If I had to describe myself, it would be in a word that has many meanings with a complexity which falls off the tongue.
A word made up of many elements, is deceptive in appearance, and creates an illusion from the imagination.
My word would be Phantasmagoric. ~Summer Ross

Saturday, August 21, 2010

"or he will ask them of the wind."

First edition coverImage via Wikipedia

 My favorite lines in the book:

 "Put him on a fast horse then," I said, "or he will ask them of the wind." ~~ the main character said this after a direct free thinking act that lead him into a lot of trouble.

"I am not alone," I told him; "I have my sword."

 and lastly- the line that really got me thinking:
 "Everyone has it within his power to say, this I am today, that I shall be tomorrow. The wish, however, must be implemented by deeds."

 My Significant other and I decided that we would pick our favorite book and exchange them for each others. I picked a novel by Kim Harrison for him to read and he picked "The Walking Drum" by Louis L'amour.
I'm not a fan of reading westerns, specially these kind, but my guy assured me that it wasn't like his other stories. In truth it was not. One thing to note about this author, he has amazing talent for detail, and a huge number of facts in history, and this book was a "way back when."


L'amour's main character is many things, a pirate, a seaman, a philosopher, a lover even, which makes him very in depth.
So for my review I will say this, The first few chapters are easy and engaging to get through, but the middle is difficult to read, boring at times, lots of descriptions that I felt as a reader are unneeded, and the end was faster to go through because it had the most amount of action, love, and answering of my questions.

However as a writer, this man has a great deal of my respect. This is the only book I have read of his, and I can say with a great deal of confidence this man really worked as a writer, he researched, and he learned, he spent time understanding philosophy of the older times, of the way of the words back in the 900 time frames. His abilities to state facts in fiction are amazing!

If it was not for the idea that my manly man could read my girl romancy fiction before I could finish his manly book, I would have stopped reading halfway through. But since I am always up for a challenge, I finished the book and can honestly say that I am very glad I did, for the best was the last half.

What do you guys think of the book? If you haven't read it what do you think of the quotes I enjoyed up top?
My next author on the list is Yasmine Galeorn in between literature readings for college.


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7 comments:

Will Burke said...

The "...this today, that tomorrow..." is really close to Bhuddism. I found similar resonances in Socretes; an arguement for the "Collective Concience" that Jung speaks of?

Summer Ross said...

Will~~ It would not surprise me at all, This Author really knew his stuff and mentions alot of their names even in the book I think Socretes was actually mentioned several times. I haven't read plato, Socretes, or anything like that, so I can't completely confirm, but its fascinating

Lydia Kang said...

Hey Summer! Thanks for following my blog. ;)
I haven't read this book. I've only read one L'Amour book, and it was Last of the Breed, which isn't a western. And I loved it!

Jemi Fraser said...

I know a few people (all men coincidently) who like this author. I've never been pulled in that direction, but it sounds like he's got some talent working there :)

Holly said...

I have an award for you on my Saturday post. ;D

Book seems interesting. Haven't read it, though. Manly MAN vs girly romance motivation... eh?? LOL!! ;D

Paula said...

Just come over from Diamond Potential and I fall in love with your blog. The first post got me hooked and I will be back soon. Truly love the idea of picking a book and share. Good idea. Well, I appreicate the quote you mentioned last: ...today, tomorrow...
it is so true yet so often hard to achieve. I am sometimes so busy with tomorrow that it robs today of its joy!
Have a wonderful day. Paula

Talli Roland said...

I enjoyed the quotes. I haven't read any L'Amour for ages! I actually can't remember much about the books except for the covers and the name in bold typface. Maybe I should give them a go again.

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