Reading with Style discussion
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SP 2017 Completed Tasks
15.3 AotD 1991-1982 Time TravelerDifferent Prizes
The Book of Evidence by John Banville
1989 Guinness Peat Aviation Book Award
task=15
oldie=5
task total =20
grand total= 220
10.9 - A Wrinkle In TimeThe Shining Girls - Lauren Beukes
(#165 on the list)
The way I feel about this book is largely how I felt about the first of Beukes' novels that I read: interesting concept, well written, got wayyyyy too bogged down the the supernatural element near the end.
I really enjoyed the way Beukes wrote the characters of the shining girls. She does an excellent job of giving each character their own unique voice and personality, and even though, other than Kirby, the reader only gets a chapter or two with each one, she did a great job of building them up as real, important characters that mattered.
I do wish there was something more to Harper than just "murderous psychopath who can travel in time" because there really isn't anything else there. There's also never really an explanation of how he knows where the shining girls are or even, hell, how he knows they're shining girls. Part of that is explained away as being part of the confusion of the house's time traveling capabilities, but it feels like a bit of a cop-out.
I did enjoy watching Kirby fit all the pieces together, and Beukes packs a lot of interesting history and social commentary into this novel, but ultimately, I think she could have done the same thing over a shorter timeline without the time travel.
+10 task
+10 review
+10 non-western
+15 combo (10.2; 10.3; 10.6)
Post total: 45
Grand total: 85
And that's it for Team Proust! :D
15.2 AotDSilent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
RITA Award 2008
+15 Task
+5 Jumbo
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 120
10.8 AnthologyThe Best American Short Stories 1989 by Margaret Atwood
+10 task
Task total=10
Grand total=210
20.7 #AWW2017 (Tien's Task)My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
Review I was expecting a much more enjoyable read than this since I have mainly enjoyed the Australian novels I have read in the past. This is a classic and there is no doubt that this writer had talent and I can see why she later made a career out of writing, but this novel, which was written when she was 16 has a protagonist who was apparently ahead of her time (yes and no, since there were others of that time with the same commitment to not marry, and even before her time, although it was certainly rare), but overall I found her rather selfish and short sighted. This and her treatment of one of the characters spoiled what might have been an enjoyable read, once I got past the beginning of the book, which I really didn't like. There were entire stretches that I enjoyed, and I thought it would be a three star read, but, alas, they were not enough of the book to make it so.
There is no summary here, because there is one on the book description.
+20 Task
+10 Bloom's Western Canon
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2 (3 word title) and
Season Total =195
10.3 English LanguageJudas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
+10 Task (born in UK)
+ 15 Jumbo (827 pages)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 115
20.2 RebeccaGone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Review: This book takes readers on quite a ride. A woman, Amy, goes missing in violent circumstances. Her husband increasingly comes under suspicion. The first part of the story is told by the husband and Amy's diary.
I guess this is called a psychological mystery. Much of the story is about what is happening in the minds of the main characters.
One character, Desi, bothered me in that he is creepily from the past, located nearby and his psychology is unclear.
This book is NOT a cozy mystery and is not for readers who like a neatly tied up story line. It left me with a hollow in the pit of my stomach.
+20 task
+10 review
Task total: 30
Season total: 95
15.2 AotDTime Traveller | 1 Award
Last Woman Hanged by Caroline Overington
Winner of Davitt Award for True Crime 2015
+15 Task
+5 Not-a-Novel
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 205
10.2 - 3,4,5The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent
Guylain Vignolles commutes into Paris from a suburb every day on the 6.27 am train. He always sits in the same seat, and he spends the journey reading aloud to the other passengers - not from one book, but from apparently random pages. Later we'll find out where he gets the pages, which is an eye-opener for any lover of books ... and he finds something on the train, which opens up a new avenue of interest for him.
This is a charming, quirky and slightly bizarre book that was a very enjoyable read. I found myself wondering what's going to happen to the characters after the end. It was refreshing, too, to read a book set in Paris that had (as far as I recall) not a single reference to the Eiffel Tower or any other historic monument. This is the Paris that ordinary people live and work in.
