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Spring 2013 Rws Completed Tasks - Spring 2013
Joanna wrote: "20.7 PersuasionThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Review:
Simon Vance, how I adore you. I don't think I would have much liked this book if I'd read the kindle edition, which I also..."
Simon Vance is one of my favorite readers too!
20.5 EmmaJane and the Man of the Cloth by Stephanie Barron
Review
This is second in a series of Jane Austen mysteries. The book is written as if it was part of the long-lost diaries of Austen, with events unfolding day by day. The author cleverly includes historical and literature footnotes to further explain Jane’s diary entries as the editor of the diary. Although her adventures are much more hazardous than those of the heroines in her books, she has the wit, the forethought and is intrepid as any of her female heroines. In the diary itself, she likens herself to a heroine of Ann Radcliffe, an author she both read and used in her book, Northanger Abby. Fun book for a poolside read or for a cozy, rainy evening at home by the fire.
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Review
Task Total - 30 pts
Grand Total - 365 pts
10.8 SPELL IT OUT(Authour's initials - P.R.)
Nemesis by Philip Roth
This is my first experience reading Philip Roth. It is a slight novel but it packs a wallop.
Intially I was struck by the simplicity of the writing – it almost seems old-fashioned.
The story is set in the scorching hot summer of 1944 in Newark. 23-year-old Bucky Cantor runs the summer playground program keeping the children entertained and active. Bucky has been omitted from serving in WWII due to his poor eyesight. This is something he feels guilty about, so the conscientously throws him self into his summer job. He has a girl friend working at a summer camp in the Poconos and a loving grandmother at home. But then the virulent scourge polio strikes the community and begins infecting the chilren at the playground.
Philip Roth does a wonderful job of setting the scene as the fear and paranoia gradually take hold of the community. I felt caught up in the fear, and wondered how I would have handled it had I been a parent or child in such circumstances. A curious thing about the novel is the perspective from which it is told. It initially appears to be first person, but not Bucky telling the story. Then it fades away to third only to reappear later as first. The second section of the book is third person. By the final part of the book the narrator is revealed. It is a curious device and one I am still mulling over.
I know that Roth is considered by many to be one of America’s greatest living novelists. I have no way of commenting on that sentiment based on reading this one novel. However I do find this book worthy of contemplation.
+10 Task
+10 Review
TOTAL = 195
Kate S wrote: "From Post 116Arow wrote: "20.3 - In honor of Pride & Prejudice
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
202,328 rating/4.09 avg
Review:
The Guernsey Literary and ..."
Thank you for catching that! I had skimmed by that task when looking at combo points.
10.1 Square pegLeaving Las Vegas by John O'Brien
Review:
I am not really sure where to start nor do I think I can do the story of Leaving Las Vegas justice with my review. But I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and hands down give it 5 shining stars. I realized after I finished the book that this was his first novel and that he committed suicide four years later. I do plan on reading his other works, which were all published posthumously. If Leaving Las Vegas is anything to go by I don’t think I will be disappointed.
We are brought into the world of Sera who appears on the surface to be a fairly well put together women who has lead a hard life but is at peace with herself and really just wants to get through her work each day to spend her free time gambling which is the only thing that seems to give her pleasure. She seems at peace with herself and her life.
We follow Sera through a series of events that are heart warming and wrenching and at times make you happy not to be her and thankful that you can’t ever know what she is talking about but glad that you were given a chance to try and understand and relate.
Then we are introduced to Ben, as much as we are supposed to dislike Ben there really is no way you can. At least I couldn’t. I just wanted him to have what he desired which wasn’t a lot. He just wanted to drink. That’s all. Undisturbed, not judged, just left alone to his own devices and his own decision on how to spend the rest of his life.
The story eventually brings them together and their shared moments in time are a glimpse of how two strangers can offer each other more emotional support than anyone could ever provide before in their lives for such a short time. A truly beautiful story that I am glad I read.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 125
20th Century - Chronologician15.1 - Foundation by Isaac Asimov, pub. 1951
+15 task
Task Total: 15 points
Grand Total: 15 points
20.5 EmmaMatched by Ally Condie
Task Total = 20 (Narrator/Main Character and author both female)
Grand Total = 235
Jane from BC wrote: "10.8 SPELL IT OUT(Authour's initials - P.R.)
Nemesis by Philip Roth
This is my first experience reading Philip Roth. It is a slight novel but it packs a wallop.
Int..."
Hey, Jane!
