Reading with Style discussion
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Kate S wrote: "From Post 772Valerie wrote: "20.5 Old
A Broken Vessel by Kate Ross
This is the second in the Julian Kestrel mysteries written by Kate Ross. It was published in 199..."
Ok got it. That fixes the "missing" 5 pts, that I asked about, as well. Thanks
From Post 873 (please see Elizabeth's comment in post 900)Deedee wrote: "Task 10.8 Double Letter Names (Cat's task)
Read a book with an author with a double letter in their name. The double letter can be in either the first or last name.
Wyrd Sisters (Disc..."
+5 Oldies
+5 Combo 10.4
15.4 RG2setting: Italy (Europe)
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
+15 Task
Task total: 15
Season total: 1890
20.9 SatireThe Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
After having read and loved The Clothes They Stood Up In, I was excited to find that my local library had another of Alan Bennett's books available and on audio, no less (which is just what I need while I'm trying to get the house cleaned up for the holiday). The Uncommon Reader is about a septuagenarian who happens upon a mobile library near her home and decides to take a book. She has never read for pleasure before and it becomes a new hobby--which becomes a nuisance to everyone in her life. Sounds meh--until you know that the septuagenarian in question is HRH Queen Elizabeth II, the "home" near which she found the mobile library was Buckingham Palace, and that "everyone in her life" is her staff, her husband, the press, other heads of state, etc.
I love the evolution her reading takes...the fact that she was reluctant to read Austen and downright refused to read Harry Potter was particularly delightful to me. Bennett's portrayal of Queen Elizabeth was lovely and I adored hearing her thoughts on the importance of reading to understand other people. My favorite quote from this one (and there were a lot): "Books are wonderful, aren't they?... At the risk of sounding like a piece of steak," she said, "they tenderize one." Yes, ma'am, yes they do. HIGHLY recommended!
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.4--#41 on the list; 10.8)
Task total: 40
Season total: 1930
20.7 Single WordThunderstruck by Erik Larson
This didn't move quickly only because I've had a bit less time to read in the last week. Although it isn't as compelling as either his The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America or Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, this is an interesting story. From the beginning, we understand why Larson chose to tell these stories in the same volume. The juxtaposition of an entirely new technology - one unimaginable to most - and that of the police tracking down the perpetrators of a sensational murder was good.
The murder fascinated Raymond Chandler and so captivated Alfred Hitchcock that he worked elements into some of his movies, most notably Rear Window. Followed by millions of newspaper readers around the world, the great chase that ensued helped advance the evolution of a technology we today take utterly for granted. “It was hot news indeed,” wrote playwright and essayist J. B. Priestley, himself a scion of the Edwardian age, “something was happening for the first time in world history.”I found the story of Marconi developing wireless telegraphy fascinating. He had insufficient knowledge to understand what it was he was doing or why and yet he succeeded. In his typical thoroughness, Larson gives us much background, including Marconi's family. It wasn't hard for me to picture them.
It is true that in this time people set their faces hard for photographs, partly from custom, partly because of deficits in photographic technology, but this crowd might not have smiled for the better part of a century. The women seem suspended in a state somewhere between melancholy and fury and are surrounded by old men in strange beards that look as if someone had dabbed glue at random points on their faces, then hurled buckets of white hair in their direction.The murder story was far less interesting to me. Larson himself apparently never found the people involved very interesting, and, indeed, they seemed such normal everyday personages that the chapters on Crippen, Belle, and Ethel were sort of hum drum.
I'm afraid that the book doesn't quite cross the line into the 4-star territory. Still, it was an interesting read and I'll always be open to others by Erik Larson.
