Reading with Style discussion
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SP 22 Completed Tasks
20.3 Our TownCranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo (20.1, 20.9)
+15 pts - Oldies ( 1853)
Task Total - 45 pts
20.10 Between the WarsThe Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Oldies (1934)
Task Total - 30 pts
Post 727 Bucket wrote: "10.3 ShakespeareThe Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (#222 on best endings list)
Review: The story was robust and the characters were decent, but overall I come away with..."
I'm sorry, this author has become a US citizen and does not qualify as nonwestern (author must be both born and citizen of nonwestern country for that style).
Post 729 Anika wrote: "20.1 PulitzerThe Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
The more Doyle I read, the more I realize that I really don't like him and don't find his mysteries to be pa..."
I'm sorry, Anika. The MPE for this is The Sign of Four, so doesn't qualify for 10.2.
10.4 NameEternal by Lisa Scottoline
I felt emotionally wiped out as I finished Lisa Scottoline's first novel of historical fiction. "Eternal" is set in Rome, mainly during 1937-1944, as the Italian people faced the terror of Mussolini's Facists followed by the brutal occupation by the Nazis.
Elisabetta, Marco, and Sandro were best friends during their childhood. Elisabetta is a lovely young woman who dreams of becoming a writer. Marco is charming, athletic, and a leader. Sandro is a brilliant student gifted in mathematics who lives in the Jewish Ghetto with his family. Best friends Marco and Sandro both develop feelings for Elisabetta, but she is not interested in settling down anytime soon.
The short chapters are mainly told from the points of view of the three friends, although occasionally from the perspective of a minor character. As anti-Semitic laws are passed, people who once supported Mussolini are conflicted by the injustice. When the Nazis move to eradicate the Jews, friends of Sandro and his family try to keep them safe. Scottoline included actual historical events which she deeply researched, including the roundup of over 1200 Jews with a destination of Auschwitz.
"Eternal" shows how all the members of the three families are challenged by the war, experience heartbreaking loss, and are drawn together by love and friendship. The reader can feel empathy for the Italian people caught up in terrible situations orchestrated by Mussolini and Hitler. The setting in Rome may introduce many readers to important historical events that are not as well known from World War II history. "Eternal" is a compelling historical novel that is hard to put down.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Season total: 560
20.1 PulitzerThree Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
+20 Task published 1889
+10 Oldies
Task total = 30
Season Total: 1075
10.9 Dual (Tien's Task)The Island House by Posie Graeme-Evans
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.4 - POSIE)
+200 Mega Finish
Post Total: 215
Season Total: 1,245
15.5 Southern AfricaThe Handsome Man's Deluxe Café by Alexander McCall Smith
100% Botswana
An instalment of ‘The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency’ is just what the doctor ordered (for me). If you are having some stress in your life, these books with their gentle humor and gentle approach to human foibles is just the ticket. McCall Smith has a real talent for writing ‘nice’ novels, which is not to say that bad things don’t happen, or difficult issues aren’t addressed. It is just done in a humane way that I particularly appreciate. He also writes ‘what he knows’, and his intimate knowledge of Botswana and it’s people add a lot to the novels. Here Mma Makutsi wants to expand her business concerns, and so opens a restaurant. Not surprisingly, things don’t go as smoothly as she hopes (especially when her archnemesis shows up!); but her friends rally around to help her. Mma Ramotswe has an interesting case to resolve as well. 4*
15 task
10 review
____
25
Running total: 980
20.2 PrizeThe Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
I might have truly loved this 40 or more years ago. It has pretty much everything that self would have happily read. This is billed as a story of 3-generations, but it is mostly just the third generation. Major Amberson, the grandfather, is the one who made the money and doles it out to his children, but he we see him only at the occasionaly family dinner. Isabel, his daughter is the 2nd generation. We do see more of her than the Major, but primarily in the role of mother of little Georgie Amberson Minafer.
George Amberson Minafer is a holy terror from the time we first lay eyes on him at about age 9 or so. He is nothing but a spoiled brat and his mother has made him so. The town looks forward to his getting his come-uppance. Isabel is said to love him, but it seems to me if you never tell a child "no" nor prepare the child to be a useful adult, then it isn't truly love. This is to say that Isabel is lauded and loved in the novel, but not by this reader.
