Reading with Style discussion
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SU 21 Completed Tasks
Sample Post15.4 TDoS
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Rated 5* by Elizabeth(Alaska) and Anika
insert 50+ word review here
+15 Task
+5 Before 1996 (pub 1853)
+5 Review
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 425 (assume a mid-season post with a previous total of 400)
Sample Post20.6 Riding the Metro
Nana by Émile Zola
set in Paris
Country: France
Continent: Europe
insert 50+ word review here
+25 Task
+5 Before 1996 (pub 1880)
+5 Review
Post Total: 35
Season Total: 460 (assumes mid-season post with a previous total of 425)
10.1 Page Count 75-150Great Expectations: Government, Entitlement and an Angry Nation by Laura Tingle (93 pages)
AND
The Striped World by Emma Jones (55 pages)
total pages: 148
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 10
10.2 Page Count 100-149The River and the Book by Alison Croggon
144 pages
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 20
20.1 RtMGirl in Dior by Annie Goetzinger
Paris
France
Europe
Fluff is an understatement.
The illustrations are lovely, very “fashion sketch”. The figures are more suggestions, with bone structure being the focus, and the fabrics are what get the attention. There’s a wonderful sense of movement, weight, airiness, etc. No complaints on the art.
Sadly, the actual story is.. well, it’s almost nothing. The most interesting part is the glossary at the end, which gives some small bits on Dior’s entourage, the positions in an atelier, and the differences in types of fabrics. The novel part is mainly a pretty young thing in little “oooh shiny” vignettes.
It makes for a nice break from my usual fare, but I did wish there had been a little bit more.
+20 task
+5 review
Task total = 25
Season total = 25
10.6 Page Count, 300-349 pagesQuiet Neighbors by Catriona McPherson, MPE 341 pages (this is my carryover book, read 47% last season)
Maybe it's because I was a day behind in my mind (all day yesterday I was under the impression it was only the 30th of May, so thought I had all day today to finish this one to complete my second round of Fabulous Firsts 🙄) so am angry at the book for not being better and grabbing my attention more quickly, but this was just not my jam.
Another misconception of mine: I thought this was supposed to be a spooky story so kept waiting for the ghosts to show. Nope. It's a murder mystery (and not a terribly good one as I knew whodunnit within the first hundred pages).
Everything about this story was outlandish: the entire premise, the characters, the way they related to each other, the slang...ugh. I forced myself to finish it this morning purely as penance for not keeping my days straight.
+10 Task
+5 Review
Task total: 15
Season total: 15
20.2 RtM Abbott by Saladin Ahmed
Detroit, MI
USA
North America
YES! From the first pages I knew this was going to be good. The art is gritty and cinematic, and while the attractive people are attractive, they are not gross. Amelia is introduced in a sexy outfit, but she’s a human woman in a sexy outfit. No outlandish proportions or busted spines. Yay!
And of all things, I really appreciated one panel where Amelia is pointing at Elena, and in the next she’s offering. The little twist of the arm was rendered so perfectly… I’m not an artist or even a connoisseur, but something about that was such a good detail. I noticed and appreciated it.
It was such a fast ride, and while there were no surprises, there is a lot more in the universe. This is fine as a stand-alone book but I will be checking out what happens next.
It’s funny, because there’s nothing new here. The events play out as expected, the characters are rather stock, but it all works. I really enjoyed it.
+20 task
+5 review
Task total = 25
Season total = 50
20.3 RtM Bottled by Chris Gooch
Melbourne and suburbs
Australia
Oceania
Meh. I got sucked in by reviews that mentioned things like “suburban Melbourne millennial noir” and no. It was generic failure-to-launch dysfunction outline of a story that could have been a tense noir. But no.
I liked the sparse, droopy, sad-sack art with it’s 3-color scheme. It was effective and did all the work of the book. The plot itself.. well I’m going to be super harsh. It felt cynical, cheap, and rushed. The main beats of plot were the only things that were covered. It was like it wanted to be about something but could not be arsed, so it just went for the broad strokes of “self-involved young people” and it was nothing.
