Anika’s
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(group member since Dec 25, 2011)
Anika’s
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from the Reading with Style group.
Showing 1,841-1,860 of 2,793
15.5 AbBY, Chronological 1955-1959Two Steps Forward by Graeme Simsion (1956)
+30 Task
Task total: 30
Season total: 645
I just finished a book (The Reluctant Fundamentalist) and the MPE is the Kindle edition, having +200 pages. When I choose “all editions” the first one to pop up (a hardcover edition) has fewer than 200. Do I go with the first listed print edition or the MPE ebook in this case?
15.4 AbBY, Chronological 1950-1954Love Invents Us by Amy Bloom (1953)
+20 Task
Task total: 20
Season total: 615
10.3 Real PlaceThe Boston Girl by Anita Diamant
What a truly lovely book (especially after all of the end-of-the-world, dark stuff I've been reading lately). Addie Baum is an 85-year-old recounting her life to her 22-year-old granddaughter. We hear about her growing up in a tenement in Boston and having to leave school in order to work to earn money for the family. We hear about the friends she made in her library club and enjoy their ups and downs and the shape their friendships take over the course of their lifetime. It's filled with humor and heartbreak, embarrassment and triumph which makes it feel more like a memoir than a novel. I love that she told the story not only as the one who lived it, but as an older, wiser, kinder self who could admit to her younger self's naivete and mistakes and forgive her for them (I know I find myself thinking of my younger self's missteps and still berating myself for them...hopefully by the time I'm 85, I will have learned this woman's grace and be able to forgive myself for not being perfect). I listened to this one and Linda Lavin was the perfect reader for this! It definitely added something to the experience, since the book is told as oral history, to hear it spoken aloud.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Season total: 595
10.8 Cli FiFog by Annelie Wendeberg
This is the second in the series set in a world transformed by environmental disaster which has caused a plague and the loss of billions of lives. The remaining humans have branched off into two different factions and it appears to be a leave-no-survivors situation.
I usually find the second book in a series to be a bridge--something I have to cross to get from the interesting premise submitted in the premier book of the series to the resolution of the final book. Second books in trilogies always seem to...sag.
This one didn't--it was taut throughout. The action is intense and right when you think you're going to be let off the hook for a minute, a bomb goes off (Micka has completed her apprenticeship and is now a full-fledged sniper, so she's right in the heart of the action). I need to finish this series already! The emotional anxiety it is eliciting is too much to sustain :-/
That being said: isn't that the sign of a good book? One that transports you and doesn't easily let you out of its grip? Yes, this one relies heavily on plot, but the characters are multi-dimensional and well-wrought, the premise is compelling, the science of the post-apocalyptic world is logical, and I am always a sucker for a strong female protagonist. Still loving this series, hope it ends well (fingers crossed!).
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2, 20.5--she is a single-never married soldier with no home only a base camp and a sniping partner)
Task total: 30
Season total: 575
20.3 Birds Without WingsInferno by Dan Brown
UUUUUUGGH. I wanted to like this...I thought I'd let enough time elapse between my exposure to Dan Brown that I wouldn't be irked by the formulaic nature of his books. Nope. Nope nope nope. I saw one review for this that likened it to a Mad Libs, and I couldn't stop laughing at the truth of it.
Pros of this book:
--I love the puzzles and scavenger hunt aspect.
--I love the descriptions of art and culture (although the didactic nature in which Robert Langdon conveys it can get grating).
--I love the vivid descriptions of the cities they visit: Florence, Venice, Istanbul...it makes me desperate for a vacation.
--I liked that, in the end, there wasn't a huge differentiation between the "good guys" and the "bad guys."
--I like that the good guys didn't "win", they way you expect in this type of book.
Cons:
--I hate that there always HAS to be a female side-kick (who secretly finds Robert sooo handsome)--in this one, Sienna is supposedly an off-the-charts genius--yet Robert still has to explain basic things to her and works things out more quickly...hmph.
--I hate that this art history/symbology professor randomly has expertise in areas that are inexplicable.
--I hate that I fall for these books, even though I know they're going to follow roughly the same formula every time.
This one involves the issue of overpopulation and the risk it poses to humanity and the earth--an issue I've encountered a lot lately (I'm currently reading two other books that revolve around this same issue on some level). I, surprisingly, liked how this one dealt with it...it was thoughtful, realistic, and interesting. Who knew Dan Brown had that in him?
+20 Task (shelved "Turkey" 28 times)
+10 Review
+5 Prizeworthy
+15 Combo (10.2; 10.5--https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... 20.5--Sienna Brooks and Elizabeth Sinskey are both single heads of their own household)
Task total: 50
Season total: 545
20.8 AutumnEmma by Jane Austen
I love Jane Austen's writing, the sharp criticism couched in genteel language. I think on this reading I finally understood that Jane Austen doesn't particularly like Emma, either (the "either" implying my own distaste for this character).
