Linda > Recent Status Updates

I'm more comfortable as a reader in this space, where we know what the plot is and what the stakes are. But, of course, there's not going to be any reasoned plan for getting out of their drug-fueled generosity binge. This is of their own doing, and worst of all, Anja knows that.

It took until page 177 for the sci-fi drug to show up with an explanation, and page 181 lays out the Big Moral Question clearly.

I think the book has struck a nerve for me--I don't want to be so cranky, but I am. Should I try fighting this course, or give in to see where I end up? I think the kindest option is to fight my own harsh criticisms.

Still waiting for the sci-fi to show up.

The "mystery": Of course. I'm incredibly naïve, I'll admit that.

The section all about Barbra and Victor seemed like the real nut of the book, though of course there's more to story still to come. The long section on Twyla was a little unexpected, but we're moving away from that center of this intense drama--the purely passive Victor. Much to-do about a character who may never speak his own story.

This book has many characters, as you'd expect from a "gathering of the family" novel. Like many characters, I'm not convinced there is a huge mystery, but unlike the characters, I have an author telling me, the reader, that there is one, so...read on!

I don't see much sci-fi yet, other than being set in a future with cosmetic procedures and racial politics foreign (though not foreign enough 🙄) to now.

Wow, there was quite a turn back there. Then a bunch more. And I'm glad I'm confined to a medical facility and not jail. But wow, paying attention to relationships earlier on makes this part of the book exciting, though I think the exposition could have been tighter.

The opening is graphically violent, to the point that I almost stopped reading to mark it DNF and move on. But the method of time travel intrigued me, and that kept my interest long enough to see how fiercely feminist this book is!

I identify somewhat with the title character; I am an introverted bookworm who loves detailed planners. I love the conceit that certain days are marked by a planner page, but my planner is so much more detailed! Anyway, I'm less interested in the romance than the plot about Nina's family.

The chapters are based on events or topics most readers will probably find familiar (Joshua Bell playing in the subway, blind orchestral auditions, vocal reality shows), but Cheng discusses them in so much depth and from so many angles! You'll never look at an "overcoming" narrative in the same way again. Next up: a leaked, pre-processing recording of Britney Spears.

Cheng's style of considering a musical issue from every conceivable angle fascinates me. Some of the chapters deal with morality; Cheng's writing often compels me to question my own motives in some harsh self-interrogation (Am I judging someone based on their musical preference? Why do I think that about that style?). In short, I think his writing encourages me to be a better person. Oh, and there's music. 😉

I came from reading a non-fiction book that was longer than I'd have liked, and I have another non-fiction book I want to read soon, so I decided to squeeze some fun chick-lit in between. This was an EXCELLENT choice!

This book was published in 2016; otherwise, I'd call it "timely" for the way the trials seemed to function like those in a "post-truth" era. I was feeling the same impatience as I feel with politics--something is obviously wrong, sho why is it taking forever for justice to be served? I still have 150 pages left to read, but it feels like the book has been trying to end for the past 150 or so!

This page describes a radium-damaged back that's similar to my own cancer-ridden back: crushed vertebrae. I had to wear a brace for over a year; fortunately, it wasn't all-metal like Grace Fryer's. And I didn't have a lawyer search going at the same time.

I wondered how the book would continue when I was about a quarter finished, but now I'm almost halfway and I hope it isn't entirely about the coming trials.

We've gotten to the point where people started realizing that so many women with similar symptoms who worked the same job can't be a coincidence, and some are getting lawyers involved. I'm surprised that this all is happening and I'm not very far into the book yet. I wonder what's going to be taking up that much space in the history.

While it's not written as a horror story, it feels like one to the 21st-century reader as the women (really, teenage girls) are encouraged to roll their paint brushes in a radium-laced paint, then in their mouths to make a fine tip. Kate Moore also echoes the headlines of the day that kept proclaiming radium's positive effects. But the first death has occured, and the description was pretty gruesome.

This book needs pictures or diagrams or something to show the uninformed reader what this equipment looks like and how the wool looks at each step. The author provides verbal descriptions, but I don't really know what carding looks like, or worsted vs. unworsted wool, or what a skein of wool looks like in its pre-yarn state.

This book is exactly what I'd hoped for: taking something I hadn't thought much about and getting into every detail with a tone that brings the reader along with the author. (I am close to going to bed, so sorry for any mangled syntax.)

Quichotte's mind has completely broken, as the news anchor on television addresses him directly and the gun is tempting Quichotte to shoot Salma. The reality outside his head (but still two levels fictional) is also disintegrating in ways other people notice. This book can go anywhere from this state.

Well, the characters in the innermost story have met up and things are happening, but what's going on with the story just outside that?

Still indescribable. Reality has fully broken down, and the idea of alternate realities has been introduced. But this has all been happening within the book-within-a-book, and it's been several chapters since the Rushdie book has told us about the fictitious author.

This book is difficult to describe; based on reviews, it seems like the type of book you either love or hate. I dig the concept of nested realities, so I'll go with it.

Alternating between two time periods isn't a new technique, but keeping the two periods so close but not quite overlapping can cause a bit of confusion (as well as having a narrator who has still not been named or identified). In the West section, Sputnik has launched and Zhivago banned. In the East section, Zhivago hasn't found a publisher yet.

I had the impression that the book would be about spycraft, but it's about so much more. Half the book seems to be devoted to the muse for Dr. Zhivago. This novel is well written and captured my interest right away. I'm looking forward to finding out how the East and West sections connect to each other.