Reading with Style discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
Archives
>
Completed Tasks FA 23
20.10 - Letters (Owlette's Task) Love Letters by Debbie Macomber
🎓 “Paul’s letter was in my hand and I looked down on the plain white envelope. My stomach convulsed as I removed the handwritten sheets. “ ~ p. 316 🎓
+20 task
Task total = 20
Season Total = 110
15.1 Celebration of StylesNot A Novel
The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation by Philip Shenon
I make a habit, each September, to read a book on the subject of 9/11. This was my choice this year and it was a good one.
I wanted to learn more, about what went on before and after the attack on the USA. The information in this book covered both. Philip Shenon is a investigative reporter for The New York Times and the text of this book proves his worth to the paper. The text is written similar to a news article, so it is easy to read and follow. It is not dense and hard to follow and it kept me reading and interested.
Shenon takes you into the political cliques of Washington and exposes the partisanship (on both sides) and the scheming that occurred after the attacks, to hide the true story of why this devastating event took place. Unlike a lot of the other books I have read on this subject, there are not stories from survivors, or families. However, they do play an important role trying to uncover why this happened and how it could have been avoided.
An enlightening read and recommended to anyone who is interested in history
Task Points 15
Review 10
Season Total 55
20.9 Popular ScienceThe Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time by John Kelly
MPG Science Rating 3.88
A very surprising, interesting take on the story of The Black Death, which killed between 75 and 200 million people from 1346 to 1353 in Asia and Europe and Northern Africa. Both pneumonic and bubonic plague affected the human population at the speed of light. Sources indicated that Europe alone lost half it's population,
The book included extensive research which includes diaries and letters and chronicles from religious men who lived long enough to record parts of what happened. Many of these writings blame God or the solar system for the unstoppable plague. We now know it was first carried by fleas on the rat and when transferred to humans, and was spread by contact.
The book was very readable, I found myself interested and picking it up each night to carry on learning about something I knew little about.
Task Points 20
Review 10
Season Total 85
10.6 September The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
Texas Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford comes across as a friendly, bumbling kind of guy. But he has what he calls a sickness, a side to him that enjoys violence. When dead bodies start turning up in his small town, he starts to wonder if people are beginning to suspect.
There’s some nasty violence against women here, not only murder but also sadism, but not too graphically described, probably because of the time this was published. Other than that, I enjoyed this early psychological thriller (from 1952), the study of a killer who's been clever but perhaps not quite clever enough. Or has he?
+10 Task (born September 27, 1906)
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (1952)
Post Total = 25
Season Total = 170
15.2 Celebration of StylesThink Least of Death: Spinoza on How to Live and How to Die by Steven Nadler
+15 Task (Not a Novel)
Season total = 185
15.3 Celebration of StylesBefore the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Non Western - Toshikazu Kawaguchi is Japanese
Post Total = 15
Season Total = 205
10.6
15.1; 15.2; 15.3
20.1; ... ; ...; ...; 20.5; ....; ....; ....; ....; 20.10 (x2)
15.1 Celebration of StylesSister Pelagia and the Red Cockerel by Boris Akunin
+15 Task (Nonwestern)
Season total = 95
20.10 LettersGo as a River by Shelley Read
Inga wrote a letter to Victoria, and Victoria wrote back to Inga.
Victoria Nash's life changes when she meets a Native American stranger, Wil Moon, on her way home. She lives on her family's peach farm in Iola, Colorado. The attraction is strong between Wil and Victoria, but racism is very prevalent in 1945.
"My home is at the bottom of a lake. Our farm lies there, mud bound, its remnants indistinguishable from boat wreckage. Sleek trout troll the remains of my bedroom and the parlor where we sat as a family on Sundays."
The government builds a dam and floods the town of Iola. There is loss of community and people's livelihoods. Nature is a potent healer as Victoria rebuilds and recovers from personal and business losses.
"Go as a River" is a coming-of-age novel about loss, heartache, resilience, survival, friendship, and family. It demonstrates the damage left by war, bigotry, and a lack of equality for women. The lovely setting in the western Colorado mountains is an important element in the story. Although we pass many obstacles in the long, meandering journey of life, Wil said it was important to "go as a river."
+20 task
+ 5 multiple
+10 review
Task total: 35
Season total: 145
20.9 Popular ScienceWhen Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
MPG Science & avg rating 4.39
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 145
20.2 War In honor of Howard Bahr and Anthony Doerr, read any book that has an MPG of War and Historical Fiction.Trouble the Water byRebecca Dwight Bruff
This was a fictional biography of Robert Smalls, first a slave, than a hero then a Congressman. His story was lost to history until the author stumbled upon it.
