Jessica
Probably just not my genre. Never really engaged me. Seemed pretty reliant on tired tropes and stories.
DNF. Hindsight is 20/20 and all, but just came across as smug and self-indulgent. So much has happened since 2016. I find most popular political discourse does not withstand the test of time. This is no different.
‘They say history rhymes, but it is up to us to make sure it does not.'
A non-US-centric collection of pieces by women. Worth reading for anyone who cares about where we are headed.
Just finished. Why is my face all wet?
Coming back to write more.
The idea that you need to be into gaming or computers or tech to enjoy this book is just utter nonsense. I imagine if it were about cooking or medicine or law and had the same level of granularity, no one would make that claim. I am certain that knowing games adds depth and texture and that you understand that part of it better, but the human story – of people not communicating, of people struggling with private demons and painting their insecurities and pains onto the motivations of others is so so so universal.
Dirty, embarassing secret: I used to watch soap operas. It was endlessly frustrating to see how the main conflict driver was almost always SECRETS. The thing is that usually the CONTENT of the secret was never as damaging as the ACT of keeping the secret. Obviously, there are some exceptions, but generally, over the long arcs, people who love you, will still love you, and, given the chance, will share your burden and ease your load.
More generally, misunderstandings are often the product of a particular kind of secret – the ones that are basically personal shames (or traumas) that are unresolved. We don't want to admit our fears, our perceived weaknesses, so we make unflattering assumptions and project our worst fears onto others. And, at least in Zevin's world, those assumptions are so often COMPLETELY, UTTERLY WRONG. And so so much pain could be avoided.
But her characters grow. You watch them grow. You are helpless as they waste so much time making cruel (to themselves and others) assumptions, and acting on those assumptions. The last quarter of this book (everything after YOU KNOW WHAT) just fricking wrecked me. I still can't 100% articulate all the reasons why, but I will just say that this book is about how to grow. And how to live life well. LIFE, and life, and Life. Despite being flawed in all the ways we are all flawed.
Will probably try The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry once I am emotionally recovered.
Also, #Marx4ever.
This book was great. It did not end up exactly where/how I thought it would, but not in an aggravating way. Thoroughly delightful read. Part Southern Gothic, part romance, part fairy tale maybe. Absolutely will be reading more Alix Harrow.
Super short. Super fast. Almost certainly would have jumped ship pretty early if the end weren't always just in sight.
Maybe it was because it is the second book in a row that was written by a poet and employed a avant garde storytelling form, but this was just also not really for me. I guess I am somewhat plebian when it comes to fiction. I like a protagonist (even if flawed). I like them to have a name. So boring of me.
That said, I really got a good image of “the objects”, and I couldn't help imagining this as a Netflix mini series. Would be shocked if someone out there isn't trying to flesh out this little sci-fi dystopia.
Content-warning: Lots and lots of trypophobia imagery. If this is at all an issue for you, SKIP this book.
More radical that I can quite be brought around to, but really thought-provoking. And yet, while I am sure it was even more radical in 1977, it does, somehow, also feel quite dated. The concept of the ‘lesbian existance' is so expansively defined, but there is no acknowledgment of the huge range of sexualities, gender identities and sexual preferences that we have come to consider in the current era.Never thought about this, but so obvious:“‘the fact that male employers often do not hire qualified women, even when they could paythem less than men suggests that more than the profit motive is implicated'”Putting [b:Sula 11346 Sula Toni Morrison https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441578153l/11346.SY75.jpg 3207953] on my reading list.
Roller coaster. Amazing, amazing writing. Such an eye for inner lives. Some NC-17 content, some of which is quite taboo and ick, but still very worth reading. Def recommend.
10/10 recommend. Reminded me of so many other good books. A touch of Dickens, Kundera, Camus. Just amazing writing.
“Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.”
On to the next.
3.5 stars. Quick and enjoyable. Minor annoyance of decidedly contemporary language repeatedly snapping you out of the mood. ‘Meditation', ‘paranoid', ‘parse', ‘well, excuse me' (sarcastically). Every time it happened, I would find myself annoyed all over again. It was like the words were put in for a first draft and then a sloppy editor never went back to help bring the language into line. That said, an enjoyable woman-focused historical/magical story with some LGBT representation. Overall, recommend.
Short. Impressionistic. No plot. But really lovely portraits. I think this one will stick with me, but must be in the correct mood for it.
A few good lines:
“That's all there is to the self, or the so-called ‘self': traces of the people we rub up against. I loved Joanna's words and gestures and let them become part of me, intentionally or not. I suppose that is at the core of every relationship and the reason that in some sense no relationship ever ends.”
“We live so many lives within our lives – smaller lives with people who come and go, friends who disappear, children who grow up – and I never know which of these lives is meant to serve as the frame.”
“And I suppose that's what's at the heart of it for every person suffering from anxiety; the fact that life, by its very nature, is impossible to manage.”
“When I was younger, I often thought I should travel more and farther, spend more time in foreign countries, that I should be in a constant state of velocity so that I could get out of there and truly live, but with time I have come to understand that everything I was looking for was right here, inside of me, inside the things that surround me, in the money jobs that turned into my actual jobs, in the constancy of the everyday, in the eyes of the people I meet when I allow my gaze to linger.”
These Dispatcher novellas have been a really fun little listen. I hope a 4th is coming. It is a cool little world.
I could not put this down. So good. Any minor annoyances are completely outweighed by the what this book has to say and how it says it. 10/10 recommend.
Part old-time Western, part coming-of-age, part Martian sci-fi. Very enjoyable. Good characters and world building. Would definitely read a sequel.
1-3 def stronger. But glad I finished it up. Never can understand what makes something YA or not - I guess maybe because the protagonists are not adolescents? This is very solidly PG - lots of actions but chaste and relatively non-violent. Cute and fun. Good for recovery after Paradais!