Reading with Style discussion

20.6 Katherine Anne Porter

Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates

This fictional biography of Norma Jeane Baker/Marilyn Monroe is a hugely imaginative reinvention of the legend. It gets right into the head of the main character in a way that I found totally convincing, and takes her seriously as an actress. I didn't know much about her before, so I don't know how much licence was taken with the facts, but it all hung together and I felt that it could all have happened, right down to her thoughts and words.

This is a huge book (my edition was 939 pages) and I had to tackle it a small chunk every day for a month. It never gripped me to the point where I wanted to rush ahead, I think because it's so intense. There are odd little sections from the point of view of unnamed lookers-on, like a Greek chorus, that I wasn't sure totally worked. But it's definitely a great book and it made me want to watch Monroe's films - I think I've only ever seen two.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 1001
+10 Jumbo (MPE seems to be 738 pages)

Post total: 50
Season Total: 190

15.4 Blackjack

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames

♥4 (400-499 pages=464 pages)
♦7 (title begins with "S"="Seven")
♣8 (title+subtitle=8 words) = 19
+5 Female

Task total: 25, 12 cards used
Season total: 355

20.8 My Cup of Tea

Maria in the Moon by Louise Beech

Catherine is an explosive and difficult young woman who tends to sabotage her relationships and has a chunk of memory missing from her childhood. She volunteers at a flood crisis helpline, having suffered a house flood herself, and she works in a care home for elderly people – although we hear very little about that. Almost all the plot is based around the helpline and her family, who are at a remove because both of her parents are dead and she has been brought up by her father’s second wife.

Her aggressive nature makes for some difficult reading at first, and it seems bizarre that someone like this should spend her work life and her free time helping other people, but as the story goes on it becomes understandable. In the end I really liked her prickly but vulnerable nature.

Tea: "Fern made us tea and handed me the black MENSA mug that I could never remember the origin of."

+20 Task
+10 Review

Post total: 30
Season Total: 220

15.2 Blackjack Round 2

The Spider-Orchid by Celia Fremlin

7 Diamonds (Spider)
Queen Diamonds (UK)

+15 Task
+ 5 Female
+  5 Pub'd 1995 and earlier (1978)

Task total=25
Season total=565

10.2 Letters

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott

While I'm not amazed that women found their way to fight in the Civil War, I was amazed that the author found as much source material as she did for the women she highlighted here. She follows four women, two working for the Union cause and two Confederates, from the beginning to the final days of the conflict all based on journals and letters and even interviews with their descendants.
Some of it read like a history book, but not necessarily in a bad way: lots of facts, dates, etc. but I feel like I needed the brush-up as it's been a long time since I've had a U.S. History class and I've never been a fan of reading about this particular war.
I always enjoy a well-researched book about people/events who are brushed under the rug of history and this one was definitely worth reading.

+10 Task (23 letters)
+10 Review
+5 Jumbo (513 pages)
+5 Combo: 10.8--both Belle Boyd and Rose O'Neale Greenhow are imprisoned--and spying from their imprisonment--for much of the book

Task total: 30
Season total: 380

15.5 Blackjack

The Killer Across the Table: Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI's Original Mindhunter by John E. Douglas

♣J (title has "J" or "K"="Killer")
♠J (name can be shortened to "Jack"=John) = 20
+5 Not-a-Novel

Task total: 20, 14 total cards used
Season total: 400

20.8 My Cup of tea

Fall, or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson

p679 Directly below them was the stopping-place where the other members of the party were resting their legs, drying out their clothes, and making tea over a little fire.

+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.3 or, 10.4)
+15 Jumbo (896 pages)

Post Total: 45
Season Total: 400

10.8 Go to Jail

His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae by Graeme Macrae Burnet

In 1869, a seventeen-year-old crofter from the Scottish village of Culduie admitted that he committed a horrific triple murder. The story unfolds through his prison memoir, police reports, psychological reports from prison doctors, and newspapers covering his trial. His solicitor is hoping to keep his client from the hangman's noose with an insanity defense.

