Reading with Style discussion

10.1 Short Works

Out Now: Queer We Go Again! by Saundra Mitchell

This is a collection of stories with LGBTQ protagonists from current popular authors (and some new up and comers!). There's a wide range in the anthology - some I loved and some I thought were just okay. "Victory Lap" by Julian Winters was a standout - beautiful writing and sweet, funny story. "What Happens in the Closet" by Caleb Roehrig was fun (gay vampires!). The collection ranged across realistic fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and a few stories that straddled the genre boundary a bit. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, you probably will be! There is something for everyone.

+10 task (anthology)
+10 not a novel
+10 review

Task Total: 30
Season Total: 685

20.7 P.I.

Mary Russell's War And Other Stories of Suspense by Laurie R. King

Totally delightful collection if you've read some of Laurie R. King's Mary Russell books (I think she's up to something like #17 full length novels in the series!). I am a big fan of the series and have read most of them, and so this collection was like coming home to old friends. (If you haven't read any of the books I'd imagine it's a bit more confusing). Mary Russell is Sherlock Holmes' protege, co-investigator, and eventually wife, in this series. The stories in this collection fill in a number of gaps within the series, from Mary's childhood to Holmes' perspective on their meeting, and mysteries referred to in passing but not elaborated on in other books. Each story of course also contains some mystery and crime, or retelling of crime, large or small. It actually made me want to go back and re-read the series, though that's a large undertaking at this point!

+20 task (Mary Russell is Sherlock Holmes' protege and co-detective)
+15 combo (10.2 - MRWAOSOSLRK = WAR; 10.4, 20.3 - I'm counting 29 full length works, though I might be missing some!)
+10 not-a-novel (short stories)
+10 review

Task Total: 55
Season Total: 740

20.2 Journalist

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

20 pts 20.2 Journalist
5 pts 20.5 Wine
5 pts 10.2 Scrabble tiles: CRIF fir
5 pts Oldies
10 pts Review

Not what I expected. The movie is a farce and very loosely based on this novel. This is not a satire and is a hard boiled spy story (if that is a thing!) which is both a bit cynical and effectively introduces James Bond. It is less than clear that Bond is a winner in the end even though he gets his man.

Task total: 45 pts
Season total: 790 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 15.5 ... ... ... ... ..
30.1

20.6 Civil War

Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey

Peter Carey, it's not you; it's me. Lots of people adored this book. I might have adored this book if I'd read it at a different time. But I just couldn't get into this slow moving historical fiction right now as my anxiety about the present is through the roof. I wanted to be enveloped by these characters and this story, but instead my mind constantly wandered and it was a chore to get through this long novel. The image of taking a glass cathedral out into rural Australia was supposed to see awe-inspiring and windmill-tilting at its finest. But eh? I just found it slow moving and sort of sad. Maybe I should rent the movie.

+20 Task
+5 Jumbo (515pp)
+5 Oldies (1988)
+10 Review
+15 Combo (10.2 - OALPC = CLAP; 20.5 (some sherry drinking), 20.10 - b. 1943)

Task total: 55
Grand total: 795

20.5 Wine

Masters at Arms by Kallypso Masters

This is really a preview novel that gives the backstories of the male leads for the rest of the books in the series. It's a lazy way to handle it--rather than write the backstories as part of character development and slow reveal the way one would normally do, this author just writes a short piece about the history of each of these characters and how they got to know each other. I think because she knows it's sort of lazy and boring, the author then strongly admonishes readers that they'll disappoint her and deprive themselves of important information if they skip this part. She's even repackaged this as a single volume with Book 1 in the series. I thought I would want to read about Marines. But really, right now, all I want is escape from the anxiety of the real world. These books fit the bill.