I love games, and fancy myself pretty good at them. I have friends who love games and fancy themselves pretty good at them when, in fact, they're quite awful. They brag about their prowess over the card table as they play a truly terrible game and I just have to hold my tongue and roll my eyes as their back is turned. Emma would fit in that latter category. She thinks she is a wonderful matchmaker (her game of choice), that her skills are unparalleled...in fact, everything she touches turns to ruin. THE HUBRIS of this inexperienced young lady is astounding. And I will never understand her attachment to and desire to marry off Harriet (insert eye roll). My favorite part in the whole book is when Emma says a rather unkind thing to Miss Bates and gets dressed down for it by Mr Knightley. I kinda hate that she gets a happy ending, but such is Austen.
+20 Task (pub. 1815, author born and lived in England)
+10 Review
+15 Oldies
+10 Combo (10.4--The Next Best Book Club shelf; 10.5 Emma)
Task total: 55
Season total: 495
(I wasn't sure if it would work for 20.5, since she ends up marrying at the end and she isn't head of her household--that would be her father--despite the fact that she operates as if she is the head ;-) I decided to err in the negative on that task.)
From Post 95Anika wrote: "15.2 AbBY Chronological 1940-1944
Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward (b. 1943)
+20 Task
Task total: 20
Season total: 220"
I show an addition error here. I think you may have missed post 82 in your calculations. :)
Oh, Kate! I made a right mess of everything! I am so sorry...I've checked, double checked, and triple checked my calculations this time and have updated my addition on all of my posts so it should be correct now.
20.9 ArkansasPaper Towns by John Green (850 Lexile)
Margo Roth Spiegelman is the queen of her high school: she's popular, has a hot boyfriend, has an air of mystery that attracts everyone and the stories about her daring are legend.
Q is her neighbor--and has been in love with Margo since they were eleven. He has two best friends, Ben and Radar. He is a good student, is well adjusted, but mostly flies under the radar.
Until, a month before graduation, Margo shows up outside his window at midnight and demands he accompany her on an evening of mischief-making. (view spoiler)Part detective story, part coming-of-age drama with plenty of laughs thrown in, once again John Green does not disappoint.
After note: The whole time, I was "casting" the movie of this in my head (oddly, featuring half of the cast of Netflix's "13 Reasons Why")...just saw that there actually is a movie of this one...I think I need to see it now!
+20 Task (#235 on the list)
+10 Review
+15 Prizeworthy (Edgar Award for Best Y.A.; Bronzener Lufti winner; Literaturpreis der Jury der jungen Leser winner; Corine Internationaler Buchpreis winner)
+5 Combo (10.5 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...)
Task total: 50
Season total: 440
20.7 A Month in the CountryQueenpin by Megan Abbott
OMG! I really loved this one. You wouldn't think it--it took me nearly two weeks to finish, but that's only because I've been busy so have been listening to books while doing other work or reading on my kindle before bed (this is an actual honest-to-god paperback book--can't read that with a nightlight or I keep my husband up too late!).
ANYWAY--*this*! THIS is what "noir" is and I loved it! Fast-paced, racy, slang-slinging mobsters, dolled-up molls, crosses and double-crosses and surprising violence...I love the atmosphere and Abbott's writing and I love that she does noir with a female protagonist and that the women in the book are equally (if not more so) badass, cold as marble, hard as steel. If you're looking for a romp on a seedy darkside, this is the ticket, sweetheart!
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Prizeworthy
+10 Combo (10.6; 20.5--both main characters are single women, heads of their own households)
Task total: 50
Season total: 390
Ed wrote: "Anika wrote: "20.1 War's EndVile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
This is the first book I've read by Waugh, and while it was enjoyable I don't think I loved it enough to seek..."
I'll have to put that one on my TBR list...your review makes it sound much more palatable than this one ;-)
20.1 War's EndVile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
This is the first book I've read by Waugh, and while it was enjoyable I don't think I loved it enough to seek out any of his other books. This one revolves around the various Bright Young Things (I couldn't help but imagining them as a more flippant version of today's hipster crowd) of London's 1920s--wealthy, unencumbered by any sense of responsibility (or civility), they flitted from one party to another, money flowing through their hands like so much gin and tonic...It started out a laughable farce, turned into an on-again-off-again "love" story, and ended in such serious circumstances (while still maintaining the romp) that it exposes how truly absurd, laughable, and despicable these Bright Young Things were. It was an artful turnabout there at the end, but I was utterly relieved it was finally over! You know how sometimes you really wish that the characters in a book were alive so you could be friends? Not a single person in this book would fit that bill.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.5--https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1..., 20.8)
+10 Oldies (pub. 1930)
Task total: 50
Season total: 340
15.3 AbBY, Chronological 1945-1949Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King (1947)
+20 Task
Task total: 20
Season total: 290
Yay! Stephen King is listed first (oops: just realized I forgot to include the link in the original post! Gwendy's Button Box). Thank you!
