Reading with Style discussion

20.3 Prolific

The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

It's hard to believe this was written in 1969. It could easily have been written in the 1990s and still feel fresh. Even today, the only thing that felt dated was the computers and how impressed everyone was with the idea that computers could figure things out really quickly. That and the complete lack of female characters (and a small dig at how single men make great crisis decisions while single women are the worst).

I very much enjoyed the exploration of just how scientists might tackle a problem like this--an unknown entity brought back from space that kills a small town. The details of their thought processes and how the team worked together were great and there was tension in the book as they tried to sort through what was happening.

I thought the ending was a let down. Maybe that's corrected in the sequel?

The narrator for the audiobook did a fine job with a somewhat difficult text--having to read through scientific notes and reports was a heavy lift, but the narrator managed to read the reports in a robotic voice that worked for the text without being grating to listen to.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (1969)
+5 Combo (10.2 - TASMC - Mast)

Task total: 40
Grand total: 615

10.4 Pilgrim

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

Goodness, this was so good. Baldwin’s writing is angry, passionate, righteous and powerful. This is a story about a young Black man wrongfully ending up in jail; but really, it’s a story about love and family. Sadly, it’s a story about America – in the 1970s and now. I didn’t notice a single false note here. Even though Baldwin was living as an expat by the time this book was published he had grown up in and lived part of his adult life in New York City, and this intimate knowledge of the city is apparent. I listened to the audiobook read by Bahni Turpin and I can’t recommend this version enough – she did an excellent job. 5*

10 task
10 review
10 combo 10.2 ibsctjb = jib, 20.5*
5 oldie
_____
35

Running total: 680

*'Frank sips his wine." @~6 hrs 43 min

**Oct 9 - I don't think you are here yet, Kate. I made a mistake claiming too many oldie points, but have corrected it now.

15.5 Power of 9
pub years, numerical order

Dread Journey by Dorothy B. Hughes

+15 Task (pub 1945)

Season total = 260

20.5 Wine
The Liar's Key (The Red Queen's War #2) by Mark Lawrence
"A goblet appears in Loki's hand, silver and overflowing with wine as dark and red as blood. He takes a sip." -p3

Review
I found book 1, Prince of Fools, utterly entertaining mostly due to the surprising character of the protagonist. And yet, I found him completely frustrating in this book. I thought he learnt a lot by the end of the first book but it seems he never truly changed... Still, it is this particular flaw(?) that continued to surprise me in this epic adventure because I just could not predict his choices! Snorri wasn't quite a huge presence in this book so it was all Jalan's capriciousness that drive this adventure further to its penultimate end. Yet... is it Jalan? Or is there another behind and beyond him and his friends?

I think I'm just in an impatient mood because it just felt so long yet I'm still impressed by the complexity of this world and the weave of the story. I'm continuously surprised by the twist the tale is taken right up to the very end when I just had to shout out loud, "HA!"

+20 Task
+5 (10.4 - L for Liar's)
+10 Review

Post Total: 35
Season Total: 1,060

Kate S wrote: "From Post 343

Ed wrote: "30.1 Go for the Green
Sao Tome and Principe

Sao Tome And Principe: From Plantation Colony To Microstate by Tony Hodges

This book was a bit..."

Thanks for the extra 5 points.... but the Readerboard indicates you only gave me 20 points for the project bonus...when I'm pretty sure this qualifies for the 30 point project bonus.

10.4 Pilgrim

La tectonique des plaques by Margaux Motin

+10 Task
No style, graphic novel

Task total = 10

Points total = 275

10.7 Non-Fiction

Design Mom: A Room-by-Room Guide to Living Well with Kids by Gabrielle Stanley Blair

+10 Task
(i'm not sure about the style points since there are a lot of photographs in the books, so not counting any)

Task total = 10

Points total = 285

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Karen Michele wrote: "We checked John Boyne in the prolific thread messages 12, 13, 14 and 15 and he was approved."

OK. You'd think I would have had sense enough to add him to the list, then would..."

