Although some would disagree, book people will tell you that sometimes it’s nice to read a book again. Reasons to re-read are numerous, and often overlapping – to indulge in the pleasure of a familiar, beloved experience, like comfort food; to obtain a new perspective on a book you read years ago; to review the material for an academic reason; to refresh your memory on the plot and characters because a new installment of a series has been published.
Re-reading a book is one thing; re-using a column is, perhaps, another. Nevertheless, I hope you will forgive me for re-visiting a book review I wrote in July 2008. This, then, is a piece of that review:
Sometimes, the superlatives aren’t enough. … I have been accused of tending towards hyberbole. I have a hard time holding myself back, though: I say “H-U-G-E!”, drawing out the letters for emphasis; I say “awesome” and “amazing” quite a bit; I also like “fantastic” and “fabulous”. As a person who loves life and feels things deeply, it’s not unusual that my descriptions would be on the dramatic end of the spectrum.
This presents a bit of a problem, on occasion, when reviewing books. I love books. It’s easy to give all kinds of books an enthusiastic thumbs-up, employing any one of my favorite words noted above. But then what to do when a truly special book comes along? How to explain that this book, this author, the writing here, set themselves apart from anything else you’ve read in a long time?
Well, is that enough build-up, or have I exceeded my exaggeration threshold once again? If you can’t hear me on this, then look at what authors Ursula LeGuin, Terry Brooks, Anne McCaffrey, and Orson Scott Card – to name just a few – have to say about Patrick Rothfuss’s debut novel, The Name of the Wind. In just the short time since the first printing in hardcover in April 2007, Rothfuss has garnered praise from major newspapers all across the U.S. and Europe, as well as earning multiple-starred reviews in The New York Times, the Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and The Onion A.V. Club. Reviewers didn’t just intimate that Rothfuss was the next J.K. Rowling or J.R.R. Tolkien, they crowed it from the rooftops.
Just as I reassured readers in that past review, so I must emphasize again that, even if you don’t normally read a lot of ‘epic fantasy’, you may very well “still enjoy The Name of the Wind and the books to follow in ‘The Kingkiller Chronicles.’ Rothfuss’s writing is so mature, so capable, so smooth, that it transcends genre. In the same way that Tolkien wrote his Middle Earth books inspired by the legends of Classic Literature that he taught, so too, Rothfuss’s story reads like a modern telling of the heroes of old, the story of a man who became a legend in his own time. Rothfuss’s protagonist Kvothe reminds me of a Ulysses or Achilles, or more recently of Tolkien’s Aragorn. His story is by turns sentimental and sweet, intriguing, sad and desperate, triumphant, exciting, frightening. Both plot and the telling kept me turning pages well into the night.”
At the end of my review that July, over two years ago, I encouraged readers to sink their teeth into a wonderful new book, the start of an exciting, satisfying new trilogy. My last sentence was a blasé little warning: “The only problem… [is] waiting for Rothfuss’s second installment, The Wise Man’s Fear,” which at that time was due out the following April of 2009, less than a year from my first read of The Name of the Wind and my subsequent review.
The next time I enjoy the first book by a new author as much as that, I’ll remember to bite my tongue. April of 2009 arrived, and no book from Rothfuss. Also, no news, no word from him or his publisher, nothing from the distributors. Finally, after two or three months of wondering what on earth happened, news showed up on Rothfuss’s blog. He admitted to his fans that the pressure had been incredible: for years, he was simply a creative writing professor at a small university in Wisconsin; then, suddenly, he was internationally known. True hardcover first editions of The Name of the Wind are now selling for thousands of dollars. Rothfuss and his wife were expecting their first child. Bookstores, fans, his publisher and his agent were demanding that he go on a wide book tour. The re-writes of his second book had slowed to a crawl. Rothfuss asked his fans for forgiveness and patience. The part of that appeal that won me over was how Rothfuss explained that, as a reader, he truly understood how it feels to wait on the next installment in a series you love, but that as a writer, he was not going to release this second book until it met his expectations for himself.
