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FA 2017 Completed Tasks
From Post 7Rebekah wrote: "20.2 House
House of Spirits and Whispers: The True Story of a Haunted House by Annie Wilder
+20 -Task
+5. - Combo (20.3 shelved 6 times)
+10 - nonfiction
Task Total - 3..."
+5 Combo 10.8
From Post 21Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "20.10 Uncommon Letter
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Review
I had high hopes for this book but it fell flat. I did like the main characters of Cora and Will. I fel..."
+5 Combo 10.8
Cool, thanks. I didn't see that
From Post 23Denise wrote: "15.2 Reading Globally
Setting: United Kingdom
Passing On by Penelope Lively
+15 task
Task Total=15
Season Total=30
(reading Z-A )"
Sorry, Denise. But for Reading Globally, each country must start with a different letter. Your first claim for the US knocks U off your list. The UK will not work for your second 15-point book.
Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Repost with longer review20.10 Uncommon Letter
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Review
I had high hopes for this book but it fell flat. I did like the main characters of Cora and Will. I felt that..."
Thank you, Jayme!
Kate S wrote: "From Post 23Sorry, Denise. But for Reading Globally, each country must start with a different letter. Your first claim for the US knocks U off your list. The UK will not work for your second 15-point book."
Oh no, I missed that little detail! That blows up my whole plan, as I also had two "I" countries and two "A" countries. Sorry for the error.
Kate S wrote: "From Post 7Rebekah wrote: "20.2 House
House of Spirits and Whispers: The True Story of a Haunted House by Annie Wilder
+20 -Task
+5. - Combo (20.3 shelved 6 times)
+10 ..."
Thank You!
15.2 Reading GloballySetting: Bosnia and Herzegovina (Europe)
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
+15 Task
+15 first visitor to Bosnia and Herzegovina
Task total: 30
Season total: 60
15.2 Reading GloballySetting: Liberia
Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War by Leymah Gbowee
+15 Task
+15 first visitor to Liberia
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 60
15.5 Reading GloballySetting: Morocco
The Voices of Marrakesh: A Record of a Visit by Elias Canetti
+15 Task
+15 first visitor to Morocco
Task total: 30
Season total: 150
15.2 Reading GloballySetting: Djibouti, Africa
Transit by Abdourahman A. Waberi
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 30
15.3 Reading GloballySetting: Costa Rica (North America)
Cafe Tropicana by Belinda Jones
+15 Task
+15 first visitor to Costa Rica
Task total: 30
Season total: 90
20.2 The HouseAsylumby Madeleine Roux
Review
I wasn't sure if I wanted to read this book. I don't usually read horror because I have a very active imagination but I thought it can't be that bad, it's young adult. In reality, it wasn't that bad. It's about a teenager named Daniel Crawford who is very smart but doesn't have many friends. He gets accepted to a summer college prep program. He arrives only to find out the campus used to be an asylum. Once there, strange things start to happen like unidentified emails and notes. He starts to have nightmares. The most coincidence is that he shares the same exact name a warden who used to run the asylum. Then the murders start and he is the number one suspect.
I rated it four stars because I liked the story and I wanted to find out the ending. I didn't care for the creepy, real pictures of various asylums. This is a trilogy but I am not sure if I want to continue with it.
Task + 20
Style + 20 (Review, Combo 20.3 shelved six times as ghost stories, 20.7 Single word in the title)
Book Total: 40
Grand Total: 75
15.6 Reading GloballySetting: Lesotho
Chaka by Thomas Mofolo
+25 Task
+15 first visitor to Lesotho
Task total: 40
Season total: 190
20.7 One WordCircus by Claire Battershill
Review:
In terms of literary merit, this book was well written. The characterizations were detailed. The author tells a good story, expands well upon a certain theme without being heavy handed or overtly presentational.
In terms of personal enjoyment, the characters and stories felt a little flat. I wasn't invested enough in any of the characters, even though they were short stories and there wasn't enough action in the plot to keep my interest otherwise. The first two or three stories are well presented and quite poignant. The Miniatureland one and the final story feel like they are trying too hard to be different or wise in some way.
I can appreciate the work and the talent, however just not quite my cup of tea.
