Reading with Style discussion
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FA 20 Completed Tasks
From Post 88Rebekah wrote: "10.3 Single
Pew by Catherine Lacey
+10 - task
+ 5 - combo (10.4)
Task total - 15 pts
Season Total - 80 pts"
+5 Combo 20.5
From Post 418Tien wrote: "20.3 Prolific
The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman
Review
The Red Garden is a collection of short stories set in and around a 'red' garden in small town Blackwell, Massachu..."
+10 Not a Novel
+5 Combo 10.7
From Post 440Valerie wrote: "20.2 Journalist
In a Glass Darkly by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
This is a collection of gothic horror stories (with the exception of ‘The Room in the Dragon Volant’, which i..."
Sorry, Valerie, with an original publication date of 1872, this qualifies for 10 Oldies points, not 15.
From Post 448Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "10.5 Banned Books
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stoneby J.K. Rowling
Review
I have read this series many times and I love this series. I have seen all the movies. I enjo..."
+5 Combo 20.9
Rebekah wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "20.6 Civil War Hiwassee: A Novel of the Civil War by Charles F. Price
+20 pts -Task
I had forgotten about Task 10.2, so I’d like to add it as a co..."
Got this one.
Kate S wrote: "From Post 440Valerie wrote: "20.2 Journalist
In a Glass Darkly by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
This is a collection of gothic horror stories (with the exception of ‘The Room..."
My goodness, this post has given me a lot of trouble! ha, ha... I must have been looking at the categories cross eyed.
Mary wrote: "Kate S wrote: "From Post 389Thanks Kate! Can I switch this book to 20.9 (from 20.3)?"
done.
Joanna wrote: "Kate S wrote: "From Post 400I'd also like to add +5 Combo 10.8 - New York, Ohio, Oklahoma."
Combo added. Readerboard will be posted soon.
20.5 WineAmerican Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
Wine: Pg 35 "Lydia cringed and took a gulp of wine."
Scrabble: ADJC Word: CAD
"American Dirt" is a riveting read about survival and a mother's love as a Mexican mother and her precocious eight-year-old son travel north to escape a narcotics cartel. The cartel had just murdered the rest of her family after her journalist husband wrote an article about "el jefe." How do you travel when the cartels control the roads? Migrants are raped or "disappeared" if they cannot pay the cartels. The trains closest to the United States border are only cargo trains, so the migrants must risk their lives riding on top of the railroad cars. They band with two Honduran sisters and help each other through the journey. Coyotes lead the migrants on a harrowing trek at the border. The danger and suspense starts on the first sentence, and never lets up.
There has been controversy with some people thinking that a non-Latinx should not be writing the story about forced migrations in Latin America. The book is written in an American voice. But fictional books are constantly being written by authors about places, events, and eras other than something they personally experienced. It would be wonderful if publishers published and promoted more writers from Latin America. But it seems unfair to verbally attack the author when the critics should be lobbying the publishers for more diversity. While there are certainly many more migration stories that should be told, "American Dirt" is a page-turner that has plenty of food for thought.
+20 task
+10 combo 10.2 Scrabble, 10.8 Jet Setters (Honduras, Mexico, Arizona, Delaware)
+10 review
Task total: 40
Season total: 585
Task 10.7 Non-Fiction (Ed's Task)Read a Non-Fiction book that is NOT a biography, autobiography or memoir.
Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt (2020) by Steven Johnson (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 286 pages) [910.45]
+10 Task
+05 Combo (#10.2: Tiles: SJEOAMATSOPPAHFGM; Word: GATE or GAME)
+10 Not-a-Novel: non-fiction
Task Total: 10 + 05 + 10 = 25
Grand Total: 375 + 25 = 400
30.1 Go for the GreenDeath by Obsession by Jaden Skye
Yes, we’re back in the Caribbean! This time on St. Martin. Also, the editor appears to be back!
This time around Cindy and Mattheus are hired by a father of the bride who is extremely uneasy about his prospective son-in-law. They fly to St Martin and become quickly embroiled in a ‘lives of the rich and famous’ life-style destination wedding. They actually dig up some dirt on the fiancé (Lynch), which causes the bride (Tara) to reconsider whether she really wants to marry him. This causes Lynch’s extreme tiger mom to lose her grip and things go downhill from there.
