The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

Kristen wrote: "5.8 Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
5.9 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1 The Pox Party
10.2 [book:Willow|4..."

15.3 Requires 2 books

I finished one more task.

For task 5.6 (Scary Adjective) I read Dead Famous by Ben Elton. This was a surprisingly good book that was very hard to put down. I gave it 5 stars.

Tasks Completed: 10
Books Read: 12
Pages Read: 4,419
Total Points: 150

This will be my last task for this challenge. I've had a lot of fun and managed to meet my goal, which was to read 10 books and get more than 100 points. I'm already looking forward to start the Winter Challenge!

got it changed now. :) Thanks!

I was able to finish another book, since I had off from work yesterday and today.

15.10. Teacher-Student Relations - Read Both...
• A Book With A Teacher As The Main Character Or With The Word Teacher(s), Teach, Teaches, or Teaching. I read Notes On A Scandal by Zoe Heller. I liked it and gave it 3 stars. I didn't love either of the main characters.

• A Book With A Main Character Who Is A Student Or With The Word Student(s), Study, Or Studies In The Title. I read English As A Second Language by Megan Crane. I gave this one four stars because it was so much fun to read and the main character reminded me of myself!

15 more points! I'm trying to finish one more book!

Total Points: 305
Tasks Completed: 18
Total Books: 29
Total Pages: 9,583

I completed task 10.2 Addiction by reading The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Total points = 180

Lene wrote: "I finished one more task.

For task 5.6 (Scary Adjective) I read Dead Famous by Ben Elton. This was a surprisingly good book that was very hard to put down. I gave it 5 s...

I've had a lot of fun and managed to meet my goal, which was to read 10 books and get more than 100 points...."

Congratulations on meeting your goal, Lene!

10 POINT TASK

4. Hispanic Heritage Month Begins On September 15 Which Commemorates The Anniversary Of Independence For Five Latin American Countries - Read A Book Written By An Author From One Of Those Countries Or That Takes Place In One Of Those Countries Or A Non-Fiction Book About One Of Them.
Last Evenings on Earth, Roberto Bolano.

pjreads wrote: "Lene wrote: "I finished one more task.

For task 5.6 (Scary Adjective) I read Dead Famous by Ben Elton. This was a surprisingly good book that was very hard to put down..."

Thank you, pjreads! :)

6. Creative Minds (The Arts) - Choose ONE
• Music Appreciation Class - Read A Book With A Type Of Music In The Title (Jazz, Country, Pop, Rap Etc.) And Listen To A CD Or Attend A Concert Of That Type Of Music.
This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen-11/26 (345 pgs)
Listened to: Lullaby by Jewel

New Total 525

Abigail wrote: "Finished 50.1:

Senses:
[image error] T4 by Ann Clare LeZotte
Senses: The main character is a deaf girl in Nazi Germany who hides, away from her family, to escape Action T4 (aband..."

Excellent!!!! Congrats Abigail...

I completed 15.8 with Mo Hayder's The Devil of Nanking (which despite the title is set in Japan, not China) and Colin Cotterill's The Coroner's Lunch, which is set in Laos.

Current Total: 510 points

This is probably my last task for the fall challenge. I am looking forward to selecting my books for the winter challenge this weekend. Thank you so much for doing this for us, Cynthia.

Task 5.9 - Coming of Age
I read On His Own, a coming-of-age book. Rodney Ropes was forced to leave school and earn his own way when his fortune was lost by his guardian. Written in 1893, the story portrays a cheerful self-reliance throughout Rodney's troubles.

That should bring my total to 175 points which was my personal goal!

Iris wrote: "This is probably my last task for the fall challenge. I am looking forward to selecting my books for the winter challenge this weekend. Thank you so much for doing this for us, Cynthia....

That should bring my total to 175 points which was my personal goal! "

Congratulations on meeting your goal, Iris!

way to go, iris! :)

Congratulations, Iris! It's great to hit your goal!

Finished 10.2
Lullabies for Little Criminals Heather 0'Neill

Lene wrote: "I finished one more task.

For task 5.6 (Scary Adjective) I read Dead Famous by Ben Elton. This was a surprisingly good book that was very hard to put down. I gave it 5 s..."

Way to go, Lene!!

