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Spring 2013 Rws Completed Tasks - Spring 2013
20.2 - Sense and SensibilityThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2000 tv show
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.6 - shelved 14 times as murder)
+10 Oldies (1925)
Task total = 35
Points total = 295
20.5 In Honor of EmmaThe Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen
+20 task
+10 Combo (10.3 The Plus and 10.6 Ides of March)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 800
Deedee wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Task 10.6 Murder not mysteryThis book was shelved as "murder" 21 times (as of today), but is not located in the Mystery section at BPL
Sharp Objects (20..."
+5 Combo (20.6-satirist)
10.6 Ides of MarchNaked in Death by J.D. Robb
Review:
I did not like the narrator for the audiobook, which is unfortunate because the only way I can imagine reading this series is in audio format. It works well for driving because the book is very light reading, mostly plot driven and there's no beautiful writing to be savored.
I know that fans of this series think that Roarke, the male love interest is the coolest, dreamiest, most wonderful charever e-vah. But I found him uncomfortably controlling, kind of whiny, and, other than being really rich, not that interesting. Maybe he improves as the series continues?
I did enjoy the somewhat neurotic, tough girl detective who is the main character of the book. I liked her rough edges, her focus and obvious enjoyment of her work, and her funny lines.
Top it off with light futuristic world-building, mostly consisting of computers slightly better and cooler than those available in 1995 when the book was published and somewhat better than those available today, and this is solid fluff reading for airplanes or long drives. I hope they either change narrators or I find the narrator less grating if I read the next in the series.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (20.5, 20.10)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 610
20th Century - Chronologician15.7 The Saltmarsh Murders by Gladys Mitchell
published 1932
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task Total: 25 points
Grand Total: 585
10.1 Square PegMoby-Dick by Herman Melville
+10 Task
+5 Jumbo (625 pages)
+15 Oldies
+100 RwS Finish
+200 Mega Finish
Post Total: 330
Season Total: 1970
20.5 EmmaPrincess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sasson
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 2000
Kate S wrote: "+100 RwS Finish
+200 Mega Finish"
Yippee! Good job!
10.2 Memory DayAutobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
Review
This is the magical-full story of the magical Indian Yogi, Yogananda. Lots of it sounds pretty incredible but India itself is pretty incredible. A lot about that country I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. This enlightened master was credited with bringing Yoga to the Western World, primarily America. He built Self Realization centers in various parts of the country but his main ashram and center were in California and is still in use. Born of rather spiritual parents in Calcutta, it was predicted by his father’s guru that his unborn child would be a very special person. Even as a young boy, the Yogi yearned to break away to the Himalayas and find his guru, to begin a spiritual life rather than attend to the mundane studies of a pre-adolescent schoolboy. He does go on to find his spiritual guru but nearer to his home and he learns he must continue University studies at the ancient scholastic city of Benares (now Varanasi). It is part of his dharma. He becomes a swami and encounters many miracles and ascended masters, some which had been physically dead for many years. Many would read this book with frank skepticism, but it can’t be denied that the book is full of wise words, mottos to live by and appreciation of many religions. Christ is also worshiped as an ascended master. My attitude is that there is no way us humans can know everything and to deny certain phenomena is not real because it hasn’t yet been proven to exist is just as silly as a naïve, gullible, seeker that believes everything as long as it is in print. I myself am tempted by the siren call of a highly spiritual, simple life of holy bliss, however I would not be willing at this time to renounce all worldly cares. Starting with yoga stretching exercises wouldn’t be a bad place to start investigating.
+ 10 pts - Task
+10 pts - Review
+10 pts - non western (India)
+ 5 pts - Oldies (orig. pub 1946)
+ 5 pts - Jumbo (520 pgs)
Task Total - 40 pts
RWS Completion Bonus - 100 pts
Mega-finish Bonus - 200 pts
Grand Total - 1475 pts
20th Century - Chronologician15.8 The Yellow Dog by Georges Simenon
published 1931
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task Total: 25 points
Grand Total: 610
20.5 - In honor of EmmaThe Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson
+20 Task: Female author and female narrator, Rory
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 2110
Congrats, Rebekah!10.10 Group Reads
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
Review: Greenblatt writes of how a poem (evidently an exquisitely beautiful poem) written by a Roman Epicurean, Lucretius, was recovered and circulated by a 15th century Florentine papal scribe. And how the poem survived the Roman church's animosity to the ideas elucidated in the poem to become a foundation for Thomas More's Utopia and Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, and how it also formed a framework for Enlightenment scientists to view the world.
