Marilyn > Recent Status Updates

If you’re ever with me and we find a mysterious tunnel through a hole in the wall…you’re going in alone.

I would argue that chapters 30-60 are not actually necessary to the story. While, yes, we do meet some people that feel important, the rest of the time is Rome is a bunch of fluff. I have read that this type of “travelogue” was quite popular to read and I suppose I can understand why, but nowadays there is just no way a proper editor would have given those 30 (!!!) chapters a pass.

This essentially equals 20 hours of listening time which is frankly insanity. My thoughts so far… this is remarkably easy to understand for a book 200 years old so I can see why it remains at the “top of the classics charts”. However, the length… I mean come on.

3 hours in and only 7% down. This is one chunky monkey.

Vera is « very proud of her crime scene. It must surely be the most pleasant crime scene... » lol.

The constant Googling is killing me.

Wickham is finally dead and things may be perking up. I’ve decided that it’s best to read all of these characters as though they are entirely new to me instead of characters from much beloved books that I already know because while they all share familiar names, their personalities are so different from how Austen wrote them that it’s quite irksome.

So far pretty disappointing that literally every single Austen couple appears to be wallowing in marriage ennui - even those who are only recently married.

Finally have met the entire crew and things are picking up. Marra is still not a bright bulb.

Marra is not the brightest bulb. I hope this picks up.

I have a problem - I keep checking out these special rush eBook loans from the library when I know I won’t ever be able to finish in time. This is another. It’s going to be whisked away soon and I’ll have to wait 22 weeks (!!!!!!!!!!!!) to get another crack at it. Whhhhhhhyyyyyy?

I fully expect to hate this as much as I did when I read it in high school, but I’ve found myself wondering if maturity will make this a more appealing read.

My borrowed eBook has been whisked back to the library-10 weeks for another copy. I doubt I will recall the entire story by the time I get it back. The writing is pretty, but I’m not sure the multi-layers of fairy tales over “real-life” is entirely necessary, though I was willing to wait until the end to place a final judgment.

I read this too slowly and tonight my borrowed ebook was whisked back to the library before I could finish it! Ugh. Now back on the hold list to finish it. As with her other book (13th tale) it had a whole lot of individual stories that don’t overlap...though I assume they will all come together near the end. Note to me: I left off around a chapter with a Mr.B in the title - no idea of chapter number.

“I shall not sit idly by and settle for anything other than a perfect cup of tea.” - Mr. Olderglough.

I wish I had bought this as an ebook instead of a physical book for the more I read it, the more I love it. I just so rarely have the time to read in the day from a paper book.

I’m barely in and I’ve put the book down twice for being so gruesome I needed a moment. So. Here we go.

Surprisingly creepy. One can easily substitute zombies for these walking plants. Also the mass blindness is upsetting...and I’m sure that Saramago must have been influenced by this book when he wrote Blindness because the scenes of hysteria and despair are certainly similar. I’m not sure I like this book but it’s well written.

Another one of my reading-in-the-middle-of-the-night books

So far so good.

My mom loves this series so I thought it seemed like a good story to settle into while awake and ill at 4am. So far it’s very cozy.

So far, this is an oddly laid out novel that took me until page 40 to get the hang of - and then I had to go back to beginning to reread what I’d read in confusion in order to understand what had happened.

Don’t judge me.

FINALLY reading this after owning it for quite awhile - and even having the author sign it for me...yikes! So far, it's pretty good. I am deep within the dealing with the death section so fairly sad and guilt-ridden which leads me to question my own relationships with both my parents and my kids.

This book has taken me three (four?) tries to get into it. You really need to be in the right mindset to let the weird writing style not bug you, but now that I'm in, I'm in.

I don't know if I can do it, Captain! This feels like the longest book ever...probably because it's almost the longest book ever. Just under
1200 pages...did we really need the longer I cut version, Steve? I'm thinking not.

According to my Kobo app, I only have another 412 reading sessions to go before I reach the end of this bad boy.