The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

Completed task 15.3--WHAT WOMEN WANT TO READ (AND WRITE)

A. Series: Succubus On Top by Richelle Mead, the 2nd book in her Georgina Kincaid series about a succubus living in Seattle.

B. A Woman I Admire: The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan. Her strength and courage as she undergoes treatments for breast cancer are admirable. At the same time all of this was going on in her life, she was raising 2 small children and giving support to her father who was diagnosed with prostate cancer. This ordeal helped her to transition from "daddy's little girl" to a woman able to stand on her own two feet. Kelly Corrigan is a Goodreads author

This brings me to 200 points. Yippee!!!

25.6 Island dreams - finally finished all 1006 pages of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell which was set in the UK.

Finished tasks...

5.3: The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain 3*
5.10: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli 3*

10.2: Things That Are by Andrew Clements (main character is blind) 3*
10.7: Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris (my favorite show is The Office) 2*

15.1:
A. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift 3* and
B. Robin Hood: Men in Tights 5*
15.5:
B. Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl from Donna Douglas from Morocco's list 3*
C. Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne from Harvey from Oman's list 5*
15.8: (Christmas, obviously)
A. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 4*
B. It's a Wonderful Life 5* (watch it every year just to keep things in the right perspective)

25.5: The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson (fit all the criteria) 2*

30.5 Posthumously Speaking

Saving Fish from Drowning: A Novel by Amy Tan (deceased narrator) - this one was a little slow to get going but once it picked up was very good. The narrator is a dealer in Chinese art and artifacts who dies mysteriously a couple of weeks before she was to lead a tour group of her friends and acquaintances to China and politically unstable Burma. She accompanies them anyway, in spirit, and the mostly obtuse Americans have quite an adventure.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (published posthumously) - I was starting to think I was the last person on the planet to read this book. I really enjoyed it... about one-third of the way through I realized I was hooked, and by the time I got to the halfway point I realized I was not going to sleep that night until I was finished. I would agree with some who've said it could've been shorter, but I loved the character of Lisbeth and I look forward to the sequel.

30 more points for a total of 420, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was 590 pages.

I just finished task 10.4. I read The Pillars of the Earth, it's a 5 star book from PJReads shelf.

This brings my total to 20. Laura FL

I just finished up Helen's Sci-Fi task with William Gibson's Neuromancer and Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver - the later is 916 pages, so I'm claiming big book credit as well. What struck me most about the differences between these two is just how much the very definition of science fiction has changed. Gibson's is more in the classical mode (although still ground-breaking with its move to cyberpunk), but Stephenson parses it down to, in essence, fiction about science. Stephenson also explores humor in a way that early science fiction often seems afraid to. I think that's what I love about genre fiction - the boundaries of what the genre is are continually expanding and changing.

Current Total: 365 points

Completed Sandra's World AIDS Day's (Task 30.4) with Year of Wonders. It a 3* for me, the early part of the books was very good but the end drug on and the final 5 pages or so were ridiculous and seemed tacked on in order to finish the book.

15.3 What Women Want

I read Julia Sweeney's autobiography "God Said Ha" and Laura Levine's book "The PMS Murder". Her series are about a writer/private detective Jaine Austin.

20.3 - group read - Read The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore.(275 pages)
Funny, raunchy, everything you would expect from Moore
Books Read - 6
total points - 95
tasks completed - 5
pages read - 2,321

35.3 It's about time:

The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfield


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I finished my second task. For 5.2, Betsy Ross' Birthday, I read the Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

5 more points for 10 total.

(I'm on a great pace to make my future personal challenge of doing better on the Spring Challenge very attainable.)

Nancy wrote: "I finished my second task. For 5.2, Betsy Ross' Birthday, I read the Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

5 more points for 10 total.

(I'm on a great pace to make my future personal challenge of doing better on the Spring Challenge very attainable.)
..."

LOL -- I know the feeling Nancy. I'm hoping that now that the holidays are over my reading pace can pick up again.

