Rachel's Updates en-US Tue, 29 Apr 2025 13:03:51 -0700 60 Rachel's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg UserStatus1054381507 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 13:03:51 -0700 <![CDATA[ Rachel is 52% done with Martyr! ]]> Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar Rachel is 52% done with <a href="/book/show/139400713-martyr">Martyr!</a>. ]]> ReadStatus9366854331 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 10:44:47 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel is currently reading 'The Mirror & the Light (Thomas Cromwell Trilogy, #3']]> /review/show/7528860998 The Mirror & the Light (Thomas Cromwell Trilogy, #3 by Hilary Mantel Rachel is currently reading The Mirror & the Light (Thomas Cromwell Trilogy, #3 by Hilary Mantel
]]> Review6652163950 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 10:43:24 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel added 'Veronica']]> /review/show/6652163950 Veronica by Mary Gaitskill Rachel gave 4 stars to Veronica (Hardcover) by Mary Gaitskill
bookshelves: contemporary-fiction
The reason to read this book now is this:

"I think of Veronica crying, 'They're taking it all away.' I hadn't understood her then. But I do now.
They did take it all away. Veronica's world is gone, campaigned against by people like my father,
who saw his world taken away by people like her-- I understand that now too."

]]> Review4735087394 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 10:04:28 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel added 'Either/Or']]> /review/show/4735087394 Either/Or by Elif Batuman Rachel gave 4 stars to Either/Or (Hardcover) by Elif Batuman
bookshelves: contemporary-fiction
I'm a fan of autofictional, discursive writing, particularly when done by smart women with an idiosyncratic eye. It's enjoyable to spend time in their heads- and I pick up a lot of secondary information about ideas I'm interested without having to read the source material.

In this case, Batuman's avatar Selen has read Kierkegaard for me and, in protest, embarks on an aesthetic journey during her second year at Harvard. Her ingenuous tendency to question the most basic human behaviors, interactions, and social structures as she blunders her way through keg parties and central Turkey reveals absurdities in gender roles, relationships, social practices, etc. Reading The Idiot and Either/Or feels a bit like reading Candide or The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling or other picaresque novels of the Enlightenment.

Can't wait to see what she does in Russia. ]]> GiveawayRequest706532303 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 09:17:02 -0700 <![CDATA[<a href="/user/show/1663818-rachel">Rachel</a> entered a giveaway]]> /giveaway/show/411905-the-collaborators The Collaborators by Michael Idov
100 copies available, ends on May 20, 2025
Enter to win ]]> ReadStatus9366346702 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 08:02:07 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel wants to read 'Audition']]> /review/show/7528503573 Audition by Katie Kitamura Rachel wants to read Audition by Katie Kitamura
]]> PollVote82800983 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 08:00:48 -0700 <![CDATA[ Rachel voted in a poll ]]> /poll/show_vote/82800983 June 2025 - Short Story/Novella Poll. ]]> ReadStatus9366333213 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 07:57:41 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel wants to read 'Desperate Remedies']]> /review/show/7528494041 Desperate Remedies by Thomas Hardy Rachel wants to read Desperate Remedies by Thomas Hardy
]]> Review4735087394 Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:47:11 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel added 'Either/Or']]> /review/show/4735087394 Either/Or by Elif Batuman Rachel gave 4 stars to Either/Or (Hardcover) by Elif Batuman
bookshelves: contemporary-fiction
I'm a fan of autofictional, discursive writing, particularly when done by smart women with an idiosyncratic eye. It's enjoyable to spend time in their heads- and I pick up a lot of secondary information about ideas I'm interested without having to read the source material.

In this case, Batuman's avatar Selen has read Kierkegaard for me and, in protest, embarks on an aesthetic journey during her second year at Harvard. Her ingenuous tendency to question the most basic human behaviors, interactions, and social structures as she blunders her way through keg parties and central Turkey reveals absurdities in gender roles, relationships, social practices, etc. Reading The Idiot and Either/Or feels a bit like reading Candide or The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling or other picaresque novels of the Enlightenment.

Can't wait to see what she does in Russia. ]]> Review6652163950 Sat, 26 Apr 2025 09:30:17 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel added 'Veronica']]> /review/show/6652163950 Veronica by Mary Gaitskill Rachel gave 4 stars to Veronica (Hardcover) by Mary Gaitskill
bookshelves: contemporary-fiction
The reason to read this book now is this:

"I think of Veronica crying, 'They're taking it all away.' I hadn't understood her then. But I do now.
They did take it all away. Veronica's world is gone, campaigned against by people like my father,
who saw his world taken away by people like her-- I understand that now too."

]]>