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SP 2017 Completed Tasks
10.2 3, 4, or 5The Kindness of Enemies by Leila Aboulela
+10 Task
+10 Non-Western
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 110
10.3 English LanguageThe Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 120
20.5 FoundationThe Informant by James Grippando
+20 Task (author born 1958 according to Wikipedia)
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 150
20.6 My Name is RedWomen by Charles Bukowski
+20 task (3.89/44,039)
+ 5 combo (10.7)
Task total=25
Grand total=255
20.10 HesperusA Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov
+20 task
+10 combo (10.2, 20.9)
+10 non-Western
Task total=40
Grand total=295
Denise wrote: "A Country Doctor's NotebookA Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov
+20 task
+10 combo (10.2, 20.9)
+10 non-Western
Task total=40
Grand total=295"
Which task is this for, Denise?
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Denise wrote: "A Country Doctor's NotebookA Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov
+20 task
+10 combo (10.2, 20.9)
+10 non-Western
Task total=40
Grand total=2..."
Arggh, sorry. 20.10. I'll edit it.
Kate S wrote: "Kazen, you already claimed this book in post 200. "Gah! Sorry about that. At least now I have proof that I'm losing my mind? ;)
10.1 Square PegStill Alice by Lisa Genova
The author did an excellent job of showing inside the head of someone who is deteriorating due to Alzheimers. Someone who was in the middle of all sorts of top-of-career things because it is early onset. It was painful and scary to read sometimes, partially because of my family ties to the disease and partially because of the idea itself, of losing the ability to think in a complex way and to remember what has gone before, even a few moments before. It was well written and absorbing. One key thread, Alice's questions to herself, ran through the middle section of the book, and it was resolved in an endearing way. The book ends satisfactorily in a sort of an endless now, which is not a spoiler, because, there is no way to stop the disease, just a place to stop the book.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 415
Kate S wrote: "Louise Bro wrote: "20.8 Yours, Mine and OursLost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
(Book #2 in the Thursday Next series, all of which were approved in the help thread)
..."
No Kate, I seem to have been seeing things :-) Thank you for the correction!
10.6 Spring EquinoxThe Storm by Alexander Ostrovsky
Another whim to satisfy a task in this season's challenge, though I had not heard of it before. I rarely do that, finding more books than I can read that I already have on my shelves. I knew nothing about it beforehand. (I did not even realize it is a play, which I rarely read!) But I was intrigued, and I'm not sorry to have picked this up.
It has an introduction, which was very helpful. It is a revelation of the old-fashioned Muscovite life from the inside, and Ostrovsky thereby brings us in closer relation to that primitive life than was in the power of Tolstoi or Goncharov, or even Gogol to bring us. And continues:
And here is Ostrovsky's peculiar merit, that he has in his various dramas penetrated deeper than any other of the great Russian authors into one of the most fundamental qualities of the Russian nature—its innate tendency to arbitrary power, oppression, despotism. Nobody has drawn so powerfully, so truly, so incisively as he, the type of the 'samodour' or 'bully,' a type that plays a leading part in every strata of Russian life.And, oh my, what a bully is the mother-in-law! She bullies not just her son's wife, but her son as well. If it weren't so pathetic, it would almost be funny the way she has her thumb on the household.
I've liked most of the Russian lit I've picked up. This broadened by experience with it. I prefer prose and can't give this more than 4 stars, but it was well worth the very few hours I spent with it.
