ŷ������

I would like to change the task for The Secret, Book & Scone Society , which is post 416, from 10.2 to 20.3. This will add 10 points to my score. Thanks

20.8 My Cup of Tea

The Whispered Word by Ellery Adams

I enjoyed the first book in the series so much, I thought I’d jump right in and listen to the second instalment. Luckily, it was the same narrator. We are back in Miracle Springs a short time after the last book took place. A young woman (Abilene), who is obviously on the run, turns up in Nora’s bookstore in response to a help wanted sign. The women of the Secret Book + Scone Society take her under their collective wing, and help her get a job and a place to stay. Unfortunately, Abilene’s past has a connection in Miracle Springs and it is dragged along with her. One of Nora’s customers is murdered and this leads to a whole series of events which lead to Abilene being arrested. The friends work together to solve the crime and have Abilene released from jail. The characters are still interesting (they continue developing), and there is fun book talk. I quite like the interim Sheriff, he seems like a character that could be developed further. 4*

(audiobook) at ~1hr:44min in - 'Carrying a tray with cups of hot tea and apple book pockets��. '…Iris pressed the teacup into her hand��' '��.leaving the sisters to their tea and pasteries��.'

20 task
10 review
10 combo 10.8 (Abilene was in jail), 20.3
____
40

Running total: 1245 (updated to include task change above)

19 owned/33 read

15.8 Blackjack

In One Person by John Irving

Jack of Spades 10 (Author name could be shortened to Jack)
Queen of Clubs 10 (LGBT in genre section on the book page)

+30 Task

Task Total: 30
Season Total: 755 - thanks for the extras you found!

15.9 Blackjack

The Queen's Man by Rory Clements

Queen spades (book about royalty: queens/kings)
Queen Hearts (title/subtitle has the letter Q)

+30 Task

Task Total: 30
Season Total: 785

10.5 Sherlock Holmes

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

+10 Task
+20 Combo: 10.2 Letters (26) / 10.3 Conjunctions / 10.4 High Five Day / 20.6 Katherine Anne Porter
+10 Oldies

Task Total: 40
Season Total: 825

15.7 Blackjack Round 2

A Sleeping Life by Ruth Rendell

10 Diamonds (24 titles)
  2 Diamonds (Rendell/Vine)
  7 Clubs (1978)

+20 Task
+  5 Female
+  5 Pub'd 1995 and earlier

Task total=30
Season total=775

15.9 Blackjack (Round 2)
In This Grave Hour (Maisie Dobbs #13) by Jacqueline Winspear

J Spades (author's first name: Jacqueline)
Q Diamonds (100% set in Western Europe)

+30 Task
+5 Female

Post Total: 35
Season Total: 1,160

15.2 Blackjack (2nd Round)

Castle Rackrent by Castle Rackrent

D-Ace-75-199p (87)
C-King-Castle in Title
Ace+ King=21

Task =15
Female=5
<1995=5 (1800)
Task Total= 25
Grand Total=1095

Tasks Completed=26
10.1 (45); 10.2 (30); 10.3 (30); 10.4 (30); 10.10 (35)
��15.1 (25); 15.2 (30); 15.3 (30); 15.4 (20); 15.5 (30); 15.6 (30);
15.7 (30); 15.8 (40; 15.9 (45); 15.10 (205)
2nd Round- 15.1 (25); 15.2 (25)
20.1 (50); 20.2 (35); 20.4 (60) ; 20.5 (45); 20.6 (45); 20.7 (35); 20.8 (35); 20.9 (35); 20.10 (50)

20.10 It’s a Mystery

The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell

20 pts 20.10 It’s a Mystery
5 pts 20.8 My cup of tea
10 pts Review

P 3 « Another young man who was staying nearby was often to be found making himself tea in Woody’s kitchen « 

The book opens with the discovery of two hands buried in a basement following a murder 60 years prior. While at first I thought this was going to be a standard murder mystery, the book quickly became a story about the lives of children that had been tangentially involved with those involved in the murder 60 years below. The book is a story of aging, relationships that change over time, loss and regret. The murder is solved but really that isn’t the point of the book. Recommended.

