Reading with Style discussion
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SU 2016 Completed Tasks
20.9 PoliticsRightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America by Douglas G. Brinkley
+20 Task
+10 Jumbo (752 pages)
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 605
10.2 Picador/ViragoStone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood
+10 Task
+15 Combo (10.7, 20.7, 20.10)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 630
20.10 Meta FictionThe Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
+20 Task
+5 Jumbo
+10 Combo (20.8, 20.3)
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 665
10.7 First LetterMr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 675
15.6 FYTS: Time Traveler1965-2015
The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton
+25 Task
+5 bonus (non-fiction)
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 605
10.4 Mod TaskBig Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Review:
I really enjoyed this book. I got completely caught up in the story and did not predict the ending at all. The tone is breezy and light, but the subject matter here ranges across parenting, bullying, domestic violence, and friendship. The book deftly handles the subject in a way that didn't feel heavy handed but was also not completely flippant. I'm really glad that my book club picked this one because I think it'll make a great discussion point and I probably wouldn't have read it on my own. The same book club previously read The Husband's Secret by the same author and I liked that one much less than this one.
The reader for the audiobook did a fantastic job bringing the story to life. Her accent was lovely and she was able to really capture some of the voices, particularly when reading the Greek-chorus like asides that appeared between chapters.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.4 - Australia)
Task total: 25
Grand total: 530
10.2 Picador/ViragoThe Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 320
I'd like to move two books.In post 89, I posted Dispatches for 10.10 (and in post 134 it was pointed out that there is a combo with 10.6). I'd like to switch this one to 10.6. No change in points.
In post 381, I posted A God in Ruins for 20.10. I'd like to switch this one to 10.10. -10 points.
Switch total: -10
Grand total: 520
Post 452 Cory Day wrote: "20.6 WarSuite Française by Irène Némirovsky
Review: I’ve lost track of how many challenges I’ve slated this book for and not read it, but I had it left on my Kindle f..."
This also won a Translation Award in 2012, so combo for 20.3 also.
Task 10.7 First Letter (Tien's Task)Read a book with a title that starts with a letter found in OLYMPICS.
Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture (2011) by Peggy Orenstein (Hardcover, 244 pages) [305.23]
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 275 + 10 =285
Amanda wrote: "20.10 Meta fictionMemories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel García Márquez
I thought I would ease myself into my second attempt with Marquez with this novella. ..."
I want to move this from 20.10 to 20.01. No change in points, but hard decision time if I want to finally post a Mega Finish!
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 452 Cory Day wrote: "20.6 WarSuite Française by Irène Némirovsky
Review: I’ve lost track of how many challenges I’ve slated this book for and not read it, but I ..."
Thanks!
10.1 Square PegBlow Down by J.L. Merrow
Review: Blow Down is the fourth book in the Plumber’s Mate series, which I usually adore. This installment just wasn’t my favorite, and I can’t put my finger on it. I think it’s because Merrow hinted at things – conflict, deeper issues, sex – but didn’t really show any of it. Tom and Phil are still working on their relationship, and there were some very touching moments, but it fell flat. Maybe too much emphasis was placed on the mystery, which is I guess part of the point of the book, but didn’t grab me. I still love anything Merrow writes, since she addresses issues of class and belonging better than pretty much any other author I’ve ever read. There’s a lot of her backlist I’ve yet to get to, and I’m definitely looking forward to it – and of course I’ll also read the next in this series, even if this one was a little disappointing.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 840
15.6 FYTS: Time Traveler2014-1969
1989
Mouthful of Rocks: Through Africa and Corsica in the French Foreign Legion by Christian Jennings
task +25
NF +5
total = 30
grand total = 575
10.7 First Letter (Tien's Task)Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey
This was one of the paperbacks that I'd kept on my shelf for years and I had fond memories of it. The idea still fascinates me - the science of crystals that respond to sound being used for interstellar communications and that mining them has immense challenges.
The main character, Killashandra, is harsher than I remember her being, but then I was a lot closer to her age when I read this book the last time. Now I appreciate her for being a strong woman who doesn't need to be fully likeable, who has a sexual identity without it being an issue, who has soft spots accompanying drive. But I don't identify with her in the way I remember doing the first time around.
So much of the story is set-up, which is fully enjoyable, but it feels like it reaches an end-point about 2/3 of the way through and then there's another story tacked on the end. It shows more character growth, but it still feels separate.