You can also claim +5 Combo for 10.5--Roth won the Commonwealth Prize for Literature in 2001
Anika wrote: "Jane from BC wrote: "10.8 SPELL IT OUT(Authour's initials - P.R.)
Nemesis by Philip Roth
This is my first experience reading Philip Roth. It is a slight novel but i..."
Hey Anika,
Thanks for the catching this. Do I edit my completed task for the book or add it in a separate message?
Jane from BC wrote: "Anika wrote: "Jane from BC wrote: "10.8 SPELL IT OUT(Authour's initials - P.R.)
Nemesis by Philip Roth
This is my first experience reading Philip Roth. It is a slig..."
You don't have to do either, Jane. You will, however, want to make a note of it wherever you keep track of your own points. The scorekeeping db has this author and will award your points.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Jane from BC wrote: "Anika wrote: "Jane from BC wrote: "10.8 SPELL IT OUT(Authour's initials - P.R.)
Nemesis by Philip Roth
This is my first experience reading Phili..."
OK, thanks Elizabeth! I will update my records.
15.1 20th Century--ChronologicianThe Oldest Map with the Name America: New and Selected Poems by Lucia Perillo, pub. 1999
Task Total = 15
Grand Total = 250
20th Century - Chronologician15.2 - Unfinished Business by Nora Roberts, 1992
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 240
Task 20.4: In honor of Mansfield Park, read a book about the hardscrabble life (top 25) or the underclass (top 50).Read The Good Earth (★★★★, 18 Mar '13)|#3 on The Hadrscrabble Life list
Review:
The Good Earth was a surprisingly good read. I've been watching this book being featured on several recommended lists but somehow I didn't warm up to the idea of reading about a story set in rural China. I couldn't have been more mistaken with the idea of it not being appealing.
Although it takes place in a rural setting and is a simple story of a peasant and his life, this is hardly a light book. It is the best of what a family saga can offer: the struggles of a poor peasant as he toils away at a land that in turn floods and then faces severe drought. It is the tale of the ultimate sacrifice by a woman, one so dedicated to her husband and his love for land that she leaves the fields for a couple of hours to give birth and comes back with a hoe right after.
In this story Wang Lung is not the hero. Nor is he a villain. He is just a man. A man with the same emotions of love and lust as any other. And when he gives up his loyal wife O-Lan for another, your heart breaks for this woman who has been nothing but the best wife she could be. But Wang Lung is not evil. He suffers in his wife's ailment and is lost once she's gone.
Through his dedication, his land reaps him harvests of the kind that allows him to prosper and Wang Lung is in time a rich man. His wealth is famed and there is no dearth of any kind in his household. But his children are a generation removed from the land. They do not regard it in the same manner as their father. And it is this disregard that eventually shall herald their downfall.
The book is full of scenes that will make you stop and visualize the intensity of the moment. The love of Wang Lung for his fool of a daughter who is not quite right in the head and the night when she's left outdoors for he forgets to bring her in, or of O-Lan and her kids begging in the streets, of the old father-in-law weeping at the sight of his bedridden daughter-in-law or of Wang Lung trying to endlessly drug his uncle and his wife to avoid their interference.
The Good Earth is a classic. It may be set in China in the 1930s, a time and place far removed from today, but its relevance is hardly lost. Highly recommended!
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (Published in 1931)
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 140
20th Century - Chronologician15.5 Killing Critics by Carol O'Connell published 1995
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 140
Sanz wrote: "Task 20.4: In honor of Mansfield Park, read a book about the hardscrabble life (top 25) or the underclass (top 50).Read The Good Earth (★★★★, 18 Mar '13)|#3 on The Hadrscrabble Life list
[bookco..."
Thank you for the link to the title. Please include the author in your post, preferably with a link. The cover is unnecessary, but some members may like seeing it.
10.10 Group ReadsSnow by Orhan Pamuk
This book came to my attention nearly 4 years ago, soon after I became a member of Goodreads. So, when it came up as an option for this quarter's challenge, I happily put it on my list. I was too stubborn to put it down.
The prose is pedestrian and uninteresting, occasionally boring. There is no real character development. The women are beautiful (or fat), and one of the important, but minor, characters has blue eyes. That doesn't count as character development.
My biggest objection, however, is content. There was frequent, hate-filled dialogue from political Islam constituting an attack on the West. To be fair, this did not come from the main character. In fact, he was usually the target of this hate speech as representing the atheistic west. I didn't know he was an atheist until told so, long after he realized that snow made him think of God. I found it unbelievable that right out of nowhere would an atheist think of God when he saw snow.