Newly Completed Tasks:
15.10 - WE WILL REMEMBER YOU
A. Read A Book Written By An Author Who Died In 2009.
Read: The Maltese Goddess: an Archaeological Mystery by Lyn Hamilton who passed away on 9/10/09
AND
B. Watch A Film Starring An Actor/Actress Or That Was Directed By A Director Who Died In 2009.
Watched: On the Waterfront in which Karl Malden was prominently featured. Malden died in July, 2009. I hadn’t ever watched this classic film before. It happened to be on TCM the other day as part of a salute to actors who had passed away in 2009.

25.6 – STEPHANIE US' TASK - ISLAND DREAMS Read A Book That Takes Place On An Island Country.
Read: The Paid Companion by Amanda Quick
This book is set in Regency England. I gave this book 4 stars. It’s the first time I’ve read anything by Amanda Quick and I was pleasantly surprised. It was witty a romance with a touch of mystery thrown in that kept me turning those pages. It wasn’t sappy like I was afraid it might be. But then I shouldn’t have worried, Donna Jo gave it 4 stars, and she never steers me wrong.

Total Points: 180
Books Read: 14
Completed Tasks: 11
Pages Read for Completed Tasks: 3,520
Other Tasks in Process: 2
Personal Goal: 400 Points

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5.6 Dirty Job: Fall of Angels
I'd hate to be an engineer, construction worker, or in charge of building a colony out of scratch.

5.8 Cozy Mystery: One for the Money

10.1 Circus: Billy Creekmore: A Novel

15.3 What Women Want to Read:
Heroine of the Titanic: The Real Unsinkable Molly Brown (female I admire) and Rhapsody: Child of Blood (female author/protagonist)
Rhapsody is also over 500 pages

25.9 World of Books:
Demons Don't Dream (map) and The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (quirky text: includes diagrams, charts, and lists)

30.7 Multitask: Polgara the Sorceress
We'll Remember You (R.I.P, David Eddings), Dream Vacation (okay, so it's a fictional place, but I'd still like to go there!), Dirty Job (eww...to be an eternal babysitter >_<)
This book is over 750 pages.

Total: 90 + 645 (from before) = 735 points

Today I compleated task:

30.3 BJ ROSE'S TASK - SNOWED IN AND LOVING IT

For this task I read:

Dead to the World - Charlaine Harris, 291 pages
Clud Dead - Charlaine Harris, 292 pages
Tempted - PC Cast and Kristen Cast, 319 pages

Total: 902 pages

This brings my totals to:

30 new points
125 total points
6 tasks completed
9 books read
3297 pages

For 5.2 I read by Josh Bezall. I enjoyed this story about an ex-mob hitman who is a dr. while in Witness Protection. 3 stars.

For 25.2 I read The Christmas Cookie Club: A Novel I thought it was pretty lousy. The stories were cliched and there were too many characters for me to keep track of. I gave it 2 stars because it did include cookie recipes that looked good, and some interesting non-fiction chapter interstitials about cookie ingredients.

This book is about a group of friends which gathers once a year to do a cookie exchange. It is mainly about the friendship each has with the woman who "hosts" the club, and to a lesser extent their friendships with each other. After reading the dust jacket I was very excited to read the book for this challenge. But the "friendship" part of the book just did not ring true for me at all -- each friendship was a stereotype.

To me, friendship is an enigma: why is that some people we meet become friends, and others who seem like they would be just as likely, never go beyond the fond acquaintance stage? When to let a friendship fade and when to fight to keep it alive? Etc. Honestly, though, I often think it is something to be simply enjoyed and not something to think about too much!

This brings me to 550.

25.5 "Odd Man Out" For this task I read "Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater" by Frank Bruni. Frank gives the reader a glimpse into his life and his relationship/struggle with food and his weight and follows his career path to becoming the restaurant critic for the New York Times. I loved Mr. Bruni's writing style and humor.

10.6 "Local Literature". For this book I looked at nearby goodread's participant Patti and read "The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer. My review can be seen on my profile. I thought it was okay.

25.8 "Inane Answering Machine Day"
For the long title I read "This I believe II: More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women" by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman.

For the short title I read "Specials" By Scott Westerfield.

New Points: 60
Total points: 110
Total Tasks Completed: 6

Laura wrote: "I just finished task 10.4. I read The Pillars of the Earth, it's a 5 star book from PJReads shelf.

