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Spring 2013 Rws Completed Tasks - Spring 2013
20.9 - Kate’s Task – HereticallyOur Man in Havana by Graham Greene
This book was great fun and I am so glad I read another book by Graham Greene. I tried The End of the Affair and really didn't like it all that much and was a bit unsure why he and that book were so popular. Our Man in Havana was a very different experience. It was often funny, full of intrigue and revolved around the life of a vacuum cleaner salesman turned reluctant spy living in Havana during the Cold War. His daughter, Millie, begs for a horse in a great father-daughter opening scene and has other expensive tastes, and that's what pulls him into the spy business. Wormold sends fake information that starts becoming too real for comfort, and his life becomes entangled in some very real sticky situations. I really enjoyed this one!
+20 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (1958)
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 445
20th Century - Chronologician15.6 Up Jumps the Devil by Margaret Maron published 1996
+15 task
+10 bonus
Tast total: 25
Grand total: 190
20th Century - Chronologician15.5 The Grub-And-Stakers House a Haunt by Charlotte MacLeod - 1993
+15 pts - Task
+10 pts - Bonus
Task Total - 25 pts
Grand Total - 435 pts
20.9 - HereticallyA Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.4 In celebration of Irish American Month - born in Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland; 20.6 In honor of Northanger Abbey)
+15 Oldies (1768)
Task total=45
Grand total=275
20.5 EmmaExcellent Women by Barbara Pym
I needed something light and easy to slip in between some of the heavier ones. The front cover of the edition I have says Pym is a 20th Century Jane Austen and the back cover said this was high comedy. Hmm. Maybe not for me after all. Oh, what the heck, I need something light and easy.
This was exactly that - light and easy. Certainly not high comedy, or at least my interpretation of that phrase. I've only read one Jane Austen (and it will forever be only one), but this isn't like what I recall of Austen.
... for I had observed that men did not usually do things unless they like doing them.
I did not then know to the extent I do now that practically anything may be the business of an unattached woman with no troubles of her own, who takes a kindly interest in those of her friends.
Told entirely in the first person, we learn to what extent Mildred Lathbury (an "excellent woman") is called upon to be involved in the lives of her friends. Three stars because this has no depth, but it was just right for slipping in between the heavier ones.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldie (pub 1952)
Task Total = 35
Grand total = 190
20.5 Emma
by Patrice Kindl. Lexile score 1050.The main character is a female-Althea Crawley and it is written by a female author-Patrice Kindl.
Task +20
Style: Review +10
Review
I did like this book. I liked the main character Althea Crawley. She had to marry well so her mother, brother, and two stepsisters could continue to live in the crumbling castle. It is Jane Austen meets Cinderella. Fortunately, their neighor's nephew and his group of young men friends are staying for a holiday vacation. Soon the nephew, Lord Boring, yes that is really his name, shows interest in Althea. She gets her hopes up only to be snatched by her sister Charity. Her dowry is worth more. When you think you have everything figured out, nothing is ever what it seems. I did find it entertaining and more pleasurable to read than any of Jane Austen's novels.
Book Total:30
Grand Total:75
Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "20.5 Emma by Patrice Kindl. Lexile score 1050.The main character is a female-Althea Crawley and it is written by a female author-Patrice Kindl.
Task +20
S..."
Please post a link to the title, not the cover. Thank you.
Repost20.5 Emma
Keeping the Castle byPatrice Kindl . Lexile score 1050.
The main character is a female-Althea Crawley and it is written by a female author-Patrice Kindl.
Task +20
Style: Review +10
Review
I did like this book. I liked the main character Althea Crawley. She had to marry well so her mother, brother, and two stepsisters could continue to live in the crumbling castle. It is Jane Austen meets Cinderella. Fortunately, their neighor's nephew and his group of young men friends are staying for a holiday vacation. Soon the nephew, Lord Boring, yes that is really his name, shows interest in Althea. She gets her hopes up only to be snatched by her sister Charity. Her dowry is worth more. When you think you have everything figured out, nothing is ever what it seems. I did find it entertaining and more pleasurable to read than any of Jane Austen's novels.
Book Total:30
Grand Total:75
Karen GHHS wrote: "20.9 - Kate’s Task – HereticallyOur Man in Havana by Graham Greene
This book was great fun and I am so glad I read another book by Graham Greene. I tried The End of the Affair and really didn't ..."
+5 Combo 10.5 Graham Greene won the Jerusalem Prize in 1981
Kate S wrote: "Karen GHHS wrote: "20.9 - Kate’s Task – HereticallyOur Man in Havana by Graham Greene
This book was great fun and I am so glad I read another book by Graham Greene. I tried The End of the Affair..."
