I've been on a bit of an epic fantasy kick lately. And I've begun to notice that nearly all of these books start in late Fall and reach their conclusion in early Spring. This probably has more than a little to do with the symbolism of these seasons. The ending of the year helps make the coming danger that much scarier. All of the really dire stuff happens in the dead of winter. Then Spring comes and with it, new hope.
George RR Martin draw this out in his series. Seasons can last for years in his world, which helps keep us on the bring of winter for five whole books. But many other authors are guilty of using this device to create maximum emotional impact in their stories. Here are the books I've read recently (or not so recently) that follow this pattern (so far, at least)
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind
Goodkind manages to do this two books in a row by manipulating certain facts. In the first book, the bad guy must be stopped by the first day of winter. In the second book (The Stone of Tears), the bad stuff is all going to happen on the Winter Solstice of the same year. Somehow there is a month or two between these two dates, which are traditionally the same day.
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The framing story does this, not the flashbacks to Kvothe's life
Can anyone else think of other stories that follow this pattern? Now that I've noticed it, I'm having a hard time unseeing it.
It's been so long since I've written anything. There hasn't been too much interesting going on, and I just haven't been in much mood to write.
I've gotten pretty good at going to the gym consistently and running. I managed to run two miles the other day and completed a whole 5K in slightly under 45 minutes. My main goal is to actually be able to run a 5K. But tonight I had a hard time even running a mile. This turned out to be because they updated the software on the treadmills. I ended up running uphill without realizing it. Once I finished and discovered that the treadmill was inclined more than I'd intended I was actually fairly proud of myself for completing a mile.
They're altering the bus routes and changing the roads near my house which has caused a bunch of headaches. A three-way stop turned into a 4-way stop causing me to nearly be t-boned a few times. People don't even look in one direction because they don't expect a car from there. And they got rid of a right turn lane. Now I get honked at when I don't turn right at the stop light by my house. So few people go straight through that light that no one expects me to, and they feel a burning need to alert me to the fact that I can go when I actually can't.
See how boring my life is? These are the things weighing on my mind right now.
I finished Cat's Cradle a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't come up with anything to say about it beyond "it's absurd and delightful". So that's what I'm leaving you with. I liked it. I'm definitely going to add some more Kurt Vonnegut to my library.
I swear I won't be this boring forever. I have lots of thoughts about The Name of the Wind, which I'm nearly done with. I'm tossing around an idea for a post about the prophecies in A Song of Ice and Fire, but I need to do more research for that one. Which is to say I need to look up the wording of the various prophecies, and that's incredibly difficult to do on a kindle. I kind of want to buy physical copies of those books.
The boyfriend and I are in the process of adopting a dog. Which is to stay we've submitted an application, but haven't done more than that. So expect more news on the front at some point, too.
I just haven't been the most exciting person lately. Perhaps that will change with the weather?
I arrived at the metro station shortly after 5:30. Signs had been posted to inform everyone that there were severe delays on the metro and alternate routes were suggested. I didn't have another option, so I walked through the turnstile and down to the crowded platform.
While I was waiting for the train, a recorded announcement on a loop informed me that a passenger had been struck by a train, and the metro was not running between Rosslyn and Ballston (that's five stops). Shuttle service was being provided for passengers between the two stations (if you lived somewhere between them, I imagine you were on your own).
The train arrived and, miraculously, I managed to squeeze onto it. Fifteen minutes later we had traveled the two stops to Rosslyn. Since the track was closed beyond Rosslyn, we had to wait for the train ahead of us to unload, then back up to the track switch before we could pull in.
The platform was beyond crowded. There almost wasn't enough room to unload the train. And once we did all squeeze onto the platform, no one was moving. Every now and then the people on the escalator would ascend a few steps and everyone would shuffle forward. It took me twenty minutes to get upstairs.
I was waiting in the crowd on the upper platform when there was an announcement that the station was closed and everyone needed to exit. That sent a wave of laughter through the crowd. What else had we been trying to do for the last half hour? But closing the station did help, and we began to move a little faster.
