Reading with Style discussion
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SP 18 Completed Tasks
20.1 The DoubleTwelfth Night by William Shakespeare
+20 Task
+15 Combo: 20.4 Night Watch / 20.6 Dead Souls / 20.8 Silent Spring
+25 Oldies
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total = 70
Season Total: 1295
20.10 My Comfort ZoneSilas Marner by George Eliot
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo: 20.4 Night Watch
+15 Oldies 1861
Task Total: 40
Season Total: 1335
20.2 The Blazing World see thread post #43Diana by Sarah Bradford
Review
I didn’t time it this way, but I completed this book on the day Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were married. The timing was poignant. There have been so many books written about this celebrity icon, but this particular book was written by a well regarded author who researched her, but didn’t personally know her. Because of that, there was no personal bias and as authors tend to do, elevate their importance in the life of the subject, or color the subject’s thoughts and perceptions with their own interpretation of their interactions with that person. Therefore, I felt this bio of the Princess gave a fairly balanced view of her. She wasn’t perfect. She had her own childhood wounds. However, you do come to appreciate how well she actually did in making differences in world perceptions of unpopular issues such as AIDS, that her heart was in the right place and that she was able to use her position for good. The book wasn’t as favorable to Prince Charles. He does come off as rather spoiled, jealous and petty and perhaps his upbringing did make him less sensitive to others. It does seem as if he were under pressure to find a bride, that he found a rather naive girl, fresh out of school, (she was 19 to his 32),who despite her aristocratic background, had been rather sheltered from the high society world with its subtext and had little understanding of the machinations that go on in court. It was thought she’d sit in the Palace,make babies, make a few appearances and ideally be the Reincarnation of Queen Alexandra to the blatantly unfaithful King Edward VII. fact, I was shocked by the near Machiavellian rivalries in the court between the separate royal families. Those loyal to Prince Charles at St James Palace, those loyal to the Queen at Buckingham Palace, and those loyal to the Princess at Kensington, not to mention all the secondary members of the royal family. From courtiers to servants, it seemed like a nest of vipers that did little to bring harmony. Diana herself, and maybe rightly so, had a deep distrust of people and a paranoia, that caused her to suddenly drop people whether or not they had betrayed her because she thought they had. Of course the final chapters were tragic. It seemed as if she was coming to a new purpose and it seems despite what the father of Dodi Fayed claimed, there was no seriousness to the relationship between her and his son, and in fact the Princess was just rebounding from a more private love entanglement. A very striking point was how little the Royal Family in general were aware of her power, the adoration and the status she had amongst their subjects. They were quite shocked when they returned to London and found all the flowers, the lines of grief stricken people, the memorials, so that they finally realized their plan for a small private service and burial would not do. In fact her own blood family seemed just as unaware. As sad as her story is, she did make the world a better place and with the changes she wrought in the Royalty, she can very well be credited with saving the monarchy for future generations. Her sons give the best testimony of the accomplishments she made.
+20 pts-Task
+10 pts- Not Novel
+10 pts- Review
+20 pts - combo ( 10.5-941 ratings, 10.6, 20.4 - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... ,20.6)
Task total - 60 pts
Season Total - 580 pts
15.9 Reading the DecadesThe Adventures of Sally by P.G. Wodehouse
+40 Task -- published in '22
Task Total: 40
Season Total: 885
10.10 - Group ReadThe Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
Task: 10
Not-a -novel: 10
Post total: 20
Season total: 445
20.9- JumboKingshold by D.P. Woolliscroft
Review:
Kingshold is a traditional epic fantasy. Using the definition given by an expert, at least as far as I am concerned, Michael from Bitten by a Radioactive book. This is primarily a heroic type fantasy but as the first instalment in a series the vast consequences beyond Kingshold remain to be seen. It has avoided the Chosen one trope so far.
