Donna Jo’s Comments (group member since Aug 04, 2010)

Donna Jo’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

10.2

The Thirty Years War by C.V. Wedgwood .

10 pts-Task 156 ratings when I started reading
10 pts-Not a novel--history
5 pts-Oldies published 1938
5 pts-544 pages

Task total 30 pts

Deafening by Frances Itani

At the beginning of the book we meet Grania who has lost her hearing as a five-year old during a bout of scarlet fever. She is particularly close to her older sister Tress and her grandmother Mamo. Sent away to school, she feels isolation and fear.
Years later World War I brings changes to Canada. The men, including her husband, go off to war and also experience the isolation and fear.
Reading this book was like looking at the old sepia pictures in my grandmother's album. It speaks of another time, yet relays images to the future. This is not a book to read in a hurry. Large chunks of it move slowly, but it is well worth sticking with.







Task 10
Review 5
Grand Total 15

The reading is easy,
the reviews more difficult.
Usual--one line.

Krista & Sam, I have lurked here off and on the last couple seasons--my mind just couldn't cope with the record keeper for more than one challenge. But this summer's looks like I might be able to throw myself back in to RwS.
I'll only be posting spasmodically as I'll be in Italy for part of summer and don't know what kind of internet connections I'll have, but I will be reading.

I am contemplating reading The Boke of Duke Huon of Burdeux for 15.10 if I can count the publication date of its English translation by Lord Berners(1534). It is of a translation of a 1513 French edition, but the story has been around for much longer.
If this will work, I'm set to be a Constant Traveler.

Or if you don't want to start with a long Gabriel García Márquez, try his Chronicle of a Death Foretold. I found that more accessible.

Krista wrote: "As I was scanning my crammed bookshelves this afternoon trolling for books that could work for ths season, I found.... Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.

I think that's w..."

Krista, you will really enjoy it.

I read Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women several years ago and found it to be a thought-provoking book. It was a peek into a vastly different culture for me.

I was going to suggest The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden but technically a tomato is a fruit.
Maybe for these purposes it'll be a veggie. If so another that isn't too bad is Tomato Rhapsody: A Novel of Love, Lust, and Forbidden Fruit

For those of you who listen to audio books, for the 1851-1900 time period I can highly recommend Around the World in 80 Days as read by Jim Dale. I am not a big fan of audio books, but this was terrific. Much more humorous than I anticipated.

In cases of translations, I assume you are going with the date of the publication of the original. Does this hold true for things like 1001 Arabian Nights, which covers a ton of editions Like Richard Francis Burton's which came out in 1885 (in 10 volumes).

Right now this is purely hypothetical on my part--I have nothing chosen.

Founder's Day. Since Sam is partial to classics, read a book from before 1950 that DOESN'T appear in the Canon, but you think should. (I'm sorry, but if the book is less than 50 years old, it's too soon for it to be a classic in my book.)

Maybe have SP for reading nonfiction and/or biography. Of course, if the task specifically asks for either of those two categories, SP are disallowed.

For people doing RtT (or just looking for a good read
) I recommend The Maias by Eça de Queirós, first published in 1888.
If you like Victor Hugo or Tolstoy, or a writing style that lovingly describes things in great detail, you will like this Portuguese classic. It's a story of an old famil reduced to the grandfather and grandson; the story of a crumbling society; the story of young men with too much money and time; the story of flirtations and love in the afternoon.

Elizabeth, maybe you could read authors first time around and location second (or vise versa).

Sam, the RTT part of the challenge looks really great!
Just to be sure I understand it right. The first time through you can read in order until you finish all of them; then you choose to either do them again in order, or again you can skip around.