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Post your completed tasks here. In order to help us better manage our score keeping:
PLEASE ONLY POST ONE BOOK PER MESSAGE.

Please use the add book/author link for the book titles. When claiming combo points, tell how the book qualifies, and, if requested in the task description provide a link.

Reading w/Style (RwS) Sample Completed Tasks Post:

20.2 - Author alive 1909-1922:
Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)

insert 100+ word review here

+20 task
+5 combo (10.6 - All Saints Day)
+10 non-Western
+10 canon
+10 review
+5 jumbo (576 pages)

Task Total: 60 points
Grand Total: 470

(This assumes mid-challenge, and that you had previously posted 410 points)

Pick 'n' Mix sample completed post:


15.3 - D4 - Female author, age 40-60:
Claudine's House by Colette
(born 1873, published 1922 at age 49)

+15 points

Grand Total: 645 points

(This assumes mid-challenge, and that you had previously posted 630 points)

20.8 - Kate's Task:
Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu Read 9/1/13
Carmilla is a Vampire (non-human MAJOR character)

My review: (view spoiler)[I came across Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu after listening to the Audible version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula last month. Though this is a far shorter and lesser known book, I enjoyed this vampire tale with its focus on the beautiful female vampire, Carmilla. It was interesting to compare the two. Both authors were born in Dublin, Ireland, and their books were published six years apart � Dracula in 1865 followed by Carmilla in 1871. Dracula was set in Transylvania and London, with the male vampire returning each night to a box of unholy soil. Carmilla was set in Austria with the female vampire returning to her original grave at night. Each book had two major female victims, one who died and the other surviving. There were small details which varied, such as the use of garlic in Dracula not mentioned in Carmilla and the condition in the coffins they slept in, which I’ll leave you to read for yourself! This was well worth a Sunday morning read. (hide spoiler)]

+20 task
+5 combo (10.6 - In honor of All Saints Day - Author died in 1873)
+10 review

Task Total: 35 points
Grand Total: 35

15.1: C1 < 125 pages

Raven Girl by Audrey Niffenegger
80 pages

+15 Points

Grand Total: 15

Thanks for the opportunity to read this little gem for the challenge!

20.4 - Autobiographical

The Lover by Marguerite Duras

I purchased The Lover by Marguerite Duras for a challenge last year and didn't get to it, so this was the perfect opportunity to pick it up. The prose was beautiful, especially in the opening sections of the book. Duras portrayed her younger self as understandably a bit distant and cold. I felt for her, but as an outsider rather than a reader totally involved in her story. I tend to stay away from autobiographies and memoirs because of that detachment. For me the writing often lacks the emotional pull of a novel. I had a love/hate relationship with the switches in time period of the narration. Sometimes I felt better able to understand the development of the characters, but at other times I felt pulled out of the story at the wrong moment. The quality of the writing/translation kept me engaged in this book in one sitting, though and it ended up with a 4 star rating.

+20 Task: from the linked list
+25 Combo: 10.4 - Prize-worthy: Prix Goncourt / 10.6 - author died bef. 2013 / 10.7 - Rebekah’s task � Ex-pat experience(French/white in Vietnam / 20.2 - 1909 to 1922 (born 1914) / 20.9 - Elizabeth (Alaska) Task (WWII)
+10 Canon
+10 Review

Task Total: +65 Points

Grand Total: 80

sorry about that... i can't edit posts from my phone and i can't link from it, either.

20.3 The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
+20 task
+5 combo (10.6 - author died bef. 2013)

Task Total +25 points

Grand Total: 25

Heather wrote: "20.3 The Time Machine by HG Wells

+20 task
+5 combo (10.6 - author died bef. 2013)"

Heather, please edit your post so that the title and author are links. We use those links to get information from the GR database, so they're really important.