So, Kingshold begins with the death of the king and queen who have been eliminated by the god-like character of Jyuth. He is an old wizard who instituted the monarchy but tires of having to remove the bad seeds. So he decides to move away from monarchy to democracy. And then leave town once elections are over. So the premise if an under-dog possibly taking over drew my attention to this story. And there is a lot to unpack in this story. Great for a fantasy group to read.
Not a lot of people who enjoy multiple characters. This has quite a few. Initially it takes a while to become familiar with them. Luckily, they have individual traits that you never mistake one for the other. If you want strong women, there are plenty to choose from and no objectifying here.
I am a huge fan of good world building and this exceeded my expectations. It was easy to envision the city, even its sights and smells. Even though there are multiple POVs, it is used very effectively to understand this city and inhabitants. And there is humor, good use of tension with good battle scenes. There were a few mistakes in spelling like beer for bare. But not enough to distract you from the story. The writing is neither flowery or sparse. Everything has its purpose.
The drawbacks here are : the magic systems are not explained in this instalment, pacing is little off with a slow start and then a lot happens in the last 25% and there is some swearing.
Task: 20
Combo:10 (10.5, 20.7)
Review: 10
Jumbo: 5(506 pp)
Total for this post: 45
Season total: 490
15.7 Reading the DecadesThree Blind Mice and Other Stories by Agatha Christie
+25 Task (published 1952)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 1360
From Post 675Bill wrote: "Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual SportJennifer Shahade
20.2 Blazing World (Feminism)
20.6 Double Consonants"
Welcome, Bill.
+10 Not a Novel
From Post 678Bill wrote: "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
20.4, combo with 10.9, 5 Oldies"
This should be +10 Oldies
+5 Combo 10.3
From Post 683Bill wrote: "Crime and Punishment
20.9, combo with 20.4, 20.6, 10.9, 15 Oldies, 5 Jumbo"
+5 Combo 10.4
20.5 The Queen's NecklaceThe Queen's Necklace by Alexandre Dumas
There are two somewhat intertwining plot lines in this. There is the story of the necklace, of course, but there is also a story of the mistaken identity of Marie Antoinette. The look alike had a small part to play in the earlier installment of the series, Joseph Balsamo. In fact, many of the characters in this had larger or smaller parts to play in the first volume of the series.
With Dumas, you don't get much characterization. But even in this, the presentation of his plot is thin and I was left wanting. In particular, he seemed to rush through presenting the intrigues of the ownership of the necklace. Or maybe my attention wandered, which is possible. Others have said this was ghost-written and perhaps the fault lies at the feet of another than Dumas.
I thought Balsamo better, though even it had faults. This is just 3-stars from me. Still, should I find myself with opportunity, I'd be happy to read the others of the series.
+20 Task
+15 Combo (20.1, 20.7, 20.10)
+10 Review
+15 Oldies (pub 1850)
Task Total = 60
Season Total = 890
10.1 Square PegThe Great Alone by Kristen Hannah
10.8
Summerland by Elin Hilderbrand
Takes place in US and Australia
Task points: 20
Grand total : 50
10.9 Double TroubleThe Book of Illusions by Paul Auster
College professor David Zimmer is steadily descending into alcoholic isolation after the loss of his wife and children in a plane crash, when he happens upon an old silent film that makes him laugh for the first time since the accident. When he finds out that the actor mysteriously disappeared some 60 years earlier, he begins to research his life and work, with unexpected consequences.
I like Paul Auster’s writing and I really enjoyed this one. It’s quite dense with a lot of description of films and not much dialogue (as he’s alone a lot of the time) but I was completely engaged in the fascination with the mysterious Hector Mann. I don’t think the ending quite did it justice, it seemed rushed and jarred with the rest of the story, but the buildup was wonderful.