I've got the next two books in the trilogy and decided not to reread them even though I flipped through them for a couple remembered scenes. If I remember correctly I didn't like them as much and I don't want to read stories about memory loss right now unless they are actually illuminating reality.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 715
10.7 First Letter (Tien's Task)Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
I enjoyed this book and it felt fresher than may books I've read in this field, although the title is rather unremarkable. The writing and thinking reveals the depth that is visible in the endnotes. Duhigg went after ideas he had, yes, but he read all sorts of articles to develop the example stories and those are only the ones he actually used. And he even fact checked them.
It's certainly business oriented and geared towards jobs where you work with other people, but the principles can apply otherwise. I particularly liked the one about avoiding false dualities. It's an important idea, but not one that I associated with productivity until the connection was pointed out.
The writing is clear and Duhigg is a good storyteller. I want to review and reread and think about this book some more and how to use the ideas.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 735
From Post 455Bea wrote: "20.9 Political
The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer
Review:
Life is the only reason it took me so long to read this wonderfully written novel. It has all the twists and..."
+5 Jumbo (the MPE has 616 pages)
From Post 433Rebekah wrote: "10.8 Come to the Fair
Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician by Daniel Wallace
+10 pts - Task
Grand Total - 250 pts"
+5 Combo 10.7-First Letter
From Post 441itpdx wrote: "20.4 Go for the Gold
China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power by Rob Gifford
Review: This book was written in 2005 and so is a decade old at this poi..."
+5 Combo 10.6-Traveling the DDC
From Post 442Connie wrote: "20.10 Metafiction
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Kate Atkinson has written a multigenerational story about a dysfunctional family. It starts with the..."
I am sorry, I do not see Kate Atkinson on the Picador list.
Kate S wrote: "From Post 442Connie wrote: "20.10 Metafiction
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Kate Atkinson has written a multigenerational story about a dysfunctio..."
You're right. I'm getting the Kates mixed up--it was Kate Grenville on the Picador list, although I read a Picador publication.
10.3 HolidayTalk Before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg
Elizabeth Berg is an expert at writing dialogue between women, and expressing how women draw strength and understanding from their close female friends. In "Talk Before Sleep" Ann Stanley is helping to care for her best friend, Ruth Thomas, in her losing fight with metastatic breast cancer. She is joined by three other friends of Ruth who each offer support in their own way.
Ann is a former nurse, a quiet woman who is devoted to her family. Ruth, an artist, is more unconventional and spontaneous. When Ruth is facing death in her early forties, Ann is dreading losing her best friend. Ann also realizes she will be losing that vibrant spark in her life, the person who helps Ann enjoy life more fully and exposes her to new experiences. Ruth also had her own emotional journey to travel with the support of her beloved friends.
The story is told with a lot of humor, especially in the flashbacks to happier days. It also shows the joys and sorrows in the women's roles as wives and mothers. The men in the book are not well developed characters, but are presented as stereotypical "types". But that is not too important since the spotlight is on the connection that female friendships provide.
+10 task (#40 on list)
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 475
From Post 411Ed wrote: "10.4 Opposite Lists
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
I remember seeing and enjoying the 1963 film when I was just a boy. But I think my enjoyment had nothing to do wi..."
I am sorry, Ed, this is shelved as Assignment at the BPL and has a lexile of 770. Task, but no styles.
From Post 149Ed wrote: "15.3 - 5 Years Time Traveler
2004
Fifteen Years in Hell An Autobiography by Luther Benson
task +15
non-fiction +5
total = 20
grand total = 225"
This book has an original publication date of 1877. I am not sure that is going to fit into your plan?
Connie wrote: "You're right. I'm getting the Kates mixed up--it was Kate Grenville on the Picador list, although I read a Picador publication."I understand. There are a fair amount of Kates around. :)
Kate S wrote: "From Post 455Bea wrote: "20.9 Political
The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer"
+5 Jumbo (the MPE has 616 pages)
Nevermind, just re-read the FAQ. Yippee!
20.10 MetafictionMemories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel García Márquez
Review:
While I think the message of this book is meant to be hopeful -- even a 90 year old man can find love -- I found it depressing. The narrator here has lived an entirely unfulfilled life up until the eve of his 90th birthday. His once grand family is now down to him living out his life in crumbled glory and poverty. He had steady but ultimately average work as a columnist and journalist. He never married, always believed he was ugly, only had relations with whores--in short, he lived a daily existence that amounted to so little. I know Gabriel García Márquez is considered one of the world's great authors, but I've never loved any of the books of his that I've read.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 LiT
+10 Combo (10.7 - M, 20.1)
Task total: 50
Grand total: 570
Kate S wrote: "From Post 149Ed wrote: "15.3 - 5 Years Time Traveler
2004
Fifteen Years in Hell An Autobiography by Luther Benson
task +15
non-fiction +5
total = 20
grand tot..."
