Reading with Style discussion

15.7 Blackjack
Caravans by James A. Michener

3 of clubs (320 pages)
6 of diamonds (1963)
J of diamonds (Afghanistan) = 19

+20 task
+5 oldie
Task total 25
Season total: 300

Post 580 Karen Michele wrote: "20.2 August Wilson

Seven Guitars by August Wilson

+20 Task
+15 Combo: 20.3 Theodore White / 20.5 Jeffrey Eugenides (Pittsburgh) / 20.8 My Cup of Tea(p18 She give me t..."

Sorry, Karen, 20.8 requires a novel.

15.7 Blackjack (Rd 2)

Death of a Dreamer by M.C. Beaton

2 Diamonds - many psued.
9 Diamonds - Scotland
10 Diamonds - 34 books in series


20 task
5 female
____
25

Running total: 1685

Post 581 Karen Michele wrote: "20.3 Theodore H White

All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred D. Taylor

+20 Task
+10 Combo: 10.2 Letters (30) / 20.2 August Wilson

Task Total: 30
Season..."

I'm sorry, Karen. This is listed as YA Fiction at BPL and does not yet have a Lexile. Task, but no styles.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 581 Karen Michele wrote: "20.3 Theodore H White

All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred D. Taylor

+20 Task
+10 Combo: 10.2 Letters (30) / 20.2 Augus..."

Sorry --- I knew this and then forgot all about it when I went to post.

Post 592 Nick wrote: "10.7 In Memoriam (Coralie's Task)

2019 was not a good year for my family. Read a book by an author who shares one of these names with a family member who died in 2019.
Judith, Melinda, Margaret, J..."

I'm sorry, Nick. This is a YA Assignment at BPL and there is no Lexile. Task, but no styles.

10.5 Sherlock Holmes

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G.K. Chesterton

The time: Turn of the century (19th-20th)
The place: England. And then France. And then back to England.
The plot: The Anarchists are planning a bombing, the Police are attempting to infiltrate the Anarchists and stop the attack.
The caveat: The subtitle: "A Nightmare."
The book starts out straightforwardly enough: Gregory, a poet, is jealous of the popularity and charisma of the new poet in town, Syme, and decides to shock and impress him by taking him to his subversive meeting with the Anarchists. It all goes up, down, and sideways from there...at times the reader feels akin to Alice falling down the rabbit hole: NOTHING makes sense.
There were moments where I laughed at loud at the absurdity of events unfolding, but by the end I was so confused that I felt like I was just reading words to get it over and done with already.
I realize it's an allegory, but I feel like I must be missing some crucial context and it mostly went over my head.

+10 Task (pub. 1908)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies
+10 Combo (10.4, 20.10)

Task total: 40
Season total: 860

10.3 Conjunctions

Because I Said So! : The Truth Behind the Myths, Tales, and Warnings Every Generation Passes Down to Its Kids by Ken Jennings

An entertaining little book of short pieces researching the validity of all those things that your parents tell you but are of dubious scientific origin. Caffeine stunts your growth--false. You need to wait an hour after eating before swimming--false. Don't use a fork to get things out of a toaster--true. Alcohol kills brain cells--not really. And on through about one hundred more similar examinations. The book is read by the author (the GOAT of Jeopardy), who keeps it lively and enjoyable. This would be the perfect book for a waiting room--you could easily pick it up and read just one entry.

+10 Task (Title-so; subtitle-and)
+10 Review

Task total: 20
Grand total: 695

15.8 Blackjack

Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami

10 of Spades - Short stories
7 of Spades - 7 letter title word - without

+30 Task
+5 Not-a-novel

Task total: 35
Grand total: 730

15.9 Blackjack

Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Lexile: 830

A of Spades - 1st in series
7 of Diamonds - Title begins with S

Task total: 30
Grand total: 760

10.10 Group Reads

The Price of Paradise by Susana López Rubio

I enjoyed my time with this. I noted that this comes almost on the heels of my having read Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana. The time period is not quite identical, but discussing the Greene in a group it was noted how that one gave a good feeling about the Havana of the time. The Price of Paradise does this even better.

I knew Havana was a post-war place of glamour and glitz. The author has been a screenwriter and that skill comes through. The book is written in scenes, though I wouldn't quite call it cinematic. She just does a superb job of placing the reader alongside the characters and I could easily see whatever was going on in any particular scene, whether it was in the department store, a nightclub, or home.

