family #1) by Kate Grenville
Square 11B - letter H - MPG: Historical Fiction
Square 16C - letter E - published 1984
Square 1E - letter R - R in series name (singeR family)
Word: HER
+15 Task
+5 Pub 1984
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 105
10.7 La Nina From Dead to Worseby Charlaine Harris
Bon Temps got hit by Hurricane Katrina in this installment of the Sookie Stackhouse series.
Task +10
Grand Total: 10
15.1 The Name of the GameThe Memory of Old Jack by Wendell Berry
Square 8B - Letter W - Author's name begins with W
Square 11B - Letter H - Historical fiction
Square 14C - Letter Y - Author's name ends in Y
Word: WHY
Task total: 15
Season total: 35
15.3 Name of the GameThe Other Elizabeth Taylor by Nicola Beauman
Square 6B - letter N - not a novel
Square 9B - letter I - set on an island (UK, approved)
Square 15C - letter L - page count over 400
Word = NIL
+15 Task
+ 5 Non-fiction
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 75
15.4 Name of the GameThe Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
Square 12E - letter S - MPG: Science Fiction
Square 15E - letter L - MPG: LGBT
Square 14C - letter Y - author's last name ends in Y (pulleY)
Word: SLY
+15 Task
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 120
20.9 NiecesEight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson
Shelved as books about books 85 times
The book seemed to start out straightforward, a simple providing of expert assistance in a criminal case. The first person narrator was likeable enough and he described what was going on clearly, flavored appropriately by his point of view.
Then the narrator became more unreliable, all sorts of things got more tangled, and I can't really talk about it because spoilers.
I was impressed with it though. The way the reveals were done, the complicating factors, and the satisfyingly appropriate ending.
It definitely deserves the books about books tag. Plots of other books are part of the plot of this book. Personal experiences of reading books are part of the narration and books pop up throughout.
+20 task
+10 review
+5 combo (10.4)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 135
20.4 ScienceAstrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson
This was an impulse purchase from a few years ago when I was adding the GR Choice Awards to titles. It just looked good. And then when it arrived I wondered what I must have been thinking. I let it sit. But books have a way of waiting to present themselves when the time is ripe. This is a perfect example of that phenomenon. Although I'm sure I missed a lot reading this, Tyson is very entertaining and it did not go completely over my head.
So. Astrophysics isn't astronomy and this isn't about looking at the stars. It is, however, about the wonder of the universe. Perfect. I'm OK with arithmetic and lower level math. I even took a calculus class although I don't remember much from it. I don't recall ever dipping my toe in the waters of physics. The laws of physics apply everywhere, Tyson says. If you've ordered hot cocoa with whipped cream and there is no whipped cream, don't let the waiter tell you the whipped cream sunk to the bottom. Whipped cream always floats on hot cocoa.
There were other things I picked up. Levitation is impossible without powerful and sustained flatulence. And that pulsars are very very dense. How dense? As dense as a billion elephants stuffed into the cap of a chapstick tube. Water absorbs microwaves - the microwave oven really just heats up the water in food.
Tyson encourages us to be curious - always. Tyson was curious in his high school chemistry class when he asked where the elements in the periodic table came from. His teacher answered "from the earth's crust." But Tyson was more curious than that because he already knew that the big bang released only 3 elements - hydrogen, helium and lithium. Where did the rest of the elements come from? He provides answers for many of them. There are other questions scientists are asking and more than once Tyson answers "we just don't know."
This book isn't as dense as pulsars, but as I say, I know things went over my head. In the first chapter most of what I got are 6-letter words I can use in a word game on another site. But neither is this as dense as a pulsar. It is a small book and so very readable. I might even be tempted to pick it up again and read a chapter here and there. Goodreads readers were right in voting this their winner for Science & Technology in 2017. 5-stars from me, too.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Prize Worthy
Task total = 35
Season total = 95
Post 54 Tien wrote: "10.5 AuthorCrossing the Lines by Sulari Gentill
Review
Oh wow, that last 50 pages was totally intense!! It's like sitting in a driver's seat of car going downhill..."
This is tough. The MPE for this book is After She Wrote Him, so doesn't qualify for the 10.4 combo.
15.2 The Name of the GameEmma: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith
square 1d = R - a retelling
square 9b = I - set on an island
square 7b = G - author name no 'g'
'rig'
15 task
_____
15
Running total: 90
Post 59 Rebekah wrote: "20.7 LifetimeOur Nig by Harriet E. Wilson
+20 pts - Task
+ 5 pts - Combo(10.2)
+10 pts - Review
Task Total - 35 pts
Review
Could anyone have had a more tragic lif..."