Cards used 15.1 -15.5 = 13

Task total: 35 pts
Season total: 575 pts

10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 .... 10.8 .... ....
15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 . .... .... .... .... ....
.... .... 20.3 .... 20.5 20.6 .... 20.8. .... 20.10

20.8 My Cup of Tea

Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck

This is a follow-up to Cannery Row, which I read a bit too long ago to remember it very well. Most of the original characters find their way back to Cannery Row after WW2, but some are gone, and Doc has lost his groove. He’s pursuing his Western Biological researches and finds an octopus that piques his interest, but he can’t summon up the will to begin to write a paper about it. Something vital is missing from his life.

Determined to help, the guys at the Palace Flophouse try some matchmaking, but when Sweet Thursday follows a Lousy Wednesday, things go badly wrong.

Tea: "'Tea's ready,' said Suzy. She passed him the steaming cup."

+20 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (1954)

Post total: 35
Season Total: 615

Post 465 Rosemary wrote: "20.8 My Cup of Tea

Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck

YA, no Lexile

Tea: "'Tea's ready,' said Suzy. She passed him the steaming cup."

+20 Task

Post total: 20
Season To..."

Rosemary, this isn't shelved as YA at BPL, so you're free to claim styles.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 465 Rosemary wrote: "20.8 My Cup of Tea

Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck


Rosemary, this isn't shelved as YA at BPL, so you're free to claim styles."

Thank you! I have edited my post.

10.10 Group Reads
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

This was not my first choice from this season’s group reads, but it was the only group read available digitally from my library, which is currently closed. This was a book I would never choose for myself. I was worried that I would find the story boring. The basic plot is very simple, a man travelling with his cat, trying to find it a new home because for some mysterious reason he can no longer keep it. I found the story a pleasant read, if a little boring, as I suspected. I prefer a story with a rich setting and this book didn’t provide that for me. The book takes place in Japan, but it could just have easily been written about a man and a cat in the United States. The characters are clearly what the author has chosen to focus on, and particularly on relationships. However, the characters fell flat in my opinion, with many of them having revelations about their pasts that you would have to be truly dense not to have realized much earlier. The one thing I really enjoyed about the book was that it was narrated from the cat’s perspective. I came to love little Nana so much that despite the very predictable ending I still found myself getting emotional. Overall I am sure that this is a good book for some people, but just wasn’t my kind of read. I give it three stars.

+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo 20.8 My Cup of Tea (35% "After dinner, my mother made them tea��)
+5 Combo 20.9 Women in Translation
+5 Combo 10.2 Letters >20 letters

Post Total: 35
Missing from last post (155): +10 review
Season Total: 90

15.2

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

7 Diamond (start with S)
10 Clubs (published in 10s - 2018)
4 Hearts (400-499 pages - 480)
(21)

+15 task
+5 Female Author

Task Total: 20
Season Total: 110

15.2 Blackjack (Rd 2)

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce

Queen Hearts - 'Q'
Queen Diamonds - UK
____
20


15 task
5 female
_____
20

Running total: 1265

20 owned/34 read

10.1 Thirst for More

The Carter of 'La Providence' by Georges Simenon

I thought this wasn't up to the level I've come to expect from Simenon. The setting was confusing. I sort of knew how locks on canals worked, but I asked my husband just to clarify. I did certainly understand about horses pulling barges on canals. Maigret himself was confused about how the murdered woman came to be in the straw at a tavern by the lock, so I guess I shouldn't have felt bad about being confused myself.

And so, what could Simenon be up to here? It is more psychological drama than mystery. It is not that there has been a murder that there is a sinister undertone to the entire novel. The people on the barge named the Providence seem to be simple water people, and the people on the yacht called the Southern Cross are indifferent.