Eventually I made it to the foot of the escalators where I discovered the bottleneck problem: none of the escalators were running. Everyone had to climb up the stairs. This wouldn't be that big of a deal except that Rosslyn has incredibly long escalators. Every so often someone would faint or find themselves unable to move on. Then we would need to wait for the escalator to clear out so paramedics could descend and offer water and oxygen to that person before helping him or her to the top.
I finally made it to the street around 6:30. The line for the shuttle to Ballston was too long to comprehend, and traffic was barely moving at this point anyway. So I started walking, following the mob of people who had the same idea. During this walk I heard snippets of gossip. The man who had been struck by a train had apparently jumped in front of it. He was alive and conscious. Trains still weren't running.
Half an hour later I got Boyfriend on the phone and asked him to meet me in Clarendon for dinner. Stopping for a glass of wine and some food seemed a much better option than walking the remaining mile to the Ballston station where the trains would hopefully be running. So he came to meet me and we had a lovely dinner and drinks and didn't go home until traffic had cleared up. At least I got my silver lining. And between the huge staircase at Rosslyn and the hike to Clarendon, I didn't even feel guilty about not making it to the gym.
I also manged to read about 10% of A Feast For Crows since I didn't really have anything else to do. I might actually finish it by the weekend.
I was on the metro coming home and re-reading American Gods again. I finished The Graveyard Book over the weekend and started Slaughterhouse Five last night. So, naturally, I was thinking to myself "Man, I should really get back to A Feast For Crows" (I was also thinking, "I'd really like to live in Lakeside", but that's beside the point.) I'm still only halfway through the fourth ASOIAF book, even though I started it a month ago. But I hate the Ironborn so much, and all of the Dornish characters still confuse me and there aren't nearly enough Sansa or Arya chapters, so I've been drifting towards other books.
Anyway, I had just recommitted myself to AFFC when the lady sitting next to me needed to get off the train. I let her out and scooted toward the inside and noticed a book sitting between the seat and the wall. I'm all set to call after the woman that she left her book when I see a notice taped to the cover:
Traveling Book
I'm not Lost - I'm on a journey
I turned the book over and discovered a classic: The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. There are instructions for registering the book on a website to track its journey and pass it on when you've finished.
Now if you know me, you know I'm not one to pass up an opportunity to read a book. Especially since The Graveyard Book, which I'm still kind of ambivalent about, was based on The Jungle Book. It's like the universe telling me I have to read this book to gain a better understanding of the book I just finished. Or at least a really awesome coincidence.
So now A Feast For Crows has been pushed back another week while I dive into The Jungle Book.
There are just way too many books out there that I want to read.
I took a break from A Song of Ice and Fire to read the new edition of Neil Gaiman's American Gods (my review of which is so far incredibly disjointed and will probably stay that way). This turned out to be a good thing, as it actually gave me a bit more insight into ASOIAF.
I had reached the point in American Gods with the god in Las Vegas. The one that everyone always forgets and I can never figure out. Armed with my internet connection, I decided to figure it out once and for all. My search led me to a complete listing of the gods that appear in American Gods, which seemed like a reasonable place to find my answer. Scrolling though, I came across Bran, the Fisher King, and little alarm bells started ringing in my head.
Bran was a king in Irish mythology who got co-opted as the guardian of the grail in the Arthurian legends. He usually appears injured and unable to walk or move around by himself. He is usually called the Fisher King (because all he can do anymore is fish) and sometimes the Wounded King. The kingdom suffers along with his injuries, experiencing war and famine.
This discovery sent me down a rabbit hole of research. I remember learning about the Fisher King in my Arthurian literature class in college. It's one of the legends we spent the most time on. We watched the original movie about Perceval (which you need to be stoned to properly appreciate), read Bernard Malamud's The Natural to look for the parallels and watched that movie adaptation as well. We even watched The Fisher King, which seemed like the biggest stretch of the legend. I think we read (or were supposed to read) Chretian de Troye's Perceval, and I still have the anthology that it's a part of.
The Fisher King got renamed for more recent adaptations, which is why I never picked up on this connection before. He is Pelles in Perceval and Roy Hobbs (the hobbled king) in The Natural. But he is always wounded, always ruling in some way over a barren land, always waiting to be saved through the grail quest.
