30.6 Delicious Dee's task:Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction

[Dee]

@ Valorie - since I have read the Darynda Jones books, I can say that yes your 2 work

@ Deedee - yes those work

@ Jennifer - yours do too

[Valorie]

Fantastic, thanks Dee!

[Jennifer]

I have been racking my brain about this and came up with this option.

The Battle of the Labyrinth and Mythology.

This book in the Percy Jackson series directly refers to specific tales in Greek mythology which are gone into depth in Hamilton's Mythology. Plus the general overviews of the gods and goddesses and titans that this novel and series includes. Would you accept these as a match?

[Dee]

i'll take it Jennifer

[Jennifer]

Thanks!

[Esther]

Would Alias Grace and Broadmoor Revealed: Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum work for Option 1?

Thanks for your help!

[Dee]

Esta - is she actually in the asylum during the book? I can't really tell from the description

if not, then no, however, something like Prison Life In Victorian England might work (I did find a couple of others but they are less than 100 pages)

[Kara]

Would these two work? The first is about game theory, and the second is a fictional account of its application.

Non-fiction: The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business & Life
Fiction: The Glass Bead Game

[Dee]

Kara - sounds good to me - I read my first Hermann Hesse for the last challenge and now i'm intrigued to read more

[Kara]

Sweet.

Also, I wanted to let you know that I think this is the cleverest of all the tasks. It was a really great idea, Dee!

[Dee]

i'm glad you like it - i'm a total dork when it comes to reading fiction and wanting to know how much of it is true

[Esther]

Dee wrote: "Esta - is she actually in the asylum during the book? I can't really tell from the description

if not, then no, however, something like Prison Life In Victorian England might work ..."

Yes, I do believe that she is actually in the asylum at the time - she was sentenced to life in prison and I believe the book is about the work that she does with a psychiatrist who visits her to get her remember what has happened. Here is more detailed summary -http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=...

[Dee]

thanks Esta - while Alias Grace takes place in Canada - something I didn't pick up on in the original description), i'll say yes, providing when you read it she does end up in the asylum - because Canada was part of the British monarchy at the time and so were subject to their prison standards

[Esther]

Thank you very much - that's great :-)

[Kayleigh]

Would Boys, Girls and Other Hazardous Materials and Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence work for option 1?

[Dee]

i can't really tell from the fiction description if it focuses on charlie and will or charlie and the queen bees - does that make sense? do you have a better review or synopsis

[Kayleigh]

Dee wrote: "i can't really tell from the fiction description if it focuses on charlie and will or charlie and the queen bees - does that make sense? do you have a better review or synopsis"

It does have a boy/girl aspects but a huge storyline is about her previously being a bully and now she is being bullied.

[Dee]

ok, sounds good - just make sure to point that out when you post

[Tien]

Is it a bit of a stretch if a book I'm reading now (The Ancient Garden: A Love Story) had a couple of quotes from a real historical figure (Rosa Luxemburg) of whom I knew nothing of and now am curious to read the bio (Rosa Luxemburg; Ideas in Action) for?

Completely different countries but similar in ideologies if not identical.

[Dee]

sounds good Kazza just make sure to point out the quotes linkage in your post...this is the kind of thing I was looking for ;)

[Tien]

Dee wrote: "sounds good Kazza just make sure to point out the quotes linkage in your post...this is the kind of thing I was looking for ;)"

Yay, thanks, Dee...
I probably would not have bothered to read more on her other than Wikipedia info if not for this task! :)

[Jayalalita]

Would either of these work for Option A:

There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby is a book of fairy tales. From the Beast to the Blonde is nonfiction about the history and process of fairy tales being written.

Or, The September Queen is a novel about Charles II. Behind the Palace Doors: Five Centuries of Sex, Adventure, Vice, Treachery, and Folly from Royal Britain has a chapter about Charles II.

Thank you!!

[Dee]

yes to the second, the first is a bit harder but as long as you can drawn a clear connection - i didn't really see fairy tales being mentioned at all

[Jayalalita]

Thank you! :) My reasoning with the first set of books is that There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby is written by a woman with the Russian tradition of storytelling in mind (the cover describes it as "scary fairy tales"), with stories containing elements of classic fairy tales (I found this review helpful), while From the Beast to the Blonde documents the progress of female storytellers, and the deeper significance of familiar elements of fairy tales (as this review briefly explains). As an alternative, would The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye work for the fiction book? Many thanks for your time and consideration!!

[Dee]

Soiunds good - just make sure u draw that connection in your post

[Vicky]

I just finished reading Laika, which is about the first Soviet space dog to orbit the Earth. The description states "Nick Abadzis masterfully blends fiction and fact in the intertwined stories of three compelling lives." But I wanted to make sure the book was fiction enough to count for the fiction book.

If so, I want to check on A Ball, a Dog, and a Monkey: 1957 - The Space Race Begins for the non-fiction book. From the description the book seems to focus more on the American side of the space race, but looking at the Google Books Preview includes a chapter titled "And a Dog Shall Lead Them" which is about Laika.

[Dee]

hey vicki - from what I can tell it is shelved with Juvenile fiction in the libraries in my area, so i'll accept it - and your second one works - you could also look at Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void which is also a historical look at the space program - in the US, USSR as well as Japan

[Nick]

Delicious Dee -- This is one of my favorite tasks ever! I like it so much that I'm going to use the 2 non-fiction books based on fiction books used in other tasks option. But I want to make sure I'm doing it right before I delve into the nonfiction books.

For one task I'm reading Jungle of Cities and Other Plays: Includes: Drums in the Night; Roundheads and Peakheads by Bertolt Brecht, three plays about fictional anarchist revolutions in the early 20th century. So for my first non-fiction choice I want to read Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman.

For another task I've read The Language of the Sea: A Novel by James MacManus, the fictional story of a marine biologist who accidentally ends up marooned and living with a bunch of seals on an island off the coast of Maine. So I want to read The year of the seal by Victor B. Scheffer, about the ecology of a year in the life of a seal (written 1970).

Will these work?

[Dee]

Nick - both sound good - i'm using that same option for my books too