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SU 21 Completed Tasks
10.3Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker
176 pages
I read this graphic work in the scribd app and it was weird because some of the speech bubbles were also pulled out as text. It didn't feel like I was getting the full experience. It felt like making it a graphic novel was just to put a veneer of approachable on the book. Which was actually about as readable as a survey of an area that spans from personal experiences to deep academic debates can be. The authors took the approach that queer was a very broad term and did a good job of touching on multiple issues that affect both the word and the state of mind/cultural effects that it describes. I just think reading it might have been better on paper.
+10 task
+5 review
Task total: 15
Grand total: 110
15.2 TDoSThe Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Rated 5* by Angelbis and Kathy Miller
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 110
15.2 Ten Degrees of SeparationThe Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Rated 5* by Cassie and Anika
Does a house make a home? I think when you're a child, it most certainly represents "home" and that is what the Dutch House was to Maeve and Danny Conroy. It was a beautiful house - more than a house, it was a mansion outside of Philadelphia, a very special place indeed. And then, like getting a rug pulled from beneath their feet, it was taken away from them. It was unimaginable to them how suddenly everything changed.
My family did not live in a mansion by any stretch of the imagination. It was a 1400 sq ft house in a suburb of Los Angeles. But it was home and we loved that house. We didn't talk about it the way Maeve and Danny did, but throughout our adult years there were references to the house at 708. And so, on one level - the love of how a house represented love and home - I could relate to them. The story of their lives is told through reminiscence and sharing of memories. As in any family, some stories are known by one member and not by another.
This is told in the first person by Danny. We know what he experienced first hand and what he is told. The story is not chronological by any means. Sometimes the time shift isn't obvious and I would go back and read a couple of sentences for it to make sense. In another author's hands, this might not work, but Patchett handles it beautifully.
I loved this book from the first pages. The story never flagged, the narrative never weakened. How could I not give it 5-stars?
+20 Task
+ 5 Review
Task total = 25
Season total = 70
20.4 Riding the MetroBlood Tango by Annamaria Alfieri
set in Buenos Aires
Country Argentina
Continent: South America
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 130
10.2 Rome West by Brian Wood
112 pages
This graphic novel-type work is a series of vignettes following the history of the Valerius family in what will never be called America. Instead a few boatloads worth of Roman soldiers were blown west in 323. Before Christianity was widespread, among other things, so when they finally meet Europe again eventually they are a bit surprised. And also much better prepared.
The vignettes in many cases, but not all, left me wanting more of the cultural interactions. It was very interesting to see how the author imagined the different path of cultural assimilation to some extent (it is Rome after all) and increased continuation of diversity on the other, with the Washoe and the Incans and many other cultures continuing into the modern era.
+10 task
+5 review
Task total: 15
Grand total: 125
15.2 TDoSThe Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (Fairyland #1) by Catherynne M. Valente
Rated 5-stars by Courtney Bocci & Lisa
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 185
20.3 Riding the MetroBlood Brothers by Willy Russell
Having just read Educating Rita by this author, this play did not live up to that standard. It differs from Rita in one big way...this is a musical.... and I was unable to appreciate it completely because I am not familiar with the music. Here, a pair of twins in Liverpool are split at birth... one remains in his poverty stricken family while his brother is adopted by a wealthy family. Enjoyable enough...but I'm sure I miss so much significance because of my lack of knowledge about the context. Three stars.
set in Liverpool, England (Europe)
pub. 1985
Task=20
review=5
pre-1996=5
Task Total=30
Season Total=120
10.1; .....; 10.3;.....; .....; .....; .....; .....; .....; .....