George RR Martin must have been aware of these parallels. It's one of the more insidious myths if you start looking for it, and any serious fantasy author is sure to go looking. Bran's name and injuries were no accident. Now when I pick the books back up, I'll be paying closer attention to hints about a grail quest of some sort.
I'm also going to have to re-read some of the Arthur legends. I have a decent collection of them, thanks to that class I took, and I didn't read nearly as many as I should have. Then, of course, I'll need to re-read A Song of Ice and Fire with an eye open for King Arthur. I'm sure he's in there in a thousand little ways and I just haven't picked up on it yet.
I never did figure out who the Las Vegas god is. Damn, Neil Gaiman's good.
I went on about an ASOIAF fan theory I thought was interesting and had some merit back in this post. I argued that maybe Jon Snow wasn't Ned Stark's bastard son, but was instead Lyanna's son by Rhaegar. I take it back. I was clearly wrong. Now that the Stark kids are starting to have weird wolf powers, and Jon is sharing in those powers, it's clear that they're all siblings.
I still have 20% of A Clash Of Kings left. A review will be coming later, maybe early next week. In the meantime, here's what I think so far:
Theon is a jerk
Tyrion is awesome
Joffrey needs to just die already. Please?
I feel so bad for Sansa. I want her to escape
Arya is awesome, as always. I have complete faith in her
Brienne is pretty cool, too.
I hope the Starks win the war, but it's not looking good.
I really want to see what happens with Dany. She's amazing and her story is awesome. But I want her to get her butt to Westeros. I imagine that won't actually happen until the last book, though.
I refuse to believe that Bran and Rickon are dead. It's not true. They melded with Summer and Shaggy Dog or something. Or Theon's just trying to trick everyone for some awful reason. But they aren't dead.
Actually, the next chapter is a Theon chapter, so I'm guessing their deaths will actually be confirmed soon. Boo.
Man, I've been reading this book forever. And it's the shortest of the series. I may have to take a break and devour a couple of shorter books after I finish this one.
First, a definition. Shipping refers to a preference for a certain relationship. If a ship is "canon", that means it actually appears in the source material. Buffy/Spike was canon. Willow/Spike never was, but I still shipped it.
As I'm beginning to read A Clash of Kings, I wanted to record some of my thoughts. I read the first book, A Game of Thrones, in a bit of a vacuum. But when the TV show started, I began to enter the fandom. I started reading reviews of the show, some by people who had read all the books, some by people who were coming to the story with fresh eyes. And this led me to more things. The fandom (and every fandom, really) produces everything from stunning artwork to hilarious mash-ups with Arrested Development.
Watching the TV series also clued me in to details I'd missed on my read of the book. I had never picked up on the fact that Renly is gay until it become rather obvious in his scene with Loras. It's possible this doesn't get hinted at until later books, so maybe I missed nothing. But when the prologue of the second book mentioned Renly's new rainbow guard, with each of seven knights dressed head to toe in one of the colors of the rainbow, I laughed and laughed.
Stepping into the online fandom also clued me in to some popular ships and theories. There are pretty vocal contingents who think that Jon and Arya are destined to be together, or that Jon and Dany would make a great couple. There's a smaller faction that seems to ship Sansa and The Hound, though I also have a vague idea that Sansa develops a crush on The Hound at some point. So I guess that's canon at least.
I kind of want to talk about the two Jon relationships, though, because they involve a theory that I'm considering more of a possibility the more I read. Though that could just be because I kind of want Jon and Arya to get together.
Now you might be thinking, but Jon took a vow of celibacy! Or ew! Jon and Arya are siblings! Well, hear me out. Then you can judge all you want. First off, screw the celibacy thing. There are at least five armies involved in at least two wars by the beginning of the second book. Jon may or may not ultimately uphold his vows (though he does seem to have a lot of that Stark honor). Second, the people in Westeros are no stranger to incest. The twins, Jaime and Cersei have three kids together and Viserys was all set to marry his sister, Dany, until Khal Drogo came along. But, there's also a possibility that Jon and Arya don't share a father.