+20 Task ("He drained his glass of pinot bianco and leaned over to set his wineglass on the oak coffee table.")
+10 Review
+15 Combo (10.2 - MAAKM=MAM, 10.4, 10.8 - Iraq, Germany, California)

Task total: 45
Grand total: 840

20.5 Wine

Nobody's Angel by Kallypso Masters

This is a bodice ripper of medium quality. There are real characters having complete conversations and real interactions, but the emotional connection is assumed rather than explained or felt. There's a suspenseful plotline in the background to give the book more than just a string of sex scenes and the plot actually helps drive the romance to some extent. But at the end of the day, the reason to read these books is for easy escape. This isn't improving my brain or deepening my understanding of the world. This isn't making me a better person. It's just giving me a few hours break from worrying about the state of the world. And right now, I need that so much.

+20 Task ("Angelina took another sip of wine and bit into the last pretzel.")
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2 - NAKM=MAN, 10.8 - Colorado, Iraq, Afghanistan)

Task total: 40
Grand total: 880

20.5 Wine

The King by Tiffany Reisz

I got sucked into this series earlier this year as I began seeking escapist romance novels to distract me. These books are best read in order, so if you are finding your way here without reading the rest of the series, you should go back and read The Siren. If you like it, read the series. If it isn't for you, no reason to be here. These are popular enough that I was able to download them from my library.

This book goes back and tells the backstory of one of the most intriguing characters of the series - Kingsley Edge. He's built an empire as the King of the kink underworld. This book tells how that empire was built and why. Most of the book is him telling this story to someone much later, but it's written as if happening fresh. There's thick plotting and lots of kink here-no traditional romance though. I'll definitely be finishing out this series now that I've read six of the eight books.

+20 Task ("Kingsley took a sip of his wine.")
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.8 - England, France, New York)

Task total: 35
Grand total: 915

Task 20.4 Colin Whitehead

From Message #20 from Help Thread:

Similar to Zone One

The Deep (2019) by Rivers Solomon (Goodreads Author), Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes

+20 Task

Task Total: 20

Grand Total: 435 + 20 = 455

20.5 Wine

Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin

I don't know if I ever would have picked this one up had it not been mainly set in Virginia, a state I was missing in my USA Roadtrip challenge in another group. I liked it. I liked it in the way that I like watching Bosch and Sons of Anarchy and Justified--a guilty sort of "like"...a "like" that I can't explain because it's so outside the bounds of what I normally like. It also has a Cormac McCarthy feel to it--someone I don't normally like at all.
When I described it to my husband, all I could come up with was: "It's about bears and the Mexican cartel and hillbilly bear-poachers in Appalachia and rape and murder. Oh, and dogs. There's quite a bit about dogs in there." It's such an incongruous mix of subjects and personalities, but it worked. I like that it was a standalone novel, even though I really did like the main character enough that I wouldn't be sad to read more with him. If I could award partial stars, this would get a 3.75.

+20 Task "On the mountain they cooked enchiladas with prosciutto on his little camp stove, drank a bottle of cheap cabernet, partook of one line of cocaine each."
+10 Review
+15 Combo (10.2 BJAM: JAMB; 10.3; 10.8: Virginia, Arizona, Mexico)

Task total: 45
Season total: 1400

20.3 - Prolific

Forbidden Pleasure by Lora Leigh

+20 task
+5 Combo (20.5 - She picked up her wine and sipped from it as she met their brooding looks.)

Task total: 25
Grand total: 770

20.3 Prolific

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

This is book four in the "Wayward Children" series and I think it's my favorite so far. It's set in a world loosely based on Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market," which is a poem I have long loved. I also love that, rather than following one of the students we encountered in Every Heart a Doorway, we get the backstory of one of the faculty at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children. Katherine Lundy has always been a rule-follower, never been particularly popular, a middle child sandwiched between a hellion of a brother and an infant sister. She has never fit in...until she finds her way through a door in a tree and into the Goblin Market. These are strict and binding rules that allow the Market to exist and Katherine is determined to live by those tricky rules to stay in this place of marvels--even when living by the rules is the most dangerous option there is.
I wish there had been more description of the Market, but being familiar with the poem I unconsciously filled in the missing details with those supplied in Rossetti. I think the visuals conjured up in my brain were more along the lines of Heironymous Bosch, "Garden of Earthly Delights" though--fantastical and terrifying in equal measure.
If you are a lover of fairy tales, especially the darker ones where toes are shorn off to fit in glass slippers and mermaids dissolve into sea foam because "happily ever after" is just a construct of Disney, this series is for you.

