Reading with Style discussion
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FA 21 Completed Tasks
Noted the additional 5 points. 15.1 - Counting on Authors
Sleep It Off Lady by Jean Rhys
8 letters in author name
Not a novel- short story collection
Task: 15
Bonus: 5
Post total: 20
Season total: 220
15.10 Counting on AuthorsThe Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
20 letters
Task: 15
Post: 15
Season total: 250
Kate S wrote: "From Post 292Tien wrote: "20.3 Ratings
2 Sisters Detective Agency by James Patterson & Candice Fox
avg. 4.57
+5 Combo 20.5"
Thanks, Kate -but don't both authors have to be born 1946-1964? Candice Fox is born 1985... just checking?
20.3 RatingsSouth of the Sun: Australian Fairy Tales for the 21st Century
avg. 4.57
Review
I was absolutely curious of just what "Australian Fairy Tales" could be. These would not be Dreaming Time as that is sacred to our First Nations but then what could it be?! The answer was a makeover of familiar tales; freshly dressed in Aussie fashion.
"the cultural art of apparently mocking someone while still being warm and friendly." -The Lonely Mosque by Yvette Ladzinski
I loved how these tales were retold in such familiar and beloved setting with mentions of wattles, gum trees, red soil, etc and some with very exaggerated Aussie way of speaking. I especially adore the multicultural references included in these stories whether it be selkies of Irish descent or Vietnamese Pork Roll.
Some of the stories are as traditional as they get as cautionary tales. There was one story about a young girl walking on her own in a quiet 'blackout' zone and sending GPS (Grandmother Please Save) signal. But, there are also stories which were just flipped inside out where heroines are strong and aren't afraid to flex their right to act and save themselves. I love these best!
"Being the hero doesn't make you brave." - The Last Bastion by Marianna Shek
There were just so many stories cleverly twisted to fit into our current world with its own social commentaries. There was a Pied Piper who was engaged to clear out certain creepy crawlies from Melbourne and my favourite of all of this whole book, Jack & the Beanstalk "because the NBN is rubbish".
"The giant didn't stand a chance. The bureaucrats wrapped him up in red tape in no time at all." - Jack, The Beanstalk and the NBN by Lindy Mitchell-Nilsson
I honestly didn't expect to enjoy this book so much! The beautiful setting, strong heroines, and "new" but old stories. They made me cheer for their courage, frown at how dark parts of our world is, but best of all, they made me laugh out loud for sheer cheekiness. I'd highly recommend this collection of stories to all!
My thanks to publisher for ecopy of book in exchange of my honest thoughts
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Not-a-Novel
Post Total: 40
Season Total: 1,195
20.2 Anti-heroIn the Miso Soup by Ryū Murakami
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.5 - born 1952)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 1,220
20.5 BoomerThe Unusual Abduction of Avery Conifer by Ilsa Evans
Review
I just love this title, The Unusual Abduction of Avery Conifer; it's a bit of a mouthful but it does give a little of a comic air so you would expect it to be a humourous tale. The premise itself sounds rather unusually funny and yet, there is some serious themes explored in this light-hearted-sounding novel. You just have to dig deep.
This book is told by a myriad of perspectives. The main 3 being by the 3 instigators of this kidnapping of Avery but then there were perspectives of those sitting around the outside of this centre figures. The detectives, TV presenters, and some people that just happened to somewhat touch this 'case' who can provide a 'clue' or just a perspective from a different angle. I must admit that at times this gets absolutely confusing with all the names bandied about but I do appreciate this wide overlook into the problem.
I think that there was enough family drama as I was growing up which made me reluctant reading novels involving family dramas/conflicts so this started out as a rather uncomfortable read. However, author's handling of these characters and conflicts present such a riveting look into motherhood that I cannot stop reading. And these ladies are just such characters, I can't help but cheer for them throughout so in the end, I rather enjoyed this read.
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.3; 20.3 - avg. 4.05)
+10 Review
Post Total: 40
Season Total: 1,260
Tien wrote: "Kate S wrote: "From Post 292Tien wrote: "20.3 Ratings
2 Sisters Detective Agency by James Patterson & Candice Fox
avg. 4.57
+5 Combo 20.5"
Thanks, Kate -but don't both authors have to be born 1946-1964? Candice Fox is born 1985... just checking?
"
We only track the first named author. When RwS was first set up, the rule for multiple authors was as you're thinking, but our scorekeeping database doesn't work that way and we've relaxed that rule.
