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FA 2017 Completed Tasks
15.9 Reading GloballySetting: Guyana
Palace of the Peacock by Wilson Harris
Task=40
First to Guyana=15
Task total=55
Season total: 295
10.4 Thankful The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Gabrielle Zevin
10. Task
5. Combo. 20.10 uncommon letter
5. Combo 10.8. Double letter
10. Review
This book was a free read from Kindle so I decided to try it. This is not my usual kind of read.
The story centers around a widower who owns a small bookstore on a small island a short ferry ride from Hyannis, MA. This story is probably best enjoyed by people who often read. There are many references to books and authors. Each chapter begins with a short blurb from A.J. about a story that he had read. A.J. is a lot more likeable as his life begins to change for the better. You can easily picture yourself stopping by the bookstore while on vacation. There are not many characters in the story. Each one is very different from the other except for their love of reading. There are a few surprises in the story. I generally prefer a book with a lot more action but this was a nice change of pace about normal stuff happening to normal people.
15.3 Reading Globally. A-ZGreenland, North America
Cold Earth by Sarah Moss
+15 pts-task
+15 pts- first visitor
Task total - 30 pts
Season Total - 130 pts
Denise wrote: "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 y..."
I am sorry to blow up your plan like that! Glad we caught it early.
From Post 75Tien wrote: "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 rathe..."
+5 Combo 10.8 (coRRie)
From Post 71 and 81Anika wrote: "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"
+10 Not a Novel
ETA: Also, +5 Oldies
10.1 Square PegVoyage Along the Horizon by Javier Marías
+10 Task
+ 5 Oldies (1977)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 70
From Post 69Rachelccameron wrote: "10.8 Double Letter
The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac
+10 Task
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total: 20 pts
Grand Total: 65 pts"
+5 Oldies
20.1 Gothic AuthorsOur Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
+20 Task
+10 Combo: 10.4 Thankful / 10.5 Grandparents Day
+15 Oldies (1865)
+15 Jumbo (801)
Post Total: 60
Season Total: 130
20.1 Gothic AuthorsThe Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo: 10.4 Thankful
+10 Oldies (1902)
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 165
20.3 Ghost StoryRoald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories by Roald Dahl
+20 Task
+ 5 Oldies (1983)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 190
15.2 Reading GloballySetting: Bulgaria
Everything Happens as It Does by Albena Stambolova
+15 Task
+15 First visitor to Bulgaria
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 90
20.2 The HouseThe Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
approval
Review
I adore time travel in all different styles from the magical fluffy romance to the scary gritty tales like 11.22.63 and this, The Shining Girls. This book may not be as epic as King's but it is nearly as good. I did find it a little confusing at the beginning with the going back & forth in time but as usual with starting a new book, you get used to it & then the fun begins. I was mostly excited about how neatly she brought the whole thing to a close at the end, a perfect circle; totally on pointe.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 155
10.5 GrandparentsThe Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Café by Mary Simses
Review
This is a matter of misplaced expectations. I expected the cafe to play center field in this novel but it didn't... not really. And for some reason, I didn't expect this to be a romance novel when it's clearly shown on GR as chick-lit/romance! Sometimes, going by covers/titles can really get me into trouble. I managed to finish it as it was a rather easy read but unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy it. It had a good & funny promising start but didn't quite deliver in humour or feels. I did approve of the ending but it wasn't enough to bump up my rating from 2 stars.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 175
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.
