I enjoyed the Great Alone. I really like the Nightingales but I felt like I got kicked in the gut by the ending. I can’t face another of her books after that!

No disrespect to anyone who read and liked the book—I just think life is too short and reading is too pleasurable to read books that aren’t doing it for you.

I bought one. The one I used was “The New Bloomsday Book” by Harry Blamires.

That was a great book and really different. But you needed a score card to get all the characters and it took a while to become used to the names.

I finished the Maid but the ending was super disappointing. I think the book was hampered by its first person narration. The reader doesn’t even see the denouement.

7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. I was tedious and I didn’t care how the mystery was solved.

I felt really bad for Britney. Almost everyone in her life used her. She also struck me as being really angry still (not that she doesn’t have every right to be). I hope she finds healing.

You have to read each chapter with the study guide. It’s an effort but as you know, really worth it.

Ulysses.

I definitely thought that the way my kids were taught literature in middle and high school took all the pleasure out of reading. They read some wonderful books—but having to analyze and stick sticky note on every page hurt my heard! They never let the joy of being immersed in a good story.