20.1; 20.2; 20.3
10.5 - Page Count - 250-299The Murder Between Us by Tal Bauer
+10 task - 280pgs
Task total: 10
Grand total: 50
10.2 - Page Count - 100-149Wrong Bed, Right Guy by Katee Robert
+10 task - 144pgs
Task total: 10
Grand total: 60
15.2 TDoS Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5* from Lisa + Jayme (the ghost reader)
I found this a chore to read. That’s not to say there wasn’t some beautiful writing in this novel, but there were issues with flow and portions of the story that seemed dropped in haphazardly. It’s a very sad story, and the parallels to his (Fitzgerald’s) own life make it even more so. I was pleasantly surprised that Nicole had a happy ending, but not surprised at Dick’s ending. While I was reading this novel, I felt that Fitzgerald’s alcoholism had really affected his craft (in the inability to string the story together coherently) which makes me sad and angry for the squandering of such talent. 3*
20 task
5 pre 1996
5 review
_____
30
Running total: 95
10.3 - The Nursing Home Murder by Ngaio Marsh192p
This is the third Ngaio Marsh mystery I’ve read and I think I have a new favorite for brain candy reads – don’t have to pay much attention because the characters do the thinking for you and they’re short. The Nursing Home Murder is a classic Golden Age murder-mystery, Sherlock Holmes style whodunit. Set in inter-war Britain, it involves politicians dying immediately after what *should* have been a routine surgery and a bevy of interesting suspects. If you like mysteries and don’t want anything terribly deep, these are great.
+10 task
+5 pre 1996
+5 review
Task total: 20
Season total: 55
20.1 Riding the MetroThe Motive by Khurrum Rahman
Set entirely in London, England
Review
This novella is one of the 2021 Quick Reads titles published by the UK Reading Agency. The scheme aims to encourage people who don’t normally read for pleasure to try one of these short and accessible books. Even though I’m not really their target audience I usually buy a couple of their books each year because I like the scheme and want to support it.
The Motive is probably not a book I’d have picked up without that motivation and I was a little disappointed by it. It was fairly entertaining but overall felt very implausible. I couldn’t help feeling frustrated by what seemed like a lack of research by the author, for example getting UK police officer ranks wrong. The story takes place at the time of the 2016 Brexit referendum and references to the vote were shoehorned in despite not really being relevant to the plot.
+20 task
+5 review
Post total: 25
Season total: 45
Valerie wrote: "15.2 TDoS Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5* from Lisa + Jayme (the ghost reader)
I found this a chore to read. That’s not to say there wasn’t some beautif..."
I never read this book.
10.6 The Iron Khan by Liz Williams
327 pages
I had picked this up because it said it took place in Singapore. Nope. Lots of mystical realms and desert wastes and a few different Hells, but very little Singapore. It was an adventure story more than a mystery, with an interesting cast I found easy enough to follow even though I was joining in the middle of the series, although I am sure I missed some nuance of backstory. I might not seek this Chinese-inspired fantasy series out, but I will happily keep it in mind if it fits tasks in the future.
+10 task
+5 review
Task total: 15
Grand total: 140
Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Valerie wrote: "15.2 TDoS Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5* from Lisa + Jayme (the ghost reader)
I found this a chore to read. That’s not to say there was..."
Thanks, Jayme. That is completely bizarre. :( I may be f-d. Will see if I can recover.
Revision.... I have no idea how that happened, but my post from 112 doesn't work for the 15s, so:I would like to move that book to this task:
10.6 Page Count 300 pg - 349 pg
This means 10 less points, for a
Running total: 85
15.4 TDoSMe Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Jane > Joanna
Eh. Some of the essays are funny, but there’s some causal racism here of the unconscious-bias type, and a full essay that has fatphobia as its premise. And the essay does not address it as a problem, but reinforces it. Amy wore a fat suit for a whole vacation just to drive her dad insane! But all is well because she’s really thin! Hahaha, gotcha! And then Amy makes a gross joke about domestic violence to wrap that one up.
There was too much punching-down for me to recommend this.
The chapter on pets had me laughing out loud, though.
+20 task
+5 review
Task total = 25
Season total = 265
20.1 Riding the MetroOne Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
set in New York City
Country: USA
Continent: North America
August has recently moved to New York and strikes up a friendship with Jane, who always seems to be on her Q train. And always seems to be wearing the same thing. Huh. We soon learn that Jane is caught in a time slip and has been riding the Q since the late 70s, and August is determined to set her free.
The first half is solid and full of joy - queer found family, falling in love - but as the plot moves on the speculative elements unravel and the worldbuilding falters. It's a fun ride, but a three star ride, not the four star gem I thought at the beginning.
