Librarian living in Northern California.
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Comments for The Spider King
The Spider King: 12/11/06
At the start of this year I joined a BookCrossing challenge to read and release books I had gotten from other members. For them to count towards the challenge I would have to read the entire book. So far this year I've been really good about finishing books I've started. Regular readers of this site (or feed) will know that I've also taken to posting a review for every book I've read.
The Spider King is one of those exceptions to the rule. I gave up on it after only 45 pages of about 300. It's a "biographical novel" of Louis XI but I didn't manage to stick with the book long enough to actually learn anything new about Louis XI.
I knew I was in trouble when I reached chapter two. It was nothing more than an incredibly flowery list of Louis's ancestors, visiting as ghosts as the prince is being born. It was a ham fisted way of introducing a character and the concept of the "divine right of kings."
From there the book went on some sort of long winded tangent involving the war with England, various nobles and a child's birth keep secret from his own mother. It didn't help that the book kept throwing characters into the story without any sort of introduction; a dramatis personae or a family tree would have been useful. So after a week of having managed to read all sorts of other books rather than this "biographical novel" I decided to set it aside.
Gratitude #11: Funny Seanisms:
Sean's at the age now that he's learning dozens of new things every day. He's a fully active participant in our family and loves to add his in put to whatever we're doing or planning. He's also starting to pick up all the different things we tell him and use them to define the world as he sees it.
Last night, for example, while he was putting on his pajamas I read some poetry to pass the time. He saw me reading and asked to see what it was. I showed him the book and even read some out loud for him. He smiled and told me: "You have a grown up mouth with lots of teeth so you have to read grown up poetry. I have a small mouth with baby teeth so I have to read small poetry like Dr. Seuss." The teeth thing comes from us explaining that in a year or two he'll start to lose his baby teeth but I'm not sure how one's number of teeth relates to what type of poetry one can read!
Another thing he's picked up from me is how to make a bargain. Now whenever he wants to make a trade (usually along the lines of he wants me to give him something special with very little effort on his part), he'll start off with: "I'll tell you what..."
Steps: 5000