Reading with Style discussion
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SP 2017 Completed Tasks
15.4 AotDA Religious History of the American People by Sydney E. Ahlstrom
+15 Task (National Book Award 1973)
+5 Not-a-Novel
+5 Oldies
+5 Jumbo
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 350
Assumes mid-season with a prior point total of 320
15.1 AotDFinding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine Lexile 950
+15 Task (Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, 2007)
Post total: 15
Season total: 15
15.2 AotDThe Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin
+15 Task (Pulitzer-Poetry, 2008)
+5 Not-a-Novel
Task total: 20
Season total: 35
20.8 Yours, Mine, and Ours (Amanda)Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
I enjoyed the story and the mystery uncovered was a worthy companion to Doyle while covering ground he would not have been able to. When I first started reading and saw Mycroft had a fiance, it was obvious something would happen involving her, since he's certainly not happily married later on, and it would likely happen in this book, plots being what they are, but I definitely did not expect what actually occurred until somewhat later.
In some ways it was similar because there is a genius/normal man duo to carry out the mechanic of explainer/questioner with additional contributions, but Mycroft and Cyrus are definitely not Sherlock and John in their temperaments. They are themselves. And both evolved to some extent over the course of the novel.
The story was well rooted in time and place, both England and Trinidad. It was believable to me that Mycroft would be atypical of his time and not be concerned about race personally but also be inconsistently aware of the impact to Cyrus. Overall it was refreshing and interesting.
+20 task
+10 review
Task total: 30
Grand total: 30
also for Proust team
15.1 - AotDI Love the Earl by Caroline Linden
+15 task (RITA 2012)
Task total: 15 points
Grand total: 15 points
10.5 CircusFreeks by Amanda Hocking
shelved 5 times on Circus - page 2
No sytles - classified as YA on BPL but no lexile point; it's a new release
+10 Task
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 10
10.3 English LanguageOrphan Trainby Christina Baker Kline
Review
Molly, a seventeen year old girl and Vivian, a ninety year old woman would have nothing in common with each other. Molly is an a foster kid who has been through a few homes. Vivian was an orphan train rider. From 1859 to 1929, the Orphan Train transported 102, 000 children who were orphaned or runaways. Molly is looking at juvenile detention if she doesn't do community service. Vivian needs to clean out her attic. They form a friendship and find out they have something in common.
I was happy to see Vivian reunite with one of the train riders, Dutchy. I learned so much about "The Orphan Train". Vivian ended up having a good life and she was one of the lucky ones. This book hooked me in right away and I really got into the story. The main character is based off of a real person. I highly recommend reading this book.
Task Points: 10
Style+ 10 Review
Grand Total: 20
20.2 RebeccaThe Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
YA, no Lexile score
+20 task
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 20
15.2 - AotDThe Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley
+15 task (RT 2011)
Task total: 15 points
Grand total: 30 points
10.2 3, 4, or 5Allusions in Ulysses: An Annotated List by Weldon Thornton
I read Ulysses by James Joyce as the last book in the RwS Winter challenge and needed some (well…a lot of) help trying to figure out what the hell I was reading. Wikipedia was some help….framing the plot of each chapter. I found Ulysses to be a slog of a read and it seems it was a vanity project for Joyce. I read somewhere that he had commented that the book would keep English professors busy for many years. This book, which I started while reading Ulysses (but not over the 50% mark) was somewhat helpful…mostly in revealing the many references to music, novels and poetry. There are also may allusions to religious and Biblical references which I would not otherwise have known about. Having said all that, Ulysses is not an enjoyable read. I did expect there to be more insight to the allusions to the mythical Ulysses… but they were few and in between.
task = 10
Review=10
Jumbo=5
task total-25
grand total=25
15.3 AotDThe Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
+15 Task (Indies Choice, 2009)
+5 Not-a-Novel
Post total: 20
Season Total: 55
15.1 AotD(All Pulitzer Prize, Time Traveler)
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
+15 Task (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1948)
+5 Oldies
+5 Not-a-Novel
Task total: 25 pts
Grand total: 25 pts
15.1 AotDTime traveler
Lakeside Cottage by Susan Wiggs
2006 RITA Award by Romance Writers of America for Best Contemporary Single Title
15 task
____
15
Running total: 15
10.6 Spring EquinoxThe Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True by Richard Dawkins
+10 Task
No Lexile, so no styles
Points this post: 10
RwS total: 10
AotD total: -
Season Total: 10
20.10 HesperusNorse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
+20 Task
YA designation at BPL, but no Lexile so no Styles.