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 230
10.2 - 3,4,5A House in the Country by Jocelyn Playfair
A particularly good example of the "home front" novels of the Second World War. Cressida Chance is the widowed chatelaine of a large house in the English countryside, where she takes lodgers who need to live in the area for one reason or another. However, the household is not quite what we might expect - Cressida doesn't own the house, and there's a big question mark over her husband's death. Nor does the book quite fit the usual mould, being more thoughtful and less black-and-white than many of the "plucky women left at home" genre of WW2 novels. I thought it was wonderful, and it's one I will keep to reread.
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 250
15.3 AotDDifferent Prizes
Camouflage by Joe Haldeman
+15 Task Nebula Award for Best Novel 2005
Post total: 15
Season total: 45
completed:
2008 The White Tiger Man Booker Prize
2007
2006
2005 Camouflage Nebula Award
2004
2003 Perma Red Spur Award Best Novel of the West
2002
2001
2000
1999
Post 159 Karin wrote: "20.7 #AWW2017 (Tien's Task)My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
Review I was expecting a much more enjoyable read than this since I have mainly enjoyed the Austral..."
Sorry, Karin. 10.3 is for UK, South African, and New Zealand authors. No combo for Australia.
Kate S wrote: "From Post 34Andrea wrote: "10.4 International Question Day
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
Review: http..."
Got it! Thanks.
10.10 Group ReadsNow Is the Time to Open Your Heart by Alice Walker
I think if I hadn’t had to set this book aside overnight, it might have made it to 5 stars. I was completely absorbed in the stories yesterday, but for some reason, it didn’t grab me again this morning and I felt it fell a bit flat at the end. That said, the novel still got me thinking. I loved the different settings, retreats and adventures of Kate and Yolo, but I felt somewhat detached from them. The writing style was excellent and engaging as you would expect from one of our great American novelists. There were passages I re-read due to their beauty and insight, especially those words and thoughts about aging gracefully and happily. This book is character driven rather than plot driven and packs a lot into a short framework.
Thanks for the group read, Kate!
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 205
10.3 English LanguageThe Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain
+10 Task (born in UK)
+5 Combo (10.2)
Points this post: 15
RwS total: 120
AotD total: -
Season Total: 120
10.2 - 3, 4, or 5Black Beans and Vice by J.B. Stanley
Review:
This is book 6 of a cozy mystery series (A Supper Club Mystery). It had been a book that I had planned to complete a task for another group in a prior challenge. Since one of my goals is to read previously planned challenge books, I ended picking it up at this time.
This is a series that I have not read before, but, since the characters were like-able, I will probably continue it at some point.
This story revolved around the supper club members trying hypnosis in order to reduce their addiction to sugar. They become involved with a new age type health group through their hypnosis treatment. They are also confronted with an animal rights group, old love interests rekindled, new ones found, jealousy and vandalism from an ex, and the child of a member becoming a vegetarian. All in all, it was a fun read with people I would really like to know.
+ 10 Task (title has four words)
+ 10 Review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 20
20.9 National Doctor's DayA Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
Lexile 1040
+20 Task
+ 25 Combo 10.2, 10.3, 10.7, 20.2, 20.10
Post Total: 45
Season Total: 160
10.2 - 3, 4, or 5Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey
Review:
I wasn't exactly sure how this story would go...was it the story of the lives in the letters or was it the story of the one finding the letters? It turned out to be both.
The story of the letters was a story of an illicit war-time romance that was never able to result in the fairy-tale ending that was hoped for. The story of the one who found the letters was a story of escape from an abused life into one of love. And the real story was how the war story of love brought love to the present day.
I got deeply involved with both stories and rooted for a good ending...albeit a bit bittersweet.
+ 10 Task (title has four words)
+ 5 Combo (10.6 - author first and last names have 4 letters each)
+ 10 Review
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 45
10.2 - 3, 4, or 5A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve
Review:
This was an author that I thought was new to me...and yet, this is the second book that I have read of hers. The first was The Pilot's Wife, which I read 3 years ago. Although I gave that book 4* and seldom re-read books due to my memory of the story, I just do not remember that book at all!
This book, however, I do not think I will forget so easily. It tells the story of an American couple who go to Kenya to live. He is a doctor studying various diseases...and she is a journalist. The book focuses on the events that occur in Kenya and the strain to their marriage from the viewpoint of the wife.
