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Mads
Mads is 14% done with The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)
It's a bit slow sometimes, and I find myself a bit muddled by the goings-on in the West. I think it's just the sheer amount of names and titles to keep up with there, but I'm trusting I won't need to remember EVERYONE to follow along. I'm proven right, I think.

Having just finished Eight, I'm hoping this is where the action kind of starts to pick up.
Oct 20, 2025 12:30PM Add a comment
The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)

Mads
Mads added a status update
So like. Y'know. Atonement (by Ian McEwan) is one of those books that's like raised my bar for reading.
Oct 18, 2025 03:12PM Add a comment

Mads
Mads is 88% done with Atonement
Some irony in the closing scene of Part Three.
Oct 17, 2025 11:44AM Add a comment
Atonement

Mads
Mads is 59% done with Atonement
Things between Briony and Robbie become more complex by this point, in a way that fascinates me.
Oct 14, 2025 11:12AM Add a comment
Atonement

Mads
Mads is 49% done with Atonement
At the turn of events in this book, the writer in me is delighted; the human, though, is horrified.
Oct 11, 2025 10:09AM Add a comment
Atonement

Mads
Mads is 7% done with The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
Throwing this one on as an audiobook because it seems easy enough to follow while Minecrafting or drawing.
Oct 08, 2025 01:06PM Add a comment
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

Mads
Mads is 33% done with Atonement
This books makes great use of dramatic irony alongside the limited perspectives. I am consistently reminded of Briony's revelation that writing isn't so much about what's good and what's evil, but more so about showing different perspectives. I think that bit worked as a subtle instruction to the reader, too.
Oct 08, 2025 01:03PM Add a comment
Atonement

Mads
Mads is 26% done with Atonement
I wanna put chapter Eight under a microscope and study how it so effectively delivers its tone.
Oct 05, 2025 01:43PM Add a comment
Atonement

Mads
Mads is 20% done with Atonement
There seems to be an ongoing theme surrounding manipulation, and how that impacts the people in the story. I wonder what this has to say about Christianity? Because that's not lost on me, the consistent references to the 'good, Christian lifestyle'. It's not direct, but it is ever present.
Oct 04, 2025 01:16PM Add a comment
Atonement

Mads
Mads is 13% done with Atonement
There were some delightful little nuggets about writing as an artform in the third chapter!
Oct 02, 2025 12:47PM Add a comment
Atonement

Mads
Mads is 10% done with Atonement
The second chapter deals with Cecilia, who is on the surface quite the opposite of Briony. But in the ways that matter, they are much the same. I'll be interested in seeing how this plays out.
Oct 01, 2025 10:02PM Add a comment
Atonement

Mads
Mads is 7% done with Atonement
Something the first chapter does very well is capture the mentality of a child. The sort of self-centered perspective, the way everything is so Big and Important. This is particularly interesting, because of the way Lola and Briony brush against each other.
Sep 30, 2025 11:55AM Add a comment
Atonement

Mads
Mads is 5% done with Atonement
I find myself relating very much to Briony's fixation with order and how that translates into what she gets out of writing.
Sep 30, 2025 10:46AM Add a comment
Atonement

Mads
Mads is 53% done with Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul
One of the things I love so much about James McBride's writing is how he's able to bring environments to life, painting a whole history and character into the surroundings. One of my favorite examples is the opening bit of Chapter 10, which almost feels like the location was introduced the way you might a character.
Sep 01, 2025 02:34PM Add a comment
Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul

Mads
Mads is 26% done with Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul
This book is helping me understand on a deeper level how Black history was (and still is) warped and erased. I think if you're white and willing to sit with the discomfort, it's worth a read for that understanding alone.
Aug 27, 2025 02:58PM Add a comment
Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul

Mads
Mads is 19% done with Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul
There were two things by James McBride available on Libby the other night, and this was one of them. "Hypnotizing" is definitely an apt description!
Aug 26, 2025 05:02PM Add a comment
Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul

Mads
Mads is 37% done with Monstrilio
This book is actually kind of difficult for me to read. It's not bad, very well written in fact. But it touches on maternal abuse in a way that feels very raw, real, and harrowing. I'm definitely having to take my time with it.
Aug 18, 2025 02:03PM Add a comment
Monstrilio

Mads
Mads is 29% done with An American Marriage
I'm not one to dock for formatting too much but. I read through the epistolary section, and I wish it were formatted better. At least on the e-pub version I'm reading on Libby, having no significant breaks between the letters made it difficult to keep track of where one ended and one began.

