Christine > Recent Status Updates

Ok so we're in the late 70s and early 80s now. The Amadeus era. I'm reeling at the idea of Curry doing That Laugh.

I need to not read this before bed. (Reads it anyway.)

Ok so we have three different POVs in this book and all of them are giving "GIRL YOU'RE IN SO MUCH DANGER" vibes. Very fun. Also distressing. Kudos to the author, as always.

Mildred is both #goals and #for the love of god mildred STOP PUTTING UP WITH THIS BULLSHIT. How she keeps calm is beyond me.

So what this book shows me is that nothing has changed about politics, really. Same ingredients as before (clearly left out to rot in the sun).

How it started: I don't remember why everyone hates Uncle Andrew in this

How it's going (31%): someone needs to stop this old man!!!!!!!!

Don't mind me. Just need to run away to the 1930s Dales for a few hours at a time.

Pur shoujo 100%. Et j'assume pleinement mon enthousiasme pour ce cocktail d'humour, d'aventure, et de mélodrame.

Jane Austen really said: Anyone who looks down on novels or thwir readers can royally fuck off. They're not easy to write, and they're fun to read!

We are now at the point where Henry's advisors are debating over the best way to help Henry get aroused. Someone proposed exercise. Another offered a sexy book (Tudor erotica? It's more common than you think).

By the umpteenth flashback to baby Cromwell witnessing the burning of Joan Boughton, I figured Crumby is not doing so well.

Re-using this joke from when I was reading the previous book: I'm 37% done with the novel but 1000% done with Henry VIII

I'm taking my time reading this, just a few chapters every evening, but it's very hard not to scarf it all down. I love how the style feels so breezy and casual while never triggering any need or desire to skim. I'm highlighting so many good passages. One of the best books I've read in ages, and never stodgy while painting this early tudor era with Henry VII.

Omg I'm FREEEE

oh thank goodness, the interminable flashbacks and interludes are over and the main plot is back. I've been clawing at this cliffside since the last cliffhanger ended 30 minutes ago.

I think I'm going to die wondering why this book made little to no use of its pseudo-historical 18th century Venetian setting. Like... why. Why not make the most of it. Canals and bridges aren't enough!!

Villain: makes a half-assed attempt on a main character's life that would totally have succeeded if they hadn't decided to go with such an over-the-top finale

me channeling Veep: THE INCOMPETENCE IS STAGGERING

I really don't like seeing a story's bones sticking out like this. "Oh that chapter is here so we know XYZ was an important person we should be mourning even though they were underdeveloped," "hey this whole discussion is probably happening bc someone asked why the characters go along with the world's worst plan and fall into the obvious trap," etc.

Ok so a death just happened for shock value. And I guess it did shock me because I did not expect such an interesting character to be wasted as a throwaway plot point to raise the stakes. We didn't know the character enough to be heartbroken, just disappointed, and none of the characters seems particularly broken up about the death either. They tell us, but no one shows it.

Genuine not sure how to feel about this constant back and forth style of showing heists in progress and then in preparation, etc. I can see how it can be useful for tension or reveals, but... that little home invasion flashback was positively useless. Maybe it was just for worldbuilding? Or the brief action scene? (The bag of glass scene made me feel positively sick. Which was the idea, I suppose.)

This may be long but it reads like a dream. Easy to see why it was a bestseller. I think I'm getting the hang of these picaresque tropes!

The narrator is doing his best Capt. Jack Sparrow impression for at least two of the underworld thief mentor characters (with the tacit support of the author who cannot stop using the word "savvy?"). It's giving "yes this book WAS published in 2006, 3 years after Pirates of the Carribbean, why do you ask?" Everyone speaks in zingers. Suspension of disbelief is nonexistent. Will have to read instead of audio.

What do you mean, Elinor is 19???

I picked this up for research and escapism and instead I found (checks notes) a tale about how a dastardly con artist pretending to be virtuous and self-sacrificing can hold people COMPLETELY under his sway, to the point of alienating anyone, kith or kin, who points out that HE IS A CON ARTIST.

Wait, so... you're telling me that El colloquio de los perros, THE famous short story by Cervantes, is actually about... two dogs talking? Is that what you're trying to tell me?? (Checks notes) yes and also it's a story within a story because we love nested narratives like the thousand and one nights.

Ok so the Illustrious Scullery Maid had a terrible twist ending.

So far the story about the Illustrious Scullery Maid is one of my favorites. It's like Rinconete y Cortadillo crossed with a romcom.

Just finished "La fuerza de la sangre".... uh... definitely not the highlight of the collection. And yet somehow Cervantes does seem to acknowledge that this guy is a total CREEP.

The Glass Lawyer. Feels like i'm going to need some footnotes to understand this one better.

Paraphrasing: and so Rinconete and Cortadillo went on to have lots of adventures in the thieves' guild, and they should definitely be written down, but now this story is over ok bye bye the end, next story. (what???? Where's the rest??? MIGUEL YOU FORGOT TO WRITE THE REST??)