i dumped the new wilderness after 126 pages and it seems like i should have known sooner but i kept giving it room to grow and expand in my mind and it just didn't. the writing is dull and the characters are not interesting. strangely they seem to be kind of listless in the new wilderness though there are harrowing things that happen and deaths. i'm disappointed as i thought it was going to be fascinating. it's up for a booker prize. means nothing, prize. obama got a nobel for peace, i heard yesterday somebody say trump deserves one. well books are not that bad, though some are really hateful. the new wilderness seems benign, i've just wasted a little time. i kind of made up some time in the next book, seeds and stems, which is comics and refreshingly grungy and goofy. i'm already at page 225, and i'll get to my next book, the last great road bum i stumbled on at the library fresh and new and i really wanted to read i really want to it's nice to anticipate a good new book with so much dreadful stuff going on in the world people are writing good books and making good movies and i'm so grateful to artists of the heart.