Rosemary’s Comments (group member since Dec 05, 2011)

Rosemary’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

Post 368 Mary wrote: "10.2 Bookshops of Melbourne

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

10 pts 10.2 Bookshops of Melbourne
5 pts 10.4 fall birthdays
5 pts 10.9 “I brought you this,” Agnes says, holding out a hunk of bread and a packet of the cheese she makes herself, in the outhouse in Henley Street, straining ewe’s milk through muslin.” Agnes gives Bartholomew cheese "

To clarify, for 10.9, giving or receiving generic cheese wouldn't work, but the detail you've quoted of how it's made is enough for us to accept it as a specific type of cheese (sheep's cheese).

Post 362 Norma wrote: "20.4 - Uncommon Letter

The Fix by David Baldacci

+20 task - X
+5 Combo - 10.9 Cheese - Cheese burger medium with the works.

Task total: 25
Grand total: 635"

Please confirm who eats this cheeseburger, or is it just on a menu or something like that, which would not work?

Post 346 Claire wrote: "10.5 Leo Tolstoy

Read a book with MPG Food.

Ons voedsel
Louise O. Fresco

10 points + 10 points female + 15 points combo (10.1, 10.4, 10.9 ‘ with calcium and pr..."

-5 Combo: this doesn't work for 10.4 because of the author's initial F.

However, according to the database your total to post 350 is 995, not 965 as you have here. I'm not sure how the difference arose, but I guess you may have missed adding the points from one post.

Post 339 Claire wrote: "Sweet sixteen Bingo 15.2.3

B1 Author has a equal number of letters in their first name and their last name.

Motive X
Stefan Ahnhem

15 points
Total: 930 points
..."

+5 Big (the most popular printed edition in English has 608 pages)

Post 338Deedee wrote: "Task 15.05

Square I-5 - A book without chapter numbers.

Mattie (1988) by Judy Alter
Spur Award for Best Western Novel (1988)

+15 Task..."

+5 Old

Post 322 Claire wrote: "Sweet sixteen Bingo 15.25
I4 a book of short stories or essays

Anything Is Possible
Elizabeth Strout

15 points + 150 points card finished
Total: 870 points ..."

Congratulations on your Bingo card finish!

Post 315 Tien wrote: "10.9 Marie's task
Atlanta's Guide to Cryptids (DRC Files #1) by Kevin A. Davis

...

Post total: 25
Season total: 375

Tien, at post 255 you had 365 points, plus 25 here = 390

Post 307 Kathleen (itpdx) wrote: "10.4 Fall Birthdays

Repentance by Eloísa Díaz

I decided to read this book in my quest to understand Argentina. It tells the story of policeman Alzada in two time ..."

+5 Combo 20.4

Post 301 Karen Michele wrote: "20.1 Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

Monsieur Proust's Library by Anka Muhlstein

+20 Task: 3.75 / 185
+15 Combo: Combo: 10.3 1925 Movies /10.4 Fall Birthdays / 10.8 Are ..."

+5 Combo 20.6

Post 268 Joanne wrote: "15-3

A book (fiction or nonfiction) set more than 200 years before the time it was published

Queens of the Crusades - set in the 13th Century, published 2021

+15 Post
+ 5 big
T..."

Joanne, when you post Bingo tasks, please also include the number of the square on the Bingo board, because we need to enter it in the database. This one is I2.

Everyone, if you are claiming 10.9 Cheese! from now on, please check message 4 in the task thread https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... to make sure your book really fits the task, and post the requested information. Claims up to post 350 have been accepted without changes. Thank you!

Please note for this task, either a character must eat cheese, as in Deedee's question, or a specific type of cheese must be named (like cottage cheese or Camembert).

It's not enough just to find the word "cheese" in the book unless you can also say who eats it. Only if a specific type of cheese is named, then it's okay if nobody eats it.

A few books have been claimed where just "cheese" has been quoted and I have assumed the characters actually eat it and accepted the books this time, because we are a little behind with the scoring and it may be too long ago for readers to remember the details. But for future posts, if it's just "cheese", please tell us who eats it, as requested in the task description.

Yes, subtitles are normally included in a task like this unless specified otherwise.

This seems a good moment to open a new Socializing thread - the old one had reached nearly 600 posts, and it has been quiet for a few days. And we will soon be at the halfway point for the season!

To clarify the alliteration task: if a pronunciation is standard enough to be in dictionaries like Merriam-Webster and Collins, we will take it. And as we said earlier in this thread, subtitles can be ignored. So we will accept, for example, Why Willows Weep: Contemporary Tales from the Woods and Shooting Schedule.

LOL Denise, you can use it for either one as you like :)

15.3 SSB

Square N1 - a book by a winner or finalist of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature

Dusklands by J.M. Coetzee

+15 Task
+ 5 Old (1974)

Task total = 20
Season Total = 370

Bingo: N1, N2, N3

20.8 A Touch of Magic

Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavić

Myth and fantasy meet in the history of the fictional Khazar people who lived somewhere in central Europe and were wiped out – or perhaps assimilated – after representatives from the three major monotheistic religions competed to convert them to their faith.

The story leaks out from descriptions of characters, actions, and dreams told from three different points of view in the three sections of the book: Christian, Muslim and Jewish.

I struggled when trying to read this in a linear way. I got on much better dipping in and out. I did read the three parts separately in the same order they appear in print, but I moved around within each part. This helped me to get something from it. It's a work of great imagination, and I gave it 3 stars.

+20 Task (magical realism)
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (10.9 kashkaval cheese p 242)
+ 5 Prize Worthy (NIN Prize)

Task total = 40
Season Total = 350

10.6 Ninetieth

Nostromo by Joseph Conrad

Set in a fictional South American country in the early 20th century, this book focuses on “folk hero” Nostromo, a nickname which I assume is from the Italian “[il] nostro uomo”, meaning “our man”. He came from Italy as a child and has been taken to heart by the people of his adopted country, being pretty much the perfect action hero – strong, daring, attractive to women, etc. The plot involves a silver mine and its output of ingots which Nostromo is deputed to hide.

I’m not entirely sure why the silver had to be hidden, because I was listening to the audio and I found it very hard to stay attentive for the first half of the story. It’s just so slow to set up the scene among the wealthier colonists. Then in the second half it turns to action/adventure complete with boat chases and star-crossed lovers.

I do think it’s possible for books to have an adventure plot and literary depth, but I didn’t think this book succeeded in melding the two without the seams showing. Still, I enjoyed the nuances of the many characters and their motivations, and I appreciated it enough to give it three stars.

+10 Task (1904)
+10 Review

Task total = 20
Season Total = 310

10.3 1925 Movies

Maigret's Mistake by Georges Simenon

Inspector Maigret investigates the death of a "kept woman" housed by a successful surgeon in a flat in the same building where the surgeon lives with his wife, and where the young woman's musician lover also visits her. Not surprisingly, something bad happens, and Maigret takes longer to arrive at the solution than he feels he should have.

I sometimes find Maigret books rather dry – I feel I am watching him and listening to him from the outside, when I’d like to know more of what is going on inside. In this book there was enough depth in Maigret and especially in the other characters for that not to be a problem. In fact, I was so involved in the story that I forgot to look out for cheese. I gave it a confident 4 stars.

+10 Task (set entirely in France)
+10 Review
+ 5 Combo (20.1 3.87 and 965 ratings)

Task total = 25
Season Total = 290