val > Recent Status Updates

jesus. out of all the novels i've read recently this one is peak Social Anxiety

some of these footnotes are so unnecessary........... already at 6 red sticky tabs

didn't realize how fun sticky tabs are! 2 chapters in and have so far stuckkkkk 2 greens, 2 reds, 1 blue

finally made my way through Pt 1 (If There Is No God). faves so far: "Everything on the Menu," "His Teeth," and the last few lines of "God and the G-Spot." special mention to "If" for the belated, vague grief

went into this thinking it'll be a comfort read, maybe a solid 3, but here i lay dying (DYING) at them unexpectedly running into each other at Pemberley

sending that tiny bouquet of flowers....... "i think you're preeeetty" ........ "pshaww i think you're pretty too" ...... kill meeeee they're so cute

WHEN was the last time i ate kinilaw

the short intersectionality lecture at the start of part 2... idk about that,,, otherwise smooth sailing so far

it's been years since i dnf'd, so now's a good time now that i'm more of a smell the roses type

she doesn't pull any punches in her intro, "Writing About Food: Savor the Word, Swallow the World"; she blasts you with gorgeous food writing by her and several others, and ends it with the ever-present cold hard truth of food as a vessel of social history. just this part so far can get a 5/5!!!

the glimpses of humanity.......

the synopsis makes it sound like it'll be a fun ride but it's surprisingly bland so far... it's picking up now that they've noticed something amiss but it's so very somber

reading this alongside Killers of a Certain Age is NOT boding well for that book because this is clearly the superior elderly-main-cast story and i'm not even 15% of the way through

regrettably only made it up to here before my loan expired and now i have to wait 23+ weeks for it to make it to my shelf once more >:(

eileen is so embarrassing please girl go to therapy

damn i should finish playing Blasphemous (and pick up the sequel)

now THIS is sisterhood

your self-concept hinging on the people around you vs playing a factor; meaning-making solely through other people as a coping mechanism for life; paradoxical delusions of grandeur when you have no identity of your own except in relation to other people ...... with idol culture as the backdrop!!! why is this actually so good!!!!!

filled with dread… i fear i may need to pick this up again later

"my pungent individuality" ... Oli London ??? not just self-alienation but mass social alienation ... am i actually liking this ???

a little off-putting so far but in a very on-purpose way, which i respect... there are moments i think i'll dnf then something WEIRD happens and it floods me with intrigue??

jk im just oa

please i am not even a chapter into the story—which I’m rereading bc i just finished Hothouse by the East River and my library has no other Muriel Spark OR Amanda Filipacchi—and instead of whimsy I’m getting Patrick Bateman !!!

the present day chapters are a little too slow for my liking, whereas the past chapters are faster-paced in a way I like. It’s not inherently bad that they pace differently, i just don’t like being aware of it enough till comment on it

ouhhhhhhh no wonder they said she and Amanda Filipacchi have similar writing styles

pleasing rhythm to the dialogue but fighting my lack of interest in WW settings

when i was in college i wanted to get into mature manga so i followed this blog ran by some unknowns where they would share curated works such as that of Asano Inio and other people whose names i forget, and one of the things i read from them was Bradherley's Coach. idk if it's good by my adult standards, but i could feel the same creeping dread that manga gave me so i had to pause to collect myself

decided to watch corresponding show eps and it strikes me how sanitized it is compared to the book. i'm not surprised, but the contrast. in Portugal they didn't show the actual pig slaughter, in Arcachon they cut out hints of him spiraling, in Saigon there was a bare hint of the complexities and his guilt about him, a white American, having a fun little adventure after everything the country had been put through

i’ve been to Saigon twice now and everything he wrote is so relatable, down to the horrible guilt when you allow yourself to think about how this is a country still recovering from the Vietnam/American war. i still think about it, and the fact some asshole from a previous job named their project Agent Orange

he’s so real