Reading with Style discussion
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SP 22 Completed Tasks
10.1 PopularAppears as #58 on 2018
The Poet X. Elizabeth Acevedo
5.0/5.0 - Another beautiful book by this young Latinx author. My daughter-in-law loaned this to me a few months ago, and I just now picked it up. I couldn't put it down, the prose poetry, the story, the emotions so beautiful that my life felt a little bigger when I was done.
+10 Task
+10 review
-10 from message 295 & 157
Task total: 20-10=10
Running total: 210
10.1;10.7
15.3;
20.2;20.7;20.9
20.10 Between the warsThe Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Pub 1926
+20 pts - Task
+10pts - Combo(10.2, 10.3)
+10 pts - Oldies
Task Total -
40 pts - see post #384
20.2 Pultizer Prize (2018 for fiction)Less by Andrew Sean Greer
+20 task
Post total: 20
Season total 205
20.3 Our TownRed Clocks by Leni Zumas
+20 Task (fictional town of Newville, Oregon)
+5 Combo (10.4 Leni)
Points this post: 25
Season Total: 150
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 10.9 ....
.... .... 15.3 .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
.... .... 20.3 .... 20.5 .... .... 20.8 .... .....
20.9 BirthdaysCloser to the Chestby Mercedes Lackey
"The older girls brought tea and cakes." p 194
Review
In this book, someone is targeting women in Haven. They are targeting religious orders and shops that are run by women. Highborn women and women members of the Court are also targeted. A high volume of letters are sent to demoralize women. Mags goes undercover to find out who is responsible. Amily investigates from within the Court. It is only a matter of time before their unseen enemy will strike.
I have to say the enemy wasn't very original. I figured out who the villain was before the end of the book. I still enjoyed the story and I wanted the characters to succeed especially since Amily, the newly appointed King's Own was one of the targets. I really like the characters in this series.
Task + 20
Combo 20.4 the revievers +5
Review +10
Task total +35
Grand total: 115
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "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..."
I was claiming 20.6 for the task. Is there something else I missed?
Rosemary wrote: "Is there something else I missed?"Haha. Not sure what I was thinking. :-(
10.4 Name A Change in Altitude Anita Shreve
+10 task (5 letter given name)
Post total: 10
Season total: 215
20.5 The Killer AngelsAnil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
+20 Task
+5 Combo 20.7
Task total = 25
Season Total: 465
20.8 Texas Independence (Rebekah's Task)Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World by Max Lucado
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.4 - MAX)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 380
20.9 BirthdaysA Christmas Escape by Anne Perry
+20 Task p149 They were offered cakes and wine.
+5 Combo 10.4
Task total = 25
Season Total: 490
20.5 The Killer AngelsLiberté by Florent Grouazel
This graphic novel tells the beginning of the french revolution - civil war that took place between 1789 and 1799
+20 Task
No style points, graphic novel
Task total = 20
Season total = 250
.... ; 10.2 ; .... ; 10.4 (x2) ; .... ; 10.6 ; … ; .... ; .... ; 10.9 (x2)
.... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; ....
.... ; .... ; 20.3 ; .... ; 20.5 ; .... ; 20.7 ; .... ; 20.9 (x4) ; 20.10
15.1 Northern AfricaLibya
In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar
+15 Task
+20 Bonus
Task total: 35
Season Total: 525
20.1 PulitzerArmadale by Wilkie Collins
+20 Task (pub 1864-66)
+15 Oldies
+10 Jumbo (721 pp)
Points this post: 45
Season Total: 195
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 10.9 ....
.... .... 15.3 .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
20.1 .... 20.3 .... 20.5 .... .... 20.8 .... .....
10.10 Group Reads Here the Whole Time by Vitor Martins
YA no Lexile
Ed, thank you for this recommendation - what a beautiful book!
+10 task
Task Total: 10
Season Total: 175
20.8Broken by Jenny Lawson
My middling review is based on my expectations that this would be all ridiculous anecdotes. This however is much more memoir, with a lot of serious essays. And let me tell you, I was NOT in the mood for those essays and those topics. I read this while sliding into PMDD and a bit of ADHD burnout and reading about someone else’s downswings just fueled my own.
