I've had occasion of late to be engrossed in books, as you might be able to tell from looking at my fingernails. I can't help it .. I chew my nails when I read, no matter how much I admonish and remind myself not to do that when I first sit down with a novel. It's a bad habit and yet, it's one I can't seem to break unless I stop reading. When I go for long stints without a book, my nails grow out. Not beautifully, but they get to the point where I have to file and shape them or risk permanent scarring when I scratch an itch. I know you guys out there are doing the manly equivalent of tittering, but yes .. girls scratch themselves. Just not their butts - at least not in public.
Anyway ... my computer has been fractious lately, which means I've had a lot of enforced downtown as I wait for my techhie Geoff to come sort out the issues. It seems that 'issues' always occur on Friday mornings and I spend the weekend waiting for my knight in shining armour to come riding to the rescue with another piece of equally shiny hardware and accompanying invoice.
I've just reread the entire George R.R. Martin "A Song of Ice and Fire" collection because of the HBO television show "A Game of Thrones." This last book has me alternately puzzled, pissed off and intrigued.
The story's scope is wide .. he's created a world that we can love; that is almost tangible in its feel. We experience the heat of hard-baked dirt below our feet in the cities across the Narrow Seas, hear the sighing grass seas of the Dothraki plains and shiver in the pre-dawn chill above The Wall north of Winterfell. The grey gloom of wartorn Riverlands, the high mountain passes of The Eyrie, and the bounty of Highgarden ... these all conjure up images.
For me, a writer has to first impact my sense of imagery to make an impression. GRRM has done that. In spades. So why am I unsettled by this last book? Perhaps because of the second thing a book is supposed to do .. give me characters I can care about, despise or be intrigued with. Our author has shown a flagrant capacity to kill or otherwise silence major characters just when their stories are good. He brings back players that change the game of thrones only to toss their bloody body into a ditch just when you thought they were about to do something important. He introduces characters and lets them die without us ever really feeling their role in the unfolding story .. he abandons main characters without a word .. what happened to Osha and Rickon?
I know this latest book was written in conjunction with the 4th book, as explained in the preface. No clue why it took so long to come out, however, and Mr. Martin has been pretty mum on the subject. Perhaps it had something to do with the television series.
Back on topic though .. it seemed to me that I was being subjected to some distracted writing because he used the same phrases over and over. "Much and more," "little and less," "kissed by fire," "I'm just a young girl," "a Lannister pays his debts," "you know nothing, Jon Snow." Sometimes it just felt like a 'search and replace' function had been run. Also, I found his exuberant use of harsh language to be excessive through this last book and no more so than in the mouth of young Arya. Its true that she is learning the art of developing alternate identities, but this tactic was roughly handled. Mr. Martin is more adept than that.
I'm frankly confused by Mr. Martin's portrayal of women. Or does he do this to all his characters and I'm just more closely in tune with how he treats women as objects? Cersei Lanniser and the Sand Demons are interesting people, but they behave like men and are eventually called to task for it while men who commit more vile crimes somehow never have to atone. Queen Margery showed a brief spark of promise, but turned out only to be a temporary literary foil for Cersei. To this point, Sansa Stark exhibits little more personality than Hodor and uses about as much capacity for thought. Catelyn Stark became much rounder due to Michelle Fairley's HBO portrayal than in the books, while her sister's monumental stupidity was played down. Even Daenerys is, at the end of this 5th book, struggling to be important to her own story.
Mr. Martin seems to be in love with heraldry, but I have to tell you ... my eyes glaze over the descriptions and I find myself skipping ahead, because other than the Stark, Lannister, Targaryen and Baratheon colors which become a cliché, they just don't matter.
I have an issue with the entire world falling into a state of wanton and cruel debauchery in the wake of Robert Baratheon's death and the rise of the Five Kings. I understand that life changes, but the knights of the Kingsguard don't all suddenly together abandon seventeen years of exemplifying all that is good and chivalrous in a kingdom. The festering rot at the heart of the kingdom cannot possibly extend to every single man (and a great many women) within a three month span. The bleakness and cynical outlook of the author in creating such a scenario had me wondering what was worth putting back together that people would fight for.
Is it the mark of a great writer to confuse us? I admit that I love not knowing what's coming next, but there are things I simply cannot figure out. About the time that I've determined what tale the books tell, Mr. Martin offs a character my theory revolved around. And yet I keep on reading, to formulate a new plan .. only to have that dashed as well.
