Jayson > Recent Status Updates

Notes:
(1) All seemingly silly, but really thought through,
a rhyme book of substance, no randomness stew.
- Far more than mere nonsense (haphazardly strewn),
it much more resembles political toons.
- All clever and pithy, if ludicrous fare.
- Not simply a'rhyming up sawdust and air.
(2) As well, illustrations are prime Dr. Seuss.
- All expertly rendered, not lazy or loose.

Notes:
(1) It all feels very Aesop, old animal fables,
wherein pride is a sin and delusions disabled.
- Very Icarus too, too close to the sun,
forgetting mortality: fallen/undone.
(2) There's also a theme of the weakest of souls
inducing collapse of imperious goals.
- Whether the cleverest worm making foolishness sting,
or the lowest of turtles who can humble a king.

Notes:
(1) Quite un-Dr. Seuss, all visually loose.
- Its scribbly artwork just doesn't have juice.
(2) Writing for kiddies is no good excuse,
it's still very lazy and narrative-hazy.
- Erratic and random, and never gets crazy.
(3) "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut"? Awful ironic.
- "Read with eyes open" is the whole moral/tonic.
- I hate to be scathing, but the title's moronic.

Notes:
(1) Another one not made for me,
a preschool pre-word echo spree.
- See an animal, read the sound,
then ask the kid to do a round.
- It's ipso facto not profound.
(2) All interactive stuff, I guess,
but nothing for me nonetheless.
- At best, I find the concept mid.
- But, once again, I'm not a kid.
- But, maybe if I have a child,
I'll find the concept more than mild.

Notes:
(1) Entirely concept, not stories but hooks.
- All intros and heating, but none of them cook.
(2) The bookended ones have endings, at least,
but ending the tales all-famine-no-feast.
- Jokes minus punchlines, momentum is ceased.
(3) Good morals to tell, but once again, merely,
just hinted, not shown nor hammered out clearly.
- Not satisfying nor played out sincerely.

Notes:
(1) A lot like before in "If I Ran the Zoo,"
this goes on too long—'round a factor of two.
- Concept's quite decent, but real repetitious:
roll call of bird names all silly/fictitious.
- That's fine if a twist or a turn is thrown in,
but doesn't switch gears and gets watered down thin.
(2) Still, above average creature array.
- I'd read it again, just not right away.

Notes:
(1) It's nothing I would read again, but then I'm not a child.
- Just all alliteration rhymes, alright if fairly mild.
(2) Pictures here are pretty good, well done if unexciting.
- Alphabet examples shown are mixed with nonsense writing.
(3) Good fun, I guess, for younger kids: all silliness, no plot.
- Bit twisty—though not frequently—might tie your tongue in knots.

Notes:
(1) Real absurd, but hardly grand,
it's simple stuff to understand.
- A plain request dressed-up, you see,
to the most ridiculous degree.
(2) And catchy verses, like a song
with chorus bits to say along.
- Indelible, it's impact-strong,
you memorize it as you go,
(3) The moral: try new things and grow.
- Appearances are only show.
- All said and done, you never know.

Notes:
(1) All very unique, well, comparably so
(re: most Dr. Seuss books) in artwork and flow.
- A lyrical downer, like Shelly or Poe.
(2) Also a '70s-style and feel
Bakshi-like anti-industrial deal.
- Pretty politically conscious as well,
a "do your part" fight against capitalist hell.
(3) Well done overall, if too on-the-nose.
- An activist handbook with mission imposed.

Notes:
(1) More than just whimsy, it's all really clever,
each page is a quirky and witty endeavor.
- Not so much plot as a loose theming, yet,
filled to the brim with amusing vignettes.
(2) The artwork, as well, is more deft and detailed,
at least on the Seuss book comparison scale.
(3) Less so for kiddies, more wordy and dense.
- Surreal but not silly, more logical sense.

Notes:
(1) While vivid, creative and funny (for youth),
the silliness gimmick gets long in the tooth.
- Just nonsense on nonsense and, albeit fine,
I need more than rhyming and kooky designs.
(2) Now, the obvious issue, the imagery here
is modern-day-iffy and doesn't endear.
- I wouldn't say "racist," but "racial" is fair,
while shocking at first, well, I really don't care.

Notes:
(1) "I hate it when fairies come into the bar. They don't tip you worth a toot—not because they're stingy, but because they just forget."
- I'll give them a break, they likely don't observe the custom in whatever dimension they're from.
- Frankly, the vast majority of cultures in our own dimension neither tip nor expect tips. Could be Claudine lived a while in Scandinavia or East Asia?

(Continued in comments)

Notes:
(1) You know, I'm fond of saying at a certain point this series stops being primarily about vampires and becomes all about fairies.
- After years of doubting myself about whether that was true, having just reread the last one, I can say that I was 100% correct.
- It's actually quite a dividing line: after a run of decent installments, this book is where the series begins its terminal decline to absolute trash.

Notes:
(1) "Everything that followed had tainted those memories, but for one moment I saw [Bill] clearly, and I loved him again."
- FFS, finally! Took her long enough. How many times does a guy have to save a girl from certain death before she forgives him?!
(2) In sum: this is a lot of telling and very little showing.
- Most of the action happens off-screen, and for all the fairy talk and hubbub, they barely appear.

Introduction:
(1) Goodreads really needs to take into account front matter (Roman-numeral) pagination for progress updates.
- Just going by the official page numbers, it looks like I haven't read anything at all!
(2) Correction: "A Touch of Dead" makes up a third of this, not half as I stated before.
- My mistake was comparing the page count for each book, not accounting for font differences.

