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SP 24 Completed Tasks
10.3 St Patricks DayMurder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji
An interesting character and new setting for a mystery. Lydia Weston is one of the first female doctors in the US and the novel is set in 1875 Philadelphia with a fair amount of the book occurring at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Despite the setting, Weston’s medical knowledge is not the primary reason for her success in undercovering clues and solving the mystery. Along with two police officers, she gets to the bottom of the myster With only a few red herrings thrown into the mix.
This was an Edgar Award winning novel that I hope will turn out to be the start of a new series. I recommend this to any mystery lover
15 pts 10.3 St Patricks Day
10 pts Review
Task Total: 25 pts
Season total =750 pts
Post 402
… 10.2 10.3 … 10.6 … 10.8 … 10.10
… 20.2 20.3 … 20.5 … 20.7 20.8 20.9 20.10
15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 (30 plants)
10.8 Elemental (Tien's task)When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
+10 task
Post Total = 10
Season Total = 925
...; ...; 10.3; 10.4; ...; 10.6; ...; 10.8; 10.9 (x3); 10.10 (x2)
15.1; 15,2; 15.3; 15.4; 15.5; 15.6;
20.1; 20.2; 20.3 (x3); ...; 20.5 (x3); 20.6 (x2); 20.7; 20.8; 20.9; 20.10
30.1 (x2)
20.3 The Madonna of the CatThe Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
Page 118:
One of the main characters Tinbu adopts a cat for the pirates ship
There was a loud pitiful meow, and then the most bedraggled ship's cat I had ever seen emerged. A skinny, rust brown thing the color of a tool left in the sea air, its fur stuck up in clumps, and it was missing an ear. Tinbu rushed to collect the cat, cuddling it close to it's chest
Payasam the cat makes numerous appearances in the book.
Review:
Another book I was leery about, and look at that-I loved it! Books that are hyped too much I always turn away from in the beginning, Thanks to a number of people who urged me to give this one a try.
First off, there are pirates AND the head of the crew is a woman. Secondly, it is fantasy-no need for me to explain why that is a good thing. However, this fantasy was new and different and historical. That last word there, very important here, as the author did her research on the time period and subject of the world of Islamic mythology and lore.
The Author notes at the end of the book are not to be missed. So many books she referenced that I would like to read, most likely hard to find but I will search and continue leaning about the subjects.
I loved it and I look forward to the next in series.
My full review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total 30
Season Total 475
Post 395 Valerie wrote: "10.8 ElementalDead Water by Ngaio Marsh
Ngaio Marsh hasn’t been my ‘go to’ mystery writer of the group considered to be from the ‘Golden Age’. I have read a couple e..."
+10 Combo 10.3 (1963) & 10.5 "dead"
Post 397 Mary wrote: "30.1 Go for the Green ReduxCayman Islands
Paula Roberts Private Investigator - Cayman Islands by Daniel Easterling
While the plot line is creative, this mystery..."
+5 Combo 10.9
(This book has a paperback edition, which I have now combined with the Kindle edition, and it has 372 pages)
Post 402 Mary wrote: "10.3 St Patricks DayMurder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji
An interesting character and new setting for a mystery. Lydia Weston is one of the first female doctors i..."
Only 10 pts for the task here. Did you mean to claim a combo?
Post 404 Joanne wrote: "20.3 The Madonna of the CatThe Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
Page 118:
One of the main characters Tinbu adopts a cat for the pirates ship..."
+5 Combo 10.3 (2023)
Rosemary wrote: "Post 402 Mary wrote: "10.3 St Patricks DayMurder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji
An interesting character and new setting for a mystery. Lydia Weston is one of the ..."
My mistake. Thanks for catching it
Task 10.5 Golden Broadway ShowsBroadway Show:
53. A Letter for QUEEN Victoria
Only two POV’s so no combo there.
Queen of the Dead (The Ghost and the Goth, #1) (2011) by Stacey Kade (YA) (Goodreads Author) (Hardcover 266 pages)
Lexile 810L
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 285 + 10 = 295
Task 20.6 Fruit Dish, Bottle and ViolinRead a novel with at least 3 different characters' points of view.
