Reading with Style discussion
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FA 22 Completed Tasks
20.1 JemismThe Thread Collectors Shaunna J. Edwards
+20 task
+5 NFL New Orleans
+5 20.10 birthday pub 2022
Post total: 30
Season total: 80
20.9 ABCLessons in Chemistry Bonnie Garmus
+20 task
+5 20.10 birthday pub 2022
Post total: 25
Season total: 105
10.4 SeriesHatchet Island Paul Doiron
+10 task Mike Bowditch #13
+5 20.10 birthday pub 2022
Post total: 15
Season total: 120
20.3 VonnegutThe Poems of Wilfred Owen by Wilfred Owen
I'd never heard of Wilfred Owen before his name came up as one of the quintessential examples of anti-war work. As part of my effort to read more poetry, I thought I'd take a look. My library had this edition available as an ebook. To read it on my phone, I had to turn the phone sideways because otherwise the formatting was impossible, but it worked fine holding the phone horizontally.
I feel inadequate to review these poems. They are powerful and gripping. I'm not well enough educated in poetry to understand how they relate to other poetry or whether they are subtly doing something cool with the form or the meter. But what I can say is that I felt the emotion and raw energy radiating from every word.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.5)
+10 Oldies
Task total: 45
Grand total: 645
20.2 DebutHeatwave by Victor Jestin
It’s not bad, and it’s very good at creating a hot, oppressive atmosphere, but this was not for me. In this short-yet-slow novella, a teen watches another teen die a preventable death and does nothing. He then thinks of himself as a murderer and does stupid things.
This is excellent at capturing the short-sighted me-me-me-ness of being a teen. The wallowing, the angst, the sociopathic selfishness…and all of that is terribly boring to me now. Other readers my find this fascinating.
This was recommended as horror / thriller, and NOPE. Nothing of the sort. It’s a dark coming-of-age story. Read this if you want to explore the the mind of a 17 year old young man, not if you want tension/plot/character development.
+20 task
+10 review
+10 translation
Task total = 40
Season total = 370
10.7 GeochachingMirror Sight by Kristen Britain
+10 task MPG adventure
+20 Combo 10.2, born in USA, 10.3, 10.4, 20.8 chicken soup
+10 jumbo 784 pages
Post total: 40
Season total: 705
20.1 POCBitter Root, Vol. 1: Family Business by David F. Walker
Graphic novel
Task total = 20
Season total = 410
20.9 ABCHim Standing by Richard Wagamese
This novella read more like a short story. Some of my recent reads have been shorter page-wise but took much longer to get through.
This was immediately engaging and the pace was brisk. One the surface, the story is simple and straightforward. I’m not familiar with traditional Ojibway stories but this has the feel of something told and told again, reframed for a new audience.
And like traditional tales, there are more lessons within that the simple surface one. Here, Lucas, a young man with a gift for carving, is approached by a suspicious man with a request to carve a very particular spirit mask. Life-changing money is thrown at Lucas and he accepts the commission, and he discovers the what the real commission was…
I loved this one. The author was an artist with his words, making these characters come alive despite the brevity.
+20 task
+10 review
+ 10 combo (10.2, 20.1)
Task total = 40
Season total = 450
20.3 VonnegutOld Man's War (Old Man's War #1) by John Scalzi
anti-war (page 10)
+20 Task
+30 Combo (10.2; 10.3 - J for John; 10.4; 20.2; 20.9 - JS; 20.10 - pub 2005)
Post Total: 50
Season Total: 790
20.2 KingLes Souvenirs de Ferdinand Taupe by Mickaël Brun-Arnaud
The author's first (and only) novel
+20 Task
+15 Combo (10.6 - main characters are a mole and a fox ; 20.8 "But this evening, once under his plaid blanket after drinking a good onion squash"; 20.10 - publshed 2022)
Task total = 35
Points total = 310
... ; ... ; 10.3 ; ... ; 10.5 ; 10.6 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ...
15.1 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ...
... ; 20.2 (x2) ; 20.3 ; 20.4 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; 20.8 (x2) ; 20.9 ; 20.10 (x2)
10.4 SeriesThe Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984 by Riad Sattouf
Graphic novel in 6 books
+10 Task
No style, graphic novel
Task total = 10
Points total = 320
... ; ... ; 10.3 ; 10.4 ; 10.5 ; 10.6 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ...
15.1 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ...
