Joy’s
Comments
(group member since Dec 09, 2012)
Joy’s
comments
from the Reading with Style group.
Showing 1-20 of 100
20.10 AutoBioMemLittle Victories: Perfect Rules for Imperfect Living by Jason Gay
+20 task
+5 multiple (second book for 20.10)
Task total: 25
Grand total: 90
20.10 AutoBioMemWildflower by Drew Barrymore
+20 task
+10 combo (10.2, 10.4)
Task total: 30
Grand total: 65
10.7 4 Letter NamesFaithful Place by Tana French
+10 task
+5 combo (10.4)
Task total: 15
Grand total: 35
10.9 Realistic RatingsNow I See You: A Memoir by Nicole C. Kear
+10 task (3.78 rating)
Task total: 10
Grand total: 325
10.9 Realistic RatingsThe Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango
+10 task (3.55 rating)
Task total: 10
Grand total: 315
10.9 Realistic RatingsStill Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys by Billy Crystal
+10 task (3.87 rating)
Task total: 10
Grand total: 305
10.9 Realistic RatingsWhy Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
+10 task (3.91 rating)
Task total: 10
Grand total: 295
20.8 Best of 2015A Wild Swan: And Other Tales by Michael Cunningham
+20 task (NPR)
+5 combo (10.9 - 3.72)
Task total: 25
Grand total: 285
10.1 Design Your Own Task: Read a book checked out from the libraryAs You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes
Task total: 10
Grand total: 255
10.1 Design Your Own Task: Read a book checked out from the libraryFun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
Task total: 10
Grand total: 245
10.1 Design Your Own Task: Read a book checked out from the libraryHalf Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
Review: Jeannette Walls created this "true life novel" about the incredible life of her Grandma from the often repeated stories and lore passed down from her mother. From growing up poor on the unforgiving land of West Texas, to adjusting to life in the big city of Chicago, and even selling bootleg liquor to pay for flying lessons, Lily led an incredible life that was as harsh as it was thrilling. This book is highly recommended for anyone who enjoyed Walls’s memoir The Glass Castle, as it gives insight into her own unconventional upbringing and helped me to better understand her mother’s parenting skills (or lack thereof).
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 235
20.8 Best of 2015Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
NYT and NPR
Review:
After reading so many glowing reviews of Between the World and Me, I knew I needed to read it. Coates eloquently lays bare his experiences in this extended letter to his son, creating a moving and profoundly thought-provoking treatise. As Toni Morrison proclaimed, this book should be "required reading." I initially picked it up as an audiobook because it was read by the author and I thought it would be nice to hear his own narration. It was a great listening experience and his narration does add another dimension to his words, but I ended up buying the print copy so I could go back and re-read certain sections that warranted a closer read.
+20 task
+10 review
Task total: 30
Grand total: 220
20.1 Grazia DeleddaGolden Age by Jane Smiley
Review: Golden Age is the third and last book in the “Last Hundred Years: A Family Saga” series, and each book, and the series as a whole, certainly lives up to the promise of a saga. In the first book Some Luck, Smiley reveals the meaningfulness of everyday moments by focusing on the minutiae of a family's life on a farm in Iowa. In the next installment Early Warning, the family grows and spreads out across the country. And finally, Golden Age shows how the lives of the Langdon family are shaped by both chance and the repercussions of their choices. A satisfying conclusion to Smiley's engrossing trilogy.
+20 task
+10 combo (10.9 - 3.8, 20.8 - NPR)
+10 review
+5 series
Task total: 45
Grand total: 190
10.9 Realistic RatingsNot That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned" by Lena Dunham
3.34 rating
+10 task
Task total: 10
Grand total: 145
10.9 Realistic RatingsMy Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
3.75 rating
Review: I read and loved Olive Kitteredge by Elizabeth Strout, and so I was highly anticipating her newest book. I was able to snag an ARC and quickly consumed it. The first person, almost diary-like feel of this novel draws you in immediately as a reader, and it almost feels like Lucy is writing to you directly and confiding in a friend. Even though the titular character shares much about her private pains, it's the restraint that Strout exhibits that takes this novel from good to great. In another author’s hands this story could have fallen flat, but Strout excels at highlighting the meaning in the mundane. It’s a quiet novel that packs quite a punch.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 135
10.9 Realistic RatingsDelancey: A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage by Molly Wizenberg
3.68 rating
+10 task
Task total: 10
Grand total: 115
10.2 Noel, NoelMedium Raw by Anthony Bourdain
+10 task
+5 combo (10.9 - 3.73)
Task total: 15
Grand total: 105
10.2 Noel, NoelModern Romance by Aziz Ansari
+10 task
+5 combo (10.9 - 3.85)
Task total: 15
Grand total: 90
