Reading with Style discussion
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FA 20 Completed Tasks
10.4 PilgrimResilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness by Rick Hanson
+10 Task
+10 Combo: 10.2 Scrabble! (RHTGAUCOCSAHRH GAUCHO) / 10.7 Non-Fiction
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 415
10.6 BannedGrendel by John Gardner
+10 Task
+10 Combo: 10.3 Single / 10.4 Pilgrim
+ 5 Oldies (1971)
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 440
10.7 Non-Fiction (Ed's Task)This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Tiffany Jewell
+10 Task 930 Lexile
+ 5 Combo: 10.2 Scrabble! (TBIATJ JAB)
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 465
10.7 Non-Fiction (Ed's Task)How to Fly: In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons by Barbara Kingsolver
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo: 10.2 Scrabble! (HTFITTELBK BIKE)
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 490
10.9 Autumn Leaves (Mary's Task)Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell
+10 Task
+10 Combo: 10.2 Scrabble! (OWKR ROW) / 10.7 Non-Fiction
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 520
10.10 Group ReadsThe Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo: 10.4 Pilgrim
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 535
20.1 AwardAn American Sunrise by Joy Harjo
+20 Task
+10 Combo: 10.2 Scrabble! (AASJH HAS) / Combo: 10.7 Non-Fiction
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total: 40
Season Total: 575
20.3 ProlificThe Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo: 10.2 Scrabble! TBOTWJP JOB
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 600
20.5 WineBefore the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson
+20 Task
Page 17 if it's a Friday night, one glass of wine. Any more than that, Bernadett…
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 620
20.7 P.I.An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear
+20 Task
+10 Combo: 10.2 Scrabble! (AIRJW WAR) / 10.4 Pilgrim
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 650
15.2 Power of 9 (2nd round)Perfect Days by Raphael Montes
272 pages
Task total = 15
Season total = 1580
30.1 Go for the GreenThe Garden Of Burning Sand by Corban Addison
It all starts with a young girl walking in the dark. We can glean that she has some sort of developmental disability, she needs glasses, she's alone and a little confused. A man pulls up in a silver SUV, gets out, smiles, offers her some candy. She takes it, eats it, then passes out. We realize she has been drugged and know that can't lead to anything good.
This book read like Law and Order: SVU, Zambia told from the point of view of a wealthy international lawyer from the U.S.
I enjoyed the search for truth and fight for justice: I hated pretty much everything about the central character, Zoe...the wealthy American whose senator father is running for president who falls in love with a Zambian police officer (ugh! the romance bit was soooo unnecessary! Really bogged down the middle of the book for me). She was so irksome!
Another reviewer hit it on the head for me (I was struggling to pinpoint what exactly it was about this one that bothered me so much and when I read this I said, "Ah! Yes! Exactly that!"): "The characters are cardboard and the issues are excessive, focus on maybe rape, OR disability, OR AIDS, OR the legal system OR politicians OR social ills, OR family dynamics - as opposed to a mish - mash of everything. I'm left none the wiser about anything."
While I'm okay with a few issues being raised in a single book written by a deft author, this one left me feeling meh. It wasn't great, it wasn't terrible. It was one of the better books I've read for our Around the World reading challenge, but as far as books in general go? It's maybe a 2.75 for me: entertaining though often irksome and ultimately forgettable.
+30 Task, set 94% in Zambia
+20 "Blue" country
+10 Review
+20 Combo (10.2 TGOFSCA: ASCOT; 10.4; 10.8: Zambia, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, USA; 20.5: "She took a sip of wine.")
Task total: 80
Season total: 1515
(I subtracted 5 from total re: Post 590...argh, I don't know how I keep forgetting that it's a task for novels only! Sorry about that...)
10.7 NonfictionShowdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America by Wil Haygood
This is certainly an interesting time to be reading this account of Thurgood Marshall’s appointment and confirmation to the Supreme Court. Again we have a deeply divided country, racial justice unrest and a contested Supreme Court nomination. The author, Wil Haygood, does an excellent job of telling Marshall’s story as well as filling the readers in on the major players and the tenor of the times. Marshall was one of the first nominees to be grilled in person before the Senate Judiciary Committee. There is a debate over “activist” judges. I had not realized how narrow a window this nomination had to slip through.
