Damn your Yankee candy!

Well, I appreciate your reasoning, going beyond 'they both suck" even if I disagree. Of course, "clever" is in the eye of the beholder, and you're more willing to read into their motives than I am. I would say that I don't hear anything nonchalant in The Globe Sessions- it's pretty naked. To each their own, though.

Courtney Barnett has already made two really good albums, while Sheryl Crow only has one (The Globe Sessions, btw.)

I hope it's not too much of a spoiler to say that Mackey shows up in her latest, in true Mackey form.

That's possible - maybe the title and opening chapters threw me off. Thanks for the food for thought.

Faithful Place is my favorite, but I agree with both of your comments- her characters (and writing) are a little stronger than her plotting, especially after you've read a couple and have gotten her rhythm.

As a Hornby fan, I wanted to like it a lot more than I did. It seemed like he started with his lead character but then discovered over the course of the book that she wasn't that interesting and so then she gets lost in the rest of the story.

Um, what about Dick Butkus?

I didn't see John Oliver's program, but not everyone's aware that the U.S. teen birth rate has actually been declining for the last twenty years (see the HHS website- Office of Adolescent Health.)

That song playing over the trailer doesn't give me hope that the movie will be filled with grace and subtlety.

I think Janelle Monae could do the double - sing the theme song and act.

The A.V. Club…..

That (having to act scared convincingly enough so they attack you) adds an entirely new level to the insanity.

I'm actually an ESFJ according to the test - I never would have described myself as an extrovert, but my profession (teaching) I think has changed me over the years.