That said, things are getting more complicated now and I am intrigued.
Aug 06, 2025 06:05PM Add a comment
An American Marriage

Mads
Mads is 20% done with An American Marriage
I like it fine enough so far. It's well written and has some profound moments, but overall it's not grabbing me like some other books in the same or similar genres have been.
Aug 04, 2025 03:13PM Add a comment
An American Marriage

Mads
Mads is 14% done with Monstrilio
There is this ever present feeling, at least to me, that there is something psychologically off with Magos, and it's not just because of what she did in the opening.
Aug 04, 2025 01:44PM Add a comment
Monstrilio

Mads
Mads is 5% done with Monstrilio
I'm not quite sure where it's going, but I love the prose so far. Poetic and provocative.
Aug 01, 2025 12:05PM Add a comment
Monstrilio

Mads
Mads is 91% done with Sourcery (Discworld, #5)
I love the way he describes the weirdness, point blank. It's a weird story, a weird book, and it's lovely.
Jul 16, 2025 10:30PM Add a comment
Sourcery (Discworld, #5)

Mads
Mads is 74% done with Sourcery (Discworld, #5)
God, I love the Luggage so much.
Jul 14, 2025 11:06AM Add a comment
Sourcery (Discworld, #5)

Mads
Mads is 60% done with Sourcery (Discworld, #5)
Did I spend a full hour reading like three pages? Maybe. But there was so much philosophy jam packed into those three or four pages or so that I had to take copious notes.
Jul 12, 2025 12:46PM Add a comment
Sourcery (Discworld, #5)

Mads
Mads is 58% done with Sourcery (Discworld, #5)
There is magical about the way Terry Pratchett can utilize what I can only call the literary equivalent of negative space (as in: visual art) to his advantage.
Jul 11, 2025 04:43PM Add a comment
Sourcery (Discworld, #5)

Mads
Mads is 42% done with Sourcery (Discworld, #5)
I'm going to keep going on and on about Terry Pratchett's metaphors, but they're so damn GOOD. My favorite might be the way he described an oppressive silence sweeping over a crowd (page 95 in the edition I'm reading). My favorite micro-metaphor came shortly after: "the ongoing life expectancy of a glass cymbal."

His writing is so evocative, I see why it's so cherished.
Jul 10, 2025 04:33PM Add a comment
Sourcery (Discworld, #5)

Mads
Mads is 31% done with Sourcery (Discworld, #5)
There is something lifelike and captivating about the way the world and characters are brought to life!
Jul 09, 2025 11:08AM Add a comment
Sourcery (Discworld, #5)

Mads
Mads is 14% done with Sourcery (Discworld, #5)
This is my first time reading a Discworld novel, so I'm very curious to see why they're so loved. I've no doubt it'll be good, mind - but I am curious.

Right off the bat, the writing style is charming and fun to read, even if I don't always know what's going on, and the way transitions are used create a lovely cinematic effect.
Jul 08, 2025 12:19PM Add a comment
Sourcery (Discworld, #5)

Mads
Mads added a status update
I wonder what I should read next...
Jul 06, 2025 02:26PM 1 comment

Mads
Mads is 83% done with The Bones Beneath My Skin
Well that particular scene was a pleasant surprise. This one's so risque compared to the other books of his I've read and I fuck with it. It's weird and bold and calls to mind the Everyone's Beautiful But No One's Horny article (in a good way).
Jul 05, 2025 11:30PM Add a comment
The Bones Beneath My Skin

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