Reading with Style discussion
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SP 18 Completed Tasks
reading the decades 1920Women in Love (first published in 1920)
D.H. Lawrence
post 40
bonus 50 completion
bonus 50 posted last digit in order
bonus 50 no 2 in the same decade
season total 380
20.8 Silent SpringThe Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare
Review
With men like the principle characters in this play, we NEED a “blazing world!” What jerks these mortals be! The king of Bohemia and the King of Sicily are boyhood besties. The play opens with the Bohemian King, Polixenes, has spent nine months in the country of his bosom buddy, King Leontes of Sicily. He now fears he has been gone from his county and his young son for too long and is saying his good-byes to the King and his Queen. King Leontes begs him to stay longer, if not another month, then a week, if not a week, just a few more days but King Polixenes insists he must return home. Then Leontes slightly reproved his Queen, Herimone, for not also adding her voice to persuading him to stay and asks her to do so. She does and after a couple of failures, she does successfully persuade him and Polixenes takes her hand. Then suddenly Leontes flips way out of his mind! Who knows what made him suddenly turn into a jealous, idiotic monster? Now since she was able to convince his friend to stay where Leontes has failed, and since they are now holding hands, he knows they have turned him into a cuckhold, never mind he just scolded her for not showing his friend enough love and at his urging, did the very thing he asked her to do! As they walk away, he tells his men his suspicions, and when they in utter disbelief tell him he is wrong, he then accuses them of treason! It gets crazier! So he wants his old friend to be captured and made prisoner, but one of the Leontes’ men warn Polixenes and helps him escape back to his own country by going with him on the ship. So now The lunatic believes this is undeniable proof that his delusion is true or why would the man have left if he wasn’t guilty?! Furthermore now he believes his man, Camillo, was the accomplice in arranging the trysts between his friend and his wife or why would he have left too? Even worse, his wife is at the end of her pregnancy and since the King of Bohemia had been visiting for nine months, the baby must belong to Polixenes! So he throws the Queen in the dungeon where she delivers a baby girl. In a weird twist on the Tale of Oedipus, he tells his man, Antigonus, to take the infant into the wilderness and leave her exposed to the wild animals and elements. Antigonus does take her but takes her in a boat to Bohemia where he himself is eaten by a bear. Fortunately the babe is rescued by a shepherd’s son who then takes her to his father to raise as his own. Meanwhile back in Sicily, a message is brought back from the Oracle of Delphi that says the Queen is innocent but also prophesies that Leontes has destroyed his happiness and will never have an heir until the one that was left to die is found. But too late! The Queen is dead, their little Prince is dead and the Princess has supposedly died in the forest. The King believes Apollo the god and realizes he was wrong. The rest goes on and the reader is introduced to more of Shakespeare’s characters, the story advances sixteen years, we have the mistaken identity issues Shakespeare loves, King Polixenes takes his turn at being a raving fool and I won’t give the rest away.
My jaw was dropping constantly at the total ridiculousness of the men. My personal take is Leontes was so sensitive to this adultery issue because he himself was probably an active cheater and projected his guilt onto his friend and wife. And because he had been messing around, had contracted syphilis and was in the latter stages that affected his rationality. Of course the message from Apollo, who is also god of medicine, probably had a Penicillin shot in it to make him whole again, yet itwas too late. Men!!!
+20 - Task
+10 - Review
+15 - Combo (20.4,20.6,20.7)
+10 - Not a Novel
+25 - Oldies (1611)
Task Total - 80
Season Total - 875
20.10 My Comfort ZoneEmma by Jane Austen
+20 Task
+10 Combo 10.6, 20.4
+15 Oldies published 1815
Post Total: 45
Season Total: 1995
20.4 Night WatchEmma by Jane Austen
I was underwhelmed by Emma. I had previously read Northanger Abbey (3 stars) and Persuasion (4 stars)...and I'm rating Emma with 3 stars. I didn't really like Emma...and that's ok, except that I kept feeling like I was SUPPOSED to like her. I also didn't like her milquetoast father. (At one point he gets irritated by the thought of anyone sitting outside the house to take some sun!) I didn't like how mousey, Emma's friend Harriet is...and when Harriet finally decides to marry the man Emma railed against....we are left baffled as to why Harriet finally rebelled. And it seemed as if it would never end...and of course the ending is predictable. Writing this, maybe I should downgrade my rating. I think I am being generous because I recall a pleasant theatrical depiction of the novel.
