Reading with Style discussion
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SP 22 Completed Tasks
20.9 Birthdays The American Agent by Jacqueline Winspear
In this installment of Maisie Dobb's story, the London Blitz is underway and a female, American reporter is murdered while in London reporting on the war. An American Maisie has worked with before requests her help solving the case. Of course, Maisie realizes she has a connection with the dead woman - she had just been riding along with Maisie and her best friend, reporting on their work driving ambulances. Maisie is also continuing to try to care for and ultimately adopt Anna, the orphaned evacuee placed with her. The most interesting historical aspects of this to me was how calculated the effort to engage America in the war was - I knew the US didn't get involved until Pearl Harbor, but didn't know it was such a huge debate, on both sides of the Atlantic. Another good installment of a solid series!
+20 task ("I don't have the good cakes every day!" - ch. 11)
+5 combo (10.2)
+10 review
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 230
20.9 Birthdays The Consequences of Fear by Jacqueline Winspear
Second to last book in the series (for now) - I'm pre-sad! The crime for Maisie to solve in this one was a bit unusual. A young boy who works as an errand runner for the government witnesses a murder, and then sees the murderer - it's the person he's delivering a message to! No one believes him (or wants to believe him) except Maisie, who presses the issue while at the same time working for the government evaluating candidates for clandestine work. There's quite a bit of anger at Maisie's persistence, and various interpersonal dramas. Much of it stems from the relationship between the British forces and the free French, still fighting for their land. Meanwhile Maisie is developing a romantic relationship, parenting, and figuring out where her work will fit into her increasingly busy life. One thing that made me laugh a bit was the intense foreshadowing of Pearl Harbor - many events were scheduled for December 7 or 8, 1941, and the dates were mentioned repeatedly. Made me smile :)
+20 task ("Thank you. Echols cakes are my favorite!" - ch 3)
+10 review
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 260
15.7 East Asia Japan
Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka
For a book with as many murders as this one contained, it was pretty funny. I really enjoyed Isaka's style and dry humor, as well as the inventive, almost madcap plot. The story starts (and basically finishes) aboard a bullet train from Tokyo, where several sets of professional assassins and other bad guys are onboard for different reasons. One for revenge, one luring another, one to steal a suitcase, another duo to deliver the suitcase. I think there are a few more floating around too! Naturally, many of these missions connect and pit one against the other, and along the way there's a lot of humor, philosophizing, and revelations about the range of professional killers roaming Japan (the book seems to suggest that the country is just teeming with creative hitmen!). Highly recommend this if you like mysteries or even if you just enjoy literary humor and don't object to some murder.
+15 task
+10 review
+10 Non-Western (Japanese author)
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 295
10.5 Database AnniversaryWarcross by Marie Lu
+10 Task: 810 Lexile, Based on a computer game
+. 5 Combo: 10.4 Name
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 415
20.3 Our TownThe Small Crimes of Tiffany Templeton by Richard Fifield
+20 Task: 800 Lexile, the author grew up in Troy, MT where my husband grew up. It's set in a similar fictional small town.
+10 Combo: 10.2 Easter / 10.9 Dual (present day and back story of Tiffany's early life)
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 445
20.5 The Killer AngelsA Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
I will admit that the poetic title led me to read this book about war, war, and more war. Death, destruction, violence - that pretty much sums up the book. On the positive side, life goes on and gets better for two of the characters. Setting: Afghanistan 1960s to 2003. Protagonists Mariam and Laila are forced to live together by a ruthless man and over time, they become forever friends. Also, people and events from the childhoods of both women haunt them forever. An intense book about survival, endurance, friendship, faith, and love!
+20 Task (warring factions/civil war)
+20 Combo: 10.2 (Easter), 10.3 (locked in at #250 in task thread), 20.6, 20.7
+10 Review
Task Total: 50
Season Total: 355
20.7 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WaoWe Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
+20 Task (USA->UK)
+5 Combo (10.2 TTA)
Points this post: 25
Season Total: 235
.... 10.2 .... .... .... .... .... .... 10.9 ....
.... .... 15.3 .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
20.1 .... 20.3 .... 20.5 .... 20.7 20.8 .... .....
