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WI 11-12 Completed Tasks
20.7 Baby It's Cold OutsideNight Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.9 11 in '11)
+10 Translation (originally in Russian)
Task Total: 35
Total Points: 510
10.3 Home for the Holidays -TexasSpanish Dagger by Susan Wittig Albert
+10 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo(10.5 - 596 ratings,20.6 - heroine is a lawyer)
+10 pts - Review
Review
China Bayles, the high profile defense lawyer working for a high profile firm in Houston, decides to quit the rat race and settle in a small town in the Hill Country of Texas. She opens up an herbal emporium which through time expands into many more businesses with her good friend, Ruby as partner. During this time, she meets and falls in love with and marries a former Houston Police Officer and Texas Ranger who at this point has become a private detective. However, China ends up doing as much sleuthing as her husband and the local police force and having kept up her license she is able to solve legal problems for falsely accused and other innocents. The series has led us up to this point in China’s life in this 14th book of the series.
In this case, Ruby’s former lover with a mysterious past and an alias has been murdered. Shortly after that a bookkeeper in a plant nursery also is killed. Ruby is away with her mom who has gone senile, so China takes care of everything, including helping to find Ruby’s true love’s killer. This installment features drug trafficking across the Mexican order, special task forces, undercover agents and the DEA as well as the usual cast of local characters in this series. Not only do you get a fine mystery with this book, but tips and history on the uses of herbs as well as recipes. Being a big China Bayles fan as well as a fan of the author, I rate it 5 star.
Task Total - 30 pts
Grand Total - 1375 pts
15.3 – Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, 448 pages, pub in 1938 (C-D; 421-460/821-860; 1929-1940)Task Total = 25 points
20.2 - A Tale of Two Cities
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
+20 Task (Prague, Morocco, France)
+5 Combo (20.10 – published in 2011)
Task Total = 25 points
Posting Total = 50 points
Grand Total = 410 points
Thanks so much for all of the kind congratulations posts. I'm still enjoying this challenge so much!20.4 – In honor of A Christmas Carol:
The Summer I Learned to Fly by Dana Reinhardt
The Summer I Learned to Fly is a gem of a coming of age story. Drew (aka Robin aka Birdy) is in her thirteenth summer and is learning to cope with the loss of her dad and her lack of real friendships in her life. Her mom runs a cheese shop where she works and crushes on the handsome teenaged employee, Nick, but she knows deep down that is all there is to the relationship. She has a pet rat, Hum, that one day runs away and leads her to the back of the store where the cheese and other goods that can’t be sold are left for those who need them and there she meets Emmett. Their budding friendship tells the story of love and loss, courage and belief, and the trials and tribulations of crossing from childhood into the teenage years. The Summer I Learned to Fly is a story beautifully told by Dana Reinhardt, a top notch YA author.
750 Lexile/ set in 1986
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo: 10.5 Underrated (428) / 20.10 Play the Numbers (2011)
Task Total: 40
20.7 – Elizabeth (Alaska)’s Task – Baby it’s cold outside
Sweden:
The Man Who Smiled by Henning Mankell
I have found a love for the Kurt Wallander series by Henning Mankell through this challenge! I missed Kurt in the parts of the last installment, The White Lioness, that didn't include him, but he's back in full force in The Man Who Smiled! All the features that I enjoy are back as well: the slow and intelligent unraveling of the facts of the crime, the interactions between Kurt and those he interviews as well as those with his police department and his daughter, the landscape and language of Sweden depicted as the action progresses and in the names and places that I'm getting to know now that I've finished four books in the series. There is enough action to keep the plot moving, but lots of reflection and enjoyable quiet moments as well which I really enjoy. I'm looking forward to finding a place for Sidetracked, Book 5, in the spring challenge.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo: 20.2 Tale of Two Cities (Sweden/Denmark)Begins in Jutland / Denmark
+10 Lost in Translation (from Swedish)
Task Total: 45
20.10 – Sam’s Task – Play the numbers
From 2001:
The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo
This little gem takes place in Florida, my choice for the place I've lived books, but it has a low lexile so I'm opting for the 20 point category. I loved the book and consider all of Kate DiCamillo's books to fall in the "ageless" category; they can be enjoyed by children and adults alike.