Oh, no worries - I have absolutely no idea how I came up with 20 for Sebastian Barry;))

20.7 P.I.
The Case of the Reincarnated Client by Tarquin Hall

+20 - Task
+10 - Combo (10.2- TORCH from letters TCOTRCTH, 20.2 - on list)

Task total - 30 pts
Season total - 190 pts

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 combo.
HANOTCWCFP - WATCH

+20 - Task
+ 5 - Combo (10.2)

Task total - 25 pts
Season Total - 200 pts

10.2 Scrabble

Unexpected Gifts: Discovering the Way of Community
by Christopher L. Heuertz

+10 Task (D_U_G)
+10 Not a Novel

Task total = 20

20.10 Birthday

1st Caseby James Patterson

+20 Task (birthday 3/22/1947)
+5 Combo (20.3 Prolific)

Task total = 25
Season Total: 20+25=45

reply | flag *

20.3 Prolific

Camino Winds by John Grisham

+20 Task (40+ novels)

Task total = 20
Season Total: 45+20 = 65

20.2 Journalist

Ark Baby by Liz Jensen

In an alternative 19th-century England, Tobias Phelps is a unusual-looking young man who has been raised by a clergyman and his wife in a remote seaside village. Violet Scrapie is a burgeoning cook; her father is a naturalist who is stuffing a lot of dead animals that have come in on a boat for the queen's collection. Their lives are about to collide and will also impact on the future, where at the end of the 20th century all women in England have suddenly and inexplicably become infertile.

This is supposedly a comic novel. I found it more sad and weird than funny, and I might have given up if I hadn't needed it for a challenge, but by the end I was quite enjoying it. Tobias and Violet were great characters, and I'd have preferred not to have the modern-day sections intruding on their stories.

* 10.2 Scrabble: letters ABLJ, word JAB
* 20.5 Wine: "Jessie served us sardine pie and sloeberry wine"

+20 Task (on the list)
+10 Combo (10.2, 20.5)
+10 Review

Task total: 40
Season Total: 480

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, Massachusetts. These stories are somewhat interconnected with a family saga feel to it even if it feels disjointed. The first stories are of how the first residents came to this place and how they survive the harsh conditions. There are 5 founding families and the rest of the stories revolve around them & their generations. There are usually years in between stories so each story is progressively further in time and in relation to the next generation. I'm not particularly fond of family saga as I usually find them painful and these stories aren't happy ending stories either but other than the magical realism aspect, life's a pain so these stories reflect as such.

+20 Task
+15 (10.2 - HAG; 10.4 - R for Red; 10.9 - Red)
+10 Review

Post Total: 45
Season Total: 1,105

From Post 351

Rebekah wrote: "20.6 Civil War
Hiwassee: A Novel of the Civil War by Charles F. Price

+20 pts -Task
Season Total - 160 pts"

+5 Combo 10.02

From Post 358

Karen Michele wrote: "10.1 Short Works

My own collection:

From McSweeney's #60:

Variety African Healing Market / 14 pages
High Jinks / 10 pages
The Future-Ghost of Charles Bronson at Home Depot / 4 pages
The Tum-Boo..."

+10 Not a Novel

From Post 366

Karen Michele wrote: "20.4 Similar

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

+20 Task:
+10 Combo: 10.7 Non-Fiction / 10.2 Scrabble! (WF..."

+10 Not a Novel

From Post 367

Karen Michele wrote: "20.4 Similar

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

+20 Task:
+10 Combo: 10.7 Non-Fiction / 10.2 Scrabble! (HTBAAIXK HABIT)

Task Total: 30
Season Total: 350"

+10 Not a Novel

From Post 368

Penny wrote: " 20.1 Award

Thomas King Indians on Vacation: A Novel

20 Task
+15 Combo: +20.10 +10.4 +10.8 (Czech Republic, Hungary, Canada)

Task Total = 35
Season Total =95"

+5 Combo 10.2

From Post 373

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "20.5 Wine
Coconut Layer Cake Murderby Joanne Fluke
"David Paul told her as he poured her a glass or wine."