This is only the second in the series and perhaps Simenon had not yet decided how he wanted to handle Maigret, for I felt this was somewhere between his detective novels and his harder, roman durs. I like them both in their way, but merged this way was less effective than either of them on their own. I like Simenon and it's hard for me to think he'll ever be less than 3-stars for me, but I admit this is probably in lower quarter of that group.

+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (1931)
+10 Combo (10.2, 10.4)

Task total = 40

Season total = 535

12 Owned/17 Read

15.1 Blackjack (Round 2)

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

9 Hearts (published in 19th century �� 1853)
Queen Diamonds (set in Western Europe �� UK)

+15 Task
+5 Female
+5 Oldies (published 1853)

Task Total: 25
Season Total: 755

15.2 Blackjack (Round 2)

Cadenza by Stella Riley

3 Clubs (has 391 pages)
6 clubs (Stella has 6 letters)
10 clubs (published 2018)

+15 Task
+5 Female

Task Total: 20
Season Total: 775

15.3 Blackjack (Round 2)

The Weekend by Charlotte Wood

9 spades (published 2019)
9 diamonds (set in Commonwealth country �� Australia)

+15 Task
+5 Female

Task Total: 20
Season Total: 795

15.4 Blackjack (Round 2)

Play With Fire by Dana Stabenow

3 Spades (3 word title)
5 Hearts (set in US state �� Alaska)
10 diamonds (series has more than 10 titles)

+15 Task
+5 Female
+5 Oldies (published 1995)

Task Total: 25
Season Total: 820

15.7 Blackjack

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

5 of Clubs - MPG Science - Science is 3rd on MPG list
4 of Hearts - 400-499 pp - 411pp
9 of Spades - pub. year ending 9 - 2019

+20 Task
+5 Female
+5 Not-a-novel

Task total: 30
Grand total: 515

10.1 Thirst for More

Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater

This is the first installment of a new trilogy which follows one of my favorite characters from the Raven Boys series, Ronan the dreamer.
His ability to dream specific dreams and bring things back with him from those dreams (a car, a brother, unnameable monsters...) played a crucial role in the earlier series, but in this one he might lose his life for it. A secret cabal is trying to locate all of the "dreamers" in the world and kill them since they are convinced that a dreamer will usher in the apocalypse. Each chapter follows a different story line to fabulous effect and I can't wait to see what happens next.
This is my sixth book by Stiefvater. I love the worlds and characters she creates!

+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.9)

Task total: 25
Season total: 460

10.9 Trilogy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The first time I read this was in 1993, sent to me by a friend who was adamant that until I read it I was not a complete "person". He needed me to understand why 42 is the correct answer and the significance of mice and fish and so many other things he'd make passing reference to which completely went over my head.
I was a late-adapter of modern British humor: didn't take in my first Monty Python until senior year of high school, never really took to the British comedies my mom would sporadically watch on PBS, had never even heard of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or Doctor Who or Red Dwarf...but once exposed, I couldn't get enough. It's so quirky and smart and convoluted and I adore it.
Reading this for the second time nearly 30 years later, I feel nostalgic for that girl who was experiencing it all for the first time. It's still a witty, funny, convoluted book, but not a revelation the way it was the first time. I never made it past the first installment my first go round and think I'll try book two in the series to see if I can get that feeling back...

+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (pub. 1979)
+10 1001-Books
+20 Combo (10.2 = 30 letters; 10.6: 4.22 avg stars, +1M ratings; 20.3: Adams; 20.8: there are many tea situations, but this is my fave "He had found a Nutri-Matic machine which had provided him with a plastic cup filled with a liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.")

Task total: 55
Season total: 515

20.2 August Wilson

Apex Hides the Hurt by Colson Whitehead

The narrator for the audiobook does an excellent read of this slim satire. Colson Whitehead has some things to say about consumer culture, about names, and about race and history. His ideas aren't fully formed in this book, resulting in moments where the plot ran thin. But there was so much to like here, including sparkling prose and truly funny moments that make me willing to forgive the book's flaws. Also, the audiobook runs at only about five hours, so it might have become tiresome had it continued too long, the book was able to get off stage before annoyance with the plot could overwhelm enjoyment of the ideas here.

