Spring 2012 Reading w/Style Completed Tasks

[Connie]

20.8 It's alphabetic
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy: and Other Stories by Tim Burton

Review: Tim Burton, of course, is best known as director of wacky movies, and he's a pretty good sculptor too. Turns out, he is not such a bad writer either. This collection of short poems/stories ranges from hilarious to heart-wrenching (why, oh why, Stick Boy, did you have to fall in love with Match Girl? You knew it couldn't end well!) and is entertaining and weird-bitter-sweet throughout. It's a quick read, and the illustrations and texts match perfectly.
If I had to have one critique it's that the pictures seem derivative of Gorey’s, but he manages to give them enough spin and life to make them his own.
I’ve had this book for quite a long time, and find myself reading through it regularly, and I am amazed how often I think about the characters and want to check in on them (and how often I can quote Stain Boy: “Next to Superman and Batman / I guess he must seem quite tame. / But to me he is quite special, / and Stain Boy is his name.
He can’t fly around tall buildings, / or outrun a speeding train, / the only talent he seems to have / is to leave a nasty stain.”).

Task: 20 (other Stories)
Combo: 10 (20.4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainboy; 10.6)
Review: 10
Not-a-Novel: 10

Task total: 50

As per post 692, Combo: 5; Task total: 45

Grand total: 685

[Liz M]

20.7 - Kid's republic

Old Goriot by Honoré de Balzac

+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.4- Children's Lit, 20.4 - 1945 movie)
+10 Canon

Task Total = 40


20.8 - It's Alphabetic

Borstal Boy by Brendan Behan

+20 Task (Borstal)
+5 Combo (20.5 - Shakes & Co, pub. 1958)
+10 Not-a-novel

Task Total = 35

Grand Total: 510 points

[Tien]

10.2 Space Out
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts by Douglas Adams

Unfortunately, I'm just not a fan. It has the feel of a spoof a bit too much for me. Yes, I know it's meant to be black humour etc but just not my type of humour.

Arthur Dent is a pretty boring guy who woke up one day to find that his house was about to demolish to make way for a freeway and by lunchtime, found out that his planet was demolished to make way for intergalactic freeway. He himself was only saved because one of his acquaintances, Ford Prefect, turned out to be an alien and took him to hitch hiked out of earth just before it was destroyed. Then, we follow Arthur’s adventures in space.

+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.4 - movie)
+10 Review
+10 Jumbo (784 pages)
Task Total = 35 points
Grand Total = 1,125 points

[Christin]

Kazza wrote: "10.2 Space Out
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts by Douglas Adams

Unfortunately, I'm just not a fan. It has the feel of a spoof a bit too much for me. Yes, I know i..."

You can also claim combo points for 10.5 as Arthur Dent is on the anti-hero list. You might also be able to get points for 20.3 as that is just for the original first book in the series.

and congrats Annika and Leigh on finishing AtW! ^_^

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

10.9 "Please Sir, I want some More"

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

In spite of her apparent recurring theme of forbidden love, I may never get enough of Edith Wharton. Does anyone write so beautifully?

She pronounced the word married as if her voice caressed it. It seemed a rustling covert leading to enchanted glades.

As I have professed being non-romantic, why is it I keep finding myself drawn to such delicious quotes?

In any case, Ethan Frome - the man - is a tragic character to whom I am drawn. He wanted more of life. I wanted more for him. The first chapter advised me he wasn't to get more from life, and the rest of the book tells how that came about.

Because it is barely longer than 100 pages, Ethan Frome doesn't provide the deep satisfaction of her The Age of Innocence. Still, I unashamedly give it 5 stars.

+10 Task (read Bunner Sisters in Winter)
+15 Combo (10.4, 20.2, 20.4)
+10 Review
+10 Canon

Task Total = 45

Grand Total = 535

[Arow]

AtW - Circumnavigator
Task 15.8 (8th Itinerary Stop) Canada, North America (W 075 41)

Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland

+15 Task
+10 Bonus Points
Task Total = 25

Grand Total = 190

Only two more to go! I am really pushing to finish. I have never completed the sub challenge.

[JD]

20.2 In Honor of True Colors

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

+20 Task
+5 Combo 10.7

Task Total = 25

Grand Total = 290

[Ashley Campbell]

20.2 True Colors

The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht

+20 Task 20.2 True Colors--(2011 winner of the Orange Prize
+5 Combo (10.8 A Family Affair- wife)

Task Total = 25

Grand Total = 100

[Liz M]

Connie wrote: "20.8 It's alphabetic
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy: and Other Stories by Tim Burton

Task: 20 (other Stories)
Combo: 10 (20.4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainboy; 10.6)
Review: 10
Not-a-Novel: 10

Task total: 50..."