After another missed release date in the early summer of 2010, we are finally at the gate for the real release of The Wise Man’s Fear, on March 1, 2011. Now, of course, I will have to go back to re-read the first story of Kvothe, to see how he got to the point where the second book opens in March. Was it worth the wait? Join the legions of Rothfuss fans to find out.
Hobo assures you that it will also be worth the wait for his second book. Want to re-read other book reviews in the meantime? Check out our blog at http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com
Showing posts with label the name of the wind. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the name of the wind. Show all posts
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Monday, January 11, 2010
10 for $10: our fourth year of listing inexpensive gift books for everyone
Well, we’re at that time of year again, folks – the email from the editor, reminding us that there isn’t one but TWO back-to-back early deadlines for the newspaper, to end the year right as New Year’s follows Christmas in less than one week. It’s also the time for those few last minute gifts: gifts for the office party where, thankfully, a reasonable spending limit has been set; stocking presents; presents for your second cousin’s boyfriend who is coming to the family Christmas get-together after all; and, best of all, it’s time for your favorite book columnists to give you our yearly small price-list book-list. In years past, we’ve called it our stocking stuffer book list, or our budget gift book list, as we’ve extolled the virtues of the mass-market paperback, or the big-bang-for-your-buck factor of gifting a book. Here, then, once again, to help make certain your “ho-ho-ho!” doesn’t turn to “oh no, no, no!” is this year’s rendition, the “10 Books for under $10” list.
Here are some of our favorites, with something for everyone on your list….
No. 1 Draw Thumb Animals: Fine Art at Your Fingertips, by Klutz Press, cover price $6.95. Klutz specializes in creative books, featuring either crafts or games, and the materials necessary to engage in said activities. These fine books, directed mostly at children, are also loved by adults for either (a)giving the family something to do together or (b)giving the children something fun to do so the adults don’t kill the whining children who are now bored at the end of their Christmas vacation or on the drive back from Grandma’s house.
No. 2 Track Pack by Ed Gray and Decourcy L. Taylor, published by Stackpole Books, cover price $9.95. Making the lists for at least the third year in a row, I can’t say enough about this awesome little outdoor guide. Thin and tall enough to fit in a back pocket, backpack pocket, or inside jacket pocket, page for page, this book is packed with more information than most books five times its size or expense. Spiral-bound for easy use, each page shows the life-size paw print of at least one wild animal, complete with fold-out pages for the big ones (like the grizzly bear! cool!) and a little map showing the animal’s range in North America. Users can put the book right down on the ground next to a print for comparison. Now you can really see if those “reindeer” prints are caribou, or white tails.
No. 3 From the “Little Golden Guide” series that has been around for generations, Stars, by Zim, Baker, and Chartrand, with illustrator Irving, published now by St. Martin’s Press, cover price $6.95. I chose the one on Stars because I love explaining to folks how these books – full of pictures, charts, diagrams – are great for kids, but have enough information that my brother was required to buy this one for his college class on introduction to astronomy. Grab one of these and take the family to Cherry Springs’ Dark Sky Park.
No. 4 The first book in the Shakespeare series by Charlaine Harris, entitled Shakespeare’s Landlord, published by Berkeley Prime Crime, cover price $7.99. Though it was her “Southern Vampire” series that vaulted Harris to national fame when HBO picked up the books for the basis of their “True Blood” series, forget all of that, at least for a little while. Grab a great mystery with a complex main character, a young woman made too old for her years since she was the victim of a horrific crime. Lily Bard moves to a small town to start again, becoming as low-profile as possible. She chooses Shakespeare, Arkansas to amuse herself with its tie into her last name, and paces the streets at night as she wrestles with her PTSD. Unfortunately, she witnesses someone depositing a body in the local cemetery, and feels compelled to report the crime….