20.10 - Born in Afghanistan

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Review: A dramatic story about the lives of two women in Afghanistan. This was the kind of story that made an impression on my mind and will stay with me for some time. The story follows two women, whose lives connect, through the various ruling changes in their country. It shows their lives during the Soviet invasion, the civil wars following the departure of the Russians, and finally the rule of the Taliban. It is amazing to see the horror the people of this country has had to live through. The story puts a human face on the terrible wars that we read about in the news but often do not give a second thought to. As someone who teaches high school history, this is the kind of book I would want my students to read so they can understand that there are families and children just like us that live over there, and that war is almost always bad for all involved.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.2 Book Lovers)

Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 35

*The +5 Combo updated on 9/29/13

Pick 'n Mix Challenge

D4: Female author 40-60

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Jojo Moyes was born in 1969, the book was published in 2012 when she was 43

Task points = 15
Challenge points = 15

Pick N Mix

15.1 B-2 1976-2000

Complicity by Iain Banks pub 1993

+15 Task

Grand Total = 15

Pick'n'Mix

15.1 - E2 - Genre Mystery

The Floating Admiral by Detection Club

+15 points

Grand Total: 15 points

10.3 - Conjunction Junction:

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, no lexile available

Fantastic book that won the Newbery Award for 2012. I saw the gorilla, Ivan, that the story was about at the B&I store in a strip mall in Tacoma. It was always so sad to see him there. The book also fit's Kate's task.

+10 Task: and in title

Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 85

20.5 - Artist Themes

The Moon And Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham

I enjoy fiction about artists because I feel it gives me a window into their worlds. Reading these books has helped me to better understand art as I have been more involved in music in my life than in the visual arts. The Moon and Sixpence is a classic I had missed that is based on the life of Paul Gauguin. I know Gauguin's work, but all I knew of his story was that he ended up living and painting in Tahiti after leaving France. I have enjoyed other books by W. Somerset Maugham and appreciated his writing and The Moon and Sixpence was no exception. I found the time in France to be the strongest part of the story because of the well written dialog between the narrator and Strickland (the character based on Gauguin). I missed the inclusion of in-depth descriptions of the making of his paintings that I have enjoyed in other books about artists(Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland for example). The section on Tahiti I felt distanced the reader from the characters since the narrator was by then interviewing others about Strickland. Overall, though, the quality of the writing and my interest in the artist left me with a good impression of the book.

+20 Task: on linked list
+30 Combo:10.3 - Conjunction Junction:and in title / 10.6 - In honor of All Saints Day(Died 1965) / 10.7 - Rebekah’s task � Ex-pat experience(main character is from London and lives in France and Tahiti) / 20.2 - 1909 to 1922(published 1919) / 20.4 � Autobiographical (Roman a clef): on list
+10 Canon
+10 Review

Task Total: 70
Grand Total: 155

20.8 - Kate’s Task: In honor of Stephen King’s birthday

Parched by Melanie Crowder, no lexile available

+20 Task: told by a girl, a boy and a dog

Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 175

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Heather wrote: "20.3 The Time Machine by HG Wells

+20 task
+5 combo (10.6 - author died bef. 2013)"

Heather, please edit your post so that the title and author are links. We use those links to ..."

done. sorry it took a bit.

Pick n' Mix
15.1 - V for Vendetta by Alan Moore

+15 Task: E1-Graphic Novel

Task total +15

Grand Total: 40

Pick 'n' Mix

15.1 D6, Female Author Over 60

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

+15 Task (Author born in 1951, book published 2013)

Season Total: 15

Pick 'n' Mix

15.2 B6 Book published before 1800

The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith

+15 Task (published 1766, 1290 Lexile on Bloom's canon)

Season Total: 30

Pick 'n' Mix

15.3 A3 Setting: Europe

Rival to the Queen by Carolly Erickson

+15 Task

Season Total: 45

Pick 'n' Mix

15.4 C2 100-200 pages

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

+15 Task (184 pages)

Season Total: 60

Heather wrote: "done. sorry it took a bit. ..."

Thanks, Heather! Yeah, it sucks that none of the phone apps support links. :(

Task 20.8 - Kate's Task:
In honor of Stephen King's birthday, read a book with a non-human MAJOR character.

First sentence on goodreads description: “How can a sexy marketing manager join forces with an Alpha Centauri male in Armani �.� After you read the first chapter of the book, you realize the “Alpha Centauri male� is an alien being; that he is the guy who is the heroine’s love interest; and, that he is the man being kissed on the cover!