Death by the Dozen (Cupcake Bakery Mystery #3) (2011) by Jenn McKinlay
Review: This is the third book in a cozy mystery series. Our heroine, Mel, and her best friend, Angie, own and manage a bakery shop in Scottsdale, Arizona, that specializes in Cupcakes. Scottsdale has an annual Food Festival. Part of the Food Festival is a “Challenge to the Chefs” wherein entrants are given a “mystery ingredient” and inside of one hour must create a tasty baked good. One of the judges is found dead. Questions of the novel: how & why did the judge end; will Mel & Angie’s bakery win the “Challenge to the Chefs” contest; and, which of two men pursuing Angie will she choose to be her boyfriend. (All questions are answered, though with a hint that Angie might change her mind in book #4.) The novel is written with a nice degree of fluff, as is the standard for the “cozy mystery” genre. That said …. The “mystery” part was weak, and Mel (our Point of View character) is unlikeable in this novel. Mel exhibits “entitled” behavior, whether it is hobnobbing with the contest’s judges or acting as though rules that everyone else must follow don’t apply to her …. Ugh. Mel was OK in books #1 and #2, though, so I’ll give the series another chance. Maybe book #4 can get back to Mel’s complicated romantic life & Mel’s entertaining relationship with her feisty, widowed mother, things that made books #1 & #2 of the series so much fun to read.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20
Grand Total: 65 + 20 = 85
15.10 Reading GloballySetting: Austria
Wittgenstein's Nephew by Thomas Bernhard
Task=40
Alphabetical Completion Bonus (Z to A)=100 points
6 Continents Bonus= 100 points
Task total=240
Season total: 535
Ed wrote: "15.10 Reading GloballySetting: Austria
Wittgenstein's Nephew by Thomas Bernhard
Task=40
Alphabetical Completion Bonus (Z to A)=100 points
6 Continents Bonus= 100 poin..."
Wow, Ed! Speedy traveler! Congrats!
20.9 SatireKeep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
+20 pts - Task
+20 pts - Combo (10.3,10.4,10.5,10.8)
+10 pts - Oldies (1936)
Task Total - 50 pts
Season Total - 180 pts
Rebekah wrote: "Ed wrote: "15.10 Reading GloballySetting: Austria
Wittgenstein's Nephew by Thomas Bernhard
Task=40
Alphabetical Completion Bonus (Z to A)=100 points
6 Continents Bonu..."
Thanks.... I found short books that worked for the challenge...and I listened to at least one book on CDs.
20.8-Mother-DaughterThe Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
Review: N.K. Jemisin's The Stone Sky is a beautiful conclusion to her Broken Earth Trilogy. Focusing on the Nassun's and Essun's (mother and daughter, respectively) ways of dealing with a Season--a period of extreme disaster for the earth, the novel demonstrates the difficulty of maintaining relationships in the face of hardship and trauma, especially when separation exacerbates that trauma. It also manages to illuminate the effects of systemic oppression, and what exactly is at stake for world and the individual when trying to make the world better. Sometimes this means re-making the world. This is a beautiful and haunting read that presents a new kind of magic, no easy feat in the world of fantasy.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total 30
15.4 Reading Globally , a-zHonduras - North Am
The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux
+15 - Task
+15 - first visitor
Task Total - 30 pts
Season Total - 210 pts
20.10 Uncommon Letter (Elizabeth (Alaska)'s Task)The Vintner's Luck (Vintner's Luck #1) by Elizabeth Knox
X as last letter in author's last name, knoX
Review
Um-hm, it sounded promising... it promises something dark but instead I found... boredom. I enjoyed my earlier experience of Knox's later young adult duology, The Dreamhunter Duet, but I think I only managed to finish this book because I was listening on audiobook. There were some exciting incidence & little twists which were a bit dark and I really enjoyed those but there were few & far in between. Otherwise, it was like an overview on this man's life; a man who encountered an angel, befriended him, loved him... though they really only meet once a year. At the beginning, there were little tidbits on his wife's insanity gene and the mysterious murders but they really weren't develop nor were they part of the story very much. There was no happy ending nor was there a tragedy; life just goes on... I didn't find this book exciting at all and as it has won a couple of awards which leaves me wondering if I was just too dense to read between the lines.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.5; 20.5 - pub. 1998 & set between 1808-1865 with an epilogue in 1995 which is less than 1% of book)
Post Total: 40
Season Total: 215
20.7 Single wordGanymede by Cherie Priest
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo (20.5 – set in 1880’s)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 125
15.3 RGBrazil, South America
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
+15 Task
Task total: 15
Challenge total: 45
20.4 NighttimeAfter Alice by Gregory Maguire
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.5 - published 2015 and set in the 19th century)
Task total = 25
Points total = 45
15.1 Reading Globally (2nd Round)Setting: Benin
The Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
Task=15
First to Benin=15
Task total=30
Season total: 565
15.2 Reading GloballySetting: Costa Rica, North America
The Lost World by Michael Crichton
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 30
20.8 Mother-DaughterThe House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
(#16 on the Goodreads Mother/Daughter list; but I'd say this barely passed the 51% requirement for being part of the overall content of the book).
