Caitlin > Recent Status Updates

Very clever opening and charming way of introducing the subject matter HOWEVER midway through chapter three, Morris discusses the political context of TR Sr’s appointment as customs collector in NY under the Hayes administration. Morris says kicking out Chester Arthur for corrupt behavior was insulting because he was irreproachable BUT prior scholarship shows Arthur was in the Machine’s pocket.

Sadly have to return this at halfway but waiting for it to come back around. A surprisingly funny and moving story mimicking the classic marriage plot

why do all early presidents HAVE to be awful with money? Is there just a big Wiley Coyote setting up a string trap with the White House on one side and a pit of debt right before it?????

Ashley don’t look

Thrilled that Whoopi is narrating- absolutely magnetic delivery

Early days but huge credit to organizing the book according to Moctezuma’s nap schedule.

Commencing my re-read ahead of sixth wing. I forgot how painful the exposition dumping was in the first chapter but we are pushing through!

Fonda Lee does NOT believe in plot armor and has me anxious

A testament to Lee’s character work- it’s been over a thousand pages and god knows how many years and still I think “wow, I wish Lon were there.”

*spoiler*
Not to be dramatic, but if a priest bit my nose off in 1346 and there was no medicine I would absolutely refuse to keep living.

I am reading this in tandem with Code Talkers (a fictitious biography of a Navajo marine in WWII) and these bring such a new perspective to the conflict. I usually stay away from world war based literature because many times they feel the same and share the same contours, but this feels so fresh and different.

There is no word for goodbye in Navajo 🥺

Grateful to be listening vice reading to hear pronunciation and cadence.

As fun as it is to take a stroll through the past, it’s going to get a little annoying if the characters are name dropping/betting on musical successes based on their 1990s debuts throughout the book.

A light kiss to the forehead of whoever edited this Queens Public Library copy in pencil.

I am impressed by the author’s extensive research and excellent pacing. Not all biographies read as easily and with the same level of engagement as this one. I never knew I needed to know the first time Garfield saw a banana, yet here we are. I also appreciate the author’s little joke of adding how often journalists, students, and politicians alike all loved pointing out that Garfield worked on canals.

Fascinating tandem read with Best of Friends, which starts with Zia’s assassination

I’ve got a long flight and a hankerin for a heartbreak, here we go.

At the end of part 1, I’m frustrated to learn that Sanja’s hard work and success as an independent woman was still attributable to a man.

It’s striking how much Fonda Lee truly loves her characters. She describes herself as a character author and this collection is such a great opportunity to simply deepen the backstories without being pushed to advance the plot.

book 1 “through want all things are possible” book 2 “through anger all things are done.”

I am loving this transition into his “gather and conquer” phase to understand how the warring bands were kept together. The introduction of important figures in the first few chapters brings the same joy as a sitcom crossover episode - “Yay! Tsubodai is finally here!” [canned audience applause]. Once again, Iggulden breathes life into the Secret Histories.

The Soviets wanted to reconstruct his face and in June 1941, Stalin sent a team to crack Timurlane’s sarcophagus open. The tomb is inscribed with two warnings that read "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble". Allegedly, once opened another inscription was discovered: “Whosoever disturbs my tomb will unleash an invader more terrible than I". Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa 3 days later.

Tamerlane’s Ak Saray palace was built too big and too quickly to last, and all that’s left is the entrance, inscribed “if you doubt our greatness, look at our constructions”

A wide review that is, so far, 80% derived from the work of Jack Weatherford

“Life is short, I could not conquer all the world. You will have to do it.”