This is on Boxall's 1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die. Opinions vary. My opinion is that you would die more easily and happily without having read this.
+10 Task
+10 Non-Western
+10 Review
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 95
20th Century - Chronologicalian15.4 Show Business by Shashi Tharoor - 1992
+15 pts - Task
+10 pts - Bonus
Task total - 25 pts
Grand Total - 390 pts
In Post 153 Christine wrote: "10.3 The PlusThe Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
ReviewTask = 40
Grand total = 105"
This book is listed as YA Assignment and has a Lexile of 780. It is not eligible for style points.
20.5 - In honor of EmmaBlack Girl/White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
+20 Task (written by a woman and has a single female narrator)
+5 Combo (10.5)
Task total=25
Grand total=180
Task 10.4 - March is Irish American Month – Read a book by an author who was born in IrelandAnne Enright was born in Dublin, Ireland
The Forgotten Waltz: A Novel (2011) by Anne Enright
2012 Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction
Review:This novel is the story of an affair, told in detail by our first-person narrator, Gina. The prose used by the author draws you into the story. Our narrator, on the other hand, pushes you away from the story. She’s very unlikeable, to the point where one feels sorry for the people she interacts with (her parents, 10 year old girls, the men in her life, her sister, etc.). It was interesting to read about the backdrop to the story – Ireland, 2006-2010. The characters, both the main and the supporting ones, are benefiting from the booming Irish economy at the start of the novel, and suffering from the collapsed economy at the end of the novel. I suspect this is meant to mirror unlikeable Gina’s relationships.
Recommended for those who wish to read all Orange Prize Nominees, and for those who appreciate style and can tolerate unlikeable narrators.
+10 Task
+05 Style:1. Combo (5 points) (20.5 female writer, single female narrator)
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points)
Task Total: 10 + 05 + 10 = 25
Grand Total: 125 + 25 = 150
Paula wrote: "Nick wrote: "20th Century - Chronologician15.5 - Foundation by Isaac Asimov, originally pub. 1951
+15 task points
+10 bonus
Task Total: 25 points
Grand total: 65 points"
If you're at 15.5 and..."
My mistake -- I was not at 15.5. I was at 15.3, and 65 total points was correct. My next post will be 15.4.
20th Century Chronologician15.4 -- Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie, 1st published in 1952.
+15 task points
+10 bonus
Task Points: 25 points
Grand Total: 90 points
From Post 133Karen GHHS wrote: "20th Century - Chronologician
15.4 From 1993 / Lexile 800
Missing Angel Juan by Francesca Lia Block
This is a change from my original plan. I realized I had read that book before.
+15 Task
+10 ..."
I show an addition error here:
220 (post 120)+25 (this post)=245
No need to change anything, just an update for your recoreds. :)
Kate S wrote: "From Post 133Karen GHHS wrote: "20th Century - Chronologician
15.4 From 1993 / Lexile 800
Missing Angel Juan by Francesca Lia Block
This is a change from my original plan. I realized I had rea..."
Thanks, Kate, got it!
10.1 - Square peg:The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan
When I was growing up, we had copies of some of Degas' paintings of ballerinas on our walls. I took ballet and envisioned a beautiful world for these lovely dancers. When I read The Painted Girls, I thought I would be immersed in the intersecting worlds of art and dance and I was, but it was a much darker world than I expected. The story is narrated by two sisters making different choices about how to survive their poverty without losing all of their dreams for a future. Buchanan writes in an engaging style and I was impressed by her abilities in describing a sometimes dismal environment with beautiful language. I will never look at the art of Degas or his contemporaries in quite the same way and I am glad that the status of women in the arts and in life has improved.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 285
20.3 - In honor of Pride & PrejudiceInsurgent by Veronica Roth Low Lexile
+20 Task: 118,318 and 4.30 Rating
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 305
20th Century - Chronologician15.4 I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven published 1967 (Lexile 1080)
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task total +25
GRAND TOTAL = 225
[I have added in the extra 5 points I missed from message 172, Task 10.8]
20.10 InitiallyJudgement Call by J.A.Jance
+20 task
+5 combo - 20.5 In Honor of Emma
Task total: 25
Grand total: 165
15.2 20th Century--ChronologicianRules of the Road by Joan Bauer (Lexile 850), pub. 1998
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 275
20th Century - Chronologician15.2 Lost and Found by Jim Lehrer, pub. 1991
Task=15
Bonus=10
Task total=25
Grand total=205
Task 10.9: Food-related FictionI read Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy
REVIEW: This is the second book I've read by Binchy and it won't be the last. Her writing style is easy to read and her characters are so relatable, I feel as if I know these people and they are my friends. Some of the plot twists are predictable, but there were a couple that weren't. I was left wondering about whether or not Hannah and Jock found out the truth about Walter and Amanda. In both of the books I've read there have been real times of heartache and happiness. I like that about her writing, everything isn't peachy, it's sometimes messy and real. Overall, this is a nice, easy, relaxing story and I liked the twins and their antics. The last few pages wrap the relationships up rather neatly and are resolved to the refers satisfaction. I have two more of her books on my challenge task list, so I can't wait to get to them soon.
