Reading with Style discussion
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Spring 2012 Reading w/Style Completed Tasks
20.2 True ColorsAmy and Isabel by Elisabeth Stout short listed for orange prize in 2000
Review
I will use the clichés of bittersweet, mother-daughter, coming of age story to describe this poignant book. The book revolves around Isabelle and Amy Goodrow. Isabelle is the mother and Amy the daughter. The feature conflict is built around a sexual relationship between Amy, who is in high school and her Math teacher. If you are familiar with Strout’s Prize Winner, Olive Kitteridge, you will see similarities in the style of storytelling. Although, this conflict between mother and daughter wherein Isabelle is told of her daughter’s involvement is the core, there are other layers of stories wrapped around the characters. There is Isabelle’s secret passion for her boss, there is Amy’s friendship with a teenage pregnant girl, going outwards from these layers we have stories of Isabelle’s co-workers, the people in the church congregation and Amy’s story of discovering a dead body of a missing girl while out with Stacy’s ex-boyfriend. As secrets are confessed, the characters seem to open more and learn more about friendships, sisterly support, and finally dealing with that difficult transition of daughter growing up and mother letting go. I give it 4 stars.
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo (10.3 girls' names, 20.10 -Queen's University of Charlotte, NC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabet...
+10 pts - Review
Task total - 40 pts
Completion Bonus - 100 pts
Grand Total - 910 pts
yay Rebekah! An RwS finish! And I love Elizabeth Strout - how fitting!
Christin wrote: "RwS Finish: 100"Way to go Christin!!
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "yay Rebekah! An RwS finish! And I love Elizabeth Strout - how fitting!"Have you read this book? If not, you would probably like it. I might have liked Olive Kitteridge better except I really identified with being a single mom and raising a teenaged daughter. It got mixed reviews on Goodreads though
Christin wrote: "10.10 Group ReadsThe Dovekeepers: A Novel by Alice Hoffman
What an absolutely fantastic book. I had never head of it before so I'm really glad that Anika recommended this book. I listened to t..."
Yeah, Christin! I just downloaded The Dovekeepers. Thanks for the review
Rebekah wrote: "20.2 True ColorsAmy and Isabel by Elisabeth Stout short listed for orange prize in 2000
Review
I will use the clichés of bittersweet, mother-daughter, coming of age story to describe this poi..."
Very nice, Rebekah! Well done!
20.6 Selexyz bookstoreToward A True Kinship Of Faiths: How The World's Religions Can Come Together by Dalai Lama XIV
I just love His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama! He is a hero to me. His non-violence and love and respect for all living things is something we should all emulate. In this book he goes through his personal quest to learn more about other religions and improve his understanding so he can continue his lifelong dedication to world peace and religious tolerance. He goes through most of the religions in India as India is his home in exile and a paragon of religious tolerance. Yes they have had their horrific moments but for having almost every religion you can think of in one country for centuries and to be virtually at peace about it, is something we should all do well to study. Touching on the main tenets of Buddhism, Jainism, Sheikism, Hindu, Islam, Christian, Zoroastrian and Jewish who all have and ancient history in India, he explains how much more they have in common than not and there is no real reason to use religion as an excuse for war. The Dalai Lama’s written works are generally easy to understand and are sensible. I hope he lives forever! The world needs him!
+20 pts - Task (a Buddhist Holy Leader)
+ 5 pts - Combo (all his writings are banned in China)
+10 pts - Not a Novel
+10 pts - Review
Task Total - 45 pts
Grand total - 955 pts
Thanks Kate and Rebekah! (and congrats back, Rebekah, and I hope you love The Dovekeepers as much as I did ^_^)
So sorry I missed your finish, Christin --Congratulations! My audio of The Dovekeepers just came in from the library and your review made me really excited about it!
15.8 AtW--Circumnavigator 8th Stop South Africa (E 028 11)
Devil's Peak by Deon Meyer
+15 task
+10 bonus
grand total=365
Devil's Peak by Deon Meyer
+15 task
+10 bonus
grand total=365
Rebekah wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "yay Rebekah! An RwS finish! And I love Elizabeth Strout - how fitting!"Have you read this book? If not, you would probably like it. I might have liked Olive Kitteridg..."
I have read all of Elizabeth Strout. My introduction to her was Abide with Me.
