Reading with Style discussion
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FA 22 Completed Tasks
20.2 King Debut NovelThe Fencing Master by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
A character study wrapped in a mystery. An aging fencing master copes with his own decline as well as the decline of fencing from an honorable art to a sport as Spain descends into revolt. Perez-Reverte does an elegant job of writing the maestro’s inner dialogue as he contemplates his life and its meaning. The fencing master stands with his values as he is unwittingly dragged into intrigue.
I truly enjoy Perez-Reverte’s writing and his uncommon plots.
+20 task
+20 combo 20.7, 20.9, 20.10, 10.7
+10 review
+10 LIT
+5 oldies (1988)
Task total: 65
Season total: 100
10.4 SeriesTwelve Sharpby Janet Evanovich
series #12
Task +10
Combo 10.2-author born in USA
Grand Total: 35
20.2 KingReconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
Kate Baron, a single mother working for a high-pressure law firm, gets a call to pick up her daughter. Amelia, who attends a private girls high school in New York City, has been caught cheating. When Kate arrives, Amelia is dead from a tragic fall. The police initially call it suicide, but Kate gets anonymous text messages that Amelia did not kill herself. The police reopen the investigation and, unbelievably, Kate is allowed to accompany the detective as he investigates.
The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Kate and Amelia. Much of Amelia's story is told through texts, blogs, and posts on Facebook and other social media. Amelia had joined a secret sorority, and she was an innocent among the older mean girls in the group.
The book was very suspenseful, although a few things seemed improbable. In addition to being a gripping mystery-thriller, it was also a heartbreaking book about bullying, the pressure on teens to be popular, and the difficulties of parenting in contemporary times.
+20 task (debut novel)
+15 combo 10.2 Octoberfest (born in US); 10.9 NFL (New York City); 20.9 ABCs
+10 review
Task total: 45
Season total: 125
10.2 OctoberfestThe Master Magician (The Paper Magician #3) by Charlie N. Holmberg
author born USA
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.4)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 260
20.10 Happy Birthday The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan
Whew, this was a twisty ride! The setup is that a young law student, Hannah, joins an Innocence Project type program at University of Virginia, ostensibly to help free innocent prisoners, but in fact to ensure that a particular prisoner STAYS locked up. The story is mostly told from Hannah's perspective, with some interludes from her mother's past diary. What I liked about this was it was a super interesting study in perspective and how as we - and as different characters - learn more, perspectives shift. In doing so, I also felt like I could understand different motivations around exoneration projects as well. What I liked a little less -- I saw a number of the twists coming. I'm not sure that was actually something the author cared about, as it didn't really negatively impact my enjoyment, but it's always a bit more fun when a twist truly takes you by surprise.
+20 task (published 2022)
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2 - Ireland; 20.9)
Post total: 40
Season total: 40
20.8 Soups On! Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano
This was a pure fun read. Finlay is a struggling author and divorced mom of two. Her husband is pressuring her on money and custody, and her bills are piling up. And then she ends up accidentally becoming a contract killer. It's a lot of fun and I enjoyed a lot of the characters, especially Vero, the babysitter. Reading this required a fairly large dose of suspension of disbelief -- there were some really inexplicable choices that characters made (like a police officer offering to just tell our main character a lot of pretty confidential information) and I just chose to move on and enjoy the story. But that aside, it was plenty of fun!
+20 task (Ch 2 - "I tested a mouthful of soup. It tasted like cardboard.")
+10 review
+10 combo (10.2 - U.S - "grew up in the DC suburbs"; 10.4 - part of series of at least 3)
Grew up in US - https://www.bookbrowse.com/biographie...
Post Total: 40
Season Total: 80
15.3 EotP2018- Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Winners
Semiautomatic by Evie Shockley
Task=15
Post Total=15
Grand Total=80
---; ---; ---; ---; 10.5; ---; ---; ---; ---; ---;
15.1; ----; ----; ----; ----; ----; ----; ----; ----; ----;
----; ----; ----; ----; ----; ----;----; ----; ----; 20.10
20.9 ABCs Checkmate in Berlin: The Cold War Showdown That Shaped the Modern World by Giles Milton
Narrative History that reads like fiction. Beginning in 1945 when the Red Army raped and pillaged Berlin, the author takes us through the 4 years of postwar life in a city chopped into sectors and besieged by warring leaders.
