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Spring 2013 Rws Completed Tasks - Spring 2013
20th Century - Chronologician15.6 Frost in May by Antonia White
published 1933
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task Total: 25 points
Grand Total: 420
20.5 In Honor of EmmaA Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd
Lexile 560
Written by a woman, told entirely from the POV of the female main character, Shell.
+20 Task
Task total: 20 points
Grand Total: 440
10.5 Global Youth DayHenderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow
+10 Task (Commonwealth Award 1998)
+5 Oldies (1959)
Post Total:15
Season Total: 1415
20.5 EmmaDéjà Dead by Kathy Reichs
+20 Task (Female author/Female first person narrator)
+5 Jumbo (500+ pages)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 1450
20.7 PersuasionThe Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien
+20 Task (pub 1967, author died 1966)
+10 Combo (10.4, 20.6-satirist)
+5 Oldies (1967)
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 1485
20.5 In Honor of EmmaPredator by Patricia Cornwell
+20 task
+5 Combo(10.6)
Task total: 25
Grand total: 750
congrats, Tien!! (how did you like "I for Isobel"? I read the synopsis and it sounded pretty good...worth the read?)
Irish AuthorThe Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor
This was a quick read, with a relatively fast-moving plot. However, the actions of several of the characters was not believable to me. A good enough read for escape only, and, while I rarely read to escape, it's good to have something to slip in between some more challenging reads.
The basic premise is that some young men come to a country house during the night at the time of turmoil in Ireland prior to partition. One night they poison the dogs, only to return a week later for more dangerous activity. Everard Gault is waiting for them, shoots and injures one young man in the shoulder. The Gaults decide to leave Ireland, but Lucy loves her home by the sea. So far so good. I was unable to suspend belief for the next 150+ pages.
Other reviews have applauded Trevor's style. I found the sentence structure interesting enough, but the vocabulary too simple for my tastes. Trevor has 2 other books on the 1001 list, which I probably will read, as I've said before to "cleanse the palate".
+10 Task
+10 Review
+20 Task
Grand Total = 650
20.3 In honor of Pride and PrejudiceOutlander by Diana Gabaldon
> 191,070 ratings > 4.08 as of 4/7/2013
+20 task
+15 jumbo (870 pages)
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 175
20.4 Mansfield Park The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Review: Moving and well-written. This is Jeanette Walls' memoir of her childhood in an unorthodox family. Her father is bright but alcoholic, her mother is rather vague and disappears into her art. Neither parent tolerates punching a time card and so are usually unemployed. They move frequently ahead of the bill collectors. Even though the children seem to be responsible for feeding themselves even at age three, they all know how to read before they start school and are often ahead of their teachers in many areas. The children raise themselves and protect each other as well as they can. And then try to figure out what their responsibility is for their parents as adults.
+20 Task (no. 16 on the Hardscrabble Life list)
+10 Combo (20.5 memoir by a woman, 20.3 303,959 ratings 4.18)
+10 Review
Task total: 40
Grand total: 580
Jenifer wrote: "20.3 In honor of Pride and PrejudiceOutlander by Diana Gabaldon
> 191,070 ratings > 4.08 as of 4/7/2013
+20 task
+15 jumbo (870 pages)
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 175"
Claire's a nurse and that figures pretty prominently in the book, so I'd think it would be +5 for 10.7?
15.9 So 20th Century The Genesis Code by John Case (pub 1997)
+15 pts - Task
+10 pts - Bonus
Task Total - 25 pts
Grand Total - 920 pts
20.4 - In honor of Mansfield ParkSweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
I watched the movie, Cannery Row, because it had been a while since I read it and I wanted to refresh my memory before reading the sequel, Sweet Thursday. This turned out to be both a good and a bad thing to do. I loved the movie, but I was confused by some parts I just didn't remember. I knew it was partly based on both books and, sure enough, when I picked up Sweet Thursday, it included all of the parts I was confused about! This was good because I had a clear picture of the characters as I read Sweet Thursday, but bad because I already knew everything that was going to happen, and I'm not crazy about re-reading or reading a book after seeing a movie. In the end, though, Steinbeck's great writing style won me over and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I'm definitely a Steinbeck fan!
