Lauren > Recent Status Updates

The references to whatever deep dark secret the protagonist is hiding are too heavy handed. “…almost as much as what he’d done, no matter the provocation, sickened him.” It takes away from the major action (a school shooting aftermath) happening now, and seems superfluous.

Trying a new thing where I update as I read. I think this is the cringiest of Cosby’s work? There have been offenses before now but I just read the sentence “He’d seen what the width of the thin blue line could hide, and it sickened him” and needed to comment.

Still love him though. Only author who writes about law enforcement I can stand.

I’m back!

God damnit this is good, why didn’t I read it before now…wish there was more Eli though

This is excellent.

DNF, I just could not get into this one. I tried as an audiobook, perhaps it is better read. Onto the next piece by Highsmith, any recommendations outside the big hits?

I’m liking The Cold Millions for the most part, but this is some jarringly loquacious prose. Multiple sentences that are a paragraph long. Not the vibe I remember from Walter’s The Financial Lives of Poets! The descriptions are too long for every place.

AND early in the book, one of the main characters just did something totally out of character to advance the plot. Pet peeve!!

Love the setting though.

One of the best, most engaging first scenes I've ever read

Very impressed with this so far. I don’t know anything about being a lawyer and it’s not a problem at all. The main character is deeply relatable for any millennial and Queen Julia Whelen is the Audible narrator, so I’m really enjoying this.

I’m furious at myself for not reading this earlier. Wow, just wow!!! I’m laughing, I’m heartbroken, I’m hopeful—on every single page. Give Gail Honeyman every single award bc I am BLOWN AWAY by this book.

Wow, super impressed with this so far

Honestly life altering is the f

I'm working my way through this collection. Nice polished storytelling so far, though I'm not obsessed with it.

This is Excellent.

I’m on page 15 and rolling my eyes.

So far I have met 4 characters, 2 men and 2 women. The men? Both high powered business professionals, and the author uses sentences like “This was Alexander French: he wouldn’t back down until you were toast,” and (a quote from the other character) “that’s the thing about being the boss, I run the show!”

The ladies? A decades younger paramour and a secretary. Ugh

Damn, this was seriously good. I’m loving working my way through her books. Jones writing teenage girl characters is just perfection.

My first thought as I was reading this was I wish I’d read it with my high schoolers!

Looooving this so far. This is a guy who can write a story. Thanks to my friend James for recommending William Gay to me :)

My first Picoult book. Was very ready to not like it but was completely wrong! Picoult is a fantastic writer and I'm loving this.

loving this!

Trying to establish the practice of commenting on books as I read them!

It took me about 40 pages to become agreeable to this book; there are a LOT of cops involved in the story and I don’t like reading about cops, feds, all the acronyms of the departments, etc. However, Locke quickly outfits the main character, a black Texas ranger, with an intriguing and complex backstory, and there aren’t so many cops now.

I do like this but wanted to provide an update for shitty writing of women characters. There have been 2 women “characters” mentioned by chapter 7: one is a dead wife, and one is an addict sex worker who is beaten mercilessly, not mentioned in more than 3-4 sentences.

I get Joy writes about mountain men with long beards and drug addictions and hands itching at violence-that’s his thing. But come on dude

I’m a little cranky headed into this bc 1) the first thing I read is hero worship of Ron Rash, who I think is overrated; and 2) I was majorly put off by Joy’s pitiful attempt at writing a woman character in Where All the Light Tends to Go. I do love much about Joy’s writing though and I’m excited to read this.

The author is laying on the “I’m an independent girl, please don’t make me marry, Pa!” waaay too thick. Feels like she wasn’t sure what to write at first and so just stretched this scene out forever

I enjoyed the first part of this book, but had to put it down once I hit the “meat” of the story about the weird betting corporation. I just couldn’t stay interested enough to follow. It’s a clever idea for a story.

I'm not loving this. Slooooow.

this book is like if Poachers by Tom Franklin had a baby with Donald Ray Pollock --and I mean that in the best possible way

I’m not giving up on this yet but wanted to note how terrible the ...construction? Layout? Breakdown? is. There are almost no paragraph breaks; most pages read as one lonnnnng passage and are easy to get lost in. There are no chapters. Just part 1 and then halfway through, part 2. Who allowed this! Very hard on the reader, esp when plot is not enthralling yet. Narrator is not interesting enough for me to ramble.

I’m listening to this book and have to comment that Lawson (the narrator) reading her author’s note/intro reminds me of Lorelei Gilmore —and I mean that in the worst possible way. I’m gonna stick with it bc I think this is probably an important book, but so far I’m not charmed.