Reading with Style discussion
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SP 22 Completed Tasks
10.8 Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished (Anika's Task)Exclusion Zone (P.I. Alex Harvey #1) by J.M. Hewitt
approx. 85% in Pripyat, Chernobyl
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.9 - 1986 & 2015)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 310
20.7 Oscar Wao The Survival of Molly Southbourne by Tade ThompsonReview: A sequel to The Murders of Molly Southbourne. These short novels are very readable and have a fascinating premise. Listed primarily as horror, I would also categorize the book as a little sci-fi and a little thriller. There are certainly elements of a good spy novel in here as well. In the first book, we get Molly's story, a young woman who spawns murderous doubles every time she bleeds. In this follow-up, we follow Molly navigating her new life after the final events of the last book (no spoilers!). We meet Tamara with a similar condition, have some questions about her mother, her ex-boyfriend and her condition answered. Ultimately, we still don't know the whole tangled web of how she got to be how she is and who all the players in the game are. Maybe in the final installment? Fingers crossed.
+20 Task - Author raised in Africa and then immigrated back to UK as an adult
+5 Combo 10.2 - The Survival Southbourne
+5 Combo 10.4 - Tade = 4 letters
+10 Review
Task Tota: 40 pts
Grand Total: 40 pts
15.3- Dem.Rep.of the CongoThe Mine by Frances Carden
What are the chances that two of the books I quasi-blindly chose to read this season involve a black substance deriving from mines, that those mines are the result of imperial owners who abused the local population, that the black substance causes mysterious activities involving cannibalism? Not really my type of book but I expected it to be unbearable...and it wasn't. I think the author's device of using an all-knowing yet mysterious narrator kept me reading. I DID want to know who or what was telling the story. 2 stars.
task =15
Review=10
Bonus Country=20
task total= 45
Grand Total=475
10.1; 10.2; 10.3; 10.4 (2x); -----; -----; -----; -----; -----; -----;
-----; -----; 15.3; -----; -----; -----; 15.7; -----; 15.9; 15.10;
-----; -----; 20.3; 20.4; ----; 20.6; 20.7; -----; -----; -----;
10.4 NameThe Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
This is a YA book, 620 Lexile. I'm including my review because I enjoyed it as an adult, and know I would have loved it when I was a teen too.
Daniel, an 18-year-old Texan and aspiring photojournalist, is visiting Madrid with his family in 1957. Spain is under the steel grip of Francisco Franco's dictatorship. Daniel's father, an oil executive, is working out a business deal with Franco. Daniel meets Ana, a hotel worker at the Castellana Hilton, and comes to realize that things are not what they first appear to be in the fascist country. Like his photos, there is much under the surface. Ana's parents were left-wing Republicans during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. The children of Franco's enemies are now paying for their parents' "sins," and live with fear.
The book is written in short, fast-paced chapters with historical quotes from letters and articles between chapters. In addition to the main story (which includes a love story), there is a storyline about corruption in adoption agencies, and another about a disadvantaged young man training in secret to become a bullfighter. By setting some chapters at the Hilton, and others in an impoverished village, the contrast between the privileged and disadvantaged is accentuated. The beauty of sun-filled Madrid is contrasted with the chill of blood spilling from bullfighting and the attacks by the Guardia Civil.
Ruta Sepetys writes "crossover fiction" that can be enjoyed by both teens and adults. The book emphasized the effects of the Spanish Civil War and the fascist government on the children and teens that were born after the conflict. The characters were engaging, and photojournalism was an effective way of revealing the repression of the Franco regime. The viewpoints of Daniel's mentors, references to the famous photojournalist Robert Capa, and Ana's perspective all brought depth to the interpretation of the photos. This is the second book I've read by this author, and I found them both to be informative and interesting.
Task total: 10
Season total: 185
Post 254 Rachel wrote: "20.7 Oscar Wao The Survival of Molly Southbourne by Tade ThompsonReview: A sequel to The Murders of Molly Southbourne. These short novels are very readable and ha..."
I'm sorry, Rachel, but Tade Thompson doesn't qualify for Oscar Wao. He was born in the UK. I note your logic of his having spent many years in Africa. Had he remained there we would agree with the immigrant status. But he is a resident of the UK, so that he isn't really an immigrant, having returned to the country of his birth.
