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Spring 2013 Rws Completed Tasks - Spring 2013
itpdx wrote: "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-discove..."
Wouldn't this get combo points for Memory Day?
10.4 In celebration of Irish American MonthA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
I have never read anything by James Joyce, but had recently heard rave reviews of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, so I decided to give it a try. I loved the first section. The voice was so well done as the author spoke to us as if he was again that young boy, with a child's limited understanding of the world and fascination with that world and the people in it. Irish history was portrayed in an interesting way as well. Unfortunately, I didn't feel that connection once I reached Part 2 and it never again really grabbed me. The prose was good, but I felt some of the passages about religion were overwritten and more suited to an essay than a novel. I didn't hate it because of the solid writing, but it's not one I would recommend to any but the most serious readers of classic fiction.
+10 Task: James Joyce born in Ireland
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (1915)
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 540
Thanks for the extra 5 - I don't know why I keep missing that one!
10.9 Time for DinnerServing Crazy with Curry by Amulya Malladi #34 on food related fiction list
Review
Devi is a loser, or so she feels, especially up against her company VP of a married sister and her start-up successful businessman father, and even her beloved G’ma who was a medical doctor in the Indian Army. After many attempts and failures at various business ventures, she has no job, no husband, and no confidence and thus decides upon suicide. Her overly critical mother finds her and saves her life, but Devi still has much to work through if she wants to stay among the living. Returning to live with her parents, surrounded by family, she confounds the usual nit-picking and arguing and bitterness by refusing to engage verbally. She begins doing something she has never done before, cooking delicious South Indian meals with the twist for the entire family on a daily basis. While she silently prepares elaborate meals and adding new ingredients to traditional dishes, she works through her grief and fear and learns appreciation for her family. There is a climatic surprise that changes everything and relationships are strengthened or severed but the animosity in these relationships seem to have lost their intensity. A story of a family in crisis, exploring complex characters in everyday relationships that can take erode the most traditional of migrant families and the strongest of cust
+ 10 pts - Task
+ 10 pts -Review
+ 5 pts - Combo (10.8 Amulya Malladi)
+ 10 pts - Non Western (author born and raised in India, went to University of Hyderbad)
Task Total - 35 pts
Grand Total - 470 pts
Rebekah wrote: "itpdx wrote: "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, ..."
Not shelved as biography at BPL.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "itpdx wrote: "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 Hir..."
oh. just wanted to help. (smile)
20.4 Mansfield Park Hard Times by Charles Dickens # 14 on Hardscrabble List
Review
The shortest novel written by Charles Dickens, this book was published in Dickens’ own periodical to books sales. He also intended to “strike the heaviest blow in my power” against the inhumane working conditions of the laboring classes in the mills and factories. He also stabs at a common philosophy at the time that children should only be educated in facts and scientific analysis and to avoid “fancy” and sentimentalism, stifling the imaginations of children at an early age and encouraging them to think first and foremost of “self-interest”. Mr. Gradgrind is a headmaster of such a school and Dickens’ gives the name to the teacher as Mr. M’Choakumchild, which says in a word what his private views were of this teaching philosophy.
Another character is Mr. Bounderby, a capitalist of the exemplary sort. He was abandoned by his mother to be raised in the streets by his abusive, drunken grandmother. Despite his sad story he becomes a wealthy mill owner in the fictitious village of Coketown, another reference to the smog polluted setting for such mills. Mr. Bounderby takes a keen liking to Mr. Gradgrind’s daughter, Louisa and as she grows up decided with her superior fact based training she is his perfect life partner although he is 30 years her senior. Mr. Gradgrind’s son, Tom works for Mr. Bounderby and begs Louisa to marry his boss in order to make his own life easier. The Gradgrinds also take in the abandoned child, Sissy Jupe who due to her unfortunate raising with a traveling circus only fails at the school’s philosophy. She sees economic questions as individuals who may suffer rather than as numbers and statistics.
