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SP 19 Completed Tasks
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Mary wrote: "10.3. Scrabble“[The books] are a common yearning for community. For belonging. They’re about kindness, acceptance. Gratitude. They’re not so much about death, as life. And the conse..."
Oops. How could I forget that! Edited the post to add
10.3 ScrabblePhoenix Resurrection: The Return Of Jean Grey #1 by Matthew Rosenberg
(graphic novel)
Task total: 10
Grand total: 520
10.8 MegafinishMichelangelo: A Life in Six Masterpieces by Miles J. Unger
As the title suggests Unger uses six of Michelangelo’s masterpieces to move through his life story. It is an effective structure. Luckily, Michelangelo was a genius who reached his potential early. He had a relatively short period of apprenticeship (mostly in painting, a little in sculpture) before his first big commission when he spread his wings and flew.
As I was reading this biography, I kept thinking that Michelangelo had the supreme luck of being the right person at exactly the right time. It was the height of the Renaissance, the Florence elite wanted to patronize the arts, and the ground work had been laid by other artists. So, when Michelangelo came along, despite being (very) hard to get along with, paranoid, a bad business manager, and not open to direction or meddling from anyone, the patrons couldn’t get enough of him. Unger argues, and I believe it to be the case, that Michelangelo defined the term ‘artist’ as we think of it – a visionary, driven by his inner muse, the one who knew what the patron wanted better than the patron.
Because Michelangelo was a very famous genius, his life is quite well documented. He had biographers who were his friends and (younger) contemporaries. Unger was able to pull together the writings done during his lifetime and subsequent research to show us Michelangelo the man. It was interesting, and added a lot, to read about his indigent family who he supported. As well, despite being hard to get along with he made some true friends who helped protect his interests and took care of him at the end of his long life. A readable and factual biography. 3.5*
10 task
10 review
____
20
Running total: 540
20.8 Poetry (Beth's Task) The Private Dining-room and Other Verses by Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash is well known for his humorous verse. No high-brow content here. Nash is at his best when he invents words in order to complete a rhyme:
"We grew a little pickereled,
We ordered Mumm and Roederer
Because the bubbles tickereled."
and also when ending a short piece about a chipmunk by sending him to a 'chipmonastery."
Although I enjoyed this collection, I'm old enough to catch many of the references that are made....and I'm sure I missed others. Most younger readers would probably miss much of what I caught. (Examples include allusions to baseball players and actors.)
Nash also includes a few "clean" limericks. A fun and easy read for the most part. 3 stars.
Task=20
Review=10
Combo= 5 (10.3)
Oldie=5 (1953)
Task Total= 40
Grand Total= 465
From Post 308Heather wrote: "10.8 - MEGAFINISH
Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
+10 task
Task total: 10
Grand total: 165"
+5 Combo 20.5
From Post 315Deedee wrote: "Task 10.3 Scrabble
Read a book with a 7-letter word in the title.
ELD ERL Y
An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good (2018) by Helene Tursten; translated from Swedish by ..."
+5 Combo 10.8
From Post 338Connie wrote: "20.2 Rebecca
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
Mrs Palfrey moved into the Claremont Hotel in London after her husband died. A small group of older res..."
+5 Combo 10.8
Mary wrote: "I didnt claim review points for this . . ."Got it.
Valerie wrote: "Kate - I forgot the combo for 10.9 in my post 85 for this book. Could I have that added in please! This will bring my total up to 520. "Got it. Thank you for including the original post number, saved me a lot of searching! :)
10.8 MegafinishMatchmaking for Beginners by Maddie Dawson
I've had this on my Kindle Unlimited shelf for nearly a year now and the time has come to clean that shelf off! This was a fun rom/com with a sprinkle of pixie dust on top. Blix is a witchy woman who lives in a Brooklyn brownstone held together by love and a little bit of magic (the "witchy" part being an accurate description...she even has a book of spells). She has a lover of twenty years, a ragtag chosen family that she has ushered into her home, and a cancerous tumor she has named Cassandra. She also has a wretched family in Virginia. Her great-nephew is about to be married, so she heads back to the family home to meet his fiancee and (unbeknownst to the family, since she wants no one to know) say her final goodbyes as Cassandra is unrelenting in her advancement. Marnie is the fiancee to whom Blix feels an immediate connection. I don't want to give anything away (or for this review to end up being ridiculously long), so that's all the teaser you get. ;-)
This reminded me of a strange mix of Practical Magic, The Last Lecture, and Emma, with a strong dose of anything-by-Sarah Addison Allen.
