Reading with Style discussion
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SP 22 Completed Tasks
15.7 East Asia JapanThe Samurai's Wife by Laura Joh Rowland
15 pts East Asia Japan
10 pts Review
Set in feudal Japan, this mystery finds Sano in Miyako (modern Kyoto) working eith his wife Reiko to solve a murder at the Emperor’s court. Although the existance of a shogun in Edo and a powerless, figure head Emperor underlies the mystery, the political situation is not well explained which makes it difficult for the reader to get into the story. There are lots of red herrings and a grudging alliance between Sano and his nemesis in the Shogun’s court. Solid mystery, but not a must read.
Task total: 25 pts
Total Season: 620 pts
10.1 10.2 … 10.4 10.5 10.6 … … … 10.10
…15.2 … … … 15.7 …15.9 …
20.1 20.2 20.3 … … … … … … 20.9 20.10
20.3 Our TownMontana 1948 by Larry Watson
In 1948 my father was serving his second term as sheriff of Mercer County, Montana. We lived in Bentrock, the county seat and the only town of any size in the region. In 1948 its population was less than two thousand people. So begins this very short novel. David is looking back at the summer of his 12th year.
I chose to read this at this time because I was ready for some 'feel good' time. David loves the outdoors. His horse is stabled at his grandfather's ranch out of town and he enjoys fishing with his friends in the streams nearby. It seems such an idyllic age and place and I had no sense of foreboding. What is the admonition about advertising? If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Short novels, like short stories, tend to be strong on characterization and this is no exception. If I were to make a comparison as to writing style, I might choose Kent Haruf, but perhaps I found them similar because of the small town setting. Watson is not Haruf, though I will probably think of them together. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon Watson, but I'm glad I did. Despite it's being such a short novel, I think this deserves 5-stars. Now I'm off to see what else of his to put on my over-burdened wish list.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (10.4)
+ 5 Oldies (pub'd 1993)
Task total = 40
Season total = 750
Quick points note/question - I had posted books from Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series in posts 60, 284, 453, and 454 -- and only just discovered that she qualifies for 20.7! Could I add those 20 combo points, bringing my total to 360?
Thanks!
Katy wrote: "Quick points note/question - I had posted books from Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series in posts 60, 284, 453, and 454 -- and only just discovered that she qualifies for 20.7! Could I add t..."
Kate will take care of it next time she does scoring.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 589 Rosemary wrote: "10.4 NameDate Me, Bryson Keller by Kevin van Whye
Low lexile
+10 Task
Post Total = 10
Season Total = 1180"
This isn't listed as YA at BPL. He qualifies as Nonwestern. Let us know if you see combos."
Thanks! I don't see any combos (there is no cake!) and I don't have time to write a review, but I will gladly take the Nonwestern points.
Season total = 1190
10.1 PopularThe Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
For eleven days in 1962, Agatha Christie disappeared. When she was finally found and until the end of her life, she maintained that she didn't remember anything about that time. Nina de Gramont takes those days and imagines a false history that seems entirely feasible while also incorporating a mystery worthy of anything that Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot ever encountered. While parts of it were told from different points of view--Agatha, her philandering husband Archie, a police inspector searching for Agatha--most of it is told from the point of view of Nan, Archie's mistress.
I enjoyed this book SO MUCH--I think the only think I was left wanting was an afterword from the author, discussing what IS actually known about the incident in contrast to what she invented.
Absolutely recommended.
+10 Task, #24 on my 2022 list
+10 Review
+10 Combo: 10.4, 20.10
Task total: 30
Season total: 835
10.2 EasterThe Truth About Food: The Anti Atkins Diet by Sidney Harris
+10 Task
Post Total = 10
Season Total = 1200
10.4 NameEveryone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily R. Austin
Gilda is an anxious wreck. She's so busy overthinking everything, her life has rather gotten away from her: she ends up working as a receptionist for a priest even though she's a lesbian atheist; she unwittingly ends up dating a man; (view spoiler) It's equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking being inside of her head, hearing the obsessive thoughts swimming around in her brain. A lot of other readers were comparing her to Eleanor Oliphant and I can see that, yet she's completely different. Millennial anxiety has a different flavor altogether, I've realized as seeing my niece struggle with it and this book caught that perennial angst. I enjoyed it but felt it was just okay--until the final pages which reduced me to a blubbering mess and it really came together.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo: 10.2, 20.9 "Barney shovels more lemon cake into his mouth."