Let us know which of your combos you'd like this use this for.
20.3 Our TownCOUNTRY PROJECT. Vanuatu
Man Belong Mrs Queen: Adventures with the Philip Worshippers by Matthew Baylis
20 pts 20.3 Our Town
10 pts Review
An amatuer anthropologist visits the island of Tanna in Vanuatu to find out more about the cargo cult which worships Prince Phillip. Cargo cults appear in remote Pacific islands around the World War II. Typically they are seem as worshipping a European or American person who is not immediately identifiable. This group venerates Prince Phillip although he has never been closer than a sail by to the island.
Baylis is trying to discover the origins of the belief system with limited success. He does not fit within the culture and is having a very difficult time navigating relationships with and between people. Eventually he concludes that the group is based on interrelationships between people.
The book does portray the Tannese as a confusing culture, but that may be mostly because the writer does not understand them. There is a large amount of positioning the islanders as un-understandable others but the writer does portray that as his shortcoming.
The book seems choppy and confusing, At best a luke warm recommendation
Task total: 30 pts
Total Season: 280 pts
10.1… … 10.4 10.5 10.6 … … … …
… … … … … … … … …
20.1 …’ 20.3 … … … … … … 20.9 …
15.9 Southeast AsiaCOUNTRY PROJECT. Myanmar
The Bridge Over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle
15 pts 15.9 Southeast Asia
10 pts Review
20 pts Nongreen country
5 pts Oldies
Book that the famous movie is based on. In a close heat, I think the movie is slightly better
The main character Colonol Nicholson leads his men in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Nicholson is an inherently flawed character who faces choices that would be difficult for even the most centered man. Where is the line between cooperating and collaborating with an enemy in a situation where escape is unlikely? Is even cooperation unethical if it results in marginally better conditions? How does ego and the need for self aggrandizement influence Nicholson’s actions? Somehow Nicholson is on wrong side of each of these questions
Highly recommend this book
Task total: 50 pts
Total Season: 320 pts
10.1… … 10.4 10.5 10.6 … … … …
… … … … … … …15.9 …
20.1 …’ 20.3 … … … … … … 20.9 …
10.6 Space OutLeviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey
+10 Task
+5 Combo 10.4
+5 jumbo 528 pages
Task total = 20
Season Total: 390
15.7 East AsiaJapan
Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
+15 Task
+10 Non-Western
Task total: 25
Season Total: 415
10.1 PopularWhat Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry
+10 Task: popular in 2021
+. 5 Combo: 10.4 Name
Task total: 15
Season Total: 225
20.8 Texas Independence (Rebekah's Task)A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger low lexile
+20 Task: author born in Texas
Task total: 20
Season Total: 245
20.7 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WaoBorn in Belgium in 1903, never returned after 1922
Pietr the Latvian. Georges Simenon
While this wasn't bad, it wasn't good enough to inspire me to read more of the series. It takes place in France, between the wars, and is detective noir. Inspector Maigret is larger than life, going without sleep for 2 days, while he tracks down the killer, functioning in the rain and the cold, while shot. Written 91 years ago, the fact that it is still being read implies that there is an audience out there for it.
+20 Task
+10 review
+10 Oldies (written in 1931)
+5 Combos (20.10 - He first came after the war - 20%)
Task total: 45
Running total: 165
15.3;
20.2;20.7;20.9
20.9 Birthdays (Kate S's Task)The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
+20 Task: p108 Chris lifts a slice of coffee and walnut cake to his mouth and takes a bite.
Task total: 20
Season Total: 265
20.9 Birthdays (Kate S's Task)The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
+20 Task: p130 I sat down between Asama and Gruen to eat my piece of cake.
+. 5 Combo: 10.7 Three Favorite Women
Task total: 25
Season Total: 290
15.6 Central Asia-TadjikistanThe City Where Dreams Come True by Gulsifat Shakhidi
This is a short collection of four stories set in Tadjikistan. Several of the characters recur. The common thread throughout is that after Perestroika occurred in the Soviet Union and the former republics began to see movements for independence.... civil conflicts also hit Tadjikistan. Two of the characters became orphans and lived together with an uncle in the capital of Dushanbe. The two orphaned characters (in other separate stories) go abroad to be educated and return to Tadjikistan. The stories are sweet, and I particularly liked the use of poetry in appropriate sections...especially this verse by Omar Khayyam:
"In this paradise on Earth,
We, who have gone through pain and suffering,
Suddenly find the flame of love.