Haygood is a good storyteller.
Scrabble stmatscntcawh. Cats, that
+10 task
+15 combo 20.2, 10.2, 10.8 Maryland, New York, Texas, Florida +
+10 NAN
+10 review
Task total:45
Season total: 365
Task 20.3 ProlificRead any book by an author who has published at least 20 book-length titles (100+ pages) of either fiction or nonfiction, or a combination of the two mediums.
Combo 20.5 Wine
p. 123: At the end of the day, our hero Peter Diamond visits girlfriend Paloma. While they are talking ”She took a sip of her white wine.”
Skeleton Hill (Peter Diamond #10) (2009) by Peter Lovesey (Hardcover, 326 pages)
+20 Task
+05 Combo (#20.5 Wine)
Task Total: 20 + 05 = 25
Grand Total: 465 + 25 = 490
15.3 Power of 9 (2nd round)Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction by Grady Hendrix
254 pages
Task total = 15
Season Total = 1595
30.1 Go for GreenVatican City State
The Making of the Popes 1978: The Politics of Intrigue in the Vatican by Andrew M. Greeley
30 pts Go for Green Vatican City State
20 pts Blue country bonus
5 pts 10.2 Scrabble TMOTPTPOIITV AMG. Top
5 pts 10.4 Pilgrim
5 pts 10.7 Non Fiction
5 pts Jetsetter United States, Vatican City, Italy
5pts 20.2 Journalist
5 pts 20.3 Prolific
10 pts Review
10 pts Not a Novel
5 pts Oldies
This is not a book about religion, but rather a political narrative focusing on the politics of electing the pope. Greeley places the two papal elections of 1078 into the context of Vatican City and worldwide church politics while providing context from previous papal elections and then contemporary church issues abpnd concerns.
The book was modelled on Theodore White’s Making of the President series, however it falls short of that standard. Greeley places himself and his opinions in the narrative a bit too frequently and while his background is important to the book it
Is a bit too obtrusive.
Task total: 105 pts
Season total: 925 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
15.7 - Power of NineHanging by a Thread by Monica Ferris
+15 task - 263 pgs
Task total: 15
Grand total: 800
15.9 - Power of NineThe Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
+15 task - 181 pgs
Task total: 15
Grand total: 830
15.10 - Power of NineAll the Good Girls by Willow Rose
+15 task - 190 pgs
+100 Completion
+50 Single Criterion - pge count
+50 Numerical Finish
Task total: 215
Grand total: 1045
Rachel wrote: "Kate S wrote: "From Post 510Rachel wrote: "10.8 Jet Set
Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly
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"
It looked to be as much essays as memoir/autobiography which is why we allowed it.
15.10 Power of 9A Christmas Beginning by Anne Perry
190 pages
reading 09 to 90
page # locked in message 17
(questions thread)
15 task
100 completion bonus
50 single criterion (page #)
50 numerical order
_____
215
Running total: 1330
10.9 Autumn LeavesThe Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie
In my memory, this was not a very interesting mystery which is why I held off so long in (re)reading it for this task. However, my memory is faulty. This actually is an interesting and well laid out mystery, and a ‘girl’s own adventure’ story rolled into one.
We first meet the heroine, Anne Beddingfeld, in England living a dull life with her father. She is thrown into penury upon his death and has to make her way in life. She realizes this is her opportunity to live a fuller life and so, is open and ready to jump in with both feet when a mystery presents itself. Due to her quick wits and having just enough money for a ticket she ends up on a ship to South Africa following a potential thief/murderer (she’s not sure yet). It is a small group of people on the ship, and there doesn’t seem to be any difficulties regarding social class so Anne is able to make friends and make observations and deductions regarding the mystery. Amongst the passengers, Anne is lucky enough to befriend a wealthy socialite who ends up being a good and true friend. This novel is also where we are introduced to Colonel Race, he plays a part in Anne’s adventure as well.
