I would love to hear your thoughts about Michael O'Brien...he has such a following in my Catholic world, but I have always had an aversion to his books. I would love to hear a more thoughtful analysis of his work but someone like you who is Catholic and has good book taste.
Oh Emily. You're going to hear them, you're going to hear them until you can't stomach me anymore because I have so many things to criticize and my book club may honestly kick me out because I won't shut up about them! But I'm still not finished the damn book.
I have dear friends who love him, I'm the only person in my book club who hated the book, but it is probably due in large part to me hating his style. It's incredibly verbose, it needs five editors, he constantly tells and does only the barest amount of showing, his characters just annoy me, and have I mentioned he's long? When I finally finish the damn book I'm going to entitle my review, "A Father's Tale and how it consumed all my fucks"
Oh I'm secretly thrilled to find other people unenthused about Michael O'Brien. That's a terrible thing to say, but honestly the blurbs on the back of my copy are wild. Peter Kreeft, Thomas Howard, and other luminaries comparing his writing to Dickens, Austen, and Dostoevsky. I made it to page fifty and couldn't go any further.
Thank you so much for the shout out :)
Also, puzzles are the best. Have you seen the Laurence King series of literary puzzles? There's a World of Agatha Christie, World of Shakespeare, and so on. We got a couple last year and they made the holiday season so cozy.
Those blurbs. I honestly want to sue. The only comparison that's accurate is his love for his own words is as great as Dickens'. I am full of rage about the book and I have yet to even finish the cursed thing! But I will. So that I can honestly criticize it!
I got two of those puzzles for Christmas! The Shakespeare--which turned out to be incredibly hard in my opinion, and the Miss Marple which is much easier and still very cute. I already have the Agatha Christie one which is so fun because there are so many murder weapons hidden throughout!
I think they read the first chapters and were like, cool, this is cool. And then never bothered to read the next 1000 pages. But I honestly want to sue for misrepresentation. It's a grave injustice.
Ugh! Michael O’Brien. Our Well Read Mom book group met this weekend. I was about 20% of the way in and another member was 100 pages from the end. She also hated it but was finishing it should she could justify her dislike of it. I read Father Elijah several years ago for WRM and did not like it. But enough people were intrigued by our disdain for it that I am sure several of them will finish it. So even though I’m the leader, this will be my DNF for the year. I just cannot do it. I finished the Father Brown stories last night and would rather spend my time catching up on mysteries. Life is too short to read bad books. Oh, and yes, the audio is awful! That was my plan too until I listened to a sample. Just ugh!
I still have an hour and a half left to listen to and it's honestly making me lose the will to live. Only my passion to criticize it fully is propelling me to finish the cursed thing. Everyone in my book club loved it and have zero time for my hatred so naturally that makes me want to rant about it more. My mother in law got so fed up with it she skipped ahead to the last 30 pages about 200 pages in, and honestly that's probably what I should have done!
Recommendation: Not a show, but a Christmas movie, or just a good movie period: The Holdovers (2023) with Paul Giamatti if you haven't seen it already. I think most contemporary movies are trash, but this one was great! As far as shows go, I've heard good things about Severance on Apple TV, but have yet to watch it.
Thank you! We're watching the first season of Severance now and it's completely fascinating. Really enjoying it! And The Holdovers has been on my to watch list for so long, I really need to get to it!
I despise The Father’s Tale. I’m 70% complete with it and every moment is painful. But I’m the leader of our Well Read Mom book club so I feel obliged to finish it. On the bright side, maybe it will get me time off of purgatory?
This is why I love you, Colleen. It is so painful, I have an hour and a half left! I'm listening at 2x the speed and it cannot go fast enough! Literally with every "plot twist" I want to scream into the abyss, "You can't do this 800 pages in, Michael O'Brien, because I am completely out of fucks to give!" I would apologize for my language, but frankly it's warranted here.
Completely warranted! I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to you ranting about this book on Instagram stories. In fact, I need you to rant. Based on initial feedback I’m anticipating being the only one who hates this book when we discuss it at my WRM book club meeting tomorrow. Please enumerate all the ways in which it is utterly atrocious. I need to feel seen!!
Also if you need a little period drama in your life, The Hardcastles was decently entertaining.
I haven't watched much TV in ages, but late Dec- Jan sickness + need for distraction had me searching out fun things to watch! The latest season of All Creatures Great and Small has also been released in the UK if you have a VPN.
If you've got Apple TV, "Fly Me to the Moon" was a fun little rom-com, reminiscent of 90s rom-coms where there's nothing really gratuitous. I loved the '60s costumes as well.
Omg just thank you for mentioning how horrific the audiobook version of Father's Tale is!! 🤣 I was truly aghast at the voice acting and immediately texted my WRM group members in distress. Oddly, I think it was because it was so bad that I was motivated to just get it over with at 1.75x speed or something. But wow, where are his editors?? I also don’t get the Michael O’Brien obsession amongst Catholics. If you’re gonna get stuck into a huge tome, make it worth your time!