There are two narrators: Patricio and Gloria. The chapters don't exactly alternate, but it is always clear who is telling the story. Because of this, those two characters are well-drawn. The more minor characters are more caricatures than characterizations. The writing style is OK, but I think that's not why one would read this book. At least it's not why I kept turning pages.

Still, this isn't literature and I can't find all the stars that others might be willing to give. It is perhaps in the lower part of my 4-star group and I hope I'm not being stingy or generous.

+10 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 combo (20.9)

Task total = 25

Season total = 920

17 read/23 owned

20.7 Annie Dillard

The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller by Carlo Ginzburg

The book is an examination of the heresy trial of an Italian miller during the 1500s. What's interesting is that this man had come up with an entire religious theory that contradicted in important ways parts of the Catholic teachings of the time. This book looks in detail at the trial transcripts and documents and tries to figure out what other books this miller must have read and how he came to form the ideas he had.

I can see that this work is revolutionary in its own way for how it tackled the history here and that it's considered one of the founding books of "microhistory." And if I were more of a religious scholar, I'm sure I would have appreciated this a lot more. But for this lay reader, I found it incredibly dense and slow going. I could only read it a few pages at a time before I would find myself skimming too much to follow the arguments.

This was recommended to me by someone who actually is a religious history scholar, so I can see how she would have appreciated the book more deeply than I did.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.3 - and; 10.4)
+5 Oldies (1976)

Task total: 45
Grand total: 805

20.8 My Cup of Tea

Waiting by Ha Jin

Aargh! This was supposed to be my last book for Blackjack, but I had the publication date wrong in my spreadsheet, and it doesn't fit. Luckily there's tea in it! - and I can find something else for the same cards in Blackjack.

What I liked about this was the description of ordinary lives in China, in the country and in the town, between the 1960s and 80s, but with very little reference to politics.

(view spoiler)[Lin is a married man who wants a divorce but has to wait 18 years for it. Shuyu, his first wife, wants to stay married but eventually the law will allow him a divorce without her consent. Manna, his girlfriend, sees her health and her reproductive years draining away while she waits for Lin to be free. (hide spoiler)]

There's very little plot, and the characters remain distant, but it was the little details of life that I appreciated - the food, the social customs, the incidents that showed how little separation there was between work and personal life (especially in this work environment, an army hospital).

Tea: "Geng Yang lifted a honey jar he used as his drinking glass and took a sip of tea." p 165

+20 Task
+10 Review

Post total: 30
Season Total: 845

Hi Kate...I think I have 205 points, not 200! (Post 408).

Ugh, math was off. We're all good!

Task 10.6 Richard Adams
Read a book with over 100,000 ratings with an average rating over 3.75.


For 20.8 combo:

p. 20: “’Crown Princess, you look as though you wish to ask for something,’ said Selia. Ani turned to her gratefully and nodded. Selia lifted the pot. ‘More tea ?’ ‘Oh, yes, um, thank you.’ Selia filled her cup, and the key-mistress looked down at her own, mumbling, ‘Tea, yes.’”

The Goose Girl (The Books of Bayern #1) (2003) by Shannon Hale (Goodreads Author) (Paperback, 383 pages)
Lexile 870L
Review:The novel is closely based on the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale, ‘The Goose Girl’. I read the novel first, and the Wikipedia summary second. The Wikipedia summary is very close to the plot of the novel, so *spoilers* warning for both the Grimm Brothers’ tale and the Wikipedia summary.

The novel follows Princess Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee of Kildenree (AKA Ani), a young woman who can literally communicate with animals. She has adventures which result in character growth from a sheltered, pampered young teen to a mature, knowledgeable young adult. Shannon Hale skillfully shows the plot unfolding and the characters growing and changing as a result of their experiences.

In interviews, Shannon Hale states that she “had no thoughts about what age she was writing for”. I suspect what happened is that an editor told her that for younger audiences you have to “tell” what is going on as well as “show” it. So, after 30 or so pages of showing character development and/or plot progression, Shannon Hale would include a sentence or two telling explicitly what she just finished showing.

I enjoyed this novel. The characters were likeable but not perfect, the villains had reasonable motivations, the fantasy element was cleverly included, and the ending was satisfyingly positive. Recommended for readers looking for fairy tales retold.