Greenblatt does an excellent job of bringing Poggio, the Florentine scribe, to life. But, for me, Greenblatt, becomes nebulously vague as he tries to follow the influence of Lucretius's ideas.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Grand Total: 600
Thanks for the pat on the back!20.10 Initially
If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer by O.J. Simpson
Review
The infamous trial of O.J. Simpson for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown and a stranger, Ron Goldman was news entertainment for the US in the mid 1990’s. He was acquitted but later was found guilty in a civil court, which gave him no jail time but made a judgment for the victims’ families of millions of dollars that through hocus-pocus money management and the lawyers that served him, he went without paying.
When he decided to write this book, the publisher announced it as a “confession”. A hired ghostwriter met with Simpson and recorded the story he obtained through his interviews. Simpson had meant to make big money off the book but through
legal genius, the Goldmans were able to obtain the rights to the book so that all proceeds went to pay OJ’s outstanding debt to the family.
In O.J.’s words he begins the story when he first met Nicole, just days after her 18th birthday when she was a waitress. Although separated but not divorced yet from his first wife, he began an aggressive courtship. They almost immediately started living together and eventually marry and remained so for 13 years.
According to OJ, he was pretty much the model husband and family man throughout this time. Nicole however, had a terrible temper and would go berserk if crossed. When the police were called for a domestic dispute that left Nicole bruised, it was because she was attacking her husband and hurt herself. He did physically remove her from the bedroom into the hall and locked the door until she calmed down and by hitting at the door and walls, caused her own injuries. Nicole weighed almost half Simpson’s weight so it seems implausible, but it’s his story.
Finally she decided to divorce him because she had spent all her adult years, from the age of 18 to her 30’s with him and needs to learn about herself as an individual. He’s upset but is calm. She even calls him for dating advice which he gives telling her any man would be lucky to go out with her. She obsessively speaks to him about all her personal problems while he is trying to begin a new romantic relationship. He gets tired of it until she convinces him they should “date” for a year to see if it would work. Nicole started hanging around a fast crowd and OJ pointedly mentions that one of her “crowd” was stabbed at his home in her neighborhood because of drugs. When the year is up, he tells her it’s over much to her distress. The reason is because he suspects her of doing drugs, and she had a Jekyll and Hyde personality.
Two weeks later a “friend” named Charlie just drops in on him out of the blue as he is preparing for a trip to Chicago. He informs OJ that Nicole is hanging around drug pushers and hookers. In great concern, he and Charlie rush over to her house. He sees a strange man coming up to her house in the dark. OJ accuses the man of bringing drugs to Nicole when the man says it is to return a pair of glasses. OJ gets out of control because he doesn’t want his kids to be in that environment. Nicole comes out to see what is up. OJ goes after her, incensed because of what she is putting the children through. Goldman tries to defend her with some martial arts. OJ laughs at him. Next thing he “awakens” and sees blood is on him and there are two bloody bodies at his feet. He has a bloody knife in his hand and Charlie is weeping and asking OJ “What have you done?!”. OJ goes back to his house, gives his bloody clothes to Charlie to dispose of and then Charlie disappears never to be heard from again. The flight to Chicago takes Simpson from the crime scene. The story continues from there with the investigation and trial.
The chapter about the murders is prefaced with “This is hypothetical” before he begins. He doesn’t mention why a man so concerned about the type of people his ex is exposing his children to, would not hesitate to nearly decapitate their mother’s body and leave it for them to discover. Who is Charlie? His conscience maybe? Read it and judge for yourself if he did it.
+ 20 pts- Task
+ 10 pts - Review
+ 5 pts - Combo (10.6)
Task Total - 35 pts
Grand Total - 1410 pts
10.5 - Common Wealth AwardThe Tattooed Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
+10 Task
Task total=10
Grand total=795
15.5 20th Century - Chronologician - 1994Simisola by Ruth Rendell
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task total=25
Grand total=820
15.6 20th Century - Chronologician - 1995High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task total=25
Grand total=845
20.1 In Honor of Jane AustenThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: with Related Documents by Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
Review
Benjamin Franklin was one member of the enlightened group of men who made destiny. Because of him, Thomas Jefferson, John and Samuel Adams, George Washington, James Monroe, James Madison, John Hancock and others in this amazing time when these great minds came all together in synchronicity, there is a USA now. Aside from being a founding father and a printer of a major newspaper, his place in history began earlier than the others as one of the eldest of this unique fraternity. Starting life as the youngest son of a very large family, he had little to recommend him other than his family and his strong code of ethics that kept him determined to succeed. He valued learning and was always seeking truth in science, math, politics and spiritual concerns, a true renaissance man along with many of his 18th century contemporaries.