There were some good moments - the opening and closing pages are a sidie-by-side snapshot of Insta lives, and that is a nice set-up and closure. And there are some panels that exude threat and doom (like the rental house), but it all fizzles. Meh.
+20 task
+5 review
Task total = 25
Season total = 75
20.4 RtM Growing Up In Public by Ezequiel García
Buenos Aires
Argentina
South America
WOW. Not for me. NOT AT ALL.
The art was painful for me. PLEASE DUDE, SOME NEGATIVE SPACE.
And not just the art, but the everything-ness that is on the page. Crammed with whatever was in the artist’s busy brain at the time, it was sensory overload in the worst way. I can get into overload if there’s something good (yay hyperfocus), but this was chaotic noise.
“No one takes a chance on what might be considered ‘slow’ or ‘boring’”… these words on the page after 12 panels of excruciatingly detailed waking-up mundanity, including the artist pissing… SERIOUSLY? Is that a joke? It has to be a joke, right? But I think it was serious whining from a jackass….
At this point, about halfway through, I wondered why I was doing this to myself. But hyperfocus came through, though I regret it. It just got worse and worse… his love life is excruciating.
Dude, you never saw Julietta again because YOU ARE A NASTY CREEP and obviously still are! She wasn’t having fun, she was keeping you pleasant while she tried to GTFO. OMG, that whole bit was the WORST.
I feel bad for every woman in that man’s vicinity.
Wow, this was awful.
+20 task
+5 review
Task total = 25
Season total = 100
10.10 Page Count 500+ pgmy carry over book
The Legend of Holly Claus by Brittney Ryan
I bought this some time ago at a library book sale because I like fairy stories, however I never seemed to find a spot for it in our challenges until now. The first few chapters didn’t have the spark I was hoping for, but then (after Holly was born) it became charming. Talking animals as our heroine’s friends – yay! I’m sold. She grows up to be a smart and resourceful girl with a dream, and we get to go along on the adventure. I think this book is aimed at middle school aged children but the writing is not simple which made it an enjoyable read for me as well. 4*
10 task
5 review
_____
15
Running total: 15
10.3 Page Count 150-199pThe Scent of Eucalyptus by Barbara Hanrahan
192 pages
Review
Told from the perspective of a child, readers are granted to unfiltered and unforgiving view of the people around her. This could be funny but at times, I did find it a bit hurtful especially when it came to racial comment and also in describing her aunt with down-syndrome. I guess this could be a reflection of the time seeing that novel was set in 1940s, novel published in 1973, and if I read correctly, is of somewhat autobiographical in nature. There were some beautiful description of Australian nature but my favourite in the chapter with the dog though I could've done without that ending [of the chapter]. Maybe those who grew up around the same time and/or lived around that area of Adelaide would appreciate the reminiscent atmosphere better.
+10 Task
+5 Review
+5 (pub. 1973)
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 40
10.3 Page Count 150-199 pagesZorrie by Laird Hunt
Zorrie lived a full, purposeful life in spite of having to deal with tragedy, the Great Depression, and the loss of family and friends. Zorrie's happy life as an Indiana farmer's wife in a rural community was interrupted when her husband enlisted in the Army Air Corps during World War II. She had also worked for a few years painting radium clock faces before her marriage, and felt the threat of her exposure to that radioactive material hanging over her as she watched her friends succumb to cancer.
"Zorrie" is a lyrical look at the hopes and disappointments of a strong woman and her Midwest farming community. It's a short book of only six chapters that's a lovely meditation about life's journey.
+10 task 176 pages
+ 5 review
Task total: 15
Season total: 15
20.1 Riding the MetroThe Language of Secrets (Rachel Getty & Esa Khattak #2) by Ausma Zehanat Khan
City: Toronto
Country: Canada
Continent: North America
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 40
10.3 Page CountUrn Burial by Kerry Greenwood
187p.
