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Reading with Style discussion
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SP 22 Completed Tasks
10.2 EasterSailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins
+10 task
+5 combo 10.4
Task total: 15
Grand total: 115
20.9 BirthdaysAn Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire
+20 Task The book begins and ends with birthday cake
Task total = 20
Season Total: 95
20.10 Between the WarsCairo Modern by Naguib Mahfouz
+20 Task
+10 Oldies published 1945
+10 Non-Western
Task total = 40
Season Total: 135
20.1 PulitzerOur Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Holy Deception, Batman! :) The GR description lists 30+ characters and almost every one of them is playing a part - for better or for worse. Dickens really slammed Victorian "high" society and not in a subtle way. The main plot is that a wealthy man made a fortune in the landfill (dust pile) business and willed it to his son on the condition that he marry a woman he has never met. After the second chapter - a boring dinner party - I didn't think I would make it through the book - but it got better, much better. Dickens' novels usually have a memorable villain or two, but this book had many and from various classes. Recommend reading this without putting it aside and attempting to resume and also try to find a YouTube or other read-along - that helped me immensely. Five stars but this one didn't top my sentimental favorite David Copperfield.
+20 Task (1865)
+10 Combo 20.6, 20.9*
+15 Jumbo (801 pages)
+15 Oldies
+10 Review
Task Total: 70
Season Total: 70
*Chapter 10 - wedding cake "Splendid cake, covered with Cupids, silver, and true-lovers' knots" and the cutting of the cake:"...the splendid cake when cut by the fair hand of the bride has but an indigestible appearance. However, all the things indispensable to be said are said, and all things indispensable to be done are done..."
10.4 NameThe Judge's List by John Grisham
This was...a John Grisham book, through and through! Lots of action, not amazingly well written but enjoyable. I read the first in the series (though I think it ends with this second installment) and was curious to know what's next, in a purely plot-driven way. The storyline follows Lacy, who works in Florida's BJC, investigating complaints against judges in the state. In this particular complaint, the judge is a serial killer. It's quite a leap for the BJC team, whose usual work involves judges who might be corrupt, or drinking too much. This was a somewhat underwhelming, but fast-paced read. It's a perfect airplane read but I'm not sure I'd seek it out otherwise.
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 55
10.7 3 Favorite WomenCity of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin
she was on Toni Morrison's map
I was mentioning to my husband last night how pleasurable it was to read Le Guin again. I read quite a few of her novels when I was young, but rarely seem to make time for her work lately. This novel has reminded me I need to get back to her oeuvre.
This is the type of science fiction I particularly enjoy. It makes you think. In this case, Le Guin makes you think about the idea of truth vs lies. This is one of her earlier novels, and apparently she was later unhappy that she didn’t make the villains evil enough. This was actually one of the things I enjoyed about the story, the subtlety of the villains is like a life lesson in treachery. Just because someone doesn’t ‘seem’ to be bad doesn’t mean they are good. What exactly is an illusion? You need to think for yourself, just as the protagonist does here.
There are many interesting ideas Le Guin touches on, including: feminism, misogyny, mind control (using various methods), and of course truth vs lies. An easy 4*
10 task
10 review
5 oldie
_____
25
Running total: 235
15.9-MyanmarHarp of Burma by Michio Takeyama
Apparently this book has become a bit of a Japanese classic. It is a bit unusual... a book by a Japanese author written in the 1950s which is critical of Japan's actions in World War II and specifically in what was then known as Burma (now Myanmar.) The story occurs just as the war has ended.....the Japanese are being routed in Burma.... and some troops haven't even heard yet that the Emperor has surrendered. The story centers around a heroic figure, Mizushima Yasuhiko, who volunteers to contact a group of Japanese who are still fighting...to urge them to lay down arms since the British have promised to repatriate the POWs. He survives that mission but discovers so many Japanese casualties...that he decides he must honor them by burying them properly...which means he will stay in Burma and NOT go back to the POW camp. So far, so good. But then the story dissolves into a Tarzan episode when Mizushima is "rescued" by Kachin tribesmen who fatten him up in order to cannibalize him... and then he is rescued Deus ex Machina style. That improbable story ruined it for me... two stars. BTW, the title is about Mizushima being a musician which inspires everyone....and is a common thread through all the work's tales.
task =15
Review=10
Bonus country=20
Non-western=10
Oldie=5 (1959)
task total= 60
Grand Total=265
10.1; 10.2; ----; 10.4 (2x); -----; -----; -----; -----; -----; -----;
-----; -----; -----; -----; -----; -----; 15.7; -----; 15.9; -----;
-----; -----; -----; 20.4; ----; 20.6; -----; -----; -----; -----;
20.9 BirthdaySomething Fabulous by Alexis Hall
The author describes this as a ridiculous gay Regency romance romp, which it is, but there's always a lot of angst in Hall's books and in this case it turned things sour for me. Both of the Tarleton twins besiege the unfortunate Valentine in different ways, and I can imagine this rewritten more realistically with exactly the same characters and a very dark outcome... by Sarah Waters, for example.