POV’s include: Eoghan (Man in 877 B. C. E.); Kevin Donegan (hired to dig holes in the peat bog – he finds the dead man); Nora Gavin (pathologist); Cormac Maguire (archeologist – he lives with Nora Gavin); Claire Finnerty (owner/manager of the local artist retreat/Bed and Breakfast); Police Detective Stella Cusak; and others
For 10.4: Read a book by a Boomer Generation author born in the 10 years 1950-1959.
Erin Hart’s birth year is not on goodreads. However, it can be found elsewhere online:
https://www.booknotification.com/auth... (under Biography)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Hart
https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/edu...
Erin Hart was born on September 1st, 1958
The Book of Killowen (Nora Gavin #4) (2013) by Erin Hart (Hardcover 332 pages)
+20 Task
+10 Combo (#10.4 Boomer Generation, #10.9 pagecount ends in “2”)
Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30
Grand Total: 295 + 30 = 325
20.3 The Madonna of the CatThe Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
I knew from the beginning I’d be crying at the end…. except it happened well before the end, big fat tears down both cheeks. Perhaps it helps if you are a cat person? Even if you are not, this story told from the perspective of Nana (the cat) is charming and heart-warming, and will engender ‘all the feels’. As a character, Nana is spot on – a street cat who becomes a (sassy) house cat. He has all the experience to tell a good story, with the limited horizon to be excited about the trips he and Satoru take. Arikawa did a very good job with this. 4*
20 task
10 review
10 LiT
5 combo 10.5 (cat)
_______
45
Running total: 980
20.4 The Fighting TermeraireCaleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
I have enjoyed others by Geraldine Brooks and was glad to pick this up from some Friends of the Library book sale in years past. It sat on my bookshelf, patiently waiting my attention. I have commented before that sometimes you pick up a book at just exactly the right time. I don’t know why this was the right time for this book, but I did enjoy it thoroughly.
This is good historical fiction based on fact. The Caleb of the title was the first Native American to graduate from Harvard. I knew this going in. I *thought* he was also the one who was taken across the Atlantic and shown off to the English. I kept waiting for that to happen. For those who might decide to read this you should not wait. That Native man was a different person.
Despite the title, this is told entirely in the first person of Bethia Mayfield. When the book opens, Bethia is a young girl living with her family on the island now known as Martha’s Vineyard. One day while she was out exploring the island, she encountered Caleb. Bethia had learned the Native language by listening to her father tutor Makepeace, Bethia’s older brother. She and Caleb became fast friends. Caleb was called some very long Wampanoag name and Bethia decided to shorten it to Caleb, by which he was forever known to the English colonists.
I’m not sure how this came to be on the Goodreads list of Boat Books for there is very little of any trips by water or of the boats by which they might have traveled, though there is some. But that was my excuse for picking it up at this time, so I’m glad it was placed there. The Crossing of the title refers to Caleb crossing from his Native religion of many gods to the Christian religion of one God. This is certainly not literature, but is more than a good yarn and I’m happy to have it in the top half of my 4-star group.
+20 Task (#109)
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (10.4 - 1955)
Task total = 35
Season total = 785
15.7 HDYGG?How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason
Flowers
hOw rory ThornE destroyed the muLtIVerse = VIOLET
Vegetables:
Herbs: page count = 416
1 = HORSERADISH
6 = CHIVES
3 Plants this post
31 Total plants in the garden (edited)
+15 Task
+ 0 Flower Bonus
Task total = 15
Season Total = 795
10.9 Anniversaries Sightseeing by Rattawut Lapcharoensap
I got this book because I was going to Thailand for work (just got back and it was AMAZING!!!) - I love reading books from places I'm traveling to, and I was excited to find this one. It's a short story collection featuring characters in Thailand. I really enjoyed each story - a lot of the characters were well developed and the setting came through in such detail. The first story, "Farangs", won prizes, but wasn't even my favorite (though it was good). I think my favorite was the title story, "Sightseeing" - it has stuck with me for a few weeks now with the simplicity and power of the storyline. A son and mother are on a train journey to celebrate the son's impending start to college -- but also to grapple with the mother's impending blindness. Highly recommended!