This isn't on the list for 10.2 and I'm not sure which task you meant for the combo.
10.10 Group ReadsThe Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
I hated this book.
It’s awful. To get through it I drank more than one cocktail and was eating Nutella right out of the jar. I hated every minute of this.
But it’s not misery porn. It’s a good book, just awful. It joins Jude the Obscure in my “Best Bad Books” list. Stark, bleak, written in a way that draws you in and then guts you.
I was hoping that some of the villains would get theirs... but some nice cathartic revenge is too much to ask of a good bad book.
Today is a cold rainy day, and I should have listened to my mother and set this aside until it was sunny again. But did I listen? Of course not. I wanted to get it over with.
If you can handle a book about black trauma, then yeah guess I would recommend. But reading only about injustice and suffering just contributes to “othering”. Be sure you have some books about black joy and adventure in your mix.
+10 task
+ 10 combo (10.6, 20.3)
+10 review
+15 Prizes
Task total = 45
Season total = 75
10.1 Square PegTokyo Ueno Station by Miri Yū
+10 Task
+10 Lost in Translation (Japanese)
+ 5 Prize Worthy (1 prize)
Task total = 25
Season Total: 25
10.7 La Nina (Valerie's Task)Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
+10 Task
Storms are a recurrent motif in Shakespeare’s plays but the nature of storm is different in various plays.
In "Julius Caesar”, the thunder and lightning have been used by Shakespeare as ominous signs. The storm therein portends treachery in the life of Caesar and then, during the course of the play, it becomes a medium of justice; a human thunder in the hands of frenzied crowd after Caesar is murdered.
Storms in Shakespeare's Plays
Task total = 10
Season Total: 45
20.1 Black History MonthBlack Folktales by Julius Lester
+20 Task (not YA at BPL)
+10 Combo: 10.3 Winter / 10.4 Valentine's
Task total = 30
Season Total: 75
15.1 Name of the GameMessenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear
Square 8B - letter W - author last name begins with W
Square 2B - letter E - author name two or more Es
Square 4E - letter D - double trouble-consecutive letters in title
Word = WED
+15 Task
Season total: 15
15.2 The Name of the GameBusiness as Usual by Jane Oliver
Square 6E - letter N - new to me author
Square 16E - letter E - more than 8 named characters (customers, co-workers, friends, family, relationships)
Square 10E - letter T - no "the" in title
Word = NET
+5 published 1996 or earlier
Task total: 20
Season total: 35
15.3 The Name of the GameThe Chosen by Chaim Potok Lexile 900
Square 4B - letter D - debut novel
Square 9C - letter I - instructor (father is a teacher)
Square 1B - letter R - 10K+ ratings
Square 13C - letter T - Title is The and one other word
Word = DIRT
+15 Task
+5 published 1996 or earlier
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 55
15.4 The Name of the GameRumpole at Christmas by John Mortimer
Square 15D - letter L - author's last book (according to Wikipedia bibliography and he died 2009, the year of publication)
Square 9B - letter I - island (England)
Square 6B - letter N - not a novel (short stories)
Square 13E - letter T - title has name of character
Word = LINT
+15 Task
+5 Not a novel (5 short stories)
Task total: 20
Season total: 75
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "This is tough. The MPE for this book is After She Wrote Him, so doesn't qualify for the 10.4 combo."Gosh, I don't mind the 5 points but what annoyed me is that that's the US ed and that's the MPE, of course :p
20.10 Grand Master (Elizabeth (Alaska)'s Task)Sparkling Cyanide (Colonel Race #4) by Agatha Christie
Review
It's always a pleasure to read Christie's whodunit. This wasn't quite a comfort read as it's not a Poirot nor Marple mystery. I feel that I'm on unfamiliar ground even if I've read all other books featuring Colonel Race and he didn't even make an appearance 'til halfway of the book. Yet, as with all her books, her characters are brilliant and each are suspect and/or given motives that it was hard to pick who is the murderer. Nearing the end, though, I found that I was trying to pick the murderer not by what's in the book exactly but whom Dame Agatha Christie would have deemed to be the murderer. And no... I didn't quite get it right (I think I let my heart get in the way lol).
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.4 - S for Sparkling)
+10 Review
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 150
10.4 Valentine’sBeneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
Ahhh. What a relaxing bubble-bath of a book. Exactly what I needed after the truly harrowing novel I read prior.