+20 Points
Task Total: 20
Points this Post: 105
Grand Total: 2560
Don wrote: "TASK 20.10 Sam's TaskThe Good Muslim by Tahmina Anam, 297 pgs, pub. 2011, 167 ratings
+20 20.10 Play the Numbers, pub. 2011
+15 Combo, 10.5 Underrated(167 ratings), 10.8 Kare..."
The original publication date for this is 2008, so it doesn't qualify for Sam's task. Also, Bangladesh isn't on the list of countries for Karen's task. Let us know whether you want to use this book for 10.5 Underrated or for 20.4 Christmas Carol.
10.3 Home for the Holidays The Long Goodbye by Raymond ChandlerI grew up in southern California and I love reading Raymond Chandler if for no other reason than he takes me back to the California of my childhood. It is the California with familiar neighborhoods, and street names, a California not yet completely paved over, a California where the air was occasionally clean and clear. It is a California that is no more.
Pronzini and Adrian in their Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories say of The Long Goodbye "arguably the first book since Hammett's The Glass Key, published more than twenty years earlier, to qualify as a serious and significant mainstream novel that just happened to possess elements of mystery". I think that this is more novel than mystery. Perhaps I've read too many mysteries, but there were few surprises in this one. Still, there is a good story, well told, that will keep you turning pages.
The prose is wonderful and I saw both the cynicism and romanticism of Phillip Marlowe more clearly than in the previous two Chandler novels I've read - The Big Sleep and The Little Sister. Marlowe's cynicism was front row and center in those, but I failed to understand the cause of it as his wishing life were more gentle, that people would actually care and love each other. Here, I saw a more complete human being and felt his loneliness beyond his aloneness.
+10 Task
+ 5 Oldies (pub 1953)
Task Total = 15
Grand Total = 885
Don wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Don wrote: "TASK 20.10 Sam's TaskThe Good Muslim by Tahmina Anam, 297 pgs, pub. 2011, 167 ratings
+20 20.10 Play the Numbers, pub. 2011
+15 Combo, ...
I don't know why Goodreads shows a pub. date of 2008. I visited the Harper Collins web site, and checked CIP date and it shows 2011 as the pub. date."
Sorry, Don. There was a foreign language publication of another of this author's works incorrectly combined. I have fixed that now. - You are correct, this has a 2011 publication date, and thanks for helping me correct the database.
Task 20.5 - In honor of David Copperfield, the most autobiographical of Dickens’ works, read an autobiographyAn Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination (2008) by Elizabeth McCracken (Hardcover, 186 pages)
Review: I saw the review by itpdx (post #457) and then I picked up the book at the local library. There are no plot surprises in this book. Elizabeth McCracken tells you on page one that her first baby was stillborn, and that, one year and 5 days later, her second baby was born alive and well. The book instead is about her pregnancies, slice of life events from both pregnancies, how she felt about the events surrounding her pregnancies, and, most movingly, how she has mourned her first, stillborn son. The book is ultimately upbeat – it begins with the stillbirth and ends with the birth of the next baby; and, while she is mourning, she is also healing. Recommended for those interested in memoirs, reproduction, and dealing with tragedy.
+20 Task (20.5)
+10 Combo (10.6 “Z”, 20.2 (France, England, America) )
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 10 + 10 = 40
Grand Total: 1395 + 40 = 1435
A resounding "Woo Hoo!" to everyone finishing up their RwS tasks!CiV 15.8
The Christmas Wife by Helen Norris 136 pages, pub. 1985
N-O; 101-140/501-540; 1977-1988
Task Total = 65
Grand Total = 1105
(Thanks for all the "congrats for finishing RwS"...made my day!)
Liz M wrote: "nsfancy wrote: "Task 10.1 The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
+10 Task
+10 Oldie (Pub 1928)
Task total 20...
As discussed with Elizabeth, I have moved this book t..."
Thanks Liz - sorry for upping your workload.
+10 Task
+10 Oldie (Pub 1928)
Task total 20...
As discussed with Elizabeth, I have moved this book t..."