+10 task (mystery/contemporary)
+10 review
+100 RwS finish
+200 mega finish
Post Total: 320
Season Total: 2110
20.6 Dead SoulsDead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Review
I’m not a great scholar of literature. I love to read and read all kinds of books from different genres, different cultures, different times, different formats. That being said, I usually take things at face value. I don’t look for hidden themes, symbols, hidden messages that authors are trying to send, as most English teachers have their students look for. I heard an author speak once and she was discussing a book she was working on about a family whose last name was Bush and the love story between one of the men of the Bush family who marries a mountain girl named Azalea. So I asked her what was the significance of the name Azalea Bush and the play on words and if Bush was a reference to the Presidential family. She was actually stunned. She never had noticed that by marrying Azalea, it created the playful name and she had picked Bush because it was a fairly common name in the area where she was raised. That being said, I’m sure the “great authors” do put in all these subliminal suggestions. It must be what makes them greater than the average good story teller. I’m sure from what I read about this author, he would do the same and seems like those Russians are always double -speaking, but for the life of me I don’t really know what Dead Souls was driving at. Of course I don’t know near enough about Russian History, Culture or Language to even know why you would refer to peasants as “souls” anyway, so I just got on with it in the way I knew how. The main character seems alright enough in the beginning but like some molds, grows slimier the more it is exposed. However, most of the people he slimes, you can’t feel bad for either. In fact very few of the characters were truly likable. Seems as if pretty much everyone is shallow and corrupt and willing to throw others to the wolves for a rise in power, reputation or wealth. So I did find it satirical, funny, mostly strange and oddly unfinished, with whole sections missing. It did keep my interest as I kept trying to figure out what was going on and the characters with their fatal character flaws were worth studying. Over all I give this somewhere between 2 - 5 stars. It may take me a while (years) to decide which.
+20 - Task
+10 - Review
+15 - Oldies (1842)
+15 - Combo (10.9, 20.4, 20.9)
+ 5 - Jumbo (512 pg)
Task Total - 65
Season Total - 645
15.8 Reading the DecadesBetween the Acts by Virginia Woolf
+25 Task (published 1941)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 1390
From Post 336Karen Michele wrote: "20.5 The Queen's Necklace
The Queen's Necklace by Alexandre Dumas
I enjoyed The Queen's Necklace, particularly the second half. I knew it was the secon..."
+5 Combo 20.1
From Post 693Sam wrote: "10.5 - Green Stone
Hard Core Logo - Michael Turner
In scanning through other reviews, it seems like quite a few are reviewing the book after having seen the movie,..."
+10 Not a Novel
+5 Oldies
+5 Combo 10.7
From Post 707Karin wrote: "20.6 Dead Souls
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
(Shakespeare)
Review
Two sets of identical twins twins, one set both named Antipholus and the other both named Dromi..."
I have already recorded this title for you this season. Did you mean to claim something else?
From Post 711Kazen wrote: "10.5 - Green Stone
Incendiary: The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber and the Invention of Criminal Profiling by Michael Cannell
I feel a true crime binge coming on and ..."
+5 Combo 10.7-from the list of celebrity unisex names
From post 722June wrote: "10.10 - Group Read
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
Task: 10
Not-a -novel: 10
Post total: 20
Season total: 445"
+10 Combo 10.8, 10.9
From Post 723June wrote: "20.9- Jumbo
Kingshold by D.P. Woolliscroft
Review:
Kingshold is a traditional epic fantasy. Using the definition given by an expert, at least as far as I am conc..."
+5 Combo 10.7
20.6 Dead SoulsSons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler by Bruce Henderson
This is the amazing story of young, Jewish men who made it to the US as Hitler gained control in Germany and started invading the rest of Europe. When the US entered the war, the Army realized the value of these young men for Military Intelligence and started a training school for them at Camp Ritchie in Maryland. This was a very rigorous course in reconnaissance, interrogation, German military structure, etc. The men were then attached to various Army units to gather information. According to a postwar evaluation, the Ritchie Boys, as they become known, accounted for almost 60% of the credible intelligence gathered in Europe during the war. Through hard work, and ingenuity, facing danger even from their fellow soldiers, they made a invaluable contribution to the Allied effort.