+10 Task (9! letters each)
+10 Canon
+10 Nonwestern
+10 Review
Task Total = 40
Grand Total = 320
20.5 - FoundationPresumed Guilty by Tess Gerritsen
+20 task
+5 Combo (20.9)
Task total: 25
Grand total: 165
20.5 - FoundationKeeper of the Bride by Tess Gerritsen
+20 task
+10 Combo (20.9, 10.2)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 195
10.10 Group ReadNow Is the Time to Open Your Heart by Alice Walker
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 255
10.6 Spring Equinox Darktown by Thomas Mullen
Wow...this was really good. Highly recommended, if you are ok with some language (including the n-word) and some pretty intense violence. I wasn't sure what to expect, and it was a slow start, but well worth it in the end. It's both a mystery and historical fiction, about the first black police officers in Atlanta. They were called officers but faced racism and cruelty from fellow officers. They weren't allowed to work in the actual station, drive patrol cars, or make arrests. The book follows partners Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith as they tangle with a pair of white cops in their efforts to bring the murderer of a young black woman to justice. I appreciated that the author didn't turn it into a "good white person saves the day" story or "see how this one good white cop is better than all the bad cops" story. The racism of post-WWII Atlanta was portrayed in all its (presumable) complexity. Most of all, this was mainly Lucius's story, and other people played their roles. Everyone felt well-rounded and real.
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 150
20.5 Foundation I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman
Some reviewers of this book have complained it's not really a thriller or a mystery, and that is sort of true. From page 1 (in fact, from the blurb) we know the crime that has happened -- when Eliza was a teenager, she was abducted by Walter and held for 39 days. She was the only one of his victims to live. Now he's on death row and wants to talk to her. I liked, but didn't love, the book. I found it addictive and couldn't wait to see what happened next, but I also went in knowing it wasn't quite a thriller. There was a lot of suspense, but it didn't pay off in anything terrifying. That's ok - that's not what this book is - but if I was hoping for a thriller I'd be disappointed.
+20 task (born in Atlanta in 1959)
+5 combo (10.2)
+10 review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 185
20.7 #AWW2017 (Tien's Task)Ambulance Girls (Ambulance Girls #1) by Deborah Burrows
Review
Firstly, I do love this cover and I really like war historical fiction especially when this particular book’s main character was inspired by a real life historical Aussie woman serving in the London Auxiliary Ambulance Station during the Blitz. There were a lot of things I learnt from this novel about women during the Blitz. I guess there have been quite a number of books or even documentaries but the way it was written here made it all the more real to me. It was obvious that a lot of research was done in the writing of this novel and not just about the women or the Blitz as novel itself feels like veritable literary tour of London.
The novel opens with Lily on duty and having to face one of her fears of enclosed spaces. It was a great start to the novel and you’d easily fall in love with Lily. Her other fears though were not as easily conquered… Aside from her courage, empathy, and her wish to do well unto others, she’s also got a great sense of humour. Maybe that’s her Aussie flavoured humour that coloured her interactions with her friends and gave the book a reminiscent air. We follow Lily through her struggles with daily life during the Blitz; the grief of losing a friend and the joy of falling in love. There were some shaky moments where I thought things were just not going to be right with this book but thankfully, all was made quite well! I had to give the book a bit of a hug from relief and an affectionate pat when I finished reading for I was well & truly shaken.
There were a number of characters both likeable and despicable in this book and the variety and dynamics between these characters were really quite interesting. The book is told from Lily’s perspective only so in a way, we miss out on a lot about the other characters as only a few were well developed. However, as this is the first book of a trilogy, I do believe we will get to know some of the others quite well later on (and I look forward to this!). What you cannot mistake in this novel is the author’s views on anti-semitism (ignorant) and Hitler (evil); she’s loud and clear on that front. Hear! Hear! These things can never be stated enough and whilst Hitler is gone, there are still those like him & share his views.
If you loved the show, Call the Midwife, or the books that inspired it, you would love Ambulance Girls. Lily Brennan may not be English but she’s as brave as those midwives in facing uncertainties & adversities of the time. And I dare say that her Australian personality shone through especially against the foil of English reserved façade.
Thanks to Penguin Books Australia for copy of book in exchange of honest review
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.7 - 7 letters in author's first & last names)
+10 Review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 295
15.5 AotDMoon Tiger by Penelope Lively
+15 Task (Man booker 1987)
+5 Oldies
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 275
20.4 My Family and Other AnimalsOedipus at Colonus by Sophocles
+20 Task
+5 combo 10.2
+10 Canon
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 310
Task 15.3 Spur Award for Best Novel (1974)
(note: I'm going to be doing all Spur Award, sequentially, 1972-1981)
A Hanging in Sweetwater (1974) by Stephen Overholser
+15 Task
+5 Oldies (published before 1992)
Task Total: 15 + 05 = 20
Grand Total: 170 + 20 = 190
10.3 English LanguageThe Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam
This is a companion novel to Old Filth, still focusing on the marriage of the barrister 'Filth' and Betty, but this time mostly from Betty's point of view. It opens with their engagement in Hong Kong just after the end of the Second World War, and continues until death parts them in the beginning of the 21st century.