ATW 15.5 (5th stop) Iceland (W 02156) Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason
+15 Task
+10 bonus
Task total 25
Total points 445
+15 Task
+10 bonus
Task total 25
Total points 445
Task 10.4 Its your birthday Macbeth by William Shakespeare
+10 task
+10 combo (10.5 Macbeth is a "bad guy", 20.4 movie)
+10 canon
+10 not a novel
Task total 40
Total points 485
Task 20.5 Time for the Stars by Robert A. Heinlein pub 1956
+20 task
+5 combo (10.2 Space out)
Task total 25
Total points 510
+10 task
+10 combo (10.5 Macbeth is a "bad guy", 20.4 movie)
+10 canon
+10 not a novel
Task total 40
Total points 485
Task 20.5 Time for the Stars by Robert A. Heinlein pub 1956
+20 task
+5 combo (10.2 Space out)
Task total 25
Total points 510
Task 20.7 Read an internationally acclaimed book.Absalom, Absalom! (1936) by William Faulkner (Paperback, 320 pages)
Review: This is the second Faulkner book I’ve read; the first one was The Unvanquished (which I enjoyed because I actually understood it!!!)
I liked the way Absalom, Absalom! began: (From the first page: “Miss Coldfield in the eternal black which she had worn for forty-three years now, whether for sister, father, or nonhusband none knew…” LOL what is a nothusband? Though when you think about it, you “get” what a nothusband is.) The first chapter was impressionistic and confusing, and I almost gave up on the novel. The next couple of chapters switched narrators and told the story more-or-less linearly. Then Faulkner goes back to impressionistic, but the reader can follow along (mostly).
The narrators are all telling the story of a self-made plantation owner (named Thomas Sutpen) in rural Mississippi, beginning (more or less) in 1833 when he enters the Mississippi town with a bunch of “wild Negroes” and begins building his house. He includes the stories of his wife and children. The novel focuses on the nuances of how everyone feels about things and the minutiae of the surroundings, so much so that it is sometimes difficult to see the plot underneath. And then, when you think you see the plot, everything shifts. Sometimes it seems that Faulkner uses language to obscure the story instead of to tell the story. Overall, the novel is very Southern and very tragic.
Recommended for those who don’t mind reading a chapter 2 or 3 times to understand it; recommended for those impressed by clever phrasing; and recommended for those in the mood to read a tragedy. Not recommended for those who like stories told in a straightforward manner; and, not recommended for readers who will be upset by reading numerous descriptions of negative stereotypes of “Negroes”, since those descriptions abound in this novel set in rural Mississippi of the 19th century.
+ 20 Task
+ 05 Style: 1. Combo (5 points) (also fits: 10.4 (grades 9-12 list))
+ 10 Style: 2. Review (10 points):
+10 Style: 4. Canon (10 points):
Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 + 10 = 45
Grand Total: 390 + 45 = 435
Thanks, and Congratulations too, to all who finished AtW (I hope your trip was enjoyable) and RwS!20.10 It's academic
Second Nature: A Gardener's Education by Michael Pollan
Review: I'm utterly convinced that Pollan could write a book about macramé, and I would buy, read and enjoy it, even though I can't think of anything less interesting. Thankfully, what he chose and chooses as his topics are all something I care about.
There was a lot to like about Second Nature, and a lot of interesting thoughts and concepts about what it means to garden, and what we can learn about interacting with our environment from the small scale. The book is build of 4 parts, one for each season, and especially spring and the beginning summer were a breeze to read through - no wonder, since that are also the times when there is most to do in gardens. Right around August, it kind of had a little slump, and didn't really pick up the pace again - work in the garden slowly teeters out as you reap the fruits of your labour and begin contemplating.
Since this is his first book, it was interesting to see how his writing changed, how the long winded thinking and philosophizing gave way to a more hands on approach in his newer books, and I'm grateful that they did, since those are the parts that made it into a likeable but not loveable book for me.
Task: 20 (Pollan is professor of journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism)
Review: +10
Not a Novel: +10
Task total: 40
Grand total: 585
AtW-Circumnavigator15.1 First Itinerary Stop: Czech Republic (E 014 25)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
+15 Task
15.2 Second Stop: Sweden (E 018 04)
The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Post Total: 40
Season Total: 1115
20.6 Selexyz Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope is so amusing. In this the second of his Chronicles of Barsetshire, a few of his minor characters are: Mr. Quiverful, a parson with 14 children; Dr. Rerechild, the pediatrician; Dr. Fillgrave, the physician to the dying dean.