Believe me; it is worth the wait for
Such paradise on Earth."
task =15
Review=10
Bonus Country=20
Non-Western-10
task total= 55
Grand Total=530
10.1; 10.2; 10.3; 10.4 (2x); -----; -----; -----; -----; -----; -----;
-----; -----; 15.3; -----; -----; 15.6; 15.7; -----; 15.9; 15.10;
-----; -----; 20.3; 20.4; ----; 20.6; 20.7; -----; -----; -----;
20.6 The Color PurpleI Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
I had heard about this book online a year or so ago and I was expecting a light read about two girls having good times while living in an old English castle in the 1930s (a favorite time period), but this story contained serious themes: poverty, infidelity, spirituality/religion, mental illness, imprisonment for domestic violence, social/economic inequity, probably more. So, more sad than happy, I thought. Cassandra Mortmain, 17, is the narrator through her diary written in "speed-writing" as she practices "capturing" her surroundings in her own words. She and her older sister, Rose, and the rest of the family (stepmother's name is Topaz) are existing with only the bare necessities of life after their father/husband overspent all his first-book literary earnings without writing another successful book since. The only escape seems to be marriage to a man with money, and two prospects appear. Much change occurs from March - October; I wanted to read this book straight through. Recommended!
+20 Task
+25 Combo 10.3 (#201), 10.4 (Dodie), 20.3 (village of Godsend), 20.9*, 20.10 (1934 setting)
+5 Oldie (1948)
+10 Review
*Chapter XII about Midsummer Eve: "Then it was time for the cake and I was glad that I could have two pieces...but in the end I only took one."
Task Total: 60
Season Total: 210
20.2 PrizeThe Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
+20 Task
+5 Combo 10.7
Task total = 25
Season Total: 440
10.2 EasterTwo Trains Running by August Wilson
10 pts 10.2 Easter
10 pts Review
5 pts Oldies
Set in the 1960s, in Two Trains Running, August Wilson highlights the choice a group of African Americans make. They are an allegory, in part, for the options that people face when confronted with racism. In this transitional period, more and more of Wilson’s characters are choosing to push for what they deserve and not accept the limitations they are given. Hambone keeps asking for the ham he was promised and won’t selle for a chicken, Memphis is fighting city hall for a fair sellemen to compensate him for the condemnation of his building due to a city project. Without spoilers, it is less than clear that either will get what they are promised or deserve.
Task total: 25 pts
Total Season: 345 pts
10.1 10.2 … 10.4 10.5 10.6 … … … …
… … … … … … …15.9 …
20.1 …’ 20.3 … … … … … … 20.9 …
20.9 Birthday CorrectedSon Of Singapore by Tan Kok Seng
20 pts. 20.9 Birthday I inviting them all to a small mobile Indian stall on wheels selling coffee, ginger water, cakes and curry puffs
5 pts 10.4 Name
10 pts Review
10 pts Non Western
5 pts Oldies
In his autobiography, Tan focuses on his childhood and youth growing up poor in Singapore. His family are farmers but with enough resources to allow him to graduate from primary school. He then begins work as a coolie (manual laborer/delivery man) in the city markets. Gradually he is able to improve his position and starts on a new - an presumably more financially lucrative job as a driver at the end of the book.
Very interesting recounting of living in a country that has changed dramatically. This is not a story about rural Singapore but the glimpses of that environment show something that has disappeared with growth and development
Task total: 50 pts
Total Season: 395 pts
10.1 10.2 … 10.4 10.5 10.6 … … … …
… … … … … … …15.9 …
20.1 …’ 20.3 … … … … … … 20.9 …
10.7 Three Favorite WomenFrom Margaret Atwood's map :
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.9 translated : "he was sitting in a armchair with floral fabric, a teacup in hihs and and a piece of cake on a toolstand next to him")
Task total = 15
Season total = 215
.... ; .... ; .... ; 10.4 (x2) ; .... ; 10.6 ; 10.7 ; .... ; .... ; 10.9 (x2)
.... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; ....