Thank you!
Task 20.1: Author living during Austen's lifetime (1776-1817)I read Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
REVIEW: This is NOT my kind of book. I listened to the audiobook on my iPhone and it took several days at work to complete it. I just didn't like it, so I listened when I was doing boring paperwork. Mistake on my part. This almost put me to sleep a few times. I wasn't fond of the narrator, I should have just spent the money for the Jeremy Lyons version--maybe I would have been more into it. Anyway, the book is a historical novel with knights, Templars, Jews, and Christians. There were battles and romance. Although, the romance wasn't what I'm used to in modern day novels. I liked a couple of the battle scenes and the part about Robin Hood towards the end was good. Overall, I'm not giving this a "thumbs up" nor am I recommending it.
+20: task
+10: review
+5: jumbo (most popular edition 544 pps)
+15: oldies (pub. 1819)
+50:TASK TOTAL
+285:RwS TOTAL
10.4 Irish American MonthThe Gift by Cecelia Ahern
+10 Task (born in Ireland)
+5 Combo (10.3 - 'The Gift')
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 140
20th Century - Chronologician 15.2 The Space Merchants
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task total: 25
Grand Total: 40
15.1 That's SO 20th CenturyChronologician
From 1988
Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 15
15.2 That's SO 20th CenturyChronologician
From 1989
The Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 40
20.9 HereticallyTwenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.1-b. 1802)
+15 Jumbo (845 pages)
+15 Oldies (first published 1845)
Task Total: 55
Season Total: 95
20.4 Mansfield Park#15 on the Hardscrapple List
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
+20 Task
+15 Combo (10.2-listed as biography at the BPL, 20.3 4.18 rating with over 200,000 ratings, 20.5-narrated by one female)
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 130
20th Century - Chronologician 15.6 From 1995 / Lexile 980
Ironman by Chris Crutcher
+15 points
+10 bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 475
10.2 - In honor of Memory DayWhat I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
I love Haruki Murakami's fiction, but, even so, I was hesitant to read this memoir/autobiography of his experiences with running. I can't say that I was enamored with the book, but I did enjoy it. First, there was quite a bit about his writing process, and there were definite forays into ideas that turned up in 1Q84, which made the reading enjoyable. I also liked the ideas about discipline in exercise and the limitations of age and time that Murakami describes as the book progresses. I'll never be a runner, but I do enjoy walking and some of his inner thoughts will help me get back in the groove, I hope. I was also finishing up Ironman by Chris Crutcher and both involved training for a triathalon, so that connection was fun! My third connection was to the various settings. I revisited the Charles River in Cambridge where my dad took me to visit his Alma Mater, MIT, a few years back and told me of my life there when I was 3 years old. I also armchair traveled to Japan, Greece and Hawaii. Those factors put together made the book enjoyable and interesting. The writing was great: clear storytelling and description, but quite different from the magical realism in Murakami's novels. I listened to the book, and I wished it had been read by the author or by a native speaker of Japanese. I think that would have enhanced the audio.
+10 Task: B at BPL
+10 Review
+10 Non Western: Japan
Task total: 30
Grand Total: 505
Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "20.4 In Honor of Mansfield ParkThe Book of Job by Stephen Mitchell published 1987.
Hardscrabble Life, #17
Review: Mitchell gives us another translation of the book of Job. In a short introduct..."
Don, if you can muster up another sentence, please do. this review is only 89 words long.
Task 10.4: Author born in IrelandI read Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy
REVIEW: This is the third Binchy I've read in this challenge and it is by far my favorite. First of all, it is set in Greece, a place I've always wanted to visit. The descriptions of the village and surrounding area made me part of the story. Secondly, the characters are real in her writing. I can see them and hear them and want to be their friend. Lastly, everything is neatly wrapped up in this novel--happy endings for everyone. Basically, the four main characters meet by chance in Greece and are drawn together by a tragedy that doesn't involve them, but by which they are affected, nonetheless. Binchy's characters struggle with real life situations and heartaches, all is never rosey in her novels. The same is true for these unlikely travelers who become friends with the locals. Their lives intertwine so well through the writing. This was a quick and easy read, thumbs up!