No. 5 The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss, cover price $8.99, from Daw Books. This one is definitely for the fantasy, epic journey reader on your list, but, even better, it’s for the folks who DON’T normally read in this genre, either. Rothfuss is a word craftsman, a really skilled technical writer, as well as a heck of a storyteller. Dive into this rich, adventurous novel, and join the rest of us who are dying for the sequel.
No. 6 Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure, edited by Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith, published by Harper Perennial, cover price $12. Okay, I know I’m cheating here a little bit on the price, but most bookstores have some kind of discount program; I happen to know an especially good one in this area. :)This is a great book for just about anyone: can you write your life’s story in six words? These six-word memoirs are fascinating, especially as you imagine the story behind them.
No. 7 Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Living on a Budget (2nd revised edition), by Peter Sander, published by Alpha Press, cover price $9.95. Out of the many books on the subject, don’t you agree it’s better to start simple, keep it simple, and best of all, it’s one of the least expensive books on the subject!
No. 8 My Name is Charles Saatchi and I Am an Artoholic, by Charles Saatchi, published by Phaidon Press, cover price $9.95. Phaidon Press published hundreds of great titles, focusing on art, art history, and the work of specific artists, and many of these books are fantastic paperbacks listed at $9.95. Saatchi, with his brother, was the co-founder of one of the largest and most influential global advertising agencies, and his art collection rivaled his business fame. This new title by the normally reclusive Saatchi is a fascinating look at the strange economics of contemporary art.
No. 9 Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, now published by Dell, cover price $7.99: eighteen years after its first publication, this first book in an epic series combining history, romance and fantasy, still regularly populates bestseller lists. I’ve seen many couples who read this series together, following the two main characters back and forth in time from Scotland in the mid 1700s to the Civil War in America to the battlefields of World War II. This is romance with substance and hundreds of pages of adventures.
No. 10 The Bible – for some, a controversial selection; for others, a given. Whether you are a Christian or not, and whether the recipient is a Christian or not, a Bible is still (a) one of the bestselling books, not just of all time, but for any given fiscal year; (b) one of the most-often gifted books, under many different circumstances; (c) a fascinating, confusing, engaging, culturally-relevant read which has the potential to enrich the mind, education, spirit, conversational ability and overall life of the reader. As far as price is concerned, a person can spend a great deal on a Bible, but there are many varieties available for under $10.
So, my friends, I hope you are able to use this list as a springboard: you can still stretch your dollars to stretch your mind, learn a lot, laugh out loud, escape your life, enhance your life and/or change the life of the person with whom you share a book. Happy holidays, and happy reading!
Hobo is too busy getting as close to the heater as possible to comment. He has to concentrate so his fur doesn’t scorch. He says Kasey wrote enough here, anyway, except she forgot to mention that “Hobo Finds A Home” is also less than $10, if you know the right people to ask.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Kasey Cox
This last column of 2008 is my chance to give you an overview of a few books that touched me this past year. While I was able to review many for you in the Marketplace, there’s only so much time and space. The following books draw us forward and onward, with ties to the past, and more to give in the coming year.
Life Disrupted: Getting Real About Chronic Illness in Your Twenties and Thirties – by Laurie Edwards. Wow, do I wish I knew about this book when I wrote my mental health book review back in January 2008, nearly one year ago. Even more, I really wish this book was around for me in my twenties, when I was trying to learn how to live a normal life despite the setbacks and isolation the come to anyone struggling with a chronic illness, but especially so to those who are young. Young people don’t get sick. Young people deal with other problems – like surviving college, or their first apartment, or getting engaged, or their first professional job. But what if you’re trying to do those things, on top of being in and out of the hospital, adjusting to medication changes, or filling out tons of insurance paperwork? Laurie Edwards shows the way and provides sympathy without pity. Better than anything the doctor could have ordered.