This instalment was certainly better than the last one. It was tighter and there were no glaring mistakes. The story was pretty interesting as well. However, this novel (as with the previous one I read) doesn’t really give the reader much of a feel of the island. Other than it being sunny with azure skies, there isn’t much island flavor which was a little disappointing. 3.5*
30 task
20 one book country bonus
10 review
20 combo 10.2*, 20.3, 20.5**, 20.7
_______
80
*dbojs = job
**near the end of Ch. 15 'The waiter brought their wine, filled two glasses, and both of them toasted.' (ebook, no pg nos)
Running total: 840
Kate S wrote: "Ann wrote: "my total is 5 points higher than the readerboard, I think my total is correct as I made all the noted adjustments"I show this error stemming from post 62. You claimed a jumbo, but as ..."
Thanks! I did make the corrections in my sheet, but then typoed in some combo points for 10.3 when I entered 10.4. I’m in sync now.
15.8 Power of 9In order by birth
The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville
1972
Task total = 15
Season total = 1120
20.4 SimilarHow to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
An important takeaway from this book: stop focusing on trying to change people's minds and feelings and expecting that the change in feelings will result in policy change. Instead, focus on policy change, which has the tendency to change people's feelings. For example, desegregating lunch counters has helped to create a society where hardly anyone today questions whether different-race people should eat in the same restaurant. But if we'd waited to change everyone's mind first, we might still be waiting.
Also: calling things systemic racism undermines the goal of changing policy because it obscures the fact that these systemic policies are still enacted by individual actors. It doesn't matter what's in the heart/mind of policymakers, but the results of policies matter a great deal. We need to focus on outcomes and be ruthlessly committed to making policy choices that create a better outcome.
And: racism is fundamentally about power, not about ignorance or feelings. Power to include/exclude. Power to control societal goods.
I highly recommend this book.
+20 Task
+10 Not a novel
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2 - HTBAAIXK - HABIT; 10.7 - approved in thread)
Task total: 50
Grand total: 675
15.7 Power of 9pub years, numerical
Death in the Wasteland by George Bellairs
+15 Task (pub 1963)
Season total = 335
20.7 P.I.Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
Maisie Dobbs mystery #3 seemed like three books or at least three plots, written into one book. It is 1930, and former war nurse Maisie has an established business as a psychologist/investigator. A high-ranking British lawyer asks for help determining whether his son actually died in World War I; the lawyer only made the request because his dying wife asked him to find out. He believed that his son's plane was shot down and the son perished; the wife did not. That is plot one. Second plot/sub-plot is that a thirteen year-old girl is charged with murder of an "uncle." Maisie gets involved. Third plot: Maisie's best friend asks for help regarding a brother who was in WW I. Those are the main ones--then add in her long-distance doctor-boyfriend and his intentions plus several other plots/angles and the result is that this book is jammed! Maisie's life is jammed, too, and it takes a toll mentally and physically. Some sad scenes of war memories in this book--would not be a good read for some people. Also, not a book to put down and come back to in a month because of the whole plot web, at least for me. I expect to read more Maisie books, though.
+20 Task
+15 Combo 10.4 (P for Pardonable), 10.8 (England, France, Germany), 20.5 "Priscilla pressed her cigarette into the ashtray and picked up her glass, taking another sip of the deep red wine." - p. 236
+10 Review
Task Total: 45
Season Total: 165
10.6 BannedThe Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelaure
This was a reread for me. I first read these in high school, when any sex scene in a book was an amazing revelation. At that time, I devoured this series. Now, as a more choosy erotica reader, I found this much more ho hum than I remembered. The folks in this book never really seem to be having much fun. It's all tears and ridiculousness. IIRC, the series does improve, but I don't think I have the energy to read the rest of the books again.
Also, this is unabashedly pornographic and not for the prudish or feint of heart. In the introduction, Anne Rice notes that she wanted to write a book where you wouldn't have to dog-ear the "good parts" because every page would be a good part. In that, she largely succeeds. But by doing so, she loses any real character reflection or emotion--it's just more beatings and making naked people rush about doing silly things.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (1983)
+15 Combo (10.2 - TCOSBANR - BRATS; 20.3 - A.N. Rocquelaure is a pseudonym for Anne Rice; 20.10 - b. 1941)
Task total: 40
Grand total: 715
10.2 Scrabble!The Anomaly (The Anomaly Files #1) by Michael Rutger
first letters: T A M R
word: ARM
Review
On front cover of my book, it says "For fans of Dan Brown". I guess in terms of the story, of a conspiracy in covering up archaeological findings etc that will ring true. In terms of the writing itself, however, I'm afraid this did not quite come up to par. It wasn't as fast-paced or thrilling as Brown's. The story tends to be more on the fantastical horror as opposed to action thriller of Brown's. For fans of horror, I think this would be a very tame sort of read.
