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FA 21 Completed Tasks
15.6 Counting on Authors14 letters
Crooked House by Agatha Christie
+15 task
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 310
15.10 Counting on Authors(20 letters)
Dead Love Has Chains by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
(sounds Halloweenish, doesn't it?)
+15 Task
Season total = 305
10.8 MediterraneanBonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan
Pg 44: "My father went to get a bottle of champagne."
+10 task (set in France)
+10 combo 10.5 Classic; 20.9 Anniversary
+10 1001 book
Task total: 30
Season total: 730
20.2 Anti-HeroBrighton Rock by Graham Greene
+20 Task from wiki list
+5 Combo 10.6 October
+10 1001
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 980
20.2 - Anti-hero Different Seasons: Four Novellas by Stephen King
#101 on Best Antiheroes in Books
Task: 20
Bookshelf: 10
Not -a- novel: 10
Combo :20 ( 20.3 , 10.6, 10.3, 20.5)
Jumbo: 671 pages- 5
Post total: 65
Season total: 415
20.8 - Gothic Storm Front by Jim Butcher
# 122 of Best books to read on Halloween
Task: 20
Combo : 5 (10.6)
Post total: 25
Season : 440
20.9 Anniversary (Kate S's task)The Big Four by Agatha Christie
+20 Task (approved in help thread)
+15 Combo (10.5, 10.7 Captain Hastings, 20.1 approved in help thread)
Points this post: 35
RwS total: 220
CoA total: -
Season Total: 220
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 10.9 ....
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
.... .... 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 .... .... 20.9 ....
Task 15.7 15 lettersThe Sun's Bride (2008) by Gillian Bradshaw
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 485 + 15 = 500
20.8 GothicA Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
+20 #81 from best books to Read for Halloween
+5 Combo 20.3 rating 4.21
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 1005
20.6 AwardedThe Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
They say in April, National Poetry Month, "one poem a day won't hurt you." This book isn't poetry, but I followed the mantra anyway. I read one story a day between September 1 and October 31, 61 stories in all. I didn't absolutely love them all, but I'd be hard put to say there was even one clunker. I will confess that toward the end of October I started thinking that 45 stories would have been enough. This may have affected my thinking that the last few stories weren't as good as those prior.
Most of the earliest stories take place in New York or its suburbs. Included are his stories from other collections, including one I'd read previously The Housebreaker of Shady Hill and Other Stories. There are other stories that take place in Italy. There is at least one story late in the collection that takes place aboard a 707. With few exceptions, the characters are all upper middle class.
At some point I remarked to myself that his opening lines were pretty darned good. I wished I'd marked some of the earlier ones, but I didn't think of it. There is just something about them that drew me in and had me wondering where what could come next.
You may have seen my mother waltzing on ice skates in Rockefeller Center. She’s seventy-eight years old now but very wiry, and she wears a red velvet costume with a short skirt.All of the stories are from the male point of view, many of them in the first person. Some of these males have no clue about what makes a woman tick! I'm not sure anyone would characterize this collection as humor, but that doesn't mean there wasn't more than one laugh out loud moment. There is just something light about them and I was always glad to start my day with a Cheever story.
She was born and brought up in Nascosta, in the time of the wonders—the miracle of the jewels and the winter of the wolves.
The first time I robbed Tiffany’s, it was raining.
I do what I have to do, like everyone else, and one of the things I have to do is to serve my wife breakfast in bed. I try to fix her a nice breakfast, because this sometimes improves her disposition, which is generally terrible.I can certainly understand why the Pulitzer committee considered this the 1979 winner. That award is "For distinguished fiction published in book form during the year by an American author, preferably dealing with American life..." Not every American life is like another. Cheever writes of one segment, but definitely American, and definitely that of the 30 or so years post WWII. 5-stars.
She was a pretty woman with that striking pallor you so often find in nymphomaniacs. Larry was a big man who used to garden without a shirt, which may have shown a tendency to infantile exhibitionism.
He had graduated from Yale, but when Melee once asked him if he liked Thackeray he said sincerely and politely that he had never tasted any.