+20 task
+10 combo (10.4 and 10.8)
+5 age
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 65
10.8 Double Letter Names (Cat's task)The Coroner's Lunch (Dr. Siri Paiboun #1) by Colin Cotterill
double letters in author's last name, coTTerill
Review
Interesting character and even more interesting culture not that I can judge how accurate this was as I'm unfamiliar with Laos. The mysteries ended up rather interesting than not but I wasn't too keen during the reading and the only reason I can think of is the writing didn't captivate me or maybe it was a bit slow because it's the first book in a series so there was a lot of setting up to do? Whilst the main character is a scientific man, a doctor, he was haunted by supernatural incidences. At first, I found this rather amusing though I thought at one point that it was taking it rather too far, too crazy for my taste but then again it could very well reflect the superstition of natives. This could be another reason why I only rated the book 2 stars.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 235
20.1 Gothic AuthorsJane Eyreby Charlotte Brontë
Review
I read this book years ago and had enjoyed it. The second time around wasn't as enjoyable. I had forgotten the beginning where Jane was a young girl living with her relations. They thought her nothing more than useless. They thought she was unsatisfactory and basically a burden. She had to endure people who didn't really care about her. She was just something they had inherited like a sofa. I didn't care much for her relations. They thought she had faults which they tried to break Jane out of but I found the relations had just as many faults. This takes place in a time period where children were treated like little "adults" and they weren't .
Once Jane finished school she got a position as a governess to a little girl who was the ward of Mr. Rochester. I found him to be a jerk. He pawns the care of this child off on other people like the housekeeper and then Jane. Mr. Rochester is hardly ever at home. When Jane and Mr. Rochester met, he accused her of being a witch and hexing him because he fell off his horse. I am wondering why I ever liked this book in the first place. There was a movie made and the movie wasn't that good. The book was actually better.
Task +20
Style: +15 Review, Combo 10.8 (Charlotte)
Jumbo: 507pp +5
oldies+ 15 (published 1847)
Book Total: 55
Grand Total: 110
15.7 Reading Globallya-z
Mali
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer
25 task
15 first to Mali
___
40
Running total: 230
Kate S wrote: "From Post 71 and 81Anika wrote: "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"
+10 Not a Novel
..."
Thank you! I wasn't thinking of anything other than reassembling my RG plan when I posted that :-/
15.5 Reading Globally setting: Latvia (Europe)
The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell
+15 Task
+15 first visitor to Latvia
Task total: 30
Season total: 195
20.5 OldMaster Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge
+ 20 Task (set 1846-1854, pub 1998)
Points this post: 20
RwS total: 20
RG total: -
Season Total: 20
15.3 Reading GloballySetting: Cyprus
Aphrodite's War by Andrea Busfield
+15 Task
+15 first visitor to Cyprus
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 265
Paula wrote: "20.8 Mother-Daughter(#16 on the Goodreads Mother/Daughter list; but I'd say this barely passed the 51% requirement for being part of the overall content of the book).
+20 task
+10 combo (10.4 and..."
Hi Paula, could you please link to the book as lists can change and we won't know what book you are posting.
From Post 115Karen Michele wrote: "20.3 Ghost Story
Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories by Roald Dahl
+20 Task
+ 5 Oldies (1983)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 190"
+10 Not-a-Novel
15.1 Reading GloballyAruba
Rising Tide by Patricia Ryan
+15 Task
+15 First to Post
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 30
10.8 Double Letter NamesScrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick
I am not familiar with much of Anna Kendrick's work; I don't think I have seen any of her movies and I did not realize that one song was hers. I picked this up because there were several groups reading it for the month and it was available on an easily accessible shelf at my library. I have enjoyed memoirs from several other female Hollywood types in recent years (although I was more familiar with their work) and hoped this may be one of them. It was not. For me, the bright spots in this book dealt with what Anna was reading at various times.
