i’m really enjoying the concept of a retelling of A Christmas Carol/playing with the Ghost of Christmas Past idea, not just because this is the first retelling of this that i’ve read, but also because of the dual POVs. i think i have an idea of why Nolan is assigned to Harriet as a means of making something in her life right again instead of preventing further bitterness and loneliness like with the original Scrooge but then we as readers also get to piece things together in a different way than Nolan and Harriet do. it’s fun and fresh (to me, at least)!

reading books about writers can often be such a hit or miss sometimes depending on how close the author feels to their craft, but this book is Up There! on relatability on so many levels. it’s so affirming to read Vlad describe his thoughts and process of frustration in the whole matter because that’s how i feel most of the time, too.

“[…] And I’ll do all this research—this will be it, this will be my novel. And then I’ll start to write and it will feel so dead and false that I can’t go on. I think, genre twist, I think personal, and then I’ll think, why am I trying so desperately to find what to write? Doesn’t the world have enough books in it? I should just give up.” (so real)

John Berger’s Ways of Seeing mention!!! a quintessential read for the lit/art student

this shift post-john following “discovery” is fantastic. there’s an obvious disconnect between social norms nowadays and what the narrator tries to put out with her marriage and how she perceives herself as a wife that allows for the commentary, the juxtaposition between fiction (book) and reality (reader) to come to light.

”warmed by her attention, by the idea of us as partners, i’d broken a long-held pact i made with myself to never go chasing after john.” (p. 143) in particular because what do you mean you’ve agreed with yourself to not indulge in this mistrust in your husband? it gives me the ick. genuinely like the “cool girl” monologue from gone girl but if the wrong woman took it to heart

”He picks his coffee back up and takes a long sip. I try not to notice how he places his mouth right over the faint red lipstick mark I left behind.” oh…. how freaky flirty do we think this ghost is going to get…. even if he doesn’t realise it