Trollope also talks to his readers. At one point he tells us that his characters believe such and such will come about but we readers can be assured that it will not be. Elsewhere he tells us that a good novelist would be able to describe just exactly the state of this person, but that we will have to accept this author is not be able to write so eloquently.
As I read, I wondered why Trollope has endured, and endures he has, even if not as famously as Dickens. I found my answer in the Wikipedia article that quotes Henry James: "His [Trollope's] great, his inestimable merit was a complete appreciation of the usual. ... [H]e felt all daily and immediate things as well as saw them; felt them in a simple, direct, salubrious way, with their sadness, their gladness, their charm, their comicality, all their obvious and measurable meanings. ... "
Exactly!
+20 Task
+10 Combo [10.4 (Birthday),
+10 Review
+10 Canon
Tast Total = 50
Grand Total = 410
She laughs, as Liz returned the reminder that 10.9 can't be used to gain combo points.
20.6 Selexyz bookstoreAmish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven Nolt, David Weaver-Zercher
Review
On Oct 2, 2006, ten Amish girls were shot in their one-room school in Nickel Mines, Pa. by a non-Amish neighbor. Five girls were killed, the other five injured and hospitalized, one continues to have severe brain injuries. This was the third school shooting that week and the 24th school shooting that year in the US. What was unique about this shooting was it was an attack on a people whose basic belief included non-violence, even in self defense. The Amish eschew much of the modern ways and amenities of the modern world and live basically, most without electricity, cars, and some even without indoor plumbing. In fact they are known for their simple, modest clothing, the buggies and old fashioned farm techniques. Preferring to live separately from the world, they are good neighbors but do not evangelize or go out into the non-Amish world for marriage partners and tend to keep to themselves. How could anyone attack the most vulnerable of these gentle people was horrifying to even comptemplate. It was a terrible shock but this event was followed by another stunning reaction by the Amish community. They offered total forgiveness to the killer and his family. The Amish and the killer’s family came together in their grief and pain. Many outsiders criticized the Amish reaction and frankly, I thought their reasons were silly, partly since the killer was dead and his widow and her three small daughters were not involved. The astonishing thing was it was given in the first place. That the bereft parents of the girls were able to come to the devastated family of the killer to offer condolences, help and attend the funeral. Although the media had a hard time with this, almost as hard as trying to come to grips with the senseless murders themselves, it taught the world more about being a true followers of Christ and keeping to the commandments in His teachings. This book interviewed several Amish, both in the families of the girls killed the Amish of Nickel Mines and other communities, as well as researched Amish texts and periodicals to bring us the epitome of the Amish and Mennonite beliefs and about a culture not well known or understood by the rest of society. It is very insightful .
+20 pts - Task
+10 Combo - (20.4 made into Lifetime movie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_sc..., 20.10 professors. Kraybill > Elizabethtown College. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_K..., Nolt > Goshen College http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Nolt, Weaver-Zercher > Messiah Collegehttp://www.amishgrace.com/Authors:=Da...
+10 pts - Non-Novel
+10 pts - Review
Task Total - 50 pts
Grand Total - 1005 pts
Karen GHHS wrote: "So sorry I missed your finish, Christin --Congratulations! My audio of The Dovekeepers just came in from the library and your review made me really excited about it!"Thanks Karen! (and congrats back!) I hope you love The Dovekeepers too as I personally think they did an amazing job with the audiobook ^_~
20.4 El Ateneo Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Review
Review
A classic Australian story and movie that is haunting and mysterious. Near the turn of the 20th century, proper students at an upper-class boarding school go for a picnic on St. Valentine’s Day. Four students decided to take a climb on the rock. After a deep nap on a rock, they awaken and feel compelled to climb higher toward the titled rock. One girl becomes fearful and runs back in panic to the others, but unable to tell where or how she returned. It’s also discovered that a teacher also left in a strange trance, having taken off her skirt to climb the rock and is never seen again. A young man out with his groom had seen the girls climb and went back to investigate. He did find one of the girls, unconscious and disheveled appearing to have fallen. The other two students have vanished and never return. All the clues rest in the rescued girl who can remember nothing and the strange story ends with the school and its headmistress destroyed. Very tense. If you like Shirley Jackson, this is your cup of tea.
