Bonnie G. > Recent Status Updates

Moving to the climax. Fair warning: Alex and Darlington succeed or perish together, or I am going to be very peeved. I am not much on folklore, but I will say that the second half of this book made me very happy that I read Le Morte d'Arthur. Alex deserves a Lancelot way more than Guinevere did. Hoping things work out better for Alex & Darlington than they did for Guinevere & Lancelot!

I think this last book of the trilogy is a little sweeter and a little sadder than the others, but I guess that makes sense for a goodbye. I will say, as we tie up the history of the cursed Lethe/Arlington men, that I have been a bit confused by some of the history. I get the broad ideas, and I like where this went.

Finally getting some answers! We are learning about what makes Alex Alex, and a little about the mysterious Turner as well. And Darlington is showing us that part of him is still a boy, even if part of him is a murderous devil sworn to protect Alex.

Herman is sooooo emo!. I am enjoying this, but it is truly Buddhism lite with a sprinkle of psychoanalytic theory. The introduction of the overbearing, all-knowing mother is so obvious. And again, I am surprised by the clear queer vibe. Occasionally, apropos of nothing, Hesse mentions Sinclair finding a girl attractive (he never even speaks to them) to deflect from his clear attraction to boys (Demian and others).

YA Eastern philosophy is more enjoyable than I would have guessed.

Roxie nearly always comes through for me. This book is smoking hot, but it is also sweet. Javier, three years sober after his 3rd rehap stint and trying to catch up with community college classes and service jobs, is insecure about everything other than his bedroom skills. (Those appear first-rate. The man is a dirty talk poet!) He wants more than sex from Madeline, but he cannot imagine why she would feel the same.

Bardugo keeps me immersed. This is propulsive!. There have been a few spots where I wanted more setup to explain why things were happening. I think that's my fault. Younger brains will remember the particulars of the first two books better than mine, and won't need the reminders I seem to. I don't generally like fantasy, but I have loved this series, and I am on my way to being in love with this final book.

The universe decreed a nor'easter would scuttle my plans for the New York Film Festival and the CBGB Festival. Presumably, it wanted me to spend my day with an enjoyable but basic coming-of-age plunge into Eastern concepts of the divine. It's been fun, and I am surprised at how Gay this is! He sees a beautiful girl and paints her portrait, and the face turns into that of the boy he can't stop thinking about. Wow.

The only Hesse I have read is Siddhartha, in 9th grade. I was not a fan, but I was also 14, so it is hard to say what I would think now. As far as I recall, that lacked the charm and humor of this one. I am really enjoying this! This is a short breather before I return to the underworld (Just finished Exit Party and about to start Dead Beat), and so far it appears to be a great choice.

This is a great listen and a good bit of popular fiction. I have raced through this. I know where the central relationship is going. The foreshadowing is not subtle. Still, the story is totally immersive, and the audio narrators, especially the Queen, Julia Whelan, are fantastic. And who doesn't like a tale of the corruption of innocence?

I am entertained, if not fully enthralled, at this early stage. These two are hella dramatic and completely mismatched. He has zero ambition; she is chock-full of it. He will always disappoint her. Notwithstanding that, I like the way this is being told. I like having the impressions of friends, and even the woman sitting next to them in the bar on their first date. This feels light but worthwhile so far.

Also, this is very close to the latest Rachel Lynn Solomon book, Extracurricular, and it is so far way better (though I liked that book too.)

How can I possibly love this more than the first in the series? I don't know, but it is headed there. And how happy am I that Ford and Rosie are significant side characters here, and that this is the HEA for Rosie's brother, West! Elsie Silver is magical.

The structure is similar to Sea of Tranquility, and there are easter eggs from that book, but this book has a very different feel. ESJM focuses on what happens after the world breaks apart. Not how it happens, we are living through that- but what next. Basic survival in different nation-states, different dimensions, alternate realities. The Terminator as interpreted by Borges after watching The Simpsons Movie.

Really enjoying this dis-integrated world Emily has given me. As someone who has, for the last 2 years, been vocal about my belief that New York should secede from the US, this resonates.

This is erotica, not romance, but fun erotica! A respectful D/s relationship between a rising rock star whose kink is central to his public identity and an event planner 10 years his senior, who is less comfortable with her desire to be tied up and flogged, etc. This has been sitting on my shelf for many years; I assume a library sale bag day acquisition. It is very dated, but fun so far, though the BFF is annoying.

God, the awkwardness! Boys! Friends! Rules! Parents! Everything is so fraught. Our MC is even more anxious than I was, and with a wider variety of triggers. I don't know if I wanted to remember what that felt like, but also I think I did.

The analysis of language -- how it defines culture, how we learn it, and how that process impacts our understanding of culture -- is exciting and great.

Taiwan is a very different place than it was when I moved there when I was 21, and I am not ABC, but there is still a lot that feels like my experience, and this wonderful book is making me feel hella nostalgic.

It has been too long since I read Lisa Kleypas, and especially since I visited this series, The Hathaways, which has become one of my favorite Kleypas series. Leo is fully redeemed! Catherine finds a bit of sexual healing, and we learn why she needed it (people suck!). I just love this.

Daughter drag. Sister drag. Mother drag. Wife drag. Court drag. Rich drag. Poor drag. British drag. Jamaican drag. Each required a different wardrobe. But when considering these various attitudes she struggled to think what would be the most authentic, or perhaps the least inauthentic.

(I am on page 345 of 401. GR says this has 296 pages for some reason)

It did not strike Keisha Blake that such feelings of alienation are the banal fate of adolescents everywhere. She considered herself particularly afflicted, and it is not an exaggeration to say that she struggled to think of anyone besides perhaps James Baldwin and Jesus who had experienced the profound isolation and loneliness she now knew to be the one and only true reality of this world.

(401 pages, not 296)

Continue to be dazzled and very intrigued by the introduction of a different story from the neighborhood.

I am IN LOVE with this book. Elsie Silver does it again. Ford and Rosie are a joy to hang out with. I love smart, flawed characters without excessive drama. Manufactured angst is such a bore.

This is just mind-blowingly good so far. Smith creates an actual experience of living as a specific person in a particular place -- not a report of it, but an opportunity to walk in Lean's shoes. The craft here reminds me a bit of Lincoln in the Bardo (though this is a very different life and very different ghosts.

It is always darkest before the dawn. Churchill makes a great lead character. If he had been written as a fictional character, he would be utterly over the top.

"Churchill fired up the gramophone and began to play military marches and songs, marching to the music while carrying a big-game rifle, executing rifle drills and bayonet maneuvers, looking in his rompers like a fierce pale blue Easter egg gone to war"

Churchill's maneuvering of the US to get us involved was brilliant, but so too were the machinations of many. I love how deep this goes into Winnie's own team of rivals.

Empathic leaders with a view of the future and no thought, in planning a course for the country, of personal gain or comfort. (This despite being a big fan of personal gain and comfort in the abstract.) It is like wonderland!

I am moments away from The Blitz. It is amazing how we got to this moment.