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FA 2017 Completed Tasks
15.7 RG2setting: Oman (Asia)
Oman: Under Arabian Skies by Rory Patrick Allen
+25 Task
Task total: 25
Season total: 2010
20.2 The HouseVisitation by Jenny Erpenbeck
+20 Task
+15 Combo (10.7, 10.8, 20.7)
Points this post: 35
RwS total: 370
RG total: 30
Season Total: 400
15.3 Reading GloballySetting: Grenada (North America)
Sugar Money by Jane Harris
(although the GR page shows the setting as Martinique, by far the majority takes place on Grenada)
+15 Task
+15 First visitor to Grenada
Points this post: 30
RwS total: 370
RG total: 60
Season Total: 430
15.4 Reading GloballySetting: Japan (Asia)
The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida
(approved in message 90 of questions thread)
+15 Task
Points this post: 15
RwS total: 370
RG total: 75
Season Total: 445
15.5 Reading GloballySetting: Korea DPR (Asia)
The Accusation by Bandi
+15 Task
Points this post: 15
RwS total: 370
RG total: 90
Season Total: 460
15.6 Reading GloballySetting: Laos (Asia)
Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill
+25 Task
Points this post: 25
RwS total: 370
RG total: 115
Season Total: 485
15.7 Reading GloballySetting: Poland (Europe)
Swallowing Mercury by Wioletta Greg
+25 Task
Points this post: 25
RwS total: 370
RG total: 140
Season Total: 510
15.8 Reading GloballySetting: Romania (Europe)
The Fox Was Ever the Hunter by Herta Müller
+25 Task
Points this post: 25
RwS total: 370
RG total: 165
Season Total: 535
15.9 Reading GloballySetting: Sweden (Europe)
Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All by Jonas Jonasson
+40 Task
Points this post: 40
RwS total: 370
RG total: 205
Season Total: 575
15.10 Reading GloballySetting: UK (Europe)
The Long Drop by Denise Mina
+40 Task
+100 Alphabetical Completion
+50 Continents (Oceania, North America, Asia, Europe)
Points this post: 190
RwS total: 370
RG total: 395
Season Total: 765
20.7 Single Word Warcross by Marie Lu
Lexile 810
In a world obsessed with the immersive virtual reality game Warcross, Emika Chen becomes a star. She's an orphaned teenager who dropped out of school to work as a bounty hunter to catch people who bet on Warcross, freeing up a stretched-thin police force. She's also a hacker, and manages to pull off a massive, daring hack in the game that gets the attention of the founder. From there it's a fascinating Cinderella-esque story, as Emika is taken off to Tokyo to do a private spying/hacking job for the game's founder by being placed on a Warcross tournament team. Naturally, everything isn't what it seems! I'm a fan of Marie Lu in general but this was one of her best, I think. I was engrossed in the world and 100% committed to the characters. Fans of Little Brother and Ready Player One should like this too.
+20 task
+10 review
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 1000
Task 20.7 - Single WordShadowblack by Sebastien de Castell
set in medieval era tech fantasy world
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.8, 20.5)
Post = 30
Season total = 2785
20.5 OldThe Brewer of Preston by Andrea Camilleri
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.8)
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 520
post 969 Deedee wrote: "Task 10.8 Double Letter Names (Cat's task)The Bedlam Stacks (2017) by Natasha Pulley
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 720 + 10 = 730"
Does enough take place in the 19th Century that it would also fit 20.5 Old?
20.5 OldBlack Sheep by Georgette Heyer
I’ve read one other of Heyer’s “Regency romances” previously, so I was a little taken aback at her excessive (?) use of slang from the time in this novel. However, once I got past that I enjoyed this novel a lot.
I’m definitely not an expert on the romance genre, but I do have an opinion! I think, for the modern romance novel, the period of the 1960s/70s and maybe some of the 1980s this type of historical romance hit a high point; particularly with a writer like Heyer.
You get to know her main characters very well, and the secondary characters are convincing. Of course, the characters in the novel are well off. The “hero” is the titular black sheep, however he is not a ne’er do well. In fact (not really a spoiler) he has done rather well for himself. Heyer keeps her story tight, there isn’t a lot of extraneous gadding about that is common in historical romance novels.
