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Fall 2012 Rws Completed Tasks - Fall 2012
Task 10.5 International Day for the ElderlyThe Time Keeper by Mitch Album
+10 task
+10 review
Task Total: 20 pts
Grand Total = 60 pts
My Review:
Wow, this was not what I had expected. I was expecting a typical time travel story (something like The Time Traveler’s Wife) but what I got was a unique story that looks deeply into humanities understanding and handling of time. This is a short novel yet Albom is able to take us through thousands of years (from early hunter-gatherer society to modern times).
During the first half of the book, I thought, this is a nice story, an unusual story but by the end, I was thoroughly charmed by Albom’s writing, his characters, and his ideas. Amazon lists The Time Keeper for the 18 and over crowd but I think this is a book that all teenagers should read. Albom does an amazing job at touching on the pain and loneliness that is so often a part of growing up and the effects of cyber bullying. Through events that are reminiscent of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, he shows us that we are never truly alone.
I received The Time Keeper as eARC from the publisher, Hyperion and netgalley. The Time Keeper is a quick but important read. I recommend it to everyone.
10.7 Monsterfest - Hounded by Kevin HearneThis series came highly recommended to me by a friend and I can see why (and no, it’s not only so as you can drool over the hunk on the front cover but that certainly helps). I would call it urban fantasy with a lot of “mythology� thrown in. A light hearted read with a lot of laughs and some really good characters. At first I didn’t want to like Atticus but it didn’t take me long to warm up to him at all and now I’ll always be a fan. While there are a lot of “monsters� in this book, it took quite a few pages for there to be some “bad� monsters. Highly recommended, reading book 2 already!
+10 Task (some serious ghouls, demons)
+10 Review
Task Total=20
Grand Total=85
20.3 In honor of Poe's TalesA Chughtai Collection: The Quilt And Other Stories, The Heart Breaks Free, And The Wild One by Ismat Chughtai
Review:
Ismat Chughtai is known as the grand dame of Urdu literature, she was a true feminist of her time and this comes across quite clearly in her writing. This collection is a window into the lives of the middleclass of India in the1940’s and 50’s. Their lives as they faced a changing world, the bonds placed by culture and tradition and how it impacted and transformed them.
The Quilt, one of the stories in this collection landed her in a court case on charges of obscenity, (a case she won). For me her work is doubly interesting not just because of the content but also since it shows me the history of the land I belong too. Now I want to read her works in Urdu to get the full flavor of her genius. What a woman and what amazing writing.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo 10.2 Oktoberfest Country - India
+5 Combo 20.4 book by a Feminist author
+5 Combo 20.8 Veteran Author. Wrote for more than 20 years
+5 Oldies. She started writing in 1940's and most of the stories are from 40's, 50's and 60's (according to my research for original publication dates)
Task Total = 50
Grand Total = 165
20.10 - World Suicide Prevention DayThe Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole
Having read and enjoyed A Confederacy of Dunces, I made the assumption that this book too would be humorous. But it certainly wasn't. The book is set during the 1930's and 1940's in the rural South. The narrator, a young man named David, is riding a train at the beginning, and we don't find out until the end of the book where he is going, and why. The story he tells covers the time from when he starts grade school, through just after the end of World War II. He is old enough to be aware of what the war involves, and he makes many perceptive observations about the war's effects on his small town and his own family. He also is a good judge of what makes many of the townspeople tick, in spite of his youth and inexperience. The town is steeped in religious hypocrisy, and being a non-comformist is highly discouraged. The first half of the book just seemed to be a wandering memoir, and I began to wonder if a plot would emerge. I already knew that Toole wrote the book for a literary competition at the very young age of 16, years before he wrote the Pulitizer-winning Dunces. So I wasn't expecting the work of a mature writer. But then a plot did emerge. Knowing about Toole's own remarkable and tragically short life made this book even more interesting to me. I'm glad I read it, but I enjoyed Dunces much more.
+20 task
+5 Combo 20.7 David's mother and Aunt Mae have many conversations about food, cooking, finances.
+10 Review
Task total=35
Grand total=275
15.7 7th BookLetter G, published 2006
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
+30 Task
Post Total: 30
Season Total: 260
20.3 Poe's TalesStranger Things Happen by Kelly Link
Review: I always have a hard time with short story collections, often finding it hard to connect with the characters. I'd heard Kelly Link was one of the best short story writers in the speculative fiction genre, and I recognize her talent. She hasn't quite yet convinced me to love the format, however.
