Reading with Style discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
Archives
>
Spring 2012 Reading w/Style Completed Tasks
Kate S wrote: "Karen GHHS wrote: "RwS Task20.1 In Honor of The Tattered Cover
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Banned for attitude toward government, language and burning the Bible:
http://www.goodreads.com/l..."
Thanks, Kate -- I appreciate you helping me out!
20.1 The Tattered CoverRabbit, Run by John Updike
+20 Task (http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/fr...)
+15 Combo (10.4; 10.5; 20.4 - movie made in 1970)
Task Total = 35 points
Grand Total = 440 points
Amy W wrote: "20.1 The Tattered CoverRabbit, Run by John Updike
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.4 - movie made in 1970)
Task Total = 25 point..."
+10 combo - 10.4, 10.5
AtW Circumnavigator15.9 (W 075 41) Canada
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
+15 task
+10 bonus
Grand Total: 635 points
20.4 In Honor of El AteneoStill Missing by Beth Gutcheon
Review:
Six-year-old Alex Selky disappears on his way to school and nobody knows until late afternoon when he doesn't come home. The scene is set by the shattering moment when his mother realises she has gone through a normal day while some nightmare has been happening to him, and from there the book goes on to focus mostly on his mother and her struggle to get people to keep looking for him after the first media interest wears off.
I thought that Beth Gutcheon did a wonderful job of portraying a woman in a situation that must terrify every mother. The other characters were less engaging and perhaps the early parts of the book would have been even better if some sections hadn't been written from the point of view of the policeman but his POV does become necessary later.
I found it a real page-turner. I was so tempted to skip to the end to find out what happened, but I'm glad I didn't.
+20 Task ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086593/ )
+10 Review
Task total = 30
Grand total = 1900 (edited)
AtW CircumnavigatorTask 15.7(7th Itinerary Stop) Australasia: New Zealand E 174 46
The Shattering by Karen Healey
+15 Task
+10 Bonus Points
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 1945
10.8 It's a family affairLike Mother, Like Daughter by Catherine Clark
+ 10 task
Task total = 10
Grand Total = 210
Rosemary wrote: "Grand total = 1890 (I made it 1900 but since you have 1860 on the readerboard at post 867 I'm adjusting to match that)" Thank you for bringing this to my attention. In post 768, I missed your 10 point bonus for 15.10. This will be reflected in the next Readerboard update. Sorry for the confusion.
OK thanks Kate, I will edit post 900 :)
AtW circumnavigated15.10 10th stop USA (W077.02)
Wormwood by Susan Wittig Albert
+15 pts - task
+10 pts - bonus
+100 pts - AtW sub challenge completion bonus
+200 pts - mega finish bonus
Task Total - 325 pts
Grand Total - 1615 pts
Way to go, Rebekah!
Karen GHHS wrote: "RwS Tasks10.6 – The Music of the Soul
Book in Verse
Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill 700 Lexile
I found the novel in verse to be a perfect vehicle for the story of the Salem Witch Trials. Wi..."
+5 Combo 10.4
Kate S wrote: "Karen GHHS wrote: "RwS Tasks10.6 – The Music of the Soul
Book in Verse
Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill 700 Lexile
I found the novel in verse to be a perfect vehicle for the story of the Sal..."
I don't think this book is on the 10.4 list, Kate. Did you mean that?
Hard Times is, sorry I wasn't clearer in my post
Kate S wrote: "Hard Times is, sorry I wasn't clearer in my post"Oh, I see- I'm sure getting sloppy here at the end;) thanks!
Liz M wrote: "Amy W wrote: "20.1 The Tattered CoverRabbit, Run by John Updike
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.4 - movie made in 1970)
Task Total = 25 point..."
+10 combo - 10.4, 10.5"
Thanks! I think that I missed the last time you found extra points for me, too. I'll edit my last post to make my points accurate.
20.2 True ColorsHotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
This is so much more than I thought it was in the first 75 or so pages. What's the big deal and why would this little piece deserve the Booker? Anita Brookner provides excellent characterization but her character seems not to have much personality. Or so I thought in those first 75 pages. Edith Hope, however, is a very introspective woman, and as the pages turn she becomes a person both certain of herself and uncertain of her place in society. Women should not want to be so dependent on men; women who are not so dependent on men should not be so alone.