The Allies intent was to work with Stalin in rebuilding what was destroyed. One man, Col. Frank "Howlin' Mad" Howley, saw through the Russian propaganda and fought relentlessly to build a democracy. Giles Milton's writing of the relationship between Howley and his Russian counterpart Gen. Alexander Kotikov brings this story to life. The reader is so entrenched in the story the book is hard to put down.
Highly recommended to all History nerds!
+20 Task
+10 Review
Total Task 30
Season Total 115
Norma wrote: "20.9 - ABC'sSteps by Bea Paige
+20 task
+5 Combo - 10.4 - series
Task total: 25
Grand total: 25"
This is the same book you posted in Message 19. Did you mean a different book?
20.9 - ABC'sSilenced Girls by Roger Stelljes
+20 task
+15 Combo - 10.2 - USA, 10.4 - series, 10.9 - Minnesota
Task total: 35
Grand total: 60
20.2 King - Debut NovelAdam Bede by George Eliot
+20 pts - Task
+ 5 pts - Combo (20.5)
+15 pts - Oldies (1859)
+ 5 pts - Jumbo (624)
Task Total - 45 pts
10.1 TBRClea by Lawrence Durrell
+10 task (on TBR since 2018)
+15 Combo: 10.2 Octoberfest (India) / 10.4 Series
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 75
20.5 FaulknerOut of the Silent Planet. C.S. Lewis
+20 task -
+ 10 points (pub. 1938)
+ 15 combo (10.4; 10.7 - Adventure, 20.6)
Task Total: 45
Season Total: 130
10.3;
15.1;
20.6; 20.10;
20.2 KingThe Carpet People by Terry Pratchett
As indicated in the wikipedia page : Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_P...)
+20 Task
No style point as it has a Lexile of 630.
Task total = 20
Points total = 20
... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ...
... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ...
... ; 20.2 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ...
20.10 - Birthday Mythes et meufs by Blanche Sabbah
Published 2022
+20 Task
No style points, graphic novel
Task total = 20
Points total = 40
... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ...
... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ...
... ; 20.2 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; 20.10
10.7 GeocachingRiver of the Gods: Genius, Courage and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard
This is not what I was expecting. I loved her The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey and thought this would also focus on the expeditions to discover the source of the Nile. While there was some of the deprivations the men experienced, this was mostly about the personality clashes between Richard Burton (always thought of the actor) and John Speke. Burton had enough ego to serve half the planet. Speke also had some ego, but it seemed he also suffered occasionally from an inferiority complex which he tried to hide by proclaiming his superiority.
All that aside, I learned a few things having nearly nothing to do with searching for the headwaters of the Nile. The cardigan sweater and the raglan sleeve were each named for a British officer, last names being Cardigan and Raglan. That Millard would have inserted this bit of trivia into her book makes me believe she was as surprised and amused as was I.
The other piece of information I found absolutely astounding. Vasco de Gama "discovered" the island of Zanzibar sometime near 1500. I placed discovered in quotes because she wrote that the island had been inhabited for 17,000 years. (Wikipedia says 20,000 years.) I wondered how they even know that! The earth is such a fascination (and then there are all those other planets, too)!
But raglan sleeves and thousands of years of human habitation don't make this creative nonfiction any better than 3-stars. Still, I like the things Millard thinks and writes about and will definitely find her in my future.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+20 Combo (10.2, 20.8, 20.9, 20.10) "For the next few days, Speke could not even open his mouth and was able to consume nothing more than broth."
Task total = 40
Season total = 95
10.6 Bless the AnimalsKing Rat by China Miéville
This is a very strange book. It's impressive as a debut--there are a lot of elements here that are tremendously clever and very cool. But my expectations for Miéville are high and this book isn't nearly as clever or cool as some of his later work.
I especially loved the idea that rats and spiders and birds could all be summoned up by their monarch/leader to turn into a vast information network and an army of creatures. Some of the themes here also preview those later explored, brilliantly, in The City & the City. The use of the Pied Piper as a villain was great, and the idea of the Pied Piper learning to play his music on an electronic DJ system was fabulous.
Still, for all its interesting themes, the book dragged quite a bit in the middle. The final showdown was exciting and well-paced, but I almost didn't make it to the end because I was bored with the middle of the book.
+10 Task (rats, birds, and spiders all talk)
+10 Review
+20 Combo (20.2, 20.8 - "He felt soup trickle down his throat and around his mouth, and he swallowed obligingly.", 20.9 (CM), 20.10 (1998)
Task total: 40
Grand total: 75
20.2 KingThe Woman Before Wallis by Bryn Turnbull
The book is about the affair of Thelma Morgan and the Prince of Wales. Thelma is a sort of dandelion character who just seems to be bandied about floating through her life without ever really having a direction of her own, never quite belonging, never quite stunning, but ever-present. We only really care about her at all because of her association with other famous people--she's dating the Prince of Wales, she's the sister of Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt.
