Forgetting Time

February 2012 - And so the “Games” continue…

From my other blog:

So, this month I read George R.R. Martin’s “A Game of Thrones,” the first instalment of the “A Song of Fire and Ice” series. I have to admit that I haven’t completely finished “A Game of Thrones” yet, I still have about 200 pages to go (in the 2011 paperback edition). But what a ride it’s been so far!

I remember watching the TV series last year and being completely blown away by it. That however, did not influence my reading experience (much). I barely remembered the TV show, so I watched it while simultaneously reading the book and it made things that I didn’t really understand last year a whole lot clearer. I’ve enjoyed this experience of watching and reading the same story at the same time; I’ve never done this before! However, I fear this is also part of the reason why I didn’t manage to finish the book in February.

Knowing the story, I was in no rush to finish the book. I never had this nagging feeling of “I want to know what happens next.” (Also, you’d be surprised how busy you can be having NOTHING to do after just having finished your PhD thesis. Typical recovery?!) However, I found myself constantly looking forward to my favourite viewpoint characters: Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, and Daenerys Targaryen. This is actually something that bothered me about the book.

Don’t get me wrong, I love that you get so many different characters’ viewpoints, and I commend George R.R. Martin for writing them so convincingly and beautifully, but I also love having not necessarily a hero, but a main character (or a few) to identify with. I get why Martin is doing what he is doing, and “A Song of Fire and Ice” is no story about heroes, but I did constantly find myself glossing over parts of characters I had no particular interest in (read: Catelyn and Sansa Stark) while trying to get to the characters I love so much more quickly. I guess in a way it reminded me of my first reading of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” where I was constantly wondering what was going on with the other characters. It was killing me!!! (So kudos for the creation of superb suspension!)

My plan was to read Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” in March, however, methinks I’m going to finish “A Game of Thrones” and then continue with “A Clash of Kings” - I’m ridiculously excited for Season 2 to start on 1 April 2012 so I figured I might as well keep going with “A Song of Fire and Ice” =)