Lisa Eckstein > Recent Status Updates

Exciting page turner!

The section about offering matinees to schoolkids is especially moving.

I was very excited by the premise of this book, and the beginning has thoroughly pulled me in.

"This was such an outrageous untruth that Beatrice was forced to pause and admire Mrs. Turber as one might admire an artist's brushstroke while despising the picture."

I'm enjoying going through this a bit at a time to savor it all.

A lot has happened all at once!

All kinds of fascinating developments.

More interesting pieces are coming into the story. I'm excited to see where it's all going.

The annotations and essays are a fascinating look inside the development process.

This is so cool!

This sentence from a bit earlier nicely captures the theme and tone: "The Belgian Relief Committee's fundraising plans for a Grand Fete and Parade had grown into an undertaking not unlike a small war of its own."

All the characters are great, both the awesome ones and the ridiculous ones.

Engrossed by both the storylines.

I am here for a story about a family adopting a chimpanzee as part of a research experiment, and this one is off to a great start.

Great mix of interesting relationship dynamics, amusing local politics, and the looming threat of war.

Summer is passing into war. :(

Very satisfying comedy in this comedy of manners.

Enjoying getting to know these characters and the town.

Just wonderful! i shed quite a few happy tears during the final chapters.

I really want things to turn out well for everyone in this story, even the characters who have been jerks.

I started reading while waiting to hear Simonson speak at a bookstore event tonight! She was delightful, charmingly self-deprecating, and funny. The book is off to a great start!

Making myself stop for the day because I don't want to get to the end yet!

I love how even smaller characters are fleshed out and given their moment in the spotlight.

This book was intense and often uncomfortable, but very effective.

"The evening before our planned action on the hospital, there'd been a shoot-out between Varrio Polynesian Gardens and Barrio Polynesian Gardens, two gangs with a longstanding blood feud over spelling and pronunciation."

Such an interesting collection of characters and problems. A struggle to put the book down and get something else done!

Already packed with fascinating characters, intriguing problems, and funny observations!

Fascinating and uncomfortably funny.

"The meetings consisted mostly of the members who showed up every other week arguing with the ones who came every other month over what exactly 'bimonthly' means."

A lot going on in this story.