This brings my total to 20. Laura FL"

Laura, Pillars of the Earth gets Big Book credit at 976 pages.

5.2
Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions - An interesting look at Ivy league "hedge fund cowboys" who raided the mid 90's Japanese financial markets for millions while navigating the underbelly of Yakuza run sex trade and night life.

10.5
What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures - Parts of it were a little weak for me but overall another home run for Galdwell.


25.10
A - TBD
B - The Umbrella Academy: Dallas - A superhero family, time travel, sadistic assassins in Banana Splits masks, and a very unexpected person behind the "trigger" at the end.


30.4
The Strain - Vampires, i guess, but a pretty loose interpretation. Pretty scary in parts though, i certainly won't forget Mr. Leech's visits to grandma's house.



Points: 45
Books: 4
Tasks: 3

For task 30.5 (2 books, one with dead narrator, one published posthumously) I read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (the narrator is Death itself) and The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens (which was published posthumously).

New total: 40 pts

10 POINT TASKS
3. RENAISSANCE READING - In Honor Of Zora Neale Hurston (Born January 7, 1891– Died January 28, 1960) Famous Harlem Renaissance Author…
A. Read A Novel That Was Written By An African American That Also Has An African American Protagonist.
The Million Dollar Demise by R.M. Johnson-12/15

New total: 85 points

I finished 15.7, Food +Family/Friends =Fun, with
The Sweet Life in Paris: A Recipe for Living in the World's Most Delicious City
I made Salade de Chevre Chaud (warm goat cheese salad) and Gateau Therese (chocolate cake) I intended to give the cake to friends, but it was not very attractive. My son "volunteered" to eat it. He said it was ok, but I didn't need to make that recipe again.

+15
total 625

5.8 Cozy Mystery - Cherry Cheesecake Murder

15.2 Alice / Lewis - El león, la bruja, y el armario by C S Lewis
Fictional Land - In The Forests of Serre

15.5 Initials = PW
Phillipines: Kaye - The Uncommon Reader: A Novella
Wallis & Futuna: Kim - Twilight
(finally posting the first book I read for this challenge!)

765 points

Finished:
25.7 SAM'S TASK
A.East of Eden by John Steinbeck
AND
B. The Gunslinger by Stephen King.

I don't often read King; this one seemed rather derivitive, but not a bad read.
Steinbeck, as always, is a delight. I hadn't read this one before.

25.4

I read Pirate Latitudes (set in 1665) and Her Royal Spyness (set in the 1930s).

I would rather live in the 1930s hands down. Scurvy, pirates, disease, uncouth men. 1665 sounds AWFUL. The 1930s actually sounded fun, provided I have a couple of maids and what not.....

15.7 FOOD + FAMILY = READING FUN - Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food by Jessica Seinfeld. For the recipe, I made Creamy Potato Soup for my kids. I modified it a little by adding some leftover ham from New Years and sprinkled cheese and chopped scallions on top instead of croutons. I think it turned out pretty good. One kid liked it, the other did not.

Total Points: 205/1100
Tasks Completed: 13/58
Tasks in Progress: 8

Completed:

35.4 Roseann's - New Years Resolution

Resolution: Start a group to make quilts/afghans for the Homemade Afghan Project (for injured military) and the Linus Project (for needy babies and toddlers).

A. Fiction: The New Year's Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverinni

B. Non-fiction: Zen and the Art of Knitting: Exploring the Links Between Knitting, Spirituality, and Creativity by Bernadette Murphy

New Years Quilt - another good read in the Elm Creek Quilt series. Features strong women using quilting as a setting to tell their stories. 4 stars

Zen and the Art of Knitting - good self-help book which emphasizes the use of a repetitive act like knitting to create a meditative and often healing state. 3 stars

Points: 545
Tasks: 27
Books: 41
Pages: 9220

Holiday books: 29

Finished 25.9.