Task Total - 30 pts
Grand Total - 1035 pts
20.5 Shakespeare and Co.100 Selected Poems by E.E. Cummings
I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing
than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance
-E. E. Cummings
My favorite thing about Cummings's poetry is the way he takes classic themes and simple words, throws them in a blender with a smattering of punctuation, and comes up with absolute revelation. The way he mixes up typical word order forces the reader to stop to analyze precisely what it is he's saying, and in that moment of pause is a chance for clarity and purer understanding. I also, again, enjoyed reading an entire book of poetry in one shot. I feel like my head and world have been expanded.
"for life's not a paragraph
And death i think is no parenthesis"
Mmm mmm good.
+20 Task (pub. 1954)
+10 Review
+10 Not-a-novel
Task Total = 40
Grand Total = 680
P.S. To all of you reading The Dovekeepers, I am OVERJOYED that you're liking it! I was worried that people would think it was too long to read for a 10-point task...I'm glad that you didn't let that stop you!
Rebekah wrote: "20.6 Selexyz bookstoreToward A True Kinship Of Faiths: How The World's Religions Can Come Together by Dalai Lama XIV
I just love His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama! He is a hero to me. His non-vi..."
Please provide a link regarding his books being banned in China. Thanks.
AtW - CircumnavigatorTask 15.1 (6th Itinerary Stop) Ghana (W 012 00)
Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey
+15 Task
+10 Bonus Points
Task Total = 25
Grand Total: 365
20.5 - originally published in the 1950s.Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories by Philip Roth
+20 task published in 1959
+5 combo (20.4 - made into a movie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye,...
+10 Not-a-novel (one novella and five short stories)
Task total=35
Grand total=215
Task 10.3 Girls' NamesRosa Luxemburg by Paul Frolich
Rosa Luxemburg is an active intellectual. She exercised her intellects to process the theories and strategies and then applies them to life. She was passionate in her conviction, her vision for the welfare of the working class that physical discomfort and danger did not put her off her “duties”. Whilst an evenly spread wealth is an ideal, I don’t think this is an ideal which will ever be applicable to real life. This is primarily due to the one human fault / factor, greed, which will always be there. At least 1 in 10 people will fall in this category and I’m being very generous with my estimate.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total = 30 points
20.6 In honor of Selexyz Bookstore
Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan
DDC:231.3
In Forgotten God, Francis Chan speaks about the Holy Spirit (ie. “Forgotten God”) and what role He plays in our lives. The Holy Spirit, as promised by Jesus, came at the time of His leaving this world to work from “within” in assisting us to continue in our walk as His disciple. This, however, does not mean that we can rely completely on the Holy Spirit. We also have our own work to do but the Holy Spirit is there to assist and encourage.
The Holy Spirit is not a subject often entered into in sermons / conversations however it is He who helps us to pray, to obey to God’s will, etc. So, whilst He appears to be mostly forgotten, He is working very hard “behind the scene.” Chan encourages us to seek God to work fully in our lives which we may experience when we open ourselves to the work of the Spirit.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total = 40 points
Total this post: 70 points
Grand Total = 1,025 points
20.7 Kid's republicThings Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Review: I very much enjoyed this dip into Nigerian pre-colonial culture, of which I know nothing at all. From reading "Half of a Yellow Sun", I found I wanted to know more about Nigerian history, so this seemed like a good starting point.
The description of the village life is rich and detailed, though you get thrown into cold water from the start - you are left to figure out what is going on, what is tradition, what is customary and what is the nature of the story's protagonist, Okonkwo? Is the described cruelty and misogyny a cultural phenomenon or a trait of the protagonist? And there are cruel and misogynistic events described here. And when the missionaries and colonial rulers move in, I sometimes felt relieved that for some of the people in this Ibo tribe, there was suddenly a way to live in a different, possibly better way, yet at the same time, they are a menace and a destructive power that makes you, as descendant of that culture, uneasy and uncomfortable. In a way, this complex story, told deceptively simple, is what makes this book so intriguing.
Task: 20
Review: 10
Combo: 15
20.10 Chinua Achebe is a novelist, poet, professor at Brown University and critic.
20.5 pub 1958
20.4 In 1987, the book was made into a very successful mini series directed by David Orere and broadcast on Nigerian television by the Nigerian Television Authority.
Canon: +10
Task total: 55
Grand total: 640
Task 10.1 - Square PegRead a book that does not fit any of the other Reading with Style 10 or 20-point tasks.
