Reading with Style discussion
Summer 2026
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10.1 Summer 2026Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
I recently met with one of my IRL book clubs, this one consists of three members: a drag queen who teaches English and History by day and finds time to write on the side (his duology is on my reading list for this season), a vegan coding savant who rescues disabled dogs and is a pub trivia assassin, and me. I am, needless to say, the most boring member of this trio, so when I can suggest a book (or, better yet, a series) that I think they'll love I get really excited! As a group, we've read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi. They've read Murderbot and V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic series and when I heard that neither of them were familiar with Seanan Maguire, I had a sneaking suspicion it could be right up their alley. I love this series, but it has been quite a while since I'd read the initial installment so was happy to revisit--it certainly holds up. I just listened to the whole thing working in my garden this morning...I really hope they enjoy it and want to keep going--I've already put the next in the series on hold :-)
+10 Task: pub. 2016, 173 pages
+5 Series, "Wayward Children"
+10 Review
+10 Female
+10 Young, born 1978
+15 Prizeworthy: Locus, Nebula, and Hugo Awards for Best Novella
Task total: 60
Season total: 60
10.1 2002 or later + with 100-499 pgsA Death on Corfu by Emily Sullivan
I will unabashedly admit that I chose this book by it’s cover! It looked so charming, just like a cozy should. This is not Sullivan’s first book, but it is her first mystery. Obviously, it is set in Corfu (amongst the British expat community) – not so obvious is the strong female lead and that it is set at the turn of the twentieth Century. The mystery was good, I can’t say that I ‘figured it out’. I also found the different societal demands and expectations added quite a bit to the story. There is a minor/slow burn romantic element, which I usually enjoy in these novels. The ending is such that you know there will be a sequel. Overall, an enjoyable, engrossing and fast read. 4*
10 task (p. 2025, 288 pgs)
10 review
10 female author (btw - this is also an instance where she looks young, but I could not find her age)
_____
30
Running total: 30
15.1 - 763 pagesThe Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
Reading The Years of Rice and Salt was not anything like I'd expected, to be honest. I love speculative fiction but alternate histories have never been my thing. However, I found it quite interesting. The whole idea of following someone(s) through their karmic cycles was absolutely fascinating. The most curious thing to me is that this is almost entirely set in China/India/Mongolia/etc. And frames the entire story in an Eastern light rather than the more expected Western cast. I don't know that I'd have chosen this myself originally because it seemed very long winded at times but the story itself was very creative.
+15 task
+5 award (Locus 2003)
+10 review
Task total: 30
Season total: 30
10.1 2002 or later, 100-499 ppHow to Survive the Apocalypse: Zombies, Cylons, Faith, and Politics at the End of the World by Robert J. Joustra, 2016, 198 pp
So I was roaming the library shelves looking for a companion piece to a commentary on the Gospel of Mary Magdalene -- which I may or may not be able to use for this challenge -- and nearby I found this little gem. It is a gem because it is funny. It examines a really disturbing topic -- the popularity of apocalypse-oriented entertainment. But it does so very tongue-in-cheek and yet with a true appreciation for the sci-fi elements in such things as Battlestar Galactica, The Hunger Games, and The Walking Dead. I was a Battlestar fan, but have never gotten into the other two. For one thing,I don't like Zombies, except for their Voodoo connections -- the 1940's Val Lewton film I Walked with a Zombie for instance. Thereby comes the connection to my criticism of this book. I find the cultist aspect of voodoo very fightening, as I find most cults frightening. Therefore the Val Lewton film is a good scare about a very real religion. But the writers of this book find the humorous aspects of the more contemporary films a way of laughing off the contemporary Christian view of Armegeddon. I think these types of entertainments can sometimes be embraced too much by contemporary Christian cults who "look forward" to an apoclypse where Christians are reunited with God at the expense of everyone else. Ultimately that seems to be what the authors are doing here, though I am not sure they would agree with my viewpoint. I think they use the silliness of ideas in contemporary entertainments about the Apocalypse to further a conception of the Apocalypse as something God has intended, even if they admit to the silly aspets. It reeks too much of cultish ideas to me, and that's something I find frightening, not funny.
+ 10 task
+ 10 style 6 -- not a novel (nonfiction)
+ 10 review
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 30
10.2 2002 or later, 100 - 499 pp.Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters by Aimee Ogden 2021, 110 pp
a quick re-read of a sci fi novella I still haven't made up my mind about -- so no review.
+ 10 task
+ 10 style 3 -- female author
(I cannot find the author's age, though the pic on her website looks under 50 -- but I'm not going to count it as a young style without verification)
Previous Total: 30
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 50
Nick wrote: "10.2 2002 or later, 100 - 499 pp.Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters by Aimee Ogden 2021, 110 pp
a quick re-read of a sci fi novella I still haven't made up my mind ab..."
Found her age: she was born in 1983, so take the points for Young :-)
10.2 Summer 2026Life: A Love Story by Elizabeth Berg
Oh, I loved this book...
It felt like spending time with my grandma, hearing her stories, seeing the world through her eyes.
It reminded me a little of Gilead, but maybe because they're both essentially really long letters written at the end of the MC's life.
