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FA 21 Completed Tasks
20.8My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
Ooh, this was good. And WOW, what a villain. YIKES.
And I don’t mean Rachel. If you are Team Philip, FIGHT ME, and also, did you even read this?
The book starts as a mystery…. Pompous woman-hater Ambrose unexpectedly marries Rachel and dies shortly afterwards. Is Rachel a murderer?. Ignorant woman-hating little shit Philip certainly thinks so, and fantasizes about humiliating and destroying her. He knows he is right, and cannot be convinced otherwise.
And then, he changes his mind. And still, he knows he is right and cannot be convinced that his perceptions and actions could be flawed in any way….
With men like that, a woman can never, ever win, and is always in danger.
(view spoiler).
Very good, VERY GOTHIC in that classic windy-damp-toxic relationships way.
+20 task (#26 on the first list)
+5 10.5
+10 review
Task total = 35
Season total = 315
20.9 Anniversary Opération Copperhead by Jean Harambat
There are several occurences in this graphic novel where they drink champagne, here's one of the parts:
- 1st frame: "Gentlemen, are we going to let this champagne die of age ?"
- 2nd frame: we see them cheering: "Here's to you, Ustinov!" "You worked well" "Cheers"!
- following fames: we see them drink their glasses
(unfortunately i cannot upload images!)
+20 Task
(No style points, graphic novel)
Task total = 20
Season total = 215
… ; 10.2 ; 10.3 ; … ; … ; 10.6 ; 10.7 ; 10.8 ; 10.9 ; …
… ; … ; … ; 15.4 ; … ; 15.6 ; … ; … ; … ; …
… ; … ; 20.3 (x2) ; … ; 20.5 ; … ; … ; … ; 20.9 ; …
10.8 MediterraneanMarius the Epicurean by Walter Pater
Set in Rome during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161-180 CE), this 19th-century novel follows young Marius as he sets off from his country estate to take his place in Roman society. We learn his reactions to Apuleius's Metamorphoses/The Golden Ass (which I highly recommend reading before this), Stoicism and Epicureanism, and Christianity.
Walter Pater's famous prose seems turgid these days, with its carefully nested comma-spattered clauses, but it is a wonderful example of high Victorian literature emanating from ivory towers, a world away from Dickens. What spoilt it for me (apart from the frequent glazing-over of my eyes) was that there was a lot less about philosophy than I expected from the title. Stoicism and Epicureanism are mentioned a lot but only to be dismissed, never explored in any depth. It should have been called (view spoiler), although I suppose that is a spoiler, hence the tags.
+10 Task (set entirely in Italy)
+ 5 Combo (10.3 link posted in help thread, msg 12 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_... )
+10 Review
+10 1001 list
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 430
Kate S wrote: "From Post 210Nick wrote: "20.7 Exophonic
A Lover's Discourse by Xiaolu Guo.
Previous Points: 125
Task Points: 20
Challenge Total: 145"
I'm sorry Nick. I do not see this author listed on either of our lists. Did I miss it? "
She's on both the lists, Kate! :)
Rosemary wrote: "I'm sorry Nick. I do not see this author listed on either of our lists. Did I miss it? "She's on both the lists, Kate! :)"
Thanks, Rosemary. I'll look to see where we've gone wrong on our end.
10.2The Kill Club by Wendy Heard
Super fast read, I’ll give it that. And the protagonist was better written than most in this genre.
But it just left me with a shrug and a “meh”.
I loooove sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. I can suspend my disbelief like WOAH. For those genres. When the suspension is needed for worldbuilding and such, I suspend. But when the book is set it the real world? I have a hard time just going along for the ride.
The initial premise of Murder Club is fine, but not very practical… and how the book deals with those complications is pretty ridiculous. Yes, it makes for an action-packed final act, but it makes no sense.
The members of Murder Club are sketches for the most part, and the organizer is just a shadowy “bad”…the reveal is anticlimactic and their actions in the finale are inexplicable. A professional killer would tie up loose ends, not messily play cat-and-mouse. This was not a psychological thriller… the big bad is supposed to be efficient and detached.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total = 20
Season total = 335
10.10 Group ReadsInto the Deep: An Explorer's Life by Robert D. Ballard
Dr. Ballard’s autobiography. Childhood to almost 80. An adventurous and action-packed life. His personality comes through clearly. I liked reviewing some of the expeditions that I haven’t seen covered much in the media. I liked that he was very clear about how much time had to be devoted to fund-raising. I liked that he pushed cross specialty work and exposing students to the joys of science. I liked his explanation of dyslexia.