+10: task
+10: review
+20: Task Total
+305: RWS TOTAL
Task 15.2 - 20th Century—Chronologician1977 Inherit the Stars (Giants #1) by James P. Hogan
Task=15
Bonus=10
Task total=25
Grand Total: 175 + 25 = 200
I'm super behind on posting here, but I've been having issues with my hand. I'm going to try and catch up in the next few days. 20.5 Emma
The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente
Review: Since reading and loving the first of Valente's Fairyland books, I've been afraid to read anything else by her for fear it wouldn't stand up. Well, the second in the series was just as charming as the first.
The story is reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland - fun and fantastical, but not without darkness. The protagonist is a child and it is a children's book, but not for very young kids. Actions have consequences, and characters can get hurt or even die, and just because it is Fairyland does not mean everything will turn out okay in the end.
These are books that demand to be read aloud, with a playfulness of language I greatly admire. I read so quickly that very few books stand out and make themselves heard in my mind - but the books in this series do. I hope someday I have a child who is old enough to appreciate the story but young enough to tolerate being read to aloud - because it's just that kind of book.
+20 Task (a girl named September is the only main character and Valente is female)
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 30
20.5 EmmaEver After by Kim Harrison
Review: I have a love-hate relationship with this series. I've been reading it for years now, and this is the 11th book, so something definitely appeals. On the other hand, the main character annoys the heck out of me, and I'm not sure the plot will ever really move forward. A lot has happened, and there has even been a certain amount of character development, but with each installment I feel like Harrison is just enjoying continuing to build new characters, abilities, and rules into the world without any real movement. In this book, at least, the majority of side characters remain as wonderful as ever, Rachel may actually be learning something, and there is some progress on the romantic front.
+20 Task (Rachel is the only narrator/MC and Harrison is female)
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 60
20th Century - Chronologician15.1 - The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn (pub 2000)
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 75
10.3 The PlusThe Likeness
This is the second book in the Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French. The main focus in this story is not Rob Ryan but his ex-partner, Cassie Maddox. Cassie is thrown undercover to live with possible murder suspects. The novel is filled with well defined characters each with their own personality, backstory, and motives. The combination of Tana French's words and Heather O'Neill's narration brought the story to life for me. I highly recommend the audiobook version. There was one downside to listening to the audio version...because of the regular use of the f-word in French's writing, I was a bit limited to when I could "listen" without earphones. ;)
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 55
20.10 InitiallyThe Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
Review:
J.K. Rowlings first book not written in the Harry Potter Universe. Knowing that this book was different from the Harry Potter books, I read it not was a book by J.K. Rowling but just as another book. So my comparison with those books stops here.
The Casual Vacancy got quite diverse reviews and I was really curious about it. The premise sounds very interesting: The death of a local council member and the consequences his death has for the small town. The now vacant seat in the council needs to be filled and private lives are overturned by the events that follow.
Unfortunately the book didn’t really draw me in until I was nearly finished. The characters (who are going through a lot, so they do have the potential to be strong, believable characters) stayed flat and colorless. Only in the last few chapters did I begin to get a feeling for the characters.
I didn’t regret reading the book, but at the moment I don’t have strong feeling in favor of re-reading it one day, either.
+ 20 Task
+ 10 Review
+ 5 Jumbo (503 pages)
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 55
20th Century - Chronologician15.7 Stone Angel by Carol O'Connell published 1997
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 215
Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "I can. The netbook I was using didn't have a way for me to check wordcount. I felt I might be short...."Thanks! :) Generally, a review needs to be at least 6 lines in a goodreads post to hit 100 words.
20th Century Chronologician15.5 -- The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler, 1st published in 1953.
+15 task points
+10 bonus
Task Points: 25 points
Grand Total: 115 points
10.8 Spell It OutTurn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time by Mark Adams
Review: Mark Adams sets out to follow the footsteps of Hiram Bingham III, the re-discoverer or popularizer of Macchu Picchu. Adams writes an easy to read, entertaining book that weaves together his own adventures with a history of Bingham, a history of the conquest of the Incas, and information on the explorations of Macchu Picchu and the area.
The characters who assist Adams along the way are delightful. John an Australian adventure tour guide who ended up in Peru; Paolo, a man who splits his time between an off-the-grid cabin in Alaska and Peru; the Cobos family who has been guiding explorers in the area for several generations.
I recommend this book to all armchair adventurers and particularly travelers who have or intend to visit the heart of the Inca empire.
