Reading with Style discussion

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

+10 Task

Grand Total= 45

Erin wrote: "The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

+10 Task

Grand Total= 45"

Ooh, Erin, how did you like this one? I just got it and have heard good thngs about it.

Last Scene Alive by Charlaine Harris

+ 10 Task

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

To put it mildly this book opened my mind to a new look at 50’s culture. Richard Yates pulled me into the lives of the people on Revolutionary Road within the first few pages. The depth of all the characters goes beyond what you would expect. He was able to bring every character to life with his descriptions and behind the scenes insight at their inner thoughts. This goes for every character- including the gentleman working in the elevator.

Revolutionary Road took me through all possible emotions while reading. I felt the love, the joy and happiness that the characters felt intermediately. I felt the hatred, pain and anger that reared its head more often then I thought it would. And above all, I felt all the despair and indifference that each and everyone person felt.

I saw the movie prior to reading the novel and unlike some other books made into movies this one was dead on. The movie did not disgrace the novel; both are incredible on their own and each make me want to read/watch the other.

+ 10 Task
+ 5 Review
Task Total = 15

New Grand Total = 85

Dead reckoning by Charlaine Harris.
+10


Book total: 10
Grand Total: 70

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Dead reckoning by Charlaine Harris.
+10

Review +5
These books are guilty pleasures for me. I enjoyed this one as much as the others. Harris brought back some old favorite characters and there is a..."

Jayme, tell us more. This review is a little short (100 words is about 6 lines of text when posted). Maybe you can use spoiler tags to expand on the returning characters and/or the surprise?

The Capture by Kathryn Lasky (Lexile 730)
This is the first book in a fifteen book childrens' series about anthropomorphic owls that got made into a movie I didn't see a while ago. I think its set in some kind of future or alternate world where instead of people there are owls, but this book didn't go into that. The main character right now is an barn owl named Soren, but there are lots of different types of owls. I didn't really like this book since the plot had so many coincidences, but I'll read more to see if it gets better. Somebody told me these were like the Warrior Cats series, but I didn't think so. I started up listening to the audiobook, but the owl voices were too squeaky so I had to switch.

+10 Task
+5 Review
Grand Total = 140

Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill

This book is a historical fiction novel about a young girl, Aminata, who was kidnapped from her home and sold into slavery. The story is about her life and travels and all of the people she met along her heartbreaking journey from Africa to England. There are some very memorable characters to this book that I just fell in love with. Some of them weren't in the story for very long, but still made a huge impact on me and the story. I loved the story because it was sad, what she went through was absolutely horrible, but at the same time uplifting because of her strength and courage to continue and to share her personal story in hopes of making a difference.

+10 Task
+5 Review
Grand Total =15

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

I can't say that I enjoyed this book or would recommend it. I'm suprised because several of my goodreads friends rated it highly. The story is about a 16-year-old girl who gets in way over her head with a shady older man. After making a series of really bad decisions, she ends up with a child and has to go "underground" where she and her daughter are given new identities. She becomes a very good mother and lives out her new average every day normal life fairly uneventfully except for the ever present fear of her past coming back to haunt her, which inevitably does happen. I just thought the story was a little far fetched and found myself skipping paragraphs at first and even chapters toward the end.

+10 Task
+5 Review
Grand Total =30

Roseflower Creek by Jackie Lee Miles

This book was so sad, but hard to put down. The story is told from the perspective of a deceased child, 10-year-old Lori Jean, who was murdered by her stepfather. The story is about her life, short as it was, and the events leading up to her murder. Her father ran out on her and her mother married a no-good drunken thief, Ray, who is abusive. Lori Jean longs for a normal family, but her story is just filled with tragedy. I thought this story was just even more sad because it just reminds me of the very real world vicious cycle some poverty stricken families can get trapped in. The book is definitely a tear-jerker so have some tissues handy!

+10 Task
+5 Review
Grand Total =45

Among the Free by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Lexile 810)
This is the last book in the seven book childrens' series Shadow Children. The series is about a dystopia where families are only allowed to have two children. Illegal third children have no rights and have to be hidden so they will not be executed. The first couple of books in this series were some of my favorites in elementary and middle school. I actually went out and bought one, and the 10 or so dollars I spent would have been a fortune. They have a lot of themes that you could use for a book report. It's nice to finally get to finish the series.