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task total: 30
Grand total: 545

10.6 Richard Adams

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

Perhaps it's because I was already familiar with the first one (and, thus, not as surprised or excited by it) or because this reader was amazing (Martin Freeman!) but the second installment of this series is now my favorite.
While it does follow the continued kicking-through-the-universe of hapless Arthur Dent, much of this one is spent following Zaphod and Ford and poor, depressed Marvin the Paranoid Android (who knew Radiohead were such Douglas Adams nerds!).
Douglas Adams sure knows how to make satire fun. I like that he's not heavy-handed with it and can come up with situations that have me choking on my tea because I'm laughing so hard and so unexpectedly. Speaking of tea: they almost die because Arthur tries to teach the computer that runs the ship how to make a good cuppa and the computer is so overwhelmed by it that it can't function to run away from imminent threat...death by tea!? I love it! Can't wait for book three (which I will be on hold for foorrreeeevvveeerr--worst part about shelter-at-home? everyone who has discovered electronic materials from the library--the waits have doubled!)

+10 Task: 4.22 avg stars, 218,825 ratings
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (pub 1980)
+15 Combo (10.2 = 34 letters; 20.3; 20.8: "On the delivery plate of the Nutri-Matic Drink Synthesizer was a small tray, on which sat three bone china cups and saucers, a bone china jug of milk, a silver teapot full of the best tea Arthur had ever tasted a a small printed note saying, 'Wait.'")

Task total: 40
Season total: 555

20.10 It's a Mystery

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

I think it has been quite a while since I (re)read this, but I did remember immediately who ‘did it��. If you are a reader of Christie and Poirot, this is the book where he has retired to grow ‘vegetable marrows�� (which is referred to in future novels). Knowing who committed the crime added another dimension to the story for me. It was interesting to see how the story unfolded and the puzzling elements Christie introduces. I felt they were things people/readers would genuinely puzzle over �� not just red herrings. The novel is well written, coherent and economical. In this reading, I quite enjoyed the Doctor’s sister who is the village gossip and is able to help Poirot because of her vast knowledge of local gossip. 4*

20 task
10 review
10 1001 list
10 oldie
20 combo 10.2, 10.4, 10.6, 20.8*
_____
70

*pg 217 'I've done all I could. Taken her a cup of hot tea.'

Running total: 1335

21 owned/35 read

20.3 Theodore White

The Woman Lit by Fireflies by Jim Harrison

This is a collection of three novellas all about 80-85 pages in length. I have not read him before, but I understand that his fiction was primarily that of novellas, and published three to a volume. I thought perhaps they would be inter-related, but they have absolutely nothing in common, at least so far as age, gender, setting.

Brown Dog: Set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, this story is told in the first person by a middle-aged, man who may or may not be of native heritage. This is a man who drinks heavily, lusts after women, and has little respect for the law. He occasionally works as a diver with a partner and is apparently homeless. It is a brilliant characterization.

Sunset Limited: The Sunset Limited is a train from New Orleans to the Coast, traveling through the mostly sparsely populated desert southwest. Gwen Simpson has called ahead so that it will stop at the platform near her ranch. This is an entirely different setting than Brown Dog, peopled with an entirely different type of characters. Gwen and 4 others were close friends in college 20 years earlier during the tumultuous Vietnam days. The five of them vandalized a recruiting office and spent some time in jail for their efforts. Gwen and three others have gotten on with their lives, but the fifth, Zip, continued his revolutionary ways and now sits in a jail in Mexico. This is the set-up for the reunion.

The Woman Lit by Fireflies: Clare was a trust fund woman, now in her early 50s, who has two grown children and has been married for 30 years. She cannot tolerate her husband and decides to leave him. Her leaving is done in an entirely unconventional way. She and her husband are driving home to Michigan after having visited their daughter in Iowa. She stops at a rest stop while her husband makes a daily phone call to his financial advisor. Clare leaves a note that her husband is abusing her, hops the fence, and disappears into a corn field. From there we are treated to her memories.