+10 Task
+10 Combo (#10.9(#1 of completed series), #20.8(drinking tea))
+10 Review

Task Total: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 290 + 30 = 320

Blackjack 15.6- (2nd Round)

The Fixer by Bernard Malamud

H-10-Historical
C-3-300-399p (335p.)
D-6-pub. in '60s (1966)
10+3+6=19

Task =20
<1995= 5 (1966)
Task Total= 25

Grand Total=1355

Tasks Completed=34
10.1 (45); 10.2 (30); 10.3 (30); 10.4 (30);10.5 (45); 10.7 (25); 10.9 (30); 10.10 (35)
✔15.1 (25); 15.2 (30); 15.3 (30); 15.4 (20); 15.5 (30); 15.6 (30);
15.7 (30); 15.8 (40; 15.9 (45); 15.10 (205)
2nd Round- 15.1 (25); 15.2 (25); 15.3 (15); 15.4 (25); 15.5 (30;
15.6 (25); )
✔20.1 (50); 20.2 (35); 20.3 (65); 20.4 (60) ; 20.5 (45); 20.6 (45); 20.7 (35); 20.8 (35); 20.9 (35); 20.10 (50)

15.5 Blackjack (Round 3)
Whiskey When We're Dry by John Larison

J Clubs ("k" in whisKey)
Q Clubs (LGBT on MPG)

+20 Task

Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1,515

10.7 In Memoriam

Surfacing by Margaret Atwood

Compared to most of the books I’ve been reading lately, this definitely falls on the ‘literature’ side of the continuum. It is very readable though.

This is a very Canadian novel, although a past Canada. There are so many underlying issues from that time (social and political) that are not referred to specifically but influence the character’s behaviour and thoughts. Canada is a different place now, but if you were alive or growing up during the 60s, 70s and 80s you will recognize them easily. The novel probably takes place in the late 60s, but I still could identify with and be annoyed by them having experienced similar attitudes in the late 70s/early 80s. Revisiting that time really makes me appreciate how much things have changed (generally for the better). In a way, this may be the most interesting thing about this novel – it is a real snapshot of a country’s past. As well, there is a real sense of place – this story could not have been set anywhere else.

In some ways the story is very straightforward and could be read and appreciated that way. However, I felt Atwood’s approach was much more oblique and you have to struggle, along with the main character, to understand exactly what was going on. 4*

10 task
10 review
10 1001 list book
5 oldie
5 combo 20.8*
_______
40

*pg 20 Madame makes the tea on a new electic stove, ... ' pg 21 'Madame is stirring her tea now and sighing.' pg 24 'I sip at my tea and rock, …'

plus:
100 RwS finish
200 Megafinish

Running total: 2025

28 owned/47 read

20.5 Jeffrey Eugenides

Eugenides has set some of his works in Detroit, Michigan. It, and 4 other cities have lost more than half of their population since 1950. Read any book - fiction or nonfiction - set at least 51% in Detroit (Michigan), St. Louis (Missouri), Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), Buffalo (New York), or Cleveland (Ohio).

I read City of Light by Lauren Belfer. 512 pp. Set in Buffalo NY.

I think I have 605 points before this task. So I think this is my current total:

Points for Task: 20
Jumbo: 5

Total Points So Far: 630

10.3 Conjunctions
American Dialogue: The Founders and Us by Joseph J. Ellis

So much to think about, so much to take in. Ellis takes four topics and explores what four founders had to to say about them and then he discuses where the country is now and what the founders’ legacies are. The topics are race, equality, the Supreme Court and foreign affairs.
They founders all recognized slavery as a blight on the US and they all pretty much thought the solution was to free the slaves and send them away—back to Africa or to the Caribbean or to the western wilderness. They did not envisage a multi-racial society. In spite of the words “all men are created equal”, they didn’t behave that way.
Ellis visits the politics behind the Constitution and Bill of Rights. And what we can understand today of what they probably meant.
This is going to make a very interesting discussion!

+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Season total: 320

20.6 Katherine Anne Porter

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

N.K. Jemisin is one of the cleverest authors out there. I'm so thrilled with her writing. If you haven't read the Broken Earth trilogy, stop here and go read that. Seriously, she managed to win the Hugo for each of the books in the trilogy. Off you go to read The Fifth Season.