The story takes us through Smalls childhood on a South Carolina farm, enslaved, as all is relatives before him. The relationship between his "master" and himself is quite unlike other enslaved, yet even as a small boy Smalls struggles to unravel the truth of how he could feel much for a man who owns him.
Although the time period covers the Civil War period, the war itself is not front and center, So if war bothers you, have no worries, this book may still be for you.
What I had a problem with was the story dragging, there was not enough action to keep me turning the pages. The prose is beautiful, the author a decent writer, it just wasn't my normal.
Task Points 20
Review 10
Multiple 5
Prizeworthy 15
Task Total 50
Season Total 135
15.4 Celebration of StylesNot A Novel
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Post Total = 15
Season Total = 220
10.6
15.1; 15.2; 15.3; 15.4;
20.1; ... ; ...; ...; 20.5; ....; ....; ....; ....; 20.10 (x2)
10.7 Scrabble (Anika's Task)The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Scrabble score = 23
+10 task
+10 oldies
Post Total = 20
Season Total = 240
10.6; 10.7;
15.1; 15.2; 15.3; 15.4;
20.1; ... ; ...; ...; 20.5; ....; ....; ....; ....; 20.10 (x2)
10.7 Scrabble (Anika's Task)A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey
Scrabble Score = 29
+10 task
+10 oldies
+5 multiple
Post Total = 25
Season Total = 265
10.6; 10.7 (x2);
15.1; 15.2; 15.3; 15.4;
20.1; ... ; ...; ...; 20.5; ....; ....; ....; ....; 20.10 (x2)
20.1 Author! Author!Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer
Not as good as Less, but still some great observations and really funny moments to be found in this meandering journey of self-discovery. I enjoyed revisiting Arthur Less, the slightly washed up, middle-aged, self-proclaimed "bad gay," author. His story about not knowing how to be comfortable in his own skin, even in his fifth decade, was vulnerable and touching. Still, I wanted something more from this book. Much like the protagonist, the plot never knew what it was doing or where it was going. Sadly for the reader, this made for quite a bit of drag as the characters meandered about.
The narrator for the audiobook is excellent (and is the same narrator who narrated Less). He's so good here that the audiobook won a well-deserved Audiofile Earphones Award. If you like audiobooks, the humor here translates very well to audio format.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task total: 30
Grand total: 205
Post 93 Rebekah wrote: "20.8 MorrisonBlanche Among the Talented Tenth by Barbara Neely
+20 pts - task
Total - 20 pts"
+5 Oldies (published 1994)
10.9 GeorgiaReal Murders by Charlaine Harris
Description says set in Lawrenceton, GA.
Task: 10
Grand total: 125
20.3 DickensThe Blue Diamond by Annie Haynes
The blue diamond of the title is a fabulously large and beautiful blue diamond set in an equally fabulous and beautiful necklace. This necklace can be worn only by the wife of the Lord of the Manor or that of his heir.
It is pretty obvious from the beginning that the theft of the necklace is being planned. No, nothing so overt is said - we're not privy to any thieves conspiring a burglary, but there is one scene when a new groundsman asks one of the maids about it. The antenna would go up by any of us who reads this genre. This scene is shortly followed by a very beautiful but unknown woman suddenly found on the grounds. Hilda has amnesia.
So, for me there wasn't much of a mystery. Actually, there was. I wondered how people who were well-heeled and educated could be so naive. These were people who locked their doors at night to keep out the burglars, but couldn't see they'd opened their doors and welcomed them inside.
Still and all this was sort of fun reading this mystery originally published in 1925. The writing style and characterization was good enough. I have so many books to read I think it unlikely I'll get to another Annie Haynes. I can stretch to find a 3rd star, but just barely.
+20 Task (Haynes was born in 1864)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (pub'd 1925)
Task total = 40
Season total = 135
10.4 DebutAmazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood
I had mixed feelings when reading about Grace Adams, a perimenopausal language teacher with a disintegrating marriage and a challenging relationship with her fifteen-year-old daughter. The book has a good portrayal of Grace's teenage daughter who is over her head in social media and involved in a toxic relationship.
