Reading with Style discussion
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SP 22 Completed Tasks
15-point tasksSample Post
15.10 Western Asia
Georgia
Data Tutashkhia by Chabua Amirejibi
(insert 100+ word review)
+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Nonwestern (Georgian)
+ 5 Oldies (1975)
+10 Jumbo (730 pgs)
+20 Project Bonus
Task total: 75
Season Total: 275 (assumes mid-season with a previous total of 200)
15.8 South AsiaIn the Orchard, the Swallows by Peter Hobbs
100% Pakistan (this turns Pakistan green!!)
Well, this is a strong start to the season! I can’t say enough good things about this beautifully written book. Equally, I don’t want to go into too much depth because this is such a short novel and the pleasure is in the unfolding. It is a very simple (on the face of it) story – a young man is (unjustly) sent to prison and then without explanation he is released after losing half his life. It is set wholly in Pakistan, and the orchard plays a large role. As an aside, it is a pomegranate orchard which must be amazing! It is about kindness, strength of will and love in a very unjust world. 5*
15 task
20 bonus
10 review
_____
45
Running total: 45
15.9 Southeast AsiaThe Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
Laos
+15 Pts - task
+20 Pts - Bonus
35 Pts - Task Total
20.9 BirthdaysMorality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
(No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Book 3)
These are light, pleasant books. The characters are enjoyable and entertaining, so I'm forgiving of the lack of much mystery or detective work in this installment in this series. As always, the reader for the audiobook did a fine job with the narration and I was glad to spend a few hours with these characters.
One of the traits of the protagonist is that she is a "traditionally-built" lady (i.e., larger sized). In this book, there's a moment where the head of the orphanage gives Mma Ramotswe a large piece of cake. She muses that the cake must be hundreds of calories, but she proceeds to eat it thinking that as a traditionally-built lady she need not worry too much about it.
I'll be happy to continue to use this series as a light interlude between more serious or depressing or lengthy reads. I wouldn't want to read these back to back, but I like coming back to the series periodically--it's like stopping in for tea with an old friend.
+20 Task (see above)
+10 Review
Task total: 30
Grand total: 30
20.9 Birthdays204 Rosewood Lane. Debbie Macomber
I wanted to like this more than I did. I generally like this author's books as a light interlude between deeper books. However, I don't care for the cliffhanger ending that require you to read the next book in the series, nor did romances ring true. Make up your minds, people.
There were several scenes between mothers and daughters that took place at the kitchen table with tea and cake.
+20 Task
+5 combo (20.3)
+10 review
Task total: 35
Running total: 35
20.9
15.7 East AsiaThe Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire by Jack Weatherford
Mongolia
+15 Pts - Task
+20 Pts - Bonus
Task Total- 35 pts
10.6 Spaced OutBinti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor
Mind expanding like good science fiction should be. The book has me thinking about race, culture, heritage, war, communication from a little different perspective than I usually do. This is a collection of three novellas and a short story with the same characters. They are chronological for a complete story arc.
Binti is a gifted harmonizer and astrolabe (a communication device) creator. She sneaks away from home and her planet to attend university, something that her family and village does not understand or approve of. She is the first of her culture to leave the planet and attend the university.
The story is interesting but the world building seems clunky with cultures, intelligent creatures and concepts sort of being sprung on the reader out of nowhere. But I hope the author, Nnedi Okarafor sets more stories in this universe.
+10 task
+5 combo (5 letter given name)
+10 review
Task total: 25
Season total: 25
15.4 Eastern Africa, UgandaChild of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji
I had no idea that for nearly 100 years there was a sizable Indian population in Uganda--the British hired a workforce of Punjabi men to build the Uganda Railway and once the railroad was complete, they stayed. When Idi Amin rose to power, he gave the Indian population 90 days to leave. Those who stayed were interred in concentration camps.
This story takes place during those 90 days. Sabine was born in Uganda and her family are citizens--but they are of Indian ancestry. Her father runs a successful coffee plantation and feels they have no need to fear since they are citizens. Slowly, they see their world change as neighbors leave and those they thought were friends abandon them. They soon realize that regardless of their citizenship or their allegiance to and love for their country, it's not safe for them to stay. Now that the stakes and risks are high, will they all make it out alive?
While this wasn't the best written book or most compelling story, the history that I learned by reading it was absolutely worth it.
