Lisa Eckstein > Recent Status Updates

Engrossing, complex story.

I've been anticipating this second novel from one of the hosts of the great Book Fight podcast. The book, which came out today, opens with a school shooting, and because this subject never stops being relevant these days, I was about to sit down to read when I heard about an active shooter at a workplace nearby.

Excited to dive into this great big family story that's received so many honors and much praise.

The switch from first to third person is odd, but not affecting my deep connection to these characters.

Deeply affecting.

So much heartbreaking stuff in this story, but so good.

"All the way down Main Street I was sucked into that hand. She rubbed my thumb with her thumb, stroked my palm with her finger. The rest of my body dangled, like extra." Love the writing in this book.

Already shaping up to be a complex and difficult family story, wonderfully written.

Well, that was a hell of a climax.

Layers upon layers peeling back to reveal their mysteries!

This is essentially the second half of what could have been a single long novel, and the plot is thickening juicily.

Amazing! The only problem with this book is that it doesn't conclude the story, so that settles my question of what I'm going to read next.

Surprise after surprise in this story!

Many of these stories didn't do much for me, but I really enjoyed "Final Audit", which follows a bank clerk in Victorian England who is blessed and cursed with very limited powers of prophesy.

Suspenseful plot, excellent characters, impressively enormous world. I am so into this story!

It took me a while to get into the first, title story (also the longest), but then it took several interesting turns and I liked how it wound up.

Deliciously complex and engrossing!

Interested to read some stories by this year's FOGcon Honored Ghost.

Even if this story and world had only half as many things going on, I'd be boggling over how Palmer came up with it all.

This is already both bewildering and utterly fascinating!

"So I brought the baby inside and I said, 'Honey, our new problem is here,' which is a running joke now, and he said, cheerfully, 'Yeah? What is it today?' and I said, 'Today in Post-Apocalyptic Problems is proud to present: It's a baby,' and he said, 'A baby what?' which was when I walked into the living room with the bucket baby. 'Congratulations,' I said. 'It's a boy.' We both smiled, but this was something else."

Really enjoying this collection. Recommended to anyone who likes weird lists and off-kilter premises.

These stories are delightful and odd. Really enjoying this collection.

"Usually it made her anxious to be on top. There was so much scrutiny in that position, so many parts of her body that jiggled, so much to make her feel shy. But she couldn't feel anything but pleasure when Drew's eyes worshipped her body like that."

Sweet and sexy!

Great meet-cute, and I've already laughed out loud several times!

"No matter what our intentions, everything we say and do in the pursuit of justice will one day be outdated, ineffective, and yes, probably wrong. That is the way progress works. What we do now is important and helpful so long as what we do now is what is needed now."

"But words only lose their power when first the impact of those words are no longer felt, not the other way around."

"But if you don't embrace intersectionality, even if you make progress for some, you will look around one day and find that you've become the oppressor of others."

"But you are reading this book because you realize that we *have* to talk about race. Race is everywhere and racial tension and animosity and pain is in almost everything we see and touch. Ignoring it does not make it go away. There is no shoving the four hundred years' racial oppression and violence toothpaste back in the toothpaste tube."