The author follows a number of the Ritchie Boys from their childhood in Europe to their immigration to the US, their training at Camp Ritchie and their war experiences.
I first learned about this special group of soldiers from a documentary movie, The Ritchie Boys. Many of the same men appear in both the documentary and the book. I highly recommend the film.
+20 task
+5 combo 10.8 North America and Europe
+10 NAN
+10 review
Task total: 45
Season total: 545
20.6 Dead SoulsSummer Island by Kristin Hannah
Review
Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors. I have read a few of her books and I think she is a teriffiic writer. Her writing is in depth and it sounds like she puts research into her writing. She writes about everyday people and families. She writes about relationships one person has with other people in that family. She doesn't try to candy coat life. She writes about the current situations of the time and era. In this particular title, a mother ran away from her family and started a new life for herself. The daughter is asked to do a piece on her mother. She agrees before the daughter gets to know her mother.
Task +20
Review +10
Grand Total: 100
10.4 Book RiotThe Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
+10 Task
+10 Combo (20.2 shelved as Feminism 2,646 times, 20.4 Рассказ Служанки)
+5 Oldies (pub 1985)
Points this post: 25
RwS total: 450
RtD total: 15
Season Total: 465
10.6 JustineEmma by Jane Austen
+10 Task
+10 Combo (20.4 Эмма, 20.10)
+15 Oldies (pub 1815)
Points this post: 35
RwS total: 485
RtD total: 15
Season Total: 500
10.8 Double Continent (Coralie's Task)Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
+10 Task (Africa, Europe and N America)
+15 Combo (10.9 Cultural 964x, Contemporary 626x, 20.2 shelved as Feminism by 379 users, 20.4 Американха)
Points this post: 25
RwS total: 510
RtD total: 15
Season Total: 525
20.2 The Blazing WorldThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
+20 Task (no 163 on Best Feminist Books listopia)
+10 Combo (10.9 Historical 164, Cultural 164, 20.4 Мисс Джин Броди в расцвете лет)
+5 Oldies (pub 1961)
Points this post: 35
RwS total: 545
RtD total: 15
Season Total: 560
20.6 Dead SoulsGoing Gray: What I Learned about Beauty, Sex, Work, Motherhood, Authenticity, and Everything Else That Really Matters by Anne Kreamer
I picked this up on a whim at a book exchange. Yes, I dye my hair and I have been mulling around the idea of stopping. For some reason, the subtitle gave me the impression that the book would be boring and earnest. Perhaps it is earnest, but it’s not boring.
This seemingly vacuous topic is actually quite interesting. Kreamer did her own research, via polls and interviews and included other research on this topic. (Not surprisingly, much of it done by companies that have interests in the beauty industry). She approached the topic of going gray (from dying) from a variety of angles; and has an in depth and thoughtful approach.
I suspect that I enjoyed this book because I am ‘of the age’ that has that as a concern. Even though I started dying my hair for ‘fun’ (not grayness), I have now fallen into that ‘target market’ who isn’t ready to cope with gray hair (or who knows – at this point I have no idea what it really looks like!). After reading her thoughtful approach I’m not ready yet… but I do feel empowered to take the plunge in the near future.
20 task
10 review
10 NaN
5 combo 10.5
________
45
Running total: 890
15.10 Reading the DecadesHe Dies and Makes no Sign: A Golden Age Mystery by Molly Thynne
+40 Task -- published in '33
+50 Completion
+50 Different decades and years
+50 Decades read in order
+50 Years read in order
Task Total: 240
Season Total: 1125
20.6 Dead SoulsThe State of The Nation by Fali S. Nariman
4.5 stars really for such a fine book on the Indian judiciary. Most Indians shouldn't need an introduction to this great man. Not only is he a renowned jurist in India but also outside.