And since I don’t get the PMDD every month, I was taken aback at first at how depressed reading about depression was making me. I was so sad and so angry and ALL THE BAD FEELS. Until I checked my tracking app and saw I was smack dab in the zone of potential disaster and oooh…. OK. I’ll be fine in a week.
While I found much of the book to be too much for my mood, there were plenty of the funny chapters and those kept me going. And the difficult bits were good too, just not right for me in the moment. I’d recommend this, but it takes spoons I did not have.
Lawson writes about her life in the VERY small town of Wall, TX (pop 200)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_L...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall,_T...
+20 task
+10 review
+15 combo (10.4, 20.3, 20.9 “ Once I picked up Hailey’s fifth-birthday cake and for some reason it said “HAPPY GRADUATION” on it. “
Task total = 45
Season total = 225
15.2 Western Africa-MaliSundiata: An Epic of Old Mali by Mamadou Kouyaté
The history of Mali's founding is found in the oral traditions of it's "griots"- historians of a sort who memorized the legends that their fathers and grandfathers relayed to them. This epic is based on real events that occurred in the 13th century. The story, which did not enthrall me but was interesting to some extent because I know little about Mali, begins with soothsayers foretelling the birth of the future leader to a hunchbacked woman. That child, Sundiata, a prince who is favored by his father, shows no signs of leadership as a boy. The mother of his half-brother sets things in motion that spur Sundiata to begin sprouting as a magnificent being at age eleven. Sundiata, his mother and siblings exile themselves out of fear...but Sundiata promises to return to claim his Kingdom. And the rest of the novel establishes how Sundiata establishes alliances, fights battles, becomes victorious, is merciful and generous and builds an Empire. He is recognized as both Mali's founder and their Alexander the Great. This is a short read..but dense...and with footnotes for many foreign titles and words. 2.5 stars
task =15
Review=10
Bonus Country=20
Non-Western-10*
task total= 55
Grand Total=585
*Wikipedia's entry for the translator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djibril... indicates the author was a "griot"...one of the traveling Malian oral historians.
10.1; 10.2; 10.3; 10.4 (2x); -----; -----; -----; -----; -----; -----;
-----; 15.2; 15.3; -----; -----; 15.6; 15.7; -----; 15.9; 15.10;
-----; -----; 20.3; 20.4; ----; 20.6; 20.7; -----; -----; -----;
10.6 Space OutArtificial Condition by Martha Wells
I first read this last year, and picked up the audio to listen before going on with the series this season (hoping I get to the next one…) It’s the second book in the story of the SecUnit that calls itself Murderbot, in which the AI cyborg negotiates a passage on an empty spaceship to return to the planet where it was involved in a massacre, to find out what really happened there.
I'm glad I also had an ebook that I could read with my eyes, because I've discovered I don't like having no idea how names and other made-up words are spelt, and that's always an issue with scifi audiobooks. But it was an enjoyable story to listen to for a second “read”.
+10 Task (includes four journeys in space)
+10 Combo (10.5, 20.8)
+10 Review
Post Total = 30
Season Total = 615
Post 255 Ed wrote: "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 substan..."
Ed, I apologize for not seeing this immediately. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is not the Congo on the Projects List. That is The Republic of Congo. I honestly don't understand the difference and if this book belongs to the Congo without "Democratic" in its name, we'll go with the score as posted.
20.9 BirthdaysDistress Signals by Catherine Ryan Howard
Adam's girlfriend Sarah has been supporting him in his unsuccessful writing career for years. Then, when he finally gets the break that will bring him big earnings at last, she disappears. Her best friend says she was having an affair and his success meant she could leave without guilt, but when he traces her steps to a cruise ship he is left with more questions than answers.
This is a gripping psychological thriller and a good first novel. I found it a little shaky in places, but I was keen to know what happened and I would read more by this author.
+20 Task ("She baked him a cake on his birthday, wrote in his card that she loved him.")
+10 Review
Post Total = 30
Season Total = 645
Task 15.6 Central AsiaRead a book set in the Central Asia region: Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan
Set in Kazakhstan
Apples Are from Kazakhstan: The Land That Disappeared (2008) by Christopher Robbins (Hardcover, 304 pages) [915.8]
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 165 + 15 = 180
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 255 Ed wrote: "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 inv..."