Task=20
combo=5 (10.6)
Review=10
Oldie=15 (1815)
task total=50
grand total= 1445
20.6 Dead SoulsThe Darkest Child by Delores Phillips
This is a difficult book to recommend because it's so miserable: it's about child abuse, and it's unrelenting. Don't be pulled in by the mention of school integration in the book's summary; that's not even on the surface of the plot until two-thirds of the way through, and even then, the role it serves in the book is to facilitate more abuse.
Phillips has a strong voice and a strong narrator in Tangy Mae. Based on the strength of the first chapter's final line, I was committed to seeing this book through. In 1950s Georgia, a sick mother pulls her thirteen-year-old daughter, Tangy Mae, out of school to bring her to her job in domestic service. She spends the day showing Tangy Mae the ropes, then has dictates to her a letter to her employer: "Dear Miss Arlisa, Tangy Mae can do just as good a job as I can. She is my child and I learned her good. She can start work for you on Monday. I will be dead." Tangy Mae is alarmed but knows her mother is clearly ill but also an inveterate liar, and by the final line of the chapter, she vows this: "I loved her with all my heart, but if she did not die by Monday morning, I was determined to discover from the pages of my schoolbooks, how to break the chains that bound me to my mother."
And that guides the rest of the book. Rozelle is abusive to her ten children in all ways imaginable. (view spoiler) While not necessarily salacious (Phillips' bio says she worked "as a nurse in a facility for abused women and children," and the picture she paints of abusive family dynamics is complex and thoughtful), the portrayal of abuse makes up the bulk of the book. Rozelle's children, especially Tangy Mae, are compelling characters, but this is a book about suffering, and in the context not just of a mother abusing her children, but also generational trauma and the suffocating racism of 1950s Georgia, and Phillips keeps all of that highlighted, including in intersectional ways. The prose was fine but not exceptional, and it didn't elevate the content of the book enough for me. In particular, character voices were often clunky, especially when talking politics.
I kept reading this because I needed to find out whether Tangy Mae and her siblings manage those escapes they hungered for, and at what cost. So: compelling but miserable.
+20 Task -- P
+5 Combo: 10.9 -- 95x Historical Fiction, 53x Cultural > African American
+10 Review
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 1195
20.6 Dead SoulsTies by Domenico Starnone
This is one of those books that proves the statement that not all books are for all people. Several of my GR friends rated this book highly. I had high hopes it would be the same for me. I was dismayed at the first two chapters when they were letters from a wife to her husband who had just left her for another (and younger) woman. She wanted him back, and yet the letters were full of such hatred and venom I thought I should just abandon the book then and there. But I needed a short book to fill out a couple of days until I could start a book for the next challenge, and so I stuck with it. Unfortunately the book did not get better, not even when these horrible hate-filled letters stopped and the narrative was taken over by the philandering husband.
One would think, even so, this would be a book I liked. The prose is good, the characterizations nearly fully-fleshed. Conflict makes a good novel. I have said before that I don't have to like the characters to like the book. But not liking and despising are not quite the same thing. There is not one person in the entire novel that has one redeeming quality. Why would the wife want a man who plainly didn't want her? So she could punish him for the rest of his life telling him what a worthless bastard he is? And why would she decide that make her life better? I won't even get started on the children. My stomach is in knots just writing this.
One further thought that has nothing to do with the quality of the writing or characters. I do not understand why a book originally called Lacci, which means Laces, is called Ties in English. There is a scene having to do with shoe laces. Are we English speakers too stupid to understand Laces that we have to be coddled into having them called Ties? I have never in my life called laces ties. Was this supposed to talk down to us that we couldn't understand the ties of life if the book was called Laces?