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo (20.5 - takes place 1900-1910)
+10 Not a Novel
+10 Review
Task total = 45
Season Total = 730
10.3 - DecadeLord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie
pub 1933
+10 Task
+10 Oldie
Post = 20
Season total = 2680
10.3 DecadeThe Lake District Murder by John Bude
+10 Task (pub 1935)
+10 Oldies
Points this post: 20
RwS total: 335
RG total: 30
Season Total: 365
15.5 RG2setting: Japan (Asia)
The Great Passage by Shion Miura
+15 Task
Task total: 15
Season total: 1945
10.8 Double Letter NamesDeath in Brittany by Jean-Luc Bannalec
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 475
10.5 GrandparentsNew and Selected Poems, Vol. 1 by Mary Oliver
I’m late to the game in regard to Mary Oliver. Apparently she is ‘America’s best selling poet”; however, her books are hard to find in Canada. I had read reviews of some of her current collections, and on the rare occasion I was in a (new books) bookstore I would look for something by her. I was very excited to see this collection at Chapters a couple of months ago, so I bought it.
I am so glad I did. I am now a HUGE fan of Mary Oliver’s. I like poetry, but I have to admit that I struggle if it is too esoteric or erudite (Anne Carson, I’m looking at you). Oliver’s poetry really hits home with me. It is observational and nature based, yet with underlying meaning. I think this collection has been a good introduction to her work, and I am looking forward to (hopefully) finding another of her collections. 5*
10 task
10 review
5 oldie
10 not a novel
_____
35
Running total: 1205
20.1- Gothic AuthorIn Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Task: 20
Not a novel: 10
Oldie: 5- published in 1966
Post total: 35
10.7- Big WordsJust Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
Just Mercy has been on my radar since late 2016. It looks at death row inmates, predominately black men, children, poor , intellectually challenged and those with mental illness. Whilst it is heartbreaking read, it provides a stark reality of how society on a whole is affected. Stevenson takes us on a journey, his journey as a law student who was felt disconnected from the law school and helping others to becoming an advocate for those without a voice. He paints a balanced view of victim and the justice system. You will think twice about being cynical when you hear an inmate say that he is innocent. Especially if from certain states in American. And even if they aren't innocent, because some were not, you will wonder how humane some courts truly are. Definitely a must read.
Task: 10
Not a novel: 10
Review: 10
Post total: 30
15.7 RGFrozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff
Setting: Greenland
+25 task
Season total: 310
15.3 Reading Globally Round 2 Kosher Chinese: Living, Teaching, and Eating with China's Other Billion by Michael Levy
Setting: China
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 895
10.5 Grandparents Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta
This was an odd book. I've read most if not all of Tom Perrotta's other work, and I usually enjoy them, but don't often love them. I picked this up, having heard good things about it, on an airplane, and it definitely worked for an airplane book -- kept me interested and staved off the doldrums of the 4th and 5th hours of flight! It was definitely, though, one of those books that I occasionally had to peek at my neighbor to make sure he wasn't reading over my shoulder -- there were a lot of sudden sex references, which weren't unnecessary to the story but did make for some awkward seatmate moments. The storyline is what happens when Mrs. Fletcher, a divorced woman, sends her only child off to college and makes some changes in her life to deal with the empty nest. The story is partly told from Brandon's, her son's, perspective, as he deals with the first year of college. In general, not a bad airplane read but not my favorite of Perrotta's.
+10 task
+5 combo (10.8)
+10 review
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 920
10.3 - DecadeThe Hog's Back Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts
pub 1933
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.8)
+10 Oldie
Post = 25
Season total = 2725
10.6 Governor General's AwardRead any title which has won or been nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award.
2015 non-fiction winner:
The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We've Lost in a World of Constant Connection by Michael Harris
Without this task, I would never have found this book, and I needed to read something like this because of my thoughts as a non-digital native living in a typical city of people using mobile technology almost perpetually. Apparently, the author (about 20 years younger than I) was having similar thoughts. I felt a "meeting of the minds" with him as he presented the pros and cons of our digital, constantly-connected lives. Very interesting and highly recommended! One of the jacket reviews says "Everyone over sixty should read this book." Or younger. He gives readers much to think about and the text is very well-written and supported by interviews and publications. He even conducted two self-experiments: reading hard-copy War and Peace in two weeks without distraction and a month without using technology (he worried about losing writing jobs, but he didn't). The glossary is very amusing! Easy to understand why this book won a national award.
