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SP 20 Completed Tasks
10.3 ConjunctionsAgatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage by M.C. Beaton
I haven't read many series in the past...but I am enjoying the Agatha Raisin series....this is the 5th of 31. Agatha is a rough and tumble former London PR person who has retired to the countryside...only to be drawn into involvement with one mysterious death after another. In this story, Agatha is about to marry her neighbor without knowing for certain whether her former husband is dead as she presumes he is. That premise sets up many comical situations. The series is a very light-hearted mystery series. It has been made into a television series which I intend to watch AFTER reading all 31 books in the series.
3 stars (It's not high brow...but it is fun!)
Task=10
Review=10
Combo= 10 (10.2; 20.8*)
*- p.31-“‘It was a shock at the time. I did not recognize him,’ said Mrs. Bloxby, pouring tea into thin china cups.” and p.32-“He blunders into the kitchen and makes tea for himself."
Task Total=30
NOTE----also adding =5 combo points to Post 20 for 20.8- page 5- "Mrs Bantry was enjoying her dream a good deal. She usually did enjoy those early-morning dreams that were terminated by the arrival of early-morning tea."
Grand Total=210
Tasks Completed=5
10.3 (30)
15.1 (25)
20.4 (60) ; 20.6 (45); 20.10 (50)
15.1 BlackjackDavid and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell
7 Spades (Goliath = seven letters)
King Spades (Battling = ing ending)
+15 Task
+5 Not a Novel
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 20
10.3 ConjunctionsCocktails for Three by Madeleine Wickham
I wasn’t in the mood to move on to a read of ‘literature’, so I picked this assuming it would fall in the frothy category of chick lit. However, it had more substance than I expected. It’s not literature, but it is well written and I enjoyed the three main characters (although the naïve one was a bit dim at times). They are all women in their thirties going through the range of experiences that can happen to women that age. Ultimately, it is a book about friendship overcoming outside threats, and about women dealing with contemporary challenges. 4*
10 task
10 review
5 combo 20.8 = many mentions of tea, the first at pg 13: "...sat in the vast kitchen, drinking tea made on the equally vast Aga."
______
25
Running total: 195
5 owned/7 tasks
15.3 BlackjackA Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne
8 Spades (author born in Ireland)
Jack Clubs (k in sky)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 55
20.9 Women in TranslationThe Summer Book by Tove Jansson
Review
I love reading Tove Jansson’s Moomin stories with my children but for some reason I hadn’t read any of her books for adults until this. The Summer Book is beautifully written and a real joy to read. The book is made up of a series of snapshots from a summer that a young girl named Sophia spends on a tiny island with her grandmother.
One of my favourite things about the book was how clearly Tove Jansson understands how children see the world: that sense of wonder at things adults take for granted, the willingness to imagine so vividly that the boundary between real and fantastic almost fades away, and the ability to be caught up entirely in the moment without a thought for past or future. In part the book felt like a warning of what people can lose when we ‘grow up’.
The writing is simple yet beautiful. Each of the chapters feels like it’s own complete story, but they also somehow weave together to show a bigger picture of the relationship between Sophia and her grandmother, as well as their relationship with nature on the island.
+20 task
+10 review
+10 1001 books
+5 oldies (originally published in 1972)
Post total: 45
Season total: 145
15.2 BlackjackThis Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
Spade 9 (year ending in 9)
Heart 5 (set in the US--MN)
Heart 4 (400-499 pg)
18
Task total: 15
Season total: 60
10.6 Richard AdamsCirce by Madeline Miller
239 000 ratings, 4,28 average
+10 Task
Task total = 10
Points total = 10
10.3 ConjunctionsTilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James
(YA and 870 Lexile)
+10 Task
+10 Combo (10.2 ; 20.8 : "As for Amelia, she trying to lose herself in contemplating her cup of tea" - sorry, i read it in french and it's my approximate translation, so might not be totally accurate)
Task total = 20
Points total = 30
15.2 Blackjack– Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream by Doris Kearns Goodwin7 clubs (pub’d in ‘70s)
Jack of Clubs (title has a J)
Per book bonuses, 5 points each:
+5 Not fiction (Not a Novel)
+5 Female author
+5 Pub'd 1995 and earlier (1976)
Points This Post: 30
Total Points So Far: 60
20.8 My Cup of Tea Writers & Lovers by Lily King
“I set the kettle back on the burner for another cup of black tea.”