+20 Task (Pulitzer, National Book Award)
+10 Review
+10 Combo (20.3, 20.9 - pg 477 "Twenty-five or thirty people came to drink their health in champagne." and others)
+10 Not a Novel
+ 5 Jumbo (682 - and grumble, grumble, the MPE is the only one under 800 pages!)
Task total = 55
Season total = 360
From Post 529Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "20.8 Gothic
The Hound of the Baskervillesby Arthur Conan Doyle
Task +20
Combo +10 20.3 ratings 4.12
Total points:30
Grand total: 155"
+10 1001 books
+5 Combo 20.1
From Post 78Anika wrote: "20.2 Anti-hero
The Shining by Stephen King
No wonder Stephen King was less-than-impressed with Kubrick's effort...the book is SOOOOOO much better!!
I was not expecting ..."
+10 Combo 10.3, 20.9
From Post 143Heather wrote: "20.9 - "A glass of poisoned champagne was about the only thing that would keep Rosemary quiet." (there are more but i'm trying not to spoil the plot, which *revolves* around a poisoned glass of cha..."
+10 Combo 10.7, 20.1
From Post 470Valerie wrote: "20.5 Boomer
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
This is definitely an epic adventure and ‘bigger than life’. I thought this novel was fantastic i..."
+5 Combo 10.5
From Post 497Norma wrote: "20.9 - Anniversary
Tender Mercies by Kitty Thomas
+20 task - Grace took a sip of the champagne, trying to hide her surprise
Task total: 20
Grand total: 685"
+10 Combo 10.6, 20.5
From Post 513Nick wrote: "10.5 Classics
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
+ 10 Task
+ 10 Combo, 10.7 many of the characters are soldiers, 10.8 set in Mediterranean country of Italy.
+ ..."
+5 Combo 20.3
From Post 566Rebekah wrote: "10.1 TBR
Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon I think I’ve had this book in 2 different formats since RWS was created.
+10 pts - Task
+25 pts - Combo - (10.5..."
I do not see this on the 1001 list, did I miss it?
From Post 553June wrote: "10.9- Oxford
The Queen of Bedlam by Robert R. McCammon
Task: 10
Combo: 10 (rating : 4.27; boomer - see GR data born in 1952)
Jumbo: MPE of 656 : 5 points
Post tot..."
You claim 10 points for combo here, but only list one, I have noted the other for 20.3, please let us know if I am wrong.
From Post 574Deedee wrote: "Task 20.1 Serially
Read a novel originally published serially.
Dune Messiah (Dune #2) (1969) by Frank Herbert (Mass Market Paperback, 331 pages)
+20 Task
+10 Combo (#10.5: ..."
+5 Combo 10.7
From Post 578Rebekah wrote: "20.7 Exophonic
The Attack by Yasmina Khadra
+20 pts - Task
+25 pts - Combo(10.7- central to the book is the fight between militant Palestinians and Israeli army. The p..."
You claim 5 combos here, but only list 4 (20.5x2). I do not see another, but maybe I missed it.
From Post 580Kristina Simon wrote: "20.9 - Anniversary (Kate S's Task)
Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie
🍁 "A glass of poisoned champagne was about the only thing that would keep Rosemary quiet." ~ 1..."
+5 Combo 20.4
From Post 590Nick wrote: "20.6 Awarded
The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers
Mythopoetic Fant Award 1990, Premio Ignotus por Novela 1992
Task Points: 20
Season Total: 480"
+10 Combo 10.3, 20.5
From Post 593Valerie wrote: "20.8 Gothic
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
This novel has SO much atmosphere that I can see why it is considered a ‘gothic’ work. The atmosphere really is an..."
+5 Combo 10.3
Kate S wrote: "From Post 553June wrote: "10.9- Oxford
The Queen of Bedlam by Robert R. McCammon
Task: 10
Combo: 10 (rating : 4.27; boomer - see GR data born in 1952)
Jumbo: MPE..."
Sorry, Combo are 20.3 for Rating and 20.5 - boomer so 10 points
20.8 GothicJamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
20 pts 20.8 Gothic
5 pts 10.5 Classics
10 pts Review
Creepy book set on the moors of Cornwall. A page turner but I kept wondering why Mary was continually walking herself into trouble. DuMaurier really can establish desolation of a lonely place and raise suspicions about everything and everyone around her heroine. I did figure out who the bad guy was but that made the story a little interesting trying to figure out how he would get his come uppance. As always, everything looks like it turns out well but we are not quite sure that it actually will. The Hitchcock movie is now on my to watch list.