Despite being married for over 50 years, Filth and Betty know very little about each other. Both have secrets - or matters that are not discussed, even if they're not exactly secret. It's neither a happy nor an unhappy marriage, or perhaps it's both at different times.
I love the subtlety of these books.
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 315
20.5 FoundationLincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
It's February 1862, and President Lincoln's nine-year-old son Willie has died. He is interred in Oak Hill Cemetery, but his spirit is still in the "bardo", a transitional state between life and whatever comes next in Tibetan Buddhist beliefs. The cemetery is full of spirits that talk about their lives, and also about President Lincoln's visits to the cemetery.
The President comes alone on horseback in the middle of the night to see Willie again. He opens the coffin and tenderly holds his son in grief and love. He thinks of other parents that are grieving soldiers that died in the bloody battles of the Civil War. He also is disturbed about the terrible problems of slavery. Lincoln is weighted down with sorrow about the war and the loss of Willie. Short chapters of interesting historical snippets from factual sources are also inserted into the book among the fictional chapters.
As a reader, I felt like I was sitting in the cemetery with a chorus of voices surrounding me. They are mostly unhappy spirits from various economic classes, some white and some black slaves. The voices had a 19th Century sensibility with dialogue that ranged from serious, concerned, and generous to comic, bawdy, and absurd. The book is unusual, creative, and thought provoking. Although I read the book in print, I imagine that listening to an audio book would be a wonderful way to experience the voices in the bardo.
+20 task
+ 5 combo 10.2
+10 review
Task total: 35
Grand total: 230
20.6 My Name is RedNicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
Well, Dickens' characters are usually black and white, good and evil, serious and silly...and the characters in Nicholas Nickleby are no exception. This would normally be a flaw for me...but, somehow with Dickens...it is a delight. Nicholas is a serious character who begins his career with many challenges... and his evil uncle sets in motion a series of unfortunate events. Nicholas is always able to pick himself up by his bootstraps...and/or by miraculous intervention (another flaw if written by anyone else most likely). And, of course, the reader can probably expect a happy ending. There are so many "fun" characters and situations in this novel.... I can't wait to find a film version to see how it was boiled down to 2 hours or so. A very fun...and long read. Five stars.
Task= 20
Review = 10
Combo= 25 (10.3;10.6;10.7;20.1;20.10)
Canon=10
Jumbo=15
task total= 80
grand total= 450
15.1 AotDThe Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
Time traveler-different awards
+15 task (Washington State Book Award for Fiction 2013)
Season total: 145
15.6 AotDThe Old Man Who Read Love Stories by Luis Sepúlveda
+15 Task (Tigre Juan Prize 1988)
+5 Oldies
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 330
10.1 Square PegDark Matterby Blake Crouch
Review
This is a very strange book. It's about this man, Jason Dessen, who is married and has a son. He has a good job as a college professor at the local college. In an alternate reality, another Jason is a scientist. He isn't married. He wants the first Jason's life so he kidnaps him. The original Jason is trying to get back to his world and his wife and child. He travels through what is called the box. There are infinite worlds each with a Jason, not necessarily his wife or child. He travels through the box to get back to his world. He has twenty chances to get it right or get stuck in a place that isn't his world. At one point they are converge into one world where there are about one hundred Jasons roaming around. Only one Jason can survive. Will it be the right one?