+15 Task
+20 Project Bonus
+10 Review
Task total: 45
Season total: 45
15.10 Western AsiaLebanon
Shatila Stories by Omar Khaled Ahmad
+15 Task
+10 Nonwestern (Born in Syria, living in Shatila Camp, Lebanon)
Task total: 25
Season Total: 25
15.6 Central AsiaA Killing Winter by Tom Callaghan
Kyrgyzstan
+15 pts - Task
+20 pts - Bonus
Task Total - 35 pts
15.7 East AsiaJapan
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
With nearly 2 million GR ratings, this should be on some list called "everyone has read it but me." I bought a used copy about 10 years ago, read the first paragraph and put it back on my shelf. Not for me then and I kept skipping over it. Finally, the time was right!
Elizabeth Strout in her My Name Is Lucy Barton had a writing instructor say "you have only one story to tell, but you will tell it in many ways." I guess Arthur Golden truly had only one story to tell. This is it, his one novel published 25 years ago. I'm guessing we shouldn't expect another. It seems he made the most of his one story, though.
I was disappointed in the ending and, without reading other reviews, I'll hazard that I am an outlier in that. The ending wasn't wrong, I just wanted a different one. I enjoyed my time with this, but due to that disappointment, this doesn't quite make 5-stars.
+15 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (1997)
+ 5 Jumbo (503 pgs)
Task total = 35
First post!
15.4 East Africa Somalia
Bloodline by James Rollins
+15 task
+10 Combo 10.3 on list of best endings & 10.4 5 letters in given name James.
Post total: 25
Season total: 25
Sue wrote: "15.4 East Africa Somalia
Bloodline by James Rollins
+15 task
Post total: 15
Season total: 15"
Somalia is on our list of countries for the Project Bonus, so give yourself another 20 points for this!
15.9 Southeast AsiaDogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn
>95% Philippines (Philippines is green!!)
This is another excellent novel. I’m enjoying reading about other countries, and in this case from an expat voice who can really call up Manila in the late 1950s/early 1960s. If you are in my age group you have images in your mind of Imelda Marcos and her shoes (and other conspicuous consumption). She makes a veiled appearance in the novel, along with the other rich and corrupt ruling class. The author also makes a point of showing the ‘real’ Manila of the (very) poor and criminal class, which she also does well. The story is told through many voices however is interwoven in a complex and satisfying way. The author adapted this novel into a play, and I think it would work well in that format. 4*
15 task
20 bonus country
10 review
5 oldie
____
50
Running total: 95
20.3 Our TownRobert B. Parker's The Hangman's Sonnet by Reed Farrel Coleman
I had watched some of the Jesse Stone movies because my mother-in-law is a Tom Selleck fan so when I stumbled across this book I thought it would be an amusing read. It was a solidly put together story and might even work for those who like trying to solve it themselves. The plot was well supported by the personal interactions and reading it without remembering most of the characters was not an issue. I was amused that it was Stone's mix of what he'd learned in the small town of Paradise and the big city savvy he had kept that ended up with him solving the case. I won't be seeking out others in the series, but that is usually how I read mysteries.
+20 task
+10 review
+5 combo 10.4
Task total: 35
Grand total: 35
20.9. BirthdayCakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham
20 pts Birthday P97 A chair was brought up for me and Mrs. Driffield gave me apiece of cake
10 pts Review
10 pts Oldies
I have enjoyed Somerset Maugham in theoasr but this was a less successful novel in my opinion. In broad terms it is about the interactions, sometimes fairly superficial between three authors and how each sees himself and how he would ike to be portrayed. Driffield is the most comfortable in his own skin but his legacy is being shaped by his widow to make it conform to her view of what his life should be remembered as. That requires erasing or substantially revising the facts and character of his first wife and Driffield himself.
Most of the characters have a snobby view of wht a writer should be and do not seem to appreciate the good and no-so-good in others true lives
The book occasionally goes on random expository tangents that are distracting, but when it stays engaged with the main story line it can be excellent
Task total: 40 pts
Total Season: 40 pts
… … … … … … … … … …
… … … … … … … … … …
… … … … … … … … 20.9 …
10.9 EasterThe Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear by Kate Moore
"The Woman They Could Not Silence" is a riveting tale about Elizabeth Packard who was committed to the Jaacksonville Insane Asylum in 1860 by her husband. Elizabeth was a wife and mother of six children who upset her pastor husband when she revealed her more liberal religious views during Bible study classes. Theophilus Packard was told to quiet his wife by the conservative trustees in his church. Her controlling husband felt threatened by his intelligent, articulate, and charismatic wife. Female mental illness at that time included having a strong will, unusual zealousness, incessant talking, or expressing disappointment about a situation. Married women had no legal recourse if their husband wanted to commit them.