The Anomaly started rather slow as Nolan Moore and his team prepare for their journey into Grand Canyon. They are following, or rather intending to prove it exists, a prior journey into a particular cave. Once the journey begins, the pace picked up and was maintained right up to the end. It definitely made me want to keep reading and I did but I found suspense to be a bit lacking. It was the mystery that drew me on but even then, at the end, I was a little let down. I might still give book 2 a chance though...
+10 Task
+10 Review
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1,160
20.1 AwardApex Hides the Hurt by Colson Whitehead
Tiles: AHTHCW Word: WATCH
Wine quote: "The clients had left some things for him on the wooden desk. Mayor Goode had sent up a bottle of port, Mr. Winthrop had sent him a local history written by a town librarian."
+20 task
+20 combo (10.2, 20.2, 20.4, 20.5)
Task total=40
Season total=745
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 410 Marie wrote: "10.7 Non-FictionDesign Mom: A Room-by-Room Guide to Living Well with Kids by Gabrielle Stanley Blair
+10 Task
(i'm not sure about the styl..."
Thanks :) i don't see other combos so that's good for me !
20.8 BedtimeThe Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.2 : TBGKI => BIG)
Task total = 25
Points total = 325
10.5 Monster ReduxGhosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella
Scrabble: GOHFS Word: FOG
Wine: pg 172 " Her mother lifted a glass of champagne off a passing silver tray."
Cady Archer is emotionally haunted by the suicide of her schizophrenic brother, Eric. She and her parents each carry a sense of guilt that they did not do enough to save him during his last year of life as a Harvard student. When Cady enters Harvard in her freshman year, she carries Eric's notebook of coded messages which he wrote while he was struggling with his mental illness.
Cady begins to hear voices of ghosts from Harvard's history. Is she also developing the same mental illness, or are the ghosts trying to contact her for another reason? She has trouble keeping up with Harvard's intensive courses because she's spending so much time talking to Eric's friends and mentor as she looks for the truth. The cryptic writings in Eric's notebook point to complications in his life that his family could never have imagined.
"Ghosts of Harvard" is a suspenseful mystery, as well as a coming-of-age story. The ghosts help Cady understand that none of us can rewrite history in other people's lives. The book has a good sense of place since author Francesca Serritella is a Harvard graduate. 3.5 stars.
+10 task
+20 combo 10.2 Scrabble; 10.4 Pilgrim; 10.8 Jetsetter (MA, PA, NY); 20.5 Wine
+10 review
Task total: 40
Season total: 625
10.5 Monster ReduxThe Devil's Kiss by Gemma James
I picked this as a foray into "dark romance." But I should have known better. The characters here weren't believable and behaved in ways that made little to no sense. The plot was twisty, but was so far fetched that I couldn't suspend disbelief. And the book uses childhood trauma as a stand in for character development. I found myself rooting for the wrong hero, which is always a bad sign in a romance novel where the ultimate outcome is pre-determined.
Here, the gorgeous bad-boy boss catches his beautiful damaged heroine embezzling money (to pay for her child's cancer treatment). He threatens her into performing sexually for him. But then, part way through, he seems to have a personality transplant and it turns into Indecent Proposal--just give me one weekend to show you how dashing and rich I am.
I won't be continuing with this series.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.5 - "Wine swished into my glass an instant later, and the waiter left after taking our orders." (23%))
Task total: 25
Grand total: 740
15.3 Power of 9.1927
Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis
Task total: 15 pts
Correction to Post 389 5 pts
Season total: 600 pts
... 10.2 ... 10.4 ... 10.6 10.7 10.8 ... ...
... 20.2 20.3 ...20.5 20.6 ... ... 20.9 ...
15.1 15.2 15.3 ... ... ... ... ... ... ..