Now, for folks who are already familiar with Jemisin, this new book which promises to be the start of a new series. This book offers a cast of great characters and a love story for New York City. But it's the real New York, including distrust of gentrification and multi-ethnic mishmash that makes NYC great. There's a wonderful fantasy underpinning here about how cities become living entities. But what carries this book are the characters working together to bring NYC into being.

I can't wait to see where this series goes.

Also note: the narrator for the audiobook is fantastic. I've listened to other books read by the wonderful Robin Miles and I highly recommend this one in audio format if you're an audiobook fan.

+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.2)
+10 Review

Task total: 35
Grand total: 840

Jayme(the ghostreader)
Blackjack
15.3
Squireby Tamora Pierce
Queen of spades- book about royalty
Three of hearts- 3rd in series
Seven of diamonds- title begins with S
Task +15
Female author + 5
Task total: 20
Grand total: 185

10.9 Trilogy

The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri

I so enjoyed my first dip into this series. I'm reading from a bundle, and there is an introduction by the author. He writes about his earlier writing and that he felt challenged to write a mystery. He spent time thinking about the personality of his detective. He says that this first one, as all of the novels, opens at dawn. Yet he says that the subsequent installments of the series are different.

I mostly like Montalbano as a man. I think he was less interested in enforcing the law however. By that I mean that he seemed willing to look the other way about some things. But this is Sicily, filled with corruption and dominated by the mafia. Maybe enforcing the law isn't the absolute top priority, and just maybe actually determining a perpetrator isn't the safest thing for anyone. It's just possible that justice and law enforcement don't coincide. I can't say the prose is spectacular, nor even the characterizations. But mysteries are about plot and this one was good enough.

This is very short - only 156 pages in the Kindle bundle. I'm glad I did purchase the bundle as it means I'm more likely to get to the next two. They aren't destined for May 2020 when I read this, but hopefully before May 2021! Still, it doesn't quite make the top of my mysteries ratings. A high 3-stars will have to do.

+10 Task (first in series)
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (pub'd 1994)

Task total = 25

Season total = 945

18 Read/24 Owned

15.8 Blackjack (Rd 2)

The Red Pole of Macau by Ian Hamilton

Jack Diamond - China
Ten Clubs - 2012

30 task
____
30

Running total: 2055

29 owned/48 read

15.1 - Blackjack (second round)

The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan

2 hearts (2nd in series)
2 diamonds (publishes under two names - author also publishes under the pseudonym Jane Beaton)
4 hearts (400-500 pages)
Jack clubs (title has J or K)
= 18

+15 task
+5 female author

Post total: 20
Season total: 705

15.6 Blackjack (Round 3)
Looking Good Dead (Roy Grace #2) by Peter James

10 Diamonds (10+ series, Roy Grace)
K Spades ("-ing" in title, Looking)

+20 Task

Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1,535

20.8 My Cup of Tea (Owlette's Task)

Read a novel in which a character drinks or brews a cup of hot tea. Please include the sentence when claiming the book for points.

Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie. In this one Poirot takes real tea with a former police acquaintance:

"Hercule Poirot put a piece of sausage into his mouth and followed it up with a sip of tea. The tea was strong and to Poirot singularly unpalatable." p. 67

Task -- + 20
Combo: 20.10 English Crime Fiction Writers -- + 5
Oldie (1969) -- + 5

Former points 630
Current 30
Total Points So Far: 660

Task 10.10 Group Reads

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk (2017) by Kathleen Rooney (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 287 pages)

+10 Task
+10 Combo (#10.2 (>=20 letters in title), #10.4(exactly 5 word title))

Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20

Grand Total: 320 + 20 = 340

20.1 Edmund Morris

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

On 30 December 2003, Joan Didion and her husband, John Gregory Dunne, came home to their apartment after visiting their comatose married daughter Quintana in a New York hospital. They sat down to dinner, and John was talking - and then he wasn't. He'd suffered a massive heart attack that killed him.

This book is Joan Didion's description of her grief over the following year. The title refers to her persistent thoughts and actions that would seem illogical to outsiders, like being unable to throw out his shoes because he would need them when she managed to turn back the clock and bring him back. As someone who has never suffered such a loss, I found it illuminating as well as deeply moving.