Houses of Stone – this is one of the lesser-known mystery novels by Barbara Michaels (pen name for Barbara Mertz, who also writes as Elizabeth Peters). As the Elizabeth Peters’ Egyptology mysteries grew more popular, many of the Barbara Michaels’ novels were dropped from circulation and are only lately being brought back into print. In my teens, I read “Houses” when it was first published, and I never forgot it. Cleverly structured – a book about a book, a gothic novel within a gothic novel, “Houses” follows a young literature professor who has discovered a manuscript that may be the earliest gothic novel written in America. The manuscript appears to be written by a mysterious contemporary of Emily Bronte or Jane Austen, who wrote under the pen name Ismene, and disappeared without a trace. The professor’s race to discover Ismene’s historical identity, to transcribe the manuscript and claim it as her own discovery before other academics beat her to it becomes as exciting, romantic, and deadly a story as the one in Ismene’s novel. Well-written, and a real gift to mystery lovers who also love history and the stories behind books, this one returns to print as a mass-market paperback in February 2009.
As I mentioned in my column on Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind, sometimes the superlatives fail us. Too many times in the fantasy genre, people who want to sell books, or who can’t think of anything original to say, compare some new author to Tolkien, or to J.K. Rowling. Rothfuss is at once in the same class, and in a class of his own. Both a wonderful storyteller and a technically skilled writer, this author is one to watch. Luckily for us, the second book – The Wise Man’s Fear – in this series is due out in April 2009.
And, winding up the year, is a hilarious children’s book we discovered just in time for Christmas gifting, and one I intend to recommend a lot this next year for kids to giggle over with friends and family – I Stink! by Kate & Jim McMullan. An adorably-drawn, smiling, hungry, and stinky garbage truck tells readers all about his job, and leads them through an alphabet of the garbage he eats every day. Available as a board book for the littlest kids as well as a larger paperback to share with the whole family or classroom.
As always, we try to give you a fun cross-section of books to choose from, be they new or old, for children or most decidedly not, niche-market or general audience. If variety is the spice of life, may our column always be on your table, alongside a large pile of books.
Hobo says, “Have a happy, healthy New Year, and may old books never be forgot” Miss a past column? Dig it up at www.frommyshelf.blogspot.com. Be sure to look for Hobo’s ball to drop, in Times Square, New Year’s Eve, as he counts down the top books of 2008.
This last column of 2008 is my chance to give you an overview of a few books that touched me this past year. While I was able to review many for you in the Marketplace, there’s only so much time and space. The following books draw us forward and onward, with ties to the past, and more to give in the coming year.
Life Disrupted: Getting Real About Chronic Illness in Your Twenties and Thirties – by Laurie Edwards. Wow, do I wish I knew about this book when I wrote my mental health book review back in January 2008, nearly one year ago. Even more, I really wish this book was around for me in my twenties, when I was trying to learn how to live a normal life despite the setbacks and isolation the come to anyone struggling with a chronic illness, but especially so to those who are young. Young people don’t get sick. Young people deal with other problems – like surviving college, or their first apartment, or getting engaged, or their first professional job. But what if you’re trying to do those things, on top of being in and out of the hospital, adjusting to medication changes, or filling out tons of insurance paperwork? Laurie Edwards shows the way and provides sympathy without pity. Better than anything the doctor could have ordered.
Houses of Stone – this is one of the lesser-known mystery novels by Barbara Michaels (pen name for Barbara Mertz, who also writes as Elizabeth Peters). As the Elizabeth Peters’ Egyptology mysteries grew more popular, many of the Barbara Michaels’ novels were dropped from circulation and are only lately being brought back into print. In my teens, I read “Houses” when it was first published, and I never forgot it. Cleverly structured – a book about a book, a gothic novel within a gothic novel, “Houses” follows a young literature professor who has discovered a manuscript that may be the earliest gothic novel written in America. The manuscript appears to be written by a mysterious contemporary of Emily Bronte or Jane Austen, who wrote under the pen name Ismene, and disappeared without a trace. The professor’s race to discover Ismene’s historical identity, to transcribe the manuscript and claim it as her own discovery before other academics beat her to it becomes as exciting, romantic, and deadly a story as the one in Ismene’s novel. Well-written, and a real gift to mystery lovers who also love history and the stories behind books, this one returns to print as a mass-market paperback in February 2009.
