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Karma's a Bit*h by Este Holland
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jake has stayed the course and will soon graduate. He is trying to stay on track, and is looking at the goal on the horizon. Then he meets someone who turns his world sideways and upside down.

Archer first comes into Jake's place of business and begs him to sell something unsellable. There are real consequences to this action, for both of them. Then realizing they can help one another, they make a new plan that takes them one step closer to the rest of their lives.

This book is fast paced and literally can go whizzing by. I found I liked the characters lack of steady under their feet as it made for a fun read. Poor guys never know what hit them. From attraction, to change of jobs, to learning to navigate friendships this story has the reader on thier toes just wishing to be in on the action.


***This ARC copy was given in excahnge for an honest review only.

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Jake has stayed the course and will soon graduate.  He is trying to stay on track, and is looking at the goal on the horizon.  Then he meets someone who turns his world sideways and upside down.

 

Archer first comes into Jake's place of business and begs him to sell something unsellable.  There are real consequences to this action, for both of them.  Then realizing they can help one another, they make a new plan that takes them one step closer to the rest of their lives.

 

This book is fast paced and literally can go whizzing by.  I found I liked the characters lack of steady under their feet as it made for a fun read.  Poor guys never know what hit them.  From attraction, to change of jobs, to learning to navigate friendships this story has the reader on thier toes just wishing to be in on the action.  I give this read a 3/5 Kitty's Paws UP!

 

 

***This ARC copy was given in excahnge for an honest review only.

It answered some of my questions regarding the present-day Romania and the various domains in which we are blocked. It also answered questions regarding why our neighbors succeeded, after spending just as many years under communism.

I've already posted about this book a couple of times - right away I'll say that this is an author I'd never quote or use as a historical reference. For multiple reasons that aren't terribly fascinating, so I'll hop right into the quotes that I wanted to share. Just be aware that you shouldn't trust any of Morton's quotes for accuracy.

 

I did like this quote (for bookish reasons) about Isabella d'Este, p 176 (section bolded for booklove, not in original):

"...her favorite son took as his mistress a beautiful young woman named Isabella Boschetti, who sought every opportunity to make trouble between mother and son.
Never can the Paradiso have been more precious than in those bitter days when she saw a spiteful young woman in the place she had graced for thirty years; but maybe she is not really to be pitied, for she must have known that trouble has a way of straightening itself out if you continue to collect books and to read them."

By Paradiso the author's referring to the rooms in the palace at Mantua that Isabella had decorated with paintings, etc. - doesn't seem to be what this area of the palace is typically called elsewhere. Or at least, not anymore. (That's a good example of the problems with reading an old travel book.)

 

In the section describing a tour of the Ducal Palace at Mantua, there was the following description of "the Apartments of the Dwarfs," p 171:

 

"In the heart of the palace, built to scale for inhabitants about three feet high, is a suite of rooms, or rather a miniature house, with midget staircases and even a tiny chapel in which I had to bend double."

 

Morton goes on into histories of various people (there were a lot of court dwarfs at the time) but makes no further mention of these rooms. Wikipedia isn't entirely helpful:

 

"Under his apartment in the Domus Nova, Vincenzo Gonzaga's son, Cardinal (later Duke) Ferdinand (1587–1626) had Viani design a series of ever-smaller rooms, long known as the Appartamento dei nani ("Dwarves' Apartments") and believed to have been built to house the celebrated court dwarves of Mantua. In 1979, however, Italian art historian Renato Berzaghi convincingly demonstrated that these tiny rooms are instead an exact reproduction of an ancient Roman original: the Scala Santa ("Holy Stairway") of St. John Lateran in Rome, and were intended for devotional purposes."

 

And there's a "citation needed" after that last sentence. Since most of the references to these apartments online are from sources earlier than 1979 - well, this is probably one of those I Will Spend Way Too Long Looking Up More Links adventures. And theoretically I did need to go do some laundry. (You can tell I'm sooo interested in laundry.)

 

Oh and some images of the palace are here (translated from Italian). Also here. Because of course I did have to get a glimpse of the place before I stopped googling.

Este destul de ciudat pentru mine sa citesc romani si sa-mi placa. In special romani contemporani. Adica scriitori care sunt inca in viata. Pentru ca daca tot e sa-mi placa ceva in literatura romana, in general imi plac lucrurile scrise de cei care-s de mult morti. Caci de... (Cu exceptia notabila a lui Andrei Plesu, care imi place si viu si mort, si o sa-mi placa intotdeauna).

Deci, "Astazi este mainele de care te-ai temut ieri" m-a impresionat placut. Rapida, in pas saltaret, cu personaje bine puse la punct, actiune pe cateva planuri diferite si un (surprinzator) sentiment de literatura occidentala. Presupuneam (teoretic, ce-i drept) ca si romanii sunt in stare de scrieri tipic occidentale, dar nu credeam sa fie publicati. Piata noastra literara este deschisa pentru ce se vinde cel mai bine, nu pentru ce se scrie cel mai bine. Si daca nu se vinde, e clar clasic si toata lumea il are deja acasa. Inclusiv scriitori romani, nu ma refer doar la clasicii europeni sau mondiali.

Are cateva momente pe care eu personal nu le-am apreciat cat (probabil) ar fi vrut autorul sa fie apreciate. De altfel, nici nu cred ca o carte este menita sa fie perfecta.

4 stele, pentru elementul de "interesant" adus de Radu Paraschivescu. Are acel "je ne sais quoi" care-l ajuta pe cititor sa termine cartea. Si merita, chiar merita. Literatura usoara, dar cu o substanta destul de buna.

Mi-as dori sa fie cartea mai populara. Are cu ce sa impresioneze.