But, again as with all of Hall's books, it has some very funny moments and some wonderful writing. It’s full of anachronisms, but he makes it clear in a prefatory note that this is intentional.
I could have given this either two stars or four, but not three. In the end I didn’t give it a rating.
+20 Task: "Valentine, do we have cake, or did I eat it all?"
+10 Review
Post Total = 30
Season Total = 240
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Sue wrote: "15.3 Central Africa - (Congo)Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer byJoseph Conrad
+15 task
+5 combo 20.7 BWL of Oscar Wao immigrated to England from Po..."
Thank you - I plan to read all the 15ners this time I'll make a note no combos.
Post 111 Sue wrote: "15.9 Southeast Asia (Laos)I Shot the Buddha by Colin Cotterill
+15 task
Post total 15
Season total 120"
But do make a note of those countries that get a 20-point Project Bonus and Laos is one of them. Give yourself an extra 20 point here!
Not know about our project? RwS Members are trying to read 3 books (as a group) for all of the countries in the world For all of the countries remaining and a link to the spreadsheet, see:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Also, in Post #2 of each of the Africa and Asia help threads are the countries that earn a 20-point bonus this season.
15.9 Southeast AsiaFieldwork by Mischa Berlinski
(Thailand)
This book has been sitting on my shelves for 10 years. It's always looked interesting, but never quite made it to the top of the pile. I direct you to Stephen King's review(https://ew.com/article/2007/04/15/let...) complaining that the marketing of this book made it less popular than it should have been.
The book combines a lot of description of Thailand with a multi-layered mystery and an examination of the role of anthropologists and missionaries in the lives of indigenous people. At the center of the story is an anthropologist who has gone to prison for murdering an American missionary. As her story is told, the reader sees life in the field through her eyes (in the form of letters that she'd written to a friend), and descriptions of her from a variety of sources.
The pacing was good and kept me riveted through the whole story.
The narrator for the audiobook version did a nice job with the narration, making this easy to listen to. I went back and forth between the narration and the text.
+15 Task - Thailand
+10 Review
Task total: 25
Grand total: 115
10.9 Dual (Tien's Task)A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.9)
"Mrs Wells poured tea, offered little CAKES and explained that...."
"Mrs Wells greeted their return with a tray of lemonade and CAKE...."
Points this post: 15
Season Total: 40
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 10.9 ....
.... .... 15.3 .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .....
20.5 The Killer AngelsFive Days Untold by Badr Ahmad بدر أحمد
+20 Task
+. 5 Combo: 10.4 Name
+10 Non - Western (Yemen)
Task total = 35
Season Total: 70
10.10 Group ReadsA Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
+10 Task
+10 Combo: 10.4 Name / 10.6 Space Out
Task total = 20
Season Total: 90
20.9 Birthdays (Kate S's Task)The Beautiful Words by Vanessa McCausland
"They cut thick slices of the chocolate layer cake that had been fashioned into the shape of a book with gold-edged pages and a blue cover. Holden boiled water for tea over the low fire. They licked the sticky icing from their fingers and washed it down with black tea that scalded their mouths."
Review
By the pains in my heart, I only wanted to rate this 2 stars
I don't like having my heart trampled all over like this... :( :( :(
By the words I read in my head, I wanted to rate this 4 stars
Such beautiful setting, neat structuring, very real characters, and that cleansing at the end. This book kept me up at night and not because I was reading but because I just can't stop thinking about it. This makes it a very good book, don't you think? Except that my thoughts distresses me and that's what kept me from sleeping. There are personal reasons for this but that's all I'm going to say about it. I'm off for a lighter happier read.