Thanks Liz - sorry for upping your workload.
Task 20.5 Autobiography Autobiography of Anthony Trollope by Anthony Trollope
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.5 underrated - 71, 20.2 Trollope lived mainly in England but spent a substantive portion of his life in Ireland and traveled extensively)
+10 Oldie (1883)
Task total 40
Total points = 1120+10(Winnie the pooh correction)+40=1170
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.5 underrated - 71, 20.2 Trollope lived mainly in England but spent a substantive portion of his life in Ireland and traveled extensively)
+10 Oldie (1883)
Task total 40
Total points = 1120+10(Winnie the pooh correction)+40=1170
CIV 15.5The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy, 384 pgs, pub 1987
E-F, 381-420/781-820, 1977-1988
+35 Task
Grand Total = 420
Task 20.4 Xmas Carol Seeing a Large Cat by Elizabeth Peters (set in 1903, written 1997)
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.6 Unusual letter "z", 20.8 Fictional books - Emerson is credited with writing "History of Egypt")
Task total 30
Total points 1200
Task 10.3 Home for the Holidays Bert Lloyd's Boyhood: A Story from Nova Scotia by J. MacDonald Oxley (Yes, I do indeed live in Nova Scotia Canada)
+10 Task
+15 Combo (10.5 underrated - 1 and that would be mine!, 10.6 uncommon letter "x", 20.10 pub 1892)
+10 Oldies (1892)
Task total 35
Total points 1235
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.6 Unusual letter "z", 20.8 Fictional books - Emerson is credited with writing "History of Egypt")
Task total 30
Total points 1200
Task 10.3 Home for the Holidays Bert Lloyd's Boyhood: A Story from Nova Scotia by J. MacDonald Oxley (Yes, I do indeed live in Nova Scotia Canada)
+10 Task
+15 Combo (10.5 underrated - 1 and that would be mine!, 10.6 uncommon letter "x", 20.10 pub 1892)
+10 Oldies (1892)
Task total 35
Total points 1235
Task 10.4 - Love Is in the AirRead a love story from the top 50 of Great Love Stories listopia
Sense and Sensibility was #6 on this list on 02-16-12
Sense and Sensibility (1811) by Jane Austen (Paperback, 282 pages)
Review: Jane Austen is amazing – what a shame she finished only 6 novels. Sense and Sensibility was her first published novel. Like the other two novels of hers I’ve read, (Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park), this novel centers on a pair of sisters. It tells how they located their beaus and eventually overcoming various obstacle to become married to one of them, thus securing a genteel social standing (complete with economic security). The goal is to accomplish this with grace and humor, while still completely abiding by the “rules” of their society. Very entertaining. Recommended for: those who like chicklit; those who like 19th century lit; those who like well-made English novels; just about everyone, really. 5*
+10 Task
+ 05 Style: 1. Combo (20.3 “exceeded” #72 on 02-16-12)
+ 10 Style: 2. Review (10 points):
+ 15 Style: 4. Oldies (5 to 25 points): -151 to 250 years old: 15 points (1761-1860)
Task Total: 10 + 05 + 10 + 15 = 40
Grand Total: 1435 + 40 = 1475
10.5 - UnderratedBlood Done Sign My Name: A True Story by Timothy B. Tyson
This book was a well-written vignette of a tumultuous time period in America's not-so-distant past. At times it got slightly off-track and delved into the author's family's history perhaps more than necessary. But it was worth wading through the dull parts to get to the engaging material.
I particularly appreciated the author's clear passion for the subject. The killing haunted him since childhood and shaped his adult life's studies and work, emphasizing the importance of the story he tells. An especially poignant moment occurs when the racism comes full circle and rears its head in a contemporary situation: when the author tries to enter a night club with an African American companion and is turned away at the door.
While this may not have been my favorite book of recent history, it definitely merits re-reading. I listened to this book during the overnight portion of a drive from New Hampshire to Georgia and I would like to re-read it in print when I have the time and am not trying to stay awake behind the wheel!