Yet Mr. Gradgrind’s perfect method of educating children comes to bite him hard. Louisa ends up with a nervous breakdown, Tom embezzles from his boss/ brother-in-law’s bank, only to arrange the blame to fall on an innocent hard working millworker and Mr. Bounderby turns out not to be the man everyone supposed he was. Along with Mrs. Gradgrind, Bitzer, Mrs. Sparsit, Rachel and other supporting characters colored with Dickens’ flamboyant style of satirical personalities, the book hits at the politics, economics, events and society in the post-industrial era.
+20 pts - Task
+15 pts - Combo (20.1 1812 - 1870, 20.2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Times, 20.6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...)
+10 pts - Review
+15 pts - Oldies (1854)
Task Total - 60 pts
Grand Total - 530 pts
Camille wrote: "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..."
I read this in high school and loved it but that was when I was in my starry-eyed, Romeo and Juliet phase.
Anyway you can get 5 more combo points because it was filmed by BBC http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?t...
20.5 In Honor of EmmaEve Green by Susan Fletcher
Review:
Eight-year-old Eve Green is sent from her city life in Birmingham to grandparents in an isolated village in rural Wales when her mother dies. There she tries to rebuild roots and discover the truth about a father that nobody wants to talk about. But a village is not necessarily such a safe place...
I loved this book. It brings out the confusion and sense of loss of an orphaned child in a very restrained and yet affecting way. Many things are overstated, like her sense of guilt for her part in the events of her childhood when a girl a few years older disappeared. It's a little like Atonement in that respect - but really, Eve has a lot less to feel bad about. You perhaps don't get all the answers that some readers might expect at the end, but I think there's enough closure, and for me the prose was beautiful enough to be an end in itself.
+20 Task (Eve is the first person narrator and main character)
+10 Review
Task total: 30 points
Grand Total: 50
20.10 InitiallyHomer & Langley by E. L. Doctorow
+ 20 Task – author’s initials
+5 Combo (10.5 Winner of Common Wealth Award 2000)
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 245
Rebekah wrote: "Camille wrote: "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 t..."
THANKS! This ups that one book to 55pts overall--whoop!
20.1 Jane Austen's LifetimeThe Devil's Pool by George Sand (1804-1876)
A quick little read.
The book is divided into three parts: Introduction from the author; a story that is somewhat of a parable or fairy tale; appendices that provide information about rural life.
The introduction is a commentary on painting of a ploughman, in which a devil dances waiting for the ploughman's death. Using this, Sand complains that too much of literature is religious, and that it should be about love.
The story is a love story as can be expected and the outcome very predictable. I suspect Sand didn't think we couldn't see that predictable ending.
If you are interested in family history, and have family who lived in the provinces of France 200 or more years ago, the appendices are essential reading. They describe wedding traditions and I found them very interesting even though my family is not from that area.
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo (20.9)
+10 Review
+15 Oldie (pub 1846)
Task Total = 50
Grand Total = 275
20th Century - Chronologician15.1 Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson, pub. 1938
+15 task
Task Total: 15 points
Grand Total: 65 points
20th Century -- Chronologician15.4 Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sasson pub 1992
+15 Task
+10 bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total:
10.5 Global Youth Service DayRabbit is Rich by John Updike
+10 Task (author won the Commonwealth Prize in 1993)
+5 Oldies (orig pub 1981)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 205
10.10 Group ReadsThe Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
+10 Task
+10 Oldies (pub 1920)
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 225
20.9 HereticallyThe Devil's Pool by George Sand
Dr. Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard at the turn of the 20th century, stated that a liberal education could be obtained by spending 15 minutes a day reading from a collection of books that could fit on a five-foot shelf. In 1909, this so-called five-foot shelf of books (now known as "the Harvard Classics," compiled by Dr. Eliot in conjunction with English professor William A. Neilson) was published. Couched between Belzac and de Musset in volume 13 of the fiction collection, you will find this little gem.