I'm going to say no to the 20.4 combo points, as "Stainboy" seems to be only a small part of this collection of stories.

[Rebekah]

15.5 Circumnavigator
5th stop of itinerary- Dem Repub. of Congo E 015.19

The Witch Doctor's Wife by Tamar Myers
fits A & C

+15 pts - Task
+10 pts - Bonus

Task Total - 25 pts
Grand Total - 1185 pts

[Anika]

10.10 Group Read

Divergent by Veronica Roth



So...I finally got this from the library (it's been on hold since the group read options were first announced). Picked it up from the library at 8 last night, started reading, took a little nap, woke up and finished it at 10:30 this morning. Couldn't put it down. Maybe I needed a little excitement in my reading (Emma was fun, but not nearly as adrenaline-inducing as jumping off of trains and facing your deepest fears in drug-induced hallucinations). Maybe I needed a little something light and fun (unlike A Long Way Gone...lots of guns and blood and death...but it was no hallucination: that was all real and devastating and positively heartbreaking).

I enjoyed the idea of the world that Roth created. (Though the choosing of the factions reminded me a lot of H.P. and the sorting hat; the having to forget your life before the choosing reminded me of Delirium; the Dauntless remind me of more benevolent Careers from Hunger Games.) I can't wait to get the next installment. I'm sure it'll only be another three month wait from my library... ;-)

I liked it. A lot. Thank you, Kelli, for suggesting it!

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total = 20

Grand Total = 860


Thanks so much, Rebekah and Karen GHHS, for the congrats on finishing AtW. :-) Karen: I have absolutely NO doubt that you'll finish your AtW--you read faster than anyone I've ever met. (Even though, to be fair, I've never actually met you.)

[Kate S]

Anika wrote: "15.10 AtW--Circumnavigator

10th Itinerary Stop Brazil (W047 54)

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

+15 Task
+10 Bonus

+100 AtW completion

+10 found points re: comment 658 (thank you, Liz!)

Grand ..."

Way to go, Anika!

Sorry, I'm a few posts behind :)

[Kate S]

Carolyn wrote: "20.5 - Shakespeare and Company (book from the '20s or '50s)

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Published 1952

I was surprised by how much I loved reading this book. When I initially started browsin..."

East of Eden also qualifies for 10.4 and 10.5. +10 Combo

[Kate S]

Leigh wrote: "15.10 AtW--Circumnavigator 10th Stop Japan (E 139 41)

The Sleeping Dragon by Miyuki Miyabe

+15 task
+10 bonus
+100 AtW finish!
grand total=515"

Congrats, Leigh! Hope you enjoyed your world tour!

[Carolyn]

Wow, nice catch, thanks Kate!

[Connie]

20.4 El Ateneo
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Review: After spending 300 pages just trying to figure out who was who (maybe I'm a bit slow, maybe Russian names are really confusing), I quite enjoyed this novel. Occasionally I found it a bit annoying that (minor) character's motives, histories and beliefs were so precisely spelled out, and occasionally I found it somewhat slow and pedantic, but I'm willing to accept that that might be due to its age and changing reception patterns.
I was impressed by the deep exploration of the psyche of the protagonist and the moral implications of his crime, I was less impressed by the ending (or the epilogue, really). If it had ended where it did, it would have left me thinking about it for weeks - though it possibly will do that anyway.

Task: 20 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_ada...)
Combo: 20 (10.5 Best Antiheroes #25, 10.4, 20.3 Harvard Topseller #32, 20.7)
Review: 10
Canon: 10
Jumbo: 10 (my edition had 748 pages, guess German really runs longer!)

Task total: 70

Grand total: 755 (with the correction from post #692)

[Kelli]

I'm so happy to hear that Divergent was worth the wait, Anika!

[Kathleen (itpdx)]

10.8 Family Affair
Queen of the Conqueror: The Life of Matilda, Wife of William I by Tracy Borman
Review:
This is the biography of a fascinating woman, Queen Matilda, William the Conqueror's wife. According to this biography, she went beyond the accepted role of consort at this time of bearing heirs and staging pageantry, which she did well. But she also was politically active and ruled and sat in judgment of citizens on her own and did this well. She is considered the inspiration for the idea that women could rule effectively on their own. This biography is somewhere between an academic and a popular biography. But writing a biography of someone that lived almost 1000 years ago with few contemporary records to work from and who has inspired legends must be difficult. I recommend this book to readers interested in this period of European history and to those interested in feminist topics.