It was inspiring (I want to be Blix), frustrating (Marnie was such a doormat and just plain dumb sometimes...she made me want to scream), unexpected, and I couldn't put it down until I'd finished it--at 6 a.m. :-/ I adored how it describes so many different faces of "love". I loved the sections set in Brooklyn--such a strong sense of place, I felt like I was right there and never wanted to leave the neighborhood. I hope I remember Blix's mantra for a long time to come: "Whatever happens, love that." It makes accepting life as it comes in all of its ugliness and misery and beauty and glory so much easier...
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Season total: 540
15.5Hotel Silence by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Icelandic Literary Prize for Fiction 2016
Task total: 20
Grand total: 540
20.3 Ella Minnow PeaLetters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart
This is a book is a set of real letters from a woman who went out West with her young daughter. They are a delightful read and in many ways make the life seem easy, but, as Stewart pointed out, she is saying that in comparison to the more industrialized life she left where poor means something different than it does where you can grow something. She did a great job with the character sketches of the assorted people she met. I found it amusing when I read the history of the book that the seemingly personal letters were always intended for publication serially and that a certain piece of info being hidden probably had some financial reasons as well.
+20 task
+10 reviews
+5 combo (10.3 letters)
+10 age (1914)
Task total: 45
Grand total: 585
20.4 NefertitiMary Queen of Scotland and The Isles by Margaret George
Task - 20 points
Combo - 10 points (20.2 Rebecca, 10.8 Megafinish)
Jumbo - 15 points (881 pages)
Total - 45 points
15.8 AbCPoland - Ryszard Kapuscinski Award
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich
+30 Task
Season total = 225
20.4 NefertitiA Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
+20 Task
+10 Combo: 10.3 Scrabble / 10.8 Megafinish
+10 Jumbo
+ 5 Oldies (1992)
Task Total: 45
Season Total: 400
20.8 Poetry (Beth's Task) The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems by Pablo Neruda
+20 Task: Born 1904
+ 5 Combo: 10.8 Megafinish
+10 LiT
+ 5 Oldies (1979)
Task Total: 40
Season Total: 440
20.4 NefertitiBeneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan
"Beneath a Scarlet Sky" is based on the true story of Pino Lella, an Italian hero during World War II. As a seventeen year old, he guided Jews over the Alps into Switzerland, working with Father Luigi Re who ran a school for boys in northern Italy. When Pino reached the draftable age of eighteen during the German occupation, he had to enlist in either the Italian Fascist Army or the German Army. His parents made him join the German Army since it had a lower mortality rate. (The Italian Army was being sent to fight in Russia.) Pino just fell into the job of being the personal driver of Nazi General Hans Leyers after he helped fix his car. General Leyers was in charge of the Organization Todt (OT) in Italy that built fortifications with slave labor, stole food, and manufactured everything from uniforms to weapons. Pino became a spy for the Allies, reporting on General Leyers' activities and risking his life again. Fluent in several languages, Pino also acted as an interpreter for the General which gave him more access to important information.
When they were both teenagers, the future Ferrari race car driver Alberta Ascari taught Pino to drive on narrow, winding mountain roads. Pino's expert driving saved him and the General several times when their car was being attacked.
The author traveled to Europe several times to interview Pino Lella and others, but chose to write a historical novel rather than nonfiction. The Nazis had burned most of their documents before leaving Italy so there have been fewer World War II nonfiction books written about Italy compared to other countries in the war. After the first few chapters showing Pino as a carefree teen, the book becomes fast paced--full of danger, suspense, and strong emotions. Mark T. Sullivan combined the skills he obtained as a journalist and a mystery writer. He wrote a fascinating historical story that's also a page-turner.
Edit: I have found out since I wrote this review that the book contains a lot of historical inaccuracies, including the identity of the general. So it should be read as exciting fiction only.