I pretty much hated the ending, but I could see it was the one that had to be given the time at which it was published. I think there is a film and it is also the ending that movie-goers would have demanded. So how do I rate it? Given that the novel generated a pretty strong emotional response from me (even if that response was mostly anger), it must be worth something. But, as it *was* anger, I can find only a solid 3 stars.
+20 Task (1919, Novel)
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (10.4)
+10 Oldies (1918)
Task total = 45
Season total = 940
20.8 Texas Independence Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz
Lives in Houston area
+20 pts - Task
+15 pts - Combo ( 10.3, 10.4, 10.5)
Task Total - 35 pts
15.8 South AsiaKabul Disco by Nicolas Wild
+15 Task
Task total = 15
Season total = 455
.... ; 10.2 (x2) ; .... ; 10.4 (x2) ; 10.5 ; 10.6 ; 10.7 ; .... ; .... ; 10.9 (x2)
.... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; 15.7 ; 15.8 ; 15.9 ; 15.10
.... ; 20.2 ; 20.3 ; .... ; 20.5 ; .... ; 20.7 (x2) ; 20.8 ; 20.9 (x4) ; 20.10
15.3 Central AfricaThe Death of Comrade President by Alain Mabanckou
This book highlights for me how little I know of the Republic of Congo (i.e., Congo-Brazzaville, the former French colony). The author recognizes that his readers will know nothing, and makes an effort to have explanations of the players, politics, and history built into the story. This has the benefit of keeping the reader oriented and providing education, but it tends to break of the action and leads to long sections of exposition.
The story is told from the perspective of a twelve-year-old during the few days surrounding the assassination of the Comrade President Marien Ngouabi in March 1977. (Not to be confused with the assassination of Patrice Lumumba in 1961, who was the president of the Republic of the Congo-Kinshasa, the former Belgian colony.) In the guise of people explaining things to the protagonist, various characters (and one long radio broadcast) explain the political history of the country. At that time, the Republic of Congo (the former French colony) was the People's Republic of Congo , and was a Marxist state that lasted from 1963 until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1992.
When characters get distracted from explaining the history of the country, the reader gets glimpses of the marketplace, the interactions between different family members, and the family structure of the protagonist--living with his mother, who has become the second wife of "Papa Roger." I learned about the food, the family relations, the way that different ethnic groups interact, and other small details that brought the story to life.
Overall, I am glad to have read the book and learned about a piece of the world and a part of history about which I knew nothing.
+15 Task
+10 Non-western
+10 Review
+20 Project Bonus (Republic of Congo)
Task total: 55
Grand total: 1045
+100 Completion Bonus - 15 pt tasks
Grand total: 1145
10.9 DualCloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
First, let me say that the readers for the audiobook did an admirable job with this complicated and shifting narrative. It isn't always easy to manage a story with so many shifting timelines in audio format and I never was confused about which timeline we were in.
That said, because there are three distinct timelines and five main characters, the book took a long time to come together. As is often the case with multi-line books, there's a lot of setup and at exactly the moment you start to be interested in a story, you're yanked into a different part of the narrative. Still, the book effectively made me care about all five characters--it's hard for me to choose a favorite.
I loved the ode-to-books feel of this. The unifying theme is that all of these characters are interacting with the same ancient Greek story (the Cloud Cuckoo Land of the title). There's thoughtful discussion of the loss of knowledge that comes from the destruction/loss of texts over time. And there's something powerful about the idea that a story binds these histories together, even if it's a loose weaving.
Recommended, even for people who think they don't like fantasy. The fantasy elements here are not especially fantastical and won't take away from the beauty of the book for a non-fantasy reader.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.6)
+5 Jumbo (656p)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 1175
20.3 Our TownAnthill by Edward O. Wilson (About 85%-ish takes place in Clayville, Alabama. Not a real place, but repeatedly described as a small town and definitely has a small town feel throughout the novel.)
Review: I really wanted to love this, but I just didn't. I'm giving one star for the characters, who were interesting and realistic. The second star is for the 60+ pages of the anthill chronicles, where we get the details of the lives of the ants (and are partly in their perspective).
But the story itself is not very believable, especially the end: which includes a very unrealistic action scene, and a magically-successful solution bringing environmentalists and ultraconservatives together in the deep south. Sure.
