Mike R.W. > Recent Status Updates

I think this guy Kafka has some real potential.

Ahhh, now I know why I’ve seen “Crossing to Safety” by Wallace Stegner being read by so many folks (plus a long library wait).

It’s because of Sybil! I’m a big fan of hers so far.

(Attached to this update is a big smile and a friendly wave hello!)

Katie?!?

Katie?!?

Katie?!?

Katie?!?

This is my first time with one of Mr. Stephenson’s books. WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG??!? I have 800 pages to go and I’m pretty excited about it.

Hope everyone is doing well and flipping pages when you get a chance.

My second Erdrich - really good so far. Nice depth in the characters already.

Here go again - something "light."

Man. Tough times.

But, while scrolling the "Skip-the-line" copies at the library, why wouldn't the mention of J.P. Morgan's art and book collection, and his personal librarian, make me take notice?

It's like an arrow right to the part of my heart that is labeled "GEEK."

I love you guys - never give up.

Who knows, it might be Ramona the Brave next. I'll let you guys know.

"Others were grouped together by an excited, terrified lust for life, drinking and dancing and fornicating while death played the fiddle."

Hesse can hit hard, right out of nowhere. He does it all the time and I'm considering this ability as evidence of his genius.

"Oh, how incomprehensible everything was, and actually sad, although it was also beautiful. One knew nothing. One lived and ran about the earth and rode through forests..

...and sometimes it seemed that something never seen yet long desired was about to happen, that a veil would drop from it all; but then iut passed. nothing happened, the riddle remained unsolved, the secret spell unbroken..."

"Oh, how incomprehensible everything was, and actually sad, although it was also beautiful. One knew nothing. One lived and ran about the earth and rode through forests..

...and sometimes it seemed that something never seen yet long desired was about to happen, that a veil would drop from it all; but then iut passed. nothing happened, the riddle remained unsolved, the secret spell unbroken..."

This was the first McCarthy book I read in about 2012 or so. After reading a number of his books since then, I feel it'd be worth the time to revisit this story and see if it "hits" the same way it did with me 10 years ago.

Nothing but love and light to all my Goodreads friends out there! Let's keep flipping pages.

And, as usual with HST, we're off with a bang!

I keep making stuff up, hearing his stuttered-southern stuccato like accent. Things like, "The situation was so serious, and yet so simultaneously ridiculous, that the parties involved seemed to drift towards their corners, retreating towards friendlies. It's hard to blame a man who wants to live and fight another day."

It's fun!

Round 2.

Round 2.

I'm going to have to let this one set in for a little bit. Mr. Steinbeck should probably be celebrated on the levels of, say, a rockstar or a moviestar. Like the Stones/Beatles, Cary Grant or Jack Nicholson. Gene Hackman. Billy Joel.

Hope everyone is having a great night! Nothing but love to all.

300 pages went by so fast. This book has taken my breath away multiple times. Nothing less than heartwarming and heartbreaking when it comes to what people have had to endure to keep their families alive and together. I've also gotten insight into the history of Vietnam and the continued tragedy and horror caused by war over 3 generations.

I didn't know what to expect with this book and I just finished my first sitting with it.

After a few pages I decided that this book is quite brilliant and, for me, it became almost like an action/thriller page-turner of an experience.

After making it to page 91, I can say that my feelings have only been reinforced.

"I've got no Houston to whine down to
I've got no protocol
Gravity's so far away
Wrapped on that shrinking ball

And I won't let her down
My soul is celestial-bound
And if I'm never found
She'll always be...

She'll always be what I can't find
She'll always be where I break down
She'll always hide behind a star
I'll always dream she can't be far"

-Another Space Song, by Failure

This book has been awesome so far!

Excellent writing. A great story. Good flow, no lags. Characters you can almost reach out and touch.

After just finishing Shantaram, which could be mistaken for a phonebook, I decided to start A Little Life! Why not??

Also - eight of my friends have given this a star rating, five of them gave it 5 stars and two of them gave it one star.

Looking at the other reviews, this book seems to evoke strong reactions, either to the 5 or 1 star side.

That was enough to get me interested and here I am!

(waves hello)

Effia. Esi. Ness.

We speak your name.

I've never seen you look like this without a reason
Another promise fallen through
Another season passes by you
I never took the smile away from anybody's face
And that's a desperate way to look
For someone who is still a child

In a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lover's voice fires the mountainside
Stay alive, here we go

(From "Big Country" by Big Country. 80s all the way)

Gobbled up Part 1 (5 total), chapters 1 - 8.

So far I'd say this book is a continuous flow of words. It's the narrators self-talk that I'm focusing on. He thinks about a lot of different subjects and often heads out for brief mini tangents.

I'm enjoying it so far...I have a feeling it's going to pick up soon.

India. Running away. Memories of faces, fights, regrets and a ton of late nights.

Finally diving in, no stopping now.

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray, South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio. Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television, North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe.

Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom, Brando, "The King and I", and "The Catcher in the Rye." Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen,
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana, goodbye.