Total task: 35 pts
Total Season: 665 pts.
10.1 10.2 10.3 ... ... ... 10.7 ... ... ...
20.1 ... 20.3 ... 20.5 ... 20.7 20.8 20.9 20.10
15.1 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 15.10
I think that with the amended additions of combo points -- which for some reason I can never notice, but I greatly appreciate your keen eyes -- I now have a season total of 525.But I am going to mess that up.
I am taking away Men at Arms from 20.9
I am adding it to the following:
10.6 Birthday Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh, whose birthday is Oct. 28.
All the combo points will transfer, so that means only a 10 point deduction:
Season Total: 515
20.9 Anniversary Characters drink champagne.As I have just opened up this task, I will fill it in with the following:
Dead and Berried by Karen MacInerney
From pp 110-111 comes the following:
"I steeled myself and took a small bit. Then I reached for the champagne.
'Wait till you see what's next. I've prepared you a full three course meal.'
I smiled weakly and drained my glass."
Review: Dead and Berried is the second in the Gray Whale Inn series of cozy murder mysteries by Karen MacInerney. I have read 5 of the 10 books in the series, but instead of going forward, I keep circling back to these first ones. Here's the skinny. Natalie once lived in Austin, TX, but she had man trouble so she sold everything and bought a Bed and Breakfast on an island off the coast of Maine. She barely gets by doing a lot of laundry and repairs and making recipes with lots of butter and sugar for her neighbors, her staff, and herself. In this installment, her ex-boyfriend from Austin follows her up to Maine, but she has her eye on a new guy who is on the local police force. And even if she didn't, the ex is a jerk who spends a lot of time flirting with Natalie's young housekeeping assistant. Natalie does a lot of rolling up her sleeves, tackling the laundry and cleaning the hardwood floors.
Oh, and she solves murders.
Usually one of her neighbors is murdered, and usually it has something to do with selling land to big corporations who want to turn the place into a tourist mecca and take away the charm. Every now and then, to get away from the stress of looking for clues or scrubbing dishes from breakfast, she goes out on a date with a local guy who can't cook but thinks he can, and she drinks a lot of champagne.
Somewhere in the midst of all this Austin to Cranberry Island tomfoolery lies reality. I am not sure where, and maybe to find that reality is the reason I keep coming back to the beginning books in the series. Something is frustrating about leaving weird Austin (where the author lives) and going to a contrived Romantic coastline in Maine (where the author has visited). But it is a rugged sea coast, and there are rugged sea coast things going on, and at the end of the book are half a dozen recipes for baked goods.
Task Points: + 20
Combo: 10.2 "Dead" + 5
Reviews: + 10
Points This Post: 35
Season Total: 550
Post 656 June wrote: "20.2 - Anti-hero Different Seasons: Four Novellas by Stephen King
#101 on Best Antiheroes in Books
Task: 20
Bookshelf: 10
Not -a- novel: 10
Combo :20 ( 20.3 , 10..."
I'm sorry, June. Novellas don't count toward the not-a-novel points, because they are short novels rather than short stories.
Post 658 Lagullande wrote: "20.9 Anniversary (Kate S's task)The Big Four by Agatha Christie
+20 Task (approved in help thread)
+15 Combo (10.5, 10.7 Captain Hastings, 20.1 approved in help thre..."
Because you had me looking at this and found it is inter-connected short stories, this qualifies for not-a-novel points.
15.4 CoA, 12 lettersA Mercy by Toni Morrison
+15 Task
Post total: 15
Season total: 615
Claimed to date:
10.1 - 10.3 10.4 - 10.6 10.7 - 10.9 10.10
15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 - 15.6 - - - -
- 20.2 20.3(x2) 20.4 - 20.6 - - 20.9 -
20.6 AwardedDeath of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
20 pts 20.6 Awarded
5 pts 10.2 Halloween
5 pts 10.3 Back to School
5 pts 10.5 Classics
5 pts 10.6 Birthday
5 pts 20.9 Anniversary I sell champagne and I’d like you to try my brand. Bring her a champagne Stanley. P 138
10 pts Review
10 pts Not a Novel
10 pts 1001
An American tragedy. Willy Loman has failed himself, his sons and his wife and can’t find a way forward. He lacks the ability to see how he has contributed to his own situation and how he has stunted his sons in the process. Loman is not a bad man, but he is also not a good person working within his constraints either. His focus on what could be limits his ability to see how he can improve his lot in life.