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.9)
+10 Review
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 180
15.4 Eastern AfricaKeeping Hope Alive: One Woman: 90,000 Lives Changed by Hawa Abdi
95% Somalia
Goodness gracious, what a woman Dr. Hawa Abdi was (unfortunately she died in 2020). This book is an ‘as told to’ autobiography – very much her voice, but written by someone who had more facility in English. She was fortunate enough to be born in Somalia in a time when women were not completely oppressed and went on to become a medical doctor and lawyer. She was open minded, open hearted, moral and humane. An ordinary woman like myself can only stand in awe. Her life was not easy (to say the least), but she worked hard and did her best to help so many Somalians and stayed true to the country she loved very much. She won many awards (and had a great deal of international support), and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Her daughters, who are also both medical doctors, are continuing her work with her foundation. 4*
15 task
10 non-western
10 review
20 bonus country
______
55
Running total: 290
20.2 PrizeInterpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
This collection of nine stories about people living in India or in the United States as Indian immigrants won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Most of the immigrant stories were set in/near Boston and the main characters were professors or medical doctors or graduate students, so not a whole lot of variety in profession or setting. However, the stories kept my interest and I especially liked the three that featured grade school children. Everyday life and aspects of Indian culture, such as food, dress, religious observances, and arranged marriages were described.
+20 Task
+10 Combo 20.7, 20.9*
+10 Review
*Husband's birthday party in the first story "A Temporary Matter": "She had made a vanilla cream cake with custard and spun sugar. All night she kept Shukumar's long fingers linked with hers as they walked among the guests at the party."
Task Total: 40
Season Total: 110
15.3 Central AfricaCongo
Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd
Hope Clearwater tells her story while she sits on the terrace of her cottage on Brazzaville Beach. As a student in England, she was Hope Dunbar, but then she caught sight of John Clearwater and knew she had to have him. The story is anything but linear. Sometimes we get the story of Hope and John, though better than half of the story takes place in Africa. Most of the Africa parts are at a primate research station in a national park, where Hope's job is to observe chimpanzees and record what she sees.
I can't say that Hope's characterization is so complete that I came to know her fully. Perhaps we can never really know another fully. There is enough that I would be honored to be her friend. There is also enough that I doubt I'd want to venture into Africa to be there for her.
I remarked to myself several times "I think I've found another author I want to read more of". It isn't that the prose is so beautiful, nor innovative, nor even maybe exactly what the novel requires. This is an author who doesn't write down to you. The novel itself is thoughtful - full of thoughts. I was trying to tell my husband that it isn't full of philosophy, but there is such in it.
Hope relates one situation when she was a PhD student and things weren't going perfectly. Her professor told her "the tide comes in and the tide goes out". We can't always be happy and content, for if we were, how would we know? There has to be some contrast in order to recognize happiness and contentment.
Because this has me wanting to read more William Boyd, surely this is 5-stars. If so, it is only barely so, but I'm happy with that.
+15 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (1990)
+20 Project Bonus
Task total = 50
Season total = 160
EDIT: Original post scoring was all out of whack. Maybe I'll get it together - eventually.
20.3 Our TownLife and Death are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan
+20 Task set 80% in Ximen Village
+5 Jumbo 540 pages
+10 Non-Western
Task total = 35
Season Total: 170
10.2The Soulmate Equation
I don’t normally read romance. And as I got more invested in this book I wondered why, when this was so much fun? But I tend to assume everything will be like the romance formula I cut my teeth on - all the tension is based on the MCs making assumptions and not talking to each other and keeping dumb secrets. When I was in 6th grade, I lapped it up, but as a grown woman I HATE that type of story. Talk to each otherrrrr aarrggghh
Happily, the MCs of this book do talk to each other like adults. How refreshing!
And as for the romance, it was really swoon-y. I’m a very very lucky woman, because it reminded me of falling for my husband, and how he still looks at me. We’re for sure a diamond match!
This made me happy and sappy, so I consider it a very successful romance book!
+10 task
+5 combo (20.9 “Don’t have the cake without me”)
+10 review
Task total - 25
Season total = 100
20.10 Between the Wars (Elizabeth(Alaska)'s TaskAll the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes
set in 1920-1921
Review
This book appealed to me because I recalled a couple of Antarctica thrillers which I enjoyed though I think neither was historical. Nevertheless, I thought that would add to the thrill (difficulty without tech etc) however I didn't really count on the horror bit of the story. I'm not a huge fan of horror because for some reason, they just confuse me. I read & loved some paranormal, magical books but for some unknown reason, I just don't get horror. It's not particularly scary so I guess I just missed the point?