I was amused at Brookner's finding food items to describe things. The hotel room had veal-colored curtains; a woman wore an almond green suit; a man had oyster-colored eyes; the sky was like milk. When I stopped noticing these (and amazingly didn't run to the refrigerator) is when the novel began to reveal itself as something special indeed.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 735
20.5 Book Published in the 1920's or 1950's.I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Review: I was originally apprehensive about reading something I had been told was a scary book. Also, the cover is unpleasant. I expected it to be more horror-y. I found it really interesting and engaging. There was tension and suspense, but no more so than other post apocalyptic / dystopia / epidemic stories (which this obviously influenced). The moment he realizes his wrist watch is dead and he’s far from his house; I audibly gasped and had to take a moment before I continued. I was so nervous for the character. I was really routing for him every time he hit a snag or a setback. It was less about vampire/zombies and more about the main character coping with being the last human being, the loss of companionship, and survival.
+20 Task
+10 Combo (20.4 Movie and 20.9 Epidemic)
+10 Review
Task Total = 40
Grand Total = 265
10.6 The Music of the SoulIt's Hard to Be Hip Over Thirty by Judith Viorst
Review:
This book contains two poetry collections by Judith Viorst: 'It's Hard To Be Hip Over Thirty ... And Other Tragedies Of Married Life' first published 1968, and 'People And Other Aggravations' first published 1971. They are very much of their time and place (New York) but I think a lot of the themes would ring true with women in their 30s/40s who are married with young children, today. I'm not married and have never had children so they didn't speak to me as much as they might have, but I did find some of them very funny, like the one about the family reunion.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Not a novel
Also:
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
Review:
14-year-old Billie Jo lives with her parents in Cimarron County, Oklahoma amid the dust storms of 1934. Her one escape from the dust and the grinding poverty is playing jazz on the piano. Then her hands are burned in a terrible accident that splits her life in half, and her only remaining dream is to get away, out of the dust.
This is a novel in free verse form. I wasn’t sure I would like that but I did. It gave it an immediacy that I appreciated and made the narrative very spare, cut to the bare bones, which suited the poverty of the setting. Be warned, it’s not a happy tale although there is some hope at the end.
This is a YA book with no lexile score because it's not prose, so I'm not claiming style points.
+10 Task
Task total = 40
Grand total = 1940
AtW - CircumnavigatorTask 15.1 (8th Itinerary Stop) Sweden (E 018 04)
Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
+15 Task
+10 Bonus Points
Task Total = 25
Grand Total: 510
Task 20.10 It's AcademicCatching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard W. Wrangham
I was very surprised by this book. It puts forward the idea that the reason modern humans are the way we are is mostly due to the advent of cooking food. This was the best non-fiction book that I have read in a very long time. It was well written and was not overly technical. It also acknowledged other theories and then provided reasoning for why the author's theory made more sense. This allowed the reader to form a more well rounded opinion concerning the content. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is interested in the evolution of our species, human culture, or is just curious about the origins of cooking.
+20 Task (Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University)
+10 Review
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total: 40
+100 RwS Finish
Grand Total: 965
AtW CircumnavigatorTask 15.4 (4th Itinerary Stop) Brazil (W 047 54)
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Task 15.5 (5th Itinerary Stop) United Kingdom (W 000 07)
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 1015
10.9 Please, Sir, I want some moreGarden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
At my library, many of the books have stickers on the spine to give you an indication of what you're going to find inside: "sci-fi", "fantasy", "love". This one had the dreaded hearts on the side. Normally, I would steer clear of any such thing, but I found this author long before I ever saw her books in the library with that despised sticker on its side. I hate myself a little bit for liking her books as much as I do. They're so formulaic! It's always going to be about a girl who has some sort of magical power about her yet who feels like an outcast in her small town who meets the man of her dreams yet she resists him up until the end. Oh. And food. There's always the most decadent food involved--I wanted to eat white cake with candied violets throughout this entire novel!
But. But the sense of place is so strong, it makes me want to pick up and move to North Caroline right now. It makes me want to start gardening and canning and cooking and living in the rarefied light that her characters live in. I always want to be friends with the people in her stories. And, yes, I do get goosebumps when the main character finally folds and decides it's okay to have love in her life.