Task total = 20
Season Total = 20
15.5 BlackjackCover Her Face by P.D. James
4 Diamonds (Her)
6 Diamonds (1962)
10 Diamonds (14 books in series)
+20 task
+ 5 female
+ 5 pub. 1995 or earlier
Task total=30
Season total=115
20.8 My Cup of Tea The Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton
"Agatha nervously sipped her tea"
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.9 - 1st of the serie which is complete as author passed away)
+5 Oldies (1992)
Task total = 30
Points total = 60
10.9 TrilogyDon Quixote Volume One by Rob Davis
(Final as the The Complete Don Quixote is composed of 2 books)
+ 10 Task
Task total = 10
Points total = 70
15.5 Blackjack Moon Palace by Paul Auster
King Clubs - 'palace'
8 diamonds - '80s'
20 task
5 oldie
____
25
Running total: 220
6 owned/8 tasks
20.10 It's a MysteryFaithful Unto Death by Caroline Graham
Simone Hollingsworth disappeared on Thursday, 6 June. You could have said she had a wonderful day for it.These are the opening two sentences. I wondered how long it would be before someone discovered her body. I think it's hard being hooked any earlier in a book than this, and hooked I was.
Again, Graham gives us well-drawn characters. There was no one who I found truly quirky and no one to truly dislike. Since I never get the mystery right, it probably isn't necessary to say I didn't guess it. Even when I guessed one of the clues early on, I still didn't get the picture. Barnaby was always more than just one step ahead of me. Sgt. Troy is still a bit of a creep, but I've come to just do a bit of eye-rolling, even a laugh now and then. Political correctness had not yet reared its ugly head when this was published, and we are allowed to believe people like Troy actually existed - without reprimand or discharge.
For me, this is the best of the series so far. There are two more in the coming months. My rating for the genre tops out at 4-stars and I'll happily let this sit in the upper echelons of that group.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.7 - Graham; 20.8 - pg 5 "The vicar took a sip of tea, far too strong for his liking, and turned the conversation once more to Mrs. Hollingsworth's absence."
Task total = 40
Season total = 80
2/3 owned books (including Kindles)
15.2 - BlackjackBefore He Kills by Blake Pierce
Ace Spades - 1st in a series
4 Diamonds - Yours Mine and Ours
6 Clubs - author name is exactly 6 letters long
+15 task
Task total: 15
Grand total: 40
15.3 - BlackjackClaim of Innocence by Laura Caldwell
4 spades - 4th in series
ace hearts - publish date has two 1s - 2011
4 hearts - has 400 - 499 pgs - 448
+15 task
+5 female
Task total: 20
Grand total: 70
10.8 - Go to JailMemoirs Of Fanny Hill by John Cleland
+10 task
+5 Combo (20.8 - page 66 - she brought a very honourable gentleman to drink tea with me)
+20 oldie (1748)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 105
20.3 Theodore H WhiteRead a book by an author who shares a surname with one of the U.S. Presidents.
Red Army Faction Blues by Ada Wilson – surname of Woodrow Wilson.
Points This Post: 20
Total Points So Far: 80
10.3 ConjunctionsTruth or Dare by Celia Rees
Thirteen-year-old Josh's grandmother has had a stroke, and he has to go to stay in her house with his mother who's looking after her. What seems likely to be a dreary summer away from his friends begins to change when he starts investigating the mystery surrounding his uncle Patrick, who died at the age Josh is now, and when he catches sight of the girl next door sunbathing in her garden.
This is a well written story with a good twist at the end. Some things seem unlikely to me, but they're small points that I didn't think of until after finishing. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Post total: 20
Season Total: 60
15.3 Blackjack My Policeman by Bethan Roberts
10 clubs, pub 2012
Q clubs, LGBT MPG
total 20, 2 cards
+15 Task
+ 5 Female
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 80
10.8 Go to JailThe Night Stalker by Philip Carlo
Every once in a blue moon, my husband gets a hankering to listen to an audiobook with me--as long as he gets to choose it. I know I'm in for either politics or true crime, thus...
Ooof. This one was a doozy. I was unfamiliar with this particular case and it was disturbing to say the least. In other true crime stories I've read the murderer will choose his victim carefully, often have a story to draw them into their wicked web, they definitely had a "type" of victim they were looking for and a specific M.O.
Richard Ramirez chose his victims randomly and killed them in a variety of ways, the only thing that connected them was that they happened while he was committing a robbery (some carjackings, but mostly home invasions--he tended to choose yellow houses). A good 2/3 of the book is spent detailing Ramirez's formative years, the crimes themselves, and talking a bit about the victims' lives. The remainder of the book details the capture of Ramirez and describes his crazy trial (an incompetent lawyer, an alternate juror who was in love with him and ended up being called to serve once another juror died) and sentence. I feel like the U.S. Justice system has gotten a little out of control when a confessed murderer can tie up the legal system for over a year and a half (!? I think I'm more sensitive to this as my husband has been serving on a jury for the past six weeks and still has two to go and I feel like that is A LOT, but to disrupt random people's lives for a year and a half!?) and MILLIONS of dollars to try this horror show of a human...seems like a bit of a circus.
