Reading with Style discussion
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Completed Tasks
10.2 Bookshops of MelbourneNorth Woods by Daniel Mason
+10 Task (329 shelvings)
+10 Combo (10.4, 20.8 magical realism)
Task total = 20
Season Total = 215
Joanna wrote: "Post 182:Claire wrote: "Sweet sixteen Bingo 15.16
I5 a book without chapter numbers
Sleuteloog
Hella S. Haasse
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15..."
I’ll keep it at N4. Sorry. I’ll change my total
G1 Author's 1st, 6th, or 16th bookDe beesten
Gijs Wilbrink
First book
15 points
Total points: 550 points
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10.8 Are You a Bookshop or Library Person?The Secret Library of Hanna Reeves by Christine Nolfi
+10 Task
+10 Female
+5 Combo: 10.9, "From wicker baskets, they handed out afternoon snacks--cheese and crackers, bags of cherry tomatoes, and cookies."
Task total: 25
Season total: 110
10.10 Group ReadsA Town with Half the Lights On by Page Getz
At first, the structure of the book didn’t grab me. It is told through emails, newspaper articles and diary entries. Then it turned a corner and grabbed me. I suppose I got used to the character’s voices and personalities. This novel is a very charming feel-good story about small town America. I don’t really know anything about Kansas, so I don’t know how accurate the portrayals are – but the author has spent time in Kansas so I assume she has a handle on it. This is a nice book to read after you’ve read some difficult literature or listened to too much TV news. 4*
10 task
10 review
10 female
5 combo 20.1
________
35
Running total: 400
Once again, I have to give props to RwS - I doubt I would have picked this book up otherwise.
10.3 1925 MoviesThe Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
+10 Task, set 98% in France
+10 Female
Task total: 20
Season total: 130
20.4 Uncommon LetterHotel Ukraine by Martin Cruz Smith
20 pts 20.4 Uncommon Letter
5 pts 20.6 Fall Equinox
5 pts 20.2 War Babies
10 pts Review
Task Total: 40 pts
Season total: 120 pts
The final installment in the Arkady Renko series of police procedurals set in Moscow. Renko becomes involved in an investigation that implicates the Russian Security Service and the Russia Ukraine War. Very good description of Renko’s struggles with Parkinsons anf his ongoing role as an outsider within the procecutors office.
Several scenes of the war in Ukraine are challenging to read, but all in all it seems like an accurate decription of the early days if the war with all its horrors.
The book is fast paced with some twists and turns, but falls a bit short in the excecution. Towards the end, this just seem to happen to run out the story, but it is still very hard to put down. I recommend it if you have been a fan of this series since Gorky Park.
Post 208
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B. I N G. O
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15.5 Sweet Sixteen BingoI 1 - Title and subtitle do not contain the word "the"
Playing Nice by J.P. Delaney
Task total: 15
Season total: 295
Sweet sixteen Bingo15.16
O3 A book set at least 51% in a country that is partly or wholly in the tropics
The Girl with the Louding Voice
Abi Daré
15 points + 50 points second line
Total: 615 points
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15.6 SSSquare I2 - A book (fiction or nonfiction) set more than 200 years before the time it was published
A Girl Called Samson by Amy Harmon
published 2023 & set in 1760
+15 Task
Post total: 15
Season total: 290
10.9 Cheese! Chroniques de la fruitière - Voyage au pays du Comté by Fred Bernard
This non-fiction graphic novel is about Comté, a type of cheese made in the east of France.