Link purposefully seems to keep distance between her characters and the reader. In some, multiple characters have the same name. In others, the first person narrative jumps around or the gender is unidentified. This vague characterization works for the creepy, quirky worlds she creates, and could challenge assumptions about things like gender and sexual orientation. I found that interesting, but not engrossing. I'd try more of Kelly Link's writing, but short stories remain less than my favorite.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 190
20.8 VeteranDeath Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
I picked up this book because it seemed like such a fun take: combining Austen with a murder mystery. However the book turned out to be rather disappointing. It was soo dry! It felt like it took forever to finish it simply because I never felt pulled into the storyline. The futures James created for our beloved characters was definitely interesting with the love interests and such. James even mimicked some of the exact wording from Pride and Prejudice yet this book missed incorporating that charm that was essential to Austen's writing. The murder and trial aspect of the novel dragged on and the ending felt tacked on rather than a natural culmination of the storyline.
+20 Task
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 30
15.1 Know Your ABC'sThe Oresteia: Agamemnon / The Libation Bearers / The Eumenides by Aeschylus
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 45
10.7 - MonsterfestHer Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
REVIEW: Like many, I came into this book feeling optimistic because of how much I loved The Time Traveler’s Wife. Unfortunately, this didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I actually felt like I was enjoying the book as I was reading it, although it moved a little slowly. However, as soon as it was over and I stopped to think about it, I sort of realized a bunch of things that really let me down. I wasn’t happy with the ending, and a few of the relationships were a bit creepy for my liking. I also am not really sure I understand the point of Martin and Marijke’s storyline; I kept waiting for them to play some “major role� in the plot to explain their presence, but it never seemed to arise. Overall, 2 stars because I did enjoy the reading experience for most of it, but it was sort of a let down.
+10 Task (approved in Help thread)
+5 Combo (20.7 - Both pairs of sisters have many conversations about death, sisterhood, etc. that do not revolve around men at all)
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 165
20.3 - Essay CollectionI Know I Am, But What Are You? by Samantha Bee
REVIEW: What a treat this book was! Samantha Bee is probably my favorite correspondent currently working on the Daily Show, so I treated myself to the audiobook recording for this book so I could hear her tell the stories in her own voice. This was definitely a worthwhile move � her inflections are so funny and her manner of telling the stories is so pitch-perfect that I often sat there in my office, in my car, or out on my walk trying to stifle bouts of laughter (yes, I basically just had this going on my headphones all of today and yesterday). I definitely recommend this, and I also recommend listening to it on audiobook � especially for the “ger-bulls� story. Very, very funny collection � and if this is all true, then I certainly learned A LOT about Samantha Bee that I certainly would not have predicted (like a weird criminal past and a tendency for older men to lure her back to their creepy apartments?! I wonder if that was really true...) Also, I had NO idea that she is married to Jason Jones and they have two children together. Apparently, this is common knowledge among my friends. Go figure.
+20 Task (shelved in the 814 section at the library)
+10 Review
Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 195
20.4 In Honor of CarmillaThe Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Review:
The story of Achilles, the mythical Greek hero of the Trojan war, and his companion Patroclus who is portrayed as his lover. I loved this but it did remind me a lot of Mary Renault's Fire from Heaven about Alexander the Great and Hephaistion. The main difference is that Alexander was a historical figure while the characters in 'The Song of Achilles' are mythical and there are gods who walk and talk in the story. That makes it a little bit more dreamlike.
I enjoyed the gay romance aspect. The book has been criticized for this but I don't think it's wrong to show gay characters being more or less faithful to each other even if it wasn't the accepted way for a man to live in Greek times: there would still have been some who lived that way, there always have been.
+20 Task (both title character and narrator are gay)
+ 5 Multiple
+10 Review
Task Total: 35 points
Grand Total: 240
Task 15.1 - 1st book - letter O (1984)Mysteries of Winterthurn (The Gothic Saga #3) (1984) by Joyce Carol Oates
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 255 + 15 = 270
Review: This book contains three novellas, all starring the same detective, set in a small American town in the early 1900s. The novellas are separated in time: the detective as teenager, as 30ish, and near retirement. She writes in the style of “sensation� writers of the 19th Century, complete with the beliefs and prejudices of that time. Oates doesn’t feel the need to wrap up her mysteries with a solution, since the point of the stories is to evoke atmosphere rather than to solve mysteries. Recommended for those who like “literary fiction�.