Iris wrote: "This is probably my last task for the fall challenge. I am looking forward to selecting my books for the winter challenge this weekend. Thank you so much for doing this for us, Cynthia.

Task 5..."

And way to go to you, too, Iris!

Another update - polished off 15.1 with Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking and Imogen Robertson's Instruments of Darkness, using "of" as my part of speech.

Current Total: 525 points

20-1 is done, read 'The Secret' by Beverly Lewis, it was about an Amish family and it was interesting to learn about their culture!

615 points

Hello!

This might be my last posting for this season. I have a few books from the library that fit the challenge still, so we'll see what I get in before the end of Monday.

I finished:

20.3: Julie and Julia, by Julie Powell
For a subtotal of 325 points...

15.10: Secret School, by Avi AND Poison Study, by Maria Snyder.
For a subtotal of 340 points...

5.2: One Bad Apple: An Orchard Mystery, by Sheila Connolly
For a subtotal of 345 points...

15.6: I read the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, and watched the old movie with Marlon Brando. Loved both.
For a subtotal of 360 points...

25.3: I read Sellevision, Augusten Burroughs (which had me cracking up!)
For a total of 385 points.

CURRENT TOTAL: 385 points

Amanda R. in Louisville

For task 20.2 I read

Edmund Bertram's Diary by Amanda Grange

The Fempiror Chronicles The Initiation of David by George Willson

And

The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti.

I'm not on my computer where I have my lovely ticker bookmarked, so I think that brings me to 270 points.

5.9. Reading A Coming Of Age Novel

The Year Nick McGowan Came To Stay by Rebecca Sparrow

and

15.10. Teacher-Student Relations

I read the Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

and

Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates

I finished the ABC task by unoriginally using the letters A, B and C. I also didn't choose very wisely for this task and read 3 underwhelming selections.

I rated two of these books 2 stars (A & B). C got 3 stars, but I read most of it while I was hopped up on pain meds during labor with my daughter, so I was probably feeling charitable. :)

A - An Arranged Marriage by Jo Beverley

B - Bedlam, Bath and Beyond by J.D. Warren

C - Cravings, which is an anthology that included 4 short stories by 4 different authors.




TASKS COMPLETED: 34
BOOKS READ: 45 (+4 kids books)
POINTS EARNED: 465
NUMBER OF BOOKS READ FROM MY 'OWNED AND UNREAD' SHELF: 27

One more task down!

For 20 point task #2, I read:
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Updated points: 205
Tasks completed: 17/45
Tasks in progress: 2
Books read: 27

I forgot to add details to my post about finishing task 50.1!

For senses, I read A Touch of Dead which I chose because it has "touch" in the title. Most of Sookie's senses are definitely nontraditional, so I think that's where the connection to this task ended. ;)

For emotions, I read A Gracious Plenty which was a regular maelstrom of emotion. I wasn't too fond of it, as nothing particularly happened, but the premise seems to be that your emotions can tie you down, whether it's to this plane of existence or to your painful past. The main character speaks to the dead people in the cemetery that she tends; they are kept there by their need to work through their emotional connections to their past. As they tell their stories, they "lighten" which I took as a thinly veiled reference to healing powers of therapy (there's even a sort of group therapist figure). I wanted it to be so much better than it was.

I also read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which was related to the letters my friends and I sent back and forth from England, which was the only thing I remembered to add in my original post (oops!). It was pleasantly surprising that the book was just as great as everyone said it was!

I finished task 15.5 by reading Sarah A Novel and Zipporah, Wife of Moses A Novel both by Marek Halter - they were both originally written in French which I don't speak. I enjoyed both these stories of important women from the Bible.

37/45 TASKS COMPLETED
54/62 BOOKS FINISHED
19,145 PAGES READ


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Three lovely books finished for Cait's task - all 4 star reads:

25.8 Person, Place, Thing – Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange, Chesapeake Blue by Nora Roberts, Round Robin by Jennifer Chiaverini

Total: 375/690 points
32/62 books
19/45 tasks
12,109 pages

Hello!

I have the following completed task to report:

Task 10.1 ~ a book published between 1936-1959

I read East of Eden by John Steinbeck, published in 1952. LOVED it!! 5 Stars.




