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Valerie
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Nov 19, 2021 12:56PM
Congrats, Nick!
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Congratulations, Nick!15.2 Counting on Authors
Carrie's War by Nina Bawden
+15 Task (10 letters)
Task Total: 15
Counting on Authors completion: 100
Bonus for all female authors: 50
Bonus for all pre-1996: 50
Mega finish: 200
Post total: 415
Season Total: 1910
20.9- AnniversaryLie to Me by J.T. Ellison
On page 305 - She took a sip of champagne- she had to have at least one drink with Montparnasse's ghosts - and went back to admiring the room. She liked it here.
Task: 20
Jumbo : 544- 5
Total: 25
Season total: 480
15.8 Counting on AuthorsThe Blunderer by Patricia Highsmith
17 letters
+ 15 task
+100 finishing bonus
+ 50 all female authors
Task total: 165
Season total: 1055
Task 10.9 Oxford (Rosemary's Task)Oxford University colleges:
ALL Souls College
For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History (2009) by Sarah Rose [382.413]
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 550 + 10 = 560
From Post 635Katy wrote: "10.8 Mediterranean
Riviera Gold by Laurie R. King
I'm nearly caught up with the Mary Russell series - I think this was number 16 and there's one more out - and King ..."
+5 Combo 20.10
From Post 759Rosemary wrote: "10.5 Classics
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
This short novel opens with the funeral of Ivan Ilyich, a respected member of the Russian legal profession who ..."
Sorry, Rosemary, with an MPE of 86 pages, this title is not long enough for this season.
From Post 768Anika wrote: "20.7 Exophonic
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
This is my first (and last) time reading this play.
I hated it.
I know that there's got to be more going on below..."
+10 Combo 10.5, 20.2
From Post 784Mary wrote: "10.4 Truth and Reconciliation
Rose by Martin Cruz Smith
10 pts 10.4 Truth and Reconciliation
5 pts 20.9 Anniversary p 254 Hannay distributed champagne with the mock ..."
+5 Combo 10.6
Mary wrote: "10.9 OxfordThe House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell
Task total: 30 pts
Total Season: 1110 pts"
I show an addition error here. Previous total 980+30 (this post)=1010
From Post 800Kathleen (itpdx) wrote: "10.4 Truth and Reconciliation
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer
Treuer’s book of the American Indian—history, ..."
+5 Combo 10.6
10.7 ServiceLast Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter
This didn't grab me from the beginning, but I'm not at all sure that was the fault of the the author. I might have still been thinking about my prior read. Soon enough, however, I was closely following everything. And things seemed so obvious, so I could be pretty sure it wasn't obvious at all. That's the way of murder mysteries.
I was influenced by years ago having seen Morse and Lewis on TV. I liked the show and the onscreen characterizations. With this one read, I'll go out on a limb to say that Morse in print is different than Morse on TV. He's not completely different, though. He's still abrupt, a bit condescending and keeps his thoughts to himself. I just couldn't picture the Morse on the page as the same as the one on TV. For me, that's a good thing as here, the written word is more forceful and complete.
The mystery is complex. A young woman is found in a pub parking lot, her head bashed in with a tire iron and presumably raped. The usual police questioning ensues to learn the who and how. A reader must consider all characters, keeping some as possibles and dismissing others. When the crime was solved, I was glad that Morse told Lewis his thought process on how the perpetrator came to be arrested. My thinking wasn't even in the right ballpark.
I'm glad to have started this series and I have the next one on hand. I don't know when I'll get to it, but I know I'll be glad when I do. Does this make my normal 4-star top for mysteries? Probably just barely. The last half - and especially the solution - is why I know I'll read more, so I'll just make sure it has enough stars to remind me.
+10 Task (Lewis is referred to having prior service; wikipedia says Morse has also, though that's not in this title.)
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.3 - in thread (late, but there), 10.6, GR profile)
Task total = 30
Season total = 765
10.1 TBRThe Pebbles On The Beach by Clarence Ellis
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.3)
+10 NaN
Points this post: 25
RwS total: 325
CoA total: 30
Season Total: 355
10.1 .... .... .... .... .... 10.7 .... 10.9 ....