+20 Task: Underclass #31 when selected, #35 now
+ 0 Review
+ 0 Oldies: 1954
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 1945
Karen GHHS wrote: "20.4 - In honor of Mansfield ParkSweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
I watched the movie, Cannery Row, because it had been a while since I read it and I wanted to refresh my memory before reading t..."
Sweet Thursday is a YA Assignment without a Lexile, so no style point.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Karen GHHS wrote: "20.4 - In honor of Mansfield ParkSweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
I watched the movie, Cannery Row, because it had been a while since I read it and I wanted to refresh my memo..."
Ok, thanks. I remember seeing that earlier in the challenge and then I forgot all about it;)
10.5 Global Youth Service Day1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Jerusalem Prize 2009
Review:
I ended up liking this very strange book about a parallel world in which little is explained. Aomame and Tengo met as 10-year-old girl and boy but life soon separated them. Now it's about 20 years later and they are trying to find each other again, but they're both mixed up in something that puts them in danger.
I think the book's quirkiness won me over. It is definitely longer than it needs to be and very repetitive. Not only are you told things over and over in different places in the novel, but it's full of redundant phrases and sentences even within paragraphs. I found that annoying at first but finally endearing, as if I was reading the writing of a talented child.
+10 Task
+10 Non-Western (Japanese)
+10 Review
+20 Jumbo, most popular edition has 945 pages
Task total: 50 points
Grand Total: 490
Christine wrote: "20.5 Summer by Edith Wharton
Review
This is one of the Edith Wharton books I'd never really heard about, and I picked it up for a dollar at a used bookstore. When I read the introduction, I was ..."
Unfortunately, this is another with a YA Assignment designation at BPL that does not have a Lexile. No style points.
15.3 20th Century 1992 -ChronologicianThe Hollow Man by Dan Simmons
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task total=25
Grand total=740
20.6 Northanger AbbeySlaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
+20 task
+5 oldies (pub. 1969)
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 155
@Kate S: If it looks like I just suddenly have 5 more points, it's because I finally went back and fixed my Robinson Crusoe post.
20th Century - Chronologician15.9 The Flanders Panel
published 1990
+15 Task
+ 10 Bonus
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 845
Rebekah wrote: "20.1 Jane Austen's Lifetime (1775 - 1817)North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (1810 - 1865)
Review
This is the first book I have read by Elizabeth Gaskell. I found it very Austenesque. The good, ..."
It appears the most popular edition of this book has only 451 pages. Sorry, no Jumbo points for this one.
Thanks, D, Karen GHHS, Elizabeth (Alaska), & Anika.@Anika: I'm actually still not quite sure whether I like it or not hence the no-star rating... I feel like it had gone way over my head with all the references to classic works that I mostly haven't read (chunky & daunting ones like Dostoyevsky & Trollope etc) plus she was so very naïve yet broken and dealing (unaware-ly so) with grief. There were also "breaks" between chapters of some period of time that I felt I've missed whatever happened which could've helped me understood her a little more though I supposed that lent the air of being lost (in the world, in grief, etc). She's one very confused young girl who grew up sheltered and had to face the world so very suddenly.
Hhm, I only hope I made some sort of sense!
@Tien...thanks for the review...I think I'll keep it on my TBR list because it sounds interesting...just a little closer to the bottom of my list ;-) thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts!
Anika wrote: "@Tien...thanks for the review...I think I'll keep it on my TBR list because it sounds interesting...just a little closer to the bottom of my list ;-) thanks again for taking the time to share your ..."Thanks for asking! :)
20.5 Emma
by Philippa GregoryLexile Score: 820
Review
I really liked this book. It is about a guy named Luca who becomes a monk to a secret order to defeat evil in the world and in Christiandom. He is called to an abbey run by a noble woman who is forced to take vows by her lord brother. Her nuns are having strange dreams and visions. Luca is there to solve the problem. It appears that the noble woman and her lady in waiting are found guilty of heinous crimes. It takes place in Italy in the 1400's.