# of tasks completed: 34
# of books read: 50
# of pages read: 16545
# of points accrued: 550

And...that's it for me for the Fall Challenge (my first one!). Now...prepping for the Winter Challenge ~ hee hee hee, love sleuthing out the books! The Fall Challenge was completely excellent Cynthia. Thank you so much for all of the work and time you put into managing it all.

Cheers!!
Jennifer D. (Canada)

Finished task15.6 Creative Minds by reading When Christmas Comes by Debbie Macomber which I gave 4*. It was a quick, cozy story about a widow who flys across the country to surprise her daughter for Christmas only to find out that her daughter had made other plans. It was a comedy of errors for all of the characters. I also listened to 2 Manheim Steamroller Christmas CD's.

This will bring my total to 680 points.

Finished Task 10.5 - Read A Book Written By A German Author, Set In Germany, Or A Non-Fictional Book About Germany. I read The German Woman by Paul Griner. It focused on the life of a British woman married to a German medical doctor and living with him in Germany. She worked as a nurse to soldiers, specifically, in her youth in 1919 and her middle years in 1944. Part of the novel she is in England but that was so that the author could demonstrate that the common German and the common British were not that different in character but were only reacting to a different set of circumstances. The overall theme is the suffering of the average person / soldier in the aftermath of war. A sub-theme was how people with divided loyalties coped with the wars -- our heroine, for example: husband or the country of her birth? (her British brothers all died in WWI and her parents died in the 1919 flu, so she identified completely with her husband's family despite her country of origin). Interesting novel.

365 + 10 = 375




Almost done with this Challenge. I'm working on task 30.1 now. My final post for this challenge will be Sunday Night.

I have completed the PJRead's 50-point midway task by reading the following books:

I(Senses): The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
The narrator of this novel is a teenage boy with autism. He is sensitive to loud noises and extremely observant. He won't eat certain foods if they are a certain color. He does not like being touched. His senses play a major role in how he deals with change and problem solves. I gave this book four stars.

II(Emotions): On Love A Novel by Alain de Botton
As the title implies, this book is all about love. What's surprising is how un-sappy it is. The narrator shares his observations on love while we track his relationship from infancy to death. He describes everything from the awkwardness of seduction to the fear of happiness. I gave this book two stars.

III(Memories): Ella Minnow Pea A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
Much of this book contains letters exchanged between two cousins. I live far from home and often miss my family. I love that my parents opt to send me handwritten letters and cards rather than keeping in touch by email. I sometimes reread them when I get a little homesick. I gave this book three stars.

Three more tasks completed:

10.3 Bear Challenge - The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde. It is one of his nursery crime books. I read and loved the Thursday Next series, and I have to say that I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

10.8 You'll Find It In The Dictionary - Appeal was my word so I read The Appeal by John Grisham. Formulaic, but an easy and enjoyable read.

10.9 Read A Novel Set During The U.S. Civil War - Assassin by Anna Myers. This book is written from the perspective of a young girl who works as an apprentice to Mrs. Lincoln's dressmaker in the White House. The girl is originally from the South, and her father is fighting with the South in the War, so it was interesting to have that conflict of interest (working for the Lincoln's and sympathetic to their cause, while worrying about her father.) The books weakness lies in the fact that the story alternates between the girl (Bella, aren't you sick of that name?) and also John Wilkes Booth. They wind up meeting and he manipulates the teen into betraying the President. Not terrible, but just not really believable.

Previous Score: 600
Current Score: 630

I plan on finishing this time!

I'm so surprised with myself for getting this far. Woohoo.

5 Point Tasks
1-Our children Are Our Future-The Pictish Child by Jane Yolen
2-An Apple A Day-Sadie's Trade by Launi K Anderson
3-Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue-The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis
6-Terrifying Titles-Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer
7-Giving Thanks-The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
I'm thankful for friendship (and books).
8-Two Heads are better than one-King Arthur by Joan B Mason and Sarah Hines Stephens
9-Coming of Age-The Goose Girl by Shanon Hale
10-Fall Back in Time-Knights of the Kitchen Table by Jon Sciezka

10 Point Tasks
1-Buddy Holly-Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater
3-Stanley Berenstein-Grimm's Fairy Tales
5-Oktoberfest-The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
7-Faster than a Speeding Bullet-Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale and Nathan Hale
8-You'll Find it in The Dictionary-Upchuck and the Rotten Willy by Bill Wallace

