Lynn's 2023 Buffet Challenge

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Luffy wrote: "Lynn wrote: "I have finished my Decade Challenge. I read Science Fiction short stories. I really have fun with these. Next year I might make the longer 24 Short Stories Challenge Science Fiction ag..."

Thanks Luffy!

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Congratulations, Lynn. Sometimes stepping out is good, but all of us have genres that we just like more, and Sci-Fi is that for you.

[Wobbley]

Lynn wrote: "I have finished my Decade Challenge. I read Science Fiction short stories. "

What a great idea for your challenge! Congratulations on finishing.

[Ila]

Congrats, Lynn! All the best for your other challenges

[Laurie]

Congratulations, Lynn.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

I have just finished Challenge #4 Member's Choice. A couple years ago I heard of an author Yasushi Inoue. He was nominated in the short story category. Thank you John Dishwasher. So, I bought three books on kindle by Inoue. I just finished the third. Review:


Life of a Counterfeiter by Yasushi Inoue
The title story of this book is a novella, and it is followed by two short stories. Inoue will have an emotional connection to the thread he weaves through his stories. Usually he speaks in the first person as an observer of other people's lives. He will meander through several seemingly unrelated events and memories, but in the end they all connect as they strike the same emotional note. One thing that makes this meandering journey so fascinating is that for him the present is post- WW2 Japan. He does things like visit a cemetery in Nagasaki that was partially damaged by the bomb. While there he reminisces about his adopted grandmother who raised him for about seven years. She was a geisha who was the "second wife" of his great grandfather. These little tid bits of history are merely the prelude for the actual short story.

Michael Emmerich is the translator. I have now read three books by the Emmerich/Inoue team and think they are all very good.

[Wobbley]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'd not heard of this author, so this is interesting to me. Congrats on finishing this challenge!

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Wobbley wrote: "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'd not heard of this author, so this is interesting to me. Congrats on finishing this challenge!"

Thank you Wobbley.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

I read The Hunting Gun some time ago and promised myself to read Inoue again. I need to try to make it a priority, Lynn, since you recommend him so highly

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Congrats on your completions.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

I just put another short story on the Short Story Challenge: 12/24 so half-way. I read The Doom of the Griffiths by Elizabeth Gaskell (1858) 5*. I really liked this one. I was reading about this short story after I finished it, and the commentor said something to the effect that Gaskell experimented with different formats and subjects throughout her life. I liked this much more than The Old Nurse's Story and Other Tales (title story) or The Grey Woman. This short story had Welsh character with Welsh names. I spent a good 30 minutes looking up historical characters and time periods to orient myself. She pulls from Greek Mythology and mentions Shakespeare.

I found the title while looking at our growing list of Short Story nominations on Bob's Master List. This is the type of Gothic literature I meant to find when reading a Gothic Short Story Challenge. It was not a slasher story, like Stephen King writes. (Heaven help me I read Children of the Corn) I thought The Doom of the Griffiths was very well done.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

I love Gaskell, Lynn, so this is one I will immediately add to the TBR. I think Bob's Master List is going to mine some gold.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Sara wrote: "I love Gaskell, Lynn, so this is one I will immediately add to the TBR. I think Bob's Master List is going to mine some gold."

I agree about the list, Sara. I hope you like it.

[Wobbley]

Lynn wrote: "I just put another short story on the Short Story Challenge: 12/24 so half-way. I read The Doom of the Griffiths by Elizabeth Gaskell (1858) 5*."

Thanks for the recommendation. I just recently finished and absolutely loved Wives and Daughters, so I'm totally in the market for new Gaskells to read!

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Gaskell is a favorite and I am happy to hear that The Doom of the Griffiths is so good.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

I am really losing interest in the Gothic genre, so I am branching out. I have some literature anthologies that are from my or my husband's university days. Slowly, I am trying to read all the selections that weren't assigned in class, years ago.

From I read "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin.

From I read " Looking for Mr. Green" by Saul Bellow.

Saul Bellow is a new author for me. Both of these short stories were set in American cities, New York and Chicago respectively, and focused on hard times and misery. They were each interesting. The time of both stories was during the Depression era years, 1930s, and it just seems like such a foreign world that is being described. I have no common frame of reference at all for these stories.

I gave both 4* for the storytelling excellence.

[Kathleen]

Branching out and finding foreign worlds sounds great, Lynn! I'm glad to hear you appreciated both of them.