+10 Task ( M ark A dams)
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Grand Total: 135
10.3 The PlusThe Sportswriter by Richard Ford
+10 Task
+5 Oldies (1986)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 145
10.5 Global Youth DayJoseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie
+10 Task (Rushdie won Commonwealth Award 2010)
+5 Combo 10.2 (listed as Biography at BPL)
+5 Jumbo (636 pgs)
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 165
10.6 Ides of MarchChild 44 by Tom Rob Smith
+10 Task (shelved as murder by 7 people, not a mystery at BPL)
+5 Jumbo (528 pages)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 180
20.6 In Honor of Northanger AbbeyThe Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
On the Satirists list
Lexile 680
The first book I've finished this season that actually fits a task :) I'm reading some longer ones slowly, to be claimed later.
These are very dark and grisly scifi stories. You're warned from the beginning that they involve death, but I didn't expect them to be quite such horrible deaths. I'm glad I don't have Ray Bradbury's imagination.
+20 Task
Task total: 20 points
Grand Total: 20
10.9 Time for DinnerGarden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
+10 Task (#8 on Food Related Fiction List)
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 190
20th Century - Chronologician15.4 - It Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, 1994
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 290
20th Century - Chronologician15.4 The Book of God by Walter Wangerin Jr – pub. 1996
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total = 25 points
Grand Total = 90 points
From Post 235Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "20.4 In Honor of Mansfield Park
The Book of Job by Stephen Mitchell published 1987.
Hardscrabble Life, #17
Review: Mitchell gives us another translation of the book of Job. If you are unfamiliar..."
This actually qualifies for +25 Oldies as a translation of an older book, the original publication date (more than 400 years ago) is being used.
From Post 245Karen GHHS wrote: "10.2 - In honor of Memory Day
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
I love Haruki Murakami's fiction, but, even so, I was hesitant to read this memoir/autobiography of hi..."
+5 Combo 10.5 Murakami won the Jerusalem Prize in 2009
Jenifer wrote: "10.3 The PlusThe Likeness
This is the second book in the Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French. The main focus in this story is not Rob Ryan but his ex-partner, Cassie Maddox. Cassie is throw..."
+10 Combo
10.4-author born in Ireland
10.6-shelved as murder by 14 people, not shelved as mystery at the BPL
20.5 - In honor of EmmaAn Autobiography by Agatha Christie
+20 Task (female writer and narrator)
+ 5 Combo (10.2 - In honor of Memory Day)
+ 5 Oldies (1977)
+ 5 Jumbo (560 pages)
Task total=35
Grand total=310
Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "Kate S wrote: "From Post 235Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "20.4 In Honor of Mansfield Park
The Book of Job by Stephen Mitchell published 1987.
Hardscrabble Life, #17
Review: Mitchell gives us anot..."
Not needed, just make a note wherever you keep track of your score. These additional points will be reflected in the totals when Kate next posts to the Readerboard.
Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "Kate S wrote: "From Post 235Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "Do I need to edit the post?..."
No, you do not need to edit your post, just be sure to update your records. :)
Task 10.2 - March 21 is Memory Day - Read a memoir/autobiography.Red Dust Road. Jackie Kay (2010) by Jackie Kay
Review: Kay is a black, gay, athiest, adopted woman who made the decision (in adulthood) to trace her white Scottish mother and black Nigerian father. Her birth parents are not what she had expected: her mother has had a “troubled” life; her father is an evangelical preacher (who constantly tries to “save” Kay). Kay’s adoptive parents had provided a warm, stable and loving home for Kay and her (adopted) brother. The result is that Kay is able to emotionally handle her encounters with her birth parents, and to handle the answers to her questions (which can be summed up as: why?). Recommended.
+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: 200 + 25 = 225
15.3 20th Century--ChronologicianThe Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, pub. 1997
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 300
Task 20.5: Female Author & Female Main Character (this is my second book for this task)I read:
Unspoken by Francine Rivers
REVIEW: This is the fourth book in Rivers' Lineage of Grace series. Unspoken is a novel with Bathsheba as the main character. As with the other books in this series, Rivers sets the stage by giving a brief Biblical history of the character and then weaves a story based on what scripture has to say about the woman's life. This story begins with Bathsheba as a young girl and follows her life through until her death. I grew up learning about Bathsheba in Sunday School, but I enjoy Rivers' adaptation of the story. She makes the characters seem real and gives them emotions. Her view of Bathsheba is a woman who sinned for love of the king. Bathsheba repents and lives her life trying to please God. These books are easy to read and I happened to get the large print edition from my local library, so it was easy even without my glasses. HA
+20: task
+10: review
+30: task total
+335: RWS TOTAL
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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)
Tess Gerritsen (other topics)
Elizabeth Bowen (other topics)
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15.5 From 1994 / Lexile 840
If I Should Die Before I Wake by Han Nolan
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 410