Touched by an Alien (Katherine "Kitty" Katt #1) (2010) by Gini Koch (Mass Market Paperback, 389 pages)
Review: I try and review books on the basis of: was the book interesting; and, did the book achieve what it set out to do. (No 1 *s to Harlequin romances for not being deep and philosophical like The Brothers Karamazov, or 1 * to Terry Pratchett’s novels for being “unrealistic�.) What Touched by an Alien wants to be is a humorous, joke-filled book. Some of the jokes are funny (but most of the jokes are not). The plot was clearly inspired by Will Smith’s movie Men in Black. (The same way Leslie Nielsen’s “Airplane� was inspired by Arthur Hailey's Airport.) The plot holes in the novel are large enough to drive a Mack Truck through � the author will go for the joke over plot consistency every time. To spice things up, throughout the novel, every now and then an R-rated romance sequence is described. For action fans, every now and then there are action sequences (complete with jokes). Here’s an example from later in the novel:

(middle of action sequence)
“Jerry? Do you play volleyball shirtless?�
“Only with the ladies.�
“Works for me.�

There is a gay male character. You know he is gay because he calls everyone “girlfriend�.

Overall, I didn’t care for the novel, and I won’t be reading the sequels.

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 20 + 10 = 30

Grand Total: 00 + 30 = 30

10.3 Conjunction Junction

Sleepwalk With Me and Other Painfully True Stories
by Mike Birbiglia

I've already heard several of the stories that were recounted in this book as told by the author on This American Life and The Moth podcasts. The stories about his sleepwalking problems [he's convinced there's a flying jackal in the room trying to attack him in his sleep; he crushes his TiVO when standing on it thinking he has won the olympic silver for dustbustering; he jumps out of a closed second-story window at a La Quinta Inn (in real life) to escape certain death (in his dream)] and his love of Animal Planet (particularly bears) seem to make the rounds on the podcasts quite frequently. As a result, I felt like I had the author narrating the entire book in my head as I was reading it. Which was nice. Sometimes it's nice to have someone else's voice in my head reading to me :-)
The "Other Painfully True Stories" were precisely that: painful and true. The story of his cancer and being so bullied as a child that he had to switch schools particularly stand out...
Every single one of these true stories has an aspect of pain, but mostly hilarity. He can take anything and see the absurdity/comic brilliance in it.
If you're a fan of David Sedaris's writing or of Mitch Hedberg or Jim Gaffigan's comedy then you'd enjoy this book.

+10 Task ("and")
+10 Review

Task Total = 20

Grand Total = 20

20.2 - Author alive 1909-1922:
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

+20 Task
+10 Combo (10.6 All Saints Day, 20.8 Kate's task:hobbits, wizard, elves, dwarves)

Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 30 points

10.8 Something Wicked This Way Comes

Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell

This book read very much like The Da Vinci Code...but I'm talking The Da Vinci Code back when you first read it, when it was so good you couldn't put it down (pre-Tom Hanks, pre-reading-Angels & Demons and realizing Brown only has one story and one way of telling it).
The author even recognizes this in a small shout out--at one point, they find a clue and they think the clue is "temple" and one of the characters moans: "No more temples! No temples or Templars..."

This story follows Kate Stanley, a Shakespeare scholar who escaped the Ivory Tower for the stage (directing Shakespeare). She is given a cryptic gift by an old friend and mentor, Roz, with instructions to meet her after rehearsal to discuss this mystery...but Roz never shows. She has been killed--in the manner of Hamlet's father.
As Kate chases the clues, a killer chases her and in their wake grows a mountain of bodies. Will she ever find the treasure (in this case: "Cardenio," the lost last work of Shakespeare)?

Okay. It got pretty cheesy at times. I was not enamored of the ending. At all. But the rest of the story was entertaining and well-researched and I would definitely recommend it to any lover of Shakespeare who's looking for a quick beach read.

+10 Task ("The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." Mark Antony, Act 3 scene ii Julius Caesar)
+10 Review

Task Total = 20

Grand Total = 40

20.2 - Author alive 1909-1922

Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield

The Diary of a Provincial Lady is a sharply comic semi-autobiographical observation of life as a privileged but by no means rich housewife and mother in rural Devon, England, between the two World Wars. Her social life consists of visits from and to the sympathetic vicar’s wife and the much less sympathetic Lady Boxe who is our heroine’s husband’s employer (he’s Lady B.’s land agent). She adores her son but finds her daughter a little difficult. She struggles to run a household with servants and boarding school fees when there’s never enough money, but adds to the problem herself by going off to London to buy clothes whenever she can think of a good enough excuse. It’s funny and has stood the test of time well.