In this continuation of the Wayward Children stories, we meet new student Cora (and possibly also Nadya - I don’t remember her from the prior books but it’s been a minute). Cora is a fat girl who was accidentally booted from her mermaid world. The book has plenty of body positivity while gently acknowledging the crap that fat people deal with on the reg.
Cora gets drawn into an adventure that involves visiting some of the other students’ worlds, hence the Sugar Sky. I guess Cora is the POV character so that people new to the series can just pop in...because this is mostly about people we are familiar with from Book 1.
This book was not as satisfying as the prior installments, but it was a perfect little palate cleanser.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total = 20
Season total = 95
15.2 Name of the GameSuch a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Square 4B - letter D - Debut
Square 1B - letter R - 10k+ ratings
Square 14C - letter Y - Auth name ends in Y
Word - DRY
Task total: 15
Grand total: 90
15.1 Name of the GameKim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo
15 pts 15.1 Name of Game
Square 1B Letter R Ratings: 10K plus
Square 5D Letter I Author name has no letter I
Square 6D Letter N Title has a number (all forms)
Square 7B Letter G Author name has no letter G
Word Ring
1- Four Letter Word
Task total: 15 pts
Season total: 15 pts
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
15.1... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
15.2 Name of the GameU and I by Nicholson Baker
Square 16D - letter E - title has no E
Square 7B - letter G - author name has no G
Square 7C - letter G - Goodreads author
Word = EGG
+15 task
+ 5 not-a-novel
+ 5 pub'd 1991
Task total=25
Season total=50
15.4 Name of the GameThe Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
Square 2B - letter E - author name has 3+ Es
Square 6E - letter N - new to you author
Square 11E - letter H - highly rated (rated 5* by Lisa)
Square 13E - letter T - title includes name of a character
Word = THEN
+15 Task
+ 5 Pre-1996
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 95
15.5 Name of the GameThe Valley of Bones by Anthony Powell
Square 4E - letter D - double letters in title or author name
Square 5D - letter I - author name has no letter I
Square 7D - letter G - Guardian 1000 list
Square 12C - letter S - series #4-7
Word = DIGS
+20 Task
+ 5 Pre-1996
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 120
10.10 Group ReadThe Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
I left this book with ambiguity. I didn't exactly like it, but it also wasn't hard to get through. The characters would pull me in and I read through it much faster than expected. I thought that the reinvention that some of the characters put themselves through was particularly interesting.
There was a bit of surreality in its emotional environment, for all that the plot and setting were very much realism. I can see how the feel of it is kin to Station Eleven, which I also wasn't entirely sure I liked even though the setting was more my genre. And somehow, with the ambiguity, there was still a wrapped up ending. That took skill.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 155
20.7 LifetimeFathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
This book was a real mix of great and boring. I usually enjoy a good philosophical debate, but I found these discussions sort of dull. But the characters here are great and totally memorable and felt relevant even 150+ years later. I know this author and this book are pretty famous, but I'd never heard of them and only picked it randomly from the 1001 books to read before you die list.
I listened to the version narrated by Anthony Heald, which was an adequate narration, but nothing special. I think there are several audiobook versions. If you can, you might try a different narrator.
+20 Task (1862)
+10 Review
+10 Lost in Translation
Task total: 40
Grand total: 130
20.4 ScienceDr Karl's Random Road Trip Through Science by Karl Kruszelnicki
Review
To be truthful, I'm not particularly keen on science books and as far as I'm concerned, I've left that behind at school. However, in the spirit of reading challenges, I thought this audiobook would, if anything, prove to be entertaining. I was half right as Dr. Karl provided not only stories of how some things are discovered and/or analysed and/or invented (I like most of the historical notes here), he also talked about some things I found curious (eg. why wombats' poos are cube-shaped, who invented barcodes, etc) but when he started on atoms and space, I was totally out of my depth. I think I may have done better reading it in print so I can go over sentences again & again until it somewhat clicked in my brain. While I'm not as 'passionately curious' as Einsten or Dr Karl, I am sometimes curious so I'm willing to try another of Dr Karl's books.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 180
15.5 Name of the GameDue Preparations for the Plague by Janette Turner Hospital
Square 7B - letter G - no G in author's name
Square 2B - letter E - 2+ Es in author's name (2 in Janette & 1 in Turner)
Square 10C - letter T - MPG: Thriller
Word: GET
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 200
10.4 Valentine'sUtter Folly by Paul Bassett Davies
Naïve James is invited to his friend’s family pile in the country for the weekend. His friend doesn’t make it, but James does his best to be a good guest despite the machinations of his so-called friend plus the presence of a deranged policeman, a flirtatious female teen, a lovelorn drunk male teen, a disapproving great-aunt, a fading rock star, and a fake windmill.