In this book, Nariman describes the basis on which the constitution was formed. He also describes the difficulties, conundrums and the solutions of some of the articles of our constitution. He touches upon some of the landmark cases of our country although apart from of the few of them, I wasn't aware of the background of others. He of course gives an elaborate citation list which is also very useful for a lay person such as I. He doesn't shy away from rightly taking on the side of the common man and if needed even discussing the drawbacks of our parliamentary procedure and even our judicial system.
Our country is the largest democracy in the world and we have the world's longest constitution. It is a project in works as pointed out by Nariman but as long as we have people like him at the judiciary, one cannot lose faith in it. A highly recommended read.
Task: +20
Combo: +5 (10.5)
Review: +10
NaN: +10
Task Total : +45
Season Total: 775+45 = 820
20.7 The Red QueenThese Old Shades by Georgette Heyer
The sinful rake the Duke of Avon encounters a boy on the streets of Paris and takes him to be his page. But soon Leon becomes Leonie, a pawn and a weapon in the deathly battle of revenge between Avon and his oldest enemy.
In terms of the plot, this was a good story that develops at a cracking pace. The ending was perfect and even had me shedding a tear or two. Unfortunately, I found Leonie unbearably irritating, and she’s on almost every page until the end. It’s also unsettling these days to read of a young woman of 19 speaking and acting like a spoilt 12-year-old and being addressed as “my infant” by the much older man who is in love with her. I’m hoping these issues are limited to this particular book, so they won’t stop me trying more by this author.
+20 task (duke, also various counts and princes in secondary roles)
+10 review
+10 oldies (1926)
Post Total: 40
Season Total: 2150
20.6 Dead Souls All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare
(Shakespeare)
Review
The summary does more than this one will do, but in a nutshell, Helena loves Bertram although his station is above her and she is the ward of his mother. Her late father, a famous physician, has left her a prescription that enables her to cure the King of France on the bargain that she can marry whom she chooses. Horrified at this (snob to the core), Bertram refuses to bed her and heads off to war with a seemingly impossible ultimatum for Helena to fulfill in order for him to say she is his wife. One of her phrases, said at least twice is, "all's well that ends well."
While not as funny as some of Shakespeare's other comedies, nevertheless this is a good one, with some insights as to virtue vs rank, and there are FIVE female roles, which is more than most of the comedies of his I've read.
+20 Task
+25 Oldie
+10 Review
+ 10 Not a Novel
+10 Combo 20.7 Fictional Royalty – King of France is an important character in more than one act, 20.4 Nightwatch
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... in Russian
Task Total = 75
Season Total = 365
20.4 Night WatchThe Wife and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov
Review
Anton Chekov, who was a practicing physician famously said, "Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress."
According to Wikipedia. Which would seemingly make his true wife third place. He had once written in a letter, “By all means I will be married if you wish it. But on these conditions: everything must be as it has been hitherto — that is, she must live in Moscow while I live in the country, and I will come and see her ... I promise to be an excellent husband, but give me a wife who, like the moon, won't appear in my sky every day.”
When he did marry, it seemed she was placed near lowest rung in his priorities as they primarily lived in separate cities, she to pursue her acting and he to pursue a quiet county life in healing and writing. It seemed quite amicable to them both and she was with him at his death but after reading these stories, I looked up his bio to see if it could explain to me why all the stories seemed so negative about marriage and family life. I don’t know what set him on his beliefs about these intertwined institutions, but from The Wife , we read about an unhappy relationship between husband and life who live on separate floors of the house, have their own lives and friends and though it seems it was not his idea as he loved his wife, she had only had need of him for upkeep and casual acquaintance. The story highlights this when our hero hears word of peasants in dire straits and wishes to do something to relieve them. He calls a meeting with his friend and wife to discuss it, not knowing, she has already set up organizing relief and set up a charity to deal with them. When he finds out, he wants to help and she is horrified that he wishes to take that away from her.