.... 15.2 15.3 .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
20.1 .... 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 .... .... 20.9 ....
15.3 Counting on AuthorsThe Honey Thief by Najaf Mazari
+15 Task (11 letters)
+5 Not a Novel – short stories
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 1715
From Post 813Valerie wrote: "20.1 Serially
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
This is another enjoyable classic mystery by Collins.
There are so many elements contained in this one novel that ar..."
+5 Combo 20.3
10.1 TBRShinju by Laura Joh Rowland
Added to TBR 8/20/2019
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.5 - Wikipedia sets birth year as 1954)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 375 (adjusted total due to disallowed CoA book)
10.2 HalloweenBuried in a Bog by Sheila Connolly
Buried = death word
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.5 - born 1950)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 390
10.3 Back to SchoolBone Crossed by Patricia Briggs
+10 Task (worked as a substitute teacher - GR profile)
+5 Combo (rating = 4.32)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 405
10.5 ClassicsOliver Twist by Charles Dickens
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.1 - published serially in Bentley's Miscellany 1837-1839 [Wikipedia])
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 420
10.7 ServiceThe Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War by Michael Shaara
This book followed the thoughts and lives of several generals of the opposing armies of the Battle of Gettysburg.
+10 Task
+15 Combo (10.3 - taught at FSU per GR profile, 10.5 - classics by 197 users, 20.3 - rating = 4.31)
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 445
Well, that does it for now. I have 3 books left to read...we'll see if I get any of them finished.
20.7 Exophonic10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak
+20 pts - Task
+20 pts - Combo (10.3- see GR bio, 10.8-Turkey,20.3-4.09, 20.4- goes back and forth to different memories as well as telling stories of her friends’ life)
Task Total - 40 pts
20.1 SeriallyLaura by Vera Caspary
Pg 98 "No, darling, no whiskey tonight. We're drinking champagne."
Laura Hunt was shot as she opened her apartment door in New York City, and detective Mark McPherson was sent to investigate. Laura was a beautiful, independent woman who fascinated the people who loved her. Using multiple narrators, author Vera Caspary gives us psychological profiles of the main characters and their relationships. This excellent crime story is a classic with interesting characters and a twist in the middle of the book.
+20 task
+15 combo 20.3 Ratings 4.00; 20.4 Non-Linear; 20.9 Anniversary
+10 review
Task total: 45
Season total: 1100
15.1 CoA 9- lettersBright Dead Things by Ada Limon
+15 Task
+5 Not-a-Novel
Task total: 20
Season total: 1095
15.7 CoA, 15 lettersCall Me Athena: Girl from Detroit by Colby Cedar Smith
+15 Task
+5 Not-a-Novel
+5 500+ pages (576 pages)
Task total: 25
Season total: 1140
20.6 AwardedSweat by Lynn Nottage
There's something about a play that has the ability to either turn you off entirely (I'm looking at you, Waiting for Godot) or put you right in the thick of the players lives that builds an amazing amount of understanding and empathy, changing the reader/viewer forever. Sweat definitely falls into the latter category.
The entirety of the play takes place in a bar in Reading, Pennsylvania, a manufacturing town. It starts after the plant has closed and quickly goes back in time to better days. The action centers primarily on a pair of mothers and sons who all work at the plant, the bartender who worked at the plant for most of his life until he was injured, and the dishwasher at the bar. This touches on a lot of hot-button issues: race, the opioid epidemic, and NAFTA and disappearing jobs in the American working class to name a few.
Despite the depressing nature of the story, I really loved having read this and feel changed as a result. Nottage is the only woman to have won the Pulitzer in Drama twice and it's well-deserved--this woman knows how to craft a powerful play!
+20 Task: Pulitzer Prize for Drama (2017), Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (2016)
+10 Not-a-Novel
+15 Combo: 10.3: professor at Columbia; 20.3: 4.17 avg. rating; 20.5: b. 1964
Task total: 45
Season total: 1185
**Rebekah! Re: your earlier inquiry in group chat--I think this would fit the bill...even though it's not as easy to talk people into reading (plays are certainly more niche than novels), I think you'd appreciate it.