Task total: 30
Season total: 865
10.2 Easter
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel
+10 task
Task total=10
Season total=280
Post 611 Denise wrote: "10.4 NameThe Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel
+10 task
Task total=10
Season total=280"
This has too many letters for 10.4, but we can score it for 10.2.
Argh, that is what I meant, no idea why I used 10.4. Thanks.
20.3 Our TownCorrag by Susan Fletcher
Susan Fletcher's poetic prose is such a joy to read as she brings Corrag, an accused witch, to life on the pages of this novel. Set in the beautiful Scottish Highlands in 1692, it tells the story of the Massacre of Glencoe by the soldiers loyal to William of Orange. The MacDonald clan of Glencoe had supported the return of King James, the Stuarts, and Catholicism. However, they reluctantly signed a loyalty oath to William to keep their clan safe--but signed six days late. After several weeks as the guests of the MacDonald clan, William's men rose up and slaughtered the MacDonalds. Corrag warned many of the Glencoe residents so they were able to escape. The British soldiers were angry that the whole clan was not killed so they arrested Corrag. The MacDonald clan was especially notorious for thieving cattle, hens, coins, and leather so the soldiers wished to destroy them.
The book opens with Corrag sitting in a squalid prison cell a few weeks before she is scheduled to burn as a witch. An Irish papist, Charles Leslie, interviews her to get material for his pamphlets. Corrag agrees to talk to him if he'll listen to the story of her life. In lyrical prose Corrag tells how she escaped from England on a fast horse after her mother was hung, and arrived at a place of incredible natural beauty--Glencoe. Corrag appreciates both the majestic mountains and the small wonders of nature. She found acceptance as a natural healer, a special relationship, and relative peace in her new surroundings.
The book alternates Corrag's story with Charles Leslie's letters home to his wife. Corrag yearns to be remembered through her words, and a remarkable friendship is formed. Readers who love literary fiction and the beauty of nature will appreciate this novel.
+20 task
+ 5 combo 10.4 Name
+10 review
Task total: 35
Season total: 480
10.5 Database AnniversaryReady Player Two by Ernest Cline
I absolutely adored Ready Player One--its '80s nostalgia, its inventiveness, its game-like plot so similar to a quest-type game like Legend of Zelda or The Battle of Olympus...games I loved when I was little. I had such high hopes for the sequel and sadly felt rather let-down. Wade, the main character, has become such a jerk (was he always? he might have been...I was rather intent on seeing how they were going to complete the quest and not so much on the character's qualities) in this book, just infinitely unlikable. The quests he ends up going on are...okay-ish.
Such a disappointment: when I finished Ready Player One I was hoping for more--but this was not the "more" I was hoping for.
+10 Task, everything happens in the OASIS, a virtual computer-based reality
+10 Review
+5 Combo: 20.8, author lives in Austin, TX
Task total: 25
Season total: 890
10.6 Space OutProject Hail Mary by Andy Weir
I really loved The Martian, but Project Hail Mary eclipsed that handily. Wow...just: wow.
Ryland Grace wakes up and doesn't know where he is, doesn't know his own name, doesn't know much of anything other than there's a computer talking to him and robotic arms are moving him around. The computer voice starts asking him questions and with the questions, his brain starts answering things that he doesn't "know". He realizes he's in space, the Earth is in danger, and he's the only person who has a chance of saving it.
As in The Martian, this book is filled with sound science and hypothetical scientific thought that seems sound...
(view spoiler)
I would definitely recommend the audiobook--there were parts that I have no idea how they could possibly be conveyed in print.
This was SO GOOD!
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo, 10.4
Task total: 25
Season total: 915
20.5 The Killer AngelsConfederates by Thomas Keneally
+20 Task
+5 Oldies (pub 1979)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 610
20.9 Birthdays (Kate S's Task)The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld
"'Perhaps I will have a small piece of cake after all', she said...."
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.4, 10.9)
Points this post: 30
Season Total: 305
10.1 10.2 .... 10.4 .... .... .... .... 10.9 ....
.... .... 15.3 .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
20.1 .... 20.3 .... 20.5 .... 20.7 20.8 20.9 .....