.... ; .... ; 20.3 ; .... ; .... ; .... ; 20.7 ; .... ; 20.9 (x3) ; 20.10
10.2 EasterNos mutineries. Réponses imparables aux idées reçues sur le féminisme by Eve Cambreleng and Blanche Sabbah
+10 Task
No style points, graphic novel
Season total = 225
.... ; 10.2 ; .... ; 10.4 (x2) ; .... ; 10.6 ; 10.7 ; .... ; .... ; 10.9 (x2)
.... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; ....
.... ; .... ; 20.3 ; .... ; .... ; .... ; 20.7 ; .... ; 20.9 (x3) ; 20.10
Task 20.3 Our TownRead a book set at least 80% in a small town. The town can be in any country.
For #20.3 small town
Early in the novel, we’re told that the small town of Silver Bay, Oregon (located on the Pacific Ocean coast) has a population of 922 citizens.
For #20.9 cake combo:
p. 179: “And the cake was also delicious and brought up memories of his own mother in the kitchen putting icing on such a cake….”
The main characters then shared a cake to celebrate the birthday of one of the main characters.
Death of an Artist (2012) by Kate Wilhelm (Hardcover, 279 pages)
Review: ‘Death of an Artist’ is a murder mystery where the murderer’s identity is known from the time the victim’s body is found. The ‘mystery’ part is how will our group of sympathetic characters bring the murderer to justice. While they are figuring that out, the reader is treated to vignettes of life in a small coastal town in Oregon. The novel is well-populated by individuals aged 50 and over – maybe because the author was over age 50 when she wrote this novel. One Senior Citizen is in need of a hip replacement. That hip caused so much pain! And the pain influenced events in the novel. Overall, it was an OK novel – not bad, but not great either.
+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.4 “Anne”, #20.9 cake)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 10 + 10 = 40
Grand Total: 125 + 40 = 165
10.7 Read a book from the literature map of Louise Erdrich, Margaret Atwood or Toni MorrisonIsabel Allende appears on both Margaret Atwood and Toni Morrison's map
Violeta. Isabel Allende
This is the first book that I have read by Isabel Allende, it jumped out at me from a New Book shelf at the library. The storyline is epic, covering a full century, but the author does it in just over 300 pages. While this is a very reasonable length for a book, the premise is that this is basically a letter that she is writing (albeit on her computer) from her deathbed to her beloved grandson.
Violeta is born during the 1920s flu pandemic and dies 100 years later during the COViD pandemic. In between she lives an interesting life filled with lovers, revolutions, family, and fortune. From Depression to depression, wealth to poverty, tiny villages to world travel, feminism, Cold War, and the war on drugs, this book encompasses it all in a way that was interesting, but not overwhelming.
+10 Task
+10 review
+15 Combos (10.1 - #19 of 2022, 20.7 - Chile to US, 20.9 - Several instances, including a wedding shower)
Task total: 35
Running total: 200
10.7
15.3;
20.2;20.7;20.9
Post 272 Marie wrote: "10.7 Three Favorite WomenFrom Margaret Atwood's map :
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.9 translated : "he was sitting in a armchair with fl..."
I'm sorry, Marie. Jasper Fforde doesn't qualify for this task. The author selected must be a woman. We'll score it for 20.9.
20.4 ReiversWar on the Border: Villa, Pershing, the Texas Rangers, and an American Invasion by Jeff Guinn
+20 pts - Task
+25 pts - Combo (10.4, 10.9-from The timeline of Villa’s gang and the US Army, 20.3- raids and military actions along small border towns in both Mexico and USA, 20.5- Mexican Civil War, 20.8- lives in Fort Worth, TX)
Task Total - 45 pts
10.4 NameLu by Jason Reynolds
low lexile
Highly recommend this series--have read it with a 10- and 12-year-old and everyone enjoyed all four of these books. Start with Ghost.
+10 Task
Task total: 10
Grand total: 295
10.1 GR PopularityPeople We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
A quick, light, and entertaining read that was only slightly too long. The book traces a long friendship between the two main characters. They met in college and started a tradition of taking vacations together every summer. Over time, of course, they come to realize that they want to be more than friends but aren't sure how to make that happen and/or are afraid they'll lose their friendship by exploring romance.