My bigger problem though is that the style is so extremely clunky. Stilted dialogue (the whole opening scene made me cringe), the narrative perspective (omniscient? voice of character Fred Norville?) is muddled, the pace is often too fast or too slow, the level of detail is often too little or too much.
Wilson is at his best with the drama of the ants - for me, this was ultimately worth reading for that section.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Post total: 30
Season total: 660
Claimed to date:
10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4(x4) 10.5 – 10.7 - 10.9 -
- - - 15.4 - - - - - 15.10
20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 - 20.6 - - 20.9 -
15.3 Central AfricaI decided to finish the 15 point subchallenge with a classic and go on to planning for Summer. Really enjoyed this subchallenge this time. Thanks moderators!
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad set in what is now Democratic Republic of Congo and/or Republic of Congo.
Previous Points: 215
Task Points: 15
Oldies: 10 (1st pub'd 1899)
SubChallenge Completion Bonus: 100
Total Points: 340
15.8 South AsiaIndia
The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai
+15 Task
+10 Non-Western
Task total: 25
Season Total: 1100
10.3 Shakespeare The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
10 pts 10.3 Shakespeare
Task total: 10 pts
Total Season: 1080 pts
10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 … 10.8 10.9 10.10
15.1 15.2 15.3 … … 15.7 15.8 15.9 …
20.1 20.2 20.3 … … 20.6 20.7 20.8 20.9 20.10
20.7 Oscar WaoThe Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
India - US
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo (20.5 - deadly war between cousins in India, 20.8- Lives in Houston area)
Task Total - 30 pts
20.2 PrizeEmpire Falls by Richard Russo
Empire Falls is a small town in Maine, once prosperous, now in serious decline, as all of the main businesses, owned by one family, have closed down. Miles Roby came back to the town from college to be with his dying mother and has never managed to leave again. Now he barely makes a living managing the Empire Grill, his wife is divorcing him, his teenaged daughter has some worrying friends, and a local policeman he's disliked since childhood seems to be watching his every move.
This is a slow-moving book, but there's a lot bubbling under the surface, gradually coming to a boil with different revelations and repercussions for Miles, his ex-wife, his daughter, and the police. It took me a while to get into, but once I did, I was hooked.
I hesitated between 4 and 5 stars, but looking at the other books I've given 4 stars lately, this one beats them hands down, so 5 it is.
Dual timeline: Some chapters (in italics) follow a timeline from Miles's childhood
Small town: The book is set around 95% in Empire Falls and the rest in even smaller places on Martha's Vineyard.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.9, 20.3)
+50 Halfway Finish for 20 point tasks
Post Total = 90
Season Total = 1600
20.10 - Between the WarsA Dark Demise by Lisa Zumpano
+20 task - 1923
+5 Combo - 10.4
Task total: 25
Grand total: 840
20.9 - Birthday'sInformed Risk by Robyn Carr
+20 task - ... throughout the meal, through cakes and pies and ice cream and coffee...
+5 Combo - 10.4
+5 oldies - 1989
Task total: 30
Grand total: 870
10.6 Space OutThe Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi
It took me a while to get to this third book in this trilogy. After being stunned and awed by the first book, I found the second to be more of the same without the same emotional impact nor the newness of the blazing world-building that was so clever at the start. And here, I started to feel frustrated with the relentless refusal to explain anything.
The text here is so blindingly complicated that I found that I had to just skate along letting the words wash over me rather than trying to understand each word--almost like what I do in a foreign language where I have only intermediate fluency. If I tried to hard to understand all the gogols and zokus, I'd lose the thread of the plot. If I could get into the flow, I could float along, much like the disembodied characters here.
For what it's worth, I find listening to the audiobook much easier to find the flow of the text because it's easy enough to let the jargon pass by without getting tripped up. I don't think I would have finished this one in print since I just didn't care enough about the book at the halfway point. But since I had a long cooking project followed by a long drive, I finished the audio in just two days.
I'd like to read more by Rajaniemi, but I admit to finding this book much less enrapturing than the first in the trilogy.