+10 Task
+5 Review
Grand Total = 155

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 5*
+10
+5 oldie (1953)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 3*

Disappointing read for me - narrator drove me crazy.
+10

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux 4*

I was surprised (although I shouldn't have been!) by how different it was from the movie.
+10
+5 (1911)

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende 3*
+10

The Proper Care and Maintenance of Friendship by Lisa Verge Higgins 4*

No idea why I picked up this book to read but I am so glad I did! Great summer read.
+10


The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison

So I needed a vowel for a spelling bee (E for Eddison) and I found the worm. I had never heard of this book but it is one of the first of the epic fantasies, a precursor to Tolkien and C.S.Lewis. The language is amazing, a story set in the midst of an on-going war (between the Demons and the Witches)on a nearby planet. It has weaknesses: the beginning is poorly constructed, we don't get quite enough of the history of the warring factions, sometimes the author gets a little carried away with description at the expense of the plot. However, the writing is wonderful, I believed in the characters, and I really needed to know how it was going to end. May be my surprise read of the summer.
+10
+5 oldie (1922)
+5 review

A Recipe for Bees by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Nice read.
+10

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters 4*

+10

Total points 100

I read Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell.

While I have always been a fan of the Scarpetta series, these last few books in the series have really left something to be desired, in my opinion. It seems that there is no more friendly banter among any of the regular characters, but only tension, suspicion, and resentment for all of the secrets that are among them. The actual story line here (the case) was really interesting and I always enjoy reading about the forensic evidence. The ending was a bit rushed, but a surprise nonetheless. I would just really love to see a glimmer of the old Scarpetta/Benton/Lucy/Marino characters!

+ 15 task points

= Summer Reading Points: 150

I read 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper.

I really enjoyed this book. I can’t believe that I haven’t read it before now! This is an amazing story of a man that was presumed dead for about 90 minutes (terrible automobile accident). He claims to have spent those 90 minutes in Heaven. Miraculously he survived and has gone on to use his situation as a testimony. I loved his descriptions of Heaven and just the thought that one day that will be our home. While more of the story was about his recovery rather than his “time in Heaven”, it was still a very uplifting book. I recommend it to anyone who is struggling and just needs to be reminded of what it is all about!

+ 15 task points

= Summer Reading Points: 165

The Sentimentalists by Johanna Shively Skibsrud

Winner of the Giller Prize, The Sentimentalists is a story of….something that I’m not quite sure of. I found it quite confusing to follow at first but then it levelled out…only to be more confusing once again. Perhaps this was intended by the author to bring the story of the relationship between the two main characters alive and more in focus? I’m not sure but for me, it took away from the relationships that I was trying to understand and just when I thought I had a grasp on it, I was lost again. A fairly quick read with its own struggles.

+10 Task
+5 Review

Task=15
Grand Total = 50pts

The Trick Is to Keep Breathing
by Janice Galloway

+10 points
Grand Total: 110 points

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson by Bernhard Schlink
+10 task

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (lexile 780)
+10 task

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
+10 task
+5 oldies (-429)

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
+10 task
+5 jumbo

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
+10 task
+5 oldies (1596)

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (lexile 800)
+10 task

Total Points=90 points

"Cream Puff Murder" by Joanne Fluke
+10

Grand Total: 80

Kokoro
by Natsume Sōseki

+10 task
+ 5 oldies (pub 1914)

Grand Total: 125 points

One False Note, Gordon Korman.

This is the second book in a series about a wealthy family whose matriarch has died. In lieu of bequeathing amounts to everyone in her family, she has devised a “contest” with clues to lead one lucky team to the prize. These family members are very tricky and ruthless…there have even been a couple of murders along the way. There is another secret that the reader learns more about as the story continues…the power that the four parts of the family holds. I am pretty sure this is written to the YA market, but it is a good story for anyone that likes a good mystery! There is lots of action, humor, and suspense. The clues and mystery are also very interesting in themselves…lots of history!

+ 15 task points
= Summer Reading Points: 180

Night Soldiers by Alan Furst 5 stars

In Bulgaria, in 1934, on a muddy street in the river town of Vidin, Khristo Stoianev saw his brother kicked to death by fascist militia.