+10: task
+5: combo (10.4--author born in Ireland)
+10: review
+5: jumbo (549 pps.)
+30: task total
+210: RWS TOTAL
10.1 Square PegThe Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith
This is the fictional diary of late nineteenth century life in suburban London. People haven’t changed much in the last 120 years. My husband and I are just as socially inept as Charles and Carrie Pooter. Like them, we find it difficult to arrive at functions at the correct time and dressed appropriately. I know many families with children like the Pooter’s son Lupin (who decided he no longer wanted to be known as Willie). As always, the diary is a good format for humour, allowing the diarist a free scope to choose the emphasis placed on any event, and Pooter places unnecessary emphasis on the slightest affront and weakest joke (which he usually repeats when he doesn’t get a laugh on the assumption that no one recognised it as a joke). Altogether this was a light and fun read which is just as funny today as it was a hundred years ago.
+ 10 Task –
+10 Review
+ 10 Oldies published 1892
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 200
Task 20.3 - Read a book by an author whose given names are usually published as initials only. Read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (★★★★★, 22 Mar '13)
Review
It is the summer with the Dursley's back at Privet Drive after his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, when Harry Potter meets Dobby. Dobby is a house-elf, a lowly servant, who comes to meet Harry and warn him of a grave danger that is about to unfold at Hogwarts that year, which is why Harry must not go to back to school. But Harry refuses to listen to the elf as Hogwarts is the only place that makes him feel at home. So Dobby, in a bid to save Harry's life, keeps getting in his way often putting him in harm's way instead.
As Harry finds himself with his friend Ron at the King's Cross station, barricaded from entering platform 9 3/4, in a state of panic, the two attempt to reach Hogwarts in Mr. Weasley's flying car. Their grand entry at Hogwarts is hardly met with a warm welcome as the two find themselves facing detention.
It is during this detention that Harry begins to hear voices that no one else can hear. Soon, there are attacks on the students being made by some invisible monster. A legend crops up, of a Chamber of Secrets. One of the founders of the school, Salazaar Slytherin is believed to have constructed this Chamber at school and left in its bowels a monster that would purge the school of Muggle borns. Only the heir of Slytherin can unleash this monster and it had been done once before, fifty years ago leaving a Muggle girl dead. After all these years, the heir is back again.
Harry's courage is once more put to the test as he finds out why he can hear voices that no one else can, that he has an ability that is extremely rare in the magical world and that the legend of the Chamber of Secrets is not a legend after all.
With his two best friends Ron and Hermione, Harry will have to face this monster and once more come face to face with his enemy of past, present and future - Lord Voldemort.
Many mysteries, many discoveries... the second book in the series is just as interesting as the first one. Reading it again for the millionth time doesn't make it any less entertaining.
+20 Task
+5 Combo (Qualifies for 20.10, Author initials J.K.)
+10 Review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 175
20.2 Sense and SensibilityThe Red and the Black by Stendhal (1783-1842)
This is a real page-turner, but not as satisfying as the other French authors which have become my favorites. This is a story of ambition, and not merely the ambition of Julien Sorel, the main character. It is also the story of the individual ambitions of the clergy and even of the wealthy class. At least that's what I think Stendhal wanted it to be about.
I think also Stendhal was trying to reflect the Parisian society that he hated. He was adamant that no one said anything in the society drawing rooms. People had no personality and were sheep. (Ha! That sounds like an awful story - it isn't.) Julien Sorel is from the provinces and he knows nothing of society. He has no sense of propriety, and, although he does recognize this isn't his place, he tries to make the best of having landed among these people of far greater wealth and status but of far lesser intellect and imagination.
