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kilroyPrint date: 2007 (20s: 1, 50s: 1, 60s: 4, 70s: 7, 80s: 7, 90s: 5, 00s: 14)
I am beginning to suspect there are no bad books by Guy Gavriel Kay, at least not for me. Finishing this book in my living room with the sunlight streaming in diagonals between the shades was a perfect moment, one I had to let echo for a time before I could even move again.
I seem to recall someone telling me at some point that Ysabel wasn't as good as the other Kays I'd already read. It's different: the other books operate on a grand scale and an epic scope, but this is a very small book. This is about one family, one boy, one truth. There is depth and complexity and history to it but the world doesn't change here, only the people.
And I love the people. I love that they can surprise you, that they tell jokes and don't have all the answers but somehow manage to find something in themselves that overcomes. I love that the narrator is a teenage boy who thinks like a teenage boy; more than once I found myself remembering my own life, which never happens when I read. I love that they all care about each other in such a way that what we see on the page is only the very tip of an iceberg whose weight we can sense beneath.
The story is simple and functional, acting as an excuse to get the ensemble together. In large part the plot is a vehicle for conversations and for the narrator's internal dialogue. But there was never a point when I didn't feel drawn in; it's a book that's easy to lose track of time inside. And the closure was immaculate.
Clearly I'm biased when it comes to this author, but I feel like reading one of his books is receiving a gift meant for me. There's something in his writing that bypasses my conscious brain and touches me somewhere layers deeper. How can I not celebrate that?
Verdict: Keep and lend to as many people as possible. (23.5/71)
Page count: 416 (13434 total)
Completed: 39 (19 female authors, 20 male authors)
Rejected: 32 (20 male authors, 12 female authors)
Next book due: Sun. 1/16
I am beginning to suspect there are no bad books by Guy Gavriel Kay, at least not for me. Finishing this book in my living room with the sunlight streaming in diagonals between the shades was a perfect moment, one I had to let echo for a time before I could even move again.
I seem to recall someone telling me at some point that Ysabel wasn't as good as the other Kays I'd already read. It's different: the other books operate on a grand scale and an epic scope, but this is a very small book. This is about one family, one boy, one truth. There is depth and complexity and history to it but the world doesn't change here, only the people.
And I love the people. I love that they can surprise you, that they tell jokes and don't have all the answers but somehow manage to find something in themselves that overcomes. I love that the narrator is a teenage boy who thinks like a teenage boy; more than once I found myself remembering my own life, which never happens when I read. I love that they all care about each other in such a way that what we see on the page is only the very tip of an iceberg whose weight we can sense beneath.
The story is simple and functional, acting as an excuse to get the ensemble together. In large part the plot is a vehicle for conversations and for the narrator's internal dialogue. But there was never a point when I didn't feel drawn in; it's a book that's easy to lose track of time inside. And the closure was immaculate.
Clearly I'm biased when it comes to this author, but I feel like reading one of his books is receiving a gift meant for me. There's something in his writing that bypasses my conscious brain and touches me somewhere layers deeper. How can I not celebrate that?
Verdict: Keep and lend to as many people as possible. (23.5/71)
Page count: 416 (13434 total)
Completed: 39 (19 female authors, 20 male authors)
Rejected: 32 (20 male authors, 12 female authors)
Next book due: Sun. 1/16