Caitlin Constantine

Caitlin Constantine is now friends with Erika Myers
Feb 19, 2020 08:26AM · like
Caitlin Constantine entered a giveaway What You Can When You Can: Healthy Living on Your Terms by Roni Noone (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 03, 2015 10:24AM · like · see giveaway · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of What You Can When You Can by Roni Noone. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — What You Can When You Can by Roni Noone <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Caitlin Constantine voted for Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened as Best Humor in the Final Round of the 2013 Goodreads Choice Awards. Cast Your Vote
Nov 19, 2013 08:21AM · like
Caitlin Constantine joined the groups The Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting and Fit and Feminist
Jul 31, 2013 07:57AM
Caitlin Constantine made a comment on her review of Birds of America " Anittah wrote: "You'll probably like it more if you try reading it once you're in your late thirties. At the very least you won't like it less! Ha! ...more "
Jun 02, 2013 08:04AM · see review
Caitlin Constantine rated a book it was ok Clown Girl by Monica Drake (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I picked up this book with high expectations, considering that some writers I really admire and enjoy had good things to say about this book. Almost right away, I found myself irritated. I kept reading, though, because I wanted to believe that the ...more
Dec 30, 2011 06:22AM · 4 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Clown Girl by Monica Drake. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Clown Girl by Monica Drake <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Caitlin Constantine rated a book really liked it The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I was curious to see how Udall, who I could tell was a Mormon based solely from his last name (is that bad of me? oh well), would handle a novel about Mormon fundamentalist polygamists. I grew up a Utah Mormon, and my recollection of the polygamists ...more
Nov 13, 2011 01:15PM · 5 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Caitlin Constantine wants to read The Myth of Choice: Personal Responsibility in a World of Limits by Kent Greenfield (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 12, 2011 06:14AM · like
Caitlin Constantine rated a book liked it High Fidelity by Nick Hornby	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I'd only ever seen the movie, and thought John Cusack's character came across as a colossal ass of epic proportions. (Not just a colossal ass, and not just an ass of epic proportions. He was a combination of the two.) Enough time had passed and I was ...more
Aug 09, 2011 07:00AM · 12 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — High Fidelity by Nick Hornby <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

Caitlin Constantine is now friends with Erika Myers

Caitlin Constantine entered a giveaway

What You Can When You Can: Healthy Living on Your Terms
by Roni Noone (Goodreads Author)

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Caitlin Constantine voted for Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened as Best Humor in the Final Round of the 2013 Goodreads Choice Awards.

Cast Your Vote

Caitlin Constantine joined the groups The Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting and Fit and Feminist

Caitlin Constantine made a comment on her review of Birds of America

" Anittah wrote: "You'll probably like it more if you try reading it once you're in your late thirties. At the very least you won't like it less! Ha! ...more "

Caitlin Constantine rated a book it was ok

Clown Girl
by Monica Drake (Goodreads Author)

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I picked up this book with high expectations, considering that some writers I really admire and enjoy had good things to say about this book. Almost right away, I found myself irritated. I kept reading, though, because I wanted to believe that the ...more

Caitlin Constantine rated a book really liked it

The Lonely Polygamist
by Brady Udall

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I was curious to see how Udall, who I could tell was a Mormon based solely from his last name (is that bad of me? oh well), would handle a novel about Mormon fundamentalist polygamists. I grew up a Utah Mormon, and my recollection of the polygamists I was curious to see how Udall, who I could tell was a Mormon based solely from his last name (is that bad of me? oh well), would handle a novel about Mormon fundamentalist polygamists. I grew up a Utah Mormon, and my recollection of the polygamists is....well, I didn't have much of a recollection beyond that they were kind of like the oddball, embarrassing cousins everyone tried to pretend were not related to us. Mainstream Mormons are not the most upfront about acknowledging the existence of the polygamists and the connections between the two communities, is what I'm saying.

