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Reading with Style discussion
Fall 2025 Home
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Completed Tasks
10.7 Be Curious (Karen Michele's task)What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
+10 Task: 14 shelvings
+ 5 Combo: 10.4 Fall Birthdays
Task total = 15
Season Total = 45
10.9 Cheese! (Marie's task)The Paris Diversion by Chris Pavone
+10 Task: triple-creme cheeses / a wedge of pale-yellow cheese
+ 5 Combo: 10.3 1925 Movies
Task total = 15
Season Total = 60
10.10 Group readsStone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
+10 Task:
+10 Female
Task total = 20
Season Total = 80
20.6 Fall Equinox (Fall 2018)A Superior Death by Nevada Barr
+20 Task:
+10 Female
Task total = 30
Season Total = 110
15.2 Sweet Sixteen BingoO2 - Author with a six letter last name
Cane by Jean Toomer
+15 task
+ 5 oldie (pub 1923)
Task total: 20
Season total: 160
15.2 SSBSquare B2 β a book set at least 51% in the capital city of a country that is not USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia or New Zealand
The Absent One by Jussi Adler-Olsen
+15 Task (set in Copenhagen, Denmark)
Task total = 15
Season Total = 155
15.1 Sweet Sixteen BingoG-1 Author's 1st, 6th, or 16th book
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
This was a debut
+15 Task
+5 Big (532 pages)
Task Total 20
Season Total 20
20.1 - Happy Birthday ElizabethDeadly Sanctuary by Shannon Hollinger
+20 task - 4.26/36
+10 Female
Task total: 30
Grand total: 275
Sweet sixteen : Bingo 15.11 N4 A book with both a 1 and 6 in the number of pages in the MPE
Voordat hij doodt
Blake Pierce
15 points
Total: 325 points
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10.9 Marie's task : cheese Denken aan Bruce Kennedy
Herman Koch
βaan toastjes met kaas terwijl ze ondertussen een fles port leegdronkenβ β they ( Laura &Miriam) ate toasties with cheese while drinking a bottle of portoβ ch 6
points: 10 points
Total: 335 points
Sweet sixteen Bingo 15.12 I1 title and subtitle donβt containβtheβ
Marbella
Linda van Rijn
15 points
Total points: 350 points
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15.5 Sweet Sixteen BingoO5 diagonal: A book with an alliterative title (at least 2 words, all words must start with the same sound)
Flying Finish by Dick Francis
15 task
5 oldie
_______
20
50 bingo
_____
70
Running total: 270
15.3 SSSquare O2 - Author with a six-letter last name or with a total of 16 letters in their name
Eternity in Kyoto by HΓ©ctor GarcΓa
6 letters in author's last name
+15 Task
Post total: 15
Season total: 160
15.4 SSSquare G2 - A book first published in the five years 2021-2025
All I Ever Wanted Was to Be Hot by Lucinda Price
published 2024
+15 Task
Post total: 15
Season total: 175
15.3 Sweet Sixteen BingoN1 - A book by a winner or finalist of the Neustadt International Prize
Dancing Girls and Other Stories by Margaret Atwood
+15 task
+ 5 oldie (pub 1977)
Task total: 20
Season total: 180
15.5 SSSquare N3 - FREE
No Way Back (Jack McNeal #1) by J.B. Turner
+15 Task
Post total: 15
Season total: 190
15.3 Sweet Sixteen BingoSquare I4 - stories or essays
Life and Art: Essays by Richard Russo
+15 task
Task total=15
Season total=120
20.1 Happy Birthday Elizabeth!Een kalkoen, een kat en een kaassoufflΓ©
Denise Meijer
Avg rating: 3,9
Ratings: 104
Combo 10.9 ch.7 β Philadelphia-roomkaasβ
Combo 10.4
20 points + 5 points combo
+ 5 points combo
+ 10 points female
Total: 390 points
Sweet sixteen bingo 15.13 B5 A book with a 1 and a 6 in the publication year
Ibiza
Kiki van Dijk
15 points
Total points: 405 points
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10.9 Cheese!Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell
Published in 1934, this is a fairly standard upper-class English country house romance (no murder, sorry!) Poor relation Mary Preston has been invited to stay/live with her deceased uncleβs wifeβs rich family. Young David Leslie charms her, but his family warn her that heβs irredeemably selfish. Who is she to believe?