No problem....this is set in the "Democratic" Republic...the former Belgian colony. The other Congo is a former French colony. I'll deduct 10 points on my next posting. I should have caught that myself.
20.5 Killer Angels Sisters of the Confederacy by Lauraine Snelling
+20 task Civil War
Post total: 20
Season total: 235
20.9 BirthdaysThe Warden's Niece by Gillian Avery
Hating her Victorian boarding school, ten-year-old Maria decides to run away. The train takes her to Oxford, where she finds her uncle, the Warden of Canterbury College. He takes her in and arranges for her to have lessons with the three young sons of a neighbour. They and their eccentric temporary tutor provide Maria with a summer of wild escapades and a historical mystery.
I wish I had read this as a child. I'm sure I would have loved it. It's still a good read now. Maria is convincingly shy for someone who has been brought up as she was, but determined enough to be interesting. The Smith boys are fun, and Copplestone the tutor is wonderful.
+20 Task ("Eating the scones and damson jam and Madeira cake, she began on her homework.")
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (1957)
Post Total = 35
Season Total = 680
20.4 The ReiversThe Trail to Seven Pines by Louis L'Amour
A fun read/listen for a while; Hopalong Cassidy is a "rider" which I think means he is a rambling man who rides around keeping the peace on ranches as needed - something like that. In this story, Hoppy takes a job on the Rocking R ranch which is having trouble with cattle rustlers from the 3 G ranch. Shootouts, stage robberies, a good-hearted diner woman, even a mountain lion and an earthquake are all part of the action - so if you need a Wild West fix where the "good guy" wins, this book could be for you. (No "cake" points - only pie served in this book.)
+20 Task (cattle rustlers, stagecoach robbers, gold thieves)
+15 combo 20.3 (Corn Patch, Seven Pines, other small mining settlements and towns), 10.2 (3 Ts and an S), 10.4 (Louis)
+5 Oldie
+10 Review
Task Total: 50
Season Total: 260
20.10 Between the Wars Corrected Total
A Darker Reality by Anne Perry
20 pts. 20.10 Between the Wars
5 pts 20.9 Birthday P. 72 He waited for her to set the tray, then he carried it into the sitting room and returned ro watch her cut into a cake, rich with fruit. It was indulgent, and he loved it.
5 pts 20.7 Brief Wonderous life of Oscar Wao. Perry has immigrated to tge US from the UK
5 pts 10.4 Name
10 pts Review
Not a very good mystery. The premise suggests that there could have been an exciting story here but the book drags, the actions of the maun characters are not well described leaving a very unsatisfactory result.
Perry can create truly engaging characters but she is missing the mark in this series. Elena is vaguely annoying and while she is getting more involved with government secrets, there really seems to be no reason why MI6 would trust her or rely on her in a crisis. Not recommended
Task total: 45 pts
Total Season: 440 pts
10.1 10.2 … 10.4 10.5 10.6 … … … …
… … … … … … …15.9 …
20.1 …’ 20.3 … … … … … … 20.9 20.10
10.4 NameThirty Girls by Susan Minot
Review: Before I started reading, I had a look at the reviews and thought I maybe shouldn't bother -- turns out I was right.
Some of the reviews are over-the-top and creepily voyeuristic about the tragedy of 30 girls abducted in Uganda and their vitriol gave me hope that this would be more nuanced than either tragedy tourism OR eat-pray-love-esque awakening.
I would say it's not entirely either one of those things (though Esther's recovery after talking to Jane is a bit rich) but it's also not really anything else. Minot shies away from both stories. Neither Esther's nor Jane's story is told in a full-throated way. It felt like Minot knew she DIDN'T want to write a racially or culturally problematic book, but didn't really know what she DID want to write.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Post total: 20
Season total: 225
Claimed to date:
- 10.2 - 10.4(x3) - - - - - -
- - - 15.4 - - - - - -
20.1 - - - - 20.6 - - - -
20.2 PrizeArrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis
Review: Overall, I liked this. Some parts are fascinating while other parts drag. Most characters are interesting but others are filler. None of this is surprising for a book that is meant to read like a detailed biography. There is pretty thorough play-by-play of Martin Arrowsmith's formative years.
