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http://www.gaelstat.blogspot.com
http://www.goodreads.com/David_Giltinan




David's Recent Updates

10890464
"So to make the determination that an author's style is turgid, verbose, repetitive and painful to read, one has to "read the whole book"? I don't thin...more "
David and 61 other people liked Jeffrey Keeten's review of Wise Blood:
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
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After reading just a few pages of this book I kept thinking to myself Hazel Motes is doomed.

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First of all he is the lead character in a Flannery O'Connor novel. The only thing that could be worst is if he were the lead character in a Jim Thompso... " Read more of this review »
David rated a book 1 of 5 stars
You Lost Me There by Rosecrans Baldwin
You Lost Me There
by Rosecrans Baldwin
read in May, 2013
This is turning out to be disappointingly heavy sledding. Maybe because the whole thing feels too much like a cerebral exercise -- the characters are there just as a means of exploring the fallibility of memory, not because there's a story that needs...more
David rated a book 4 of 5 stars
Paris, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down by Rosecrans Baldwin
OK. The fourth star here may simply be a reflection of my guilt at only giving a single star to Rosecrans Baldwin's other book "You Lost Me There". Perhaps this account of Baldwin's 18 months in Paris, working at a French advertising agency while wri...more
David is currently reading
The Unwinding by George Packer
David is currently reading
Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking by Daniel C. Dennett
David is currently reading
Surfaces and Essences by Douglas R. Hofstadter
David made a comment on his review of No, David!
1062516
"Well, duh, of course. That doesn't mean one can't have a little fun with one's review. Ever heard of hyperbole as a humor technique?"
David rated a book 5 of 5 stars
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
by Robin Sloan (Goodreads Author)
read in April, 2013
You could argue that Robin Sloan has stacked the deck in his own favor by writing a book that is an unabashed celebration of ???

Why is that sentence hard to finish? It's because "Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore" is not just a celebration of "books",...more
Swan Song by John Galsworthy
" The previous two in this series were average and left me wondering if I needed to bother with the final trilogy. But this volume was such a return to brilliance. So glad I hung in! Beautiful, emotional, sad. "
More of David's books…
William Shakespeare
“Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Fear no more the frown o' the great;
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.

Fear no more the lightning-flash,
Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan;
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.

No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have;
And renownéd be thy grave!”
William Shakespeare, Cymbeline

Jorge Luis Borges
“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”
Jorge Luis Borges

W.H. Auden
“Lovers of small numbers go benignly potty,
Believe all tales are thirteen chapters long,
Have animal doubles, carry pentagrams,
Are Millerites, Baconians, Flat-Earth-Men.

Lovers of big numbers go horribly mad,
would have the Swiss abolished, all of us
Well-purged, somatotyped, baptised, taught baseball:
They empty bars, spoil parties, run for Congress.”
W.H. Auden, Auden: Poems

Harry Graham
“Little Willie, full of glee,
Put radium in grandma's tea.
Now he thinks it quite a lark
To see her shining in the dark.”
Harry Graham, Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes and More Ruthless Rhymes

Flann O'Brien
“When things go wrong and will not come right,
Though you do the best you can,
When life looks black as the hour of night,
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.”
Flann O'Brien, At Swim-Two-Birds

The Doggerel File (Humor)
13 chapters   —   updated Mar 29, 2010 04:33pm
Description: Where I give William Topaz McGonagall a run for his money
Elegy for Eliot (Humor)
1 chapters   —   updated Mar 29, 2010 04:33pm
Description: Lovesong of J. Eliot Spitzer
Literary Collaborations I'd Like to See (Humor)
7 chapters   —   updated Mar 29, 2010 04:33pm
Description: (and a few screen collaborations as well)
Buttercup (Parenting & Families)
6 chapters   —   updated Mar 29, 2010 04:32pm
Description: Memories of my family
The Wilbur Chronicles (Horror)
6 chapters   —   updated Mar 29, 2010 04:32pm
Description: Tales from the trenches of middle management
More of David’s writing…
426 Books I Loathed — 1707 members — last activity Jun 16, 2013 06:52am
This is a public forum for people to kvetch (cleanly, please) about books they absolutely hated, and for others to respond. Though nonfiction is certa...more
853 Constant Reader — 4831 members — last activity 1 hour, 7 min ago
A forum for friendly discussion of classics, literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry and short stories. We also love movies and art. No promotional mater...more
1 Goodreads Feedback — 11870 members — last activity 48 minutes ago
This is a place to give feedback about Goodreads. Feature ideas, bugs, or any other suggestion for improvement. The Goodreads staff monitors this grou...more
40475 The Extra Cool Group! (of people Michael is experimenting on) — 173 members — last activity Feb 12, 2013 05:20pm
*Note: This group, although it lives on in a sense, like a photograph, capturing a moment so people can look back later and go, "Oh, wow, you looked s...more
43519 readers advisory for all — 2124 members — last activity 11 minutes ago
life's too short to read crappy books. this is why readers' advisory exists. feel free to join if you are looking for "a book like____" or "a book tha...more
More of David’s groups…

Kris
6,699 books | 477 friends

Cass
754 books | 396 friends

Hend
6,981 books | 785 friends

Cecily
460 books | 176 friends

Ben
Ben
804 books | 578 friends

Scribbl...
745 books | 276 friends

Duffy P...
1,893 books | 431 friends

Cheryl
2,257 books | 339 friends

More friends…

The Invention of Air by Steven JohnsonZeitoun by Dave EggersBoth Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Maile MeloyEverything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower
New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2009
100 books — 122 voters
Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite YourcenarThe Charioteer by Mary RenaultFidelities by Richard HallSpontaneous Combustion by David B. FeinbergEighty-Sixed by David B. Feinberg
Best Gay Fiction
697 books — 867 voters

More…

Quizzes and Trivia

questions answered:
1147 (0.7%)

correct:
961 (83.8%)

skipped:
230 (16.7%)

11367 out of 1814622

streak:
1

best streak:
38

questions added:
0



Polls voted on by this member