Task+20
Combo +5 Prolific (has written 25 books in this se..."

+5 Combo 20.10

From Post 389

Mary wrote: "20.3 Prolific

Farhenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

20 pts 20.3 Prolific
5 pts 10.6 Banned
10 pts Review
5 pts Oldies

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. While I am fairly sur..."

+5 Combo 20.9

From Post 397

Deedee wrote: "Task 10.1 Short Works
You may create your own collection/anthology. Your collection will be the usual RwS 100 page minimum and include at least 3 stories where no story is more than 50 pages.
This ..."

+10 Not a Novel

From Post 400

Joanna wrote: "10.9 Autumn Leaves

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

Beautiful and powerful story of a family. The story starts at the coming-of-age party of sixteen-year-old M..."

+5 Combo 20.4

Ed wrote: "Kate S wrote: "From Post 343

Ed wrote: "30.1 Go for the Green
Sao Tome and Principe

Sao Tome And Principe: From Plantation Colony To Microstate by Tony Hodges

when I'm pretty sure this qualifies for the 30 point project bonus."

Fixed

Kate S wrote: "From Post 389

Mary wrote: "20.3 Prolific

Farhenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

20 pts 20.3 Prolific
5 pts 10.6 Banned
10 pts Review
5 pts Oldies

I thoroughly enjoyed this..."


Thanks Kate! Can I switch this book to 20.9 (from 20.3)?

15.6 Power of 9
pub years, numerical order

Maigret Goes to School by Georges Simenon

+15 Task (pub 1954)

Season total = 275

20.5 Wine

A Guilty Thing Surprised by Ruth Rendell

This Inspector Wexford mystery involved a brother and sister who apparently hated each other, and no one knew why. The sister was wealthy with a house full of servants, and the brother was an eccentric Wordsworth scholar. The sister liked to take walks at night, and was found murdered in a neighboring forest one morning.

This is the fifth entry in the series, and the personalities of Wexford and Burden have already become developed and enjoyable. There was not a confusing surplus of characters, which was nice.  Around 200 pages long, the story moves along at a good pace. Unfortunately I read one too many GR reviews before starting this book, and a major spoiler ruined a bold and quite shocking resolution.


Wine quote: "In the dining room he opened a bottle of Pouilly Fuisse. Elizabeth took only one glass."

Tiles: AGTSRR  Word: STAR

+20 task
+20 combo (10.2, 10.4, 20.2, 20.3)
+10 review
+ 5 oldies (1970)

Task total=55
Season total=640

(20/122 Mysteries Challenge)

20.5 Wine

Pew by Catherine Lacey

Wine: pg 48 "Hilda, can I get you a glass of white wine?"

In a small Southern town, the congregation arrives at church to find a stranger sleeping on a pew. The person will not speak to them, and their gender, race, and age are ambiguous. The visitor is nicknamed Pew and spends the next week being cared for by the townspeople.

People tend to fill the silences when confronted with a person who remains silent, and Pew often acts as a confessor as they open up about their pasts. The people don't know what to do with someone who is so different since Pew does not fit into any category, and they fear the unknown. We learn about the townspeople by how they treat Pew.

The week leads up to the big event in town, the Forgiveness Festival, which has the feeling of a religious cult. It is interesting that people living in the black side of town refuse to attend. People are forgiven for their transgressions during the Day of Forgiveness. But one has to wonder if their victims forget, especially since there have been serious incidents in town in the past. Chilling revelations about collective guilt come out during the festival.

The introspective story is prefaced by a quote from "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." This adds to the philosophical mysteries surrounding the town and its unusual visitor. The reader will wonder about Pew's identity. Is Pew a messiah? A scapegoat? An angel? An alien? A lost soul? I'm glad it remains a mystery for us to ponder.

+20 task
+10 combo 10.3 Single; 10.4 Pilgrim
+10 review

Task total: 40
Season total: 545

10.4 Pilgrim
The Lieutenant (Thornhill Family #2) by Kate Grenville

Review
It has been many years since I read The Secret River and as this book is some sort of prequel but is set as book 2 in the trilogy, I've no idea how characters between books fit with each other! In any case, it wasn't necessary at all to follow this particular story.