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total = 20 points
Grand total = 210 points
20.6 - In honor of Bleak House,The King of Torts by John Grisham
Money, money, money, money, and… more money. That’s what’s it’s all about. Insatiable greed and spending that makes me sick just reading about it. It’s probably because I’m just an average middle-class reader with a salary just enough to cover the mortgage payments and bills with a tiny bit of savings (enforced savings!). But then again, most readers would be just like me.
The story began with Clay Carter, a lawyer of the OPD, working for peanuts of a salary and no bright prospects in his future. An opportunity presented itself in the form of the mysterious Max Pace. There was something slightly sinister surrounding the offer but Clay took the gamble and became the ‘King of Torts’. Of course, once the ball got to roll, there is no stopping. Or is there?
I would have to agree with most reviews I’ve read in that you could just read the first bit, skip the middle, and read the end to know the story. There’s a definite moral lesson which was completely blatant but really, it was pretty average. I couldn’t wait for it to end. The only reason I hung on to the end was because I’m slightly OCD about reading books to the finish.
+20 Task
+10 Review
15.9 - CiV (L-M; 101-140/501-540; 1977-1988)
The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch
528 pages / Pub.1978
+75 Task
15.10 - CiV (S-T-U; 381-420/781-820; 1965-1976)
The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea by Randolph Stow
400 pages / Pub.1965
+85 Task
+100 CiV Completion
+200 Mega Finish
Total this post: 490 points
Total to date: 1,970 points
I may be 5-15 points off - I'm too confused to fix it so I'm happy to take whichever lower totals you've got for me :)
20.5 - Autobiography or autobiographical novelTender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
+ 20 task
+ 10 Oldies (1934)
+ 30 Combo (10.3, 10.4, 10.6, 10.7, 20.2, 20.8)
Task Total = 60
Grand Total = 305
Kazza wrote: "+100 CiV Completion
+200 Mega Finish."
Fabulous! Fantastico! Excellent!
Congratulations Kazza!Here's my finish (though I will still read and post some more if that's OK):
Christmas in Vegas
15.9 The Castle Of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino, 112 pages, pub.1973
C-D, 101-140, 1965-1976
75 points
15.10 On the Road by Jack Kerouac, 281 pages, pub.1957
I-J-K, 261-300, 1953-1964
85 points
CiV Completion bonus = 100
Mega Completion bonus = 200
Points this post = 460
Grand Total = 2445
+ 10 Combo points from Liz that I missed = 2455
Yay, Rosemary! This has been such a great challenge season. Keep reading, everyone!
Rosemary wrote: "CiV Completion bonus = 100Mega Completion bonus = 200"
Great job, congratulations! Yes, keep reading!
CiV 15.5 Head To Toe by Joe Orton, 186 pgs, pub. 1971N -O/181-220/581-620/1965-1976
35 points
CiV 15.6 Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, 152 pgs, pub. 1922
G-H/141-180/541-580/1917-1928
I listened to the audio version, but the most common paperback is linked.
45 points
Points this post: 80
Grand total: 795
Task 20.10 Play the NumbersCourageous by Randy Alcorn (published 2011)
My review:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
+20 points task
+ 5 combo (10.5 underrated: 274 ratings)
+10 review
=35 total task points
GRAND TOTAL: 835
Deana wrote: "Task 20.10 Play the NumbersI Am in Here: The Journey of a Child with Autism Who Cannot Speak but Finds Her Voice by Elizabeth M. Bonker"
+5 combo 10.6-Uncommon Letter
Karen GHHS wrote: "20.8 – Liz M’s Task – Fictional fictionGalápagos by Kurt Vonnegut 1985
+20 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (1985)
Task Total: 35"
+5 combo 20.4-Christmas Carol (set more than 25 yrs in the future)
nsfancy wrote: "Task 10.10 Group Reads The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips+10 Task
+15 Combo (10.5 - 648 ratings, 20.8, 20.10 pub 2011)
Task total 25"
+5 combo 20.2 Tale of Two Cities (Prague & US)
Liz Vegas wrote: "Task 20.4 Ready Player Oneby Ernest Cline+20 task (20.4)
+10 review
+10 combo (20.10, 10.10)..."