The prisoner, Roderick Macrae, is an intelligent loner whose family was bullied by the victim, a local constable. Roderick was also regularly beaten by his father. The crofting system seemed to condemn the tenants to abject poverty where there was no hope of ever getting out of debt. Roddy's memoir shows us the social and economic problems of the poor tenant farmers.

The prison doctor's report illustrates the feelings of the mental health experts of the era. He felt that criminal behavior is hereditary. It's fascinating seeing the possible motives for Roddy's crime looked at from many perspectives. This book is an interesting combination of historical fiction and crime fiction. It was a Booker Prize Nominee in 2016.

+10 task p 44 "My cell here in Inverness is five paces long and two wide."
+ 5 combo 20.8 Cup of Tea p 47 "When I went inside, Mr Gillies was sitting on the bench at the table, and Jetta was preparing him a cup of tea."
+10 review

Task total: 25
Season total: 345

20.9 Women in Translation

Fair Play by Tove Jansson

+20 Task
+5 Oldies (published 1989)

Post Total: 25
Season Total: 425

15.6 Blackjack

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

D9-set n a Commonwealth country (100% in UK)
D3-pub. in the '30s (1938)
C6-Author name has 6 letters (Watson)

9+3+6=18

Task=20
Female=5
pre-1995=5

Task Total=30
Grand Total=655

Tasks Completed=18
10.1 (45); 10.2 (30); 10.3 (30); 10.10 (35)
15.1 (25); 15.2 (30); 15.3 (30); 15.4 (20); 15.5 (30); 15.6 (30)
20.1 (45); 20.2 (35); 20.4 (60) ; 20.5 (45); 20.6 (45); 20.7 (35); 20.8 (35); 20.10 (50)

10.1 Thirst for More
Godsgrave (The Nevernight Chronicle #2) by Jay Kristoff

Review


☝️ ME! At the end of this book!

I have always thought that something in book 1 was just not true. Even if I began to doubt myself throughout this book, that last word though! Wooh... Jay Kristoff's a maestro of plucking his readers' heart strings, is what! Tho... maybe I should save my crowing until I read book 3 to see if I'm anywhere near right lol

The first part of Godsgrave was a little hard to read as there are 2 time settings, months apart. Each chapter has both past & present times and while they are separated neatly, it can be really annoying when it's cut off just as it's getting really good and you have to wait for the next chapter to pick that line up. It is necessary, however, as that past story fills the readers in & bring them up to the present.

The second part was easier to read as I don't have to divide my attention anymore and there was always something happening. Fast paced and complex, I needed to give it my all. At each incident, however, I really had to turn it over in my head a few times because I just knew, more often than not, that it's never what it really seems.

Mia Corvere still carries that burning anger and hatred inside her. As her eyes are slowly opening to the world around her, however, she is slowly changing. Nevertheless, she has one goal in life and she'll not die nor be turned away from her course by anything.

I have to confess that I mostly just skim the footnotes but truly, some of them are just hilarious and deserve notice. I also have to confess that the sustained suspense from beginning to end was starting to stress me out (no joke, my heart rate is at an elevated rate when I'm reading this book). I'm not sure if I can survive reading book 3...

+10 Task
+10 Review

Post Total: 20
Season Total: 590

10.9 Trilogy (Tien's Task)
Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy #1) by Ken Follett
Edge of Eternity (The Century Trilogy #3) described as "the sweeping, passionate conclusion…"

Review
6 weeks it took me to finish this novel and mostly it's because I couldn't read more than 1 chapter a day. It was a hard slog but I persisted steadily and it paid off. I'm not a big fan of family sagas and this novel is firmly in that corner. Plus there was a lot of politics in this novel that I just couldn't rightly appreciate.

The novel opens in Aberowen, South Wales. A poor but intelligent family, the Williams, and a stuck up nobility, the Fitzherberts. This 850 pager tome primarily revolves around these 2 families and a number of characters that are caught in their webs in the early 20th century (primarily through the First World War).