(view spoiler)
For fans of true crime, this is a thorough analysis of a truly mad man written in an engaging/enraging manner. For anyone else, this would just be a traumatizing experience and I'd say steer very clear.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Jumbo (592 pages)
+5 Combo: 20.7
Task total: 30
Season total: 60
15.2 BlackjackTales of Freedom by Ben Okri
3 spades (3 word title)
7 spades (7 letter word in title – freedom)
9 spades (published in year ending 9 – 2009)
1 Diamond (has 75-199 pages)
+15 Task
+5 Not a Novel
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 85
20.5 read a book set in Cleveland"Little Fires Everywhere " by Celeste Ng
Task + 20
Total Points 20
Forgot combo points 10.2 21 letters, 10.6 Richard Adam's
+ 10
Grand Total 30
15.2 BlackjackJoyland by Stephen King
King of Hearts 10 (Author's Name has king in it - Stephen King)
5 spades (setting (75%) in one of the US 50 states)
4 clubs (main page genre: adventure, western, mystery, thriller)
2 diamonds (Author publishes using at least two distinct names - Richard Bachman)
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 85
20.8 TeaTogether Tea by Marjan Kamali
A romance told in the context of an Iranian family which has immigrated to the US following the Revolution, the book is set in both Iran and the United States and centers both on a loving family and the political and social aspects of the fundamentalist history of the Revolution.
Unfortunately, the family relationships are too good to be realistic and and the political context explored at a very superficial level. This is a light romance at base;but there is lots of tea!!
20 pts 20.8 Tea. P.6 « The next morning at breakfast Baba tapped his tea glass with a spoon »
10 Pts Review
Task total: 30 pts
Season total: 60 pts
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... 10.8 .... ....
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... 20.8. .... ....
10.8 Go to JailDon Quixote, Volume Two by Rob Davis
Author / narrator is telling the story from jail
+ 10 Task
Task total = 10
Points total = 80
10.1 Thirst for MoreIn the Heart of the Country by J.M. Coetzee
This is the sixth book I've read by Coetzee.
This novel has an unusual structure. Each passage...usually just one paragraph is numbered in order. The novel immediately reminded me of Doris Lessing's The Grass Is Singing. In both novels, the setting is in a remote African farm with white owners interacting with their African employees. In both, there are also interracial sexual tensions. In this novel however, the narrator is unreliable. The reader doesn't know if the paragraphs have actually happened or are the sick imaginings of the lonely farmer's daughter.
I can't say that this is an enjoyable read...but it is thought provoking and I suspect it will stay with me for quite some time as did Lessing's novel. Four stars.
Task=10
Review=10
Combo= 10 (10.2; 20.8*)
*p.30- ‘Now listen; give her a mug of tea, then she can get down to work.’”; p.137- “I feed my father his broth and weak tea.”
p.101- “Get into bed. I’m just going to make a cup of tea."
1001 Book=10
Task Total=40
Grand Total=250
Tasks Completed=6
10.1 (40); 10.3 (30)
15.1 (25)
20.4 (60) ; 20.6 (45); 20.10 (50)
Post 50 Mary wrote: "10.8 Go to JailThe Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook
This is a mystery story told from the perspective of an old man who was involved as a teenager with the pa..."
Mary - how does this qualify for 10.8? Does part of it take place in a jail/prison or has the author spent time in jail?
20.1 Edmund MorrisAmity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America by Eliza Griswold
Stacey Haney believed that by being a good person and working hard she could provide a better childhood for her two children than she had experienced growing up in Washington County, Pennsylvania. With some of her neighbors she signed a mineral lease for natural gas fracking for the extra money and she thought it would be good for the local economy and that would help the US to be energy independent. Her neighbor up the hill signed a lease for a drill pad and holding ponds—that became the problem. Soon her son was suffering from mysterious illnesses.
Eliza Griswold reconstructs the beginnings of Stacey’s problems and then follows her through medical, financial and legal troubles—what the fracking boom meant for Stacey and her community.
I listened to the audio version. The reader does an excellent job. From time to time you can can even hear her own emotional reactions to what she is reading.
