You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Report and score your selection for the August 2017 Moving Out! Moving Up! Challenge here.

Please link to the book you read and explain how if fits the criteria. Title, character move, or author move.

Scoring: Count all that apply.

Setting:
5 points - Canada
4 points - Hawaii
3 points - New York City
2 points - New Zealand
1 point - France

Genre: (must be shelved by others with a significant number on the book page)
5 points - Horror
4 points - Science Fiction
3 points - Romance
2 points - Classic
1 point - Historical Fiction

Cover: (based on the edition you read)
5 points - has a person in uniform
4 points - has a bird(s) on it large enough that you don't have to cross your eyes to see it
3 points - has water
2 points - the title is in black
1 point - there is an award seal on it (ie Newberry)

Pages:
5 points - 501+
4 points - 401-500
3 points - 301-400
2 points - 201 - 300
1 point - 175-200

Bonus Points:
3 points - Get Ready for Kindergarten Month: There is a child on the cover.
3 points - National Immunization Month: There is a nurse in the story. Must be more than just a mention.
3 points - World Wide Web Day: The character uses a cell phone or a tablet.
3 points - Sandcastle Day: Your character spends some time on the beach.
3 points - Old Fiddler's Week: One of the characters is a musician.

For this challenge, I read . At the beginning of the book, Anne is moving to Avonlea to live with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. I've watched the mini series (with Megan Follows) many times, but I had never read the book. It was nice to discover that the director followed the book closely. Such a good story.

Here's my scoring:
Setting:
5 points - Canada

Genre:
2 points - Classic ( shelved by 1,714 people)
1 point - Historical Fiction (shelved by 1,370 people)

Cover: (based on the edition you read)
2 points - the title is in black

Pages:
3 points - 301-400 (my edition has 336 pages)

Bonus Points:
3 points - Get Ready for Kindergarten Month: There is a child on the cover.

Total: 16 points

You've started us off with a great score, Lanelle.

I was just thinking the same, that's a hard one to beat!

Janice wrote: "You've started us off with a great score, Lanelle."

Thanks, Janice.

Peggy wrote: "I was just thinking the same, that's a hard one to beat!"

lol I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden


Moving in the author's life:
Rumer Godden, the author, was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, England, but she and her three sisters grew up in Narayanganj, colonial India. Her parents sent the girls to England for schooling, but brought them back to Narayanganj when WWI began. Godden returned to the UK with her sisters to continue her education in 1920, but she moved back to Calcutta in 1925 and opened a dance school for English and Indian children. Godden and her sister Nancy ran the school for twenty years, and during this time she published her first best-seller, the 1939 novel Black Narcissus.
After eight years in an unhappy marriage, she moved in 1942 with her two daughters to Kashmir, living first on a houseboat and then in a rented house where she started a farm. After a mysterious attempt to poison both her and her daughters, she returned to Calcutta in 1944, and returned to the UK in 1945 to concentrate on her writing, moving house frequently but living mostly in Sussex and London. She was divorced in 1948 and married James Haynes Dixon in 1949.
After her husband's death, she moved to Moniaive in Dumfriesshire in 1978 to be near her daughter.

Moving in the Novel:
In the novel Sister Clodagh and five European Sisters of the Servants of Mary leave their monastery in Darjeeling, India, and travel up the mountain to Mopu, a remote village in the foothills of the Himalayans. In this lonely outpost they try to establish a hospital, school, and cloister. Although the holy sisters' intentions are pure, village superstitions and ensuing events are too difficult to overcome, so after a year they depart returning to Darjeeling or other posts.


Setting:

Genre: (must be shelved by others with a significant number on the book page)
2 points - Classic
1 point - Historical Fiction

Cover: (based on the edition you read)
5 points - has a person in uniform (does a nun's habit count?)
2 points - the title is in black


Pages:
1 point - 175-200

Bonus Points:

3 points - National Immunization Month: There is a nurse in the story. Must be more than just a mention.
3 points - Old Fiddler's Week: One of the characters is a musician.