It's a simple story of love lost and love found. It is a paean to the common man and the beauty and simplicity of nature. (One of my favorite lines: "And still nature is always young and beautiful and generous. She sheds poetry and beauty upon all living things, upon all the plants that are left to develop in their own way. Nature possesses the secret of happiness, and no one has ever succeeded in wresting it from her.")
The whole time I was reading it, I was trying to identify what in her style or sentiment was so subversive as to get her put on the Catholic Church's banned book list. I came up with a few things (though I'm sure I was reading way too much into the text to come up with them), but eventually realized that even had she written a deeply religious text it too would have been banned merely for having been written by "George Sand."
I've always enjoyed Sand's writing, and this was no exception.
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.1--Sand lived from 1804-1876)
+10 Review
+15 Oldies (1846)
Task Total = 50
Grand Total = 350
20th Century - Chronologician15.4 Enigma by Robert Harris
published 1994
+15 Task
+ 10 Bonus
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 270
10.10 - Group ReadThe Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
If you've seen the musical or movie you know the story - Opera Ghost terrorizes opera house managers and presents himself as an Angel of Music to the up and coming Christine Daae. He gives her lessons and tries to make her fall in love with him with some success. But then Christine's childhood friend, Raoul, appears and sweeps her off her feet, making O.G. crazy. Kidnapping ensues, etc.
The novel is more fully realized than the musical and more intricately constructed. There were some lines in the show that seemed like throwaways ("Little Lotte", "hand at the level of your eyes") that are fully fleshed out here. Raoul and Christine are still flat character-wise, but the phantom and especially the Opera building itself shine. The ending felt a little rushed but I like how all the ends were neatly tied in an epilogue.
+10 task
+10 review
+10 oldie (1910)
+5 combo (10.6 - shelved six times as murder, not a mystery)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 325
20.3 In Honor of Pride and PrejudiceThe Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
+20 Task
+5 Jumbo (692 pages)
+5 Oldies (1977)
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 255
20.6 In Honor of Northanger AbbeyThe Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
+20 Task (from list of satirists)
+5 Oldies (1983)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 300
20.1 - In honor of Jane AustenTales of Belkin by Alexander Pushkin
+20 Task (1799-1837)
+ 5 Combo (10.8 - Spell it out)
+10 Non-Western
+15 Oldies (1831)
Task total=50
Grand total=360
10.7 - Nurse itThe Minotaur by Barbara Vine
+10 Task (main character/narrator is a private-duty nurse; approved here
+10 Combo (10.3 - The plus; 20.5 - written by a woman and has a single female narrator, the nurse Kirsten)
Task total=20
Grand total=380
20th CenturyTimeline: 1990-1999
Chronologician
15.2 - Published in 1991
The Sweet Hereafter - Russell Banks
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 65
20.3 - In Honor of Pride and PrejudiceThe Fault in Our Stars - John Green
+20 task
Task total: 20
Grand total: 85
15.3 20th CenturyChronologician-1990
Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 325
15.4 20th CenturyChronologician-1991
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 350
Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "20.10 InitiallyLetters To Young Churches: A Translation of the New Testament Epistles by J.B. Phillips
Review: This excellent contemporary translation of the letters of the New Testament is wort..."
Unfortunately, this is a case of a translator, not an author and does not qualify for 20.9. You don't have a combo - but can you see whether it qualifies for another task? Have you used your Square Peg?
20.3 - Pride & PrejudiceLes Misérables by Victor Hugo
Hugo says
"The book the reader has now before his eyes -- from one end to the other, in its whole and in its details, whatever the omissions, the exceptions, or the faults -- is the march from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from false to true, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from rottenness to life, from brutality to duty, from Hell to Heaven, from nothingness to God."And that complex sentence is as good a summary of the book as any. The sentence has a main point, as the book has a main plot -- the temporal and moral journey of the main character, Jean Valjean. The sentence digresses and the book digresses -- The Battle of Waterloo, the history of convents, evolution/etymology of street slang, the Paris sewers. The sentence attempts to be all-encompassing as does the book (see list of digressions above). And quite possibly both the sentence and the book need to be re-read before the full meaning is grasped.