I like the way Harrison writes. I thought Brown Dog the best of these three. I'll volunteer that if you are offended by language and the lustiness of men, this story might not be for you. I liked Gwen Simpson in Sunset Limited. As to Clare in the title story ... meh. I sort of kept hoping that Harrison was telling that one with a dose of sarcasm, but as I always fail to understand sarcasm, maybe not. I feel fortunate that I've picked up other Harrison titles and will look forward to reading him again. This is just 4-stars, but it's hard to complain about reading 4-star books.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.2, 10.4)
+ 5 Oldies (1990)

Task total = 45

Season total = 580

13 Owned/18 Read

20.2

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany

Somehow Delany managed to write a book that combined action, deep philosophy, and a hint of space opera. The female protagonist is what men want, but her appeal is a sideline to her genius and her success; it is even a side effect of her genius. The world is built around you as you read, simply at first a war in the stars, but then come unusual abilities and altered bodies and the dead - the disincorporate - and triads and biological warfare and and and..... I was very impressed, although I doubt I will keep it to read again, and now I am curious as to what else Delany has written.

+20 task
+10 review
+5 age (pub 1966)

Task total: 35
Grand total: 730
(Including the correction of +5 in post 451)

20.8 My Cup of Tea

Winterhouse by Ben Guterson

“After twenty minutes, they sat in the office behind the checkout desk and sipped rose tea��

Task total = 20

Points total = 215

10.4

The Eye in the Stone by Allen L. Wold

+10 task
+5 age (pub 1988)
+10 review

The book started out well, the protagonist finding that a looked for reunion was actually a missing person problem with memories messed with by magic. And then he starts negotiating with the bad guys. Really? They dont have different politics. They are expressly described as being Servants of Evil that he is supposed to not accept the existence of. I guess the whole debacle that follows is supposed to be about having a flawed, human hero (who cant get help because his desire for revenge is blocking communications). But mostly I was disappointed in him. The love interest was flat and acquiescent. The twist was meh. And the ending was tied tidily with a pretty bow, too much so. There were a few scenes I really did like, but mostly I only finished it because I knew if I put it down I wouldnt go back to it.

Task total: 25
Grand total: 755

10.9 Trilogy (Tien's Task)

The Commitments by Roddy Doyle

I remember having seen and having enjoyed the movie made from this novel...but remembered none of the specifics.
The novel is worth the read. I loved the way the author not only infused the work with music...soul music to be exact.... but did it in a way that I could "hear" the lyrics as they were being sung with an Irish twist.
The novel is very focussed on a small group of would-be band members in Dublin who start a group. A manager is hired. A name is chosen. Additional band-members are brought in. Soul music from America will be their working class genre. The back up girls are hired and bring in a sexual dynamic. Things go well and things go badly....but all leading to a wonderful read. I highly recommend it. Four stars.

Task =10
Review=10
Combo= 5 (20.8*)
Oldie =5 (1987)
Task Total= 30
*p.16-“Deco had a big fry cooked by Jimmy, five slices of bread, two cups of tea, and he fell in love with Sharon��"
Grand Total=1125

Tasks Completed=27
10.1 (45); 10.2 (30); 10.3 (30); 10.4 (30); 10.9 (30); 10.10 (35)
��15.1 (25); 15.2 (30); 15.3 (30); 15.4 (20); 15.5 (30); 15.6 (30);
15.7 (30); 15.8 (40; 15.9 (45); 15.10 (205)
2nd Round- 15.1 (25); 15.2 (25)
20.1 (50); 20.2 (35); 20.4 (60) ; 20.5 (45); 20.6 (45); 20.7 (35); 20.8 (35); 20.9 (35); 20.10 (50)

15.8 Blackjack Round 2

The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike by Philip K. Dick

5 Hearts (all in California)
6 Hearts (Exactly)
8 Clubs (8-word title)

+30 Task
+  5 Pub'd 1995 and earlier (1984)

