Kelly > Recent Status Updates

In a word: fantastic. Seriously bogged down about half-way through the joy-ride that is "We Need to Talk about Kevin" I needed a lighter read and so chose one on presidential assassination. And it's perfect! And while surprisingly interesting James Garfield really helps, Millard's prose seals the deal, managing to make the Gilded Age interesting. Can't say enough about how much I'm enjoying this so far.

Ok, I only actually started this book today but holy cow: stark, with raw prose. And now to read too much into anything but my mother highly recommended this book to me and I can only apologize for existing, mom, because DAMN: tell me how you really feel, why don't you. At least ever anti-maternal thought I've ever had is reinforced a hundred-fold.

In a better mood today. The metaphor is a disgusting literal one, in addition to being also actually disgusting; but c'est la vie. The whole thing is growing on me.

Um so the dog is life-sized? And talks? Yeaaaaaaaaah, we're going to see about this one. Luckily it's a fast read, I'll be done by the end of the week either way.

I honestly don't see myself finishing this one. Carol is award- winning? News to me, the writing is grating. Plus, Nellie Bly deserves to be killed by Jack the Ripper; she's unreliable as a narrator (but with winking foot-notes to alert us to this unreliability - gah!), she's a poor grammarian (and a journalist!?!), she's a weak crime-fighter and generally an annoyance on the page.

Cough cough. Sorry, it's just so dry in here. Slow and steady, not going to strain myself. Most interesting fact so far: if Breyer could reverse just three 5-4 decisions one of them would be a gerrymandering case. He directly equates redistricting to the polarization of modern parliamentary bodies.

A bit psychological, perhaps, for what I was hoping would be a good breather while I gathered myself to read the second half of Stephen Breyer's book. Well written and all, just not my taste. She's a bit too moral, and I do mean that in a bad way.

Well written recap of eighth-grade civics. If you've heard of Dredd Scott, Marbury, Madison or Brown v. Board of Ed you have no need for this book. Sad, really, that he can't assume most Americans to know these things, but he can't and doesn't and starts from scratch. Perhaps I'll skip to section two and see how it goes - Dahlia Lithwick doesn't usually steer me wrong and she quite enjoyed this.

Huh. The lack of dialogue I thought would bother me does not. Apparently they're making this into a movie with DiCaprio as H.H.Holmes? Whatever, it's the most readable non-fiction since Churchill.

I'm on page 142 and Mrs Fletcher was just introduced. JB Fletcher, anyone? Yes, please. The only problem I have is that this mystery can very obviously be solved if you take the time to figure out who listed who and who sat where. It can be done but I'm too swept up in the narrative to figure things out ahead of whats-his-face, the narrator. Ok, clearly more my problem than the books'.

yes!

Turns out I was just cranky, this is a great little mystery. It wouldn't be me without a nit-pick, though, so could he please stop describing gross foods in detail?

god, i'm hard to please. today i'm sick and hopped up on caffeine and so not my most tractable. i'm going to give ole Frank the benefit of not making a snap judgment based on fifty pages

They really front loaded this book with the Americans dicking around before they entered the war. It's supposedly going all the way to the armistice in Europe but we didn't reach DDay until a hundred and fifty pages before the ending. I guess you write what you know, but Shaw knew a rather bland version of war. So far: meh. This ending has to really step up the game in order to justify all this build up

you know, the only story that really hits me home is the one based on shaw himself.

I don't mean to be constantly complaining, I really am enjoying this book but you know what else I could do without: his Dan Brown-esque chapter endings. "The stakes, as they say, were rising."; "But as it turned out, the unhappy tale. . . did surface again at a later point in our investigation, to cause a very real-indeed an almost fatal-crisis." Give it a rest, buddy.

If Caleb could restrict his paragraphs-long descriptions of every single intersection in turn of the last century New York to slightly less than a Tolkein screed I would really appreciate it. Length of the remaining text would seem to indicate this is a vain hope. The actual mystery, when he gets around to it, is quite fun.

not a lot happening, but then, that's not really the point, is it?

i am such a sucker for amelia. even when she's being her most ornery i still think ramses should listen to his mother. i want to slowly savor this book, who knows how many more peabodys we're going to get?

they should always investigate the occult and mysticism; it's a much more interesting way for laurie to shoehorn in religion

This is a great choice to follow Geek Love. I'm already inured to odd settings and quirky standards, and these ones are much more enjoyable being literary in nature rather than carny.

I just did the math. I read about a hundred pages a day and at that pace this book should be finished today. I'm slogging but I am respectful of the author's talent. She's plenty talented, she just happens to be enthusiastic about themes I tire of easily. How was Kate supposed to know that?

Well, it's better than Geek Love, I'll tell you that much. All the hype on the back cover about how reading one book will 'change my life' sure doesn't help though.

Vomit. I hate this book already. Stupid book club.

i love that most of the suspects are women; the men capable of murder all died in the war.

Less Hamish; a shift I fully support.

the one set in jerusalem is the one that's not about religion. go figure.

this book is making me hate all humans

This voice in his head is going to get on my nerves STAT.