+10 Task (it's all space flight)
+10 Review
+20 Combo (10.4, 10.5 (sentient spaceship, among other complex computer stuff), 20.4 (main character is a "gentleman thief" who goes about stealing things), 20.7 (b. Finland, now lives in California, USA)
Task total: 40
Grand total: 1215
20.5 The Killer AngelsHadji Murád by Leo Tolstoy
I am a fan of Tolstoy’s work. Here he brings to life the story of Hadji Murat, a real life (what we would call) freedom fighter from Chechnya. Tolstoy wrote this in his old age (and it is his last published work), recalling events that he experienced 50 years before. He doesn’t portray the Russian military elite in favorable terms, but equally he makes the Chechens appear as ‘real’ people, warts and all. Of course, this novella is still extremely relevant given the current Russian aggression and the not so long ago Chechnyan conflict. I didn’t realize this is one of those areas that has quite a variety of peoples and there are probably various tribal affiliations that are very complex to understand. Despite the age of the story and the complexity of the relations Tolstoy delivers a very readable tale. 3.5*
20 task
10 review
10 non-western
10 combo 10.4 20.3
______
50
Running total: 1030
20.6 The Color PurpleThe Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin
Lexile 840
+20 Task #2 Earthsea
+10 Combo 10.2, 10.7
+5 Oldies published 1970
Task total = 35
Half-way finish: 50
Mega Finish: 200
Season Total: 1385
20.2 Pulitzer PrizeThe Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family by Joshua Cohen
2022 winner
Review
Did this book fly in under the radar? I don’t remember the new book hype that many potential bestsellers seem to get. Reading the title, I wasn’t sure about it. Is it political? Is it pro-Israeli? Is it anti-Muslim? Is it Anti-Israeli or Anti-Jewish? Is it going to be heartbreaking?
Fortunately it is none of these things. In fact, I enjoyed it very much. It’s a satire! It’s funny! It’s outlandish! It’s The American Claimant, Gimpel the Fool and Lucky Jim mixed in a cake. Delicious.
The author explains at the end of the book in a section about how the book came to be. His unlikely friendship with Harold Bloom near the end of his life led to a relationship reminiscent of Tuesdays With Morrie . The author eagerly awaits for Harold Bloom to revel him with stories of his life full of adventures with and juicy gossip about our country’s best known authors, naming just about every illustrious author in modern times. A few he names out of an extensive list is Philip Roth, Susan Sontag, Anthony Burgess, Toni Morrison, Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud and so on. But the story that sticks with the author most is not about a super star author but a family who nevertheless goes on to become quite well known in years to come. Bloom was once given the task of hosting a visiting Israeli Academic at his college in the early 1960’s, who unexpectedly brings his wife and three unruly sons. This scholar was the father of future Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the PM being the middle son.
The story is based on this event in a small college town in upstate New York. The untenured professor hosting the family is Ruben Blum along with his wife and daughter. It doesn’t go well for the Blums, their home, nor their standing in the community. Aside from hilarious escapades, there are the characterizations of the faculty and staff of a small American college, the clueless assumptions about the Jewish Religion and people, the people- pleasing protagonist who can’t say no and his wife who will once pushed to far.
Although quick, fast action, and light, it still reflects the foibles of our society, college life and racism as good satire should. We sheepishly see ourselves, but can laugh about it but we are now clued in and “woke” to the other person’s viewpoint.
+20 pts - Task
+15 pts - Combo (10.2, 20.3, 20.9 - cake served at reception for visiting professor)
+10 pts - Review
Task Total - 45 pts
20.8 Texas Independence Stoner by John Williams
Born in Clarksville, TX
From one college and its politics to another only this one wasn’t funny. Sad! Made me cry at end.
+20 pts - Task
+15 pts - Combo (10.4, 20.3 - Columbia, Mo, 20.9- bride and groom cut and eat wedding cake)
+5. Pts - Oldies( 1965)
Task Total - 40 pts
20.3 Our TownThe Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
Shaun Bythell is the witty, and sometimes cranky, owner of The Bookshop, Scotland's largest second-hand book store. The shop has a beautiful location in rural Wigtown on Scotland's south-western coast. Wigtown's book festival and Writers' Retreat in autumn helps bring in tourists. Bythell tells about the pitfalls and joys of being a book store owner. Since people hibernate in the winter, the book store has to sell enough books during the other three seasons to stay in business. Online sales also help with the bottom line. Bythell notes that it is very difficult for all book stores to compete with Amazon.