+20 Task
+5 Combo 10.8 Double Letter
+10 Not a Novel
+10 Review
Task Total: 45 pts
Grand Total: 45 pts
10.8 Double LetterThe Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac
+10 Task
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total: 20 pts
Grand Total: 65 pts
10.8 Double Letter NamesThe Sea by John Banville
After art historian Max's wife dies, he returns to the seaside town where he spent one life-changing summer as a child more than 50 years before. Twins Chloe and Myles and their parents were a cut above his own family, but they let him share that summer with them. I was not quite sure why, just as I was not quite sure why his late wife Anna had married him, but clearly he was tenacious in his social climbing, if not in much else in his life.
The style is the thing with this book - slow enough to seem lazy, but always poetic. The characters are not very likeable, so enjoyment depends on being fascinated rather than annoyed by the self-consciously poetic writing style. I did enjoy it and gave it 4 stars.
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 155
15.4 Reading GloballySetting: El Salvador (North America)
Salvador by Joan Didion
+15 Task
+15 first visitor to El Salvador
Task total: 30
Season total: 120
15.2 Reading Globally a-zFaroe Islands - Europe
The Last Refuge by Craig Robertson
+15 - Task
+15 - first visitor
Task Total - 30 pts
Season Total - 100 pts
15.1 Reading GloballySetting: Australia
Her Outback Rescuer by Marion Lennox
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 60
15.2 Reading GloballySetting: Bahamas (100%)
The Far Side of the Sun by Kate Furnivall
+15 Task
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 50
20.8 Mother-Daughter (Amanda's Task)Eating Lolly by Corrie Hosking
Review
A rather wonderful read into the complexity of mother-daughter relationship. It was rather difficult to read without thinking oh, I wouldn't have done that or I'd do this & why can't she see that! A bit like a backseat driver really and as usual, it's easier to see when you're an arm's length away. Margaret (aka Mumma) was barely 18 when she had her Lola Berry (aka Lolly) and as she herself put in, she's still a child herself. And yet, due to the circumstances, her family practically exiled her to a little house on an island. She had no support but managed, after all, to buck up & be a mother to her baby. She sounds like a very fun mother with her home cooking and fun talks (all food related, of course!) though I felt there was a little imbalance; seems like a lack in sensibilities. Lolly grew up and in her adolescent years, found everything confusing... It didn't seem like there's going to be a good ending but I do like the lesson at the end...
...surely that is life. Surely the fixing never stops. Surely it will go on forever.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 80
20.5 OldThe Anchoress by Robyn Cadwallader
Pub. 2015 & set in 1255
Review
I didn't know that Anchorite / Anchoress was a real thing in the past. I'd understand a person's choice to commit themselves to God (monks or nuns, etc) but to be locked up in a room with no sunlight and a death rite read over your still living body?!?!? That's just crazy-talk. Especially when one is only 17; even if she has known her calling since she's little, she was also running away from something which was never a good idea to begin this sort of life. Her view of purity & piety in which her naivety led her to be self-centred, ugh! I was so frustrated with her character! I can't help liking the story though so 2.5 stars from me.
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.8 - cadwaLLader, 20.6 - approval)
+10 Review
Post Total: 40
Season Total: 120
20.6. ClergyFriday the Rabbi Slept Late
Harry Kemelman
20 points for task
5. Oldies. Published 1964
5. Combo 10.8 double letter
30 pts
20.8 Mother - DaughterMy Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo (10.5 - Elizabeth)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 70
15.1 - Reading GloballySetting: Egypt
The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz
+15 task
Task total: 15 points
Grand total: 15 points
Note: This is my carryover book from last season (41% at the end of August)
Anika wrote: "15.4 Reading GloballySetting: El Salvador (North America)
Salvador by Joan Didion
+15 Task
+15 first visitor to El Salvador
Task total: 30
Season total: 120"
Sorry Anika, I made an error on the "Who's on First" list, El Salvador should not have been there as Lagullande read it last season (Post 398) . Apologies.
Amanda wrote: "Anika wrote: "15.4 Reading GloballySetting: El Salvador (North America)
Salvador by Joan Didion
+15 Task
+15 first visitor to El Salvador
Task total: 30
Season total: ..."
