Sopath > Recent Status Updates

I've been off and on listening to this on audible during my commute. Not really my jam, but I'm going to stick with it.

I've been reading this one for sometime.

I've enjoyed this one so far. Second Ishiguro novel and it does remind me quite a bit of Never Let Me Go.

This is pretty gnarly so far. I've been loving it.

It's been an entertaining read so far, but it is quite hard to follow. Excited to see where this goes.

Loving it so far, but how exactly did Murakami think this book wasn’t political? It’s like saying Citizen Kane isn’t political. Maybe he didn’t intend it to be political but it’s clearly influenced by his internalization of politics and media. I’m also loving the mystery so far and excited to see where this journey goes.

This books feels me with loss too deep to quantify. I really look forward to seeing how Walker lands the plane.

I've been enjoying this very dark and sad story so far.

I really enjoyed part one of the book, but part two is both emotionally enthralling and a slog simultaneously. I’m appreciative of the creative story structure, but part two doesn’t feel like the page turner that part one was.

The pages of this book feel haunted. I feel as if I’m drifting between reality and a Rene Magritte painting.

I'm actually reading this again. It's been a good read but I'm not sure I'm fully invested in the plot. That said, van den Berg's imagery and descriptions of emotion are really powerful. Even if I don't fully connect with the story, I think she has immense writing talent. The reviews for this books are embarrassingly bad.

Almost done. I've appreciated the structure of the story, but it's more of a thriller than it is a thematically compelling work. Nothing wrong with that.

Listening on audio book. Let's face it, the only way I hit my book goal is if I turn my work commutes into audio book time. It's wild how much time I spend commuting. Anyways, this is a fun story but it is nothing crazy so far. I feel like NYT oversold it a bit.

I've been enjoying myself but I can see where this is heading.

Really loving it so far. It's fun page turner that has not yet done something so stupid that it ruins my experience.

Honestly, I've been blown away by this book so far.

I can't believe I'm not done yet but here we are. The book isn't fun. Yet I kind of have a magical feeling about it. There's something about Pynchon's mythological portrayal of pre WW2 Europe that feels so relatable. The book is seeped with dread that something awful is coming. The mythology kind of makes me feel like it's an attempt to cope with the reality.

There's a point where objects start vanishing in thin air and no one in the story knows if it is a trick or real magic but it certainly FEELS like real magic. In Shadow Ticket there's so many bizarre things happening that you don't up from down. I think I read Pynchon because he perfectly captures that feeling of being completely out of control of your own life with his use of hyper-reality. Enjoying it so far.

DNFing this one.

Here's a question: if you're a bad person and your memory gets wiped and you try to live a good life after that, are you still a bad person?

If I had summer breaks as an adult, this is the kind of book I could read in 4 days. Alas it's going to take another 2 weeks. Loving it so far.

I like the concept of this book in theory but my pet peeve in story telling is stories about people who love to read. It's almost as bad as movies about people who love movies or people who make movies.

I never got to read this in high school. Mainly because I was a burn out who didn't give a shit about school but also because even when I did try, I really didn't give it my all reading many of the other books I was assigned to read.

Anyways I like the voice a lot but it's bit of a meandering novel. I just hope that I don't walk away from this like feeling like I did when I walked away from On The Road.

Officially in the final part of the book. You can sort of see where things are going and while I'm highly interested on Kathy to finally give us a clue on how this world works, I'm deeply interested to see how these small personal interactions have such large reactions. I'm impressed again and again by Ishiguro's incredible display of real emotions.

I've been trying to figure out why this book is so captivating and I think I've come up with two reasons. Ishiguro's description of emotional and tender moments feel like the kind of real and genuine thing I've been craving in fiction for what feels like my entire life. Second is this ongoing theme throughout of being curious and finding out information that is painful to know. Yet Kathy's curiosity persists.

I'm starting to think this isn't any normal boarding school. /s

I'm loving the books first person perspective as Kathy gets nostalgic about her up brining. She's jumping around from one event to another event in the past with great frequency that mimics how I think about the past. The book simulates the involuntary memory process of remembering something from high school then elementary school then middle school.

The whole Keane/Raffi story line is great. Evelyne’s story is great. I’m just not feeling comfortable that Powers is going to tie this together brilliantly in the final 60 pages. Still really liking it overall. Great reflections on life itself as we enter the age of AI and climate change.

Characters like Evelyne and Rafi are really being fleshed out in such an interesting way. I love how their lives are intertwining with hints of future conflict. However, I'm beginning to detect a really uninteresting plotline emerging. Hoping it doesn't take up too much page time.