+20 Task
+5 Review
Task Total: 25 points
Grand Total: 40 points
10.4 - Page Count 200-249pFrom Scratch by Katrina Jackson
I'm usually not a big fan of small town romances, but small towns with queer folx written by BIPOC authors? I'm there.
True to form Jackson packs steamy scenes into this novella. The character development is interesting and the writing is solid, if marred by typos. The pacing was fine until the end, when a crisis! is solved quickly. Obviously one of Jackson's earlier works, but I'm still looking forward to reading on in the series.
+10 task (221 pages)
+5 review
Task total: 15 points
Grand total: 55 points
15.3 TDoSDealing with Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles #1) by Patricia C. Wrede
Rated 5-stars by Lisa & Jonquil
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 205
Ann wrote: "15.4 TDoSMe Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris."
I read that in 2007 and remember thinking it was funny at the time, but based on this review, I suspect I'd like it less today than I did then. Chalk that up to improved understanding of the world gained in the last decade...
10.5 Page Count250-299
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Was Christie trying to write a horror novel with this one? If so, she failed miserably. I didn't find it an especially good mystery either. As you can tell, I didn't care much for this. I'm glad she mostly stuck with her detective characters rather than branching out on such as this. Despite her writing style geared mostly to those who didn't finish grade school, I like her Poirot series. I will turn to those as a comfort read. Still and all, this filled in one of the few remaining years on my 20th Century Women's challenge and for that, at least, I'm glad I read it.
+10 Task
+ 5 Review
+ 5 Before 1996 (1939)
Task total = 20
Season total = 90
20.4 RtMTruly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty
Set in Sydney
Country: Australia
Continent: Oceania
I've always shied away from this author for the most irrational reason: her book covers and titles are very "chick lit" and that's not really my jam...had no idea what any of the books were actually about, they just LOOKED like not-my-thing. During Covid lockdown, when we were desperate for new things to watch, I finally ended up watching the adaptation of her novel, Big Little Lies, and, while it started out SUPER chick-lit-y, the characters were well drawn and surprising and the way the story unfolded was masterful so I thought I'd try out another of her books for this challenge.
It starts with six adults, three children, and a dog at a barbecue, when something disastrous happens. The rest of the book is bouncing back and forth in time, unpacking in detail how that thing could have happened and how they can all recover from it. Argh! I don't want to give anything away, but I loved delving into the history of that moment and how each person's personal histories had an effect on allowing it to happen.
Also: I quite enjoyed listening to this one--the reader's voicing of Vid and Ruby were my favorites. It was a great summer read!
+20 Task
+5 Review
Task total: 25
Season total: 400
10.2 Page Count 100-149The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, 11 June 21
A series of vignettes about life in a relatively poor area of Chicago. Esperanza's parents are upgrading when they buy a house of their own for the first time, but it's not the house of their dreams. The neighbourhood they settle for has a strong sense of community, and Esperanza comes of age with friends and family all around her. But she is determined to live a different life from the early-marriage-and-babies that is the inescapable fate of her friends.
This book is much less well known in the UK than in the USA, but I had it on my wishlist and was very happy to receive it this month in an online reading group. It felt timeless, and I really enjoyed it.
+10 Task (110 pages)
+ 5 pre-1996 (1984)
+ 5 Review
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 100
10.3- 150-199The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho
Task: 10
Post: 10
Season total: 65
20.1 Riding the MetroOne Fatal Flaw by Anne Perry
Legal myster Story that follows three trials centering on specific forensic evidence to reach a conclusion. The characters are well drawn and the plot line is creative and intriguing. Unfortunately there are a few jumps where the narrative appears to reach a conclusion that the reader expects but that has not been fully developed in the plot.
20 pts 20.1 Riding the Metro london England Europe
5 pts Review
Total task: 25 pts
Total Season: 90 pts.