I finished the book last night, and my verdict is that he handled the sprawling Richards family with sensitivity and imagination. Instead of making them into caricatures - the downtrodden wives, the dominating patriarch, the hordes of squalid children - Udall turns your expectations on their heads and offers up a family in which the patriarch is a bumbling doofus, the family is a tapestry of alliances and divisions, and the wives are the competent glue that keeps the whole clan together. I thought this was kind of a funny critique of patriarchal systems, in which the father figure is invested with all power and authority as God's representative on earth, even if he is a total dope, while the women are subservient to the patriarch in all things, even if they could crush him with their blistering intellect and titanium will. Obvious, sure, but then the fact that such a belief system persists in about a zillion different manifestations tells me that even the most obvious, bone-headed critique is still necessary.

As a result, Golden could be quite annoying, so passive and baffled by the world around him, but I think that's realistic, because seriously, there are people on this planet who are just like that. I know it would be nice if all characters in all books could be likeable at all times, but the truth is, people just aren't that way. The good news is that people can change, and that sometimes it takes unimaginably painful events to force that change, which is something that is reflected in this book.

I will say that I didn't love the ending, and that's because I was absolutely rooting for a particular outcome involving Trish. (I won't say any more so as to avoid spoiling.) The third perspective, that of Rusty, the outcast 11-year-old boy, crushed me. And...how to put this delicately, there was an exchange of sorts between Trish and Rusty toward the end of the book that had me seriously sketched out. Anyone else who has read this book, you know what I'm talking about?

That's a pretty minor critique, though. Ultimately I found this to be a very enjoyable read, with the right mix of literary quality, in terms of writing and character development, and flat-out good storytelling. It's been a while since I read a literary novel that had me wondering what was going to happen next and how the hell the characters were going to get themselves out of whatever mess they'd gotten themselves into. ...more

Caitlin Constantine wants to read

The Myth of Choice: Personal Responsibility in a World of Limits
by Kent Greenfield (Goodreads Author)

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Caitlin Constantine rated a book liked it

High Fidelity
by Nick Hornby

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I'd only ever seen the movie, and thought John Cusack's character came across as a colossal ass of epic proportions. (Not just a colossal ass, and not just an ass of epic proportions. He was a combination of the two.) Enough time had passed and I was I'd only ever seen the movie, and thought John Cusack's character came across as a colossal ass of epic proportions. (Not just a colossal ass, and not just an ass of epic proportions. He was a combination of the two.) Enough time had passed and I was not really wanting to read any of the more "literary" novels I have kicking around, so I found this on my Kindle and gave it a go.

Let's just say the main character doesn't benefit much from a literary treatment. How to describe Nick? He's a Nice Guy (tm) who is crippled by insecurities and self-doubt. He's a manchild who is pathologically self-centered. (I mean, really, going to your ex-girlfriend's father's funeral and trying to envision how you can best position yourself to get her back is pretty fucking low.) He's self-aware enough to know that he's being a total ass and that he is in part responsible for his own shitty life, but not self-aware enough to actually do anything about it.

In Hornby's defense, I don't think he was trying to say, Hey, look at this misunderstood sad man and take pity on him and maybe even have sex with him! He was saying, This is an actual person in the world and this is how he thinks.

I also thought Hornby nailed the dynamics of a troubled, flailing relationship pretty accurately. I'm hardly an expert on All Things Romantic, but my tender age belies the fact that I've got several years of marriage - to two very different men - under my belt, and I've seen a thing or two or five. I've seen enough that some of the exchanges between Nick and Laura left me wincing in discomfort.

I only gave it three stars because, despite the quality writing and the realistic characters and depictions of relationships on life-support, I found Nick so odious as a character that I just wanted to be rid of him forever and ever. I feel for anyone who deeply identifies with that character, but maybe even more importantly, I feel for anyone who dates anyone who deeply identifies with that character. Maybe this book could be a romantic red flag? Like, if you are dating a guy and he's all, "My favorite book is High Fidelity," you can take that as a cue to go to the bathroom, where you can crawl out the window and run far, far away. Just a thought. ...more