+10 combo 20.8-Fictional Fiction, 20.2-Tale of Two Cities
Rosemary wrote: "20.9 Take the High RoadFire From Heaven by Mary Renault
+20 Task ('heaven')
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (20.4 pub.1969, set c.350 BC)
+ 5 Oldie 1937-87..."
+5 combo 10.9-11 in 11 (first in series, author published more than 11 books)
Rosemary wrote: "10.2 NYE Countdown
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
+10 Task (the word "time" is in the title)
+10 Review
+15 Combo (10.6 "Z" in author name, 20.3 exceeded expectations #64, 20.4 pub.1985 set end of 19th/beginning of 20th century)
+10 Lost in translation (from Spanish)
+ 5 Oldie 1937-87 (1985)..."
+5 combo 10.4-Love is in the Air (#42 Great Love Stories list)
Sanskriti wrote: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling+ 20 Task
+ 5 Combo (task - 20.8)
+ 10 Review
Task Total = 35..."
+5 combo 10.8-Chinese New Year (dragon in book)
Arow wrote: "20.10 - Sam’s Task - Play the numbersI read Delirium by Lauren Oliver
+20 Task (pub 2011)
Task Total = 20"
+5 combo 20.8-Fictional Fiction
Kate S wrote: "20.3 In Honor of Great ExpectationsBeloved or Despised
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
+20 Task (7th on Exceeded Expectations List)
+5 Combo (10.2-#14 on GREAT Love Storie List)..."
+5 combo 10.2-NYE Countdown ("time" in title)
Kate S wrote: "20.5 In Honor of David Copperfield
Villette by Charlotte Brontë
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.4-#7 on Unrequited love list; 20.1-pub 1853)
+15 Oldies (pub 1853)..."
+5 jumbo (linked book is 573 pgs)
Kate S wrote: "The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.2-takes place in more than one country)..."
+5 combo 20.4 Christmas Carol
In post 743, Erin wrote: "Point this Post: 75Grand Total: 375 ..."
In post 774, Erin wrote: "20.4 The Christmas Carol
The Hippopotamus Pool by Elizabeth Peters
Book takes place in late 1800s/early 1900s
+20 Task
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 375"
Your total should have been 395, minus 45 points for Becket is 350 points, plus 15.6 & 15.7 = 450 points (as of post 893).
Tobey wrote: "Task 20.10 Play the Numbers - The Next Always by Nora Roberts (published 2011)+20 Task
+10 Review..."
+5 combo 20.7-US author
Tobey wrote: "RwS 10.2 NYE Countdown - Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Lost in Translation
+15 Combo (10.6 - Uncommon Letter, 20.3 - #64 on Exceeded Expectations list and 20.4 (takes place early 20th century and published in 1985))
+5 Oldies (Published in 1985)
Task Total=50 ..."
+5 combo 10.4 - Love is in the Air
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "20.8 Fictional FictionStraight Man by Richard Russo
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total = 30..."
+5 combo 20.3-Exceeded Expectations list
Leigh wrote: "10.10 Group ReadsThe Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips
+10 task
+10 review
+10 combos: 10.5 (597 ratings), 20.10 (pub. 2011)
task total=30..."
+5 combo 20.2-A Tale of Two Cities
Norma wrote: "20.7 - The Girl Who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson+20
+10 combo lost in translation..."
+5 jumbo
Amy W wrote: "+10 Task+15 Combo (20.4 – set 30 years in the future; 20.8 – the fictional Anorak’s Almanac plays big role; 20.11 – published in 2011)
Task Total = 25 points..."
+5 combo 20.2-Tale of Two Cities
Amy W wrote: 20.3 - Great Expectations
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
+20 Task (#15 on Exceeded Expectations list)
+15 Combo (
This book does not qualify for 10.6.
Anika wrote: "10.10 Group ReadsReady Player One by Ernest Cline
+10 Task
+10 Review
+15 Combo
-20.4 (set 30 years in the future)
-20.8 (Anorak's Almanac plays a huge role in this book)
-20.10 (pub. 2011)
Task Total = 35 ..."
