December 16, 2014

Quote for the Day

"It's awful being a grown up, but the carousel never stops turning.  You can't get off."  -- Dr. Ellis Grey, Grey's Anatomy

I've decided my New Year's resolution.  I have ignored my love of reading.  I have let books lie dormant on my shelves.  I have stopped reviewing and stopped doing any challenges other than my own (which I mostly just ignore anyhow).  Looking back, at the start of my blog, I had passion.  My resolution is to re-find that passion and use it.  Reviewing, challenging myself, and most of all reading!

September 10, 2014

A Thousand Splendid Suns


One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs,
Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.
                                     -----Saeb-e-Tabrizi
                                           (translated by Dr. Josephine Davis)


What a beautiful book.  Just really made me think how blessed I am.

March 6, 2014

The Last Dark by Stephen R. Donaldson

The last of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.  I read the first book over 30 years ago.  I've waited all this time to find out the ending........and now I wish it hadn't ended.  I will miss the Land.  Good thing I have the books so I can revisit it whenever I want.

"Chosen, Linden Avery.  I comprehend the force of your son's awakening, and of your reunion with him.  Who will do so, if I do not?  I, who have lost a son, and may only yearn bootlessly for his return to life?  Nevertheless we cannot remain here."  -- Stave, pg 5

"At your side, Chosen, I have made a study of uncertainty.  Now I have learned that it is an abyss, no less unfathomable than the Lost Deep."  -- Stave, pg 24

"When I had achieved the stewardship of the One Tree, and you were thereby grieved, I assured you that good would come of it, when there was need.  That promise I fain would honor."  -- Brinn, pg 43

"This Raver lies.  He does not hold me.  I hold him.  I contain him as Grimmand Honninscrave once contained his brother.  His mockery and struggles I disdain.  He cannot flee.  I will hold him while his ruin is achieved."  -- Clyme, pg 84

"Thus I answer the objurgations of the ak-Haru"  -- Clyme, pg 85

"Then, Linden, I will do as you request.  But do not doubt that my heart is torn within me.  I will know neither certainty nor peace until your return."  -- Stave, pg 150"

"When it falls, he will also.  Then he must perish.  Though he is Haruchai, his flesh is not iron.  His bones are not.  They will not withstand an impact from that height."  --  Rime Coldspray, pg 180

"You have wrought a surpassing wonder.  I acknowledge it.  I acknowledge that we have misesteemed you.  And your theurgy is -- Child, it is vast."  -- Infelice, pg 205

"Try me.  Do your worst.  See what happens."  -- Thomas Covenant, pg 213

"It was for this.  That you might here encounter the truth of the Ringthane, the Chosen, Linden Avery -- encounter it and know shame."  -- Bhapa, pg 444

"Stone and Sea!  I am undone by woe and killing.  I cannot spit out the taste of blood.  It will fill my mouth to the end of my days."  -- Rime Coldspray, pg 467

"Linden Avery, I have said that I will not be parted from you again.  The Chosen-son I entrust to Canrik and Samil, and to the Swordmainnir.  You I will accompany."   - Stave, pg 470

"I must state plainly, Linden, that you have become wondrous in my sight.  Here my life is forfeit.  It may be that the bane will heed you.  Me She will not suffer.  In Her sight, all men are betrayers.  I will be devoured."  -- Stave, pg 482

"As for you, beaten Unbeliever, impotent Timewarden, I have reconsidered your doom.  Though I hunger for your death, I also crave your despair."  -- Lord Foul the Despiser, pg 517

"Yes, I will."  -- Thomas Covenant, pg 522





February 12, 2014

Against All Things Ending by Stephen R. Donaldson

"That old man.  The beggar.  The Creator.  He abandoned you before you ever came here.  I didn't want you to think I'd abandoned you too."  -- Thomas Covenant, pg 13

"You are a wonderment in all sooth.  Your words resemble a tale of woe, but they are not.  They are a flight of fancy.  Do you conceive that any Giant would turn aside from such a quest as yours?  Ha!  The lure of extravagant hazards is too great."  -- Rime Coldspray, Ironhand of the Swordmainner, pg 83

"After all the trouble of resurrecting me, the least you can do is take me with you."  -- Thomas Covenant, pg 86

"We do not comprehend.  How is it that any mere place can diminish a Manethrall of the Ramen?  You are who and what you are, unlessened in strength, forethought, or valor by the loss of ordinary sight."  -- Branl, pg 252

"I've spent three and a half thousand years remembering how much you mean to me - and wishing I'd done a better job of telling you."  -- Thomas Covenant, pg 254