The novel opens with Daniel Rooke as a boy. A somewhat different boy. He has a brilliant numerical mind but never seems to be able to fit in society. Fast forward to him as a young man and on his adventure to colonial Australia. With his astronomical duties, he was mostly relieved from his soldiering duties and therefore, rather isolated from his 'peers'. Due to this, however, he was able to forge some kind of friendship with a native girl child from whom he learnt the language but she has also taught him the meaning of humanity.

The Lieutenant is a powerful novel of a young man finding his feet and the strength to stand upon them. Inspired by a real historical personage, the author wrote with a wonderfully engaging prose and from a unique perspective of an important topic that we still have yet to discuss fully. Aside from this, it is also an inspiring tale for one to make a small difference even if one is on one's own.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1,125

Task 20.2 Journalist
Read any book by an author who has earned a living as a journalist.

For Combo #20.5: There are many instances of the characters drinking wine. Here’s one of the instances:

p. 23: “’The fools jest that that I envy them, that I long for the women they hoard,’ he said, sipping his wine .”


Beneath a Marble Sky (2004) by John Shors (Goodreads Author) (Paperback, 344 pages)
Review: I picked up Beneath a Marble Sky because I thought it was a historical novel. It’s not. Instead, it’s a girl’s adventure story, set in 17th century India, with the building of the Taj Mahal as a major plot point. It has the same relationship to the truth as Disney’s film Pocahontas does to the historical Pocahontas and the historical John Smith. Once I adjusted my expectations, I enjoyed the 21st century style heroine affirming her family ties (such a daddy’s girl!) and outwitting the men silly enough to oppose her. Occasionally the author will include a half paragraph on some topic related to the building of the Taj Mahal (not nearly enough in my opinion – I wanted more about how the Taj Mahal was built). Recommended as a light hearted girl’s adventure tale (with romance!). Not recommended as a historical novel.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (#10.2 tiles=BAMSJS, word=JAM; #20.5 wine drinking)

Task Total: 20 + 10 + 10 = 40

Grand Total: 335 + 40 = 375

Kate S wrote: "From Post 400

Joanna wrote: "10.9 Autumn Leaves

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

Beautiful and powerful story of a family. The story starts at the coming-of-a..."

I'd also like to add +5 Combo 10.8 - New York, Ohio, Oklahoma.

I think that makes my current total 625. Thanks!

Post 410 Marie wrote: "10.7 Non-Fiction

Design Mom: A Room-by-Room Guide to Living Well with Kids by Gabrielle Stanley Blair

+10 Task
(i'm not sure about the style points since there ar..."

Thank you for your hesitancy. I took a look. There is enough text and long enough that you should get styles for this. I've added it for 10.2 Scrabble and it will qualify for not a novel. If you know of other tasks for combo or you wish to write a review, feel free to do so.

Post 414 Debra wrote: "10.2 Scrabble

Unexpected Gifts: Discovering the Way of Community
by Christopher L. Heuertz

+10 Task (D_U_G)
+10 Not a Novel

Task total = 20"

Welcome back, Debra. Also a combo for 10.7 Nonfiction.

30.1 Go for the Green

Melmoth by Sarah Perry

If you look up "greige" in the dictionary (the most neutral, nondescript color I can think of), you'd find a picture of our protagonist, Helen Franklin: she's forty-two (right at MIDDLE age), "neither short nor tall, her hair neither dark nor fair." What could possibly be interesting about this middle-of-the road woman? That's what we spend this entire book finding out.
I had a hard time putting this one down (another that I went back and forth, from audio to ebook, and had to "put it down" a lot, as I'm back at work and hate being interrupted when I'm reading an intense book so would rather not read it at all when on the plane...both were exceptional, though the audiobook had a marked advantage in the reader who was perfect for this! Her voice, inflection, and timing added so much to the atmosphere!). It has all of the hallmarks of a classic gothic novel: gloomy setting, CHECK: Prague in winter; supernatural beings, CHECK: the eponymous Melmoth; curses or prophecies, CHECK: we find these in historical documents--journals, letters, diary entries--a la Dracula; damsels in distress, CHECK: our greige Helen is most certainly in distress. We have echoes of classic literary figures including Poe's Raven (which are disguised as jackdaws here), Miss Havisham, and a brief glimpse of a Heathcliff (I'm probably missing a few other allusions as well). We have every last thing that I was hoping for in a novel to read at the onset of autumn. The one reason I gave it four rather than five stars is because, like every gothic novel I've ever read, the ending was a bit of a let down...though, perhaps, that's unavoidable when the tension and suspense are constantly being tightened and heightened in the build up, there no way for the ending to be anything but a slight disappointment.