There are the wonders of a new culture, the horrors of how people treat each other, the disaster and temptations, and the betrayals. All wound up in the life of an ex-patriot in another country.
I rode the rollercoaster of emotions that Margaret felt as she lived through her first year of marriage in this foreign but wonderful land.
+ 10 Task (Title has four words)
+ 10 Review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 65
20.5 FoundationBy Nightfall by Michael Cunningham
20 task
____
20
Running total: 200
This is Team Shakespeare's last mega race book.
20.2 RebeccaThe Mystery of the Yellow Room (Joseph Rouletabille #1) by Gaston Leroux
#253 of list
Review
I struggled with the audiobook on this one. It just couldn't keep my attention. I also struggled with the characters as Joseph Roulatabille was meant to be 18?! A Journalist but also a genius in problem-solving (ie. detecting). I supposed Sherlock Holmes himself wasn't completely likeable and only rendered so from the humanity imposed on him from Watson's perspective but Roulatabille didn't have a Watson as such. The novel's perspective is from a Watson-like character but unlike Watson, he is not a sidekick that he did not accompany Roulatabille as much as Watson did Holmes. And the ending too, kind of annoyed me. At least, Holmes & Poirot kind of work with the authorities but Rouletabille rather snubbed them and even gone so far as to block justice's works for no other reason that I can comprehend other than that he is a better detective despite being only a journalist so it's not his job for justice to be served. 3 stars only because I did like the mystery.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 235
20.9 National Doctor's Day (Kate's Task)The Lady With the Little Dog and Other Stories, 1896-1904 by Anton Chekhov
+20 task
+10 canon
+10 non-Western
Task total: 40
Grand total: 325
20.5 FoundationA Knot in the Grain: And Other Stories by Robin McKinley
+20 task
+10 combo (10.2, 10.8)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 355
10.5 CircusGeek Love by Katherine Dunn
Shelved as "Circus" 64 times
Review: This book was very disturbing to me. Not at all in terms of the physical weirdness of the characters, but very much in terms of what people will do to and for those they love.
"Geek Love" is the story of the Binewski family, who rune the "Binewski Fabulon", a circus/carnival/side show.
In order to create a good show the parent decides to breed good attractions using a homecooked combination of drugs and radioactive isotopes during the pregnancies. This results in Arturo "Aquaman", who can flippers instead of arms and legs, Elly and Iphy, beautiful, musically gifted siamese twins, Oly, the albino dwarf and Chicken, who looks normal, but most definitely has gifts of his own.
In some authors' hands this might become cutesy tale of weirdness in a circus, but to me, this was a deeply disturbing tale of the distructive potential of family.
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.6 (43155 ratings/3,99 avg)
+10 Review
Task total: 25 pts
Grand total: 175 pts
Denise wrote: "Kate, could you re-check my point total? I show that I have 160 points through post 112, but the Readerboard has me at 140. I wonder if the Oldies points for AotD are not showing up? (To add to the..."Found and fixed. Thanks for the quick head's up.
From Post 79Lagullande wrote: "20.1 Lord of the Rings
The Third Man by Graham Greene
+20 Task
+20 Combo (10.2, 10.3, 10.6, 20.10)
Points this post: 40
RwS total: 80
AotD total: -
Season Total: 80"
Sorry, this is listed as assignment at the Brooklyn Public Library, but doesn't have a lexile score. It qualifies for task points, but no styles.
15.1 AotD (Time Traveler)The Vegetarian by Han Kang
+15 task (Man Booker Prize, 2016)
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 65
20.9 National Doctor's DayBetter: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande
+20 task
Task total=20
Grand total=230
Kate S wrote: "Found and fixed. Thanks for the quick head's up."
Thanks, Kate.
10.1 Square PegAsunder by Chloe Aridjis
This is the prose I love to read. It is varied and interesting. Unfortunately, this was not the book I anticipated based on the GR description and I feel as if that great writing was wasted. Still, I kept reading, ready to see where the author would take me.