I read this with a number of buddies and while 2 of them liked them enough to have finished in half the time that I took, we all agree that the war politics sort of took the shine of this book for us. While it is somewhat important to this epic tale of WWI, it drags a little and my eyes kinda glazed over those sections. It'll be a long time before I attempt the next book, I think.

+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.6 - 248,784 ratings & 4.29 avg rating)
+10 Review
+20 Jumbo (985 pages)

Post Total: 45
Season Total: 635

15.5 Blackjack

I, Coriander by Sally Gardner
(Lexile 860)

10 hearts, set in the 17th century
Q diamonds, set over 75% in the UK
total 20, 2 cards

+20 Task
+ 5 Female

Post Total: 25
Season Total: 245

15.9 Blackjack
Kappy King and the Puppy Kaper (An Amish Mystery #1) by Amy Lillard

4 Clubs (mystery)
5 Hearts (100% in Pennsylvania)
K Spades (KING ends in '-ing')

+30 Task
+5 Female

Post Total: 35
Season Total: 670

20.5 Jeffrey Eugenides

Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon

My reactions to this are definitely mixed. I love the way Chabon writes. The sentence structure isn't difficult in the way modernism is, yet not simple in the way twenty-first century writing is often presented. The vocabulary drifts along in an easy way and then wham! he slips in a word I should look up in the dictionary. I like this - don't spoon feed me! His dialogue is real, not clunky, and there is just enough of it.

The characterization of his narrator, Grady Tripp, is adequate. It isn't sterling, but I'm hard put to lodge an actual complaint. His two supporting characters - James Leer and Terry Crabtree - are OK. Terry Crabtree comes off better on the page than James Leer. This is a story told in first person, so perhaps it isn't so strange to say that I think that is because Grady Tripp knew Crabtree better - and longer - than Leer. I have commented elsewhere that it is a feat when an author can write good characterizations of the opposite gender. It's not clear to me that Chabon even tried to write a decent characterization of the two women who make the longest appearances. I'd like to chastise him for that.

In the end, there is too much plot for my taste. This is probably what gets in the way of good characterization. Being admittedly slightly sexist, maybe men prefer more plot than characterization. This definitely feels like a book written primarily for a male audience.

I can't bring myself to find more than 3-stars, but if I were honest, it probably sits in the top 25% or so of that group.

+20 Task (Pittsburgh)
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (1995, just made it!)

Task total = 35

Season total = 335

7 owned/ 11 read

10.6 Richard Adams

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

10 pts 10.6 Richard Adams
5 pts. 10.8 Go to Jail (Frankenstein ends up in jail twice falsely accused of the monster’s crimes)
10 pts Review
10 pts 1001 books
15 pts Oldies

I didn’t know what to expect from this book. The Halloween monster is deeply ingrained in popular culture and has little association with the creature in the novel. The novel discusses good and evil and the responsibilities that we have for our actions. Can good be turned to evil? Can ambitions result in evil? Is the quest for knowledge an unalloyed good? What are the unintended results of our actions if they are not driven by the best of intentions? This book is trueto the gothic tradition but is much more than a horror story

Cards used 15.1 -15.5 = 13

Task total: 50 pts
Season total: 335 pts
10.1 .... 10.3 .... .... 10.6 .... 10.8 .... ....
15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 . .... .... .... .... ....
.... .... .... .... 20.5 .... .... 20.8. .... ...

20.1 Edmund Morris

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

+20 task (winner of the National Book Award for nonfiction in 2015)
+10 review
+25 combo (10.3, 10.4, 10.6, 20.2, 20.8 - “She brought me water in a heavy glass. She drank tea.” [ebook location 290])

Task total: 55
Season total: 310

Review

This was one of the most powerful and moving books I’ve read in a long time. Written as a letter to the author’s son, the book both describes his own life experiences and explains his perspective on the history and contemporary reality of racism in the United States.