In the end, the book is a little wishy-washy in its message against pursuit of corporate and social success. But this was written in 1925, so that makes sense. There's something about achieving said success and then rejecting it being depicted as noble that doesn't resonate anymore. It's not an indictment of the American Dream. Instead, the novel verifies the American Dream but questions the morals of some of those who aim for it (or didn't have to).
+20 Task (won in 1926 – interestingly, Lewis declined)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (first pub’d 1925)
Post total: 40
Season total: 265
Claimed to date:
- 10.2 - 10.4(x3) - - - - - -
- - - 15.4 - - - - - -
20.1 20.2 - - - 20.6 - - - -
20.10 - Between the WarsDeath at the Dance by Verity Bright
+20 task - 1920
+5 Combo - 20.3
Task total: 25
Grand total: 265
20.7 Oscar WaoTwo Spies in Caracas by Moisés Naím
From the title and GR shelvings I thought this was a mystery or mystery thriller. It is not either of those. It is the telling of the rise and presidency of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. The author served in the administration of Perez, Chavez's predecessor and watched this story unfold in real time. Naím writes in a note preceeding the novel that all of the characters except the obvious historical figures are fictional. Interestingly, he also says he played with time, collapsing real time into a fictional time. The novel doesn't mention dates often and so this collapsing of time was barely noticeable.
The opening line of the book is: There is no sound more annoying to a couple making love than the ring of a telephone. It turns out that one of this couple is a female CIA operative and she will be sent to Caracas. Not the other half of the couple making love, the other spy of the title is a male Cuban G2 operative. We are also given his back story before he is sent to Caracas. Much of this story, but certainly not all, is told from one or the other's point of view.
This is not a pretty story, but sometimes history is not at all pretty. I don't know how it is in Europe or other countries mostly settled by Europeans, but many of us in the US pay scant attention to the nations in our own hemisphere. Of course we know the Caribbean and South America are there. The news did cover Chavez of course and his name in the novel was far from unknown to me. But I, at least, paid little attention during his years in power, allowing what happened there to skirt the periphery of my consciousness. I learned much in this novel.
The story is well told, the writing itself is interesting. Naím is a journalist and this is his first novel. I felt the style fell somewhere between realistic fiction and the best of creative nonfiction such as Erik Larsen, Timothy Egan or Hampton Sides. There are a lot of characters. I think none are well drawn, but that is forgiveable in this type of novel.
This is not 5-stars for me, but falls somewhere in the middle of the 4-star group.
+20 Task (author was born in Libya and immigrated as a child to Venezuela)
+10 Review
+10 Nonwestern (author has since immigrated to US, but retains Venezuelan citizenship)
Task total = 40
Season total = 380
From Post 289Rosemary wrote: "20.6 The Color Purple
Harry 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..."
+5 Oldies
+5 Combo 10.3
From Post 292Tawallah wrote: "10.1 Popular
Taken from January 2021 #8 on list
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
Task: 10
Season total: 55"
+5 Combo 10.2
From Post 293Tawallah wrote: "10.4 - Name
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo
Task : 10
Combo: 10.9
Post: 15
Season total: 70"
+5 Combo 10.2
From Post 296Tien wrote: "10.6 Space Out
Defy the Stars (Constellation #1) by Claudia Gray
YA - 830L
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 320"
+5 Jumbo
10.5- Database Anniversary The Waste Lands by Stephen King
Review: The Dark Tower has been quite a surreal book up until this moment. It is now that things finally seem to make some sense and most of the key players are involved. Unfortunately, the women still get the short straw with Mr. King. Onto the good parts, his characters and the journey that comes with this quest. Roland, the gunslinger from an alternate Earth has gathered his team close to him and continues to keep his secrets. Eddie, Susannah are learning more about gunslinging and a fourth party is about to be added. Unfortunately Roland appears to be going crazy. As the book progresses, everyone struggles with what it means to be a hero and do the right thing. And along the way there are nods to pop culture - Led Zeppelin, Discworld, Lud in the Mist, riddles and yes computers are important. It obviously draws inspiration from the times of the Cold War and the generation gap that was the topic of the day.