Five books in and I still don't really know what the hell these books are really about. Unless it's "WTF Happened to the Starks?"
I'd be happy to hear your theories.
Anyway ... my computer has been fractious lately, which means I've had a lot of enforced downtown as I wait for my techhie Geoff to come sort out the issues. It seems that 'issues' always occur on Friday mornings and I spend the weekend waiting for my knight in shining armour to come riding to the rescue with another piece of equally shiny hardware and accompanying invoice.
--- :: ---
I've just reread the entire George R.R. Martin "A Song of Ice and Fire" collection because of the HBO television show "A Game of Thrones." This last book has me alternately puzzled, pissed off and intrigued.
The story's scope is wide .. he's created a world that we can love; that is almost tangible in its feel. We experience the heat of hard-baked dirt below our feet in the cities across the Narrow Seas, hear the sighing grass seas of the Dothraki plains and shiver in the pre-dawn chill above The Wall north of Winterfell. The grey gloom of wartorn Riverlands, the high mountain passes of The Eyrie, and the bounty of Highgarden ... these all conjure up images.
For me, a writer has to first impact my sense of imagery to make an impression. GRRM has done that. In spades. So why am I unsettled by this last book? Perhaps because of the second thing a book is supposed to do .. give me characters I can care about, despise or be intrigued with. Our author has shown a flagrant capacity to kill or otherwise silence major characters just when their stories are good. He brings back players that change the game of thrones only to toss their bloody body into a ditch just when you thought they were about to do something important. He introduces characters and lets them die without us ever really feeling their role in the unfolding story .. he abandons main characters without a word .. what happened to Osha and Rickon?
I know this latest book was written in conjunction with the 4th book, as explained in the preface. No clue why it took so long to come out, however, and Mr. Martin has been pretty mum on the subject. Perhaps it had something to do with the television series.
Back on topic though .. it seemed to me that I was being subjected to some distracted writing because he used the same phrases over and over. "Much and more," "little and less," "kissed by fire," "I'm just a young girl," "a Lannister pays his debts," "you know nothing, Jon Snow." Sometimes it just felt like a 'search and replace' function had been run. Also, I found his exuberant use of harsh language to be excessive through this last book and no more so than in the mouth of young Arya. Its true that she is learning the art of developing alternate identities, but this tactic was roughly handled. Mr. Martin is more adept than that.
I'm frankly confused by Mr. Martin's portrayal of women. Or does he do this to all his characters and I'm just more closely in tune with how he treats women as objects? Cersei Lanniser and the Sand Demons are interesting people, but they behave like men and are eventually called to task for it while men who commit more vile crimes somehow never have to atone. Queen Margery showed a brief spark of promise, but turned out only to be a temporary literary foil for Cersei. To this point, Sansa Stark exhibits little more personality than Hodor and uses about as much capacity for thought. Catelyn Stark became much rounder due to Michelle Fairley's HBO portrayal than in the books, while her sister's monumental stupidity was played down. Even Daenerys is, at the end of this 5th book, struggling to be important to her own story.
Mr. Martin seems to be in love with heraldry, but I have to tell you ... my eyes glaze over the descriptions and I find myself skipping ahead, because other than the Stark, Lannister, Targaryen and Baratheon colors which become a cliché, they just don't matter.
I have an issue with the entire world falling into a state of wanton and cruel debauchery in the wake of Robert Baratheon's death and the rise of the Five Kings. I understand that life changes, but the knights of the Kingsguard don't all suddenly together abandon seventeen years of exemplifying all that is good and chivalrous in a kingdom. The festering rot at the heart of the kingdom cannot possibly extend to every single man (and a great many women) within a three month span. The bleakness and cynical outlook of the author in creating such a scenario had me wondering what was worth putting back together that people would fight for.
Is it the mark of a great writer to confuse us? I admit that I love not knowing what's coming next, but there are things I simply cannot figure out. About the time that I've determined what tale the books tell, Mr. Martin offs a character my theory revolved around. And yet I keep on reading, to formulate a new plan .. only to have that dashed as well.
Five books in and I still don't really know what the hell these books are really about. Unless it's "WTF Happened to the Starks?"
I'd be happy to hear your theories.
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