Reading with Style discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
Archives
>
WI 20-21 Completed Tasks
date
newest »
newest »
Post 946 Karen Michele wrote: "10.4 Valentine'sClap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 920"
This has a Lexile of 800 so qualifies for styles. You deserve 5 Prize Worthy points. If there is something else, let us know.
Post 949Deedee wrote: "Task 10.4 Valentine'sIn honor of Valentine's Day, read any book whose title begins with the letters in CHERUBS. Leading articles may be ignored.
Storybound (2020) by [author:Emily..."
This is not shelved as YA at BPL (they have only an ebook) so the Lexile rule does not apply. If there were styles you could claim, please let us know.
15.5 Name of the GameThe Spotted Dog by Kerry Greenwood
Square 4E - letter D– title and author have double letters
Square 1E- letter R– Series name includes letter R
Square 14C - letter Y– author’s name ends in Y
Word = DRY
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1110
15.6 Name of the GameThe Annihilation Score by Charles Stross
Square 12E - letter S– MPG Science Fiction
Square 16B- letter E– author born in Europe - UK
Square 10B - letter T– published in teens - 2015
Word = SET
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1130
15.7 Name of the GameThe Living Sea of Waking Dreams by Richard Flanagan
Square 11D - letter H– hot off the press – pub 2020
Square 16E- letter E– Novel has eight or more characters
Square 3B - letter A– set in a country beginning with an A – Australia
Square 15D – letter L – author’s latest
Word = HEAL
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1150
15.8 Name of the GameThe House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
Square 1C - letter R– MPG romance
Square 5E- letter I– author uses initials
Square 7C - letter G – goodreads author
Word = RIG
+30 Task
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 1180
15.9 Name of the GameThe Memorial by Christopher Isherwood
Square 8D - letter B– wildcard
Square 3C- letter A– author born in August
Square 13C - letter T– title The Plus
Word = BAT
+30 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1210
15.10 Name of the GameShadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson
Square 10E- letter T– title has no The
Square 3D - letter A– MPG adventure
Square 1B- letter R– 10K plus ratings
Word = TAR
+45 Task
Post Total: 45
Completion bonus 100
Season Total: 1355
Rebekah wrote: "15.2 Name of the Game Round 2Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump by Michael Cohen
H - (11d)
A - (3c https://en.w..."
I just noticed I made a mistake. For the letter “E”, I had used 16e. But this is not a novel so I’d like to use 8d, the wild card for he letter “E”
15.6 Name of the Game , Round 2Washington's End: The Final Years and Forgotten Struggle by Jonathan Horn
H - (11c)
E - (2e)
N - (6b)
HEN
Task -20 pts
Not novel - 5 pts
Total - 25 pts
15.7 Name of the game Round 2Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail
W - (8c)
A - (3d)
I - (5d)
T - (13e)
WAIT
Task - 20 pts
NF - 5 pts
Total - 25 pts
15.8 Name of the game Round 2Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
R - (1d retelling of Psyche & Cupid)
I - (5e)
L - (15b Agatha Christie)
E - (16b)
RILE
Task - 30 pts
Before 1996 - 5 pts
Total - 35 pts
20.5 AfricaNo Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe
This is a short, poignant novel. This is written in Achebe’s straight forward narrative style, with portions of poetry, songs and folk tales mixed in. There was something in the way he wrote this novel that reminded me of Graham Greene.
The novel is set in Lagos (mainly) before Nigeria gained independence. (It was published the year they did gain independence.) The main character, Obi Okonkwo, is a young man trying to navigate his way between the traditional village society (with it’s own conflicts of Christianity vs traditional beliefs) of his childhood and the Colonial constructs of his new life in Lagos. Achebe has written a very affecting story about family and societal obligations, a changing society, and love. 4*
20 task
10 review
______
30
100 RwS finish
200 Megafinish
__________
330
Running total: 1610
15.6 The Name GameHex Hallby Rachel Hawkins
10E -T title has no The
8D- A- wild card
6D-N- new to me author
TAN
Grand Total: 175
15.410 Name of the GameThe Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves
1C-R- Romance
2B-E- 2 or more E's in name
6E-N- New to me Author
10B-T- published in teens (2019)
word=RENT
Task=45
Completion Bonus=100
3 or more 4 letter words=100
Grand Total= 1345
Mega Finish=200
New Grand Total=1545
10.1; 10.2; 10.3 (2x); 10.4; 10.5; 10.6; 10.7; 10.8; 10.9;10.10
15.1; 15.2, 15.3, 15.4, 15.5; 15.6; 15.7; 15.8; 15.9; 15.10
20.1; 20.2; 20.3; 20.4; 20.5; 20.6; 20.7; 20.8; 20.9; 20.10
Congrats to all the other Mega-Finishers!