Task total=35
Season total=810

15.10 Blackjack

Hardboiled & Hard Luck by Banana Yoshimoto

10 clubs (Title has a J or a K)
10 diamonds (set 75% in an Asian country)

26 Cards

+45 Task
+ 5 Female

Task Total: 50
Finisher Bonus: 26 Cards = 150
Season Total: 1025

20.7

Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

Bradbury's love of writing just exudes from these essays. Only the last has anything to do with zen. Mostly he looks back on things he's done and imagined and how they fit into his writing, often in ways that never occurred to him at the time. How living itself led to his stories. He turns words upside down more than in anything I have actually read of his and is very descriptive about his interior world. There is a touch of how-to involved and a touch of memoir related to specific books but most of it is more emotional and story based.

+20 task
+10 review
+5 age (pub 1973)

Task total: 35
Grand total: 790

15.1 - Blackjack

The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde

3 of hearts (3rd in a serie)
3 of clubs (300-399 pages)
4 of clubs (Mystery)
6 of clubs (Name 6 letters long)
3 + 4 + 4 + 6 = 17 points

Task total = 15

Points total = 230

20.3 Theodore H White

The Book of Candlelight by Ellery Adams

This is the third (and last for now) book in ‘The Secret Book and Scone Society�� series. Surprisingly, since it is so new, it also was available on Hoopla. This book had the same narrator as the first two, which I appreciated.

Since I listened to all of the books in a row, I am quite familiar now with the main characters. In a way, it was like watching a TV show that has an ensemble cast. I still found the characters interesting, and Adams is unfolding their stories slowly. Once again, someone in Miracle Springs is killed. Nora (the main character) was only slightly acquainted with the victim, but she feels it wasn’t an accidental death. The motive, as it unfurls, is slightly complicated but enables Adams to introduce some new characters. I’m sure some of them will appear in future instalments. One of the new characters will definitely be reappearing, since he is now working for Nora.

I enjoyed this book. The characters are complicated people, they’ve lived some life and are trying to do the right thing day to day, there is a range of ages and not everyone is white (!!! yay); and the women are all strong and independent. As well, I particularly like that Nora owns a bookstore, it leads to book talk! It is firmly in the ‘cozy mystery�� category. 4*

20 task
10 review
10 combo 10.2, 20.8*
_____
40

*from audio book: at ~13:49 min - 'Come into the bakery, I'll make you tea.' at ~ 1:26:47 "She made a cup of chamomile tea and carried it and the book to the bedroom. She sipped until her eyes felt heavy'

Running total: 1375

21 owned/36 read

15.7 Blackjack

King Henry IV, Part 1 by William Shakespeare

♠A (1st in series)
♠Q (book about royalty)
+5 pre-1995 pub.
+5 Not-a-Novel

Task total: 30, 19 total cards used
Season total: 585

15.5 - Blackjack

Strip Jack by Ian Rankin

2 diamonds (author publishes under 2 names - Rankin also publishes under the name Jack Harvey)
2 clubs (200-299 pages)
4 spades (4th in the Inspector Rebus series)
Queen diamonds (set in Scotland, in Western Europe)
= 18

+20 task
+5 published 1992

Post total: 25
Season total: 350

15.9 Blackjack Round 2

A Mind to Murder by P.D. James

2 Hearts (2nd in series)
6 Diamonds (pub. 1963)
9 Diamonds (UK)

+30 Task
+  5 Female
+  5 Pub'd 1995 and earlier

Task total=40
Grand total=850

15.10 Blackjack Round 2

The Lifted Veil by George Eliot

Ace Diamonds (75 pgs.)
9 Hearts (1859)

+45 Task
+ 5 Female
+ 5 Pub'd 1995 and earlier

Task total=55
Finisher bonus, 27 cards=150
Grand total=1055

From Post 320

Bryony wrote: "20.1 Edmund Morris

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

+20 task (winner of the National Book Award for nonfiction in 2015)
+10 review
+25 combo (10.3, 1..."