30.1
20.2 JournalistA Killing in the Hills by Julia Keller
+20 task
+5 Combo (10.2 - AKITHJK - kit, hat)
Task total: 25
Grand total: 535
20.5 - WineThe Proposition by Katie Ashley
+20 task (Instead, I'll offer you more wine, he remarked. She held up her glass.)
+15 Combo (10.2 - TPKA - pat, tap, 10.4, 20.3)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 570
20.3 - ProlificAunt Bessie Wonders by Diana Xarissa
+20 task
+15 Combo (10.2 - ABWDX - wax, bad, dab, wad, 10.4, 20.5 - She could see a wine bottle and an empty glass on the table.)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 605
20.3 ProlificMystery Villa by E.R. Punshon
I am reading these in order with a group. You can just imagine my delight when this installment came perfectly in October. The Mystery Villa is a derelict Tudor Lodge - complete with cobwebs! - in a seedy London neighborhood. A seldom seen, now elderly, lady has been living there alone for decades. Why alone and how does she support herself? And who are these people recently seen by the nosy Mrs. Rice who lives next door?
The series is called "The Bobby Owen Mysteries" but I become convinced that Superintendent Mitchel should be getting some billing. Bobby is definitely more than Mitchell's eyes and ears but only just. Bobby, once a Constable but now a Sergeant, happens to be in the right place at the right time to have his curiosity piqued. He is curious enough to do some cursory and unofficial investigation. This seems to be the course of the mysteries in this series. When Bobby has seen or heard enough he makes a report. Superintendent Mitchell asks questions that Bobby seems not to have considered, let alone know the answers to.
Is any mystery novel perfect? If so, I haven't read it and I don't proclaim this one to be. I simply like the way Punshon writes and I like his characters. Someone more perceptive than I am might have had a better inkling to the solution. Though this is just another medium to strong 3-stars, I'm glad I have plans to continue the series.
+20 Task (35 books in this series)
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2 - mverp = REP; 10.4)
+10 Oldie (pub'd 1934)
Task total = 50
Season total = 385
10.2 Scrabble White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America by Margaret A. Hagerman
This was a fascinating book - I finished it yesterday and have already recommended it to someone. It's a sociological study but doesn't read like someone's dissertation (it might have been, but again, doesn't read like that!). Hagerman embeds herself in a Midwestern community, studying upper middle class white families in 3 different neighborhoods. She's specifically looking at how kids make sense of race, and how parents' overt decisions about where to live and where to send kids to school impact that -- and of course how parents' less conscious comments and small decisions (how to describe a neighborhood or a person, how to answer kids' questions...) impact that as well. The takeaway was (of course!) that it's complicated - it's hard to raise kids with a lot of privilege (in this case, class and race) to not take it for granted, and even harder when kids are in fairly homogenous bubbles.
+10 task (WKGUWPIARDAMAH = pig)
+5 combo (10.7)
+10 review
+10 not a novel
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 560
10.4 Pilgrim Glass Houses by Louise Penny
This is installment #13 in the Armand Gamache series - I always listen to these on audio, even when the narrator changed, and it feels like stopping in to visit a friend each time. It's just a homey, friendly series - despite the abundance of corruption and murder. In this entry in the series, Penny introduces the "cobrador del frac", a Spanish debt collector who basically shames people into paying - which is true, and fascinating!! However, in Penny's story, the cobrador isn't collecting financial debts, but moral. As always, there are twists, and moral dilemmas, and witty banter. Gamache is now in charge of the Surete de Quebec, and takes on commensurately difficult challenges with his typical cast of characters.
+10 task
+10 combo (20.2, 20.5 - "'Please,' said Reine-Marie, and accepted the glass of red wine." - chapter 19)
+10 review
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 590
15.4 Power of 9.1936
Live Alone and Like It by Marjorie Hillis
Task total: 15 pts
Correction to post 230: 30 pts not added to total from this post. Ie missed this book although it has been added to my readerboard total by Kate. We should tie through this point now!
Season total: 645 pts
... 10.2 ... 10.4 ... 10.6 10.7 10.8 ... ...
... 20.2 20.3 ...20.5 20.6 ... ... 20.9 ...
15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 ... ... ... ... ... ..
