RuthieD > Recent Status Updates

I may not finish by book club but I will have plenty to talk abt bc WOW each chapter packs a punch

I’m slow bc I’m annotating 😫

I fear I may be hooked. I’m increasingly interested in the bibliography 🙈 and considered searching for the syllabi of Barr’s courses at Baylor 😳

I can see why this is such a popular book (and I have adjusted to the heavily millennial prose). Emily Henry writes people well. In all our messiness, everything said and unsaid; it’s very raw and real (even as it continues to be quirky)

“There aren’t words vast or specific enough to capture the ecstasy and the ache and love and fear I feel just looking at him now.”
- ah yes, just friends!

I’m adjusting to Emily Henry’s prose (it was kinda jarring at first): a lil quirky, but quite honest & descriptive. I tend to settle into the chapters set in the past a bit easier than the present-day ones. Getting a bit of whiplash with the time jumps, but I think I’m settling into that as well. I love that Poppy can be unapologetically herself with Alex from the start. No-stakes, word vomit, weird stories!

I have sooo much respect for Faramir. “I am wise enough to know that there are some perils from which a man must flee.” Interesting to learn more abt where Boromir came from and hear abt him from his family’s pov.

Orientalist vibes rn with the warring men and Oliphaunt

Frodo and Sam pov is back + Gollum reenters the scene WE ARE SO BACK

Ok so the Ents are even cooler than I remembered. Also, is Gandalf Jesus? 🙂‍↕️

I’d completely forgotten abt the Théoden arc, so it felt like I read this chapter for the first time. Interesting theme of isolation + manipulating the truth, and how it can (literally) cripple you. Also, I’ve been thinking abt how dedicated the Company are to their cause. Knowing that it’s noble allows them to stand in their worth, no matter how they’re slandered or confronted.

The Ents are some of my favorite characters so far. Listening to their chapter with the dramatized audiobook was sooo cool! Phil Dragash got their rumbling voices DOWN. I love that although they are a slow people, their deep rage finally boils over. I got chills when they marched toward Isengard with the Forest of Fangorn behind. Pippin and Merry arc is so good