Tag Archives: a game of thrones

Reading Together #4

To keep this one going you get another – this time belated, due to Laptop and Hobbit-reasons – 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 yesterday’s German post.

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

I’m still reading „A Game of Thrones“ by George R.R. Martin, one of the books I had chosen as A book someone else picked for me for BiblioSmiles’s Summer Book Challenge.
I’m currently on page 515, so I managed to read about 300 pages since last Tuesday, by mostly reading in the bus and finishing the chapters I started afterwards and on occasion reading regardless of that.

2. What is the first sentence on your current page?

Jon was breaking fast on applecakes and blood sausage when Samwell Tarly plopped himself down on the bench.

or in German:

Jon frühstückte gerade Apfelkuchen und Blutwurst, als Samwell Tarly sich auf der Bank niederließ.

I didn’t continue to read until I published the post to make this a Jon-hat-trick, I just couldn’t resist and this way I wrote one of the last few stories for the Advent Calendar instead of reading in the bus.

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

I’m not sure if I like the way the tv-show changes stuff, but I mentioned that before. Besides, even if I know I should stop watching the episode after reading the chapters portrayed in it, I kind of can’t because it’s still interesting to watch. This series is just too damn captivating…
Story-wise did a lot happen in the past chapters and I’m quite certain that this was only the beginning. Neither of the Starks is in a very good situation, the Lannisters plot and maim as they see fit and the Targaryen’s have reached their destination.
I by the way really enjoy the portrayal of the characters in the book so far, especially Arya and Daenarys. I really liked how Ned handled the whole thing with Needle and I grinned while Dany gave her brother a piece of her mind upon their arrival in Vaes Dothrak.
On the other hand was I just as shocked as Catelyn when she met her sister again.
As for the men, I don’t know what to make of Tyrion.
He’s an interesting character, with good advise and clever lines, but he still seems a bit too superior to me at times. Even with his physical restraints he can do a lot of things with seemingly little effort. Of course his pain is mentioned, but it still feels a bit too much like „look at this character, he is an imp, but look how awesome he is“. Kind of like one of those imba-characters in games or role plays. I still enjoy the scenes he’s in though.
Jon on the other hand is one of those characters that I don’t want to like, due to a possible death, but still do. It’s great how he changed from lordling to tutor and protector of his Black Brothers.
I have noticed that the characters have a different view on peoples ages, but when I read Sansa’s comment on how old someone was who was closing in on twenty two I certainly had to take a moment to let this sink…
Sure she is eleven and a brat (my least favourite of the Stark-bunch by the way), but people can’t have high life expectancies if mid-thirties are considered close to death and mid-twenties regarded as old, but it does fit the context.

4. Are you reading books only once or are there books you read/re-read several times?

Generally I read books only once.
Though, when I was a teenager I re-read the first three books of the Harry Potter series a couple of times. I do believe it was something around 7-5-3 times, maybe more often, maybe the fourth one as well, I can’t say any more. I just didn’t want to leave that world and the next book was still far away…
With BiblioSmiles challenge I am going to re-read the first one again as childhood favourite.
When Fairy posted her review on Reaper Man for her Alphabet-Challenge I couldn’t help myself but to follow DEATH on his journey to understand mortality again, either.
There are also a couple of other books that I wouldn’t mind re-reading, simply because I can’t quite remember them (like Waywalkers and Timekeepers by Catherine Webb), but that wont be done quite soon I guess, as I still have a couple others on my list.

Additional thoughts

You can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.
As you’ve probably noticed was this post a bit delayed, but with my Laptop being at the service and me getting some sleep before the Hobbit-midnight premier last night it wasn’t really possible for me to finish the post in time.
PoiSonPaiNter
© For the cover, the quote and the banner belong to their rightful owners.

Reading Together #3

My Advent Calendar has started yesterday and I feel like doing this again, so you get 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?

I’m still reading „A Game of Thrones“ by George R.R. Martin, one of the books I had chosen as A book someone else picked for me for BiblioSmiles’s Summer Book Challenge.
I’m currently on page 259, so I managed to read about 200 pages since last Tuesday, by mostly reading in the bus and finishing the chapters I started afterwards.
Sometimes I continued reading regardless of that, but I’ll get to that later.

2. What is the first sentence on your current page?

Jon was showing Dareon how best to deliver a sidestroke when the new recruit entered the practice yard.

or in German:

Jon zeigte Dareon wie man am Besten einen Seitenhieb ausführte als der neue Recruit das Trainingsfeld betrat.

For some odd reason I again stopped at a Jon-chapter, even though those are some of the most interesting ones…

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

The book is awfully captivating and there is pretty much a need to continue reading and sometimes I succumb to it, even though there are other things that I need to be doing.
I just want to know what will happen next…
And even though I know I should not get too attached to the characters, do I already have a couple of favourites. With my luck in these kind of things will pretty much all of them die.
I also couldn’t help myself watching the show after I read the chapters…
With a little search I found this chart that showed which chapters were portrayed in which episode.
From previous experiences do I know that things are changed and added in picturizations, but I was quite appalled at how different the show is from the book.
Some things are toned down („It should have been you.„), others are accentuated (the sex-scenes that are mostly only mentioned so far or don’t exist) and still others were dropped entirely (Ghost attacking Tyrion) or portrayed quite differently (Eddard using a mere dagger, when it should have been Ice).
I can’t say that the show isn’t impressive and well done, but its the little things that still bug me and make the watching less enjoyable.

