Winter Reading List

Holy cow, my book pile just keeps on getting bigger. It's ridiculous, it is. Sigh.

I finally finished reading George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, first in his A Song of Ice and Fire series and the source material for that apparently awesome television series that aired this past spring (whoo! I finally get to watch that now, don't I?). I took it slow, reading along with Leigh Butler over at Tor. Two(ish) chapters a week. It took a while.

I am really not sure if I will be able to hold back on the next four books though. That ending. Man. I mean, man.

Currently, I am reading Brandon Sanderson's Elantris. I will probably do a write-up of my thoughts on that when I finish it in the next week or two. It is pretty spectacular so far, and the ball has just started rolling downhill.

Leigh's ASoIaF read-along is on hiatus until January. I am thinking once I finish Elantris I might try to squeeze in the conclusion of N. K. Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy, The Kindgom of Gods (it just arrived on Tuesday, much to my delight). After that I want to wrap up Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle with Inheritance, which has been hanging out in my pile for about a month.

Probably I won't get finished with those two before Leigh starts up with A Clash of Kings, but I figure I can stick to the read-along schedule on that until I do. Then I can just plow through the rest of Martin's insanity. It will be like ripping off a band-aid, I suspect. Yeesh. That man. Not very nice to his characters. It's kind of delicious and terrible all at the same time.

After that...well...who knows? There are oh so many to choose from. There are worse problems I can think of.

Does anyone else have this kind of insanity going on in their bookshelves? What are you guys reading? (Please for the love of Pete, no suggestions though, I am full up at the moment!)

Apparently It's The Bomb-Diggity

So Game of Thrones, the television adaptation of the first book in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, premiered on HBO this past weekend. I didn't watch it, of course. I don't have HBO, for one thing, and I am only eight chapters into the first book of the series for another.

Still, good lord, I want to see it. I am having a hard time resisting the urge to just buy the season pass on iTunes, tiny non-television-sized computer monitor be damned.

All of the reviews I have seen (that I haven't been able to read, which is killing me just a little bit) seem to be pretty glowing. People that I actually know who watched it have been raving on Facebook about the awesomeness, and several writers and webcomics creators I follow online have been singing its praises as well. The show did so well that HBO even officially renewed it for a second season. After only one episode had aired. Wow.

Everything points to this being a series that is not only awesome by all measurable standards, but also something that I will really and truly love.

Still. I'll be good and wait. It is hard enough not devouring the first book, rather than just reading two chapters a week along with Leigh Butler, who is doing a read-along on Tor's website. But what I have read I have truly enjoyed, even when I have been appalled by the events unfolding on the page. Especially in these last two chapters. Wow. The people were not kidding when they said that Martin is not kind to his characters. I have only had one chapter from the perspective of a certain character and I am dying to get back to her again, because I am quite concerned for her welfare. I already know that not a lot of good happens to her from the not really spoilery comments I have seen online, but still...

I am not sure I will be able to keep my willpower in check as far as reading the books goes (I have already demonstrated that I have precious little of that particular attribute), but I will wait to watch the series until after I have read all of the first book and probably some of the second. Just to avoid spoilers as much as is humanly possible.

So, even though I haven't yet actually seen this show, I am gonna go ahead and recommend it. If you like fantasy, if you like epic story-telling, if you like War of the Roses type succession battles, if you like gorgeous costume dramas, gorgeous British men, or if you like a damn good story that is well-told, then this is for you. Sunday nights on HBO, tune in. Or, if you don't have have HBO or would just rather read a book, get thee to a bookstore! A Song of Ice and Fire, first novel, A Game of Thrones.

You'll thank me later.

Ginia Bellafante can suck it.

The Year of Multitasking

It all started innocently enough. I decided that 2011 would be the year that I finally jumped into the craft of knitting, in addition to my already existing mad crochet skills. I already have two completed projects (a pair of slippers and a hat) under my belt. I thought the easiest way to maintain balance would be to alternate between knitting and crochet projects. This worked for a while.

But then I started on THE project, you know the one, I've mentioned it often enough. Yes, I am talking about the Doctor Who scarf. Good lord, for such a simple and straightforward pattern, this thing managed to completely derail me. I would find myself going for a whole week without doing any knitting or crocheting, pick up the scarf for a day or two, and then more days of not doing anything. Blame it on the tediousness of the super simple pattern, blame it on February, whatever the reason, I was not happy with my crafting lethargy.

THEN I looked at a calendar and realized, holy cow, there are quite a few people in my life having babies in fairly short order! People that I actually do want to make baby blankets for. (The count is now up to five, good gravy.)

I have always preferred to just work on one project at a time, only occasionally taking a break if I had a specific very small and quick project that needed to get done, and then going right back to the main project once finished. But I finally had to face facts and admit to myself that a) if I want to ever actually finish the Doctor Who scarf, I can't just put it in a drawer until I feel like picking it back up again, I need to keep it going, and b) if I want to get all of those blankets done in a timely manner, I needed to get started on them pretty much nowish.