+30 Task, set 75% in Czech Republic
+20 "Blue" country
+10 Review
+25 Combo (10.3; 10.4; 10.8: Czech Republic, Philippines, U.K., and more; 20.5: "He peered at Helen over a glass of wine, then drank it."; 20.8)

Task total: 85
Season total: 975

15.6
Power of 9 - in order by birth year
When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro - 1954

+15 task
Task total = 15
Season total = 1095 (my total is 5 points higher than the readerboard, I think my total is correct as I made all the noted adjustments)

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 is more of a mystery). Three are short stories, two in the collection are novellas.

The short stories are: ‘Green Tea’, ‘The Familiar’, and ‘Mr Justice Harbottle’. Generally, I didn’t find the short stories that interesting. ‘The Familiar’ was the weakest. I didn’t think the main character’s reactions were true to his nature. ‘Mr Justice Harbottle’ was the best of the three. I think this portion of the collection barely rates a 3*, and most of that achievement is due to their role as progenitors.

The novella “The Room in the Dragon Volant’ was great. Here Le Fanu is in top form and having fun. For a contemporary reader the main character is awfully naïve, but I am sure at the time of publication his readers would have been on the edge of their seats. Well done. 5*

The final (shorter) novella is ‘Carmilla’. The famous one. I had read this as a stand alone about 4 years ago. This is what I said then:

‘This novella is one of the earliest vampire stories (according to Wikipedia!). It is well written and atmospheric – as only the Gothic writers could do. At times it my mind it bordered on ‘high gothic’, but because the book is short the story moves along.
It is interesting reading this book in 2016 (it was published in 1872) because, of course, the world has changed. So, I did find the narrator (who is the victim) to be rather credulous and the set up introducing Carmilla into the story frankly unbelievable. As well, the homoerotic overtones seemed quite blatant to me. However, it is possible to put all of that aside and accept this book for what it is – an enjoyable story to read!’

Surprisingly, I think I enjoyed Carmilla more this time. I expected to skim it and not really like it; however, I was drawn in by the narrator and quite liked it. Last time I rated it 3*. I think I would give it a 4* this time.

20 task
10 review
15 oldie
10 not a novel
5 combo 10.2 iagdjslf = said
____
60

Running total: 740

20.3 Prolific

Mermaid by Margaret Millar

+20 task
+10 combo (10.3, 10.4)
+ 5 oldies (1982)

Task total=35
Season total=675

(21/122 Mysteries Challenge)

30.1 Go for the Green

A Pledge of Silence by Flora J. Solomon

OH GOD, THE HORROR! It's been a while since I've read a book that I've actively hated, one at which I find myself screaming, "You are THE WORST!!!" I only finished it because I kept holding out for some sort of redemption. Silly me. Nope
I wanted to read this because I didn't know much about what was going in the Philippines during WWII. I'm embarrassed to admit that I always thought it was the "Bhutan Death March" my friends were accusing me of leading them on when we'd go hiking. That never made any sense to me as I didn't think there was much war action in that region of the world (which there wasn't). At least I did learn that one historical tidbit from this book: it was the Bataan Death March and it sounds like it was rather horrific--even though this book only glancingly touches on it. Instead, it is set (52%, to be precise...had it been less than 51, I would have given up on it) in the internment camps set up by the Japanese for civilians. So I learned something new...the only saving grace of the past eleven hours and thirty-seven minutes of my life wasted listening to this atrocious narrator read this abomination of a book.
The characters were two-dimensional--I didn't care about a single one of them--their actions (especially those of the protagonist, Margie) were unrealistic in the extreme and the writing was dreadful. The last four hours were torture--I don't care about these characters and certainly don't want to follow them for another fifty years...It felt like I was reading a soap opera (and I detest soap operas). Awful, awful, awful. I don't know how in the world this has such a high rating on goodreads! 1 star, and only because I can't go lower. I would give it .5 stars and only because I encountered historical events that are new to me so it was useful in that regard alone.