+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Not a novel
+5 Combo 10.3 Matilda
Task total: 35
Grand total: 565

[Kate S]

Kazza wrote: "10.2 Space Out
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts by Douglas Adams

Unfortunately, I'm just not a fan. It has the feel of a spoof a bit too much for me. Yes, I know i..."

I am going to say +10 Combo on this one (10.5 and 20.3). Sorry you didn't enjoy it more.

[Kate S]

Christin wrote: "Kazza wrote: "10.2 Space Out
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts by Douglas Adams

Unfortunately, I'm just not a fan. It has the feel of a spoof a bit too much for me. ..."

Good catch, Christin. Thanks!

[Kate S]

20.2 True Colors

The Life and Loves of a She Devil by Fay Weldon

+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.4-1986 TV)

20.4 El Ateneo

A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.7-NBCC Biography 1998)
+10 Not-a-Novel (non fiction)

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

+20 Task

Daisy Miller by Henry James

+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.3, 10.4)
+10 Canon

Post Total: 120
Season Total: 1365

[Marie]

Anika wrote: "Marie wrote: "Around the world (Frequent Flyer)

15.2 - USA
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Qualifies A, B and C

Task total : 15

Grand total : 110"

Didn't you love this book?! My current motiva..."

Same as you, I really loved this book! Not sure yet if it enters in my favorite list (I need time to think back about it), but I definitively will want to re-read it some time! So I do advise it as well.

[Marie]

20.5 - 20's/50's
The Big Four by Agatha Christie
First published in 1927

+20 task
+5 combo (10.9)

Task total = 25

Grand total : 135

[Sarah (Bright & Bookish)]

20.5 Shakespeare and Company

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

I somehow managed to get through high school without reading this book so I figured it was time I read it. This story is set in a world where books are destroyed and people amuse themselves by watching big screen TVs and driving their cars ridiculously fast. The main character is a fireman whose job it is to burn books. However he begins to question why they burn books and as soon as he does so, he realizes he is very unhappy with his life so he sets about to change it. The version of the book that I read had a foreword that discussed the evolution of the story from a series of short stories to the novel. After reading that it was not hard to notice that the story can easily be divided into parts that are linked together, but not always in ways that I found convincing, it felt a little piecemeal in parts. Overall I am glad I didn’t have to read this book in high school because I probably never would have gotten through back then. There wasn’t much I really liked about this book and so I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

+20 Task (1950)
+10 Combo (20.1 http://www.neatorama.com/2011/09/29/1... 20.4 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060390/)
+10 Review

Task Total: 40

Grand Total: 540

[Sarah (Bright & Bookish)]

20.8 It's Alphabetic

The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells

I had never even heard of this book until I typed in “first” in the search bar here on goodreads. I was simply looking for a book that would fulfill this task, but after flipping through page after page of books with first in the title, I was surprised to see a title by H.G. Wells. This is my first Wells book. This book is about two men, a scientist and a business man, who set out to go to the moon. They succeed in getting there but discover it is nothing like what they expected it to be. The same is true for the modern reader. In case you didn’t know, this book was written at the end of the 19th century and so there wasn’t much concrete information about the moon for Wells to use as a source of inspiration. Thus the picture of the moon he describes is very unbelievable. It was really challenging for me to enjoy this book as I kept wanting to shout “That’s wrong! That’s not what it is like on the moon!” However it was interesting because I really had to use my imagination as I was reading. I am really on the fence when it comes to this book. I am not sure that I would give it a recommendation, unless maybe you are a hardcore sci-fi fan as this is one of the earliest sci-fi books out there.

+20 Task (fiRST)
+10 Combo (10.2 Space Out; 20.4 El Ateneo http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058100/)
+10 Review
+10 Task

Task Total: 50

Grand Total: 590

[Christin]

Kate S wrote: "Christin wrote: "Kazza wrote: "10.2 Space Out
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts by Douglas Adams

Unfortunately, I'm just not a fan. It has the feel of a spoof a bit ..."