10.9 DualThe Kingdom by Emmanuel Carrère (one timeline is Carrere’s memoir and takes place in the 1990s/early 2000s, the other is a fictionalized telling of the gospels, and takes place in the decades before and after 0 C.E.)
Review: It was quite good luck that I happened to read this immediately after The Evolution of God. Both books came up in my personal challenge to read books from my TBR chosen by random number generator. They cover much the same ground but in very different ways (though The Evolution of God covers Judaism and Islam somewhat in addition to Christianity, and The Kingdom is really just about Christianity).
While the Evolution of God is mainly factual when it comes to history and speculative on what this means about whether there is or isn't a god, The Kingdom is a tour de force of styles and speculation.
The Kingdom is both a memoir and a semi-fictionalized history of the four gospels. Large sections tell the story of Carrere's lost, then found, then lost again faith - and his love-hate relationship with the gospels, especially Luke and John.
Other large sections are a fiction-esque telling of the gospels. Fiction, because Carrere brings moments and stories to life by adding visual color, detail and dialogue. Often, we are right there in the moment with Jesus or Paul or Luke. At the same time, these sections often read like notes for a screenplay, describing how lights and cameras and motion might embody a film of the story with extra meaning. And (the -esque in fiction-esque), Carrere brings us out of the story over and over to defend or support his telling. He is carefully clear what aspects of his telling are based on known fact vs. largely (but not fully) agreed upon historical theory vs. less agreed upon historical theory vs. Carrere's own theories or complete creative license. It's a fascinating way to write.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Post total: 20
Season total: 285
Claimed to date:
- 10.2 - 10.4(x3) - - - - 10.9 -
- - - 15.4 - - - - - -
20.1 20.2 - - - 20.6 - - - -
20.4 The ReiversOutlaws of the Marsh by Shi Nai'an (nice I could start with the sample post!)
Review: Well. At first I enjoyed this. The overarching concept (adventures and battles that ultimately bring 108 heroes together at Liangshan marsh) was interesting and ambitious (a la Boccaccio or Chaucer) without being an overly prescriptive format. The first chapters were interesting too, with different types of adventures and characters with unique traits and foibles. I also appreciated that one of the heroes is a woman. One isn't much, but I expected zero from a story nearly 700 years old.
But halfway through-ish, this became formulaic and repetitive - it lost all it's charm. For the most part, characters stopped having personalities and there were no more interesting adventures. Instead it's battle, recruit the heroes, repeat with many of the same phrases and descriptions used over and over. The gruesome descriptions of violence moved more to the forefront. The magical elements also became a much more frequent and unbelievable part of the narrative. At first, it was really magical realism. Characters were very real but could also lift something incredibly heavy, for example. Later, we have characters moving at hyperspeed and controlling the weather. All of this left me pretty bored.
I think the first half is very much worth a read. In the later volumes, there's really no more to get out of this.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Non-western
+25 Oldies (pub’d 1370)
+25 Jumbo (2149 pages)
+10 Combo (10.4, 20.9: “Cai Fu requested them to come into a room where refreshments were already spread out, and there he offered them wine and cakes.” From chapter 65)
Post total: 100
Season total: 385
Claimed to date:
- 10.2 - 10.4(x3) - - - - 10.9 -
- - - 15.4 - - - - - -
20.1 20.2 - 20.4 - 20.6 - - - -
20.7 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WaoDaughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
+20 Task
+5 Jumbo 554 pages
Task total = 25
Season Total: 650
15.5 Southern AfricaBotswana
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
+15 Task
Task total: 15
Season Total: 665
20.9 birthdays Hard Eightby Janet Evanovich
"I ate the cake." p 225
Task +20
Combo 10.4 name -Janet +5
Task total: 25
Grand total: 215
20.3 Our TownWhen the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain
Detective Anna Hart fled from San Francisco after a traumatic event in her family. She headed north to the small California coastal town of Mendocino. Anna had lived there with caring foster parents after difficult years of being shuttled through the state foster child system.