It is this book that made me understand the love for this series.
Task: 10
Review: 10
Oldie:5 first published in August 1991
Jumbo: 5 (page count of MPB- 590)
Total post: 30
Season total: 115 (including combos missed)
10.1Fan Fiction by Brent Spiner
FYI Trek fans, Spiner was born in Texas so you can listen to this for 20.8 (def do the audiobook)
If I had read this rather than listened, I would missed the tone and gotten prickly. And if I wasn’t a fan of the author’s most famous role I would not have been very kind in my review. But I do know who Spiner is and I did listen, so this was a fun, dumb ride.
If you are not a fan of TNG, you might still like this, but you would have to be a BIG fan of cheese and noir. This is a holodeck fantasy with alllllll the tropes, and more than one cringy moment. It’s not modern in the least, but it is fun.
The best parts were when other TNG cast members read their lines. You can tell they had a blast. At one point you can hear Frakes start to break and it is absolutely delightful.
That’s really the charm of this book - even though the airtime is very brief for the rest of the cast, it’s so sweet that they are friends. The show meant a lot to me as a kid and it’s nice to know that there’s a good vibe with the cast IRL all these years later.
+10 task
+ 10 review
+5 Combo (20.8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_S...)
Task total = 25
Season total = 250
Task 15.10 Western AsiaRead a book set in the Western Asia region: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Oman, Yemen, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
Set entirely in Constantinople (Turkey).
Alchemy of Fire (2004) by Gillian Bradshaw
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 180 + 15 = 195
20.9 BirthdayThe Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
Pg 359 "The young crow cocked his head, beady black eye looking first at the cake and then at her face, back and forth. She'd been trying to train him to take food from her hand, even though she knew she shouldn't."
"The Book of Form and Emptiness" is an unusual, imaginative story about Benny Oh and his mother, Annabelle, whose lives were upended by grief. Benny's father, Kenji, was a Korean-Japanese jazz musician who was run over by a truck. Traumatized by his father's death, Benny begins to hear voices coming from nonliving objects. His mother, who works for a news service clipping topical stories from newspapers and online sources for clients, is filling their apartment with trash bags of clippings. Annabelle is overwhelmed by the loss of Kenji, and searches for cute collectibles at the thrift store in an effort to feel better. Annabelle is turning into a hoarder, and Benny is surrounded by voices coming from all the clutter.
Eventually Benny is diagnosed as having a mental health disorder. The library becomes a refuge for Benny where he can quiet the voices, and associate with others on the edge of society. One begins to wonder where the boundary exists between a creative, questioning mind and mental illness in some of the neurodiverse characters who are also dealing with poverty and other issues. Annabelle is influenced by a small book written with a Zen attitude toward consumerism and tidying up clutter.
Ruth Ozeki packs a lot of ideas and issues into this tale--love, grief, healing, mental illness, poverty, consumerism, the importance of books and libraries, art, Zen philosophy, the environment, politics, and the nature of reality. Since the book combines magical realism with reality, it's best not to overanalyze the story and just enjoy Ruth Ozeki's original storytelling.
+20 task
+10 combo 10.2 Easter (the, and, emptiness); 10.4 Name
+10 review
Task total: 40
Season total: 250
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "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 co..."
Oops — I think I was too excited about the 2 “S” es. Could you doublecheck the readerboard? I have a total of 395 vs the readerboard total of 405.
Post 316 Lagullande wrote: "20.1 PulitzerArmadale by Wilkie Collins
+20 Task (pub 1864-66)
+15 Oldies (10.4 Leni)
+10 Jumbo (721 pp)
Points this post: 45
Season Total: 195
.... .... .... ......"
Post 338 Tawallah wrote: "10.5- Database Anniversary The Waste Lands by Stephen King
Review: The Dark Tower has been quite a surreal book up until this moment. It is now that things finally ..."
I'm sorry, June. This edition The Waste Lands is the MPE and is listed at just 422 pages. No jumbo points.