In a different mood, I might have enjoyed this book. But I just found it boring and insipid. I was glad the Prince abdicated for Wallis Simpson instead of for Thelma. At least Wallis seemed funny and unrepentantly ambitious.
The narrator for the audiobook was fine and the book translates well to audio format, though slightly more emphasis on the switching between different time periods might have helped.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2 - b. Canada; 20.9 (BT))
Task total: 40
Grand total: 115
20.6 ColeridgeNo One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July
Apparently I heard about this book when it was new and cool and added it to my wishlist, but only got around to reading it fifteen years later when it's no longer new at all. So, I'm late to the party. And I've never actually seen any of the performance art that has made this author famous.
These stories are depressing. The characters in them are sad and anxious and weird and unlikeable in many ways. What sexual attraction there is in these stories is often deformed or misdirected or actually also depressing.
But, but, but. There's something here. A slick, shiny, slightly slimy vein of truth. One that wraps around the reader and hangs on. There's so much emotional power here.
In fact, reading these stories reminded me of another writer of depressing, twisted, unlikeable characters whose stories I love--Mary Gaitskill. I guess Miranda July's stories weren't quite enough depression for me, because I immediately bought and started reading Don't Cry. So, I guess if you like Gaitskill, you'll probably also like July.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+20 Combo (10.2 - B. USA, 10.3 - July, 20.8 - "Do you want to try this soup?", 20.10 - 2007)
Task total: 50
Grand total: 165
15.1 EotPDaughters of Jerusalem by Charlotte Mendelson
+15 Task 2003 John Llewellyn Rhys
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 55
20.2 KingDirty Havana Trilogy by Pedro Juan Gutiérrez
Havana in the 1990s is in a major slump, with little food to be found but no shortage of moonshine and, for our main character, sex. The main character is one of those men I suspect only exist in books, who has all women eager to take off their clothes and let him use their bodies however he wishes, which he does whenever he has nothing else to do. It’s not exactly pornographic because the sex acts are listed rather than described, and there is a lot else going on – shady business deals, conversation, male friendship, even some jail time. But probably not a book that would be promoted by the Cuba Tourist Board.
+20 task https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/pe...
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.3, 20.10)
+ 5 Oldies (1994)
Post total: 45
Season total: 100
20.5 FaulknerSanctuary by William Faulkner
Judge's daughter Temple Drake skips school for a trip with a heavy-drinking college student. After he crashes his car, she is left with a gang of bootleggers. Almost every crime on the statute books follows, and lawyer Horace Benbow gives himself the hapless task of sorting out the mess.
A well-written and evocative book, but not an enjoyable read for me because the story was so grim. I wasn't tempted to stop reading, but I was hoping for something slightly different at the end. I won’t be rushing out to find more Faulkner, although my dim memory of student days is that they are not all as depressing as this.
+20 task
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (10.2 USA)
+10 Oldies (1931)
Post total: 45
Season total: 145
20.8 Soup's On!In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes
Dix Steele's greatest moments were as a USAF pilot in Europe in World War Two. Now he is in LA, living above his means on handouts from an uncle in the rent-free apartment of an old friend. He also has a habit of being around the places where young women are murdered. And as he likes to take risks, he flies closer and closer to disaster by spending time with a former service buddy who is now a policeman.
This is a great example of an early noir novel, unusual because we are in the mind of a bad guy rather than the detective. (view spoiler)
+20 task ("Malcolm brought the chowder.")
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2 USA, 10.9 Los Angeles 100%)
+ 5 Oldies (1947)
Post total: 45
Season total: 190
20.9 ABCsA Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths
Dr Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist, leaves Norfolk with toddler Kate and friend Cathbad to investigate some bones, possibly of King Arthur, excavated in Lancashire by an old university friend who has since been murdered. Death threats don't deter Ruth, and fortunately DCI Nelson is coincidentally holidaying nearby at the same time and has a friend in the local police who lets him help investigate the murder. If that sounds far-fetched, then don't ask why everyone assumes these bones are King Arthur's rather than any other Dark Age nobleman's or you will completely fail to enjoy the story.
I did enjoy it because I like the characters in this series, although I don't know if I can stand another audio with this new narrator who makes Cathbad (an Irishman of about 40) sound like a posh elderly English lady. Luckily the previous narrator takes over again for book 8 onwards.