+20 task
+10 review
+10 combo 10.3, 20.7
Task total: 40
Season total: 95
10.7 - In MemoriamShe Can Run by Melinda Leigh
+10 task
+5 Combo (20.8 - pg 263 - as she pulled two mugs and the box of chamomile tea from the cabinet...)
Task total: 15
Grand total: 140
10.6 Richard Adams Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
(178,785 ratings, 4.08)
Task Total = 10 pts
Season Total = 30 pts
20.7 Annie DillardUnder the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer
This was a strange experience for me: I have lived in Utah for much of my life and remember seeing this case on the nightly news when I was little. There is only so much that can be fit into those small sound bites (and I was only 10 at the time), so much of this material was entirely new to me. The Lafferty brothers were narcissistic, megalomaniac zealots who were cuckoo for cocoa puffs--Krakauer presents the facts and backstory clearly and effectively in regards to the murders they perpetrated.
Making the rest of this a "spoiler" because it's long and probably not very interesting...(view spoiler)
Just a side note: in the author's notes at the end, he quotes Annie Dillard, which I found so fitting for this task :-)
+20 Task
+10 Review
+20 Combo (10.2: 22 letters; 10.4: excluding subtitle; 10.6: 148k reviews, 4.0 avg stars; 10.8: covered the capture, imprisonment, and trial of Ron and Dan Lafferty)
Task total: 50
Season total: 110
15.6 BlackjackThe Art of French Kissing by Kristin Harmel
King spades - 'ing'
Queen diamonds - France
20 task
5 female
______
25
Running total: 245
7 owned/9 tasks
15.3 BlackjackImproper Stories by Saki
Ace hearts (pub date has 2 1’s) – counted as 11
7 hearts (author’s initial in SEVEN)
+15 Task
+5 Not a Novel
+5 Published 1919
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 110
15.3 BlackjackThe Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen
3 Spades (3-word title)
9 Spades (pub. 2019)
2 Diamonds (Janet Quin-Harkin)
3 Clubs (368p)
+15 Task
+5 Female
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 155
15.6 BlackjackListening in the Dusk by Celia Fremlin
King Spades (Listening)
9 Diamonds (UK)
+20 task
+ 5 female
+ 5 pub. 1995 or earlier (1990)
Task total=30
Season total=145
10.5 Sherlock HolmesWhose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
Review
I read this book hoping to discover another well written classic detective series to add to my TBR. I’d seen Sayers compared to Agatha Christie so my expectations were quite high but I didn’t think this book lived up to that comparison at all.
On the positive side, the plot was quite original and it easily kept my interest throughout. It was generally well written, with the exception of a few truly terrible similes and some clunky dialogue. But, I found the characters very one dimensional, and the attempts at humour just didn’t work for me. I also found it hard to overlook the antisemitic language and stereotypes scattered throughout the book.
I think I’ll probably give this series a second chance and try one more book but I was pretty disappointed with this start to the series.
+10 task
+10 oldies (published 1923)
+10 review
+15 Combo
[10.9 - first in the Lord Peter Wimsey series
20.8 - “Parker drank tea in silence, watching him.” ebook location 1750
20.10]
Post total: 45
Season total: 190
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 50 Mary wrote: "10.8 Go to JailThe Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook
This is a mystery story told from the perspective of an old man who was involved as a..."
Sorry. I am trying to avoid spoilers. A key character ends up in jail due to the central crime and that drives the way the narrator tells the story.
Mary wrote: " A key character ends up in jail due to the central crime and that drives the way the narrator tells the story."Thanks. I should have said I wasn't questioning you, but for this task it matters the way we enter it in the scorekeeping database.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Mary wrote: " A key character ends up in jail due to the central crime and that drives the way the narrator tells the story."Thanks. I should have said I wasn't questioning you, but for this task..."
Not a problem . . . When I wrote the review I was having a hard time trying not to give away the entire plot🙂. It might have been a bit too sketchy
Task 20.4 Robert Penn WarrenRead one of the top 175 books from this list of this list of The Great American Novel.
On March 1, 2020: Page Two, #162
Appointment in Samarra (1934) by John O'Hara (Paperback, 240 pages)
Review: Appointment in Samarra was John O’Hara’s debut novel. The characters are white middle class suburban Americans living in a small eastern Pennsylvanian town. The events take place over three consecutive days in late December of 1930. Prohibition still exists, but it doesn’t impede excessive drinking of alcohol by the various characters. The writing style is clear and straightforward, easy to understand. John O’Hara writes very believable dialog – he is willing to let the dialog convey the story, a rare trait in writers. The story he tells, though, is about a group of unpleasant and unhappy people living an alcohol-soaked middle class life. As the novel progressed, I kept thinking: there must be SOMEONE who is happy here! (view spoiler) Recommended as a cleverly written novel about unhappy people.
