Reading with Style discussion
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Completed Tasks FA 23
10.7 - ScrabbleBoundary Waters by William Kent Krueger
+10 - score of23
+5 multiple
Task total: 15
Grand total: 205
10.3 VowelsMurder on Mustique by Anne Glenconner
**-> turns St Vincent + Grenadines green!
I chose this a few weeks ago partially because I was looking for something light (cozy mystery light) and partially because it enables St Vincent and the Grenadines to be turned green for the RwS countries project.
This is definitely a light murder mystery, although there is a lot of action - maybe more than you would think for such a tiny island. Mustique is the tiny island that is owned by the rich and famous. The author, Glenconner, is/was part of that group. She and her husband are titled Brits, and move(d) in the Royal circles. Here Glenconner has written what she knows, although I would say she touches very lightly on the monied aspect of the inhabitants and focuses on the rest of the island’s inhabitants. At first, I was slightly confused by Glenconner switching from first to third person. However, it began to make sense as the story moved along. Generally, I liked the characters and I thought Glenconner handled the mystery pretty well. This is her first effort at a novel, and that shows, but overall I would give it a 3.5* (and say it is WAY better than some of those dubious novels I read for other Caribbean Islands in the challenge!).
10 task
5 multi
10 review
_____
25
Running total: 865
15.8 Celebration of Styles Non Western – Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Mexican author.
Task + 15
Total = 120
20.10 Letters The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
The latest in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith, aka J K Rowling, opens with Strike and his detective agency partner Robin Ellacott hired to rescue a young man from a dangerous religious cult based on a farm in Norfolk. Robin goes deep undercover while Strike deals with other cases and challenges in his personal life.
I don’t mind the length of these books, because I always look forward to picking them up (while some other books feel like a chore). However, I wasn’t convinced that a cult that treated its followers so very badly from the outset could have survived this long and grown this big. Only 4 stars this time.
+20 Task (the story opens with handwritten letters between Will and his parents)
+10 Review
+ 5 Multiple
+20 Jumbo (960 pages)
Post Total = 55
Season Total = 815
15.5 Celebration of Styles Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Category: Aged ( currently 83 years)
Task: 15
Post total: 15
Season total: 285
20.8 -Book by a woman of colorJade War by Fonda Lee
587 pages
...And the plot twists just kept on coming-
The rival Green Bones call what is suppose to be a truce. The foreign wars
are affecting the island of Kekon. The Weather Man of the Green Bones finds romance. The killers of Lan are still roaming free. Andan goes away to school, jade free. And none of these things has an outcome you would have thought of!
Fonda Lee has a superior talent of writing the unexpected outcome. So many times I had to stop and just take a breath and remember these characters are not real.
For a series I was not really hyped up about reading, I sure am enjoying myself!
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Multiple
+5 Jumbo
Task Total 40
Season Total 445
15.3 Celebration of StylesMs. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson
+15 Task (Young - G. Willow Wilson born in 1982)
Season total: 320 + 15 = 335
15.6 Celebration of StylesTwelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
+15 Task (Not a Novel)
Points this post: 15
RwS total: 10
CoS total: 90
Season Total: 100
.... .... .... .... 10.5 .... .... .... .... ....
15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 .... .... .... ....
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
15.4 Celebration of StylesShe and Her Cat by Makoto Shinkai
+15 Task (Lost in Translation)
Season total: 335 + 15 = 350
15.7 Celebration of StylesThe White Book by Han Kang
+15 Task (NonWestern - listed on spreadsheet)
Points this post: 15
RwS total: 10
CoS total: 105
Season Total: 115
.... .... .... .... 10.5 .... .... .... .... ....
15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 .... .... ....
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
15.1 Celebration of Styles 2.0Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
Young
15 task
_____
15
Running total: 880
10.2 Moon and SunThe Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane
Malcolm Gephardt, a charming man with the gift of gab, has been a popular bartender at the Half Moon in his hometown of Gillam in the Hudson Valley. It was his lifelong dream to own his own bar so he made a deal for the Half Moon when the owner retired. Unfortunately, he did not consult a lawyer.
His wife, Jess, is a lawyer who also has a big dream. She has had a series of miscarriages, has undergone fertility treatments, and desperately wants a baby. The bar is not doing well financially, the fertility treatments were costly, and Jess has large student loans. There are problems in their marriage, and they both experience disappointment.
A huge blizzard hits the area as they are trying to decide what is important, and deal with family problems. A subplot plays out for one of the bar's customers.
Malcolm and Jess seemed very realistic as characters. A reader could feel for both characters, but also wonder if they had thought through their decisions. The story had a small town flavor where everyone knows everyone's business, but people also have long-term friendships. The first half of the book moved slowly, but it picked up when the blizzard and the subplot were introduced in the second half.