His autobiography is actually a letter he began to his son about his life and how he came from a 10 year-old bonded to his brother in the printing business in Boston into a man of much consequence in Philadelphia. A man who consulted and socialized with generals, royalty and the rock stars of his time. Even becoming the President of Pennsylvania prior to the state becoming part of the United States!
The story doesn’t always flow continuously. It is put away for a while as circumstances require his full attention such as The Revolutionary War and the long drawn out and miserable process of making thirteen separate and very independent colonies into a country with a government, which was really, but an experiment. As a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, this is a history period I’m very interested in and to read it from the perspective of one of the leaders is thrilling to me.
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Review
+15 pts - Oldies (org pub in 1791 in French)
+10 pts - Combo (10.2memory day, 20.6 first pub a year after his death)
Task Total - 55 pts
Grand Total - 1465 pts
20.10 InitiallyBury My Children in a Strange Land by C.W. Cissna
Review
Based on true events and part of a series that author has written about his ancestors and their American saga. This is the first in the series about the progenitor who was driven out of France as a Protestant, fought on the side of William of Orange against the Irish and settled in Northern Ireland. He married a local lass but of all his children only two survive, John and Steven. In extreme poverty, many of these Ulster men are tempted to go to the American Colonies to start new lives. Although the patriarch dies during the sea journey, his sons go to the colony of Pennsylvania, farm land and start families. The two men experience heavy losses through Indian battles, disease and other hardships colonists encountered but did manage to produce a strong generation to carry on.
The book is self published and poorly edited. The language seems overly simplistic at times, but it’s still a fascinating read. Many of the incidents mentioned in The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin are described from this family’s viewpoint. This book is an easy read that my 11 year-old history buff enjoys as well as his like-minded grandfather and mother.
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Review
Task total - 30 pts
Grand Total - 1495 pts
Karen GHHS wrote: "Nice work, Rebekah!"thanks, Karen GHHS! Did I tell you that you are my role model? Kate S too!
20th Century - Chronologician15.10 Grass
published 1989
+15 Task
+ 10 Bonus
Task Total = 25
20th Century Completion Bonus = 150
Grand Total = 1165
10.6 The Ides of March Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg
+ 10 Task Since I read this early in the season, the number of people shelving it as murder has increased to 5.
Task Total = 10
Grand Total = 1175
10.1 Square PegRoses by Leila Meacham
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Jumbo (609 pages)
I was intimidated by the size of this book; but, once I got into it, the story took over.
This is a story of love and loss, of family ties, and of obsessions. The story covers three generations of a Texas town's founding families. The Tolivers used their land to build up a large cotton-growing estate and the Warwicks built their wealth in the timber industry.
The story is about choices made - land vs. love - and the consequences of those choices on succeeding generations of family members.
Task Points: 25
Total Points: 105
10.2 Memory DayA Song Flung Up to Heaven by Maya Angelou
+10 Task
+10 Review
I was amazed at this portion of her life story. I knew her name as a poet and that she had written several autobiographical books. I could even name a few. What I did not realize is who she knew and the world she moved in.
Because of this book, I have more admiration for this woman and her life. I will seek out more of her story as well as her poetry.
Task Points: 20
Total Points: 125
10.6 Ides of MarchThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Lexile 1180
+10 Task
+10 Review
This story is told from the point of view of a young autistic boy. That fact alone made it hard to read at times (due to thought process) and fascinating at the same time. I found that I resonated alot with Christopher's thinking once I got the track.
Christopher sets out to solve the mystery of who killed a neighbor's dog and ends up confronting the dissolution of his parents marriage - a topic hard for any child, much less one who is autistic.
A truly remarkable read.
Task Points: 20
Total Points: 145
20.5 In Honor of EmmaThe Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.3)
+5 Jumbo (676 pages)
I was a bit disappointed in this book although overall liked the story. What diappointed me was that the story never grabbed me like I expected it would. It was entertaining but I was able to lay the book aside without having that drive to pick it up again. I think the only reason I finished it was that it was for a challenge with a time deadline. Otherwise, it might have ended up as "started but not finished" from sheer lack of the story grabbing me.
That said, it was a good mystery. Intellectually engaging and intriguing for me but not so much so that I am motivated to research the subject.
Task Points: 40
Total Points: 185
15.7 20th Century- Chronologician - 1996White Widow by Jim Lehrer
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task total=25
Grand total=870
Coralie wrote: "20th Century Completion Bonus = 150"
Well done! Applause!