+20 task (lived 1890-1943)
+5 combo (10.6)
+10 review

Task Total: 35 points
Grand Total: 50

20.2 - Author alive 1909-1922

The Provincial Lady in London by E.M. Delafield

On the basis of the “astonishing and unprecedented success of minute and unpretentious literary effort, published last December�, the Provincial Lady and family take a holiday in Brittany complete with a tutor to oversee the children. On their return both children go off to boarding school and our heroine takes a flat in London. This is just for her, since her husband is still working as Lady Boxe’s land agent in Devon. What he thinks of this temporary abandonment is not very clear, since he is a remarkably uncommunicative man. This wasn’t quite as funny as the first volume but not too bad for a sequel.

+20 task (lived 1890-1943)
+5 combo (10.6)
+10 review

Task Total: 35 points
Grand Total: 85

20.2 - Author alive 1909-1922

The Provincial Lady in America by E.M. Delafield

In the third in the series of her diaries the intrepid not-so-provincial lady heads across the Atlantic for a lecture tour organized by her American publishers. Things that we take for granted these days are perplexing for her, like the time difference: “Just as I think it must be tea-time, discover that all ship’s clocks differ from my watch, and am informed by deck steward that The Time Goes Back An Hour every night. Pretend that I knew this all along, and had merely forgotten it, but am in reality astonished, and wish that Robert was here to explain.� She goes to Harvard and Cleveland among other places, and in other respects she seems to do just fine without her husband. One of the things that surprised me about this series was finding how independently a married woman in the 30s could live � but of course she wasn’t as typical as you might think from the diaries, because she was also a very prolific novelist, publishing around 35 novels before her death at the age of 53.

+20 task (lived 1890-1943)
+5 combo (10.6)
+10 review

Task Total: 35 points
Grand Total: 120

20.2 - Author alive 1909-1922

The Provincial Lady in Wartime by E.M. Delafield

In the fourth book in the Provincial Lady series, war breaks out and instead of staying in Devon to look after evacuees and an elderly aunt, our heroine goes to London to look for war work, while husband Robert again stays behind in Devon to organize the local ARP. This volume is set entirely in the “phoney war�, the first couple of months of war, when nothing much seemed to be happening. The only work she can find is as a volunteer on the night shift at an underground canteen for ambulance crews and firefighters who all, as yet, have nothing much to do. It’s very amusing and offers a different perspective on those early weeks of the war when people were almost looking forward to the excitement of air raids and gas attacks and speculating on how long the war would last. (view spoiler)[The book ends on an optimistic note but sadly E.M. Delafield never saw the end of the war. She lost her beloved son in late 1940 � either an accident or suicide soon after he was called up - and died herself three years later. (hide spoiler)]

+20 task (lived 1890-1943)
+5 combo (10.6)
+10 review

Task Total: 35 points
Grand Total: 155

10.5 Labor Day

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker

**SPOILERS...sorry, couldn't review it without giving stuff away, which speaks to my ineptitude as a reviewer, I realize...but, again, please be warned: SPOILERS***

I've had this on my TBR shelf for ages and was so glad to finally find a category it fit!
The first third of this book felt...timeless. It was an American fairy tale with a princess, a giant, a dwarf, a mute, and an evil doctor (well, doctor's evil son, at any rate). The princess and the giant are sisters.
We know this is all happening in Aberdeen County, New York. We know that it happens a few generations after the Civil War. But I never felt a precise sense of time...just a story that could have happened a hundred years ago or could have happened yesterday.

In the next two-thirds, we're firmly rooted in time and place and the fairy tale devolves from there. The princess is date-raped, impregnated, and married off. The dwarf goes to war (Vietnam) and returns lame and broken. The mute's silence is her unravelling. The evil doctor (as the doctor's evil son eventually becomes) fulfills his role as villain a little too well. And the giant. Oh the giant. Well, giantess...she is at the center of our story as all of these archetypes are connected through her.

I normally give a book stars based on the number of quotes I feel compelled to jot down while I'm reading. A five-star book normally yields at least a page or two of quotes that moved me. This one only yielded one quote, but the story was so good (and WHY it was good, I can't quite put my finger on) that I'd give it a 4.5 if I could.