Overall, this was a fun read and I will be happy to read more of her romances as well as her mystery novels. 3.5*
20 task
10 review
5 oldie
5 combo 10.8
_____
40
Running total: 1245
Edited to add - this is my last book for the season. I'm now reading a non-RwS book (gasp!). See you next season!
10.3 DecadeThe Waves by Virginia Woolf
+10 Task (published 1931)
+5 Combo 10.8
+10 Oldies
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 1110
10.2 SpyEye of the Needle by Ken Follett
Task: 10
Combo:5 (10.8)
Oldies: 5 first published in 1978
Post 20
Task 20.1 Gothic AuthorsJack of Spades (2015) by Joyce Carol Oates (Hardcover, 224 pages)
+20 Task
+05 Combo (#10.5”Joyce”)
Task Total: 20 + 05 = 25
Grand Total: 730 + 25 = 755
The Wright BrothersDavid McCullough
task 20.5 20
combo 10.8 +5
non-fiction +10
review +10
post total 45
season total 460
the wright brothers. I have yet to read a book by David McCullough that did not both educate and entertain me. This book is no exception. The use of letters written between family members, of newspaper reports written at the time, of articles written by scientists and engineers who were contemporaries (and in some cases, competitors) of the Wright brothers brought their own words and voices to the story. Their dedication to a crazy idea even in the face of failure and their mid-west work ethic that kept them working at the dream despite scorn and ridicule was inspiring. I was somehat ashamed that the US did not initially support the idea and the brothers had to find buyers for their planes in Europe. Just 10 years after the first successful flight at Kitty Hawk, airplanes wwere being use to fight in WWI.
John WesleyC.E. Vulliamy
task 20.5 20
combo 10.3(https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...) 10.8, 20..6 +15
nonfiction +10
oldie +10
review +10
post total 65
season total 525
John Wesley. This book was written in 1931 then republished as part of a "Heroes of the Faith" series. This author definitely found little to criticize in John Wesley's life, and the book really emphasized all the great things Wesley did to bring "method" to religion. Wesley's emphasis on taking care of the poor, uneducated, sick - not just talking about it, actually doing it - radically changed the way people viewed their faith and what that faith called them to do. I thought the book was somewhat disorganized - presented more by topic than chronologically - I sometimes had to go back and reread to get events in the correct sequence.
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitaniaauthor:Erik Larson|5869]
task 20.5 20
nonfiction +10
review +10
post total 40
season total 565
Dead Wake. Yet another author who continues to educate and entertain me! Erik Larson's in depth research into the mundane workings of submarines, life boats, passenger lists, lists of provisions for the ship, lives of passengers both who survived and didn't, really enlightened me about the early stages of the war and the very different life style of the early 1900's. Just the idea that these early submarines navigated underwater solely by maps (sonar wasn't in general use yet) opened my eyes to the risks these servicemen exposed themselves to in defense of their country. This incident was just a few years after the sinking of the Titanic, and it seems that many safety measures had been implemented due to lessons learned, but the descriptions of the failures of the lifeboats were harrowing.
The Things They CarriedTim O'Brien
task 15.10 Vietnam 40
all books alphabetical bonus +100
6 continents (North and South America, Australia, Africa, Europe, Asia) bonus +100
post total 240
season total 805
Eleanor and HickSusan Quinn
task 20.5 20
combo 10.8, 20.10 +10
nonfiction +10
review +10
post total 50
season total 855
Eleanor and hick. This book is about the very close relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and reporter Lorena Hickok. Their personal letters were donated to the Roosevelt collection after Hickok died, then not opened for a decade after that. These letters revealed details about their relationship, but also gave much insight into the workings of the government through the Depression and World War II. In our current climate of knowing every detail of our leaders' lives, this behind-the-scenes story of Eleanor's love of "Hick" and 2 other men, and the love interests of her husband, make for very interesting reading. One wonders if as much would have been accomplished in those hard decades if the news had been primarily focused on the Roosevelt's' personal lives instead of what was in the best interest of Americans.