+10 task
+10 review
+ 5 multiple
Task total: 25
Season total: 435
10.3 Vowels Nerilka's Story by Anne McCaffrey
A continuation of the story of Pern, this one following one young women as she runs away from the sadness and the anger that she has with her father, Lord Holder of Fort.
Taking place in the same time as Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern, the plague has devastated Pern and Nerilka searches for a place for her nursing and herbal skills. Being the daughter of a Holder, joining the Masterhealer's Hall is not an option for her. Her escape takes her to a place and life she never expected.
I am enjoying the world of Pern. However, this book has only small portions of the dragons and you can see from my rating that I prefer the dragons to people 😊. Still, the writing is top notch, and readable in one sitting. This story leads to others that are to come, I am sure, so worth the read.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Oldie
Task Total 25
Season Total 470
20.10 LetterThe Law of the Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace
20 pts 20.10 Letter « scribbled » by Poiccart
10 pts Review
10 pts Oldies
5 pts Multiple
The four just men have dwindled to two in Britain with a third off-stage in Spain and only mentioned in passing. (The fourth just Man died several books ago.). The just men dispense vigilante justice to those who escape penalties for their crimes. The stories are part detective investigation and part implementation of a solution (penalty) that fits the crime. The just men use investigative techniques to uncover the unseen truth of the situation. From the reader’s perspective, some of the solutions are McGyveresque and implausible.
Over all a light read, but several of the stories seem to verge on a miscarriage of justice on the part of the just men.
Task Total: 45 pts
Season Total: 380 pts
518
10.1… … … … 10.7 … … …
…20.2 20.3 … … …20.7 20.8 … 20.10
… … … … … … … … … …
20.8 Morrison Red Chrysanthemum by Laura Joh Rowland
20 pts 20.8 Morrison
10 pts Review
5 pts Multiple
Another installment in the Sano Ichiro mystery series set in seventeenth century Japan. Reiko is found at a gruesome murder scene and accused of the crime. Her husband is accused of complicity and both are threatened with capital punishment. Implausibly, they are allowed to investigate the crime to potentially clear themselves. Lots of court intrigue and sexual violence as a facet of Japanese samuri life.
While the intrigue may be plausible, the reliance on sexual crimes as the reason for the murder being investigated, is normalized as an assumed part of the society.
Task Total: 35 pts
Season Total: 415 pts
519
10.1… … … … 10.7 … … …
…20.2 20.3 … … …20.7 20.8 … 20.10
… … … … … … … … … …
10.7 ScrabbleTombstone Courage by J.A. Jance
10 pts 10.7 Scrabble 23 points
10 pts Review
5 pts Multiple
Joanna Brady has just been elected as sherriff of Cochise County, Arizona and finds herself investigating two murders on her first day on the job. One is recent and the other is about forty years old. The mystery story itself is well done with enough threads to keep my interest.
Unfortunately, Jance could use a good editor. There is too much irrelevant detail about the election campaign which is unrelated to the crime and delays the appearance of the murders in the plot for about a quarter of the book. Much of this seems to be setting up character relationships for future books but it is not done particularly well. Conversely, the internal politics of the sheriff’s department are described well and make much more sense in the context of the mystery.
Task Total: 25 pts
Season Total: 440 pts
520
10.1… … … … 10.7 … … …
…20.2 20.3 … … …20.7 20.8 … 20.10
… … … … … … … … … …
10.3 Vowels Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
+10 Task
+ 5 Multiple
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 995
10.4 Debut (Tien's Task) Shutter by Ramona Emerson
+10 Task
+ 5 Multiple
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1010
10.5 October (Karen's Task) Dracula's Guest and Other Stories by Bram Stoker
+10 Task
+ 5 Multiple
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1025
15.1 Celebration of Styles 2.0McSweeney's Issue 71 (McSweeney's Quarterly Concern): The Monstrous and the Terrible by Brian Evenson
+15 Task: Not-a-Novel
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1040
15.2 Celebration of Styles 2.0The Collector by John Fowles
+15 Task: Aged
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1055
15.3 Celebration of Styles 2.0Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
+15 Task: Young
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1070
20.5 Scandinavian Noir Black Skies by Arnaldur Indriðason
+20 Task
+. 5 Multiple
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 1095
20.8 Morrison Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas
+20 Task
+. 5 Multiple
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 1145 (adjusted total)
Post 515 Jayme wrote: "10.7 ScrabbleArrows of the Queenby Arrows of the Queen
Scrabble Points 38
Task + 10
Grand Total: 55"
+5 Oldies (published in 1987)
+5 Multiple
10.9 Georgia (Apple's Task)All the Little Liars by Charlaine Harris
It's a long time since I have read an Aurora Teagarden story, so there were some details I was a little fuzzy on, and it is not often I read cozy mysteries, so this was a kind of interesting read.