+10 Task ("Baker")
+10 Review

Task Total = 20

Grand Total = 60

20.3: Belle Epoque #24
The Immoralist by André Gide (1869-1951)

+20 task
+20 combo (10.6 - All Saints Day, 20.1-French author , 20.2-alive between 1909 and 1922, 20.6-influenced by Proust)
+10 canon

Task Total: 50 points
Grand Total: 50

20.4: roman-a-clef
The Moon And Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)

+20 task
+20 combo (10.3-conjunction junction-and,10.6 - All Saints Day, 20.2-alive between 1909 and 1922, 20.5-novel about an artist)
+ 10 Canon

Task Total: 50 points
Grand Total: 150

20.6: Influenced by Proust
The Harp and the Shadow by Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980)

+20 task
+25 combo (10.3-conjunction junction-and, 10.4-won Miguel de Cervantes Prize,10.5-Carpentier on approved list of names, 10.6 - All Saints Day, 20.2-alive between 1909 and 1922)

Task Total: 45 points
Grand Total: 145

10.5 - In honor of Labor Day:
The White Princess by Philippa Gregory

Required: book that has a job or profession in the title. Princess is the job or profession.

Review: (view spoiler)[I like Philippa Gregory’s books for my drive time listening, and The White Princess helped to be patient on my commute this past week. Still, I did not like this book as much as the prior books in the Cousins Wars series, due in large part to the unsympathetic main characters. The title character, Elizabeth, is the daughter of Edward IV and his very strong wife, Elizabeth Woodville, yet she is a very weak woman, always submissive to Henry VII and his over-bearing mother, Margaret Beaufort. She puts up with his terrible temper and moaning about how the country doesn’t love him, falls in love with her defective husband, and even understands and forgives his love for the lovely Scottish bride of the Pretender who may be her lost brother Richard. Still, Philippa spins a good tale, and the world is full of imperfect people, so why should the Royals be different? (hide spoiler)]

+10 task
+10 review
+5 jumbo (544 pages)

Task Total: 25 points
Grand Total: 60

Task 20.2 - Read a book written by an author alive between 1909 and 1922.

Eudora Welty:
Born: in Jackson, Mississippi, The United States : on April 13, 1909
Died: July 23, 2001

The Optimist's Daughter (1972) by Eudora Welty
1973 Winner: Pulitzer Prize for fiction
Review:This short novel was written in sparse prose. I’ve found that sparse prose only works for me if I can mentally fill in the parts of the prose that are not explicitly stated. (I have the same attitude when it comes to poetry.) While I was not raised in the south, I have family members who were, and I’ve absorbed enough “southerness� to pick up what Ms. Welty was communicating with her sparse prose. (example: when a southerner says “bless your heart� it is condescension not piety). The difference in manners between the Judge’s second wife and the friends of his (late) first wife is explored, and the idea that both sides believe themselves to be superior to the other side is demonstrated to amusing affect. I always enjoy a puzzler book when I can decode what it is *really* saying, so I enjoyed this one. It won the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, probably because the judges of the award could decode the book as well. Recommended for fans of southern literature.

+20 Task
+05 Combo (10.6 Died before September 1, 2013)
+10 Review

Task Total: 20 + 05 + 10 = 35

Grand Total: 30 + 35 = 65

Pick'n'Mix

15.2 - A3 - set in Europe

Slavery and Society at Rome by Keith Bradley

+15 points

Grand Total: 170 points

10.9 - Karen GHHS� task � It IS Unusual:

13 Rue Therese by Mauli Shapiro Elena

I love books that break down traditional barriers (hence the creation of this task) and 13, rue Therese was a perfect example of that format. The author, Elena Mauli Shapiro, grew up at that address and the documents she weaves throughout the text are a real collection of artifacts left by the real person and main character, Louise Brunet, and inherited by default by Shapiro's family. I was also attracted to the Paris setting since I love reading about Paris and France and it fits with the Proust theme of the challenge as well. Shapiro creates a fictional account of Louise's life based on real photos, letters and objects which are all included in their original form within the pages of the book. The letters and other papers are included in French and then translated for the reader. Since I can read a little French, trying to decipher some of the artifacts before reading the translations added to the fun. I enjoyed the story also. It involved an American academic starting a new life in Paris imagining Louise's story based on the artifacts and also included a present day connection he develops with his clerk. For me, the story took second place to the format of the book and my fascination with the primary sources included: it appealed to the researcher in me! My only dilemma is that many portions of the story border on erotica which I hadn't realized from the reviews and I will have to consider withdrawing the book from my high school library.