Urn Burial is the eighth volume in the Phryne Fisher series. Phyrne is an unconventional aristocratic woman who has become a private investigator in 1920's Melbourne...and has much success. She also has a bleeding heart for those less fortunate. Here, Phyrne is off-duty....visiting the enormous Gothic estate of a friend. The visit starts with a shock as she and her party hear a gunshot and rescue a woman..... who turns out to be a worker from the friend's estate. From there, the mysteries multiply and the cast of characters are diverse. The series is light reading....but has the right amount of humor. Phyrne challenges conventional norms....not only is she a woman detective...but also a pilot..... and sexually uninhibited. In Urn Burial, she brings her Chinese boyfriend (introduced in the last book) to the estate...shocking nearly everyone. The series light-heartedly exposes the flaws in aristocratic conventionalism...often along sexual and class lines....which is probably why it strikes a chord with me.
Task=10
pub. 1996=5
review=5
Task Total=20
Season Total=20
20.1 Riding the MetroIn Big Trouble by Laura Lippman
Set in San Antonio
Country: USA
Continent: North America
This is the fourth installment in the Tess Monaghan series and the first to take place outside of Baltimore. The change of venue was welcome--I needed a break from hearing about her usual Baltimore haunts, accomplices, and daily workouts.
I don't quite know how I've made it this far into the series, actually--they're pretty meh books, yet not egregiously off-putting. I don't particularly like any of the characters, except for the dog. The cases she finds herself on are compelling enough, but her actions while on the case (and in her personal life) fall somewhere between absurd and downright adolescent (despite the fact that she's 30).
While these books are nothing I look forward to, they'll do in a pinch when I want *something* to listen to while doing chores around the house but don't quite know what that "something" is.
+20 Task
+5 Review
Task total: 25
Season total: 40
20.5 RtM My Brother's Husband, Volume 1 by Gengoroh Tagame
Tokyo
Japan
Asia
Happy Pride month!
From the cover illustration, I thought this would be an odd-couple type comedy, but it’s really very touching. I cried more than once. Yaichi (the straight brother) is so uncomfortable in so many ways, but his young daughter is still innocent and full of love. She’s unbothered by the otherness of Mike (the brother’s husband). And Yaichi is a good dad - there’s panels of what he is thinking, but he also thinks about the reaction his biases would provoke, so he’s careful. He might be uncomfortable but he does not want to put his baggage on his kid, and that is a lovely thing.
Vol 1 really hit me in the feels, especially the last chapters, and I look forward to reading the rest.
+20 task
+5 review
Task total = 25
Season total = 125
15.1 Ten Degrees of SeparationSaga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan
Delitealex => Cory Day
OOOH, I'm excited to get started with this series!
The main characters are already well-rounded (I feel like they are truer and fuller "people" than the main character in a book I just finished which was the FOURTH installment of the series!) and I can't wait to see what happens to them.
My favorite aspect of graphic novels/comic books is their ability to take serious themes and place them in an alternate universe so that they can be seen in a completely different light...so far, we've got warfare, class inequality, and human trafficking (and those are just the first themes that come to mind) being addressed and I can't wait for what comes next. And the art is on point!
+15 Task
+5 Review
Task total: 20
Season total: 60
10.1. 75-150 pagesThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Jay Presson Allen
96 p. Play from the novel by Muriel Sparks. Story of a self centered teacher who is “guiding” her pupils in a way that really meets her own objectives. A very good character study. This would be a great role to see on the stage - one of the best things about playscripts is that they strip away all the non essentials and draw the characters and their personalities clearly. I may need to actually read the novel now.
Advice to Little Girls by Mark Twain
24 p. I thought this would pair well with the “guidance” offered by Miss Jean Brodie. And I was right! Mark Twain as usual has his tongue firmly in cheek as he provides advice for any little girl who is likely to find herself in trouble if she follows it. Main targets of helpful hints are little brothers. The essay concludes with the best piece of advice: “You ought never to ‘sass’ old people unless they ‘sass’ you first.”