+10 task (250 pages)
+10 review
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 125
20.10 World of Crime Three Assassins by Kōtarō Isaka
+20 task (mystery set in Japan)
+20 combo (10.3, 10.9 - 272 pg, 20.6 - POV of Suzuki, Whale, Pusher, Cicada, 20.9 - conspiracy around the gang Maiden being hunted)
+10 Lost in Translation
Task Total: 50
Season Total: 175
20.4 The Fighting TemeraireDeath on the Nile by Agatha Christie
Death on the Nile is the eighteenth book in the Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie. It’s a pretty solid mystery – newlywed millionaire heiress gets offed on her honeymoon and it’s a question of whodunnit? The snubbed former best friend? The obnoxious old bat who thinks she’s better than everyone, her doormat cousin, or her nurse? The officious doctor? The new hubby? The lawyer there for no apparent reason? *HER* ‘financial advisor’ who just happens to appear while she’s on her honeymoon? As with any Poirot story, there are a lot of false paths and maybes but this one I didn’t like as much as some of the others I’ve read. The payoff was just a little too predictable, I thought. It was, however, a perfectly serviceable piece of brain candy.
+20 task
+25 combo (10.6 -published in 1937, 10.9 - 352 pgs., 20.7 - everyone is on holiday in Egypt, 20.9 - there are multiple conspiracies involved including the actual murder, 20.10 - mystery set 100% in Egypt)
+10 review
Task total: 55
Season total: 105
20.10 World of CrimeMurder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie
Murder in Mesopotamia is the fourteenth book in the Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie. Personally, I thought this was one of the more interesting plots so far. The wife of an archaeologist on a dig in Iraq is having ‘spells’ and everyone is accusing her of just being unhappy and paranoid. But is she? Turns out, no. And little Monsieur Poirot gets called in to figure out just HOW she could have been killed. It’s a locked room mystery of sorts and there are several odd twists and turns that I quite liked. If I were to recommend a Christie novel, this would be one of my first choices so far.
+20 task
+25 combo (10.6 - published in 1936, 20.1 - art forgery is a plot point and one of the suspects is a photographer, 20.7 - the nurse (narrator) has gone to Iraq from England, 20.9 - the art forgery plot point mentioned previously, 20.10 - set 100% in Iraq.
+10 review
Task total: 55
Season total: 160
20.3 The Madonna of the CatCoraline by Neil Gaiman
Lexile 740
Coraline by Neil Gaiman is ostensibly a young adult fantasy novel about a girl with neglectful parents finding a door in their new apartment during a rainy, boring, awful week. That door leads to a mirror world with the Other Mother in residence; In the mirror world, her parents are attentive, and everything is bright and interesting…. But they have ulterior motives. With the assistance of a very mouthy feline, Coraline has to outwit and survive the Other Mother and free the souls of the other children that she’s trapped in the past. If you’ve seen the movie, it IS different but not extremely so. I’d say it’s a lot creepier, though.
+20 task (the cat doesn't have a name, he's just 'Cat' -but he's a pretty significant character in the book)
+5 combo (20.9 - Coraline and the Cat and the ghosts)
+10 review
Task total: 35
Season total: 195
15.7 HDYGGThe Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
No flowers
Vegetables:
Italy - ICEBERG LETTUCE
Herbs: 144 pages
4 - DILL
Plants this post: 2
Total plants: 23
Task points: 15
Season points: 405
10.1 Rewind to WinterBambi's Children by Felix Salten
The sequel to Bambi, this book has much of the same charming description of the forest and the animals within. While the forest is not an idyllic place, there is death, much of it from natural predation. The animals seem to understand and cope with that. However, the biggest threat is “He” a human gamekeeper with his thunderstick.
Like the first book in the series, the description of the natural world is beautiful, however, it does read as a bit of a retread of the original novel. There are no real additional insights here. I did wonder if the sequel was written to capitalized on the Disney cartoon
Be aware, this is not a gentle book for children.
10 pts 10.1 Rewind to Winter
5 pts 10.6 Modernism
5 pts 10.9 Anniversaries
5 pts 20.2 Nature
5 pts 20.5 Surprised!
10 pts Review
10 pts Lost in Translation
Task Total: 50 pts
Season total =800pts
Post 421
10.1 10.2 10.3 … 10.6 … 10.8 … 10.10
… 20.2 20.3 … 20.5 … 20.7 20.8 20.9 20.10
15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 (30 plants)
20.3 The Madonna of the CatLillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
Lillian talks about the cat she first buys, Tallulah, and the book finishes after she has fed her current cat, Phoebe
I wasn't sure, but very quickly remembered that I had in fact listened to this. In fact, I remembered very well the story, up until the last 45 minutes.