It is told in the first person by a woman who is perhaps the most passive character in all of literature. She is perfectly suited to her job as a guard at the British National Museum, where she looks and watches day after day. The book doesn't stay with her on the job site, but there is enough to know what it is like. She conjectures about the day her great grandfather saw Mary Richardson slashing Velasquez's Rokeby Venus in a protest over the detention of fellow suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. We're with her as she listens to an art restorer lecture some students about the cracking that naturally occurs in old artwork.
Perhaps the most telling of her passivity is a conversation with her friend, Daniel, in which they study William Dyces painting Pegwell Bay, Kent - a Recollection of October 5th 1858. Daniel suggests Donati's comet is included in the painting (I don't see it.)
...crowds had thronged the streets, rooftops and bridges to catch a glimpse of Donati, which was not only the second brightest comet of the nineteenth century but the first comet ever to be photographed.I wanted so much more for this. I was frustrated with Marie. Do something! Last night when I finished, I thought this was at best 3 stars and I'll leave it at that. But as I write this, I'm thinking I might have left a star behind.
‘No matter how greatly you shine,’ I later said to Daniel in the pub, ‘it’s all over before you know it. And what’s left? A white brushstroke, only visible if you really look.’
‘That’s better than nothing.’
‘Well, most of us don’t even leave behind a brushstroke.’
(See the images of the paintings in my comment here.)
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total = 20
Grand Total = 220
15.4 AotD 1991-1982 Time TravelerDifferent Prizes
The Middleman and Other Stories by Bharati Mukherjee
1988 National Book Critics Circle Award- see post 48 in the help thread as an exception to the BPL assignment rule.
task=15
oldie=5
not a novel=5
task total =25
grand total= 245
Post 77 :Amanda wrote: "10.3 English LanguageOwls Do Cry by Janet Frame
(born in NZ)
+10 task
+10 combo (10.2, 10.6)
Task Total = 20
Grand Total = 45"
Sorry Kate, can we please move this from 10.3 to 10.2, with the combo also changing around.
10.7 Dead Poet's SocietyA Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (approved)
+10 task
+25 combos (10.2, 10.3, 20.2, 20.9, 20.10)
Task Total = 35
Grand Total = 80
15.3 AotDThe Barracks Thief by Tobias Wolff
+15 Task (Pen/Faulkner award 1985)
+5 Oldies
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 180
10.2 3,4,5Me Before Youby Jojo Moyes
Review
Louisa takes a job as a caregiver for a man in his 30's who is a quadaplegic. She has never been a caregiver before. It pays well and her family needs the money as her father is out of work. Will Traynor doesn't want to be in a wheelchair. He can't bear being handicapped. Louisa falls for Will even though she had a boyfriend. She leaves him for Will. Her job is only for six months because that is how much Will has to live. He has decided to end his life on his terms. Louisa comes up with a plan to change Will's mind planning all these activities and getting him out of the house. Will is not keen ion changing his mind. He can't face life being in a wheelchair.
I think Will didn't give himself a chance. I was really hoping that they would be together. If I had a friend who was in that situation, I want to spend as much time him or her as I could. I don't understand why Will would want to give up on himself. He could have had a pretty good life.
Task Points: 20
Style Combo 10.3 born in UK, Review +10
Book Total: 20
Grand Total:
15.3 AotD Time TravelerBrown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, 990 Lexile
+15 Task (National Book Award 2014)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 220
10.8 AnthologyStories and Scripts: an Anthology by Zack Love
review 1.5 stars
This is my first, and undoubtedly last, read of author Zack Love. If this were the only sort of writer Harvard grads made, it would be a travesty. True, a couple of the stories were decent, but the last two were rather tasteless and crass. Give me the bawdy humour of Chaucer over this any day, and I'm not a huge fan of Chaucer, but at least Chaucer could write well.
There were times I laughed, mostly during the screen-play, although it was nothing earth shattering and was rather predictable. I'm not sure how he has published so many books (self-published?) and perhaps this is his weakest one, but I highly doubt it, since one of the tasteless ones was a first person POV by a character from one of his other books.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2 five word title, 10.6 Spring Equinox)
Task Total = 30 points
Season Total = 225
Task 10.2 3, 4, or 5Read a book whose title has exactly 3, 4, or 5 words. Sub-titles can be counted or ignored.