+10 Task
+10 Combo (10.7 "connection", 10.8)
+10 Not-a-novel
+10 Review
Task Total = 40
Season total = 305
10.4 Thankful Richard III by William Shakespeare
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo: 10.8 Double Letter
+10 Not-a-Novel
+25 Oldies (1591)
Task total: 50
Season Total: 1955
20.1 Gothic AuthorsA Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
+20 Task
+10 Combo: 10.4 Thankful / 10.5 Grandparents Day
+15 Oldies (1859)
Task Total: 45
Season Total: 2000
20.5 OldPalace of Spies by Sarah Zettel
+20 Task: 860 Lexile
+15 Combo: 10.2 Spy / 10.8 Double Letter / 20.10 Uncommon Letter
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 2035
20.6 ClergyA Fountain Filled with Blood by Julia Spencer-Fleming
+20 Task: Episcopal minister Clare Fergusson
Season Total: 2055
20.6 ClergyThe Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
+20 Task: she was a nun and scribe in the famed monastery of Engelthal who nursed him back to health
+ 5 Combo: 10.4 Thankful
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 2080
20.10 Uncommon Letter (Elizabeth (Alaska)'s Task)Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi
+20 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 2110
20.9 SatireHomage to Catalonia by George Orwell
This is the first time I've read George Orwell since I was a teenager (back in the days when everything was totalitarianism and every adult was a fascist, sooooo…), and the first thing that struck me now was just how good of a writer Orwell is. (I know. It's obvious. And it's only one of the many reasons his work remains perennially significant.) His prose is clear, his imagery is vivid without being overwrought, and his content is scrupulously observant. His voice is patient and wry and painfully honest. ("The whole experience of being hit by a bullet is very interesting," he writes, "and I think it is worth describing in detail." And then he writes so straight-forwardly, and it's astonishingly compelling, and it's clearer than any cinematic witness to a similar event would be.) He's communicating his experiences with an understanding of the strange dynamic of intensity & banality & preciousness of any experience, whether it's being shot in the neck and thinking he's dying or spending boring, freezing nights in trenches or scrounging tobacco or the way political dynamics were killing people basically in front of his eyes.
I was surprised that there was only one sentence dedicated to rat-punching. But it was a good sentence, indeed.
Here's a memorable paragraph. If you don't wish to read about lice, look away now: (view spoiler)
One of the most interesting strands in the book, to me, was Orwell's interest in how events on the ground looked as compared to how events were later (or concurrently, even) reported/propagandized. He recognizes the limitations of his own observances and experiences, but he also recognizes how truth is constructed, both individually and collectively. (I mean, of course he does. This is George Orwell we're talking about.) But he communicated this very effectively, I thought, even for someone like me who, decades and decades later can't fully grasp the political situation of the Spanish civil war.
+20 Task
+15 Combo (10.3 Decade, 10.5 Grandparents, 10.8 Double Letter Names)
+10 Not-a-Novel
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (published 1938)
Task Total: 65
Season Total: 930
20.9 SatireSuch, Such Were the Joys by George Orwell
+20 task
+10 combo (10.5, 10.8)
+10 not-a-novel
+ 5 oldies
Task total=45
Grand total=650
20.8 Mother-DaughterBefore We Visit the Goddess by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
"Good daughters are fortunate lamps, brightening the family's name. Wicked daughters are firebrands, blackening the family name." This Indian proverb is repeated often in this story about three generations of mothers and daughters. All three women are hoping for love, a connection with their children, and a meaningful life.
