Right? Bike, hop in shower, done. The biggest part for me is the convenience. I tried the exercise at lunch thing at one point and the stress of fitting in a decent workout and shower before getting back on time seemed to cancel the endorphins. Never mind all the emails I would have waiting for me when things got…

My exercise bike was the best investment I ever made. It fits in my apartment and I used it regularly even before the pandemic. Does it give me the same workout as a spin class would? No, but my I push my heart rate into the aerobic and anaerobic zones, and it’s been a mental health must these past couple of months.

It’s true. It’s so hard to do well. Sittenfeld is normally an excellent, genuinely insightful writer and I’m really hoping these excerpts aren’t indicative of the overall quality of the book. I don’t think the *intention* was sleazy, but ultimately it doesn’t matter.

What’s with all the exclamation points lately? I know it’s Joan’s thing, but is it now a full-on Dirt Bag thing no matter who’s writing it?

I think early thirties at most. 

Were there really no rumours around Cruise at that time? I think we’re around the same age and I feel like they were always kind of bubbling in the background.

I know, it’s like “starring” Scott Baio and Stephen Baldwin. 

Wow. I usually love Sittenfeld. Seriously. I highly recommend Prep and You Think It, I’ll Say It and American Wife was also really good.

You too!

Don’t get me wrong. We have our protestors here too — but they are a small minority, it seems. If this continues indefinitely, I can see more people getting restless, but the mentality now seems to be, “Suffer a a little now vs. suffer way more later.”

I think Joan is really young. Too old to ever have been part of Jojo’s target audience, of course, but young enough to be more into YouTube celebrities than traditional ones. 

Yeah, if you hadn’t told me she wrote these passages I wouldn’t have believed it. These are...not good. I am hoping they are not indicative of the overall quality of the book. 

Sittenfeld is no hack. Have you read any of her other novels? Admittedly the excerpts here don’t inspire confidence, but I highly recommend You Think It, I’ll Say It and Prep.

That’s how I figured she was playing it — that this isn’t going to be some kind of hagiographic reimagining of her life but a warts and all exploration of what could have been. (But if you see my other comments, I will admit I am something of a Sittenfeld apologist; I will always give her the benefit of the doubt).  

Yeah, I think my mom was pretty grossed out. I was able to suspend belief somehow!

I don’t know how to feel about it yet. Sittenfeld is usually a really talented, sensitive and astute writer. I highly recommend You Think It, I’ll Say It, her book of short stories, if you’ve never read any of her other work (American Wife was good too, but way more speculative than Rodham, it sounds like; see my…

I am a Sittenfeld superfan — I’ve read everything since Prep — so there’s no way I’m not going read this too. She did a good job with American Wife, but that was waaaaaay more speculative (not just different names, but different details, from the president’s family’s birth order to their home state to the first family…

This is a very American way of thinking. In Canada, pretty much everyone across the board politically — even those itching to get back to work and school — accepts that we need to listen to the public health experts and take it from there. So the approach is determined by the science rather than where you fall on the…

I noticed that too. 

I noticed that too. 

I came back for the same reason! Didn’t fully quit Facebook, but took it (along with Instagram and Twitter) off my phone...and here I am.