+10 Task
Task total = 10
Points total = 150
20.1 - Happy Birthday ElizabethThe Lowlands by Laurel Martin
+20 task - 4.41/160
+10 Female
+5 Combo 10.4 - LM
Task total: 35
Grand total: 340
20.6 - Fall EquinoxMother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon
+20 task - A,E,I,O,U
+10 Female
+5 Award - Anthony Award for Best First Novel 2024
Task total: 35
Grand total: 375
15.10 Sweet Sixteen BingoB2: A book set at least 51% in the capital city of a country that is not USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand
Days at the Torunka Café by Satoshi Yagisawa
Set in Tokyo
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 290
...; ...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 10.7;...; ...; 10.10
...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 20.6; ...; ...; ...; 20.10
...; B2; B3;
I1; ...; ...; ...; I5
...; ...; N3; N4; N5
...; G2
...; O2;...' O4
15.11 Sweet Sixteen BingoG1: Author's 1st, 6th, or 16th book
Sleeping Children by Anthony Passeron
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 305
...; ...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 10.7;...; ...; 10.10
...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 20.6; ...; ...; ...; 20.10
...; B2; B3;
I1; ...; ...; ...; I5
...; ...; N3; N4; N5
G1; G2
...; O2;...; O4
15.12 Sweet Sixteen BingoG4: 16 is the perfect square of 4 - A book with a four-word title
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 320
...; ...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 10.7;...; ...; 10.10
...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 20.6; ...; ...; ...; 20.10
...; B2; B3;
I1; ...; ...; ...; I5
...; ...; N3; N4; N5
G1; G2; ...; G4
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15.13 Sweet Sixteen BingoI3: A book that has been nominated for or won at least 6 awards
Witch King by Martha Wells
Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel (2024), Nebula Award Nominee for Novel (2023), Locus Award for Fantasy (2024), World Fantasy Award Nominee for Novel (2024), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fantasy (2023), Libby Award Nominee for Best Fantasy (2024)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 335
...; ...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 10.7;...; ...; 10.10
...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 20.6; ...; ...; ...; 20.10
...; B2; B3;
I1; ...; I3; ...; I5
...; ...; N3; N4; N5
G1; G2; ...; G4
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O1: A book with a single word title that contains at least 10 letters
Motorhomes, Maps, & Murder by Tonya Kappes
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 350
...; ...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 10.7;...; ...; 10.10
...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 20.6; ...; ...; ...; 20.10
...; B2; B3;
I1; ...; I3; ...; I5
...; ...; N3; N4; N5
G1; G2; ...; G4
O1; O2;...; O4
Apologies, does not qualify, I misread the task
10.9 Cheese! (Marie's task)The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
and I dare say you could find a nice piece of Stilton at Abbot’s. I have always heard that gentlemen like a nice piece of Stilton,
+10 task
+10 female
+5 combo (20.6)
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 360
...; ...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 10.7;...; 10.9; 10.10
...; ...; ...; ...; ...; 20.6; ...; ...; ...; 20.10
...; B2; B3;
I1; ...; I3; ...; I5
...; ...; N3; N4; N5
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20.10 Fall VacationDays at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
+20 task
+15 Combo (10.2, 10.8, 20.3)
Task total = 35
Season Total = 345
15.3 SSBB5 - 1 and 6 in publication year
Rocked by Livia Grant
+15 Task (pub. 2016)
Task total: 15
Grand total: 140
15.5 Sweet Sixteen BingoO1 - single word title that contains at least 10 letters
Chatterton by Peter Ackroyd
+15 Task
+ 5 Before 2000 (1987)
Task total = 20
Season total = 225
I'm going to move a book.Post 86: North Woods by Daniel Mason posted to 15.2 - B3.
I'm moving it to
10.4 - Elmore Leonard
I enjoyed this book, but I think I would have liked it more in print. The audiobook made it harder to appreciate the prose, which I think was lovely. To be fair, I was listening to a lot of this book while sitting at the hospital emergency department with my mother awaiting diagnosis and admission to the ICU. So, I might have been a tad distracted...
This book was selected as the "one read" for my local library, so both of my bookclubs read it. Unfortunately, I missed both meetings, so didn't get to hear what others thought of the book.
The structure of the book was really clever--focusing on a place and examining that place through time and different inhabitants. I think this was just a case of me reading a good book at the wrong time.
