Reading with Style discussion
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SP 2017 Completed Tasks
15.5 AotD Time TravelerPaladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
2004 Nebula Award Winner
Task total: 15
Grand total: 690
15.6 AotD Time TravelerCamouflage by Joe Haldeman
2005 Nebula Award Winner
Task total: 15
Grand total: 705
15.6 AotDTime Traveller | 1 Award
Murderer No More: Andrew Mallard and the Epic Fight that Proved His Innocence by Colleen Egan
Winner of Davitt Award for True Crime 2011
+15 Task
+5 Not-a-Novel
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 600
10.6 Spring EquinoxEmpire of Ivory by Naomi Novik
+10 Task
+5 Combo 10.2
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 585
15.5 Awards of the Decade Time traveler 2010 Anthony Award for best novel
The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
15 task
_____
15
Running total: 600
10.2 3, 4, or 5The Head of the Saint by Socorro Acioli, 880 Lexile
+10 Task
+10 Nonwestern
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 850 - this is correct according to the last update (I think;)
10.3 English LanguageKing Henry IV, Part 1 by William Shakespeare
+10 Task
+10 Combo: 10.2 3, 4, or 5 / 10.7 Dead Poet's Society
+10 Canon
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 880
10.3 English LanguageCoriolanus by William Shakespeare
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo: 10.7 Dead Poet's Society
+10 Canon
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 905
10.3 English LanguageThe Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Season Total: 915
10.7 Dead Poet's Society (Ed's Task)A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie, not YA at BPL
+10 Task
+10 Combo: 10.2 3, 4, or 5 / 10.3 English Language
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 935
15.8 AotD Time Traveler/Different AwardsBlue Heaven by C.J. Box
+15 Task ( Edgar Award for Best Novel 2009)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 950
20.8 Yours, Mine, and Ours Huck Out West by Robert Coover
+20 Task
+10 Combo: 10.2 3, 4, or 5 / 10.6 Spring Equinox
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 1000
Task 10.6 Spring EquinoxThe Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: Stories (2014) by Hilary Mantel (Hardcover, 244 pages)
Audie Award for Short Stories/Collections (2015)
Review: This is a collection of 10 stories, all written by Hilary Mantel. Nine of them were previously published in London literary magazines; the title story, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher is new to this book. The tone of the stories is snide and sarcastic. Seven of the ten stories are told in first person. None of the people in the stories is likeable. Several of the stories appear to be inspired by events in the author’s life – “Sorry to Disturb” stars a British wife in Saudi Arabia (Ms. Mantel lived for a time in Saudi Arabia); “How Shall I know you?” stars a female writer who is working on a historical novel and who attends literary panels in her spare time. The title story, presumably NOT from real life, was one of the better ones, about a planned assassination of Margaret Thatcher.
Overall, the stories were bitter, unpleasant stories about bitter, unpleasant people. Not what I look for in a short story collection.
Hilary Mantel chooses interesting subjects for her novels, so they’ve made their way onto my voluminous TBR pile. I read Beyond Black when it first came out over a decade ago. It’s about a spirit medium who is not a fraud – she’s actually communicating with spirits. I don’t remember much about the novel but I do remember thinking it was a good read. There’s her Henry VIII trilogy, beginning with Wolf Hall; the novel about the French Revolution: A Place of Greater Safety; and the novel about a British wife in Saudi Arabia Eight Months on Ghazzah Street. Therefore, my disappointment in this collection will not stop me from giving some of her other novels a try.
+10 Task
+10 Combo (#10.2, #10.3)
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30
Grand Total: 480 + 30 = 510
20.10 HesperusThe Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
http://www.hesperuspress.com/david-mi...
+20 task
+10 combo (10.3 - born in UK ; 20.6 - 4.02 & 41 186 ratings)
Task total = 30
Points total = 45
10.10 Group ReadsBorn a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
First of all...thank you so much Deedee for recommending this book. It is a spectacular read. On almost every page there was something so surprising that I turned to tell whoever was nearby. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to read this for the challenge.... I was #92 on the library's wait list.... but I finally got there. It is a quick read...because you don't want to put it down...I suspect that is why I moved up so soon.
Having said all that...let me say that I would love to meet Trevor Noah's mother. WOW WoW wow! Such an amazing person. She knew what she wanted and she fought all the odds to get it for herself and her son. The book really only reveals Noah's childhood up to about the age of 20. The reader gets hints...but nothing solid about how he became an international personality. We learn about the ridiculous workings of apartheid and its aftermath. Noah also has cogent thoughts about race and language. There's a lot of humor too..as one might expect.