+20 Task, author has published 30+ books (including titles published under her pseudonym, Mira Grant)
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2 IAADSM: MAIDS; 10.4)

Task total: 40
Season total: 1440

15.6 Power of Nine
The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson

+20 Task (pub. 1954)

Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1,250

15.7 Power of Nine
The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis

+20 Task (pub. 1963)

Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1,270

15.8 Power of Nine
Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg

+30 Task (pub. 1972)

Post Total: 30
Season Total: 1,300

Anika wrote: "20.3 Prolific

"author has published 30+ books (including titles published under her pseudonym, Mira Grant)

This alerted me to a missed combo. In post 228, I claimed Feed by Mira Grant.

I'd like to add +5 for 20.3.

Grand total: 920

20.5 Wine

The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey

Robert Blair was about to leave the office for the day (early, only 4pm!) when he answered the telephone. As he reflected later, had that call been even a minute later, everything would have been different. On the phone was Marion Sharpe of The Franchise who pleaded with him to come help, she was desperate. Inspector Grant of Scotland Yard and local Inspector Hallam were there voicing the most extraordinary criminal charges. Blair, just a wills and trusts attorney, suggested the other attorney in the small town of Milford. "No, I need you!" she pleaded. Well, at least he could go see what it was about.

I don't read many mysteries told from the side of the wrongfully accused. There is no doubt this is a wrongful accusation. As such, we don't see much of Inspector Grant, which can be my only even remotely possible negative. It is pretty much all the Sharpes and Blair, with two or three very well drawn supporting characters. In fact, I'm not so sure the supporting characters aren't better done than the Sharpes and Blair, although saying that might have me going too far out on a limb.

Reading this made me even sorrier that Josephine Tey died young. What treats did we miss?!! One of my daily reading sessions is in the evening. Only when I think I can finish in a short amount of time do I extend that reading time. I did turn out the light, but couldn't sleep and finally got up and spent another glorious couple of hours getting to the last page. I have said just recently that 5-star ratings for a mystery are few and far between. I might be stretching this one a bit, but I'll let it slip into that territory.

+20 Task ("He picked up the glass of sherry that she had set down beside him, took a mouthful, and was astonished to find it admirable."
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (10.2 - fat)
+ 5 Oldies (1948)

Task total = 40

Season total = 535

20.3 Prolific
Murder at Hazelmoorby Agatha Christie

Task +20
Oldies +10 first published 1931
Book Total: 30
grand Total: 230

20.2 Journalist

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

Review: A good friend recommended this to me because she loved the book and HATED the movie. I think I may have hit a little reading slump. Again, I really wanted to love it but I just didn't!
There were redeeming qualities. There was a philosophic element to the narration that brought up a lot of thought provoking ideas on life and love and belonging.
Overall, it felt a bit "try-to-hard". If I'm going to read a fiction book that isn't straight story telling, then I really need it to say something; to present the world in a different way or to have a point. I don't think this story needed to be told in this manner.
Although I wasn't sure what the twist was going to be, it was pretty obvious off the top that there was going to be a twist.
I've seen a bunch of mixed reviews on this book. Some people did an almost instant re-read. I think it would be an interesting book on which to do a more in depth study.
Although it's not marked as YA, I think this could engage high school students well without having overly mature themes.