Ouch! I guess I will have to add a book to my plan for 1964.
I don't see that it fits in any other category...unless it is in the 900s for Dewey Decimal? (I can't find the answer to that) and I already used my square peg.
20.8 KotickThe Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore
Review:
This book resonated deeply. Though published 100 years ago, and as commentary on revolution in Bengal, the book speaks to freedom and government in a way that felt extremely relevant today. Here, characters debate whether the ends justify the means. Is it okay to lie or cheat if it's for the good of the country? For the country's people? Just who are the people who should benefit from the country anyway?
The writing style is highly philosophical. The characters engage in long descriptions of their reasoning and how they feel about this or that argument. They sometimes argue with each other in dialogue, but often just in monologue. The story is told from three first-person perspectives -- two parties to an arranged marriage and a hanger-on of the husband turned revolutionary.
I was so engaged with this book that I read it in two days. I think it merits rereading in a slower, more considered way, but I couldn't tear myself away from learning what would happen to these characters, particularly the young wife, Bimala.
I'm so glad this popped up on a list of books for a task in a reading challenge. I'd never have found it otherwise.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 LiT
Task total: 30
Grand total: 600
15.6 FYTS: Time Traveler2014-1969 (This is my second time posting a 15.6 because my 15.3 didn't work)
1984
The Hostage: A Novel by Zayd Mutee' Dammaj
task +25
total = 25
-10 (for bonus points lost due to my 15.3 post not qualifying)
-20 point adjustment because Lord of the Flies didn't qualify for styles)
grand total = 570
Jayme(the ghostreader)10.9 It's Personal
Cinderby Marissa Meyer
Review
This is a retelling of the Cinderella story. This story takes place in the future. Cinderella is a cyborg which means some of her body parts a metal. Her biological parents died in a crash and Cinder as she is called needed plastic surgery of sorts. She gets adopted and lives on Earth. However, her adopted father died, leaving her with a mean stepmother but the stepsisters seem pretty decent. Also Cinder is a mechanic. She meets the prince when he comes into her shop with a defective android. Also what makes this story different than the original is that there is a plague. Cinder's stepsister gets it. Cinder seems to be immune. turns out Cinder is a Lunar, people who have magical powers. It is a really unique retelling of the fairy tale.
Task +10
Style +10 Review
Book Total: 20
Grand Total: 120
10.3 HolidayThe Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
#41 on the Darkest Books of All Time
Review
After The Crow Road and based on this book’s description, I should know that there’s going to be some convoluted conspiracy and absolutely mind-blowing craziness in this book but still… I was caught by surprise and even felt physically sick at one point of the story. I may be a little sensitive or maybe too imaginative! Iain Banks certainly have got ‘horror’ down pat; I’ve never felt so horrified in most of my readings. I may have dwelled too much on that one incident that the twist at the end shocked me and then I didn’t know what to feel: pity, disgust, rage, but mostly relief that it’s over…
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.3 - Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for Foreign Novel (1992))
+10 Review
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 530
15.3 FYTS: Time TravelerPlanned for: 2014 -1964 (1979 skipped)
Kokoda by Paul Ham
Published 2004
+15 Task
+5 Bonus (Non-Fiction)
+5 Bonus (624 pages)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 555
20.3 Winners!11/22/63 by Stephen King
+20 task (ITW Thriller Award for Best Hard Cover Novel (2012))
+15 jumbo (849 pages)
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 130
20.2 The Gods!The Parthenon by Mary Beard
Review:
Some very interesting information. A lot of pieces of the history of the Parthenon that I didn't know presented in a readable format. I am not sure why but I thought we had a pretty clear picture of what the art work represented and how it looked when the Parthenon was completed in the fifth century BC and was surprised to find that is not true. It is interesting that we have some more documentation of some of the remodels and restorations down through history and less about others. I would highly recommend this to anyone who plans to visit Athens or the Elgin marbles at the British Museum. Even the controversy over how to display the Elgin Marbles--as art or as archeology--makes for interesting background. The copy I read was published in 2004 and has dated information in it. It appears that an updated edition was published in 2010.
