Marc > Recent Status Updates

This might be the first Austen that's losing my attention a bit. So far, few of the characters really stand out to me so I'm having trouble keeping track of them. But I'm looking forward to telling my future grandchildren I was reading Austen while the fascists took over America. I'm sure they'll be impressed...

I ordered and started this simply because it was written by Larraquy, but had I actually read the synopsis I would have started it much sooner! :D

I'm quite enjoying this one, but I'm not sure why it's taking me so long. It's long past overdue at the library so that will force me to speed things up...

236 pages in so far and the only two concepts that seem like "pure reason" at this point are SPACE and TIME. Everything else seems like it's been a process of negation or ruling out... ? I've definitely bitten off more than I can chew here. :/

I did not expect this to be as difficult a read as it is. I'm not sure I've been able to get through more than 5 to 7 pages at any single sitting. #inovermyhead

Started off finding these essays really fascinating and then they hit a wall around essay #30. I'm hoping it's just taxation that has lost my interest, but we'll see...

Slowest start of all the Moshfegh I've read thus far...

So this is his attempt to make up for a failed career as an interior designer. #respect

A choice passage from Numéro Cinq review of the book: "If Pebble Town and its immediate environs form the connecting tissue of Frontier, coming to an understanding of its essence feels like something akin to piecing together the reports of an elephant offered by the fabled group of blind men."

It took me several months just to read the prologue (only because I'm trying to read too many other books that have library return or discussion deadlines) but what a start! I'm fixated on J Edgar Hoover pocketing a magazine spread of Bruegal's "The Triumph of Death" after it flutters down on him during a baseball game...

Let’s just get this out of the way…
My pre-ordained review: I don’t believe a word she says.

Enjoying the prose style and vulnerability five of nine stories in, but thinking I'm going to tire a bit of the recurring theme (as I tend to do with most recurring themes in short story collections; I have not idea if the theme continues in the latter half of the collection).

Why is this book so boring? Maybe I hate everything associated with Yeats. Gonna give it to pg 100 and then decide whether to call it quits.

I don't like this Caleb guy... Not even a little.

Clearly, this is a novel where the light at the end of the tunnel is the on-coming train and I'm just reading until it splatters me emotionally across the pages...

Rather enjoying this so far. One of my cats vomited on it yesterday. I knew this book was divisive but this seems a little excessive as a response.

Is there a marketing reason why the translator is completely absent from any part of the front/back cover? I'm not sure I've seen a book try to hide its translated nature like this. Love the cover even more since I now know the premise!

One story in. Monks try to destroy the world with a chant that functions like a virus. OK, let's do this! :D

This third book is not grabbing me so much thus far.

Hmm... So far, all I can say is it seems pleasant. And I don't know if I mean that as a compliment or a criticism. (I was really taken with Olive Kitteridge, but this is my first reading any of the Lucy books.)

This has to be much funnier on stage given how much it depends on the confusion over twins and how readily that would come across visually.

First time reading Everett. I believe I was hooked from page 1.

Not sure I'm getting all of this, but it feels like I've read 3 chapters that say, "You see this category? That's not really a category."

Is it just me or does this serpent have a bit of a lisp?

Gave up. Love the atmosphere and mix of history/future, but mostly felt disoriented and was putting the book down in the middle of stories (sometimes multiple times).

When do I get to the part where Fanny trains in the martial arts and gives Aunt Norris her comeuppance?!!

I can only read this a few pages at a time and then one has to pause to skim the buildup of scum that accumulates in the folds of one's grey matter. It is a rather delightful process, although I do feel like it carries the risk of picking up a TTD (Textually Transmitted Disease).

Note to self: Be wary of chess players.

I'm reading this in e-book form. I almost tried to underline a passage with a pen like I would with a paper book. A testament to how immersive Nelson's writing is.

Are these actual periods?!! Three in the first 25 pages. This is a punctuation breakdown of epic proportions…

With only about 100 pages left of this, I feel reluctant to finish. Proust has been with me through most of the pandemic, the death of my father, and one bruised rib.