-15 (SSB task)
+10 (10.4 - DM)
+10 Combo (10.2, 20.8)
+10 Review
Task total: 30 - 15 = 15
Grand total: 155
20.8 A Touch of MagicPractical Magic by Alice Hoffman
+20 Task, both about witches and has MPG "Magical Realism"
+10 Female
+5 Combo: 10.9, "...Ben fixed carrot soup the next evening, a salad of leaf lettuce, and a pot of Welsh rabbit, which Gillian was extremely relieved to hear was nothing more than melted cheese served with bread."
Task total: 35
Season total: 165
Task 15.02 Sweet Sixteen BingoSquare B-3 - An author’s last or latest book.
Book was first published on May 06, 2025, making it the lastest published book by the author Uzma Jalaluddin.
Detective Aunty (Kausar Khan Investigates #1) (2025) by Uzma Jalaluddin (Paperback 329 pages)
+15 Task
Task total = 15
Grand Total = 35 + 15 = 50
20.1 Happy Birthday Elizabeth!Murder in the Countryside (Miss Underhay #17) by Helena Dixon
+20 Task
+10 Female
Post total: 30
Season total: 320
Sweet sixteen15.18
O4 Neither title nor author name contain the letter E (subtitles can be ignored)
Tikkop
Adriaan van Dis
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15 points
Total points: 630 points
Sweet sixteen Bingo 15. 19
O1 A book with a single word title that contains at least 10 letters (subtitles can be ignored)
Annihilation
Jeff VanderMeer
15 points
Total points: 645 points
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10.9 CheeseCheese by Willem Elsschot
10 pts 10.9 Cheese “My lunch consisted of a bread roll and some Gafpa. That’s what I have to aim for.” Gafpa is the brand name for Edam cheese sold by the main character
10 pts Review
Task Total: 20 pts
Season total: 140 pts
The story of a hapless office clerk who goes into the cheese wholesale business without any experience in sales, cheese, or really business. As might be expected, it does not go well. The story has a vague sense of being a slapstick comedy but despite a few amusing moments really doesn’t live up to the potential.
Interestingly this is on the Boxall 1000 list and I did see that it was described as a classic of Flemish literature. I don’t really see why, the story is predictable and very light. Not a bad read but not a must read either. But there are literally tons of cheese involved!
Post 231
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15.1 Sweet Sixteen BingoGranta 81: Best of Young British Novelists, 2003 by Ian Jack
15 pts 15.1 I4 A book of short stories or essays
Task Total: 15 pts
Season total: 155pts
Post 232
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I4 post 232
15.2 Sweet Sixteen BingoOf Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It by Richard V. Reeves
15 pts 15.2 B3 An author's last or latest book
Task Total: 15 pts
Season total: 170 pts
Post 233
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B3 post 233
I4 post 232
20.7 Great Books by WomenThe House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
20 pts 20.7. Great Books by Women
5 pts 10.2 Bookshop of Melbourne
10 pts Female
10 pts Prizeworthy Literary awards American Book Award (1985), George C. Stone Center for Children's Books Recognition of Merit Award (1994)
10 pts Review
A collection of short vignettes told from the perspective of a young girl growing up in an economically challenged Latino neighborhood of Chicago. Overall, excellent writing that described the people and their circumstances. In some cases the narrators youth results in her only partially understanding the actual events going on around her while the reader is clearly aware of the tragedy or challenges being described.
Insightful and well written, it took a while to appreciate the value of the brevity of the stories and the strength of the description. Want comes across is the humanity of the characters not the challenges of their economic situation.
