Amelia Halgren > Recent Status Updates

This may be best to read when you’re in need of being amongst well spoken, like minded allies… maybe not as much if you are in need of escapism.

“She’s sure these men who run the field [of forestry] will have to fall, next year or the year after. And up from the downed trunks of their beliefs will spring rich new undergrowth.”

“It all looks so real, so virgin, so unspoiled.” There were some poor logging practices in place on national forests in the past. Much of this has changed. But to call any forest in the US “virginal” is not only likely inaccurate but also offensive to the people who were here first, actively managing the lands for sustenance.

I just want to binge my way through this whole book but then it will be over too fast!!! Terrible dilemma!!!

Unsurprisingly, beautiful writing. But this is also deeply painful to read and I don’t know how much of my energy I can give to this.

I just want to hug that man’s inner child! As far as I can tell the only complaint the mom has against him is that he hasn’t lived his life the way she thinks he *should* :(

Love this moment— I’ve often wondered about including more amputees in Astronaut programs— less weight and it’s not like you need legs in space.

I’m going to DNF

I can guess who the eighties one hit wonder is… I’ve suspected this since Oona’s first leap to the nineties when she mentioned that there were rumors about her time in Europe.

“Anger is a poison and forgiveness is the antidote.”

“Our marriage doesn’t live or die with your professional success.”

“Choosing music was choosing to breathe.”

“ ‘ When I was growing up Mama used to say what you dislike in other people is really what you dislike in yourself. That had me wondering if *I’m* phony. I mean, parts of me are, obviously.’ She pointed to her chest.”

DNF at 16% — I usually love anything by T Kingfisher but this one isn’t grabbing me. I might enjoy it more another time as a physical book?

I’m not a fan of the audiobook narration, it’s a bit bland and monotone. I’d like to try this again another time as a physical book or an ebook.

I like creepy and spooky and suspenseful but I think this may just be more *grim* than I’m ready for right now.

I’m bailing. I’m not a fan of the writing style.

Visible sadness and mourning is natural. Vulnerability is not the same as “weakness.”

I think I’m going to DNF this.

The writing is beautiful. But I’m irritated by the implication that being thrown through a windshield due to not wearing a seatbelt is “safety” compared to the unlikely scenario of being trapped in a vehicle explosion. Perhaps this bugs me because of the people I’ve known who tried to argue against seatbelt use when in reality a person without a seatbelt becomes a projectile dangerous to others.

Lost my place by falling asleep during the audiobook. I think I’m done.

I think I’m done with this book. I was hoping for a book with a strong sense of time and place. I have no problem with character driven stories or novels without a strong plot, but I’m just not connecting with the characters (perhaps because there are so many introduced very quickly?). I can understand why this is an important work but it’s not what I was hoping for.

“He likes the young woman… When Anotonucci joined the CIA there were practically no women. There barely any Italian Americans. But these days his partner is a woman, his boss is a woman too, and sometimes he misses the easier comraderie of working with men. Now he needs to be so careful all the time, another type of exhausting.”

“…as if the mere fact that something is traditional makes it admirable or defensible. The same exact justification has been used for pretty much all the injustice in the history of the world.”

“When she was young she’d of course read all the magazines that tell you what to buy and how to sexualize yourself— the makeup, the clothes, the shoes, the waxing. But she no longer even glances at the headlines.”

“Chivalry can be just another form of hostility. Chivalry can be the weapon itself.”

“Ariel’s normal outfit is jeans and a tee shirt and no makeup whatsoever.”

This line signaled that this was probably a male author. Men generally *think* they prefer women makeup free, but what they actually tend to like is a “natural” look — so that the makeup isn’t obvious.

“I will bear witness to the wreckage we have wrought.” The priest’s epiphany is powerfully written.

The absurdity of cutting down a tree because you can’t reverse then realizing you STILL can’t drive over the stump is almost humorous.

Tomas has encountered a shepherd and now a peasant dressed in white that each care for him… symbolic of divine care?