[Cynda]

I know James Baldwin better as activist as I am familiar with the Civil Rights Movement post-WWII. It is good to know that he also was good storyteller.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

I just finished the Group Read Challenge by reading 12 books from 2023 Group selections. I primarily read shorter works like the short stories and two plays. I also read the novella The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck. The only book I actually picked out myself was The Moon is Down. I nominated it. The other 11 are things I probably would not have read if not for this group.

I had many 4*, 1 5* 2 3*, and 1 2*.Those are quite good ratings for things I probably would have missed out on!

[Wobbley]

Well done Lynn, that's a very successful challenge! Also, thank you for nominating The Moon is Down; I never would have found it myself, and I really enjoyed it.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Wobbley wrote: "Well done Lynn, that's a very successful challenge! Also, thank you for nominating The Moon is Down; I never would have found it myself, and I really enjoyed it."

I had seen several group members speak highly of it. It may have even been nominated once and failed. I just renominated.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Congrats Lynn, I didn’t hold out much hope for this one this year. Now, it seems I have a good chance of finishing. It will take several more months.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

I finished Challenge #11 the Old and New Linked Categories. I have to admit the categories made me chuckle a little.

1. Plague
Old School A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe (1722)
New School Blindness by José Saramago (1995)

2. British Mysteries
Old School The Haunted Hotel: A Mystery of Modern Venice by Wilkie Collins (1879)
New School Death of a Gossip by M.C. Beaton (1985)

3. Religious Zealotry Horror or When the Devil Visits! Now that's a theme I never expected to find.
Old School Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1835)
New School Children of the Corn by Stephen King (1977)

4. Madness and Murder
Old School Medea by Euripides (432)
New School The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves (1999)

5. ...And they lived happily ever after.
Old School The Life of a Good-for-nothing by Joseph von Eichendorff (1826)
New School The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (1926)

[Terris]

Congratulations on finishing this challenge, Lynn! I've read several of those but didn't think of putting them together like that. I may add that challenge to my Buffet next year :)

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Oh one more. I also finished the Century Challenge

☑ 1900s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, and The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies by Beatrix Potter 4*
☑ 1915 The 39 Steps by John Buchan 4*
☑ 1926 The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery 5*
☑ 1932 The Web of Earth by Thomas Wolfe 4*
☑ 1942 The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck 4*
☑ 1957 Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose 3*
☑ 1965 Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin 4*
☑ 1978 Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett 4*
☑ 1985 Death of a Gossip by M.C. Beaton (Marion Chesney) 4*
☑ 1995 Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman 5*

[Terris]

Wow, Lynn! You are on a roll! :)

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Terris wrote: "Wow, Lynn! You are on a roll! :)"

Nah, just neglectful. It's been a while since I updated.

[Wobbley]

Well done! Your Century Challenge has so many 4- and 5-star reads. That's so satisfying!

what did you think of The Life of a Good-for-nothing? That one sounds kind of interesting.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Wobbley wrote: "Well done! Your Century Challenge has so many 4- and 5-star reads. That's so satisfying!

what did you think of The Life of a Good-for-nothing? That one sounds kind of interesting."

I have heard the phrase Romantic for years without really grasping what was meant. In music I think I understand it, but The Life of a Good-for-Nothing would be Romantic Literature. It was interesting, but there was a silly plot line filled with implausible things, but the point was happy characters. It was fun. Just don't expect too much in the way of plot or character development.

[Wobbley]

Lynn wrote: "It was interesting, but there was a silly plot line filled with implausible things, but the point was happy characters. It was fun. Just don't expect too much in the way of plot or character development."

Thanks Lynn, that's helpful.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Congratulations on finishing these two challenges. Your category choices for #11 are great, I may borrow one or two for next year.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

So these are the Challenges I have completed so far this year. I don't have much hope on the others. If something changes great, but now I'm going to focus on finishing Bingo. I like these Challenges. They are always fun


Challenge #3 - Decade Challenge completed 4/23/2023 ☑
Century Challenge completed 9/3/2023 ☑
Challenge #4 - Members Choice completed 4/29/2023 ☑
Challenge #5 - Short Stories 9/2/2023 ☑
Challenge #6 - Group Reads and/or Buddy Reads 8/13/2023 ☑
Challenge #7 - Expand Your Horizon With New Authors completed 3/27/2023 ☑
Challenge #11 - Old and New Linked Categories 9/3/1012 ☑

[Sara, Old School Classics]

That is terrific, Lynn! Great accomplishment.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Thanks Sara.

[Wobbley]

So many challenges done -- you must be really happy!

[Ila]

Congrats, Lynn! That's a lot of challenges done.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Thanks everyone. It is nice. I try not to dwell on my nemesis The Old School and New School Challenge LOL.