A long week affording precious little in the way of reading time gave way to a weekend in which I was able to luxuriate in the written word. That gift of free time meant that I was able to gorge myself on Brandon Sanderson in order to be ready for this week’s group discussion.

Memory took over question duty for the week and you can find my potentially spoiler-laden answers after the jump. I’ll remind you that you can find the answers from each participant by checking in on Deanna’s The Way of Kings group read site.

Before checking out this week’s Q&A, I wanted to take a moment to congratulate artist Michael Whelan on his recent Chesley award for the cover illustration for The Way of Kings! Michael Whelan perfectly captured the spirit of this book with this painting.

With no further ado, let us begin.

Continue reading The Way of Kings Group Read, Part Three →

“It is good to care when you fight, so long as you don’t let it consume you. Don’t try to stop yourself from feeling. You’ll hate what you become.”

A small group of brave souls has come together in the quest to group read the first massive tome in Brandon Sanderson’s epic ten-volume Stormlight Archive. Today finds us at the tail end of the second week of our journey and I was given the great pleasure of coming up with the questions for this section of the book. If any readers who are not participating would like to join in you can find details on the site listed below. And for those of you who may have already read the book we would love to see you join in the conversation.

This is a group discussion, so expect spoilers to be present in the answers to the various questions. I would encourage you to visit the group read site for links to the Q&A for other participants.

Shall we proceed?

Continue reading The Way of Kings Group Read, Part 2 →

“The world became ours, and we lost it. Nothing, it appears, is more challenging to the souls of men than victory itself.”

“She hadn’t asked, but she was certain Captain Tozbeck could read. She’d seen him holding books; it had made her uncomfortable. Reading was an unseemly trait in a man.”

To anyone looking it might seem that Brandon Sanderson literally burst onto the scene. Seemingly overnight the bookstore shelves were flooded with books bearing his name and he was tapped for the monumental task of bringing to a culmination the life’s work of author Robert Jordan, whose Wheel of Time series was left plotted but unfinished at his untimely death. We all know things are rarely that simple and while Sanderson’s star may have risen quickly, he has been writing for many, many years.

The Way of Kings is touted as the first novel in an epic ten volume series entitled The Stormlight Archive. Given my predilection to run screaming away from large novels and to faint dead away at the thought of reading ongoing, decades-in-the-making series this was not a novel that I expected to read, even with its temptingly gorgeous Michael Whelan cover and rare color and black and white illustrations. I must learn never to say, or even think, “never”.

An evening Twitter session with a handful of friends quickly found me throwing my hat into the ring if someone wanted to host a group read of Sanderson’s tome. And thus a community event was born. Deanna agreed to tackle the host duties for this monstrously large book and August 1st trumpeted the beginning of this grand adventure. We are in the early days, so if any of you would like to join in, we would love to have you do so.

Various readers will be taking the reins with weekly questions. Deanna has kicked us off with this week’s questions which follow the jump.

As with the recent Dune group read, expect spoilers to be present in the answers to various questions. I would encourage you to visit the group read site for links to the Q&A for other participants.

Continue reading Way of Kings Group Read, Week 1 →

Enchanted Night ~Steven Millhauser

–published 1999
–Crown
–112 pages
–9/10 stars

I was made aware of Steven Millhauser when Chris reviewed this novella on his website in early 2010. I wasted no time in ordering a copy from my local library. In early April of 2010 I wrote:

“Enchanted Night is an all-too-brief glimpse into the magical and mysterious events that happen to a handful of residents in a small Connecticut town on a particular hot summer moonlit night. As darkness is pierced by the almost-full moon, strange forces begin to work on a group of people and inanimate objects in seemingly random, unconnected ways. Millhauser weaves these diverse elements into a cohesive though unconventional story, a story with its own set of dangers and mysteries yet filled with such beauty that it is nigh unto impossible to put this book down.

In the light of the moon a mannequin begins to feel stirrings of life, children hear the siren song of an unknown player. Five code-named teenage girls break into people’s houses and leave notes announcing “WE ARE YOUR DAUGHTERS”. Attic toys suddenly spring to life, a 14 year old girl believes the only place she can feel free is on the moon. A single man who lives with his mother discovers himself having an unexpected adventure. These and other even more eccentric story lines dominate a book that one cannot help but find, as Chris did, enchanting.”

I apologize for the wholesale plagiarism from an earlier review but I wanted to give you some idea of the novel before issuing a half-hearted warning: Kailana and I read this together on this past moonlit Friday night and we will both be answering a series of questions about the novella. I have made an effort in my answers not to spoil the reading experience with any revelations of the outcome of any story lines. We all define “spoilers” in our own way and I do talk in a little detail about a few characters/situations.

You have now had a mini-review and if you choose not to follow the jump then I can rest easy knowing that I have once again pimped this book. 🙂 But if you would like please come along for more discussion of Enchanted Night and be sure to check out Kailana’s thoughts on the book.

Continue reading One Enchanted Night →