Can the action of this opening sentence be the foundation for excellent character development? A resounding yes. What better way to describe the motivation for a young man to want to fight for the NKVD, Stalin's secret police? Yes, there is some violence in this book, but not so much that you feel bloodied yourself.

The novel is well-written combining characterization and plot. As with most spy novels, one must pay attention because not everything is as it seems. Furst reminds us with:

But nothing here was what it seemed. Even the gray stone of the buildings hid within itself a score of secret tints, to be revealed only by one momentary strand of light. At first, the tide of secrecy that rppled through the streets had made him tense and watchful, but in time he realized that in a city of clandestine passions, everyone was a spy. Amours. Fleeting or eternally renewed, tender or cruel, a single sip or an endless bacchanal, they were the true life and business of a place where money was never enough and power always drained away. And, since the first days of his time there, he had had his own secrets.

With this novel, I was given greater understanding of how much was lost by those who fought in WWII. Not just those who gave their lives, but, as importantly, by those who lived through it day by day, both civilians and those who served their governments in covert activities.

The mute agony of these places - themselves lost in the silence of the endless, frozen land - would finish him if he permitted himself to feel it, so he had, by self-direction, grown numb, and now felt nothing about anything. There was no other defense.

I have awarded this 5 stars and I might be feeling generous today. But certainly it is at the 4/5 line, either top of one group or bottom of the other. I've already ordered the next in the collection, Dark Star, I might as well give it the benefit of the doubt.

+10 Task
+ 5 Review

Grand Total = 75

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh
***

Roderick Alleyn, the detective around whom this book centers, is what made this 3 stars instead of 2, since Goodreads doesn't have the half-star option. I will probably read more by Ngaio Marsh but still prefer Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie. They breathed more life into their characters, in my opinion. That being said, this was a solid English country house mystery. It kept me guessing, had a satisfying number of plot twists, and had an enjoyably sardonic and quirky detective. I would recommend it to someone who is already a fan of the genre, but not to someone as a starting point.

+10 Task
+5 Review
+5 Oldies (1934)

Task Total: 20

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
****

Earth is destroyed in the first few pages because of a clerical error with only two survivors. The President of the Galaxy has two heads and three arms. One must always carry a towel. There is an extraordinarily depressed robot. Ships hang "in the sky in exactly the way that bricks don't." Trillian may be one of my favorite characters in the genre, largely because of her cool, calm brilliance and presence as an oasis of intelligence among company that displays less of that quality than they likely contain. There's all this and more. This classic of zany science fiction has its reputation for a reason. Read it. Seriously, just do it.

The re-read confirms that I still love this book. Glad I took the time.

+10 Task
+5 Review

Task Total

Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist
**

I received a fair amount of flak over criticisms I made while I was reading this book, but my general opinion holds true. While it picked up towards the end, despite having a cliffhanger ending, I will most likely not read any of the following books in the series. I just did not enjoy it enough for that. I had issues with the writing at several points and the story felt generic. One thing I do have to say, the sense of time passing in this book was done extremely well for fantasy. I rarely see that done so well. Overall though, I was unimpressed.

+10 Task
+5 Review

Task Total: 15

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
***

Overall, this was a solid three-star series. I enjoyed them, I am glad I read them, but there were definite flaws. Given that these are the sort of books that require extreme suspension of disbelief from the beginning, the story was not one of them. It continued in much the same twisted, coincidental, and frequently horrifying ways as the prior two. As with those, my primary problems were with the choppy pacing and the often boring expository passages. In general though, a fun book, although fun does not entirely convey how disturbing some parts were.

+10 Task
+5 Review
+5 Jumbo (563)

Task Total: 20

Post Total: 70

Grand Total: 230

"Plum Pudding Murder" by Joanne Fluke
+10
+5 Review
It's Christmas time, there a cakes and cookies to bake and murders to solve. It is a busy time of year for our heroine. There are Christmas parties and catering. Everyone is buying there trees from The Christmas Elf Lot. (yes that is really what it is called) This Christmas Santa has sent Hannah another dead body with a mystery to solve. Plus, your mouth will water when you read about her yummy recipes like Carrot Cake Cookies and Plum Pudding. Wow, that sounds like an advertisement. So deck the halls and jingle your bells.

