The Book Thread Book • Page 186

I just finished Lincoln in the Bardo. What a unique novel. It doesn’t really feel like reading a book. It’s like reading a documentary almost with the way it’s structured. It’s hard to really describe. It takes minute to fully get on its wavelength, but once it comes together, it’s really beautiful.

 

I need to go back to it. I didn't get on board with it and didn't finish it.

 

It took me about 100 pages to get onboard haha. I’m tempted to reread, at least those first 100, just to see what I missed at first.

 

Saunders' short-stories are way better IMO. did not enjoy Lincoln in the Bardo much.

 

It's on my list to get to this summer. The concept and the many different characters and narratives sound right up my alley.

 

I’ve read a handful of the stories in Tenth of December. I’ve found them to be a little hit or miss (Puppy and Al Roosten being my favorites thus far). I need to make my way through the whole book at some point.

 

I loved Tenth of December. I think I like his style even when his stories don’t fully come together. I appreciate Lincoln in the Bardo as a poetic experiment but the narrative(s) didn’t move me. I’m still waiting for his masterpiece

 

Reading Milkman by Anna Burns at the moment and loving it. 18yr women gets caught up in the troubles in 1970s Ireland. fantastic voice

 

Reading Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and jennifer Finney boylan. Didn't know anything about it going in and haven't read either authors prior work. I'm enjoying it so far. I do see myself recommending it to like my grandpa who is progressive but may not know as much about trans people and appreciate the sort of 101 education the book gives

I was wondering how the trial part would go and man I wish trial was that quick and easy with the witnesses lol. Obv I don't expect them to be super tedious and dedicate a zillion pages to how actually mundane a lot of court procedure is, but I'm dead at these bigshot attorneys asking like zero questions.

Edit: okay I finished the book and I looked up some reviews and idk why it's so funny to me that all the low ratings are like "I gave it a star because I liked learning about bees and I wish there was more of that." Not funny that almost all the low reviews were from transphobic ppl. But like if u wanna learn about bees then read a book about bees??? This isn't a book about bees.

 

The more I think about Mad Honey the more I dislike it. I enjoyed the writing. And I loved the chapters from the character Lily's perspective, which I guess were mostly not written by Picoult. But the more I think about it, the more the ending leaves me unsatisfied. The final twist felt sorta half baked and random and I feel like the Asher boyfriend character flaws get a bit hand waved in the end idk. I read it quickly and wanted to see what happened. I wouldn't not recommend it but also probably won't keep it on my shelf and will donate