Her childhood friend, Will, is leading an investigation into the disappearance of a 15-year-old girl. Anna, a specialist in finding missing children, volunteers to help while she tries to put her personal life back together emotionally. It comes to their attention that there are two other abducted girls from that area, and they work on psychological profiles of the girls and the criminals. It was 1993, just at the start of using the Internet to show pictures of the missing children to a large population.
While this is a mystery/thriller, "When the Stars Go Dark" is written in a very thoughtful way. Like the characters, author Paula McLain was a foster child and a survivor of sexual abuse. The children blame themselves and carry feelings of guilt for anything that may have gone wrong--abandonment by their birth parents, the loss of their siblings, problems with their foster parents, and other traumatic experiences.
"When the Stars Go Dark" had many dark moments, but was not very graphic. I've always enjoyed Paula McLain's writing, including this latest venture into crime fiction. The author incorporated lots of insightful psychological research into the story so the abductors seemed terrifying, and the missing girls seemed very real and vulnerable.
+20 task (Mendocino is a small town, population around 800 now)
+ 5 combo 10.4 Name
+10 review
Task total: 35
Season total: 365
+
15.8 South Asia-IndiaThe Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
This book is set in 1950’s Jaipur, India. The main character is a woman who has learned herbal medicine and drawing, which she has applied to henna application. She is a rare single woman who has made a successful business. She has done this by catering to upper class wealthy women.
The book makes passing references to independence, castes, and the Hindu - Muslim divide. There are bits of culture that are introduced—dress, food, festivals, henna. Much that could be a launch pad for a deeper dive into the culture.
I am not sure that I find the story believable but it was an interesting read.
The narrator was very good.
+15 task
+10 review
Task total: 25
Season total: 235
20.10 Between the WarsAs I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Well, that was something. It was not really what I was expecting. I thought it would be abstruse stream of consciousness throughout. Some of it definitely is, but other parts are very understandable and somehow the small story is driven forward. I liked hearing the various points of view, and it was interesting trying to understand where they were coming from. Addie’s (the dying/dead woman) part really threw a wrench in the works for me and added a lot to the narrative. Faulkner doesn’t make this story ‘pretty’ - generally the characters are unlikeable or slightly repelling, the journey is onerous, and Addie decomposes. Despite all of that I found it compelling. 4*
20 task
10 review
10 oldie
5 combo 20.3
________
45
Running total: 700
10.8 UkraineCall It Sleep by Henry Roth
+10 pts - Task
+20 pts - Combo(10.4, 20.7 - Tysmenitz, Austria-Hungary Empire (now Tysmenytsia, Ukraine) to USA, 20.9-several references of eating cake at birthdays, when having company, visiting others, 20.10- written in the years 1930 - 1934)
+10 pts - Oldies (1934)
Task Total - 40 pts
15.10:Western Asia-TurkeyMy Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk
East meets west in Istanbul. This story is set against the background of traditions of illustration stretching from China, India, Persia meeting up with Renaissance art of Europe. There is a debate of whether artists should have a distinct style and sign their works or not. And the clash over interpretations of the Koran and Hadiths as to whether people and animals should be depicted in art.
This is all wrapped around a murder mystery and a love story.
It is beautifully written but I found the endless art philosophy musing tiresome.
+15 task
+10 review
+10 non western
Task total: 35
Season total: 270
20.7 Brief wonderous life of Oscar WaoPathfinders: A Global History of Exploration by Felipe Fernández-Armesto
+20 task author immigrated from England to USA
post total: 20
Season total: 320
Task 20.2 PrizeRead a book that has won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction/Novel.
Pulitzer Prize for Novel (1925)
For 20.9 combo: in the final chapter of the novel, “He was very comfortable, the General. He partook largely of tea and cakes.”
So Big (1924) by Edna Ferber (Paperback, 288 pages)
+20 Task
+10 Combo (#10.4 name: Edna, #20.9 Cakes)
+10 Oldies -76 to 150 years old: 10 points (1872-1946)
Task Total: 20 + 10 + 10 = 40
Grand Total: 240 + 40 = 280
15.8 South AsiaIndia
A Curious Indian Cadaver by Shamini Flint
+15 Task
+10 Non-Western
Task total: 25
Season Total: 690
15.10 Western AsiaTurkey
Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières
Corelli's Mandolin is probably de Bernières most famous/popular novel, but it is my least favorite of those I've read. My memory says that it does not have the complexity of writing as does his South American novels. I loved this novel and its return to that complexity that I prefer. Of course, it isn't just the writing. Late in the novel, I considered this is another juxtaposition of war and peace. Not Tolstoy's novel, of course, but the contrast between war and peace makes for a good theme and the author does it well here.