Thank you! I think it needed about 5 editors. When I got to that stupid reindeer story approximately 900 pages in I wanted to stab something. So many rambling stories that are completely unnecessary! Show, don't tell! And I still have an hour and half left and I'm up to 2x speed. It is painful.
Oh man, I did the audio for Strangers and Sojourners and the narrator was so over-the-top. It kinda ruined my experience of that book, even though I didn’t mind the actual story. If O’Brien had an editor that made him cut his books by at least 25% or more, I think I would enjoy his books more.
I honestly don't even know what they were thinking for the audiobooks. I know this one was made in the early aughts before audiobooks were cool, but the production and tone of the narration is just so bad it just doesn't make sense to me. And he should have five editors. There is no reason this book should be so long.
I really enjoyed Resident Alien (even though I don't care for sci-fi or aliens). The writing is just so good, I love the characters and I laugh out loud every time I watch it.
I’m also trudging through “ A Father’s Tale”...I wasn’t familiar with O’Brien previously but the book feels unnecessarily long. Usually I’m pretty enthusiastic about the “long” title of the year for WRM, but it’s so much more enticing when it’s a bona fide classic vs. some Catholic novelist I had never heard of.
This is definitely their worst long novel they've recommended. It honestly makes me tire of the whole "father" theme, but we'll see, maybe this year will be redeemed but so far it's been a trudge-fest!
I really need to get more time in my life to write them because royal biographies are such a fabulous genre. I know so much about the royals it's definitely unhealthy, but at the same time I'm always up for more. I've just come to accept that it's just something I like!
That would be a great post! I'm pretty embarrassed by how many puzzles I own, which really came to the fore when we moved. Almost two shelves of a closet, and now and entire cupboard in the new house. But at the same time my puzzles are awesome. Legitimately great puzzles that I would happily make again. So I don't want to get rid of them. And probably half I find used, so I also think that's pretty great.
I would love to hear your thoughts about Michael O'Brien...he has such a following in my Catholic world, but I have always had an aversion to his books. I would love to hear a more thoughtful analysis of his work but someone like you who is Catholic and has good book taste.
Oh Emily. You're going to hear them, you're going to hear them until you can't stomach me anymore because I have so many things to criticize and my book club may honestly kick me out because I won't shut up about them! But I'm still not finished the damn book.
Same! I've had Island of the World on my mental list for forever and am now so curious!
I have dear friends who love him, I'm the only person in my book club who hated the book, but it is probably due in large part to me hating his style. It's incredibly verbose, it needs five editors, he constantly tells and does only the barest amount of showing, his characters just annoy me, and have I mentioned he's long? When I finally finish the damn book I'm going to entitle my review, "A Father's Tale and how it consumed all my fucks"
Oh I'm secretly thrilled to find other people unenthused about Michael O'Brien. That's a terrible thing to say, but honestly the blurbs on the back of my copy are wild. Peter Kreeft, Thomas Howard, and other luminaries comparing his writing to Dickens, Austen, and Dostoevsky. I made it to page fifty and couldn't go any further.
Thank you so much for the shout out :)
Also, puzzles are the best. Have you seen the Laurence King series of literary puzzles? There's a World of Agatha Christie, World of Shakespeare, and so on. We got a couple last year and they made the holiday season so cozy.
Those blurbs. I honestly want to sue. The only comparison that's accurate is his love for his own words is as great as Dickens'. I am full of rage about the book and I have yet to even finish the cursed thing! But I will. So that I can honestly criticize it!
I got two of those puzzles for Christmas! The Shakespeare--which turned out to be incredibly hard in my opinion, and the Miss Marple which is much easier and still very cute. I already have the Agatha Christie one which is so fun because there are so many murder weapons hidden throughout!
LOL, yes, I had the exact same thought! “How is he getting these shout outs ??!! Did they really read it?”
I think they read the first chapters and were like, cool, this is cool. And then never bothered to read the next 1000 pages. But I honestly want to sue for misrepresentation. It's a grave injustice.
Ugh! Michael O’Brien. Our Well Read Mom book group met this weekend. I was about 20% of the way in and another member was 100 pages from the end. She also hated it but was finishing it should she could justify her dislike of it. I read Father Elijah several years ago for WRM and did not like it. But enough people were intrigued by our disdain for it that I am sure several of them will finish it. So even though I’m the leader, this will be my DNF for the year. I just cannot do it. I finished the Father Brown stories last night and would rather spend my time catching up on mysteries. Life is too short to read bad books. Oh, and yes, the audio is awful! That was my plan too until I listened to a sample. Just ugh!
I still have an hour and a half left to listen to and it's honestly making me lose the will to live. Only my passion to criticize it fully is propelling me to finish the cursed thing. Everyone in my book club loved it and have zero time for my hatred so naturally that makes me want to rant about it more. My mother in law got so fed up with it she skipped ahead to the last 30 pages about 200 pages in, and honestly that's probably what I should have done!