Task +10
Style + !0 Review
Book Total: 20
Grand Total: 65
10.6 Spring EquinoxThe Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.2)
Task total = 15
Points total = 15
15.5 AotDAll Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, 1983-1992
Time Traveler reading from oldest to newest
Spirit Seizures by Melissa Pritchard
+15 Task (1987 winner)
+ 5 Not-a-Novel
+ 5 Oldies (pub. 1987)
Task total=25
Grand total=320
20.6 My Name is RedThe Secret Adversary (Tommy and Tuppence #1) by Agatha Christie
25,215 ratings with 3.82 avg.
Review
I always associated Agatha Christie with her more popular characters, Miss Jane Marple & Hercule Poirot. And I did, at one point, believed that I've read all her books in my teens though I wouldn't be able to tell you which titles as I read them in Bahasa Indonesia. It's really only in the past few years that I realised she's also written books that are NOT part of the Marple or Poirot series. Tommy and Tuppence are rather entertaining to read though totally not of Marple's/Poirot's class. They kind of bumble through their problem solving though it seems their dogged persistence more than often pays out. This first installment introduced them as old childhood friends who are straitened by circumstances (financially) and decided to do something about it. One coincedence after another (btw, do you believe in coicidences?), they got involved with 'espionage' in saving the country, the world, and at the same time, found love. In essence, more of cute mystery than a twisted whodunit.
+20 Task
+15 Combo (10.2, 10.3, 10.7)
+10 Review
Task Total: 45
Grand Total: 340
15.3 AotDStoner by John Williams
+15 task (Waterstones Book of the Year 2013)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 330
10.2 3, 4 or 5A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny
This is #4 in the series (originally called “The murder stone”). This is another book review where I have to declare at the outset that I am a big fan. It’s always a good RWS season when I can fit in a Penny book!
Of course, Penny writes well, but it is also nice to have a good mystery series set in Canada. I like how we have gotten to know the characters as the series has gone along. As well, in this novel in particular, there is a real sense of place – Upper Canada (to use the old name). The story is a mix of modern crime(s) and old-ish Anglo/Quebecoise history. You don’t really need to know about this history, but it does add to the story.
So, my recommendation is: read this series (especially if you are a mystery fan)! In order is best, as I said in another thread!
10 task
10 review
____
20
Running total: 350
20.6 My Name is RedSaga, Vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughan
+20 Task (44,240 ratings 4.56 average)
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 350
From Post 265Beth wrote: "20.3 Evicted
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
+20 task
+5 combo (10.2)
Task total: 25
Grand total: 385"
+5 Combo 20.9
10.4 International Question DayThe Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow
Task total: 10
Grand total: 455
15.3 AotD Time TravelerAmerican Gods
Nebula Award for Best Novel (2002)
+15 task
+5 jumbo
Task total: 20
Grand total: 475
10.6 Spring EquinoxHope Is Not a Strategy: The 6 Keys to Winning the Complex Sale by Rick Page
+10 task
+5 combo (10.2)
Task total: 15
Grand total: 490
10.2 - 3, 4, or 5The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling
Lexile = 1140
Review:
In my older age, I am discovering books I never got around to reading when younger. This is among those. I remember reading and knowing of Kim, but not any of Rudyard Kipling's other books.
My copy had a long intro about Mr. Kipling, which was very informative and which prepared me for reading beyond a child's level. I was also interested to see the chronological list of what was happening in the world generally and in the literature world specifically while he was publishing. It gave me an understanding of how his works fit into the world in which he was writing.
I must admit that I enjoyed the first Jungle book, which centered on Mowgli and his adventures, best. The second Jungle book had more stories of other animals and felt a bit scattered after reading the first, which had a more unifying theme. However, I really did enjoy the stories and poems and feel that they deserve their CLASSIC status.
+ 10 Task (3 word title)
+ 10 Review
+ 20 Combo (10.6 - 7 letters FN/LN, 10.7 - http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM..., 20.1, 20.10)
+ 10 Canon
Task Points: 50
10.2 - 3, 4, or 5Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
Lexile = 690 - no styles
+ 10 Task (4 word title)
Task Points: 10
10.3 English LanguageAcceptable Loss by Anne Perry
Review:
This is one series that I have dipped my toe into twice - out of order (William Monk #6 and #17). This book was #17, and I chose to read it because I had liked the previous mystery in this series and because this one was sitting on my shelf. Sometimes, it does not matter so much if a series is read out of order...and it did not matter much with #6; but, this time, I felt that I was missing too much of the back story. That said, it was still a good story, although this one series that I will start again from the beginning.