To me Lillian Boxfish, advertising woman extraordinaire, is Lauren Bacall, she is Katherine Hepburn, she is smart, sassy and handsome. She doesn't need a man, but she enjoys them.
A retrospective piece, and I have realised a narration I often enjoy, where the story is told in a short time period, this over less than 12 hours on New Years Eve in New York, 1984, and into 1985, as she walks across the city, but covers the lifespan of the narrator, who has already done all their living, would not shy away from the end, and has a couple of things to get off their chest.
Xe Sands narration is so perfect with this, so if you wanted to enjoy this text at some point, I really do recommend the audio.
+20 task
+10 review
+5 combo (20.7 - Lillian details her honeymoon in Italy, specifically their time in Milan)
Post Total = 35
Season Total = 960
...; ...; 10.3; 10.4; ...; 10.6; ...; 10.8; 10.9 (x3); 10.10 (x2)
15.1; 15,2; 15.3; 15.4; 15.5; 15.6;
20.1; 20.2; 20.3 (x4); ...; 20.5 (x3); 20.6 (x2); 20.7; 20.8; 20.9; 20.10
30.1 (x2)
10.6 ModernismTo the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Published 1927 (and she's one of the most important modernist author)
+10 Task
+15 Combo (10.5 - A Gala Tribute TO Joshua Logan ; 20.1 : one of the two main character is Lily Briscoe, painter ; 20.6 : most of the characters of the book express their point of view at one point, but it’s mostly Mrs Ramsay, Lily Briscoe, James and Cam that we follow)
+10 Lost in Translation (written in english, native language is french)
+10 1001
Task total = 45
Points total = 535
10.1 (x3) ; 10.2; 10.3 ; 10.4 ; … ; 10.6 ; … ; 10.8 ; … ; …
15.1 ; 15.2 ; 15.3 ; 15.4 ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … (12 plants)
20.1 ; 20.2 ; 20.3 ; 20.4 ; 20.5 ; 20.6 ; 20.7 ; 20.8 ; 20.9 ; 20.10
15.1 HDYGG?Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Triangle by Dorothy Gilman
Flowers:
mrs pollifax AND the gOLDEN trIangle -- DANDELION, +5
Vegetables:
Thailand -- TOMATO
Herbs: page count = 208
2--LEMON VERBENA
0--PEPPERMINT
4 Plants this post
4 Total plants in the garden
+15 Task
+5 Flower Bonus
Task total = 20
Season total: 195
15.2 HDYGG?Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish by Dorothy Gilman
Flowers:
mrs pollifax and the whirling dervish -- PHLOX
mrs pollifax and the whirling dervish -- GARDENIA, +5
Vegetables:
Morocco -- MUNG BEAN
Herbs: page count = 211
1--HORSERADISH
4 Plants this post
8 Total plants in the garden
+15 Task
+5 Flower Bonus
Task total = 20
Season total: 215
15.3 HDYGG?Refugee High: Coming of Age in America by
Elly Fishman
Flowers:
RefUGEe high: coMINg of Age in america -- GERANIUM, +5
Vegetables:
Chicago--CUCUMBER
Illinois--ICEBERG LETTUCE
Herbs: page count = 211
8--ROSEMARY
4 Plants this post
12 Total plants in the garden
+15 Task
+5 Flower Bonus
Task total = 20
Season total: 235
15.4 HDYGG?Anna and Her Daughters by D.E. Stevenson
Vegetables:
Ryddelton - RUTABAGA
Scotland - SPINACH
Herbs: 224 pages
4 - Dill
Plants this post = 3
Total plants = 11
+15 Task
Post Total = 15
Season Total = 835
15.5 HDYGG?Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon
Flowers:
mEmoiRS of An infanTry - ASTER
Vegetables:
France - FENNEL
Plants this post = 2
Total plants = 13
+15 Task
Post Total = 15
Season Total = 850
15.6 HDYGG?Indiscretions of Archie by P.G. Wodehouse
Flowers:
IndiScRetIons - iris
indiscretionSOfaRchiE - rose
Plants this post = 2
Total plants = 15
+15 Task
Post Total = 15
Season Total = 865
10.3 St Patrick's Day Come to Grief by Dick Francis
+10 Task (3rd in series)
+ 5 Combo (10.5 "to")
Post total = 15
Season Total = 880
20.3 The Madonna of the Cat The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
"To read is to dream, guided by someone else's hand." - The Book of Disquiet
This is a long and dreamy mixture of fragments of life, philosophy, dreams, and soul-searching, told by Bernardo Soares, one of Pessoa's alter egos or heteronyms. According to the introduction and his own letters, Soares wrote and thought like Pessoa (or like him in a certain mood), but he had different life circumstances. Pessoa had a small private income that allowed him to live by his writing, while Soares worked as an accounts clerk whose office life sometimes inspires reflections in the book.
