Isabell > Recent Status Updates

The way this character was a dog in my memory and he is very clearly not astounds me.

Can you tell I’m about to get a cavalier?

The narration has NOT gotten better. If anything, the further into this book I go the more I hate it.

I’m enjoying the actual story but HOLY SHIT do I hate the audiobook. The narrator can’t do a brooklyn accent to save his life and every time he tries it makes me want to give up on the book altogether.

Diet Dr Pepper: as a non-Dr Pepper drinker I never knew any of these things about the beverage. Also never knew how OLD it is! The more you know. 3/5 stars

Scratch and sniff stickers: Don’t like the stickers and didn’t particularly love the essay but it was interesting to learn about encapsulated scents. The more you know. 3/5 stars

Lascaux Cave Paintings: With a topic so inherently interesting it is hard to write an essay that isn’t also interesting. Also, I briefly studied these caves in college and really enjoyed it so this was set up to be a smashing success. 5/5 stars

Our Capacity for Wonder: This should have been titled The Great Gatsby honestly. I didn’t like the book the first time I read it and I certainly didn’t like this look into it. 2/5 stars

I was struggling until LITERALLY the last chapter. Now I’m actually interested (finally).

Halley’s Comet: fun little anecdote and now I have a comet to look forward to in 2061! Hope I’m still around to see it! 4/5 stars

Humanity’s Temporal Range: I fear I am very much John and very much not Hank. I too would freak out and look to a younger sibling to ground me (if I had one). There is something strangely comforting to know the species will live on even if I don’t. 4/5 stars

“You’ll Never Walk Alone”: well… I learned about a football song. So that was fun. I give this one 3/5 stars.

Anddddd I’m still struggling

I’m struggling

I’m enjoying this! I fear I lack imagination because I keep forgetting this is about fantasy characters with feathers and tusks lol

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.