+30 Task, set 52% in Philippines
+20 "Blue" Country
+10 Review
+20 Combo (10.2 APOSFJS: SOAPS; 10.4; 10.8: US, Philippines, Saipan; 20.5 lots of wine and champagne being drunk by the officers and nurses before Japan invaded, wrote down an exact quote somewhere and now I can't locate it)

Task total: 80
Season total: 1055

10.10 Group Reads

The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

Thanks, Kate, for suggesting this as a group reads book -- I might never have picked it up on my own and I absolutely LOVED it! The book moves back and forth across 3 time periods -- Ava in modern day Louisiana, her ancestor Josephine in 1925, and Josephine as a child in slavery. There's so much to this book - echoes of one story in another, echoes of history in the present, and small moments that reveal racial rifts more clearly than large scale events. Each storyline grabbed and held my attention, and the writing was gorgeous. Highly, highly recommended!

+10 task
+10 combo (10.4, 20.5 - a lot of wine including "I pour myself a tall glass of wine to wait it out")
+10 review

Task Total: 30
Season Total: 435

20.2 Journalist

Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why by Alexandra Petri

You may know Alexandra Petri's columns for the Washington Post - she is funny and gets reposted quite often on social media. I had read some of these before, but not most of them. This book is a collection of columns mostly from the last four years - plus a few older ones. She is funny and offers pretty clever digs at the news, and I enjoyed each column on its own. It actually felt like a lot to read them all together - her style started to run together for me - but several of the individual essays are standouts. One thing that surprised me was the overtly poignant moments in addition to the humor - one essay is called "How to Sleep at Night When Families Are Being Separated at the Border" and it begins "The trick is forgetting that they are children. If you remember that they are children, you will not be able to go on with any of this. If you remember when you were a child, and frightened, and everything seemed impossibly big and loud and sharp and hard except a certain pair of familiar arms, this will have to stop."

+20 task
+10 combo (10.2 - NIWAHIWAP = NAP, 10.7)
+10 Not a novel (collection of columns)
+10 review

Task Total: 50
Season Total: 485

20.2 Journalist

His & Hers by Alice Feeney

Alice Feeney is a check-out-of-the-library-immediately author for me. I like her plots primarily - they still have the ability to surprise me. I thought I had this one figured out early, but Feeney still managed to throw in a twist I didn't expect. This book, told in alternating chapters between Jack, a detective in the village of Blackdown, and his ex-wife Anna, a BBC anchor. Both grew up in the small British village of Blackdown and are brought back there, and brought together, by a murder of someone they both knew. From there, the story progresses until we finally learn the full truth, on the very last page. There is some gruesomeness, as there often is with Feeney's books, and this one took me longer to get hooked on than her others, but paid off in the end.

+20 task
+10 combo (10.2 - HHAF = AHA; 20.5 - near constant wine references including "I sat right in front of it, wrapped in a blanket, gulping down the wine")
+10 review

Task Total: 40
Season Total: 525

20.3 Prolific

Bats in the Belfry by E.C.R. Lorac

I think I enjoyed this more than the first E.C.R. Lorac I read just recently - Murder in Vienna. I am obviously not a reader-in-order person. I don't know if I would have come to know MacDonald any better by this 13th in the series if I were. I like him very much. He's single and not very gullible. He lets inconsistencies bother him so that he is persistent. Those being interviewed underestimate him. He is (mostly) open with colleagues, which is good, because then the reader gets the inside scoop on some of his thinking and theories.