20.10 - Between the WarsThe Artist Colony by Joanna FitzPatrick
+20 task - 1924
+5 Combo - 20.9 - Later, in the parlor, Rosie served gingerbread cake and passed around a tray of sherry.
Task total: 25
Grand total: 605
10.10 Group ReadsA Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Goodness, this is a charming book – which seems like an odd thing to say about a book that takes place in a post-collapse world on a moon of a minor planet with humans and sentient robots. I am another big fan of Chambers writing. I really liked the elements she brought to this story, ranging from cultural, to spiritual, to environmental, to moral issues. It is a small story of a person on a quest, and I found many things about it thought-provoking and meaningful. I also really like that Chambers tries very hard to make her stories inclusive. The main character here has no gender (their choice); and her other books have been equally inclusive. I also can’t wait for the next instalment. 5*
10 task
10 review
10 combo 10.4, 10.6
_____
30
Running total: 810
20.3 our townCaramel Pecan Roll Murderby Joanne Fluke
Task + 20 It takes place in Lake Eden, a fictional small town in Minnesota not far from Minneapolis.
Combo + 5 birthdays "The cakes for the lunch buffet were cooling." p 80
Grand total 265
10.8 Ukraine Has Not Yet PerishedLast Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II by Svetlana Alexievich
+10 Task author born in Ukraine
+5 Combo 20.9 p259 As a gift, they promised to bake us a huge cake.
+10 Non-Western
+5 Oldies published 1985
Task total = 30
Season Total: 805
20.8 Texas Independence (Rebekah's Task)Greenwich Killing Time by Kinky Friedman
I'm disappointed. From everything I had ever heard about Kinky Friedman, I had expected to enjoy his series of mysteries. At first I thought I would like this one. His humor is off-beat and reminiscent of the Serge Storms series which I truly relish. But here...the jokes were constantly interfering with the flow of the story. The story, I thought, uninteresting. And the jokes about women, gays and bisexual people just not funny...even making 'allowances' for a book published in 1986. Kinky is not only the author...but also the main character...trying to solve a series of murders in New York's Greenwich Village. His sidekicks(?) were never really depicted well...or maybe I lost interest. The big resolve...a big yawn. ugh!
task =20
Review=10
combo= 5- (10.4)
Oldie=5 (1986)
task total= 40
Grand Total=900
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; 20.2; 20.3; 20.4; ----; 20.6; 20.7; 20.8; 20.9; -----;
20.3 Our TownCranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Much like Seinfeld, the TV show about nothing, Cranford could be billed as the book about nothing --- "nothing" being the mundane items of interest in everyday life. The book was originally printed as episodes and it shows - one or two chapters at a time were sufficient. Sisters Matty and Deborah are single women living in Victorian times. One of them passes away and the other is left to live with memories of the past, often sad ones, as well as the loneliness and the struggle to exist while maintaining composure as dictated by society. Overall, the tone was more sad than witty. In the end though, Miss Matty's kind spirit is appreciated and everything works out. This was my first Elizabeth Gaskell novel - it was okay.
+20 Task (set in fictional small town of Cranford)
+10 Combo 20.1, 20.9*
+15 Oldies
+10 Review
Task Total: 55
Season Total: 465
*Chapter VII-Visiting: "However, Mrs Jamieson was kindly indulgent to Miss Barker’s want of knowledge of the customs of high life; and, to spare her feelings, ate three large pieces of seed-cake, with a placid, ruminating expression of countenance, not unlike a cow’s."
15.5 Southern AfricaSouth Africa
Ways of Dying by Zakes Mda
+15 Task
+10 Non Western
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 750
20.1 PulitzerKing Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
+20 Task
+10 Oldies (1885)
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 780
20.8 Texas IndependenceMatecumbe by James A. Michener
Cake-"Don't take too long," Melissa giggled, feeling the effects of a day dominated by champagne, white wine, and wedding cake." pg.153
+20 task (died in Austin, Texas, 1997)
+15 combo (10.4, 10.9-two timelines, one from the past and one in the present-from GR description: "Focusing on the parallel lives of a woman and her mother, both divorced", 20.9)
Task total=35
Season total=315
Task 20.3 Our TownIn honor of the 1938 drama winner, read a book set at least 80% in a small town. The town can be in any country.