Elizabeth spent three years locked away in the asylum. She witnessed other sane individuals in the same circumstances. Patients were physically abused by the staff, and lived in filthy surroundings. She wrote about her observations and hid her writings in the linings of her clothes. The doctor at the asylum talked to her to gather information to discredit her, but had no type of treatment plan.
Elizabeth was eventually released, but she had to work to clear her name since her husband later imprisoned her in their home. She went on to campaign tirelessly for the release of other sane patients, for better conditions for the mentally ill, and for women's rights. She lobbied legislators to change the 19th Century laws that were used to unfairly control women. Although it is a nonfiction book, Elizabeth Packard's story reads like a legal thriller in some places as her husband and her doctor tried to silence her. It's both heartbreaking and an inspiration to read about this remarkable woman.
+10 task (The, They, Silence)
+ 5 combo 10.4 Name (Kate)
+ 5 jumbo (540 pages)
+10 review
Task total: 30
Season total: 30
20.9 BirthdayThe Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
Pg 19: "We had food for days: fried chicken, baked chicken, macaroni and cheese, greens, deviled eggs, potato salad, black-eyed peas and rice, pound cake."
Deesha Philyaw has written a collection of nine short stories about Southern black women whose desires often conflict with traditional church teachings. There are often several generations of women in her stories with some offering love and support, but others have been ground down emotionally by hardship and the absent men in their lives. Several stories feature women full of guilt because their church and their mothers would not approve of their sexual orientation.
My favorite story is "Peach Cobbler" about an emotionally neglected young daughter who watches her mother make peach cobbler for the married church pastor every Monday. The mother disappears into the bedroom with him before he leaves. Another story, featuring the same daughter as an adult woman, is titled "Instructions for Married Christian Husbands."
Almost every story has mentions of food--the basic TV dinner, platters of food for a funeral, and hearty comfort food made from scratch. A story about a heavy woman with body image problems is also part of the collection.
Deesha Philyaw is a talented writer who shows the conflict between what black women secretly want, and what their churches and society demand from them. Relationships between mothers and daughters are especially important in these short stories.
+20 task
+10 review
Task total: 30
Season total: 60
20.7 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WaoMaigret at the Coroner's by Georges Simenon
+20 task
+ 5 oldies (1949)
Task total=25
Season total=25
15.4 Eastern AfricaIvory by Tony Park
(Mozambique- about 2/3 in Mozambique and 1/3 in South Africa)
+15 pts - Task
+10 pts -Bonus
Task Total - 35 pts
10.9 DualThe Undesired by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
In the 1970s, two boys were found dead at a juvenile detention center for boys, victims of asphyxiation from a blocked tailpipe causing exhaust to fill the car they were in.
Forty years later, the boys' home is under investigation and the deaths are being looked at more closely. The book opens with Odinn, the man in charge of the investigation, locked in a car with his daughter, the two of them nearing death from asphyxiation.
The timeline pops back and forth each chapter, slowly advancing the story as clues are slowly dropped along the way.
In the final pages of the story, I was absolutely shocked and surprised at how it all wrapped up! It's been a long time since I was that blindsided by an ending and I loved every second of it.
+10 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo: 10.4; 20.3 (it doesn't ever say the name of the town, but it's in "rural Iceland" and it's clear from the story that it's not large and quite isolated)
Task total: 30
Season total: 75
10.2 EasterThe Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith
Even though I didn’t keep track of it on GR, I’ve jumped in and out of this series randomly over the years. I finally decided last year that I should read these in order. When I first started this series, it didn’t really appeal to me. However, as the story and characters have developed I like it a lot more. This is the third in the series, where we get to know how Jamie and Isabel get together. The charm of the story was not damaged by my knowing the outcome. These novels are generally classed as mysteries, but really they are not that and if you read them expecting that you will be very disappointed. Now that I know they are gentle slices of life I enjoy them greatly. 4*
10 task
10 review
____
20
Running total: 115
10.4 NameBitter Root, Vol. 1: Family Business by David F. Walker
task total=10
Grand Total=10
----; ----; ----; 10.4
20.4 The ReiversThe Godfather by Mario Puzo
I was not expecting much from this novel...but felt it was time to read this because the movies are still such an important topic of popular culture. I watched the films when they first hit the screen decades ago. I was surprised....since I usually always run against the grain of popular culture...but the novel is gripping....even though somewhat understated....similar to the personality of the main character Don Corleone.