In Difficult People , the head of the household goes out of his way to frustrate family members by keeping them waiting and being a tyrant, just because he can. Creating a rift in the family when he refuses his son’s request for money for school.
In The Grasshopper , we have a newly wed bride, praising and extolling the virtues of her physician husband to all her friends although he is opposite in type to her and her friends, they being the arty, Avant-garde type and he being the stodgy scientific type, whom she soon grows tired of as she starts looking at him through her friends’ eyes and has an affair with her art teacher. After running away with him and living in poverty while he rapidly declines in his admiration of her, expecting her to slave for him, she realizes it was her husband she should have stayed with.
A Drear Story from The Notebook of an Old Man was very aptly titled. Depressing of all about a doctor who was also a professor, who had gained all his ambitions of fame, repute, if not money, a loving wife and family and realized in his last days, it none of it really mattered and he was now a lonely, broken old man not long for life.
The Privy Councilor is about grown siblings. An important government official brother has decided to spend time with his poor widow sister on her farm. It strains her to penury financially as she tries to meet his expectations of the lifestyle he was accustomed. The only hope is that that will make him aware of her son and he can get him into a good school. This brother takes no notice of anyone. After he leaves trying to escape the investigation he’s come under, he asks, “who is the boy?” having spend the last several weeks sharing the household with his nephew.
The Man in the Case is more about academia and the stuffy archaic rules and the hypocrisy set upon the society. On such master cannot stand anything that may even slightly deemed improper. The society around him has decided he should be married and tries to match him to a young vivacious sister of another teacher. That all comes to naught when she and her brother are seen to ride (gasp) bicycles! It is too much for him!
The next two stories are narrated by a traveler and his companion. First is Gooseberries that Ivan Ivanovitch tells of his brother who spent his life in civil service in the city but longed only for a farm. He finally manages it but again although his brother may be fooled, Ivan realizes he has spent all his life and ambition for a poor substitute. Next they arrive at the home of a friend, where he develops a passion for the wife in the story About Love . The friend hates his country life but feels obligated to remain.
And lastly, The Lottery Ticket , a woman buys a lottery ticket that her husband finds the first four numbers match. Before daring to look at the final two, they start fantasizing what life would be like if it was a winner. Both have scenes where they realize, that if they were rich, the spouse would be a hindrance to their enjoyment and when they finally decide to look are so disappointed and angry with the other that when the numbers prove not to match, they are now worse off than ever because they despise one another.
I have got to read a biography of this man’s early life to se why he could find no good, at least in these stories, in family relationships!
+20 - Task
+10 - Not a Novel
+10 - Review
+10 - Oldies (1898)
+15 - Combo (10.5,20.6.20.8)
Task Total - 65
Season Total -710
10.5 - Green StoneThe Love Song of Sawyer Bell by Avon Gale
If you like romance be sure to check out Cats and Paperbacks, where Natasha writes reviews highlighting lgbtqia+ books. She posted a list of her favorite books with lesbian main characters and I jumped on this one - rock band! Touring! Queer romance meets stardom!
In my 'must read NAO' haste, however, I missed that while the book covers a diverse rock band, they are not rock stars. The group crams into a van, drives all night between gigs, and at times plays to half-empty houses. There is nothing wrong with this - in fact, it makes for lovely romance - but it pushes the book out of Kazen catnip territory.
Moving on, the book! Sawyer is a Julliard violinist but she loathes going back to school. Instead of touring with a prestigious chamber orchestra she tries out with a rock band and gets the part. Over the course of touring she sparks fly between her and the lead singer Victoria, they fall in love, and things happen.