Novel set in the small town of New River Junction in Michigan.
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls (2019) by Anissa Gray (Hardcover, 294 pages)
+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.4 “Gray”)
Task Total: 20 + 05 = 25
Grand Total: 370 + 25 = 395
Post 628 Deedee wrote: "Task 20.3 Our TownIn honor of the 1938 drama winner, read a book set at least 80% in a small town. The town can be in any country.
Novel set in the small town of New River Junction in Michigan.
..."
Sorry, Deedee. 10.4 is for a first name. However, this qualifies for 10.2, so your score is the same.
20.6 The Color PurpleThe Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend
There was a task back in Fall 2020, "BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime was first broadcast in 1949. The programme is still aired every weekday evening and presents abridged readings of fiction from classic novels to contemporary bestsellers. Read a book that appears on this list of books featured on Book at Bedtime," that I still think about. I loved that task and I loved everything I've read off of the list of suggested books.
When looking at the list for this task, the first book that popped out at me was The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4, which I remembered from the BBC Book at Bedtime list. I was curious what was so good about it...
I actually quite enjoyed this. It was filled with quintessential British humor, gives you an interesting snapshot of history (the Falklands War, Diana and Charles' wedding, the economic slump and massive unemployment under Maggie Thatcher), and reminds you how really brutal it is being 13/14. It was a quick and easy read that made me chuckle.
+20 Task
+10 Task
+5 Oldies (pub 1982)
+15 Combo: 10.2, 10.4, 20.9 "Mr. Lucas came for dinner and stayed for tea. He ate three slices of the black forest cake."
Task total: 50
Season total: 965
20.9 BirthdaysThe Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths
A routine archaeological excavation in Norwich unearths the body of a child buried beneath the doorway of a former children's home.
This is the second book in the crime series featuring archaeologist Ruth Galloway and Chief Inspector Harry Nelson, and I really enjoyed it. It's a few years since I read the first one, but I felt the characters and style had developed well. As for the plot, it's a little hard to believe that there would be another unrelated dead body at an archaeology site so soon after the one in the previous book, but reading them several years apart helps with that.
Cake: "Ruth eats a slice of chocolate cake and wonders what the hell they are going to talk about all evening."
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo (10.4)
+10 Review
Post Total = 35
Season Total = 1235
15.9 Southeast AsiaSingapore
Aunty Lee's Delights by Ovidia Yu
+15 Task
+10 Non-Western
Task total: 25
Season Total: 830
10.3 ShakespeareDeath on the Nile by Agatha Christie
The body count really racked up in this excellent Agatha Christie mystery. I loved the build up with the introduction to all of the characters and essentially a "locked room" mystery since the murders are all happening on a cruise boat. This was a great book to listen to as an audiobook because it allowed me to just go with the flow of the story without trying to really analyze the clues or figure out the "solution" in advance.
David Suchet, the narrator for this version of the audiobook, did a nice job of differentiating different characters. I understand that he's the voice of Hercule Poirot on TV, so listeners who have watched "Mystery" will be familiar with his accent/intonation. I found the Belgian accent a little bit distracting, but I understand that it's part of the character.
Now I need to have a movie marathon to watch the 1978 version and the 2022 version. I think both can be found on streaming services.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.10)
+10 Oldies (pub. 1937)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 810
20.10 - Between the WarsAn Unfortunate End by Lisa Zumpano
+20 task - 1919
+10 Combo (10.4, 20.9 - ...Harry replied, reaching for a slice of lemon cake.)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 635
15.1 Northern AfricaMidaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz
100% Cairo, Egypt
I enjoyed this ‘slice of life’ novel about the inhabitants of Midaq Alley. Midaq Alley in Cairo is a down at heel alley where poor people live and work. It is a small (or at least seems to be) alley where everyone knows everyone else’s business. The story takes place during WW2 and some of the people of the alley are happy to profit from the war, either by working for the British Army or via the black market. The way Mahfouz writes bout the characters makes them memorable. I felt most empathetic for Abbas, who is a simple/innocent man who gets caught up in (life?) events he doesn’t have the capacity to understand. It is a book of it’s time (late 1940s) so Mahfouz seems more sympathetic to Kirsha’s (a man) sins than to Hamida’s (a woman) decision. I didn’t find her decision that hard to understand, although there probably was some naivete involved. Overall, a very readable and interesting novel. 4*
15 task
10 review
10 non-western
5 oldie
_____
40
Running total: 860
15.8 South AsiaPakistan
Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal
Review
A delightful romp in modern Pakistan in this retelling of P+P. It is amazingly adaptable.