+ 20 Task - see Wiki article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_Reid
+5 Combo 10.2 Scrabble ITOETIR = Rote
+5 Combo 10.4 Pilgrim
+5 Combo 20.5 Wine
+10 Review

Task Total: 45 pts
Grand Total: 405 pts

15.9 Power of Nine
Jump Ship to Freedom (Arabus Family Saga #2) by James Lincoln Collier & Christopher Collier
850L

+30 Task (pub. 1981)

Post Total: 30
Season Total: 1,330

10.7 Non-fiction

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

Wine (sauterne) Pg 186 "Mrs Dewey plied them with avocado salad, country-fried steak, shrimp, sauterne, and a Cajun dish with rice and navy beans and bacon."

Scrabble: FHMFATLTOHLCC Word: HOT

Reverend Willie Maxwell was allegedly the serial killer of five family members, but there was not enough evidence to convict him. Autopsy results were inconclusive. But he profited from each death since he took out multiple life insurance policies on each victim. Finally a distraught cousin, Robert Burns, practiced vigilante justice and shot Maxwell at his family member's funeral.

Reverend Maxwell had been successfully represented by an excellent defense attorney, Tom Radley. In a strange twist of fate, the same attorney acted as the defense for Robert Burns, Maxwell's killer.

Author Harper Lee was fascinated by true crime ever since she helped Truman Capote with his research for his book "In Cold Blood." Lee attended the trial of Robert Burns, and did extensive research into the Maxwell case. She attempted to write a book about the Maxwell killings, but there was so much gossip and speculation about voodoo in the black community that she felt that she didn't have enough hard facts. Lee was also a perfectionist who felt pressure to produce another bestseller after the overwhelming success of her first book. Alcoholism and writer's block were also problems. We'll never know if Lee left a hidden manuscript about Maxwell somewhere, or if she destroyed all her attempts at a book.

Casey Cep's book covers the Maxwell case, Attorney Tom Radley's defenses, race relations and politics in Alabama, and Harper Lee's true crime investigation. I was impressed with Cep's lively writing especially when she was writing about the interesting Harper Lee.

+10 task
+20 combo 10.2 Scrabble; 10.8 Jetsetters (AL, NY, KS, England); 20.2 Journalist; 20.5 Wine
+10 review
+10 not a novel

Task total: 50
Season total: 845

20.3 Prolific

Nothing That Meets the Eye: The Uncollected Stories of Patricia Highsmith by Patricia Highsmith

Tiles: NTMTETUSOPH  Word: HOMESPUN

+20 task
+10 not-a-novel
+15 combo (10.2, 10.7, 10.8 - NYC, Mexico, El Salvador, Germany, France)

Task total=45
Season total=825

(This is my carryover book. I started it in July and read only the first story.)
 

15.8 Power of 9

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

272 pgs

reading 09 to 90
page # locked in message 14
(questions thread)


15 task
____
15

Running total: 1055

20.6 Civil War

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

Civil War soldier Inman deserts from a hospital after being wounded in the battle of Petersburg, Virginia, and slowly makes his way home to Cold Mountain in North Carolina following a circuitous route through the Blue Ridge Mountains, foraging for food and trying to dodge the bounty hunters aiming to kill or capture him and the many other Confederate deserters like him.

Meanwhile on a plot of land on Cold Mountain, Ada Monroe, an uprooted city girl, is waiting for Inman and learning to farm her land with the aid of a dirt-poor local girl called Ruby.

I enjoyed this much more than I expected. The spare prose had a staccato rhythm whose monotony chimed perfectly with the theme of a long and trudging walk across difficult country.

* 20.5: "So Inman counted out some money and composed himself a plate of supper from the frog legs and part of the wine."

+20 Task (set 99% during the American Civil War)
+10 Combo (20.5, 20.9)
+10 Review

Task total: 40
Season Total: 635

Post 570 Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "20.3 Prolific
Murder at Hazelmoorby Agatha Christie

Task +20
Oldies +10 first published 1931
Book Total: 30
grand Total: 230"

Jayme, the MPE for this title is The Sittaford Mystery. A word can be made for 10.2 Scrabble from tsmac - SCAM.

Post 573 Connie wrote: "10.7 Non-fiction

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

Wine (sauterne) Pg 186 "Mrs Dewey plied them with avocado salad, cou..."