I apologize to my GR friends who rated this highly. I hated this book. I rarely give a book 1-star, but this one, to me, is highly deserving.
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.2, 10.10)
+10 Review
Task Total = 40
Season total = 965
That's it for me folks. On to Edith Wharton! ;-)
20.8 Silent Spring Macbeth by William Shakespeare
My partner was recently in a production of Macbeth locally and I intended to re-read the play before the show. Didn't quite get around to that, but if anything, seeing it reminded me of how much I enjoy the story and prompted me to pick it up. (And that's actually my preferred sequence for Shakespeare - view then read). For those who haven't gotten to Macbeth, it's a good one. One of the things I most enjoy is just how many cultural references I hear all the time come from Macbeth -- book titles (Sound and the Fury, Something Wicked This Way Comes...), sayings, references, songs (even some references in Hamilton, which made me happy!). It's staggering how much of Shakespeare is embedded in general life without even realizing it. And of course with Macbeth, the story is engaging - lots of murder, guilt, suspicion, and paranoia.
+20 task
+20 combo (10.9 - 298x historical, 42x mystery); 20.4 - Макбет; 20.6 - S; 20.7 - King Duncan, etc.)
+20 oldies (1606)
+10 not a novel
+10 review
Task Total: 80
Season Total: 510
10.7 Neutral NameGrumpy Fake Boyfriend by Jackie Lau
So Jackie Lau hit marketing gold for a particular romance niche when she titled this. It succinctly advertises the trope and the tone of the project; if you're familiar with fake dating / fake engagement as a plot vehicle, then you're already starting to imagine what it means for Grumpy to be roped into it, and where the humor and the emotional arc might go. PERFECTION. Also, obviously, my catnip: he's GRUMPY (not a jerk and not, oh let's say cocky, but just introverted and GRUMPY) and there's FAKE DATING.
I wasn't digging this in the first couple of chapters: the first-person voice was underwhelming and felt under-developed, the chatty narrative focus seemed off, and the voice was lacking a lot of personalization and details. But then the two protagonists started interacting more intimately, and the book started mining the emotional territory in familiar but interesting ways. I was surprised into laughing out loud twice, and I was genuinely moved when Naomi and Will played the shoe game, and Will was thinking through his answers strategically but also sincerely. Lau did a great job with portraying Naomi and Will's emotional and physical chemistry, making it emotionally rich despite the book's short-and-sweet size. I also appreciated how thoughtful Lau was about how a relationship might evolve under the pressure-cooker/microscope of this intensely couple-y weekend vacation.
I also did not know that ax-throwing leagues existed, and now I think I have motivation to get working on my upper body strength.
I could have massively done without Will reading and mentally reacting to his Goodreads reviews, though. It was an unpleasant intrusion of having to think about author's feelings while simply reading the damn book, and it wasn't funny or necessary. I could have also done without the best-friend's-little-sister trope involving the older brother acting like he owns the sister's sexuality (which happens in the majority of iterations of that trope, so it doesn't rest solely on this book's shoulders). There was sufficient emotional conflict without that!!
But aside from those two things--and the fact that I don't have a nearby Tim Horton's and was too frequently reminded of that--the book was fun and emotionally satisfying. It's feel-good and funny, and it'd be an easy recommendation even to non-romance readers who want a sprinkle-topped bliss of a couple hours' happy reading.