This is on the list of books prohibited by the Catholic Church (entire Index cancelled in 1966 by Pope Paul VI). To say that it presents the catholic clergy in a poor light would be an understatement. We meet many clergy throughout the book, who were variously hypocritical, malevolent, avaricious, and/or merely ambitious. Add to that adultery and an affair out of wedlock, and I'm sure it was just too much for Rome.
+20 Task (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet_...
+10 Combo (20.1, 20.9)
+10 Review
+15 Oldie (pub 1830)
+ 5 Jumbo (607 pgs)
Task Total = 60
Grand Total = 155
20.9 HereticallyThe End of the Affair by Graham Greene
Review:
Colin Firth. Amazing. Totally perfect narration of this book. I'd listen to him read anything at all really. And the writing was good in a technical sense. But I didn't like the characters, I didn't really feel sympathy for them or their choices, and I didn't much care about the angsty pseudo-religious discussions. While Greene is a far superior writer, I felt about this sort of the same way I felt about the Paulo Coelho books that I've read: yes, there is some ethical/moral/religious issue that the author is struggling with and has written a novel to try to hit the reader over the head with it. Well and good, but without characters interesting enough to get me to care about the issue, I just end up focused on how little I like or care about the story. Then, despite the long philosophizing/moralizing, I walk away feeling like I wasted my energy on the book.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (published 1951)
+5 Combo (10.5 - Jerusalem Prize 1981)
Task total: 40
Grand total: 180
okk...bear with me....this is my first post in a LONGGGG time! I will try to post it correctly!10.8 Spell it out Blue Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews (Author's initials: MA)
My Review:
Blue Christmas is a charming little book about a Southern town. The main character is an antique store owner. The main street community is having a store-front window contest and the theme for Weezie’s store window is “Blue Christmas.” There is a little romance, lots of comedy and a little mystery. When a “bag lady” appears in Weezie’s window and steals food from her kitchen, the two make an unlikely connection. Through Weezie’s empathy and kindnesses, the homeless woman begins “trading” things with her and we find out that she has an unexpected connection to one of the characters as well. This is a cute story and an easy read.
Task +10
Review +10
Task total = 20
GRAND TOTAL: 20 points
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: ":-) Welcome back Deana!"Thank you! I am trying to find more time to read!!! I have always enjoyed the challenges and so appreciate all that goes into creating and maintaining them!
20.5 Single female (In honor of Emma) Notorious Nineteen by Janet EvanovichStephanie Plum is the single female/main character
My Review:
Stephanie Plum is back! This is probably one of the series that I enjoy reading the most! I know I have laughed out loud at more of these books than any other. This installment centers around a missing person (literally went in the hospital for an appendectomy and disappeared) who had embezzled millions of dollars from an assisted living facility. Take the missing person, add the skip-tracing Stephanie Plum and her sidekick Lula (plus Grandma)....her on-again, off-again boyfriend Joe and sometimes boss hearthrob Ranger, and it is just fun fun fun! Stephanie Plum is probably one of the most inept people for that job, but with a little help and a lot of luck, she usually gets the job done. Of course, she usually blows up a car or two in the process. They do end up finding the missing money in a very unexpected way. A great read and a happy ending!
Task +20
Review +10
Task Total: 30
GRAND TOTAL 50
20.6 Northanger AbbeyNow And Forever: Somewhere A Band Is Playing & Leviathan '99 by Ray Bradbury
+ 20 Task –author on list of satirists
Task Total = 20
Grand Total = 220
10.2 - In honor of Memory DayNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
+10 Task - Lexile 1080
+15 Oldies (1845)
Task total=25
Grand total=230
20th Century - Chronologician15.3 - Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton, 1993
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 265
20.1 - In honor of Jane AustenMaria: or, The Wrongs of Womanby Mary Wollstonecraft
Reading Maria was an interesting experience. At times it felt like I was reading a recently published author writing about a past time in the lives of women because Maria's thoughts seemed incredibly modern. I was also fascinated by the unfinished nature of the story. It was at times disjunct, but this could be forgiven knowing that Mary Wollstonecraft did not consider the book edited or complete at the time of her death. There were scenes that drew me completely into Maria's story and also times when the philosophizing went on too long for my taste. I wish it was possible to read her completed work the way she intended it to be, but I am also glad that I got a view into a certain point in time during her writing process.