When Bythell heads out in his old van to pick up boxes of books from estates, he leaves the store in the hands of Nicky or some part-time college students. Nicky has an eccentric charm, and she's known for dumpster diving to find treats in the skip behind the supermarket. The book is composed of diary entries covering one year with notes about the irritating or quirky customers that come in each day. It's always the customer who sits reading for hours, leaving piles of books on the floor, that walks out without buying anything.
The author starts each month with a quote from George Orwell's 1936 essay, "Bookshop Memories." Bythell writes:
"Bookshop Memories" rings as true today as it did then, and sounds a salutary warning to anyone as naive as I was that the world of selling second-hand books is not quite an idyll of sitting in an armchair by a roaring fire with your slipper-clad feet up, smoking a pipe and reading Gibbon's "Decline and Fall" while a stream of charming customers engages you in intelligent conversation, before parting with fistfuls of cash. In fact, the truth could scarcely be more different.
"The Diary of a Bookseller" is humorous and entertaining. It's also a reminder of how much hard work goes into running a book store.
+20 task (Wigtown has a population of around 880)
+10 combo 10.4 Name; 20.9 Birthday (dumpster diving for cakes)
+10 review
Task total: 40
Season total: 600
10.10A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Wow. What a surprising novella. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t that.
Humans colonized space, and (on one planet at least), robots woke up. No one knows why, but they did and they chose to live separately from humanity. In a frankly shocking turn, humans not only did not go to war with the robots over this, but created what seems to be a pretty utopian society.
Yet Sibling Dex is not satisfied… and it’s not because there’s something dark bubbling…. No, they are just human and humans are complicated and weird animals.
So, Dex sets out on a bit of a quest. And it is wonderful.
This book was therapy.
Be sure to settle in a comfy place with a cup of your favorite tea.
+10 task
+10 combo (10.4, 10.6)
+10 review
Task total = 30
Season total = 425
20.4 The ReiversPretty Things by Janelle Brown
One of the two main characters is a con artist & a thief
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.9 - two narrators, the timelines are not the same)
Task total = 25
Season total = 480
.... ; 10.2 (x2) ; .... ; 10.4 (x2) ; 10.5 ; 10.6 ; 10.7 ; .... ; .... ; 10.9 (x2)
.... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; 15.7 ; 15.8 ; 15.9 ; 15.10
.... ; 20.2 ; 20.3 ; 20.4 ; 20.5 ; .... ; 20.7 (x2) ; 20.8 ; 20.9 (x4) ; 20.10
10.9 Dual Les grandes oubliées : pourquoi l’histoire a effacé les femmes by Titiou Lecoq
Non-fiction about the (mostly French) History and why women are left out. It is globally chronological, but in some parts the author is going back and forth in History
+10 Task
Task Total = 10
Season total = 490
.... ; 10.2 (x2) ; .... ; 10.4 (x2) ; 10.5 ; 10.6 ; 10.7 ; .... ; .... ; 10.9 (x3)
.... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; 15.7 ; 15.8 ; 15.9 ; 15.10
.... ; 20.2 ; 20.3 ; 20.4 ; 20.5 ; .... ; 20.7 (x2) ; 20.8 ; 20.9 (x4) ; 20.10
20.8 TexasFugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
I just love Murderbot. This story isn't really number 6 in the series, but it's still a good addition to the Murderbot tales. This is a mystery/investigation set on Preservation, where Murderbot is hanging around protecting Dr. Mensha. When a dead human is found, Murderbot gets put on the investigation team trying to figure out what happened.
In this novella, Murderbot is a little less depressed and a little more used to dealing with humans and all their foibles and silly reactions to things. I love hearing his internal dialog and sarcastic talk and just found this delightful.
As always, the audiobook is a perfect format for being in the head of this character. The narrator has done a great job with all of these books. If you haven't read any of the Murderbot books, probably best to start with All Systems Red.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.5, 10.6)
Task total: 40
Grand total: 1255
10.7 Three Favorite Women These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett
Ann Patchett writes about her family and friends in this moving collection of essays. Patchett is a person who connects deeply with people and maintains relationships over the years with an interesting group of people. Top notch writing that has the narrative pull of excellent fiction while being grounded in individual friends life circumstances and challenges.
At base, Patchett makes the case for reaching out to friends and family and for recentering a hectic life on what matters most. Highly recommended.