Book Total: 15
Grand Total: 95

Denae wrote: "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
****

Earth is destroyed in the first few pages because of a clerical error with only two survivors. The President of the Galaxy has two heads and three arms. One must always carry a towel. There is an extraordinarily depressed robot. Ships hang "in the sky in exactly the way that bricks don't." There's all this and more. This classic of zany science fiction has its reputation for a reason. Read it. Seriously, just do it.

The re-read confirms that I still love this book. Glad I took the time...."

Oooh, almost -- this review is only 89 words long. Can you think of one more sentence to add?

The Virgin Suicides
by Jeffrey Eugenides

+10 task

Grand Total: 135 points

Amazing Grace by Megan Shull

+10 Task

Dark Life by Kat Falls

+10 Task

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

+10 Task

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

+10 Task
+ 5 Jumbo 563 Pages
Task Total: 15

The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman

+10 Task

Tinkers by Paul Harding

+10 Task

The Julian Game by Adele Griffin

+10 Task

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

+10 Task
+ 5 Oldies: 1602
Task Total: 15

Task Points This Post: 90
Grand Total: 225

Never Mind The Goldbergs by Matthue Roth

+10 Task

Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll

+10 Task
+5 Oldies

=25 points

Grand Total: 110 Points

Richard III by William Shakespeare
***

I think this is the first work by William Shakespeare I have rated so low, and I do so not based on quality, necessarily, but on my own lack of enjoyment. It felt like a chore to read this, and rather than taking a day or two, it took me a month. There are certainly some brilliant passages, primarily those in speech format, but I just could not "get into" the story. I think this was largely due to my own difficulty keeping the characters straight. I've often had this problem when reading about the War of the Roses and the Tudor era. It seems like everyone is named Thomas, Henry, Richard, Elizabeth, Margaret or Anne. Anyway, three stars to this, but I am sure it was more me than the play itself.

+10 Task
+5 Review
+5 Oldies

Task Total: 20

Grand Total: 250

Liz M wrote: "Denae wrote: "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
****

Earth is destroyed in the first few pages because of a clerical error with only two survivors. The President of the Galaxy ..."

Edit complete

Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
+10 Task

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
+10 Task

The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
+10 Task
+5 Jumbo (520 pages)

Post total: 35
Season Toal: 340

The Rainbow Abyss (Sun-Cross #1) (1991) by Barbara Hambly (Mass Market Paperback, 295 pages) 4 *
This is the first of a 2-book series. It is set in the standard pseudo-medieval world, one where magic is real (but kinda weak) and magic-users are usually tolerated but often persecuted. Our protaganist is the wizard's apprentice. His teacher can create a portal to other worlds ... but only at the solstices and only at great physical costs to himself. The master teacher is upset because another world has lost its magic, and the magicians there are suffering.

The story pleasantly meanders through the life of the apprentice, including his romantic life, as the pair travels the countryside. The novel ends at a major transition point (view spoiler)[the wizard's apprentice goes through the portal to another world (hide spoiler)], a logical stopping point for the novel.

I'd recommend it for readers who enjoy fantasy set in pseudo-medieval worlds.

+ 10 Task
+ 05 Review

Task Total: 15

The Magicians of Night: (Sun-Cross #2) (1992) by Barbara Hambly (Mass Market Paperback, 354 pages) 3*
This novel begins a few minutes after The Rainbow Abyss ends. Our protaganist has landed in (view spoiler)[Nazi Germany; the suffering magicians in a world without magic is revealed to be Nazis in 1940! (hide spoiler)] The best parts were the parts set in the protaganist's pseudo-medieval home world. The new parts didn't work as well. Our protaganist's reactions to the new world are predictible. Potential conflicts with our protaganist's allies are ignored, even though his allies have different goals than he does. I'd recommend reading this one only after reading The Rainbow Abyss.

The ending set up a potential part 3 to the series. However, since part 1 was published in 1991, and part 2 in 1992, and no sign of a part 3, I suspect that Ms. Hambly is not going to continue on with this series.

+ 10 Task
+ 05 Review

Task Total: 15

The Bawdy Basket (Elizabethan Theater #12) (2002) by Edward Marston (Hardcover, 262 pages) 2*
The earlier books in the series were better. The Elizabethen-era theatre troupe is still the center of the novel. It's assumed that the reader knows the characters from previous novels. If not, then the names tend to run together. There isn't really any mystery in this installment; the guilty parties are known very early in the novel. Bringing them to justice Elizabethen-era style is the focus. The sub-plot surrounding the playwright of the troupe is slightly more interesting. The sub-plot ultimately fails, however, because the people involved all have one, and only one, characteristic assigned to them. Real life people have more than one characteristic! And, even in cozy mysteries, most characters have more than one characteristic. I wouldn't recommend this one.

