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Spring 2013 Rws Completed Tasks - Spring 2013
20.10 - Initially:Dead Poets Society by N.H. Kleinbaum
Review:
I need to learn to read more about novels prior to reading them; although maybe it is a good thing that I do not. I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Dead Poets Society' by N.H. Kleinbaum, I was very impressed with how the film makers stayed true to the novel. It was only after I finished reading the story that I realized that the book was based upon the movie not the other way around. Due to this there is not much I can say about this story other than if you loved the movie then you will love the book.
The story follows a group of teenage boys through their junior year at an all boy’s prep school in Vermont who learn to think for themselves and discover what life can actually be about. They learn to do this by working with and listening to their new English teacher John Keating who use to attend the Welton Academy and who was a key member of The Dead Poets Society when he attended the school. It is through this club that the boys grow together and start to enjoy all that life can offer. It is a true coming of age story with laughter, joy, happiness and discovering the pain and heartache that goes along with that.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grant Total: 190
20.10 - InitiallyFifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.5 - female author, female narrator)
+5 Jumbo (514 pages)
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 220
20th Century Chronologician15.6 -- The Lake by Yasunari Kawabata, 1st published in 1954.
+15 task points
+10 bonus
Task Points: 25 points
Grand Total: 140 points
20.3 - In honor of Pride & PrejudiceThe Fault in Our Stars by John Green
+20 Task (4.53 on 188,500 ratings)
Task total=20
Grand total=410
20.2 Sense and SensibilityGreat Expectations by Charles Dickens
+20 Task http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?t...
+10 Combo (20.1, 20.6)
+15 Oldies (1860)
+5 Jumbo (505 pages)
Post Total: 50
Season Total: 400
20.4 Mansfield ParkThe White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
+20 Task (#42 on Underclass List)
+5 Combo (10.6-shelved as murder 9 times, not mystery at BPL)
+10 Non-Western (India)
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 455
20.2 Sense and SensibilityCranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
I saw the BBC miniseries years ago and was excited to read the book. I'd forgotten just about everything of the story except for the feeling I had when watching it, how it made me feel--for lack of a better word--quite content. (Well, I remembered that...and the casting of Dame Judi Dench as Matty.)
The story is told by Miss Mary Smith, a friend who frequently visits from Manchester. I loved that it wasn't told by someone from Cranford so that she was able to relay events without too much prejudice (though we know that Mary is close to Miss Matty, whom she stays with on her visits to Cranford, so things are slightly skewed in deference to Matty) and also with the view of someone from a larger town so that her eyes are open to the fact that so many of the Cranford ladies' mountains are in fact merely mole hills (which lends the book much of its humor). It documents the heartbreaks and petty grievances, the deaths and births and marriages, the devastations and triumphs and everyday domestic drudgeries of the denizens of the town.
This is perhaps heretical to admit, but I much prefer Gaskell's writing to Austen's. I quite fell in love with the whole town of her creation in a way that I never have been able to with Austen (except, perhaps, Pride and Prejudice).
+20 Task (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranford...)
+10 Review
+10 Combo
-20.1 (1810-1865)
-20.5 (written by a woman; single female first-person narrator)
+15 Oldies (pub. 1851)
Task Total = 55
Grand Total = 455
Task 15.3 - 20th Century—Chronologician1976 A World Out of Time (The State #1) by Larry Niven
Task=15
Bonus=10
Task total=25
Grand Total: 225 + 25 = 250
*CORRECTED POSTTask 20.9: Heretically
I read The Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces by Jonathan Swift
REVIEW:
I bought this book as the first iBook on my new iPad (aren't I fancy?). I love the highlight feature and made many highlights in this book. First, I thought the battle of the books in the library was very humorous. The abilities and traits of each book were directly related to the author or content. Another funny part to me was the poem about Stella, until I realized she died and was an actual friend of Swift. An additional funny poem was the one with beasts described with human qualities. (I've been out of the classroom a long time, but I think it's called personification. Someone correct me, please.) Secondly, I enjoyed the accurate descriptions of different people in the essay on conversations--300+ years later and we are all still the same. Lastly, my favorite, and most highlighted part, was the thoughts on various subjects at the end. These were very thought-provoking and humorous, as well. I will end this review with my favorite quote, Swift's definition of SATIRE: "Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own"--funny stuff.