Argh! Foiled again! ;-)
Then I would like to switch that book to
20.7 Single word
Salvador by Joan Didion
Task total: 20
Season total: 110
15.7 Reading GloballySetting: Israel
Rhyming Life and Death by Amos Oz
+25 Task
Task total: 25
Season total: 215
15.5 Reading Globally a-z
Jersey
The Stationary Ark by Gerald Durrell
15 task
15 first to Jersey
____
30
Running total: 150
15.4 Reading Globallysetting: Georgia (Asia)
Georgian Folk Tales by Marjory Wardrop
+15 Task
+15 first visitor to Georgia
Task total: 30
Season total: 140
Task 20.7 Single Word (Lagullande's task)Read a book with a title consisting of a single word. All words count for this task.
Chemistry (2017) by Weike Wang
Review: This is the debut novel of Weike Wang. The hardcopy of the novel has a brief bio: She “is a graduate of Harvard University, where she earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry and her doctorate in public health.” From the photo she looks Asian. The novel is told first-person by a young woman with an undergraduate degree in chemistry, who is also the daughter of immigrants from China. Hmmm, write what you know, right? The novel is told in sparse prose, in semi-linear timeline (but with numerous digressions that involve events from many random times in her life). She also includes random facts of chemistry, and whimsically relates those chemistry facts to real life. Our narrator has to deal with major changes in her life, which is something she finds difficult. I really enjoyed this novel. Usually when I read a sparse-prose novel, I can’t figure out what is going on, and I don’t finish reading it. This one, for whatever reason, I can follow quite easily the story, and I found all the asides and digressions interesting/amusing. Recommended for readers of literary fiction.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30
Grand Total: 35 + 30 = 65
20.10 Uncommon LetterWe by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Published in 1924 after the Russian Revolution, "We" is an early dystopian novel that influenced Orwell's "1984", and Huxley's "Brave New World". It is set a thousand years in the future in the totalitarian OneState where people are identified by numbers instead of names, and wear identical uniforms. OneState is ruled by the Benefactor, and the Guardians spy on the citizens who live in superglass apartments. The only time the blinds can be drawn is during assigned hours for sexual activity. OneState is a rational world where the people live like machines and have no individual freedom. It is surrounded by the Green Wall that separates the glass world from the natural world where there are a few surviving humans.
The protagonist of the novel is D-503, a mathematician and the builder of the INTEGRAL, a spaceship that will carry citizens of OneState to colonize other planets. He meets I-330, an independent woman who shows him that he has a soul. The back of his hands are covered with atavistic hair which shows that D-503 may still have a few genes left from the primitive society that existed earlier. His lover, I-330, shows him things from the ancient world that are rooted in emotion, beauty, imagination, and nature. Like Eve tempting Adam in the Garden of Eden, I-330 is tempting him with freedom of choice. I-330 tries to convince D-503 to use the INTEGRAL spaceship for another purpose.
The important theme running through the novel is the collective "We" versus the individual "I". The Benefactor resembled Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor (in "The Brothers Karamazov") where society has a choice between freedom and happiness. OneState chose happiness by ridding society of any temptations so people have no reason to be discontent. Of course, not everyone will want a society without freedom of choice so rebels like I-330 exist. This was an interesting dystopian novel that had a great influence on later authors who pointed out flaws in totalitarian regimes.
+20 task
+ 5 combo 20.7
+10 review
+10 oldie pub 1924
Task total: 45
Season total: 65
15.8 Reading GloballySetting: Haiti
Anacaona: Golden Flower, Haiti, 1490 by Edwidge Danticat
+25 Task
Task total: 25
Season total: 240
15. 5 - Reading GloballySetting: Jersey
Menagerie Manor by Gerald Durrell
+15 Task
+15 first visitor
Book total = 30
Season total = 135
15.6 Reading Globallya-z
Luxembourg
The Candidate by Daniel Pembrey
25 task
15 first to Luxembourg
_____
40
Running total: 190
15.6 - Reading Globallysetting: Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (though actually just Libya now)
The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar
+25 Task
+15 first visitor
Book total = 40
Season total = 175
Post 65 Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "20.2 The HouseAsylumby Madeleine Roux
Review
I wasn't sure if I wanted to read this book. I don't usually read horror because I have a very active imagination but ..."