Especially for a nonfiction book, this was beautifully written. The style is very easy to read but there were many moments where I just had to pause and admire the author’s way with words. I was already planning to read The Water Dancer (the author’s first novel) but I’m looking forward to it even more after reading this book.

So many of the experiences described in this book made me angry that millions of people are forced to live in fear because of racism. One example in particular sticks with me. This described an occasion when a woman pushed the author’s four year old son out of her way and he spoke up to tell the woman this wasn’t acceptable. This was followed by other people coming to the woman’s ‘defence’ and threatening that they “could have him arrested”. And of course, in a society where Black people are routinely assaulted or even killed by the police, it’s clear that simply speaking up to defend his son (an instinct that I think every parent has) is enough to endanger his life. How appalling that just defending your young child from an adult’s aggression could put you both in jeopardy in this way.

One other aspect of the book I really appreciated was the way the author describes how his understanding of history and politics developed and changed over time. He clearly places so much value on learning and I was interested to read about how he developed and refined his ideas.

10.9 Trilogy

Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis

I first read this trilogy over 20 years ago and hadn't picked it up since. It's interesting where I stumble across something familiar and where I am sure I never read that part before, ever. I am also wondering whether the Marvel version of Thor and Loki came before or after the Dragonlance Universe, because there are some distinct parallels between Caramon and Raistlin....

The trilogy is clearly in a Tolkein tradition and reads very much like someone didn't want the books to end, so wrote more, but... It needed gods! And more dragons! And a tiny race that was not hobbits because that would get them sued. This isn't a bad thing. The story and the character interactions are distinctly different, well written, and engaging. I like them and want to know what happens next, because I remember one death and one surprise and that is it. So it's holding out better than some of the 20 years ago rereads I have attempted.

+10 task
+10 review
+5 age ( pub 1984)
+15 combo (10.2, 10.6, 10.7)

Task total: 40
Grand total: 445

15.8 Blackjack

Not So Stories by David Thomas Moore

9 of Clubs - title starts with N
10 of Clubs - original publication date in the 10s - 2018
Hand of 19

+30 task
+5 not a novel

Task total: 35
Grand total: 480

10.5 Sherlock Holmes

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle pub 1887, 123 pages.

10 task
5 Combo 10.6 Richard Adams (300,000+ 4.16 ave.)
10 Oldie
10 Review

35 task total,
135 Season total


I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was "gripping". There are so many reviews of this well known book so I feel somewhat redundant and will probably rely on cliches, but I mean them. One of English literature's best loved characters is introduced in this book. Doyle does a wonderful job of building the Holmes character, Dr. Watson's character, and developing the rules of logic under which Holmes operates. Dr. Watson is a chronicler and a friend from the very beginning.

This book is strange in that part 1 is what you would expect in a Sherlock Holmes investigation. Part 2 is an unexpected, but fascinating, trip to the settling of a section of the western part of the United States. Warning, there is a lack of respect for a particular religion in this section, but if you can get past that the narrative is amazing. The description of the countryside, the action and characters in Part 2 were my favorite part.

The only negative was my copy of the book had very small print. I have had to purchase a magnifying "page" to place over the book.

From Post 300

Marie wrote: "10.9 Trilogy (Tien's Task)

Magyk by Angie Sage

Fyre (Septimus Heap #7) is the last book of the serie.
(920 Lexile)

+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.6 - 104 000..."

+5 Jumbo

15.3 Blackjack Round 2

The Black House by Patricia Highsmith

3 Spades (3-word title)
10 Spades  (short stories)
4 Clubs (Thriller and Mystery MPG)

+15 Task
+  5 Not a novel (short stories)
+  5 Female
+  5 Pub'd 1995 and earlier (1981)

Task total=30
Season total=595

15.4 Blackjack Round 2

Dangling in the Tournefortia by Charles Bukowski

King Spades (Dangling)
Ace Hearts (1981)
8 Diamonds

+15 Task
+  5 Not fiction (poetry)
+  5 Pub'd 1995 and earlier

Task total=25
Season total=620

20.8 My Cup of Tea

Pompomberry House by Rosen Trevithick

Dee Whittaker, aspiring self-published Kindle author, goes to a mystery writers’ retreat on a strange and tiny island off the coast of ?Cornwall with a strange collection of other writers she only knows from a forum. Someone gets killed, all the other writers disappear, the police think she’s mad, and the only person Dee can rely on seems to be the husband she’s intending to divorce. Then the stories they have written on the island start coming true, and more people die…

A bizarre comedy-mystery that I think mostly works. It’s fun and entertaining, not believable but not supposed to be, and nicely free of typos for a self-published book.