17 points

well. i have not received that glue-stick in a while. Here's my chance...

I listened to Bertie Plays the Blues
The author was born in Zimbabwe, worked in Botswana and now lives in Scotland.

Setting:
0 points

Genre:
0 points

Cover: (based on the edition you read)
0 points

Pages:
3 points - 301-400

Bonus Points:
3 points - Old Fiddler's Week: One of the characters is a musician.

total: 6 points

Connie - a nun's habit could be considered a uniform, so I will count it.

Already there is jockeying for position. What is the rest of the month going to bring?

I might have to arm wrestle Esther for the glue stick!
I read Refuge. The MC was born in Iran, moved to the U.S. and now lives in the Netherlands. She also traveled to London and Istanbul and a few other places in between.

Setting:
0 points

Genre:
0 points

Cover:
0 points

Pages:
3 points - 301-400

Bonus Points:
3 points - World Wide Web Day: the character uses a cell phone or a tablet

total: 6 points

Janice wrote: "Connie - a nun's habit could be considered a uniform, so I will count it."

Great!

Hmm, Esther, you reminded me that I have #2-#5 of the 44 Scotland Street books AND the latest Mma. Ramotswe book on my shelf at home. I have lots of options for books to read, but none with any real points.

For this challenge I read Swimming Home . The MC grows up in Australia moves to London and then to New York City she will end up living...

Setting: 3 points - New York City
Genre: 1 point - Historical Fiction
Cover: 3 points - Has water
Pages: 4 points - 415 pages
Bonus:
3 points - there is a nurse in the story - Louisa's mother Elizabeth was a nurse before women were allowed into medical school.
3 points - "Sandcastle Days" The MC spends her days at the beach swimming

Total points: 17

So far, you either have a high score, or a low score. No happy in betweens.

I was just thinking that, Janice. All high or low.

When the Eagle Hunts

Both the main characters and the author have moved significantly with Simon Scarrow having been born in Nigeria and moving to the UK and the main characters Cato and Marco being from Rome and having been deployed to England to participate in the expansion of the Roman empire

scoring:
Genre: HF- 1pt
Cover: soldiers in uniform 5pts, black title 2pts
pages (433): 4pts

Total: 12 pts

And here is Marcus to mix it up. :)

Roses of May

Scoring: 11 (pending rulings on the cover)

The main character, Priya, has moved multiple times to new cities over the previous 5 years due to her mother's job. At the beginning of the book the two have just moved into a new home in Colorado after being in Birmingham, AL. They are readying for a permanent move the Paris, France during the book's storyline.

Setting: 0

Genre: 0

Cover: 5 Needs ruling!
3 points - has water (Frozen water counts, right?)
2 points - the title is in black (Part of the title is in black?)

Pages: 3
3 points - 301-400

Bonus Points: 3
3 points - World Wide Web Day: The character uses a cell phone or a tablet.

I will give you the cover points, Kimey.

I read Midnight Crossroad. It seems to be worth six points: 3 for length (349 pp.) and 3 for cell phone use. The book opens as Manfred arrives at his new home in the town of Midnight, Texas, and his neighbors help him unload his u-haul. Manfred spends a lot of time on the internet in his career as a psychic. He uses his cellphone for internet research when on the go, helping friends and neighbors.

6 points

Janice wrote: "I will give you the cover points, Kimey."

Thanks, Janice! :)

I unintentionally read Swamp Sniper for this challenge. Fortune Redding is a CIA agent with a contract out on her life. She moves to Sinful, Louisiana under a false identity and the mayhem begins.

Score:
Setting - 0
Genre - 0
Cover - 3 points, has water on it (with alligator in it)
Pages - 2 points, 266 pages
Bonus 3 points - cell phones are used frequently

Total points - 8

I went back and forth between what to read or use for this month's challenge. I thought Glory over Everything: Beyond The Kitchen House wouldn't fit the requirements, but I just now realized that the author moved a lot (born in Canada, and moved to several places in the US - Manhattan, New Jersey, Virginia among others) and that my cover gives me lots of points.