I suspect the tragedy would be much more evident on the stage. Reading the playscript seems to lack the interaction and reactions of the characters that would make the themes even more powerful. The nonlinear structure is somewhat confusing on the written page but would be highly effective on the stage. I am looking forward to seeing this in the theatre in January.
Total task: 75 pts
Total Season: 740 pts.
10.1 10.2 10.3 ... ... ... 10.7 ... ... ...
20.1 ... 20.3 …20.5 20.6 20.7 20.8 20.9 20.10
15.1 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 15.10
15.6 Counting on AuthorsDread Nation by Justina Ireland
+15 Task: 870 Lexile (14 letters)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 810
15.9 Counting on AuthorsWinter Flowers by Angélique Villeneuve
+15 Task: (18-19 letters)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 825
10.10 Group ReadsPiranesi by Susanna Clarke
+10 Task
+20 Combo (10.3; 20.3 - 4.29 avg; 20.5 - 1959; 20.6)
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 1,700
20.3 RatingsAristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
+20 Task: 4.3
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 845
20.5 BoomerThe Promise by Damon Galgut
+20 Task:
+ 5 Combo: 20.3 Ratings
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 870
20.7 ExophonicThe Joke by Milan Kundera
This novel opens with Ludvik Jahn returning to his hometown in Moravia with an ulterior motive that becomes clear through the book. In his youth, Ludvik had made the mistake of sending a politically unsound postcard as a joke to his girlfriend of the time, despite knowing that she took everything seriously, and of course it was reported and he was sent to do his military service in the mines. Slowly we discover (through his point of view and others) how he got from there to now, and pick up all the threads that converge on the day of a traditional Moravian folk procession.
I opened this with reluctance, having not appreciated the other books by Milan Kundera that I've read, but then I really enjoyed this one. It was his first novel, and maybe he was less self-consciously a "voice" at that time? For whatever reason, I'm glad to have found something to enjoy in his oeuvre.
+20 Task
+20 Combo (10.5 123 shelvings, 10.7 Ludvik is a veteran of military service, 20.3, 20.4 moves back and forth between Ludvik's military service and the present day)
+10 Review
+10 1001 list
Task Total: 60
Season Total: 1070
20.8 GothicVathek by William Beckford
Faust meets the Arabian Nights in this Gothic tale set in the Middle East of classical times. Vathek's life as a prince with a huge harem may be luxurious but it offers few challenges, so Vathek (heavily influenced by his mother) makes a deal with a demon for a more rewarding life. Of course it doesn't turn out quite as he expects, but plenty happens along the way, with an endearing mixture of horror and sentimentality. (view spoiler)
Beckford's life is interesting to read about too. He squandered a huge fortune but had descendants who include some feisty-sounding ladies and the royal family of Monaco.
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.5 294 shelvings, 10.6)
+10 Review
+10 1001 list
Task Total: 50
Season Total: 1120
20.10 Musical MysteriesVoice of the Violin by Andrea Camilleri
So glad to have had an "excuse" to read another Montalbano, even if out of order. There is an aspect of Montalbano's life that means this might be better appreciated in order. That said, I often don't remember enough of these for it to matter anyway.
I'm pretty sure that most of us would wish to engage Montalbano's housekeeper. She leaves him gourmet dishes in the refrigerator. I was amused that once he chose to unplug his phone because over cooked pasta would ruin the sauce, an event not to be tolerated. In general, however, Montalbano is a crusty curmudgeon. His staff is extremely loyal, even when he sometimes treats them coldly. They know that their boss leads them to be the best there is.