"You will heed me, Ringthane!  In Andelain, you restored your own love!  Now you will return mine to me!  Every instrument is present.  White gold.  The Staff of Law.  The krill of High Lord Loric.  And there lies Liand slain!"  -- Pahni, pg 345

"He is my son.  To the last, he remained himself."  -- Stave, pg 388

"Do not.  Do not heal.  Make no lament.  My time is past.  I was the hope of the Land.  Now I have given that gift to another.  I have kept the faith with my inheritance.  Now I may stand with Sunder my father and Hollian my mother, and feel no shame."  -- Anele, pg 389

"Do not, Linden.  Wish for nothing.  Regret nothing.  Has your long acquaintance with Haruchai not taught you that my pride in my son is as great as my bereavement?"  -- Stave, pg 399

January 30, 2014

Fatal Revenant by Stephen R. Donaldson

Oh, how I did miss Giants.......

"For a moment while you dazzled me, I seemed to stand at the side of the Land's redemption." -- Liand, pg 104

"Aloud, the Seven Words are spoken thus.  Melenkurion abatha.  Duroc minas mill.  Harad khabaal."  -- the Theomach, pg 192

"Pssht, lady, is the Mahdoubt disquieted?  She is not.  In her youth, such concerns may perchance have vexed her, but her old bones have felt their full measure of years, and naught troubles her now."  -- the Mahdoubt, pg 286

"As you know, my people will no longer address their thoughts to me, or respond to mine.  When I had experienced their rejection for a time, I found that I wished to foil it.  Though I comprehend their denunciation, I became lath to countenance it.  Therefore I have learned to mute my inward voice.  I hear the silent speech of the Masters, but they do not hear mine."  -- Stave, pg 323

"Linden Avery, you are the Chosen, and will determine much.  But that choice is not vouchsafed to you.  All who live share the Land's plight.  Its cost will be borne by all who live.  This you cannot alter.  In the attempt, you may achieve only ruin."  -- Anele, pg 328

"The Mahdoubt's knowledge does not partake of Law.  It has preserved her far beyond her mortality.  Assuredly.  Now her end cannot be undone."  --  the Mahdoubt, pg 366

"Chosen, the days that I have spent as your companion have been an unremitting exercise in humility."  -- Stave, pg 369

"Chosen, thus would I speak of my own sons, though they remain among the Masters, and with the Masters have spurned me."  -- Stave, pg 376

"It will measure your worthiness to adjudge her as you have adjudged me."  -- Stave, pg 385

"Well done, Haruchai.  Well done in all sooth.  Here is a tale to gladden the hearts of the Ramen.  At last blows have been struck which may humble the sleepless ones.  And we have witnessed it, a Manethrall and his Cords.  No longer may these Masters feign that their worth exceeds yours."  -- Manethrall Mahrtiir, pg 389

"Mane and Tail, Ringthane!  My life is yours.  It was so before.  Now it is yours utterly.  If the Manethrall and the Ranyhyn do not forbid it, I will accompany you into the depths of Gravin Threndor, or the inferno of Hotash Slay, or the bitter heart of the Sarangrave, and name myself blessed."  -- Bhapa, pg 431

"Rime Coldspray, Ironhand of the Swordmainnir, since the Chosen's coming I have been humbled both profoundly and often.  I no longer deem myself wise enough to discourage the friendship of Giants."  -- Stave, pg 488

"Do not be dismayed, Stonedowner.  There is no mystery here.  She is Linden Avery, Chosen and Sun-Sage.  Our tales say that she is merely magnificent."  -- Rime Coldspray, Ironhand of the Swordmainner, pg 491

"Linden Avery, the third son of the third son of Glowlimn and Pitchwife was Exalt Widenedworld.  But now the Giants of Home name him Lostson, and among the Swordmainnir he is called Longwrath."  -- Rime Coldspray, Ironhand of the Swordmainner, pg 494

"Linden Avery, it is enough.  Seeking the import of our many labors, we will accompany you.  If Stave of the Haruchai stands at your side, joined by the courteous and considerate Ramen - likewise this wide-eyed Stonedownor and the anguished son of Sunder and Hollian - the Swordmainnir can do no less."  -- Rime Coldspray, Ironhand of the Swordmainner, pg 507

"My friend, your cunning grows ever more evident.  If it should chance that you weary of being Haruchai, know that you will be made welcome among the Swordmainnir.  Lacking the good fortune - and also the stature - of our blood and bone, you will become a Giant by acclamation rather than by birth."  -- Rime Coldspray, Ironhand of the Swordmainner, pg 513

