A couple of additional thoughts.

My Long-Winded Reaction
There is such a sense of immediacy to this work, both in the character's dialogue and action and in our experience of reading, I blogged about this book minutes after finishing. I'm copy and pasting it….right….NOW!

Logoboros:
That's an excellent point, and one for me to chew on for awhile. I suppose my original question would have been better phrased as a "style versus substance" argument. In regards to this particular novel, I know there is a story in there that is, from what I've read here, really terrific, but the style of…

Just to put a little arsenic in the love soup…
I don't have a problem with made up languages nor heavy dialects written —you can't be a fan of sci-fi or fantasy books if your tolerance level for them are zero — but I had to abandon this book after a couple of days of frustration. The new language was just too hard of…

Howsabout
Hyperion by Dan Simmons?

Oh for the love of crack.

Do you know if his restaurant steals menu items from better restaurants and cooks them with less quality?

Andy Breckman!
His radio show on WFMU called Seven Second Delay is really funny and should be checked out by all (Especially Best Show fans).

What I would ask Michael Haneke
In all of your movies, you can always count on there be numerous scenes that will take minor misunderstandings, and inflate them emotionally to the point where all the oxygen feels like it being sucked out of the room, and the audience is left feeling suffocated in their own…

What I would ask Michael Haneke
In all of your movies, you can always count on there be numerous scenes that will take minor misunderstandings, and inflate them emotionally to the point where all the oxygen feels like it being sucked out of the room, and the audience is left feeling suffocated in their own…

Marine 2: Mareenier.

Geeze!
If I read another AV Club article referencing John Tavener one more time…

"A guy who smashes things with a hammer for a living might have some repressed anger" would make a great Los Campesinos! song.

One of the best shows I ever saw was a They Might Be Giants show. The worst show I saw was also a They Might Be Giants show. To be fair, they have had career highs and lows like any long-term band. The worst show was a college show that they played where about 30 people showed up. They played for about 40 minutes and…

Usually I envy the AV Club Staffer's their jobs.
This time…not so much.

Fun fact! If you listen very closely to the sound clip, you can actually hear David Wolinsky's will to live being sucked out of him.

Yay! An At-Sea Book
I've been meaning to read Master and Commander for a while—now I have an excuse! If it's half as good as The Terror (Apples and Oranges probably, but still!) I'll be a happy camper.

Haven't read any Jasper Fforde…
But he seems like someone I'll definitely check out. Based on this review, I kinda picture him as a more serious-minded Christopher Moore. Is that a fair comparison?

Quick expression of gratitude for answering my question quickly: Thanks!

Quick Question AV Club.
Will there be a best of 09 list of books?