Adia Keene > Recent Status Updates

Think this book will be my new priority. Thrillers might be my new favorite genre.

I know that my Currently Reading is currently a graveyard:
- It's Not Summer Without You, started in a moment of weakness
- Network Effect, officially hit Murderbot fatigue
- Hum, not currently in my position (@ Anne pls return)

> 3x longer than all the previous books
> Mensah present + navigating her emotional relationship with Murderbot
> Complex relationships to navigate

I was a little bit disengaged for a bit but I am locking back in

New favorite character unlocked LFG

1. ART
2. Dr. Mensah
3. Murderbot
…
Literally don’t care about anyone else

Respecting Irish culture ⚖️ complaining about lack of quotation marks

I didn’t really like the first book, so naturally I had to read the second.

Tied with “the night Alison went missing” in PLL for Longest Night Ever

Gillian Flynn, probably: “what’s the most disturbed Midwestern domestic dynamic I can come up with?”

“hi my name is x and i was reaped for the hunger games bc i did y and also i will reappear in catching fire” - every mentor introduction

DNI if you can’t handle me glazing a little — Jenny Han is my idol (rich for life off of YA love triangle books).

It is actually frustrating how much Malcolm Gladwell leads with premise, not evidence.
Take the chapter on the LSAT. I am already 100% bought into the premise. Malcolm Gladwell says: “a guy crunched the numbers and ran her aggression. The LSAT doesn’t matter.” Never tells us the outcome variables never tells us the sample size with people from T14s versus other universities, never tells us any fixed effects.

I can’t tell if Malcolm Gladwell
1 — doesn’t understand R1 universities, or
2 — doesn’t believe in them.

If the former, the whole “book” is a wash.

If the latter, Gladwell has not convinced me that top universities should forego investments in research, grad programs and facilities in favor of financial aid for undergraduates. And I say this as someone who supports (and benefited from) financial aid.

Millennium Approaches finished — I actually can’t conceptualize how these plays are performed in separate parts…too much felt unfinished. I gets that’s the limitation of reading instead of watching live…

I cannot believe it took this long for someone to ride a worm.

Made some progress on my RI flight while intermittently making model suggestions…rough. But I like the section with the Fremen so much more already. It explains why Dune 2 was so much better than Dune — much richer material.

It’s picking up. I was reading on the porch with Anne and said “Just got to a good scene, I can’t put it down” but then I flipped pages and we were in a new POV? So will be resuming soon.

Thank you Anne for the hard copy of this book…trust the notes are being taken in-line.

I can confidently say that had I not watched Dune: Prophecy, spent time on the Dune subreddit and wiki, and watched both movies I would have no idea what is going on. Now that I am well-versed on the Battle of Corrin and the ways of the Bene Gesserit this book is fun (don’t judge my spelling pls).

“I think I have in fact been situated in most of the squares of the political checkerboard, one after another and sometimes simultaneously.” - Foucault

I think Gutting was too quick to discard his ability to uncover aspects of Foucault’s personal life—which I would have loved as someone who lives for “the drama.” Still pretty interesting so far.

Infodumps from a character that shouldn’t know anything in a book told from the first person perspective is…a choice.

Logic is trying to convince me that “Thalia” sounds like “The liar.” Even if you pronounce the “Th” with the theta sound, that doesn’t make sense.

I also cannot believe Simon and Schuster allowed for multiple typos.

There isn’t a doubt in my mind that this was written by Logic. Not saying that’s a good thing.

What if I said the entire book is worth the payoff of this chapter/scene? It was so shocking and good.

I have to give props for the brazen Fahrenheit 451 reference. “It was a pleasure to burn.” -> “I had no idea books burned so well.” If you see me drop a Ray Bradbury book in the feed, now you know why.

I am determined to finish this book by tomorrow. Two thoughts so far:
- I am constantly wondering where the translator took liberty with sentence structure or form. Even when done well, I find it hard to “trust” translations.
- Feels like a mix of historical (Undeground Railroad, WWII) and fictional allusions. Would love to hear Ogawa’s actual inspirations.

Orange’s ability to keep readers engaged with spliced and seemingly unrelated narratives is great. At the same time, there is a plot — one that you are hooked into with the first chapter. As you learn about the cast of characters, anticipation builds towards the climax. Really enjoying this so far.

:/ I should have known this wouldn’t be happy but I didn’t know it would hit me so hard.