Tea: "Then I nipped to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea."

+20 Task
+10 Review

Post total: 30
Season Total: 275

20.1 Edmund Morris

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert

This is a well written (and researched) book for a general audience about a difficult and complex subject. Much of the information wasn’t new to me, but put together in a cogent form made it very compelling. What was new to me was the evidence demonstrating that, aside from the vast destruction our species has wrought, the spread of Homo sapiens was the cause of all Continent’s megafauna’s extinction. I found this very interesting, and sad. Of course, this is a story we are still in the middle of (at least for someone my age). The worst part, for me, is that there were scientists who noticed (and published their findings) what was happening as far back as the late 1950s – yet we’ve still stuck the course of destruction. 4.5*

20 task
10 review
5 combo 20.7
____
35

Running total: 870

14 owned/22 tasks

20.8 My cup of teaA Scandal in Batterseaby Mercedes Lackey
"Nan pointed triumphantly and finished her tea." p 100
Task + 20
Female + 5
Total: 25
Grand total: 115

20.3 Theodore White

The Bishop’s Wife by Mette Ivie Harrison

20 pts 20.3 Theodore White
5 pts 20.6 Katherine Porter
5 pts Cup of tea p 274 « Anna sighed and then took a sip of tea »
10 pts Review

This book is a murder mystery set in the context of a Morman ward in Utah. The mystery is well written and draws together several different threads to finally allow the hero, a Mormon bishop’s wife to solve the mystery. The mystery itself is engaging, but the book also incorporates aspects of Mormon theology and social culture through the beliefs of the main character. I found this to be interesting as the LDS church is not a religion I am familiar with. The lead character’s actions and involvement in the events of the book are driven by her expected role within the community in support of her husband’s position in the church.

Cards used 15.1 -15.5 = 13

Task total: 40 pts
Season total: 375 pts
10.1 .... 10.3 .... .... 10.6 .... 10.8 .... ....
15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 . .... .... .... .... ....
.... .... 20.3 .... 20.5 .... .... 20.8. .... ...

20.8 My Cup of Tea

Despised And Rejected by A.T. Fitzroy

A remarkable book for its day (1918) in that it is quite open about love between two men. Dennis Blackwood stands out in his family as the musical one who is closer to his mother than any of the others - and then, as war approaches, he becomes generally "despised and rejected" by society for his pacifist views. But he finds friends among the conscientious objectors in London, while he tries to go against his nature by forming a relationship with a young woman.

A few months after publication, the book was prosecuted and banned for its anti-war stance. It's an interesting and courageous book, fluently written if a little overblown at times - the author, whose real name was Rose Allatini, was mainly a romantic novelist.

Tea: "They had a composite meal of eggs and tea and cakes" p 253

+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.3, 10.5 1918)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies

Post total: 50
Season Total: 325

15.7 Blackjack

Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth by Lisa Napoli

D-Jack-set 75% in an Asian country (Bhutan)
C-King-"Kingdom" in title or subtitle

Jack +King=20

Task=20
Female=5
NF=5

Task Total=30
Grand Total=685

Tasks Completed=19
10.1 (45); 10.2 (30); 10.3 (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)
20.1 (45); 20.2 (35); 20.4 (60) ; 20.5 (45); 20.6 (45); 20.7 (35); 20.8 (35); 20.10 (50)

20.6 Katherine Anne Porter

Worthy by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Waitress Virginia has been waiting for what seems like forever for widower Aaron to ask her out. But on the night when he finally does, tragedy strikes. Fast forward nineteen years, and the scars might finally have a chance to heal – thanks to a dog named Worthy.