10 pts 10.7 Three Favorite Women
5 pts 10.3 Name
10 pts Review
50 pts Halfway finish (10 pt tasks)
Task total: 75 pts
Total Season: 1155 pts
10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.8 10.8 10.9 10.10
15.1 15.2 15.3 … … 15.7 15.8 15.9 …
20.1 20.2 20.3 … … 20.6 20.7 20.8 20.9 20.10
20.5 The Killer AngelsThe Second Son by Jonathan Rabb
Ten years have gone by and the book opens with young Georg Hoffner, the eponymous second son, in Barcelona. He is filming newsreels for a British company on location to help tell the story of some German dissident athletes who want to participate in Berlin's Olympics. And then shooting breaks out and the Spanish Civil War begins.
Back in Berlin, Nikolai Hoffner is quietly removed from the police force because he is half-Jewish. Because he has served the organization for nearly 30 years, he is given full pension. Hoffner accepts the dismissal and is, perhaps, even relieved. He is worried that days have gone by and there have been no letters from Georg. Is he even still alive? Hoffner arranges with his underworld friends to take an airplane to Barcelona and try to find Georg.
I learned more about the Spanish Civil War than I'd known before and still nothing makes sense. Maybe that is more due to my observation that two political systems which are anti-freedom don't seem all that much different to me and so am uncertain why they would bother going to war against each other. Oh, of course - it's all about power, not about ideals. At least at the top it's definitely about power whereas the little guys are passionate about their ideals and willing - too willing - to die for them.
Rabb's writing style appeals to me. His characterization of Nikolai Hoffner is superb, as is his depiction of the period. The first two in the series were post-WWI Berlin and then Berlin pre-Hitler. Rabb's research was obviously thorough and he was able to give us more than a hint of both a sense of place and time. He has other stand alone novels and I look forward to them. This, however, was not my favorite of the trilogy, though still a solid 4-stars.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2, 20.10)
Task total = 40
+50 Halfway finish
Season total = 1030
10.8 Ukraine Has Not Yet PerishedSolaris by Stanisław Lem
Kris Kelvin arrives on the planet Solaris where three men have been studying a possibly sentient ocean, to find one of the men dead and the other two behaving very strangely. Soon a ghost from Kelvin's past appears as if conjured from his memories, and refuses to leave.
The menacing atmosphere is brilliantly done at the start, but after the halfway point it is diluted by pages of fake science, and the story started to seem farcically like the Stepford Wives in space. (view spoiler) I wonder if this is where Ira Levin got the idea?
+10 Task (author born in Ukraine)
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.6, 20.7 approved in help thread)
+50 Halfway Finish for 10 point tasks
Post Total = 80
Season Total = 1680
20.9 BirthdaysVenus in Copper by Lindsey Davis
Third in the series featuring Marcus Didius Falco, a private investigator in ancient Rome. Marcus is hired by a 'family' of business associates to protect one of their number who is about to marry a woman who has buried at least three rich husbands already. Almost at once the man is poisoned, and his fiancée turns the tables by hiring Falco to prove her innocent.
This is a series where the main characters, Falco and Helena, are more appealing for me than the crime plots. Not sure if I will read more - certainly not for a while, I think.
There is cake aplenty in this book. A cake seller is one of the characters - Falco pays him several visits and comes away with some of his wares each time, consuming them with relish. There’s even a poisoned cake…
+20 Task
+10 Review
Post Total = 30
Season Total = 1710
10.7 Three Favorite WomenBreathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
This entire books takes place in one strange day.
It starts with a fender bender on the way to a funeral and ends with an unexpected visit with a whole lot of weirdness in between.
At first I wasn't sure if I was actually enjoying this book...it was so bizarre yet at the same time nothing was actually happening.
As the book progresses, we realize that we're seeing the inside of a marriage that on its surface seems solid and boring but you come to realize that both Ira and Maggie have a completely different idea of that marriage.
It was a fascinating character study and while I still think it was a strange ride, I ended up enjoying it a great deal.
+10 Task, on the Margaret Atwood Lit Map
+10 Review
+5 Oldies
+15 Combo: 10.4; 20.2, Pulitzer for Fiction 1989; 20.9, "Serena brought a cake and after practice she passed out slices, along with paper cups of ginger ale, and everyone sang 'Happy Birthday.'"