See, we haven't found out who Jon's mother is. Ned took that secret to his grave. But Ned's also an incredibly honorable man, and when you look at his life and choices, it seems less likely that he cheated on his wife in their first year of marriage. Especially since he straight-up never did it again. In a world where everyone cheats on their spouses with prostitutes and family members, Ned didn't. And when you consider that Rhaegar had kidnapped Lyanna to make her his wife and Ned was one of the last people to see Lyanna before she died.
The theory is that Jon is actually the son of Lyanna Stark and the Mad King's son, Rhaegar Targaryen. Ned took that secret to his grave to protect Jon. Had Robert ever learned Jon's true lineage, he would have had him killed as surely as he was trying to kill Dany. Probably moreso, because he would have hated Jon with the same intensity that Snape hates Harry. I hadn't paid this theory much mind until the last episode of Game of Thrones nodded to it by talking about Lyanna's imprisonment. Given that, and Ned's flat out refusal to discuss Jon's mother with anyone, including Robert his best friend and King, I think this theory is a definite possibility. It could still become canon before the series finishes. I also think it adds a nice twist and an extra layer of deception to everything happening in Westeros.
If this is true, it would mean that Jon and Arya are cousins, not siblings. At least that's a step in the right direction. They're still blood relatives, but marrying cousins was a bit more common back in the day (and is still legal in some places). However, this theory also plays right into the Jon/Dany shippers. This theory means that Jon is a dragon as much as a wolf. The Targaryens have been inbreeding for generations because of their blood pride. If there's a chance that Dany can marry another dragon and make another generation of baby dragons, I'm sure she'll take it.
This is all just speculation, of course. I've only read one book, and I could very well be proven wrong. But Arya is now on her way to the Wall. She's supposed to get dropped off at Winterfell, but I hope she makes it all the way to the Wall and reunites with Jon. Then again, he's heading north to fight the zombies White Walkers, so he probably wouldn't even be there when she arrives.
First there's this video. Except insert Eliza Dushku for S Michelle Gellar.
She's such a dork. It's adorable.
Apparently American Gods got picked up for SIX seasons on HBO. Tom Hanks' production company is funding this with a huge amount of money. But I'm not sure how they're going to turn one novel into six seasons of television, 10-12 hour-long episodes each. Unless this is true
I really hope this is true. And maybe one season will be dedicated to Anansi Boys as well.
I've been watching a whole lot of Supernatural lately. Like, a lot. It's basically two hot guys driving around the country slaying demons. It's very fun and kind of addicting. The guys are really hot. And it's a surprisingly smart show when it comes to knowing the ins and outs of the genre. It's less smart about women, but that's okay. It's mostly about the guys and the demons.
I've been re-reading the Sookie Stackhouse books in preparation for the True Blood premiere. It's in two weeks; I can't wait! I'm also planning on picking up the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series as soon as Game of Thrones ends (finale next week). I thought there was a nice bit of symmetry to that.
Finally, I saw this and kind of want one:
It's a trap door in your floor that leads to a mini wine cellar. Someday when I'm rich...
HBO appears to be going after the geek demographic. They started True Blood several years ago, which was a smash success and begins its fourth season in June. This Sunday marks the premiere of The Game of Thrones, based on George R R Martin's book series A Song of Ice and Fire. These books are epic and long, and I've only read the first one, but I look forward to reading the rest. I'm sort of holding off until after the TV series starts, though. Then, they announced today that they bought the rights to Neil Gaiman's American Gods and are going to produce a mini-series based on the novel, with Mr. Gaiman signed on as one of the writers.
Be still my geeky heart.
Anyway, it worked. I convinced Boyfriend to add HBO to our Verizon subscription (by promising to pay for it), and I can't wait to see these stories translated to the small screen (which is actually pretty big these days).
American Gods was basically my introduction to Neil Gaiman. I'd read the first Sandman graphic novel, Preludes and Nocturnes, and was saving up to buy the rest of the series. Then an ex-boyfriend gave me American Gods because he thought I'd like it, and he was right. I finished the book before I realized that it was written by the same guy as Sandman and immediately started seeking out his other work.