Not recommended for anyone anxious about Covid-19, because the details of Quintana's illness and ICU treatment suggest that she had SARS or another similar coronavirus.

+20 Task (National Book Award for Non-Fiction, 2005)
+10 Review
+15 Combo (10.2, 10.4, 10.7)

Post total: 45
Season Total: 890

10.4 High Five Day

L'enfance de l'art

+5 Task
(no style points as it is a graphic novel)

Task total = 5

Points total = 300

20.6 Katherine Anne Porter

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.8 - “And sat down at the kitchen table with a cup of hot tea to strategize”)

Task total = 25

Points total = 325

10.5 Sherlock Holmes

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

Published in 1903, this book stands as an important piece of history and literature. But, unfortunately, it still resonates with the present and describes the difficulties faced by black Americans today. DuBois is a tremendous writer and his prose springs from these pages and sings to the reader. I was given this audiobook through the Audiobooksync program that pairs contemporary teen audiobook fiction with related works (sometimes classics, sometimes nonfiction, sometimes other related fiction). I forget now what this was paired with, but I'm glad to have downloaded this one.

The audio version of this book read by Rodney Gardiner carries the cadence of black ministers through the text and makes listening to this book a powerful experience. Highly recommended in audio format.

+10 Task (1903)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (1903)
+10 Combo (10.4, 20.2)

Task total: 40
Grand total: 880

From Post 199

Connie wrote: "10.10 Group reads

The Warlow Experiment by Alix Nathan

Herbert Powys, a wealthy man from Herefordshire, is a loner interested only in books and horticulture. In 1..."

+5 Combo 20.8

From Post 557

Tien wrote: "20.7 Annie Dillard
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

Review
A book that's not particularly within my comfort zone. I liked that I've learnt..."

+5 Combo 20.7

From Post 579

Karen Michele wrote: "10.10 Group Reads

The Warlow Experiment by Alix Nathan

+10 Task
+ 5 Combo: 20.8 My Cup of Tea (Page 194 the wife he had before. She mashes the tea, pours some for ..."

+5 Combo 10.8

Denise wrote: "I am off 40 points with the readerboard, which has me at 1075. I show 26 books claimed for 1115 points, and I can't find the problem. Old age on my part?

Post - Points
4 - 20
12 - 20
24 - 2..."

Very sorry, Denise. It was an error on my part. It should be corrected on the most recent Readerboard. Thank you for your quick head's up.

Thanks for the extra points, Kate!

20.10 It's a Mystery

The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories by Agatha Christie

This collection was compiled and published in the US in 1997. There are nine stories, and as is often the case some are stronger than others. I listened to these via Hoopla. I thought they would make a nice change from Baron Munchausen.

I wouldn’t classify these as mystery stories (expect the Poirot one), they are either romance or psychological studies/thrillers. Of the stories that did not have her recurring characters I particularly liked these two: ‘The Actress’ and ‘The Lonely God’. These were the strongest of that group. There are two stories included with recurring characters: ‘The Mystery of the Spanish Chest’ (Poirot), and ‘The Harlequin Tea Set’ (Mr Satterthwaite and Harley Quinn). They were both good fun.

To me, this isn’t the strongest collection of Christie’s short stories. However, I may be of that opinion because I found a couple of the stories veering into Mary Westmacott territory. Oddly, since I am such a big fan of Christie, I’ve never really liked her writing under the pseudonym Westmacott. Christie’s stories have been rearranged and repackaged quite a bit over the years, so all of these can be found in other collections. 3.5*

20 task
10 review
10 combo 10.2, 10.3
____
40

Running total: 2095

29 owned/49 read

10.1 - Thirst for More

I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

+10 task
+5 Combo (20.8 - pg 145 - Number one was puffed in the laundry room, with a cup of tea, shortly after Terry left for work.)