This is an amazing and fragmentary work, which Pessoa never finished and perhaps never would have, no matter how long he had lived. It is broken up into short sections and can either be dipped into or read slowly from start to end. I read 20 pages a day which worked for me. Loved it.
(Very happy to find a cat in this book, owned by Soares's boss, Vasquez, because I couldn't see anywhere else it would fit!)
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 LiT (Portuguese)
+10 1001 list
+ 5 Jumbo
Post total = 55
Season Total = 935
20.6 Fruit Dish, Bottle and Violin Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
This is a fictionalised account of the professional lives of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon who measured the line that divides Pennsylvania from its southern neighbours and Delaware from Maryland. They were two Englishmen without much in common. Mason came from Gloucestershire and Dixon was a miner's son from County Durham. The interplay between the two of them, their deepening relationship which remained masked behind jokes and familiar insults, was the one thing that redeemed the book for me.
I didn't mind the archaic language (although I found so many capital letters tended to make my eyes slide over the page) but the framing story of the Reverend Cherrycoke seemed completely pointless. It may have been intended to distance the story of Mason and Dixon (because Cherrycoke was not present for many of the events he described) but I found that unconvincing because Cherrycoke himself seemed so unreal.
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo (20.9, conspiracies are mentioned in the GR description)
+10 Review
+10 1001 list
+10 Jumbo (773 pages)
Post total = 55
Season Total = 990
15.8 HDYGGShelterwood by Lisa Wingate
Flowers:
ShElteRwOod - ROSE
Vegetables:
Talihina - TOMATO
Oklahoma - ONION
No Herbs
Plants this post: 3
Total plants: 26
Task total: 15
Season total: 420
10.7 Strange New WorldOld Man's War by John Scalzi
I thought I would enjoy this novel, and I was right! I could not put it down. It is a fun, propulsive read.
One of the things that attracted me to this novel is the premise – the Colonial Defense Forces only wants old recruits (specifically 75 years old) to send to the space war. As I am inching my way toward that number, it seemed intriguing. I can tell you though, Scalzi takes that premise and turns it up a notch into something even more interesting. That all happened in the first 60 pages!
This was Scalzi’s first novel, and it is an impressive debut. You can call this science fiction light – it is not an allegory (as much of Golden Age sci-fi was). There is humor, space battles, and enough physics to make it sound like Scalzi may know something about physics (but not too much, which would be boring). The alien races are fun and imaginative creations too. 4*
10 task
10 review
5 combo 10.5 (man)
_______
25
Running total: 1005
10.2 The DispossessedThe Barrow by Mark Smylie
Review
🎧 Audiobook Review 🎧
The book description led me to think that this could be a fun adventurous fantasy novel. Well, it was adventurous and um, somewhat fun... maybe a lot of fun for those who liked twisted sex scenes. This last part really caught me by surprised and I'm not sure how I got through 21 hours of audiobook. Scenes were spaced out though there be crudeness in between. I really do like 2 of the main characters though especially Erim, a girl disguised as boy -this is my favourite trope ever and probably the reason why hung on to the end. But, that's it; I'm definitely not chasing down the second book or maybe even any other book by this author.
