Celina > Recent Status Updates

“Haneen once compared Palestine to an exposed part of an electronic network, where someone has cut the rubber coating with a knife to show the wires and currents underneath.” 2/2

“A tent across the square housed a group of men sitting with placards, protesting in support of a hunger strike. Above them, Palestine flag bunting hung between the buildings, and the lamp posts were covered with stickers advertising the boycott movement.” 1/2

“I selected a few fat American paperbacks from the nineties and hauled them around with me. Submitting to their world was not easy. Maybe it was the subject matter. Sexual misdemeanors of middle-aged Jewish men living in Manhattan. The escapades of literary boys in Latin America.”

This audiobook is a tough listen and I’m tapped out. The reader is great but this is a book that is best read on paper, the better to keep track of names, places and dates. I will try again on paper.

This book is great for is learning more about the geography of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. I thought the audiobook would be good for hearing words pronounced in different languages, but it’s slow going and doesn’t lend itself to listening while doing other things—too much stopping to go back for dates and places, then find those places on the map.

This is cute.

Dragging a little. Sped up the narration a notch, at least until something happens.

Fell asleep listening to the first spicy scene. Oops.

I’ve had this book and looked into it, but tonight at bedtime I picked it up on a whim and started reading on page 1. I was in bed recovering as the gardening season drew to a close and missed some of the harvest. Now I’m excited for next season and what I’ll plant.

If I’m going to read about feelings and families it should be straightforward, written by Anne Tyler, and set in Baltimore, *cough* not some soap opera disguised as a thriller about a woman lost in the woods *cough*

We’re done here.

Uh…. That’s not very mysterious.

She said Leominster right. That’s a relief.

The reader says Appa-LAY-shin not Appa-LATCH-in. Little grating. But onward.

I’m sticking to audiobooks for the rest of the year as I try to finish a craft project in time for Christmas. This is good so far. The parts about the logistics of America’s First World War are a little dry, but the domestic political fallout is fascinating.

I thought after my Spanish historical doorstop I’d want something light and funny, but when the dragon showed up I kind of lost interest. It turns out what I really wanted was another realistic novel about flawed people, heavy on geopolitics. I’m not saying I won’t still read Terry Pratchett at some point, just not right now.

I’m going to have to buy the hardcopy, hardcover be damned. For one, I need to go back and check on earlier chapters, and for two I love this and will need to own it.

I’ve heard from strong readers who have had trouble with this book because the characters were so unpleasant. In the first chapter I agreed, wondering how much I could read about such an obnoxious child. Then the plot opened up to a background of geopolitical turmoil and I was hooked. I love it when geopolitical factors interact with personal lives. I can take more for that than for just interpersonal awkwardness.

This is good. A tough listen, but good.

“No es que los asesinatos de la banda lo dejaran indiferente, sino que estos se habían convertido en una rutina que le embotaba los órganos de la indignación y de la pena.”

Prison at last. The domestic drama was getting on my nerves.

Eeew. Feelings.

Went back to the beginning to get some characters sorted out, then stalled. Putting this aside for an audiobook from the library. Not sure if I’ll return to the audio or the paper edition.

This audiobook is gold as usual, getting me through a bit of a ridiculous time, but some of the minor characters are getting lost in the shuffle. I’ll have to go back to the printed book, not sure if before or after I finish the audio.

Oops, left this at a friend’s house on vacation and won’t get it back right away, so it’s paused. This isn’t bad at all, full of incidents, characters, and insight. Writing is a little rough in places, but this is a good read.

Not bad, but not easy for me to follow on audio right now.

All but explicitly a screenplay, down to camera angles. Slightly annoying but not necessarily a dealbreaker.

Sitting at a gate in Dallas-Fort Worth airport, listening to the chapter about delivering mail-in ballots in 2020.