+50 Halfway Bonus
Task total: 90
Season total: 1215
From Post 658Bucket wrote: "10.5 Database Anniversary
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (Computers are a focus as the tool used to program and set parameters for “opening the net” to send people back..."
+5 Combo 20.9
From Post 706Sue wrote: "10.3 Shakespeare
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
+10 task
+10 combo 10.4 name,,10.7 three favorite women
Post total: 20
Season total: 555"
+15 Oldies
+5 Combo 20.6
From Post 714Bucket wrote: "10.1 Popular
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer (I used 1997 – it’s #7.)
Review: Krakauer is a fantastic writer. He knows ho..."
+10 Combo 10.2, 10.4
From Post 729Anika wrote: "20.1 Pulitzer
The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
The more Doyle I read, the more I realize that I really don't like him and don't find his mysteries to be pa..."
+10 Oldies
From Post 734Norma wrote: "20.10 - Between the Wars
A Secret Agenda: A Lillie Mead Historical Mystery by Lisa Zumpano
+20 task - 1923
+5 Combo - 10.4
Task total: 25
Grand total: 785"
+5 Combo 10.2
From Post 738Jayme wrote: "10.6 Space out
Acorna: The Unicorn Girl
Story takes place on a spaceship and on a fictional planet Kezdet.
Task +10
Total points: 315"
+5 Oldies
+5 Combo 10.4
10.2 EasterUnder the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer
I wanted to reread this before watching the new Hulu series, but it ended up being a concurrent situation...
This is part true crime, part history, and entirely engaging.
Brenda Wright Lafferty and her 18-month-old daughter were violently murdered in their home. This happened 8 miles from where I was living at the time, but I didn't know about it at all (considering I was only 10, that makes sense...I had no idea about anything except for which Garbage Pail Kids stickers I was missing and how much I hated sharing a room with my sister).
I do, however, remember the big hullabaloo surrounding the release of this book. I remember the Church strongly discouraging its members from reading it--both from the pulpit and the nightly news.
The first time I read this I thought, "Why was the Church freaking out? This is all about the FLDS, a break off sect that has nothing to do with mainstream Mormonism!" This time around, it's easier to see why they were concerned.
Krakauer did an amazing job, combining the true crime story and giving us well-researched background into how and why it happened. I think the only thing I was still hankering for by the end was a view from the law enforcement's end on how they cracked the case (I read and listen to so much true crime that I've come to expect that viewpoint)--but that's what the Hulu series is attempting to do so my true crime itch is getting scratched there.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo, 10.4
Task total: 25
Season total: 1250
20.9The Fairy Godmotherby Mercedes Lackey
"They ate cake with their tea." p 150
Task +20
Grand total 345
10.5 Database AnniversaryThe Kraken Project by Douglas Preston
+10 task
Post total: 10
Season total: 600
20.10 - Between the WarsMurder in the Snow by Verity Bright
+20 task - 1920 - 1921
+10 Combo (20.3, 20.9 - ... sloe gin and walnut and plum cake ...)
+5 missed combo post 734
Task total: 35
Grand total: 915
10.4 NameEve AND Calendars by Annie Finch
(two books of poetry)
Eve
Part of my effort this year to read more poetry. This collection focuses on female creation stories and goddesses from different cultures/traditions. I enjoyed this collection, but didn't love it. None of the poems made me want to drag someone in to hear the poem read aloud. Still, as a whole, the collection was quietly powerful and I was left with a feeling that I'd touched on some deep thoughts on feminine view. Just what I needed in the days after hearing that the Supreme Court is very likely overturning Roe v. Wade.
Calendars
I had the distinct idea reading this book that I was missing the point somehow. There were moments of images that made me pause, but the rhythm that the author was clearly trying to evoke never quite solidified for me. If I knew more about poetry, if I understood better the conversations these poems are having, I think I'd have liked them. Even loved some of them. As it was, they felt inaccessible to this relatively unschooled poetry reader.
I read some of these out loud with my daughter, who's final statement was, "Maybe you should get a different book of poems that are less dark." I think that about sums up my reading experience with these poems.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 1275
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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)
More...
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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The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
Set in Kyiv
Task: 10
Combo: 5- 20.2- won Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 1967
Oldies: 5 - published in 1966
Post total: 20
Season total: 220