+10 Task -- Jackie
+5 Combo -- 10.5: 79 ratings
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 1220
10.3 SeriesThose Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
+10 Task: #3 Neopolitan Series
+20 Combo: 10.2 Ravioli / 10.9 Double Trouble (historical and cultural) / 20.2 Feminism / 20.4 Night Watch
Task Total: 30
Mega Finish: +200
Total this Post: 230
Season Total: 2005
10.5 Green StoneThe Ride Down Mt. Morgan by Arthur Miller
+10 Task
+10 Not a Novel
+ 5 Oldies (1991)
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 2030
20.6 Dead SoulsThe Day of the Owl by Leonardo Sciascia
+20 Task
+5 Combo 10.2 Ravioli
+5 Combo 10.10 Group
+5 Oldies 1961
Task Total: 35 pts
Grand Total: 425 pts
10.6 JustineSybil: The Classic True Story of a Woman Possessed by Sixteen Personalities by Flora Rheta Schreiber
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo Night Watch - Russian Kindle version available
+ 10 Not A Novel
+5 Oldies Published 1973
Task Total: 30 pts
Grand Total: 455 pts
15.9 – Reading the DecadesHot Tamara by Mary Castillo
+40 Task (pub. 05)
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 1205
15.10 – Reading the DecadesWeight of the World by Riley Hart
+40 Task (pub. 16)
Task Total: 40
Completion: 50
Different Decades and Years: 50
Decades in Order: 50
Years in Order: 50
Mega Bonus: 200
Grand Total: 1645
That's it for me, I think! Hope I didn't make any mistakes ;)
Cory Day wrote: "Mega Bonus: 200"
Congratulations! Well done!
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Cory Day wrote: "Mega Bonus: 200"
Congratulations! Well done!"
Thanks! I'm glad the last two books were lighter reads - work is crazy busy!
20.2 The Blazing World Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy by Angela Garbes
A pregnant coworker (due the same week as me!) came across this book and passed it on to me. Both of us are first timers at pregnancy and we've talked about how interesting some of the experiences and language around pregnancy is -- on a lot of the online discussion forums, etc. (I know, not necessarily the best resources!) there is so much talk of what's "allowed" or not, what's right and wrong, looking for a lot of black and white answers. This book was fascinating and really well-written -- Garbes tackles many aspects of pregnancy and childbirth with a journalist's eye and style, making the book a pleasure to read. Her chapter about the placenta was particularly interesting, since I had really not thought about it at all, and it is kind of amazing that during pregnancy an entire new organ forms -- and then goes away. I'll chalk that up to yet another really weird thing about this whole experience. :)
+20 task (feminist in title and main genre section)
+5 combo (10.5 - 15 ratings)
+10 not a novel (nonfiction)
+10 review
Task Total: 45
Season Total: 555
10.5 Green StonePonti by Sharlene Teo
149 ratings
review
I can’t say that the book cover and/or description was attractive to me but I try to support Asian authors to I really gave this book a fair go. I read it from beginning to end and whilst I find the plot to be haunting, it really was too sad for me. In addition, the alternate POVs in different time periods were slightly unhelpful to my focus.
"I am sixteen and a half and beginning to realize that life sometimes happens like this: quickly, with no further allowances."
The story began with Szu’s POV in 2003, in her teens and struggling with her body image, her family, and suffering all the emotional upheavals puberty can give a girl. Her father disappeared a long time ago and she does not relate well to her mother. This brings us to the next POV, Amisa’s, Szu’s mother, beginning from her childhood in 1975 until the time of the main story (2003). Most of her story is about her young-adulthood in which she made her choices and hence, had to live with the consequences.
Then enters a third and outside POV, Circe’s, Szu’s only friend in high school. Circe’s POV is set in 2020, 17 years after the main story but events in her life brought her back her memories. She was 16 in 2003 and was also struggling with her own issues. Her friendship with Szu was full of sharp edges but they were friends.
"Because it is comforting to know that there is someone similar to you in the world, it helps a person to feel less faulty and alone."
On the whole, I cannot say that I love this book. I wish I do but it’s just not for me. I found it a little difficult following the 3 strands of not-so-link-able stories though each came with their own wisodm. I like that there were moments this book just jabbed right at you and I can totally empathise with these teen girls but despite its hypnotic pull, I am also a tad repulsed (was I meant to be repulsed? I honestly don’t know…). My recommendation is please do read it and let me know your thoughts! This book could totally be for you.
And by the by, WTH is ‘chendol espresso martini’?! Is this thing for REAL? Where can I get some in Sydney?!?!
