Casey Blackbird > Recent Status Updates

I’m DNFing. Chernow is a fantastic writer, but Mark Twain is the worst. He, as a subject, is not worth literally 23 more hours of reading 😭

I don’t think I like this Mark Twain guy.

This really is a super fun read but I can’t fathom how I’m only still nearer the beginning than the halfway point 👀

One of these days I’m going to update Goodreads that I’m reading a premarital book, but it’ll be a soft launch instead of just me doing my job. Today, Goodreads Gang, is not that day. 😂

I’m only 10% in—I am not going to beat Libby’s deadline 🙄 But this is fascinating and fun!

Reading Augustine's experience of education at the same time as Twain's is a bit interesting. Augustine saw part of his education as misplaced, teaching him to delight in false stories rather than the one, great story. Twain saw part of his education as misplaced because it obstructed his pursuit of his own ideal of delight (play and reading whatever you wanted).

Who will win? Casey’s big reading kick (I read 150 pages of another book yesterday [that’s a lot for me ok? So can it, audiobook girlies]) or Libby’s 21-day limit on this book because of how in demand copies are in my county? Tune in for Man VS Book.

I don’t know that I’m sold on the Old People Solving Murders trope. But, Osman is so good. He weaves threads together brilliantly. He’s the kind of author that I will enjoy reading despite disliking the premise. He’s that good.

I think I can say that I read the first one before it was cool? Or as it was just becoming cool. I think I’m enjoying this one more—it’s fun to trace Osman’s development as a writer.

The Christmas note to Tony has been, I think, the best part of the entire book thus far. That is not speaking poorly of the book, but highly of those lines.

Overall this has been decent. BUT. When I tell you that this book almost got relegated to the lovely new DNF shelf last night, I’m telling you that the church scene with Ellen royally made me mad. “Casey you’re being a Pharisee for not loving that chapter.” No. Foolish. Detached from reality. Again, a fine book otherwise. But that chapter? Oh boy.

I’m having a hard time locking in on a book right now so we’ll see if Theo on Kindle can break the curse.

“For centuries it was the pastor’s defined task to ‘prepare people for a good death.’ It is still not an unworthy goal for pastoral work. The true absurdity, though, is not death itself, but the speaking lives so many people lead.”

I have finished the Inferno. I fell behind on the reading plan—the last 8 cantos of inferno are increasingly unpleasant 👀

Chapter 57 ❤️

Osman is blending genres a bit and I quite like it. The humor of Osman without the weirdness of little old ladies investigating murder. This feels warmer than Thursday Murder Club.

What’s hard with this one is it tries to tell a classic-style detective mystery, but he doesn’t appropriate the genre well. The detective-narrator is too transparent, to the point that I don’t want to know what he’s thinking (particularly about clergy). There’s been no mystery solving and hardly a clue and I’m halfway through.

Either this book is entirely predictable or I’m gonna be really annoyed at the end because the author will reveal that he was playing me the whole time. Either way, I might be grumpy in 200 pages. Also, reading Benjamin Stevenson has worn me out on the whole “sarcastic cheeky detective” thing.

“I hear they’re harping on that smoking is a dangerous habit. I’m here to tell you that if it hadn’t been for cigarettes and tea during the war, Hitler would be parading up the Mall straight into Buckingham Palace. I’m sure of it.”
~Inspector Grasby, 1952