Post total: 20
Season total: 75
15.1 AotD TravelerAn Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris
+15 task (Walter Scott Prize, 2014)
Task/Grand Total = 15
20.9 National Doctor's DayIntern: A Doctor's Initiation by Sandeep Jauhar
+20 task
+ 5 combo (10.2)
Task total=25
Grand total=45
20.4 My Family and Other AnimalsThe Oresteia by Aeschylus
+20 task
+10 canon
Task total: 30
Grand Total: 60
10.6-Spring EquinoxThe White City by Karolina Ramqvist
+10 task
+5 Combo (10.2)
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 15
15.1 AotD Time Travelergoal is - Nebula Award - 10 consecutive years - reading in order
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
won in 2001
Task total: 15
Grand total: 75
15.1 AotD Time TravelerMy Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
10 Different awards, 10 Consecutive Years
+15 Task 1998 Kiriyama Prize
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 15
15.2 AotD(All Pulitzer Prize, Time Traveler)
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
+15 Task (Won Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1949)
+5 Oldies (Pub 1949)
+5 Not-a-Novel
Task total: 25 pts
Grand total: 50 pts
15.1 AotDDifferent Prizes
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
+15 Task (Man Booker Prize, 2008)
Post total: 15
Season total: 15
reply | flag *
20.4 My Family and Other Animals Murder in Mykonos by Jeffrey Siger
+20 - Task
+ 5 - Combo (10.2)
Post Total - 25
Season Total - 25
15.1 AotDIronweed by William Kennedy
+15 Task (National Book Critics Circle Award 1983)
+5 Oldies
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 20
15.1 AotDAll Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, 1983-1992
Time Traveler reading from oldest to newest
Evening Out by David Walton
+15 Task (1983 winner)
+ 5 Not-a-Novel
+ 5 Oldies (pub. 1981)
Task total=25
Grand total=70
10.4 Question DayPolitical Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics by Rick Shenkman
Review: This explains a lot! Rick Shenkman takes us through what we have learned about our instincts. Our instincts evolved in the Pleistocene when we lived in small bands of hunter-gatherers. Our curiosity, empathy, view of truth and ability to read people are adapted to very different circumstances than we currently live in now. Shenkman explains what this means for our politics. At the beginning this book is interesting but discouraging. Are we capable of adapting our gut reactions to the modern political picture? Fortunately Shenkman offers hope. He thinks we have the ability to balance our instincts and act rationally and gives some examples on how we can do this.
Shenkman is not a social scientist. He is a journalist and historian. Sometimes his presentation of studies is less than rigorous but his history is right-on and engaging.
I recommend this book to US voters who care where we are going as a country.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Season total: 20
10.5 CircusOrphans of the Carnival by Carol Birch
Review: Although I had no idea until after I read it that this was based on a real woman, I certainly found many things about this fictionalized version of her life believable. Julia Pastrana was born in Mexico, abandoned by her mother and raise by a governor. As a young woman she left for the US where she began her performing career, being views as a monster and a freak by many, although she spoke three languages fluently, was literate, could sing, dance and play both the harmonica and guitar. Birch has done a compelling novel of her life including the more disturbing aspects of her time. She worked for more than one manager, but ended up marrying the last one, Theo Lent.
In this novel, Birch has woven in a more contemporary story, but it is deftly and lightly interspersed. It wasn't quite a five star read for me. However, I read it for a reading challenge and was quite happy I found it.