The Goodreads description provides enough background on the case in this novel. I admit that "my" suspect had nothing to do with the murder. Even when I began to have other ideas, Montalbano was way ahead of me on who and why. The ending is satisfying. With a writing style that is miles ahead of the over-simple James Patterson, decent characterizations and an engaging plot, this is definitely worth 4-stars.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+20 Combo (10.3 - thanks, Rebekah!, 10.6, 10.8 - Italy, 20.3 - 4.03)
Task total = 50
Season total = 410
20.3 RatingsFour Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi
+20 Task:
+ 5 Combo: 10.3 Back to School / 10.9 Oxford
+10 Not a Novel
+ 5 Jumbo
Task Total: 40
Season Total: 910
20.5 BoomerThe End of Her by Shari Lapena
Stephanie and Patrick Kilgour are adjusting to being new parents to colicky twin daughters. They are barely coping with sleep deprivation when Erica Voss, a former lover of Patrick, comes into town. Erica is raising questions about the death of Patrick's first wife, and threatens to go to the police. At first Stephanie does not believe Erica's accusations, but soon she has doubts about her husband's innocence. Who is telling the truth? How safe are Stephanie and the twins?
This domestic thriller has multiple unreliable narrators. Erica is a temptress and a blackmailer, but Patrick seems far from angelic too. Two other minor storylines involve some of the same characters. There's lots of internal dialogue as Stephanie grows more paranoid while also dealing with exhaustion. "The End of Her" is a quick-moving psychological thriller that kept my interest to the end.
+20 task (born 1960-see task thread)
+10 combo 10.3 Back to School (English teacher-see task thread); 20.4 Non-linear
+10 review
Task total: 40
Season total: 770
15.9 Counting on AuthorsForeign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke
+15 Task (18 letters)
+5 Not-a-Novel
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1,720
Task 10.2 HalloweenIn honor of Halloween, read a book with a "death" word in the title.
“death word”: HANGMAN
A Tip for the Hangman (2021) by Allison Epstein (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 374 pages)
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 500 + 10 = 510
Well, I went back and didn’t see it either. I must have just got Ed’s task of classic mixed up in my mind with 1001. I corrected my mistakeNow on to check on the other one
Kate S wrote: "From Post 566
Rebekah wrote: "10.1 TBR
Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon I think I’ve had this book in 2 different formats since RWS was created.
+10 pts..."
My mistake here was to write 20.5 two times when I meant for it it to be 20.4 and then 20.5. It is non-linear. It begins with the scene that ends the book, then jumps to beginning but in between goes back in time to certain events.Gee, I was getting excited thinking I might get through a whole season without making an error!
Kate S wrote: "From Post 578
Rebekah wrote: "20.7 Exophonic
The Attack by Yasmina Khadra
+20 pts - Task
+25 pts - Combo(10.7- central to the book is the fight between militant Pales..."
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "20.10 Musical MysteriesVoice of the Violin by Andrea Camilleri
So glad to have had an "excuse" to read another Montalbano, even if out of order. There is an aspect of..."
You’re welcome, Elizabeth but I can’t take credit. I didn’t right the bio! (Smile)
20.3 RatingsShip Fever: Stories by Andrea Barrett
+20 Task (4.05)
+10 Combo (10.3, 20.5, both in GR bio)
Task total=30
Season total=440
Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson
Task - 15 pts
Not a Novel - 5 pts
Task Total -20 pts
Please see post #825
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Reading with Style
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Margaret Millar (other topics)Shawn McGuire (other topics)
Shawn McGuire (other topics)
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Into the Deep: A Memoir from the Man Who Found Titanic by Robert D. Ballard
Kate, thanks for suggesting this book as a group read! I would probably never have picked it up, but was so interested! Ballard's life is fascinating and he discusses not only his discovery of the wreck of the Titanic but also his work with other shipwrecks and dives, and his work developing educational resources on land. I was intrigued as an educator with his description of realizing he had dyslexia, and how that impacted his learning as well as his presentation and thinking style. I will say, I kept thinking throughout the first half of the book that if he didn't have a wife to stay at home and raise his kids, there's no way he would have been able to "have it all" - the exploration, the career that demanded long trips, plus the family life. I think he realizes this too, though, as he describes his efforts later in life to support girls and women in STEM and in particular in ocean exploration.
+10 task (Ballard served in the Navy)
+10 combo (10.10, 20.3)
+10 review
+10 not a novel
Task Total: 40
Season Total: 295