10.5 ClassicsThe Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Wow. WTF Werther, get over yourself. Yes, I really have no sympathy for our young Werther. He is an extremely privileged young man who harasses a lovely young woman who has the misfortune to cross his path. Honestly, I am amazed how everyone was so tolerant of his passions and over the top behaviour. I really think a special mention has to go to Wilhelm who had to put up with all of Werther’s musings (in letter form) and try to temper his friend from afar.
Of course, it is worthy of remembering this novel and Goethe’s import in the ‘Sturm and Drang’ movement; as well as it’s influence on Romanticism. However, it hasn’t aged well and is not worthy of ‘classic’ status (nor of being on the 1001 book list). 2*
10 task
10 reveiw
10 1001 list
______
30
Running total: 830
-> so happy to be able to get this book off the RL TBR and into the donation box!!!!
Kate S wrote: "From Post 759Rosemary wrote: "10.5 Classics
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
This short novel opens with the funeral of Ivan Ilyich, a respected member of the Russian legal profession who ..."
Sorry, Rosemary, with an MPE of 86 pages, this title is not long enough for this season."
Oh wow, I thought the one that came up on a search would always be the MPE as long as it was in English. I'll need to check my planned CiV books again! But no problem, I will read something else for this task.
Post 900 Nick wrote: "10.1 TBRCompletion Points -- Mega-Finish: 200"
Congratulations! Well done!
20.3 RatingsWhat Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry
+20 pts Task
+10 pts - Combo (10.3
+10 pts - Not a Novrl
Task Total - 40 pts
Anika wrote: "20.6 AwardedSweat by Lynn Nottage
There's something about a play that has the ability to either turn you off entirely (I'm looking at you, [book:Waiting for Godot..."
I’ll check it out! Thanks!
20.9 AnniversaryBlonde by Joyce Carol Oates
+20 Task ("By this time, Norma Jeane had had her first glass or two of champagne and Bucky'd had both champagne and ale. There was a photo of the newlyweds dancing..." pg. 156)
+15 Combo (10.3-in GR bio, 20.3-4.0 rating, 20.4-many flashbacks)
+10 1001 books list
+10 Jumbo (738 pgs.)
Task total=55
Season total=565
20.6 AwardedArtificial Condition by Martha Wells
This was like having your favorite candy after some medicine (yes, I mean young Werther). These novellas are great fun. The AI in these stories are interesting, and this time there is a very ‘smart’ Research Transport bot (ART).
Murderbot is trying to get to the scene of his crime to investigate what really happened. Along the way he meets ART, hires out as a security consultant, and learns some very interesting information. There isn’t as much ‘shoot them up’ action as the first instalment, instead there is more mind-bending fun with Murderbot’s and ART’s amazing digital capabilities. 4* Once again, I listened the audiobook, and I think the narrator added a lot.
20 task
10 review
5 combo 20.5
______
35
Running total: 865
20.3 RatingsThe Speckled Beauty: A Dog and His People by Rick Bragg
Speck is a terror--a half-blind stray dog that won't behave. But the starving dog arrived at the Bragg's Alabama farm just when he was needed. Rick was in remission from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma after going through the hell of chemo, and isolating with his mother during the pandemic. Speck helped fill up the hours that would have been spent feeling depressed. Speck is part Australian shepherd who feels that he's needed to herd the kittens and the donkeys. The dog offered love, and laughter at his crazy antics. Speck and Rick needed each other's company to heal.
Rick Bragg shows shows a great love for his family, his adopted dog, and his Southern roots. He also writes about his close relationship with his older brother, Sam, who recently died. "The Speckled Beauty" is a warm story full of humor told by a man with a big heart.
+20 task 4.51 rating
+15 combo 10.3 Back to School (Prof of Writing at Univ of Alabama); 20.4 Non-Linear (childhood of Rick and Sam); 20.5 Boomer (Born 1959)
+10 review
+10 not a novel
Task total: 55
Season total: 1155
15.2 Counting on AuthorsRound 3
A Little Bird by Wendy James
+15 Task (10 letters)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 2,030
Post 903 June wrote: "20.9- AnniversaryLie to Me by J.T. Ellison
On page 305 - She took a sip of champagne- she had to have at least one drink with Montparnasse's ghosts - and went bac..."