The novel opens with our protagonist's family receiving news of the loss of their elder 2 sons whom it appears to have had ambitions for an Antarctica expedition adventures. What do you do when the 2 older brothers whom you worshipped were ripped away from you? Well, you do what they have always wanted to do! But well, there is the barrier of your perceived gender and your parents so the only thing to do is to stow away and hopefully prove yourself while onboard. Things never truly go smoothly for an expedition to the unknown but this time, there were other factors at play and not everyone can see them...
It is possibly my initial expectation of the book which influenced my thoughts on this book because I keep expecting a twist of the psychological thriller variety but it never happened so while accept some paranormal activity as possible, I didn't find it scary. Since I didn't find it scary nor was there any particular surprising twist, I found this book to be rather long and uneventful (yes, despite all the tragic incidents).
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.2; 10.4)
+10 Review
Post Total: 40
Season Total: 230
20.2Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Díaz
Wow.
So, I like poetry, but I prefer my poetry to be pretty. Pretty words about pretty subjects. Romantic and Transcendentalist… more modern is fine as long as it’s cinematic, still somehow visual and with a certain aesthetic.
This was NOT pretty. Not so say that the language didn’t sing, but so much of this was RAW. The pieces about her brothers in particular hit me in the guts. It’s not all wounds, there are real love poems in here too, but they are often howls.
The standout for me was The First Water is the Body. Just stunning. I sat with that one for a while. Powerful.
Ha, and I have to take back my “not pretty”, because Asterion’s Lament is exactly my favorite style and theme. That’s a fantastic more “typical” poem.
This is a small but dense collection, and it’s both engaging and moving.
+20 task
+10 review
Task total = 30
Season total = 130
15.3 Central AfricaChad
The Roots of Heaven by Romain Gary
+15 Task
+20 Project Bonus
+5 Oldies (pub. 1956)
Post Total: 40
Season Total: 270
Task 10.4 NameRead any book by an author whose given name is 3, 4, or 5 letters long.
Unseemly Science (Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire #2) [ANGRY ROBOT] (2015) by Rod Duncan (Goodreads Author) (Paperback, 368 pages)
Review: Unseemly Science is the second book in the Alternate History Trilogy, “Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire”. It is set in an alternate Scotland and England. Our heroine, Elizabeth, was raised in a traveling circus. There she learned how to perform illusions and how to escape, Houdini-like, from constraints. As the novel opens, she is living on a houseboat, earning her living as a ’consulting detective’. Most of the novel follows Elizabeth as she works on her latest case.
The political lines are different in this alternate history novel. The north, where Elizabeth lives, is a Republic (which is good) but also enforces severe limitations on a woman’s life. To get around the limitations, Elizabeth has invented a brother ‘Edwin’ who can go places and do things that a woman cannot do, and she becomes ‘Edwin’ when the circumstances warrant. There’s a lot of action in this novel –good thing Elizabeth had all that training in the traveling circus! This #2-in-a-series novel can be read as a stand-alone (just read the “Selected Entries from a glossary of the Gas-Lit Empire" first (located at the back of the book) as that contains the worldbuilding information from book #1). If the reader wants the backstories of the recurring characters, then just read book #1, though the backstories aren’t necessary to follow the action. Recommended for fans of mystery-adventure novels and for those who like alternate history novels.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20
Grand Total: 55 + 20 = 75
15.2 West AfricaThe Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré
Very well done book and especially impressive for a debut novel. This book traces the story of a young girl in a small village in Nigeria. The book manages to stay in the narrative voice of the protagonist, striking a balance between her lack of knowledge and her courage and curiosity. The author manages to keep the character believable without overly simplifying her story or seeming to be making fun of the character.
She goes from her small village to a forced marriage as third wife of a much older man to being delivered as a house maid to a rich woman in Lagos. The reader gets to tag along to see details of her life in these different settings and to understand her story along the way. Side characters are not deeply developed, but are sufficiently differentiated and described to be believable and useful to the story.
I enjoyed the excellent narration of the audiobook, which was read in the character's voice and worked very well. The story translates well to audio format because it's entirely narrated by the protagonist. I think listening to the dialect worked better for me than reading it would have.
+15 Task (Nigeria)
+10 Review
+10 Non-western
Task total: 35
Grand total: 150
10.5 Database AnniversaryDogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rex is a cyborg engineered from a biological dog to be a weapon of war. He answers only to his master, his purpose in life is to lead his group of other engineered species into battle, and the ultimate reward is to hear his master calling him a Good Dog. But what if his master is not a Good Man? Does that mean Rex may be a Bad Dog after all?
