Hart_D (ajibooks) > Recent Status Updates

I love it when I'm reading a romance and I can't begin to imagine how the characters are going to work out their problems, but I know that they will!

I've been having trouble concentrating on this, but I do want to finish it. I wonder if any of the short stories set in this world are about the Wind of Knives. It's a creepy concept but appealing to me.

I thought this book would be fluffy, but it's pretty serious: their relationship is forbidden because of a homophobic society, and that's more or less the plot. Both MCs wish their society could accept their relationship, but I think they also both wish they weren't gay. I'm slightly uncomfortable with hetero writers making internalized homophobia such a central aspect of a story. Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon, idk.

I'm really enjoying this! But there's a character named Lettice (I think?) and the audiobook narrator is pronouncing it as Lettuce, which is making me laugh:

"Lettuce has been good for him, you know."
"Lettuce is everything to him."

Is it a convention of ghost stories or horror for the characters to not tell each other what they've been experiencing? I don't think I like it.

I've been listening to this for about a half-hour a day, like I'm peeking around corners waiting for something to jump out at me. It has not actually been scary yet, though, just a little creepy.

I am pretty free-wheeling about language these days, but using the word "porn" as a verb should be against the law.

This really picked up, at about 40%. Now I'm almost done and I still can't guess how exactly everything is going to play out, although I'm sure it's going to be deeply disturbing.

Chapter 14 of the audiobook, about 30%. I'm really attached to a couple of these characters, but I don't like the third-person omniscient style or the slow revelation of info about the mission. I'm also struggling with the dark mood of the present (future) chapters, although I like the character whose point of view we're in most often there (John). But I have to know what happened, so I will stick with it!

Some kind of same-sex romance, even good fanfic, should be required reading for every aspiring writer, so that they know how to write a scene with two male or two female characters without resorting to using "the girl" and other epithets. I'm not even all that allergic to epithets, like some readers are, but I find them really grating in excess.

Chapter 13 and I'm about at my saturation point for Watson's suffering. Watson has been deeply unhappy, with literally no relief, for this entire book. There's a decent amount of romantic/sexual tension between her and Holmes, but Watson isn't happy about that either, because she doesn't actually like Holmes. Why is (almost) every PoV character in f/f so unhappy?

Middle of chapter 3 (audiobook so I don't know the page or percentage). This version of Watson is pretty unhappy, with good reason. Holmes was just mentioned for the first time: "She's....particular about things." I'm so excited for Watson to meet her. It's amazing how enthusiastic I still am about new versions of favorite stories.

This was first published in 1983, and a character has a waterbed! I was fascinated with them as a kid (around that time) but never got to sleep on one. Of course I had to Google & find out what happened to waterbeds. I guess they were too high-maintenance and just fell out of fashion. This book does not otherwise seem dated to me, but the waterbed made me smile.

I don't feel attached to any of the characters, but I'm enjoying learning about this period of history. I guess I will keep plodding on for now, even though I have a lot of other books calling to me.

I don't want this book to end!

Wow, I am not enjoying this. Why do we need to be in everyone's point of view all the time? Why is every revealed plot twist just pure cheese? How are we several centuries in the future with no imaginary cultural references, just real-world stuff? What was up with that whole testosterone bit? Oh dear.

It's very weird, but this book keeps reminding me of Roger Zelazny's Amber books. Totally different in subject matter and tone and everything. But there are several poem-like passages of the characters' impressions of the landscape that remind me of when Corwin walked through Shadow. Also, this book has a recurring theme of labyrinths, which reminds me of Corwin walking the pattern.

These two are giving me heart eyes. "Some people profane everything they touch. I think you do the opposite."

I was never really bored with this book, but I am definitely not bored now. The pace picked up a lot about 2/3 through. Now I can't tear myself away.

This book isn't really what I expected. I thought it would have a lot of sensory imagery, like describing the smell of flowers, etc. Instead it's mostly about the two main characters worrying about what other people think of them, and hating each other (they're sisters). There isn't much romance, supernatural stuff, or action so far. But I'm curious what's going to happen next.

I still have a massive book hangover from The Bedlam Stacks and I can't get over it! I keep picking up books in different genres, and nothing helps. What a ridiculous problem to have :-)

Reading these was such a good decision. The main character just used the word "monkeyshines" completely seriously.

"One didn’t question sociologists and their computers." = too bad we're not living in that future

I'm enjoying this so much and already wondering what I'm going to do with myself once I finish it.

I'm really enjoying this. It's similar to The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, but in first person, which I think was a good choice.

I love the world of this book. It's just so neat. Chris is such a witty character too - I have laughed out loud more than once.