The book flips between flashbacks to previous vacations and the present day. By the 75% mark, I was about ready for the book to finish up. The long reveal of their budding romance was starting to get on my nerves and the intentional quirkiness of the female lead was about enough already.
Still, the characters are well drawn, the descriptions of different vacation locations is entertaining, and overall the book works at what it sets out to be--a light beach read.
+10 Task (found on my 2021 list)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.4)
Task total: 25
Grand total: 320
10.4 Name Other People's Clothes by Calla Henkel
Whew, this was a strange one. I enjoyed it, but it was an odd read, and not necessarily a favorite. The premise is 2 university students studying abroad in Berlin, who rent the apartment of a well-known author for the semester. They come to believe she is stalking them and writing about them. Meanwhile, there are love affairs, tons of drugs, wild parties, weird roommate tensions, haunting memories, and not a whole lot of school. I kind of wish the story had been more about the maybe-stalking author, or the roommate tensions, or the backstory-following-you-to-Europe thing - all at once was a little jarring. I've heard the book described as "vaguely hallucinogenic" and I think that's about right.
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 75
20.3 Our Town The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jónasson
This book fits this task possibly too well - there are only 10-12 people living in this small town in Iceland, Skalar, during this book. In 1986, Una answers an ad to be a teacher in this tiny town - she will teach only 2 students. And of course being a tiny, remote town in Iceland, the winter is oppressive - as are many of the residents, who don't appreciate outsiders. There are maybe ghosts, and definitely some frightening real-life folks. I enjoyed this one - this reminded me of tasks we've had before about a "sense of place" - that term describes this very well. The storyline is engaging but the most noticeable element is the way the descriptions of the place bear down on the reader and make you feel almost as trapped and oppressed as Una herself. Setting the book in 1986 helps - I don't know if cell service currently would reach that far, but the fact that Una is so isolated and cut off only adds to the story.
+10 task (10-12 people live in the town)
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 95
20.4 The Reivers Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
This is a magnificent book, I think, though not necessarily a page turner. I enjoyed every part of it but did find that I could leave it and come back without an issue. The story spans 3 sections, each separated by a few years in Harlem in the 1960s. It really did feel like when I returned to the book, I was returning to people and places I knew. The story follows Ray Carney, son of a well-known crook, who now owns a furniture store but also fences stolen goods on the side. His cousin Freddy embroils him in a heist in part one, and the repercussions of that for both men, both good and bad, unroll throughout the book. It's a unique story, well-told, and the setting is fascinating. Living in NYC myself, I love reading about places that feel familiar to me and picturing what the streets would have looked and sounded like at a defining moment in history.
+10 task (all about heists, theft)
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 115
20.7 Brief Wondrous Life The Chandler Legacies by Abdi Nazemian
shelved as YA, no Lexile score
+20 task (Nazemian moved to the US from Iran)
Task Total: 20
Season total: 135
20.9 Birthdays In This Grave Hour by Jacqueline Winspear
I am moving, as Maisie Dobbs would say, "at speed" through this series and am already sad about running out, which will happen pretty soon. I've listened to all of these on audio and the narrator's voice is pretty constant in my mind! This installment of Maisie's story starts on Sept 3, 1939, as Britain declares war on Nazi Germany. The looming war dominates the story, as Maisie also takes on a new case investigating some murdered Belgian refugees from the previous war. One of the things I enjoy about these books is the perspective I get on different small bits of history. Here, for instance, I had never really known about the impact of WWI on Belgium in particular, and the volume of refugees. It's also interesting to think about the way that war can be declared, everyone worries and frets and young men are starting to enlist, but nothing actually happens immediately - there's sort of a waiting game. (I also appreciate, this season, the fact that Maisie appears to be a fan of cake!)
+20 task (Ch 9 - "Another plate bearing two cakes was placed on the table...she cut a small wedge from her cake and finished it in one bite.")