But I don’t think that I like Dr. Ballard that much, which made the book difficult to read at times.
+10 task
+10 NAN
+10 review
+10 combo 20.3, 10.7 Ballard served in both the Army and the Navy
Task total: 40
Season total: 325
15.2 Counting on AuthorsClose Contact (Body Armor #3) by Lori Foster
+15 Task (10 letters)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1,015
15.4 Counting on AuthorsThe Ambassador's Mission by Trudi Canavan
+15 Task (12 letters)
+5 over 500 pages (513 pages)
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 485
20.4 Non-LinearThe Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
+20 Task
+5 Combo 20.3 (rating 4.03)
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 510
20.3 RatingsEchoes of War by Tania Blanchard
avg. 4.14
Review
I am partial to war stories but this novel, Echoes of War, isn't really a war story but a story of womanhood but set within a time of war. This is not to say that the protagonist wasn't affected by war but just that she was not directly involved in it. All in all, it did not detract from the story of passion, resilience, and strength of this girl's journey into womanhood.
Giulia Tallariti, our protagonist, is a passionate young woman who has a very clear vision of her future. A vision which was not shared by her father who has his own preconception and therefore resulted in a number of clashes between daughter and father. While fighting for her future, the country itself is turmoil. From wars, natural disasters, and poverty, Giulia and her family stuck together through thick & thin as she sought and found her place in her family & society.
I'm not afraid to confess that I cried a number of times; as you'd expect from such stories. Echoes of War is a novel full of anxiety, heartbreaks, family, sisterhood, and love. What fascinated me most was author's notes as she described her own family history and how it influenced her writing especially with some of her own family stories woven into this telling; utterly captivating.
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.8 - 100% Italy)
+10 Review
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 1,050
15.9 - 18-19 lettersSpace Opera by Catherynne M. Valente
+15 letters
Task total: 15
Season total: 220
..;..;10.3;..;..;..;..;..;..;..
..;15.2;..;..;15.5;..;..;..;15.9;..
..;..;..;20.4;..;20.6;..;..;20.9;20.10
10.7 - ServiceWild Man Creek by Robyn Carr
+10 task - army
+10 Combo (20.3 - 4.30, 20.5 - 1951)
+10 - missed combo on post 73 and 75
Task total: 30
Grand total: 235
20.3 - RatingsHarvest Moon by Robyn Carr
+20 task - 4.24
+5 Combo - 20.5 - 1951
Task total:25
Grand total: 260
20.3 - RatingsBring Me Home for Christmas by Robyn Carr
+20 task - 4.19
+10 Combo (10.7 - marine, 20.5 - 1951)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 290
20.3 - RatingsHidden Summit by Robyn Carr
+20 task - 4.17
+5 Combo - 20.5 - 1951
Task total: 25
Grand total: 315
20.5 - BoomerRedwood Bend by Robyn Carr
+20 task - 1951
+5 Combo - 20.3 - 4.21
Task total: 25
Grand total: 340
20.5 - BoomerSunrise Point by Robyn Carr
+20 task - 1951
+10 Combo (10.7 - marine, 20.3 - 4.24)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 370
20.5 - BoomerMy Kind of Christmas by Robyn Carr
+20 task - 1951
+10 Combo (10.7 - marine, 20.3 - 4.24)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 400
10.10 Group ReadsPiranesi by Susanna Clarke
I'm of two minds on this one.
First, the negative. My main complaint is the ways the plot feels forced. The most egregious of these was Piranesi's discovery of torn up paper - not only the convenient timing of the discovery but the fact that he just didn't both to put the pieces together for weeks, until the right moment for the narrative. Piranesi also waits to look up the Other's name is his index because "it hadn't occurred to him." The fact that Clarke provides an excuse shows her own discomfort with that plot manipulation - Piranesi is curious by nature. There are smaller, similar forces on the plot -- things like this drive me crazy.