Ah OK, thanks, Elizabeth. For some reason I just never cottoned on to the "new" rule but then again it's rare for me to read co-authored books. I'll remember next time 🤞😉
10.5Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
This had been on my TBR list forever. I was a very little kid when the movie came out, but I remember being absolutely traumatized by the commercials. The music and the terrifying carousel…nightmares! So, I expected the book to give me big creeps or big feels…. And (sad trombone) I kind of hated it!
I hated the style - the very poetic language, deliberately choppy form… UGH. BLERG. Stop tryingso hard, Bradbury.
At first it was nice because I grew up in a Green-type Town. The nostalgia for Illinois was real. But that faded. The chacters never caught me. Maybe I’m the wrong age -to old to identify with the kids, too young for the sad adults.
HOWEVER - my 13 year old son read this for school (which is why I finally did) and he LOVED IT. Loved it so much. I can see why it spoke to him, and I’m very happy he enjoyed it so much.
+10 Task
+10 review
Task total = 20
Season total = 355
20.5 BoomerIn the Walled City by Stewart O'Nan
+20 Task (1961)
+10 Combo (10.3-msg #11 in task thread), 10.7 - MC's in two stories are veterans
+10 Not-a-novel (short stories)
Task total=40
Season total=245
20.5 BoomerThe Surgeon (Rizzoli & Isles #1) by Tess Gerritsen
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.3 - avg. 4.06)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 1,285
20.4 Non-LinearWhen Ghosts Come Home by Wiley Cash
Sheriff Winston Barnes heads to a small airfield on the North Carolina coast after a large plane crash-landed. There is no pilot and no cargo with the plane, but the body of Rodney Bellamy is on the ground with a bullet through his chest. African-American Rodney was the son of a local teacher and civil rights activist.
Winston is running for re-election as sheriff in a close race with Bradley Frye, a wealthy redneck and land developer. Bradley and his friends fly the Rebel flag and throw rocks at the windows in Rodney's widow's house. Jay, Rodney's brother-in-law, is dealing with being a teenager in a new town full of racial prejudice, and is having a hard time staying out of trouble in that atmosphere. Winston is trying to do the right thing in a time of racial tension while everyone's eyes are on him right before the election.
Winston's daughter, Colleen, comes back to North Carolina for a surprise visit with her parents. She has recently suffered a late-term miscarriage, and is drinking to numb the emotional pain. She and her husband are grieving, and having difficulty communicating. Colleen looks back at her childhood, giving us another view of her father and the racially divided town, as her honest father investigates the murder.
Although this is a crime story, it is a sensitive character-driven story too. The book also paints a portrait of a North Carolina town in 1984. Airplanes transport people--and ghosts--in and out of North Carolina. A twist brings the story to a surprising end.
+20 task (lots of flashbacks)
+20 combo 10.3 Back to School (educator UNC-see help thread); 10.6 Birthday (Sept-see help thread); 10.7 Service (Winston is a Korea vet, and 2 other characters are Vietnam vets having sniper and pilot skills important to plot); 20.3 Ratings (4.05 locked in help thread)
+10 review
Task total: 50
Season total: 450
10.7 ServiceSacrati by Kate Sherwood
Despite the unassuming cover this is a full blown R-rated happy ending romance. One of the two main characters is an elite soldier, with morals, and somewhat crankliy developing feelings. The other is a prince who looks like a healer, has massive cultural homophobia to deal with, and would not have been the best of soldiers even if he had grown up to it. He is also not happy about developing feelings. There's quite a bit of culture and politics crammed in here. It has a serious war plot where the casual sexuality of one side is just another random cultural difference. I enjoyed the book, although it felt disjointed at times, particularly in the point of view changes needed to keep the plot moving forward. It was interesting to see a plot where the gender of the protagonists being the same was absolutely necessary to the story being told, and the way they took up somewhat stereotypical male/female rolls in our society, which I sometimes find painful in m/m romance, was offset by what the female roles actually were in the soldier's culture.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 540
Task 15.1 9 or fewer lettersMurder on the Iditarod Trail (Jessie Arnold & Alex Jensen #1) (1991) by Sue Henry
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 350 + 15 = 365
20.2 Anti-heroFrankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
After an evening of telling ghost stories, Lord Byron challenged his guests--Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, and Dr John William Polidori--to each write a scary ghost story. Mary Shelley wrote the beginning of "Frankenstein" which was expanded and published in 1818, and revised in 1831. It has an unusual structure with stories within stories, all framed by the letters of Captain Walton, an Arctic explorer. In addition to the Arctic setting, much of the book is set in the beautiful Swiss Alps with Romantic Era descriptions of the light and beauty of nature.