+10 task
+10 review
+20 combo (10.2 4 word title, 10.3 English Language, author born and living in England, 10.6 Spring Equinox, author Carol Birch,)
Task Total: 40
Season total: 40
15.1 AotDAll the same award - RITA
Adios to My Old Life by Barbara Caridad Ferrer
RITA Award 2007
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 15
10.4 International Question DayWhat You Own by A.M. Arthur
Review: I was heading to bed and had finished my previous book, so I quickly picked up something that fit a category and that I had quick access to. This book fit the bill, and was satisfying in the moment, but will not at all stand the test of time. It’s got content that could make it deep – prejudice, bullying, violence, and posttraumatic stress – but in the end I felt like it ended up as just a fluffy romance. I love fluffy romance, so that’s not really a bad thing, but it’s kind of a shame A.M. Arthur didn’t manage to make it more than shallow. I also don’t know if it’s great for my current headspace to have songs from Rent running around in my head all the time, but hey, at least I got the references.
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.2)
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 40
10.4 International Question DayThe Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.2)
+ 10 Review
+ 5 Jumbo (528 pages)
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 30
15.4 AotDTunneling to the Center of the Earth: Stories by Kevin Wilson
+15 Task (ALA Alex Award, 2010)
+5 Not-a-Novel
Task total: 20
Season total: 95
10.2 - 3, 4, 5The Irish Suspect: A Dan Delaney Mystery by Laura Joyce Moriarty
+10 task
Task total: 10
Grand total: 30
*amending post 17*20.10 Hesperus
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
I knew I was going to love this book the second I saw it on the shelf at the library so this review will be highly biased, reader beware ;-)
I love Neil Gaiman. There's not a word this man has written that I haven't sucked up the way a little kid slurps up a milkshake they don't want to share with their little brother--I devour his words jealously, like they're going to be taken by someone else if I don't read them quickly enough.
And I love mythology. Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Norse...love it all.
And my husband and I have been obsessed with the History Channel's "Vikings" for years.
So, yeah, there was no way I wasn't going to love this book.
I love that in Gaiman's deft hands, the gods become far more real than the Thor and Loki brought to us by the Marvel Universe, more accessible than any of the Norse myth I have encountered before, more hilarious than I thought the cold and hard gods of the North could be. I love that Gaiman gives them faults and foibles in addition to their greatness and godliness, that they're not one-note characters as is so often the case in other books of myth.
This book was the marriage of the perfect subject to the only modern-day wordsmith who could do the material justice. Loved.
+20 Task
*collection of short stories, so this rule waived*
+10 Combo
-10.3 (Portchester, UK)
-10.7 (link)
+10 Review
Post total: 40
Season total: 115
15.1 AotDHistory of US Naval Operations in WWII 3: Rising Sun in the Pacific 31-4/42 by Samuel Eliot Morison, pub. 1948, Bancroft Prize 1949.
+15 Task
+5 Not a Novel
+5 Oldies
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 25
20.10 HesperusThe Turn of the Screw by Henry James
This was sort of a fun change from what I normally read. James gives us the perfect tone for this dark novella. I think some do not like James' writing style for he throws in some oddly constructed sentences. I had to pay attention for sure!
Unfortunately, the ending was predictable and the seeming angst of the governess was tiresome. I say "seeming" because she professed to know the future, yet tried to prevent it despite that knowledge. Even so, I remarked to myself shortly before the ending that James constructed his story nearly perfectly.
How is it that I use the word perfect/ly in each of two paragraphs yet complain of predictability? Perhaps I'm feeling as perverse as the apparitions. Still, this is just a high 3- or low 4-stars. I'll give it the latter because I did enjoy my time with it.
+20 Task
+15 Combo (10.2, 10.6, 20.2)
+10 Canon
+10 Review
Task Total = 55
Grand total = 70
20.8 Yours, Mine, and Ours (Amanda)The House of Silk (Sherlock Holmes #1) by Anthony Horowitz
Review
Overall, I thought this book to be fairly successful in emulating Dr. John Watson’s original story telling. The language (which the author also has acknowledged at the end of the book) was modernised a little so as “not to put-off” today’s readers. The mysteries themselves, I think, was worthy of Doyle’s own though one particular perversion probably was not publish-able back then. I have no doubt that such things may have existed though I’m not sure if Doyle would ever have thought to write such things. Other than that, a great adaptation of Sherlock Holmes & his sidekick, Dr. John Watson.