There's a lot on the positive side: the world-building is strong, Piranesi as a character is interesting and easy to love, the sense of place is strong, and unlike a lot of fantasy this isn't overly long nor does it feel like it's somehow trapped in medieval times as far as technology and gender roles. Most important of all, the ideas presented here about transgressive thinking (its dangers and its beauties) are thought-provoking, even haunting.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+15 Combo: 10.3 (see Susanna Clarke bio), 20.3 (4.29 average on 10/1/21), 20.5 (Susanna Clarke born in 1959)
Post total: 35
Season total: 300
Claimed to date:
10.1 - - - - 10.6 10.7 - - 10.10
15.1 - - - - 15.6 - - - -
- - 20.3 20.4 - - - - 20.9 -
Task 15.8 16-17 lettersDark Embers at Dawn (1998) by Stephen Overholser (Mass Market Paperback, 208 pages)
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 290 + 15 = 305
20.3 RatingsShe Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
+20 Task (rating 4.08)
+5 Combo 10.7
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 535
15.1 Counting on AuthorsFinna by Nino Cipri
+15 Task (less than 10 letters)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 550
10.7 Service (Anika's Task)The Black Echo by Michael Connelly
🍁 Harry Bosch is a Vietnam vet (in book description) 🍁
+10 task
+10 combo (20.3 - 4.09; 20.5 - 1956, on Authors We Have Read list )
Task total: 20
Season total: 295
10.6- Birthday The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Birthday : October 1, 1946
Task: 10
Not a novel: 10
1001 Bookshelf: 10
Combo 20 ( 10.7, 20.6, 20.4, 20.3)
Post total: 50
Season total: 195
20.3 RatingsBlack Summer by M.W. Craven
The endearingly grumpy investigator Washington Poe is in a tight spot when the victim of a "murder" he's investigated in the past turns up alive and the psychopath he helped to convict is about to be set free. Computer wizard Tilly Bradshaw is soon on her way to Cumbria to help him.
I loved the first in this series and this one also had me riveted. There are biological details that were fascinating, especially about the composition of blood. I didn't know it could reveal what you'd eaten! - although only with the most expensive and detailed analytic procedure, it's true.
Looking forward to more M W Craven soon!
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 460
10.9 OxfordCat Cross Their Graves by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
St. Cross College
Well, thanks to RwS and Rosemary, with her challenging task, I have found a new (to me) mystery series.
I picked this book solely on the basis of it’s title and knew nothing about the series or even where it fell. Generally, I like cats and I like mysteries, so I thought it might work. It turns out this is instalment #10. Luckily, it was easy to jump in at this point although I can only suppose there is a benefit to starting at the beginning and having a better understanding of the characters and how the cats came to be able to communicate with their humans. However, it was still enjoyable and once you understand the premise it is a fun, zippy and intriguing contemporary mystery. Now that I’ve started in the middle (!), I would like to read the complete series. 3.5*
10 task
10 review
10 combo 10.2. 20.3
_______
30
Running total: 285
20.3 RatingsSanguinet's Crown by Patricia Veryan
+20 Task (rating 4.34)
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 570
From Post 261Karen Michele wrote: "20.4 Non-linear
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo: 20.3 Ratings
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 370"
+5 Combo 10.6
10.9 OxfordAcross the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire
I love this series, but this stand-alone is my favorite in recent memory.
Unlike so many of the other characters we've encountered in this series, Regan has a great home life with family who loves her. She loves horses and loves her friends and everything seems wonderful in her world. We get to see her grow up--we first meet her when she's seven and she's somehow found herself in the mean girl group though she's not a mean girl herself. At age ten, her friends are experiencing the first blush of puberty and she is slowly becoming the focus of the mean girls' pointed nastiness as she is showing no signs of "becoming a woman". (view spoiler)
When a door appears for Regan, she finds herself in a world populated by unicorns and centaurs. Humans are omens of change in the world she's found herself in and suddenly she finds herself a pawn in a complex political story.
While McGuire's prose is simple, her imagination is huge and I love being along for the ride.
+10 Task: "Green" Templeton College
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Season total: 480
*My point tally is different from what is on the updated readerboard...according to my records I'm at 470 through post 300 while the readerboard reflects 460 through post 300...I can't find the discrepancy :-/
10.7 Service (Anika's Task)In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien
+10 Task (Vietnam veteran)
+10 Combo: 10.6 Birthday / 20.5 Boomer
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 425
10.9 Oxford (Rosemary's Task)Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 435
10.10 Group ReadsBlack Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
+10 Task
+20 Combo: 10.4 Truth and Reconciliation / 20.3 Ratings / 20.4 Non-linear / 20.6 ALA Alex Award (2021), Ignyte Award for Best Adult Novel (2021)
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 465
20.5 BoomerBewilderment by Richard Powers
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo: 20.3 Ratings
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 490
Anika wrote: "*My point tally is different from what is on the updated readerboard...according to my records I'm at 470 through post 300 while the readerboard reflects 460 through post 300...I can't find the discrepancy :-/"In posts 212 and 294, you claimed 10 points for Non-fiction. For the sub-challenge, the non-fiction (not-a-novel) style is only worth 5. That should fix it.