Reanimation and galvanism were being explored by scientists at the time Frankenstein was written. Precocious scientist Victor Frankenstein discovers the secret of life, and fashions a creature from human parts he obtains from the charnel houses. When the creature comes to life, Frankenstein is horrified by its repulsive appearance and rejects the creature.
Frankenstein did not consider the moral responsibility that comes with pushing the borders of science. The creature was miserable without companionship since humans rejected him, and he vowed to take revenge.
"Frankenstein" is a gothic horror story, but it runs much deeper emotionally. The book has themes of isolation and loneliness, ambition and responsibility, revenge, prejudice, and the perfection of nature. Mary Shelley's story deserves its place among the very popular classics.
+20 task (#13 on Best Anti-heroes list)
+15 combo 10.5 Classics; 20.4 Non-linear; 20.8 Gothic (#3 on Best Gothic Books list)
+10 review
+10 1001 book
Task total: 55
Season total: 505
20.3 RatingsCemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
No Lexile
+20 Task (rating 4.37)
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 760
20.3 RatingsThe One Impossible Labyrinth (Jack West Jr #7) by Matthew Reilly
avg. 4.56
Review
It's finally here!! The finale! Jack West Jr. is finally going to tackle the final challenge and of course, be the ultimate victor in this race. No spoilers but I think we all know who's going to win in this novel, right? The good guy! Yep, this one is completely a roller coaster feel good sort of read. And coming right at the end of Sydney lockdown, #winning !!
As followers of series would expect, this last book in the series is chock-a-block full of action. If things aren't exploding, it's raining bullets. If you're not being shot at, you're running through a maze full of life threatening traps. I seriously feel like I couldn't read fast enough; my eyes couldn't keep up with how fast the action is taking place in my brain. The team is split into several groups and while, Jack's team is the primary focus, there were switches in views. I do feel like it's an action blockbuster movie that I'm "seeing" only in my head.
While I loved following their adventures; the twists on mythologies and each book always action-packed, I also find it to be a bit predictable in one particular way. That is, never believe that someone died unless their corpses are actually presented to you on the page lol. And in this way, I didn't waste a tear at all.
"All my life I've watched you and wondered what it is that makes you a hero. And I figured it out: it's trying when nobody else thinks it's even worth trying, when the odds really are stacked against you or when your friends and family are taken away from you."
That is why fans love Jack West Jr. and always, without fail, cheer for him and his team. And in centre of things, he fought for humanity so in the end, we all win. The One Impossible Labyrinth is an unmissable finale. Read It!
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.7 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_We...)
+10 Review
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 1,295
20.3 RatingsThe Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
+20 Task
+10 Combo: 10.3 Back to School / 10.5 Classics
+10 Not a Novel
Post Total: 40
Season Total: 565
20.9 - AnniversarySaints of the Syndicate by Natalie Nicole
+20 task - ... the server comes up with drinks for us. We all take a champagne flute ...
+5 Combo (20.3 - 4.20)
Task total: 25
Grand total: 465
20.3 - RatingCyrus by M.J. Fields
+20 task - 4.25
+5 Combo (10.7 - navy seal)
Task total: 25
Grand total; 490
Task 20.3 RatingsToday a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket: Stories (2021) by Hilma Wolitzer
+20 Task
Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 365 + 20 = 385
10.1 Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher MooreBloodsucking Fiends. Another one of Christopher Moore’s so stupid it’s funny books. It’s boy meets girl, they move in together because they both need a place to live, and hijinks ensue because nobody knows what in the world is going on *anywhere*. The vampire has no idea what’s going on, they’re being played with by their creator, and the boy is being used as Renfield and is only really going along with it because he’s getting laid (and paid). There are places where it’s actually a little hard to follow because it gets so convoluted but it’s still amusing. All in all, a fun way to kill an afternoon.
+10 task
+10 review
+5 combo (20.5 - 1/1/57)
Task total: 25
Season total: 330
10.1;..;10.3;10.4;..;..;10.7;..;..;..
..;15.2;..;..;15.5;..;..;..;15.9;..
..;..;..;20.4;20.5;20.6;..;..;20.9;20.10
20.3 RatingsSaga, Vol. 7 by Brian K. Vaughan
Graphic novel, no styles
+20 Task
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 600
20.3 RatingsSaga, Vol. 8 by Brian K. Vaughan
Graphic novel, no styles
+20 Task
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 620
20.3 RatingsSaga, Vol. 9 by Brian K. Vaughan
Graphic novel, no styles
I've really enjoyed this series! All 5 or 4 stars. Thanks to everyone who posted about them last season and made me finally seek them out!