By the time a flashback tells us about a heartbreaking event that Grace has faced, we've wondered for most of the book why Grace is often out of control. For example, the book begins with Grace just abandoning her car in the middle lane of a highway because traffic is not moving, she's having hot flashes, and she needs to pick up a cake.
"Amazing Grace Adams" is a story about a woman who is very troubled by the past, and having difficulty coping with life. The reader can feel her pain, but also feel frustrated by the choices she makes. It sometimes only takes one misstep to change a life from amazing to broken, and it's a long road back toward hope and recovery.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Season total: 165
Post 121 Jayme wrote: "15.2 celebration of stylesAcorna's Rebelsby Anne McCaffrey
Old-born 1926-died 2011
Task + 15
Grand total 30"
Jayme, Celebration of Styles requires 10 different authors and you claimed a book by Anne McCaffrey for 15.1. I see she works for 10.3 Vowels or there may be another task you’d like to use this for. Let us know what you’d like to do.
20.1 Author! Author!The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
thread note
+20 Task
+5 Prize-Worthy
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 170
Joanna wrote: "Post 93 Rebekah wrote: "20.8 MorrisonBlanche Among the Talented Tenth by Barbara Neely
+20 pts - task
Total - 20 pts"
+5 Oldies (published 1994)"
Thank you, Joanna
10.10 Group ReadThe Adventures of Sally by P.G. Wodehouse
+10 Task
+10 Oldies (pub. 1922)
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 190
15.2 Celebration of StylesNous Autres by Mademoiselle Caroline
Young – born 1974 (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mademoi...)
+15 Task
Task total = 15
Points total = 140
... ; ... ; 10.3 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ...
15.1 ; 15.2 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ...
20.1 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; 20.7 ; 20.8 ; ... ; 20.10
20.9 Popular Science Quoi de neuf, Docteur Moustache ? by Marion Montaigne
MPG of Science and 4.07 rating
+20 Task
+5 Prize-worthy (Prix du Festival d'Angoulême for Prix du public Cultura 2013)
Task total = 25
Points total = 165
... ; ... ; 10.3 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ...
15.1 ; 15.2 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ...
20.1 ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; ... ; 20.7 ; 20.8 ; 20.9 ; 20.10
15.4 Celebration of StylesJollof Rice and Other Revolutions: A Novel in Interlocking Stories by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi
+15 Task (Non Western)
Season Total: 125
15.5 Celebration of StylesDon’t Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre in Her Own Words by Viola Ford Fletcher
+15 Task (Aged 107)
Season Total: 140
20.3 Dickens The Green Dwarf: A Tale of the Perfect Tense by Charlotte Brontë
+20 Task Bronte: 1816-1855
+15 Oldies (1830)
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 205
Post 103 Joanne wrote: "15.1 Celebration of StylesNot A Novel
The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation by Philip Shenon
I make a habit, each September, to read a ..."
Thank you for the Review. However, there are no styles for Celebration of Styles.
Post 123 Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Jayme, Celebration of Styles requires 10 different authors and you claimed a book by Anne McCaffrey for 15.1. I see she works for 10.3 Vowels or there may be another task you’d like to use this for. Let us know what you’d like to do.Hi Elizabeth, I have also made this mistake and used Sayaka Murata for 15.1 and 15.2 :(
Can I please move 15.1 (Post 42) to 20.8 Morrison
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
You very quickly come to the conclusion that perhaps our narrator, Keiko, would be diagnosed with some condition that she has difficulty understanding social and interpersonal cues.
She finds comfort and safety in the routines and rules that dictate her part-time job at the convenience store, and imitates the speech, both words and style, and appearance of those around her so she seems to fit in.
When a strange man comes to work at the convenience store, one less adept at fitting in than she is, her life is about to change.
This is an interesting look at society and its expectations, and how those who don't fit in and how they try to make it work, or how they are impacted by, and react to, the way they are treated.
A short, sharp book about self discovery and whether it is better to be part of society or be true to oneself, this was completely enjoyable.
+20 task
+10 review
+5 prizeworthy (Akutagawa Prize 2016)
Post Total = 35
New Season Total = (220-15+35=) 240
10.6; 10.7 (x2);
15.1; 15.2; 15.3;
20.1; ... ; ...; ...; 20.5; ....; ....; 20.8; ....; 20.10 (x2)
10.7 ScrabbleLooking For Rachel Wallace by Robert B. Parker
Rachel Wallace was a militant feminist who was also a Lesbian. Her personna and her views made her very strident. Spenser is everything she abhors. She was absolutely certain that Spenser, being male, couldn't agree with her and she assumed he held views that he likely didn't hold. He was hired to protect her and what she believed was beside the point.