This was enjoyable in a predictable way, but I would only have given it three stars except for one masterful scene. David invites Mary to lunch with him in London, promising wild strawberries that the restaurant imports from Switzerland. Not only does he forget the strawberries on the day, but he invites another girl along for lunch too. Their rivalry over the lunch table is hilarious and earned the book another star from me.
+10 task (Agnes and Lady Emily Leslie eat cheese soufflΓ©)
+10 Review
+10 Female
Task total = 30
Season Total = 95
20.4 Uncommon LetterInvisible Helix by Keigo Higashino
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo 20.10 (Japan)
Task total = 25
Season Total = 120
20.1 - Happy Birthday ElizabethRiver's Edge: Addictive crime mystery with shocking twist by Kate Gable
+20 task - 4.67/172
+10 female
Task total: 30
Grand total: 305
15.3 SSBSquare B 5 - A book with a 1 and 6 in the publication year
Crowned and Dangerous by Rhys Bowen
+15 Task (2016)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 70+15 = 85
15.4 SSBSquare I 1 - Title and subtitle do not contain the word The
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 85+15 = 100
10.8 Are You a Bookshop or Library Person? (Valerie's task)Dinner at the Night Library by Hika Harada
+10 Task
+10 Combo (20.8 MPG Magical Realism; 20.10 - author born in Japan)
+10 Female
+10 Review
Post total: 40
Season total: 230
Review
"An old library... a library devoted just to writers' collections... definitely a most odd, unconventional sort of place."
BooksΒ β Food π° PerfectionΒ π
Honestly, a job working with books all day (or rather night) with accommodationΒ & dinner being provided sounds like an absolute dream! And to top it all off, dinner is usually inspired by some book or other!! I hadΒ an Anne of Green Gables themed picnic with a group of friends some years ago and it was so much fun but so very much work involved. So to have a dedicated chef to research and cook book-inspired meals everyday would really blow my mind - can someone please open a restaurant exactly like this?Β
Dinner at the Night Library is very much a cozy read; it is gentle on the heart and yet charms the mind. It is rather like an interconnected short-stories in that all stories are set in the Night Library with the same cast of characters (plus some visitors et al). The stories are primarily told from Otoha Higuchi's (most recent hire) perspectives but in between, there were other staff's perspective / backstory as to how they came to work at the Night Library. The novel opens with Otoha'sΒ arrival at her new job at the Night Library which then follows her discovery of how the library functions, the idiosyncrasies of her coworkers, the eccentricities of their customers, and ends with how the Night Library was founded. The ending makes me believe that there is a sequel coming or maybe it's a bookworm's wishful thinking but I would love to visit these friends at least one more time.
Last week, just as I was in the middle of reading this nove, I was pleased to have discovered that Tom Kenneally had donated his collections to the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts! You could visit the Tom Keneally Centre and browse his collections of [mostly research] books; some of them even have his notes.
"The past lives on here in this library"
Task 15.01 Sweet Sixteen BingoSquare I-1 - No "The" in the title
Shadow Speaker (The Desert Magician's Duology #1) (2007) by Nnedi Okorafor (Hardback 325 pages)
+15 Task
Task total = 15
Grand Total = 00 + 15 = 15
Task 20.1 - Happy Birthday ElizabethRead any book with an average rating over 3.74 AND under 1001 ratings.