That's my last book for this season.
Thanks again to the moderators for a great set of challenges.
10.4 Valentine'sThe Reverse Commute by Sheila Blanchette
This book gives us two parallel narratives. One follows 40-something Sophie who spends all her time bickering with her husband Ray, complaining about her job, and fantasising about the actor Ryan Gosling. The other thread begins the previous year and focuses on an unnamed 25-year-old woman who works for the same company as Sophie. She meets the perfect guy on a commuter train, but she already has a boyfriend.
The second narrative is OK but doesn’t merit sitting through all those pages of Sophie and Ray in my opinion. And given the foreshadowing at the beginning, the ending was an anticlimax.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Season Total: 1955
I'm busy tomorrow so won't have time for another one. Thank you so much to the mods and everyone for another great season!
15.1 Name of the Game Round 2 Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
Square 12B - letter S - main page genre science fiction
Square 16D - letter E - no letter E in the title
Square 8B - letter W - author name starts with W
Word = SEW
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 805
15.2 Name of the Game Round 2 Gone by Midnight by Candice Fox
Square 7B - letter G - author has no G in name
Square 3B - letter A - set in country that starts with A (Australia)
Square 9D - letter I - word "by" that rhymes with I
Square 10C - letter T - main page genre thriller
Word = GAIT
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 820
15.3 Name of the Game Round 2Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy by Adam Jentleson
Square 4E - letter D - double trouble (kiLL)
Square 2B - letter E - author has 2 Es in name
Square 6B - letter N - not a novel
Word = DEN
+15 task
+5 not a novel
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 840
15.9 Name of the Game, Round 2Behind a Mask, Or, a Woman's Power by A.M. Barnard AKA Louisa May Alcott
R - (1c)
A - (3e - 1867)
S - (12a - 117 pgs)
H - (11b)
RASH
Task - 30 pts
Before 1996 - 5 pts
Post 965 Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "15.6 The Name GameHex Hallby Rachel Hawkins
10E -T title has no The
8D- A- wild card
6D-N- new to me author
TAN
Grand Total: 175"
Jayme, this is YA Fiction at BPL and has a Lexile of 790, so it won't work for Name of the Game. But you're in luck! It works for 10.4 Valentines and we'll score it there.
10.3 WinterThe Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder
I really enjoyed The Orange Girl by this author; however, I had a hard time getting into this book. It is a story within a story and I think I prefer one story, straight through. In the end, both stories did connect and the author gave background and refreshers of details and happenings which helped.
Hans Thomas is 12-years old (but older when remembering the story) and his mother abandoned him and her husband eight years from the time that the two of them travel to Athens to find her and bring her home to Norway. The story is hard to explain - it contains magical elements mixed with philosophy and a 52-card deck of cards. Very creative.
+10 Task
+10 combo 10.4, 10.5 (Ludwig writes a sailor/baker's memoir in tiny print and Hans Thomas receives it in a sticky bun in a bakery in Switzerland.)
+10 Review
+10 Translation
+10 Prize-worthy
Task total: 50
Season final total: 645
15.9 Name of the GameMexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Square 8E - letter W - Winner: Read a book that has won a GoodReads Choice Award (horror)
Square 11B - letter H - MPG: Historical Fiction
Square 14D - letter Y - MPG: Mystery
Word = WHY
+15 Task
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 925 +15= 940
The readerboard says 965, but I had the total as 925, so I went with that. No need to spend your time checking, though :)
15.10 Name of the GameA Poem for Every Winter Day by Allie Esiri
Square 4E - letter D - Double Trouble: Title or author name has consecutive letters that are the same (LL)
Square 16B - letter E -Author born in Europe (England)
Square 6B - letter N - Not a Novel
Word = DEN
+15 Task
+ 5 Not fiction (Not a Novel)
Post Total: 20
Name of the Game Finish: 100
Mega Finish: 200
Season Total: 1360
20.6 CaribbeanThe Pain Treeby Olive Senior
Short Stories set in Jamaica.