I have always watched The Daily Show...but I will be watching Noah with an even more admiring eye now. Please read this book! 5 stars.
task = 10
non-Western= 10
Review= 10
combo= 15 (10.2; 10.3; 20.6)
task total= 45
grand total= 835
Post 574 Marie wrote: "20.10 HesperusThe Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
http://www.hesperuspress.com/david-mi...
+20 task
+10 combo (10.3 - born in UK ; 20..."
I'm sorry, Marie. Only those authors listed in the link in the help thread qualify for 20.10. We'll score this for 20.6 so that you lose only 5 points on the combo.
Post 575 Marie wrote: "10.2 3, 4, or 5Iceland
Iceland (Lonely Planet Country Guide)
+10 task
Task total = 10
Points total = 55"
I'm sorry, Marie, a series title doesn't qualify as a sub-title so that this won't work for 3, 4, 5. I see that you're using another book for your Square Peg.
10.3 English LanguageWhat Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller
Sheba Hart is a new and naive pottery teacher at a London comprehensive school. Incapable of keeping discipline but stirring a strong attraction in one of her teenage male pupils, she is helped and befriended by a lonely older teacher named Barbara.
Superficially, this is a story of a technically abusive sexual relationship between teacher and pupil. In fact, since Barbara is our narrator, we only see the relationship with the schoolboy through biased and unreliable eyes, and the story is more about love and betrayal in a friendship that is much more intense on one side than the other.
+10 task
+ 5 combo (10.2 approved in help thread)
+10 review
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 665
20.4 My Family and Other AnimalsThe Moonspinners by Mary Stewart
Nicola Ferris is on holiday from her post as a secretary for the British Embassy in Athens. She and her cousin, Frances, plan a trip to Crete. Frances is delayed so Nicola goes on ahead alone. (view spoiler) The rest of the book is a non-stop rush of hushed nighttime forays, hushed plotting, and hushed hiding. Doesn't make it sound great, but it was a fun ride (though the ending...meh).
The description of Crete made me wish I was leaving for that island tomorrow (rather than to chilly Paris--can't believe I got this book completed before our departure!). Stewart does a great job with setting--I could smell the lemons and rosemary where they grew, taste the welcome wine after a day of traipsing about the hills and trails, feel the breeze off of the ocean...it was splendid.
I did not love the slight misogynistic statements that popped up in a few places--but I wonder if that was just a reflection of how women were treated at the time (early '60s) or that it ended up being a sort of damsel-in-distress type book--EVEN THOUGH she was a mere 22-years-old and working at the British Embassy (read: capable and bright young lady!) and was the one who was saving everyone else's bacon and figuring the whole caper out...it still ended with her being saved in a very "Here I Come to Save the Day!"-Dudley-DoRight scene. Overall, though, it was a rather enjoyable book.
+20 Task (100% in Greece)
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.3; 20.2)
Task total: 40
RwS finish: 100
Season total: 1015
20.10 Hesperus (Elizabeth(Alaska))The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
review
In a typical Hugo fashion, there were intervening chapters with naught to do with the story. I don't know if I'm exaggerating since I've really only read this and Les Miserables but it feels like it's his style along with overly romanticising everybody and add to that, the swooning fall-in-love trope. Not that I mind the last bit very much except that the lady is lacking in character somewhat. Dear Esmeralda...
She fainted here!
She fainted there!
She fainted everywhere!
I expected an intelligent gypsy girl to have more Gumption!
On the other hand, I actually felt sorry for the villain, Claude Frollo, **evil laughs**
I feel his lack of nurture and therefore, inability / incapability to deal with emotions which no one had ever previously stirred in his heart. He was a nut-job obviously but as all of us are defined by the world around us, so was he.
And for the Disney movie lovers... pssst, do NOT ever read this book with the most tragic ending Ever! You have Disney to thank for that ;p
+20 Task
+10 combo (10.2 - 5 words in title; 10.7 - memorial)
+10 Review
+10 Canon
+5 Jumbo
Task Total: 55
Grand Total: 655
10.8 AnthologyIn Sunlight or In Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper by Lawrence Block
Paintings by realist American artist Edward Hopper are the inspiration for this anthology of short stories by 17 different authors. Hopper's paintings show deep contrasts of light and shadows, some near the sea and others in the city. Figures tend to be solitary or uncommunicative couples. They are quiet, introspective, and possibly troubled. While the chosen paintings don't actually tell a story, they invite the viewer (or the short story writer) to imagine what could be happening.
I enjoyed almost all the stories in this collection. The stories were in many genres--mysteries, crime, horror, literary fiction, and magical realism. The paintings showing urban solitude act as especially good inspiration for noir crime stories, some with a Hitchcockian feeling to them. The book has a winning combination--reproductions of Hopper's wonderful artwork and an entertaining group of stories.