This is the cover of my edition:

Setting:
-

Genre: (must be shelved by others with a significant number on the book page)
1 point - Historical Fiction

Cover: (based on the edition you read)
4 points - has a bird(s) on it large enough that you don't have to cross your eyes to see it
3 points - has water

Pages:
3 points - 301-400

Bonus Points:
3 points - Get Ready for Kindergarten Month: There is a child on the cover.
3 points - National Immunization Month: There is a nurse in the story. Must be more than just a mention.


Total: 17 points

My book for this challenge is The Namesake. Author Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London, England, grew up in Rhode Island, and now lives in New York. The book's central characters, the Ganguli family, emigrated from Calcutta to Cambridge, Massachusetts. The immigrant experience is the central theme of the novel.

Setting: 0
Genre: 0
Cover: 0
Pages: 2 points (291 pages)

Bonus Points:
3 points - National Immunization Month: There is a nurse in the story. A minor character: when Gogol is born, Patty is the hospital nurse.
3 points - Sandcastle Day: Your character spends some time on the beach.

Total 8 points

Good thing the Bonus points kicked in for you, Trudy!

True! Though it would have made me a serious contender for the glue stick.

You're tied with me, and we are out of the race for the gluestick. :(

I will have to try harder for the coveted glue stick next month! :-)

LOL! Good luck, then. :)

I read The Secrets She Keeps by Michael Robotham

Michael was born in Australia but lived in the UK for a decade before moving back. He has also worked in many other countries across the world.

Pages:
3 points - 301-400

Bonus Points:
3 points - World Wide Web Day: The character uses a cell phone or a tablet.

Total: 6 pts

There were a couple nurses in the book as babies were born in hospitals where they were present but they weren't characters as such and I don't think any names were mentioned so I've not counted the points. Unless you think it counts Janice then I'll stick it in.

The nurses should be more than just a mention or two, so it sounds like you've scored it correctly, Sarah.

We have a 4-way tie for the gluestick!

That has to be a record!

Thanks Janice.

I read Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner.

Scoring:

Setting: 0 (fantasy Egypt and Greece)
Genre: 0 (fantasy)
Cover: 3 points - has water
Pages: 3 points - 301-400

Bonus Points: 0

TOTAL: 6 points

I read by Suzanne Kelman who was Born in the United Kingdom, she now resides in Washington State. as her GR Author Page says, and one of the MC - Janet Johnson moved from CA to Southlea Bay, Washington.

Points:

Setting: 0
Genre: 0
Cover: 0
Pages: 2
2 points - 201 - 300 = Novel was 272 pages


Bonus Points:3
3 points - World Wide Web Day: The character uses a cell phone or a tablet. - All of the ladies use cellphones, and they use a tablet to Face chat Lavinia, Grace, and Charlotte and watch/listen to their favorite "Soap" on the road trip.

There were a few nurses in a couple of chapters, but none were named.

Total Points: 5

Honest to God, Janice, I'm really not competing for the Glue Stick.

Another 6, and now a 5. The tie has been broken. Anne, you could very well take the gluestick, unless someone bumps you in the next 10 days.

I doubt if I will read another book before the end of the month with more points. I chose As I Lay Dying for my toppler read. I did not finish it until today. All of the listings show this book well over 200 pages, but that is because of editors notes, authors notes, readers guides/questions and many other pages. The story in my ebook format was 191 pages.

William Faulkner was born in Albany, Mississippi in 1897. He lived briefly in Canada and New York, but the small town of Oxford, Mississippi was where he moved to in 1904 and lived almost all of his life. He died there in 1962.

Points: Genre = 2 for Classic. Cover = 2 for title in black and 3 for water (puddles in the ruts in the road), and 1 for pages.
Total = 8 points.

I am going to read The Sound and the Fury one of these days, but I have to get over the Bundren family first!

Yay, Cherie! You finished it!

Kudos, Cherie! I sincerely mean that. I've tried to read William Faulkner, but can't get beyond the first few pages.