10.1 10.2 10.3 ... 10.5 ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
20.1 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Countries: England
Continents: Europe
20.2 Riding the MetroUp in Honey's Room by Elmore Leonard
set in Detroit
Country: USA
Continent: North America
This was a very nice change from my last book. The story is told mainly through dialogue and it really works with Leonard at the helm. At this point in his career he makes it look effortless. The novel isn’t perfect but because it is a fun, snappy ride it’s easy to let any plot oddities go. I didn’t see the ending coming, but it was spot on! 4*
20 task
5 review
______
25
Running total: 110
20.4 Riding the MetroMountolive by Lawrence Durrell
Maybe I'm dense or something....but it wasn't until this 3rd tome in Durrell's Alexandria Quartet that I was able to discern that the same or similar story was being advanced by different characters' perspectives. Perhaps it was because I found the writing in the first two fairly dull and pretentious. This book however seems to have been written by someone else entirely. I thoroughly understood it and enjoyed it. Almost all of the book takes place in Alexandria, Egypt as one might expect....and having visited there three years ago, I felt Durrell's atmosphere effectively. As for the storylines picked up from the first two books.... I don't think a reader would really miss much if they just started with Mountolive.
Mountolive is the English ambassador in Alexandria....after having served there years earlier in a lesser role....but that is the time period in which he came to know the players in volumes 1 & 2. The time period is during the Jewish rebellions against the English to establish Israel. Now, several of his relationships, personal and professional become very complicated. I had dreaded finishing this quartet...but now I look forward to reading the last volume. 4.5 stars
set in Alexandria, Egypt (Africa)
pub. 1958
Task=20
review=5
pre-1996=5
Task Total=30
Season Total=150
10.1; .....; 10.3;.....; .....; .....; .....; .....; .....; .....
20.1; 20.2; 20.3; 20.4
10.3 Page CountRing Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
185 pages
Hmm. This was very good, but something (I’m not sure what) was missing for me. It might just be limitations of the novella. This is a BIG story, a little too big for the page count. Everything seems over a little too soon, but better to want more than to be bored by too much.
I was surprised at a turn this novella took, in a good way. The why of something was interesting, especially when I think about fellow Hugo nom in this category, Riot Baby.
There is some excellent, deeply scary, multi-level horror that will be messed up on screen.
+10 task
+5 review
Task total = 15
Season total = 280
10.10 Page Count 500p or moreSegu by Maryse Condé
+10 Task (512 pages)
+5 Before 1996 (published 1984)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 145
10.6 Page Count 300-349pTool of War by Paolo Bacigalupi
+10 Task (336 pages)
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 155
10.7 Page Count 350-399pLove, In Theory by Elodie Cheesman
352 pages
Review
This book is an unsolicited review copy and honestly, it isn't a book that I'd pick up on my own steam. The cover is pretty cute but not particularly eye-grabbing so I reckon I'd walk by without noticing much. However, the premise of an algorithm for finding love rather tickled. It's not particularly unique as I'm sure I've seen other books with similar premise but I was happy enough to give this book a chance.
It seems to me that pretending to be the person everyone wants you to be is easier than grappling with the messiness underneath.
Romy is an easy protagonist to sympathise with... She's young, single but a tad lonely, has pretty good friends and loving parents. She seems like she's pretty much got it all but when you dig deeper, she's got issues as we all do. Her workplace (despite the prestige etc) isn't all it claims to be. Her love life is practically non-existent and with 2 awful relationships behind her, she's very unsure on how to find Mr Right. And she especially is very unsure on how to find whether Mr Right is right inside as well as outside.
"...,there's a big gap between our private thoughts and intentions and public words and actions. I think that's what intimacy is -- learning the landscape of that divide. It's not insuperable, and sometimes it's worth putting in the effort to understand another person."
As Romy looks to her friends and family for advices, she had to make her own decision on what exactly is the right thing for her. And as she stumbles through a relationship, a break-up, work conflicts, she continues to have blinders on when readers are shouting from the very first chapter who Mr Right is. It was really quite a frustrating read but...
"...As we get older and have more experiences, we learn which label to use for which experience, even though the physical response is the same. But humans aren't always great at distinguishing between feelings."