Yes, this is a book about a mafia family...but it demonstrates how the entire enterprise developed...and makes what violence that is unfathomable to most people... understandable...even logical at times. I have fewer memories of the Godfather sequels (perhaps I only think I remember seeing them) so, I will be putting them on my TBR. 4 1/2 stars.
task =20
Review=10
combo= 10 (10.4; 20.9*)
Oldie=5 (1969)
task total= 45
Grand Total=55
----; ----; ----; 10.4
-----;
-----; -----; -----; 20.4
*p.43- "It was nearly twilight before the wedding cake was shown, exclaimed over and eaten. Specially baked by Nazorine, it was cleverly decorated with shells of cream so dizzyingly delicious that the bride greedily plucked them from the corpse of the cake before she whizzed away on her honeymoon with her blond groom. “
10.4 NameI Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf by Grant Snider
task =10
task total= 10
Grand Total=65
----; ----; ----; 10.4 (2x)
-----;
-----; -----; -----; 20.4
10.4 NameA Mother in History: Three Incredible Days with Lee Harvey Oswald's Mother by Jean Stafford
+10 task
+ 5 oldies (1965)
Task total=15
Season total=40
10.1 PopularEmbers by Sándor Márai
The General waits in his castle for the best friend of his youth, whom he hasn't seen for decades. Something happened to separate them 41 years ago, and as they grow old, it is time for the truth of it to come out.
This is a powerful and tense story of passion and betrayal that keeps the reader guessing. Although it seems that Konrad has come to confess something, his host the General does almost all of the talking. The talk is of the past, but all of the action takes place in one day, and I found it mesmerising.
+10 Task (#25 on the list for 1942)
+ 5 Combo (20.7 message 29 in help thread)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (1942)
Post Total = 35
Season Total = 35
10.4 NameMrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell
Mrs Bridge (“Her first name was India – she was never able to get used to it”) is a well-off 1930s/40s Kansas City housewife with time on her hands, many prejudices, and a feeling that somehow something is missing from her life. But since she doesn't know quite what, she continues going to the country club and the Ladies' Auxiliary and waiting for her husband and children to come home.
This book has some hilarious moments, some sad ones, and some food for thought. I couldn't help loving Mrs Bridge on paper, although I'm sure she would have driven me crazy in person.
(The timeline includes World War II so it doesn't qualify for 20.10)
+10 Task
+10 Review
+ 5 Oldies (1959)
Post Total = 25
Season Total = 60
15.7 East AsiaThe Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
An abusive ex-husband is found dead, but the wife has an alibi. Detective Kusanagi knows there's something fishy about all this but he can't put his finger on it. Not until Dr Yukawa (known as Professor Galileo) gets involved does Kusanagi begin to see a link between the killing and Ms Hanoaka's neighbour, a teacher of mathematics.
This Japanese crime novel is not an average murder mystery because we know the killers from the beginning. The question is, will they get away with it?
This was my first book by Higashino and it was a great read. I'm glad I have more lined up!
+15 Task (set entirely in Japan)
+10 Review
+10 Non-western (Japanese author)
Post Total = 35
Season Total = 95
20.7 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WaoAnnie John by Jamaica Kincaid
A story of growing up as a prickly, rebellious, intelligent only child. This is the story of Annie's life from earliest childhood to the age of 17. She lives on the island of Antigua with a strict mother and a father who is much older and mostly absent emotionally, if not physically. She has intense friendships and can be cruel. It all felt very realistic, but hard to like.
My enjoyment was probably affected by listening to an audiobook narrated in a strange accent that seemed to meld Caribbean intonation with Irish vowels. I tried to ignore it, but I think it was a barrier between me and the story.
(This book has already been read for Antigua & Barbuda for our project)
+20 Task (Antigua to USA)
+10 Review
+10 Non-western (on the spreadsheet)
+ 5 Oldies (1985)
Post Total = 45
Season Total = 140
20.3 Our TownOne by One by Ruth Ware
Set in the fictional village of Saint Antoine, in France
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.4)
Task total = 25
Season total = 25
.... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; ....
.... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; ....
.... ; .... ; 20.3 ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; ....
20.10 Between the Wars The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
States in several article that it's set in the 20's (example: https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...)
+20 Task
Task total = 20
Season total = 45
.... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; ....
.... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; ....
.... ; .... ; 20.3 ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; 20.10
20.8 Texas IndependenceAll Systems Red by Martha Wells
An artificial intelligence that calls itself Murderbot has been assigned to protect a team of scientists prospecting on a new planet. It likes nothing better than to spend downtime watching space soap operas, but on this assignment, there are other challenges to face.
I read this exactly one year ago as an ebook and loved it, so when a friend recommended the audio, I decided to try that too. I was a little disconcerted because I had imagined Murderbot with more of a female voice, and the narrator is male. But I still enjoyed it very much.
The only downside with this series is the price, which is high for such short books. But long books are not always better :)
+20 Task (author born in Texas)
+15 Combo (10.2, 10.5 main character is a cyborg, 10.6)
+10 Review
Post Total = 45
Season Total = 185
15.4 East AfricaUnbowed by Wangari Maathai
An autobiography of an important and courageous woman, written in a straightforward but not especially artful manner, and ably narrated for the audiobook version. Recommended for the story it's telling about community activism and standing up for justice in the face of danger and bad government.
I first knew about Wangari Maathai from a children's picture book, Wangari's Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa, which somehow found it's way into my house and was frequently read with my children. There, the focus is on the "greenbelting"/tree planting work. Unbowed highlights how the environmental activism is inseparable from politics.
I'm inspired by her story.
+15 Task (Kenya)
+10 Nonwestern
+10 Review
Task total: 35
Grand total: 65
20.6 The Color PurpleHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
What can I add to the discussion about the Harry Potter books that some others haven't already said since so many millions have read and love these books? I'm not a fan of science fiction or fantasy usually... and that still hasn't changed with this read. But somehow this story is palatable. Adolescent wizards facing down adult villains. Invisibility cloaks. Owls which serve as messengers. Beings that transform. Mortal beings who are idiots. I think the charm is that the reader feels empowered to be on the side of the underdog and the righteous. Just three stars from me...but I can see that others would feel differently.
task =20
Review=10
Combo= 5 (10.2)
task total= 35
Grand Total=100
----; ----; ----; 10.4 (2x)
-----;
-----; -----; -----; 20.4; ----; 20.6
10.4 NameThe Desert Prince by Peter V. Brett
+10 Task
+5 Jumbo (656 pages)
Task total = 15
Season Total: 15
20.8 Texas IndependenceThe Siren Depths by Martha Wells
+20 Task born in Texas
Task total = 20
Season Total: 35
15.4 Eastern AfricaZimbabwe
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
I think I needed to know more Rhodesia/Zimbabwe history to appreciate this at its fullest. There were two aspects that stuck out for me: 1) the way of life on the homestead, largely without the influence of white colonization; 2) feminism where I would not have expected it, though it was burgeoning worldwide at the time period of the novel. To this latter, I marked some of a paragraph about midway in the novel. And then late in the novel, not directly feminism, but one cannot miss it.
The victimisation, I saw, was universal. It didn't depend on poverty, on lack of education or on tradition. It didn't depend on any of the things I thought it depended on. Men took it everywhere with them. ... But what I didn't like was the way all the conflicts came back to this question of femaleness. Femaleness as opposed and inferior to maleness.This thought process was certainly prevalent in the 1970s. (And I wish I had really thought more about and understood this latter about marriage before I jumped in. Would I have had the strength to stop myself and look around?)
Marriage. I had nothing against it in principle. In an abstract way I thought it was a very good idea. But it was irritating the way it always cropped up in one form or another, stretching its tentacles back to bind me before I had ever begun to think about it seriously, threatening to disrupt my life before I could even call it my own.
As a feminist novel, and not just an African novel, one can see its strength by the above. Underdeveloped is the insidiousness of the so-called race superiority of colonialism. And so I find it a mixed bag, though my reaction is due more to expectation than reality. I learned a lot reading this. For me it doesn't quite make 5-stars.
+15 Task
+10 Review
+10 Nonwestern
+ 5 Oldies (1988)
Task total = 40
Season total = 75
15.7 East AsiaTokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by Jake Adelstein
The is a fascinating peak at Japan from an American who became a crime reporter for the largest newspaper in Japan. I learned a lot. There was/is an untouchable caste in Japan. What it was like to test into a company and what the “initiation” of new reporters was like. And how important the university a person went to is to their career.