10 pts. 10.1 75-150 pages
5 pts Review
5 pts before 1996
Total task: 20 pts
Total Season: 20 pts.
10.1 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Countries:
Continents:
20.6 RtMScott Pilgrim Color Collection Vol. 1 by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Toronto
Canada
North America
Oh my god, I feel SO OLD.
Younger me would have loved this. But now, it is SO CRINGE.
I mean, of course there is the issue of Scott being 23, and his girlfriend (at the beginning) is 17. That’s how Scott is introduced - Scott’s dating a high-schooler nice! NO. NOPE. NO. So right off the bat I hated Scott because I’ve known Scotts. Grow the fuck up, loser, and stop getting your ego boost from naive girls.
Ahem. Apart from that, the rest of the content is nostalgic in all the wrong ways. Doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy, but makes me cringe. When I think about the scene back in the day, I want to remember the fun parts not the UGH we were assholes parts. But ugh, we were assholes.
The art was cute though, I liked the style, and it was realllly evocative of the crappy apartments and dive bars and basements I spent my 20s in.
+25 task
+5 review
Task total = 30
Season total = 155
15.1 TDoSThe Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Rated 5 stars by Al Valvano and Rosemary
This is such fun, maybe because I can identify with the Club and not because I have been a nurse, a spy or a psychiatrist but because I have reached the same age. My kids and grandkids have moved into a world I can’t keep up with and I ask the question of how many more years I will put on my boots and scuff through autumn leaves.
The club's ways of recruiting and exchanging info with the local police and gathering information by sitting down with tea and biscuits or a glass of wine and asking questions of the subjects is charming. But...so many murders solved? But if Osman writes another book about these characters, I will queue it up!
+15 task
+5 review
Task total: 20
Season total: 20
20.2 Riding the MetroEmil and Karl by Yankev Glatshteyn
City: Vienna
Country: Austria
Continent: Europe
+20 Task
+5 (pub. 1940)
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 65
10.5 Page Count 250-299Am I Doing This Right? : Life Lessons from the Encyclopedia Bri-Tanya by Tanya Hennessy
272 pages
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 75
15.1 TDoSMexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
5 stars:
Katy > Tanya
I started this and I could not get into it at all. I put it down and it languished for a while. A long while. A few people said it gets better at the halfway point so I gave it another go. And… well, it did pick up and become a fast read, but it did not get better.
This book is EXTREMELY similar to the 2007 novel Now You’re One of Us. Not just reminiscent of it, but the same plot with a change of setting and more Gothic flourishes. It’s the same story, part 2. The main character of NYOOU, Noriko, is Catalina here, and Tomomi is Noemi.
The characters are just surface sketches, not much going on with any of them. Even the selling point of the book for me - a creepy house that is a Presence - was just a cool Crimson Peak-y set. The house and the people did not feel fleshed out. The only thing this book had was ATMOSPHERE. But without developed characters, that atmosphere was just a misty nothing. I have to care about the characters in order to fear for them… what could have been scary bits in this book were “oh. Ok.” There was huge lost horror potential, especially with with house’s backstory.
Same with the colonialism aspect. I expected that the book would have something to say about that, but it’s surface. Everything about this book was overhyped.
Eh. I’m not mad at this book, and it has great potential for adaptation. The Hulu series will likely be much better than the source, because hopefully the actors will bring life to the characters, and the sound, cinematography and VFX will bring the scares.
I just expected a lot more.
+15 task
+ 5 review
Task total - 20
Season total = 175
10.1 Page Count 75-150The Parsley Garden by William Saroyan
Falling Is Not An Option: A Way to Lifelong Balance by George Locker
In The Parsley Garden, Saroyan captures an eleven year old boy being impulsive and then dealing with all the emotions that result. He decides and reconsiders actions. The story is a little gem.