Task 15.6 - 20th Century—Chronologician1973 All Under Heaven (1973) by Pearl S. Buck
Task=15
Bonus=10
Task total=25
Grand Total: 600 + 25 = 625
In Post 900 Rebekah wrote: "20.10 InitiallyBury My Children in a Foreign Land
by C.W. Cissna
Review
Based on true events and part of a series that author has written about his ancestors and their American saga. This is..."
Rebekah, you'll need to fix the link in this post for the book to count. Try using the ISBN in search.
Congratulations, Coralie! How nice of you, Rebekah!20.5 - In honor of Emma
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer 810 Lexile
Scarlet is an amazing follow-up to one of my favorite books of last year, Cinder! Marissa Meyer takes the framework of familiar fairy tales as the impetus for these stories, but they morph into something quite sophisticated and original in her capable hands. The books are set in a future world where civilizations exist both on earth and on the moon. Cinder is a cyborg and that book takes place in New Bejing where the Cinderella story unfolds. Cinder is still a main character in Scarlet, but the red-caped girl takes center stage as she plans to rescue her grandmother accompanied by a rather strange young man coincidentally named Wolf. The writing is sophisticated, though, and the world is by no means the stuff of the usual fairy tale. I was torn between not being able to turn the pages fast enough and wanting to slow down to stay a part of this gripping tale. I can’t wait to find out what Marissa Meyer does with the next installment, Cress. Highly recommended!
+20 Task: Female author and main character, Scarlet
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 2140
20.5 In Honor of EmmaBrain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
This is a personal account of a lively young reporter struck down my a mysterious disease. She spent a month in the hospital as doctors struggled to find the cause of her seizures, hallucinations,personality change and near catatonia. The author was left with very little first hand memory of these events and has drawn upon her skills as a reporter to piece together her 'month of madness' based on her doctors' reports and the recollections of family and friends. It is a fascinating read as the mystery is uncovered. Unfortunately, the author's writing style is not very sophisticated. After the cause of the illness was discovered, my interest waned a bit. Never-the-less it makes for an informative read about this strange disease that can be fatal and often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.
+20 Task (Female author telling her own story)
+10 Review
+30 Task Total
GRAND TOTAL = 540
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "In Post 900 Rebekah wrote: "20.10 InitiallyBury My Children in a Foreign Land
by C.W. Cissna
Review
Based on true events and part of a series that author has written about his ancestors and t..."
Fixed it. I realized why I couldn't find the link. I had substituted the word "foreign" for the word "strange" in the title. another brain skip(smile)
Rebekah wrote: "Fixed it. I realized why I couldn't find the link. I had substituted the word "foreign" for the word "strange" in the title. another brain skip(smile) "
:-) Thank you!
20.6 Northanger AbbeyCat and Mouse by Günter Grass
Although this is the second work in Grass' Danzig Trilogy, it can be read as a stand-alone work. The story is a meandering meditation of the narrators childhood and his relationship to Joachim Mahlke. Mahlke is an unusual character, unlike any I have encountered in life. He is both an awkward, ungainly social misfit and a hero to his small cadre of boys -- he is able to equal or out-do the best boys in gym class, but "his form was miserable" and "so execrable were his {gymnastics} - his knees were bent and he was all tensed up - that none of us could bear to watch him". The plot, such as it is, follows Mahkle's exploits from a sickly weak child to a gawky, ludicrous teen (with a huge adams apple - the mouse of the title), to reluctant war-hero.
For a novella, the story is full of contradictions and complexities. The narrator clearly worships Mahlke, but describes him and his actions in the most ludicrous way possible, trying to show himself as more socially adept. Mahlke is also portrayed with complexity. He life ambition is to perform, to entertain, and yet the narrator describes him as someone who never showed off, never bragged, and tried to avoid the admiration he was earning. "Applause did him good and quieted the jumping mouse on his neck; applause also embarrassed him and started the selfsame mouse up again."
Both the timeline and the narrative voice are fluid. It is narrated in an associative manner rather than chronological and switches from third-person observation to second-person, sometimes within the same paragraph. The narrator hints at and dances around tragic outcome, offering glimpses before back-tracking into some seemingly irrelevant anecdote. By the time I reached the end of the story, I was no longer sure what the tragic event was or if it was indeed tragic. All in all, I found it to be a fascinating work.