Glad to help! ^_^

[Christin]

AtW - Circumnavigator

15.10 (10th stop) - India (E 077 12)
The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
+15 Task
+10 Bonus Points

Task Total: 25
Well-Traveled Bonus: 100
Mega Finish: 200

Grand Total: 1615

[Christin]

10.10 Group Reads

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

What a wonderful book that was so much more than I was expecting. More philosophical, more spiritual, more touching...just more. I really felt for the story that Enzo, the dog, told about his life with Denny and how it all related back to the philosophy of the race-track. My favorite quotes was in fact the heart of the philosophy Enzo kept mentioning: "That which we manifest is before us" which was similar to another saying that was repeated "The car goes where the eyes go." These two statements were shown to not only be the creed for how Denny drove on the racetrack but also his creed for living his life, no matter how turbulent. Would definitely recommend it!

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 20

Grand Total: 1635

[Amy W]

20.4 El Ateneo Bookstore

Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

+20 Task (2012 HBO movie)
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total = 30 points

20.9 It’s Epidemic

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie WarMax Brooks

+20 Task (epidemic of zombie virus)
Task Total = 20 points

Grand Total = 320 points

[Rosemary]

Congratulations on your Mega Finish Christin!

[Kelli]

AtW - Circumnavigator

Task 15.1 (7th Itinerary Stop) United Kingdom (W 000 07)
An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor


+15 Task
+10 Bonus Points
Task Total = 25

Grand Total: 425

[Christin]

Rosemary wrote: "Congratulations on your Mega Finish Christin!"

Thanks Rosemary!

[Karen Michele]

Yay, Christin! Great reading!

[Christin]

Karen GHHS wrote: "Yay, Christin! Great reading!"

Thanks Karen!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I've been mentally off in outer space, I guess. Congrats to all finishers!

[Rebekah]

AtW Circumnavigator
15.6 (sixth stop)- U.K. W000.07
Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear (fits A & C)

+15 pts - Task
+10 pts - Bonus

Task Total - 25 pts
Grand Total - 1215 pts

[Rebekah]

Rosemary wrote: "Congratulations on your Mega Finish Christin!"

YEAH, Christin!

[Rosemary]

AtW - Circumnavigator

Task 15.9 (9th Itinerary Stop) Canada (W 075 41)
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
Canadian author, Canadian setting

+15 Task
+10 Bonus

Task total = 25

Grand Total: 1380

[Karen Michele]

AtW - Circumnavigator

Task 15.4 (4th Itinerary Stop) Asia: People’s Republic of China E 116 23

Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong

+15 Task
+10 Bonus

Task total = 25

Grand Total: 1555

[Rebekah]

Rosemary wrote: "AtW - Circumnavigator

Task 15.9 (9th Itinerary Stop) Canada (W 075 41)
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
Canadian author, Canadian setting

+15 Task
+10 Bonus

Task total = 25

Grand Total: 1380"

one more to go, Rosemary!

[Kate S]

RwS

10.9 Please Sir,I Want Some More

The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen

I read The Surgeon for the winter challenge.

+10 Task

20.6 Selexyz Bookstore

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.2)

20.9 It's Epidemic

And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts

+20 Task (AIDS)
+10 (Not-A-Novel: Non-fiction)
+5 Jumbo (656 pages)

Post Total: 70
Season Total: 1435

[Kate S]

AtW-Circumnavigator

15.5 Japan (E 139 41)

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

+15 Task
+10 Bonus

15.6 Mexico (W 099 08)

The Labyrinth of Solitude and Other Writings by Octavio Paz

+15 Task
+10 Bonus

Post Total: 50
Season Total 1485

[Connie]

Congrats, Christin!

10.10 Group reads
Angels in America, Part 1: Millennium Approaches by Tony Kushner

Thanks for picking this one, Liz, I really enjoyed revisiting it.

Review: I saw the Mini-Series first, and I hugely enjoyed it - so much so that a friend gave me the book(s). I'm incredibly impressed by the warmth and wit of these characters in horrible, heart-wrenching situations, and I enjoy spending time with them - things fall apart, and they try to deal with it best they can. Even though the play tackles big themes and hot topics, its personage is alive and not just cutouts, and I've experienced all their emotions with them, their pain and loss, their confusion and anger, their love, and it feels like I'm better for it.

