07/25 Donald is currently reading: War Music: An Account of Books 1-4 and 16-19 of Homer's Iliad (Paperback) by Christopher Logue bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating: Added to my books! add my review
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	07/25 Donald is currently reading: Scar Night (Mass Market Paperback) by Alan Campbell bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating: Added to my books! add my review
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	07/19 Donald is currently reading: Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood (Hardcover) by Mark Harris (Goodreads author!) bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating: Added to my books! add my review
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July 26
	Donald gave to: The Somnambulist (Hardcover) by Jonathan Barnes	my rating: Added to my books! add my review
	read in July, 2008 Donald said: "Damn, this book is fun so far. I dig it all, even the bearded lady. 4.0= 3.7 Great fun throughout. I loved the penny dreadful, pseudo-Victorian language and page after page of sordid grotesques and hyper-brained detectives. Barnes usually pull...more Damn, this book is fun so far. I dig it all, even the bearded lady. 4.0= 3.7 Great fun throughout. I loved the penny dreadful, pseudo-Victorian language and page after page of sordid grotesques and hyper-brained detectives. Barnes usually pulls this off, with an ornate, indirect style that lends itself well to the Sax Rohmer on Ectasy plot. But it doesn't work always and there is a flag in skill and overall effect towards the end of the book. Except for a wonderful dream sequence at the end, the title character is never used to full fruition. Reminiscent of many other writers: Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison(see Sebastian O), Meryvn Peake. Still, Barnes remains his own man throughout and this is well worth picking up used or in paperback. ...less " 2 comments
	Donald marked as to-read: A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, Vol. 5) by George R.R. Martin bookshelves: to-read	my rating: Added to my books! add my review
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July 25
	Donald gave to: The Catcher in the Rye (Mass Market Paperback) by J.D. Salinger	my rating: Added to my books! add my review
	Donald said: "Three stars? So fucking sue me. Most overrated American novel of the 20th Century. Not bad per se, but poor little Holden is really just a character type not a character and when he ends up in the bug house it is supposed to be shocking but its not. ...more Three stars? So fucking sue me. Most overrated American novel of the 20th Century. Not bad per se, but poor little Holden is really just a character type not a character and when he ends up in the bug house it is supposed to be shocking but its not. It's like an after day school special with worse production values. I much prefer 'Franny and Zoey' and 'A Perfect Day for Banana Fish' where the precocious Salinger protaganist has the good taste to blow his oh so clever brains all over the wall....less " see all 9 comments
	Donald read and liked Sarah Montambo's review of The Catcher in the Rye: "My favorite line: "All I need's an audience. I'm an exhibitionist. 'I'm the goddamn Governor's son,' I said. I was knocking myself out. Tap-dancing all over the place. "He doesn't want me to be a tap dancer. He wants me to go to Oxford. But...more My favorite line: "All I need's an audience. I'm an exhibitionist. 'I'm the goddamn Governor's son,' I said. I was knocking myself out. Tap-dancing all over the place. "He doesn't want me to be a tap dancer. He wants me to go to Oxford. But it's in my goddam blood, tap-dancing." ...less " see all 4 comments
	New comment on Jessica's review of Journey by Moonlight (Pushkin Paper) Donald wrote: "Ha Ha! I wasn't trying to be a player hater! Sounds wonderful, just a tad jealous! Good journeys my ...more Ha Ha! I wasn't trying to be a player hater! Sounds wonderful, just a tad jealous! Good journeys my friend! ...less " (see all 3 comments)
	Donald read and liked a piece of writing titled "A Noise that Won't Go Away" by Sherri " "Shhh! Taddy! What's that noise?" "I don't hear anything." "You gotta hear it." Jumbie got up from her overstuffed chair and hovered near the window, ears turni"   ...read more »
	New comment on Shannon's review of The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day One) Donald wrote: "Reading right now. Damn good... " (see all 15 comments)
	Donald read and liked Shannon's review of The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day One): "This is why I love fantasy so much. After a recent string of okay fantasy novels, a couple of good ones but nothing to get really excited about, I've rediscovered my passion thanks to this book. I'm so impressed, and so in love, I can't begin to desc...more This is why I love fantasy so much. After a recent string of okay fantasy novels, a couple of good ones but nothing to get really excited about, I've rediscovered my passion thanks to this book. I'm so impressed, and so in love, I can't begin to describe it. But I can try to give you a feel for the book, if I can figure out where to start and how to do justice to this masterpiece. Kvothe (pronounced like "Quothe") is a world-renowned figure of mystery with a disreputable reputation - a hero or a demon depending on which stories you hear. The real man has hidden himself away at an inn in the middle of nowhere with his apprentice Bast - we know not why - and it's not until the Chronicler discovers him there that he shows any interest in reliving his past life. Insisting that his story will take three days to tell, and that the famous chronicler must write it down exactly as he tells it, he begins to share his story: a child genius growing up with his parents' troupe, performing plays and tricks across the land while being taught "sympathy" (magic), history, chemistry etc. by a tinker, Abenthy, who had been to the University; to ending up homeless and penniless on the streets of Treban, a big port city. It's not until he's fifteen that he makes it to the University, and is accepted, though he's three years younger than is usual. Abenthy has taught him well, and combined with his impressive memory, natural talent, quick intelligence and training, he moves quickly up the ranks of the university. There are many adventures and mishaps along the way, and while some plotlines come to a tidy end at the close of this novel, over-arching plotlines and themes have been given a solid foundation to continue on into the next books. It took a surprisingly long time for me to realise the connection between the number of days he will take to tell his story, and that this is "Day One" in the trilogy - it's told over the course of the first day. The only thing is, he's young yet (Chronicler judges him to be about 25, though at times he looks infintely older), and there are things happening in "real time" that