mark monday > Recent Status Updates

Hey Goodreads friends: over the years, I've enjoyed many conversations with many of you, via the direct message function on the site. It sounds like Goodreads is removing this. If you want to stay in touch, just reach out via this function, until it disappears, and I'd be happy to exchange personal email addresses. Cheers!

I wrote a short autobiographical piece, please check it out:

https://open.substack.com/pub/markmon...

My response to a critique of one of my reviews was flagged & removed. Also told to refrain from such posts or be banned.

The original post: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My post had these comments: "two can play your stupid game, lackwit" & "try to avoid typing up some dull and lazy attack post and instead try constructing an actual argument"

Did I go too far?

GR no longer allows "2022 on Goodreads" as a space to put thoughts on the year in books. Strange, unnecessary decision. Glad some were able to get their entries in!

"This item does not meet our catalog guidelines and can no longer be rated or reviewed." Sad.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

Hello! Now that Feedback is gone, any suggestions on letting GR staff know about mass fake accounts? I recently received 25+ likes on an old review for Wasp Factory. I was curious what was driving these new likes, and saw that all of these accounts were created in June 2019, all but 1 had zero friends, no comments, and were liking the same books. I love likes, but hate phonies. And I'm too lazy to flag each account!

For some reason, Goodreads is now listing me as Top Reviewer #4 in the U.S. because I apparently have reviewed 187 books this week. LOL, as if! It's like Goodreads is taunting me by pretending my dreams are reality.

Any Goodreads friends who are librarians want to give me a hand? I have a book that I'm reading that currently has no summary or cover image, and I have both - but I can't edit its data.

Patrick Rothfuss recently shared my review of his Wise Man's Fear on his Facebook account. Which is super flattering, especially since the review is pretty critical at times, but I imagine he just got a kick out of HULK VOICE being used. Anyway, THANK YOU PATRICK ROTHFUSS. not that you are reading this of course, but still, thanks. I think an author sharing my review with his public is a first for me.

I've taken 2 weeks off from this book with no strong inclination to return to it... this is possibly a bad sign.

"Oh god, this really is the real you, isn't it? But you're a serial killer...

"Stereotyping? Camilla, I'm disappointed in you. That's just a meaningless label."

the endnote shoved this down from 2 stars to 1. the defensiveness, the fake humility, the self-absorption, the underlying pomposity of it all... just horrible and embarrassing to witness.

But there. Against the wall she saw the brazen gear was all unchanged. It was too full of love. Nothing could shift it. Nothing could turn it from itself. When all the world was palimpsest, it was a perfect palindrome. Inviolate.

I'm not so sure about pairing/contrasting "palimpsest" with "palindrome" but that is certainly a striking paragraph. most interesting paragraph in the book.

this perfectly crystallizes Rothfuss' chief flaw: his is too much in love with his own central character. the result: an inability to see how unbearable that central character can be.

perhaps this novella is attempting to be a Patricia McKillip fantasy set in Gormenghast castle? in some ways, the attempt is admirable.

a "triune vanity" that is described as rakish, garrulous, unashamed, and bawdy should not also be described as gruff. come on now.

the entire book stars the lunatic waif Auri, slave to her OCD, and surely one of the most precious and cutesy-poo supporting characters to ever be inflicted upon the reading public.

Author's Foreword:

even more beautiful: painting or photo on the inside covers. love it!

I don't understand the title, how can "regard" be "slow"?

cover illustration is beautiful.

I am finishing this TONIGHT, I don't care how late I have to stay up.

the perfect thing to read after 3 uninspiring books in a row. just as awesome as I remember it to be. so rich and delicate and delicious, I don't want to finish this off in one or two sittings. like eating foie gras minus the guilty feelings.

to those who've been dealing with the horribleness centered around a now-deleted account: you have my respect! I'm proud you reached out & stepped up & spoke out. for those who couldn't speak out, no judgment. sometimes talking about these kinds of horrible experiences is too painful. my support goes out to you.

everyone else: please no request for details. I just want to give public kudos to the affected parties.

modernists craft the prettiest sentences! and the most self-excoriating.

Anyone know what happened to Steve Sckenda?

Swordquest: Earthworld! Tarra & Torr! wow, what a happy surprise to see this referenced. I just unearthed the original comic at the bottom of one my boxes containing miscellany from years past. mint condition! must re-read it.

"A teenage boy kills himself so he can donate his heart to his sick girlfriend while a homosexual whose lover has just left him goes into Woolworth's and buys two gerbils."

Oh fuck off, Joy Williams. That's moronic.