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Sweet sixteen Bingo15.20
The End of the Ocean
Maja Lunde
15 points
Total: 660 points
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Post 158:Joanna wrote: "10.8 Bookshop or Library
The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa
This book finds itself in clever conversation with dystopian literature, particularly wit..."
+5 Combo 10.6 - pub. 2019
20.4 Uncommon LetterToo Many Clients by Rex Stout
Archie is contacted by Arthur G. Yeager. Yeager wants to know if someone is following him and who. As Wolfe is in the plant room, Archie takes it upon himself to accept the case. The business needs money. Archie makes arrangements and then Yeager never shows. Oh, yes, we can expect he has been murdered. The foundation for the novel laid, an investigation ensues.
The installments of this series are always short, but I thought this one might have been done just as well as some of the short stories. Further, I guessed who done it. Sometimes my guesses are so far off as to be laughable, but this time it was spot on. Still, how Wolfe went about solving it was interesting. But did I say this might have been better as a short story?
I'll ever tire of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. There are 47 books in the series and I've read more than half of them. When I have read all of them, I won't be surprised to find myself re-reading some, though I am not generally a re-reader. That said, this one is only a middling 3 stars.
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.6 - 1960; 10.9 - I was sitting in the kitchen, putting away black bread (made by Fritz), smoked sturgeon, Brie cheese, and milk ...
+10 Review
Task total = 40
Season total = 285
15.7 SSSquare B2 - A book set at least 51% in the capital city of a country that is not USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand
Demon Song by Kelsea Yu
+15 Task (100% in Beijing)
Post total: 15
Season total: 365
10.4 Fall BirthdaysSelected Poems 1: 1965-1975 by Margaret Atwood
Many of the selected poems in this collection are introspective, mostly told by female narrators. They tell about emotions, relationships, and the search for personal identity. The theme of Canadian identity runs through many of the poems where nature, the wilderness, settlers, and indigenous people all play a part. In "The Journals of Susanna Moodie," Margaret Atwood imagines the life of a real pioneer woman who immigrated from England to the bush in Upper Canada. The "Power Politics" section is very dark as it portrays women being victimized by men. Poems from "You Are Happy" are lighter, with many retelling the stories of the Siren, Circe, and Penelope from "The Odyssey."
Social issues, the search for identity, and survival are examined as Atwood's narrators go on their journeys in locales ranging from the Canadian wilderness to the Greek islands to a rooming house in Boston to indigenous mythical lands. The poet often looks to the past to examine contemporary social issues. The poems were selected from six books of poetry--"The Circle Game," "The Animals in That Country," "The Journals of Susanna Moodie," "Procedures for Underground," "Power Politics," and "You Are Happy." The book gave a wonderful overview of Atwood's early poetry.
+10 task (Initials M, A)
+ 5 combo 20.2 War Babies (born 1939)
+10 female
+10 review
Task total: 35
Season total: 345
10.9 Cheese!To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
+10 task (The students are fed cheese with their lunch)
+10 Prize-Worthy (Nebula & Lodestar)
+5 Jumbo (511 pages)
+10 Female
Task total = 35
Season Total = 510
***CORRECTION***15.6 SSB
Square G -3 - book set in the future [I originally had this down as B - 4. It is G - 3.]
Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds, set many centuries in the future.
Task total = 15
Season Total = 95
15.7 SSBSquare I -4 - book of essays
The American Composer Speaks: A Historical Anthology, 1770-1965 edited by Gilbert Chase. A collection of essays by American composers.
Task total = 15
Old Bonus = 5 (1st pub'd 1966, before 2000)
Season Total = 115
20.3 DebutHee mooie ziel
Fleur Overgaag
20 points + 10 points female = 30 points
Total points: 690 points
10.9 Cheese!The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith
London detectives Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott are hired to investigate a body found in a vault following a robbery of valuable silver. The police have identified the victim, but their client (whose family run in the same high society circles as Cormoran’s late ex, Charlotte) is convinced he is someone else. In fact, as they soon find, there are several contenders for the identity of the dead man.
I found this eighth book in the series as addictive as ever, but frustrating too. Mild spoiler: (view spoiler) But the mystery was intriguing and complex.
+10 Task (Edam cheese on page 33)
+10 Review
+10 Female (pen name for J.K. Rowling)
+20 Jumbo (912 pp)
Task total = 50
Season Total = 265
10.1 - Member LottoThe New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Task - 10
Combo -5 (10.4)
Female author - 10
Post : 25
Season total : 135 (including the missing 5)
15.6 SSBSquare I5 - No chapter numbers
Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman
+15 Task (The header for each section is either a date or “interlude”)
+5 Old (pub’d 1993)
Post total: 20
Season total: 220
B1 I1 N1 G1 O1
B2 I2 N2 G2 O2
B3 I3 N3 G3 O3
B4 I4 N4 G4 O4
B5 I5 N5 G5 O5
Sweet sixteen Bingo15.21
B4 title starts and end with the same letter
Amla
Sterre Carron
15 points
Total: 675 points
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Post 229 Claire wrote: "Sweet sixteen15.18
O4 Neither title nor author name contain the letter E (subtitles can be ignored)
Tikkop
Adriaan van Dis
I'm sorry, Claire, this doesn't work for O4 because the MPE is Betrayal which does contain an E.