Task Total: 55 pts
Season total: 225 pts
Post 235
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B3 post 233
I4 post 232
15.6 Sweet Sixteen BingoI5 - Book Without Chapter Numbers
The Four Seasons: Poems by J.D. McClatchy (editor)
Task total: 15
Season total: 310
20.3 Debut (Summer 2017)The Pumpkin Spice Café (Dream Harbor #1) by Laurie Gilmore
+20 Task
+10 Female
Post total: 30
Season total: 350
10.4 - Fall BirthdaysThe Snow Angel by Anki Edvinsson
+10 task - AE
+10 Female
Task total: 20
Grand total: 405
15.7 Sweet Sixteen BingoO2 - 6 letter last name
The Scarlet Imperial by Dorothy B. Hughes
+15 Task
+ 5 Before 2000 (1946)
Task total = 20
Season total = 245
10.3 1925 MoviesThe Devil's Cave by Martin Walker
I have so many series on the go, that some fall off the map for quite awhile. That is the case with ‘Bruno, Chief of Police’. It’s been four years since I last enjoyed an instalment in this series, but Walker has created well drawn characters that you can remember well enough to settle into this novel. The Bruno mysteries are often complicated but I like them, and this one had a bit of a thriller slant to it. One of the aspects that I particularly like is that Walker has populated his novels with strong female characters. As with the other instalments, we have glimpses of life in this French village and it’s landscape as well as delicious food and wine! 4*
Note: Some of the reviewers on GR give away a rather important spoiler. Don’t read them before reading the book, thankfully I didn’t.
I expected cheese in this novel, and Bruno didn't disappoint:
pg 9: '...men carrying giant wheels of cheese on their heads…'
pg 46: '…a salad with an array of local cheeses followed by an apple tart…'
pg 66: 'Cheese fondue was a first for him.'
10 task
10 review
5 combo 10.9
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25
Running total: 425
15.6 Sweet Sixteen BingoSquare B5- 1 and 6 in publication year
On Love by Charles Bukowski
+15 task (2016)
Post total=15
Season total=270
20.3 Debut (Summer 2017)With Shuddering Fall by Joyce Carol Oates
+20 task (1964 debut novel mentioned in GR description)
+10 female
Task total=30
Season total=300
10.9 Cheese! (Marie's task)The Night Torn Mad With Footsteps by Charles Bukowski
+10 task ("she gets migraine headaches every time she eats sugar or cheese" - "girl on the escalator" 94%)
Task total=10
Season total=310
20.5 Elizabeth’s comfort ZoneThe Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
+20 task
+5 Combo (20.7)
+5 Jumbo (576 pages)
+10 Female
Task total = 40
Season Total = 385
20.7 500 Great Books by WomenI Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven
+20 task
+5 Combo (20.3)
+5 Prize-Worthy
+10 Female
Task total = 40
Half-way finish = 50
Season Total = 475
20.4 Uncommon LetterHeart Lamp: Selected Stories by Banu Mushtaq
A lovely collection of stories about women living in Karnataka, in southern India. The author obviously is rooted in the community enough to understand the traditions and the interactions between these characters.
I'd recommend reading the translator's note first. The translator explains the decision not to contextualize these stories for Western audiences. There are no italics to offset use of foreign words, no footnotes to explain things, and certain decisions made to emphasize the way speech is used that read as foreign to an English speaker. Because of these decisions, as a reader, I felt really deeply the cultural context for these stories. At the same time, it required some additional work from me to go look up certain things I was not familiar with.
Thanks to andotherstories for amplifying this book and putting it on my radar screen even before it won the International Booker Prize.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Prize-worthy
+10 Female
Task total: 45
Grand total: 200
15.2 SSBI2 - A book set more than 200 years before publication date
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
+15 Task
Task total: 15
Grand total: 215
15.4 SSB*15.3 was posted out of order at Post 223
O5 - book with an alliterative title
Feel Free: Essays by Zadie Smith
+15 Task
Task total: 15
Grand total: 230
15.5 SSBSquare I -2 - book set at least 200 yrs before it is written..
The Crucible by Arthur Miller, set in the 1690's, written in the 1950's.
Task total = 15
Old Bonus, written before 2000 = 5
Season Total = 80
Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
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Mara (other topics)
Lyssa (other topics)
Hee mooie ziel (other topics)
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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)
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Sociopath by Patric Gagne
+15 Task, no "the" in title or subtitle
Task total: 15
Season total: 85