+20 task
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (10.4)
Post total: 35
Season total: 225
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Norma wrote: "20.9 - ABC'sSteps by Bea Paige
+20 task
+5 Combo - 10.4 - series
Task total: 25
Grand total: 25"
This is the same book you posted in Message 19...."
My error, I had not recorded that I had already posted it.
20.9 ABCs1637: The Polish Maelstrom by Eric Flint
+20 task
+15 Combo 10.2, 10.4, 10.7
Post total: 35
Season total: 135
Jayme wrote: "20.9 ABCsFirst Warning: Acorna's Childrenby Anne McCaffrey
Task +20
Grand Total: 20"
+10 Combo 10.2, 20.10
From Post 7Joanne wrote: " 10.3- any of author's names begins with I, J or K
A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor
This Time-Travel series is pure nonsense with a side of popcorn-exactly what I n..."
+10 Combo 10.4, 20.9
From Post 10Coralie wrote: "20.10 Birthday
Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett
+20 task published 2022
+10 Combo (10.3, 10.4)
+5 Jumbo (544 pgs)
Post total: 35
Season total: 50"
+5 Combo 10.2
20.7 CervantesOur Last Days in Barcelona by Chanel Cleeton
"Our Last Days in Barcelona" is the fifth book in the series about the Perez family who escaped to Florida after Fidel Castro took power in Cuba. This book has two timelines set mostly in Spain in 1936 and 1964.
In 1936, Alicia Perez takes her young daughter, Isabel, to Barcelona to visit with her parents after she discovers that her husband had been unfaithful. Spain is in a state of unrest as fascism is rising, and the Spanish Civil War erupts. Alicia witnesses the bombing of Guernica by the Germans before making her way back to Cuba. Meanwhile, her cousin Rosa is dealing with family problems in Cuba.
In the 1964 timeline, Isabel is worried about her sister Beatriz after she disappears in Barcelona. Beatriz is involved in anti-Castro espionage, although she has a cover job at the American Embassy. Isabel travels to Barcelona to locate Beatriz. Isabel has been feeling weighed down by an unhappy marriage, but finds satisfaction when she uses her artistic talents.
In addition to the interesting historical elements, themes of love, duty to their family, and personal fulfillment are important. While it is not necessary to read the entire series before this book, the first book, "When We Left Cuba," is a good introduction to the characters and the political situation as the Perez family flees from Cuba. Chanel Cleeton's writing is warm, emotional, and entertaining.
+20 task (Spain)
+ 15 combo 10.2 Octoberfest (born US); 10.4 Series; 20.10 Birthday (pub 2022)
+10 review
Task total: 45
Season total: 170
From Post 27Joanna wrote: "20.1 Jemison
Bought by Em Brown
I knew better than to read this. It's sort of Fifty Shades fan fiction that has proliferated into the BillionaireBDSM genre. The a..."
+5 Combo 10.2
From Post 29Ed wrote: "20.10 Birthday (Elizabeth (Alaska's) Task
Playing with Myself by Randy Rainbow pub. 2022
I was an early admirer of Randy Rainbow's works...it was difficult to u..."
+5 Combo 10.2
From Post 39Kim wrote: "10.3 9, 10, 11
With Love from London. Sarah Jio
This dual timeline book features mother, Eloise and her daughter, Valentina. Eloise is from England, falls in love..."
+5 Combo 20.10
10.2 OktoberfestScaffolding: Selected Poems by Jane Cooper
Born USA
In the middle of the selected poems was a section where Cooper talked in great detail about how she felt about her writing at various points in her life and how she did and did not write and publish I found this part deeply interesting. She talked about her creative process and the society around her and looking back on older work. It was somewhat lyrical but I don't think it was intended to be a poem on its own.
The poetry was from various times between 1947 and 1983 and was standard modern poetry. I enjoyed reading and feeling it but can't say that any of it truly stood out to me.
+10 task
+10 review
+5 combo 10.3
+5 combo 20.10 pub 1993
+5 oldies
Task total: 35
Grand total: 100
10.2 OktoberfestSea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
I insanely loved Station Eleven and--unlike a lot of readers--I quite enjoyed The Glass Hotel, so was excited to see what this new story was all about.
This one felt far quieter...which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just not what I was expecting from a book about time travel and colonizing the moon.
Mandel's writing is as masterful as ever: she's set up a story that could easily be overwhelmed by the sci-fi aspects but is able to keep the focus firmly on the humanity of the characters. And her endings! They are always on point and this book was no exception. Can't wait for her next book to come out already.