Thanks to Pan MacMillan Australia for copy of book in exchange of honest review.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 835
10.7 Neutral Name (Anika's Task)The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
review
One of my most anticipated release this year and it did NOT disappoint. In fact, I'm rather speechless! Or more accurately, I have so many things to say, they've all jumbled up and I've no idea how to sort them out so that they'd make sense to everyone else ;p
That first line totally got me! I burst out laughing (thankfully, I was home and not on the train full of strangers) because it caught me completely off guard. Rin herself was astonishingly hard-headed and enterprising. She knows what she wants and she's going to get it. She's definitely NOT getting married.
To start with, it was a such easy, fun, and un-put-down-able read. In fact, the first half reminds me so much of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. The academy setting, MC's poor background & her hot-headedness, the spoiled brat who almost ruined everything for the MC, the kooky master, etc were all too familiar to be ignored and yet, so differently brilliant. I'm dubbing this first half to be 'The Name of the Wind with an Asian twist'.
The second half was hand-on-heart hard on my sensibilities. I was warned by a friend that chapter 21 could have some triggery effects on some people. I think with my wide scope of reading, I may have become desensitised to beheading, dismemberment, etc but woah, there was some pretty graphic descriptions here and especially with rape & babies involved, I was starting to feel nauseous, but thankfully, it ended before I actually had to (and this time, I was one of many sardines packed into the train carriage on the way to work). I understand this is based on true historical event and I do not doubt that this type of cruelty exists. This actually made me feel bad that I didn't feel more about beheadings and such. You know, sometimes, you really have to face up to what people can do & have done.
"War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who remains."
And sometimes, the hard bits are what made the book. In the face of a senseless war, Rin and her friends faced impossible situations, inconceivable decisions, and incomparable consequences. Of course, Rin had to come on top but did she really?
Rin is an amazing protagonist. She's fierce and fiercely independent. Rin's world is an intricately layered complex of humanity, friendship, loyalty, and faith. Read the book! Laugh with Rin, weep with all humanity and rage against all brutality. But above all, do NOT ask me to lend you my copy of this book :p
Thanks to Harper Voyager for copy of book in exchange of honest review (& Annie @Read3rz_revu - sorry if I burst your eardrums from screaming when you handed me a copy of this book lol)
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.5 - 859 ratings)
+10 Review
+5 Jumbo (544 pages)
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 865
20.8 Silent SpringGreenwich Village by Anna Alice Chapin
This is a chatty description of the history of Greenwich Village up to the time the book was written, one hundred years ago. I’ve never been there and I have no idea how much it has changed since, but I was surprised to read how like it sounded in spirit to the Village I’ve heard about. By 1917 it was already the bohemian area of New York City.
Anna Alice Chapin writes about the development of the land, first as country estates which were considered to be well outside the city, then into a suburb which soon became part of the city. She relates the history of various people whose names would probably be better known to Americans than to me, though I had heard of some. Then she describes the Village as it was at the time of writing, naming the various restaurants, nightclubs, artists’ workshops, etc.
I thought it was charming, although I can see that the author’s over-enthusiastic style might annoy some readers.
+20 task (non-fiction, 1917)
+ 5 combo (10.5)
+10 review
+10 not a novel
+10 oldies (1917)
Post Total: 55
Season Total: 2325
That's all from me! Thanks for another great season!
Moved from post #781 (did not qualify for Square Peg)20.4 Night Watch
Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich
+20 Task (Чернобыльская молитва. Хроника будущего)
+10 Not-a-novel (Nonfiction)
+5 Combo (10.9 - History and Cultural)
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 310 - 20 points for 10.1 (disqualified) = 290
From Post 743Lagullande wrote: "10.4 Book Riot
The 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 1..."
Sorry, Lagullande, this book is shelved as YA at the Brooklyn Public Library and has a lexile score under 800. Task, but no styles.
From Post 795Bea wrote: "This is my last book for this season. I am glad that I got more than 200 points, but I am disappointed that I did not read as much as I planned.
20.4 Night Watch
Olive Kitteridge ..."