I'm not religious anymore, but I suppose I am still "spiritual" and there were themes in this book that scratched that itch--about finding forgiveness and connectedness and openness and acceptance and joy in the small things and it was tender and had me crying buckets by the end. It was a quiet read and definitely character-driven and I wish my grandma was still around because I think she would have loved this novel. 5*
+10 Task, 208 pages, pub. 2026
+10 Female
+10 Aged, Berg is 77 (b. 1948)
+10 Review
Task total: 40
Season total: 100
***REPOST***10.2 2002 or later, 100 - 499 pp.
Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters by Aimee Ogden 2021, 110 pp
a quick re-read of a sci fi novella I still haven't made up my mind about -- so no review.
+ 10 task
+ 10 style 3 -- female author
+ 10 style 10 -- Young
Previous Total: 30
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 60
10.1 Summer 2026Remains of Innocence by J.A. Jance
+10 task - 2014, 389 pages
+10 female
+10 aged
+5 series
Task total: 35
Grand total: 35
10.1 Summer 2026Days in the History of Silence by Merethe Lindstrøm
On the surface, Eva and Simon seem to have a typical marriage with interesting careers and three adult daughters. But they each had traumatic events that they weren't sure they would survive when they were younger. They have kept these secrets from everyone except each other.
The book, translated from the Norwegian, is told in spare prose by the wife, Eva. Her voice is very distant and controlled, as if she doesn't allow herself to feel too deeply. The story slowly allows the reader into the backgrounds of Eva and Simon. Their silence about their pasts should not be mistaken for peace.
+10 task ( Pub 2011, 230 pages)
+10 female
+10 lost in translation (from Norwegian)
+10 prize-worthy (Nordic Council and Norwegian Critics prizes)
+10 review
Task total: 50
Season total: 50
10.3 Summer 2026Blue Is the Warmest Color by Jul Maroh
+10 Task, 156 pages, pub. 2010
no styles, graphic novel
Task total: 10
Season total: 110
10.2 Summer 2026Edge of Evil by J.A. Jance
+10 task - 2005, 252 pgs
+10 female
+10 aged
+5 series
Task total: 35
Grand total: 70
10.2 2002 or later + with 100-499 pgsThe Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon
I had quite enjoyed another of Dixon’s books, and when I saw that my SiL had rated this one highly I thought I add it to the TBR. Of course, who can resist the title! As I was reading this, I was thinking this is an easy 4*, but as I went along I realized I had to give it a 5*. The story has charm, heart, pathos, tension, and there is an adventurous spirit firing it. It takes place in the (maybe) not to distant future where appliances are sentient and the whole world is a dystopia. The first bit of the book is the charming and sad part, the Dixon slowly turns everything up a notch. I think Dixon is younger than me, but if you are ‘of a certain age’ his literary references (and inspirations) are spot on.
10 task
10 review
_____
20
Running total: 50
Summer 202610.1 2002 or later with 100-499 pp
Dead in the Familyby Charlaine Harris
Published 2010, 320 pp
Task +10
Aged +10
Series +5
Grand total: 25
10.1 Summer 2026Getting to Know Death: A Meditation by Gail Godwin
+10 task (192 pages, pub. 2024)
+10 aged (born 1937)
+10 female
+10 not-a-novel (non-fiction, memoir)
Task total=40
Season total=40
10.1 Summer 2026The Long and Short of It by Jodi Taylor
+10 Task (462 pages, pub 2017)
+10 Not a Novel (short stories)
+10 Female
+5 Series Chronicles of St Mary’s)
Task total = 35
Season total = 35
15.1 Summer 2026Riceyman Steps by Arnold Bennett
This is the story of Henry Earlforward, a bookseller in a run-down square near Kings Cross in London, Violet Arb, who runs a nearby confectionery shop, and Elsie, who cleans for both of them. All three are starving for both food and affection (although Henry would deny this). Henry is a miser, Violet is hopeful but doomed to disappointment, and Elsie, a very young war widow (the story begins in 1919), is in love with a mentally unstable young man.
I don’t think this is one of Arnold Bennett’s best novels, but the characters are interesting enough to persist with, and the book has its humorous side. Henry is downright annoying, but Violet and Elsie are engaging in a bleak way.
+15 Task (334 pages, 1923)
+10 Review
Task total = 25
Season total = 25
Reading with Style
Books mentioned in this topic
Riceyman Steps (other topics)The Long and Short of It (other topics)
Getting to Know Death: A Meditation (other topics)
Dead in the Family (other topics)
The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Arnold Bennett (other topics)Jodi Taylor (other topics)
Gail Godwin (other topics)
Charlaine Harris (other topics)
Glenn Dixon (other topics)
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Please use the add book/author link for the book titles and include a link to both title and author in your post.
If using an outside source to qualify a book for points, please be sure to post in the Questions thread prior to posting in this thread.
Note: the database can only check five styles per post, so we may not pick up so many missed style points this season.
Sample Post
15.5 Summer 2026
Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
[100-word review goes here]
+15 Task (174 pages, pub. 1944)
+10 Aged (1899-1986)
+10 Non-Western (born & lived in Argentina)
+ 5 Prize-Worthy (1 prize)
+10 1001
+10 Lost in Translation (from Spanish)
+10 Not a Novel (short stories)
+10 Review
Task total = 80
Season total = 540 (assuming mid-season and 460 points have been claimed before)