full review
+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.2 - 4 words; 10.3 - born in Stanmore, Middlesex, UK)
+10 Review
Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 50
20.2 RebeccaThe Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
#201 on the list
I enjoyed the story overall. The plot was twisty and convulated with various characters working at cross purposes and good surprises along the way that were very much "oh, of course" and not "where did that come from?". The voices of most of the characters were distinct and interesting. It's a book populated mostly by men, but considering the plot and the time period, it is who would be involved in the discussion. It was interesting piece of depth for the police investigator to be a fictional representation of the first black policemen in Boston. I could have done with a little less depth on a few of the gross descriptions, even though they fit the tone and the story.
The literary background was a large part of the appeal to me, but pre-knowledge wasn't really necessary. Pearl did a good job of including relevant background on the people, Dante's work, and the general historical time without it seeming burdensome. I knew Dante was surprising for having done a significant work in the common language instead of Latin but had no idea that he was despised for it by some academics as late as the 1800s.
+20 task
+10 review
+5 combo (10.2)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 110
10.7 Dead Poet's Society (Ed's Task)Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Everyman's Poetry by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
So while reading The Dante Club I wondered what all the fuss was about. Why would a poet have become a superstar who everyone wanted his autograph but in many ways not be considered excellent today, even though he is on the canon list? I remembered Hiawatha, but never liked it much.
I liked many of the poems in this selection, but most were forgettable for me. With that said, I can see how the sentiment in them, expressed fittingly, would capture a public to whom reading and listening to speakers were a key form of entertainment. Kind of like a positively oriented pop singer might be followed today.
+10 task
+10 canon
+10 review
+5 combo (10.2)
Task total: 35
Grand total: 145
20.10 HesperusMapp and Lucia by E.F. Benson
The premise of this series is – comfortably off (+ snobby) middle class people who spent their time watching their neighbours, gossiping, and playing bridge.
This is #4 in the series, in which Miss Mapp + Lucia end up in the same town and at loggerheads (not surprisingly). The story started in a rather shocking manner, if you’ve read the first 3 books. This development is what leads Lucia to move to the town Miss Mapp has been supreme in. All sorts of one-upmanship occurs, and the last quarter of the book has quite a lively scenario, which leads to all sorts of interesting occurrences (and I think setting up the next book).
This series is definitely one that you need to start at number one. Benson really develops his characters through each novel, and I felt he hit quite a peak with this one. As I’ve said in previous reviews, these aren’t particularly nice people – but goodness they are interesting to ‘observe’.
20 task
10 review
15 combo 20.1, 10.2, 10.3
____
45
Running total: 60
20.6 My Name is RedJust the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James
Review: I’d read Julie James before, but I guess this is one of her earliest books. Contemporary heterosexual romance is also probably my least favorite subgenre, which is something I can’t quite explain. Those two things put together made this book just average for me. It’s a story of a lawyer who meets a very famous actor, and they end up declaring love and even tentatively getting engaged before even sleeping together. The characterization in general is pretty inconsistent, and I was more interested in the hero’s best friend than in the hero himself. It’s not bad, per se, and reading this kind of book takes some suspending disbelief, but I think James has improved as she’s published more books.
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.2)
+10 Review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 75
10.7 Dead Poet's SocietyAn Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
"An Inspector Calls" has themes of responsibility, class structure, and social duty. Set in 1912, Arthur Birling, a wealthy factory owner, is celebrating his daughter's engagement to the son of another industrialist. The celebration is interrupted by Inspector Goole who is conducting an investigation of the suicide of a working class woman. As the Inspector questions the family members in the dining room, it becomes obvious that each person had a connection to the young woman and had treated her badly. A chain of events led to her despair. The drama is thought-provoking with interesting psychological profiles and a strong moral message. Written soon after the conclusion of World War II in 1945, during a difficult economic time in Great Britain, it also has political and social interpretations.