I'm sorry, June. The MPE for this title has just 413 pages and does not qualify for jumbo points.
15.5 CoA 13 lettersComing Home And Other Stories by Farida Karodia
15 pts 15.5 CoA 13 letters
5 pts NAN short stories
Female
Pre 1996
Task total: 20 pts
Correction -100 pts post 911
Total Season: 1165
10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 ... 10.7 ... 10.9 ...
20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 20.8 20.9 20.10
15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 ... 15.7 15.8 15.9 15.10
20.5 - BoomerThe Love Killings by Robert Ellis
+20 task - 1954
+15 Combos (10.2 - Afghanistan, 10.7 - killings, 20.3 - 4.33)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 1180
20.5 - BoomerThe Girl Buried in the Woods by Robert Ellis
+20 task - 1954
+15 Combos (10.2 - Afghanistan, 10.7 - buried, 20.3 - 4.34)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 1215
Post 931 Rebekah wrote: "20.3 RatingsWhat Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry
+20 pts Task
+10 pts - Combo (20.3- see GR bio, 20.5-1955)
+10..."
You have claimed a combo for the task. Perhaps this was a typo. Let us know.
20.3 - RatingsThe Summer Breeze: Bed and Breakfast byShail Rajan
+20 task - 4.22
+5 Combo (20.9 - The champagne was hastily poured, toast were made and Auld Lang Syne was sung.)
Task total: 25
Grand total: 1240
20.5 - BoomerThe Haven of Obedience by Marina Anderson
+20 task - 1947
Task total: 20
Grand total: 1260
15.10 CoA, 20+ lettersThe Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
+15 Task
+5 Not-a-Novel
Task total: 20
Season total: 1205
20.6 AwardedThe Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline, 810 Lexile
+20 Task: Sunburst Award for Young Adult (2018), American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Young Adult Book (Honor Book) (2018), Governor General's Literary Awards / Prix littéraires du Gouverneur général for Traduction (de l’anglais vers le français) by Madeleine Stratford (2019) and for Young People’s Literature — Text (2017)
+10 Combo: 20.3 Ratings / 10.4 Truth and Reconciliation
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 1510
20.8 Gothic (Denise's Task)Relic by Douglas Preston
+20 Task
+10 Combo: 20.3 Ratings /20.5 Boomer
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 1540
20.3 RatingsGut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ by Giulia Enders
+20 Task
+10 Not a Novel
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 1570
20.4 Non-linearThe Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
Eva and her parents are living in Paris when the Germans invade. Their lives have gotten smaller and more desperate with each new edict handed down regarding Jewish life and livelihood, but at least they still have each other. Until all of the Jews are rounded up and shipped off. Eva and her mother were at a neighbor's house babysitting when soldiers come for them--and take her father.
Eva knows the only chance they have of saving him is by saving themselves first. She is a talented artist and is able to forge papers for herself and her mother to escape to a city in the South of France which has been a sort of underground railroad ferrying escapees to Switzerland. (Apparently, it's based on a real town: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20... )
The action in the book bounces back and forth between the war years and 2005, when Eva sees a relic of her war years splashed across the pages of the New York Times.
It was a little too tidy at the end, which is never my favorite...the writing was okay--Elizabeth would be severely underwhelmed ;-)--but it served the story well. I will say that I read the first half of the book on my e-reader and listened to the second half of the book and it fared MUCH better as a read book as opposed to a listening experience.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo: 20.3: 4.37 avg. stars
+100 RwS Finish
+200 MegaFinish
Task total: 335
Season total: 1540
20.3 RatingsMuse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
Lexile 800
+20 task rating 4.45
+5 Jumbo 522 pages
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 1740
20.3 RatingsWhy Kings Confess by C.S. Harris
+20 task rating 4.26
+5 Combo 10.7 Sebastian St Cyr fought in the Napoleonic wars
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 1765
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