I can totally relate to this last bit. Romy was slow but she got there, ladies & gentlemen. Overall, Love, In Theory was a very relaxing read even if it nearly crossed the line of my pet peeve (love triangle). Luckily, it didn't quite get there so I managed to finish without too much angst. The algorithm theory went way over my head but that doesn't really worry me because you & I know, love doesn't work that way anyway ;p
+10 Task
+5 Review
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 220
15.1 TDoSThe Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Rated 5* by Anika + Jayme(the ghost reader) (Jayme is on the second page of the list)
This starts out as if will be a standard psychic teen romance - girl is told by psychic mother that her kiss will kill her true love - but it becomes much more nuanced. Blue (the girl) lives in a town in Virginia where there's a private school full of rich boys (and one on a scholarship) who wear sweaters with a raven emblem. One of them is searching for the resting place of Owen Glendower whose body he believes was transported along a ley line from Wales across the Atlantic to Virginia.
It's a dark story, partly because of abuse and secrets in the boys' own backgrounds and partly because of what they uncover, and it's not finished at the end of this book. I liked that aspect, and I also liked the fact that all of the boys are nuanced and troubled by their very different backgrounds, and the conflicts between the friends. Blue is not like this, too perfect, but I understand that an author may want to make her heroine an ideal for her female readers.
+15 Task
+5 Review
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 120
20.5 Riding the MetroThe Grove of the Caesars by Lindsey Davis
set in Rome
Country Italy
Continent: Europe
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 175
20.6 Riding the MetroSt Kilda Blues by Geoffrey McGeachin
set in Melbourne
Country Australia
Continent: Oceania
+25 Task
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 200
15.3The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
5 stars by Coralie and Steven
The biggest thing that struck me about this book was how it spent so much time setting up the world ending problem - and then the resolution was askew and aslant from anything I might have expected, and yet it fits into how a history of technology book might go quite well. The time spent in the mind and culture was very alien, well developed, and interesting. The culture of the moon colony was also a nice development, although I don't know how much of it would still have a scientific base. Overall, I thought it a decent book, although not one of his best.
+20 task
+5 review
+5 old (1972)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 170
10.10 Page count (500 pages or more)Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Although "Lonesome Dove" is about 900 pages long, it was a total pleasure to read with its humor, rich characterizations, vivid descriptions, and adventurous plot. It's an epic tale about a cattle drive from southern Texas into the wilds of Montana. Danger is faced by each of the characters from natural hazards, bandits, and Indians as they head into the wilderness. "Lonesome Dove" is a book that's hard to put down, and deserves more than 5 stars.
+10 task (960 pages)
+ 5 review
+ 5 before 1996 (pub 1985)
Task total: 20
Season total: 65
15.4 TDoSParanormalcy (Paranormalcy #1) by Kiersten White
Rated 5-stars by Jonquil and Lindsay
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 240
10.2 Page Count (100 - 149p)Morgane by Simon Kansara and Stephane Fert
144 pages
+10 Task
Task total = 10
Season total = 10
… ; 10.2 ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … ; …
… ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … ; …
… ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … ; …
20.5 Riding the MetroUntold Night and Dayby Bae Suah
I won a paperback version of this book on GR...so, decided to give it a go without knowing anything more. Not my cup of tea.
The story is a bit surreal. It is set in Seoul, South Korea and focussed mostly on a young woman who works for a sound studio that has just folded up. She has a teacher who is dying of cancer and has a fling with one of her co-workers. At least I think that is what happens. She also gets in a situation where she is assisting a foreign writer visiting Korea for the first time...and the writer has no idea why he is there. Neither do I. I didn't hate the book...but I clearly missed what I was supposed to get. Something about how our lives are strangely intertwined? 2 stars.
set in Seoul, South Korea (Asia)
Task=20
review=5
Task Total=25
Season Total=175
10.1; .....; 10.3;.....; .....; .....; .....; .....; .....; .....
20.1; 20.2; 20.3; 20.4; 20.5
Post 110 Norma wrote: "10.2 - Page Count - 100-149Wrong Bed, Right Guy by Katee Robert
+10 task - 144pgs
Task total: 10
Grand total: 60"
Norma, the MPE for this title is this edition Wrong Bed, Right Guy at 326 pages. It doesn't work for 10.2, but does for 10.6 which I see you've already claimed. I don't know what your plans are for Riding the Metro. The Sweet Second Life of Darrell Kincaid may work for London.