intrude upon the story, that will need to be resolved I think - so while I have every confidence Rothfuss has excellent control over his creation, I would love more than three books :) I can't think of the last time I was this impressed by any story, let alone a fantasy novel. I won't compare it to bloody George R.R. Martin like everyone else is doing because I don't see that they have anything in common, really - one is a work of pure genius and the other is utter crap. Comparing them only heightens my dislike of A Game of Thrones. In truth, it's simply a marketing strategy to compare new books to ones that are already really popular, in order to draw in a well-established audience. This is an epic fantasy - epic in scope - but it's also a bildungsroman, a story of a person's life, a life journey (including the quite moments), which I love. The character development is ludicrously good. The world-building is solid, believable and original - there're enough new elements to keep your interest, but not so many that you get confused and overwhelmed: a perfect balance. The design of "sympathy" is original and unique, and makes so much sense that I'm half-surprised it doesn't really work. It's complicated enough to not be trite, but one basic premise is the connection between things, the sympathy they have with each other - if you broke a branch in two, the two halves would still have a connection, like sharing the exact same DNA, and so if you control one half you affect the other half. Same with two pennies of the same metal, so that, if you were holding one and someone holding the other and they worked a "binding" on their half, and, say, lifted it in the air, then your penny would also lift. It's fabulous! It's an intellectual kind of magic, not a "wave the wand" type. It takes knowledge, concentration and effort, so in effect, anyone could learn. As for the characters and their growth, I am so impressed and so in love I will no doubt do a bad job of expressing it. While Kvothe's story is told in his voice, first person, the present day interludes are told in third person omniscient, but usually from certain characters' points of view. You get a mix of other people's impressions of characters, and a gentle showing that tells us even more. The genius is in how Kvothe is portrayed: while telling the story, himself as a young boy, already having experienced tragedy and sorrow and despair, and already feeling the weight of worldly concerns, but still with a lot to learn, comes across strongly. This is counter-balanced with Kvothe as a man, having been through all that and more and had it shape him into something subtly different, yet still very much the same person. If it had been written poorly, there would have been discord between the two Kvothes, but there isn't. He has so much charisma, and is such a complex sort, that I really felt for him. I may even have a bit of crush, actually. He's not good or evil, but he's suffering from a conscience: he's very human, and lonely, despite the friendship of Bast. At the same time, he's a god-like figure, an amazing musician, a skilled fighter, and a powerful magician. One moment he's commanding and chillingly masterful, the next he's doing Bast's bidding and fetching food and cutting wood for others. I expect it's his contradictions and complexities that draw me to him. The writing style is smooth, the pacing just right (though the first few chapters take a while to get you into the story, you still need to read them closely because there're a lot of details in them), and the prose isn't cluttered with boring, irrelevant descriptions or pointless details. It's a fat book and a long story, but it flies by. While it needed better proofreading - there were a lot of problems with dialogue punctuation; there were a few lazy typos; he never once used a semicolon when he should have; and he always used "lay" instead of "laid" (but hey, at least he was consistent) - the prose itself is engaging, often humorous, detailed but not overly so, and never boring. I also loved the little songs and ditties that are included, and the stories within Kvothe's story. Likewise, the way he doles out the various plots, revealing and hinting at the right moments, building up tension and anticipation, giving clues that start to coalesce into a stunning picture, is, frankly, impressive. The supporting cast, while not as fully explored as Kvothe (it is his story, after all), are in their own ways vividly portrayed and gradually explored. There's no chunky exposition or a description of a character shoved at you all at once. It's more a show-not-tell kind of book, appreciating the intellect of its audience and our ability to figure things out for ourselves. Nicely done. There was a while there, when I was reading, that the prose gave me the same kind of thrill as reading a sex scene in a romance novel might - but it could have just been the excitment of the story. One last thing (though I could go on forever): I loved what he did with dragons. I won't spoil it by saying more, just that it's original and delightful - this coming from someone who's been known to get a mite bored by dragons in fantasy. I would easily recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy, but also to people who enjoy great stories told wonderfully well. As many non-fantasy readers loved Harry Potter, they would also love this book....less " see all 15 comments
	Donald is currently reading: Scar Night (Mass Market Paperback) by Alan Campbell bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating: Added to my books! add my review
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	Donald read and liked Xio's review of Unrest-Cure-Other Beastly Tales: "So far: so dry. Excellent bedtime reading. Every tale is perhaps three pages long and soooo arch: " (...and I quote) "Youth," said the Other, "should suggest innocence." "But never act on the suggestion. I don't b...more So far: so dry. Excellent bedtime reading. Every tale is perhaps three pages long and soooo arch: " (...and I quote) "Youth," said the Other, "should suggest innocence." "But never act on the suggestion. I don't believe the two ever really go together. People talk vaguely about the innocence of a little child, but they take mighty good care not to let it out of their sight for twenty minutes. The watched pot never boils over. I knew a boy once who really was innocent; his parents were in Society, but they never gave him a moment's anxiety from his infancy. He believed in company prospectuses, and in the purity of elections, and in women marrying for love, and even in a system for winning at roulette. He never quite lost his faith in it, but he dropped more money than his employers could afford to lose. When last I heard of him, he was believing in his innocence; the jury weren't." (An ideal counterpoint to the very serious, rotten long Vollman tome I'm buried under at the moment, certainly.) ...less " add a comment

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