Everyone is so nice and polite and well mannered. There is an awful lot going on in a little town. And everyone know everyone else. I am not sure about where you live, but that is not the case where I live ...
In this book, a group of teenagers, including Aurora's half brother, go missing. Runaways, kidnapped? No one knows, but then a fifth teen has been kidnapped and their parents have received a ransom demand, and another teen is found dead behind the hairdressers. How are they all related, if they are related at all?
My one frustration is, and I have to base this on the audiobook timing, the story goes on for around 7 hours, and whilst there is a constant stream of action, it is only the last 40 minutes or so that EVERYTHING happens. Which is a little exhausting.
(This is probably my own limited experience with the genre, and not a criticism of the book. My other experiences of mysteries don't seem so rushed or hurried.)
A pleasant, quick and easy read overall, but not life changing.
+10 task
+10 review
Post Total = 20
Season Total = 1095
10.1; ...; 10.3 (x3); ...; 10.5; 10.6 (x2); 10.7 (x5); ...; 10.9; ...
15.1 (x2); 15.2 (x2); 15.3; 15.4; 15.5; 15.6; 15.7; 15.8; 15.9;15.10
20.1 (x4); ... ; ...; 20.4 (x2); 20.5; ....; ....; 20.8 (x2); 20.9; 20.10 (x3)
10.10 Group ReadsThe Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
+10 task
Post Total = 10
Season Total = 1105
10.1; ...; 10.3 (x3); ...; 10.5; 10.6 (x2); 10.7 (x5); ...; 10.9; 10.10
15.1 (x2); 15.2 (x2); 15.3; 15.4; 15.5; 15.6; 15.7; 15.8; 15.9;15.10
20.1 (x4); ... ; ...; 20.4 (x2); 20.5; ....; ....; 20.8 (x2); 20.9; 20.10 (x3)
20.2 WarThe Fires of Autumn by Irène Némirovsky
This novel takes place in France, from just before WW1 to early WW2. Despite being a relatively short novel, it really captures that time period well. Nemirovsky wrote this novel in ~1940 before she was taken to Auschwitz in 1942. It was not published until 1957.
As a novel, I quite enjoyed it. In a way though, it is more interesting as a historical document. The scenes that take place in WW1 sound very real and awful and the effects Nemirovsky describes on the men who fought there seemed like something she witnessed. The interwar period in Paris also seemed like a ‘slice of life’. 4*
20 task
5 oldie
10 review
______
35
Running total: 915
20.8 MorrisonFences by August Wilson
"Fences" is the August Wilson play set in the 1950s in his ten-part "Century Cycle" about the experiences of African-Americans. The main character is Troy, an illiterate but very hard working trash collector in Pittsburgh. Troy was an excellent baseball player when he was younger, but he never realized his dream of making it to Major League Baseball because he was too old when he was released after a fifteen-year prison sentence. Racial discrimination was also prevalent in MLB, although the color barrier was starting to be broken. The play revolves around Troy's relationships with his wife, his two sons, his best friend, and his brother.
Conversations give us Troy's past history as the son of a stern, abusive father. Troy is a flawed man with a severe parenting style with no room for listening to his children's dreams - although he loved them in his own way. The epigraph of the play, poetry written by Wilson, is about the influence of fathers:
"When the sins of our fathers visit us
We do not have to play host.
We can banish them with forgiveness
As God, in His Largeness and Laws."
"Fences" was a good choice as a title for the play. A fence can keep people out or enclose people in, emotionally and physically. That symbol is used many times in the play regarding relationships, Troy's time in prison, the baseball field, as a barrier from the Grim Reaper, and representing racial discrimination.
I saw the 2016 movie years ago featuring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis which has excellent dramatic acting. Even just reading the play is a fine experience because Wilson's writing is so good. "Fences" won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play.
+20 task
+10 review
+10 prize-worthy (Pulitzer, and New York Drama Critics awards)
+ 5 oldie (1986)
Task total: 45
Season total: 480
Post 520 Mary wrote: "10.7 ScrabbleTombstone Courage by J.A. Jance
10 pts 10.7 Scrabble 23 points
10 pts Review
5 pts Multiple
Joanna Brady has just been elected as sherriff of Cochise...""
+5 Oldies (pub'd 1994)
10.7 - ScrabbleBlack Daylight by Scott Blade
+10 task - 29 points
+5 multiple
Task total: 15
Grand total: 235
Post 521 Karen Michele wrote: "10.3 Vowels Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
+10 Task
+ 5 Multiple
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 995"
+10 Prize Worthy
Post 523Karen Michele wrote: "10.5 October (Karen's Task) Dracula's Guest and Other Stories by Bram Stoker
+10 Task
+ 5 Multiple
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 1025"
+10 Oldies; GR didn't have a pub date for this, but we've given the collection as 1912, the year of Stoker's death as all of the stories were likely published before that date.