William Howard Taft: An Intimate History (1981) by Judith Icke Anderson
Review: This very readable biography is a psychological biography of America’s 27th President of the United States, William Howard Taft (1857 – 1930). He was President from 1908 – 1912, between Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. I think he was the last president who didn’t really want to be president – he only ran because his buddy and mentor, Teddy Roosevelt, strongly encouraged him to run.
“Psychological biography” means that the biography is more interested in the character and motivations of its subjects, and not as interested in events and accomplishments. There was enough of the events and accomplishments in the book to call it a biography. I learned new things about President Taft. And, as a fellow American, I am glad that he ultimately landed the job he always wanted: that of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Recommended for: those interested in past presidents of the United States; and those interested in “psychological biographies”. Not recommended for those who believe that psychological biographies are chiefly speculation.
+ 10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30
Grand Total: 435 + 30 = 465
10.7 Rebekah's task - Reading is AwardingBel Canto by Ann Patchett
+10 Task
+10 Combo (20.2 - In honor of True Colors, 20.6 - In honor of Selexyz Bookstore)
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 325
Silver wrote: "10.7 Rebekah's task - Reading is AwardingBel Canto by Ann Patchett
+10 Task
+10 Combo (20.2 - In honor of True Colors, 20.6 - In honor of Selexyz Bookstore)..."
I don't think this qualifies for 20.6 - none of the four main characters (A business man, a translator, an opera singer, and a guerrilla) is a religious figure.
10.7 Reading is AwardingThe Road by Cormac McCarthy
I've been reading a lot of YA dystopian novels recently so it was very different reading this book. I found this book both irresistible and unappealing at the same time. I hated every minute of reading this book, but I couldn't put it down. It follows the story of a father and son trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world. One thing that really bothered me about this book was the repetitive nature of the dialogue. The son always asked the father the same questions and the father always gave the same answers. Despite how repetitive it was I really wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters, I really wanted them to be okay. When I finished the book however, I didn't feel that I had accomplished anything, it just sort of ended which is one of my biggest pet peeves. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy very artsy and experimental literature.
+10 Task (Pulitzer 2007 http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2007...)
+5 Combo (El Ateneo http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/)
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 485
10.8 Rosemary's task - It's a Family AffairJocasta: The Mother-Wife of Oedipus by Victoria Grossack
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.3 - Girls’ Names)
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 340
AtW - CircumnavigatorTask 15.8 (8th stop) Russia (E 037 37)
Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
+15 Task
+10 Bonus Points
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 1195
P.S.: Thank you again for recommending The Dovekeepers, Anika! The minute I read the synopsis for the book it just leaped out at me as a must-read (I don't really care about size I must admit, just content ^_~)
20.2 It's AlphabeticThe First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Mamie Eisenhower, an Intimate Portrait of the Women Who Shaped America by Feather Schwartz Foster
Review
This is a historical book written about the First Ladies of the USA. The author calls them the “old First Ladies” referring to the Presidential wives and those who served as hostesses, when the President was a widower, that served prior to age of television. These wives did not have the publicity and on-the-spot media coverage as First Ladies do these days. The author as a historian felt that these ladies should be better known as they had a hand in shaping our country starting when it was quite young. This book is written in short readable chapters for each lady and is actually simple enough for my fourth graders although I read the book originally as a group read for my local Daughters of the American Revolution Chapter. It is a wonderful supplement to literature about our country’s heritage.
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo (10.3 girls' names, 20.10 http://www.wm.edu/about/search/index.... )
+10 pts - Review
+10 pts - Not a Novel
Task Total - 50 pts
Grand Total - 1085 pts
Kate S wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "20.6 Selexyz bookstoreToward A True Kinship Of Faiths: How The World's Religions Can Come Together by Dalai Lama XIV
I just love His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama! He is a hero to m..."
Ironically I can't find anything in the last hour that specifially says his books are banned but here are some links to news stories in which the Dalai Lama attacks the Chinese censorhip as immoral, another where China bans the Dalai Lama from reincarnating! Also other Lamas must ask persmission first to be reincarnated!!!!! How cuckoo is that?! Also there is an article about a singer who was arrested just for singing a song about the Dalai Lama and an elected official was arrested and his hometown harrassed and attacked because he said he would like to see the Dalai Lama be able to return to China.