Once they land in South Africa, the main characters travel by train to Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Here Anne proves herself to be a very doughty woman, and a romantic. Yes, there is a strong romantic element in this mystery. For the contemporary reader, some of Anne’s ideas about male/female relationships are silly but I excused this as being due to her youth. The adventure really heats up in Rhodesia (the bad guys are after Anne), so she decides the thing to do is to return to South Africa. She keeps her wits about her, and with her friends looking out for her puts herself in the hands of the bad guy(s), in order to solve the mystery. Suffice to say, it all works out in the end. Good fun and worth reading. 4.5*
This was Christie’s fourth novel. She had written two Poirot and one Tommy and Tuppence previous to this. It was interesting to read Colonel Race’s introduction into her stable of characters. It is also interesting to see how well laid out the action is, and to see her dabbling in the romantic element.
10 task
10 review
10 oldie
20 combo 10.2 tmitbsac = stab, 10.4, 10.8*, 20.3
_____
50
Running total: 1380
*England, South Africa, Zimbabwe
20.4 Similar (second time claiming this task)The Deep by Rivers Solomon
Locked in for Zone One in post 20 of the task thread.
Forgetting something is not the same as healing
What a lot packed into such a short book.
This book, as the afterword tells us, is the 3rd round of a game of Telephone, where various artists took an idea and built more into the mythology of mermaids as the descendants of
pregnant Africans that were thrown overboard slaves ships. The babies did not die, but were transformed.
Our first guide into this world is Yetu, the community’s historian who *literally* remembers everything her people went through, so that they can live unburdened except for a yearly ritual. But this takes a toll on Yetu -
Sometimes when you are in pain, the only escape is another, different kind of pain.
There is a lot of pain in this book - generational trauma, the pain of being neurodivergent and overwhelmed by constant stimulation, the pain of not quite fitting into a close knit community. But there is beauty and redemption, as burdens are shared.
Now for the bad part... I was so excited for the audiobook read by Daveed Diggs, but he’s not a very good narrator. He failed to infuse emotion into the reading, which was a bummer. Ah well, he has plenty of other gifts.
+20 task
+10 review
Task total = 30
Season total = 1625
15.1 Power of NineRound 2
Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
+15 Task (290 pages)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1,640
15.4 Power of 9 (2nd round)The End We Start From by Megan Hunter
Per the google doc, the MPE physical copy is 136 pages
Task total = 15
Season total = 1640
20.8 BedtimeA Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Scrabble: ACCCD Word: CAD
Wine: Stave Five "I'll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!" (Smoking bishop is red wine, mulled with oranges, sugar, and spices.)
+20 task
+15 combo 10.2 Scrabble; 20.2 Journalist; 20.5 Wine
+15 oldie published 1843
Task total: 50
Season total: 935
10.8 JetsettersThe Liar by Stephen Fry
In Stephen Fry's first novel, we have the story of Adrian Healey: public schoolboy, Cambridge student, and congenital liar. We learn of his progress in fits and starts, interspersed with annoying sections in italics where unnamed spies interact, described only by their clothing. Until it is all drawn together at the end.
According to the reviews printed on the cover of my copy, this book is "brilliant", "hilarious", and "outrageous." I didn't find it any of those, but I can see that it would certainly have seemed outrageous when first published in 1991, and probably that would have been enough to make it funny. It's just that the world has changed.
I enjoyed Fry's memoir Moab Is My Washpot, so I won't let this put me off reading more of his work. And I hear he reads Harry Potter marvellously.
* 20.5: "Hugo filled up his mug with more wine" and numerous other examples
+10 task (UK, Italy, Austria)
+10 Combo (10.4, 20.5)
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (1991)
Task total: 35
Season Total: 670
20.4 - SimilarEcho by Seven Rue
John Henry Days and Apex Hides the Hurt
+20 task
+5 Combo - 10.3
Task total: 25
Grand total: 1070
20.10 -BirthdayCoconut Layer Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke
+20 task - 1943
+10 Combo (20.3, 20.5 - We had another glass of wine and watched a movie on television.)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 1100
15.2 Power of NineRound 2
The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice
+15 Task (481 pages)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1,655
20.1 AwardThe Red Power Murders by Thomas King
Well, at this rate I’m never going to finish Dickens.