+20 Task
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 640
10.6 BirthdayThe Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin
A poet arriving in Oxford stumbles upon a dead body in a toyshop in the middle of the night, but when the police investigate, there's a grocer's where he's sure the toyshop was. So the poet goes to Professor Gervase Fen, who rouses half the university to chase around the city after various suspects.
This is the best known of Edmund Crispin's books, and I do think it works better than the first and second books in the series, which were all I'd read so far. I read this one because it’s the next in the series and is followed by Swan Song, which is my pick for 20.10. But in fact they are completely standalone – the amateur detective Gervase Fen doesn’t seem to change at all from book to book.
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo (10.3 in GR profile "After a brief spell of teaching")
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 665
20.5 BoomerThe Swimming-Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst
Will Beckwith, an idle rich young man, has a lot of gay sex and does little else with his life until he meets the elderly Lord Nantwich, who wants him to write his biography.
I see why this was a groundbreaking book in the 1980s. I found it hypnotic, and the detail of many of the observations is wonderful, but despite being set before AIDS, it's horribly bleak. Will discovers a lot of uncomfortable truths in his own life and Nantwich's, but he does not seem to learn from them or grow at all. (view spoiler)
20.9: "So we knocked off the rest of the champagne at giddy speed" & several other instances
+20 Task
+15 Combo (10.3 in GR profile, 20.6, 20.9)
+10 Review
+10 1001 list
Task Total: 55
Season Total: 720
10.4 Truth and ReconciliationSeven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga (She is Anishinaabe, Indigenous Canadian)
Talaga tells heartbreaking true stories here with empathy and love. The focus is on seven Indigenous children who have died suspiciously while away from their home communities to attend high school in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
This is a beautifully-written and well-researched work of journalism with important political aims. It points out the ways that Canada has done direct harm to Indigenous citizens, of course. But it also shows clearly the ways that Canada even now is just paying lip service to doing better for these citizens. Little has actually changed. A similar story has and continues to play out in the United States, where I live.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Not-a-novel
+15 Combo 10.2 Halloween (target word: death), 20.3 (avg. 4.55), 20.6 (Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, RBC Taylor Prize for Literary Nonfiction)
Post total: 45
Season total: 400
Claimed to date:
10.1 - 10.3 10.4 - 10.6 10.7 - 10.9 10.10
15.1 - - - - 15.6 - - - -
- - 20.3 20.4 - - - - 20.9 -
15.3 CoA, 11 lettersO Pioneers! by Willa Cather
+15 Task
Post total: 15
Season total: 415
Claimed to date:
10.1 - 10.3 10.4 - 10.6 10.7 - 10.9 10.10
15.1 – 15.3 - - 15.6 - - - -
- - 20.3 20.4 - - - - 20.9 -
20.3Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
4.33 as of this review
Murderbot never disappoints.
At first I was a little discombobulated with the story - I thought the cover art bot was from Network Effect, so I expected this to take place shortly after that novel. Murderbot’s location and extra paranoia threw me for a loop, until I caught on that this was before all that fun with ART.
It was interesting to be back in the old Murderbot’s head. Guard way up, not because of security risk, but because they have not started to feel event remotely comfortable with humans, or even with the idea of being a person. They still have plenty of reasons to be wary and aloof, but there’s some thawing.
I really really love this series.
+20 task
+5 combo (20.5, 1964)
+10 review
Task total = 35
Season total = 405
10.1 Anthology of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century ed by Donald Keene
I bought this book some years back, as a kind of complement to the Chinese classic novels I was trying to read at the time. The translations felt clean and even though this was published in the 50s the language does not feel out of place. The literary flourish vs plainspeaking seemed fit for the type of text presented. The intros before sections were extremely helpful for context. I enjoyed the mix of novel excerpts, poetry, and plays that were in this collection. For much of the poetry the Japanese (in the Western alphabet) was put next to the English translation to better see and hear the restricted syllable rules and some of the sound balancing. I was especially interested in how linked poetry forms made longer poems from haikus and couplets in a specific poetic way, with traditions of what could be mentioned or alluded to when.
+10 task
+10 combo (10.3, 20.3)
+10 not a novel
+10 review
Task total: 40
Grand total: 580
20.6 AwardedVoss by Patrick White (WH Smith Literary Award, Miles Franklin Literary Award – plus the author won the Nobel Prize in Literature)
This was an unexpected treasure for me. Before reading, I imagined a mash-up between an adventure story (a la Jules Verne) and a romance (a la A Farewell to Arms). And it IS that, in a sense, but it's much bolder and more surprising than I could have imagined.