Ahhhh! I'm just about done with my book and just realized it was co-authored (my library had the audiobook but it was only listed under Stephen King's name...just realized it was co-authored by Richard Chizmar when I pulled up its goodreads page). Will that still work for this task?
15.2 AbBY Chronological 1940-1944Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward (b. 1943)
+20 Task
Task total: 20
Season total: 270
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 81 Anika wrote: "20.8 AutumnCut by Annelie Wendeberg
Micka is fifteen--she has just finished her schooling and doesn't have a lot of prospects, being the "v..."
I entirely missed reading that part of the task :-/ OOPS!
I'll use it for 10.2, please...I'll edit it in the original post? (So, instead of 40 points for that book, it's 25.)
20.2 To Conquer HellDead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
I LOVE Erik Larson's brand of non-fiction! I love the depth and breadth of his research. I love that it's not so tightly focused on the title subject, yet everything ties back to it--German code books and the British code breakers who deciphered it; President Wilson's love life; and, the history of the submarine, just to name a few. I quite enjoyed that he bounced back and forth between the Lusitania and U-20, the submarine that launched the torpedo that sank it--it not only humanizes the "bad guy," but you come to understand that if put in the same position, the "good guys" would have done the same thing. I love that he explores the lives of some of the more notable passengers on the ship--some of whom had already survived the sinking of the Titanic, one of whom was to finally meet his end on the Hindenburg. I especially love that he goes into details about less-notable passengers as well: the stowaways, the mother traveling alone with an infant and a toddler, the maid of a famous architect.
I did not know much about the Lusitania--I knew it was a luxury liner that went down (so, a lesser-known Titanic, as far as I was concerned)...I didn't realize that it had been torpedoed or that it was the spark that eventually got the U.S. into WWI. I also didn't think it was possible for a ship of that size to sink in EIGHTEEN MINUTES, but it did. Eighteen minutes to go from enjoying the sight of Ireland in the distance while eating a lush meal and chatting about shuffleboard, to running around trying to find your family and life jackets for them all and praying there's room for you in a lifeboat (of which, only six made it into the water). It's cinematic, it's intense, and it's all true. 5 stars.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.5--https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... 10.9--nine letters in "Lusitania")
+10 Prizeworthy
Task total: 50
Season total: 250
10.2 NextCut by Annelie Wendeberg
Micka is fifteen--she has just finished her schooling and doesn't have a lot of prospects, being the "village idiot" as she refers to herself. The world she lives in is bleak to say the least (the original title of this book was 1/2986--which refers to the number of people who didn't die in the Great Pandemic). On the day she has decided to kill herself, she is invited by a Sequencer (which is a big deal in their society, even though it takes a while to figure out quite what they are) to apprentice with him. She jumps on the chance.
In the first week, she starts to find out some pretty bleak things about their world, the ways in which their history books lied: we ruined the climate, which raised the level of the oceans, which contaminated the water tables and people started becoming sick (the Great Pandemic)...but it wasn't the Pandemic that killed most of the billions who died, it was humans murdering humans and now humans have between ten and fifteen years left before they become extinct.
A lot of the other reviews I read compare this to a more adult version of The Hunger Games, but I feel the only likeness is the fact that they have tough female protagonists.
I've never read anything by this author before and can't wait to get my hands on the next one in the series...I am entranced with this world and the characters she has created. Added bonus: she is a scientist as well as being an author so her science isn't hokey in the books, it's quite sound--and terrifying.
+10 (book 1 of 3-book series)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.8)
Task total: 25
Season total: 200
10.10 Group ReadsI Am Legend by Richard Matheson
I've been in the mood for a scary(-ish) story ever since the mornings here started to get that early autumn crispness to them--feels a little like Halloween is in the air. This more than fit the bill! I listened to it on my morning walk and was jumping any time I saw another person in my peripheral vision, couldn't stop listening to it once I got home. If you're expecting the story to follow the plot of the 2007 Will Smith movie, prepare to be surprised--though it has been roughly 11 years since I've seen it, I don't recall it ending the way the novella did. Matheson knows how to keep a story taut and how to play those tightly-strung emotions to the hilt. (view spoiler) I enjoyed this so much and don't know if I would have picked it up had it not been chosen by another reader (thank you, Rosemary, for a great recommendation!).
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Prizeworthy [Tähtivaeltaja Award (2008)]
+10 Combo (10.5--https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... 20.7)
+5 Oldies
Task total: 35
Season total: 175
