Tim > Recent Status Updates

Quite an opening. Sprays to all fields insulting every nationality and religion in turn-of-the(19th) century Europe. If there isn't a point to the narrator's raging racism soon, I might pack it in.

For a book called 'Unwind' the plot is pretty tightly wound. Lots of stuff that fragments and comes back together. . .

Love it when an "issue book" starts by developing characters the reader can care about. In the last two chapters there's been a fundamental, major shift in the relationship between Connor and Risa, but it's believable and engaging despite being a game-changer.

Does what a good dystopian series opener should: establish setting, introduce characters and induce readers to care about them, and define conflict for the series going forward..

An interesting choice. . .I will be interested to see what challenges the "Divergent" nature brings in.

Done!

Off to a quick start on this one thanks to the recommendation of Claudia Swisher for my freshmen. A nice, authentic voice for teen characters that doesn't, at least thus far, rely overmuch on profanity.

"True Courage is not so much about self-glorification as it is about self-emptying: being willing to be the bridge over which others may cross to safety. It does not reast on anything so flimsy or ephemeral as "self-esteem", but proceeds instead out of an inner integrity that knows who it is- and where it is going - and can therefore fix its gaze outward rather than inward.

"True Courage is not so much about self-glorification as it is about self-emptying: being willing to be the bridge over which others may cross to safety. It does not reast on anything so flimsy or ephemeral as "self-esteem", but proceeds instead out of an inner integrity that knows who it is- and where it is going - and can therefore fix its gaze outward rather than inward.

"True Courage is not so much about self-glorification as it is about self-emptying: being willing to be the bridge over which others may cross to safety. It does not reast on anything so flimsy or ephemeral as "self-esteem", but proceeds instead out of an inner integrity that knows who it is- and where it is going - and can therefore fix its gaze outward rather than inward.

"True Courage is not so much about self-glorification as it is about self-emptying: being willing to be the bridge over which others may cross to safety. It does not reast on anything so flimsy or ephemeral as "self-esteem", but proceeds instead out of an inner integrity that knows who it is- and where it is going - and can therefore fix its gaze outward rather than inward.

"True Courage is not so much about self-glorification as it is about self-emptying: being willing to be the bridge over which others may cross to safety. It does not reast on anything so flimsy or ephemeral as "self-esteem", but proceeds instead out of an inner integrity that knows who it is- and where it is going - and can therefore fix its gaze outward rather than inward.

"True Courage is not so much about self-glorification as it is about self-emptying: being willing to be the bridge over which others may cross to safety. It does not reast on anything so flimsy or ephemeral as "self-esteem", but proceeds instead out of an inner integrity that knows who it is- and where it is going - and can therefore fix its gaze outward rather than inward.

Agreeing with Mike Petrucelli that the book is well ahead oif its time re: the integration of online interaction as news source. Pretty impressive, considering in 1994 the real world "Nets" were more like online bulletin boards as opposed to say, HuffPo

Nice start to the newest Percy Jackson book. Got to try to keep up or my son's going to burst telling me about it.

I am not a smart woman. But if I were, I'd probably have to put Inferno down. It's funny to me that Brown is obviously trying to listen to his critics by including a woman with a 200+ IQ in this book. But when she's constantly turning to steady, handsome Bobby Langdon for solutions and emotional support, it makes her look the same as the previous female sidekick/tagalongs.

As the progress in these updates clearly shows, I'm not nearly as drawn into this work as I've been with Brown's other stuff. Part of it is more responsibilities outside of reading for pleasure, but I'm not driven to pick this up the way I was with Angels and Demons or The Lost Symbol.

Am I wrong in thinking that Brown's other Langdon books were strikingly more surprising and interesting? The only commonality I see thus far is the whole "It's the Catholic Church's fault" motif.

**Spoiler**And I can't even finish the rest of the chapter without being appalled that the super-genius heroine, after fearlessly rescuing Langdon from an attempt on his life in which she saw her own friend killed, she "whisper[s], her voice taut with fear" when she simply sees the same assassin that, hours before, she cooly saved him from.

Haven't read King in a long time. A great recommendation from the lady who got me started on King back in the 80s when Cujo scared her so much she had to stop reading it some nights. Met hanks, Kel!

Martin's starting to hit that zone where every time he ends a chapter or shifts a scene I'm like "No! What happens next? Only to quickly get taken away by the new chapter. Yay!

Am I so ridiculously predictable as to be a sucker for any character in a fantasy novel named Sam (not short for Samuel)? Over the years, Samwise has become my hero of LOTR, and now, I'm giddy that Samwell has added his name to the list of chapter titles. . .

Finally switching editions to the text, not graphic novel version.