The "peace" characters - done well, I might add - are set in a small town on the western edge of the Ottoman Empire before World War I. It is a small town of mixed ethnicity where the people get along with each other and respect one another. They are mostly Muslim and Christians with Turk and Greek ancestry. The families have inter-married over many generations and there is no real distinction between Turk and Greek and Greek is no longer spoken. However, one interesting side plot is that the Christian teacher is Greek and so the Christians learn to write the Turkish language with the Greek alphabet. The Muslims don't learn to write at all, being made to memorize the Koran.
I am not a student of The Great War, but my fascination with it continues. I learned so much in this novel! For me, the novel was more than that. I think I have never flagged so many lines in a novel as I did with this one. I have played backgammon online every day for years. (My brother taught me, so that we could have regular contact though we lived 2000 miles from each other.) Backgammon was created thousands of years ago somewhere in lands that eventually came to be the Ottoman Empire. I began to flag the references, most on the lines of: He shuns the Muslim cafes, and goes instead to the Kristal, the Olympus, the Yonyo, where he and his friends can play backgammon for five-para coins, drink beer and stuff themselves with meze in the ribald company of Greeks.
The other group of flags mostly had to do with birds. There are references to birds throughout the novel, just for themselves, their beauty, and how their variety affects us all. There are two, however, that de Bernières used to explain his title. The second one is in the last few pages of the novel and make the most sense in that place. Another one is much earlier in the novel. Iskander the Potter is a Muslim. One day he fashioned some bird whistles for his son and his son's Christian friend. All their lives they used the bird whistles to call to one another. But in giving them the whistles "Man is a bird without wings," Iskander told them, "and a bird is a man without sorrows."
I have said before that I have a fictitious top-ten list of books. It is a crowded list, and probably fluid below the top three or four. Today this is on the list. Maybe some day I'll be lucky enough to read another that I'll have to squeeze onto that list.
+15 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Jumbo (554 pgs)
Task total = 30
Season total = 475
From Post 269Coralie wrote: "20.2 Prize
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
+20 Task
+5 Combo 10.7
Task total = 25
Season Total: 440"
+5 Combo 10.9
From Post 418Sue wrote: "15.1 North Africa ( Egypt)
Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
+15 task ( what a pleasure to find a new series!! )
Post total: 15
Season total: 280"
+5 Oldies
From Post 432Kim wrote: "20.5 The Killer Angels (Civil Wars)
When Christ and His Saints Slept. Sharon Kay Penman
4.5/5.0 - I have read several books about the later Plantagenets, this is the f..."
+10 Jumbo
+5 Oldies
From Post 441Ed wrote: "15.5 Southern Africa- Swaziland
When the Ground Is Hard by Malla Nunn
Set in Swaziland when it was still a British protectorate, this novel focuses on two girls s..."
Sorry, Ed, I show this author as Australian, so she does not qualify for Non-Western
10.1 PopularThis Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
+10 task (#38 on my 1989 list)
+ 5 oldies (1989)
Task total=15
Season total=125
10.6 Space OutGreat Stories of Space Travel by Groff Conklin
+10 task
+10 combo (10.2, 10.4)
+ 5 oldies (1963)
Task total=25
Season total=150
20.5 The Killer AngelsLong Way to Texas by Elmer Kelton
+20 task
+10 combo (10.4, 20.8)
+ 5 oldies (1976)
Task total=35
Season total=185
20.2 PrizeIdiot's Delight by Robert E. Sherwood
20 pts 20.2 Prize 1936 Drama
5 pts 20.3 Our Town
5 pts 20.10 Between the Wars see discussion thread
10 pts Review
10 pts Oldies
Written in the mid-1930s this Pulitzer prize winning play foreshadowed the beginning of a new war. A group of travellers of different Nationalities (Italian, German, French, British, US) find themselves at an Italian ski resort just as political tensions blow up and awar begins. There are some stock characters but they are more driven by occupation rather than nationality.