Falling Is Not An Option: A Way to Lifelong Balance
I cannot attest to the effectiveness of Locker’s method because I am only beginning my journey with his postures. But the book is clear and well-illustrated, so it is easy to follow his instructions and I am looking forward to better stability.
+10 task (31 + 86 = 117)
+5 review
Task total: 15
Season total 35
15.1 TDoSMoloka'i by Alan Brennert
rated 5* by Erin (NY) & Cassie
Off and on a real tear jerker, this would normally rate much higher for me. It begins brilliantly in 1891 when we learn of 5-year old Rachel Kalama's happy home and family. Soon, however, tragedy strikes when Rachel is found to have a red patch on her thigh, followed by a scaly patch on one foot. Her mother recognized it for leprosy and tried to hide it. But before long the health authorities put her in the hospital, separating Rachel from all of her loved ones for life. Moloka'i is one of the smaller of the Hawaiian Islands and where for many years those with leprosy were sent to live out their days.
I had trouble with this because I think the author also had trouble. He says in his author notes by interweaving real-life patients and caregivers with my fictional cast of characters, I sought to blur the lines between fact and fiction; The blurring the line simply didn't work for me. I think he would have done better to either write a novel or to write creative nonfiction.
As much as Rachel's circumstances and life affected me emotionally, I still felt her characterization incompletely drawn. Perhaps this was as much my fault as it was the author's. What happened to Rachel was real enough but in nearly 400 pages we saw only what we expected to see for a girl, then a woman, in her circumstances. I found the writing style not as good as the more complex vocabulary and sentence structure that I prefer. I can find only 3-stars for this.
+15 Task
+ 5 Review
Task total = 20
Season total = 20
10.2 100-149 pagesLabrador Teacher by Clara Gordon
This is the journal of Clara Gordon who went to Labrador as a teacher in 1920. The journal tells the story of the establishment of the Labrador Public School and the day to day activities of the settlement. Interesting that summer only lasted from the break up of the ice in June! through mauby September. A hard life but one that sounded very worthwhile because of the closeness of the community and the sense of purpose and mission of Clara and her husband.
10 pts. 10.2 100-149 pages
5 pts Review
Total task: 15 pts
Total Season: 35 pts.
10.1 10.2 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Countries:
Continents:
15.1 TDoSOpen Book by Jessica Simpson
rated 5* by Meghan and Chelsie drew
Although I am probably closer to the age of her parents, I had a tiny bit of familiarity with the name of Jessica Simpson because of The Newlyweds show on MTV in the early 2000s and her line of purses, shoes, etc. I was not familiar with her singing at all and watched some YouTube videos last week. In the past few years, I've read and enjoyed the autobiographies/memoirs by performers Elton John, Sting, Mike Love, Rob Lowe, and Brooke Shields, and I also enjoyed Jessica Simpson's story. Unlike those books, this one had no photos inside. Many stories in her book deal with scrutiny of her appearance, so maybe that was the reason - the front cover has a smiling photo and the back cover pose looks rather dark and moody. The inside covers have collages of her journal entries.
The reading was easy-going and very personable and much of her life is sad, in my opinion. The book has four sections:
-1982 - 1997 (growing up as a Baptist pastor's daughter in Texas, moving 18 times before 5th grade, suffering abuse from peers, grieving the tragic death of a favorite first cousin, reading Great Expectations, getting a major recording contract at age 17)
-1997 - 2006 (concert performances and tours, TV show, Nick Lachey marriage and divorce)
-2006 - 2010 (growth of her fashion business, relationships with John Mayer, Tony Romo)
-2010 - 2019 (Eric Johnson, birth of three children, her parents' divorce, father's cancer, her sobriety after years of alcohol and prescription pill abuse).
Much more in the 400+-page book - 4 stars.