+10 task
+ 5 combo 10.2
+10 review
Task total: 25
Grand total: 480
10.9 A Wrinkle in Time (Coralie's Task)Hyperion by Dan Simmons
#22 on the list
Task total: 10
Grand total: 715
10.6 Spring EquinoxRescuing Prometheus: Four Monumental Projects that Changed Our World by Thomas P. Hughes
Task total: 10
Grand total: 725
10.8 Anthology (Beth's Task)The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius ed by John Joseph Adams
Task total: 10
Grand total: 735
From Post 557itpdx wrote: "20.4 My Family & Other Animals
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Review: When the author, known to his family as Gerry, was about 10, his very unconventiona..."
+5 Combo 10.2
Karen Michele wrote: "20.6 My Name is Red Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
+20 Task: pre-approved
Season Total: 960"
There's an addition error here. This is a 20 point task, but you only gave yourself credit for 10. :)
Kate S wrote: "Karen Michele wrote: "20.6 My Name is Red Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
+20 Task: pre-approved
Season Total: 960"
There's an addition error here. This is a 20 poi..."
Oops! thanks, Kate!
15.9 AotD TravelerThe Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan
2006 Nat'l Book Award for Nonfiction
+15 Task
+ 5 Not a Novel
Task total = 20
Grand Total = 560
10.10 Group ReadThe Gilded Hour by Sara Donati
+10 Task
+10 Combo (10.2, 20.5 according to wikipedia)
+10 Jumbo 741 pages in MPE
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 280
20.6 My Name is RedThe Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.2, 10.3)
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 330
20.8 Yours, Mine, and OursRhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.2, 10.6)
+5 Jumbo (500 pages in MPE)
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 365
20.8 Yours, Mine and OursTo Protect by Mickey Zucker Reichert
+20 Task
+5 Combo 20.9
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 620
10.2 - 3,4,5Tea At Four O'Clock by Janet McNeill
Laura is in her forties, and her life has been dominated by the controlling older sister with whom she lived in their large old family home on the edge of Belfast. Now Mildred is dead, and Laura is free - or is she? Three people are competing to take over her life - her sister's friend Miss Parks, the family solicitor Mr. McAlister, and Laura's long-lost brother George, the black sheep of the family. And Laura has a secret of her own that nobody but Mildred ever knew. Has her freedom come too late?
Set in Northern Ireland in the 1950s, this is a strongly character-driven novel that slowly reveals a very sad story. It goes deeply into each character and I found it very powerful. I wasn't completely convinced by the ending (view spoiler) but I see why Janet McNeill ended it as she did.
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 685
When do we get the 10 points added for competing the Team Challenge?
10.2 3, 4 or 5 word title(pre-approved)
Holy Bible: King James Version by Anonymous
review NB This review is for the King James Version (KJV) as a version, not for the Bible itself, since it’s specifically the KJV on Bloom’s Canon.
While this is neither the first nor the only English version of the Bible done in England during the reformation, it has been by far the most widely used of these versions and is still in common use, although most people now prefer contemporary versions. A version isn’t a strict translation, but a translation which has been edited to make more sense in English.
The language can be beautiful once you learn the archaic words; make no mistake this is in modern English. The scholars working in this have left most of the added words in italics, (many necessary due to the lack of functional words we have in English that aren’t used in Hebrew, Chaldee and/or Greek) which is helpful for spotting some of the words added that are incorrect. In many places the original is brilliantly followed, although there are times when it means the reader needs additional knowledge of idioms, orientalisms and other figures of speech common in those languages to understand it. In other places, it’s sketchy where theologians have stepped in, but this can be seen by study with resources and it no worse than any other version that I can think of and still better than many. Perhaps one of the weakest parts of this version is that it was drawn from only one critical Greek text, rather than being drawn from a number of those. All in all, though, I think it’s still a must read at some point for any serious Biblical scholar or even reader.
Task +10
Bloom's Canon +10 (for the KJV = King James Version)
Review +10
Jumbo +25
Task Total=55
Season Total = 285 (adding in the team challenge points here which haven't been added, so if I can't include them for some reason, please let me know).