The book starts in the home of Sabitri in West Bengal, India. Her daughter, Bela, follows the man she loves to the United States and they have a rebellious daughter, Tara. Tara is threatening to drop out of college, prompting Sabitri to write her a letter with details of her own life that she has kept secret from everyone. The novel is composed of nine interconnecting short stories, moving back and forth in time and between cultures. The theme of success--an idea which can vary with the times, the culture, and the woman--runs through the stories. Success could be an education, running a business, or a life as a wife and mother. Expectations are very different in mid-century India when compared to modern America. The relationships between the mothers and daughters are complicated and difficult. Several of the characters were involved in culinary businesses so there were tantalizing descriptions of Indian food throughout the book. I enjoyed reading about these three women, especially Sabitri who achieved success in a very different way than she originally dreamed.
+20 task
+ 5 combo
+10 review
Task total: 35
Season total: 575
10.8 Double Letter NamesSirena: Mezzo pesante in movimento by Barbara Garlaschelli
(no English edition, we talked about this here)
+10 Task
+10 Not A Novel (memoir)
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 495
Task 20.8 Mother-DaughterThe Kitchen God's Wife (1991) by Amy Tan
+20 Task
+05 Oldies - 25 to 75 years old: 5 points (1942-1992)
Task Total: 20 + 05 = 25
I'm not at my "own" computer now -- will add "season totals" later :)
***UPDATED***
The Kitchen God's Wife is #3 on the list Bonds Between Mothers and Daughers, and indeed, the focus is on a Chinese immigrant mother and her American born-and-raised daughter.
Grand Total: 695 + 25 = 720
Kate S wrote: "From Post 873 (please see Elizabeth's comment in post 900)Deedee wrote: "Task 10.8 Double Letter Names (Cat's task)
Read a book with an author with a double letter in their name. The double lette..."
Hey great more combo points :) Go Terry Pratchett!
20.1 GothicNine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart
"Nine Coaches Waiting" is a riveting romantic suspense novel set in a French chateau near the Swiss border. Linda Martin, with roots in both France and England, was hired as a governess to the orphaned nine-year-old Philippe, the heir to the beautiful estate. His paralyzed uncle, Leon de Valmy, runs the Chateau Valmy until Philippe comes of age. Leon lost most of the things he loved in a tragic car accident, and his life revolves around his obsessive love for the Chateau Valmy. When Philippe has multiple "accidents", his governess becomes suspicious. Can she trust Philippe's aunt and uncle and their attractive son Raoul?
This is a fast-paced romantic mystery with a Gothic atmosphere. There's a Cinderella feeling that runs through it with Linda, who spent years in an orphanage, meeting the tall, dark, handsome, and titled Raoul. Fast cars racing around mountain curves replace Cinderella's pumpkin coach. There are sweet times between Linda and little Philippe as well as times of terror. Although it was written in 1958, it still remains a page turner today.
+20 task
+10 combo 10.5, 20.2
+ 5 oldie 1958
+10 review
Task total: 45
Season total: 620
Task 10.3 - DecadesDeath in the Clouds by Agatha Christie
pub 1935
+10 Task
+10 Oldies
Post = 20
Season total = 2745
10.8 - Double Letter NameLast Resort of Murder byVanessa Gray Bartal
+10 task
Task total: 10
Grand total: 630
10.8 - Double Letter NameFowl Friend of Murder by Vanessa Gray Bartal
+10 task
Task total: 10
Grand total: 640
10.4 ThankfulA Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Ignatius Reilly must be one of the greatest comic anti-heroes of literature. Fat, lazy, and living with his mother in New Orleans, he spends his time looking down on all the "inferior" forms of life around him, and getting fired from the jobs his mother forces him to find.
This had me laughing out loud, especially at first. It's full of stereotypes but in general I think it's kind to them. My favourite part was Ignatius’s plan to achieve world peace (view spoiler)
The editor who famously turned the book down said it wasn't really about anything, which I think is true. It's patchy and runs out of steam frequently, and in 1964 it probably was unpublishable. By 1980, when it finally was published and won the Pulitzer Prize, society was very different. It's wonderful that it did survive and reach us, and such a shame that Toole didn't survive too.