And then there is the yakuza, Japanese organized crime. Brutal, money-grubbing, exploitative and shadily connected to the powers-that-be whether politicians or businessmen. The author ends up on a crusade to try to change the enslavement of foreign women in prostitution by the yakuza, putting himself, his family and acquaintances in danger.
I was amazed that part of the job of a crime reporter was to visit police investigators at their homes after hours.
Adelstein tells his story well with touches of humor and painful soul-searching.
+15 task
+10 review
Task total: 25
Season total: 50
15.10 Western Asia The Daughters of Kobani: A Story of Rebellion, Courage, and Justice by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Syria
+20 - Task
+10 - Bonus
Task Total - 35 pts
20.9 Birthdays Mon mari by Maud Ventura
I completely forgot to take the quote, and now I’ve returned the book to the library, but at one point during the daughter’s birthday they are eating a charlotte aux fraises – a type of cake that is composed of biscuits dipped in syrup, cream and something else, here strawberries – you can read it all on Wikipedia if you’re curious and/or hungry ! : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlot...
+20 Task
+5 Combo (10.4)
Task total = 25
Season total = 70
.... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; ....
.... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; ....
.... ; .... ; 20.3 ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; .... ; 20.9 ; 20.10
post 11 Anika wrote: "15.4 Eastern Africa, UgandaChild of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji
I had no idea that for nearly 100 years there was a sizable Indian population in Uganda--the Briti..."
Although Shenaaz Nanji is living in Canada, I cannot see that she has become a Canadian citizen, despite looking. We will list her as nonwestern for at least this season.
Post 23 Rebekah wrote: "15.4 Eastern AfricaIvory by Tony Park
(Mozambique- about 2/3 in Mozambique and 1/3 in South Africa)
+15 pts - Task
+10 pts -Bonus
+10 pts - Combo (10.4,20.4 - pirat..."
The 15s are no combo tasks, but your score is the same because the Project Bonus is 20 points.
15.2 Western AfricaMali
A Kiss of Adventure (Treasures of the Heart #1) by Catherine Palmer
Review
It's one of those treasure hunting romancey sort of read that you really need to suspend all kinds of disbelief really. But, you know, it's going to be a fun ride when you do. I also don't know whether I'm influenced by knowing that this was published in 1997 but to me, it did feel very 90s! If you're wondering what do I know of the 90s, I grew up in the 90s. While I can't pinpoint exactly what it was, I think it was just the writing, the way things were phrased etc.
It was also fascinating in that this is a Christian fiction and I don't think I've ever read this kind of mashup (adventure-romance-Christian). I really liked the protagonist and her faith but I'm not keen on the converting-romantic-interest angle. Well, I guess, she wasn't really trying to convert him as such but I guess I just found the end a bit more unbelievable but it's a romance, it would've had to happen, I suppose... Otherwise, a very easy & fast read.
+15 Task
+20 Project Bonus
+10 Review
+5 Oldies (pub. 1997)
Post Total: 50
Season Total: 50
10.6 Space OutProject Hail Mary by Andy Weir
10 pts 10.6 Space out
5 pts 10.4 Name
5 pts 10.9 Dual
10 pts Review
Once again Andy Weir has written a space adventure that is difficult to put down. The Earth is at risk of dying and the hero, an astronaut has only a slim chance of saving humanity. In best McGyver style, problems are solved, tools created, and space challenges met. I don’t want to give away the ending but this is a hard to put down adventure. Even for someone who isn’t a die hard science fiction fan. Andy Weir keeps the reader on the edge of their seat and wondering what will happen next. The twists and turns are all part of the suspense.
Task total: 30 pts
Total Season: 70 pts
… … … … 10.6 … … … …
… … … … … … … … … …
… … … … … … … … 20.9 …
10.5 Database AnniversaryCyber Mage by Saad Hossain
+10 Task
+ 5 Combo 10.4
+10 Nonwestern
Task total = 25
Season Total: 60
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Chuck Palahniuk (other topics)
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Please use the add book/author link for the book titles. When claiming combo points, tell how the book qualifies, and provide a link if requested in the task description.
If using an outside source to qualify a book for points or combo, please be sure to post in the appropriate task thread prior to posting in this thread.
Sample Post
20.4 The Reivers
Outlaws of the Marsh by Shi Nai'an
[insert 100+ word review]
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo (3, 4, 5 first name)
+10 Review
+10 Nonwestern
+25 Oldies (pub'd 1370)
+25 Jumbo (2149 pages)
Task total = 95
Season Total: 200 (assuming mid-season with a previous season total of 105)