Task: 10
Review: 10
Combo: 20 (10.7 Pulitzer/Drama 1993 / 20.1 http://broadwayworld.com/board/readmessa... / 20.4 HBO 2003 / 20.9 HIV)
Canon: 10
Not-A-Novel: 10

Task total: 60

20.9 It's epidemic
Angels in America, Part 2: Perestroika by Tony Kushner

Review: In contrast to Millenium Approaches, I find this part somewhat weaker - MA has this sense of something, someone coming, this sense of inevitability, whereas Perestroika is a bit more muddled. The great crisis has happened, and the characters are reeling and trying to find their footing, trying to come to terms with and make sense of it. They seem more disparate and more alone, until in the end, they manage, by no more heavenly intervention, to come to some kind of understanding and conclusion.
It is, overall, more static, but the characters are as endearing and touching and witty as any ever written.

Task: 20 (HIV)
Review: 10
Combo: 10 (20.1/20.4)
Canon: 10
Not-a-Novel: 10

Task Total: 60

Grand Total: 875

[Karen Michele]

RwS Tasks

10.9 Karen’s task – “Please Sir, I want some more”

I loved Allan Wolf's The Watch that Ends the Night that I read in the Winter Challenge so I read:

Zane's Trace by Allan Wolf - no lexile available

I chose Zane's Trace because I really enjoyed The Watch That Ends the Night by Allan Wolf in the Winter Challenge. Wolf writes books in verse and Zane's Trace was written and published first. Also, it's about a teen planning suicide and heading out on a road trip with a girl he meets along the way, Libba. Sadly we have had a recent suicide at my high school (and at least one a year for the past 4 years) and I was looking for a book that might fit in our high school collection to help all of us stop this devastating trend. I can't say more without spoilers than that I do plan to purchase the book for our collection. Recommended!

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

20.8 – Kate S’s task – It’s alphabetic

OtheR STories RST:

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Other Stories by Ambrose Bierce

Some of the stories in this collection were spellbinding. Others I found set my mind drifting. I think this may be due to the audio version I listened to. Unfortunately, there was no real pause between stories and occasionally when I felt lost, I looked at the contents and found that a new story had begun and I'd missed the ending of the story before it. I'd like to watch the Twilight Zone version of the title story because I have seen it well reviewed. I may try more of Bierce's stories and read the print version to see if that makes a difference. I enjoyed the moods and settings that the stories evoked and appreciated the talent of the writer.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Canon
+10 Not a Novel

Task Total: 50

Points this Post: 60
Grand Total: 1615

[Deedee]

Task 20.2 Read a Book that was nominated for the Orange Prize

Shortlist Nominee for the Orange Prize for Fiction (1996)

The Hundred Secret Senses (1995) by Amy Tan
Review: This was the first book by Amy Tan that I have read. I was very favorably impressed and I can easily see how this book was Shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 1996. Our main heroine is an American; her mother is of mixed European descent, and her father is ethnic Chinese from China. On his deathbed, he tells his wife about a daughter, Kwan, that he had left behind in China with his ex-wife. After his death, his present wife arranges for the Chinese daughter to come to America and join the remaining family. The narration floats in time, telling the story of Kwan and her ancestors in China, and of our main heroine living in modern America, and finally of the relationship between (half) sisters. (mild spoiler: (view spoiler)[Kwan's belief in reincarnation and ghosts is presented as real, which adds to the novel's storytelling (hide spoiler)] Recommended for those who appreciate literate modern novels.

+ 20 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 555 + 30 = 585

[Sarah (Bright & Bookish)]

10.5 Rooting for the Bad Guy

Grendel by John Gardner


This book is a retelling of the Norse Epic Beowulf and Grendel. Instead of being told from the human point of view it is Grendel, the monster who is narrating. This was a fascinating take on such an old story and for the most part I really enjoyed it. I was expecting this book to humanize the monster but it really didn’t, if anything it showed just how much of a monster Grendel was. This book also had a philosophical aspect to it, especially in one scene where Grendel goes to visit a Dragon. This was my least favourite part of the book as it came across as rather contrived. I would recommend this book to people who are very familiar with the story of Beowulf and Grendel because you will get more out of reading it if you know some of the details that Grendel alludes to. However, even if you don’t know anything about the other versions of the story this can be an entertaining read, and it is beautifully written prose.

+10 Task (18 on the Best Antiheroes list)
+10 Combo (20.1 Tattered Cover #96 http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/fr... 20.4 El Ateneo http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082478/)
+10 Review

Task Total: 30

Grand Total: 620

[Carolyn]

20.7 - Internationally acclaimed book

1984 by George Orwell

"1984" is a book with a good premise and beginning, a great ending, and a TERRIBLE middle. I read it back in high school, and remembered a few key elements, but had a vague memory of it not having been my favorite book. I thought I might get more out of it by reading it as an adult, which I did. But it's still far from being my favorite book. My plans on how to rate it fluctuated from chapter to chapter, and finally settled on knocking off two stars for the atrocity that is the middle of the book, as well as some additional factors.