+10 Task: #65 on Innovative Design or Structure.
+10 Review

Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 195

15.1 - A3: Europe

The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva

+15 Task

Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 50

10.4 - Prize-worthy:

The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi

For 10.4 - Atiq Rahimi won the Prix Goncort Award for this book in 2008

Combo with 20.10 - Atiq Rahimi was born in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Review: (view spoiler)[The Patience Stone was a very bleak commentary on the plight of women in Afghanistan. An unnamed woman nurses her wounded and comatose husband back to health while bombing is going on in the streets around them. Their front door is blown off, soldiers come into their home and threaten her, yet she lacks the physical strength to move her husband to a safer part of the house. Alone with her unresponsive patient, she begins to confess to him her feelings about their life and the secrets she’s kept from him during their marriage. I won’t go into it all, but it’s a very sad tale. (hide spoiler)]

+10 task
+5 combo (20.10 - Liz M's Task)
+10 review

Task Total: 25 points
Grand Total: 85

Pick 'n' Mix

15.5 B4 Originally published 1900-1950

Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery

+20 Task (originally published 1921, Lexile 1030)

Season Total: 80

Pick 'n' Mix

15.6 F2 Translated from the Yiddish

The Slave by Isaac Bashevis Singer

+20 Task

Season Total: 100

Pick 'n' Mix

15.7 F3 Translated from Vietnamese

Paradise of the Blind by DÆ°Æ¡ng Thu HÆ°Æ¡ng

+20 Task

Season Total: 120

Pick & Mix
15.1 B1 pub in 2010
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

+15 pts - Task

Grand Total - 15 pts

Pick & Mix
15.2 15.1 A3 setting is in European cities
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

+15 pts - Task
Grand Total - 30 pts

Pick & Mix
15.3 15.4 D5 male, book pub in 2013, he is aged 74-75

Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley

+15 pts - Task
Grand Total - 45 pts

20.9: WWII Fiction
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

+20 task (#36 on list)
+25 Jumbo (1168 pages)

Task Total: 45 points
Grand Total: 190

10.5 Labor Day
Cold Days by Jim Butcher
Review: Another fun Dresden Files book that has Harry taking on the duties (and powers) of the Winter Knight for Queen Mab. Again this is not the place to start your Dresden experience--too much has happened before and too many characters appear here that cannot be relished without their back stories.
But I am beginning to wonder if Butcher is pushing himself (or his editors) for production. The writing in this book feels schizophrenic. Harry's self-analysis, the action scenes, his interplay with his friends, acquaintances, off-again on-again allies each seem to come from a different pen. And some of his repartee with his friends (especially brother Thomas) is beginning to be formulaic.
But like many other fans, I am sure, I am waiting with baited breath for the next book. And I have some suggestions: enough hints, let's have Mac's story, and more Mouse!
Recommendation: To enjoy this book you have to have read at least a couple of the previous books of the Dresden Files.

+10 Task (Butcher)
+5 Combo (20.8 Queen Mab is a fairy queen)
+5 Jumbo (515 pgs.)
+10 Review

Task total: 30
Grand total: 30

Karen GHHS wrote: "15.1: C1 < 125 pages

Raven Girl by Audrey Niffenegger
80 pages

+15 Points

Grand Total: 15

Thanks for the opportunity to read this little gem for the challenge!"

Karen, the listings I see for this indicate it is a graphic novel, so is eligible only for E1.

Heather wrote: "sorry about that... i can't edit posts from my phone and i can't link from it, either.

20.3 The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
+20 task
+5 combo (10.6 - author died bef. 2013)

Task Total +25 points..."

Thank you, and sorry that GR app is such an inconvenience.

Pick 'n' Mix
15.1-C2 100-200 pages

After Dark by Haruki Murakami
(191 Pages)

+15 Task

Task Total = 15
Grand Total = 45 points