Connie, this doesn't qualify for 20.5 Wine because that task is for novels only.

20.2 Journalist
The Black Echo (Harry Bosch #1) by Michael Connelly

Review
Of course, I've heard of Michael Connelly. And of course, I've seen this Harry Bosch series around and about. But, I've just never really made time to pick it up. And now that I have, I wondered why I took so long!! It's definitely right in the middle of my comfort read; police procedural with a protagonist who likes to push against his boundaries.

As I read, I thought that Harry Bosch was kinda in the wrong era. I thought he felt somewhat similar to Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe and at the end of the book, I found out that Marlowe partly inspired this character -wow! The setting, I supposed, is more to do with the author's own life. The Black Echo is somewhat like a modern noir; I feel that it's the new generation Marlowe in contemporary LA.

+20 Task
+15 Combo (10.2 - BET; 20.3; 20.5 "Bosch sipped his wine and looked around some more." -@46%)
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (pub. 1992)

Post Total: 50
Season Total: 1,380

10.5 Monster Redux
The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff

At last I have finished! Reading this was a slog. Stacy Schiff throws so many people in this recounting of the Salem witch trials that I could not keep them straight even with a “Cast of Characters” at the beginning of the book. I kept hoping that there would be a payoff that would be an understanding of what went wrong— how some small communities could get caught up in paranoia, fear, politics and religion and sentence 19 people to death and carry those sentences out!
The author does get there more or less but I am not sure it was worth the time to read.

+10 task
+10 combo (10.7, 20.2)
+10 review
+10 NAN
Task total 40
Season total: 320

30.1 Go for the Green
Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life by Queen Noor

Peace: that is the theme of this book written by Queen Noor, 4th wife of the late Hussein I, King of Jordan. King Hussein's efforts to negotiate peace in the Middle East are well described. I thought the book might be a boring political piece mostly about the King. However, Queen Noor wrote many personal details as well as descriptions of politics from the Jordanian perspective. In the book: her marriage at 26 after about six weeks of courtship by the 40-something King, father of quite a few children (the leap of faith); her American parents & their problems, her life as Queen, mother/stepmother, wife, and what a life! Too much to describe here; the book was published in 2002, after her husband's death in 1999, and since then, she has not remarried. According to her book, she was devoted to Jordan and her husband. Last paragraph: "Nothing and no one will ever come close to the love and respect I felt, and continue to feel, toward my husband." Good autobiography.

+30 Task Jordan
+15 combo: 10.4 (L), 10.8 a gazillion countries mentioned, such as Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Eqypt, South Korea, USA, England, Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Germany, Spain, on and on. Hussein flew jets and helicopters daringly--true jetsetters, and 10.2 LOFMOAULQN = qualm
+20 blue country bonus
+10 Not a novel
+10 Review

Task Total: 85
Season Total: 325 (as of 10-25 after Kate's check)

10.6 Banned
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

+10 pts - Task
+20 pts - Combo (10.2 - Log, 10.4, 10.7, 20.2 - on goodreads author page)
+10 pts - Oldies (1892)
+ 5 pts - Jumbo (672)

Task total - 45 pts
Season total ?

20.9 Initiated
Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson #177 on list
+20 pts - task
+20 pts - Combo (10.3, 10.8 - Massachusetts, England, France, The Netherlands, Germany, 20.3 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_St..., 20.5 - everybody but the Puritans drank wine,)
+20 pts - Jumbo (927)

Task total - 60 pts
Season Total - so mixed up, waiting for moderators’ total

10.7 Non-Fiction
Dog quest: find the dog of your dreams by Michele Welton

+10 pts - Task
+ 5 pts - combo (10.2 -Odd)

Task total - 15 pts

20.3 Prolific
Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclai...

+20 pts - Task
+15 pts - Combo ( 10.2 - using title and author LEGS, 10.8 - Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, Virginia, and some I forgot as we was a traveling preacher and con man, 20.2 - see link above to Wikipedia)
+10 pts - Oldies (1927)

Task Total - 45
Season Total - 590

20.1 Award

DreadfulWater by Thomas King

Now I’m in trouble…… yet another series to add to the list of series to read. I guess the bright side is that he isn’t cranking them out! This is the first Thomas King book that I’ve read, and if this is a true taste of his writing I definitely need to read his other work(s).