+15 Task
+5 Review
Season Total: 20
10.1In the Empty Quarter by G. Willow Wilson. pg 37
The Princess Game By Soman Chainani. pg 53
The first of these was a twisty bit of modern fairy tale with a djinn, although not the grant a wish type. It began with a relatively banal scene of an American housewife tourist and traveled through twists of identity and perspective before it finished with a touch of mystery.
The second was also fairy tale inspired, but more loosely, in that the killings are set up like fairy tale scenes at a high school where the sports team is the Princes. It was told in a series of transcribed audio recordings and stayed very vivid even without description, slowly becoming murkier, with a crystal clear ending.
I have read books by both authors and I could really hear the same voice in these stories.
+10 task
+5 review
Task total: 15
Grand total: 15
20.1 Riding the Metro14 by Peter Clines
set in Los Angeles
Country: USA
Continent: North America
+20 Task
Post Total: 20
10.8 Page Count 400-449 pagesThe Betrayal of Maggie Blair by Elizabeth Laird
Sixteen-year-old orphan Maggie Blair was living in poverty in 17th Century Scotland with her grandmother. After the death of a child, her ill-tempered grandmother--a healer and a midwife--was accused of witchcraft. Since Maggie had been the first one to find a beached whale, accusations were made that she was also a witch. Maggie managed to escape from prison with the help of her old friend Tam, a drunkard and a thief with a heart of gold. She headed to Kilmacolm where her Uncle Blair took her into his household.
Hugh Blair is based on an actual ancestor of the author. He was a farmer who was a strict Presbyterian during the reign of the English King Charles II. The King wanted to govern the Church, but the Covenanters felt they had a covenant with God and not the political leaders. Hugh Blair and other Covenanters were thrown into prison in the fortified Dunnottar Castle. Maggie traveled with Tam to bring him silver coins to trade for food, and to try to obtain his release.
Although this is a YA book with a teen protagonist, it was a fascinating work of historical fiction. Maggie is an engaging girl who changed from an uncertain girl to a confident young woman with good survival instincts. I enjoyed author Elizabeth Laird's inclusion of so many historical details while she kept the plot moving.
+10 task 420 pages
+ 5 review
Task total: 15
Season total: 30
15.1The Judas Strain by James Rollins
Five stars from Rick - Founder.....
This book in the series brought back what enthralled me in the first one - a thriller with a deep science basis, although all the absurdity and stretching of belief of a treasure hunt, and an actual cast of both men and women who were relevant to the story. This one got bonus points for continuing a female love interest from a previous book and having an older couple, even making the man's Alzheimers relevant and reasonable. I keep wanting to know what happens next.
+15 task
+5 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 35
20.1The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume
Set in Melbourne, Australia
The mystery was good, a bit melodramatic, and a bit gothic, with more twists than I had originally expected. Some of it could have taken place in any British city, but there were other references to the hot Christmas, and going out to the station, not the country, and to how one key fortune was gained that were place specific.
The authors note was amusing, because Hume said he deliberately wrote this as a local mystery in the fashion of Leroq, at first couldn't get it published as it was "Colonial", and then, when it succeeded after self-publishing, could hardly get credit for it.
+20 task
+5 review
+5 Pub 1886
Task total: 30
Grand total: 65
15.1 TDoSMonk's Hood by Ellis Peters
5* from Chase Quarterman +Lisa
More time well spent with Brother Cadfael in the Middle Ages. I really am enjoying this series. Brother Cadfael is a ‘street’ smart monk yet charming, and the other Brothers are portrayed as real people with sometimes petty human behaviour(s). There are two storylines here, one involving the Abbot and the other being the murder. Both are of interest because they may impact the future for Cadfael. 4*
15 task
5 review
5 >1996
____
25
Running total: 40
10.1 Page CountEducating Rita by Willy Russell
96p.
pub. 1980
I faintly remember the movie based on this play….with Michael Caine playing the role of Frank…the rarely sober professor who is tutoring Rita. Rita is in her mid-twenties….and although she is full of the local Liverpool working class customs and vernacular…she is also full of piss and vinegar….and an innate wisdom and frankness which makes her character charming and engaging. Her unique personality awakens Frank’s soul which has been deadened by his other lackluster students and his own failings as a poet. I’d love to see this performed on the stage.