The Love Song of Sawyer Bell is one of those books that's very good at what it does while simultaneously not being quite my thing. If you're looking for a realistic contemporary f/f romance you won't go wrong.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20 points
Grand total: 765 points
20.7 - The Red QueenHis at Night by Sherry Thomas
This is my first Sherry Thomas book and I'm impressed! It does a bunch of little things in ways I haven't seen before and the plotting is well done. Normally I hate stories that hinge on secrets but somehow this doesn't set me on edge. Maybe because they both have secrets and are keeping them for very good Reasons? On the minus side, though, there is dubious consent for nearly every non-closed door sex scene in the book so I'm docking points for that. I'm still looking forward to checking out more of Thomas' books, especially her Lady Sherlock series, because who can resist a Lady Sherlock?
+20 task (main character is a Marquess)
+5 combo (10.3, #3 in series)
+10 review
Task total: 35 points
Grand total: 800 points
10.5 - Green Stoneドクターぶたぶた by 矢崎存美
(Doctor Butabuta by Arimi Yazaki)
Yazaki started writing about Butabuta in 1998 and has continued at a steady clip, with 27 books in the series as I write this. The main character is Butabuta Yamazaki, whose first name literally translates as "Pigpig". That's him on the cover - a stuffed animal that is, well, alive. He's about the size of a volleyball and has the voice of a middle aged man, and almost everyone he meets is first overcome with shock. How does he move? Is he really drinking that coffee? Am I the only one that sees he's a stuffed animal?
And what kind of doctor can a stuffed pig be, anyway? It turns out he's an endoscopic and laparoscopic surgeon specialized in gastroenterology. Basically he uses remote controls to move robots and cameras to operate on stomach cancer or diagnose ulcers. Yazaki put a lot of thought into the limitations of a small (if strong) doctor and forged an interesting path for him.
I like Butabuta as a character. He has a sense of mystery about him - why is he alive? Why don't we meet anyone else like him? He's pretty much perfect as far as his personality and bedside manner go but it doesn't get grating or weird, as it's balanced out with the whole, "but he's a stuffed pig" thing.
The scenes can be touching and charming. Butabuta knows the right thing to say to reassure patients. He visits a batting cage with a coworker, holding a bat twice his size and jumping high in the air to swing at the ball. On the weekend he volunteers in a rural area, making balloon animals for children and adults alike.
It doesn't look like any of these books have been translated into English but if you're JLPT N2 level or better or in Japanese I think you'll enjoy the adventures of a certain Butabuta-san.
+10 task
+10 not-a-novel
+10 review
Task total: 30 points
Grand total: 830 points
10.5 - Green StoneThe Chateau by Tiffany Reisz
(erotica review under the spoiler)
(view spoiler)
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20 points
Grand total: 850 points
20.6 - Dead SoulsWhoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI by Robert K. Ressler
Ressler is a pioneer in the field of profiling and uses cases, both famous and not, to explore the minds of serial killers. I learned a lot - organized vs. disorganized killers, what may push someone to their first murder, and what drives them to repeat the crime again and again.
While informative and interesting several things put me off, though. First, the victims are minimized, often reduced to clues to analyze the mind of the killer. The criminals' thought process, and the men who work to understand it, are prioritized above all else.
Also, Ressler is full of himself and it grates. What's the line... 'may the lord grant me the confidence of a straight white man'? That's Ressler. He quotes letters of commendation while he humble brags about every little thing. It's annoying but also maybe expected from a G-man of his era. (Note: expected does not equal excused.)
I listened on audio and have no complaints about the narrator or production. While nowhere near perfect, Whoever Fights Monsters provides a foundation to build my Serial Killer Summer on.
...yeah, I'm making it a thing. Heaven help me.
+20 task (two Rs)
+10 not-a-novel
+5 oldies (1992)
+10 review
Task total: 45 points
Grand total: 895 points
20.6 Dead SoulsThe Dust That Falls from Dreams by Louis de Bernières
+20 Task RR
+ 5 Combo 20.9
+ 5 Jumbo 528 pages
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 1930
10.2- set in ItalyBeneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan
+10 task
+5 combo (20.9 - 513 pgs)
+5 jumbo (513pgs)
Task total: 20
Grand total: 810
20.4 Night WatchKnots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
The John Rebus detective series gets off to a great start with this story of a serial killer, set in Edinburgh. 11-year-old girls are being abducted and murdered with no obvious link between them. Meanwhile, a journalist is sniffing around Rebus’s family, investigating a drugs story.