+10 This qualifies for Not a Novel points.
From Post 826Katy wrote: "20.8 Silent Spring
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
My partner was recently in a production of Macbeth locally and I intended to re-read the play before the show. Didn't q..."
We carry an original publication date of 1612 for this play, so 25 oldies instead of 20.
Thanks, Kate, for the extra points for Olive Kitteridge. I am assuming that it got the points due to being Short Stories, although it felt more like the story of Olive's own growth.
10.9 Double Trouble:The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham
Shelved as "Historical" 139 times, and as "Cultural>Australia" 57 times.
This was a rather strange book. I always find it fascinating when an author decides to make their main character an antagonist, rather than a protagonist. They're making life very hard for themselves because it's more difficult to relate to nasty people than it is to relate to nice ones, or just neutral/conflicted ones. In this one, I'd say that 95% of the characters were horrible, almost caricatures instead of real people. They were portrayed as ugly in both appearance and soul. Greedy, manipulative, lying, cheating, taking advantage of other people in creatively cruel ways. Basically they were almost all horrible. It made reading quite difficult, for there were only really a couple of characters to feel for, and the author didn't treat them well. The story is set in rural Australia some time in the middle of 20th century. A woman returns to her native village to help her mother who seems to be mentally unwell. Let's just say that most of the book is spent on her remembering why she left in the first place and since the people hadn't changed for the better, trying to cope with them, to eventually get her revenge on them for treating her badly.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 155
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 674Coralie wrote: "20.4 Night Watch
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
+20 Task
+10 Combo 10.8 (Africa & Nth America), 10.9 (cultural & Contemporary)
Post Total: 30
Season Total..."
+5 Combo 20.2
From Post 751Karin wrote: "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 Bert..."
+5 Combo 20.8
From Post 759Heather wrote: "10.2- set in Italy
Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan
+10 task
+5 combo (20.9 - 513 pgs)
+5 jumbo (513pgs)
Task total: 20
Grand total: 810"
+5 Combo 20.4
From Post 764Norma wrote: "10.7 - Neutral Name
Hard Fall by J.B. Turner
+10 task
Task total: 10
Grand total: 715"
+10 Combo 10.3, 20.6
From Post 770Karen Michele wrote: "20.4 Night Watch
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
+20 Task
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 1460"
+5 Combo 10.9
From Post 782Bea wrote: "10.3 Series
Fear Death by Water by Kinley Roby
#4 in Harry Brock Mysteries series
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 30"
+5 Combo 10.5
From Post 784Bea wrote: "10.6 Justine
Hild by Nicola Griffith
+ 10 Task
+ 5 Jumbo (546 pages)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 55"
+5 Combo 20.9
From Post 786Bea wrote: "10.7 Anika's Task: Neutral Name
Walking the Trail by Jerry Ellis
+10 Task
+10 Not-a-novel (Non-fiction)
+ 5 Oldie (1991)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 80"
+5 Combo 10.5
From Post 788Bea wrote: "10.8 Coralie's Task: Double Continent
The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark
+10 Task (Europe and Asia)
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 90"
+10 Combo 10.9, 20.4
From Post 789Bea wrote: "10.8 Coralie's Task: Double Continent
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
+10 Task (North America & Asia)
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 100"
+10 Combo 10.9, 20.4
From Post 790Bea wrote: "Karen Michele's Task: Double Trouble
The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch
+10 Task (Historical & Mystery)
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 110"
+5 Combo 20.4
From Post 792Bea wrote: "20.5 The Queen's Necklace
The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
+20 Task (painting)
+5 Combo (20.4)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 150"
+10 Combo 10.7, 10.9
From Post 793Bea wrote: "20.6 Dead Souls
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
+20 Task (Ss & Ns)
+25 Jumbo (1007 pages)
Post Total: 45
Season Total: 195"
+10 Combo 20.4, 20.9
From Post 794Bea wrote: "20.9 Jumbo
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.6 Ss & Ns)
+25 Jumbo
Post Total: 50
Season Total: 245"
+5 Combo 20.4
From Post 795Bea wrote: "This is my last book for this season. I am glad that I got more than 200 points, but I am disappointed that I did not read as much as I planned.
