Isabell > Recent Status Updates

We’re back babyyyyyy! I’m so exited and have no idea what happens in this book!

Holy fucking shit

I am the majority of the way through this book and if someone asked me to describe it I would still have no idea what to say...

Okay so the weird has for sure officially started

I am waiting for this to get really weird and I’m quite excited

I really went into this with no idea what it was about. Retelling of the Fall of the House of Usher?!?! I’m exciteddddd

Okay I didn’t really vibe with On Pharaohs j not because I didn’t like it but because it didn’t really do anything for me. But Bearing the Flaming Cross? Yes. Please. Give me more like this one!! The essay felt very real and also very connected things that I have experienced, for good or bad, in the US. Also looooved how he called his books his children.

Journalism Is Not a Luxury: I agree with the sentiment of the title but I don’t feel like the content had that message come across. Instead, this felt partially like a love letter to reading and writing, the ability to ask questions of people and synthesize their answers into a coherent narrative for one’s self. I liked it but it didn’t do much for me.

Waaaaiiit this is so exciting! Looooved the wander lust in this chapter and the carefree spirit we are getting to explore!

VERY much not what I expected coming into this book. I really liked the story of the hunters and what it says about man since the beginning of time. We don’t get to know the characters and yet they are humanized by the most subtle things such as where they choose to place their attention.

One thing I’m really enjoying about this book is that you get a very good sense of where you are in the world at all times because of how far in the past it feels. When you are in a city or larger metropolitan area, people talk like modern people of today. If you’re in the small southern town most of this book takes place in then you feel like you’re still in the 1950s.

I understand the necessity to discuss some level of violence as this is a story written by navy seals about their deployment. That being said, the sheer amount of bloodlust in this book is mind boggling. I thought this was going to be focused on business advice and what can be done to make your business stronger. Instead, this reads like a collection of the good old days with some business advice thrown in.

I am all for a good self help book (and when your bosses really like one why not give it a try?) but… I don’t think this one is going to be for me. Calling the years between major acknowledged conflicts the “lean years” really didn’t sit right with me. Also I didn’t realize the peak priority in life is to lead and win.

Chapter 1: a very nice introduction to who I assume is going to be our main character. It’s also been a decent (though quick) introduction to the world. I have a sneaking suspicion I’m going to get to the end of this story and wish this was a full saga instead of the tiny story it is.

I’m really enjoying how we get incite from all of the characters as opposed to following the experience of one person. I think it makes the story feel more like a small ensemble which is, personally, more engrossing. I also like how the author has been able to slowly but steadily build suspence!

It got really good for a hot second and then it got boring again

“You can store meat in your own pantry or in the belly of your brother. Both have the result of keeping hunger at bay but with very different consequences for the people and for the land which provided that sustenance.” —LOVED

These fucking characters are insane! This is not how people react to things even if they are in grief.

I’m sorry but if I had a marriage like this immediately no! I would have to leave. There is clearly no joy whatsoever for anyone involved and that’s just not a marriage anymore is it. Cut and run before kids start REALLY complicating things…

Am I supposed to find this ROMANTIC?!?! Because basically the entire time I’m just sitting here wanting to scream at the main characters that they are idiots.

Reading to gain more context into Brightly Shining by Ingvild Rishoi.

WAIT THIS IS A SERIES?!!!?!?!?

It could just be me but I’m wanting more Christmas!

I am SO scared for Henry

SO short and accessible. Love! I am reading as an audiobook and I love that they got John Green to read it himself.

Listening to this as an audiobook and honestly I wish I had gotten it as a physical copy!

I feel like the first 100 pages were hella slow but somehow now it’s working for me? Not that it’s actually gotten faster I think I’ve just settled into the pacing and the main character.

I’m sorry but real people don’t act like this. Touring a man’s house the second you step inside? The first time meeting him? By yourself?

HOLY SHIT IS IT DIFFICULT TO READ THIS FUCKING BOOK. Trigger warnings for just every single thing you could think about.