I do wonder if the naming conventions in this book sounds authentic to Pakistan. I noted author adapted names so still similar to the original but with Pakistani twist and even made it sounds ridiculous with "Lydia" and "Fitzwilliam" names in it. I won't share what their names are in this novel and the backgrounds because they are in themselves worth reading and laughing over. I must admits that Indonesians too have this foible.
"Elizabeth" herself is a lot more blunt and totally firey which, in modern perspective, is a bit more acceptable and forgivable, though there is still a line she must toes. After all, she is only a woman...
The only thing I wasn't too keen of is that everything appears to be set out for readers (ie. no need to read between the lines) though it was interesting to read author's perspective on P+P too since that's basically what they are.
Loved this line which is one of the last lines in the book:
"MOTHERS IN DILIPABAD AND OTHER '-ABADS', '-PURS', AND '-ISTANS' ACROSS PAKISTAN, TO THEIR DAUGHTERS: If Alys Binat and Jena Binat at their advanced ages can grab such catches, then you have no excuses."
+15 Task
+20 Project Bonus
+10 Review
Post Total: 45
Season Total: 655
20.3 Our townHello, Summer by Mary Kay Andrews
+20 task - small town read
+5 combo 10.4 given name 4 letters
Post total: 25
Season total: 445
Completion Bouns # 1 Half way20.1 The Harvester by Gene Stratton-Porter
20.2 Less by Andrew Sean Greer
20.3 Hello, Summer by Mary Kay Andrews
20.4 The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
20.5 Sisters of the Confederacy] by Lauraine Snelling
20.6 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo
Ishiguro
20.7 Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration by Felipe Fernández-Armesto
20.8 A Bone to Pick by Charlaine Harris
20.9 Prairie Tale: A Memoir by Melissa Gilbert
20.10 Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo
+50 task
Post total: 50
Season total: 495
20.8 TexasCast Away: Poems for Our Time by Naomi Shihab Nye
I chose this book because I have a fond memory of working with this author as an artist-in-residence at my elementary school. She even published one of my poems from that workshop in a collection of children's poetry that she edited. I found her lovely and great with children and I've always loved the fact that I was encouraged to write poetry in elementary school.
There were a few poems in this collection that really worked and managed to be both linguistically beautiful or interesting while also delivering an emotional punch. There were many that had an interesting moment or image. And there were some that didn't really move me at all.
Overall, I think this is pitched at younger readers and should be accessible to middle school and high school readers. There's strong overall messages that people aren't trash, children should be loved, that we have lives that are too busy and too full of stuff, and that we should be better at making sure that we are good caretakers of the planet.
+20 Task (Author lives in San Antonio)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.4)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 845
+50 - Halfway finisher for 20-point tasks
Grand total: 895
From Post 553Tien wrote: "20.4 The Reivers
Captain Thunderbolt and His Lady: The True Story of Bushrangers Frederick Ward and Mary Ann Bugg by Carol Baxter
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.4 - CAROL)
..."
+5 Combo 10.2
From Post 562Deedee wrote: "Task 20.5 The Killer Angels
Read any book having to do with a Civil War.
The Training Ground: Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Davis in the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (2008) by [author:Martin ..."
+5 Combo 10.2
From Post 566Lagullande wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 459 Lagullande wrote: "20.7 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
+20 Task (USA->UK)
+5 Co..."
Done
From Post 579Sue wrote: "20.6 The Color Purple
The Remains of the Dayby Kazuo Ishiguro
+20 task
+5 combo 10.4 given name 5 letters
+0 personal :) on my Booker Prize list I am working on.
Post t..."
+10 Combo 10.2, 20.7
+5 Oldies
From Post 588Sue wrote: "15.8 South Asia (India)
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
+15 Task (another Booker Prize winner down:))
Post total: 15
Season total: 420"
+10 Non-Western
From Post 599Anika wrote: "re post 435 20.8 Texas Independence
Queen of Dreams by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I'd like to move that book to 20.7 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, please. No change in points.