10.8 (B) Lucky SevensMemoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Green
Review:
What a lovely book! The narrator is Budo, the imaginary friend of a small boy called Max who is different from other kids. He probably has Asperger's Syndrome although it's never stated. Budo is real but only Max (and the imaginary friends of other kids) can see him, and he will disappear if Max stops believing in him. This is Budo's biggest fear and it occupies a lot of his time. But meanwhile, Max is in real danger and only Budo can help.
Although this is about a child, it's not a book for kids. It reminded me a little of the first part of Room and deserves to be almost as well known.
+10 Task (7 letters in Matthew)
+10 Review
Task Total: 20 points
Grand Total: 260
20.8 Veterans Day The Green Mile+5 combo 10.4 (green)
+5 combo 10.8 (1997)
+5 combo 10.2 (USA)
+5 bonus jumbo (592)
post total 40 pts
20.8 Veterans DayProtect and Defend+5 combo 10.8 (Richard)
+5 bonus jumbo (585)
+5 Bonus multiple
post total 35 pts
15.2 - 2nd book - Letter BPatternmaster by Octavia Butler (pub 1976) - Know your ABCs
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 205
15.2 - 2nd book - Letter B - published 1997The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death by Jean-Dominique Bauby
Task total: 15
Grand total: 100
20.9 Author DayGuarding the Moon: A Mother's First Year by Francesca Lia Block
Review:
This a poetic memoir detailing the author's feelings during her pregnancy and her child's first year. The language was beautiful and felt like an honest recounting of the joys, fears, and sleep-deprived craziness of new motherhood. Though the book takes a bit of a romantic look at the experience, I loved the way that the author's love for her baby came through the vibrant language. At the same time, the author honestly reflected on the frustrations and annoyances--feeling a loss to her marital relationship, fear for the safety of her daughter even when there was nothing to worry about, desire to have time to herself while simultaneously feeling a physical need to hold her daughter at all times. Reading this helped me to reflect on my own feelings as the mother of a baby girl. Recommended for mothers wanting to read about the experience.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.8(A), 10.2(U.S.))
Task total: 40
Grand total: 140
10.7 MonsterfestJonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Review
I like historical fiction and I like fantasy, so it was no surprise that I loved this book, a big fat book. Simply put this book is about the rivalry of two magicians who are bent on reviving “English Magic�, while being engrossed in rivalry, jealousy, fame and perfecting English mannerisms.
This totally fictional plot of casting spells, discovering magical tricks and dealing with Faeries, weaves itself with the real history of 1800’s and the Napoleonic wars in the background and makes for an engrossing tale. This book was right up my sleeve as I enjoyed the mega doses of fantasy and history.
Will surely recommend it to those who are hooked to the Fantasy and hocus pocus genre, and have a taste for historical fiction as well.
For this task the the spooky character was Faerie's, specially a particular one 'with thistledown hair, who was downright evil.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 20.1 Locus Award for Best First Novel 2005
+5 20.7 Emma tries to tell Arabella many times about her bewitchment.
+25 Jumbo, Has 1000 plus pages
Task total: 50
Grand Total: 220
Ismaa wrote: "10.7 MonsterfestJonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 20.1 Locus Award for Best First Novel 2005
+5 20.7 Emma tries to tell Arabella many times about her bewitchment.
+25 Jumbo, Has 1000 plus pages
Task total:
Ismaa wrote: "10.7 MonsterfestJonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Review
I like historical fiction and I like fantasy, so it was no surprise that I loved this book, a big fat book. Simply put this ..."
Thanks Elizabeth :))) always been lousy at addition :)
RwS Task20.7 � Connie’s Task � Women of Achievement Month
NW by Zadie Smith
I had this book on the list as a potential square peg. I thought it might pass the Bechdel test, but Zadie Smith writes in such a unique manner that I wasn't sure whether it would have traditional dialogue. As it turned out it opened with a traditional chapter with dialogue between two women; one of the main characters and a girl who came to her door asking for help for her sick mother. After that, Zadie Smith went into her more usual creative style and there were only two more sections of dialog that passed the test. The book was definitely about more than just women's relationships with men however. It did follow two couples, but it was more about the lines between classes through the lens of the characters and the present and past London communities that had shaped their lives. I really enjoyed the book, but the writing style may not be for everyone. I did occasionally lose track of threads of the story because of the style, but other than that, it was a great reading experience!