On September 16, 2025:
Rating: 3.80
Number of ratings: 190
The Einstein Effect: How the World's Favorite Genius Got into Our Cars, Our Bathrooms, and Our Minds (2023) by Benyamin Cohen (Paperback 370 pages) [530.092]
+20 task
Task total = 20
Grand Total = 15 + 20 = 35
20.6 Fall Equinox (Fall 2018)Murder on the French Riviera (Miss Underhay #16) by Helena Dixon
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.3 - at least 90% in Nice, France)
+10 Female
Post total: 35
Season total: 265
Post 54 Marie wrote: "15.1 Sweet Sixteen BingoThe Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
02 - 17 letters
+15 Task
Task total = 15
Points total = 90"
Just to note the total letters should be 16, but this still works for O2 because the author has 6 letters in her last name. So no problem.
Post 74 Tien wrote: "In post #42 I claimed"20.6 Fall Equinox (Fall 2018)
A Thousand Recipes for Revenge (Chefs of the Five Gods #1) by Beth Cato
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.5 - MPG Food, 1..."
Changed to task 10.5 as requested
Post 79 Valerie wrote: "30.1 Go for the Green!The Rock by Robert Daws
Sometimes when Iβve read books for the group project they havenβt been that good. I just read them for the setting...."
I don't think this works for the combo with 20.3. As far as I can see, he has only written two other novels and a short ebook (19 pages). Then he has been a narrator of books by other authors. We need him to be the first-named author of three other 100+ page books.
-5 pts
Post 120 Claire wrote: "Sweet sixteen bingoB5 A book with a 1 and a 6 in the publication year
Ibiza
Kiki van Dijk
15 points
Total points: 405 points"
Claire, when you post a bingo task, please would you give us the task number 15.x? I think your next one will be 15.14. I know we can figure it out from your diagram, but it will save us counting each time.
It would also help if you could edit the posts on this page only (101 onwards) to include the task numbers, because we haven't entered those in the database yet.
20.2 War BabiesThe Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark
Wastrel Dougal Douglas charms his way into a job in personnel research for a small manufacturing company in late 1950s south London. He proceeds to do very little except dazzle some of the employees and stir up trouble among the others.
I found this weird but enjoyable. There are hints that Dougal Douglas might be a devil (remnants of horns on his head). The characters are so awful they made me cringe at times - it's a witty book but in a cruel way. A sly look at life in a part of London that was unexciting at the time, though I'm told Peckham has become a Gen Z hub.
+20 Task (born 1918)
+ 5 Combo 10.6 (1960)
+10 Review
+10 Female
Task total = 45
Season Total = 165
10.9 Cheese! (Marie's task)Ask the Dust by John Fante
+10 task (Bandini, the narrator: βI tasted her lips and the strong food she ate, a taste of rye bread and Camembert cheese.β Chapter 12, 50%)
Task total=10
Season total=130
Post 110:Claire wrote: "Sweet sixteen : Bingo
N4 A book with both a 1 and 6 in the number of pages in the MPE
Voordat hij doodt
Blake Pierce
15 points
Total: 325 points
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Unfortunately, this doesn't work for this task. The MPE is the most popular print edition in English of a book. Here, the paperback is the most popular and has 171 pages. See: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Rosemary wrote: "Post 120 Claire wrote: "Sweet sixteen bingoB5 A book with a 1 and a 6 in the publication year
Ibiza
Kiki van Dijk
15 points
Total points: 405 points"
Claire, ..."
Will do. Sorry, I tried to make it easy, but that will be easier.
Joanna wrote: "Post 110:Claire wrote: "Sweet sixteen : Bingo
N4 A book with both a 1 and 6 in the number of pages in the MPE
Voordat hij doodt
Blake Pierce
15 points
Total: ..."
Will replace it . It sometimes slips my mind to use the English edition.
Replacement post 110Sweet sixteen : Bingo 15.11
N4 A book with both a 1 and 6 in the number of pages in the MPE
Sleuteloog
Hella S. Haasse
196 p.
15 points
Total: 325 points
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Sweet sixteen : Bingo Task: 15. 14
B1 Author has a equal number of letters in their first name and their last name.