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.6 - about 7 or 8)
+10 Review
+5 Jumbo (587p)
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 440
10.5 Golden Broadway Shows The Last Queen: A Graphic Novel by Jean-Marc Rochette
Queen = A Letter for Queen Victoria
+10 Task
No style points, graphic novel
Task total = 10
Points total = 545
10.1 (x3) ; 10.2; 10.3 ; 10.4 ; 10.5 ; 10.6 ; … ; 10.8 ; … ; …
15.1 ; 15.2 ; 15.3 ; 15.4 ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … ; … (12 plants)
20.1 ; 20.2 ; 20.3 ; 20.4 ; 20.5 ; 20.6 ; 20.7 ; 20.8 ; 20.9 ; 20.10
20.7 International Travel - travel back and forth between England and FranceDeath in the Clouds by Agatha Christie
+20 task
+10 combo (10.6 - 1936, 20.7 - about 75% in France)
Task total: 30
Season total: 225
15.4 HDYGGCoffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair
Flower : allium
Setting: Chicago, USA : cucumber
Task: 15
Plants : 2
Total plants: 11
Season total: 175
20.8 Fancy Meeting You HereThe Dead Can Wait by Robert Ryan
Watson, Sherlock Holmes' friend and fellow investigator, is back in England after serving in Belgium during WWI. Although we can expect an appearance from Holmes, this is very much Watson as a medical doctor and investigating on his own. Also, this WWI setting is one with which I was unfamiliar and for me that was an added bonus.
My British friends may have been familiar with how the estate of Elveden was a setting for a very top secret part of the war. It was there that Ernest Swindon was in charge of the development of the tank. It was believed that other countries were also developing this weapon, but as far as was known at the time, not Germany. The Allies hoped its appearance would be a turning point in the war.
Enter Watson. The story purports that Winston Churchill personally sent Dr. Watson to investigate 7 deaths that occured as the result of testing one of the tanks. It was imperative that the cause of these deaths be ascertained so that the tanks could be modified if necessary and the project continue. The outcome of the war could well depend on it.
This is the second in the series. It has been several months since I read the first and I remembered it only generally. There are some specifics of that earlier novel that have a bearing on this installment, but, as my memory was very hazy about them, I think one could read them out of order. As to this one, from about halfway, it becomes as much thriller as detective novel, and by the last 75+ pages, very thrillerish. I think another 4-stars, but perhaps not especially robust ones. I look forward to the next one.
+20 Task (Watson and Sherlock Holmes)
+10 Review
+15 Combo (10.5 - PS Your Cat is Dead, 20.6 - Watson, Holmes, Swindon, Miss Pillbody, and several more, 20.7, a French connection, 20.9 - both the secret weapon group, but also a spy network)
Task total = 50
Season total = 835
10.1 Rewind to WinterI read an AMS novel for 15.1
The Handsome Man's Deluxe Café by Alexander McCall Smith
This is #15 in McCall Smith’s long running series. Apparently, I hadn’t read it even though I have read #16. Neither book suffered from being read out of order; although I would recommend reading all of them in order.
By this instalment we (the readers) are very familiar with the main characters, and they advance through life as one does. The mystery is a case of seeming amnesia which Mma Ramotswe takes on to try to help the woman involved. Mma Makutsi is still herself, which I appreciate – McCall Smith wasn’t tempted to go down the road of a character changing because she is married. She is still ambitious and so opens a new café: The Handsome Man’s Deluxe Café. If you are familiar with this series, you know it will not be straight line to success for Mma Makutsi! One character that grew on me in this novel is Rra Radiphuti, his role is small here but crafted just right! Once again, an enjoyable read. 4*
10 task
10 review
10 combo 10.5 (man), 20.9 (about 2/3 through a conspiracy is revealed)
______
30
Running total: 1035
20.9 Ides of MarchGallows View by Peter Robinson
Inspector Banks having recently moved to Yorkshire from London is expecting a quieter job. He is suddenly faced with a possible murder as well as a series of robberies and a peeper.
What takes this book beyond a police procedural is Inspector Banks’ reactions, philosophy and insights as he examines his own world. Well written and I am looking forward to reading more of this series.
The narrator for this edition did a good job with Inspector Banks and most of the male characters but was a little off on the female characters.
+20 task (one of his investigations finds a conspiracy involving at least 4 people)
+5 combo 10.4 Peter Robinson was born 1950
+5 combo 20.6 The story includes the POV of Sandra Banks, Graham Sharp, and Trevor Sharp among others
+10 review
Task total: 40
Season total: 140
20.6 Fruit, Dish, Bottle, and ViolinThe Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
All the windows are boarded up on the last house on Needless Street with small circles cut out for peering out into the neighborhood. The rundown neighborhood is next to a large wooded area in the Pacific Northwest. The house belongs to an overweight loner, Ted, who drowns his troubles in beer. A teenage girl, Lauren, also resides there, but no one in the neighborhood has ever met her. When Ted gets upset, Olivia the cat helps him relax with her purring and affectionate ways.