My one criticism of this book is because if the time period, people beliefs were based off of rumors and not real evidence. It is extremely easy to fool the average person. Even when truth is staring in the face, the characters refuse to believe it. It isn't easy to be an inquirer to the Church. I do not envy Luca's job
Task +20
Style + 10(Review)
Book Total: 30
Grand Total: 165
20.5 EmmaFingerprints of You by Kristen-Paige Madonia (Lexile 1110)
Welcome to Lemon's life.
She and her mother, Stella, have been wandering for years...never settling in one place for long, only enough time for Stella to get in and then escape a horrible relationship. Stella had Lemon when she was a teenager and is still struggling with the "growing up" process (incessant drinking, involvement with a parade of men, outbursts of anger), which frustrates and often disgusts Lemon. She knows nothing of her father other than what he looked like from an old photo that Stella kept hidden in the back of her closet and that he lived in San Francisco at the time that he and Stella were together.
Lemon, not-quite-seventeen, has found herself in the same predicament her mother was in nineteen years earlier--pregnant and adrift. She embarks on her own journey for the first time in her life, rather than trailing Stella. She decides to go to San Francisco...to search for her father, to find answers, to find herself.
I enjoyed this book more than I'd care to admit. It dealt with loss and love, home and family and hope--some of my all-time favorite themes. A well-written, lovely debut.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 1255
10.7 National Nurses’ DayMaisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
+ 10 Task
+ 5 Combo (20.5)
Task Total = 15
Grand Total = 860
Task 10.3 - The plus: Read a book with a two-word title that begins with "The". The Bachelors (1960) by Muriel Spark (Paperback, 192 pages)
Review: The novel is told largely by dialog. The reader gets the impression of overhearing various characters talk with each other about the events of the novel. At first, it is not clear how various characters relate to each other; but if the reader perseveres in reading, it is very clear. I am really impressed at how well the story is told by dialog, with only a minimum amount of inner musings. The characters in the novel are a group of unmarried men and women living in London in the 1950s. There is a court case (resolved at the end), there is romance, there is menace, there is the usual anti-Catholic and anti-Irish biases of English writers. Additionally, while exploring various aspects of unmarried “bachelor” life, the underlying assumption is that married people, especially married men, are better people than unmarried people. Recommended for those who like literary fiction. Also recommended to be read at times when you can read the entire 192 page novel in one or two days (otherwise the interconnections between the characters might get confusing).
+10 Task
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points)
+05 Style:4. Oldies (5 to 25 points): -25 to 75 years old: 5 points (1937-1987)
Task Total: 10 + 10 + 05 = 25
Grand Total: 570 + 25 = 595
20.3 In honor of Pride and PrejudiceCutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
rating as of May 13, 2013 4.24 score on 126,961 ratings
Review:
I have had this book sitting on my shelf for quite a while, so I am glad it fit a challenge category. It is a fascinating story of twin boys, Marian and Shiva, born in Ethiopia to a dying mother and abandoned by their father the same day as they arrived in the world. Fortunately, the boys were quickly adopted by a pair of physicians who dearly loved the twins. These parents cultivated the love and curiosity of the medical profession that organically developed in the two boys albeit in different ways. This emotional tale of family and fate is told in the voice of one twin - Marion. This family epic is very well written with compelling characters. I especially liked the twin’s adopted father, Ghosh. I had been told that there was quite a bit of medical termonolgy and descriptions of medical procedures. I did not find this daunting to the enjoyment of this novel. In fact, I was on the ‘edge of my seat’ during some of the descritptions of the surgeries.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Jumbo (541 pages)
+35 Task total
GRAND TOTAL 445
10.6 - The Ides of MarchThe Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
Shelved 59 times as "murder" and non-fiction in BPL
+10 Task
Points total = 240
20.5 EmmaLady Oracle by Margaret Atwood
Review:
I love Margaret Atwood. I've read many of her books at this point: Handmaid's Tale, Robber Bride, Oryx & Crake, Year of the Flood, Blind Assassin, and The Penelopiad. I think I like her "issue" books a little better--Handmaid's Tale is a standout for direct political speech. Still, there's a lot to think about in Lady Oracle.