I listened to this on audio and adored the voice of Rex which was perfect for a ferocious but increasingly unsure artificially intelligent beast. Towards the end there are chapters from books written by another character, which slowed things down unnecessarily, I thought, at a time when the pace should be at its maximum. But the concept was brilliant and the narration first class.
Warning: there is a lot of violence, including to animals.
+10 Task (most of the characters have artificial intelligence, and a super-powerful computer features in the plot)
+10 Review
Post Total = 20
Season Total = 260
20.10 Between the WarsHarriet Hume by Rebecca West
The story of Arnold Condorex's five encounters with Harriet Hume in London opens with the two of them running downstairs from her bedroom, apparently having been to bed and very much in love. Unfortunately she has developed psychic powers and makes the mistake of telling him so. Result: a long gap before they meet again.
I wanted to like this book and was disappointed. Harriet was just so... twee. A little elfin thing with hands so small and dainty it seems impossible that she could be a pianist, and sickeningly cheerful and charming in the face of Arnold's betrayals. He is a complete snake, and there is too much purple prose for my taste.
I hope we no longer live in a world where a woman has to pretend not to mind when the love of her life loses interest a few minutes after leaving her bed and departs for another continent without looking back. But I'm not completely sure that we do. Altogether, this was a depressing read.
+20 Task (set in the 1920s)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (1929)
Post Total = 40
Season Total = 300
10.2 EasterThe Eternal Smile: Three Stories by Gene Luen Yang
+10 Task
(This is a graphic novel, so no styles)
Post total: 10
Season total: 10
Claimed to date:
- 10.2 - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - -
10.4 NameThe New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
Review: Burying myself in an experiment that works is my favorite type of reading experience. So I absolutely loved this trilogy.
These three stories are very similar in tone, theme and characterization. They have layers upon layers upon layers. They are unsolved mysteries that left me feeling like I understand and don’t understand at once.
All three stories deal with double identities (and sometimes the doubling of double identities) and the way identity shifts and changes through name changes, disguises, life decisions, life indecisions, etc. Names, roles and props repeat in multiple stories, allowing them to shed light on each. The third (The Locked Room) is the best of the three, but it would be nowhere near as good without having read the other two stories first.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Post total: 20
Season total: 30
Claimed to date:
- 10.2 - 10.4 - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - -
15.4 Eastern AfricaI Didn't Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation by Michela Wrong
Review: This is an engaging and well-researched history by Michela Wrong, a reporter with a true passion for her subject. Wrong puts three things together in this book to give us a very clear picture of Eritrea. First, detailed research of Eritrean history. Second, her own first-person interviews with Eritreans, both still in the country and among the diaspora. And finally, her on the ground perspective from reporting in Eritrea.
The book is very readable, much more than I expected. It puts us on the ground there, over the course of many decades, with vivid and colorful details to keep us engaged.
+15 Task
+10 Review
+20 Project Bonus (Eritrea)
Post total: 45
Season total: 75
Claimed to date:
- 10.2 - 10.4 - - - - - -
- - - 15.4 - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - -
Post 66 Joanna wrote: "15.8 South AsiaSold by Patricia McCormick
Lexile: 820
This book addresses an important topic--sex trafficking and the trade in girls. But the actual book is pretty q..."
Nepal is on the list for the 20-point Project Bonus. Help yourself!
10.9 Dual timelineThe Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
+10 task
+5 combo 10.4 (Chris 5 letters)
Post total: 15
Season total: 135
15.10 Western AsiaKuwait
The Pact We Made by Layla AlAmmar
+20 Task
+10 Nonwestern (as discussed in general questions thread)
+20 Project Bonus
Task total: 50
Season Total: 240
10.1 PopularAshenden by W. Somerset Maugham
10 pts 10.1 Popular #32 1927
10 pts Review
10 pts Oldies
Set during World War I, this book is loosely based on Somerset Maugham’s own experience as a spy during the war. The title characteris a writer posted to Switzerland. He becomes involved with a variety of disreputable characters who are variously involved with espionage on one side or another. In several cases Ashenden manipulates the situation for a favorable result with few qualms about the effect on people who while shady have little choice but to go along. The book is a set of loosely collected vignettes, not really a short story collection but also not a novel. The best of the stories are about a dinner with a British ambassador and one set in Russia during the Revolution. Solid book but not a must read.