4. In which perspective is your current book written? Do you prefer it when reading or does it not matter? (omniscient, personal or I-perspective)

At first I thought the book would be written in I-perspective from each character that got a chapter, but I soon learned it wasn’t that easy.
While it is a partly omniscient narrator and it doesn’t feel like a complete personal narrator either, does it mainly focus on what the current character knows and experiences, yet it is no I-perspective, as the character is still referred to in the third person.
It is an interesting perspective to say the least.

The perspective I prefer most would be the omniscient narrator that has still insight into the characters thoughts. So Martins style covers this pretty much.
What I can’t cope with is the You-perspective, the reader-include. I prefer enjoying the story as a spectator, not as a participant…
The I-narrator can be interesting, but also quite annoying at times, so it isn’t that high on my list either.
The book is written in present tense, but somehow, when I myself write I prefer using the past, though I don’t really care about that.

Additional thoughts

You can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.
By now I do believe it is highly likely that I participate again next week or some other week.
It is just too good a way to talk about my current read without adding a Goodreads Widget to my sidebar or waiting until I finally manage to get a review done.
On a completely different note: This is my 150th post. 😀
I didn’t anticipated this to happen in this year as well.
Then again, I’m not good with predictions as I  have learned.
PoiSonPaiNter
© For the cover, the quote and the banner belong to their rightful owners.

Reading Together #2

As I’m still not finished with the Advent Calendar and feel like doing this again, you get 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.
[Edit: I just noticed that this is the actual post I had to answer and I instead looked at the one from two weeks ago…
I added the real fourth question at the end.]

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

I’m currently reading „A Game of Thrones“ by George R.R. Martin, one of the books I had chosen as A book someone else picked for me for BiblioSmiles’s Summer Book Challenge.
I’m currently on page 49, so not that far into the story, but I already met some Starks, the last Targaryens, a couple of Baratheons and some White Walkers – though they are still unnamed.

2. What is the first sentence on your current page?

There were times – not many, but a few – when Jon Snow was glad he was a bastard.

or in German:

Es gab Zeiten – nicht viele, aber einige wenige – wenn Jon Snow froh darüber war, ein Bastard zu sein.

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

As a more or less rule I do not watch movies and series unless I know the books.
Or at least there are three categories to this:

  • I don’t care (e.g. Percy Jackson)
  • I didn’t know (e.g. Earthsea)
  • I don’t want to see it without former knowledge (the majority of things out there)

The last category was mostly created thanks to the Lord of the Rings movies, as I simply didn’t understand them, even though I watched them twice – each. (Still have to read the book though…)
So for the Game of Thrones series I decided to read before watching as well, even though I’ve heard many things about it and seen several gifs on Tumblr already.
I’m curious how Martin pulls off the different story lines and handles his masses of characters. I do believe this’ll help me to improve myself as a writer.

[Edit: 4.1] It is time for something new by … ? Which author should pretty soon write another book in your opinion? Or is there a series were you’re thinking „Man there should be another part!!“ ?

As I am rarely up to date with any books by any author is the answer to this quite difficult for me.
Last time I told you that I don’t really like series, so I don’t even know were to start there.
I do, however, know a series were I asked myself after the fifth book or so, why the author IS still continuing it, because the stories were pretty much repeating itself over and over again…. (I’m talking about Wolfgang Hohlbein’s Chroniken der Unsterblichen/Chronicles of the Immortals)
As I declared it as my favourite series and mentioned I wouldn’t mind continuations I guess the Harry Potter books seem to fall into the „there should be another part“ category…

[Edit: 4.2 This weekend is the first Sunday of Advent! What are you most excited about during the time of Advent? Christmassy books, Blog-Advent Calendars or are there any book-related topics that delight you especially in this time of the year?

There is pretty much only one Blogg-Advent Calendar I’m excited about and that is my own…
This might sound selfish, but this is the first time I made a calendar myself and I’m just curios if people will like/enjoy it…
Though as I generally like Advent Calendars and find them a pretty good thing to get into a Christmas mood, I think I’ll check out a couple of others to see how they are done. (Like the BlogBoard Advent Calendar, where DarkFairy participates)
In the farther sense of book-related are the things I like most about the Advent time the many stories that are shared.
Be they as films on television or whatever.
I just like watching/reading Fairytales…]

Additional thoughts

You can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.
I don’t know if I’ll be participating again next week or some other week, but maybe I’ll do. It seems interesting and could be another regular post beside my Weekend Guess.
Other than that would it also give me a way to talk about my current read without adding a Goodreads Widget to my sidebar.
We’ll see.
PoiSonPaiNter
© For the cover, the quote and the banner belong to their rightful owners.