The story centers around Joan Foster, who fakes her own death to escape her life. The book leaps around in time and focuses on the many different parts of herself that the protagonist is trying to reconcile into a complete self. I loved the way Joan's body image issues were personified into an actual Fat Lady figure that she would imagine coming out and engaging in outrageous public performances. Atwood is simply a master at capturing some of the uncomfortable inner dialogue of her characters.
Strangely, the character of The Royal Porcupine so strongly reminded me of Paris from The Blindfold by Siri Hustvedt that I almost wondered if it wasn't an intentional reference by Hustvedt. I think it must be just coincidence that I happened to read these two novels close in time to one another, but it was almost eerie.
I recommend this book to Atwood's fans. For those who aren't already fans, I think I'd start with one of her more famous works like A Handmaid's Tale.
+20 Task (Joan Foster [main char.] & Atwood both female)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.8 - M.A.)
+5 Oldies (published 1976)
Task total: 40
Grand total: 545
20.5 - In honor of EmmaThe Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud
+20 Task (author and main character/narrator are female)
Task total=20
Grand total=760
10.7 Nurse ItThe Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth
I saw the first season of this show without quite realizing that it was based on a memoir. Imagine my joy and surprise when I happened upon that fact and two days later this task was announced! I only had to wait two months for the book: three days ago I FINALLY got the notice from my library that my hold was ready for pick-up. I couldn't put it down! While many of the stories in the memoir were already acted out in my head as I'd seen them cinematically portrayed, so many details from the story get left out in the show. You never fully understand how poor these communities are...how the residents of an entire building floor shared one bathroom and didn't have hot water in their home, or how few homes still didn't have telephones (I know, I know...I sound so immature and naive...but in my head, by the '50s a telephone would have been a common appliance in all homes...especially in the event of an emergency--which happened so often in this book!). It was so interesting the way that craters created by bombs from the Blitz factored into their lives--how they became dump sites for everything from garbage or food scraps to human waste and other hazmat. Buildings damaged and abandoned after the bombings became escapes for lovers' trysts and squats for people who couldn't afford anything more. And those were only the things I didn't get from the show...actually shown in the BBC production: we meet the poor girl who gets tricked into prostitution, finds out she's pregnant and to avoid a knitting-needle abortion escapes to have her baby, only to have the Church take it away from her and adopt it out without her knowledge or consent. Or the husband and wife who quite literally don't speak the same language (she Spanish, he English) yet they have had TWENTY-FIVE CHILDREN together?! It was fascinating and eye-opening to read this first-hand account. The '50s seem so recent, so firmly planted in the "modern age," it's a little unsettling to have my perceptions so drastically challenged. But that, precisely, is why I love reading.
Task +10
Review +10
Combo +10
-20.2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_the...)
-20.5 (written and main character/narrator is Jennifer Worth, nee Lee)
Task Total = 30
RwS Finish = 100
MegaFinish = 200
Grand Total = 1585
Anika wrote: "RwS Finish = 100
MegaFinish = 200"
Great finish, Anika!
Anika wrote: "RwS Finish = 100
MegaFinish = 200"
Excellent! RwS AND Mega! Superb!
20.10 InitiallyMountain Echoes by C.E. Murphy
Review: Mountain Echoes is the eighth book in the Walker Papers series, which I’ve been reading since the beginning. It took a while for me to start to understand the world building and to like the main character, but from the beginning the side characters have been fun. Joanne Walker, who found out not so long ago that she’s a shaman, hasn’t had much of a break since she came into her magical powers. In this installment, she goes home to the reservation where she spent the bulk of her childhood, and in many ways encounters the most brutal environment so far. People die, and she never fully triumphs over the bad guy, although that final battle is being set up – the next book is supposed to be the last. A bonus in this one is that the magic Joanne encountered was causing her to basically stop and smell the roses – a plot device that neatly allowed the author to more deeply investigate her protagonist’s personal life and feelings, and I was all for it.