+10 task
+10 combo (10.2, 10.3)
+10 review
Task total: 30
Grand total: 30
10.2 3,4,5Lady Cop Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart
"Lady Cop Makes Trouble" is the second in a series of historical mysteries featuring Constance Kopp. The author, Amy Stewart, has researched 1915 New York and New Jersey newspapers to create a fictional story that includes some actual events that happened to the real Constance Kopp. She works for the sheriff which was an unusual, modern job for a woman at that time. Constance is a tall, strong woman who can be both stubborn and vulnerable. When she makes mistakes, she tries to put things right. Her job requires compassion for the unfortunate, and toughness for hardened criminals. The book's plot involves Constance tracking and capturing a criminal who escaped from a hospital. Humor and attention to historical detail help make this an entertaining read.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 50
Task 20.3 EvictedRead a book shelved as Current Events at least 8 times.
Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite (2014) by Suki Kim
Review: Suki Kim was born and raised in South Korea. She moved to America as a teenager and became an American citizen. She joined 30 or so missionaries to teach English as a Second Language at a state-run college near Pyongyang, North Korea. She did this even though she, herself, is an atheist, because she wanted to visit North Korea and report on it and this was the only way she could get into the country to do so. In the Author’s Note she states that “the identifying details of missionaries, minders, and students have been changed…..I have altered the chronology of events….." and she’s made other alterations in the text so that the North Koreans she came in contact with would not suffer reprisals from the North Korean government. So, the memoir is true in general but not so much true in details. Suki Kim focuses on the constrained life of the students there. She also relates how little about the outside world that the students there know about. There’s a lot of repetition of events and attitudes. Maybe a lengthy magazine article would have been the right length? Overall, recommended for those who want to know more about North Korea, and those who want to read about how life under repressive regimes feels like.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30
also for Jane Austen team
10.3 - English LanguageBehind Closed Doors - B.A. Paris
I keep picking up the latest popular thrillers, and I keep being disappointed. The Girl on the Train? Meh. The Woman in Cabin 10? Double meh. Gone Girl? Fine, I guess. This? This did NOT disappoint in any way. It grabbed me from page one, paragraph one, and never let me out of its grip. I DEVOURED this book, because as disturbing as it was, I absolutely needed to know what would happen next.
There's no time wasted in establishing that something is 100% creepy and off about Jack and Grace's marriage. From the first chapter, you know that he's a control freak, but not to what extent. The book jumps back and forth between the past, starting with their first meeting, and the present. Every chapter reveals something new and disturbing, while never quite fully showing its hand, which makes it impossible to put down. I had such strong, visceral reactions to this book; the author does an amazing job of sinking the reader into Grace's emotions. There's one line, fairly early in the book, that honestly made me feel a little sick, I needed to take a break from reading. And it's such a simple, meaningless line but it suddenly makes everything click into place about just how far Jack will go, that it hit me like a punch to the gut. It's been a while since a book has had that effect on me, but this novel toyed with my emotions the whole way through!
I did find the whole Millie thing a little odd, but then again I guess psychopaths aren't the soundest of minds so I can overlook the fact that Jack's fixation doesn't make perfect sense.
I can absolutely, whole-heartedly recommend this novel, and I look forward to reading anything else this brilliant, twisted woman puts out!
+10 task
+10 review
+5 combo (10.2 - 3 words)
Post total: 25
Grand total: 25
Post 31 Karin wrote: "10.5 CircusOrphans of the Carnival by Carol Birch
Review: Although I had no idea until after I read it that this was based on a real woman, I certainly found many..."
I'm sorry, Karin. 20.5 is for US authors 1950-1959, so no combo for 20.5.
15.1 AotDHamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda
+15 Task (Pulitzer Prize 2016)
+ 5 Not-a-Novel
Post Total: 20
Season Total: 20
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Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
Letters to the End of Love (other topics)Made in the U.S.A. (other topics)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (other topics)
The Goldfinch (other topics)
The Boy on the Bridge (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Yvette Walker (other topics)Billie Letts (other topics)
Arthur Conan Doyle (other topics)
Donna Tartt (other topics)
M.R. Carey (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.
20.10 Hesperus
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
insert 100+ word review here
+20 Task
+5 Combo 10.2
+10 Non-Western
+10 Canon
+25 Jumbo
+10 Review
Post Total: 80
Season Total: 320
Assumes mid-season with a prior point total of 240