Shireen > Recent Status Updates

A fun read. Mrs Pollifax a tactician as ever. Reading stories set in the last century is a nice escape from today’s reality.

I enjoyed this book as much as the first one until the last few chapters. And then I found myself wanting to race through it and finish it. I guess I wanted more of her scholarly adventure and less of plunging into full on romance where she ties up her purpose with his quest. I liked her independence and am a little disappointed at plunging into woman tied to man mode even if is the rescuer.

This was fun. It looks like she wasn’t able to turn it into a series but as a standalone was nice escapism.

This was a delight. Taken back into a different era, one I’d forgotten about and Mrs Pollifax remains popular for a reason. Can’t wait to start reading book 2. I don’t know if I’ll remember it…I think I read all her books the library stocked except this one.

The percentage is deceptive. Just over half is text, the rest is acknowledgements and notes and stuff. It’s easy to read and follow. I borrowed the ebook twice from the library because I was posting on it on Bluesky, which slowed me down, and I was focusing on other climate books more. It’s practical and informative. And I loved the stories. They’re what makes nonfiction come to life.

With the reference to the war (WWII of course), I decided I must have the wrong publication date in my head. It was first published in 1966! Long before I read her books for the first time! I have to readjust my mental imagery as I visualize and verbalize this novel.

I read all the Mrs Pollifax books back in the 80s/90s when the library stocked them in mass paperbacks (those used to be my favourite size). But I don’t remember ever reading the first one. The ebook was on hold for months at the Toronto Library. Neat that this series is as popular as ever and to read her at an age close to hers in contrast to when I was young.

I’ve read this in spurts. I liked the characters, though Cordelia’s dialogue seemed to become generic near the end. I mean, generic in style, so it didn’t seem like her. It was an enjoyable and absorbing enough read to let me escape this horror of a world and personal-life upheavals. Really, I can sympathize with Hester! Except my life ain’t returning to normal. [insert scream]

Well. I was wrong yet I guessed right. Twist on twist. Very satisfying! And the final revelation, I think every reader had figured out. But did Juan Manuel know? I guess we’ll find out in the next book?

This book is a different structure than the first one and uses it to fill in a lot of her backstory. It’s interesting how the Before chapters tie in to the current events ones. I don’t think they contradict the backstory given in the first book except for Mr Preston and her Gran’s relationship…maybe. Not enough to bother me, anyway. I think I know whodunnit and why. Neat!

I can’t get into this book. The characters aren’t grabbing me. I think I’m done with tropes, and maybe this is why readers find my novels surprising…because they don’t use tropes. Or at least I hope they don’t! Anyway, I’m setting this one aside for now. I’m getting used to being OK with not finishing a book.

Reading the ePub edition from Toronto Public Library. It takes place 4 years after the first book. Her voice is more mature, less didactic…her thinking/narration is less literal, more mainstream. But the writing is as good as ever.

I’m familiar with Toronto’s geography, and I’m wondering when this was written. Any apartment building near the water treatment plant is nowhere near the “freeway” as they took down the eastern portion years and years ago. Dialogue isn’t quite distinguishable between characters and they mostly follow tropes, tho a relief he ain’t hard drinking cuz that’d be 1 too many tropes.

I borrowed the English ePub from the library. I’m cherry picking through the chapters for any additional info on climate solutions I could build on for my novel set in the far far future. I’ve read enough by now to know most of the horrors befalling us now. Yeah, now. This book was published in 2023, said we had 1C of warming, but we’ve zoomed past that already. Why I think 4C by 2100 is an underestimate.

The narrator has a distinctive and easily recognizable voice. Easily recognized in that the author drew this character well. From voice to thoughts, every detail is true to Molly and makes her known to us the reader more and more. Not often you get such a clear POV and how it distorts the character’s perception. It’s addictive.

This was a delightful read. I don’t normally read fantasy (I watch it instead), but I enjoyed this and want to read the next one.

I have to say this is a most delightful book. And the chapter for 20th November had me laughing and laughing. The narrator, the dialogue, the world, keep me wanting to read and not do anything else. Yet I don’t want to devour the book because then this delight will end. And since it was published in 2023, who knows when I can borrow the next in the series.

This is a 7-day library loan. Something a little different from my usual fare. I’ve noticed the same sort of editorial errors already in this ebook as I’ve seen in other recently published books. Editors have always been poorly paid, but is it now so bad that they’re reading too quickly to pick up consistency errors? Maybe even traditionally published authors can benefit from using ProWritingAid-type software

I skipped through from the depressing sections to the chapters where he discusses current successes that don’t add CO2 and methane emissions and innovations that will lead to a sharp decrease in emissions and agricultural sprawl. I needed to focus on ideas for my novel not get depressed over how bad farming is for us and our planet.

Well! I did not see the coming! But I was right, whodunnit was hiding in the shadows.

OK, I did half wonder if Julia had done that at the time of reading that particular letter. Still, end of chapter 16 is pretty funny. I’m inclined again to think whodunnit is hiding in the shadows but don’t exactly know why. I mean, the business with the maps required great attention to detail, so….

Note to self: do a better job verbalizing to cement in imagery if you want to solve even some aspects of the mystery!

I’ve become used to the rhythm of the narrative style, and appreciated some of the humour. It’s like having a peek into a bygone life. I feel like it’s too obvious who could have done it, and the actual culprit is hiding in the shadows but not sure of the motive.

Fed up with Our Fragile Moment requiring extra cognitive load to both follow the info AND convert to metric on the fly, I returned to this audiobook. But I skipped the rest of chapter 1. Prose is lovely; I don’t have time, energy, or patience to listen to description of extant. I have to finish my background reading ASAP. Chapter 2 already enlightening and sparking ideas for novel 3 of The Q’Zam’Ta Trilogy.

I gave up. Interesting, relevant to my novel research, but I don’t have the cognitive bandwidth to convert an obsolete measurement system to metric which the whole world incl many Americans use. If US authors want to stick to F, don’t publish worldwide🤬 I’m going to mark this as unfinished. American authors should get their heads out of isolationism & recognize if they’re publishing worldwide, use metric.

Extremely annoying and disruptive to have to convert Fahrenheit units to metric to put it in context of 1.5°C warming that everyone talks about in order to compare the Great Dying temp change. When the world uses metric, it’s ignorant to use only Imperial.

Already by the end of the first paragraph, I know I have to adjust my English language style in my brain to what I haven’t heard in ages. Very British English. It’s almost like having to learn a new language!

Although I’ve read up on (and learnt a lot about it back in school), I’ve not read about Earth’s past from this perspective before. It’s interesting and, I think, will help me with worldbuilding. Audiobooks aren’t really amenable to using bookmarks like paperbacks. In that way, paper really is the best medium for referencing later.

A light, fun read. It got better at the end in terms of the main character Leda, who at times got a little too much. But it’s like she settled down, grew up a little at the end. I don’t mind one-note type characters who don’t grow because they’re not supposed to like Nero Wolfe, but they should at least have more than one gear. I liked the ending because it fit with the character AND was unexpected.

I figured out whodunnit before the reveal and I think the motive - for one murder anyway - was already revealed by the author. But the puzzle is more than who and why. Keeps one reading. The visual details should elicit humour, a smile, a laugh, but maybe I’m too tired to emotionally respond, only intellectually perceive it.