+10 Task (aNNa)
+10 Not-A-Novel
+10 Review
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 60
20.8 Mother-DaughterEvery Wild Heart by Meg Donohue
I saw this book on the New Release shelf at my library and picked it up, thinking it was something else. (Pretty sure I combined two different contemporary authors' names and made up this person in my reading history). I am not interested enough in music or horses for this to be the right book for me to truly enjoy. I found some of the mother-daughter relationship believable enough, but didn't buy in completely. I kept forgetting that Nic was only 14. There was a bit of suspense included, but it felt very much so like an afterthought. The drama was melodramatic and felt too quickly resolved.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 90
20.4 Night-timeAfter Dark by Haruki Murakami
I enjoyed this short adventure in the single night of Mari. The way the events unfolded were typical of what I have come to expect from Murakami. I enjoy his easy prose and understated magical elements. The scenes in the love motel were sometimes hard for me to remember which characters were speaking, but for the most part I just enjoyed the ride. For such a short book, there were many issues tackled: sister relations, Chinese immigration into Japan, men-women relations, first impressions not always being best, etc. I could certainly imagine this being a longer work by this author, but found myself savoring the words and appreciating the overnight time-frame.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 120
10.8 Double Letter NamesMidnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew J. Sullivan
This was a good read. A bookstore, a senseless death and the rebuilding of old relationships, how can I not thoroughly enjoy this one? In the beginning, I found the pace slow and was not sure I cared much for the author's handling of the time jumping necessary to flesh out this story, but after a short time, I was hooked. I was horrified by the Hammerman's murder and the idea that the crime was unsolved for so long. As the story lines began to converge, I didn't want to put the book down. This was more than a mystery story, but like many mysteries, the ending left no loose ends.
+10 Task (suLLivan)
+10 Review
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 140
20.2 The HouseA Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline
Andrew Wyeth spent his summers painting in Cushing, Maine and he was especially drawn to the Olson House and its occupants. Siblings Al and Christina Olson lived in their old ancestral home which had no modern conveniences--no electricity, and no indoor plumbing other than a hand pump in the kitchen. The book is named for Wyeth's famous painting "Christina's World" which depicts a field of yellowed grass and a woman in a pink dress crawling up the hill, heading toward a farmhouse in disrepair. Wyeth is showing Christina, who had a debilitating neuromuscular disease, as a woman with many qualities. Fragile, vulnerable, longing, strong, and persistent are adjectives that come to mind, and every viewer will see something different in the painting.
The book is really Christina's story written as a fictional memoir of her life with her parents, her grandmother, and three brothers. She was an intelligent girl whose dream of becoming a teacher was taken from her when her parents needed her at home to do chores in the farmhouse. Her hope of love and marriage never worked out. Christina was a resilient worker at home, caring for her sickly parents and her siblings. She always had a stubborn streak, and refused to use a wheelchair as her mobility decreased. Andrew Wyeth treated Christina with a cheerful acceptance, and his presence was welcomed by both Christina and her brother. Al and Christina had a strong sibling connection--two people facing life together under difficult circumstances, both with dreams that were never realized.
I loved Christina Baker Kline's writing in this story. The author conveys so much understanding and warmth in her complex portrayal of Christina. The book transported us to the first half of the 20th Century, to a time of simple pleasures, hard work, and the unforgettable Christina Olson.
+20 task
+10 review
Task total: 30
Season total: 95
Amanda wrote: "Paula wrote: "20.8 Mother-Daughter(#16 on the Goodreads Mother/Daughter list; but I'd say this barely passed the 51% requirement for being part of the overall content of the book).
+20 task
+10 c..."
Oh, duh! Sorry I forgot to add that. I edited my post with the link to the book. Please let me know if I missed anything else!
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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...
Setting: Marshall Islands (and curses, Katy, beating me!)
Surviving Paradise: One Year on a Disappearing Island by Peter Rudiak-Gould
+25 Task
Season total = 185