book: Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates|24611888]Brian Kilmeade
task 20.5 20
non-fiction +10
review +10
post total 40
season total 895
Thomas Jefferson. This book was written by a FOX news commentator. I looked up reviews after listening to the first 20 minutes of it because it was very anti-Muslim, and I was interested in why the Muslim faith was considered such an important aspect of this particular time period. I continued to listen to the book despite what appeared to be a biased approach. I learned much about the time period and the need for our brand new country to get involved in piracy thousands of miles from our shores. The difficulty of communication at such great distances made the decisions by our fledgling leaders to build a navy even more heroic and foresighted
15.8 RG The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman
Setting: Virgin Islands, US
+25 task
Season total: 335
20.7 Single Word Remainder by Tom McCarthy
(Set entirely in the UK)
This is a strange novel. I'm going to rate it three stars because I somewhat enjoyed it's cleverness... but, especially toward the end, I found it to be on the cusp of annoyance. The British narrator has been in a terrible accident and has spent many months in recovery and rehabilitation. He learns that he has won an enormous sum in damages. This wealth propels him to chase memories...actually scraps and pieces of memories. He does this by staging elaborate re-enactments. It is the only way he can feel real. There is a Groundhog Day aspect to the re-enactments...that is, he experiences the same circumstances repeatedly...until he gets an idea to re-enact a different memory. Well...this can get out of hand...and it does...and that's when the cleverness wore off for me.
Task=20
combo= 5 (10.5)
Review=10
task total= 35
Grand Total= 2730
15.8 RG2setting: Turks and Caicos (North America)
Food Plane Soup: the Desert Island Letters by Ron-Luc Nickell
+25 Task
+15 first visitor to Turks and Caicos
Task total: 40
Season total: 2050
10.9 Origins of Modern GenresThe Collegians by Gerald Griffin
A melodramatic thriller set in Ireland approximately 200 years ago. Young Hardress Cregan falls in love with poor but virtuous Eily O'Connor and secretly marries her. He regrets it when his mother pushes him to court his wealthy cousin, Anne Chute.
I’m surprised at the low ratings for this, but it is a long and slow-burning story with a lot of background detail and minor characters from the different classes of Irish life. It’s more a story of Ireland than a thriller, and it’s not a mystery in the modern sense. I found it fascinating, but you have to want to read a rambling Irish tale.
+10 task
+10 review
+ 5 combo (10.8)
+15 oldies (1829)
Task Total: 40
Season Total: 1345
15.9 RG2setting: United Kingdom (Europe)
After You by Jojo Moyes
+40 Task
Task total: 40
Season total: 2090
20.10 Uncommon LetterThe League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout
I've decided I should be reading these in close to publication order. There were a couple of references in The Red Box to earlier cases, one of which I knew was one I'd read. It wasn't exactly a spoiler, but I became leery of what Stout might throw in another. There were references to earlier cases in this one, too, but I laughed (even at myself) for knowing Stout had not yet written about them and was just making up Wolfe's history of genius as he could.
This one starts out with no case and Archie itching for something to do. That he was restless would be an understatement. Even with the below, there is almost nothing to dislike about Archie Goodwin and I can lay my hands quickly on no quote that better epitomizes the relationship between Archie and Nero Wolfe.
I do read books, but I never yet got any real satisfaction out of one; I always have a feeling there’s nothing alive about it, it’s all dead and gone, what’s the use, you might as well try to enjoy yourself on a picnic in a graveyard. Wolfe asked me once why the devil I ever pretended to read a book, and I told him for cultural reasons, and he said I might as well forgo the pains, that culture was like money, it comes easiest to those who need it least.In many ways, I could not say this one is the reason I will continue to read the series. Archie was continuously frustrated - and hungry. As usual, I was wrong in my guess as to who did the dastardly deed until the very end. It was also obvious that Wolfe knew at least 100 pages earlier, but needed proof. I'll stick my neck out and give this one 4 stars, but it probably just barely breaks the 3-4 line and even at that I might be feeling generous.
