Paul > Recent Status Updates

DNF.

This writer is pretty illiterate.

I thought this would be more heavy-hitting, but there's an awful lot of describing "boodling," which sounds like something out of the 19th century but is actually just graft. It's mostly about money in politics at the city level. Not sure I'm going to finish it.

Heavy going, but I'm plowing through, using other books for occasional relief.

Pretty heavy going, and so much religion and economics. I get the greed part and the Keeping Up with the Joneses part. I'm having more trouble with the self-proclaimed messiahs and saviors and their inevitable corruption.

Had to stop for a while. Too depressing. But I will finish it.

Go Elyn Saks! You're my hero!

This isn't just a great true crime book; it's also an excellent ethnography of West Virginia culture and a heartfelt memoir.

dnf. Too upsetting and humiliating; altogether too cruel.

Not especially for men--even feminist men.

This book is incredible. The woman is a genius. I'm going to read it very slowly--too much great stuff to whip through.

Best nonfiction writer in America.

This is an incredibly stupid book.

This book is much longer than it needs to be. I keep losing interest. I keep waiting for the author to approach a denouement moment, or at least a hint, but if she doesn't soon, I'm dropping out.

It irritates the hell out of me that some people are scared of epilepsy. That's a superstition that's over 2,000 years old. For god's sake, read up on it so you know it's not going to bite you.

What an incredible book!

Besides being a scream, this book has some real insights into swearing and men v. women. It's still a very sexist society, and the unwritten rules we live by were written down in the 1600s or 1700s. Some progress as women gain empowerment. Lots of social psychology test results, limited as they are.

So far, the best book I've read this year. Masterly written with a great ear for low-country or hillbilly dialogue.

I had no idea that the Blitzkrieg was entirely fueled by meth.