Three Stars
I enjoyed some of these short stories. Particularly “Coal” and “The Goodness of my Heart”. The others were nothing special in my opinion. One thing I hate about some short stories is the tendency to leave the ending too open. I don’t mind an ending that makes me wonder, or gives me an opportunity to complete the story in my own mind, but too many of the stories in this collection just ended abruptly. The themes explored were very interesting as the author is Jamaican-Canadian and the sense of both places is in these stories, even though over 90% of the book takes place in Jamaica. The idea of change is also very present in the whole collection, of the old ways dying off and new ways taking their place, which is a theme that always interests me. I will say that many of the stories did an amazing job at transporting me to different parts of Jamaica, from mountainous forests to old plantations and even modern suburbs in the city. I am not sure if Senior has written any novels but I might have to look into that because I did really enjoy her writing style, just not the incomplete nature of the short story format.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 1020
10.8 TravelWhatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide by Peter Allison
Three Stars
I wasn’t sold on this book from the start but the more I read the more I became interested. This memoir is more like a series of short recollections of different events in the author’s life as a safari guide in southern Africa (mostly Botswana). I enjoyed most of the stories, though I could have used less of the frat boy language and discussion about the guides trying to sleep with women colleagues and guests, though perhaps that is truly what it is like to be a safari guide. I also wish the author had acknowledged his privilege a little more considering he is a white man from Australia who had amazing opportunities not open to everyone. You could definitely feel the author's passion for the animals and the conservation work that some of the safari camps are engaged in. Ultimately though, I think reading this book is probably the closest I will ever get to an African safari.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.5 Africa - #64 on the list)
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 1045
10.9 The Fifth SeasonIron Cast by Destiny Soria
No Combo YA without Lexile
+10 task (#61 on the list)
Task Total: 10
Season Total: 1055
20.1 Black History MonthThe Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
4 Stars
I really enjoyed this book. It’s actually less of a novel and more of a collection of stories where each story focuses on one of Hattie’s children. It’s through these stories that we learn about Hattie and her husband August and their family. The writing is so beautiful! The way the author describes things is very poetic but never seems heavy handed, it all seems perfectly reasonable. I especially liked the way she used different terms to describe skin color which is something I haven’t seen before. These are stories about black people, but she always describes the specific shade of skin, for example she uses terms like “clover honey” and “tea with milk”. There is also always a sense in these descriptions that the lighter the skin tone the better, Hattie is always described as being light, and her husband as dark. The other thing that I found striking was the ways in which the North and South are contrasted. At the beginning of the book we hear that Hattie has escaped the south with it’s Jim Crow laws, but her children don’t necessarily stay in the North, it’s like there is a pull, or an invisible force exerted on them that draws them back. I could probably write about this book all day, so instead I will just say that I highly recommend it and leave it at that.
+20 task (#63 on the list)
+10 Review
+10 awards
+5 Combo (10.6 NYT Notable)
Task Total: 45
+100 RWS finish
+200 Mega Finish
Season Total: 1400
Post 976 Sarah wrote: "20.6 CaribbeanThe Pain Treeby Olive Senior
Short Stories set in Jamaica.
Three Stars
I enjoyed some of these short stories. Particularly “Coal” and “The Goodness..."
While looking to double check this was originally in English, I discovered it won an award - the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. I have added it to the GR book page and will add others of that award later today.
Post 979 Sarah wrote: "20.1 Black History MonthThe Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
4 Stars
I really enjoyed this book. It’s actually less of a novel and more of a collection of..."
And this has just one award and the Hurston/Wright is a nominee.
And I've failed this season to acknowledge all the Megas individually. Congratulations to all.
20.8 TravelTracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback by Robyn Davidson
“If I could bumble my way across a desert, then anyone could do anything. And that was true especially for women...”