This novel takes place in the Pacific Northwest, and even though GR readers have been shelving as ‘Canada” I am pretty sure it is Washington State. Either way, if you’ve been to the interior of Washington State or BC the setting seems realistic.

This is the first instalment in the series, and King has given himself a lot of room to develop a well rounded series with depth. Thumps DreadfulWater is a great main character. Aside from having a great name, he is a man with a backstory (that we are allowed glimpses into), a wry outlook on life and a moral compass – oh, and a cat. The other characters, main and bit, are also interesting and I look forward to reading more about them. The mystery is complicated, but not convoluted. Even though it was interesting, and definitely drove the story forward, I didn’t think it was the main focus of this novel. Instead, King is setting the scene and doing it very well. 4.5*

20 task
10 review
15 combo 10.3, 20.3, 20.10
_____
45

Running total: 1100

15.10 Power of Nine
Time and Chance by Alan Brennert

+45 Task (pub. 1990)

+100 Completion
+50 Single criterion (publication date)
+50 Numerical finish

Post Total: 245
Season Total: 1,625

15.6 Power of 9

1954

Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming

Task total: 15 pts
Season total: 805 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 15.5 15.6 ... ... ... ..
30.1

From Post 510

Rachel wrote: "10.8 Jet Set

Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly

Review: I think I saw this book recommended on Modern Mrs. Darcy. I really wanted to love it! ..."

+5 Combo 10.7

From Post 532

Anika wrote: "30.1 Go for the Green

The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities, and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church by John Thavis

J..."

Sorry, this does not work for a combo with 20.5.

From Post 514

Owlette wrote: "30.1 Go for the Green

Lost in Peter's Tomb by Dianne Ahern

This book is #1 in the Adventures with Sister Philomena series for children. Riley is maybe middle-school a..."

This doesn't sound like it fits for 20.7 (PI).

Kate S wrote: "From Post 514

Owlette wrote: "30.1 Go for the Green

Lost in Peter's Tomb by Dianne Ahern

This book is #1 in the Adventures with Sister Philomena series for children...."

Okay. I will deduct 5 points from the Season total shown in post 581.

Task 10.3 Single

Finna (Finna #1) (2020) by Nino Cipri

+10 Task

Task Total: 10

Grand Total: 455 + 10 = 465

20.2 Journalist
The Black Ice (Harry Bosch #2) by Michael Connelly

Review
I really enjoyed book 1 and couldn't help myself but binge-read book 2. We all know that coincidences aren't just that when separate crimes in a book we're reading have a common denominator. It's also rather exciting when your protagonist guns for it but yet, the full picture isn't clear until the very end. The Black Ice is a clever follow up that ensures new fans to keep following his modern 'Philip Marlowe'. It's cemented even further in my mind.

This book also made me glad that I recently read Steppenwolf. I didn't enjoy that book but to actually understand the references the author made to that book truly made my day! ;p The only thing I didn't really like was... why he has to sleep with all attractive women he came across with? There were 2 in this book and that was 1 too many. *sighs* I do understand that it fits with the character etc :/

+20 Task
+15 Combo (10.2 - BIT; 20.3; 20.5 "She drained her wineglass." -@21%)
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (pub. 1993)

Post Total: 50
Season Total: 1,675

20.1 Award

The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead

+20 Task
+20 Combo (10.2 - TICW = WIT ; 10.4 ; 20.2 ; 20.4)

Task total = 40

Points total = 405

Kate S wrote: "From Post 510

Rachel wrote: "10.8 Jet Set

Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly

Review: I think I saw this book recommended on Modern Mrs. Darcy..."