But what a wonderful mess of a book! Les Misérables is astoundingly well-written. The digression of the Battle of Waterloo was so engrossing, I stayed up quite late reading in order to "find out who won". (~Facepalm~ Okay, I may not have known who won, but I certainly was aware of who lost!) Les Misérables is also mind-numbingly boring -- the section on the history of convents took several days to get through; I kept falling asleep. The language was beautiful, but mostly unquotable as the ideas expressed and the images called forth would not be so delightful out of context.
I read this a few months after seeing the movie-musical and have yet to decide if that helped or hindered the reading experience. Perhaps both -- knowing the basic story helped understand the through-line during the frequent departures/shifts in narrative focus, but knowing the plot points also lessened the dramatic impact of the narrated events.
Overall, I must admitted I am surprised by the great number of ratings, and the overall high rating of this novel: I find that it rivals War and Peace (which has only 1/4 of the ratings), both in length and in the varying quality of content. I found that War and Peace was much better at portraying the historical context while Les Misérables often left me confused. However, Les Misérables, in the end, had the greater emotional impact.
+20 task
+20 combo (20.1 - born 1802, 20.2 - BBC TV series, 20.4 - Hardscrabble life, 20.9, 10.3 - The Plus)
+10 review
+15 oldies (pub. 1862)
+25 jumbo (1463 pages)
Task total: 95 points
Grand Total: 210 points
Liz M wrote: "20.3 - Pride & PrejudiceLes Misérables by Victor Hugo
Hugo says "The book the reader has now before his eyes -- from one end to the other, in its whole and in its details, whatever the omissions..."
Whoo Hoo!!!
Liz M wrote: "20.3 - Pride & PrejudiceLes Misérables by Victor Hugo
Task total: 85 points"
Congrats on the nice score!
10.8 Spell It OutThe Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (900 Lexile)
This book felt like a mash up of The Walking Dead and M. Night Shyamalan's The Village with a love triangle thrown in for good measure. It's the story of Mary and her life in a village in the middle of the Forest of Hands and Teeth, surrounded by fences which keep out the Unconsecrated (i.e.: zombies). Both of her parents have turned her only brother shuns her, blaming her for their mother's un-death. She is sent to live with the Sisters, the keepers of the religious order and of several questionable secrets. I don't want to give away too much, so I'll just kvetch about the story for a minute: it constantly felt like the author was setting up layer after layer of clues to a secret or a big reveal but it never happened. Upon completion of this book, I only have one word: Meh. It's the first book in a trilogy--a trilogy that by me will forever go unread.
+10 Task (Carrie Ryan)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.4: written by a female with a female first-person narrator)
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 375
Camille wrote: "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. Un..."
I show an addition error here:
310 (post 249)+30 (post 278)=340
itpdx wrote: "20th Century -- Chronologician15.4 Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sasson pub 1992
+15 Task
+10 bonus
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 140"
I show an addition error here:
135 (post 260)+25 (post 292)=160
Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "Switch post 101 from 10.3 to 10.2,Thank you.
No change in points."
Done! :)
20th Century - Chronologician15.5 36 Views of Mount Fuji: On Finding Myself in Japan by Cathy N. Davidson Published 1993
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 185
Kate S wrote: "Camille wrote: "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 ..."
Thanks!
Liz M wrote: "20.3 - Pride & PrejudiceLes Misérables by Victor Hugo
Hugo says "The book the reader has now before his eyes -- from one end to the other, in its whole and in its details, whatever the omissions..."
Good selection, Liz!