In the same vein as Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, Eat, Pray, Love, and Rough Magic: Riding the World's Loneliest Horse Race (though this book predates those by at least a couple decades), Robyn Davidson’s account of her trek through the Australian outback with her dog and four camels is simultaneously a trek through her internal landscape and a chance to evaluate society, societal norms, and her place within that construct. She encounters snakes and wild bull camels and inhospitable landscapes and some pretty terrible humans on her journey, but just as many stunning, solitary landscapes and lovely people to help her on her way.
Some of the most heartbreaking things to me, though, were the treatment of the Aborigines and the profound effect of climate change that she witnessed...eye opening to say the least.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 30
Season total: 2510
20.9 NiecesThe Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
A god is missing from his Library (his Olympus), a modern-day Zeus, and his “children” are on a quest to find him. Each of his twelve children have been given a Catalog of the Library—healing and medicine, languages, animal kingdom, war and murder, etc.—to specialize in and any overlap is strictly and brutally forbidden so they must work together using their specific knowledge bases to try to find him.
It reminded me of American Gods and Greek mythology and Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series all rolled into one.
I adored the first 70% of the book but the denouement was a bit drawn out, considering the breakneck pace of the novel’s first three-quarters.
+20 Task (shelved 115 times as “books about books”)
+10 Review
Task total: 30
Season total: 2540
Thanks for a great season! Looking forward to an awesome spring 🤗
15.10 Name of the game, Round 2Death at Sea: Montalbano's Early Cases by Andrea Camilleri
T - (10c Italian)
I - (9b Sicily)
D - (4d)
Y - (14d)
TIDY
Task - 40 pts
Not Novel - 5 pts (short story collection)
Completion Bonus - 100 pts
>3 four letter words - 100 pts (HARE, RILE, WAIT, GENT, RASH, TIDY)
Task Total - 245 pts
Pretty much every season for the past 10 years, I always plan a second round of the sub-challenge. First time I actually did it!
Task 10.4 Valentine'sIn honor of Valentine's Day, read any book whose title begins with the letters in CHERUBS. Leading articles may be ignored.
Remote Control (2021) by Nnedi Okorafor
+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.8 pub. 2021)
Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15
Grand Total: 445 + 15 = 460
10.3 WinterWhen I posted about having completed the mega challenge, I went back and saw I had neglected to post for this task. I read the book early on in December but couldn't decided whether to use it for sub-challenge of the seasonal challenge and then forgot. So now I finally wrote the review.
Skylark by Dezső Kosztolányi
Review
Skylark
The main characters of this book are a very tight knit closed family consisting of an elderly married couple and their only child who has been given the nickname Skylark. This name is quite ironic compared to her personality. Their days and weeks are strictly regulated with the family becoming more and more dependent on the daughter’s management. It becomes plain she has no prospects for marriage and as she enters middle age, it appears the family has come to accept this. Although their lives have little variation and hardly and travel beyond brief visits to the local town for necessities, there has always been an annual scheduled week-long holiday at the country home of a relative. This year the parents feel too feeble to undertake the day long train journey, yet do not wish to deprive their daughter of this anticipated event. With hesitation and concern, it is finally agreed upon that Skylark is to take the journey herself. There is a trepidation for how will the old folks cope without her to do their cooking, to run errands and the majority of housework?
Soon they must do the dreaded task of obtaining food by patronizing the local restaurant whose unwholesome food could never compare with their daughter’s home cooking. But to their surprise and guilty delight, they find the food much tastier. They also meet with old friends from their youth and for the week, become carousing, partying mates again with gambling, drinking and all the vices the daughter and family had so condemned in the beginning. The letters from their daughter seem to indicate her enjoyment as well so everyone is happy. Yet, as the evening approaches of Skylark’s return, all evidence of the gay life the parents were living is hastily eradicated in order to keep Skylark from knowing that they truly enjoyed themselves without her. Skylark arrives and it turns out her holiday was not as happy as it had seemed. She was ostracized from the smarter young people and she had worried constantly about her parents’ being abandoned by her. Since this is a European novel full of existential angst, of course no one shares real feelings and both the parents and the daughter go back to their boring, uneventful lives without any prospect of joy as they all go to bed secretly mourning their loss.