+20 task
+ 5 combo 10.3 Scrabble
+10 review
+ 5 jumbo 513 pages
Task total: 40
Season total: 370
20.8 PoetryWhere the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
Juv, no lexile
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 455
10.10 Group ReadsThe Good Women of China: Hidden Voices by Xinran
This is such a difficult book to read...BUT I urge you to read it. It is difficult because the author who was a radio talk show personality in China, relates several stories depicting the particularly awful obstacles confronted by Chinese women and the even more horrible crimes inflicted upon them.
The book is nearly two decades old now... so we can hope that conditions have improved....but, given the historical backdrop and current political reality, it probably hasn't changed very much.
As I was reading these stories, I was stunned and had to discuss them with my better half. After the third one, he asked me to stop.
Thanks Tien for recommending this one. 4 stars.
Task=10
Review=10
Combo= 10 (10.8, 20.10)
LiT=10
task=40
Grand Total= 505
20.9 True CrimePeople Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo--and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up by Richard Lloyd Parry
What made this book appeal to me and may put off readers of true crime is that the book spends a great deal of its time talking about things other than the detail of the crime. In particular, there's a pretty deep look at the cultural context of a British girl hostessing in Tokyo, the fact that the killer is an ethnic minority (Korean) in Japanese society, and the way the Japanese legal system works.
Perhaps most interesting was the author's analysis of the victim's father. The author was clearly fascinated by the father and almost seemed like he'd prefer to write a biography of him or a fictionalized account from his perspective. The father really pushed the investigation (even making Tony Blair comment on it), then, interestingly, accepted a substantial monetary payment from the killer. The author examines the exchange involved and spends a substantial amount of time thinking through the different reactions to the acceptance of this money.
As a trial attorney who helps people get paid to compensate them for emotional damages that can't really be measured in money but it's the best we've got, I had a lot of sympathy for the author and for the dad. Of course nothing brings the daughter back to life, but why shouldn't dad get to use the money instead of the killer keeping it? But the dad is demonized by the victim's mother and the court of public opinion as greedy and despoiling the victim. For me, this was by far the biggest takeaway from this book.
The narrator did a nice job with the audiobook. The pacing of this book is good--the investigation drives forward pretty quickly and with a feeling of suspense even though the outlines of the crime are known from the beginning. The narration helps the reader feel this with pauses in the right places.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.10 - Japan)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 290
10.9 - SistersTreasured Tea: The Tea Series, Book Sixteen by Sheila Horgan
+10 task
Task total: 10
Grand total: 160
Task 10.3 ScrabbleRead a book with a 7-letter word in the title.
FOR EVE R
Nine Lives Last Forever (The Cats and Curios Mystery #2) (2010) by Rebecca M. Hale
+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.8)
Task Total: 10 + 05 = 15
Grand Total: 230 + 15 = 245
10.9 SistersChristmas Cake Murderby Joanne Fluke
The MC has a sister who plays a significant role in the book.
This is a cute, short book about Hannah's past when her youngest sister is in college. Her other sister just married Bill. Hannah just moved out of her parent's house. She just bought the Cookie Jar and is eager to start her own business. Her mother and youngest sister visit a friend at the senior citizen home named Essie. She can't go back to her home because she went into the hospital. The women find a notebook that Essie left behind about her life. It is technically Hannah's first case. They try to give Essie a memorable Christmas Ball with a parade of Christmas desserts which is traditionally the highlight of the evening. It was a fun, quick read even though there are a few characters missing.
Task +10
Review +10
Grand Total: 65
15.6 AbCUSA - Locus Award
Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire #1) by Yoon Ha Lee
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 430
Post 362 Beth wrote: "10.3 ScrabblePhoenix Resurrection: The Return Of Jean Grey #1 by Matthew Rosenberg
(graphic novel)
Task total: 10
Grand total: 530"
Beth, I think you probably meant to link to Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey, which includes all 5 issues of this series. It has 136 pages so is long enough, rather than the too short edition you linked. If I've guessed wrongly, please advise.
Post 376 April wrote: "20.4 NefertitiMary Queen of Scotland and The Isles by Margaret George
Task - 20 points
Combo - 10 points (20.2 Rebecca, 10.8 Megafinish)
Jumbo - 15 points (881 pages)..."
