Enthusiastic Reader > Recent Status Updates

p 63: "Many of our fields and places of work seem to function, instead, from a place of tremendous urgency. This sense of urgency distracts many organizations from addressing how to best retain healthy, happy people.. It's very common to see an internalization of not doing enough pervading our workplaces."

p 3: "there is a time for fire, but what sustains the heat – for the long haul – is the coals."

Powerful image.

I am curious why the author uses "folx" rather than "folks."

Oooo. It's so good... but I don't know if our school library would be allowed to purchase it, because it has used the f-word a few times on these last couple of pages. I wouldn't want our librarian to get fired, and if the school got sued, even if we won the lawsuit, it would still take a lot of money. And that money spent on the lawsuit means less for supplies and field trips and sports and stuff.

(continued) and the FBI has been secretly investigating. She feels guilty for having wondered sometimes whether her uncle, who was a recovering alcoholic and had been sober for years, had relapsed.

It's a LOT to keep track of, so it's not an easy read, but it's gotten REALLY good!

Holy smokes. This has blown up. We find out that the reason Dauniss drifted apart from someone she used to be close to is that the other person got hooked on meth. Dauniss realizes they might be dealing now. Then she witnesses the murder of someone else she cares about. Then she finds out that her uncle's death, which was reported as being a suicide while drunk, might be connected to the drugs in her community... 1/

Dauniss has transferred her enrollment from the University of Michigan to a local community college. Her grandmother had a stroke recently, and her mother has been struggling, so she wants to stay close to her family. But at the same time she's disappointed about not going to the school she'd originally wanted. She's smart and caring and her conflict and frustration is understandable.

Rashad is a high school student with decent grades. He's in JROTC because his dad, who joined the military after high school, pushed/nagged him into it. But he's not really sure what he wants to do after high school, and anyway, he's more interested in hanging out with his friends.

More proof that I am overwhelmed and tired; I should have seen the reveal about Damaya coming. *facepalm*

Someone tries to shoot Essun as she's leaving town, and she instinctively uses her powers to defend herself. She's been keeping her abilities secret, and so she doesn't have good control of them. She accidentally causes a small earthquake and part of the town is destroyed.

Helga Crane has gone to visit her aunt Katrina, in Denmark

Essun is still reeling from the murder of her three-year-old son. However, she has realized that her daughter Nassun is also missing, and that the townspeople will soon realize that she (Essun) has the ability to control earthquakes. So she decides to leave – both to go search for her daughter, and to escape.

This one is going to take me awhile. The language just needs to be savored. It's SO good. Offhandedly casual, yet brilliant.

"The woman I mentioned, the one whose son is dead. She was not in Yumenes, thankfully, or this would be a very short tale. And you would not exist."

Wait, what? WHY? It's not just breaking the fourth wall. I don't even know where the walls ARE.

PS - Does anyone else hear that last stanza to the tune of "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush"?

Shoot. Page 1 is great, but Jemisin had me from, like, before the title page? With that opening blip? That shout-out to Eliot's "The Hollow Men" but not quite? That shift on the last line? YES PLEASE!

Bree is an early college student who is seeing shimmers of silver and green that other people can't. She doesn't know who she can trust to tell about them.