All Our Wrong Todays (2017) by Elan Mastai
Review: The first line of Elan Mastai’s goodreads biography states: “All Our Wrong Todays” is my first novel, but I’ve been working for the past 15 years as a screenwriter.” He does know how to tell a story. The premise is that our first-person young male narrator became involved in a time travel project gone awry. I had expected the story to travel the “alternate time” commentary on society, with some adventure thrown in for fun. Instead, the novel focuses on relationships, and what makes relationships healthy, and what makes relationships unhealthy. Our first person narrator is very insecure, which is present on every page of the novel. There is personal growth as the novel progresses. The ending is very satisfactory and fits the novel.
Recommended for those interested in off-beat novels about relationships.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20
Grand Total: 80 + 20 = 100
20.4 My Family and Other FriendsThe Moonspinners by Mary Stewart
Mary Stewart has combined mystery, suspense, and romance in this novel set in Greece. Nicola, a secretary at the British Embassy at Athens, is meeting her cousin for a holiday in a small village in Crete. As she is exploring the beautiful countryside on her way, she comes upon a man and his injured friend. The men were exploring the trails and ruins, and had unintentionally witnessed a murder. They are now in hiding from the violent man and his friends, and don't want Nicola to get involved in the situation. But she could not just ignore someone who needs help.
Wonderful descriptions of the mountains, the rocky coast, and the ruins of Crete were woven into the suspenseful story as Nicola tries to discover the identity of the murderer. Nicola and her cousin are likable, interesting characters. Written in the 1960s, the book has a retro feeling about it with Nicola hiking up the rocky mountainside in a dress, and using her petticoat as a bandage for the wounded man. It's a charming book that was later made into a film.
+20 task (100% in Greece)
+10 combo 10.3, 20.2 #264 on mystery list
+10 review
Task total: 40
Grand total: 145
20.9 National Doctor's DayPrey by Michael Crichton
This had me riveted from the start, and it all seemed scarily possible, although I can't claim to understand the science. Jack is taking care of the kids between jobs while his wife works for a technology coporation. When he is drafted in as a consultant to fix an error that former colleagues of his have produced, he discovers they have created something that threatens all human life - a cluster of tiny particles that are capable of acting together in a swarm, which has artificial intelligence far beyond the power of any individual particle. And Jack's wondering where his wife fits in to all this...
+20 task
+10 review
+ 5 jumbo
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 285
15.4 AotDDifferent Prizes
Out There by Ted Kerasote
+15 Task National Outdoor Book Award 2004
+ 5 Not a novel
Post total: 20
Season total: 65
completed:
2008 The White Tiger Man Booker Prize
2007
2006
2005 Camouflage Nebula Award
2004 Out There National Outdoor Book Award
2003 Perma Red Spur Award Best Novel of the West
2002
2001
2000
1999
15.5 AotDDifferent Prizes
A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson
+15 Task CWA Golden Dagger Award 1999 (At the time it was called the MacAllen Golden Dagger award)
Post total: 15
Season total: 80
completed:
2008 The White Tiger Man Booker Prize
2007
2006
2005 Camouflage Nebula Award
2004 Out There National Outdoor Book Award
2003 Perma Red Spur Award Best Novel of the West
2002
2001
2000
1999 A Small Death in Lisbon CWA Golden Dagger Award
15.1 AotD Time TravelerAgatha Award Best First Novel (1988-1997)
A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George
Won the award in 1988.
+15 Task
+ 5 Oldie (1988)
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 85
10.2 3, 4 or 5 Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple
I enjoyed Maria Semple's last book quite a lot, but didn't LOVE it. Just enjoyed it enough to put a hold on this one. She definitely has a style, and I like it, and I think I enjoyed this one more. This is the story of one of Eleanor's days (with some digressions to the past) -- an especially screwball kind of day, full of missed connections, lies emerging, slapstick comedy, and screaming. I didn't quite like Eleanor, but I don't think I was supposed to. I was rooting for her, but partly in an "Oh my God, there can't be something ELSE happening to you now" kind of way. However, despite not loving the character, Eleanor was very well drawn, the book was funny, and I didn't want to put it down to go to bed. I even jotted down a few quotes. All things considered, I recommend it -- but if you read and disliked Where'd You Go Bernadette, you probably won't love this one either.
