Katie > Recent Status Updates

Finally received my copy from the library - so excited to get into it!

Why why why did the author name the town "Blunder"? I can't take it seriously. Every time I see the word, it throws me right out of the book. I can't work out if it's meant to be a subtle clue or just a questionable choice for a name.

OK, I'm officially confused: is this book set in Melbourne or not? Why are we talking about bangs and referring to parents as mom then? And why do the kids want to go to schools in the US? And why are we talking about people going to college? None of this makes sense.

No, a guest speaker does not walk in without an introduction from school staff. A successful guest speaker does not patronise students or insult them. And I seriously doubt that two students shouting at each other and ignoring her is the worst behaviour she's ever seen. I want to like this book but I keep being pulled out of it by things that don't make sense, even for the storyline.

There are some failings of logic here. Firstly, if you're going to write fake emails to people that you never intend to send, why on earth are you entering their ACTUAL email address? Secondly, I've worked in a lot of secondary schools and students like Sadie don't make school captain. They just don't. Maybe some minor leadership role, but not captain.

My mistake. She does have a skill: climbing trees to brood about how much she hates her freeloading life while the rest of her family actually does work to actually keep them warm, feed and clothed. I'm still not sure why I'm meant to be on Bly's side. If this was meant to be some sort of redemption arc for her character and behaviour, we're leaving it a little late to get started.

At this point, the main character has zero skills, zero charisma and zero valuable relationships. Kind of hoping for a train wreck as she navigates the Hunger Games rip-off but I'm pretty sure she's going to Mary Sue her way through the plot. I AM WILLING TO BE SURPRISED.

When I started listening to this book, I had no idea what to expect other than someone enabling my passionate dislike of people who hoard money when the world is falling apart around them. What I actually got (so far) is more information about trade unions than I ever realised I needed to know. Ignorance is dangerous. This book is Important.

When you find out your new colleague is an author, it's only polite to check out their books, right?

This is an awful lot of exposition that could have been more entertaining as scenes and interactions instead of non-stop internal monologue. It's not the most auspicious beginning.

Only a third of the way through and I already don't want this book to end.

Reading as research for a Special Secret Project!

Re-reading FMA has been my best decision of lockdown life so far. I haven't read it all the way through since I was waiting for each month's instalment to come out, scanlated by amazing people who did the work voluntarily. I'm still in awe of Arakawa-sensei's skill at weaving the storylines together, creating such drama in such tiny boxes and, above all, bringing humour in at the perfect time to break the tension.

And by "recommendation" I mean three students saying, "Miss, you have the read this book. It's soooooooo gooooooooood! Have you read the book yet? Why haven't you read the book yet?"

This was a recommendation from some Year 9 students.

Left this book at work the day before the lockdown started. Hopefully it won't be long before I can be re-united with it.

Not going to proceed with this one because the historical inaccuracies are building up and distracting me from the story. Why is an unmarried woman wearing a lace cap? Why is a member of the upper classes ANSWERING HER OWN DOOR? Or washing her own clothes?

"Cosy" is an odd word to apply to books packed with naval adventures, fights at sea, and battles on land... but that's how I feel about them. These books are cosy and familiar, and the frequent challenges to the characters' lives and freedom just makes the rest of it feel even cosier.

Where was this book when I was in secondary school? Natalie has almost every thought I ever had as a teenager - all those thoughts that made me feel I'd missed some vital briefing on how to be a real person. This is one of those books that makes me feel seen, if not even some kind of normal.

I am reading this far too quickly, dammit.

My first re-read of this fabulous series!

That was every bit as crazy as I hoped it would be.

I saw this on the returns trolley at work and realised I had to borrow it after reading about half the blurb. Let's see how I feel when I'm done.

Sadly, I can't go any further with this book, despite waiting ages for it to be available to borrow. The quality of the writing and some bewildering plot choices are distracting me from what I hoped would be an intriguing story.

But I don't want it to be over. 😕

Don't wanna finish it.

It's so much fun to read a book that's set in places I know. It leads me to vaguely-related thoughts on the narrative, such as pondering why the characters didn't take citylink while travelling to a particular destination.

I enjoyed Fiona's interview on the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast and thought I'd fill my brain with more of her advice.

More re-reading! I haven't read the last few Wheel of Time books and that must change.

With the news of a sequel, I decided it was time to re-read this one.