This was first published in 1980. I remember the Women's Revolution. Though I wasn't in contact with any of the Rachel Wallaces, it was impossible not to be fully aware of them. And, when gender discrimination was staring me in the face, it was pretty easy to adopt their views, though, perhaps, not their ways of disseminating those views.
This was my first Robert B. Parker. The plot and Spenser himself are hard hitting. I was only a couple of pages in when I recognized the hard-boiled style so like that of Raymond Chandler. Before reading any further, I was already marking the first in this series for my wish list. I suspect I'd find the series close to 5-stars, but the individual installments something less. This is 4-stars, though probably not toward the top of that group.
+10 Task (41 pts - or maybe only 36, I kept getting a different score!)
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (1980)
Task total = 25
Season total = 160
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 103 Joanne wrote: "15.1 Celebration of StylesNot A Novel
The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation by Philip Shenon
I make a habit, ea..."
Sorry, I forgot about that, I will fix my score
10.3 VowelsTom Lake by Ann Patchett
The story itself and the sense of place (a cherry farm in western Michigan) here are excellent.
The characters are decent, but the way the story is told stifled them a bit. Everyone is seen through the eyes of Lara - we see her daughters and husband through her in the present story line, and we see Peter Duke, Pallace, Sebastian and the others through her in the past storyline. Because Lara is telling a story about the past with the benefit of hindsight, we're never truly able to be in the moment with the characters in her past, including herself. Lara has edited, deepened her understanding, rationalized, etc. - this is a narrative choice I can respect, but I'm not sure it was the right choice.
In the present, the daughters feel like foils for their mom's story - they react in different ways and ask different questions, serving more to tease out details than to be people in their own right.
Similar to State of Wonder, Patchett makes what I consider pretty clunky narrative choices throughout her telling. She hides details to build suspense for the reader in ways that are nonsensical in the story. I wish that Patchett would rely less on trying to build suspense and have a big reveal, because she's an excellent writer and doesn't need to cling so tightly to her very-blatant puppet strings.
+10 Task (Ann)
+10 Review
Task total =20
Season total = 20
15.1 Celebration of StylesBetween the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor
+15 Task (Not a novel - memoir)
Task total =15
Season total = 35
15.2 Celebration of StylesThe Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
+15 Task (Young - born 5/3/1985: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becky_C... )
Task total =15
Season total = 50
15.1The Moment of Tenderness by Madeleine L'Engle
Style - Aged
B1918
D2007
Task total: 15
Grand total: 140
15.2 Celebration of StylesThe Tree of Heaven by May Sinclair
+15 Task (Aged: 1863-1946, aged 83)
Points this post: 15
RwS total: -
CoS total: 30
Season Total: 30
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
15.1 15.2 .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
20.8 Morrison Role Playing by Cathy Yardley
Cathy describes herself as "biracial, Vietnamese and Irish-British-American" here: https://tartsweet.com/2021/05/04/sapa...
+20 task
Task total = 20
Season Total = 130
Post 119 Beth wrote: "10.9 GeorgiaReal Murders by Charlaine Harris
Description says set in Lawrenceton, GA.
Task: 10
Grand total: 125"
+5 Oldies
Post 112 Joanne wrote: "20.2 War In honor of Howard Bahr and Anthony Doerr, read any book that has an MPG of War and Historical Fiction.Trouble the Water byRebecca Dwight Bruff
This wa..."
I'm sorry. The awards on the book page are somewhat confusing, but there are only 2 awards: Feathered Quill and Chanticleer
-5 Prizeworthy
Post 111 Tien wrote: "20.9 Popular ScienceWhen Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
MPG Science & avg rating 4.39
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 145"
+5 Prizeworthy
10.7 scrabbleHarley Quinn & Poison Ivy by Jody Houser
Score of 47 or something close well over 23
Task total: 10
Grand total: 155
Including correction in post 145
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
The Hank Show: How a House-Painting, Drug-Running DEA Informant Built the Machine That Rules Our Lives (other topics)Dialogues and Essays (other topics)
Behold the Dreamers (other topics)
End of Watch (other topics)
Quite Frankly: Dilf Mania (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
McKenzie Funk (other topics)Seneca (other topics)
Imbolo Mbue (other topics)
Stephen King (other topics)
Mayra Statham (other topics)
More...
Pug Hill by Alison Pace
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 125