... ; 20.2 (x2) ; 20.3 ; 20.4 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; 20.8 (x2) ; 20.9 ; 20.10 (x2)
10.5 Autumn ColorsBlack Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden
Historical Fiction based on a true story about The American Library in Paris, during WWII.
Another duel time-line book (ugh! sorry, so tired of these), where once again the older time line wins, IMO. What I found most interesting about the book is that even though I was enjoying the story, there were very few characters I connected to, and those characters I did like were side characters. An example would be Boris, one of the librarians whose story is not fully told. At times, I really disliked the 2 main protagonist's, Oldie and Lily.
The strongest message of this story: Books are important, books are special, we all need books in our life!
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2, 20.10)
Task Total 30
Season Total 745
20.8 Soups on Paul complimented Maman on the creamy soup
The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles
Historical Fiction based on a true story about The American Library in Paris, during WWII.
Another duel time-line book (ugh! sorry, so tired of these), where once again the older time line wins, IMO. What I found most interesting about the book is that even though I was enjoying the story, there were very few characters I connected to, and those characters I did like were side characters. An example would be Boris, one of the librarians whose story is not fully told. At times, I really disliked the 2 main protagonist's, Oldie and Lily.
The strongest message of this story: Books are important, Books are special, we all need books in our life!
+20 Task
+10 Reveiw
+10 Combo (10.2, 10.3)
Task Total 40
Season Total 785
20.4 SaramagoSugar Money by Jane Harris
It's 1765 and 12-year-old Lucien, a mixed-race slave in the hands of French monks on the Caribbean island of Martinique, is sent with his older brother Emile to the nearby island of Grenada to rescue (or steal, depending on the characters' point of view) a group of their fellow slaves who were left behind when Grenada was invaded by the English. Lucien, who narrates in the first person, is keen for adventure, but Emile is aware how horribly dangerous their task is.
The language involves a certain amount of French and Creole, although the words are always either explained or clear from the context. The book does not shirk graphic descriptions of the cruel punishments meted out to slaves, especially on Grenada.
Lucien is an irrepressible and engaging narrator, and I found this both instructive and a lively, compelling read.
+20 Task (set 95% in 1765)
+10 Review
+15 Combo (10.3, 10.7, 20.1)
Post total: 45
Season total: 1115
20.9 ABCsDecider by Dick Francis
Property developer Lee Morris has a failing marriage, six sons aged from 1 to 14, and a small number of shares in a racecourse left to him by his mother. When he is persuaded to attend a shareholders' meeting, he quickly finds himself embroiled in a bitter family quarrel between the other shareholders that puts not only his own life but his children’s at risk.
I thought this was just okay as a mystery - some of the events being far-fetched even for the genre – and Lee Morris didn’t appeal to me at all, but the kids and their individual personalities made it all worthwhile.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (20.10 1993)
+ 5 Oldies
Post total: 40
Season total: 1155
20.10 BirthdayThe Shadow Murders by Jussi Adler-Olsen
Well, wasn’t that the cliff hanger to end all cliff hangers! As I was reading this latest instalment in the Department Q series, I (finally) came to the conclusion that this is my favourite contemporary thriller/mystery series. Yes, there are many others that I hold in high esteem, but Adler-Olsen has written a kick ass, gripping series with characters that you care about.
This instalment was set in 2020, so covid was starting to impact the world. Interestingly I didn’t find this novel a trigger (as The Locked Room was). Covid was more of an inconvenience here, as it was in real life. Anyhow the team is in top form, and there is an added twist that I didn’t see coming and has yet to be resolved! 5*
The important thing to note is that you should read this series in order.
20 task
10 review
10 LiT
15 10.3, 10.4, 20.8 (pg. 230 'And now your soup should be ready.')
______
55
Running total: 670
10.7 Geocaching (Kim's Task)Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
+10 Task
+10 Combo: 10.2 Octoberfest / 20.9 ABCs (Kate S's Task)
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 300
10.8 House (Ann's Task)Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
+10 Task
+25 Combo: 10.2 Octoberfest / 20.5 Faulkner / 20.8 Soup's On (lunchtime soup special) / 20.9 ABCs (Kate S's Task) / 20.10 Birthday (1991)
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 335
10.9 NFL! (Anika's Task)Trust by Hernan Diaz
+10 Task (NYC)
+15 Combo: 10.2 Octoberfest (Argentina) / 20.8 Soup's On (bowls of soup) / 20.10 Birthday (2022)
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 360
10.1 TBRThis book has been on my shelf since 2017
Forget Me Not by Vicki Hinze
+10 task
+10 review
+5 combo (10.2 Octoberfest)
+5 combo (10.4 Series)
Ugh! I read this for another challenge where I needed to read romantic suspense. I usually don’t care for romance but I have read a few that were well done. Not this one. I started keeping track of how many times she reached for his hand or he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. Too many!
