Heather > Recent Status Updates

This isn’t a “how to” book, but a daily devotion book.

While I’m liking the book okay, I cringe at the terrible puns the author makes (“Snack on the Gospel chapters, make a full meal out of Psalms,” or something like that). In addition, I can’t help feel like this book is just a recycled version of the superior book, “Made to Crave.”

The author paints beautiful pictures, and I love the flow of his words. But honestly, I do NOT know what is going on in this book. And I’m saying this as someone who has read MANY books on Alan Turing. Some of the “fiction” is lifted almost verbatim from biographies on Turing, which I’m finding distracting. Worst of all, I can’t figure out who the narrator of this book is. Is this all a dream?

I’m beginning to lose track of the characters; there are many, and the switches between first and third person feel clumsy. Plus... and this is a spoiler, but I don’t care.... there are drowned kittens in this book. Usually, a dead pet is my “kill switch” for anything I’m reading, but since I’m nearly 200 pages in, I’ll keep going and reserve judgment. Maybe.

"We're a branch of ...Covert operations."
"Like the codebreakers at Bletchley Park?"

This story is taking place in 1943.
No one knew what Bletchley Park WAS until 50 or so years later.

Not sure I can forgive this, as it shows a monumental lack of research.

I'm enjoying the book so far, so I'll keep reading. But at the moment, I'm not happy about it.

I don’t know why, but this book is not holding my interest. :( I hope it’s just because I’ve been working so much and my brain isn’t feeling sharp.

Gah, this play is painful to read. Apparently William Gillette felt the need to write out EVERY SINGLE stage direction that he could think of. It was rather arrogant of him to think that he needed to tell the director and actors where and when to cross the stage, rest their hand on this piece of furniture, etc. Blah.

Arghhh.... Not sure I'm going to make it through this book. I'd forgotten that the first book was mediocre at best, and this is even less interesting. The main character is haughty and uninteresting, and it seems like the author recycled the character from a different series? (At least that's what I gathered from the muddled author's note.)
I'll plod on a bit longer, but I'm not feeling hopeful.

This book is even better the second time around. Mary Russell, you are my hero. :)

So far, this book is annoying me. There are SO many characters, and in this format- changing POV's and timeline jumps- I'm having a hard time following it all. That might just be me, though. I'm hoping for a great ending.

Have you ever thought, "I'll just read a few pages of this book before I go to sleep," and then something terrible happens in the book and you're traumatized to the point that you'll probably never sleep again?
I was not emotionally prepared for this.

I promised I would "pace" myself on this one, but I just can't. So good. Sooooo, soooo good.