This play highlights the political tensions in Europe in the mid 30s and interestingly accurately predicts how different nations will align themselves during WWII. The details differ from the reality but this is remarkably prescient. It would be an interesting play to see staged today.
Task total: 50 pts
Total Season: 560 pts
10.1 10.2 … 10.4 10.5 10.6 … … … …
…15.2 … … … … …15.9 …
20.1 20.2 20.3 … … … … … … 20.9 20.10
15.7 East AsiaThe Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
+15 Task: Japan
+10 Non - Western
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 470
20.7 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WaoTime Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
+20 Task: Born in Vietnam, lives in US
+10 Combo: 10.4 Name / 20.9 Birthdays (p72 The cake on the table, air returning to the boy's pursed lips as the seven candles )
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 500
15.10 Western AsiaAli and Nino by Kurban Said
Review: This was written in the 1930s and has been compared to Romeo and Juliet, so I really never expected it to feel so modern. Ali and Nino are both beautiful characters, struggling to come to terms with the clash of east and west (Asia and Europe, Islam and Christianity, progressivism and traditionalism, horses and cars) in Azerbaijan.
Their town of Baku (and Azerbaijan in general) is at the epicenter of this change so everyone around them is struggling too - but Ali and Nino moreso. Because he's a Muslim (Shiite), she's a Christian (Greek Orthodox), and they're in love.
I appreciated that the romance was not unmuddied by the very real cultural and religious differences between Ali and Nino. Unlike Romeo and Juliet, where the star-crossed lovers just love, oblivious to the world (and their own previously-held priorities) around them, Ali and Nino work through these things and find ways to resolve their differences and their families' differences. It's still romantic. There are still intense scenes of love and violence. But the novel gives us a clear portrait of Azerbaijan along with these two lovers.
+15 Task
+10 Review
+10 Non-western
+10 Oldies (pub’d 1937)
+20 Group Project bonus (Azerbaijan)
Post total: 65
Season total: 450
Claimed to date:
- 10.2 - 10.4(x3) - - - - 10.9 -
- - - 15.4 - - - - - 15.10
20.1 20.2 - 20.4 - 20.6 - - - -
20.9 Birthdays (Kate S's Task)Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
+20 Task: p23 ... then the family supper, leftover cake.
+. 5 Combo: 10.4 Name
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 525
Kate S wrote: "From Post 432Kim wrote: "20.5 The Killer Angels (Civil Wars)
When Christ and His Saints Slept. Sharon Kay Penman
4.5/5.0 - I have read several books about the later ..."
Thank you for catching this.
10.10 Group ReadsA Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
I've never been able to really get into reading cozy mysteries, but I'm all in for Chambers' variety of cozy sci-fi. At this point, I'd read just about anything that this author writes. I loved the first three Wayfarers books (and am looking forward to reading the fourth soon). I'm excited about this new series. Chambers has a way of writing inclusive characters and thoughtful interactions that demonstrate ways of interacting that feel authentic and also nice.
This book is about friendship and the meaning of life. But it's not moralizing nor does it purport to have complete answers. Just characters stumbling about trying to figure things out for themselves.
A lovely book. I'll definitely read the next in this series when it comes out.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.4, 10.5)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 565
20.7 Oscar WaoFramed! by James Ponti
low lexile - no style points
+20 Task (born in Italy; moved to FL around age 3)
Task total: 20
Grand total: 585
15.10 Western AsiaFinding Nouf by Zoë Ferraris
"Finding Nouf" is an engaging literary mystery about the search for a missing sixteen-year-old woman from a wealthy Saudi family. Nayir, a desert guide who was raised by the Bedouin, is hired by the family to find Nouf and investigate her disappearance. Assistant medical examiner, Katya, is testing lab samples of the evidence and has close ties to the family.
The story shows the conflicts which exist in contemporary women in Saudi Arabia between traditional Islamic values and modern dreams. Traditionally, women were kept in a closed society, unable to leave the house without permission, an escort, and a burqa. They were expected to be wives and mothers. Nouf longed for more freedom even as she prepared for her upcoming wedding.