The story had potential but the writing was lame and repetitive.
It includes a woman with amnesia, a good looking widower whose late wife resembles the woman with amnesia and a bunch of bad guys who need the amnesiac dead. There were times when I was engaged with the story but overall it was confusing and boring. This is the first in a series of three. I will not be continuing the series.
Task Total 30
Season Total 175
10.3 9, 10, 11Death Knows no Calendar by John Bude
10 pts 10.3 9, 10, 11
10 pts Oldies
10 pts Review
Another small English town with a murder problem. And a local want to be detective to take on the case. Major Boddy and his batman Syd Gammon investigate a suiicide that seemsto be not quite as straight forwatdas everyone thinks. There are lots of suspects and conflicting information untill our detectives figure out the case.
This is a fair play mystery. He reader can figure out the convoluted plot at the same time as the detective. Even if the motive for murder is one of those things that only happen in books.
Task Total: 30 pts
Season Total: 430 pts
10.1 10.2 10.3 … … 10.6 … … … …
20.1 … … 20.4… … … 20.8 20.9 20.10
15.1 15.2 … … … … … … … …
20.6 ColeridgePeace Like a River. Leif Enger
Told from the perspective of 11 year old Rueben Land, this is a story of simple family love, forgiveness, miracles, and journey. After his older brother Davy, shoots and kills two boys who have broken into their home, and escapes jail, all Rube and his younger sister, Swede want to do is find him, bring him home and have life go back to normal. But life will never be normal for them again. Swede is my favorite character is this book, she is a storyteller extraordinaire. The father is a man of God, and there really wasn't one character in the book that didn't speak to me. Excellent book!
Task Total: 20
Review: 10
Combo: 15 (C10.2 - US, 20.8 potato chowder, 20.2)
Total: 45
Season Total: 730
10.2; 10.3; 10.4; 10.5; 10.8; 10.9
15.1; 15.2; 15.3; 15.4; 15.5; 15.6; 15.7; 15.8
20.1(x2); 20.2; 20.3; 20.5; 20.6; 20.7; 20.8; 20.10;
10.5 Autumn's ColorsSea Change by Robert Goddard
The opening line of the Goodreads description is It’s January 1721, and London is still reeling from the recession caused by the greatest financial scandal of the age: the collapse of the South Sea Bubble. My knowledge of history, especially British history is none too good. Had I not read David Liss' A Conspiracy of Paper I would have been entirely unfamiliar with said South Sea bubble. No doubt I could know more, but basically the South Sea Company was a company which wanted to rival the Bank of England. What it really was about was power and riches for the founders. It did this by selling stock which was worthless because there were no assets nor business on which the stock could be based. It made a few people very rich and a lot of people dead broke. A bubble.
In the opening pages, Robert Knight has an appointment with Sir Theodore Janssen. It is to be a very private meeting. Knight gives Janssen a locked dispatch case, the whereabouts and contents to be protected at all cost. Next we meet a William Spandrel who is in debtors prison for failure to pay his debt to Janssen, and others. Janssen offers Spandrel a deal: take something to Amsterdam, bring back a receipt of delivery, and all debts will be expunged and freedom returned. Poor William Spandrel, the unwitting pawn of such powerful people who only wanted to be debt free. And pawn he was.
The something in the dispatch case was a green book. This book contained the financial shenanigans of the South Sea Company. It divulged the corruption of those behind it. That corruption reached to the highest places of the British government. Who got stock for pennies on the pound? Who was bribed to look the other way? Let us say the very highest personage, no higher personage lived, and others who ran the goverment, of course. What would people do to acquire that green book and how much would those named therein pay for making sure the information recorded was never disclosed?
I like Robert Goddard. I like the way he writes. Others of his books have had somewhat better characterizations. The plot wasn't hard to follow, but a lot happened to poor William Spandrel. There were more cliff-hangers than should fill two novels. And then there was all that needed background knowledge. There were a couple of glossaries at the end so that we could know which of the named people were real and which would never be found in any history book. (Robert Knight and Sir Theodore Janssen were real, Spandrel was not.) I had no trouble turning pages, but there was a time or two I thought things were a bit much. For me, this was a low 4-stars, but I could see where others might think differently.