+20: task
+10: review
+10: combo (10.4--born in Dublin & 20.8--satirists)
+20: oldie (all works in this collection were originally published between 1704-1732)
+60: TASK TOTAL
+400: RwS TOTAL
20th Century - Chronologician15.8 Butchers Hill by Laura Lippman published 1998
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 285
Camille wrote: "Task 20.9: HereticallyI read The Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces by Jonathan Swift
REVIEW:
I bought this book as the first iBook on my new iPad (aren't I fancy?). I love the highlight..."
+5 Combo for 20.8 - he's on the Satirists list, too.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Camille wrote: "Task 20.9: HereticallyI read The Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces by Jonathan Swift
REVIEW:
I bought this book as the first iBook on my new iPad (aren't I fancy?). I lo..."
I just caught that! I was headed back to edit! HA Should I edit or just make my own note?
Camille wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Camille wrote: "Task 20.9: HereticallyI read The Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces by Jonathan Swift
REVIEW:
I bought this book as the first iBook on my new i..."
Edit will be fine - this book will be included in the *next* scorekeeping session.
20.10 Initially The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Review
It was pure pleasure to listen to this classic on audiobook narrated by Rob Inglis! This is a favorite of mine along with Lord of the Rings that I read straight through during a long summer before I could drive. I loved it then but to hear it on audiobook was special. There are lots of songs by different races, elves, dwarfs, and goblins that are written out in the print version in lyrical form. In this edition, a fin tenor actually sang these songs. Where he got the music I don’t know. The narrator was a genius in using different voices for the different characters. I recently bought the DVD for y twins but I think I’ll have them listen to the audiobook first for the richness and magic of the actual prose.
+20 pts - Task
+
and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077687/?... 2 0f several productions
+10 pts - Review
+10 pts - Oldies (first pub in 1937)
Task Total -
Grand Total -
10.3 The PlusThe Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips
Review
Talk about unreliable narrators, this book has three! As you read their letters, journals, cables etc., you can see all three are mad, delusional and egotistical. Arthur Phillips wrote another book called Arthur, which had a premise very much the same as this book. “What is the truth?” “What is believable?” I loved that book and gave 5 stars to this book as well although I figured out early on the main mystery. As you read, you keep deciding who and what to believe. Set in Post WWI, with locations in Australia, UK, Boston, and primarily in Egypt, the story revolves around a dig in Egypt for an illusive king who may not have ever existed, and has a proclivity for writing scandalous quatrains reflecting his scandalous life. The story exposes how misunderstandings, assumptions and conjecture and slow postal service, can so easily lead down the path of deceit, jealousy and tragedy. I can’t even tell you who all the characters really are because like the ancient sands of Egypt, there is shifting, so that what once was seen becomes hidden while long hidden objects are revealed, only to be covered again. There is a parallel story of a true expedition nearby by the Professor Carter who made one of the greatest discoveries for archeology, the tomb of the boy king, Tutankhamen. The underlying theme in all this madness is man’s everlasting attempt to reach immortality.
+ 10 pts - Task
+10 pts - Review
+ 5 pts - Combo (10.8 Arthur Phillips
Task Total - 25 pts
Grand Total - 615 pts
Coralie wrote: "20th Century - Chronologician15.4 Enigma by Robert Harris
published 1994
+15 Task
+ 10 Bonus
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 270"
Coralie-I show your last 20th Century Post (post 136) as being published in 1996, this one in 1994 would knock you off the Chronologician track and put you on the Chaostician one instead. Did I miss a post? Did you forget to post a book? Would you like to switch tracks? Please let me know how you would like to proceed.
20.3 Pride and PrejudiceA Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
After the disappointment of A Game of Thrones, which read to me like an eight hundred page prologue, I approached A Clash of Kings with some caution. I did better with this book. Without the sanctimonious Ned, I could put up with Catelyn and got through the Sansa chapters without having to grit my teeth and count the pages before a pleasanter point of view. I still found it frustrating that ninety per cent of the book seemed irrelevant to the main plot and find it hard to believe that he intends to finish it in another five volumes (admittedly extremely long). I am beginning to see why people who like soap operas and historical fiction (with the emphasis on fiction) would love it. However, I would have liked it more if it concentrated more on the magic and was a lot shorter.
+ 20 Task – 198 246 ratings, average 4.37
+ 10 Review
+5 Combo 10.6 – shelved 7 times as murder
+20 Jumbo 926 pages
Task Total = 55
Grand Total = 325
Coralie wrote: "It was a typo. It should have read Enigma published in 1995."Got it! Glad that was all it was, fixed now. :)
Coralie wrote: "20.3 Pride and PrejudiceA Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
After the disappointment of A Game of Thrones, which read to me like an eight hundred page prologue, I approached A Clash of Kings w..."