+10 Task, born in Canada
+10 Review
+15 Combo: 10.3, 10.5 (SEA Green), 20.10 (pub. 2022)
Task total: 35
Season total: 35
10.3 9, 10, 11Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson
M.M. Banning wrote the great American novel when she was in her 20's--and then disappeared. After losing all of her money in a Ponzi-type scheme, she has to write another book to keep from losing her house. Only now she has a son and needs someone to watch him while she writes. Her publisher agrees to send a minder--anything to help Banning complete another book. Enter Alice: a pretty Midwestern girl who has no idea what she's in for with the precocious ten-going-on-fifty-year-old Frank.
It's been a while since I've fallen in love with a character as quickly and completely as I did with Frank.
There were a couple of plot points that were weak and the book would have been rather formulaic otherwise, but Frank made it all worth it and the bond that he makes with Alice was pretty special.
+10 Task
+5 Selfie bonus
+10 Review
+20 Combo: 10.2 (born in Germany), 10.5 (Tickle ME Pink), 10.9 (Set 99% in L.A.), 20.2
Task total: 45
Season total: 80
10.4 SeriesThe Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith
To quote another goodreads review: "For a minute, I was worried that the book itself sucks, based on the steep drop in the ratings. Then I scrolled down a bit and sighed a breath of relief - it’s just people mistaking Goodreads with Facebook or Twitter."
It's crazy that the book was so much about cancel culture and online trolls and now (long after she began writing this installment) Rowling is right at the heart of those very things after her transphobic stance has caused huge online backlash. I had a hard time deciding whether or not to read this one: I love the characters--are Cormoran and Robyn EVER going to get together!?-- and her mysteries are well-paced and well-plotted...but I hate financially supporting someone who has used that money and power to speak out against a marginalized population. I sometimes miss the pre-internet world, when I could read a book and judge it based solely on the writing and not on the author's personal life (since all I ever knew about the author was what was in the mini-paragraph blurb on the dust jacket).
Enough of my existential dilemma. Review: it was LONG, but it was good...maybe not as good as earlier installments in this series, but still solid.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+25 Jumbo, 1,024 pages
+10 Combo: 10.5 (BLACK), 20.10 (pub. 2022)
Task total: 55
Season total: 135
20.10 BirthdayAs You Like It by William Shakespeare
Oh, Rosalind, you are in a tight tie for my favorite of the Bard's ladies! Juliet is too young and too ruled by emotion. Ophelia was sweet and stuck between a rock and hard place and eventually paid the price with her sanity. Lady Macbeth was wretched, as were those scheming sisters, Goneril and Regan. Kate went from "Shrew" to witless woman. Nope.
Rosalind and Beatrice are my faves, hands down. They are the only two women whose wits rival that of any man in their respective plays, who are fully-developed characters rather than mere devices to forward the action of the play.
I love rereading Shakespeare because I always notice something new: this time, I realized that Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka sings one of the songs from this play! https://youtu.be/OTq7zhSjqds
+20 Task, pub. 1599
+10 Review
+25 Oldies
+5 Combo: 20.5
Task total: 60
Season total: 195
15.3 EotP ReduxFelicia's Journey by William Trevor
Costa Book Awards Winner Novel 1994
+15 task
+5 before 1997
Post Total = 20
Season Total = 65
15.4 EotP ReduxThe Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
Princess of Asturias Award 2001
+15 task
+5 before 1997 (first published 1988)
Post Total = 20
Season Total = 85
20.3 VonnegutDes vivants by Raphaël Meltz, Louise Moaty and Simon Roussin
This graphic novel revolves around a group of french resistants, le Groupe du Musée de L'Homme (Humanity museum group) during WW2
+20 Task
(no style, graphic novel)
Task total = 20
Points total = 60
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... ; 20.2 ; 20.3 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; 20.10
Kate S wrote: "From Post 7Thank you Kate-This was my first post, and I noticed I missed those-but figured, it was my error to live with. It's great that you help us out!
20.10 Birthday Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris
I am a big fan of David Sedaris and this collection didn't disappoint. (Though one of my favorite things was when I would laugh out loud reading it, my four year old would ask what was so funny, and I would have to try to explain the essay in child-appropriate terms). In this collection he takes on some heavy topics, like his father's death, and the pandemic, and hits a nice balance of emotionally resonant and funny - as I think he's done more and more effectively over time. Only a few essays didn't quite hit for me, but mostly I would say this is David Sedaris in his usual good form.