+10 Task (read The Sugar Queen for winter challenge)
+10 Review
Task Total = 20
Grand Total = 1510
Congratulations Rebekah!AtW - Circumnavigator
Round Two
15.6 (6th stop) - Cuba (W 082 23)
The Island of Eternal Love by Daina Chaviano
+15 Task
+10 Bonus Points
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 1865
10.10 Group ReadsThe Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.10 - Princetown)
Task total = 15
Grand total : 145
Around the World (Frequent Flier)15.3 - France : Marie-Blanche by Jim Fergus
The book mostly takes place in France, where Jim Fergus has lived.
Task total = 15
Grand total : 160
AtW CircumnavigatorTask 15.8 (8th Itinerary Stop) North America: United States W 077 02
The Technologists by Matthew Pearl
+15 Task
+10 Bonus Points
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 1975
Marie wrote: "Around the World (Frequent Flier)15.3 - France : Marie-Blanche by Jim Fergus
The book mostly takes place in France, where Jim Fergus has lived.
Task total = 15
Grand total : 160 "
Unfortunately, Jim Fergus is an American author, born in Chicago. He does not qualify for France.
10.2 Space OutChildren of God by Mary Doria Russell
Review: I like science fiction that gets us to examine our morals, our perceptions, and our assumptions. Mary Doria Russell does all of that in a challenging and entertaining story with interesting characters and some good humor. This is the sequel to her book, The Sparrow. In this book, Emilio Sandoz, the lone person to return to earth from the first mission to the planet Rakhat that was sent by the Jesuits, is fighting the after-effects of his experience and helping to prepare the next mission of Jesuits to return. We also follow the cosmic shifts in politics, power and perception that have been set loose on Rakhat by earth contact.
Fans will be happy to know that Russell has left an opening for another book in the series if she wants to write it.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo 10.8
Task total: 25
Previous total: 785
Grand total: 810
20.3 - Harvard Bookstore Best SellerCatch-22 by Joseph Heller
I just finished this book and honestly, was relieved to be done with it. I had high expectations going in, as this book is held in fairly high regard, and though the beginning didn't exactly capture me, I kept reading that the second half was incredible and worth the wait. Unfortunately, by the time the abrupt end came around, I was just tired of the book and wasn't feeling any better about it than I had been at the start.
My main problem with the book was not the unusual sequencing of events, or the dark humor, or any of the other "brilliant" aspects that fans of the book usually assume you couldn't understand if you didn't enjoy it. I don't find it difficult to follow multiple plotlines or go back and forth in time, and I can certainly appreciate gallows humor. My biggest issue with "Catch-22" was that I couldn't stand the characters. I simply can't get behind a piece of fiction where all of the characters are completely unsympathetic. I understand that the overlying themes about capitalism, bureaucracy and war were the focal point of the book, and not the characters. But for me, the message gets lost when delivered by a cast of despicable, selfish, cowards.
It probably didn't help that I did not appreciate the narrator of my copy of the audiobook. His exaggerated accents and over-the-top volume took away from the seriousness of scenes like Hungry Joe's nightmares, and made the funny parts gratingly irritating. (Doc Daneeka and Captain Orr were by far the worst.)
The only part of the book where I felt myself being drawn into the story was when Snowden is hit and Yossarian is trying to help him. Unfortunately, this scene is almost at the end of the book. If the rest of the book had been that emotionally engaging, I think reading it would have been a very different experience. I wish I had been able to enjoy this as much as other people seem to, but for me, there have been far better depictions of war where I actually cared for the characters.
+20 Task
+10 Combo (20.4 (made into a movie 1970), 20.1 - Banned in Strongsville, Ohio, 1972 (overturned in 1976). Challenged by Dallas, Texas, Independent School District high school libraries, 1974; Snoqualmie, Washington, 1979. http://www.caribousmom.com/2007/02/21...)
+10 Review
Task Total = 40
Grand Total = 430
Carolyn wrote: "20.3 - Harvard Bookstore Best SellerCatch-22 by Joseph Heller..."
+5 combo for 10.5 Anti-hero
20.10 - It's academicThe Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
This is an incredibly well-researched book about a period of American history that was unknown to me. As a reader that struggles with non-fiction, i found it quite readable, mostly because the history is told through the stories of three individuals that had left the south for a better life in the North or out West. While a compelling vehicle, it did seem as if the history was somehow lost. Perhaps it was too big of a story and took place over too many decades to really be coherently framed as an "event". Nonetheless, it was quite an eye-opening book for this Midwestern woman that has read many stories of the Jim Crow South but had no idea how prevalent and ingrained racism was in the North and the staggering cultural social, and economic hardships wrought on this generation and all the generations that followed.