I'm sorry, April. This doesn't fit 20.2 Rebecca because that task requires a UK birth and Margaret George was born in the US.
Yes, that is what I thought I had linked to. Sorry about that. It is certainly what I read.Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 362 Beth wrote: "10.3 Scrabble
Phoenix Resurrection: The Return Of Jean Grey #1 by Matthew Rosenberg
(graphic novel)
Beth, I..."
10.2 Decade (1390) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight translator Simon Armitage10 task
10 review
25 Oldie
10 Combos 10.3, 10.8
Task 50
Season Total 545
I like reading Arthurian legends, in their various forms. This book is no exception. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (A New Verse Translation) is a long poem telling of an adventure of Sir Gawain, nephew of Arthur, and Knight of the Round Table. After comparing three translation versions I think that I have decided that for sheer reading fun I like the Armitage best, but that Tolkien has a wonderfully serious tone and sense of time and place. I really enjoyed reading this classic. I particularly enjoyed learning about the poetic style of the Middle English narrative long poem. It seems that many people read this in school. We read Beowulf and I still have my old copy on my shelf. Perhaps I should add that book to my TBR list next!
10.6 Public DomainThe Spider's Web by Joseph Roth
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo: 10.8 Megafinish
+10 LiT
+10 Oldies-76 to 150 years old: 10 points (1869-1943)
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 475
20.6 Ellen FosterDaniel Deronda by George Eliot
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo: 10.3 Scrabble
+10 Oldies 1876
+10 Jumbo
Task Total: 45
Season Total: 520
20.9 True Crime (Kate S's Task)City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris by Holly Tucker
+20 Task
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 540
20.1 Moll FlandersLolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
I was so looking forward to this. I have read her Summer Will Show. I remember liking that, but I note in my review Because I did not like the direction taken toward the end, I'm having a hard time rating this. Funny, I don't remember the ending of that one at all. (Working hard at remembering, some of it seeps through, however.)
The premise of Lolly Willowes is that a spinster in Victorian/Edwardian times has no job. Such a woman is very nearly without purpose. In this case, she can be her father's housekeeper, but when he dies, what then? Oh yes, a brother will take her in. Certainly she cannot be left to live alone, to figure out her own life. I think this is such a good depiction of the times and is a help to understanding the plight of women. In this way, it is also a help to understand what came *before* all the marches and the work to obtain equality.
I loved this until about page 160 when I think it turned just stupid. I don't know why Warner does this. She turns a perfectly good novel mostly in the realism style and goes off in another direction entirely. It's as if she can stand to tell of life the way it is only so far, and then she breaks down.
Because I loved most of Summer Will Show, I ended up giving it 4 stars. Seeing that rating must have deceived me about trying another, or I thought that hated ending was a one-off. I will not make the same mistake again. This gets a reluctant 3-stars, and I doubt I'll be trying her again.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (pub 1927)
Task Total = 40
Season Total = 265
20.10 Asia (Elizabeth (Alaska)'s Task)Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
+20 Task: Japan
+ 5 Combo: 10.9 Sisters: older sister who has tried to help her sister break through her autism spectrum behaviors.
+10 LiT
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 580 (adjusted)
20.6 Ellen FosterCousin Phyllis by Elizabeth Gaskell
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.3 - Phyllis)
+15 Oldies (pub. 1864)
Post Total: 40
Season Total: 470
20.3 Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in LettersThe Letters of Vincent van Gogh by Vincent van Gogh
Review:
In a letter to his mother, van Gogh writes "For me, life may well continue in solitude. I have never perceived those to whom I have been most attached other than as through a glass, darkly. These two sentences are a cry of despair from a man we have romanticized through the ages but have rarely made an attempt to understand.
The myth of van Gogh is largely known - a madman misunderstood genius painter who cuts off his own ear in a frenzy and spirals into a vortex of further mental illness and kills himself, all while being a prolific painter producing over two thousand paintings in the span of a decade. Perhaps his paintings are all very well known. The strokes of his brush are immediately discernible even for a person not remotely involved in art. The man, van Gogh therefore, is lost behind the fable. In this book, we read about the man....a man of high intellect and classic tastes; a man who struggled with being misunderstood for his choices in life, a man who quarrelled with his father, a painter who struggled through utter poverty and a brother who passionately writes about the influences of fellow painters, writers and peasants.