+20 Task: Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
+10 Combo: 20.5 - In honor of Emma / 20.7 - In honor of Persuasion
+10 Review
+15 Oldies (1798)
Task Total: 55
Grand Total: 360
10.3 - The plusThe Tent by Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood has a fantastic way with words. I loved interspersing the essays in this book with my reading of the early feminist novel, Maria by Wollstonecraft. It reminded me of the old saying "the more things change, the more they stay the same" in some ways. The female voice and the rights of women have indeed progressed, but it was almost eerie how many of the same male vs female behaviors were described in both books. There was also variety in Atwood's essays, though, and sometimes they were left open-ended, giving the reader the chance to fill in her thoughts after the last page of each essay was turned. Add Atwood's own drawings to the mix and you have a wonderful and unique collection! I loved reading this gem and I highly recommend Atwood's work.
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo: 10.8 - Rosemary’s task – Spell it out MA
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 385
Task 15.3: That's So 20th CenturyI read Alice in Bed by Cathleen Schine
+15: task
+10: Chronological (1983)
+25: task total
RWS TOTAL: 235
Task 10.2 - March 21 is Memory Day - Read a memoir/autobiography.Found (2011) by Jennifer Lauck
Review:This is Jennifer Lauck's fourth memoir about her difficult childhood, but the only one of her memoirs that I have read. The first 2/3rds of the book revisits events described in earlier memoirs – her unsettled childhood (made unsettled by the unexpected deaths of her adoptive parents, and the reluctance of her adoptive parents' siblings to accept her as a full member of their family), her failed romances, her marriage & divorce, and her religious faith (Tibetan Buddhism). She adds occasional passages about her birth parents during the first 2/3rds. The last 1/3rd focuses on her reunion with her birth mother, and her contacts with her DNA relatives (siblings, cousins, etc.). Ms. Lauck apparently believes that babies need their birth moms, DNA rules, adoptive mothers are just not as good. In this memoir she blames her unsettled childhood on her separation from her birth mother rather than on the loss of her adoptive parents as a young child. Overall, this memoir reads quickly and communicates well the author’s point of view. Most of this memoir repeats her earlier memoirs, so, I’d just pick one of her memoirs to read, and since this is her latest (and thus most up-to-date) memoir, this is the one I'd choose.
+10 Task
+05 Style:1. Combo (5 points) (20.5 female writer, single female narrator)
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points)
Task Total: 10 + 05 + 10 = 25
Grand Total: 150 + 25 = 175
10.4 Irish American MonthAn Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor the author was born and raised in Northern Ireland
Review
What a treat to listen to this as an audiobook! John Keating is the perfect reader for this book. I really hated it when I came to the end. Thank goodness there are six more books in this series. The annoying part for others was my calling anything small “wee”, anything good, “grand”, my husband, “Himself” and saying “I will so I will” because even when I wasn’t listening to the book the delightful voices of the characters wouldn’t get out of my head! This is a tale of a newly minted young doctor who accepts a trial job working with a country GP in the village of Ballybucklebo. (Love that name!) Similar in style to James Herriot’s veterinarian books placed in Yorkshire, this book about people doctors in such a quaint village and the usual cast of eccentric residents makes you feel all cozy and ends up with a sigh of comfort and pleasure.
+10 pts - task
+10 pts - review
Task total - 20 pts
Grand Total - 410 pts
20th Century-Chronologician15.3 Regeneration by Pat Barker (1991)
My Review
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task total: 25
Grand Total: 115
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
The Betrothed (other topics)Brighton Rock (other topics)
The Princess Diaries (other topics)
Insatiable (other topics)
The Storyteller (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Alessandro Manzoni (other topics)Graham Greene (other topics)
Meg Cabot (other topics)
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Elizabeth Bowen (other topics)
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Review:
Simon Vance, how I adore you. I don't think I would have much liked this book if I'd read the kindle edition, which I also seem to have. But listening to Simon Vance read it was lovely. He does such a great job with the voices for the different characters and cruises past the tricky names without stumbling. He's really one of my favorite audiobook narrators.
That said, I don't quite get what all the fuss is about with this book. I found it entertaining enough, but I didn't find it worthy of it's international fame. The female lead character seems interesting if somewhat screwed up, but not so unusual to be worthy of the number of readers for the book. I also don't understand the idolization of her as a feminist role model. Um, no thanks actually. Just because she's seeking revenge doesn't make her own violence excusable. The graphic scenes were pretty graphic, but didn't really bother me in the context of the novel.
I have the rest of the trilogy also on audiobook and also read by Simon Vance, so I'm looking forward to more hours of his lovely narration as I finish out the trilogy.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.3 - 4.03 rating, 600K+)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 140