+10 Task (Sea Glass)
+10 Review
+15 Combo (20.4, 20.8 "He ate a hearty stew, washed down with a mug of ale, and gleaned confirmation", 20.10 - 2000)
Task total = 35
Halfway Bonus = 50
Season total = 525
10.4 Series (Ed's Task)Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
+10 task
+10 combo (20.1; 20.10 - first published 2011)
Post Total = 20
Season Total = 565
10.7 GeocachingArrow's Fallby Mercedes Lackey
MPG adventure 34 users
Task +10
Combo + 10(10.2 US, 10.4 Series)
Oldies +5 (1988)
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 270
20.4 SaramagoPractice to Deceive by Patricia Veryan
+20 Task set 1746
+15 Combo 10.4, 20.8 chicken soup, 20.9
+5 Oldies pub 1980
Post total: 40
Season total: 745
15.4 EotPThe Fish Girl by Mirandi Riwoe
+15 Task The Stella Prize Nominee for Shortlist (2018)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 805
20.5 FaulknerGiovanni's Room by James Baldwin
This short book took me nearly a month to read because it was so powerful and so gut-wrenching that I could only really manage it in small doses. It's not an easy book to review. Baldwin is an absolutely masterful writer. The book moves through time so seamlessly that you hardly notice that it's not just progressing chronologically, but the tension of the novel is maintained partly through the structure.
I never liked any of these characters. But I so strongly wanted them to find happiness and satisfaction even though I didn't especially like any of them. The descriptions of the protagonist's relationships with the different people in his life--his father, his lover, his fiancée, and the other characters populating the book--were so compelling vibrant and vulnerable and real that I almost felt like I knew these people.
I really should read more Baldwin.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2, 10.3)
+5 Oldies (1956)
Task total: 45
Grand total: 690
10.10 Group ReadsLife and Death Are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan
Review
Thank you, Coralie, for bringing this book to the challenge! I really enjoyed it. At first I thought I would pass it by because I already had more than one jumbo book on my planning list, but I kept going back to it. The description was intriguing, I liked works by other Chinese authors such as Ha Jin, and since I had been asked a couple of times in the help thread about finding books to fit the “Bless the Animals” task, I wondered if it fit. It does! The main narrator (there is more than one), is the soul of a man who was a wealthy landowner just before the Communist Revolution. Even though he had been fair with people, he was still branded an enemy after lies accusing him of horrendous crimes by his concubine. He is killed by the mob after angry declarations of innocence and cursing his tormentors. The Lord of the Underworld returns his soul to earth in the form of a donkey, now serving his own most faithful servant from his previous life. Subsequently he continues to be reincarnated after each death into a different species each time because he must erase anger from his heart. After Donkey, he is Ox, then Pig, Dog and Monkey, all serving humans. The very last chapter, he again is born as a human male infant. But in each incarnation the elixir meant to erase all knowledge of the previous life does not affect him, therefore he suffers with each life as he sees his own son become an evil tyrant, people he loves being abused, but also sees the good that rises in people. Each incarnation is in the same village amongst the same people so that he is a chronicler of the micro- history of its inhabitants as the country experiences changes and upheavals, turning society upside down. The story is divided into five books for each of his animal lives. In each book there is a secondary narrator, one of the several people he was close to in his landowner life, his wife, his servant etc, most of which recognizes if not exactly who he is, at least see he has the soul of a good and brave man. In each carnation, he amazes his village with amazing feats, attacking villains and rescuing the innocent. This earns him respect and a hero’s title but also enemies so that each death seems a cruel ending.
Aside from the absorbing story of a reincarnated soul, there is the story of the eccentric history of a chaotic era of China’s long history. The book contains much satire but seems to just walk a fine border with what I would think the Chinese government would consider censorious. The narrator often refers to the author, Mo Yan, in the third person and usually not in a complimentary manner, bringing an unusual element of an author’s self-depreciation beautifully done. Again as it fits task 10.8, we are given a first hand experience of what it is like to be born of an animal, sometimes along with a litter if siblings, the urges of mating, the humiliation of training because although he still has his human soul, he also embodies the soul of the species he enters into.
I appreciate Coralie’s book choice but unfortunately for her, she was one of the members in the help thread. Hope you find a book you like, Coralie! Maybe another great one!