I'm very sorry, Jayme. This book is YA fiction at BPL, and has a Lexile of 720. Task, but no styles.
Bother,just noticed Valerie beat me to Jersey. -15
Season total = 160
Cat wrote: "15. 5 - Reading GloballySetting: Jersey
Menagerie Manor by Gerald Durrell
+15 Task
+15 first visitor
Book total = 30
Season total = 135"
Sorry Cat, Valerie pipped you to the post on this one at Post 83. No first visitor.
15.2 RGThe Locust and the Bird: My Mother's Story by Hanan Al-Shaykh
Lebanon
+15 task
+15 first visitor to Lebanon
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 60
20.3 Ghost StoryDolly by Susan Hill
I adore Susan Hill's little Ghost Story series, but unfortunately don't own this one. Apart from being great little tales, they are very nice looking books and look lovely sitting together on the shelf.
I always get confused when picking these up - they seem like they will be set much earlier in time than they are, but then a car intrudes and you realize you are much more in the present or recent past than you though. I also always think of Hill as American, but the setting for all of these tales is most definitely England and she portrays the landscape and architecture in a way that you can mot mistake this.
Two children visit their aunt for one summer. The mothers of the two children don't get along, so they have never met before. Edward is avery placid child, Leonora not so much. Is she just a spoilt brat, or does she really have the devil in her as Mrs Mullens the housekeeper says ?
The twist in this reminds me of another very famous book (which I won't tell you what it is because it will spoil it for you!), but then it twists again and I became less sure. If this was the case,then why does the same "curse" (is perhaps the better word) involve Edward ?
Quick and enjoyable, though not as spooky as the other books I have read in this series.
+20 task
+10 review
+15 combos (10.8, 20.1, 20.7)
Task Total = 45
Grand Total = 105
15.2 Reading GloballySetting: Chile
The Dancer and the Thief by Antonio Skármeta
+15 Task
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 30
20.5 OldThe Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin
+20 Task: 2008 / medieval
+ 5 Combo: 20.6 Clergy: Rowley Picot, the Bishop of St. Albans
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 55
20.2 The HouseSlade House by David Mitchell
+20 Task
+ 10 Combo (10.8, 20.3)
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 100
15.3 Reading Globally Setting: Marshall Islands (Oceania)
Surviving Paradise: One Year on a Disappearing Island by Peter Rudiak-Gould
+15 task
+15 first visitor to Marshalls
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 90
10.1 Square PegBook Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason by Nancy Pearl
After reading Book Lust to Go: Recommended Reading for Travelers, Vagabonds, and Dreamers I decided to keep going with the series and try the original book, and it didn't disappoint even though I don't think it is useful to me as the other one.
I have, however, put this on my Christmas list, as I am sure for some of the quite general tasks it will come in handy, and I am sure there were some international reads that are mentioned in this book that I hadn't seen previously. I was always surprised by the books that I had read, how much of my TBR was already listed, and how many more books I need to add to it.
My only complaint for the series is that there are a lot of mysteries. Now, I like mysteries, but I still think that the selection of books could have sometimes been wider.
+10 task
+10 review
+10 not-a-novel
Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 135
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Reading with Style
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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)
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20.10 Uncommon Letter
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Review
I had high hopes for this book but it fell flat. I did like the main characters of Cora and Will. I felt that there wasn't enough of the Essex Serpent story. I felt the author could have done more with the Essex Serpent plot line. It felt like there were rumors of a monster but the two characters didn't go out to investigate the myth of the serpent.
I was saddened about Cora's friend, Stella and her illness. She ended up having a serious life threatening disease. I don't want to give too much away.
I gave it three stars. I had a hard time following the plot. I was hoping Will and Cora would end up together but I was confused if they were together or not. The two main characters didn't come across as being in love with each other. I read one review where the reviewer was confused as well about the romance or lack there of to this book.
Task +20
Style +10 Review
Book Total: 30
Grand Total: 30