So, I have come up with a solution. Monday through Friday I will work on baby blankets. Saturday and Sunday I will work on the scarf. I put this plan into action a week ago, and so far I am pretty pleased with the results. This past weekend I made some decent progress on my scarf:

Doctor Who scarf as of March 17, 2011.

I felt much less pressure while working on it this weekend and once more found myself actually enjoying the project. Excellent. Goal achieved, huzzah! I have come to terms that this is a project that will get done when it gets done, and I am okay with that. Besides, it is starting to get warm here anyway, I won't need it until October at least.

I also have been plowing along with Baby Blanket Alpha:

Baby Blanket Alpha as of March 15, 2011.

This photo was taken Tuesday night, so I have actually made a bit more progress than what you see. It is about a third of the way done after less than a week of work. This bodes well for baby blankets!

Speaking of finished knitting projects, that hat I mentioned earlier is indeed the Jayne hat that I took with me to Seattle to work on. I started it on the plane on Friday morning and finished it as we were leaving the airport Monday night. I worked on it in between panels on Saturday and while waiting in line for our photo op on Sunday (causing me to now really want a couple of these). I am pleased as punch with how it came out, even though the entire time I was making it I worried that it would be too small. But it actually fits just right!

Jayne Hat by Cori 2011.

Pattern: Jayne by Heather Hill (inspired by Joss Whedon's Firefly)
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulky by Brown Sheep in Autumn Harvest, Sunburst Gold, and Rust
Needles: Size 10.5 (US) Circular and DPN

Modeled by moi.

Note: Jayne hat also looks good on mini-Browncoats.

So, I have already been discovering the necessity, benefit, and possibility of multitasking in the crafting aspects of my life. If you had asked me a week ago I would have told you that was more than enough, thank you very much. I have enough going on in general without doubling up in each different area.

Then Leigh Butler announced that as of tomorrow she will be starting a new series of posts for Tor's website. I have long enjoyed her Wheel of Time re-read posts, and she has captured my interest with her writing style and turn of phrase. Tor is apparently pretty pleased with her as well, because they asked her if, in addition to her weekly Wheel of Time posts, she would be interested in doing a series of re-read posts for George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Here's the thing though: Leigh has never read the series. Not because she didn't want to, but because her devotion to Wheel of Time has sucked up enough of her time and energy that she didn't want to dive into another vastly epic and intricate series that is sort of taking its time to get finished. It's a testament to Martin's writing that fans are so vociferously annoyed at waiting for the next book in the series (which finally has a hard set release date for this summer), though it would be nice if they would go about expressing their desires in a more polite way. But I digress. The point is, Leigh decided she would be willing to give it ago, though instead of a re-read series, her posts will actually be a read-through. Two chapters a week.

Now I, like Leigh, have also had this series on my radar for quite some time. I too have hesitated to jump into it, though unlike Leigh this was because I already have enough other books to be reading that I don't need to jump into yet another big long addictive series (sadly, even though I have been reading at a pretty steady pace this year, my book pile has still only grown larger since last I showed you a picture). But. Two chapters a week? That really is not an unreasonable task. I read way more than that even on my slowest reading weeks.

So, I have finally, at long last, broke my hard and fast rule about reading more than one book at a time. Going forward, in addition to my regularly scheduled reading pile reading, I will also be reading A Game of Thrones (the first book in the series) along with Leigh. If I enjoy it enough, then I will pick up the next book when I am done.

My copy came Tuesday morning and I read through the prologue and first chapter that day. Can I just say, I really kind of want a direwolf now.

This also has the added bonus of ending up saving me about forty-five bucks (well, thirty six if you subtract the cost of the book) next month. I was planning to subscribe to HBO's forthcoming television show based on the series on iTunes (we haven't had any of the premium movie channels since I stopped working for the cable company and I refuse to add any just for one series). But since the first season is supposed to roughly cover the first book, I don't want to watch until I have read the first (and maybe the second as well) book completely through. So, I will probably just end up watching it on Netflix instead once I've finished my reading. Huzzah!

As a second added bonus, I won't be tempted to read the comments section on Leigh's posts (something that can suck up a great deal of time and often make me quite irritated at other people and the world in general). Since most people who will be reading her posts will have already read the entire series so far, she hasn't forbidden spoilers in the comments. So in order to avoid the risk of finding out something I don't want to know until I read it, I will just know to stay away. Excellent.

Hmm, maybe this multitasking thing is gonna work out for me after all.

Bits and Pieces

Ooh, ooh!  I totally finished Towers of Midnight yesterday and it was so freaking awesome.  I love Perrin so much.  He's cool again, huzzah!  Also, Moiraine!  And I'm very annoyed that there are now Whitecloaks that I like.  What's up with that, seriously?  Plus, it's going to suck to be Aiel in the future, apparently.

