L&L: A Room with a View by E.M. Forster,

After how much I was surprised to like A Passage to India by Forster, I was bummed to find A Room with a View rather dull.

-None of the characters were particularly likable.

-Other than challenging some social norms, was anything happening in the book?

-Why were George and Lucy questioning Charlotte's intentions at the end of the book? Could the end at all justify the means? How are we, the reader, supposed to take that in terms of our evaluation of Charlotte, but also George and Lucy?

L&L: Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

This was a terrible audiobook. Not only is it written in a way that's hard to understand by listening, it was not well read with the different character voices. Woof. This was a tough one.

-Who was really the main character? Did it have to be so long that I honestly couldn't tell what/who the point was?

-Why do I care about anyone in the story?

-What actually happened in the end?

L&L: The Ginger Man by J. P. Donleavy

For an Irish Lit class, I read J. P. Donleavy's The Ginger Man. That book definitely lingered. It's a perfect post for Saint Patrick's Day, where Irish Americans are more rambunctious than anyone else.

- Sebastian Dangerfield is entirely despicable.

- The character's thoughts and actions are random and sporadic, like the book's storytelling. It's obscene and appalling, and yet also hilarious. Maybe it's a bit of an uncomfortable humor.

- It's bizarre. I think everyone should read it.

L&L: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

After thoroughly enjoying Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, I was glad to download the audiobook of The Age of Innocence.

- I spent the whole book thinking Newland Archer was being duped by the Countess Olenska. I actively distrusted her, and I was totally team Archer. Boy was I wrong.

-I thought a lot of Fitzgerald's "beautiful little fool" whenever we encountered May. I pitied her and judged her for being so blind. Yet again, I was super wrong. She ultimately controlled the story. Get it, girl. You keep yo' man. Also, her eyes, they have to be some kind of theme within the story.

-I loved the conclusion! There was something satisfying about seeing so far into the future, even if the actual ending was perhaps anticlimactic. Archer's son was a nice portrait of the new generation.

L&L: Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk

Here we go! It's a quick look at the satirical novel Survivor. I like it a lot more than I anticipated.

- I liked the way it played with a lot of social commentary at once--the televangelism, the celebrity status, the cult obsession, sex shaming, noeveau riche, etc.

- Fertility Hollis. What a gal. Did she set this all up to get back at Tender? She and The Caseworker were not great portrayals of women, but I think I would rank Fertility over the Caseworker.

- Narrative style and structure were a big plus for this story.

L&L: The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

- I don't like that this became a cancer story. Knowing that it's a series book, I wish things could have ended without all the cancer. I thought getting all the damned people together was good enough.

- James and Georgia are too cheesy, which is totally subjective and I realize there is some charm to Georgia's ignorance of James' intentions. But only some.

- This particular audiobook was kind of distracting because of the narrator's attempts at different voices for the characters, particularly the questionable Scottish.

Last & Lingering: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I haven't done well about blogging after reading--especially after audio books because I don't take time to preserve quotes like I do with print. Even so, I have read and listened to a lot of books in the last 10 months and I have only written a couple posts. I haven't done much in terms of reviews on my Goodreads which is where I mostly keep track of reading lists.

While some books I just don't think will ever warrant a review on the blog, others I at least have something to say, so I ought to say it. That is the point of this blog, and all. In light of this, I introduce to you: the Last & Lingering. If the book warrants comment but not a full-length post, then I'll give you three takeaways from my reading experience, whether that be final thoughts, character concerns, ideas for future research, or lingering questions.

To commence this new system, let's start with a book club pick I just finished on vacation: The Night Circus.

1. I liked the structure quite a bit. The alternating chapters from different perspectives, instead of one linear tale, especially mixing the two opponents experiences, was a nice way to read through the challenge, but also experience the characters once their relationship to one another became known. It also helped make the importance of other characters (like Bailey) slowly become more evident. 

2. I really liked the choose-your-own-adventure-like nature of the super sort chapters intended to see you feel like you were experiencing the circus. However, it just didn't get there for me. They didn't have much of a plot or description, and they didn't clearly "define" the previous or following sections of the book for me.  Perhaps if I went back and read it I would find a clearer connection between the tent experiences and the surrounding text. Since I don't plan to do that, I wonder: Could some of the general chapters' descriptions of tents gone into these little breaks to become meatier and more involved for the reader? Could there have been clearer movement between the tents when in these passages? 

3. These two illusionists winning it all and bring together in some weird state? Totally didn't buy it.