This is the second in the DreadfulWater series, and it was available at the library so of course, I borrowed it. And then read it in (almost) one gulp. Again, the writing is so good. The characters are interesting, new or old. Even his car is a character (or a least, it has personality!). One of the fun elements continues to be his cat, Freeway, who is a real character – obviously King has a cat. I like a man with a cat. I like that Thumps DreadfulWater is middle aged, this adds a lot to the series. In this instalment, people from his youth are involved in the mystery. They come from ‘away’ and bring all sorts of bad happenings to Chinook. We also learn that this is series is definitely set in the US. 4*
20 task
10 review
20 combo 10.4, 10.4, 20.3, 20.10
____
50
Running total: 1430
10.8 JetsetterThe Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
I reread this as my RL book group is reading it for November. I am glad that I did as I had forgotten some of the contents and had conflated some information from elsewhere with this book. It is interesting looking at this at this point in time, when there may be another presidential transition coming up.
Based on this book, the Trump administration knew little about the bureaucracy they were taking over in January 2017 and were, quite frankly, not interested in finding out. This was originally published in October 2018. This edition includes an afterward written after the December 2018 government shutdown. (remember that?)
The author, Michael Lewis, highlights people who did amazing things as part of the Federal bureaucracy because they were interested and wanted to help those of us who live in the US.
It seems from recent news accounts that the Trump administration has found out enough to mess with some important agencies. They have recently demoted the chief scientist of NOAA and are trying to remove protections from some civil service employees. Stay tuned.
+10 task ME, MO, TX, OK, DC+
+5 combo 10.7
+10 NAN
+10 review
Task total: 35
Season total: 400
20.10 Another Birthday?Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler
Scrabble: NCAT Word: CAT
Wine: Pg 173 "Shall we order a bottle of wine?" he asked.
Liam Pennywell, a fifth grade teacher, is out of a job when his school downsizes. He's uncertain about what he wants to do in the next stage of his life. To conserve his savings, the sixty-one year old man moves to a smaller apartment. He goes to sleep in his new bedroom, and wakes up in a hospital after being knocked unconscious by an intruder. He can't remember anything about the incident.
While Liam is trying to recover the memory of the intruder breaking into his apartment, he's making connections and renewing relationships. The book has an understated plot with some sweet and humorous moments. There are no fireworks, but contentment seems to be what Liam needs at this point in his life.
+20 task (author born 1941)
+15 combo 10.2 Scrabble; 20.3 Prolific; 20.5 Wine
+10 review
Task total: 45
Season total: 980
15.5 Power of 9 (2nd round)South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
190 pages
Task total = 15
Season total = 1655
20.10 Another BirthdayRage by Bob Woodward
Whew, this was a timely read. I even was reading while I stood in line to vote this week! This is Woodward's second book about the Trump presidency, but for this one Trump agreed to participate and much of the book is drawn from 17 interviews with him. Though Woodward explores other subjects like the George Floyd murder, the two biggest topics are North Korea and COVID. It was fascinating reading this writeup of events I recall myself, and getting a little more insight into them - but also infuriating to read more about how many people in power knew what was likely to happen with COVID and didn't take action sooner. As the days ticked by in the book, I kept thinking "Oh, I was on an airplane then" or "Oh I attended a party that weekend" - I would have done neither had I known what Trump and his colleagues knew! In the end, much of this was not new to me, but Woodward's writing style and the drama of what I was reading kept it fascinating. And has made my anxieties about next week loom even larger...
+20 task (born 1943)
+30 combo (10.3; 10.4; 10.7; 10.8 - DC, Florida, NY, WA, NJ...; 20.2; 20.3 - this is his 20th title)
+10 review
+10 not a novel
Task Total: 70
Season Total: 835
20.3 ProlificPortobello by Ruth Rendell
Wine quote: "...Carli appeared with two glasses of sherry on a tray. The taste of the Amontillado no longer made Eugene feel sick when he sipped it and after the doctor had gone he ate a slice of chicken breast and a small roast potato."