As I mentioned in my column on Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind, sometimes the superlatives fail us. Too many times in the fantasy genre, people who want to sell books, or who can’t think of anything original to say, compare some new author to Tolkien, or to J.K. Rowling. Rothfuss is at once in the same class, and in a class of his own. Both a wonderful storyteller and a technically skilled writer, this author is one to watch. Luckily for us, the second book – The Wise Man’s Fear – in this series is due out in April 2009.
And, winding up the year, is a hilarious children’s book we discovered just in time for Christmas gifting, and one I intend to recommend a lot this next year for kids to giggle over with friends and family – I Stink! by Kate & Jim McMullan. An adorably-drawn, smiling, hungry, and stinky garbage truck tells readers all about his job, and leads them through an alphabet of the garbage he eats every day. Available as a board book for the littlest kids as well as a larger paperback to share with the whole family or classroom.
As always, we try to give you a fun cross-section of books to choose from, be they new or old, for children or most decidedly not, niche-market or general audience. If variety is the spice of life, may our column always be on your table, alongside a large pile of books.
Hobo says, “Have a happy, healthy New Year, and may old books never be forgot” Miss a past column? Dig it up at www.frommyshelf.blogspot.com. Be sure to look for Hobo’s ball to drop, in Times Square, New Year’s Eve, as he counts down the top books of 2008.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The Name of the Wind
Kasey Cox
Sometimes, the superlatives aren’t enough.
I have been accused of tending towards hyberbole. I have a hard time holding myself back, though: I say “H-U-G-E!”, drawing out the letters for emphasis; I say “awesome” and “amazing” quite a bit; I also like “fantastic” and “fabulous”. As a person who loves life and feels things deeply, it’s not unusual that my descriptions would be on the dramatic end of the spectrum.
This presents a bit of a problem, on occasion, when reviewing books. I love books. It’s easy to give all kinds of books an enthusiastic thumbs-up, employing any one of my favorite words noted above. But then what to do when a truly special book comes along? How to explain that this book, this author, the writing here, set themselves apart from anything else you’ve read in a long time?
Well, is that enough build-up, or have I exceeded my exaggeration threshold once again? If you can’t hear me on this, then look at what authors Ursula LeGuin, Terry Brooks, Anne McCaffrey, and Orson Scott Card – to name just a few – have to say about Patrick Rothfuss’s debut fantasy novel, “The Name of the Wind.” In just the short time since the first printing in hardcover in April 2007, Rothfuss has garnered praise from major newspapers all across the U.S. and Europe, Amazon’s “Best Pick of the Year 2007 … So Far” summer award, as well as earning starred reviews in The New York Times, the Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and The Onion A.V. Club. Reviewers didn’t just intimate that this was the next Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings series, they crowed it from the rooftops.
If you’re not a huge fantasy reader, you may still enjoy “The Name of the Wind” and the books to follow in ‘The Kingkiller Chronicles.’ Rothfuss’s writing is so mature, so capable, so smooth, that it transcends genre. In the same way that Tolkien wrote his Middle Earth books inspired by the legends of Classic Literature that he taught, so too, Rothfuss’s story reads like a modern telling of the heroes of old, the story of a man who became a legend in his own time. Rothfuss’s protagonist Kvothe reminds me of a Ulysses or Achilles, or more recently of Tolkien’s Aragorn. His story is by turns sentimental and sweet, intriguing, sad and desperate, triumphant, exciting, frightening. Both plot and the telling kept me turning pages well into the night.