I enjoyed this more than I expected for a free Kindle book (I've stopped downloading them after some bad experiences). It's a slapstick-style comedy, but it does challenge a few stereotypes in a good way, and it's mostly pretty funny.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Season Total: 140
15.4 Name of the GameRecursion by Blake Crouch
Square 8E - letter W – Winner of Goodreads Choice Award
Square 16D - letter E – Title has no letter E
Square 10E - letter T – Title has no ‘The’
Word = WET
+15 Task
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 90
15.5 Name of the GameThe Price of Blood and Honor by Elizabeth Willey
Square 8B - letter W – Author last name begins with W
Square 2B - letter E – Author’s published name has 2 or more E’s
Square 4E - letter D– Title and author name have two consecutive letters that are the same
Word = WED
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 110
15.6 Name of the GameThe Humans by Matt Haig
Square 13C - letter T – Title The plus
Square 11C - letter H – Author’s last name begins with H
Square 16B - letter E– Author born in Europe (UK)
Word = THE
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 130
20.4 ScienceHow to Dunk a Doughnut: The Science Of Everyday Life by Len Fisher
There are an assortment of books of this type, everyday overviews, and this one is probably the most "sciency" that I have read personally. All the terms are explained and all that, but Fisher goes into more detail than a lot of the type. He also spends more time on the process of thinking and discovery, as one of his stated goals is to show how scientists think and work collaboratively. Which is something I have rarely, if ever, seen in a general book like this one.
It was certainly interesting from the title question to the final chapter on the physics of sex. !!! Which included hydrostatic pressure as the explanation for certain standing elements, and the mechanics of how moving through a viscous fluid works when squiggling.
Just if you don't usually read popular science genre books, this would not be the easiest place to start.
+20 task
+10 review
+5 award
+5 combo (10.4)
Task total: 40
Grand total: 195
20.7 LifetimeThe Chimes by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens' holiday story of 1844 featured a New Years setting. The chimes of a church in Genoa inspired him to write a story about a poor working class man, Trotty Veck. Politicians have Trotty convinced that the poor cannot do right, and they are born bad. He climbs the bell tower where the spirits of the bells and the goblins show him visions of a possible future for his family and new friends. The visions have messages about people's lack of empathy and understanding of the challenges faced by the poor. Unfortunately, the sadness is not balanced by the occasional humor that characterizes most of Dickens' other work. "The Chimes" is a bleak story about important 19th Century social problems and unsympathetic politicians.
+20 task 1844
+ 5 combo 10.4 Valentines
+10 review
Task total: 35
Season total: 70
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I'm so sorry, Marie. This title is shelved as YA at BPL and has an Lexile of just 730. Task, but no styles."Well, i would never have thought to check since in France The Book Thief is published in an Adult collection ! Lexile is strangely very low for this book... anyway, too bad for my points :)
10.8 Lunar Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Published 1997
+10 Task
+15 Combo (10.2 - #135 ; 10.3 , 10.4)
+10 Lost in Translation (written in English, native language is French)
+15 Prize-worthy
Task total = 50
Points total = 70
10.5 AuthorGaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
I have a real hit or miss relationship with Sayers’ novels. Unfortunately, this one was a miss. The bones and the resolution of the mystery was good, and it was charming to ‘see’ Whimsy and Vane’s romance develop. However, there was so much verbiage surrounding this that it seemed a chore to read. I found this quote from George Orwell who seems to have felt the same way: ‘…the crime is always committed in a way that is incredibly tortuous and quite uninteresting" (he was voicing opposition to a rave review of her novels).
As a historical document I can see that this novel would have been important, and that Sayers did write a feminist mystery here. She used this novel to illuminate the issue of women’s right to academic education, particularly at an institution like Oxford. I feel that way I did when I reviewed “The Female Man’ – guilty, because Sayers’ illumination of feminist struggles was needed and via her mystery platform brought to a broad audience. However, I just can’t recommend this as a mystery. 3*
10 task
10 review
5 jumbo
5 prize
____
30
Running total: 120
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Reading with Style
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Death and Her Devotion by Kendra Elliot
Square 12B - letter S - page count 79-199 - 98
Square 2E - letter E - "END" in author name
Square 4D - letter D - Death in title
Word - SED
+15 task
Task total: 15
Grand total: 65