+10 pts - task
+30 pts - combo(10.8-see review, 20.1-chinese, 20.5-on approved list, 20.8-multiple kinds, from broth of donkey bone to noodles and broth to pork stew, 20.9, 20.10 - pub 2006)
+5 pts - jumbo (540)
+10 pts - LiT
+10 pts - review
+50 pts - half-way finish bonus
Task Total - 115 pts
20.1 JemisinWhispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch
+ 20 task
+5 combo (10.4)
Post Total = 25
Season Total = 590
20.2 KingDangerous Women by Hope Adams
In 1841, the Rajah transported 180 females convicted of petty crimes from England to Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania). Kezia Hayter was the matron on board in charge of the prisoners. She selected a group of them to work on a quilt as a bonding experience and a chance to develop their sewing skills. The Rajah Quilt is now hanging in the National Gallery of Australia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajah_Q...
Kezia recognized that poverty, abuse, and the need to feed their children were often reasons behind the women's crimes. A few of the women suffered from depression or other mental illnesses. She believed that the transportation to Australia was enough punishment, and that the women could be rehabilitated to lead productive lives. The women had to live under miserable conditions during the three month voyage.
A fictional serious crime involving one of the women in the sewing circle had everyone on edge since the perpetrator had to be onboard. Although I guessed the culprit, it was interesting to find out the backstories of the women's lives since more than one could have had a motive.
Many of the characters are based on real people, although most names have been changed since their descendants still live in Australia. I enjoyed learning more about Australian history, and especially liked Kezia Hayter as a character.
+20 task (debut novel)
+10 review
Task total: 30
Season total: 670
20.7 CervantesThe Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
A shady rare book detective becomes involved with pages of Dumas’ original transcript of The Three Musketeers and a copy of an occult book that supposedly only one copy of exists.
I listened to an audio edition that is marked as abridged. I want to read a print edition. I am not sure what may be missed in the audio but a lot of Perez-Reverte’s intriguing plotting and beautiful writing is here. I just feel that I have missed some clues to the mystery’s conclusion. An absorbing and intriguing book.
+20 task
+20 combo 20.5, 20.9, 20.10, 10.7
+10 LIT
+10 review
+5 oldie
Task total: 65
Season total: 270
20.5 FaulknerLetter to His Father by Franz Kafka
+20 task
+10 combo 10.3 9, 10, 11; 20.9 ABC
+10 oldie (orig pub 1919)
+10 Lost in Translation (from German)
Task total: 50
Season total: 720
20.5 FaulknerDirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
20 pts 20.5 Faulkner. See task thread
5 pts 10.4 Series
5 pts 20.8 Soup’s On “Watkin . . .letting his gaze settle glassily on to his newly arrived bowl of soup”
10 pts Oldies
10 pts Review
This is a science fiction mystery with a murder that gets tied up in paranormal occurances that appear to be unreconcilable with reality. While the premise is interesting— once you figure out what is going on— the coy avoidance of any plot line makes it difficult to follow.
I found this frustrating and the final payoff is one of the standard SF tropes. It wasn’t worth the wait. In addition, the characters are annoying and unbelievable. There is no real reason they act as they do except as an illustration that all is not right with the world.
I have no interest in reading the rest of the series. This was an opportunity to build a paranormal world lost by the author.
Task Total: 50 pts
Season Total: 480 pts
10.1 10.2 10.3 … … 10.6 … … … …
20.1 … … 20.4 20.5 … … 20.8 20.9 20.10
15.1 15.2 … … … … … … … …
Task 10.9 NFL (Anika's Task)Read a book set at least 75% in any of these cities which have a professional football team.
Novel set entirely in Los Angeles.
Not really part of a series – 14 is one of two novels set in a slightly different future. One reviewer called it a sidequel to Cline’s novel The Fold. I looked up sidequel – yes, it’s a real word!
Sidequel: Noun. sidequel (plural sidequels) A type of sequel which portrays events that occur at the same time as the original work, but with different characters in a different setting.
14 (Threshold #1) (2012) by Peter Clines
Review: The cover of 14 has a quote from Craig DiLouie: 14 is “a riveting apocalyptic mystery in the style of LOST”. Having finished reading the book, I’d agree with that comment. Our main character, Nate, is in his 30s, living in Los Angeles, working a low-wage job processing mailing labels for magazines. For various reasons, Nate has to find a new place to live. He finds an exceptionally inexpensive studio apartment. The first third of the novel is mainly Nate getting to know his neighbors at the apartment building. I almost discarded the novel at that stage but didn’t because of Craig DiLouie’s quote. I knew something weird and strange was going to happen. And it did! Nate and his fellow residents decide to investigate.
