Tag Archives: a clash of kings

I present to you my thirteenth instalment of Weltenwanderers and Schlunzenbüchers „Gemeinsam Lesen“ (Reading Together).

Each Tuesday one of them asks four questions, with the first three always being the same about the book one is currently reading and the fourth a new one by either of them. All questions below are obviously translated from today’s German post.

1. Which Book are you currently reading and which page are you on?

I’m still reading A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin, though I haven’t managed to read as much as I would have liked last week.
I’m currently on page 508, which is not so far away from the end already.

3. What do you desperately need to tell about your current book? (Thoughts, Feelings, a Quote, whatever you want!)

All these wannabe kings are even more idiotic than I had thought last week, but I have to admit that some of their ways to rid themselves of their enemies are quite interesting. Though I fear the battles will continue throughout the series…why could they not have listened to Catelyn? Though it is curious that she and Tyrion, who are so much at odds, are the only one’s striving for a peaceful solution amongst the masses of kings.
I also have to admit that I am currently a bit tired of Arya, some of her tales were interesting and I liked the twist that brought her into her current predicament and what happened with Jaqen H’ghar, but I kind of would like her to re-unite with Needle and move on. 😀
On the other hand her brother Bran‘s story gets more interesting and I really like the way his dreams are described. Just as I found it funny that I understood the meaning of the green dream shortly after it was told by Jojen (I currently also like the appendix and a Wiki for the spelling of names…).
While reading one of Catelyn chapters her brother Edmure made a quite interesting claim:

„They shall not cross“

I have no idea, what that reminded me off. 😀

4. Huge tomes (>500 pages) – do you like reading them or shy at them? And why?

I rarely look at the pages when I choose to read a book. Either I want to read it or I’m not interested.
As I mentioned before in some book reviews are 200 pages nothing for me and I consider it a short read. Most of my books have around 400-500 pages, which makes this an average read. In case of A Game of Thrones, my current book and Wolves of the Calla there are even more pages, though I don’t think I’d consider them tomes to begin with. If the content of the pages is interesting than it doesn’t matter how many there are. If it drags on I just want to finish like it was towards the end of the 939 pages of latter one. Which incidentally (according to Goodreads) also makes this the third-longest book I’ve ever read, with Wizard and Glass of the same series coming second (957 pages) and Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix on the first place with 1021 pages, though I don’t remember that I struggled with them as much as I did with the wolves…

Additional thoughts

Don’t forget to check out my raffle for posting two hundred posts on this Blog!
You can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.
PoiSonPaiNter
© For the cover, the quotes and the banner belong to their rightful owners.

I present to you another instalment of Weltenwanderers and Schlunzenbüchers „Gemeinsam Lesen“ (Reading Together).

Each Tuesday one of them asks four questions, with the first three always being the same about the book one is currently reading and the fourth a new one by either of them. All questions below are obviously translated from today’s German post.

1. Which Book are you currently reading and which page are you on?

Last Thursday I finally finished The Dark Tower: Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King (see these four for more information: #8, #9, #10 and #11). But before I started my current read I also finished part three of the Vampire Diaries series (Part 1, Part 2), just to have an easy read before I started into a new endeavour.
On Saturday I finally was able to pick up A Clash of Kings again, after I couldn’t help myself but reading the prologue after picking it up from the library.
I’m currently on page 318, which is nearly half way through.

3. What do you desperately need to tell about your current book? (Thoughts, Feelings, a Quote, whatever you want!)

Just like with A Game of Thrones is this one really captivating. Luckily there is no Advent Calendar this time to stop me from reading (Though there is a bit of writing I have to do for Your Picture – A Story and The Extremis Review).
New POV (Point of Views) were added and everyone is conspiring and plotting for their turn on the Iron – or any other – Throne.
I still don’t know what I should make of Tyrion as a character, but his schemes are brilliant and quite interesting to follow.
Davos (new) look into the planning of Stannis Baratheon, on the other hand, leaves me as bewildered as Theon’s does appal me in regards to the Greyjoy’s way of living. So much stupidity and arrogance is just beyond me. Sure, their tactics make sense as well, but the way they are pursuing them could be more, well, efficient I’d say. With all their plunder this, conquer that or do this to gain that, it looks very much like they’re wasting their resources. The Lannister’s aren’t better in this, with all the raids their bannerman enforce unto the land – especially if they are attacking neutral parties – I somehow doubt there will be many subjects left to rule when someone finally settles on either Throne for good. In my opinion it’s not really a clever way to ensure someone’s victory. Here I prefer the peace approach Catelyn Stark suggests to her son, though it seems that the majority of those on the receiving end of these offer are too stubborn and bloodthirsty to even consider a treaty and even the stags are more interested in bashing their heads together than teaming up against a common foe.
In short: A bunch of thick-headed royals are slaughtering their way to be allowed and acknowledged to sit on a fancy chair.
I’m not entirely sure why this is still so damn captivating…
Maybe it’s the way those plans are foiled or have turns and twists you don’t expect in the beginning.
Maybe it’s the writing style, that is easy to understand, even for a non-native speaker.
Maybe it’s just some kind of weird voyeurism that makes you want to see how imaginary people cope with certain situations.
Probably a bit of all of those.
And apart from all that there is Jarman/Jarmen Buckwell, where I’m curious how Martin came to name one of his characters like my hometown.

4. Is there a person in your current book that you don’t like at all? If so, why? And if you could tell that person anything, what would it be?

There are several in a way. Though mostly not because I don’t like them, but because I think they’re idiots. There is Sansa that still has to learn a lot to no longer be just a pretty bird. Then there are Theon, who is just an arrogant prat and Stannis, who doesn’t really listen to reason. And probably some more I can’t name right now.
What I would tell them if I could? Good question…
I probably wouldn’t say anything, but instead shake my head and role my eyes in annoyance/disapproval.
Imagining for a moment there wouldn’t be any consequences for giving them a piece of my mind, I guess I’d tell Sansa to get her head out of the clouds and be realistic; I’d probably slap or hit Theon and rant about his treatment of others, especially women – though it is satisfying to see how his sister Asha does a nice job of humiliating him 😀 – and I’m not entirely sure what I’d tell Stannis, but I guess it would be along the lines of questioning his sanity…

Additional thoughts

Don’t forget to check out my raffle for posting two hundred posts on this Blog!
You can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.
PoiSonPaiNter
© For the cover, the quote and the banner belong to their rightful owners.