I enjoyed this and I don’t know why I haven’t read the series before. It focuses more on Rebus than on the mystery, and the reader may be a few steps ahead a lot of the time. But it's hard not to like this typical hard-boiled ex-Army policeman when the whole world seems to be against him.
+20 task https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...--
+10 combo (10.9 mystery/cultural, 20.6 N)
+10 review
+ 5 oldies (1987)
Post Total: 45
Season Total: 2195
10.5 Green StoneSecret Cinderella by Dani Sinclair
I picked this out of my TBR pile to fill time while my husband finishes my next RwS book (believe me that has never happened before in my RwS time). I didn’t expect it to fit any task, being a romance novel. However, it has hardly any ratings.
This is a fun romantic suspense novel. The tropes and characters you would expect are present – the ‘hero’: a rich guy who normally dates hot models (Roderick) and the heroine: a working class, more average looking, young woman (Mel). It works well here because she is smart, sassy, independent and brave. We get to see his more human side as the story develops. The ‘bad guy’ is a bit of a caricature.
The story is fast paced, and a fair amount of ‘action’ takes place (probably to be expected under the ‘Harlequin Intrigue’ imprint). I liked Mel because she isn’t a shrinking violet waiting for a man to rescue her, and she stands up to Roderick when necessary. There is a lot of sexual tension between the characters, but no actual sex. I felt this worked quite well because it kept the story flowing (a sex scene would have disrupted that). Overall, I enjoyed it and give it 3.5*.
10 task
10 review
_____
20
Running total: 910
20.6 Dead SoulsStone Cold by Robert Swindells
Link is seventeen when he leaves home in the north of England for London, to escape family issues. He can’t find work and is soon homeless. He meets up with Ginger and makes a friend, but then Ginger disappears.
This is a short book that tries to combine a gritty look at life on the streets for young homeless people with a murder mystery. I don’t think it’s long enough to do justice to both. The homelessness theme is covered well in the beginning, but then it gets lost in the murders. The ending is rather inconclusive. But it raises some serious points.
+20 task (S)
+10 review
+ 5 oldies (1993)
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 2230
10.5 Green StoneMiss Mole by E.H. Young
At first, I thought this was just an excellent character study, devoid of plot. That's certainly right up my alley. Hannah Mole is certainly the most well-developed character, but there is also Robert Corder, a minister and her employer. Also strong supporting characters are Corder's daughters, Ruth and Ethel.
All stuffy things had been implied, for Ruth, in the name of housekeeper; stuffy frocks, thick stockings, a prim face and an oppressive sense of duty, yet here was Miss Mole looking, for all her lack of fashion, like a lady who belonged to a world unconnected with chapels, where beauty and leisure were expected and attained. It was a peep through a door Ruth had always wanted to open, and she said quietly, "I like it when you're not darning."I don't think it is possible to create a really good character study without some action. At least I probably wouldn't read it. But the action here is quiet, and perhaps the most important action took place before the book opens. It is set late in the decade plus between the Great War and the onset of the Great Depression and takes place over just a few months time. Despite some perhaps too frequent very long, complex sentences, the prose is just what I like.
This is apparently Young's best known, best liked work. I might be willing to poke around and see if there is another I might like. I liked this very much, but I'm not likely to chase after many others by her. A good, solid 4 stars that builds to 5, but doesn't quite climb over that line.
+10 Task (259 ratings)
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (10.7)
+10 Oldies (pub'd 1930)
Task Total = 35
Season Total = 925
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Reading with Style
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The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark
+25 Task (published 1963)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 1225