As they investigate Nouf's disappearance, conversations with Katya, who has a good education and a career, has Nayir questioning his traditional values concerning women. Nayir also feels that understanding the modern Saudi woman may help him unlock the mysteries surrounding Nouf.
Author Zoe Ferraris lived in Saudi Arabia for several years, and treats Saudi values with respect. The book was suspenseful, entertaining, and enlightening. I also enjoyed the story's wonderful sense of place in various locations in Jeddah, the marina, and the broiling hot desert.
+15 task
+10 review
Task total: 25
Season total:390
10.10 Group ReadsThe Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
800L
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.4 - RAY)
+5 Oldies (pub 1972)
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 475
20.1 PulitzerThe Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas
Dumas knows how to tell intriguing stories. The Count of Monte Cristo has always been one of my favorites. And the Three Musketeer series is epic. This is classified as "3.1" in the Musketeers series... (officially "The D'Artagnan Romances series). The Musketeers are now much more older... and not functioning as a group any longer...but they have reason to encounter one another in different situations during the reign of France's King Louis XiV. They protect the adolescent King during rebellious uprisings. Years later, they are involved (on opposite sides) of the drama of two Kings... to be explored moreso, I believe, in "3.4 Man in the Iron Mask". They are involved in the English Civil War to restore Charles II to his throne. The title character is Raoul, the son of Athos, one of the Musketeers...and he is in love with the King's mistress. So much going on...and I loved every moment of it....and I am so glad Dumas (and his son) were prolific writers because I intend to work my way through their works.
task =20
Review=10
combo= 5- (20.5*-both the English Civil War and French Rebellions are featured in the novel.)
Oldie=15 (1847)
Jumbo=10 (768p)
task total= 60
Grand Total=755
10.1; 10.2; 10.3; 10.4 (2x); 10.5; -----; 10.7; -----; -----; -----;
-----; 15.2; 15.3; -----; 15.5; 15.6; 15.7; -----; 15.9; 15.10;
20.1; -----; 20.3; 20.4; ----; 20.6; 20.7; -----; -----; -----;
20.9 BirthdaysThe Flatshare by Beth O'Leary
Tiffy has to move out of her ex's place and needs to find somewhere new to live in London, fast. Leon works nights, has a one-bedroom flat and needs money. He advertises for someone to timeshare his room, and Tiffy answers. She has the place at night and at weekends, he has it in the daytime Monday-Friday, and they have never met.
This is such a cute premise for a romance. It appealed to me also because I actually did this for a while as a student - slept in the bed of a guy who worked nights, who was a friend of a friend. But only for a short time because in real life it doesn't work too well. In the book Tiffy and Leon never get sick or take a day off work, but if you do and have nowhere to go, it's not fun.
+20 Task (Cake is frequently baked and eaten in the flat's kitchen)
+ 5 Combo (10.4)
+10 Review
Post Total = 35
Season Total = 825
20.10 Between the WarsThe Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
This is an easy read that made me long for vacation. The book brings together four near-strangers who club together to rent a castle in Italy for the month of April. All of the parts of the book that took place in Italy were lovely and I enjoyed the slow introduction of additional guests to the villa.
The parts of the book that took place in England as they dithered about whether they could really go, whether they could really afford it, and whether their husbands would mind took far too long and were rather tedious.
The narrator for the audiobook did a lovely job with the text and the accents. It made the book feel almost restful.
I see that the movie is available on Amazon Prime, so I think I'll watch that soon.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2, 20.7)
+10 Oldies (pub. 1922)
Task total: 50
Grand total: 635
20.9 BirthdaysIf I Break by Portia Moore
This starts off as a romance between two unlikeable characters. He is rich, she is poor, they are both gorgeous, a familiar trope; she yells a lot, he freezes her out and disappears. I got bored with it very fast, but I peeked ahead and saw a twist that made it worth continuing, so I did finish.
I can't honestly give it more than two stars, but I downloaded the whole series of three books in my early Kindle days, and I will probably read more to see how that twist turns out. It was my lunchtime ebook, when I need something undemanding and easy to put down. I just hope the rest isn't too drawn out (but I fear it will be).