Recommendation: Not a show, but a Christmas movie, or just a good movie period: The Holdovers (2023) with Paul Giamatti if you haven't seen it already. I think most contemporary movies are trash, but this one was great! As far as shows go, I've heard good things about Severance on Apple TV, but have yet to watch it.
Thank you! We're watching the first season of Severance now and it's completely fascinating. Really enjoying it! And The Holdovers has been on my to watch list for so long, I really need to get to it!
I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying Severance! I need to give it a try!
Agree with The Holdovers, and I have watched Severance also- it’s dark but so original and gripping, I think Christy could handle it!
We are almost done the first season and I can't look away! It is such a gripping show, and I'm so glad that I'm right on time for season 2!
I despise The Father’s Tale. I’m 70% complete with it and every moment is painful. But I’m the leader of our Well Read Mom book club so I feel obliged to finish it. On the bright side, maybe it will get me time off of purgatory?
This is why I love you, Colleen. It is so painful, I have an hour and a half left! I'm listening at 2x the speed and it cannot go fast enough! Literally with every "plot twist" I want to scream into the abyss, "You can't do this 800 pages in, Michael O'Brien, because I am completely out of fucks to give!" I would apologize for my language, but frankly it's warranted here.
Completely warranted! I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to you ranting about this book on Instagram stories. In fact, I need you to rant. Based on initial feedback I’m anticipating being the only one who hates this book when we discuss it at my WRM book club meeting tomorrow. Please enumerate all the ways in which it is utterly atrocious. I need to feel seen!!
Also if you need a little period drama in your life, The Hardcastles was decently entertaining.
I haven't watched much TV in ages, but late Dec- Jan sickness + need for distraction had me searching out fun things to watch! The latest season of All Creatures Great and Small has also been released in the UK if you have a VPN.
I will look up The Hardcastles for sure! Thank you!
We only have one episode left of the new season of All Creatures, and I just don't understand why every season can't be 40 episodes long!
If you've got Apple TV, "Fly Me to the Moon" was a fun little rom-com, reminiscent of 90s rom-coms where there's nothing really gratuitous. I loved the '60s costumes as well.
I've also heard really good things about this too!
Omg just thank you for mentioning how horrific the audiobook version of Father's Tale is!! 🤣 I was truly aghast at the voice acting and immediately texted my WRM group members in distress. Oddly, I think it was because it was so bad that I was motivated to just get it over with at 1.75x speed or something. But wow, where are his editors?? I also don’t get the Michael O’Brien obsession amongst Catholics. If you’re gonna get stuck into a huge tome, make it worth your time!
Thank you! I think it needed about 5 editors. When I got to that stupid reindeer story approximately 900 pages in I wanted to stab something. So many rambling stories that are completely unnecessary! Show, don't tell! And I still have an hour and half left and I'm up to 2x speed. It is painful.
Amen. Show don’t tell is something he needs emblazoned on his wall (him and almost every living author! Pet peeve of mine!)
Oh man, I did the audio for Strangers and Sojourners and the narrator was so over-the-top. It kinda ruined my experience of that book, even though I didn’t mind the actual story. If O’Brien had an editor that made him cut his books by at least 25% or more, I think I would enjoy his books more.
I honestly don't even know what they were thinking for the audiobooks. I know this one was made in the early aughts before audiobooks were cool, but the production and tone of the narration is just so bad it just doesn't make sense to me. And he should have five editors. There is no reason this book should be so long.
I really enjoyed Resident Alien (even though I don't care for sci-fi or aliens). The writing is just so good, I love the characters and I laugh out loud every time I watch it.
Thanks I'm going to look it up!
I’m also trudging through “ A Father’s Tale”...I wasn’t familiar with O’Brien previously but the book feels unnecessarily long. Usually I’m pretty enthusiastic about the “long” title of the year for WRM, but it’s so much more enticing when it’s a bona fide classic vs. some Catholic novelist I had never heard of.
This is definitely their worst long novel they've recommended. It honestly makes me tire of the whole "father" theme, but we'll see, maybe this year will be redeemed but so far it's been a trudge-fest!
I enjoy your newsletters so much! And I would be tickled pink for reviews of royal biographies. 😊
I really need to get more time in my life to write them because royal biographies are such a fabulous genre. I know so much about the royals it's definitely unhealthy, but at the same time I'm always up for more. I've just come to accept that it's just something I like!
show me your favorite puzzles!
That would be a great post! I'm pretty embarrassed by how many puzzles I own, which really came to the fore when we moved. Almost two shelves of a closet, and now and entire cupboard in the new house. But at the same time my puzzles are awesome. Legitimately great puzzles that I would happily make again. So I don't want to get rid of them. And probably half I find used, so I also think that's pretty great.