15 Point Tasks
6-Creative Minds-King Lear by William Shakespeare

20 Point Tasks
1-Christian Faith-Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites by Chris Heimerdinger

25 Point Tasks
4-The City of Ember by Jeanne Duproa
Unfortunately I saw the movie before I actually read the book so it was hard reading the book not based off the movie. In the end I think that I definately liked the book better. The movie is a very sad adaptation of the book and I cringe whenever I think about it now. They left out a ton of things and added other things that didn't make much sense like the giant mole. Sometimes I wonder if they even read the book.
5-Fortune Telling-Gregor and the Marks of Secret by Suzanne Collins
7-One, Two, Three-Skellig by David Almond, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis, and The Rumplestiltskin Problem by Vivian Vande Velde
10-Monsterfest-Witch Week by Dianna Wynne Jones

30 Point Task

50 Point Task

Total Points: 225

go stephanie, go sarah!

(i feel like a cheerleader! :P )

OK, I've finished task 15.5 by reading two books by Boris Akunin, translated from Russian: The Winter Queen and The Turkish Gambit. I'm hoping I may be able to squeeze one more task in between now and the end of the challenge, so fingers crossed!

5.7. Giving Thanks - In Honor Of Thanksgiving (November 26th) Read A Book That Relates To The Thing You Are Most Thankful For.

Parliament of Whores by P.J. O'Rourke
I am thankful that I live in a nation which is a free democracy. The book is about the U.S. federal government.

25.5. JANICE'S TASK - Fortune Telling Has Long Been A Halloween Tradition: Read A Book With "Fortune" Or "Prophecy" In The Title, OR That Features Fortune-Telling, Prophecy Or Prediction(s) As The Main Theme Or Has A Fortune Teller As A Main Character.

Busted Flush by George R.R. Martin et al.

Total points 280
Tasks complete 19

COMPLETED TASKS:

10.6 NATIVE AMERICANS - Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (pp 280) READ 11.26.09
I liked how Creech told the story of Sal through her telling of the story of her friend, Phoebe, to her grandparents on a road trip. This was a very touching story.

25.3 POSITIVE GAY CHARACTER - *The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (pp 528) READ 11.27.09
I liked how the story was told backwards in three parts, starting in 1947, then 1944 and finally 1941. It makes the reader see how easy it is to have misconceptions or make snap judgments about people or lifestyles, before getting to know the individual. I also liked how Waters showed the changing and conflicting roles of women during the war and post-WWII. I gave it 3.5 stars.




TASKS COMPLETED: 38
TASKS IN PROGRESS: 3
BOOKS READ: 54/62
PAGES READ: 16,783
TOTAL POINTS EARNED: 615
*Books I Own

20-2 Learn Your ABC.
Red Tide by GM Ford
I'm quite a fan of this writer. Always bought his new books, though not immediately read them. This is the fourth book featuring Frank Corso, launching himself into big-time trouble..again. Anyway, this one is not as good as his prior works.

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
These two are in Percy Jackson & The Olympians series. I enjoyed Titan's Curse very much. Can't immagine I bought the Lightning Thief (#1) for years and havn't got to read it until this Challenge.

Rick Riordan has a way to end his book in the way that triggers me to seek for his next book. I like that in a series but here's the catch--What if the next one isn't published yet? I really hate waiting. I suffered enough with Harry Potter!

+20
Total points: 190

just finished what will be my last task for the fall challenge, 15.3.

Addition: The Zombie Survival Guide Complete Protection From the Living Dead (9 letters in author's name) i wish that i could've liked this book. the premise was fun, and the satire was definitely not lost on me, i just couldn't find the humor (or very much of it anyway.)

Subtraction: The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Writings (22 letter title). just as good as the first time i read it!




Total Points: 445/690
Books Read: 37/62
Tasks Completed: 25/45
Tasks in Progress: 0

had SO much fun with this challenge and can't wait for the winter challenge to fire up. i read 27 more books than my original goal of 10...when i hit 10 books i upped it to 30, so i went 7 over that goal, too! yeay! :)

Two more tasks completed:

10.2: Addiction - Wanderlust

20.2: ABCs - Aaron's Wait, Bolo!, and Capital Games

I really enjoyed both Wanderlust and Bolo!, and quite liked Aaron's Wait, although I couldn't quite get into it. However, I really wish I'd read Chocky instead of Capitol Games, as was my original intention. My goodness, that was bad!