I'll look more but I didn't even dare pack a book by HH Dalai Lama or anything with his picture, or anything about Tibet when we went to Hong Kong although I was in the middles of reading The Art of Happiness! I'll keep looking though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgkgdT...
http://isikkim.com/6-china-bans-reinc...
http://www.phayul.com/news/article.as...
http://www.phayul.com/news/article.as...
10.9 Please Sir May I Have Some MoreI read Straight Man in the Winter, so in the Spring, I read
That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
+10 Task
20.1 The Tattered Corner
Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland
+20 Task (banned in MA among a variety of other places-http://www.enotes.com/memoirs-fanny-h...)
+10 Combo (10.3-Girl's Name, 20.4-2007 Mini-series)
20.4 El Ateneo
A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham
+20 Task (2004-movie)
20.10 It's Academic
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
+20 Task (teaches at University of Mississippi)
Post Total: 80
Season Total: 1195
10.3 - Girls’ NamesThe Trial of Abigail Goodman: A Novel by Howard Fast
+10 task
Task total=10
Grand total=225
10.6 Music of the SoulJack, the Lady Killer by H.R.F. Keating
I think for many this could be rated higher than 3 stars. I am not a fan of poetry, but my challenge group has a poetry task each April for National Poetry Month, so I thought I would try this novel in verse.
Written by an award winning mystery author, a mystery novel in verse is apparently a rare item. It was cleverly done and kept me reading. The rhymes were better executed than the mystery, which I guessed before I was midway.
I learned something in the prologue. The rhyming pattern in this was the same as that of Eugene Onegin by Pushkin, which I expect to try one day.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 440
AtW - CircumnavigatorTask 15.4 (4th Itinerary Stop) Brazil (W 047 54)
Southwesterly Wind (Inspector Espinosa #3) (1999) by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza; translated by Benjamin Moser
Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The novel was set in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
+15 Task
+10 Bonus Points
Task Total = 25 Points
Grand Total: 465 + 25 = 490
10.10 Group ReadsDivergent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
World building? What's that?
For a dystopian novel, there is remarkably little attention paid to the dystopia itself. Something bad happened to Chicago at some point. This lead the remaining people to form a new type of society, where at 16 everyone chooses a faction. There are five, and each center on an ideal - bravery, selflessness, honesty - so on. The factions are supposed to balace each other out and keep people in line, but of course it doesn't really work that way.
Interesting setup, right? Except that sketch is all we get. The majority of the book is spent with Beatrice in various action sequences where she's all small and weak and not beautiful, but somehow that makes her strong and powerful and totes irresistible.
I think I am just done. I'm done with YA that is essentially "does he like me? do I like him? I'm nothing." Why couldn't this book commit to the interesting parts? Free will? Divergence? Hello - that's what I picked this up for! But all it does is flirt with those themes. Oh, I know why - if the meaty stuff was actually explored in depth, there would be nothing left for books 2 and 3. And that's another reason I'm done. Why must everything be a series? Some books merit that - some do not. This did not. We get a lot of good plot at the very end, with a "be sure to read the next gripping installment." Yeah, no thanks. Book two will be big opening, padding, padding, big tease for book 3.
It was not the worst YA I've ever read. I appreciate that Beatrice did not play too many self-loathing games, and that she was very active in her own life (more Katniss than Bella). Perhaps that's why I'm extra-irritated. This could have been more. I liked the premise, I liked the characters, I hated the execution.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total = 20
Grand total = 260
20.9 - It's EpidemicIsolation Ward by Joshua Spanogle
I picked this book out on audio looking for a quick and engaging read, and was pleased to get just that.
"Isolation Ward" is told from the point of view of Dr. Nathaniel McCormick, a CDC officer with an attitude equal to his brain power, both of which have a tendency to get him into trouble. I enjoyed his snarky side comments and disaffected viewpoint on the medical establishment throughout the book. If you read this on audio, all the better, because narrator Scott Brick embodies the character quite well. While this is not a piece of literature with complex character development, there is just enough detail and witty dialogue to round out the cast and keep things interesting.
The story starts with an outbreak of an unknown hemorrhagic virus in the special needs population of Baltimore, MD. I found the setting intriguing because usually epidemic stories begin in some hugely populated and trafficked setting... airports, casinos, movie theatres... not within a fairly insulated population living in group homes. This was a very clever choice by the author which becomes an important part of the "web" later in the story. The plot ends up going much deeper than the story of the disease, into a hidden world of medical experimentation and interpersonal intrigue. I certainly didn't foresee the source of the disease.