10.1 PopularKlara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
#12 on the 2021 list
It’s really hard to know what to say about this book. The first half (+) of it I found difficult to get into, then it seemed to pick up. Being an Ishiguro novel I knew I might be off-kilter (and expected that), but even with that expectation it was a bit much. As well, I fully expected ‘something bad’ to be revealed in the first half, which made it hard to be enthused to continue reading. There are a lot of dystopian elements hinted at, which is effective because it adds to the feeling of dread. However, the story is told from the perspective of the very intelligent, but naïve, AI ‘an artificial friend’. Because of that you only get a very blinkered view of this new world order that Klara (the AF) and Josie live in.
There aren’t many books that I have read that I wish I could discuss with someone (or a group) who has studied the author and has deep insight into his meaning. This is one of them. I think that even though I struggled with this book it is one that will stick in my mind for a long time. 3.5*
10 task
10 review
15 combo 10.2, 10.4, 20.7
______
35
Running total: 475
20.2 PrizeThe Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams
Biography or Autobiography 1919
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo(10.2, 10.4)
+10 pts - Oldies ( 1918)
Task Total - 40 pts
20.6 The Color PurpleMr. Standfast by John Buchan
+20 pts -Task
+5 Pts - Combo (10.4)
+10 pts - Oldies ( 1919)
Task Total -
25 pts - see post #390
20.9 BirthdaysThe Singing Of The Dead by Dana Stabenow
+20 Task Chapter 2. There was caribou sausage, smoked fish, moose steaks, deer stew, blood stew, mulligan stew, fry bread, zucchini bread, homemade bread, cranberry bread, date nut bread, banana bread, raisin bread, macaroni salad, carrot salad, potato salad, three-bean salad, pickles dill and sweet, olives black and green, cubed cheeses cheddar and jack, chocolate cake, pineapple upside-down cake, apple and cherry and Boston cream pies.
+15 Combo 10.2, 10.4, 10.9
Task total = 35
Season Total: 560
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 316 Lagullande wrote: "20.1 Pulitzer.....Nevermind, I see what it is."
Oops, yes, sorry.
20.3 Our TownCities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy
It took me over 20 years to get through this trilogy, so obviously I'm not the target audience. I loved the first book (All the Pretty Horses), but felt no immediate need to read the next one. I'm pretty sure I read that soon after it came out -- maybe around summer 1998. At that time, I lived for the first time in New York City and the book satisfied my inner longing for the open spaces of Texas I'd grown up surrounded by.
Then, I read the second book around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that point, the book was too bleak for my sinking depression and I gave it only three stars. I know the writing is pretty, but I didn't like the book. Also, the narrator for The Crossing was lousy.
Finally, I read this third installment. For the first half, I barely cared about these characters. Maybe I didn't remember them well enough. Or maybe the book was just moving too slowly. Around halfway through, things started to pick up and I was deeply invested in the book and the characters. But then the book ended with an overly long and slightly mystical epilogue that took me back to not really liking the book after all.
There's no doubt that McCarthy writes gorgeous sentences. And captures the sense of place of these fading times of open spaces and manly-men out cowboying. But a lot of the time I neither understood them nor cared about them enough to be drawn in.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 30
Grand total: 350
20.2 PrizePostcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Díaz
I wish I knew more about poetry. I'm positive that I missed a great deal of the nuance here just reading these poems at the surface level -- wow that's a cool turn of phrase, a beautiful image, a gut-punch. Reading through the author's notes at the back, I glimpsed the conversations that I'm missing. The way that these poems are referencing other poems and other literature, the way that these come together with concrete reference points. I would have appreciated even more endnotes to help guide me.
Still, even for the poetry uneducated, there was a lot to like about this collection. The range of topics and feelings, the contours of her difficult relationship with her brother, the odes to her partner.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 30
Grand total: 380
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Reading with Style
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Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
+20 Task (born Fort Worth)
+10 Combo (10.2 SAT, 20.7 USA -> Switzerland)
+5 Oldies (pub 1950)
Points this post: 35
Season Total: 125
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 10.9 ....
.... .... 15.3 .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
.... .... .... .... 20.5 .... .... 20.8 .... .....