30.1
10.3 SingleKin (Helga Finnsdottir #1) by Snorri Kristjansson
Review
I enjoyed the writing and this setting. And while I do like the protagonist, Helga, I had a hard time pinning her age... Half the time, she's supposedly a child, but the other half, she's not and she definitely does not think like a child. So maybe she is on the verge of womanhood and a very clever one at that.
It was a bit of a slow start or a very long set up but it did make a very good build up to the time when crime was committed. And once that happened, everything tumbled down like dominoes. The pace picked up and did not slow right up to the end. However, I'm still not sure about the ending... The who and why are still a bit muddled for me.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1,180
30.1 Go for the GreenGoodbye to Budapest: A Novel of the Hungarian Uprising by Margarita Morris
I'm always a little wary of titles that are free on Kindle...I know there are a lot of self-published, unedited, horribly written books that end up on my e-reader only because they sounded "okay" and were free, but every once in a while I'll find a gem--this was definitely one of them.
I don't know much about Eastern Europe immediately post-WWII other than the Cold War propaganda that was swirling about in the early '80s (I was only in Elementary School then, so the limit of my understanding began and ended with the Disney movie, "Night Crossing," about an East German family who builds a hot air balloon to escape to the West): long bread lines, Communism, KGB, and everything seeming pretty grey--that was about the extent of it. This book, set from 1952-1956 in Budapest, gives us a glimpse of what it was like: the constant fear and suspicion, the midnight arrests of innocents who were forced to sign "confessions" concocted by their captors, the yearning for change and spark of revolution that is steamrolled by the inexorable Party.
I loved the telling of this story--the writing was smooth, well-edited, and enjoyable. I loved the characters which, while numerous, were easy to remember and tell apart (which can sometimes be a challenge when there are so many characters' stories being told).
Overall, this was 4 stars for me.
+30 Task, Set 99% in Hungary
+20 "Blue" Country
+10 Review
+20 Combo (10.2 GTBANOTHUMM: BANG; 10.4; 10.8: Hungary, Austria, England; 20.5: "'More wine?' asks Sandor, uncorking a second bottle of red. He refills everyone's glasses then lifts his in the air.")
Task total: 80
Season total: 1135
Task 10.2 Scrabble!Tiles: OWAMASADB
Word: SWAM
Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight (2019) by Aliette de Bodard (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 384 pages)
Review: This book is a collection of fourteen shorter works, all written byAliette de Bodard. The fourteen stories consist of eight short stories, five novelettes, and one novella. The novella “Of Birthdays, Fungus, and Kindness” is new to this volume. The other thirteen stories were published elsewhere 2010-2017. Every story (except the novella) were nominated and, occasionally, won awards for best short fiction in science fiction and/or fantasy: Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, British Science Fiction and Locus. Twelve of the stories are set centuries in the future in the same Fantasy Universe – one where China colonized western America before the Europeans arrived. Almost all the characters in her stories are female, and almost all of them are of Vietnamese ethnicity. (Aliette de Bodard was born in Vietnam and fled, with her family, to America after the war.) Almost every story mentions a war between the Galactics and the Xuya empire (the Galactics sound a lot like 20th Century America, while the Xuya empire is Vietnamese.). All stories are more interested in what the heroine is doing and feeling than it is in the physical backgrounds of the stories. There does tend to be a sameness to the stories if you read them in one sitting. Recommended for readers of science fiction short fiction that has an Asian flair, and for those interested in reading Hugo Award and Nebula Award winners.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 10 + 10 = 20
Grand Total: 400 + 20 = 420
10.5 Monster ReduxWaking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power by Pam Grossman
+10 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo (10.2 - W*R*A*P*T, 10.7)
+10 pts - Not Novel
Task Total - 30 pts
20.10 Another Birthday? Rage by Bob Woodward
1943 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Woo...
+20 pts - Task
+25 pts - Combo (10.3, 10.4,10.8 - author interviewed Donald Trump in NYC, Wash DC, and the Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida. Also talked about Trump’s visits to Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, crossing the DMZ line into North Korea, 20.2, 20.3 - according to Wikipedia, he has authored 20 books)
+10 pts - Not Novel
Task Total - 55 pts
20.10 Another Birthday? Rage by Bob Woodward
1943 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Woo...