This is a fast-paced, smart book that will keep you reading, and can even be thought provoking at times when it delves into medical ethics. If you're looking for a decent page-turner, I would certainly recommend it.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Jumbo (544 pages)
Task Total = 35
Grand Total = 250
20.5 In Honor of Shakespeare and CompanyThe Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
+20 Task
+15 Combo 10.3, 20.2, 20.4
Task Total = 35
Grand Total = 265
10.9 Karen's task - "Please Sir, I want some more"The Odyssey by Homer
+10 Task
+15 Combo (10.6 - The Music of the Soul, 20.3 - In honor of Harvard Bookstore, In honor of Kid’s Republic)
+10 Not a Novel
+10 Canon
+5 Jumbo
Total Task: 50
Grand Total: 390
RwS Tasks10.3 – Girls’ Names
The Fairy Ring: Or Elsie and Frances Fool the World 940 Lexile
I had never heard this tale of the two girls who saw and photographed fairies and fooled the world and the prominent author Arthur Conan Doyle. The Fairy Ring came in from Junior Library Guild and I was immediately drawn to the story. Elsie and Frances have no bad intentions when they originally take the photographs, but the story spins out of their control Edward Gardner from the Theosophist’s Society gets involved. The girls were definitely artistic both with their photographs and Elsie’s artwork, but it is still amazing that The Cottingley Fairies fooled so many knowledgeable people for such a long period of time! It’s a quick read and I recommended it if you’ve ever believed in fairies or even if you haven’t.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Not a Novel (nonfiction 398.4)
Task Total: 30
10.6 – The Music of the Soul
Novel in Verse:
Sisters of Glass by Stephanie Hemphill No Lexile Available
+10 Task
Points this Post: 40
Grand Total: 1390
10.5 Rooting for the Bad GuyPerfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind
This novel is one long ode to the power of scent and perfume. It is told from the perspective of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille who is born with an extraordinary power to discern scent yet he has no personal scent of his own...or even a true moral compass. Rather Grenouille only has a fondness for the scents he can capture - the ideal of which is the scent of an alluring young woman as she comes into her own. Beauty is not defined by sight or touch but rather by the scent which enraptures those around it. The descriptions in the book are extremely beautiful, despite the moral depravity of the main character. What was also fascinating was learning about the different processes for creating perfume along with Grenouille: the use of the alembic in Paris and later the process of cold/hot enfleurage for extracting the most delicate of scents. A beautifully written book but definitely one that can be disturbing as well given the main characters predilection to "collect" (i.e. through murder and cold enfleurage) the scent of beautiful young women as the next extrapolation of his art.
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.4)
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 1220
AtW CircumnavigatorTask 15.1 (1st Itinerary Stop) United States (W 077 02)
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 500
*Please note this is a different book from what is posted in the itinerary folder but it still fulfills the requirements
15.3 AtW Circumnavigator3rd stop, India E077.12 fits A,C
Darjeeling: A Novel by Bharti Kirchner
+15 pts - Task
+10 pts - bonus
Task total - 25 pts
Grand Total - 1115 pts
AtW - CircumnavigatorTask 15.3 (3rd Itinerary Stop) Africa: Uganda(E 032 34)
Abyssinian Chronicles by Moses Isegawa
+15 Task
+10 Bonus Points
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 1415
RwS20.2 True Colors - Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
This book took me a long time to read. I find there are books you like reading even though you don’t know the real “story” behind what you are reading and then there are Atwood’s books that are like that but I find them to be an effort in frustration. Through most of the book, I’m sort of screaming in my head “why the hell is he here???” and of course it’s not until close to the end of the book that you find out why. While I understand the reasoning for structuring the story this way, it left me mostly unfulfilled in a story that had a fascinating and frighteningly scary plot that I could have loved but just didn’t.
+20 Task
+10 Combo (20.9,10.3)
+10 Review
Task Total=40
Grand Total=260
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
Hard Times: For These Times (other topics)The Age of Grief (other topics)
The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd (other topics)
BoneMan's Daughters (other topics)
Marie-Blanche (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Charles Dickens (other topics)Jane Smiley (other topics)
Mary Rose O'Reilley (other topics)
Ted Dekker (other topics)
Jim Fergus (other topics)
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15.6 (6th Itinerary Stop) USA, North America (W 077 02)
Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr.
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total = 25 points
Grand Total = 140