In this story, Mr. Monk is now River Police and is responsible for solving the crimes that happen on and along the river. He is notified of a dead body in the water and finds that it connects with a previous case of sexual exploitation of young boys. He ends up rescuing these boys; but, in the search for the man behind this horrible industry, relationships with his friends suffer.
One of the questions that Anne Perry poses in this book is how do loyalty and love interact? What does it mean to be loyal? Can you be loyal and love someone who does wrong - serious wrong? Does love mean you are loyal? Each character had to choose to whom or what he/she was loyal and decide for themselves how that affected their love that the other.
+ 10 Task (born UK)
+ 10 Review
Task Points: 20
10.3 English LanguageFarthing by Jo Walton
Review:
I am not sure how this book came to my attention originally, but it has been on my TBR for awhile. It is a short series (only 3 books) featuring Peter Carmichael, a Scotland Yard inspector. According to GR genres, this is an alternate history of the time post WWI.
I gave this book 4* based on the end of the story; but, overall, it probably should be viewed as a 3.5 or 3.75* book - enjoyable but not quite there in maintaining my interest. I had to work a bit to like any of the characters, and the writing seemed very cynical.
The Farthing Set was a group of upper crust men and women in England who brought about the end of WWI with a truce. They are in the Lords part of Parliament and, therefore, very powerful. They are led by a family who home is in Farthing, England.
A murder occurs. Of course, it is set to be blamed on the one Jew who has a connection to this family. The daughter married him against her mother's wishes - the mother is a bit "witchy" in this story. Although the story brings in an undercurrent of WWI atrocities against the Jews, it is really an indictment of the upper class of England.
I haven't yet decided whether I will try the next book. I liked the even handiness and thoughtfulness of the main protagonist, Inspector Carmichael, but I did not like the writer's bias that was so clearly evident in this book.
+ 10 Task (born UK)
+ 10 Review
Task Points: 20
10.7 Ed's Task: Dead Poet's SocietyCommon Sense: The Call to Independence by Thomas Paine
Review:
Sometimes the introductions to books can be dry and boring to me, but I found this introduction, which focused on the life and times of Thomas Paine as well as his writing, important in setting the context of this short book. I also liked the fact that the essay he wrote to the Quakers (after writing the book and in response to a letter published) was included as it gave me a further idea of who this man was.
I was a bit surprised to find that his arguments for why America should seek independence was well-reasoned. Then I realized that education during his life produced many who thought about BIG questions and provided them with a classical background with which to understand their world. Something modern education seems to have missed.
I did find it amusing that he proposed leasing or selling western lands in America to Canada to clear any debt that America would have to other countries! Overall, an important historical document that explains the thoughts surrounding the American move for independence.
+ 10 Task (http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM...)
+ 10 Review
Task Points: 20
Season Total: 230
15.5 AotD 1991-1982 Time TravelerDifferent Prizes
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
1987 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
task= 15
oldie=5
task total = 20
grand total= 470
15.3 AotD TravelerThe Purchase by Linda Spalding
Governor General's Award 2012
+15 Task
Grand Total = 335
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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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Trick or Treat (Corrina Chapman #4) by Kerry Greenwood
Review
It’s been a while since my last Corinna Chapman so whilst I remembered the foodie delights, I only vaguely remembered the characters. While I do enjoy all these vicarious enjoyments of culinary pleasures (really good for my hips), I’m finding Corrina a little too soppy for her boyfriend, Daniel. This I did not at all remember from before. I’m not one who dislike romance in my books; in fact, I love them most of the time. The mystery was pretty average and predictable. Really, I much much MUCH prefer Phryne Fisher. On the other hand, it was easy listening on audio and the dynamics between characters were appealing enough to deserve a close to 3-stars rating.
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.7 - #AWW2017)
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 260