Mike > Recent Status Updates

Yentl the Yeshiva Boy: 4/5 Very cool story, especially for when it was written. Yentl is one of the only really well-rendered characters in this collection so far.

Zeidlus the Pope: 2/5 Meh. I think if I were highly engaged in Judaism, I would enjoy this story, but being Jewish by ethnicity only, it falls flat for me.

I feel like I've already said everything I have to say about this book. Beautiful writing, I have no idea what's going on.

I'm becoming convinced that Wagenen is a literal Disney Channel character. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing - it's actually really cool that she's brave enough to do all this. But man, the second-hand embarrassment is high in this book.

And now, I'm totally lost. This is one of the few times that a book has lost me this badly where I feel like I actually would've really liked it if I had followed it better. Alas.

Wagenen is a weird person. I feel like if I knew her in middle school, I'd pretend to be annoyed by her, and I'd secretly really like her. She's certainly brave. And having read further, her problem isn't so much that she isn't very self-aware, it's more that she's not very aware of other people. Like, she tends to see others in very one-note ways. But I probably did that in eighth grade too.

The Destruction of Kreshev: 3/5 I don't like the idea recycling, but the story itself is pretty interesting.

Taibele and Her Demon: 2/5 This story is pretty misogynistic and pointless - it feels like an allegorical jerk-off fantasy.

Alone: 4/5 I like that we weren't so distant from this story, and I like the plot.

I'm glad Meadows isn't pretending that Anna and Sam might not end up together in the end for the sake of forced drama. (I know she did that some in the second book, but I'm glad that's over with now.)

This is kind of weird for me to read, just because Wagenen's perception of popularity was so different from how I saw it in middle school. Maybe it's because we live in such different areas, or because I was a guy, or maybe one of us was just badly misinterpreting things. Still, though, there are definitely a lot of interactions that I wasn't aware of at all.

The Spinoza of Market Street: 3/5 This was alright, I guess. The beginning was pretty promising, but the payoff was kind of lacking. It could've been pretty good, but as it stands, it's just not noteworthy.

I feel like if I reread this book someday, I'll completely love it. But right now... all the characters and perspectives are too overwhelming.

The book seems to be moving much more in the direction of 'wacky adventures of using outdated advice', which is an improvement on being directionless and confused, I guess. I'm still not totally feeling this, although I wouldn't call it bad at all.

I don't think this is ever going to become one of my very favorite books, but I'm still quite glad to be reading it. Meadows is a good writer, and she has a very good instinct for pacing and creating tension. And the mood she's going for is executed just right. The whole thing works very well, even if it's not super innovative or intense.

The Unseen: 4/5 I feel like I would enjoy this one more if I was familiar with Jewish theology. But it was still pretty cool - I especially liked the narration. That said, I didn't like how distant we were from the story, but the plot itself was good enough to make up for it.

This has some of the best writing of any classic I've ever read. This is one of the earliest books I know of that actually tries to capture voice with its use of third person, and it makes for an excellent reading experience. Now, if only I could follow what the hell is going on.

I like this book a lot better when I see it as a slice-of-life account of Wagenen's eighth grade year, rather than something that's going to be insightful about popularity and beauty culture. Which is kind of a problem - Wagenen deals heavily with both topics, yet she has shockingly little to say about them. I might have liked this better if it didn't focus on her experiment, honestly.

Why is this book so preoccupied with sex? It's like a thirteen year-old writing what they think it's like to be an adult.

Click-Clack, the Rattlebag: 3/5 Well-written, kind of cliched.

An Invocation of Incuriousity: 4/5 A little boring in spots, but overall very compelling.

"And Weep, Like Alexander": 3/5 Good idea, meh execution.

I think I'm just worn out on reading classics right now. Maybe if I took a break and then read this, I would appreciate it a lot more. But man, I'm finding it extremely hard not to skim.

I was thinking this would either be the story of how Maya wears ridiculous styles from decades ago, or the story of how she realizes that all of that advice was nonsense, and that beauty culture is toxic. This seems to be neither - I'm honestly not sure what we're supposed to be taking from this. Certainly, Maya doesn't seem to be learning or growing very much, so far.

The Case and Death of Honey: 3/5 I feel like you have to be more familiar with Sherlock Holmes than I am to really appreciate this story, but it's still pretty well-written.

The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury: 2/5 Maybe I would like this story better if I didn't despise Fahrenheit 451. But man, was this ever pretentious.

Jerusalem: 2/5 Pointless and, for Gaiman, uncharacteristically boring.

Okay, seriously, was this town built over a Hellmouth or something? Jackson seems to be making an effort to continuously top herself in every way she can, and this book is becoming one of the least believable ones I've ever read.

A Calendar of Tales: 4/5 The premise is maybe a bit gimmicky, but most of the stories are entertaining enough that I never got bored or anything. It's Gaiman doing exactly what he's good at.

I am enjoying the writing very much, following the story just barely, and paying attention to the character interactions not at all. It's kind of pleasant, but I feel like I'm missing a lot.

I'm appreciating how little Wgenen's perspective matches the one that I'd normally get for this kind of story (i.e. one very similar to my own). This doesn't immediately ring true to me, because Wagenen's school and life are so different from mine. It's refreshing.

Man, I really wish the characters weren't so hard to keep track of, because this writing is really excellent. Maybe I'm just a sucker for books written in a dialect, but this is really a great experience to read.

For all intents and purposes, this is essentially urban fantasy. It's so disconnected from any kind of emotional or material reality that I have no idea what a contemporary fan could do with it. The last time I was this baffled by a novel's world view, it was in Invisible Monsters. But, while I'm no fan of that book, at least Palahniuk was being surreal intentionally. This is supposed to be realistic.

This is not exactly high on self-awareness. But then again, I wasn't very self-aware when I was in eighth grade either. For something written by a thirteen year-old, I think I can forgive this level of writing - certainly, it's surprisingly polished and not nearly as cringe-worthy as I expected. Especially since the topic is so interesting, I think I could enjoy this.

The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains...: 4/5 A little forgettable, but an entertaining story nonetheless.

My Last Landlady: 3/5 I think this poem kind of went over my head. I liked the language, it just didn't say anything to me.

Adventure Story: 4/5 A cute, well-executed idea.

Orange: 5/5 I loved the format, and the story it tells is very creepy. This also has some of the best writing Gaiman's done.

There are too many POV characters, and they all have exactly the same voice, and I don't care about any of them. I'm rarely in favor of making a book more conventional, but there was legitimately no reason to write about a dozen different people in first person.

And now I'm reading a sex scene with absolutely no buildup except for the knowledge that the two people in it used to be together. I have no idea why the plot needed this scene to happen, or really, why anything is happening. Jackson seems to understand that she's supposed to be exploring these characters, but not that she's supposed to give them a coherent arc, rather than just random characterizing moments.