Temporal Musings > Recent Status Updates

It was an enjoyable and easy read. Grace is an idiot. But he gets the job done. I love Rocky. Overall, the storyline is good though Grace making the same mistakes gets a bit old. I’m interested to see what they do for the movie, I feel like it could end up a bit corny.

This book makes you feel and is an important read in current times (and probably forever). Life is fucking hard. And unfair. We all have our roles to play. We will help others tremendously and we will like cause pain and sadness too. Loving those around us is most important- and fighting for whats right is a close second. Speak truth to power, always. I am excited to talk about this book with others.

I am curious to see how the fight with Homa and Ellie will be resolved. I like the character development of these two and their relationship. It captures the nuances of young adult life and conflict. You can also see how Ellies mother has impacted her and her way of thinking.

This book was a masterwork in character development and captured the complexities of the human experience. Its a must read and allows us just a glimpse of the many stories and journeys trans people go on. St. James sucked me in and had me feeling all the emotions for each of her characters- even the ones I hated, though anger and frustration was reserved for them.

I enjoyed the book more as it went on. Wouldn’t say it was a favorite though. The structure and dialogue never fully won me over. Ultimately, it just sort of ended. I guess it was about Hig finding love (family and romantic) in spite of everything? Why bring up the Arabs if nothing iz to come of it though?

The structure of the paragraphs and verbiage are interesting. I like the book, but it can be tough to read because of the structure.

Well written book with a good premise and a despise-able protagonist. I can’t decide if I enjoyed reading it but by the end I was over hearing Junipers voice and perspective, her constant victim mentality- which I believe means the author succeeded in their goal. It’s a nuanced book, and I appreciate the commentary on our current stare of culture and social media. June Heyward can go kick rocks.

Poorly written. The ending makes the entire book feel like a waste. Good start and premise but poorly executed. Why kill Xishi? Why not let her turn on Goujian and make real change? Instead she only lived to be beautiful and pined after? No thank you. The white fox deserved more.

Beautifully written. At one point I was worried there would be parts left unfinished but Vergahese wraps all parts up well, even if they’re not how I wanted them. The themes of family, generational trauma, class struggle and injustice, time moving forward and things changing while also staying the same and the overall connection through water were masterfully executed. 10/10.

First book of the year and a great start. Poetically written, with beautiful prose. It was whimsical and I liked the unique elements of “grammar” or magic. I especially enjoyed the love stor(ies) and the importance of the many kinds of bonds and love we share.

A little slow in the beginning. Eventually I enjoyed the intimacy of this book. The emotions and the character development.

Again good prose and story development. I think overall I enjoyed weyward more, however thats probably because I read it first. And while different, the formatting and the flow of the story are essentially identical and I like that a bit less.

It took a little bit to get into the flow of the books “dialect” if you will, but overall I liked this book. Not a favorite but a good read. Its hard when the main character is likable but also you want to throttle him for his poor decision making. This is a book I need to mull over a bit more. While I understood many of the main themes there are elements that I felt I didn’t quite grasp.

I loved Skippy dies. I loathed The Bee Sting. More than half of the book could have been condensed. The only perspective you actually enjoyed was Cass and maybe a little of Pj’s. More than anything though, then ending was atrocious. Its like Murray wrote such a cluster fuck of a book that he gave up on writing an ending at all. Just left the guts of the far too many pages splayed out and rotting.

We love a strong female protagonist and Hart gave us 3. I really enjoyed this book. The culmination of all three women and how their stories and linage were intertwined. Their struggles and truly how fucked up men and living in a patriarchal society can be- and yet, women find a way. We persevere and together are so much better.

I have many mixed feelings about this book. Overall, its very well written. You can feel the emotions. I liked the second part of the book more. I also felt I could identify with the main character and her need from freedom. And what freedom looks like. I can’t get on board with the cheating though. Definitely a lot to discuss in here. Its complicated and messy and I appreciated that.

I understand why I liked these books as a kid but this should have and could have been significantly shorter.

This one has droned on far too long.

Reading back I can see how this started to shape the way I analyzed the world around me. I especially think the excerpt on page 544 when Oromis is talking to Eragon about religion is quite telling of my future beliefs.

Re-reading as an adult- interesting to see the themes that I took to as a kid. Justice, choosing whats right over whats easy, not having a king/blindly following someone.

A little mind bending, I didn’t love the constant directional descriptions and I don’t feel they added (nor detracted) to the story. There’s something to be said about our earth being our home and the connection or lack thereof that we have to it. But also, this gets muddled in the kidnapping bit of the plot. In short, it was an easy enjoyable enough read, but not a standout.

This series has left me wanting more- in the best way possible. I want to see Vasya at the lake and Marya’s story. Of the 3 this 1 was my least favorite- more action than I like but it was done well and did help bring wrap it up. I balled at Solovey’s death and then don’t know how I missed that he could be brought back to life. Usually I wouldn’t have liked that twist but for him I will make an exception.

I am excited to see where the final in this trilogy takes us. I want more of Vasya but Marya too, and I want to learn of their bloodline/their great? Grandmother. Lastly, I hope the strong female lead following her path unapologetically (unless she fumbles and hurts someone and owes them an apology) continues. I find myself identifying with Vasya often but not having the same courage she has to live her truth

Also with the age gap V is of age in a historical accurate sense. I do wish there was less description of her looks and body still. I love the tropes of family and the messy but beautiful aspects of those relationships. I also like the themes of questioning why something is the way it is and pushing back when it is not fair. I think the way Arden touched on miscarriage was well done and thoughtful.

I was a lil worried at one point that Morozko was going to fall into the “I can’t help it I am just a man trope” like edward cullen and I wasn’t about it. Instead I appreciated that V broke the talisman and then made the consenting decision to still care for M. Not sure how I feel about the age gap but I do think Arden addresses this towards the end of the book when V describes the type of love she had for M.