Tobey’s Comments (group member since Nov 02, 2010)

Tobey’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

20.2 Series

The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory

+20 Task (approved in Series Thread)
+5 Combo (10.6 - Gregory has a PhD in 18th Century Lit)
+5 Jumbo (504 pages)

Task Total=30
Grand Total=65

Kate S wrote: "From Post 54

Tobey wrote: "10.4 Scrabble

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

+10 Task
+10 Combo (10.3,10.8 http://bookrageous.podbean.com/e/book......"

Yes Kate, thanks! I totally meant 10.1. My task total should remain the same.

However, in post 181, you added +5 for a Combo to my score so I should have a running total of 35 now.

10.9 Tried and True

Never Go Back by Lee Child (author has a rating of 4.04 and 758,620 reviews when I checked)

+10 Task

Task Total=10
Grand Total=30

10.4 Scrabble

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

+10 Task
+10 Combo (10.3,10.8 http://bookrageous.podbean.com/e/book...)

Task Total=20
Grand Total=20

Thanks Jama for asking as I was wondering the same thing.

I had one more book to add but had day surgery yesterday so won't get around to posting it. I wanted to thank all the mods for all their hard work and am looking forward to the Spring Challenge! I'll be laid up so hope to get lots of reading in!

Tobey

Coming in at the last minute...does Khaled Hosseini work? His bio says he was born in Afghanistan and moved to the U.S in 1980. Sorry, cannot link from mobile app.

Thanks,
Tobey

20.10 Goodreads Feature

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Liane Moriarty is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. Big Little Lies is her second book that I have read in the recent past and it was highly enjoyable. The story was full of mystery and intrigue and real life and the characters she develops are as real as the friends we have in our lives. Then there’s the twist. You know it’s coming but I was not quite prepared for what it was. It was a doozy and maybe in retrospect, the book went a little downhill from there, a little anti-climactic. Not enough to diminish my overall enjoyment of the story however.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (10.4-story takes places 99% in Australia)

Task Total=35
Grand Total=345

Would Paula Hawkins work? Sorry I cannot do links on my GR mobile. She was born in Zimbabwe, currently lives in London.

Thanks,
Tobey

20.9 Respect Elders

Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt

I love the time travel genre a lot but reading them makes my head hurt and this one was no exception.

Time Travelers Never Die centres around Shel’s search for his father after he goes missing and Shel finds a device which turns out to be a time machine. What ensues is Shel going from place to place in time trying to find his father and exploring historical events. As with most time travel books, the story line gets confusing. I found the plot to be a bit jumbled with not really a main focus or else the focus got lost. It also probably didn’t help that I read it on the Kindle. I find books on the Kindle so much less satisfying.

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task Total=30
Grand Total=310

How about the Highlander Series by Karen Marie Moning? I've read a few of them and they each have different narrators who are connected somehow.

Huge brain fart here but how on earth do I link to a series page here on GR?

10.3 1980's

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

Years ago, in 2012, I read the first book in the Discworld series. I’d heard so many good things about it and how awesome it was that I just had to read it. I even researched it to make sure I was reading the books in order since there are so many of them and as a reader, I am very anal about reading books in order.

But I didn’t love The Colour of Magic back then. I found it hard to get into and hard to follow the storyline but I didn’t want to give up so I decided to give Discworld another try with the second book, The Light Fantastic. I had heard that it takes some time to get into the series. Well I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t love this book either. I wanted to like this series, I really did but I just don’t. I think the storyline was easier to follow in this second book (it had a plot that I could actually understand) but I’m still not loving it and as a friend said to me recently “Life is too short for books you don’t enjoy.” Ain’t that the truth!


+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 OIdies (1986)

Task Total=25
Adjusted Total from Post 666=255
Grand Total=280

10.4 Island Dreams

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

The Rosie Project was a fun, entertaining read once I got past the main character’s personality. While I know there are people that are rigid in their schedules and how they live their lives, I found it odd to read about and had trouble adjusting to it as I kept thinking “Why would anybody live this way?” Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with it, it doesn’t make you a bad person, it was just odd to read about. Don Tillman got himself into some interesting situations because of his personality. After all, variety is the spice of life and Don finally learned about that by the end of the book. I wouldn’t put this as one of my 5 star reads for 2015 though.

+10 Task
+10 Review
+5 Combo (20.10)

Task Total=25
Adjusted Grand Total after adding Combo Points in post 636=225
Grand Total=250

<10>10.8 Two for One

The Grimoire of the Lamb by Kevin Hearne (Kindle edition 76 pgs)

Second Son by Lee Child (Kindle edition 32 pgs)

Total Pages: 108

For Two for One, I picked my “comfort food”. I chose a short story in the Iron Druid Chronicles, The Grimoire of the Lamb, that takes place between the novels of the series. It satisfied my taste for more Atticus and the lovable Oberon and was interesting because none of the other main characters in the novels are present and the story focuses solely on Atticus.

The Second Son is a Jack Reacher story that takes place when Reacher is 13, before we all know him as the ex-Military-coffee-drinking wanderer that he is. It was an glimpse into how Reacher became the kind of man we read about today.

Both of these short stories were nice diversions into two of my favorite series.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total=20
Grand Total=220

20.6 Jewish

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I know I can't get style points for it but just a very short review:

OMG. I don’t even know what to say except for I was a total wreck at the end of this book and I could barely finish it through my tears. This novel is so…..so….I can’t even describe it so I won’t. I will say that you should read it if you haven’t already.

+20 Task (Lexile 730)

Task Total=20
Grand Total=200

No worries Jama, thanks!

20.5 Mystery Woman

Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich

It has been awhile since I have read a Stephanie Plum novel but I felt like I needed something quick and light to read this time around. I enjoyed it, I don’t want to say that I loved it though. There were a lot of funny moments and I really think you have to suspend your version of reality when reading these novels – which is the point of course. They aren’t to be taken too seriously, you are just supposed to enjoy them and not think too much about them. If I was putting too much thought into plot development and character development, well I would likely be throwing the book at the wall repeatedly.

+20 Task
+10 Review

Task Total=30
Grand Total=180

Thanks Elizabeth, that is what I thought but I just wanted to make sure. I think I am going to read it anyways.

Any thoughts on my question in post 59 about whether or not I can claim Review points for The Book Thief?

Thx,
Tobey