Dee has been searching for her missing sister who was kidnapped years ago. She moves into the abandoned house next door and starts spying on Ted, wondering if there's a connection.
Three locks on the door of Ted's dilapidated house isolate him from the rest of the world. He only goes out to the Seven-Eleven, to his therapist's office, and to the woods at night.
In this beautifully crafted book, the shocking truth about Ted, Lauren, Olivia, and Dee is revealed through chapters written from their individual points of view. Although author Catriona Ward plants some clues, it takes a while to put it all together. Don't read the notes in the back of the book because you don't want to spoil the brilliant unraveling in this dark psychological thriller. Five shiny stars!
+20 task (told from the POVs of Ted, Lauren, Olivia, and Dee)
+ 5 combo 20.3 The Madonna of the Cat (Ted's cat Olivia plus a stray tabby cat and a white neighborhood cat)
+10 review
Task total: 35
Season total: 455
10.2 The Dispossessed -two-word title starting 'The' The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire by William Dalrymple
A very complete history of The East India Company and their entry into, and gutting of the country of India. The book completely turned on it's head most of what I had learned and knew about the "colonization" of India. A small merchant, operating out of a tiny office in London turns into not only a corporate giant, but becomes a full force government of it's own. Not a very tolerant government, no not at all in my opinion. A hostile take-over, like none you have ever seen before. All ignored, or completely unknown (I seriously doubt that) to the English Crown.
I will stop here. You either have an interest in this subject or you don't. I will advise anyone else who picks it up, just take your time through it. There is so much to digest, but the history of it all is fascinating.
+10 Task
+ 10 Review
+ 5 Jumbo (544 pages)
+5 Combo (20.5)
Task Total 30
Season Total 510
Post 411 Deedee wrote: "Task 20.6 Fruit Dish, Bottle and ViolinRead a novel with at least 3 different characters' points of view.
POV’s include: Eoghan (Man in 877 B. C. E.); Kevin Donegan (hired to dig holes in the pea..."
+5 Combo 10.3 (2013)
Post 418 Heather wrote: "20.10 World of CrimeMurder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie
Murder in Mesopotamia is the fourteenth book in the Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie. Personally..."
This is only worth 20 Combo points, because 20.10 is your main task.
-5 pts
20.8 Fancy Meeting You HereOn My Knees by J. Kenner
An enjoyable follow up to the first book in this spin-off series. I appreciate that these characters have a basically healthy relationship where they talk through issues together and don't spend pages and pages agonizing about whether to talk to each other. I could do with a little less focus on the trauma history of these characters--the female lead here is a strong woman, but a lot of the book focuses on her trauma responses related to an adolescent event. I found this a little exhausting for a light read.
I'll definitely listen to the third book of this series.
+20 Task (this is a spinoff from a different series and the main characters from the original Stark series are minor characters here; the main character here is a minor character there)
+10 Review
Task total: 30
Grand total: 345
Post 422 Apple wrote: "20.3 The Madonna of the CatLillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
Lillian talks about the cat she first buys, Tallulah, and the book finishes after she has ..."
I don't think this will work for Combo 20.7 because the trip sounds like it happened a long time ago. From the help thread: "We're looking for a short trip that lasts a few days to about three months maximum, happening during the time frame of the book. Not emigration, and not a long-ago trip."
-5 pts
Post 434 Valerie wrote: "10.7 Strange New WorldOld Man's War by John Scalzi
I thought I would enjoy this novel, and I was right! I could not put it down. It is a fun, propulsive read.
One..."
+5 Combo 10.9 (MPE has 355 pages)
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us (other topics)Code Name Hélène (other topics)
The Teacher (other topics)
A Man's Head (other topics)
Redoubt (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Ed Yong (other topics)Ariel Lawhon (other topics)
Freida McFadden (other topics)
Georges Simenon (other topics)
Mercedes Lackey (other topics)
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Evil Eye by Etaf Rum
352 pages
+10 task
+5 combo (10.3)
Post Total = 15
Season Total = 915
...; ...; 10.3; 10.4; ...; 10.6; ...; ...; 10.9 (x3); 10.10 (x2)
15.1; 15,2; 15.3; 15.4; 15.5; 15.6;
20.1; 20.2; 20.3 (x3); ...; 20.5 (x3); 20.6 (x2); 20.7; 20.8; 20.9; 20.10
30.1 (x2)