Norm > Recent Status Updates

Really need to brush up on my flora vocab. Copse? Heather? What are plants?

Big fan of this book already. Robust worldbuilding is catnip to me.

For Watership Down, I've selected a lovely non-MLB-licensed Bobby Bonilla Starline card. I really love the look of these cards. Simple and elegant.

It would have been fun to be Eric Hiljus' dad.

'Can Eric come out to play?'

Sure, boys. HILJUS be a minute!

I hate protagonists who are awful people. I'll finish this book, because it's interesting and well-written, but I am grumpy at it.

Good read so far. Huxley borders on Tolkein-esque descriptions, but always stops short of boring me.

Man, I really have to see the old Superman movies. Also the new one.

The genesis of comic continuity as a 'thing' is fantastically fascinating.

Yay, Krypto! Boo, Superman killing Captain Marvel. This is a blast to read.

Very happy so far. Weldon's humor makes this an easy read, despite the sheer density of the material.

Look, up on my desk! It's a book! It's a... book, yup. That's what it is.

Done! this book was a slog for me - the rich world building comes at the expense of storytelling for what felt like 1/3rd of the book. Was worth it, though, excited to read the next one.

Starting to really get into this one. Stackpole has created a vast, fascinating world for me to explore, but expects me to have already explored it. The book reads like a sequel, but isn't one. Very much needs an index, glossary, etc.

That said, the bits I'm starting to pick up on are interesting, and I'm enjoying it so far.

This book is dedicated to John McCain. What.

Screw this book. It is awful.

The fourth story -The Enduring Chill- was the best one yet, and although it maintained the same themes as the first three, it felt like a fresh read. O'Connor continues to impress me with her ability to create characters and atmosphere. I'm finding her supporting characters to be particularly interesting.

Ugh. This thing's tough to chew on, man. Holden is unlikable and boring. Not sure I'm gonna make it.

Another book from the huge archive of books I never read, but should have.

I like Holden so far, though his miserable attitude towards life gets sort of exhausting. Hopefully it'll be a smoother read once the plot kicks in.

Another book from the huge archive of books I never read, but should have.

I like Holden so far, though his miserable attitude towards life gets sort of exhausting. Hopefully it'll be a smoother read once the plot kicks in.

Two more stories down, and while I'm no less impressed with O'Connor's writing, her storytelling is getting a bit stale. Really, all three of these stories are the same story. They were told well, but still the same.

Perhaps they weren't meant to be read consecutively. Think I'll take a break from this and come back to it later.

The eponymous first short story in this collection has sold me on both book and author.

The story was well told, and made me think, and made me feel like a rather different person than I was 24 pages ago.

That's quite a feat, and I'm excited for O'Conner to repeat the trick.

Action time! Action-packed! After a lot of thoughtful, dialogue-packed interludes, the plot is finally here! And it's action! The bad guys are GROSS LIZARDS and the good guys are X-MEN and DATA and WORF.

This book is sweet.

I'm enjoying the story so far, but the X-Men/Starfleet characters aren't even aware of the plot, much less involved in it. A quick peek at the next chapter tells me that is about to change, but still... I'm too far along for the main characters and the plot not to have met.

The quirky, fanfic-esque chapters involving Enterprise crew and X-Men are at least enjoyable to a fan, if a little pointless.

The book has become a bit surreal. Nothing is particularly concrete or noteworthy to Lt. Henry at this point, except his ladyfriend. Also, everybody loves him and brings him presents all the time. I'm enjoying the story, but I find it odd that the 'War is hell' hasn't gotten here yet. Maybe it never will, and it'll be a love story? I'm ok with that.

Progress remains slow, but I love this book when I actually pick it up. Minimum 2 chaps. per day from now on. On the book itself: Our hero is on his way to Milan. I'm going to miss Rinaldi. the book's thin on characters, but he makes me happy.

Well dang, so far it's just a great story, I'm really enjoying it. I'm not sure what makes it a classic, maybe that will come later. I don't much care if it does, really, I just want to keep reading :D

Really enjoying this book. I love that it can have a message while still being an enjoyable tale. It's super fun that Orwell takes the time to close the 'How would animals X?' loopholes. For such a compact book, I feel like the world is really well developed.

Already, I've encountered the issue I knew I would face in my quest to read all the classics I should have read in high school: Feeling stupid. When reading a book that's been read and re-read and analyzed to death, it's difficult not to feel like I'm not 'getting it'. I'm 'getting it' alright, and enjoying it. I just have to lose the stress of not knowing which character is a Stalin allegory.