20.4 Night Watch
Olive Kitteridge ..."
+5 Combo 10.6
From Post 822Ed wrote: "20.4 Night Watch
Emma by Jane Austen
I was underwhelmed by Emma. I had previously read Northanger Abbey (3 stars) and Persuasion (4 stars)...and I'm rating Emma with 3 s..."
+5 Combo 20.10
My goodness! Thanks for the additional points, Kate. Sorry I did such a lousy job of finding them myself.
Have two more to claim and busily writing the reviews
20.1 The DoubleThe Faerie Queene, Book One By Edmund Spenser
(Una is a princess, daughter of a King and Queen being held captive by a dragon)
Review
My intention had been to read all the books of this saga, a total of over 1200 pages, however, I quickly realized that wasn’t feasible, so I settled on trying to finish Book I. The reason it was so difficult at the beginning, was of course the language. I read it first by Kindle, but realized I wasn’t sure I had correctly figured out the words. I then listen to the audio and on this road trip from Tennessee to Iowa, was able to finish up Idylls of the King and also to listen to both Book I and II of the Faerie Queene. I will not be claiming Book II as I will explain. After listening, I was still rather confused and had to keep playing back sections and with the road hypnosis that often comes of long road trips, I felt I often missed the crux of the passage. Last night I arrived at my destination and having the time, I downloaded a version of Book I in a more modern and understandable prose by Sarah Kous. Having finished that, I do feel as if I have a true understanding of this part of the story and was able to both read and listen to the music of the poem.
The story was difficult not only in the language but in all the symbolism and meanings related to the conflicts of the time of the late 16th century. Spenser dedicated this epic poem to Queen Elizabeth I to curry favor and to show his patriotism and loyalty to the Church of which she was the head. The patron saint of England, St George is one of the leading characters known as the RedCross Knight, the symbol that became the flag of England. The Faerie Queene is Queen Elizabeth I herself, and she has graced the Knight with a quest. The fair Una has come to the Queen’s Court begging assistance for her parents have been taken and held prisoner by a dragon. Una, meaning “One” stands for holiness or the one true religion, the Church f England.
Along the way the Knight fights Error, a monster half snake and half woman and there is no need to tell what she represents, as her name plainly tells it. They also catch the attention of two foes, the sorcerer, Archimago (Hypocrisy and Catholic priests) and the sorceress Duessa (Double Nature or the Roman Church pretending to be the true religion and Mary Queen of Scots). Both do their best to cause confusion, division and suffering if not the death of Una and the RedCross Knight. Archimago creates sprites, one of which is the doppelganger of Una that tries to seduce the knight. When that fails he has the Una look-alike to be in a lewd position with a sprite made to look like a man so that the Knight thinking she is Una and is not the virtuous maiden she seems, abandons her. Archimago then transforms himself into the look alike of the RedCross Knight and deceives Una into thinking he is her champion and she goes with him so that he can cause her more mischief. Duessa appears like a fair maiden but she is the opposite. In secret she is an old hag that is the most wanton and sinful of creatures. She joins up with the RedCross Knight and tries many times to lead him astray or have him killed but always appearing to the Knight as one who truly loves him.
They meet many more dreadful and symbolic creatures, and as this is running on too long. I’ll just say at the end mission accomplished but there are five more books and even still was not completed. Spenser died before he could finish the twenty-four books he first envisioned. There is way more than just the Catholic vs. Church of England, there is the overcoming of Paganism, references to the political climate and to Queen Mary I and King Henry VII. There is a lot to absorb and really takes quite a bit of time to truly study the work and understand it well enough to get the basic concepts down.
+20 - Task
+15 - Combo (20.6,20.7,20.8)
+10 - Review
+25 - Oldies (1590)
+10 - Not a Novel
Task Total - 80 pts
Season Total - 875
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Rosamunde Pilcher]
post 25
season total 125