+5 combo 20.2-Tale of Two Cities
Anika wrote: "10.3 Home for the Holidays
Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
+10 Task (NYC)
+10 Review
+5 Combo
-20.10 Play by the Numbers (pub. 2010)
Task Total = 25 ..."
+5 combo 10.9-11 in '11
Charlene wrote: "20.3 Exceeded ExpectationsMockingjay by Suzanne Collins #3 and last in the series
+ 20pts - 20.3 (Exceeded Expectations, #131)
+ 5 - 10.6 (Uncommon Letter, Suzanne Collins)
+ 5 - 20.10 (Play the Numbers, Published 2010)
Total points 30..."
+5 combo 20.7-US Author
Charlene wrote: "20.2 Tale of Two Cities
One Dayby David Nicholls
20 task points "
+5 combo 20.8-Fictional Fiction
Marie wrote: "20.10 - Sam’s Task - Play the numbersStarted Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson (published in 2010)
+ 20 Task
Task Total = 25..."
oops, the task total is 20, not 25.
TMBookluvr wrote: "completed 10.6-unusual lettersRead "You're Next" by Greg Hurwitz (the z in his name)
Task points 10
total points 30"
+15 combo for 10.5-Underrated, 20.10-Play the numbers (pub. 2011), and 20.7-US Author
Also, your previous total (post 516) was 30 points. Your Grand Total, as of post 785 is 55 points.
Rachael wrote: "10.4 Love Is in The AirThe Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
+10 Task (# 7 on crazy love listopia)
+10 Review
Task total = 20..."
+5 combo 20.7-US Author
Christin wrote: "20.3 Despised BookThe Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan - 740L
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.9)
Task Total = 35..."
+5 combo 20.7-US Auhtor
Christin wrote: "10.4 Love Is In The Air
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (20.8, 20.3)
+5 Oldie
Task Total = 35..."
+5 combo 10.9-11 in '11
In post 752, Kelli wrote: "Task 20.10 Play the NumbersDivergent by Veronica Roth
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 305 ..."
In post 884, Kelli wrote: "Task 10.5 Underrated (363 ratings as of today)
Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Mary McDonagh Murphy
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.10 (Published in 2011)
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 300 .."
I believe your grand total should be 330 points in post 884.
20.2 NYE CountdownThe Clocks by Agatha Christie
Review: Not one of Christie's better novel, but a decent read nonetheless. It starts off with an interesting setup: A young typist gets called to the house of a blind woman for a job, and on entering through the open front door, she finds a man stabbed on the floor.
4 extra clocks, set to 4.13 are left around the room, which hadn't been there before - what do they mean?
DI Hardcastle and Mr Lamb investigate, and getting stuck on identifying the body and leads coming up empty, Mr Lamb involves Hercule Poirot, who has often said that mysteries can be solved by sitting in an armchair and putting the tps of his fingers together, like so.
And indeed he does, though for most parts of the book he is absent, and feels more like an add on, not an integral part, even though he is the one who solves the case (but it might have been one of the other two, just as easily).
Overall, it was ok to read, but felt like it could have been made better and tighter by not introducing, as much as I like him, Hercule Poirot.
Task: 10
Review: 10
Oldies (pub 1963): 5
Combo (20.8, HP solves the case by reading loads of Crime Novels, some of them fictional): 5
Task total: 30
_______________________________________________
20.3 Home for the Holidays
Der Geist Meines Vaters by Max Dauthendey
set in Würzburg, Germany
Review: Dauthendey verfolgt die Geschichte seiner Familie, vor allem seines Vaters, der als Pionier die Entwicklung der Fotographie von Daguerrotypie bis zum Farbbild miterlebt und auch mitgeformt hat. Während der erste Teil vor allem dem Vater gewidmet ist, und voller Bewunderung für dessen Mut, Abenteuerlust und Stärke, ist der zweite Teil eine Beschreibung Dauthendeys Jugend und dessen Kampf gegen den übermächtigen Vater, dessen mechanische Interessen und Realismus in krassem Gegensatz zur träumerischen, kreativen Disposition des zukünftigen Dichters und Malers stehen.