Um, that's pretty much the extent of the review I am going to do on that particular book, other than to say oh wow.  I loved it.  I can't wait for the next (and last!) Wheel of Time book to come out.  I suspect my husband and I will be fighting over first-read dibs ferociously.  But if you'd like a more in-depth review, Leigh Butler over at Tor has two, one that is spoiler-free, and one that is so totally not spoiler-free.

This means I can start playing Kingdom Hearts today during nap time.  Sweet.  I've got my walk-through saved, and I am determined to get this damn game played, y'all.  Reading-wise, I have two months worth of comic books and graphic novels (including the Serenity GN about Shepherd Book's backstory, which I may actually review for you if I get motivated) to read through, so I am gonna get those all read up (just in time for my December shipment to head my way) before I dive into my next book.  I have two clamoring for my attention right now, so I am going to use the time to decide which one to dive into first.  I'll let you know when I do get that figured out though.  I know you're desperate to know. 

Oh, hey, did you notice?  It's Friday!  That means time for a new installment of Gronk, yay!  Please to check it out and enjoy, here. Poor Gronk may not want to watch Battlestar for a while, but hopefully she'll give it a chance eventually!

Speaking of web-comics, one of my all-time favorites is called Looking for Group.  It is completely and utterly fantastic.  Basically, it's an RPG that you read instead of play, if that makes any sense at all.  The story centers around an elf named Cale who is good and pure and always wants to do the right thing.  This is a bit of a problem because all elves are evil in the world Cale lives in, but apparently nobody bothered to tell him that.  So, as he goes along, looking for adventure, he picks up a group, made up of really awesome, really not-nice people.  This includes one of my favorite characters of anything ever, Richard the warlock (or, Dick).  It is updated two times a week (Mondays and Thursdays) and each installment is basically a fully colored page out of a graphic novel.  There is an overarching story-arc, but there are smaller story-arcs as well.  So far, they have released three volumes of the series in really nice hardcover graphic novel format.  I'll admit, it makes a lot more sense when you sit down and read big chunks of it at once, but it is still highly amusing and entertaining on a page by page basis.  If you're interested in giving it a try, you can check out the first couple of pages and then decide where to go from there.  Here is a link to page one. 

Anyhoo, the reason I am telling you this is because I wanted to share an awesome moment in my life with you.  A while back I was telling my friend Miss T about the comic and when explaining it to her I mentioned the bunny that ends up being the constant companion of Richard the warlock.  I'm not going to explain why, or go into the bunny's story line (yes, the bunny has its own story line) here, because, well, spoilers.  But suffice to say, the bunny is totally awesome.  I was telling my husband this past weekend about my conversation with Miss T, and was amused that she was interested because of the bunny's story line.  I was saying how wonderful it would be if the guys over at LFG decided to make a bunny plushie (there is already a Richard plushie, which yes, I own).  Then, two nights ago, I click on a link to LFG in my feed reader and find this. My reaction may have caused my husband to come running in from down the hall to see what the heck was up.  Seriously, I must own this, and soon.  I just love when stuff like that happens, when you are saying to someone, "Wouldn't it be so awesome if X existed?" and then the next day you find out that someone just went and made X!  So splendid.

Proceeding in the random flow of this post, I also wanted to share one of my most recent addictions with you.  I am sure you have seen it around on the internet (Facebook, most likely).  It is the site Damn You Auto Correct, which I finally caved and added to my feed reader the other day.  I am so glad I did.  Some of these things are just weird, but some of them make me seriously fall out of my chair or start crying from laughing so hard.   It also gives me a weird sense of not being alone in the universe.  Because really, who owns a smart phone and hasn't had one of these moments, seriously?

And finally, I realize I haven't talked about this yet this month, but yes, I totally finished my novel on Tuesday, huzzah!  Total page count for the first draft was 137 pages (which is an excellent number if I do say so myself) and 76,487 words.  I feel so amazing for having done that.  I will definitely be revising this story and expanding upon it in the coming year.  I can think of a few dead-end plot elements I'll need to to through and excise, and a few scenes (mostly from a certain character's point of view) that I want to go back and add now that I know what the actual story  arc for this first novel turned out to be.  I do definitely want to write at least one, if not two more books in this universe as well, because, well, while I feel like a lot of stuff did happen in this book, it largely set the stage for a lot more other, bigger, stuff to happen next.  Also, the conflict that I thought would be the big final conflict in this book?  Totally didn't happen yet, it's got a little while before it comes to a head, I think.  So, there you are.  NaNoWriMo, it rocks.

I am off to have lunch with a friend from my former job and then to have a spectacularly relaxing weekend.  Maybe, just maybe, I'll get motivated and put up some of the Christmas decorations inside.

I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend as well.