+20 Task (Murphy publishes under C.E.)
+5 Combo (Murphy is a female author, Joanne is the single female MC/narrator)
+10 Review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 345
20th Century - Chronologician15.3 - Sea Swept by Nora Roberts (pub 1998)
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 370
20.10 InitiallyNo Colder Place by S.J. Rozan
Review: This Lydia Chin/Bill Smith mystery is narrated by Bill, and thus contains less of the caught-in-the-middle feeling that Lydia’s episodes of the series tend to – it’s much more a straight forward PI story. It’s also one that shows the author’s background as an architect, and if I weren’t one myself, I’m not sure I’d have had half as much fun reading it.
Bill is sent to investigate strange happenings at a construction site, and soon ends up investigating a crime that’s bigger than he ever expected. Crooked contractors, crooked architects – nothing is quite the way it seems. It read smoothly for me, but I had to wonder if those not as familiar with the jargon, etc. would have thought. Perfect for me, though I’m looking forward to reading more from Lydia’s perspective.
+20 Task (Rozan publishes under S.J.)
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 400
20th Century - Chronologician15.4 – Rose Daughter (1210 Lexile) by Robin McKinley (pub 1997)
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 425
20th Century - Chronologician15.5 – Away by Amy Bloom (pub 1996)
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 450
20.4 Mansfield ParkDown and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell (1020 Lexile)
Review: I have to admit that when I read this I felt a certain amount of schadenfreude. Something about reading about absolutely horrible working conditions and quality of life made it easier to deal with my comparatively tiny problems. Perhaps I would have felt better had I not felt like Orwell actually had a chance of bringing himself out of it? The working conditions and life of someone living in the dregs of 1920s Paris and London were appalling, which didn’t surprise me. Orwell and his fellow ‘down and outs’ were resourceful and in many cases much more optimistic than I certainly would have been, but it didn’t take away from the horrendous conditions they were dealing with. The worst thing about it, however, is how many lines I highlighted because I saw direct parallels with today (too bad my ebook loan expired so I can’t actually pull any of the quotes out of my Kindle…).
+20 Task (#4 on Underclass list)
+5 Combo (20.6 – on satirists list)
+10 Oldies (pub 1933)
+10 Review
Task Total: 45
Grand Total: 495
20.10 InitiallyLover At Last by J.R. Ward
Review: This is the eleventh book in a series I just shouldn’t still read, and probably won’t after this installment. For the last few books, the only reason I kept reading is to see two people together, and they finally did in this one. But instead of being worth the buildup, it seemed thrown together, haphazard, and unworthy. Maybe the author was shy about her first male-male book. Maybe she was just tired of people wanting it and wanted to move onto the next thing. Regardless, it was filled with a plot that meant nothing, with the romantic and emotional parts that so many fans were looking forward to crammed into a chapter or two. At least now I feel no need to continue reading a mediocre series…
+20 Task (Ward publishes under J.R.)
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 525
20.3 Pride & PrejudiceThe Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Review: This was a book I’d heard so many good things about I feared reading it. Luckily, it didn’t disappoint. I loved this book. It was thoughtful and beautiful without being pretentious or slow. I don’t usually like magical realism, and this didn’t have anything outside of the real, but it still read like I imagine the best magical realism could – a bit creepy, a bit disorienting, and all wonderful. I don’t usually like male coming of age novels, but this had a true growth of character that is so often missing. The only thing I wasn’t convinced about was the romance, especially given Daniel’s parents’ obvious love. All in all, this was a magical, haunting tale that I would recommend to just about anyone.
+20 Task (133,946 ratings, 4.19 average rating)
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 555
10.10 Group ReadThe Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.6)
+10 Oldies (1909)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 1525
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Reading with Style
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"Completion Bonus = 150 points"
Congratulations! Nice job!