+10 review
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 165
10.8 Ukraine Has Not Yet PerishedA Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert
It's 1941 in a small Ukrainian town, and the Russian army has been burning farms as they retreated. The Ukrainians are hoping for better treatment from the Germans who are invading. However, the Germans round up the Jews into an old factory building. Thirteen-year-old Jewish Yankel decides he does not trust the German soldiers, and runs away with his younger brother on his back. A farm girl, Yasia, shelters and feeds the two boys for the night, putting herself in danger so she must also flee. Meanwhile, a German civil engineer, who is building a road through the marshes, is facing a moral dilemma. He thought he could stay away from the Nazi mission by only doing his road building, but that proved impossible.
Rachel Seiffert writes with lovely spare prose. While there is terror and darkness in this book, kindness and compassion are also demonstrated. There is also the sense that people can be backed into "no-win" situations, even if they are courageous, in the presence of deep evil. "A Boy in Winter" shows people making moral choices in terrible circumstances. The mental picture of Yankel carrying his little brother on his back for days, determined that they would survive, will remain with me. This was a timely read since the world has been watching the people of Ukraine carrying their loved ones to safety from a new terror during the last month.
+10 task
+ 5 combo 20.3 Small Town
+10 review
Task total: 25
Season total: 210
10.4 NameThe Floating Brothel: The Extraordinary True Story of an Eighteenth-Century Ship and Its Cargo of Female Convicts by Siân Rees
In July 1789 a ship, the Lady Julian, set sail from England carrying 237 female convicts bound for Australia. The new colonies at Sydney Cove and Norfolk Island, made up of male convicts and the soldiers guarding them, needed wives to become established, so the women were shipped out like breeding stock for a farm.
This is a fascinating story, taken from court records in England, official archives of the voyage, Australian records, and a memoir by one of the crew written thirty years later adding human interest. Some of it must be conjecture, and there are not many references. I found it hard to know what was backed up by records and what the author had imagined. But of course this made it a smoother read.
Most interesting for me were the stories of what the women had been convicted of, which made up about one third of the book. It seems amazing that a person could be sentenced to death for theft of a few a roll of dress material, but it happened all the time; and if she was then transported for life instead, it was considered a mercy, despite the very real chance of dying on the voyage.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Post Total = 20
Season Total = 480
20.1 PulitzerBy the Open Sea by August Strindberg
Axel Borg is sent to a remote island off the coast of Sweden to help the fishermen see how they can make a living without totally destroying the fishing stock. Unfortunately his ideas are so elitist that he can barely communicate to the "ignorant masses" and makes enemies of them all. Then he falls in love, but that's doomed too because his ideas about women are similar – women of any class are not real adults but are midway between children and men, and he despises himself for his feelings even more than he despises the woman herself.
I know it's often said that Borg is an expression of Strindberg's own elitist and misogynistic ideas, but then why isn't Borg more successful? He's not exactly a poster boy for the Nietzschean idea of the superman... This is a book that might have been dangerous if it hadn't been so dark, and if Borg wasn't such a complete loser.
+20 Task (1890)
+ 5 Combo (20.3 very small town on a small island)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies
Post Total = 45
Season Total = 525
20.6 The Color PurplePreludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman
Graphic novel, no styles
But this was very gory! Much more of a horror than I expected.
+20 Task (Book 1 of The Sandman series)
Post Total = 20
Season Total = 545
20.6 The Color PurpleHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Lexile 880
I read this over 20 years ago, and I thought it might be fun to listen to the audio, which it was. Stephen Fry is a great narrator who brings the different characters to life.
I had forgotten how much of the first book is set in the ordinary world, where Harry is in the unwilling care of his uncle and aunt. Only after many chapters does he learn his history and set off in the company of Hagrid for Hogwarts School of Magic.
I didn’t read the whole series when they came out, but lost interest before book 6 was published. I’m not sure how far I will go with the audio but it does make good bedtime listening.
Cake: "She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years."
+20 Task (Book 1 of the Harry Potter series)
+10 Combo (10.2, 20.9)
+10 Review
Post Total = 40
Season Total = 585
20.3 Our Town Sun Is Sky by Jedah Mayberry
Set in Picayune, Mississippi
Task: 20
Post: 20
Season total: 20
20.10 - Between the Wars March Violets by Philip Kerr
Task: 20
Fist published in 1989 = 5
Post: 25
Season total: 45
10.1 Popular Taken from January 2021 #8 on list
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
Task: 10
Season total: 55
10.4 - Name When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo
Task : 10
Combo: 10.9
Post: 15
Season total: 70
Post 271 Mary wrote: "20.9 BirthdaySon Of Singapore by Tan Kok Seng
20 pts. 20.9 Birthday I inviting them all to a small mobile Indian stall on wheels selling coffee, ginger water, ca..."