+20 task
+10 review
+5 oldies (pub. 1961)
Task Total: 35 points
Grand Total: 685 points
10.1 Square PegCold Days by Jim Butcher
Review: I held off on reading this last season because it didn’t fit anywhere, and then that happened again! I’d been looking forward to this latest Harry Dresden novel, and I ended up sadly being disappointed. Certain things happened that I had been waiting a long time for, but they were oddly anticlimactic, and most of this installation felt like a placeholder. By the fourteenth book in the series though, I expect more. Basically, it feels a lot like a second or third novel (partially because of what happened in the last two), but in the worst way possible, since you really have to have read most of the last thirteen to understand anything that’s going on. Here’s hoping for a satisfying fifteenth next year!
+10 Task
+5 Jumbo
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 850 (*includes the added 10 I missed in post 833 and 5 Jumbo missed in post 815)
10.4 IrelandBrown Lord of the Mountain by Walter Macken
Review: This felt like it should have been the best sort of atmospheric novel – a book focused on character and setting but with a plot to keep things moving. In the end, I felt like all three pieces ended up lacking rather than enhancing each other. The basic plot centers around a man who has been gone from his small Irish hometown since right before World War II, when he ran away on his wedding day right after saying his vows. He feels trapped by the small village, goes and sees the world, and then for a reason that is never fully explained comes back and ends up quickly, by all appearances, fitting right in. A tragic incident crushes his world once again, and his reaction is not unlike the one he had nearly twenty years before, making the reader question whether or not he really learned a thing. All in all, I would have preferred more focus on any one thing, because it never felt quite epic or intimate to be truly successful.
+10 Task (Macken was born in Galway)
+5 Oldies (published 1967)
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 875
10.7 NursesMaisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
Review: I heartily enjoyed this first novel in the Maisie Dobbs series, although if I did not know I had access to a number of sequels I think I would have felt unsatisfied. The plot takes place both in Maisie’s present day, 1929, and her past, before and during World War I. The flashbacks to her past were comprehensive enough to explain what was happening in her current day, mostly as relevant to the case she is investigating, but I do wonder if it would have been more successful as two separate novels – one exploring her childhood and the war itself and another exploring the case and the aftermath of the war. I expect to go on to read more of these, and will likely feel as though many of the holes get filled in as I read the sequels.
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.5)
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 900
20.7 PersuasionSanditon by Jane Austen
Review: I had never heard of Sanditon until the makers of “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” announced their new project, “Welcome to Sanditon.” This is an unfinished novel, written just months before Austen’s death, and I found myself sad to know she never finished it. This was obviously a work in progress, and one written while Austen was sick and dying, but it hints of a turn to something slightly new and more widely drawn than most of her other novels. It promised to focus less on a family and its intimate acquaintances than on an entire town, which could have been so interesting. Sadly, it is barely started before it ends – I sensed we hadn’t even met all the main characters, so we’ll never know where it – and Austen’s career – would have ended up.
+20 Task (not published until 1925 - http://www.janeausten.co.uk/oxfords-n...)
+5 Combo (20.3)
+10 Oldies (published 1925)
+10 Review
Task Total: 45
Grand Total: 945
20.6 Northanger AbbeyThe Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie
Review: This book basically befuddled me. I think I’m missing something – either a more intimate knowledge of classic spy novels or a better understanding of English (or just Laurie’s) comedy – probably both. I read the entire story feeling like I was just barely missing something. A few things made me smirk, but in general I was just lost. The premise seems to be a play on classic tropes of spy thrillers – a man is approached to be a hit man and refuses, but then ends up in a conspiracy that spans nations (although really the Americans are the bad guys), but then foils the plans and diverts catastrophe. A lot of it was funny, but I felt like had I been watching it as a movie in a theater I would have been the person not laughing when everyone else was, and then guffawing while everyone else stayed silent.
+20 Task (Laurie is on the list of satirists)
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 975
Bea wrote: "20.5 In Honor of EmmaThe Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.3)
+5 Jumbo (676 pages)
I was a bit disappointed in this book although overall liked the story. What dia..."
+10 Jumbo, I show the most popular edition of The Historian at 734 pages. :)
From Post 69:Anika wrote: "20.1 Jane Austen
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
I was thoroughly delighted reading the story of this great man in his own words. I was impressed to hear how he had a ..."
It appears this was published posthumously:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiog...
+5 Combo
Kate S wrote: "+10 Jumbo, I show the most popular edition of The Historian at 734 pages. :)"So that will actually increase my points by 5, since I already counted 5 points for Jumbo. Thanks, Kate.
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note : this is a teen book, but I could not find this one listed at BPL at all, so I think it qua..."
You are correct, this is one of Lowery's books not shelved at BPL!