Reading through the letters filled me with infinite sadness. We are initially introduced to a man whose ideologies are bathed in fervent religious ideologies. When through the course of time the painter in him blooms, he is riddled with tragedies one after the other - he never got the love of a woman that he always wanted. When he took to painting with unbridled optimism, the fear of poverty always loomed large. When his vision of carefully curating a house that could host struggling artists was coming to fruition, his mental illness got the better of him. His paintings were never given the due appreciation in his time and he had to scrape and ask for money, paints and canvas from his brother every single time; it was only natural that the failures were bound to break him and yet...and yet we see rays of positivity in his letters...coherent, passionate and incredibly readable letters. Alas it all had to come to an end when he could not take it any longer. Tenderness for humanity has rarely touched me so.
Task Total = 20
Review = 10
Lost in Translation = 10 (Original Dutch)
Jumbo = 5 (528 Pages)
Total = 45
Season total = 125+45 = 170
10.3 ScrabbleEleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Review:
Interesting read. After a couple of heavy books, I needed some light reading. This book perfectly fit the bill. In a funny and heartwarming story, the author in her debut novel presents to us an special character - Eleanor Oliphant, a huge introvert with a scarred past and a socially challenged person. A random act of kindness brings about a change in her life as she goes about transforming and learning about her past and accepting a little bit of the world around her.
I am always endeared to characters that are too square to fit into society's round pegs and so when I was reading through the novel, I was happy that the author did not try to transform the ugly duckling to a beautiful swan. She instead elevated the character step by step from what she was to 'understanding' what she was.
A very nice read that I would give a 3.5 stars.
Task = 10
Combo = 5 (10.8)
Review = 10
Task Total = 25
Season total = 170+25 = 195
15.4 AbCThe Reader by Bernhard Schlink
South Africa-Exclusive Books Boeke Prize 1999
Task total: 15
Season total: 385
20.2 RebeccaTamastara, or The Indian Nights by Tanith Lee
Born in London 1947
This was a great book of seven short stories inspired by Indian history, mythology, and world outlook and set in India. They were all fantastical, as is usual with Lee's work, and the settings spanned from the time of British colonization through an unspecified future.
One story that really struck me involved taking the public's involvement with celebrities to the next level, having their lives outside their apartments available for viewing, on a time lag in case they said something unsuitable, and the whole thing very orchestrated, particularly as the most popular actors and actresses all lived in the same part of the city as a special caste. The protagonist is more emotionally disturbed by this than most, and it is her story that is told with a disturbing end.
+20 task
+10 review
+5 age (1984)
+15 combo (10.5, 10.2, 20.10)
Task total: 50
Grand total: 635
15.7 AbCIndia - Crossword Book Award
An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 490
15.6Of All That Ends by Günter Grass
Sweden - Nobel for Literature 1999
Task total: 20
Grand total: 655
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
The Enormous Room (other topics)The Address (other topics)
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter (other topics)
Sense and Sensibility (other topics)
My Brilliant Friend (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
E.E. Cummings (other topics)Fiona Davis (other topics)
Theodora Goss (other topics)
Jane Austen (other topics)
Elena Ferrante (other topics)
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The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
I heard this author speak while at the Tucson Festival of Books in March. It just so happened, that was precisely when the group read selections were announced and I saw that Kate had chosen it. From there, it was a done deal that I'd be reading this book.
I'd seen its cover pop up as a recommendation on my library page, but the cover just seemed--blah. Another reminder to NEVER judge a book by its cover! This is one of the best books I've read in an age! Makkai's prose is stunning, her treatment of her characters is gentle and kind (even as they're dying, even when they do stupid things, even in their imperfections), her pacing of the action is flawless.
I love that even though the men in this novel are fictional, they give voice and humanity to those who died in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, since the men who actually suffered and died were denied those things in life.
I can't talk about this book without crying. It was so powerful and beautiful and unexpected and I can't recommend it enough.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.8; 10.10)
Task total: 40
Season total: 520