A Silence of Three Parts

Patrick Rothfuss is a genius.  Period.

I just finished reading Wise Man's Fear in an epic one week adventure of late nights and avoided social gatherings so that I could drink in the story of Kvothe the Arcane.  It was worth every missed dinner, tired morning and lost hour of sleep.  The author's ability to weave his stories into artful fiction are beyond reproach.  Told from the point of view of Kvothe, the main character, the story is the second in a trilogy that wends it's way through the story of his life.

There's little I can say to sum up the book that hasn't been printed on it's dust jacket.  The sheer epic of his adventures are impossible to diminish into a sentence or two.  What I can say is that the book had me both laughing out lout and crying.  The emotions and the emotional realizations of the characters are extremely hard hitting.  Nothing is shied away from.  Kvothe is a hero but there is no effort to shy away from the more tarnished aspects of the character which makes the reader fall in love with him even more.  In fact the honesty with which he tells his own story is one of the reasons I'm so drawn along in the narrative.  I can't help but become submerged in his reality. I patiently await "Doors of Stone" and the conclusion of Kvothe's tale.

Leaving with a quote from the book:
"It had flaws, but what does that matter when it comes to matters of the heart?  We love what we love.  Reason does not enter into it.  In many ways, unwise love is the truest love.  Anyone can love a thing because.  That's as easy as putting a penny in your pocket.  But to love something despite.  To know the flaws and love them too.  That is rare and pure and perfect."

1/12 - Ringing in the New Year Right

I'm starting the year out right with my first race of the year on the first day of the year!  I ran a 5K this morning so I'm trying to keep up the great success that I had last year with my 12 races in 12 months plan.  And this year my dad is doing it with me along with some other super supportive friends! 

I beat last year's January time of 33:07 by more than two minutes with a finish time of 30:50.  I'm hoping to bring down my 5K average of 30:15 (averaged over 10 5Ks) from last year to under 30 minutes.  In other running news I'm hoping to top my mileage total and break 300 this year as I fell short coming in at 296 for the year.

Also on a bright note I'm starting the year less round.  Last year I rang in at ~217 I'm starting the new year 22 pounds lighter at ~195 which is great.  So I'm also hoping to continue loosing weight and finish the year strong with 20 pounds of weight loss.

Hope everyone enjoys the new year and reaches their goals.