This is such a lovely book, with appealing characters and such a loveable dog, that I'm giving it 5 stars as a splendid example of its genre. Recommended for anxious lockdowns and other situations where a person might want a book that's heartwarming, comforting, and not too challenging ... although be warned, something very sad happens at the beginning.

Tea: "Virginia put on a kettle of water for tea." chapter 32

+20 Task
+ 5 Combo (20.8)
+10 Review

Post total: 35
Season Total: 360

15.10 Blackjack

I read A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams.

Jack of Hearts, # 58 on the Antiheroes list
7 Diamonds, title begins w/ "S" (article "A" is not counted)

15.10 Task Points -- 45
1st pub'd before 1995 -- 5
Finisher Points 22 cards -- 100

Points This Post: 150
Total Points So Far: 485

10.5 Sherlock Holmes

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Goodness, that was fantastic! It was certainly more that I expected – adventure, romance, suspense, a heart wrenching ending. Other than the popular culture tropes about Tarzan I had no idea about the breadth of the story. Burroughs knew how to write a story to hold a reader’s interest. The plot moves along, the characters are interesting (or at least recognizable), and there is suspense picked up a chapter or two later. Of course, there are things that you have to suspend disbelief about – really, is Tarzan the most handsome manly man ever, and could Jane more frail?? But I don’t think that was the point of the novel. The point is escapism, fun and adventure – and it has it in spades. 5*

10 task
10 review
10 oldie
10 1001 list
_____
40

Running total: 910

15 owned/23 tasks

15.10 Blackjack
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

J Clubs (title has a k in unKindness)
Q Clubs (LGBT)

+45 Task

+150 Finisher (27 cards)

Post Total: 195
Season Total: 865

10.7

Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis

+10 task
+10 review
+5 age (pub 1985)

This second book of the trilogy had another strong parallel to Tolkein in the Council, and in the splitting of the original group, in the dragon orbs/palantirs, and other echoes. The story this time was darkness and despair in the twisted elven wood and love that was not enough and desires to turn aside, with a few glimmers of hope. The visuals are very striking, and the scenes easy to imagine. There is a lot of failing of people and politics in this one, and how individuals doing the best they can, with their heart, can make a difference, even when it doesn't seem like enough. This middle book leaves a lot of questions, as is to be expected, and I am excited to head to the conclusion.

Task total: 25
Grand total: 505

Task 15.2 Blackjack

+10 = Queen of Spades (book about royalty: queens/kings, prince/-esses, dukes/ duchesses)
+10 = Ten of Clubs (orig. pub date is in the 10s (xx10-xx19))
Sum Total = 20

Meghan: A Hollywood Princess (2018) by Andrew Morton (Hardcover, 253 pages) [Biography/921]

Task Points:
+15 Task
+05 Not fiction (Not a Novel)

Task Total: 15 + 05 = 20

Grand Total: 145 + 20 = 165

10.6 Richard Adams

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

I didn’t have anything on my TBR that fitted this task, so I decided to reread this first-ever Agatha Christie for some comfort reading.

Set during the First World War, it features Poirot and his sidekick Hastings, who is recuperating from a war injury at a country house called Styles Court. When the matriarch of the family is poisoned, Hastings brings in Hercule Poirot, a former Belgian policeman he has met in the past, who is staying near Styles Court with a group of other Belgian refugees.

In classic Christie style, Poirot then proceeds to solve the case step by logical step, while Hastings jumps to wrong conclusions. I think it’s well up to Christie standards despite being her first book, and draws on some of her own experiences, especially her war work as a dispensing pharmacist in a hospital.

Tea: "Mrs Cavendish gave me some tea, and her few quiet remarks heightened my first impression of her as a thoroughly fascinating woman."