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 85
10.3 English LanguageThe Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 190
10.2 - 3, 4, or 5The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit
The standout essay of this collection is A Short History of Silence, about how women are forbidden or prevented from speaking and not heard when they do. It's a truth we hold in our hearts but avoid looking at too closely because man, it hurts.
Being unable to tell your story is a living death and sometimes a literal one. If no one listens when you say your ex-husband is trying to kill you, if no one believes you when you say you are in pain, if no one hears you when when you say 'help', if you don't dare say 'help', if you have been trained not to bother people by saying 'help'.
Jaw dropping and rage inducing facts abound - rape is the most common form of trauma, but PTSD research is directed at male veterans. "Fight or flight" was largely studied in male rats and humans and women often employ a third, until now unrecognized, option. One reason the gun homicide rate hasn't risen is not because fewer people are getting shot, but because medicine is getting better at saving those who are. In fact more people are getting shot. And on and on.
Luckily Solnit also points out things we can all do. Tell your story if you can, and listen and believe those who are telling you theirs. If someone lobs a sexist inquiry your way reply, "Would you ask a man that question?" Do the intellectual work to not see groups (Muslims, women, poor people, etc.) as monolith entities, for that is the road to believing you can attack any member for the entire group's perceived sins.
Overall The Mother of All Questions is more nuanced and inclusive than its predecessor while still packing an eye opening gut punch. Necessary for the times we live in and a hearty recommend.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20 points
Grand total: 110 points
10.2 3,4,or 5The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
Philip Hutton is remembering the tumultuous years in Malaysia around the time of World War II when he was a young man with divided loyalties. As a sixteen-year-old in 1939, he was the son of a prosperous English father and a deceased Chinese mother who felt like he did not fit into either community. He met Hatato Endo, a Japanese diplomat who was renting an island from Philip's father. Endo taught Philip the martial arts skills and mental discipline of aikido, as well as the Japanese language and culture. He asked Philip to show him places of interest in Malaysia, always taking detailed pictures of the areas. When the Japanese invaded Malaysia, Philip realized how Endo had used his knowledge, but he still felt a strong bond with his sensei. He remembered his Chinese grandfather's words: "'Next to a parent, a teacher is the most powerful person in one's life.' And Endo-san had been more than my parent, much more than my teacher."
Philip had to make a decision about where his loyalties laid--join the Chinese resistance, collaborate with the Japanese, or evacuate with some of the English families. The war years showed Philip in many dangerous situations. But the core of the book is really his relationships with his best friend, Kon, and with the strong men who mentor and love him--his English father, his Chinese grandfather, and Japanese Endo. In war people are caught up in a vortex beyond their control as their governments make decisions they cannot change.
As an old man, Philip is visited by an elderly woman who loved Endo years ago in Japan. They share memories of Endo and the war years. They wonder if their lives were destined by fate, or whether there is free will. Had Philip and Endo met in a previous life, and were the anguishing times in the war predetermined by fate? Had the dire predictions of the fortune teller at the snake temple come to reality?
This is a fascinating book involving many cultures. The story brings up many questions as it explores the conflicting loyalties and the difficult decisions that both Philip and Endo must make. Highly recommended.
+10 task
+10 Non-Western (author is Malaysian)
+10 review
Task total: 30
Grand total: 175
20.4 My Family and Other AnimalsWhen the Tree Sings by Stratis Haviaras
An 11 year old boy relates his experiences in a small coastal Greek town while it is under occupation by the Germans during World War II. At first I found the book stilted because the story is told in short snippets and sketches…but about half way in..I began to appreciate the style and enjoyed it on the whole. The story never gets bogged down in grostesqueries …but provides enough information to let us know about awful tortures and other barbarities that the Greek people suffered. The reader gets to know the boy’s family, friends, and some heroes and villains…while also experiencing the boy growing into adolescence. The book also discusses the bad relations that the Allies engendered when they came to “help”.
task=20
review=10
comb0= 10 (10.2;10.4)
task total=40
grand total= 285
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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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Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy by Ekaterina Sedia...
+10 Non-Western"
Sorry, Kate, I didn't claim Non-Western because editor/author lives in New Jersey though I see now there is a slash for 'citizen of/ residing in a non-Western country and she's noted as nationality: Russian!
Thanks :D