This novel isn't for everyone. It's a slow burn book. There's more introspection and philosophizing than action and adventure. It's based on the premise that all the immigrants brought their gods to America with them. Over the years, those gods have been lost or forgotten. They've been replaced by the newer gods of television and telephone (now being replaced by the gods of Google, Netflix, and Facebook, of course). And the old gods are pissed. They're looking for a fight. One last moment of shining glory before they are forgotten completely.
The protagonist is a man named Shadow, a former convict. He is released from jail just in time for his wife's funeral, after which the mysterious Mr. Wednesday (Norse god Odin) offers him a job as an assistant. Together they travel across America, gathering up the old gods and convincing them to fight in the impending war. As I said, the story is slow. But I'm in love with the premise. I think it does a lot better on a second read through.
I've been meaning to re-read American Gods anyway. I recently discovered that a version was released in 2005 with 40 extra pages. My copy is from 2001, so I'm anxious to know what I'm missing. Boyfriend kindly went and bought it, but he's reading it now. I'll have to wait until he finishes. Even though I could probably read the entire thing before he got around to picking it up again. Oh well. If you've seen my currently reading/to read list, you'll know that I have plenty to keep me occupied in the meantime. As long as I get around to it before the series premieres on HBO. Which, let's be honest, is probably years away and might not even happen. (Fingers crossed it does)
In the meantime, I'll leave you with one of the most famous and oft-quoted passages from the books, Sam's "I believe" speech, which is available on a t-shirt
I can believe things that are true and I can believe things that aren't true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they're true or not. I can believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles and Elvis and Mister Ed. Listen — I believe that people are perfectible, that knowledge is infinite, that the world is run by secret banking cartels and is visited by aliens on a regular basis, nice ones that look like wrinkledly lemurs and bad ones who mutilate cattle and want our water and our women. I believe that the future sucks and I believe that the future rocks and I believe that one day White Buffalo Woman is going to come back and kick everyone's ass. I believe that all men are just overgrown boys with deep problems communicating and that the decline in good sex in America is coincident with the decline in drive-in movie theaters from state to state. I believe that all politicians are unprincipled crooks and I still believe that they are better than the alternative. I believe that California is going to sink into the sea when the big one comes, while Florida is going to dissolve into madness and alligators and toxic waste. I believe that antibacterial soap is destroying our resistance to dirt and disease so that one day we'll all be wiped out by the common cold like the Martians in War of the Worlds. I believe that the greatest poets of the last century were Edith Sitwell and Don Marquis, that jade is dried dragon sperm, and that thousands of years ago in a former life I was a one-armed Siberian shaman. I believe that mankind's destiny lies in the stars. I believe that candy really did taste better when I was a kid, that it's aerodynamically impossible for a bumblebee to fly, that light is a wave and a particle, that there's a cat in a box somewhere who's alive and dead at the same time (although if they don't ever open the box to feed it it'll eventually just be two different kinds of dead), and that there are stars in the universe billions of years older than the universe itself. I believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything I do. I believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn't even know that I'm alive. I believe in an empty and godless universe of causal chaos, background noise, and sheer blind luck. I believe that anyone who says that sex is overrated just hasn't done it properly. I believe that anyone who claims to know what's going on will lie about the little things too. I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies. I believe in a woman's right to choose, a baby's right to live, that while all human life is sacred there's nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal system. I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you're alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it.
Also, allow me to geek out because Game of Thrones premieres this weekend! This book was awesome. There are a lot of characters, which can be a bit of a brain stretch. The chapters switch off perspectives between several characters and locations. But you end up with a whole lot of threads weaving together into an epic political intrigue. With dragons (eventually).
Seriously guys, dragons make everything better.
Game of Thrones also has a bunch of strong female characters. There are queens and princesses telling their story right alongside the kings and princes. And all of them are interesting, fleshed out characters. I really can't wait to see how this translates to the screen. Here's a preview:
So much intrigue! Here's a slightly less cryptic trailer:
That first scene was lifted straight from the book. And the landscapes! It all looks so gorgeous and wonderful. Plus, Sean Bean!