+10 Task
+25 Combo (10.2, 10.4, 10.5, 20.8, 20.10)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (1920)

Post total: 55
Season Total: 415

15.6 Blackjack

Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry

♣A (one hit wonder)
♠7 (7-letter word in title="Marvels")
♥10 (historical fiction +100 years from date of pub=pub. 2015, set in 1895) = 21
+ 5 Female

Task total: 25, 17 total cards used
Season total: 380

20.6 Katherina Anne Porter

In Morocco by Edith Wharton

Since my traveling life is currently on hiatus and will be for the foreseeable future, I thought I'd visit one of my favorite countries through the eyes of a knowledgeable and wealthy tour guide: Edith Wharton.
It was a little jarring to hear her speak of harems and eunuchs and slaves and then describing aspects of Marrakesh that I feel were exactly as I saw them only a handful of years ago. And the doors that were open to her, being a wealthy American (even though she was a woman) were astounding: French military escorts, invitations to the wealthiest homes in Morocco, glimpses of lives that would be closed to the general public...
The travelogue section of the book was wonderful, though she ends it with a chapter on history and one on art of the region which were interesting but which I feel would have served her better to discuss concurrently with her travels.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (pub. 1919)
+10 Combo: 10.5; 20.8 "With preternatural vigilance she watched each movement of the Caïd, who never spoke to her, looked at her, or made her the slightest perceptible sign, but whose least wish she instantly divined, refilling his tea-cup, passing the plates of sweets, or removing our empty glasses, in obedience to some secret telegraphy on which her whole being hung."

Task total: 50
Season total: 430

Set 100% in Morocco, which would be the third book for that country for the group project...but I don't know if such things are still being recorded ;-)

20.4 Robert Penn Warren

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

This is a powerful, note perfect novella. I am a fan of Hemingway’s, and even though I’ve liked/admired his novels it seems to me that he is at his best with short fiction. I’m glad I hadn’t read this story until now, at this age. I think if I had read it when I was young I wouldn’t have enjoyed it. I (vaguely) recall seeing the movie and thinking it was tedious. The imagery and observational detail is really stunning. I also appreciated Santiago’s deep understanding of the sea and his place in it – he couldn’t dominate it, he had to work with it. 5*

20 task
10 review
10 1001 list
5 combo 10.6
5 oldie
______
40

Running total: 950

16 owned/24 tasks

10.1 Thirst for More

The King of Crows by Libba Bray

+10 Task (no lexile found)

Task Total: 10
Season Total: 370

10.3 Conjunctions

The Red and the Black by Stendhal

+10 Task
+ 5 Combo: 10.4 High Five Day
+10 1001 Books
+ 5 Jumbo
+15 Oldies

Task Total: 45
Season Total: 415

10.9 Trilogy (Tien's Task)

The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle

+10 Task: series ended at Doyle's death
+ 5 Combo: 10.5 Sherlock Holmes
+10 Oldies

Task Total: 25
Season Total: 440

15.1 Blackjack (Round 2)
Kappy King and the Pie Kaper (An Amish Mystery #3) by Amy Lillard

J Clubs (title has a k in King)
K Spades (KING ends in '-ing')

+15 Task
+5 Female

Post Total: 20
Season Total: 885

10.1

Golden in Death by J.D. Robb
Have read far more than 5 of this ...in Death series

Another good addition to the series. No personal developments in this one, just solid, delightful relationships with Roarke and Peabody and other friends and colleagues. The mystery developed well. It's not set up as a see if the reader solves it first kind of a mystery, but as a revealing the investigative process and thought process kind of mystery. You are walking with the detective, not being in awe of the inscrutable genius. The plot was solid, and a bit chilling, and grounded in emotions that were very relatable and believable as an extreme case. With them laid out in words as the case was built, so the reader follows the believability. Reminded me of why I enjoy this series so much and how blatant variation on a formula can still be a great experience.