I'll take the combo but thought the task excluded memoirs. It's not linear at all but is described as Memoir in the title

20.10 Another Birthday?

Les Pieds-Bleus by Claude Ponti

Born in 1948

+20 Task
+15 Combo (10.4 ; 20.2 - worked as a press cartoonist, see wikipedia link above ; 20.5 - roughly translated: “they started to drink the blanc d’Alsace* right away” *a white wine)
+5 Oldies (1995)

Task total = 40

Points total = 445

15.6 Power of 9

1963

Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon

Task total: 15 pts
Season total: 820 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 15.5 15.6 15.7 ... ... ..
30.1

15.1 Power of 9 (2nd round)
The Croning by Laird Barron
245 pages MPE

Season total = 1565

20.5 Wine

Nobody's Hero by Kallypso Masters

I'm so disappointed by this book. I really enjoyed the first book in this series and was looking forward to reading more about these characters that were introduced in the first book. But this book had everything I hate in romance novels: a hero who can't express his feelings and makes dumb decisions based on thinking he knows everything, characters dealing with trauma and using sex as the cure, virgin to sexpot in 48-hours, and constant replaying of he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not inner dialogue. There were one or two good sex scenes, but not nearly enough to make up for all the whining these characters did through the book. I can't believe I actually finished it. I think I may be done with this series since it looks like the next book delves even more into the sex-as-abuse-healing theme that I just find improbable and boring.

+20 Task (champagne at wedding)
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.8 - Colorado, California, Illinois)

Task total: 35
Grand total: 955

10.9 Autumn Leaves

The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian

Wine: pg 23 "Talia went to the credenza against the wall and brought an open bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and a glass to her."

Alexis met Austin when she treated him for a bullet wound in the emergency room, and they soon became a couple. Austin worked at the same New York City hospital as a fundraiser. Austin, an avid biker, asked Alexis to go with him on a bike tour in Vietnam where he wanted to visit some sites where his father and his uncle had served during the war. He went off alone one day on his bike to honor his relatives, but never returned to the resort where the bike tour was staying. Alexis and the tour guides saw some energy gels by the side of the road, but found no signs of Austin or his bike that afternoon.

As Alexis looks for the truth about what happened to Austin, the plot goes back and forth from Vietnam to New York City. She hires a private investigator to help unravel the mystery of what Austin was really doing in Vietnam. Unsavory characters are connected with a deadly agent. Should she be grieving for her boyfriend, feeling angry that he deceived her about his plans in Vietnam, or both? Alexis does not know who she can trust, and tensions are high.

This mystery/thriller also shows the terrible effects of Agent Orange which was used during the war in Vietnam. "The Red Lotus" is a good read for the pandemic. However, it's best to go into this suspenseful page turner without knowing too much about the plot in advance.

+10 task
+25 combo 10.4 Pilgrim; 10.8 Jetsetter (NY, NJ, Vietnam); 20.2 Journalist; 20.3 Prolific; 20.5 Wine
+10 review

Task total: 45
Season total: 885

15.9 Power of 9

Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner

181 pages

reading 09 to 90
page # locked in message 14
(questions thread)


15 task
_____
15

Running total: 1115

10.3 Single

Class by Lucinda Rosenfeld

Interesting read. I checked this out because I had listened to the podcast "Nice White Parents" (which is excellent!) and have been doing a lot of other nonfiction reading about school choices and their impact on race & racism, gentrification, etc. This is fiction - satire, in fact - that deals with those same issues.

I didn't like any of the major characters, really, or most of the minor characters. But I somehow still managed to like the book - not love it, but like it, for what it is, which is an over-exaggerated, satirical look at upper middle class white parents and the near-arms race to get their kids into the "right" public school, conflicting with their desire (in the abstract, at least) to support school desegregation.

+10 task
+5 combo (20.5 - "As Karen took two wineglasses down from the shelf and emptied a recently opened bottle of New Zealand sauvignon blanc into them...")
+10 review

Task Total: 25
Season Total: 765