AR Book Club

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I finally managed to get ACOK from. My local library. I'll start reading it later today.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Bronn: "Fuck you, dwarf"
Tyrion: "That's Shae's task"

And that's why Tyrion is awesome, among other things.

I'm going to say it right now, while I'm a huge LOTR and Hobbit fan, I think ASOIAF is better from both a story-telling and character perspective. I think that both are among the greatest fantasy series of all time, of course, along with Harry Potter (yeah I said it, I don't give a fuck what anyone else thinks).

[Avaitor]

I might favor ASOIAF myself, but it's hard to knock LOTR. And of course, Howard's Conan work is still a lot of fun to read.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I'm reading Farewell Summer by Ray Bradbury, his last book. I don't think I've yet read something from the man I haven't enjoyed.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I finally started up ASOS which I just picked up from my library today. I'll start it later, but it should be a great read, and if I'm not mistaken that should "mostly catch me up with where the show is currently at.

As for how ACOK compares to the second season of the show, there are marked differences this time, though it's still relatively faithful to the source material. Of the story-lines that played out differently, I found that Arya's story in particular was handled better in the show than in the books. Just being a regular serving girl for some ass-wipes want nearly as interesting as her conversations with Tywin Lannister in the show. Of course she doesn't actually meet him in the book, and instead ends up becoming Roose Bolton's cupbearer. While her interactions with him are not all that interesting, I do have to admit that it'll probably tie into future story events better.

On the other hand, I thought that Theon's story was handled far better in the book than in the show. The book does a much better job of using his story-line to set up Ramsay's character, and it makes more sense in the book why his family isn't willing to spare men to help him hold Winterfell (since strategically it makes no sense, and he didn't even think about that), whereas in the show it just seems like they are being dicks to him just because.

Danaerys's story-line was kind of weak for this season of the show, and the book wasn't really any better, but I hope that her story picks up again just like it did in season 3 of the show.

Other than that, most of the other story-lines were fairly faithful in the show to the books, and despite any changes, I liked them about the same in both versions, though I will say that watching the battle of Blackwater Bay will always be more entertaining for me than reading about it. I'm just not a fan of long battle scenes in literature. It's a large reason for why I prefer The Odyssey to The Iliad, for instance.

[Pharass]

While looking for books at one of the local flea markets I found a nice two-volume edition of Mushashi by Eiji Yoshikawa. I'm currently halfway through the first volume and I'm really enjoying it, so far. I basically know nothing about the historical Miyamoto Musashi beyond the most basic facts, so I can't really point out which of the events in the book are based on historical facts and which ones Yoshikawa just made up. That said, the book is a great story about a man's personal growth, coupled with lots of exciting action and adventure. Musashi himself is a very engaging main-character and it's interesting to see how he develops both as a warrior and a person. In addition, the supporting cast is quite strong as well, with many memorable characters, the crafty monk Takuan being my personal favorite at the moment.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I believe that's the novel that Vagabond is based off of. I had no idea that it was translated to English, though. I'll have to look into that.

[Pharass]

I'm reading it in Swedish (forgot to mention that), but according to Wikipedia an English translation was published in 1981.

Now for some Shameless Self-Promotion: I recently finished the first two books in Stephen Donaldson's Gap Cycle and a short review of them are now available at Ye Olde Blogge, if you're interested.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I finally got back to reading ASOS. I'm noticing how Sam and Arya's story lines are mostly playing out the way that they did in the show, whereas other characters have a lot of different scenes,much as Jaime and Davos. Still, it looks like season 3 of the show was still fairly faithful to the book, from what I've read so far.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I started reading the Dresden Files finally.

Storm Front's not bad, but I heard it gets much better after that.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I finally finished A Storm of Swords. And....now I can see why so many people were disappointed when a certain character didn't appear at the end of season 4 (and is supposedly being cut out of the TV show's story entirely). Anyways, those last few chapters were amazing, and I really liked where Jon Snow's story-line left off in this book.

Anyways, I can't wait to start reading A Feast For Crows, which will finally put me ahead of where the show is currently at how that I'm mostly all caught up with each story-line, save for a few select characters. I'm aiming to be caught up with the main books entirely before season 5 starts.

On a side note, does anyone here know if the Dunk And Egg short story novellas are worth reading? I've been thinking about checking them out once I catch up to the main ASOIAF books.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I've just started reading A Feast For Crows. This'll be super interesting since I'm now mostly past the show, and thus in heavy spoiler territory.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I'm in the middle of Grave Peril. I'm kind of surprised more people here don't read this series, it seems to me to be the better parts of Buffy only with a noir/hardboiled edge.

So far, this book is the best one I've read of the first three.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Yeah, I found myself bored by the first two books. The third book was when it really got interesting, and generally sets the tone for the rest.

[Avaitor]

On a side note, does anyone here know if the Dunk And Egg short story novellas are worth reading? I've been thinking about checking them out once I catch up to the main ASOIAF books.

I've heard good things, but GRRM certainly feels strongly enough about them, since he's considered giving the okay to adapt them for a miniseries if he can't finish the next book in time.

I finally got through Red Dragon during my trip, and I really did like it. Harris' prose was sharper here than in Silence, as was the core mystery more interesting, even if I ultimately prefer Clarice as a protagonist to Will Graham. But it was cool to see most of the Hannibal gang in their original format.