Thank you, Kristie and Anne. I am proud that I got through it. It was definitely a strange story. It makes me wonder if all his stories are written the same way.

American Gods 15 August - Neil Gaiman was born in Hampshire, UK, and now lives in the United States near Minneapolis.
Genre:
4 points - Science Fiction

Pages:
5 points – 541 pages

Bonus Points:
3 points - The character uses a cell phone or a tablet. - The Technical Boy

12 points total

I read The Space Between Words.

Author moving:
The author was raised in France, moved to Germany as a teen to attend school and then lived there as an adult. I'm pretty sure she now lives in America.

1 point - set in France
2 points - the title is in black
3 points - 336 pages
3 points - World Wide Web Day: The character uses a cell phone or a tablet. Several characters, including the main character, use cell phones.

Total : 9 points

I read The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
In the story, Diana and Matthew travel a lot: Madison, New Haven, London, France, Central Europe... but most of all, they move out for good from Sept Tours to Les Revenants, their main home.

Setting:
1 point - France

Genre: (must be shelved by others with a significant number on the book page)
4 points - Science Fiction - Do I have to choose one?
3 points - Romance

Pages:
5 points - 501+

Bonus Points:
3 points - National Immunization Month: There is a nurse in the story. Must be more than just a mention. (Marthe or Sarah is a midwife)
3 points - World Wide Web Day: The character uses a cell phone or a tablet.
3 points - Old Fiddler's Week: One of the characters is a musician. - I don't know about this one... Matthew and Jack play music, although they are not professional musicians, there are many mentions to music and Matthew plays in it.

Total: 22 or 19 or 15...

Edit: 22 points

Ariane, you can usually count all that apply (so all genres that apply), but personally I wonder whether Science Fiction fits. I only read book 1 in the series and wouldn't classify it as SF (but maybe book 3 is very different), and also don't see many people who shelved it as such (mostly fantasy or romance, or am I overlooking something?).

I think Janice will be back online tomorrow to rule on your questions :)

I always struggle with those genre subjects lol...
But to me, it is scifi fantasy, which is, as I understand it, a subgenre of scifi.
Also, to me, book 3 is also more scifi than romance but I can totally delete it...
I guess we will wait for Janice to rule on this ;-)

It's not just you, they can be very complicated! There's so much overlap and one person's interpretation of a genre can be different from someone else's. I guess that's why all books on GR get labeled in so many different ways by so many different readers.

I read Everything You Want Me to Be for this challenge. The story is told from 3 points-of-view and one of those 3 main characters moves from Manhattan to a small town and becomes the new high school English teacher.

Setting: 0

Genre: 0

Cover: 0

Pages: 3

Bonus Points: 6 - not sure if either of these work
3 points - World Wide Web Day: The character uses a cell phone or a tablet. (Another MC uses a cell phone, not sure if my character did. He certainly used the internet, but I'm not sure on what device.)
3 points - Sandcastle Day: Your character spends some time on the beach. (He spends time in an abandoned building on a beach, not actually out on the beach. Other characters spend time in the beach parking lot and out on the water in a boat.)

total: 9

I'm amazed that this month is nearly over and I got so little reading done! I'm going to use Circling the Sun which was the recent buddy read. T qualifies as the main character moved from UK to Kenya as a child. It will not however be a high scorer!

Circling the Sun

Setting:
0

Genre: (must be shelved by others with a significant number on the book page)
1 point - Historical Fiction

Cover: (based on the edition you read)
2 points - the title is in black

Pages:
3 points - 301-400

Bonus Points:
0

Total: 6 points

Ariane wrote: "I read The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
In the story, Diana and Matthew travel a lot: Madison, New Haven, London, France, Central Europe... but most of all, the..."

I'll accept all points, Ariane. If the book fits more than one genre, you count all that applies. It is listed by over 100 users as Sci-fi, and I do agree that Book 2 and 3 do have elements of sci-fi.

I would say that musician qualifies as well. The character doesn't need to be a professional musician.

Thanks for covering for me, Peggy.