At the beginning, Orwell immerses the reader in the grey, bleak and frightening world of Oceania, circa 1984. Thanks to the ruling Party and the mutable nature of history and time, no one really knows the exact date. We meet Winston Smith, a cog in the Ministry of Truth, a government agency which controls media output. He is struggling with secret doubts and misgivings about The Party and Big Brother. There are some disturbing scenes and lasting images in the first part of the book... the Two Minutes' Hate, the posters of Big Brother, the Party's slogans. Winston purchases an old notebook in the Proletarian section of the city and begins to record his misgivings in diary format.

Orwell began to lose me with the introduction of Julia. While I understood the importance of having a love interest for Winston (the stakes would have been much lower later on in the book,) I was not able to warm up to her as a character and found their bond unconvincing. I was not looking for a heated romance, but I got the distinct impression that Winston and Julia were simply using one another.

I really lost patience when Winston gets ahold of Goldstein's book. This is basically the manifesto of The Party's opposition and an explanation of how the world works under Party rule. This extensive section of the book read like a grueling textbook and was completely unnecessary to the plot. Everything I "learned" from the book I had already gathered from the first third of the book. I am convinced that my high school English teacher would have made Orwell cut this entire section out, demanding "Show, don't tell!" I almost started to cry when, after a brief return to actual plotline, Julia doesn't want to read the book herself, so Winston reads it TO her. Out loud. I should note that it probably didn't help that I was listening to an audio version of the book that left something to be desired. The characters sounded as though they were all appropriated from "My Fair Lady." (I was especially irritated when I found out after the fact that there was a different version narrated by Frank Muller, one of my favorite narrators.)

Fortunately, the dramatic reading does eventually stop, and quickly segues into what is probably the second most chilling scene in the book. (The line "IT WAS BEHIND THE PICTURE" will stick with me for a long time. It all goes downhill for Winston, but gets much more interesting for the reader. If only the whole book could have been as good as the last third, this would be a five star book for certain. On the whole, I think this is an important book with a thought provoking premise, but it could certainly use improvement in a few key areas.

+20 Task
+15 Combo (10.4, 20.1 - banned in Jackson County, FL by people who felt it was pro-communist and sexually explicit and clearly never read the book! http://www.deletecensorship.org/downl..., 20.4 - released as a movie in 1984)
+10 Review
+10 Canon

Task Total = 55

Grand Total = 360

[Christin]

Thanks Connie!

AtW - Circumnavigator
Second Round

Task 15.1 (First stop) - Antarctica (E 000 00)
At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
+15 Task

Task Total: 15

Grand Total: 1650

[Rebekah]

ATW Circumnavigator
15.7 (seventh stop)Spain W003.43
fits A, B & C
The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
+15 pts - Task
+10 pts - Bonus

Task total - 25 pts
Grand Total - 1240 pts

[Anika]

20.2 True Colors

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver



This one has been on my "to read" list for, what, almost 13 years now (how embarrassing). I see now why my sister/mother/aunts/grandma/friends have been shocked that it took me this long to finally pick it up. It is the story of a family who leaves their home in Bethlehem, Georgia, to become missionaries in the Belgian Congo. Each chapter is told from the point of view of one of the female family members (there is so much to be said to the fact that their father is never given a "voice"). I don't even know what else I can say...it was funny and heartwrenching and fascinating--posing big questions that my head is still trying to wrap itself around: what is it to be Christian? to be American? to be human? How can we best be our brothers' keeper? By bringing a message...or bringing food and medicine, clothing and tools? What is it to be a part of a family? What do we owe those we are raised with? Those who raised us? What is beauty? Art? Joy?

I just finished it. I'm still crying. I'm sorry if this review doesn't make sense...I'm still reeling from the emotional punches I took there at the end.
Well, that and I've been up 24 hours now...which always makes me a little unstable and incomprehensible.

+20 Task (nominated for the Orange Prize 1999)
+10 Review
+10 Combo
-20.1 (challenged in Port Washington, NY, 2001 http://instructors.cwrl.utexas.edu/cr..., http://www.antonnews.com/portwashingt...)
-20.6 (the story is about a family of missionaries, father is a preacher)

Task Total = 40

Grand Total = 900