With all of MacDonald's thinking and theories, I didn't have to try to solve the mystery myself. I was mostly just along for the ride. Good thing, because it's a complicated plot and even MacDonald had several possible suspects. Yes, mysteries are almost all plot, but I was ready for that. Only MacDonald is well characterized, but the others are believable enough. I think what I like most about Lorac is her writing style. I am thought neither to have scant education nor to have a dictionary handy. In this, there was a bit more of London street layout than I needed or wanted, but I've chosen to ignore that type of thing because I'm not familiar with US cities either. I refuse to be held back for such lack of familiarity!

I am happy to have recently picked up on the cheap a few others in the series and also to have seen that my library has a couple of titles as well. I can't say when I'll get to them, but just now I'm hoping it's sooner rather than later. Still, I can't rave enough about this one to have it leaping over the 3-/4-star line. It's definitely toward the top of 3-star group, though.

+20 Task (more than 40 titles in this series)
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (10.2 bitbecrl = BIT)
+10 Oldies (1937)

Task total = 45

Season total = 320

15.7 Power of 9
In order by birth year - 1963

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

Task total = 15
Season total = 1110

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 enjoy fantasy. I read this for the first time in 1996. I was doing my clinical hours for my Education major and the teacher was reading this book to the class. This series has become a classic. the series is also on the banned list because it has wizards and witches and the characters use magic. I think the people who monitor the banned list have too much time on their hands and nothing better to do.
Task +10
Review+ 10
Combo +5 10.2 Scrabble HPATSS-pats
Grand Total: 175

20.5 Wine

The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith

A low-key, enjoyable story with a subtle message about daily life as a "nobody;" in this case, Mr. Charles Pooter, 19th century London suburbanite and faithful office clerk, husband to Carrie, and father to Lupin. At first, the scenes were comedic, such as his idea to paint the bathroom red, but the themes became more serious and we get a picture of Charles as a devoted husband, employee, and friend. He writes of his daily life - in the beginning I thought of "Seinfeld" - a daily life TV show. I listened to the Librivox recording by reader Martin Clifton - perfect voice for the story--steady and non-dramatic.

+20 Task "They began embracing each other and drinking champagne."
+5 10.2 TDOANGG dog, gang, tag, goat
+10 Oldie
+10 Review

Task Total: 45
Season Total: 120

Post 440 Valerie 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..."

I'm sorry, but novellas are novels, just short ones. They don't come under the heading of not-a-novel.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 440 Valerie 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 th..."

Well, I guess if I had thought that through I would have realized that..... ha, ha.. I've corrected my spreadsheet!

10.2 Scrabble!

Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie

Well, Dame Christie comes through in the end. When I started this novel I was kind of taken aback – was she trying to pander to the 1960s audience!! (Yes, probably.) That didn’t really grab me. However, as the story unfolded it became more of a Poirot story you would expect. He questions, witnesses dissemble. He tramps around the village (this was unusual) and his feet hurt. Wait… his feet hurt. Aside from the mystery itself, which was a good one and classic Christie, we get to experience a human side of Poirot. His patent leather shoes played a role in this novel, poking a little fun at the man… the legend.

When I started this novel I vaguely remembered that I had read it 40+ years ago – oh my! This was one of the ones I had thought it wasn’t necessary to have a hard copy of. Now, however after so many years I can say it was (is) worth the revisit and an enjoyable mystery. 4*

10 task hpac = chap
10 review
5 oldie
10 combo 20.3, 20.7
_____
35

Running total: 765

20.3 Prolific

The Fiend by Margaret Millar

Wine quote: "He looked like one of the old winos who hung around the railroad jungle, waiting for a handout or an empty boxcar or an even break. He was carrying a paper bag and an open bottle of muscatel...He touched the bottle to his cheek. 'The grape and me, we're buddies. Got a cigarette and a light?"

+20 task
+ 5 combo (20.5)
+ 5 oldies (1964)

Task total=30
Season total=705

(22/122 Mysteries Challenge)