Kate

Lenz says that court-enforced 50% custody was the way to make her ex-husband a good father

Fascinating and infuriating

I got 20 pages in and wasn't feeling it. The writing was avoidably dull. For instance, we are told a water tower is important because it provides a landmark in an otherwise monotonous Amazon forest. That's just not very interesting, and it could easily be interesting.

I want to hear about how the tower looms above you. I want to hear about how the jungle feels. I want to hear who worked on the tower, and how they felt about building it. Did anyone fall off it? Who designed it and did they ever see it in person? did it work? when was it abandoned?

Maybe I'll try reading this again later. But as opposed to, say, The Power Broker, this book lacks storytelling.

A hollow copy of Shards of Honor.

Seemed very interesting, but a major part of the book was explaining exactly why it is so hard to reform government software, and in the current climate, it made it too depressing to read. Maybe I'll revisit later.

I thought the descriptions were strong and the style interesting, but the plot and characters weren't spectacular. Great starting paragraph though.

Started reading then skimmed the rest. It seems like a good reference but goes too far into the weeds to be readable for fun.

This was very well-written, but after learning that Annie Dillard's story about the tomcat never happened to her, I'm pretty suspicious of memoir.

It's hard for me to identify my problem is, because all the pieces are believable: manic abusive visionary father who distrusts the government, abusive brother, mother who does nothing, family who bows to the father and brother's influence. Religion that makes people do crazy things. That all makes sense.

But something doesn't feel right.

My guess is that Tara had to dissociate as a child, to play a role, and continues to do so as an adult. That probably contributes to a feeling of distance in the writing. But I find it odd that we don't know what she currently believes about religion, or how she came to have a real boyfriend without dealing with her views about women. A lot of inner thought is left unexplored.

Super fun, reads like a Heyer

This was fun to read but very long. Probably would not read again

Horrendous. Like The Room of books, but that's too good for this.

I hated the first few pages. So much purple prose. Something was described as “Sisyphean” and I had to roll my eyes.

But the book redeemed itself, with the plot and characters. I loved Graham and the expats and the concept of the ministry. I loved learning about the arctic expeditions.

I tried listening to this as I was painting. It didn't grab me. I realize there's mythology behind a lot of the choices, but the protagonist being amazingly good at everything, and having very little understanding of human nature, made for a boring read. Like “oh she has defeated that guy? Of course. She won but they still reject her? Of course. She doesn't understand why? Of course.”

I could tell which text was the padding that pushed it just over 300 pages. Very little of the book made sense.

Jane Eyre + Bridget Jones + Gone Girl.

I picked this up thinking it'd be a forgettable romance, but the first person narration was gripping and strangely empathetic. Just when you think you understand the entirety of the story, the floor drops out below you, and you find yourself stunned, the world entirely changed.

It's also hilarious. 5 well-deserved stars.

Amazing setting, promising characters but I'm 186 pages in and it's not very compelling. The characters' actions don't fully make sense. For instance, how on earth did Ali meet his “best friend” while in the notoriously isolated citadel?? I'm also confused by all the different groups.

Not written for me

This is the first I've read of this author. Loved the main character and her suit and her interactions with her partner. The world was fascinating, and it made me wish that I knew much more about the cultural background (places, history, etc). The plot was probably the weakest point.

I started this, but I have a hard time with mythological characters (same with elves, interestingly, it's annoying to me that they don't have human foibles), so I moved on to something else. It might be a very good book, just wasn't for me at a particular time.

I felt really detached from this book, like I didn't particularly care about the characters or their motivations.

I was in a slump.

You know how sometimes you eat something bland and you're like ugh, that wasn't great and then a bit later after it happens again, you suspect you have COVID and just can't taste anything?

Anyone? Just me?

Anyways, that's how my reading was going. I felt absolutely nothing for books I thought I was going to love, and I was starting to think the problem was me.

That all changed with Book Lovers. this is a proper book! Great characters, amazing dialog, genuinely witty and thoughtful. 5 stars.

[mild spoilers] There were a lot of things I didn't like about this book, but it's well worth a read.

First, the main character starts to think through her own religion, complete with scripture verses. I had a hard time taking the verses seriously, since they were so broad as to be meaningless. Second, the romances seemed forced and awkward. Still, there's a ton to think about, especially in the meaning of community and its relevance today.

Loved it. A nontraditional protagonist along the lines of Remnant Population.

Not a bad book, but so-so compared to bujold's others. Seems like a precursor to the 5 gods

I read this because my book club recommended it. Even though it's not my genre, I thought it might be a good opportunity to stretch myself, to get myself out of my usual reading habits. I thought it might be a bit like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - enjoyable because it's impressively well written.

But, this book felt formulaic. It felt like it was steady work for the author, rather than art. Like a paper that'd you'd write for school rather than an essay you're dying to publish.

There wasn't much interesting dialogue or plot. We know hardly anything about Carney's wife, apart from where she works. What would it be like to married to someone on the edge of crime? What kind of fears would you have? How would you know your husband was still alive, day after day? What if you couldn't reach him? Now that would be interesting.

I did really like the details of the neighborhood and the people who lived there. The author must have done a tremendous amount of research. But, the details couldn't really make up for the lack of plot and thin characters.

Edit: I wonder if telling this in the first person might have really improved things. The info dumps of research would have to go, because Carney doesn't seem like someone focused on history. Also, Carney as an unreliable narrator might have created more interest (is Freddie a bum or a victim? Is Carney being fair to him?). The kind of thing I'm looking for is detailed scenes from his perspective: “when I said I was going to be headed out for a bit, Elizabeth set down her glass very slowly, but didn't say anything.” Something that indicates there's tension, without directly saying “if my wife finds out about this, she's going to leave me”. The book actually does say this directly :(