With a map:
Forest Born by Shannon Hale

With extra content:
The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larson

TOTALS:
Points: 190
Books: 14
Pages: 3,531
Tasks: 9

10. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE - Read A Novel Written By A Russian Author, Set In Russia, Or A Non-Fiction Book About Russia.
Ex. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Kitchen Boy A Novel of the Last Tsar, From Nyet to Da Understanding the New Russia
The Conspiracy in Kiev by Noel Hind
10 points

15.9. OUT WITH THE OLD & IN WITH THE NEW BOOKS
A. Read The Book That Has Been On Your TBR Pile/Shelf The Longest.
Die Trying by Lee Child AND
B. Read A Book Written By An Author You Have Never Read Before.
Allen Bradley- Sweetness At the Bottom of the Pie
15 points

Total 295 points

5.8-Cozy Mystery

I read another Laura Levine book-"Shoes to Die For". Quick read, and a good little story.

Just finished 15.9 (Old and New)

I read:

The Great Gatsby for the book that's been on my tbr the longest! I'm glad I finally read it!

&

Gemma by Meg Tilly for an author I've never read. Disturbing and heartbreaking but pretty good.


Total Points:

Jamie(24)-- 110 points

10.7. SMALL SCREEN STORIES

I read Psych: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Read *** from the show Psych.
Love the show and this book was a fun little book to read. Very reminescent of the show. Shawn is a quirky as ever and takes advantage of Gus every chance he gets. Not much literary substance, but as fun as I expected it to be.

Total points: 150

15.9 A:Privilege
B:Secret Society by Tom Dolby.

Total Points:45
Total Task Completed:4
Total Books Read:7
Total Pages Read:2132

Just finished task 30.9. I read last year's Newberry Award winner The Graveyard Book and honour book Savvy. While I really enjoyed both of them, I did prefer the Graveyard Book over Savvy. Ingrid Law did an excellent job of creating a very specific voice for her characters in Savvy, but Neil Gaiman has such a unique and fantastic writing style that I have to admit I whole-heartedly agree in the Graveyard Book's winning the Newberry this past year.

5.6 It's a Dirty job but...: Deadly Décisions by Kathy Reichs - anthropology

Tasks: 8
Books: 10
Total Pages: 2769
Total Points: 75/1100

Another lovely Aunt Dimity finished. I really recommend these for anyone who enjoys a mystery - they are the cosiest of cosys!

This one fits the following tasks:
5.8 Cosy mystery
15.3 Female author with a series with a female main character
15.7 Reading fun (all Aunt Dimitys have a recipe at the end)
25.3 Game of Clue (a blue cover)
25.6 Island dreams (not only is it set in the UK, but most of the book is on a tiny island too!)
25.8 Seven word title
25.9 World of books (it has a recipe)
30.1 Published in the last decade
30.10 Color by numbers
35.1 One of my options for this is 752 Color

Phew!

30.7 Multitasking – Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea by Nancy Atherton

TOTALS:
165 points
14 books
11 tasks
5580 pages
2 tasks in progress

Just finished off my first ever Agatha Christie and will definitely have to read more!

5.8 Cozy Mystery: Death on the Nile

Total Points: 105

Hello Readers! I wanted to check in with an update. I just finished reading Deception Point for Abigail's Odd Man Out task for +25 points. Thank you!

Completed task 30.9--The Newbery Award by reading:

Winner: The Witch of Blackbird Pond

AND

Honor: The Perilous Road

I preferred The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I found it more compelling, and I like the time period a bit more than that in The Perilous Road. I read The Witch of Blackbird Pond when I was 13, and have always been fond of it. I had never previously read The Perilous Road (that I can remember). If I had read it when I was younger, I may have liked it more. I've never really cared for "war stories" and this qualifies as one; that may also be another reason I just found the book to be OK.

This brings me to 230 points.

Finished another task

20.3 Group Read - Alice's Adventures In Wonderland And Through The Looking-Glass

I didn't like it, even though I thought that the premise was good. I gave it 2 stars.