+20 task (published 2022)
+10 review
+10 combo (10.2 - born in US, 20.9)
Task Total: 40
Season Total: 120
20.8 Soup's on!The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
"The Sun Down looked like any normal motel, but we both knew it wasn't. It was just...sleeping, maybe. Napping. Come on in, the building seemed to say with its jagged up-and-down lights, its blue and yellow cheeriness. Get some sleep. Take it easy until the sun comes up again. And if you see someone sitting at the end of your bed, pay them no mind. That's just one of my secrets. And I'm not going to tell."
In 1982, Viv runs away from her Illinois home to New York where she hopes to make her big acting break--only she never makes it to New York City and ends up dropped off and stuck Upstate in Fell. She gets a job at the Sun Down Motel as a night clerk and that's when the motel's ghosts come alive. She soon hears stories about the many unsolved murders that happened not long before she arrived and starts her own investigation. Before the year is out, Viv disappears without a trace.
In 2017, Carly arrives in Fell and takes the night clerk job. She's there to find out what happened to her Aunt Viv.
Even though there were a couple of things that didn't work for me (view spoiler), the story was hard to put down and the creep factor was high. The hotel was *definitely* a character in this one (view spoiler).
+20 Task, "I put my spoon in my soup--chicken noodle, I realized...Viv took a swallow of her own soup."
+10 Review
+10 Combo: 10.3, 10.8
Task total: 40
Season total: 235
20.10 BirthdayThe Locked Room by Elly Griffiths
I really enjoyed this, and I really didn’t!
This novel should come with a trigger warning for the pandemic. It takes place during the start of the COVID pandemic when no-one really knew what was going on, we were learning about PPE and physical distancing, figuring out who was in our bubble, worried about contagion, economic collapse, and toilet paper shortages. UGH. It gave me anxiety to read about that (obviously, note to self – try to avoid books about the pandemic for a while). Then some characters came down with COVID. Yikes. I went through the wringer. Luckily, the mystery was small, in intensity.
So, I very much liked the ‘visit’ with Ruth, Nelson, Judy, and Cathbad and am glad I read this instalment. Perhaps the mystery was a lighter than usual, but it worked in the context. The ending is a cliff hanger (again), and I can’t wait to read the next one (hopefully it will be a post pandemic setting). 4.5*
20 task
10 review
10 combo 10.4, 20.9
______
40
Running total: 115
15.2Witchmark. C.L. Polk
+ 15 task - 2019 World Fantasy Award
+ 5 (from entry 39)
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 150
10.3;
15.1; 15.2;
20.6; 20.10;
20.8 Soups On One Hundred and Sixty Minutes: The Race to Save the RMS Titanic
This a fresh approach to the story we all know, with the focus being on the Marconi wireless operators aboard the Titanic and their fellow operators that received the tragic SOS.
Hazelgrove, starting with chapter 3 (subtitled 160 minutes), gives a minute by minute account of what was happening aboard the Titanic and the many ships that heard their call for help. The author debunks what he calls the "Titanic Mythology" of Edwardian chivalry and shows us an ugly picture of human nature and self preservation.
The story is focused, as I said, on the wireless operators. The Marconi wireless was relatively new and the distress signals from the Titanic were the first true test of it's power.
I wanted to give this book 4 stars, but I just can't do it. I enjoyed the book, however, I was irritated by the many typos. Although not entirely the fault of the author, editing matters in my ratings and I have to downgrade to 3 stars because of the poor job here
Task Total 20 -"You will not go into the saloon to get some soup or something hot to drink?"
+ 5 Combo (10.2 U.S.)
+10 Review
Total Task 35
Season Total 160
10.4 SeriesRavaged by Em Brown
This is a much better book than the first book in the series. The book still suffers from some of the problems that were prevalent in the first book--the bad guy characters are almost caricatures of ridiculous men, while the hero is overly perfect. But here there's actually more connection between the romance couple that makes the book more interesting. The book manages to rise above Shades of Gray fan fiction and develop into a story in its own right. (And, the male lead here isn't nearly as ridiculous as Mr. Gray, so that's a plus.)
There's occasional effort to weave in social justice issues into the storyline, which felt a little heavy-handed to me, but is at least a laudable goal to increase representation and recognition in the context of romance books.
The author narrates the audio version of the book and does better at it than many author-narrators.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2, 20.1)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 200
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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)
Glass Houses (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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Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
+15 Nebula 2005 winner for novella
Season total: 35