and
Croaked by T.E. Antonino
44p.
pub.2017
This is a silly short story and it doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a silly story. Marvin can’t sleep because a frog keeps croaking each night outside his bedroom window. The lack of sleep causes problems with his wife, his driving, his job and life in general. The frog becomes an obsession. The story relies on quasi-humorous situations and puns (one character is named “Ted Pole”). I wouldn’t want to read several of these types of stories…but as a short diversion it was amusing enough.
Task=10
reviews=5
Task Total=15
Season Total=35
10.1; .....; 10.3;.....; .....; .....; .....; .....; .....; .....
10.6 Page Count 300-349pDaughter of Nomads (The Tales of Jahani #1) by Rosanne Hawke
304 pages
+10 Task
Post Total: 10
Season Total: 95
Long time no see, everyone! ~waves~10.8 - Page Count 400-449p
Baby & the Late Night Howlers by Kathryn Moon
This book sucked me in right away with the consent, communication, and found family vibes. The world is interesting, if not fully fleshed out, and while I normally don't care for motorcycle club romances the usual toxic elements were engineered out. It's not perfect - the sex gets repetitive and the story begins to drag near the end - but it was exactly the kind of distraction I was looking for on a boring, rainy day.
+10 task (424 pages)
+5 review
Task total: 15 points
Grand total: 15 points
Waving at Kazen!20.2 Riding the Metro
Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century by Peter Graham
set in Christchurch
Country: New Zealand
Continent: Oceania
+20 Task
20.3 Riding the MetroSmaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan
Review
Wow, utterly breathtaking gripping novel! A very dark and angry mystery but the characterisations were amazing and the dynamics between characters (loving & funny) provided such great foil to the black plot. One of my favourite reads for the year, definitely, and probably one I’d consider for re-reading (I don’t do much of those) because these characters are truly alive and I’m really sad to part company with them already (pretty much read this in a single sitting). A novel that’ll stick with me for quite some time.
City: Manila
Country: Philippines
Continent: Asia
+20 Task
+5 Review
Post Total: 25
Season Total: 120
10.10 Page Count 500+Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom
Second in the Matthew Shardlake series of Tudor mysteries. By 1540, Lawyer Shardlake thinks Thomas Cromwell has forgotten about him, until he receives a summons to uncover the secret of an ancient weapon of fire. Cromwell lends him an assistant-cum-bodyguard, Jack Barak, and together they delve into some murky dealings that stretch from the top to the bottom of London society.
It was odd reading this after Hilary Mantel's Cromwell trilogy. Cromwell could have strolled from one series to the other, and there are many real people in both, but of course the minor characters are fictional and this shows a different aspect of London. I enjoyed it, and it didn't feel too long, but I preferred the first one with the monks.
+10 Task (501 pages)
+5 Review
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 15
10.10 - Page count 500+Morning Star by Pierce Brown
524 pages
Task : 10
Post total: 10
Season total: 10
10.6 Page Count 300-349The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
This was interesting in that I did actually predict part of the twist (which is a GREAT one!) before the end of the book, which is frankly rare for me - I am not the world's best predictor! But nonetheless, the book was still engaging to a point where I stayed up late to finish because despite knowing how tired I would inevitably be, I just could not imagine going to bed without having read the end. The basic storyline is that a formerly promising but now languishing writer hears from a student about an amazing, can't-lose plot for a novel - but the student dies before he can write it. So Jacob, the author, writes it and finds unbelievable success...until he starts getting messages about being a thief. It's sort of a literary thriller - definitely edge of your seat, and definitely well written.