For starters, the romance doesn't truly start until Laura and Voss are apart and, due to lack of ways to communicate, mainly happens in their thoughts and dreams. As far as the adventure, there is a very visual sense of the landscape and some of the play-by-play of the crew's travel and struggles. But much of the adventure is internal too, focused on thoughts, dreams and power dynamics.
White's writing style is really effective. He lingers over the outward evidence of characters' thoughts and feelings. Meanwhile, his descriptions are quick and precise; they're everything you need to be in the moment of the novel, and not a word more. If you aren't paying precise attention, you will miss something critical.
I also love how White treats his characters. They aren't precious and he doesn't protect them in any way. Voss and Laura aren't just flawed, they're misfits, and not in the lovable way. They are fascinating and that stands alone as what makes them worthwhile to read about.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 1001 Books
Post total: 40
Season total: 455
Claimed to date:
10.1 - 10.3 10.4 - 10.6 10.7 - 10.9 10.10
15.1 – 15.3 - - 15.6 - - - -
- - 20.3 20.4 - 20.6 - - 20.9 -
Hi Kate, I am showing that I have 5 points more than the readerboard shows. Maybe the discrepancy is from post 368 where I substituted a different book for task 15.7? The original book I posted was a novel, but I used a Not-a-Novel book when I switched books for that task. Thanks.
20.9 AnniversaryTroubled Daughters, Twisted Wives: Stories from the Trailblazers of Domestic Suspense by Sarah Weinman
+20 Task (Phyllis asked for a taste of the champagne. "If my refusing to drink makes people quarrel, I'd better have one." Johnnie watched her from under his long lashes. She sipped it, cried, "Why, it's not bad at all," and drained her glass. pg. 93)
+10 Combo (10.7- an MC in story "The Stranger in the Car" had served in Navy, 20.3 - 4.06 rating)
+10 Not-a-Novel (short stories)
Task total=40
Season total=285
10.1 TBRThe Dusky Hour by E.R. Punshon
Another good installment in this long-running series. I am glad that Goodreads friends have encouraged me to continue reading it on a somewhat regular schedule - and in order (!) to those who know I am not necessarily one to do so.
This starts out with what is obviously a con job involving the stock market. Why a man of England's landed gentry couldn't see through it is mystifying. On the other hand, that I could see through it perhaps says something of my suspicious nature. I do not believe in get rich quick schemes. Anyway, the con man isn't what brings our beloved Bobby Owen to the scene. It is murder, of course, and the victim is neither the aforesaid con man nor his apparent victim. Does the man at the bottom of the chalk pit tie in with con man?
I thought the plot of this installment more complicated than usual. That is part of what makes this series so interesting. Bobby is always Bobby, but the plots are far from routine. This is good, but not stellar, and I'm happy to rate it a strong 3-stars.
+10 Task (A year 10/6, though I've planned reading the series for longer than that)
Season total = 200
15.4 - 12 lettersDoomsday Book by Connie Willis
+15 task
+ 5 (578 pages)
Task total: 20
Season total: 380
20.3 RatingsAn Irish Hostage by Charles Todd
20 pts 20.3 Ratings
5 pts 10.7 Service Bess Crawford is a former Army nurse
10 pts Review
This is the most recent installment of the Bess Crawford mystery series. World War I has ended and Bess is at loose ends. She travels to Ireland to serve as a bridesmaid for a friend and gets caught up in the unrest that followed the 1916 Easter Uprising and eventually led to The establishment of the Irish Free State. This is a great premise, but unfortunately the authors do not deliver. While an enjoyable read, everything seems to happen around the main characters and even Bess seems to spend alot of time waiting for something to happen. Without WWI as a backdrop, the book gets bogged down. I’d like to see what happens next but this installment was a disappointment.
Total task: 35 pts
Total Season: 415 pts.
… 10.2 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
20.1 ... 20.3 ... 20.5 ... 20.7 ... 20.9 20.10
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
10.4 (again)The Andromeda Evolution by Daniel H. Wilson
+ 10 task (author is Cherokee)
+ 5 combo (10.7 - multiple characters are current or retired military of multiple countries)
Task total: 15
Season total: 345
10.1;..;10.3;10.4(x2);..;..;10.7;..;..;..
..;15.2;..;..;15.5;..;..;..;15.9;..
..;..;..;20.4;20.5;20.6;..;..;20.9;20.10
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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)
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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)
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Coralie wrote: "20.4 Non-Linear
Before We Visit the Goddess by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
+20 Task
+5 Combo 10.3
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 640"
+5 Combo 20.5