Riley Smith > Recent Status Updates

“Climb/clomb/climbed”???

Okay but it’s fascinating to see what words have fallen out of use. “You wot.”

I’ve read everything from the 20s, but I think I’ll pause and revisit the 30s later.

Innocently enjoying learning about the Victorian era, when I suddenly realize they would have called me “stout and blemished” 😭

This is so darn cute.

I’ve read prettier translations. This makes it feel clumsy in parts, which is weird, but I’m still enjoying the characters and how depressing Dostoevsky is, of course.

This book is not a horror book so far… Which feels weird.

This is so hard to get through. The main love interest needs to deal with his anger management, and this 40 year old lady needs to stop talking about how “old and rundown” she is.

I’m just not enjoying these characters or how they treat each other.

Thus far she is disappointingly nice.

I think this section on self doubt is actually making me feel worse about myself.

The first two stories are “A wealthy family is pretty much fine during Corona but has some anxiety” And they’re somehow written in exactly the same voice and tone despite one being translated.

The third was such a “My b*tch mother” story that I cracked up.

I hope the rest are not this boring.

It’s uhhhh research uhhh for my action book. Yeah that’s it, it’s research.

This book sure is a powerhouse of stories. I like some more than others but they’re all pretty great so far, not as uneven as other collections, although ironically the one I’m on right now isn’t really keeping my attention.

Reading again as I jump into writing book 2 WOOHOO!

We’ve reached the part where the main character just suddenly has character development because it’s halfway through the book.

Last chapter she was promising to never have “impure” thoughts again but now we’re totally fine being a “demon” okay I guess.

And we’ve suddenly sprouted a sense of humor because there’s a guy here now.

You know what’s going to happen and it’s still heart wrenching, that’s good writing. Freaking heart broken for this girl right now.

I don’t know how much more YA I can read, I don’t like seeing minors in danger or getting hurt 😭 I guess I’m officially old.

This book is still hilarious but I don’t think I can read YA anymore because bad parents make me TOO ANGRY. Like, your daughter was in DANGER and you’re BLAMING HER??

Asimov is just so much darn fun.

Alright, now we’re getting somewhere! It’s not just corn and occasional heart wrenching grief, now we’ve got some bittersweet tones.

This last chapter I just read might be my favorite so far, although I did like Book 3, but I just like stories about young people going away to college.

Willa Cather: All I remember about Nebraska is corn and boredom.
Also Willa Cather: I am going to write an entire book about Nebraska.

If I was being honest, I would say the prose is a bit messy at the start, but still a great deal of fun.

Listen, I know I’m biased, but this is ADORABLE and SO JOLLY, I love it so much. Immaculate holiday vibes.

‘tis the Season, bishes!!

Oh no can we go back to descriptions of corn please? I changed my mind, the corn was great. Not scary at all. Loved the corn.

Helpful and nice so far! My only critique is it feels like a bunch of random activities, not really seeing the arc, but I guess I'm just getting into it.

This so perfectly connects to my vintage animation obsession that I am LIVING.

WE GET IT, NEBRASKA HAS A LOT OF CORN.