+20 Task ("I'm going to steal a piece of this begging-me-to-eat-it cake," Hillary says)
+10 Review
Post Total = 30
Season Total = 855
20.9 BirthdaysThe Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
Lexile 660
+20 Task ("Mrs Johnson opened her sheet cake for admiration, and … they ate it with their fingers, getting icing all over themselves")
Post Total = 20
Season Total = 875
20.9 BirthdaysThe Foundling by Stacey Halls
In the mid 18th century, market trader Bess Bright goes to reclaim the child she left as a baby at the Foundling Hospital in London, only to find that another woman has already claimed her in Bess's name and has been bringing her up for the past six years. So begins Bess's quest to get her daughter back.
I listened to the audio recording and loved it. Bess's voice is particularly endearing (the narration is by two different women) but both are very good - Alexandra just has a less appealing part to play. I did think there were some unrealistic elements, especially the ending and some of the doctor's actions. But it was a charming story.
+20 Task ("She passed me a sponge cake wrapped in cloth")
+10 Review
Post Total = 30
Season Total = 905
20.9 BirthdaysThe Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis
Marcus Didius Falco is a private investigator (though he calls himself a 'private informer') in AD 70 Rome, at the beginning of the reign of Vespasian. He becomes embroiled in a mystery involving silver ingots and, seeking to avenge a death, travels to that cold, foggy outpost of the Roman empire known as Britain, where he picks up clues and a frosty lady client.
I found this difficult to get into but enjoyed it a lot more by the end. It's rather far-fetched but fun, with Falco - one of the hard-boiled school of detectives - chatting on familiar terms with senators and even the emperor. I'm looking forward to the next in the series.
+20 Task ("Sosia Camillina sat at the kitchen table gorging a piece of cinnamon cake")
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (1989)
Post Total = 35
Season Total = 940
15.9 Southeast AsiaBurma Chronicles by Guy Delisle
Set in Myanmar
+15 Task
No style points, graphic novel
Task total = 15
Season total = 320
.... ; 10.2 ; .... ; 10.4 (x2) ; .... ; 10.6 ; … ; .... ; .... ; 10.9 (x2)
.... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; 15.9 ; 15.10
.... ; 20.2 ; 20.3 ; .... ; 20.5 ; .... ; 20.7 ; .... ; 20.9 (x4) ; 20.10
20.3 Our TownHere the Whole Time by Vitor Martins
YA, no lexile
What an adorable story! I thought I would just start it before going to sleep and ended up finishing it at 2.51 am. Thank you for picking it, Ed!
+20 Task (set in "a small town where all you have to do is poke your head out a window to see half the school right there on the sidewalk.")
Post Total = 20
Season Total = 960
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde (other topics)Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde (other topics)
Your Madness, Not Mine: Stories of Cameroon (Volume 70) (other topics)
Cold Snap (other topics)
Invisible Monsters (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jeff Guinn (other topics)Jeff Guinn (other topics)
Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi (other topics)
Marc Cameron (other topics)
Chuck Palahniuk (other topics)
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2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Despite owning this book for 40+ years (as part of a set of Clarke’s books) I don’t think I’ve ever read it before. I may have started previously, as Part 1 seemed a little familiar, but didn’t finish. This time, I found the book to be much more interesting and readable. I liked it quite a lot until the last Part (6), which was a little mystical for my taste and knocked .5 of a star off of my rating.
I’ve always thought of Clarke as a writer of hard science fiction, which this would fall into, but it is not full of dull and hard to understand physics or astronomy. It is more of a low key adventure story. Since this novel was produced concurrently with the film, you can pick out the parts that would work well on film. Clarke was a towering figure in science fiction, and quite an accurate futurist. In this novel contemporary readers can easily identify much of the technology we take for granted now – eg. iPads, video-conferencing, AI (which is definitely the ‘grandfather’ of “ART” in the Murderbot books), etc. This short novel is definitely worth reading just to see it’s influence on contemporary science fiction. 3.5*
10 task
10 review
5 oldie
20 combo 10.5, 10.9, 20.7, 20.9
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45
Running total: 655