20.8 Yours, Mine, and Ours (Amanda's Task)Au Reservoir by Guy Fraser-Sampson
Guy Fraser-Sampson continues the adventures of Mapp & Lucia…and all the other colorful and “tarsome” characters of E. F. Benson’s series. The situations are just as fun to experience as in Benson’s books. Here we have Lucia continuing to rule as the admired unofficial leader of Tilling society while Mapp does her best to undermine her. The story includes Noel Coward and Sir John Gielgud as characters this time…much to Mapp’s surprise and lament. But some of the intrigues from past volumes, such as the “Roman” excavation in Lucia’s garden, revive with significant consequences. Lucia also chases her dream of receiving a title…with help from an unlikely source. Bridge playing is ramped up to the professional level. Another fun read…until one gets to the ending which I did not like…but there are at least two more books by a different author continuing the series. By the way, the source of the title “Au Reservoir” is the playful phrase that Lucia introduced to Tilling…. to replace “au revoir”. The characters readily adopted it as a regular part of their conversations.
Task= 20
Review=10
Combo= 5 (10.3)
task total= 35
grand total= 870
Karin wrote: "When do we get the 10 points added for competing the Team Challenge?"All Team Mega bonus points will be awarded at the end of the challenge.
15.10 AotDDifferent Prizes
I read In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente. James Tiptree, Jr. Award.
Though a collected group of stories, this book nonetheless has a commonality which umbrellas over the whole thing, making it a single entity. Thus, I will not ask for "Not a Novel" points.
+15 Task -- 2006 James Tiptree, Jr. Award (one of my favorite awards! -- so glad I got to use it in this challenge.)
+ 50 -- Time Leaper Finisher!
Post total: 65
Season total: 210
completed:
2008 The White Tiger Man Booker Prize
2007 The Missing Bram Stoker Best Novel
2006 In the Night Garden James Tiptree, Jr. Award
2005 Camouflage Nebula Award
2004 Out There National Outdoor Book Award
2003 Perma Red Spur Award Best Novel of the West
2002 That They May Face The Rising Sun Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award
2001 When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge Oregon Book Award for Nonfiction
2000 The Mighty Walzer Bollinger Wodehouse Comedy Award
1999 A Small Death in Lisbon CWA Golden Dagger Award
This has been great fun! Thanks for creating such a wonderful reading party!
20.5 FoundationWinter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
+20 Task (born Missouri, 1953)
Points this post: 20
RwS total: 295
AotD total: 15
Season Total: 310
10.2 3, 4, or 5Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain by Charlotte Higgins
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.3 Stoke-on-Trent, UK)
Points this post: 15
RwS total: 310
AotD total: 15
Season Total: 325
Task 15.7Spur Award for Best Novel (1978)
(note: I'm going to be doing all Spur Award, sequentially, 1972-1981)
Riders to Cibola: A Novel (1977) by Norman Zollinger
+15 Task
+05 Oldies (published before 1992)
Task Total: 15 + 05 = 20
Grand Total: 510 + 20 = 530
10.4 International Question DayBig Book of Who: Baseball: The 101 Stars Every Fan Needs to Know by The Editors of Sports Illustrated Kids
I had not been planning on reading this book for Reading with Style... but it arrived in the mail...a win from GR giveaways. As a kid, I was a big-time baseball fan and had statistics on the tip of my tongue...and of course collected as many baseball cards as I could. I was also a fan of the Miracle New York Mets in 1969...(now, I'm still a fan...but fair-weathered based on the Mets standings). I also use to read a few baseball books every Spring in anticipation of the new season... so, why not start that tradition again.
This book reminds the reader of some amazing stats and some good ol' trivia. Such as Ken Griffey Jr. hit a home run for the Seattle Mariners in the same game that his father, Ken Griffey Sr. also hit a home run. Also, Reggie Jackson, during the 6th game of the 1977 World Series hit the first pitch on three successive at-bats...all for home runs...giving the Yankees the WS win. Something that had escaped my notice throughout the years is that Roy Campanella had played in the Negro Leagues before MLB was integrated...I had no idea. Good Read 3 1/2 stars.
task = 10
review =10
combo = 5 (10.2)
task total= 25
grand total= 895
Congratulations on finishing AotD, Nick!10.9 A Wrinkle in Time
Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer
Lexile 980
+10 task
+ 5 combo (10.3)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 700
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
Letters to the End of Love (other topics)Made in the U.S.A. (other topics)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (other topics)
The Goldfinch (other topics)
The Boy on the Bridge (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Yvette Walker (other topics)Billie Letts (other topics)
Arthur Conan Doyle (other topics)
Donna Tartt (other topics)
M.R. Carey (other topics)
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Spur Award for Best Novel (1977)
(note: I'm going to be doing all Spur Award, sequentially, 1972-1981)
The Great Horse Race (1977) by Fred Grove
+15 Task
+05 Oldies (published before 1992)
Task Total: 15 + 05 = 20
Grand Total: 460 + 20 = 480