+10 pts- Task
+ 5 pts - Combo (10.4
+10 pts- Review
+10 its - LiT(Hungarian)
Task Total - 35 pts
10.3 WinterPsychopath Free: Recovering from Emotionally Abusive Relationships With Narcissists, Sociopaths, and Other Toxic People by Jackson MacKenzie
+10 pts - Task
20.5 AfricaThe Plague by Albert Camus
+20 pts - Task
+ 5 pts - Combo (10.5)
+10 pts - LiT (French)
+5 pts - Prizeworthy
Task Total - 40 pts
That's it for me this season!
10.3 Winter The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
I’m late to the party, but I am among the legions of fans of the Netflix show “Bridgerton”. One of my colleagues at the library was astounded, since she couldn’t imagine me even remotely enjoying the books. I was curious though and I looked the first book in the series up and saw that a real-life friend of mine had rated it quite highly. So, with a bit of time on my hands between RwS seasons I took the plunge.
This is a historical romance, set in the Regency Period (England). It follows the tried and true plot line of these type of romances – the eligible young ladies have their ‘season’ and along with their Mamas are on the look out for a suitable husband. In this instalment (in the series), Daphne and the Duke (Simon) are thrown together and despite various setbacks (before and after they are married) it all works out in the end. I’ve explained it in a slightly sarcastic manner, but if you’ve read any of these you know that’s how it goes.
I have to admit I liked it. It is certainly decently written. I have to give Quinn credit for writing the sex scenes well. I enjoyed the antics of the Bridgerton family (Daphne’s older brothers are highlighted in this instalment), and Simon and Daphne’s characters had depth. If you enjoy historical romance, you might like to add this one to your list. 3.5* (*However, take note – it is only the inspiration for the show, it is not really like the show. This is one of the few times I will say the show is better than the book.)
10 task
10 review
5 combo 10.5 (Lady Whistledown is an author)
_____
25
Final total: 1635
This is my final kick at this season's can! Well done (again) Mods; and congrats to the Mega finishers!
15.6 Name of the GameThe Innby James Patterson
Good reads author-G
wild card-A
Mystery-Y
Gay
Task +20
Grand Total: 230
15.4 Name of the Game Round 2Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
Square 7C - letter G - goodreads author
Square 1E - letter R - series name has an R (Murderbot Diaries)
Square 5D - letter I - author has no I in name
Square 10E - letter T - title has no "the"
Word = GRIT
+15 task
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 855
Thanks for another great season, mods!
Post 993 Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "15.6 Name of the GameThe Innby James Patterson
Good reads author-G
wild card-A
Mystery-Y
Gay
Task +20
Grand Total: 230"
Jayme, you've used the wild card other times. We can score this for 10.3 Winter.
10.9 The Fifth Season Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
#76
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.2 - set during the jazz age)
+5 Awards (IGNYTE Award for Best Novel - Adult 2020)
Task total = 20
Points total = 750
10.1 ; .... ; .... ; 10.4 ; 10.5 ; .... ; 10.7 ; 10.8 (x2) ; 10.9 ; ....
15.1 ; 15.2 ; 15.3 ; 15.4 ; 15.5 ; 15.6 ; 15.7 ; 15.8 ; 15.9 ; 15.10
20.1 ; 20.2 ; 20.3 ; 20.4 ; 20.5 ; .... ; 20.7 ; 20.8 ; 20.9 ; 20.10
Congratulations to all participants. Now on to spring!
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...
Sight Unseen by Mary Roberts Rinehart
A great mystery it is not. The beginning has a medium holding a seance in which she sees a man shot behind his ear. The medium relates other things about the scene. Afterward, two of the attendees are called to the house of a neighbor who has been shot behind his ear. Was it suicide or murder? Rinehart writes well enough and this was no chore. I didn't even have a moment of eye-rolling! It is a short, quick read, but I think that might be the best that can be said of it, and a middlin' 3-stars.
I was happy to get to this one before the end of the month and the current Reading with Style challenge. It fills an empty slot in my 20th Century Women challenge and also my newly started 20th/21st Centuries Mystery challenge. Every even sort of cloud should have such silver linings.
+20 Task (pub'd 1921, begins the November earlier)
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (10.4)
Task total = 35
Season total = 1135
And that'll do it for me this season!