+20 Task (Bechdel Test)
+10 Review
+ 5 Multiple
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 330
Know Your ABCs15.8 8th Book, letter H-pub 2007
A Nail Through the Heart by Timothy Hallinan
+30 Task
Post Total: 30
Grand Total: 290
10.7 Lucky Sevens (option C)Published 2007
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
+10 Task
+5 Combo (20.7-various conversations between the housekeeper and the female doctor-the mistress in the title-about health concerns, also conversations between several nuns and the same doctor)
Post Total: 15
Season Total: 305
20.8 Veteran AuthorLife at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass by Theodore Dalrymple
Anthony Daniels (Theodore Dalrymple is a pen name) has published books from 1986 to 2010.
Review:The author of this book is a doctor working in a public hospital and a prison in Birmingham, UK. From many years of interaction and observation, he has a very clear understanding of the "underclass"--those living in poverty. Not only that, he expresses it very well. He thinks that the education system in bending-over-backwards to keep these kids from experiencing failure has failed to educate them. He thinks that the police in their efforts to avoid hard work and the appearance of prejudice, have failed to protect the victims or sufficiently punish the criminals. He thinks that the poor lead empty, boring lives and have no goals except short term pleasure. They do not think ahead to the consequences of their actions nor accept responsibility for them. more
I got carried away on my review!
Thank you, Liz M for the 20.10 task. I would never have seen this book if I hadn't been looking in Dewy Decimal 362.2.
+20 Task
+5 Combo (20.10 BPL DD 362.2086)
+5 Multiple
+10 Review
Task total: 40
Grand Total: 165
Ismaa wrote: "10.8 (A)With 7 Words in the TitleThe War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Partsby Louis de Bernières
Review:
Louis de Berniers is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. This book is a satirical tak..."
Unfortunately, this does not qualify for a combo with 20.1. Please see message 35 in the help thread (http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...)
Ismaa wrote: "20.3 In honor of Poe's TalesA Chughtai Collection: The Quilt And Other Stories, The Heart Breaks Free, And The Wild One by Ismat Chughtai
Review:
Ismat Chughtai is known as the grand dame of Urd..."
20.4-feminist authors: Did you mean 20.7? Ismat Chughtai is not on the listed authors of approved feminist authors (), did you mean 20.7-passes the Bechdel test?
Or did you mean 20.4 LGBT author/narrator? Please clarify.
Also, I have not been able to find information regarding this having been published as a COLLECTION (as opposed to individual stories) prior to 1991 and it therefore does not qualify for oldies points. Do you have a link which shows an earlier publication of the collection?
20.8 Veteran's Day-I read
by James Patterson. James Patterson first published book was in 1976. Task +20
Style +15 (Combo 10.2 Octoberfest US, Review)
Review
This is my first book of Patterson's I read. The chapters are short but there are so many of them. I do like the character of Alex Cross. I kept picturing Morgan Freeman because he played him in the movie version. I found the plot was slow in some places and even though the book wasn't that long, I felt the plot dragged on. I thought the kidnapper was nuts and two sandwiches short of a picnic basket. I didn't sympathize with him at all. I really liked the little girl, Maggie Rose and that kept me reading. I will be reading the next book.
Book Total: 35
Grand Total: 45
Christine wrote: "15.3 3rd book, letter P, originally published 1904Eliza by Barry Pain
The most popular edition does not list page count (as it's a kindle edition). However, here is a link to the copy I read: ht..."
The only print edition on GR has 80 pages. Do you have an ISBN for a print edition with greater than 100 pages?
20.8 Veterans DayJourney to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
Review:
This was my first Jules Verne and I was surprised how funny it was! Axel, a timid and pessimistic young German, is dragged off on an impossible-sounding quest to find the centre of the earth by his mad scientist uncle, Dr Liedenbrock. They start in Iceland where they hook up with an imperturbable guide named Hans and start down a passage through rock from the crater of a volcano. Things become more and more unlikely from there on.
I loved the description of 19th-century Iceland, and the contrast of Axel's whingeing and Dr Liedenbrock's suicidal enthusiasm was very amusing. Altogether, despite the absurdity of events in the second half of the book, I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected.
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo (10.8(A))
+ 5 Multiple (2nd book for this task)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (pub.1864)
Task Total: 50 points
Grand Total: 310
Christine wrote: "Elizabeth, if you determine that Eliza will not work for this task, would you be willing to approve The Nature of Goodness?I need a P author, with a book first published in 1904. It's not that ea..."