I am sorry you don't like the series. I love it. You haven't gotten to the longest book yet.
It isn't that I don't like it. I just don't like it as much as I would like to. I will continue with the series but I need a nice long break before I tackle the monster that comes next.
20.10 InitiallyThe Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
+ 20 Task –
Lexile too low for style points
Task Total = 20
Grand Total = 345
20.10 Initially The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (Lexile score 1000)
I really thought that I had read this book before, but after the scene with the Trolls, nothing was familiar. I thoroughly enjoyed being in the original version of 'Middle Earth' and found myself envisioning the characters outside of those that Peter Jackson has given us in his movies with the exception of Gandalf, who I pictured as Ian McKellen's portrays him. I was a little surprised at how the dragon met his end and how the book concluded. I am glad to have this fresh picture in my head based on Tolkien's writing.
+20 - Task
+10 - Review
+15 - Combo(3)
20.3,
10.3,
10.9 (#36 on this list http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/14...)
+10 - Oldie (orginal pub. 1937)
+55 - total Task
Grand Total - 280
Task 20.6 - In honor of Northanger Abbey, read a parody or a book by one of these satirists. Christopher Buckley b. 1952No Way to Treat a First Lady (2002) by Christopher Buckley
Review:This is a humorous novel poking fun at the media excesses and the celebrity culture of the 1990s. The OJ Simpson trial and the Clinton impeachment hearings are clear inspirations to the events of this novel. The majority of the book is consumed by what is referred to as “The Trial of the Millennium". The crime? The first lady is accused of murdering her philandering husband. She is defended by an immoral, win-at-any-costs attorney. Buckley drops the names of real-life 1990s media personnel (including the late Peter Jennings), and includes characters loosely based on real-life 1990s media personnel (cranky bow-tie wearing “pixel pundit”? my guess is George Will). Overall, No Way to Treat a First Lady is an enjoyable, lightweight novel. Recommended.
+ 20 Task
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points)
Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30
Grand Total: 250 + 30 = 280
20th Century - Chronologician15.5 The Baker’s Boy (Book of Words #1) by J.V. Jones pub. 1995
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task Total = 25 points
Grand Total = 115 points
20th Century Chronologician15.6 -- The Lake by Yasunari Kawabata, 1st published in 1954.
+15 task points
+10 bonus
Task Points: 25 points
Grand Total: 140 points
20.10 InitiallyFifty Shades Darker by E.L. James
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.5 written by a woman/single female narrator)
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 245
20.3 Pride & PrejudiceThe Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
Review:
I continued to enjoy Simon Vance as a narrator for this one, which I started almost immediately after finishing the audiobook of the previous book.
I liked this book a little more than the first one, though I was disappointed with the number of coincidences required to move the plot along. It's lazy for the author to rely on someone just happening to be walking by at 3am and just happening to see an important event.
I still don't find Lizbeth Salander to be all that sympathetic a character. I was glad to learn more about her background, but didn't find it sufficient to justify the character and instead I generally found her actions less credible in this book than in the previous one.
I'll listen to the third book in the trilogy some time soon.
+20 Task (rated 4.17, 290,000+ ratings)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.7)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 215
15.4 ChronologicianPublished 1997
The Far Euphrates by Aryeh Lev Stollman
+15 Task
+10 Bonus
Task total: 25
Grand total: 240
20.8 - Joanna’s task – Presidentially:Summer Crossing by Truman Capote
The only Truman Capote I have read before is In Cold Blood, so I was excited to be able to use his first name to fit some of his other books into the Presidentially task. I decided to read Summer Crossing first because it was published posthumously and was actually his first book.I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm a fan of the time period in which it is set (1945). Women are between the lines when it comes to seeking a liberated life and basing their life on romantic attachments and I enjoy the pull between the two ways of feeling and acting. I did get the feeling at the end that Capote might have done more with the book before having it go to publication. Without ruining the ending, I can just say that it felt incongruous to me.