Fatherland
Robert Harris
15 points + 5 points old
Total: 435 points
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20.8 Touch of MagicSing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
I've been meaning to read something by this author for a while. And this was on the NYT top 100 books of the 21st century so far. But I didn't expect to love this. I think I expected it to be good for me. Good literary read. Instead, this book grabbed me by the throat and held me through the whole audiobook. The book translates really well to audio format and I highly recommend listening to this one. There's a sort of oral history feel here that just works well.
I love uncomfortable characters. Characters who know in the moment that they are making a bad choice, yet can't find a way not to do it. When an author captures such a moment, I find it absolutely fascinating as a reader. Leonie embodies this throughout the book. She's lacking "the mothering instinct" as one character says. She's also addicted to meth. She wants to make better choices, but somehow just can't really manage. And it's gripping and heart-wrenching to read.
I'm very impressed by this book and this author. Highly recommended.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Female
+15 Prize-worthy (National Book Award for Fiction (2017), Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction (2018), Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award (2019))
+5 Combo (10.2)
Task total: 60
Grand total: 90
20.6 Fall Equinox Mischief among the Penguins by H.W. Tilman
20.6 Fall Equinox
20.1 Happy Birthday Elizabeth
10.9 Cheese. βFor lunch biscuits and cheese, or peanut butter.β The entire crew of the mischief eats cheddar from a large wheel.
10 pts Review
A failed attempt at the French Southern Territories! The Mischief is a sailboat captained by the author who, with a crew of five, sails from England to the Crozet Islands and Kerguelan for the purpose of mountain climbing Unfortunately the boat taks a little too much time getting there and the book doesnβt quite meet the 51% hurtle.
The description of sailing tends to drag a bit with all sorts of nautical terms used with the assumption that the reader understands the terminology. This is not as much of a problem with the mountaineering sections. The entire expedition seems a bit ill conceived but there are no great accidents or problems. Never thought of penguins and other sea birds as a food source! Surprising ly little about the interpersonal relationships among the crew or the actual probem solving needed to complete the trip.
Task Total: 40 pts
Season total: 80 pts
Post 143
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10.3 1925 MoviesThe Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
+10 Task:
+10 Female
Task total = 20
Season Total = 130
Sweet Sixteen Bingo15.1 SSB
Square N1
A book by a winner or finalist of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature
2020 Laureate
The Accident by Ismail Kadare
+15 Task
Task total = 15
Season Total = 145
Post 140 Claire wrote: "10.4 Fall Birthdays Elmore Leonard
Temple
Matthew Reilly
10 points
Total: 415 points"
+5 Jumbo
15.3 SSBSquare I -3 - won or nominated for at least 6 awards.
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction (2015),
Helen Bernstein Book Award Nominee for Excellence in Journalism (2015),
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology (2014),
National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for General Nonfiction (2014),
PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Nominee for Shortlist (2015),
Andrew Carnegie Medal Nominee for Nonfiction (Shortlist) (2015),
Kirkus Prize Nominee for Nonfiction (Finalist) (2014),
Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Nonfiction (2014)
Task total = 15
Season Total = 45
20.6 Fall Equinox (Fall 2018)The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills by Charles Bukowski
+20 task
Task total=20
Season total=150
Sweet sixteen bingo O5 A book with an alliterative title (at least 2 words, all words must start with the same sound)
15 points
Total: 465 points
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15.4 Sweet Sixteen BingoG1 - author's first book. See: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/jo...
The Overseer by Jonathan Rabb
+15 Task
+ 5 Before 2000 (1998)
Task total = 20
Season total = 140
Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
Playground (other topics)Snapdragon (other topics)
Mara (other topics)
Lyssa (other topics)
Hee mooie ziel (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Richard Powers (other topics)Kat Leyh (other topics)
Sterre Carron (other topics)
Tom Hofland (other topics)
Fleur Overgaag (other topics)
More...
N3 FREE
Monster
Roderik Six
15 points
Total: 310 points
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