Was mich besonders freute, waren die poetischen Beschreibungen eines Würzburgs, das ich so nicht kenne (nachdem Krieg und Fortschritt ihre Spuren hinterlassen haben, und doch einiges an Zeit vergangen ist, zwischen der Niederschrift des Buches und heute), das mir aber doch ungeheuer vertraut erscheint - die Gässlein und Wege, die Plätze und Menschen.
Task: 10
Review: 10
Oldies (pub 1912): 10
Combo (20.10 (1912), 20.4 (starts in 1830s), 20.5 (is an autobiography), 10.5 (1 rating); 10.6 (x)): 25
Task total: 55
________________________________________________
10.8 Chinese New Year
After Dark by Haruki Murakami
Review: I like Murakami best when he veers into the weird, dark side of magical realism, while his love stories tend to bore me tremendously. Luckily, this one is not a love story. It is the story of some people, more or less loosely connected to each other, swerving through the Tokio night, brushing with the shady underbelly, visiting love hotels, witnessing violence, buying milk.
The surrealism comes in the story of a sleeping girl, who gets transported into an empty office space with her bed by way of a TV. This storyline stays on its own, only being collected by hints with the other events of the book.
There is no denouement to any of this, the plot lines never get resolved, or fit neatly into any kind of pattern - a bit like life, really. Nonetheless, this very short read feels like the beginning of something rather than standing on its own.
Task: 10
Review: 10
LiT: 10
Task total: 30
Grand total: 680
Liz M wrote:
The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips
+5 20.2 Tale of Two Cities
I just sat here for like 5 minutes going through the whole plot in my head trying to figure out who/when anyone had left the country. And finally, finally it dawned on my that the play about King Arthur at the end was set in England... I need more coffee. Thanks for the catch!
The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips
+5 20.2 Tale of Two Cities
I just sat here for like 5 minutes going through the whole plot in my head trying to figure out who/when anyone had left the country. And finally, finally it dawned on my that the play about King Arthur at the end was set in England... I need more coffee. Thanks for the catch!
Leigh wrote: "Liz M wrote: The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips
+5 20.2 Tale of Two Cities
I just sat here for like 5 minutes going through the whole plot in my head trying to..."
Someone else claimed the 20.2 & after a little research, I found a couple of summaries of the book that mention "the first, rambling half of the novel covers Arthur’s adolescence and adulthood and his years as a successful expatriate writer in Prague, married to a Czech."
Liz M wrote:Arthur’s adolescence and adulthood and his years as a successful expatriate writer in Prague, married to a Czech."
That's true--though I don't remember the Prague part being briefly covered even the character stays there for several year. By far, most of the "novel" takes place in MN and NYC. But, the book is in two parts. What I'm calling the "novel" part written by character Arthur Phillips as an intro to a supposedly lost Shakespeare play "The Tragedy of Arthur". The last third of the book is an actual play--with King Arthur, Camelot and all the gang. So the "novel" is in the US and the "play" in UK.
That's true--though I don't remember the Prague part being briefly covered even the character stays there for several year. By far, most of the "novel" takes place in MN and NYC. But, the book is in two parts. What I'm calling the "novel" part written by character Arthur Phillips as an intro to a supposedly lost Shakespeare play "The Tragedy of Arthur". The last third of the book is an actual play--with King Arthur, Camelot and all the gang. So the "novel" is in the US and the "play" in UK.
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
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Shattered (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jessica Sorensen (other topics)Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (other topics)
Margaret Mitchell (other topics)
Jane Stern (other topics)
Charles de Lint (other topics)
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Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
I had read another series by Marillier, The Children of the Light Isles, so I had been meaning to pick up this series for quite awhile. I was not disappointed in the slightest. What an amazing and entrancing book. Full of Sorcha's fire, determination, pain, and love this book really was a fascinating read. Based on an old fairy tale, this book doesn't deviate much from the initial plot but just seems to embellish and enhance the original story. Each of the characters are distinctive and understandable. Sorcha, of course, stands out but her brothers, Simon, Red, even the dogs all become enmeshed in the reader's understanding of the world. I can't wait to read the next book and find out what happens to the main villainess and to the future of Sevenwaters.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.9 11 in '11)
+5 Jumbo
Task Total: 30
Total Points: 475