Total Points: 150
Tasks Completed: 10
Total Books: 15

I'm going to try to finish at least one of the books I have in progress, and hopefully read another one or two as well, before the end of the challenge. It's the weekend, so I should be able to get some reading time in on Sunday, if not tomorrow!

kiki wrote: "just finished what will be my last task for the fall challenge, 15.3.

Addition: The Zombie Survival Guide Complete Protection From the Living Dead (9 letters in author's name) i w..."

Kiki, that's so great that you read more than 3x as many books as your original goal. Congratulations!!

I'm finishing up quite a few tasks now that the Thanksgiving holiday is here...I'm so looking forward to reading all weekend!! Here's my latest:

Task 15.7, completed 11/22/09 - Read Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall and I ran the Manhattan Beach 10K back in October. This was an excellent book, it has inspired to get back out there and start running again!

240/690 points
Tasks Completed: 15
Tasks In Progress: 7
Books Read: 25 (+3 children’s books)
Pages Read: 6,511

For task 15.2 (Alternate History), I read Alternate Kennedys ed. by Mike Resnick, which is a collection of short stories about different paths the lives of the Kennedy siblings could have taken. For example, one has Joe, Jr. shooting JFK, another has Joe, Sr. divorce Rose, marry Gloria Swanson and move the family to CA where the brothers become a part of the entertainment industry. Some of the stories were okay, but others were downright boring or too Sci-Fi for my taste. I give it two stars and would only recommend it to serious Kennedy fanatics.

I'll pick my favorite story for the review part of this task: "No Prisoners" by Pat Cadigan. Beware of spoilers. In Cadigan's rewritten history, the fate of JFK (presidency and assassination) is the same, but instead of Bobby becoming Attorney General and Senator, Eunice takes these posts (yes! back in the sixties). Bobby becomes a priest and joins the Berrigan brothers in their protests of the Vietnam war. Incidentally, Patricia becomes an ambassador and Teddy a successful businessman. The story doesn't end so beautifully--Eunice ruins her White House chances in a deal to save her brother from criminal trial (as one of the Catonsville nine), then Bobby self-immolates.

Still, I think this story might be the preferable history. I love RFK and the Berrigans, so I enjoy the thought of them working together. In both real history and this version, Bobby becomes a martyr, so the fact of his death doesn't enter into my calculations. What really sways me in preference of Cadigan's history is the idea of a having female Attorney General back in '61. I can't imagine what a profound impact this would have had on the Feminist movement. Eunice would have made a great Senator, too. Mostly, though, I like the idea of the Kennedy legacy having as much to do with the family's women as with its men.

Total Points: 505

This will likely be my last entry into the fall challenge. I've reached the halfway point and I'm pretty satisfied with that, even though there are a lot of fantastic tasks to go. Going to rest up my eyes for a few days before starting the next challenge...maybe I can get even further in that one!

TOTAL POINTS: 330 + 25 = 355

New Tasks:

25.9 The Introvert Advantage How to Thrive in an Extrovert World by Marti Olsen Laney
AND
The Know-It-All One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs

Past Tasks:

5.2 Apple of My Eye by Helene Hanff
5.7 Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg
5.9 The Last Time I Wore A Dress by Daphne Scholinski
10.2 Addiction – The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende
10.3 Dolores Meets Her Match (32p) by Barbara Samuels
Dolores On Her Toes (40p) by Barbara Samuels
Duncan and Dolores (20p) by Barbara Samuels
Cosmo Zooms (32p) by Arthur Howard
My Cat Likes Milk (14p) by Nancy Prasad
10.5 The Book Thief Markus Zusak
10.10 Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper
15.3 Addition -- (12) Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder
Subtraction -- (13)Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss
15.4 Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre + 2 episodes Nova
15.6 The Arts -- A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass and went around to many many small art galleries while in Gatlinburg, TN
15.9 At Home With Books by Estelle Ellis
20.1 The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
20.2 Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson /Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder/ Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
20.3 Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
25.5 Prophecy by Elizabeth Haydon
25.7 ONE: Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre, TWO: Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs, THREE: The Shadow Queen by Anne Bishop
25.10 Daughter of Witches by Patricia Wrede
30.1 Current Profession/Dream Job: Tell Me Where It Hurts by Nick Trout and The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee
50 Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre, Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata, and Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow

I completed task 20.2 (A,B,C)

About a Boy by Nick Hornby (2 stars)
Brothel: Mustang Ranch and its Women by Alexa
Albert (5 stars)
The Cracker Factory by Joyce Rebeta-Burditt (5 stars)

This task led me to two 5 star reads.