+20 Task
+10 Oldies -76 to 150 years old: (1870-1944)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 10 + 10 = 40
Grand Total: 00 + 40 = 40
Post 64 Marie wrote: "10.9 TrilogyDon Quixote Volume One by Rob Davis
(Final as the The Complete Don Quixote is composed of 2 books)
+ 10 Task
Task total = 10
Points ..."
Post 82 Marie wrote: "10.8 Go to Jail
Don Quixote, Volume Two by Rob Davis
Author / narrator is telling the story from jail
+ 10 Task
Task total = 10
Points total = 80"
I'm truly sorry, Marie. At RwS, a series consists of at least 3 books, so these won't qualify. If you have read at least 5 other graphic novels by Rob Davis, they might qualify for 10.1, but I don't see any other place for it.
CHANGED to 10.4 see post 12820.8 My Cup of Tea
The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith
P.84 Once Claire had briefed the others on the existence of the Codex Gigas, the danger of the remaining pages, and Andras’s plan to seek Bjorn in Valhalla, she took a long draw of her tea, carefully watching Brevity’s and Hero’s reactions.
Review: OK, the 2 stars does not mean that this was a bad book. It has so many great elements... unfortunately, I never cared about any of the characters. There were no stakes (even the Hellhound bit did not hook me because I did NOT CARE about the players) thus the grand adventure was a bit of a yawn. This was very nearly a DNF because I did not look forward to reading it at all, however it made falling asleep easier.
Brevity was pretty cool and I would have liked a little more about why she was in the library. However I think I liked her the best because she has the least story. That’s... unfortunate.
The whole thing with Leto was kind of gross. I mean, if you want to go there go there and make it meaningful. Did not like.
Hero could have been interesting, but like everything the great ideas were not executed in a way I enjoyed.
If the characters come alive for you though, this would be a really fun read.
+20 task (corrected +10)
+ 10 Combo (10.2, 10.4). (Corrected 20.8/10.4)
+ 10 Review
Task total = 40 (Corrected 30)
Season total = 40 (corrected 30)
10.9 Trilogy (Tien's Task) First Book in a series or trilogy that has ended. The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton. The “Void” trilogy has the following books:
The Dreaming Void
The Temporal Void
The Evolutionary Void
The last Peter Hamilton I tried was The Reality Dysfunction. I managed to complete that tome and get into the next one in the series, but stopped halfway through because the basic cosmos-view was so debilitating to the soul, and then crept into Al Capone nonsense.
But Hamilton has kept going with creating multivolume encyclopedic adventures, and, I must admit, they read very fast, keeping the excitement level high. The Dreaming Void, however, does not diminish the caustic view of the universe, though it goes in different directions with it and is, indeed, a different perspective not dependent on the earlier series at all. Thank goodness. What is basically disturbing on all levels is a disregard for goodness in people, relegating all physical sensation and, by extension, soul gratification to a senseless search for sexual excitement.
The evolution of the human soul Hamilton creates here is very akin to Iain M. Banks’ “Culture” series in how humans have the ability to keep themselves alive for centuries through bioengineered galactic storage databases. But the “Culture” series delves into the heroics of individuals caught up in the lunacy of the privileged few who can “store” themselves. (My personal favorite is Matter.) Hamilton’s “Void” is more along the lines of “How can we keep alive so we can keep having sex?” on a multi-universal level.
+ 10 Task
+ 10 Review
+ 5 Jumbo (630 pp)
Points This Post: 25
Total Points So Far: 105
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Reading with Style
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
I’ve owned Little Fires Everywhere for a while and I decided to get to it before the series aired next week. Throughout the first section, I was ready to recommend it to any reader who wanted to read a book for adults that was written like the best of YA. The writing is good and the teen characters are true to life. The plot diverged after the opening and the book, for the most part, stays strong, especially the writing. I can’t rate the book as 5 stars, though, because some of the plot lines developed so well in the book until nearly the end, tied up too quickly and some of the teen personalities don’t connect directly to their characters’ actions by the end of the book. I am curious to see what the TV series does with the characterizations and plot of this book. I discovered a bit of tea drinking as well, which was fun for RwS!
+20 Task: Cleveland
+15 Combo: 10.2 Letters (21) / 10.6 Richard Adams / 20.8 My Cup of Tea (She pulled an extra mug from the cupboard and put the kettle on...At the stove, Mia pretended to busy herself with opening a tea bag, p279.)
+10 Review
Task Total: 45
Season Total: 70