Thank you!"
Done
Katy wrote: "Quick points note/question - I had posted books from Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series in posts 60, 284, 453, and 454 -- and only just discovered that she qualifies for 20.7! Could I add t..."
These should be reflected in the Readerboard through post 600
10.2 EASTERThe Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers
If you've read the other books in the Wayfarers universe and liked them, this is more of the same comfort-sci-fi that Chambers does so, so well. If you've read the other books in the Wayfarers series and found them boring or cheesy, well, this is more of the same.
Chambers is at her best when she writes characters struggling to understand each other through differences in culture/background/species/gender/appearance/etc. By making all these characters aliens of different types, Chambers can quietly advocate for being better--the characters all have internal strategies for not taking things personally, for trying to understand difference, and for trying to be honest without being a jerk. She presents these monologues in a way that's just charming enough to take the edge off the social commentary underlying the whole Wayfarers universe.
I'm absolutely a fan and find these books such a nice breath of fresh air in these times when I often feel beaten down by the actual dialogues that are happening in our actual world. I like fantasizing about a future Star Trek universe in which a bunch of different people/aliens are all learning to work together.
I'll read anything Chambers writes at this point.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.4, 10.6)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 925
10.10 Group ReadWhen All Is Said by Anne Griffin
+10 task
+5 combo 10.4 name 4 letters
Post total: 15
season total: 510
20.3 Our TownA Charmed Life: Growing Up in Macbeth's Castle by Liza Campbell
Shakespeare used Cawdor Castle for the scene of the murder of King Duncan by Macbeth. He took some artistic liberties since the castle was not even built at that time. But Cawdor Castle has been the site of other Scottish historical events since it was constructed in 1454.
When author Liza Campbell's grandfather died in 1970, her father Hugh became the 25th Thane of Cawdor. The family moved from a happy home on a Welsh estate to a difficult life in Cawdor Castle. Hugh fell under the spell of alcohol and drugs. He became violent, crashed expensive sports cars on a regular basis, had a series of extramarital affairs, and mismanaged money. While he could be charming at times, his family often walked on eggshells. It's a wonder that his wife survived his physical and emotional abuse. After never having the discipline of a 9 to 5 job, Hugh seemed overwhelmed by the responsibilities of running the estate. He died in 1990, leaving some surprises in his will.
Campbell's dry wit keeps this memoir entertaining while the reader wonders what psychological scars have been left on Hugh's five children. The author incorporated Scottish history and legends into the memoir, as well as a look into the lifestyle of the upper class. While we may think of life in a castle as a fairy tale, this memoir is a reminder that some fairy tales are dark and dangerous.
+20 task (Cowdor population 560 in 2011)
+ 5 combo 10.4 Name
+10 review
Task total: 35
Season total: 515
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Reading with Style
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American War by Omar El Akkad
I wanted to like this book better than I actually did. I'm having a hard time identifying exactly what was wrong here--somehow the story just never felt believable enough. The book posits a near-future second civil war. This time, climate change has moved the coastlines and caused the US capital to move inland (to Columbus). And the South doesn't want to stop using fossil fuels, so decides to quit the Union.
I just never believed the fossil fuel vs. solar energy debate was enough to drive the new war. The book wants to use this as a stand-in for slavery, but skirts around and hardly touches any discussion of race at all. It wasn't clear to me if this was because the author is suggesting some sort of post-racial society or if it was a deliberate choice to leave it out.
Also, the story is basically the biography of a young girl who becomes radicalized and becomes a rabid pro-south insurrectionist/terrorist. Again, I never could quite believe her strength of feeling. I guess part of the point is that people find themselves fighting for causes they don't really understand, but it made the whole story feel pretty distant.
But despite never quite believing the story, the action was driving the book and I wanted to know what would happen next. I was fascinated by the idea of tribalism to the point of absurdity. One character late in the book sums it up: "In this part of the world, right and wrong ain't about who wins, or who kills who. In this part of the world, right and wrong ain't even about right and wrong. It's about what you do for your own."
In the end, I'm not sorry I read this one, but I'm not enthusiastically recommending it either.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+15 Combo (10.4, 20.6, 20.7)
Task total: 45
Grand total: 775