Alexa Albert, author of Brothel, was a Harvard Medical student studying AIDS, when she was allowed access to the famous bordello. She lived on and off with the women and workers for three years, studying how legal brothels kept their prostitutes HIV negative. (Not one woman ever tested positive at the Mustang Ranch). I loved this book for many reasons. Sure, it was a guilty pleasure, but it was also disturbing, educational, compassionate, and full of insightful social commentary. I loved that a highly educated woman could step out of the rule of analyzer and into a rough and tumble life for a valuable purpose.

When I purchased The Cracker Factory by Joyce Rebeta-Burditt for 25 cents, and it sat on my shelf for three years, I had no idea this book would be such a treasure. Not only is the book out of print, but it has, now, become a favorite. This retro story is about Cassie, an alcoholic wife and mother of three. She enters an asylum, in Cleveland, when she can no longer live with her controlling husband nor control her own drinking. Believe it or not, this book was hysterical. The author's observations remind me of both Erma Bombeck and Charles Bukowski if you can believe that. If you find a copy, pick it up. You won't regret it.

+20
total 155
15 books

Finished 30.1:

Current profession (attorney): Freedom From the Thought That We Hate: Tales of the First Amendment by Anthony Lewis

Dream Job (I majored in Advertising with the dream of working for a magazine): Miss Understanding by Stephanie Lessing

Total Points: 340

Just finished up task 15.2 by reading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. Although the idea of literally being able to dive into a good book is appealing, the ramifications of being able to change books and history is disturbing. Left in the "wrong hands" this kind of power would be detrimental to everyone. I have to say I prefer our world and our history, even with all it's faults, you know that one person can't go back and rewrite things to suit themselves.

255/690 points
Tasks Completed: 16
Tasks In Progress: 7
Books Read: 26 (+3 children’s books)
Pages Read: 6,885

25.1 - The Lost Symbol and A Swinger of Birches: Poems of Robert Frost for Young People

I completed Task 15.2 (Alternative History) by reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Suzanne Clarke.
An amazing story with many twists and turns. It's not a "swashbuckling" story but a slow, detailed look at England in a time when magic was making a reappearance into its society, adaptation, learning experiences, released evil.
I really liked the use of footnotes to tell the ancient history of magic, tales, fables and magicians in England. It was very effective.
The story revolves around 2 magicians who try to bring magic back to England after it has disappeared for hundreds of years. It's all trial and error. Mr. Norrell is secretive and possessive of the knowledge he has and shares only a portion with Jonathan Strange, his pupil, but circumstances force Jonathan to find ways of making magic and experimenting with it. People and forces are brought into play and secondary characters become more prominent than first imagined.
I'm being rather vague, I know. Firstly, this is a really hard book to characterize and, secondly, it's one of those stories where the less one knows about it going in, the better the story will be so it's best not to say too much for the sake of those who haven't read it yet.
The story is historically accurate. In this alternative history, the history story hasn't changed: Napolean loses at Waterloo (although magic helped with this), Byron still dies on the same date (although due to magic), etc.
Would England and the World of this book be better than England and the World of today? That's a hard question to answer because both Worlds are the same. In a "large picture" way, all the major, historical events are the same and, in this sense, there are no differences. However, in the "small picture" way, individual events (personal lives and circumstances) are completely changed. Magic could touch everyone or anyone at any time without anyone's knowing. It can change one's life for good or bad.
So, I'd have to say that, no, I would not prefer a World with magic that can invade everyone's life at anytime for any reason.
5 stars.

This is the last task that I'll complete for this challenge and this is a great book with which to end it.
Cynthia, thanks again for the great job you do with these tasks and this Challenge.