Eliza will be OK. There are so few ratings - yours might be the only one! And now, of course, there is an edition with 100 pages as the most popular edition. ;-)
15.9 Know Your ABCs9th Book, Letter I, Published 2009
Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 335
10.8 Lucky SevensGone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Review: At first I feared that despite all the good things I've been hearing about this book, it would turn me off as just another book chronicling the woes of a disaffected middle class married couple living in the suburbs. It turns out, however, that this one has a plot, and a fast-paced, thrilling one at that.
Don't get me wrong - the characters are almost universally unlikable, and they think themselves so clever that the language at the beginning put me off a little. But Flynn weaves a story filled with twists that kept me expecting something, even anticipating what ended up happening, but still managed to keep me surprised. Beyond that I really shouldn't say more for fear of spoiling, but it was definitely worth the read.
+10 Task (7 letters in Gillian)
+5 Combo (20.7 - passes Bechdel test barely when Amy and another woman have a conversation about a book and pool water temperature)
+10 Review
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 230
10.7 Monsterfest IV Blood Promise By Richelle Martin (YA lex 700)
+ 10 task book published in 2009, contains vampires.
Task total = 10
Grand Total = 170
10.9 To Be Continued� Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
+ 10 task � book 3 of the Vampire Academy series
No style points because its YA, lex. 660
Task total = 10
Grand Total 180
20.6 � DraculaThe Turn of the Screw by Henry James
+20 Task
+20 Combo : 20.7 (the governess and the housekeeper have several conversations), 20.8, 10.7 (ghosts), 10.3
+10 Oldies (1898)
Task total = 50
Grand Total = 135
Task 10.9 To Be Continued...Blue Moon by Alyson Noel (2 of 6)
(lexile 1050)
Review: This is the second in the Immortals series. It definitely does not stand alone. Ever believes that her new life with Damen will last forever, but then a mysterious stranger comes to town and Damen starts to change, everyone in her school starts to change, but she cannot figure it out. She joins forces with the psychic, Ava, to find an answer in Summerland.
This book moves a lot slower than the first in the series. I read that in one day and this took a bit longer. However, Ever's characters is a bit more likable in this one. She seems to be more independent and plays less of a victim. One thing I liked about the first is that it mentioned the local area more, which is where I am from. It does a bit in this installment, but not as much.
The ending was a bit surprising, but I am not sure how much further in this series I want to go.
+10 Task
+10 Review
Task Total = 20
Grand Total = 125
Task 10.3 Art Garfukel’s books he has readArt Garfukel’s books he has read
#151, June 1979
Also fits: Task 20.8 "veteran" author
The Sheltering Sky (1949) by Paul Bowles
+10 Task
+05 Style:1. Combo (5 points): (#20.8 Veteran)
+10 Style:3. Review (10 points):
+05 Style:4. Oldies (5 to 25 points): -25 to 75 years old: 5 points (1937-1987)
Total: 10 + 05 + 10 + 05 = 30
Grand Total: 270 + 30 = 300
Review: The Sheltering Sky made it to a lot of “best of� lists: #97 on The Modern Library 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century; and, #58 of Time Magazine’s “All-Time 100 Novels�. The novel is set in Morocco, in the years just after the end of World War II. A married American couple is travelling the world. They decide to skip the devastation in Europe and travel around North Africa instead. They meet up with a handful of English speakers who are also travelling around. The motive for all that travelling is weak. Once the reader gets past that, the rest of the story is absorbing and foreign, taking the reader from the problems of today into a totally different world. The ending was strange, maybe I didn't get it? Anyways, recommended for those who like literary fiction.
20.4 Carmilla
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
+20 task
+10 combos 10.3 and 20.6
+10 oldies (pub. 1890)
post total=40
grand total=95
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
+20 task
+10 combos 10.3 and 20.6
+10 oldies (pub. 1890)
post total=40
grand total=95
20.6 In honor of Bram StokerThe Woman in Whiteby Wilkie Collins
Review:
The Woman in White apparently set the trend for the Victorian Mystery genre, and was initially printed as a serial. A lot of swooning, histrionics and raging emotions packed into a mystery novel, but this is pretty typical of the literature of that era. Characters are pretty typical too the determined hero, the weak heroine, the supportive spinster sister, the unrepentant evil villains and the whingy whiney self involved uncle whom I found to be very, very amusing. (Don’t we all know people like him?)
I got annoyed with the characters sometimes for their lack of commonsense and being totally oblivious to all the evil plotting that is going on right in front of their noses, but then anything is possible in a novel.
This book was interesting enough to hold my attention and it wasn’t a struggle to finish it, like it can be for some of the Classics. Read it if you want to toy with trials and tribulations of the Victorian times.
