Andrew Mcc > Recent Status Updates

Miller is present for the liberation of Dachau and thinks, at first, that it and Buchenwald are staged propaganda stunts faked by the USA. A remarkable detail

Just casually trucking along enjoying the history of photography and then there’s a passage on life in the blitz in London that just guts me because, well, it’s the quotidian hassle of life in Kyiv right now also. Will quote passage later.

Can I finish this bad boy this weekend while also managing to get my homework done?

The problem with introducing a new POV character for the last 2 books is that I’m only invested in the story insofar as he’s interacting with characters from the first 7 books. Now we’re off on a solo adventure and I’m losing interest.

God what an experience reading something like this. The finale of a series that was foundational for me in like 2002… but which I never got to finish until now. Characters I haven’t interacted with in 20+ years. Wow. Should have re-read some of the prior books in preparation but probably not necessary.

On the advice of some internet people I am doing one episode a week alongside a reading guide. I did Telemachus and Nestor the last two weeks and excited to jump into Proteus tonight.

Finding it incredibly valuable to read side by side with Ulysses. Very chuffed when I check a footnote to realize I already knew its significance.

Couldn’t read Ulysses without this book.

Okay he’s cooking.

Here’s a gripe about novels like this. Where they’re experts I can’t tell the difference. But ablative absolute is like, Latin II level stuff. And yeah more complicated ablatives come along later, but absolutes are pretty easy to identify even at higher levels. All these characters have been studying and reading Latin IV-V+ level texts for years. Tacitus may be a problem but it’s absolutely not his absolutes

Well that’s certainly a turning point.

Still don’t really like the main character which makes it a slog, but the secondary characters are all compelling enough.

Other barflies have stopped making fun of me for not making progress on the book.

Huh.

Getting into it slowly. New characters helped. Every bartender or barista or waitress here is so damn excited about it. I may buy a Ukrainian copy and give it away to my favorite host.

Bartender here is a big RF KUANG fan so she’s obsessed with me now and quizzing me on every booktok book I should read

It was the only bearable thing to buy on the English language bookshelf here so I’m gonna give it a third attempt.

I’m gonna finish this book and have nothing to read but work stuff until August if I can’t find a good English language shelf on a local bookstore.

I’ve missed reading

Holding aside the quality of the writing, this book is precisely my genre.

Summer vacation. First day in Lviv. Reading at a cafe. Back to normal Andrew.

Your reviews of YA novels from 1995-2005 are all wrong because those books are special to me and I don’t care how they held up in 2025.

The theme of “depressed individual seeks salvation and healing” is really Magician King and I love it for one

I’ve listened to / read the magicians trilogy 25+ times so ive essentially memorized its passages. Reading fresh Grossman I’m reminded… this mf can *write*.