AR Book Club

[Pharass]

Bought The Magicians by Lev Grossman on the annual book-sale and is busy reading it, great stuff. I've seen the book describe as Harry Potter for Adults (with a dash of Narnia thrown into the mix) and while that is technically an accurate description, I feel that it does the book a bit of a disservice, since it may cause a prospective reader to think that Grossman just took Rowling's characters and made them have sex and do drugs. Although The Magicians is about a boy who goes to a magic school where he meets a bunch of people who become his friends and finally feels like he belongs somewhere, Grossman's novel is different from Rowling's in a myriad of ways, the things mentioned earlier being only some of them.

One thing I particularly liked about The Magicians is the fact that magic is not an easy thing to learn; it's unpredictable and takes considerable effort to master. In one of my favorite moments in the book, Quentin, our protagonist, wonders why the students who have some sort of physical flaw, like a bum leg or a crooked jaw, simply doesn't use magic to fix them like Hermione straightened her teeth? It's because that kind of magic is extremely risky and last time someone attempted to do it, it did not end well for anyone involved.

I could talk about other things like the characters who are all interesting and believable (which is fortunate, since a large part of the novel lacks a central conflict and instead relies on the interaction between the characters and how Quentin discovers more about the new world he's stumbled into, to keep the reader interested), but I'm just going to stop there. The Magicians is awesome, if you haven't read it, do so.

[Pharass]

Currently reading Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand C?line. It's an extremely cynical and pessimistic novel which I nonetheless find pretty funny at times (not that humor and cynicism are mutually exclusive, a lot of times the two go hand in hand). One of my favorite scenes is in the very beginning; the narrator and his friend sit at a caf? and talk about how stupid one has to be to join the army and stuff like that. The next moment a group of soldiers walk by and our anti-hero immediately runs off to get drafted.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I finished Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor which was quite an interesting read. I find her fairly exceptional when it comes to characterizations.

[Pharass]

Almost done with the second volume of Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber. All I can say is that I'm glad that the book contains a character-index, because I found it quite easy to lose track of how the various characters were connected. That said, it's a good read and gives an interesting look into the upper-class society of 18th Century China.

[Pharass]

Currently reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, the first book in her trilogy about Thomas Cromwell. I had heard a lot of good things about Wolf Hall, so my expectations going in where quiet high. I'm glad to say that so far, my expectations have been met; this is a great read and may very well rank among the best historical fiction I've read. I strongly recommend checking it out.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I just started reading A Game of Thrones, which in picked up from my local library. So far the only major difference that I've noticed from the TV show is that most characters are notably younger in the book than in the show.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm a bit further along in A Game of Thrones. So far the show was pretty accurate to the first book, from what I can see, with only a few minor changes here or there. I am realizing that, oddly enough, I seem to be hating Cersei more than Joffrey. Oh, don't get me wrong, Joffrey is a prick who deserves to die horribly, but the more I think about it, Cersei comes off as one of those bitchy moms who DOES know better but ended up spoiling the crap out of her kids when she should've been a real mother and learned how to discipline them. Of course, Tommen and Myrcella turned out alright, but Joffrey is the fucking poster child of bad parenting. Even when she knows that Joffrey is making a bad decision, she hardly does anything to stop him.

Putting that aside I like how the book gives you a bit more insight into the characters, through narration, than the show does.

[Avaitor]

The first season is rather faithful to the book, but as the show goes on, it does make more and more changes.

And I do agree about Cersei. She does understand that Joffrey is rotten, but she barely has an idea of how her parenting has ruined him over the years. Which makes sense, since she's quite dumb.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I'm reading "Last Call" by Tim Powers.

Freaky stuff.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So I just realized that "Ser Mormont" of The Night's Watch and "Ser Mormont" who is currently spying on Daenerys are father and son, respectively. That's the kind of details that you are more likely to pick up on while reading as opposed to watching the show, where you let many of the dozens of names that are thrown at you fly over your head. Despite season 1 being faithful to the first book, I've learned a lot more about this world than what I already knew from the first 4 seasons by reading the book. It reminds me of how there are so many details about the Corleones' and their family history that you just won't really get by watching the The Godfather or it's sequels (which to be fair both at least pay homage to some characters from the book that were left out of the first movie).

The point being that, it makes reading these books interesting even if I already have at least a general idea of what major events are going to happen. Though in the case of The Godfather, I did read the book first.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Wait, if Ser Barristan was on the small counsel in King's Landing, then that means that he already knew that Mormont was spying on Daenerys. I'm guessing then that the scene in season 4 of the show where he seemingly just finds out about it was changed from the books, then, because going by the book, he should've known about it the moment that he ran into them, and it would be odd for him to wait so long to bring it up.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I finished AGOT a few days ago. Overall I liked it about as much as the first season of the show. There were a few additional scenes that weren't in the show (most likely due to budget constraints), and vice versa since the show clearly added some stuff, but it was mostly the same story.

I was expecting Jaime to be a POV character, but then I remembered that he wasn't present that much in season 1, nor in the first book. I'm wondering if he will become a POV character in a later book, or maybe that's Brienne.

Anyways, I'm planning to start reading ACOK sometime soon, but I'll be on vacation in Niagara Falls for the next few days, so I'll probably only get to it by the end of this week, or whenever I get time to stop at the library.

[Avaitor]

IIRC, he becomes a POV character in the third book. Cersei and Brienne do in the fourth.

[Pharass]

Currently reading Romance of Three Kingdoms, since I've been enjoying the 2010 TV-series a lot, I decided to check out the source-material. So far, the book has been pretty much what I expected it to be; lots of battles, talks about the bonds between men, honor, some political scheming, etc. It's a good read, though I will give the TV-series a slight advantage for portraying its characters with a bit more nuance (Cao Cao for example).

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I tried to get ACOK from my local library today, but it was already checked out, so I had it put on hold for me. So, it looks like it'll be a while before I can get to it.