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo (10.4)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (pub 1935)
Task Total = 45
Season total = 775
20.5 OldThe Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
Juv Fic at BPL, Lexile 830
+20 Task (set in 1899, published 2009)
+15 Combo (10.4 Thankful -- #250 on list, 10.7 Big Words, 10.8 Double Letter Names)
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 965
20.10 Uncommon Letter (Elizabeth (Alaska)'s Task)Once Upon A Time in the East: A Story of Growing Up by Xiaolu Guo
+20 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel (Autobiography)
Points this post: 30
RwS total: 400
RG total: 395
Season Total: 795
My last book to finish this month doesn't score any RwS points, so I have probably finished posting for this season. As always, many thanks to the Mods for a fabulous three months.
I hope everyone has a Very Merry and Peaceful Christmas and New Year.
Task 20.10 - Uncommon LetterThe Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
+20 Task
+10 Not-a-Novel (non-fiction biography/history)
+5 Combo (10.8)
Post = 35
Season total = 2820
15.10 RG2setting: Vanuatu (Oceania)
Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu by J. Maarten Troost
+40 Task
Task total: 40
+100 Alphabetical order
+100 6 Continents
Season total: 2330
20.9 SatireMoll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
A first-person narrative that was presented as a true story at the time, this is the compelling story of a woman who is by turns a mistress, wife (several times and always happily), thief, and convict. It was interesting to see the severe punishments given for what we would see today as relatively minor thefts, and that transportation was feared almost as much as the death penalty. Moll goes to America and back twice which must have been unusual in those days.
Her quick wits make this an enjoyable story and it's a surprisingly easy read for its age. I preferred this to Roxana, in which Defoe takes a similar approach but offers us less variety in the story.
+20 task
+10 review
+ 5 combo (20.1)
+20 oldies (1721)
Task Total: 55
Season Total: 1400
20.3 Ghost StoryHamlet by William Shakespeare (gosh, I love this guy! I've been in a Shakespeare mood ever since revisiting R&J for the RG subchallenge)
+20 Task
+20 Combo (10.4, 10.8, 20.5, 20.7)
+10 Not-a-Novel
+25 Oldies (1600)
Task total: 75
Season final total: 2405
That's it for me, I think. Thanks to the mods for a great challenge! See you all again next month ;-)
20.10 Uncommon LetterZombie by Joyce Carol Oates
+20 Task
+5 Combo Grandparents 10.5
+5 Combo Gothic Author 20.1
+5 Combo One Word 20.7
Task Total: 35 pts
Grand Total: 405 pts
20.10 Uncommon LetterUncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home by Leah Lax
From Leah Lax's website:
"Leah Lax joined the Hasidim, Jewish ultra-orthodox, as a young teen and spent thirty years among them. Uncovered is her memoir of those years—as a closeted lesbian in an arranged marriage and mother of seven."
Next to that description is a photo of her relaxing in a hammock, which is what I need to do after reading this book! Her life was exhausting; everything had to be done according to the (Jewish) Law. She entered into an arranged marriage at about age 19 with an older, Hasidic graduate student at a Texas university after one date (no touching allowed). Her parents were non-observant Jews. Her home life was not pleasant at all, to put it mildly! So, the Hasidic life took her away from that and the "outside world" and she did all that was required, until her mid-40s when her creativity and other things had to come out (at a cost). I think it took courage to write this memoir; Hasidic life is secretive, apparently. I knew a little about the mikvah from watching a TV documentary a long time ago. The book describes the mikvah and much, much more about the life. Overall, I found it to be a riveting story and quite sad. The writing takes you right into her life; I felt like I was with her and her family.
+20 Task
+10 Not-a-novel
+10 Review
Task total: 40
Season total: 345
This is it for me for this season. I joined RwS in mid-October and I can't believe I posted eight books/plays. I can't wait to see all the tasks for Winter when I will have extra time read, hopefully.
20.7 Single Word Beloved by Toni Morrison
This novel presents the reader with the story (based on a true event, I learned afterwards) of a woman, Sethe, who is born a slave and escapes to a free state. But, Sethe is not completely free, either mentally or because of a law that permits slaveowners to pursue escaped slaves...even if they have reached a free state..here, Ohio. Sethe is haunted by her past mistreatment...and by the infant daughter she murdered to protect that daughter from the possibility of being sent back to slavery. Morrision won the Pulitzer Prize for this novel...and she does evoke the horrors of that period.