+20 task
+20 combo (10.3, 10.4, 20.2, 20.5)
Task total=40
Season total=865
15.3 Power of NineRound 2
Assault and Pepper (Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery #13) by Tamar Myers
+15 Task (272 pages)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1,670
15.4 Power of NineRound 2
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
+15 Task (163 pages)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1,685
15.5 Power of NineRound 2
The Last Single Girl (Brew Ha Ha #1) by Bria Quinlan
+15 Task (154 pages)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1,700
15.6 Power of 9 (2nd round)The Child in Time by Ian McEwan
263 pages
Task total = 15
Season total = 1670
10.2 ScrabbleWashington Black by Esi Edugyan W B E E
Web
+10 pts - Task
+ 10 pts - Combo (10.8 - Barbados, USA, England, Canada, Netherlands, Morocco, 20.5 - many references usually every time dinner is mentioned)
Task Total - 20 pts
Season Total - 610 pts
20.3 ProlificNana by Émile Zola
Was Nana the ordinary prostitute? Not on your life! Men flocked to Nana like moths to a flame. They spent money like water and she didn't mind leaving them financially ruined and as long as they had money to spend on her she was willing to give them time and her body. This is most assuredly not graphic nor erotic, but there can be no question about what she is.
This was a re-read for me in an entirely different translation. I see that I gave my first read 4-stars. I note that because in the introduction to this edition is said that Nana is Zola's 2nd best seller, losing out only to his La Débâcle. This time around, there were really only 2 parts that were still of any value: the many scenes of the Varieté with it's rabbit warren of dressing rooms and other back stage goings on; the spectators at a significant horse racing event where some were in the grandstands but others, like Nana, attended from their private vehicles.
Nana is surely one of the top ten most reprehensible characters in fiction. In the end, I was thankful that the debauchery and corruption and general ickiness was over. I cannot find it in my heart to give this more than 2-stars this time around.
+20 Task (20 titles in this series alone)
+10 Review
+15 Combo (10.3, 20.2, 20.5 - "Behind her, the Hugon boys and La Faloise, who had remained in the landau, were continuing to dole out her champagne."
+10 Oldies (1880)
Task total = 55
Season total = 590
15.7 Power of 9 (second round)Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates
181 pages
Task total = 15
Season total = 1685
30.1 Go for GreenSaint Pierre et Miquelon
Tales Of Dog Island by Françoise Enguehard
30 pts Go for Green St Pierre et Miquelon
20 pts Blue country bonus
5 pts 10.2 Scrabble TODIFE diet
5pts 20.2 Journalist
10 pts Review
This book is the novelized history of the author’s family who immigrated to St Pierre and Miquelon from Britanny in the lare 1800s to work in the cod fishery
Enguehard does an excellent job of describing the day to day life on the islands and the hard ships and dangers faced. The book is primarily a portrait of the authors grandmother and is a well written narrative
Task total: 70 pts
Season total: 995 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
20.4 Similar to The Underground RailroadWhite Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
+20 pts - Task
+10 pts - Combo (10.2 - WHIP, 10.7)
+10 pts - Not a novel
Task Total -40 pts
Season Total - 650 pts
30.1 Go for GreenSaint Pierre et Miquelon
The French Isles by Claire Mowat
30 pts Go for Green St Pierre et Miquelon
20 pts Blue country bonus
5 pts 10.2 Scrabble TFICM. Fit
5 pts 20.5 Wine
10 pts Review
5 pts Oldies
This is the story of a young Canadian girl who accidentally ends up on St Pierre after her uncle is mistakenly arrested for fishing in French territorial waters. There is a light description of the culture of St Pierre and Miquelon focussed on the novelty of a French island so near Canada; a little adventure and hints of a potential romance. Forgettable but pleasant
Task total: 75 pts
Season total: 1070 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
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (other topics)Animal Dreams (other topics)
The Willows (other topics)
This Mournable Body (other topics)
This Mournable Body (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
John Berendt (other topics)Barbara Kingsolver (other topics)
Algernon Blackwood (other topics)
Tsitsi Dangarembga (other topics)
Tsitsi Dangarembga (other topics)
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Ramifications by Daniel Saldaña París
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Season Total: 385