10.8 - Rosemary’s task – Spell it out:Six Years by Harlan Coben
I have certain mystery writers that I always enjoy, and Harlan Coben is definitely one of them. Six Years is his newest work and is a stand alone book rather than one in his series writing. I loved it! It kept me guessing. Even though there were parts I thought I had figured out, my answers were such a small part of the full scenario, that the rest of the mysteries kept me on edge until the last page was turned. I also enjoyed that the main character was a university professor. I don't know why I enjoy that setting and characterization so much, but it is definitely a favorite of mine. I also found myself tested by the blurred lines between good and evil that were a part of the story. There was one thread left loose that I would have wished to have been resolved, but it was an emotional loose end rather than a thread of the mystery. All in all, it was a great read!
+10 Task: HC
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 560
20.7 - In honor of PersuasionWoes of the True Policeman by Roberto Bolaño
As in other posthumous publications I have read, I was drawn into parts of this book and lost my focus in some sections. I enjoyed the writing and storytelling, particularly the parts directly about Amalfitano and his daughter, Rosa. I think those parts have inspired me to read 2666 which I purchased a long time ago and have never gotten around to reading. Many of the reviewers on Goodreads have said that you wouldn't know that one was unfinished. Unfortunately, I think that The Woes of the True Policeman has enough loose threads that the reader recognizes the lack of final editing and the feeling of "wholeness" just isn't there. It was still enjoyable reading, but I think it's best to know what you are in for. From other reviews, I would recommend reading this after 2666.
+20 Task: died 2003, published 2011
+10 Review
+10 Non western: Chile (but lived in Spain-does this count?)
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 600
20.10 - Elizabeth (Alaska) task – Initially:Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Wonderful book about a 10 year old with major facial deformities spending his first year in a public school. Moving and enlightening!
+20 Task: RJ 790 Lexile
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 620
20.5 In Honor of EmmaAu Revoir Liverpool by Maureen Lee
Review:
An unexpected story set in the 1930s of a young woman whose boring married life is turned upside down after a moment of passion with her stepfather. It's not an abuse story but it does highlight how the double standard operated, since Jessica loses everything and her stepfather hardly seems to suffer at all. After that, her life takes on some unexpected and rather unlikely turns and she finds herself in Paris as World War II is starting.
I enjoyed the plot although I found it very hard to believe in places. I didn't like any of the characters very much, the worst being Jessica who seemed to have no self respect and drifted into relationships with any man who fancied her. However, it was much less of a classic romance than I expected and I did appreciate that spark of unpredictability in it.
+20 Task (told from the point of view of the female main character, Jessica)
+10 Review
Task total: 30 points
Grand Total: 95
10.6 Ides of MarchGone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Review:
I ordered this from the library after reading a lot of glowing reviews on Goodreads. I did enjoy it and in some ways I think it's really exceptional. The characterisation especially is brilliant, and so is the sense of 'trial by media' that seems to be inescapable these days. But I felt it was patchy and there were some things I didn't like.
First, although I thought the actual ending (the last 5 pages) was very clever, some of the steps on the way were hard to believe. The other point, more general, is the way that women are portrayed in the book. Being a complete bitch pays in this world. It seemed a pity there was so little hope for the nice girl.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 20 points
Grand Total: 115
20.9 HereticallyThe Heart Of The Matter by Graham Greene
Canon
Review:
A short but memorable novel set in colonial Africa during the Second World War. Henry Scobie is a good and honest Catholic in a loveless marriage. When his wife wants to leave, the difficulty of finding the money for her passage to South Africa draws him into a web of deception that leads inevitably to his undoing.
There's a sense of doom hanging over Scobie all through this book, the foreshadowing almost as heavy as in some of Hardy's novels, but it's shorter so not quite so painful. There's also a sense of a loving hand being behind things; Greene seems more gentle with his tragic hero than Hardy ever is, perhaps reflecting a different view of God.