I'm sorry, Mary. This does not qualify for 10.2 Easter as there is no O in that word (and you had me look twice!).
Post 275 Kim wrote: "10.7 Read a book from the literature map of Louise Erdrich, Margaret Atwood or Toni MorrisonIsabel Allende appears on both Margaret Atwood and Toni Morrison's map
Violeta. [author..."
I'm sorry, Kim. 10.1 cannot be used for combo.
10.6 Space OutDefy the Stars (Constellation #1) by Claudia Gray
YA - 830L
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 320
20.5 The Killer AngelsThe Second Son by Jonathan Rabb
Nickolai Hoffner has been retired from the Berlin police because he is half Jewish. He has moved into the carriage house behind his son’s, Georg’s, house. There Hoffner finds some contentment with his DIL, Lotte and his grandson, Mendy. Georg has gone on assignment to Spain as a film journalist and disappears. Nickolai goes in search of him with some cryptic hints from Georg’s employer and the help of his organized crime friends just as the Spanish Civil War breaks out.
Rabb manages to make the various factions of the war clear, almost. He brings to life the euphoria, tension, and tragedy of war, especially a civil war where the combatants are killing their own countrymen. But he has broken my heart with the conclusion of the Berlin Trilogy.
+20 task
+10 combo 20.10, 10.2
+10 review
Task total: 40
Season total: 150
15.9 Southeast AsiaPhillipines
Once Upon a Sunset by Tif Marcelo
+15 Task
+20 Project Bonus
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 355
Post 289 Rosemary wrote: "20.6 The Color PurpleHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Lexile 880
I read this over 20 years ago, and I thought it might be fun to listen to the audi..."
Also a combo for 20.6 - all of the Harry Potter series works for that task.
Post 290 Tawallah wrote: "20.3 Our Town Sun Is Sky by Jedah Mayberry
Set in Picayune, Mississippi
Task: 20
Post: 20
Season total: 20"
This author also qualifies for 10.4 and 20.8, so give yourself 10 combo points!
15.1 Northern AfricaEgypt
The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters
I have been accused of having no sense of humor. It's true that I often don't find funny what those accusers do find funny. But I do laugh out loud, and not just occasionally. This book was one where if I wasn't laughing, I was smiling. Who would have thought a mystery series could be heavily laced with humor? OK, so probably the primary reason for this series *is* its humor and not the mysteries, but still ...
This installment has Amelia and Radcliffe ready to head to Egypt for another season. They decide to take their son Ramses with them. At first I'll admit that this 4-year old child was a bit much, precocious or not. His willingness to adhere to the literalness of the rules and skirt the spirit of them was a tad annoying. It wasn't long, however, before I found him more than just amusing. He is so much smarter and more intuitive than his parents! I choose to believe he will become even more of a star in future installments.
Amelia, of course, is really the star of the show. OK, it's just possible this is a series women will appreciate more than men, for this is her attitude:
Gazing upon them [pyramids] I knew how Eve must have felt when she looked back at the flowers and lush foliage of Eden, from which she was forever barred. (Another example of masculine duplicity, I might add. Adam was under no compulsion to eat of the fruit, and his attempt to shift the blame onto his trusting spouse was, to say the least, unmanly.)I don't get to this series often enough. To make sure I rectify that, I have, in the last 3 days, picked up 2 more of the series when they were on special for the Kindle. If I rated only as to enjoyment, this probably should be 5-stars, but I always hope that rating has something a little extra in terms of characterization or writing style. Nothing truly wrong with those elements here, but it's toward the top of my 4-star group nonetheless.
+15 task
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (1985)
Task total = 30
Season total = 340
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Reading with Style
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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Seven Upby Janet Evanovich
"My fast metabolism allows me to eat birthday cake." p 22
Task +20
Combo 10.4 name Janet
Task total: 30
Grand total: 105