Michelle’s Comments (group member since Dec 08, 2021)

Michelle’s comments from the On The Same Page group.

Ioana wrote: "Book #67 of 2022: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. I knew nothing about the blue people of Kentucky, nor FDR's Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project. This book was truly enlighten..."

I read the sequel and enjoyed it Ioana but I don't think it had the impact of the first one. It was a good book and did address some controversial issues. I think you could read it or not as you wish.

Finished Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt. A look at some questions you probably never thought to ask from an economist's point of view. Economist Steven Levitt takes a look at a wide range of topics from sumo wrestlers, drug dealers and real estate agents to baby names. In each case he asks an interesting question and looks at the data available with an economist's eye for an explanation for the observed behavior.

Highly entertaining. If you are looking for an interesting nonfiction read that will encourage you to think outside the box, you should definitely pick this one up. I enjoyed it a lot, but I did question the validity of some of his conclusions. I don't think we want economists to decide our weighty moral issues but after listening to this maybe there is a place for looking at big issues from a cause-and-effect standpoint. It was interesting enough that I will probably check out the podcast at some point.

4 correlated data point stars

Favorite quotes:

“Morality, it could be argued, represents the way that people would like the world to work, wheareas economics represents how it actually does work.”
― Steven D. Levitt, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

“The conventional wisdom is often wrong.”
― Steven D. Levitt, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

“Levitt admits to having the reading interests of a tweener girl, the Twilight series and Harry Potter in particular.”
― Steven D. Levitt, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Lea wrote: "List 2 - Technically Complete!!!!!

1. The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams READ 8/24/2022; 3 STARS
2. A Room of One's Own by [author:Virginia..."

List 2 complete!!! You're my hero Lea!

I'm currently listening to Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything and enjoying it a lot. I don't usually listen to podcasts but I'm thinking I might want to give this one a try. Anyone else listen to it or have an opinion?

〰️Beth〰️ wrote: "Oh Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution does sound good and I love the long title!"

Some people read a book for the cover. I'm more of a title person. In this case it makes it sound a little boring though and it is the opposite. An orphan, a school of magic, a revolution, an outcry against colonialism and racism. Lots of action and social justice.

#107 All the Little Hopes Two young girls learn the value of family and friendship as they transition toward adulthood. Very enjoyable story with great characters. 4 stars. Audiobook. Historic Fiction/Coming of Age/Mystery.

#108 The Lost Ticket A chance encounter on the bus leads to unexpected change and new relationships. A sweet story. Less of a romance than a book about friendship. 3 stars. Audiobook. Contemporary Fiction.

#109 The Last Picture Show Larry McMurtry's gift for characterization and solid writing were all that saved this book from being a shallow book about horny teenagers. Somehow, McMurty manages to portray very expertly a small slice of small town America. That is the saving grace of this book and the only thing that I could see that would legitimately raise it to the rank of contemporary classic. 3 stars. ebook. Contemporary Classic/Teenage Disaster

109 books/12913 pages

Current:
I have so many books going and I'm reading so little.
Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Audiobook. Enjoying this one. It's a much better fantasy book than the title implies.
Tripwire Paperback. I have literally read about 3 pages but I really wanted to get back to Reacher.
Cloud Cuckoo Land Hardback. Still a slow slog with little progress.
New and Selected Poems, Volume One ebook. I'm enjoying the poems but I am stretching this one out a bit.
Skinnytaste Fast and Slow: Knockout Quick-Fix and Slow-Cooker Recipes for Real Life ebook. Not much of interest I'm afraid.

Laurel wrote: "Michelle wrote: "#106 The Ink Black Heart (Cormoran Strike, #6) by Robert Galbraith The Ink Black Heart "

I'm currently listening to this one, and having the same reaction to the narration of the ..."

Glad I'm not alone. It's such a pity because the narrator for this series is excellent. I like him almost as much as Jim Dale (narrator of the Harry Potter series). I always try to listen to these rather than read the print. Maybe I'll have to review the book a little more next time. The mystery itself was excellent it just takes a long time to unfold.

Martha wrote: "Bill wrote: "Martha wrote: "You're so right! And I've already made my list. LOL"

You made me work on my list again last night after I read this.. lol..."

I accept the title of enabler ... color m..."

Martha, Martha, Martha. No lists before Thanksgiving. You're going to get all the overachievers riled up.

Martha wrote: "Martha wrote: "Currently reading -
Mansfield Park - OK. Not very interesting, but I'm reading some every day.
Boone: A Biography - on my annual challenge - So, so goo..."

Don't sweat it Martha. There's always next year.

Great month Bill! Glad you are enjoying Boy's Life.

Congrats on finishing Alondra! And kudos to the moderators for trying to tame the early list madness.