+ 10 Task
+ 05 Review

Task Total: 15

Total Summer Reading: 80 + 15 + 15 + 15 = 125

Kate S wrote: "...The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
+10 Task..."

I love this book!

Treachery in Death by J.D. Robb

I just love this series. This particular installment is a case about dirty cops. Set in 2060, Lt. Eve Dallas is still kicking butt! I am just amazed that after thirty-some-odd books that J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) can still come up with these great cases. I have really loved seeing the characters evolve since the inception of the series. The steamy romance between Eve and her husband Roarke…the tough cop Eve relationships with her men under her….Eve’s friendships….and even the murder scenes/scenarios….all add up to a great book in my opinion. (There is also a great deal of sarcasm because you just have to know Eve has an attitude! I love it!)

+ 15 task points
= Total Summer Reading Points: 195

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
+10 task
+5 oldies (1764)

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
+10 task
+5 oldies (1927)

Grand total: 165 points

The Night in Lisbon (1962) Erich Maria Remarque (Paperback, 244 pages) 5 *

Wow. Fantastic. The frame of the story is that of a man telling another man the story of his past few years. That story concerns a man who has incurred the wrath of the Nazi government in the late 1930's. He flees to France, only to return to Germany due to his love of his wife. The rest of the story is centered on the lovers and their flight from the Nazis. There is more emphasis on how the man (and his wife) feels than there is on the action .... and there is a more than sufficient amount of action. Recommended.

+ 10 Task
+ 05 Review

Task Total: 15

Total Summer Reading: 125 + 15 = 140

Agents of Light and Darkness by Simon R. Green

The Nightside is a place in London where things you don’t want to know about exist. In Green’s second Nightside novel, which does not take place immediately after the first one, you meet some of these things in the Nightside and its enough to scare the living wits out of you…if there wasn’t plenty of humor to temper that. This is probably a good thing because as I’m reading through this short book, I’m thinking to myself that I should be totally grossed out but I’m not, I’m just eager to find out what’s going to happen. If you’re looking for a magical, fun read that you don’t have to invest too much of yourself into, the Nightside books are for you.

+10 Task
+5 Review
Total=15

The Thirteen by Susie Moloney

Until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of Susie Moloney and she’s a local Winnipeg author. She was featured in the paper’s book section and then I’d seen her books mentioned here on GR. Her newest, The Thirteen, was one I’d seen mentioned around here a few times and a friend had picked it up, saying her other books are hard to locate. I usually like these types of stories with a bit of mystery and intrigue and this one didn’t dissapoint. While I didn’t find a couple of the relationships totally believeable and a couple of things I just didn’t like to read about, the characters were well written and believable in their own right. I’d say more but I’d give too much away. Go and read it and find out for yourself.

+10 Task
+5 Review
Total=15

Task Total=30
Grand Total=80 pts

"Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides
+10 task
+ 5 Jumbo
Total= 15

Summer Reading Total= 25

"Apple Turnover Murder" by Joanne Fluke
+10

Grand Total: 105

The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth
+10 Task
+5 Oldies (pub 1932)

Post Total: 15
Grand Total: 355

Easy As Pie at Bobby's Diner by Susan Wingate

The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs by Alexander McCall Smith

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron

Scat by Carl Hiaasen (lexile score - 810)

Nurse at Playland Park by Dorothy Brenner Francis

Okay in post #38 I had 15 pts and post #57 I had 25 pts total so let's see if I get this addition right.

I posted 6 books at 10 pts each =60pts
Plus my total from past posts 60 +25 = 85
85 pts - Grand Total

An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears

10 Book
+5 Jumbo (691pp)

15 Task
15 Total

The Underdogs
by Mariano Azuela

+10 task
+5 oldies (pub 1916)

Grand total: 180 points

The Cat Who Talked Turkey, Lilian Jackson Braun.