Post 127 June wrote: "10.9 - 450-499Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
Task- 10
Post total : 10
Season total: 55"
June, the MPE for this title is this edition Radio Silence at 403 pages. It works for 10.8, which I see you have not yet claimed. We'll score it there unless you want it somewhere else.
15.3 Ten Degrees of SeparationRules of Civility by Amor Towles
Rated 5* by Anika and Rebekah
So far this summer, the 5-star reads by members of my challenge group have been 5-star reads for me. This grew on me the further into it I read. I thought more than once that it's really too bad Towles didn't make a series of this and by that I mean this same story told from different viewpoints. We get only the first person from Kate Kontent. We know, of course, what she is told and from that we can discern something of the others. For me, I wanted to know more than "something". The characters and characterizations are brilliant. I knew one year with them was all I was going to get, so give me that year from the perspective of some of the others!
The story opens with a Preface. If you're the sort of person who usually skips the Preface, don't skip this one. It is really a sort of prologue. In 1966, it is the viewing of a showing of photographs originally taken in 1938. Kate recognizes Tinker Grey in one of them - a man obviously down on his luck - and her husband asks if she knew him. "He was an acquaintance." Next, the opening chapter is New Year's Eve 1937 when Kate and her friend Eve Ross chance to meet Tinker Grey and the novel unfolds from there.
I admit I don't share the same love of New York City as do the characters who apparently think (like many New Yorkers) that it is simply the only place to be. My husband and I have remarked multiple times that New Yorkers are kind of stuck on their city as if it some sort of prize to live there. I suppose they wouldn't think much of Ketchikan, Alaska, either and which I think is the only place to be. (May we all be lucky enough to live where we think it is the only place to be.)
I think I am lucky to be living now. I'm lucky to be encountering readers with such a wonderful variety of tastes who are willing to share their reading experiences. I'm glad this is was one of them.
+20 Task
+ 5 Review
Task total = 25
Season total = 115
15.2 Ten Degrees of SeparationThe Book Thief by Markus Zusak
5* from Lisa + Devin Murphy
Goodness, this book is good. It’s so skillfully written and feels very true, in that the emotional points are not forced or maudlin. Death is the narrator, which really was an inspired choice. Because of this we (as the reader) aren’t allowed to forget this is WW2 in Nazi Germany – we aren’t hit over the head with this knowledge, there’s just no thinking ‘oh, this is a nice story about heroic people’. Instead, it is a story about ordinary people living their lives surrounded by ugliness, but finding moments of beauty or true heroism. 5*
20 task
5 review
____
25
Running total: 135
20.1 Riding the MetroThe Ritual Bath. Faye Kellerman
Introduces characters Peter Decker, an LAPD detective and Rina Lazarus, a devout widowed Jewish woman who teaches math at a yeshiva in the hills. She meets Peter when he comes to investigate a rape in the Mikvah (ritual bath), where she is the attendant. He is drawn to her courage, personality, and beauty. She is also drawn to Peter, but knows that due to her religious beliefs, nothing can come of the attraction. Written in the 1980s, there’s a fair amount of political incorrectness, and old school (pay phones, paper trails) ways of doing things.
set in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, US, NA
Task 20
Review 5
Task total: 25
Season total: 25
20.1;
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
The House of the Scorpion (other topics)5 Centimeters per Second (other topics)
Some Kids I Taught & What They Taught Me (other topics)
The World That We Knew (other topics)
A Poem for Every Summer Day (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Nancy Farmer (other topics)Makoto Shinkai (other topics)
Kate Clanchy (other topics)
Alice Hoffman (other topics)
Allie Esiri (other topics)
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44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith
set 100% in Edinburgh
Country: Scotland
Continent: Europe
This ensemble novel was originally serialised with daily instalments in a newspaper, so the chapters are very short. 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh contains four flats. We hear about the residents of three of them: a single middle-aged woman, a small family with a "gifted" child, and a young woman who moves in to share with three other people, although only one is present in this first book in the series.
I found it enjoyable enough, but rather bland.
+20 Task
+5 Review
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 80