The pace of the story is similar to a rollercoaster ride. At the beginning, slow and steady, with a few clues of what lies ahead; followed by a huge exciting whoosh! as the ride plunges rapidly downward for the last minutes.
Recommended to science fiction / fantasy / horror readers who are willing to persevere through the slow and steady beginning to get to the whoosh! of the payoff at the end.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20
Grand Total: 285 + 20 = 305
20.3 VonnegutThe Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen by Wilfred Owen
20 pts 20.3 Vonnegut
5 pts 20.5 Faulkner. See task question thread
10 pts Oldies
10 pts Review
Stunning poetry that captures the carnage of World War I for the British. Owens uses classical poetic structures to express the horror of trench warfare. He effectively conveys the futility of the war and the excessive toll it took on the soldiers through both physical and mental injuries.
Owen died in the closing days of the war, but his poetry foreshadowed the difficulties if not impossibility of British society and former soldiers returning to a normal life.
Highly recommended
Task Total: 45 pts
Season Total: 525 pts
10.1 10.2 10.3 … … 10.6 … … … …
20.1 … 20.3 20.4 20.5 … … 20.8 20.9 20.10
15.1 15.2 … … … … … … … …
20.3 VonnegutDeath Is Hard Work byKhaled Khalifa
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - combo(10.3 , 20.1-Arabs} (corrected score)
+10 pts - LiT
Task Total - 40 pts
Rebekah wrote: "20.3 VonnegutDeath Is Hard Work byKhaled Khalifa
+20 pts - Task
+15 pts - combo(10.3 +selfie, 20.1-Arabs}
+10 pts - LiT
Task Total - 45 pts"
The selfie can be claimed only for 10.3, because it works twice with itself.
10.3- 9, 10, 11Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Although sci-fi and fantasy are not my favorite genres, I have to admit that Rowling has a knack for telling a good story with just the right touches of fantasy and realism to keep me intrigued. Her plots, although not simple, are easy to follow. Her characters are distinct individuals. The battle between good and evil is clear...even if some of the players are not who they seem at first. My need to finish what I started will compel me to continue the series.
Task=10
Combo=35 - (10.3-selfie combo; 10.4; 10.7; 10.8-Hogwarts*; 20.8**; 20.9; 20.10- 2000)
Review=10
Jumbo=10-734p.
*Hogwarts-not sure if you will count this... but Hogwarts is the castle that serves as the setting here and could be considered a character as it has secret passageways and magical password guardians and such that are important to the plot.
**p.13- “…a large dish of some sort of shellfish stew stood beside a large steak and kidney pudding.” ‘Bouillabaisse, said Hermione.”
Post Total=65
Grand Total=365
---; ---;10.3; 10.4 (2x); 10.5; ---; ---; ---; ---; ---;
15.1; 15.2; 15.3; 15.4; ----; ----; ----; ----; ----; ----;
----; ----; ----; ----; ----; ----;20.7; 20.8; ----; 20.10
10.5 Autumn ColoursThe Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths
Set in Walsingham, scene of much religious activity in medieval times and currently (in the story) the setting for a conference of women Anglican priests. Ruth is drawn in because one of them, another old friend, has been receiving anonymous threats. Meanwhile, a woman has been killed in a nearby churchyard, and Cathbad seems to have been the last person to see her.
There's not much archaeology in this episode in the series, but a lot going on with the recurring characters. I enjoyed the setting and the background characters. I wasn’t sure why Cathbad wasn’t a suspect in the original murder (being friends with the Chief Inspector shouldn’t be enough of a reason!) but this series is only realistic up to a point.
20.8: "Inside, there's only the night sergeant yawning over a cup-a-soup."
+10 Task
+10 Review
+15 Combo (10.4, 20.8, 20.9)
Post total: 35
Season total: 1190
15.6 EotPStill Life by Val McDermid
+15 Task - 2010 Cartier Diamond Dagger
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1205
20.4 SaramagoWalsingham: Or, The Pupil of Nature by Mary Robinson
A dramatic late 18th-century novel in which Walsingham Ainsworth, born into genteel poverty and brought up by richer relatives, is ousted from his favourable position when the couple have a child of their own. That child grows up to frustrate all Walsingham's hopes, taking away the love of his life and propelling him into a series of adventures involving duels, seduction, gambling - all the evils of high society.