+20 pts - Task
+25 pts - Combo (10.3, 10.4, 10.8 - author interviewed Donald Trump in NYC, Wash DC, and the Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida. Also talked about Trump’s visits to Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, crossing the DMZ line into North Korea, 20.2, 20.3 - according to Wikipedia, he has authored 20 books)
+10 pts - not a novel
Task Total - 55 pts
Whoops! I don’t know why it posted twice! I went back to edit my addition and now I see it twice, although I didn’t rewrite the whole thing! ( I only read the book once, I promise 😊)
20.5 WineMiss Mapp by E.F. Benson
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo (10.4, 20.3)
+10 pts - Oldies (pub 1922)
Task Total - 40 pts
10.1 Short WorksMy own collection
To Build a Fire by Jack London
(32 pages)
Jack London’s writing is as wonderful as ever. The way he builds tension and a growing sense of foreboding throughout the story is masterful. A welcome reminder that I should read more of his writing.
Shine, Pamela! Shine! by Kate Atkinson
(20 pages)
A really interesting and well drawn main character, but the unexpected ending left me somewhat confused and a little disappointed.
Halfway to Free by Emma Donoghue
(27 pages)
A fascinating idea and a brief glimpse into the world the author created here just wasn’t enough. I wish it had been a novel as I was left imagining what might have happened next.
“Saturday Afternoon” by Alan Sillitoe published in The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner
(10 pages)
Whew. Even by Sillitoe’s standards this was pretty bleak.
“The Match” by Alan Sillitoe published in The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner
(12 pages)
As above. This is mostly a character sketch of the protagonist who is a particularly unlikeable individual. Ends on a slightly hopeful note though, and as always Sillitoe’s description of the setting is spot on.
“Summer of 38” by Colm Tóibín published in That Glimpse of Truth edited by David Miller
(10 pages)
The title of the anthology I found this in feels very appropriate. Just a glimpse into a moment in a character’s life but shows beautifully how that moment went on to shape her life in unexpected ways.
+10 task
+10 review
+10 not a novel
Post total: 30
Season total: 270
Just wanted to add that I really enjoyed choosing stories for this task. Thank you moderators for the creative task idea.
20.3 ProlificCards on the Table by Agatha Christie
My review
Not my favourite Poirot novel, but a good detective story nonetheless. The mystery centres on the murder of a dinner party host who has invited to dinner four guests he believed were guilty of undetected murders. Predictably enough he finds himself the next victim of one of his guests.
As well as Poirot himself, the other guests at the party include a writer of detective stories; a police inspector, and a man believed to be a secret service agent. They each set out to investigate the suspects and to find evidence that they may have been responsible for a murder in the past and killed again to ensure their secret wasn’t made public. The use of four different investigations added interest to the story, showing how each approached the case differently. I still think I prefer Poirot stories told from first person perspective though, especially ones with Hastings narrating.
+20 task
+10 review
+10 oldies (originally published in 1936)
+20 combo
[10.2 - “cot”]
[10.8 - main setting is England, action also takes place in Egypt and an unnamed South American country (the location is given as the Amazon so either Brazil, Colombia or Peru)*]
[20.5 - "Then he shrugged his shoulders and picked up his wine-glass." (ebook location 254)]
[20.7 - Poirot is a private detective]
*if this isn’t acceptable please deduct the 5 points from my total
Post total: 60
Season total: 330
10.6 Banned Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
#157 on the banned book list
Task total = 10
Points total = 345
20.3 - ProlificAunt Bessie's X-Ray by Diana Xarissa
+20 task
+10 (Combo - 10.2 - ABXDX - bad, dab, 10.4)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 635
10.1 - Short WorksMy own collection
A Lesson in Crime by Wes Markin - 47 pgs
The Academy by Robert Dugoni - 44 pgs
Third Watch by Robert Dugoni - 47 pgs
+10 task - 138 pgs
Task total: 10
Grand total: 645
30.1 Go for the GreenPieces of Happiness: A Novel of Friendship, Hope and Chocolate by Anne Østby
After reading about war and repression and and a sinister, pervading darkness it was nice to lounge under the Fijian sunshine with this group of ladies! Kat has traveled the world her entire life and now finds herself settled and in possession of a cocoa plantation in Fiji. She sends an invitation to her four best friends, still living in Norway, and invites them to join her. They're all now in their mid-60s and, mostly retired and widowed, they accept.