Great month Lillie! I enjoyed Thank you for Listening as well. Could the author have crammed one more romance trope into that book? And yet it worked. I just finished The Lost Ticket and enjoyed it as well. Hope you do too.

Lillie wrote: "Michelle wrote: "3 Small town movie theater stars"

Best rating ever!"

Thanks Lillie ;)

Completed The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry. Best friends Sonny and Duane play out their final days of youth in a small Texas town. Whatever their adventures or misadventures they stick together and are protected by their youth and inexperience. As adulthood looms ever closer the harsh realities of life begin to cast their lives and their futures in a different light.

Like all Larry McMurtry books this one is exquisitely written and terribly depressing. His characters are expertly drawn and always tragic. I would have to say personally that the level of writing was the only thing that kept me reading. Without that this was actually just a book about a bunch of horny teenagers. I can't say I enjoyed it but like the other McMurtry books that I have read I will remember it. I do think this book's status as classic Americana is deserved. I just think it would have been more interesting if less of it had happened in the back seat of the car.

3 Small town movie theater stars.

Favorite quotes:

“Is growin' up always miserable?" Sonny asked. "Nobody seems to enjoy it much."
"Oh, it ain't necessarily misearble," Sam replied. "About eighty percent of the time, I guess."
They were silent again, Sam the Lion thinking of the lovely, spritely girl he had once led into the water, right there, where they were sitting.
"We ought to go to a real fishin' tank next year," Sam said finally. "It don't do to think about things like that too much. If she were here now I'd probably be crazy again in about five minutes. Ain't that ridiculous?"
A half-hour later, when they had gathered up the gear and were on the way to town, he answered his own question. "It ain't really, " he said. "Being crazy about a woman like her's always the right thing to do. Being a decrepit old bag of bones is what's ridiculous.”
― Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show

“People he had known all his life were all around him, but they simply didn’t see him.”
― Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show

Wow, what a great month you had! A halloween feast for sure. I'm glad you are liking Fairy Tale. I really enjoyed it.

I have started The Last Picture Show. Too early to say whether I like it or not, but it is iconic Americana so I'm glad I'm finally reading it.

Ioana wrote: "Nice progress, Michelle. I had to add Six Wakes to my TBR, it sounds intriguing.
Curious on your take on Cloud Cuckoo Land, I could not get into it."

Do try Six Wakes especially if you like mysteries. It was very enjoyable.

Ioana wrote: "Nice progress, Michelle. I had to add Six Wakes to my TBR, it sounds intriguing.
Curious on your take on Cloud Cuckoo Land, I could not get into it."

Obviously since I have been reading Cloud Cuckoo for months now, I would have to say I can't get into it either. I am determined to finish it but it's slow going. There are about 5000 main characters and multiple time lines and a weird myth like story that is supposed to tie everything together???? The writing is solid but there is too much going on. Everytime I get into one of the stories it switches to another story. I can only do that so many times before I give up. Right now I am mainly reading it on weekends when I have longer periods of time to concentrate on it. Unfortunately, that is not every weekend so I will probably wind this one up sometime in 2023. It makes me sad because I enjoyed All the Light We Cannot See so much.

#104 Six Wakes Basically this is is a classic closed-door mystery aboard a spaceship. Oh, and every single character is a clone. I enjoyed this one a lot. Good characters, intriguing premise, and a solid mystery. 4 stars. Audiobook. SciFi/Mystery.

#105 Other Birds I am a big fan of Sarah Addison Allen. She has a knack for combining interesting characters with magical realism that always works for me. Without getting into the plot, this book was about finding your own place and family in the world and letting go of the ghosts (literally) of the past that hold you back. It was a nice story with just enough of a ghost story on the side to make it a great October read. No hard stuff here. Not spooky at all. Just good reading. 4 stars. ebook. Contemporary Fiction/Magical Realism.

#106 The Ink Black Heart The latest in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith AKA J.K. Rowling. In spite of critics, I do like this series, and this was a good one. While still denying their feelings for each other, Robin and Strike solve a murder mystery by infiltrating an online game. I have always enjoyed the narrator for the audiobooks in this series. He is excellent. However, due to the nature of the story, there were a lot of emails, texts, tweets, online conversations, etc. to read and those parts of the audiobook were a little tiresome. This one might be better read in print. 4 stars. Audiobook. Mystery.

106 books/12655 pages

Current:
All the Little Hopes Audiobook.
The Last Picture Show ebook.
New and Selected Poems, Volume One ebook.
Cloud Cuckoo Land Hardback.

Ioana wrote: "Book #59 of 2022: Every Last Fear - definitely not for me, I should know better....oh well.

Book #60 of 2022: The Institute. Someone here (Michelle?) categorizes SK..."

LOL. I did label this Good King Ioana. (I rate them Great King, Good King and Bad King) I also gave it 4 stars. Like you I loved the characters in this one.