Total Points - 70 + 20 = 90 points

10. EMILY'S TASK - DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT'S COVER...UNLESS IT'S REALLY WELL DESIGNED

A. Cover Design Draws You In -
Lock and Keyby Sarah Dessen (Goodreads Author).

B. It's What's Inside That Counts: Read A Graphic Novel - Angel: After The Fall, Vol. 1 by Joss Whedon.

Tasks: 8
Books: 13
Total Pages: 3944
Total Points: 125

Finished one more:

15.3 What Women Want

A: Female Author and Female Main character: A Quilter's Holiday by Jennifer Chiaverinni

B: Female Autobiography: Sharon Osbourne Extreme: My Autobiography


A Quilter's Holiday: Another in the Elm Creek Quilting series. Very readable - strong women, good plotlines and enough quilting info to keep women who do handwork interested. Great book for a cup of tea, cozy fire and a lap quilt. 4 stars

Sharon Osbourne Extreme: This was a wild ride of a book. Her life is definitely not conventional. Interesting book but not one I would recommend to many people - language throughout is very strong. I listened to it on audiobook so it made the language even more graphic. Her voice is great even if her language is a bit snippy. She does have a lot of character strength - she is definitely a take charge person. Her life pre-Ozzie was just as crazy as her life with Ozzie. Talk about dysfunctional!!! Will be interesting to see how the children turn out. She is not a person I would want to emulate but I do admire her strength and ability to navigate such a crazy life. 3 stars

Points: 560
Tasks: 28
Books: 43
Pages: 9844

Holiday books: 30

Just finished two of my personal goals: 1) made it halfway through the challenge and 2) worked in a large number of holiday books (will not be reading holiday books again until next winter).
(edit)

25-9 BRIDGIT'S TASK - THE WORLD OF BOOKS

A. Book With Map
I read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. There are maps of rooms.

B. Book With Extra Contents
I read Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl. (500+ pages and Goodreads Authors)
There are family trees inside the book.

Agatha's work is always a guaranteed satisfaction. Beautiful Creatures was a bit dragging and definitely not the kind of ending I liked.

+25
Total points: 105

5.6 IT'S A DIRTY JOB BUT… -- I can not imagine being a homicide detective that stalks a serial killer I read Find Me
5.7 EYING THE YEAR OF THE TIGER -- I read True Blueby David Baldacci born 8/1960 making him a Metal Rat -- I was born 12/1960
20.2 CHERYL ME'S TASK - CIVIL RIGHTS We Are All Welcome Here
Books Read: 25
Pages Read: 7445
Tasks Completed: 20

Finished 35-3 with 'Forty Minutes Late and other stories' by F. Hopkinson Smith.

460 points

I completed task 5.7 by reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman, who like me was born in the year of the rat.

Compared to the other Neil Gaiman books I have read, I was disapointed. The central plot was good, but the execution was poor, it dragged on, the little inserted stories were not engaging.

Point Total: 75
Page Total: 3208
Book Total: 9

30.7 Multi-Tasking: Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss - I loved her sense of humor and I agree completely with her approach to punctuation: while there are some hard and fast rules, in some respects punctuation is a matter of style. I really enjoyed this much more than I thought I could enjoy such a seemingly dry topic. I am certainly thinking more about how I use punctuation, even in emails and status updates and text messages.

This book fits 5.4 (Britain's Book of the Year 2003), 15.9 (author I've never read before), and 30.1 (published in 2003). My edition also includes a Punctuation Repair Kit, which presumably you could use to correct whatever public signs or notices you felt brave enough to deface. Not sure if that would count for Bridgit's task (25.9) but it is a fun idea anyway!

450 points

For 10.4 I read The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg. I LOVED this book and agree with PJ Reads (from whose 5 star shelf it came): 5 stars!! (Thank you, PJ!)

finished task 25.2 by reading Never Let Me Go. my, what a disturbing tale! was NOT expecting the subject matter at all.

what does friendship mean to me? it means that we accept each other for who we are, regardless of flaws or failures. it means we don't try to change each other, just appreciate the differences we have. it means being able to speak our minds without fear of repercussion or retribution or revulsion. it means being there for each other just when you need it the most. it means laughing and crying and raging together and enjoying every damn minute of it! :)




Total Points: 440/1100
Books Read: 25/79+
Tasks Completed: 17/58
Tasks in Progress: 1

5.10 Alliteration: Deep and Dark and Dangerous: A Ghost Story
Note: I don't recommend this one at all. It's bad if you can predict the twist before the twist, but if you can predict the twist from the front cover flap...

25.8 Inane Answering Machine Day: The One Where the Kid Nearly Jumps to His Death and Lands in California and Crush

Total: 30 + 735 (from earlier) = 765 points