"Linden Giantfriend, that tale is too sad for tears.  'Out of the habit.'  And its dolor is made more cruel by brevity.  We are Giants.  If we do not laugh, we will be compelled to insist upon the full tale of your years and loneliness.  The very blood in our veins will require it."  --  Rime Coldspray, Ironhand of the Swordmainner, pg 514

"Though we are large and for the most part foolish, we know a stick when it jabs our eyes.  Any man as blighted as your old companion compels our esteem.  Already we prize him."  -- Frostheart Grueburn, pg 517

"There is more in Andelain - and among the Dead - and in your heart - than Lord Foul can conceive."  -- Hollian, pg 547

"Oh, Linden.  What have you done?" -- Thomas Covenant, pg 590

January 17, 2014

The Runes of the Earth by Stephen R. Donaldson

"Linden Avery, we regret that you have asked this of us.  We wish to honor you, but in this we will not comply.  We have taken upon ourselves the guardianship of the Land.  We are its Masters because we cannot preserve the Land from Corruption in any other way.  We do not permit such beings as this Anele to work their will.  They serve Corruption, whatever they may believe of themselves."  -- Stave, pg 126


"You are mistaken, Haruchai!  Your folk sired me!  I am your descendant, conceived by Cail among the merewives, and given birth by the Dancers of the Sea!"  -- Esmer, pg 282


"Chosen, heed me.  There are tales of your healing.  Do not heal me.  I have failed.  I am Haruchai.  Do not shame me with my own life." -- Stave, pg 290


"Go now, beloved.  While you can.  Just be wary of me.  Remember that I'm dead."  -- Thomas Covenant, pg 362


"You.  You who promised.  Anele begs --- Oh, he begs of you.  Tell him that he has not failed your need."  -- Anele, pg 500


"Because I have heard the laughter of the great horses, I will cast my lot with the Chosen.  I cannot do less than the Ranyhyn.  Whatever may befall her, I will endeavor to prove that I am equal to my fears."  -- Stave, pg 504


"I regret that I have thought ill of you.  Yes, and spoken ill as well.  Your courage shames me."  -- Liand, pg 510

January 11, 2014

The White Gold Wielder by Stephen R. Donaldson

"Therefore, it is my right that you should hear me.  Ur-Lord and Unbeliever, white gold wielder, you have betrayed me -- and I am glad that you have come.  Though you come without hope, you are the one hope that I have known.  You have it in your hands to create or deny whatever truth you will, and I desire to serve you.  While you remain, I will accept neither despair nor doom."  -- Sunder, pg 172

"The Giants of the Land were taught much by their loss of Home.  I am humbled before them."  -- The First of the Search, pg 207

"They are cooks and herders, artisans and scullions, tenders of hearth and Courser.  They have no skill for this work, and it is a shameful thing to slay them.  Yet they will not be halted or daunted.  A possession is upon them.  Felling them, Pitchwife weeps as no Haruchai has ever wept."  -- Cail, pg 243

"You are going to your death, ring-wielder.  I comprehend you now.  It is a valiant hazard.  I cannot answer for its outcome -- and I know not how I will prove worthy of you.  But I will not leave you."  -- Findail, the Appointed of the Elohim, pg 254

"Dream or delusion, the music I have heard has altered me.  But I have not learned the meaning of this change.  Ur-Lord, I wish to prove what I have dreamed to its heart.  Permit me."  -- Cail, pg 302

"You are Gossamer Glowlimn, the spouse of my heart.  I am proud of you beyond all endurance.  Demean not your high courage with foolishness.  Neither Earthfriend nor Chosen has any need of my accompaniment.  They are who they are -- and will not fail.  I am sworn to you in love and fealty, and I will remain."  -- Pitchwife, pg 422

"Now it's your turn.  Pick up the ring."  -- Thomas Covenant, pg 452

"Linden Avery!  Have I not said that you are well Chosen?" -- Pitchwife, pg 465




January 1, 2014

The One Tree by Stephen R. Donaldson

"I am Pitchwife the Valorous!  Gaze upon me and suffer awe!" -- Pitchwife, pg 66

"Therefore do I love you, Pitchwife.  In sooth, this is a gift to lift the heart.  Husband, it shames me that I do not equal your grace." -- Gossamer Glowlimn, the First of the Search, pg 196

"Now I say to you, we will not err in that way again.  The purity of any service lies in those who serve, not in that which they serve, and we will not corrupt ourselves by trust of that which is false." -- Brinn, pg 368

"You will endure it.  Are you not Thomas Covenant, ur-Lord and Unbeliever?  That is the grace which has been given to you, to bear what must be borne."  -  Ak-Haru Kenaustin Ardenol, the Guardian of the One Tree, pg 440




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