Sorry, Bryony, this does not work for 20.8 which requires a novel.

From Post 375

Ed wrote: "15.9 Blackjack

Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin

S3- 3 word title
D6-pub. in '60s- 1969
DQ-set in W. Europe- France
3+6+Q=19

Task=30
Female=5
pub<1995=5
NaN=5

Task Total=45..."

I carry this in the database as a novel, can you explain why it is not?

From Post 411

Coralie wrote: "20.3 Theodore H White

City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett

+20 Task (Jackson)
+5 Combo 10.8 �� MC spends time in jail

Post Total: 25
Season Total: 530"

Sorry, this does not work for 20.3 which requires a matching surname. I have recorded it for 10.8.

From Post 440

Mary wrote: "10.2 Letters

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

10 pts 10.2 Letters
5 pts 10.3 Conjunctions
5 pts 10.4 High Five
5 pts 10.5 Sherlock Holmes
5 pts 20.6 Ka..."

+10 Combo 10.06, 20.04

Kate S wrote: "From Post 375

Ed wrote: "15.9 Blackjack

Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin

S3- 3 word title
D6-pub. in '60s- 1969
DQ-set in W. Europe- France
3+6+Q=19

Task=30
Female=5
pub<1..."

Yes......definitely not a novel....13 different stories....each story has different characters with no relation to other stories. Most locations are set in France. One in Switzerland. I think two were in South America. In the preface the author discusses how the different stories (it is all erotica) were crafted for a single particular customer's taste... but not necessarily the same customer.

From Post 346

Tien wrote: "15.1 Blackjack (Round 2)
Kappy King and the Pie Kaper (An Amish Mystery #3) by Amy Lillard

J Clubs (title has a k in King)
K Spades (KING ends in '-ing')

+15 Task..."

Tien, you claimed this book in post 317, did you mean do include a different title?

Ed wrote: "Kate S wrote: "From Post 375

Ed wrote: "15.9 Blackjack

Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin

S3- 3 word title
D6-pub. in '60s- 1969
DQ-set in W. Europe- France
3+6+Q=19

Task=30..."

Thank you!

10.7 In Memoriam (Coralie's Task)

Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene

I enjoyed this novel which is a comic tale quasi-disguised as a spy thriller. (A genre I am enjoying with the Mrs. Pollifax series also.)
Anyway, here an Englishman heading a failing vacuum cleaner store in Havana gets "sucked into" a position as a spy and begins to fabricate some reports. Things snowball from there becoming a series of crazy and untenable situations.
I've read several other Greene novels and I'm usually left somewhat dissatisfied...usually because they are infused with Roman Catholic precepts. There is some of that here.... but it is handled well enough so as to not interfere with my enjoyment of the characters and plot.
4 stars.

Task =10
Review=10
Oldie =5 (1958)
Task Total= 25

Grand Total=1150

Tasks Completed=28
10.1 (45); 10.2 (30); 10.3 (30); 10.4 (30);10.7 (25); 10.9 (30); 10.10 (35)
��15.1 (25); 15.2 (30); 15.3 (30); 15.4 (20); 15.5 (30); 15.6 (30);
15.7 (30); 15.8 (40; 15.9 (45); 15.10 (205)
2nd Round- 15.1 (25); 15.2 (25)
20.1 (50); 20.2 (35); 20.4 (60) ; 20.5 (45); 20.6 (45); 20.7 (35); 20.8 (35); 20.9 (35); 20.10 (50)

Kate S wrote: "Sorry, Bryony, this does not work for 20.8 which requires a novel. "

Sorry, I completely forgot about that part of the task requirements. Thanks for letting me know.

15.6 - Blackjack

Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene

4 diamonds (pronoun in title)
5 spades (published in 50s)
King Diamonds (Caribbean setting, set almost entirely in Cuba)
= 19

+20 task
+5 published 1958

Post total: 25
Season total: 375