+10 task
+10 review

Task total: 20
Grand total: 525

10.8 Go to Jail

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

This book is just what I expected it to be--hard boiled detective novel; slightly shady P.I., femme fatale, all of it. It's so much the model for these things that it almost felt cliche, then I would remember that in fact it's the model. I loved reading this and Sam Spade is just a fabulous character. I'm surprised he didn't become the lead in a series of stories.

I was interested in the way that Spade didn't seem to have a plan for what he was doing. He was tough and ready to kick butt, but he never really seemed to know from one minute to the next what was going to happen or how anything was going to work out. Generally, most lead detectives are given a little bit more ability to figure everything out a step ahead of the reader and the bad guys.

Very fun.

+10 Task (author has been to jail)
+10 Review
+10 1001 list
+10 Oldies (1930)
+5 Combo (20.4)

Task total: 45
Grand total: 380

15.4 Blackjack

Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire

King of Spades (word ending in -ing - Tumbling)
6 of Clubs (author name six letters - Seanan)
2 of Clubs (200-299pp - 201pp)

+15 Task
+5 Female author

Task total: 20
Grand total: 400

15.5 Blackjack

Loyalty in Death by J.D. Robb

10 of Diamonds (series has 10+ titles)
5 of Hearts (setting 75% in US state - NY)
2 of Diamonds (auth. publishes under 2 names - J.D. Robb and Nora Roberts)

+20 Task
+5 Female

Task total: 25
Grand total: 425

20.7 Annie Dillard

In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides

This is a true life adventure story. In the Prologue, Sides tells us how a ship rescued some people stranded on an ice floe. They were castaways of the Polaris. The story captured the fascination of much of the public and the US Navy sent the USS Juniata to see if they could locate the ship and the rest of its crew and passengers. Lieutenant George De Long had seen some of the world in his early days with the US Navy, but it wasn't until he happened to be assigned to the Juniata that he became fascinated with the Arctic.

No one had yet been to the North Pole. What was beyond the ice? It was largely believed that there was a band of ice protecting the pole, but the pole itself was balmy warm water, maybe even land and people living in that warm climate. The wealthy owner of the New York Herald, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., had previously financed Stanley's trip to find Livingstone. He was ready for another such story to sell newspapers. He was ready to finance De Long's Arctic Expedition.

Hampton Sides' writing style is closer to fiction than technical nonfiction and I like that. In this, he introduced the characters, provided some personality to go with them in addition to some of their own backstory. In this way, the reader has a chance to feel invested in the outcome. I think most of us know that Peary was the one who made it to the Pole, and that he did so years later than the 1870s/80s. (I admit to being fuzzy about the details of Peary.) But what happened to De Long and his crew on the USS Jeannette? I was not familiar with this story in the least, though some of the place names were familiar. It was just plain captivating reading.

I would liken Sides to Erik Larson and Timothy Egan. Each of them has a narrative style that draws you into the history they are relating. I feel fortunate to have been able to read another Hampton Sides so soon. I think this was better than his better known Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission, and that is going some. A full and robust 5-stars.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 combo (10.4)

Task total = 35

Season total = 370

7 owned/12 read

Post 329 Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "20.8 My cup of teaA Scandal in Batterseaby Mercedes Lackey
"Nan pointed triumphantly and finished her tea." p 100
Task + 20
Female + 5
Total: 25
Grand total: 115"

I'm sorry, Jayme. The Female style is only for Blackjack this season.

20.8 My Cup of Tea

Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

A fictionalised account of the lives of Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, and George Edalji, a mixed-race Birmingham solicitor and son of a vicar who was unjustly convicted of killing a horse and imprisoned. They meet halfway through the book and Doyle takes up Edalji's case, determined to see justice done.

I enjoyed this, although I found it slow in places. Of course all the dialogue and tiny details of the main characters’ lives are imagined, but I found myself believing in these two very different men as they are drawn – although sometimes George and his family seemed too good to be true.

Tea: "When Great-Aunt Stoneham comes to tea, as she does on the first Sunday of each month, she scrapes her cup noisily across its saucer and through a wrinkled mouth asks him about his friends."

+20 Task
+10 Review

Post total: 30
Season Total: 445