+10 task
+10 review
+ 5 combo (10.8)
+ 5 oldies (1980)
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 1305
20.3 Ghost StoryHelp for the Haunted by John Searles
This one has been lingering on my TBR list and turned out to be a great Halloween-ish read, tho I actually read it a bit after Halloween! As the book starts, teenager Sylvie Mason hears (and maybe witnesses) the death of her parents, who work, more or less, as ghostbusters. Religious ghostbusters, at least. People who are being haunted call them and they assist. They also travel the country giving lectures. The rest of the book flashes between Sylvie's earlier years and the year following her parents' deaths, when she is living with her unpredictable older sister Rose, who was at odds with their parents all along. There's creepy dolls, basements you shouldn't go into, and dangerous semi-abandoned churches -- everything you need in a horror book. The ending isn't fully satisfying but by that point I was hooked in enough that I didn't quite care.
+20 task (shelved ghost-stories 9x)
+10 review
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 950
15.6 RG2setting: Niger (Africa)
Nomads Who Cultivate Beauty: Wodaabe Dances And Visual Arts In Niger by Mette Bovin
+25 Task
+15 first visitor to Niger
Task total: 40
Season total: 1985
20.7 Single Word (Lagullande's task)Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo: 10.8 Double Letter
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 2135
20.7 Single WordChildwold by Joyce Carol Oates
+20 task
+10 combo (10.5; 20.1)
+ 5 oldies
Task total=35
Grand total=685
10.1 Square PegCome In Spinner by Dymphna Cusack & Florence James
Review
The book opens with a stuck lift and an Aussie injured soldier working as a liftman, at a hotel, playing a two-up game with some American soldiers (I had to look up this game myself, it’s to do with spinning/throwing coins). Hence, the title Come In Spinner. These soldiers themselves are not the main characters in this novel. In fact, this novel tells of a week in the lives of working class women in Sydney during WWII when the American soldiers were based in Australia.
The book focused on 4 women who worked in the Marie Antoinette, a salon in a prestigious hotel in Sydney. It tells of their struggles with husbands or lack of, their oppression by the snobby upper class and managers, and most especially, lack of money. These women have bonded with each other though these bonds are fraught with some jealousy. They have their own set of troubles, their own unique way of facing (or hiding) their troubles, and yet, what they all wanted is a life where they are not limited to “their class”.
This book was a truly fascinating insight to women in that particular era and I found it absolutely admirable how courageous they are. Different sort of courage for each and despite the rather un-decisive ending (ie. there are some indications what they’ll do but there wasn’t the actual executions nor consequences being told), I gathered from the book that these 2 female Aussie authors know exactly what they’re talking about (note that the book was published in 1951 in an abridged version due to content and in 1987 in unabridged original version). Reading it now in 2017, I didn’t find anything controversial… I guess there were some ‘unpleasantness’ but nothing that I haven’t come across before. Amazing how time has changed!
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (pub. 1951)
+10 Jumbo (702 pages)
+100 RwS Finish
+200 Mega Finish
Post Total: 335
Season Total: 1,660
Tien wrote: "+100 RwS Finish
+200 Mega Finish"
Congratulations! Well done!
Thanks, Elizabeth :)I am hoping that Kate will find the book to qualify for Square Peg lol
15.3 Reading GloballyThe Lavender Gardenby Lucinda Riley
Takes place in France
Task +15
Grand Total: 390
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
Borne (other topics)The Woman in White (other topics)
A Few Days in the Country and Other Stories (other topics)
Slave: My True Story (other topics)
Dead Woman Walking (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jeff VanderMeer (other topics)Wilkie Collins (other topics)
Elizabeth Harrower (other topics)
Mende Nazer (other topics)
Sharon J. Bolton (other topics)
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Deedee wrote: "Task 10.10 Group Reads
Anika: The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise by Julia Stuart
The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise (2010) by Julia Stuart
Review: The primar..."
+5 Combo 20.2