A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wow. I almost never like high-fantasy epics of m’lady courtliness, plus (ho hum) spooky old darkness, plus swords forged someplace awesomely dread of some kind of dreadly steel, plus, oh, dragons and prophecy and kitchen-sink Tolkien. Now I know why I’m so dismissive of that stuff – it always falls short. This book does not. The copy I have looks like any other pulpy doorstopper you might buy in a pinch at a drugstore before heading to jury duty, and yet I stayed up quite late reading and against my will and good sense went down the “Song of Ice and Fire” rabbit hole, even unto behavior like checking out George RR Martin’s livejournal and reading of his football preferences, yea for several entries even. F*** it’s now onto “A Clash of Kings” and more Westerossian madness for me and a futile attempt to shake free of books that slice like fine Valyrian steel through all my reading prejudices and plans. Bring on the dragons.
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Tags: a game of thrones, books, george rr martin, unexpected reading pleasures
Oh boy, it’s been a while. I think I was up to something this past year, and here’s my best guess as to what it was.
- I bought my first smartphone. After dithering, I went for the iPhone (as my friend Juana said, anything the Blackberry can do, the iPhone can do cuter.) Now I’ve got tangled ear buds and twitchy fingers like everyone else in the Bay Area. But I do like … hell, love it.
- I picked up some freelance work as the project editor of a YA nonfiction series with the mission of bringing essential information to America’s youth. The first title is How to Be a Vampire, and I’ve since how-to’d my way through How to Be a Zombie (lurching soon toward a bookstore near you). Naturally, How to Be a Werewolf is in progress.
- I liked Breaking Bad.
- I got a Google Voice number.
- I started editing for NVIDIA and learned a whole lot about parallel computing and other things that just blow my mind.
- I bought my first midriff-exposing yoga top (although I don’t always wear it).
- I did a lot of rewriting and revising (including a bank-robbery scene that I still don’t know if anyone likes) and for the most part I did it without chocolate.
- I vaguely remember being bored to death by Wolf Hall when it came in the New York Review of Books, and now I fully intend to read it while awake since it’s won the Booker.
- I really liked Humpday.
- I started thinking, if Grant can blog three times a week, I can blog three times a year, dammit.