The Cat Who Talked Turkey is another installment about Jim Qwilleran and his two Siames cats: Koko and Yum Yum. I really have to admit that I did not enjoy this one as much as I have some of the others…I am not sure if the series has just gotten stale for me or it there really was a lack of action in this book. I do still love the peculiar characters and the quirky behaviors of the cats. I recommend this to anyone who has or who loves cats and knows (as I do) that they can communicate and their intelligence is far superior to ours! Ha! (If you have a cat, you know what I mean.)
+ 15 points

Total Summer Reading: 210 points

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life by Steve Martin
+10 Task

It by Stephen King
+10 Task
+5 Jumbo (1090p)

The Hours by Michael Cunningham
+10 Task

Known and Unknown by Donald Rumsfeld
+10 Task
+5 Jumbo (726p)

Post Total: 50
Summer Total: 405

The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard

A young woman, Jodi Linder, finds out that the man who murdered her family when she was three years old is being released from prison and moving back to town. The circumstances of his release have her questioning whether he is in fact guilty of the murders, but although he may not be guilty, he is not innocent by any means. I really enjoyed this book, much more so than the author's previous book, The Virgin of Small Plains. I really came to love the entire Linder family with the exception of the daughter-in-law, Laurie. The bond that Jodi and Collin have is a really interesting twist on the story and the "whodunit" remained a mystery to me to the end. I would highly recommend this book!

+10 Task
+5 Review

Post Total = 15
Summer Total = 60

"Sing You Home" by Jodi Piccoult

+10
+5 Review

I enjoyed this book. It is one of the most turbulant books I have read. You never know what is going to happen and the ending is bittersweet. I love this author because she writes about such real things. All her books are well researched and this particular book has you thinking. Nothing is every black and white or absolutely right or absolutely wrong when it comes to love and family and what makes up a family. Content in this book is contraversial at best and there is never an easy answer.

Grand Total: 120

Kristin Lavransdatter 2: The Wife by Sigrid Undset
This is the second book in a trilogy set in 14th century Norway about the eponymous Kristin Lavransdatter and her family. It won the author the Nobel prize in 1928, making her the third woman to win. My favorite part is how you cannot separate the characters from their setting. I hate it when historical fiction has characters with modern viewpoints, but these books do not make that mistake. I also like how you can interpret it in different ways. Kristin's Catholic faith allows her to live a moral life with meaning and structure could also be Kristin's Catholic faith ruins her life by causing her meaningless guilt. I kind of don't want to read the last book because the series gave me tragedy vibes and I like most of the characters. "The Cross" isn't an encouraging title either.

+10 Task
+5 Review
+5 Oldies (1921)
Grand Total= 175

The Xander Years, Volume 1 by Keith R.A. DeCandido (ed) Pages: 240
Task Points: 10
The Xander Years, Volume 2 by Jeff Mariotte (ed) Pages: 224
Task Points: 10
Stupid History: Tales of Stupidity, Strangeness, and Mythconcetions Throughout the Ages by Leland Gregory 368pp
Task Points: 10
Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row by Christopher Golden 368pp.
Task Points: 10
Jumper by Steven Gould 352pp
Task Points: 10
American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson 268pp
Task Points: 10
Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid by Denis Leary
Task Points: 10

Not Forgotten by Nancy Holder 242 pp.
Task Points: 10
Review: 5 (here)
Total this task: 15

The Traitor's Wife: A Novel of the Reign of Edward II Pages: 593
Task Points: 10
Review: 5 (here)
Jumbo: 5
Total this task: 20

My Man Jeevesby P.G. Wodehouse 256pp.
Task Points: 10
Review: 5 (here)
Oldies: 5 (1919)
Total this task: 20

Total Challenge Points: 240

Here are my latest summer reads:

The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

+ 10 Task
+ 5 Jumbo 675 pages
Task Total: 15

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev

+10 Task
Task Total: 10

The Orange Houses by Paul Griffin

+10 Task
Task Total: 10

Stringz by Michael Wenberg

+10 Task
Task Total: 10

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

+10 Task
Task Total: 10

The Comet's Curse: A Galahad Book by Dom Testa

+10 Task
Task Total: 10

Points this Post: 65
Grand Total: 290

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen by Susan Gregg Gilmore

+10 Task Points

Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

+10 task points

=20 points

Total Points: 45

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
+10 Task
+5 Oldies (pub 1719)

The Princess Bride by William Goldman
+10 Task

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
+10 Task

Post Total: 35
Summer Total: 445