I feel like I must be missing something because I didn't love this book. I'm an educated girl, I read it thoughtfully, I tried to contemplate the inherent symbolism of bullfighting and the emotional emptiness of the Lost Generation. But mostly I just didn't care that much about this book.

Before this was a book, when DFW was still alive, this was online for free and I had it bookmarked and I would just go to it every few weeks or so to remind myself how to be.

My mom brought me this book although I had not read the first Wimpy Kid book. I don't think that hindered my enjoyment of the book too much, it was a lot of fun. Not the kind of thing I'd necessarily recommend to all adults (the way I would, say, Harry Potter), but still, fun.

SO good. I was a little worried about reading this book, since it's always SO highly-acclaimed, and since I had read Broom of the System and not been bowled over by it. But there's a reason Infinite Jest gets talked about way more than Broom of the System, and it's because it's better. It really is That Good. I really want to read some critical analyses of the book, though. As much as I liked it and puzzled over it and read all the footnotes I still feel like there's more I can dig out of this. But still, so fun and bizarrely wise.

A great anthology, per usual. I especially liked Elaine Scarry's essay about torture (spoiler: it's anti-) and Marilynne Robinson's about Christian liberals. Also DFW's introduction is a good read, even though it's mostly about how the introduction is unnecessary and will likely be unread.

Basically? Real weird. Enjoyable, poetic, thought-inspiring, but real weird. I think I will need to re-read these in like six months after my brain has had some time to absorb the first reading.

A good read, and clearly a subject very near & dear to Vowell's heart. I'm personally not that into the Pilgrims or 17th century history, but I was definitely on board for the ride. Less laugh-out-loud funny than some of her other work, but perhaps more engaged at linking America's past & present.

I had a good time reading this. I'm admittedly not as into Rent as I once was, but I definitely still like Rent enough to have gotten really into reading about all the show's backstory. And I thought his description of his relationship with his mom was really moving. Still, I definitely wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who wasn't interested in the musical Rent--I don't think it's a compelling enough book to stand alone without a pre-existing interest in Anthony and Rent. Honestly, if you would like this book you have probably already read it.

This was a super quick read. I like reading Peace Corps books to kind of compare notes. I am glad that I did not get Kate's Peace Corps placement. Anyway, I'd pretty much only recommend this to people interested in learning about Peace Corps--it was good, but not great. You know.

I found this book to be more compelling than Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I admired her historical research & attention to detail in both books, but I became much more involved in this story. Which is weird, because Snow Flower was primarily a story of female friendship and this was more of a love story (love at first sight, even, which I usually kind of hate), and normally I'd take a friendship story over a love story any day.