Task total: 15
Grand total: 590

10.1 - Thirst for More

Field of Bones by J.A. Jance

+10 task

Task total: 10
Grand total: 600

15.4 Blackjack Round 3

Public Library and Other Stories by Ali Smith

9 diamonds (UK)
Queen diamonds

+15 Task
+  5 Not a novel
+  5 Female

Task total=25
Grand total=1165

15.5 Blackjack Round 3

If It Bleeds by Stephen King


King hearts
4 hearts (approved for 447 pgs in help thread msg 110)
2 diamonds (Bachman)
4 clubs (mystery and thriller)

+20 Task

Task total=20
Grand total=1185

15.6 Blackjack Round 3

Shoot the Piano Player by David Goodis

5 spades (1956)
5 hearts (Philadelphia, PA)
7 diamonds (shoot)

+20 Task
+  5 Pub. 1995 and earlier (1956)

Task total=25
Grand total=1210

20.9 Women in Translation

Eva Luna by Isabel Allende

"She sowed in my mind the idea that reality is not only what we see on the surface; it has a magical dimension as well and, if we so desire, it is legitimate to enhance it and color it to make our journey through life less trying."

Eva Luna was orphaned at an early age, but her mother passed on her gift of storytelling. Eva was poor and worked as a servant for some eccentric people in an unnamed South American country. While reality was grim, a good storyteller can change her reality by embellishing it with magical qualities. Eva's stories were also a way to give back by entertaining people who were kind to her. She used her talent like a South American Scheherazade.

The life of Rolf Carle, who came from Eastern Europe to South America as a young man, intersects with Eva's life when they are adults. The talented photojournalist reported on the volatile political situation of the 1960s-1970s. Eva wonders if changes of leadership will make much difference to the South American women who live in such an oppressive patriarchal atmosphere.

"Eva Luna" is a picaresque book full of adventure and colorful characters ranging from the powerful and wealthy to those living in the red light district. Eva has the gift of taking the harshness of life, and replacing it with magical adventure in her imaginative stories.

+20 task (translated from Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden)
+ 5 combo 10.8 p 259 "Sweating, obviously apprehensive, the prison warden stated that a group of terrorists in helicopters had attacked the facility, armed with bazookas and machine guns, while inside the compound prisoners had incapacitated guards with grenades."
+10 review
+ 5 oldie (pub 1987)

Task total: 40
Season total: 580

20.5 Jeffrey Eugenides

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon

This first novel by Chabon shows his promise as a writer. He manages to write characters that are compelling even when he isn't sure what he wants to say about them. This is a coming of age story, with the honesty, confusion, sexual experimentation, and fantasy of so many young men. This may not be the story of the author's own actual life, but it reads like the story that you can at least imagine that 24-year-old author Chabon kind of wished was his life, if not really, at least in novelistic fantasy. But because Chabon is a good writer, even this semi-fantasy navel-gazing coming of age reads in a compelling way.

These characters are really pretty different from me and from anything that I ever felt, but it nonetheless aroused in me fantasy-nostalgia for the time after college when I could have been this sort of undirected and carefree person even though I wasn't actually. It's not easy to engender this sort of feeling writing about hapless, drinking and drugging twenty-somethings. Usually that just ends up seeming either anti-her0-ish or boring.

In the end, maybe what this all means is that Chabon just turns out to be a really good novelist. Or maybe I liked his book because I'm predisposed to like him since I know of his later work. Either way, I'm glad to have read this one.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.2)
+5 Oldies (1988)

Task total: 40
Grand total: 920

10.1 Thirst for More

Dead Silence by Randy Wayne White

Task: 10 (I have read 9 books prior to this one.)

Task Total: 10
Season Total: 60

15.1 Blackjack

The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas

Ace hearts (Pub date has two 1s - 2011)
Jack diamonds (Set 75% in Asian country - Turkey)

+15 Task

Task Total: 15
Season Total: 75

15.2 Blackjack

Sacred Country by Rose Tremain

Queen clubs (MPG = LGBT)
9 diamonds (Set 75% in Commonwealth country - Suffolk, United Kingdom)

+15 Task
+5 Published 1992
+5 Female

Task Total: 25
Season Total: 100

15.3 Blackjack

To Kill a Labrador: A Marcia Banks and Buddy Mystery by Kassandra Lamb

Jack clubs (Title has J or K - K in kill)
2 clubs (200-299 pages - 235 pages)
7 spades (Seven letter title/subtitle word - Mystery)

+15 Task
+5 Female

Task Total: 20
Season Total: 120

15.7 Blackjack (Round 3)
To Die But Once (Maisie Dobbs #14) by Jacqueline Winspear

Q Diamonds (Set 100% in UK)
J Spades (author's name: Jacqueline)

+20 Task
+5 Female

Post Total: 25
Season Total: 1,560