+20 Task (Professor of Journalism at BU)
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.7 won NBCC award in 2010, 10.10 group read)
+10 Non-Fiction
+5 Jumbo (622 pages)
Task Total = 55 points
20.9 - It's epidemic
Angels in America, Part 2: Perestroika by Tony Kushner
I made the mistake of reading part two of this epic work after seeing the HBO movie., resulting in the loss of wonder at the poetic language and the startling humor inherent in the words -- I could only picture the scenes as depicted in the movie. So, weirdly, what I found most interesting in the play was the introduction and the stage directions. Tony Kushner is a hoot -- an entire paragraph on how the angel should be portrayed. Mostly I love the complexity, the characters that are both good and bad, the world that is both good and bad, and the idea that life, no matter how flawed, is worth living.
+20 Task
+10 review
+10 Combo: (20.1 Tattered Cover (http://broadwayworld.com/board/readmessa...), 20.4 El Ateneo (HBO 2003))
+10 Canon
+10 Not a Novel (play)
Task Total: 60 points
Grand Total: 750 points (?)
20.10 - Liz M's Task - It's academicSeizure by Kathy Reichs
She is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.
+20 Task
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 380
That will be my last post. Thanks to all the moderators for all their great work.
AtW-Circumnavigator15.9-(000 00) Antarctica
In Cold Pursuit: A Mystery From The Last Continent by Sarah Andrews
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
15.10 (E 007 29) Nigeria
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Post Total: 50
Well-Traveled Bonus: 100
Season Total: 1885
20.5 Shakespeare and Co.Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington
Am I feeling star-generous? I couldn't put this book down! To me, this 90-year old Pulitzer remains relevant. Tarkington provides such excellent characterizations and a wonderful picture of American life.
Mrs. Adams thought her children "deserved" to have all the advantages of the more wealthy citizens. I wanted to sit down and ask her what was wrong with the good, solid middle-class existence her husband was able to provide. Alice was so afraid to be herself, to be thought inadequate. Mr. Adams has managed not to be hen-pecked for 25 years - but only just managed. Walter, Alice's brother, is more caricature but easily provides sympathy to modern-day parents who wonder where they went wrong.
The prose flows smoothly while not overly simplistic. This was a pleasure to read and I look forward to others.
+20 Task
+15 Combo (10.3 Girl's Name, 10.7 1921 Pulitzer, 20.4 Movie)
+10 Review
Task Total = 45
Grand Total = 780
20.8 It's AlphabeticLost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst
At first I was leery of the premise: following the lives of several contestants in a reality t.v. show about people traveling the world competing to win a scavenger hunt. We mainly follow a mother and daughter team, two brothers from Boston, two washed-up former child stars, and the uber-Christian couple--none of whom are what they seem from the outside, of course. Seemed a little hokey...upon completion, however, you realize it is merely a device to bring together strong, individual characters that could not co-habit a book in any other conceivable manner. I loved The Dogs of Babel, which is why I decided to give this book a try in the first place. The prose is just as rewarding, but what I loved about Babel was the way that the entire book is dissecting and delving into the emotional impact of one event. Lost and Found lacked that depth. That being said, I couldn't put it down...read the entire book in one day and enjoyed it a great deal.
+20 Task (ParkhuRST)
+10 Review
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 1540
congrats Kate on finishing your AtW!AtW - Circumnavigator
Round Two
15.7 (7th stop) - Chile (W 070 39)
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
+15 Task
+10 Bonus Points
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 1890
20.7 Kid's Republic--internationally acclaimed book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Review: This is the story of an Ibo man (one of the tribal groups in Nigeria) named Okonkwo. In reading the story of Okonkwo and his family, we learn a lot about the tribal customs of his people--their agriculture and food, marriage customs, religious beliefs, rituals, system of justice, housing, value system, village hierarchy, and the roles of women. Okonkwo's story is told almost as an oral story.
Then Europeans and Christianity arrive and we see the changes that they cause and the different ways the tribal people react--embracing the new religion and ways, watching cautiously or fighting the changes.