+10 Task (336 pages)
+5 Review
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 15
20.1 Riding the MetroMidnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch
set in London
Country: England
Continent: Europe
Oh my goodness, why am I so late to this party?! I’m glad I listened to this as an audiobook, because I would not have been able to put it down for anything if it had been a print book. I loved everything about it – it’s snappy, smart, grounded in the reality of policing in a (very) large city. It is a police procedural with magic. This is the first of the series, so Peter Grant is just starting his career with the police. His first assignment after basic training is when things get interesting…… 5* (I highly recommend this on audio, read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.)
20 task
5 review
____
25
Running total: 65
15.2 TDoSThe Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
5* from Chelsie drew and Rosemary
GR has a list of books everyone else has read and Perks and most of the others on my TDoS plan fall into that category in my estimation. So, I read Perks and it was not what I thought it would be. I was expecting a YA story about high school awkwardness and some sad times, but reading this was angst overload! I imagined the author thinking "Hmmm, what other adolescent crisis can I add now - how about rape, molestation, domestic violence, a bad LSD trip, a bunch of sordid gossip stories..." and I could write about eight more things but I don't want to spoil it for the few people who haven't read this 1990s book. It had little sense of place and I couldn't buy the premise of high school seniors toting around an innocent freshman kid to all their big beer and drug parties and of course, most every teen character uses/buys drugs and alcohol, yet manages to be an academic superstar and almost every character from Grandpa on down, cries---so much crying! Unrealistic. That's all for now. Hoping my next book is cheerier.
In the GR rating system 2* means that it was OK, and it was OK, but for today--the day I finished it--3* (subject to change).
+20 Task
+5 Review
Season Total: 45
10.7 Page Count 350pgs-399pgsThe Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson
369pgs
Review:
I'm hooked. I'm invested but I almost wish I wasn't. Johnson does an excellent job on the concept here. 2 mysteries, 2 times present and 1936 and one location. I love the Ellingham thought process, I love the Hogwarts like house and grounds and I love the history.
However, the characters are a bit juvenile (or maybe I'm just old). No one gets a lot of depth. It's like the author just reached into the grab bag of stock stereotypes and ploinked them down. I really do want to like them and connect with them but IMO they need to be more thoughtfully and realistically fleshed out. It's YA not Middle Grade here.
Damn book finishes on a cliffhanger and I really want to know how it all ends!
+10 Task
+5 Review
Task Total: 15 pts
Grand Total: 15 pts
15.2 TDoSChess Story by Stefan Zweig
5* by Rosemary—>Natalie
This is a marvelous novella. The narrator embarks on an ocean voyage with a champion chess player onboard. The champion is a chess savant. A friend of the narrator fills him in on the background of the cahampion. A few days into the voyages a match is set up. Quiet advice comes up from a spectator that brings the match to a surprising draw. The narrator learns why the spectator has such an amazing chess ability. He was a prisoner tortured by a total lack stimulation. He was able to steal a book of renowned chess games and used it to maintain his sanity for awhile until he was overcome by “chess sickness”
+20 task
+5 published before 1996
+5 review
Task total: 30
Season total: 65
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
The House of the Scorpion (other topics)5 Centimeters per Second (other topics)
Some Kids I Taught & What They Taught Me (other topics)
The World That We Knew (other topics)
A Poem for Every Summer Day (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Nancy Farmer (other topics)Makoto Shinkai (other topics)
Kate Clanchy (other topics)
Alice Hoffman (other topics)
Allie Esiri (other topics)
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Please use the add book/author link for the book titles. When claiming combo points, tell how the book qualifies, and provide a link if requested in the task description.
If using an outside source to qualify a book for points or combo, please be sure to post in the appropriate task thread prior to posting in this thread.
Sample Post
10.1 Page Count 75-150
Worstward Ho by Samuel Beckett (47 pages, pub 1983)
AND
The Pigeon by Patrick Süskind (70 pages, pub 1987)
Insert 50+ word review here
+10 Task (117 pages)
+5 Review
+5 Before 1996 (both published before 1996)
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 400 (assumes mid-season post with a previous total of 380)