If you are a fantasy reader, one who is still grieving the end of Harry Potter, or author Robert Jordan’s death before finishing his series … one who has been impatiently waiting the third installment in Christopher Paolini’s “Eragon (Inheritance)” series … one who re-watches the Lord of the Rings movies every year, and can provide a direct translation of all the Elvish phrases in Tolkien’s books … wait no longer. “The Name of the Wind” is just the book to sink your teeth into this summer. The only problem then: waiting for Rothfuss’s second installment, “The Wise Man’s Fear.”
Hobo, too, is hard at work on the second installment in his ongoing tales of a hero’s journey. In his first book, “Hobo Finds A Home”, the hero leaves his birthplace and begins his wandering and his adventures in the wider world. He just feels lucky he didn’t see any cottonmouth snakes! Who knows what he’ll see on his Summer Book Tour 2008? Check out his website for updates! http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com
Sometimes, the superlatives aren’t enough.
I have been accused of tending towards hyberbole. I have a hard time holding myself back, though: I say “H-U-G-E!”, drawing out the letters for emphasis; I say “awesome” and “amazing” quite a bit; I also like “fantastic” and “fabulous”. As a person who loves life and feels things deeply, it’s not unusual that my descriptions would be on the dramatic end of the spectrum.
This presents a bit of a problem, on occasion, when reviewing books. I love books. It’s easy to give all kinds of books an enthusiastic thumbs-up, employing any one of my favorite words noted above. But then what to do when a truly special book comes along? How to explain that this book, this author, the writing here, set themselves apart from anything else you’ve read in a long time?
Well, is that enough build-up, or have I exceeded my exaggeration threshold once again? If you can’t hear me on this, then look at what authors Ursula LeGuin, Terry Brooks, Anne McCaffrey, and Orson Scott Card – to name just a few – have to say about Patrick Rothfuss’s debut fantasy novel, “The Name of the Wind.” In just the short time since the first printing in hardcover in April 2007, Rothfuss has garnered praise from major newspapers all across the U.S. and Europe, Amazon’s “Best Pick of the Year 2007 … So Far” summer award, as well as earning starred reviews in The New York Times, the Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and The Onion A.V. Club. Reviewers didn’t just intimate that this was the next Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings series, they crowed it from the rooftops.
If you’re not a huge fantasy reader, you may still enjoy “The Name of the Wind” and the books to follow in ‘The Kingkiller Chronicles.’ Rothfuss’s writing is so mature, so capable, so smooth, that it transcends genre. In the same way that Tolkien wrote his Middle Earth books inspired by the legends of Classic Literature that he taught, so too, Rothfuss’s story reads like a modern telling of the heroes of old, the story of a man who became a legend in his own time. Rothfuss’s protagonist Kvothe reminds me of a Ulysses or Achilles, or more recently of Tolkien’s Aragorn. His story is by turns sentimental and sweet, intriguing, sad and desperate, triumphant, exciting, frightening. Both plot and the telling kept me turning pages well into the night.
If you are a fantasy reader, one who is still grieving the end of Harry Potter, or author Robert Jordan’s death before finishing his series … one who has been impatiently waiting the third installment in Christopher Paolini’s “Eragon (Inheritance)” series … one who re-watches the Lord of the Rings movies every year, and can provide a direct translation of all the Elvish phrases in Tolkien’s books … wait no longer. “The Name of the Wind” is just the book to sink your teeth into this summer. The only problem then: waiting for Rothfuss’s second installment, “The Wise Man’s Fear.”
Hobo, too, is hard at work on the second installment in his ongoing tales of a hero’s journey. In his first book, “Hobo Finds A Home”, the hero leaves his birthplace and begins his wandering and his adventures in the wider world. He just feels lucky he didn’t see any cottonmouth snakes! Who knows what he’ll see on his Summer Book Tour 2008? Check out his website for updates! http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com
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