Mike > Recent Status Updates

The cold, textbook-like tone just makes this information creepy. It's like a handbook for an evil regime, but not presented as such.

This is the most oddly lightweight discussion of the concept of 'power' I've ever seen. This at least feels more human than the other book I'm reading on the subject, but it's still a little weird not to see any discussion of the injustice or human consequences that come with the use of power.

BOY do I not understand even a little of what's going on here. It's like translating from a foreign language that I barely speak.

This is pretty good. The concept of 'smart power' seems pretty vague, but I appreciate the nuanced vision of what power means in the international context.

I find it a little unsettling how there's been no discussion so far of the human consequences to diplomacy; very little indication that there are lives at stake, or that the well-being of people is something we should value. This book reflects a single-minded focus on the goals of one's nation, without any indication of what those goals should be; in theory, they could be totally arbitrary or even evil.

This is a very well-written book, but other than that... I just don't really know what to do with it. The story is completely uninteresting on every level.

Boy, taking a several-month break from this book was a mistake. All I'm really getting from this now is that William is a huge jerk to his students for no reason.

While this is useful, I feel like it would be more useful if the authors had been forced to size it down to about half the length.

I worry that the actual points the authors want to make are getting lost in all the examples. They must be describing every single example of human trafficking they've ever looked into.

I really wish this book took a stronger stand on legalizing sex work; I know they don't want to exacerbate divisions, but they're clearly on that side anyway, and I wish they were stronger with it. It sort of links back to a larger problem I have with Bales' work, which is that he doesn't do enough to examine the systemic causes of the problem he talks about, only seeing the immediate causes.

Still not much to say, except this is kind of cute and not particularly memorable.

Not a whole lot to say here. The description of the book is pretty much accurate, and this is basically what I was expecting.

Salinger is good at writing sympathetic assholes. This is my shit in every way.

This is still not particularly thematically coherent, but it is beginning to really affect me. Jesus, this is sad.

I really hate to say this, but so far, I'm not enjoying this like I did when I first read it. I mean, there are parts of it I like - Connor is a well-developed character - but from a plot and theme perspective... *sighs*. Ness seems to be aware that 'magical being teaches kid lessons about grief' is well-worn territory, but he seems unsure of how he wants to distinguish himself.

Oh my god I forgot how complicated this series is. There's no way I'd be able to follow most of this without having literally just read the previous books.

This is reminding me of why I said I'd stop reading this genre of manga. The artwork is very pretty, but not particularly effective at telling the story, and the story itself is just... not even remotely interesting to me.

This does have a more wish-fulfilment-y tone, but it's not so extraneous that it deserves the title. This is entertaining enough.

I really, really hope this ends up coalescing into something coherent. I'm not concerned that it hasn't done so yet, but I've read some incoherent Patrick Ness books before, and for the sake of my happy memories of this book, I really hope this isn't one of them.

This is at least more interesting than the last book. I still think the tone is too dark and depressing for a kid's book, but I at least admire Applegate and Grant's commitment to realism here.

I hope the next book in the series holds up better than this one, because this is just pointless. You could compress this into a prologue of the next book and lose nothing of value.

What is the point of this book? It's spent a couple dozen pages on a sub-plot involving a character who dies, and won't be important at all later. This book's structure is awful, and there's absolutely nothing to draw readers into the series, without any hints at all of the weirdness to follow.

Also, I'm just realizing how much I hate Yago's characterization. 'Evil' is not a personality.

Well, this is getting more intense. I think I'm finally starting to get what the point of this play is, although it's still not totally clear. From the perspective of craft, the dialogue and use of lights and music are brilliant.

This book is actually really bad - much, much worse than I remember it. It's no wonder this series never got popular; introducing your characters one by one, in a really info-dumpy way, is the most boring possible way you could do it. And this is DEPRESSING; there's barely any plot, just various people realizing they're all going to die. Why would any kid want to read this?

Each scene is entertaining to read, but I can't shake the feeling that this play isn't actually building up to anything. Like, I don't see any central plot, and there's no sense of momentum or things building to a climax. It's just... characters interacting.

It's been a long time since I've last read a Tennessee Williams play, and I've forgotten how much I love his dialogue. So much great characterization, from scenes that are so concise yet so layered. Truly, one of the best.

DuBois is certainly a very talented, evocative writer. This is interesting to read, whatever you think of his political opinions.

The way this is constructed is honestly a little weird. Just when I thought this would be a series of interviews and nothing else, we get exerts from official Russian documents. I just wish I had a better understanding of the broader story that Alexievich was trying to string together.

I'm only about a fifth of the way in, and this is already getting a bit repetitive. There are only so many ways you can say, "We're supposed to like capitalism, but I actually miss the USSR."

There's a lot of interesting history here, I really just wish the book came together to say something more coherent than 'colonialism is bad'. The whole thing is less than the sum of its parts.