Tag: Mount TBR

2012 Challenges

Mount TBR: Climbing Mt. Vancouver (Checkpoint 1)

Geoff W

Bev of My Reader’s Block has called for the first check in of the 2012 Mount TBR (To Be Read) Reading Challenge and I’m quite pleased with my progress so far.  For this challenge I have read 10 of 25 books which is 40%!

Overall on my reading challenges I’m 15 of 30 books which is 47%.  I may end up taking some time off to just enjoy reading other books over the next few weeks knowing I don’t have to push myself so hard to stay on pace for my challenges.

So far my favorite book of the challenge is Murder on the Orient Express. It was incredibly enjoyable and fun, and I really liked Agatha Christie’s writing style.   A Game of Thrones and the other novels were definitely up there as well!  My least favorite (by far) was Two Serious Ladies. I’m most looking forward to the Brontë novels (especially Anne as I haven’t read anything by her), but we’ll see once I get to them! You can see my list here and check out the responses to the novels I’ve already read.

2012 Challenges, Books

Book 98: A Dance with Dragons – George R. R. Martin

Geoff W

Well I finally got bored with the series, but I’m glad I read them (and will finish the series as they are released). The action within the novel was fascinating and the stories only added to the complexity of the overall world, but I wasn’t wowed or taken by surprise this time and that’s how it has been for the past three novels (last two more so).

The boredom wasn’t from the book being any less interesting or its length, but more the fact that I’m no really surprised. The first two novels had entire sections which left me breathless and the last three have had moments where I approached breathlessness only to be left wanting, such as what happens to Lord Snow, the discovery of what happened to the Maid of Tarth, and Daenerys’ dragon escapade. But even these incidents came across as trite, or even repetitive, in comparison to the shocking and sometimes disheartening actions of A Game of Thrones.

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2012 Challenges, Books

Book 97: A Feast for Crows – George R.R. Martin

Geoff W

The first of Martin’s novels NOT to win the Locus award and I can see why. To much was just not there. I understand the uniqueness of trying to split the story geographically, but it definitely left a lot to be desired. I can’t imagine reading this and having to wait nearly 6 years to read the ‘other half’ of the novel. Checking in as the second shortest novel of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series (only the first novel, A Game of Thrones is shorter) this novel still qualifies for the Tea and Books Reading Challenge and I am counting it for the Mount TBR Challenge as well.

The more of these novels I read, the more I realize Martin is incredibly intelligent and his writing is phenomenal. The series is summed up by one line in this novel (as in the last novel), “Old powers waken. Shadows stir. An age of wonder and terror will soon be upon us, an age for gods and heroes.” This not only supports my earlier discussions about his ability to write about magic but not include it in the world, but highlights that these novels take place at one of those moments in a history which are write history and re-write history.

Overall I enjoyed the novel, but I did have to keep reminding myself that this is only half the story. Occasionally I stopped and was like wait, what about so-and-so, or whos-a-ma-whats-it and then I realized that oh wait this is only half the story. This is probably why the book was only nominated for awards (or the award committees are getting tired of awarding Martin awards).

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2012 Challenges, Books

Book 96: A Storm of Swords – George R.R. Martin

Geoff W

And with the turn of a page some of the characters I’d grown most fond of were murdered. I’m still speechless and I honestly didn’t think he could (or would) do it again, but what was I thinking? And then, 200 pages later HE DOES IT AGAIN! What?!? I mean resetting your cast of characters is old hat, but wow. I’m not sure how many more times this can occur before I lose patience. I almost want to make a list of all the characters that were alive at the beginning of a book and then cross them off as they die to try and see an overall picture.

This is a 4,161 page series (Kindle version as of now with two, maybe three, to come) set in an at war pre-technology era of royalty, knights, magic and dragons, of course characters will die, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I will say the final chapter of the novel was somewhat more rewarding than what happened 400 or so pages before, but the epilogue was somewhat disturbing! Where is Martin taking the series!?!?

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2012 Challenges, Books

Book 94: Becoming Jane Eyre – Sheila Kohler

Geoff W

I purchased this novel back in September at the Border’s going out of business sale and I’m glad I did, even if it was a whim purchase that I didn’t need at the time. Although the novel wasn’t what I expected, it was a quick read and served its purpose of tiding me over for a week until I could pick up my Books into Movies book group book (Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man) from a friend. This book serves as the third book I’ve read for the Mount TBR 2012 Reading Challenge.

I did have some issues with the novel, but it was very well written (I’d go so far as to say over-written at some points). But looking back, I think part of the problem was my perception, the fact that I enjoyed the idea of the novel itself more-so than the execution and actual novel. I’m thinking back to Becoming Jane, the film starring Anne Hahaway – I haven’t read the novel but will at some point, where I enjoyed the concept of characters and authors merging.

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