15.8 Celebration of StylesShuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
+15 Task (Young - born 1976, on the spreadsheet)
Season total = 830
10.1 Over 60 Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
What a beautiful book! I loved this - the octopus info, the characters, the emotion, the different voices. It was just the kind of read I needed in a time when I have a lot going on in my life and want an engaging but also comforting read. The story follows Tova, an elderly woman who cleans up at a small aquarium overnight and is also dealing with grief and loneliness, as well as Marcellus, an octopus who sees and understands more than anyone would expect, and Cameron, a young man searching for direction and focus, but with a good heart. The book, with its themes of love and friendship and loyalty and second chances, was somewhat predictable in its twists but that didn't detract in the least from how much I enjoyed reading it.
+10 Task (#46 on list)
+10 Review
Task total: 20
Season total: 115
10.3 Vowels Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney
This is classic Alice Feeney - really twisty, lots of lies, unreliable narrators, and truly surprising moments. I don't know that this is my favorite of hers, but Alice Feeney has become an author I will always pick up. In this particular book, there are a few characters whose stories become linked throughout the story - Edith, an older woman in a nursing home who may or may not really need to be there; Clio, Edith's daughter who doesn't speak to her and put her in the nursing home; Patience, a young woman who works at the nursing home and befriends Edith. Patience is an especially interesting character - you're predisposed to like her because of how she treats Edith, but as the story goes on you see more sides of her.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Multiple (previously posted for this task in message 331)
Task total: 25
Season total: 140
10.4 Debut Jackal by Erin E. Adams
This was a fascinating read. Challenging in many ways but well worth it. It's a horror novel in the vein of Get Out (which is a description that pretty much guarantees I will pick up the book). Liz, a Black woman who left her small town behind years ago, is back for a friend's wedding, and is drawn into a pattern of disappearances - one Black girl disappears every June. There are times where the book reads like a thriller (a human-based thriller!) and times where it is more supernatural - to me, that's a plus, because I tend to enjoy the human kind of thriller more. But there's also a strong horror element for those who enjoy that. And the threads running through the book around race, class, and gender make it all the more fascinating.
+10 task (published 2022, her debut)
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 160
10.6 September If It Bleeds by Stephen King
+10 task (SK is born Sept 21)
Task Total: 10
Season Total: 180
Scrabble Quietly Hostile: Essays by Samantha Irby
+10 task (29 points)
+5 multiple (previously posted in post just above this one!)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 205
10.10 Group ReadsThe Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
+10 Task
Task total = 10
Points total = 330
10.1 ; ... ; 10.3 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; 10.7 ; 10.8 ; ... ; 10.10
15.1 ; 15.2 ; 15.3 ; 15.4 ; 15.5 ; 15.6 ; 15.7 ; ... ; ... ; ...
20.1 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; 20.5 ; 20.6 ; 20.7 ; 20.8 ; 20.9 ; 20.10
15.8 - Celebration of StylesGuide du Routard Suisse 2022/23
Not a novel (travel guide)
+15 Task
Task total = 15
Points total = 345
10.1 ; ... ; 10.3 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; 10.7 ; 10.8 ; ... ; 10.10
15.1 ; 15.2 ; 15.3 ; 15.4 ; 15.5 ; 15.6 ; 15.7 ; 15.8 ; ... ; ...
20.1 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; 20.5 ; 20.6 ; 20.7 ; 20.8 ; 20.9 ; 20.10
15.9 - Celebration of StylesGuide du Routard Lacs italiens et Milan 2021
Not a novel (travel guide)
+15 Task
Task total = 15
Points total = 360
10.1 ; ... ; 10.3 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; 10.7 ; 10.8 ; ... ; 10.10
15.1 ; 15.2 ; 15.3 ; 15.4 ; 15.5 ; 15.6 ; 15.7 ; 15.8 ; 15.9 ; ...
20.1 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; 20.5 ; 20.6 ; 20.7 ; 20.8 ; 20.9 ; 20.10
15.10 - Celebration of StylesLacs italiens 2ed (Guides de voyage)
Not a novel (travel guide)
+15 Task
+100 Finisher
Task total = 115
Points total = 475
10.1 ; ... ; 10.3 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; 10.7 ; 10.8 ; ... ; 10.10
15.1 ; 15.2 ; 15.3 ; 15.4 ; 15.5 ; 15.6 ; 15.7 ; 15.8 ; 15.9; 15.10
20.1 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; 20.5 ; 20.6 ; 20.7 ; 20.8 ; 20.9 ; 20.10
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Reading with Style
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The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America by John Putnam Demos
This is an interesting book that traces a family that was captured by In..."
+5 Prize-worthy (Ray Allen Billington Prize)