Post 260 Claire wrote: "20.3 DebutHee mooie ziel
Fleur Overgaag
20 points + 10 points female = 30 points
Total points: 690 points"
Sorry Claire, this doesn't work for 20.3 because it seems to be the only book she has written. This task requires the author to have written three other books (later, or can be earlier if not novels). Also, for this task the claimed book must be a novel.
20.4 Uncommon Letter (Fall 2017)Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia by Jason Pargin
This series brings me great joy! Actually, Pargin has only produced a Zoey Ashe trilogy so far, however I just read on-line that he has signed a deal with his publisher for another Zoey Ashe novel. This is a series you must read in order.
This is the satirical, biting yet witty, rollicking fantasy/dystopia novel that I particularly like and seems to be in vogue at the moment. At this point in the series, Zoey is somewhat more settled in her role as boss of a major (former crime) organization. I like how Pargin still has Zoey make choices that are maybe not quite what would be expected of her, as a billionaire boss, due to her age and trailer park upbringing. She still has Stink Machine, and has acquired another cat – both of which are involved in a major plot point. As with any satire, there is skewering happening but it is subtle yet still on point. Pargin has set up the beginnings of some potentially interesting directions to take his characters as well. 4*
20 task
10 review
5 combo 20.6
_______
35
Running total: 460
15-3A book (fiction or nonfiction) set more than 200 years before the time it was published
Queens of the Crusades - set in the 13th Century, published 2021
+15 Post
+ 5 big
Total Post 20
Season Total 90
15.8 SSBSquare N-3 The Free Space. I read The Fire Within by Pierre Drieu la Rochelle
Task Points: 15
Finisher Bonuses: First line: 50 pts
Old Bonus: first published 2000 or earlier: 5 pts The Fire Within 1st published in 1965.
1st Line Finished is Horizontal Line 3:
B – 3 author’s latest book, Weepers by Peter Mendelsund
I – 3 6 awards, The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
N – 3 free, The Fire Within by Pierre Drieu la Rochelle
G – 3 set in future, Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds
O – 3 set in tropics, St. Barts Breakdown by Don Bruns
Season Total Points: 185
20.8 A Touch of MagicThe Antidote by Karen Russell
Review: This book is not perfect, but it's wildly ambitious. Reading it felt like watching a play full of wildly talented actors who are unwilling to compromise with each other for the good of the whole.
I loved the perspective shifts and the very visceral sense of place and time (Nebraska during the dust bowl). Every character is strong and flawed - sometimes too much so. I felt right there with the characters most of the time, but would occasionally lose my focus when the tone shifted slightly into melodrama. Melodrama always bothers me, but especially when it's so unnecessary - the plot and the real history it describes is dramatic enough.
This is a book about collective and personal memory in the U.S., and the guilt or trauma (or both) our ancestors or parents (or ourselves) have not confronted but tried to slide under the rug when it comes to colonization and the murder and destruction of Native American people and land. Russell boldly makes the act of forgetting (and remembering) more real and more clearly a choice with her invention of memory banking. And she sends a clear message that hiding from problems, even ones we have become oblivious to, never works for long.
Overall: well researched, well grounded in character and place, a fascinating and unique plot, and a good structure.
+20 Task (MPG Magical Realism)
+10 Review
+10 Female
Post total: 40
Season total: 260
Rosemary wrote: "Post 229 Claire wrote: "Sweet sixteen15.18
O4 Neither title nor author name contain the letter E (subtitles can be ignored)
Tikkop
Adriaan van Dis
I'm sorry, C..."
Rosemary wrote: "Post 260 Claire wrote: "20.3 Debut
Hee mooie ziel
Fleur Overgaag
20 points + 10 points female = 30 points
Total points: 690 points"
Sorry Claire, this doesn't ..."
This is a Dutch book that has been translated later in English. Do I need to use the English edition also for these? I was not aware, and I think it is strange, but I will read another book.
For the book Hee mooie ziel. I’ll substract the points in my next post.
Claire wrote: "This is a Dutch book that has been translated later in English. Do I need to use the English edition also for these? I was not aware, and I think it is strange, but I will read another book."Yes, I understand it seems strange, but the rule is there so that a book will qualify for the same tasks for everybody, regardless of what edition/language they read. It's the same for me if I occasionally read a French book in French, I have to claim it under the English title (if it has been translated into English).
ETA: Elizabeth has explained more, with a link, in the Socializing thread.
Correction with Replacement post 229 Sweet sixteen
15.18
O4 Neither title nor author name contain the letter E (subtitles can be ignored)
Lyssa
Tom Hofland
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15 points
Total points: 630 points
Correction with replacement for post 26020.3 Debut
Mara
Sterre Carron
20 points + 10 points female = 30 points
Total points: 690 points
20.8 A Touch of MagicSnapdragon by Kat Leyh
Magical realism MPG
+20 Task
No style points, graphic novel
Task total = 20
Points total = 170
15.4 SSBSquare O1 – A book with a single word title that contains at least 10 letters
Playground by Richard Powers
+15 Task
Task total = 15
Season Total = 525
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)
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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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Square B -4 - book set in the future
Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds, set many centuries in the future.
Task total = 15
Season Total = 95