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Delightful! Still think about this book years later

Finished Part I. Contrary to its reputation, so far The Magicians owes much more to Donna Tartt's The Secret History than Harry Potter. The educationally privileged grow nostalgic for a time before it is even done, drink copiously, and are unmanned by limitless possibilities of lives of surface efficacy bereft of any meaning. It is a tricksy thing reading another's favorite book.

'Will you read something if I give it to you?' 'Sure what is it?' 'Just some observations. A kind of list. It's about the kind of person you've become.' 'I'll read it if you can put it on one sheet of paper.' 'Now what is that, some military thing?' 'No, I read about it in a business book...How it concentrates your thinking and saves time for everybody along the line.' 'You're afraid of smart women, aren't you?'"

I love Portis's phrasing and timing. "Minim was in the Bowling Hall of Fame. He was a retired bowler and sports poet, and he maintained that bowling was held in even lower esteem than poetry, though it was a close call" (72).

Strange, wonderfully, and disturbingly Moore. Father's Day was intense. Not even to The Killing Joke yet.

Done!

This is way more enjoyable than it should be. 4000 French aristrocrats died in duels of honor from 1589 to 1607 alone.

Beautiful. Upsetting. Discomforting. Wondrous.

Damn.

Part of my current YA binge. Edwards award winner. Feels something like Anthem or Ender's Game so far

Strange, so strange.

So good on so many fronts. But the extended professor quote in "My Weimar" and the Liberace chapter are my favorite parts so far.