+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo 20.8: Veterans Day
+5 Combo 10.3: Garfunkel's List
+5 Combo 10.4: Celebrate Fall
+15 Oldie : printed in 1859 (151 to 250 years old)
+10 Jumbo : 700 + pages
Task Total: 70
Grand Total: 290
10.1 Square PegThe Snowmanby Jo Nesbø
Review:
In one word .... Superb!! Jo Nesbo a Norwegian Author is my recent discovery, although I find he has been famous for quite some time (and nobody told me!!) The Snowman is excellently written, totally gripping and a great crime mystery full of suspense and blood and gore. Any crime book with a serial killer on the loose is always an engrossing read for those who enjoy such stuff, and I do. I did struggle a little bit with the unfamiliar Norwegian names and places, but the book is totally worth the focus needed.
The Snowman is part of the Detective Harry Hole series, but no matter this it can be read as a stand-alone book, as there were no major references to earlier books that may confuse the reader. I really like the character of Harry Hole, ( but a couple of times I felt like slapping him for letting people into his flat and not getting suspicious, I mean what sort of a detective are you? Put me on tenterhooks!!!! ).
Now I’m on the hunt for more of Nesbo’s books. Recommended for lovers of creepy, zippy, shocking, vivid, crime thrillers.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Jumbo (500+ pages)
Task Total: 25
Grand Total: 315
Task 15.2 - 2nd book - letter P (1987)Equal Rites (Discworld #3) (1987) by Terry Pratchett
+15 Task
Task Total: 15
Grand Total: 300 + 15 = 315
Review: This is the third of the Discworld novels. Discworld is a fantasy world, flat as a disk, a world that is carried by four elephants standing on the back of a huge turtle who is swimming through space. This installment introduces new characters. A wizard on the brink of death attempts to pass on his powers to a baby who is the eighth son of an eighth son (traditionally, the eighth son of an eighth son is destined to be a wizard). They should have checked the diaper first � this family had seven sons, then, baby #8 was a daughter! So the daughter absorbs the powers. Pratchett pokes fun at the standard fantasy coming-of-age of a magic-user novel. The character DEATH makes a cameo (I believe he is in every Discworld novel).
Recommended: for those who like fantasy and are in the mood for a lighthearted, humorous fantasy novel; also recommended for fans of Douglas Adams.
20.7 Women of Achievement MonthThe Great Escape by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Review: I read Susan Elizabeth Phillips' books when I just need a fun time in a new yet familiar world. Most of her books connect in one way or another, so while each focuses on a new couple and their romance, there are usually background characters that I've read about in the past. This installment focused on Lucy Jorvic, who was 15 in First Lady and is now 31. I was a teenager like Lucy when I read First Lady, so it was fun catching up with her again, when we're again about the same age.
The last book Phillips put out loosely parallels this one but was disappointing. The Great Escape is better, although certainly not perfect. Phillips always tries to put some serious issues in the pages of fluffy romance, and I felt that those were a little clunkier than usual this time around. She also always has at least one 'side' romance, which was less satisfying this time around. But all in all I enjoyed it, and will always read the next one she puts out.
+20 Task (Lucy has numerous conversations with a couple of different friends, mostly relating to their careers and figures; she also has a counseling session with a teenage girl about getting her life together)
+5 Combo (20.8 - Phillips published Just Imagine in 1984, and The Great Escape was published this year)
+10 Review
Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 265
10.9 To be Continued...Fables, Vol. 6: Homelands by Bill Wilingham
+10 Task
No style points for graphic novels
Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 275
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Reading with Style
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The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Partsby Louis de Bernières
Review:
Louis de Berniers is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. This book is a satirical take on a fictitious Latin American country and is the first magnificent novel of a trilogy. The next two are Senor Vivo and the Coca Lords, and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman. Just reading the titles of his books makes me quiver with anticipation.
Berniers makes you smile with his sly humor, amazes you with magical realism, makes you pensive and nostalgic with beautiful prose yet makes you squirm with horror as he blandly describes atrocities committed by people on each other as war and strife penetrate deep into their lives.
The style of writing, the plot of the story, the quirky and interesting, yet very human characters all contribute in making this an exceptional must read novel.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo 20.1 First Book Award. Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best 1st Book in South Asia & Europe 1991
+5 Combo 20.8. Veteran Author, 1st book in 1990, latest in 2009. (20 years and counting)
Task Total: 30
Grand total: 115