Both the introduction and, unforgiveably, the back of the book contain a spoiler to the main twist, although it is interesting to read the book knowing this. The first part is the best, I think, and after that it rambles through more and more unlikely situations to the final reveal and an ending that is very hard to credit. But there are some wonderful characters, especially young Lord Kencarth with his boisterous slang: "Dish my sconce if I have not a great mind to make the bet - but the sum is too trifling... dash my jasey, make it ten thousand guineas, and I'll take it."
+20 Task (set entirely in the 18th century)
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (20.9)
+15 Oldies (1797)
Post total: 50
Season total: 1255
10.6 Bless the Animals (Rebekah's Task)Magic's Pawn. Mercedes Lackey
I started to listen to this with my husband on a recent weekend trip, but I could see that there wasn't enough action to keep his interest. The first third of the book is about Vanyel discovering he is gay, and falling in love with Tylendel with disastrous recents. When Lendel is killed, Van, only 17 himself, doesn't know how to go on with his life. He is meant to be his father's heir, which is the last thing he wants. The trauma of Lendel's death immediately brings out several magical Herald gifts in him, not no one had seen even a hint of existing. He is chosen by Pfandes, a Companion and his life chances irrevocably. (Companions look like extra large white horse, but can speak and have other gifts, as well). This is the first book of the series, I may read more later.
Task Total: 10
Review: 10
Combo: 15 (C10.2 - US,10.4- The Last Herald Mage)
Oldie: 5 (published in 1989)
Total: 40
Season Total: 770
10.2; 10.3; 10.4; 10.5; 10.6; 10.8; 10.9
15.1; 15.2; 15.3; 15.4; 15.5; 15.6; 15.7; 15.8
20.1(x2); 20.2; 20.3; 20.5; 20.6; 20.7; 20.8; 20.10;
20.9 ABCPlot it Yourself by Rex Stout
I divide the books Nero Wolfe reads into four grades: A, B, C, and D. If, when he comes down to the office from the plant rooms at six o’clock, he picks up his current book and opens to his place before he rings for beer, and if his place was marked with a thin strip of gold, five inches long and an inch wide ...
A book that opens about reading is likely one that will interest me. A bit further down that first page, Archie also observes I haven’t kept score, but I would say that of the two hundred or so books he reads in a year not more than five or six get an A. How can I not like a character who reads 200 books a year, even if he has a button on his desk to summon beer and (almost) never leaves his house? So what does this have to do with what we know is going to be a murder mystery?
Wolfe is soon hired by the Joint Committee on Plagiarism made up of members of the National Association of Authors and Dramatists and members of the Book Publishers Association. There have been a series of suits for plagiarism which they now think were false. Are any of them likely to be murdered or, conversely, be the perpetrator?
The mystery is good enough, but maybe not the the most intricate of plots. For me reading Nero Wolfe is mostly about good characterization and good writing. Oh, I suppose one could argue that the good characterization is all about Wolfe and Archie and that is probably true. I'm pretty sure the good writing would never make it up against those who have written classics, but there is more to it than any ordinary mystery writer.
I'm not ashamed to make sure this one has a 4th star.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+20 Combo (10.2, 10.4, 10.9 - NYC, 20.5)
+ 5 Oldies (1959)
Task total = 55
Season total = 580
20.8 Soup’s OnFool's Assassin by Robin Hobb
+20 Task beef soup
+10 Combo 10.2 born in USA, 10.4
+5 Jumbo 688 pages
Post total: 35
Season total: 780
15.5 EotPWho's Afraid Too? (Supernatural Sisters #2) by Maria Lewis
+15 Task Aurealis Award Nominee for Best Horror Novel (2017)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 820
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
Seven Types of Ambiguity (other topics)Where the Air Is Clear (other topics)
A Fantasy of Dr. Ox (other topics)
Dash & Lily's Book of Dares (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Elliot Perlman (other topics)Carlos Fuentes (other topics)
Jules Verne (other topics)
Rachel Cohn (other topics)
Louise Penny (other topics)
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Shadows Reel C.J. Box
+10 task Joe Pickett #22
+5 20.10 Birthday pub 2022
Post total: 15
Season total: 50