+20 task (approved in thread)
+5 combo 10.6
+10 review
Task total: 35
Grand total: 145
20.7 U.S. The Bleeding of the Stone by Ibrahim al-Koni
+20 Task: IA - approved in help thread
+10 Lost in Translation
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 735
20.4 Go for the GoldBuying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather by Gao Xingjian
Review:
I really liked three of the five stories in this collection: the title story is excellent, as are "The Temple" and "Cramp." The books ends with what I found to be the worst story, "In an Instant." The author tells us that he isn't trying to write plot, he's trying to use language and evoke feeling. When the stories are effective, they provide almost poem-like windows into a moment or a place. But "In an Instant" is so very experimental that this reader just lost interest in keeping up. Not only is the story dream-like in sequence, but it's also confusing and not specific to a character or feeling. Still, I'm glad to have read this book, my first by this Nobel prize winning author. If his novels are more like the stories I liked, I'd be interested in reading one of his novels, but if they're more like the experimental story I really didn't like, I would definitely not make it through a whole book.
+20 Task (China)
+10 Review
+10 LiT
Task total: 30
Grand total: 630
20.9 PoliticsMy Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic appointed to the United States Supreme Court, has written a candid memoir about her life leading up to that appointment in 2009. Her young life began in a Bronx housing project with an alcoholic father who died young, and a mother who worked long hours as a nurse. Sotomayer had a warm extended family who gathered at her paternal grandmother's home. She was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at age 7, and learned to give herself the insulin shots. She was self-reliant, even at that early age, because she could not depend on anyone else being available to help her manage her diabetes.
School was challenging since she came from a home where Spanish was spoken, but she was intellectually curious and a hard worker. Trips with her family to Puerto Rico developed a strong attachment in Sotomayer to the island and its people. She tells about her work in volunteer organizations helping other Hispanics while a student at Princeton and Yale Law School. She appreciated the help of an important group of mentors along the way to becoming a lawyer, and eventually a judge. She worked fifteen hour days in a New York County District Attorney's office, private practice, and as a judge. But she always cultivated a large group of friends that acted much like family, people who were especially important to her after her divorce.
This entertaining memoir is upbeat, humorous, and compassionate. It's filled with local color, especially in the chapters about her Hispanic heritage. Sotomayer is an inspiration to others that dreams can come true.
+20 task (approved)
+10 combo (10.7 First Letter, 10.6 Biography 920 in Brooklyn Public Library)
+10 review
Task total: 40
Grand total: 520
Task 20.1 South America In honor of this year's Summer Olympics host country: Read a book by an author born in South America.
Isle of Passion (1989) by Laura Restrepo (Hardcover, 298 pages)
+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.7 “I”)
+10 Translation
Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35
Grand Total: 285 + 35 = 320
20.10 Meta FictionNever Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
+20 Task
+5 10.4 Darkest #23
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 345
20.7 U.S. (Rebekah's Task)The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
NM – New Mexico
Review
The Prince is a fairly interesting observation on how a ruler (a prince) should behave / rule successfully. Really though, I thought it was quite sensible but oversimplified; life is just never that clean-cut especially politics. Then, there is this passage about having fortune and fortune is like a woman ”and if you wish to keep her under it is necessary to beat and ill-use her…” Um, WHAT?!? That was the strangest part of the whole book as it felt totally out of context of an otherwise fairly steady (boring!) suggestion of how to apply oneself should you find yourself as a ‘prince’ of Italy.
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.9 – politics)
+10 Canon
+10 LiT
+10 Review
Post total: 55
Season Total: 610
10.7 First LetterMahu by Neil S. Plakcy
Review: Mahu wasn’t exactly a romance novel. It was more of a coming out, accepting yourself, figuring out life kind of novel with a mystery co-plot. Kimo is a 32-year-old police officer in Hawaii with a coveted spot as homicide detective in Waikiki. A kind of convoluted opening finds him witnessing a crime behind a gay bar and not following protocol in the hopes that no one would find out he was present in such a place. Of course, it all goes wrong, and soon, through a combination of his own decisions and others’ he is out and living an honest personal life for the first time. By the end of the book, he hasn’t found anyone to have more than casual sex with, and those relationships are not really much of the book – take them out, and you’re still left with a guy wrestling with who he is and the murder plot. Still, I was curious to see what happened in the next one, despite slightly clunky writing. I’d like to see Kimo find someone to share his life with, so eventually I’ll probably track down the rest of the series.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 860
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Reading with Style
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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Dispatches by Michael Herr
+10 Task
+10 Combo (10.2, 10.10)
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 575