+20 Task (author is listed)
+ 5 Combo (10.5 Jerusalem Prize 1981)
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (pub. 1948)
Task total: 40 points
Grand Total: 155
20.6 In Honor Of Northanger AbbeyDecline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh
Review:
Very funny, but also very savage with a lot of racist comments - mostly made by characters who are more or less ridiculed, but still making uncomfortable reading these days.
This was Evelyn Waugh’s first novel, published in 1928. Paul Pennyfeather, the mildest of young men, is caught up in a whirlwind of events entirely accidentally, starting with being sent down from Oxford after an unlucky disgrace. Not knowing what else to do he becomes a teacher at a terrible private school somewhere in Wales.
The first half, set in the school, is the funniest. The characters work best there: the ineffectual ex-vicar, the headmaster’s larger-than-life daughters, the awful boys, the hard-drinking colleague, the butler who is not what he seems, etc. They do reappear later but there are times when Waugh seems to lose his way a little in the second half.
+20 Task (author is on satirists list)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (pub. 1928)
Task total: 40 points
Grand Total: 195
**re: message 277, switching which book I have for 15.3 (I haven't started reading my book for 15.4 yet, so am still on track as a Chronologician)**15.3 20th Century--Chronologician
Blue Jelly: Love Lost & the Lessons of Canning by Debby Bull, pub. 1997
Grand Total is still 375
10.9 Time for DinnerThe Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a little bit Orlando (our main character has different names, different lifetimes, different bodies she inhabits), a touch of One Hundred Years of Solitude (that sense of barely wading through reality, the glorious magical realism), a dash of Like Water for Chocolate (a girl who is not allowed to choose for herself...but ends up defying tradition to choose other eventually. And the spices work the same kinds of magic that food did in LWfC), and a whole lot of Indian tradition.
I picked this up because I adored Divakaruni's One Amazing Thing and was curious to read another of her books. I didn't read any synopses or the jacket cover--I wanted to be completely surprised and submersed in the story with no idea where it was going. Was not even close to disappointed. Ultimately a story about choosing your own path and the different kinds of love we experience in this life.
+10 Task (#15 on Food-Related Fiction)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.5: female author and narrator/main character)
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 400
10.4 Irish AuthorI read Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy
My Review:
You know, they always say, “You can’t choose your family” but in this case, you can. This book exemplifies the fact that family isn’t limited to a biological connection and you don’t even have to live in the same house. I loved this book! When Noel finds out that he is going to be a single father, he needs all the help he can get. What he finds is an awesome community that becomes his family. The number of people that love, care for, and defend Frankie and Noel is innumerable. With the addition of a nosey social-worker, Moira, who thinks that Frankie needs to be with a two-parent family and is sure that Noel is an un-fit father, the group of misfits grows even closer together to defend this father and his child. I highly recommend this book to everyone! It is heartwarming and just a great read all-around.
Task +10
Review +10
Task Total: 20
GRAND TOTAL: 70
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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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Cigarettes by Harry Mathews
This is written in such an interesting format. The description is deceiving, and the story nowhere near as confusing as is made out. It is, however, a story of relationships - many more than those of Allan, Maud, and Elizabeth. Each chapter is the relationship of two of the characters. It has great characterization in the context of those relationships. I hesitate to say there is a good plot. Perhaps it is better to say there is a good vehicle for tying these relationships one to the other.
Though the coupling itself is not graphic (with one 3-line exception), these are a rather lusty bunch. We are informed of the sometimes unusual situations in which the sex occurs - in one chapter, disturbingly so.
Not all of the relationships are sexual. There are both sibling and parent/child relationships. Another disturbing chapter includes a young woman's psycosis as the result of Grave's disease. It was difficult reading.
This book happened in my life at just the right moment. Early on I identified it as 5 stars, as it is powerfully written. The epilogue connected me to the ending in a very personal way.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldie (pub 1987)
Task Total = 35
Grand Total = 225