20.3 RatingsThe Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny
20 pts 20.3 Ratings
5 pts 20.5 Boomer
10 pts Review
Louise Pennt has set this installment of the Inspector Gamache series immediately after the end of the pandemic. While the timing is clear,and ethical issues raised by the pandemic are a backdrop to the novel, it is at its core a well written police procedural. The characters’ relationships are highlighted and come through the narrative more strongly than in recent installments of the series. While the premise could have worked prior to the pandemic, that history and the lived experience makes the book even stronger. Anything else would be a spoiler. Highly recommended.
Total task: 35 pts
Total Season: 340 pts.
… 10.2 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
20.1 ... 20.3 ... 20.5 ... 20.7 ... 20.9 20.10
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
10.2 - HalloweenLast to Die by Tess Gerritsen
🍁 "death" word (Die) in title 🍁
+10 task
+10 combo [20.3 - 4.11; 20.5 - 1953, on Authors We Have Read list]
Task total: 20
Season total: 315
10.6 Birthday (Tien's Task)Montalbano's First Case and Other Stories (Inspector Montalbano #8.5) by Andrea Camilleri
September
+10 Task
+15 Combo (10.3; 10.8 - 100% Italy; 20.3 - avg. 4.01)
+10 Not-a-Novel
+5 Jumbo (560 pages)
Post Total: 40
Season Total: 1,090
20.3 RatingsCatholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith by Robert Barron
+20 Task (4.50)
+15 combo 20.5 (1959 per GR bio); 10.3 (approved in thread); 10.6 (Nov in GR bio)
+10 Not a novel
Task Total: 45
Season Total: 45
15.7 Counting on AuthorsBreathe by Joyce Carol Oates
+15 Task (15 letters)
Task total=15
Season total=175
(edited to change to task 15.7 instead of 15.1, a cut and paste gone wrong)
Kate S wrote: "From Post 2274.0 stars - I first interacted with this..."
I'm having issues searching the list, they all come up. Sorry.
20.9 Anniversary (Kate S's Task)500 Miles from You. Jenny Colgan
even as an incredibly beautiful brunette ...handed him a glass of champagne. 43%
4.0/5.0 - I have read 7 books by this author, and this is my favorite one. It is the 3rd book in the Scottish Bookshop series, and the previous characters are worked into this book, as well. I love the description of the small Scottish town as well as the way London is contrasted to it. The characters are well written, the romance is believable. Jenny Colgan is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.
+20 - task
+10 - Review
+5 - combo (10.7, Cormac was a medic in the Army)
Total task: 35
Total Season: 255 pts.
… ... 10.3 10.4 10.5 ... ... ... ... 10.10
... ... ... ... .... ... ... ... ... ...
... 20.2 ... ... ... ... ... ... 20.9 ...
10.10 Group readsBlack Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
+10 Task
+20 Combo 10.4, 20.3 rating 4.24, 20.4, 20.6 ALA Alex, Ignyte
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 600
15.3 Counting on AuthorsReady Player Two by Ernest Cline
+15 Task (11 letters)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 615
20.4 Non-LinearBefore We Visit the Goddess by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
+20 Task
+5 Combo 10.3
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 640
Task 15.6 14 lettersOf Women and Salt (2021) by Gabriela Garcia (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover, 207 pages)
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 305 + 15 = 320
20.6 AwardedEscape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein
Among others:
Agatha Award for Best Children's/Young Adult Novel (2013)
Garden State Book Award (2015)
+20 Task
No style points, YA (720L)
Task total = 20
Season total = 235
… ; 10.2 ; 10.3 ; … ; … ; 10.6 ; 10.7 ; 10.8 ; 10.9 ; …
… ; … ; … ; 15.4 ; … ; 15.6 ; … ; … ; … ; …
… ; … ; 20.3 (x2) ; … ; 20.5 ; 20.6 ; … ; … ; 20.9 ; …
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
Beyond This Point Are Monsters (other topics)Justified Secrets (other topics)
Merciful Secrets (other topics)
Silent Secrets (other topics)
Veiled Secrets (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Margaret Millar (other topics)Shawn McGuire (other topics)
Shawn McGuire (other topics)
Shawn McGuire (other topics)
Shawn McGuire (other topics)
More...
Going Home To Teach by Anthony C. Winkler
+20 Task (4.01 rating)
+10 Combo (10.3-msg. 30 in task help thread, 20.9 (When it was my turn to order, I momentarily forgot my bogus persona and said to the woman behind the counter, "Two patty and a cola champagne.")
+10 Not-a-Novel
Task total=40
Season total=160