The women are familiar: Kat is a near carbon-copy of Meryl Streep's character in Mamma Mia (though in character only, not necessarily in circumstance); Lisbeth is so Blanche from The Golden Girls, obsessed with her looks and attractiveness to the opposite sex; Ingrid, with her alter-ego Wildred, are right out of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe ("Towanda!"); Maya is Beth from Little Women, the sweet but sick one; and Sina is reminiscent of Olive Kitteridge. Their chocolate-making venture is very Chocolat--when it's actually talked about, which very little. There is the wise and faithful housekeeper, Ateca, who is always praying for the ladies and for her son and basically keeping their precarious metaphoric ship afloat. The book as a whole felt very Maeve Binchy on a tropical island.
Yes, it's pretty derivative, but I enjoyed the point of view of women in their maturity who don't care about what other people think or want from them and can just be themselves. The themes of releasing regret in later life, of forgiveness, of accepting even the ugly parts of ourselves, and of living every moment of life made for a refreshing read that wasn't complete fluff.
+30 Task, set 95% on Fiji
+20 "Blue" Country
+10 Reveiw
+25 Combo (10.2 POHAO: HOOP; 10.4; 10.8: Fiji, Norway, Nepal; 20.2: states in goodreads profile that she is a journalist; 20.5: "That night, we celebrate Armand's arrival with a glass of wine.")
Task total: 85
Season total: 1220
20.7 P.I.Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
Scrabble: DIABDWM Word: BAD
Ezekeil "Easy" Rawlins is an African American worker at an aircraft plant who has just been fired. He needs to pay the mortgage so he takes a job as a private investigator for a smooth white guy. He wants to locate femme fatale Daphne Monet who is fond of Easy's favorite jazz club. Easy has no idea that this job will pull him into Los Angeles' underworld, and eventually into a new career.
In addition to being an exciting mystery with snappy dialogue, the book also shows the state of race relations in 1948. Easy grew up in Houston, and fought during World War II when the army remained segregated for most of the war. He avoids police intervention in the case since he's afraid of being framed for the violent crimes he's investigating. Easy Rawlins is a likable character who demands respect as he tries to make ends meet in a tough city.
+20 task
+20 combo 10.2 Scrabble; 10.5 Monster Redux; 10.8 (California, Texas, Louisiana, Germany); 20.3 Prolific
+10 review
+ 5 oldie (pub 1990)
Task total: 55
Season total: 630
20.7 P.I.Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
Fourth and best so far in the series IMO (and the longest!). PIs Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott face their own personal demons as they investigate a cold case for the first time, the disappearance of a doctor in the 1970s.
Was Margot Bamborough another victim of the serial killer active in the area at the time, as the police have always suspected but the convicted killer has never admitted? Or was there another reason for her vanishing from the face of the earth on her way to meet a friend after work in London? Cormoran and Robin have a year to investigate, but it doesn't seem to be long enough.
* 20.5 Wine: "Gloria reached out of shot for a large glass of red wine, took a sip..."
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo (20.5)
+10 Review
+20 Jumbo (944 pages)
Task total: 55
Season Total: 535
30.1 Go for the GreenMelmoth by Sarah Perry
This was on my list for this season for 20.8, but when Anika pointed out that it worked for 30.1 I changed things around. The main setting is Prague, and what an atmospheric Prague it is!
The novel does start off slow, and I’ve been reading novels that plunge you right in but luckily I was at a cottage so I could take the time to let this story develop. And boy, does it develop. Perry unfolds the characters’ stories very deliberately and because of that, even with hard left turns, they make sense. This is the kind of novel that you will think about long after. Everyone’s story is complex.
This could easily be a book that you read in one fantastic gulp (if you had a whole uninterrupted day) because of the way you are drawn in. However, I think it benefits from setting it down and letting it simmer in your mind. 4*
30 task
20 one book country
10 review
25 combo 10.3, 10.4, 10.8 Czech Rep., Phillipines, UK, 20.5, 20.8
____
85
Running total: 925
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Reading with Style
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I show this error stemming from post 62. You claimed a jumbo, but as Elizabeth(Alaska) noted in post 98, the MPE does not qualify.
From post 62:
Season Total: 335
+40 (post 86): 375
+30 (post 90): 410
+25 (post 104): 435 <- this is the post you said corrected the jumbo points, but the math does not currently reflect that.
There may be an error elsewhere, but looking at the history for the season, it appears this is where it starts.