This is a good way to see colonization from an African perspective.
+20 Task
+10 Canon
+10 Review
+15 Combo
-20.5 published 1958
-20.10 according to Achebe's Goodreads biography, he is currently the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island
-20.4 According to Wikipedia a mini series based on the book was aired on Nigerian television
Task total: 55
Previous total 810
Grand total: 865
20.7 Kid’s RepublicLeaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
+20 Task
+15 Combo (10.6; 20.1 - http://bannedart.umwblogs.org/art-2/d... 20.3)
+10 Canon
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total = 55 points
Grand Total = 495 points
20.6 Selexyz BookstoreThe God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
Review: Oh, this is difficult. Dawkins is, no doubt, is a clever man. I assume he also likes to hear himself talk, and he can be a bit of a bully. Much like what he's going up against. I found myself agreeing with him, which is no wonder since I'm not religious anyway, but I think this book is mostly written for the people who would agree with him anyway, and those who will read it just to disagree. I agreed with him, but I got quite annoyed at his stance some of the time, and always at his habit of quoting a piece he published earlier on somewhere, which makes him seem so self-important.
The conclusion I got more than anything, is, that extremism in any field is deplorable, and that is no difference if it's atheistic or religious.
Task: 20
Combo: 5 (20.1 challenged in Turkey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_... I can't believe Iran would ban Paul Coelho and not ban this. That must have been quite a shock to RD!)
Review: 10
Not-a-Novel: 10
Task total: 45
Grand Total: 985
AtW Circmnavigator15.10 (W 056 10) United States
Blood and Guts in High School by Kathy Acker
+15 task
+10 bonus
+100 "well-traveled" bonus
Grand Total: 875 points
20.2 - True ColorsThe Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
I chose this book mostly because it is a 1001 book that I considered to be more "lightweight" and better suited as an airplane book. And while it was an excellent airplane book, it was much different than I expected -- the first half was much more psychological and introspective than I ever would have thought. It was fascinating to be inside Tom's head and he slide from a mostly harmless con man to the character he became by the end of the novel. And even though it is nominally a "genre" mystery book, it earns it's place on the Great 20th Century Works by Women through the wonderful writing and the somewhat unexpected structure/plot line. Even knowing that Mr. Ripley escapes (there are several books in the series), during the whole second half i was tensely waiting to see how he extricated himself from difficult situations.
+20 task
+10 review
+15 combo (10.5 - anti-hero, 20.4 - movie, 20.5 - pub. 1959)
Task total: 45 points
Grand total: 920 points
Congratulations Kate and Liz on finishing AtW!
20.9 It's EpidemicBlindness by José Saramago
Review:
One by one the inhabitants of a city are struck blind. The first victims of the epidemic are isolated in a mental hospital, but society both inside and outside soon begins to break down.
This book made me realise how conservative I am when it comes to punctuation and grammar. I hated the style, with its commas where there should be stops, paragraphs that are pages long, and complete absence of speech marks ... not to mention the occasional appearance of a present tense verb where it had no business to be. But I still kept reading and in the end I accepted it all, simply glad that most books are not written like this.
I did like the fact that none of the characters have names, being known by some characteristic of their first appearance in the story: "the doctor", "the girl with the dark glasses", etc. This seems to add something of the "white blindness" of the story. I didn't so much like the fact that any married woman was defined by her husband, e.g. "the doctor's wife" - why not "the sighted woman", since she was the only one in the world?
+20 Task
+10 Review
+15 Combo (20.1 banned in Iran http://lissnup.wordpress.com/2011/12/... ; 20.4 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0861689/ ; 20.7)
Task total = 45
Grand total = 1985
Rebekah wrote: "AtW circumnavigated15.10 10th stop USA (W077.02)
Wormwood by Susan Wittig Albert
+15 pts - task
+10 pts - bonus
+100 pts - AtW sub challenge completion bonus
+200 pts - mega finish bonus
Task ..."
Congratulations, Rebekah! Way to go!!
Rosemary wrote: "Congratulations Kate and Liz on finishing AtW!"I second that!
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
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)
More...
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)
More...
20.1 In Honor of The Tattered Cover
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Banned for attitude toward government, language and burning the Bible:
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/13......"
+10 Combo (20.4 1966 movie, 20.5 first published 1950)