Task total: 30 pts
Total Season: 100 pts
10.1… … … … 10.6 … … … …
… … … … … … … … … …
… … … … … … … … 20.9 …
20.9 BirthdaysPrairie Tale: A Memoir by Melissa Gilbert
+20 task Chapter 9 "First, I celebrated the big occasion with a cake on the set..."
Post total: 20
Season total: 155
15.2 Western Africa, Burkina FasoOutlaw by Stephen Davies
This book was awesome--for my 15-year-old nephew.
Jake gets kicked out of his boarding school and is sent home to Burkina Faso, where his father is the British ambassador.
He and his sister end up getting kidnapped by The Chameleon, the man who some say is a terrorist but others call a modern-day Robin Hood. Cue the dramatic Indiana Jones-esque adventure, the kids-are-so-much-smarter-than-adults antics, the utterly unbelievable scrapes they can escape.
Every time the Chameleon speaks, he says it first in Fulfulde before saying it in English which gets real old real quick.
While I found myself rolling my eyes a fair amount, I DID enjoy reading about the country and the people who lived there.
So: I think any adolescent boy would adore this book, I'm just not the target audience.
+15 Task
+20 Bonus Country
+10 Review
Task total: 45
Season total: 315
20.9 BirthdaysThe Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins
Southern magical realism (for lack of a better way to describe it) is like Southern food--filled with so many bad things that it can't help but being decadently good. It's a guilty pleasure. It's completely different from South American magical realism where I find the "magic" tends to be symbolic...Southern "magic" is more like a story's glitter, adding a bit of sparkle to an otherwise straightforward story. Sarah Addison Allen and Fannie Flagg filled that craving in the past. Now I've found a new literary-fried-twinkie with Karen Hawkins and her strange crowd in Dove Creek, North Carolina.
There's something about a book where you get to know everyone in a small town that speaks to me...it's a little like Louise Penny's Three Pines, just a lot less murdery.
I'm probably not going to scream from the rooftops that everyone should read this book, but I'll definitely be finding the next in the series.
+20 Task, "Grace unwrapped her piece of cake, broke off a corner, and popped it in her mouth."
+10 Review
+10 Combo: 10.4; 20.3
Task total: 40
Season total: 355
20.4 The RevieversCloser to Homeby Mercedes Lackey
The MC takes in children that were thieves and trains them to work for him.
Task +20
Grand Total: 60
20.9 BirthdaysCity of the Dead by Jonathan Kellerman
20 pts 20.9 Birthday p 189 Except on birthdays. Then they show up. We bake cakes. Tasty cakes, the families like them. Clients who can eat solids like them.
10 pts Review
This year’s installment in the Alex Delaware series of police procedural mysteries. Milo and Alex are working a challenging murder case that moves in several different directions with no apparent solution. The story is engaging and keeps you wanting to finf out what happens next, but the solution is not really a fair play myster Solution. Without any spoilers, the guilty party comes out of the blue and there are at least couple of red herrings. It seems that a more satisfying mystery could have been constructed with the people who were obviously involved with the victims.
Task total: 30 pts
Total Season: 130 pts
10.1… … … … 10.6 … … … …
… … … … … … … … … …
… … … … … … … … 20.9 …
10.5 DatabaseEdited to correct total
Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms by Hannah Fry
10 pts 10.5 Database
10 pts Review
Interesting discussion of the role of algorithms and by extension artificial intelligence in outpr lives. Hannah Fry discusses how databases and algorithms are currently used to solve problems of increasing complexity with differing levels of success. Real world applications and discussion of the problems of AI in sentencing, criminal justice, self driving cars and more. Strong over view of how these systems work and cautions about how we may need to consider the effectiveness of developed solutions in the context of both practicality and unintended problems.
Task total: 20 pts
Total Season: 150 pts
10.1… … …10.5 10.6 … … … …
… … … … … … … … … …
… … … … … … … … 20.9 …
10.7 Three Favorite Women (Karen Michele's Task)The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan
+10 Task
+10 Combo (10.4; 20.9 - "Julie had arranged four chairs in a shallow curve facing one side of the bed, and there we sat, nibbling the cake and sipping the juice." p.44)
+5 Oldies (pub 1945)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 295
15.6 Central AsiaTurkmenistan
The Tale of Aypi by Ak Welsapar
+20 Task
+20 Project Bonus
Task total: 40
Season Total: 280
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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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The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa by Adam Roberts
Equatorial Guinea
+15 - Task
+20- Bonus
35 pts - Total