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo: 20.7 - In honor of Persuasion
+10 Review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 655
20.10 InitiallyDeadly Stakes by J.A. Jance
+20 task
+5 Combo (20.5 In Honor of Emma)
Task total: 25
Grand total: 310
20.5 - In Honor of EmmaFeed by Mira Grant
This was a re-read for me of one of my favorite books in recent years. Having a tough time at work, I wanted to come home and sink into something that would engross me, and Feed is one of those books. The light, humorous writing style is fun but, to me, the thing that really makes this book is the combo of modern politics and zombie apocalypse. All political jokes aside, it's an interesting thought exercise to consider all the different tiny (and, uh, definitely large too) ways things would be different if we DID have zombies roaming the world. And you could certainly, if you were so inclined, use the zombie apocalypse as an allegory for how humans handle other epidemic problems and diseases, for better or worse. I can't put my finger on every reason why, but I like this book so much -- come for the zombies, stay for the politics!
+20 task (narrated by Georgia, a female, written by a female author)
+10 review
+5 jumbo (571 pages)
Task total: 35 points
Grand total: 35
10.7 - Nurse ItLives in the Balance: Nurses' Stories from the ICU edited by Tilda Shalof
My aunt is an ER nurse and so for years I've heard some of her wild stories, but Thanksgiving dinner with 20 plus kids running around isn't the best forum to talk through some of the big issues nurses face. I picked up this book, a collection of essays by different ICU nurses, only because of this task (that and it was already on my Kindle!), and so it was a really nice surprise to enjoy it as much as I did. I had worried that the different essays would get repetitive, but I found the collection well-edited in that respect. There was a nice balance of philosophical commentary, sad stories, funny stories, and policy musing. I learned a lot about aspects of nursing in such high-stakes environments that I had never even considered before and it made me want to pick up more of Shalof's work.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20 points
Grand total: 55
20.3 - Pride & PrejudiceA Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
170 074 ratings
Average rating of 4.5
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.6: shelved 13 times as murder but not shelved as mystery in BPL)
+25 Jumbo (1177 pages)
Task total = 50
Points total = 130
Task 10.5: Global Youth Services DayI read The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty
REVIEW:
I decided to read this book based on some stellar reviews and I'm a Mississippian, as is Welty. It's always enjoyable for me to read about places I know. However, I didn't really like this book all that much. From other reviews I understand it is a retelling of a Grimm's fairy tale. I guess it's Cinderella, but there was so much going on it was hard to determine. Anyway, the book has many twists and turns involving the characters and at the very end when the mail rider is revealed I had to go back to the beginning to sort it out. One thing I did like about the book was that so many lies were told by disreputable people that it kept me wondering what was the real truth. I also liked the fact that, as with many fairy tales, the bad guys meet their ends because of their own bad qualities. (Karma, anyone?)
+10: task
+10: review
+5: oldie (pub 1942)
+25: TASK TOTAL
+425: RwS TOTAL
Task 20.5: Female author & Narrator/Main CharacterI read Unafraid by Francine Rivers
*This is my 3rd book claimed for this task
REVIEW:
This is the final book in a five-part series by Rivers on women in the Bible who were chosen by God to part of the lineage of Jesus Christ. Rivers took many liberties with this novella, as she did the others. She added in details that are not directly found in scripture, as the scriptures are unclear about small supporting details. One example of this is that the Magi dined in Mary and Joseph's home. Rivers' focus is Mary, the mother, in this book. Mary's emotions, thoughts, doubts, fears, and joys are put forth in a way for the reader to connect with her as a woman, wife, and mother. I liked that viewpoint because I've never looked at the events of Jesus' life in that way. Overall, a quick and easy read to finish out the series.
+20: task
+10: review
+30: TASK TOTAL
+455: RwS TOTAL
20.10 InitiallyLoon Lake by E. L. Doctorow
Review: This is a challenging novel to read. It changes characters, points-of-view, places and times without warning. It drops into unpunctuated stream-of-consciousness now and then. But it is an interesting tale that follows a young man, Joe, from working class New Jersey as he tries to find his way during the Great Depression. He runs up against organized crime, the wealthy, a circus, union unrest, and "Okies" making their way to California. His story is interwoven with the story of a derelict poet and World War I vet, Penfield, who aids him and demonstrates some of the pit falls that he should avoid.
If it is an allegory of the American Success story, I suppose its lesson is keep trying and be brash if you wish to succeed.
I have a couple more of Doctorow’s novels in my “to-be-read” pile and I am looking forward to them.