(Continued in comments)

Notes:
(1) "While I could, I smiled at Thing One and Thing Two."
- What a coincidence, I just read "The Cat in the Hat"! Though I'd understand the reference regardless.
(2) The thing about fairies is... you can't really take them seriously—they're fairies!
- You automatically get mental images of Tinkerbell, the Tooth Fairy, and other such winged and diminutive waifs.
- It's like trying to take a butterfly seriously.

Notes:
(1) Illustrations here are fairly stale,
Compared to Seuss's other tales.
(2) More learning tool (a say-and-see),
for little kids, not made for me.
- While certainly there's joy derived,
enjoyment's capped at six or five.
- I don't want to sound unfair and sour,
but this doesn't have much staying power.
- Still decent, it fulfills its job,
so sorry if I sound a snob.

Notes:
(1) This might be a good time to bring up that there have been two titular lines so far. So, they're back!
- I didn't mention them before because, frankly, I had better things to say.
(2) "I'm not used to seeing people get shot … Which was mostly true"
- Yeah, she's more so used to seeing people staked.
- The notable exceptions being when she does the shooting… though I guess it's possible she closes her eyes.

Notes:
(1) No real point to this or plot
except to tie your tongue in knots.
- The trickster Fox in Socks annoys
poor Mr. Knox with verbal ploys.
The reader too is booby-trapped.
- This sort of rhyming's more a rap.
(2) Chaotic, yes, but very fun
the way tongue-twister rhyming's done.
- Art's on point in illustrating,
literally, in recreating
what exactly lines are stating.

Notes:
(1) A middling array of stray magazine bits,
some spliced into pieces that awkwardly fit.
- Some pages just text, and no pictures at all.
- One just a poem, its shenanigans small.
(2) The theme, it appears, is about telling lies,
or else not the truth for a swindle disguise.
- Also, spur-of-the-moment ad hoc fabrication,
the best story here deals in wild speculation.

Notes:
(1) "I don't think I would have been so ready to have sex with you tonight if we didn't have a blood bond, because … I don't know what's real and what's not."
- Yeah, that's the problem when your blood is essentially a love potion or, more accurately, really potent beer goggles.
- I mean, is this a type of sexual coercion, assault or drugging? "I don't know what's real and what's not" makes it all super-iffy.

Notes:
(1) "I think it was a hate crime. But I don't know if it was personal hate, because Crystal was a slut... or racial hate, because she was a werepanther."
- Okay, this is just stupid. While hate crimes can be personal, they're based on immutable characteristics. "Slut" isn't immutable, it's a choice.
- Also, being a werepanther isn't racial, it's more akin to hating people with genetic conditions like dwarfism.

Notes:
(1) Could it be that this Who-ville, in elephant care,
is the same across books and the Grinch is down there?
- Seems bizarre, but makes sense, since the city is named,
therefore Whos aren't a race but community-framed.
(2) Again, we have Horton as ever persisting,
to make sure the vulnerable keep on existing.
- Despite dirty tricks and how no one's assisting.

Notes:
(1) Eric: "[Appius] liked men, of course, and that took some getting used to ... even that I enjoyed... eventually.”
- We get Eric's vampire origin, and I'm a bit surprised (yet not surprised at all) how many of these involve rape.
- "Of course" he liked men? I suppose... Ancient Rome.
- Possibly, it's indicative of less civilized times when "rape and pillage" was a warrior mindset hand-in-hand with bloodlust?

Notes:
(1) It's Seuss before Seussical art was cemented.
- Archetypical style of the time represented,
like Tintin or Popeye, a pre-war aesthetic,
though, patently Seussical—oddball poetic.
(2) About absentee parents v. fostering saints,
who love and look after without a complaint.
- Also, leaving impressions on children you raise
is a message conveyed here in literal ways.

Notes:
(1) "I'd rather [the FBI] think me sexually easy than decide I was worthy of more attention."
- Well, it's not like she isn't sexually easy… at least since she became sexually active.
- This might be Book 8, but she's only aged from 26 to 27 hitherto, and in that year (more or less) had four sexual partners: two vampires, a weretiger and a fairy (posing as a werewolf).
- I mean, that's a heck of a rookie year!

Notes:
(1) The rhyming's not great, could be me, I don't know,
but past Dr. Seuss books I've read had more flow.
(2) Story's quite simple, straightforward, and yet,
characters here make it hard to forget.
- The Cat in the Hat's a terrific design,
while quirkiness, boldness and energy shine.
(3) Finishes decent, good moral expressed:
to always remember to clean up your mess.

Notes:
(1) "[Amelia] might look like a well-toned soccer mom ... but she was very interested in sex and (by my standards) diverse in those interests."
- Indeed. So far: a witch, a vampire, and two varieties of were.
- Watch out, Sam! Shifter is probably next on the list!
(2) "Sam came out of his office to join [Tray], who was at least five inches taller…"
- Poor Sam—introduced yet again with Sookie calling him short.

Notes:
(1) So, now we're in the realm of books—from here until the end—where I barely remember anything.
- It's all just one big blob, titles are just puns and don't mean anything, I don't know the reading order anymore, and I wouldn't be able to recall a single plot point except for who Sookie ultimately ends up with.
- It actually started last book, but that wasn't so much a novel as a means of tying-up loose ends.

Notes:
(1) Color me shocked, it's the first time I've seen
that the Grinch in the book version's white and not green!
(2) Call me a snob, but I would have preferred
that it didn't, when rhyming, reuse the same word.
(3) The cartoon is better, there's more spirit and time,
whereas, seemingly here, the Grinch turns on a dime.
- It ends quite abrupt, but that's hardly a crime.