Erin > Recent Status Updates

Important enough to say before I even finish:
A book I have seen described as funny, and I've actually laughed while reading it.

This is a writing-related reread. If you also happen to be looking for third person (with dips into close third) treatment of a family in years of turmoil, very much recommend.

This is going to end up being a DNF for me, even though I've read plenty of other books like this, and in this case it's purely because of the timing.

Setting this aside for now, because right now this book, goddam current events, and me as a reader aren't positioned to get the most out of it. That said: if you're a litfic reader who likes lyricism but gets snotty about contemporary fantasy, please accept my dare to start this one.

Hi there, Ducks:

Last week I discovered that I really enjoy reading you on air flights. Something about your cadence and my attention span in a cramped aluminum tube just really comes together. Kind of a shame I don't know when I'll next be in that situation, but we'll carry on, you and me.

Affectionately,
E

Dear Ducks:

I saw you in paperback form the other day and while you're pretty big, you're not so big that you deserve all of that BIG commentary.

I have a feeling we'll get together again very soon -- the gravitational reader pull for me is going in your general direction.

Affectionately,
E

Hello again, Ducks:

If I were the kind of person who liked to set resolutions and/or goals, finishing you would be a very obvious one. But I'm not, so here we are.

Onward in 2020,
E

Hello again:

If I were the kind of person who liked to set resolutions and/or goals, finishing this would be a very obvious one. But I'm not, so here we are.

Onward in 2020,
E

On one hand, Kurt Vonnegut was the first famous person death over which I cried. On the other, well, a lot of things. I went into this book expecting to be transported back to, say, 1985, well aware that it *was* 1985, and maybe bail when I got tired of 1985.

So far, it's been a book of writing advice that calls me on my daily writer bullshit. So yeah, not bailing yet.

Day 54 or so:

I’ve missed you, Ducks. For what it’s worth, I’ve only cheated with you on partial audiobooks because I’ve been in the hospital and that’s what happens there. But I’ve thought of you often, because your protagonist has finished a bout with illness/treatment and I suspect when I return I’ll be highlighting hints toward that. Until that hopefully soon day and with affection, E.

I *love* flipping through my paper copy of this. Then I saw some really enthusiastic recommendations of the audiobook and figured I might listen on a long drive...

...However, it’s turned out to be a great book to listen to when I have insomnia. Many of the sections are well narrated celebrations of eras — not at all boring, but upbeat in a way I find soothing, I guess.

Day 24: Obligations/misadventures interfere with reading time. So this is more to say that WaPo’s interview with Ellmann, especially after a review that focused on how big the physical book is (!!), pleased me very much.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...

Day 16: Noticing that most of the time, people talk about this book structurally: 1000 pages, eight sentences. So? There's a 181 page, too-many-sentences book that I disliked so much that I didn't finish it. So?

The fact is that ebook reading = I read for a little while and then stop and then do that again, and 5% tells me I have 100 or so times of doing it until the narrator vanishes into the horizon.

Onward, E

Day 9: Still into letting this novel run how I read it. Underlines from other readers starting to show in ebook, found a new one when I looked back. When I look things up (another ebook format perk) I’m reminded that growing up in western NYS is not growing up Midwestern. Very glad I reread all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books last year and can therefore resist the urge to do it now. Til next time, E.

Ongoing notes:
8/26/19: This is going to be in my Currently Reading for a long time. Got about 4% in, then started again over the weekend. I want to read this out loud. SO MANY FEELS.

Rereading for, uh, Reasons.

I keep starting books and setting them aside. It happens sometimes. Has more to do with me than the books themselves. Hoping something sticks soon.

Now abundantly clear to me that this is one of those books where I also need to be reading something else. Learning toward Fates and Furies, but suggestions welcome.