+20 Task
+5 Combo 10.5 (Commonwealth prize 2000)
+5 Oldies (Pub. 1980)
+10 Review
Task total: 40
Grand total: 225
20.3 Pride And PrejudiceCrime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I read the edition included here: Works of Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov, The Gambler, The Devils, The Adolescent & more, translated by Constance Garnett. My understanding is that there may be better translations, but one could hardly argue with this one. I didn't read it in Russian and I'll still rave about the prose - three instances in particular.
First, there was a scene where Raskolnikov steps into a tavern and a fellow starts talking to him. One sentence and I knew the fellow was very drunk, though not a slurred word on the page. It was at least a paragraph before Dostoevsky mentions it. Ok, so perhaps I should have led a more sheltered life, but how can a single sentence of dialogue convey a man's state of mind so clearly that I got it immediately! Brilliant!
Second, a few chapters later Raskolnikov left his dwelling voicing internally complete and utter indignation about the contents of a letter. Sometimes the voicing was not so internal, so that passersby turned to look at him. The pace of the next few paragraphs was perfect! Doestoevsky only wrote what Raskolnikov was thinking, yet we get the the quick steps, the hand gesture, the mumbling. The reader might not have had the same indignant reaction to the letter, but there could be no mistaking Raskolnikov!
Third, there was a conversation between Raskolnikov and a young woman (I don't want to write any spoilers), where the silence of the gaps in conversation was palpable, and I felt myself straining to hear when they whispered. It was almost as if you could hear the characters breathing, though Dostoevsky never alluded to it. Raskolnikov paced the floor and I swear I could hear the floor boards creak, - again not a mention from Dostoevsky. How was he able to convey this mood just with words - and those words not directly convey the mood expressed?
Others will write of the story itself. I couldn't turn the pages quickly enough because I needed to know what happened next. I didn't want it to end.
+20 Task (180,33 ratings, 4.13 avg rating)
+10 Combo (10.6, 20.2 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0307734/)
+10 Non-Western
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (pub 1866)
+ 5 Jumbo (564 pgs)
Task Total = 65
Grand Total = 340
20th Century - Chronologician15.5 Sorcerer's Ward by Barbara Hambly
published 1994
+15 Task
+ 10 Bonus
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 370
20th Century - Chronologician15.2 Alas, Poor Lady by Rachel Ferguson
published 1937
+15 task
+10 bonus
Task Total: 25 points
Grand Total: 220 points
15.6 20th century chronologicanDeath at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn (pub in 1994)
+15 pts - Task
+10 pts - Bonus
Task total - 25 pts
Grand Total - 640 pts
20.2 - In honor of Sense and SensibilityThe Wonderful Visit by H.G. Wells
+20 Task http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264183/
+ 5 Combo (20.10 - Initially)
+10 Oldies (1895)
Task total=35
Grand total=455
CORRECTED POSTTask 20.4: Hardscrabble Life or Underclass
I read Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
REVIEW:
I saw the movie Cannery Row as a young person and fell in love with these characters. I read the book just a couple years ago and had no idea there was a sequel, Sweet Thursday, until this challenge started. I'm so glad I read this book. The movie more closely follows this book than the first and I could hear Debra Winger's and Nick Nolte's voices as I read. This book is just fun because the characters are quirky and their actions absurd. You have to concentrate to follow their speech sometimes to get anything out of it, but when you do, it's funny stuff. These people are living under poor and desperate circumstances, but you would never know it by their outlooks. They do what is needed to get by with such flair that it doesn't seem desperate at all to the reader. The ending is a happy one in spite of itself. I didn't know Steinbeck had any humor to his writing, being that the only other of his novels I've read is Of Mice and Men.
+20: task
*Lexile too low, no style points
+20: TASK TOTAL
+475: RwS TOTAL
Camille wrote: "Task 20.4: Hardscrabble Life or UnderclassI read Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
REVIEW:
I saw the movie Cannery Row as a young person and fell in love with these characters. I read the book ..."
I'm so glad to read this review, because that's the book I'm planning for the task, too!
Karen GHHS wrote: "Camille wrote: "Task 20.4: Hardscrabble Life or UnderclassI read Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
REVIEW:
I saw the movie Cannery Row as a young person and fell in love with these characters. ..."
This is a YA Assignment with no lexile, so there aren't any style points to be had.
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Reading with Style
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The Storyteller (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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Meg Cabot (other topics)
Tess Gerritsen (other topics)
Elizabeth Bowen (other topics)
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Pretty in Ink by Karen E. Olson
+20 Task
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 160