My qualms are with the magic realism elements of the work. The infant daughter, Beloved, comes back as a ghost of sorts. She lives with Sethe and her other daughter, Denver. There were so many flashbacks that it took me a while to understand the book's chronology...and even then I was confused at times. Probably my fault for not reading closely enough...but I did find myself drifting at times...a flaw I blame on the material, not myself. Anyway, through the history we learn that Sethe is not an evil person but someone who was presented with an awful dilemma and awful choices.
I can understand how others love this work...and I do appreciate it, but not enough to give 4 stars.
task=20
review=10
combo= 20 (10.8; 20.3; 20.5, 20.8)
oldie= 5 (1987)
task total= 55
grand total= 2785
10.6 Governor General's AwardThe Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose by Alice Munro
I enjoyed these realistic stories of a girl born poor in rural Canada, growing up with a stepmother with whom she has little in common but gets on pretty well. I liked reading about Flo (the stepmother) more than Rose, which was a pity because most of the stories focus on Rose. Flo is funny, while Rose is rather more serious. But Rose’s life was interesting and archetypical for its time, as she did the marriage-and-children thing and then broke away in what I suppose would have been the 1960s or early 1970s, although I don’t think any dates were given. But it was published in 1977 and seemed very evocative of how the women’s movement impacted on lives at that time.
+10 task
+10 review
+ 5 combo (20.1)
+ 5 oldies (1977)
+10 not a novel (approved)
Task Total: 40
RwS finish: 100
Mega finish: 200
Season Total: 1740
That's all from me for this season. Thank you to the moderators and everybody for making this another great RwS season!
Rosemary wrote: "RwS finish: 100
Mega finish: 200"
Congratulations! Well done!
Double Letter Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe by Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall has been one of my intellectual crushes since childhood. I still remember sitting in the public library with my strawberry-scented notepad, taking notes on her work with chimpanzees. So I was excited to pick up this book, which I hadn't read before. And I was pleased to discover my interest in her hasn't waned. I find her work totally fascinating, and the drama and excitement with which she describes the chimps she studies makes the book read almost more like a novel than a work of nonfiction. At the same time, I learned new things about chimpanzee behavior, and of course, as is always her intention, pondered some new insights about human beings.
+10 task
+10 not a novel
+10 review
+5 oldies (pub 1990)
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 1035
15.7 Reading GloballySlave: My True Story by Mende Nazer
set around two-thirds in Sudan
+25 task
+15 first to Sudan
Task Total = 40
Grand Total = 515
10.5 GrandparentsA Few Days in the Country: And Other Stories by Elizabeth Harrower
+10 task
+5 combo (10.8)
+10 Not a Novel (short stories)
Task Total = 25
Grand Total = 540
20.3 Ghost StoryThe Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
+20 task
+15 oldies
+10 combo (10.8, 10.9)
+5 jumbo
Task Total = 50
Grand Total = 590
And that's me out for the season!
20.7 Single Word (Lagullande's task)Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
So...this is a science-fiction book with a lot of transformations (might work for Winter Task 20.8) and half way through I transformed my opinion from mild amusement to disappointment. A little further on, my opinion transformed again to total boredom. This dystopian tale takes place in an unnamed city in a world that has been nearly destroyed by something that is never explained. (I hate when that happens.) Anyway, the city is ruled by apparent beastly mutants...or have the beasts been manufactured? The story begins however with a human woman finding a strange creature which seems innocent and cute. (This was the part of the story that was inexplicably working for me.) The creature eventually grows and transforms to have human characteristics. Then things just kept getting sillier and sillier....and frankly I didn't care much any more.... and couldn't keep track of what was happening...attacks by the beasts. Alliances with other strange survivors. Attacks on the beasts. Then a battle between the mutants. Ugh.
I'm sure I will be in the minority but just one star from me.
(Now I need to find some alcohol minnows.)
task= 20
combo= 5 (10.8)
review=10
task total= 35
Grand Total= 2820
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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)
More...
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)
More...
The Bedlam Stacks (2017) by Natasha Pulley
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 720 + 10 = 730