Katie's 2012 Reads (fasciknitting)

Happy 2012 everyone! I am going to try this group again this year. I'm disappointed in myself for not keeping a reading log last year - I joined a few groups and opened up a new page on my excel spreadsheet for 2011 Reads - but I definitely did not keep track of what I read. In fact, it's the first time in several years that my spreadsheet does not accurately list the books that I read!

But it's a new year and I get to start again. I so love reading the posts in this group and I am thankful for all of the recommendations that I get from this group.

My goal this year is less vegging in front of the television and more time in my reading chair. Last night I started A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. I am not a big fantasy reader; I was never able to get into the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I am enjoying this story. Have any of you had a chance to check it out?

January 2012
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
I'll Take You There by Joyce Carol Oates

Sorry, not an epic fantasy fan, though my daughter has been in the past, and is a total FanGirl on this series. She been thrilled to see the television adaptation also. I think there was some talk that suggested the inspiration for some of it is the War of the Roses in the 15th century.

I just started A Game of Thrones last night too, though I am not a fantasy reader, generally. I was sucked in immediately!

I started the game of thrones series after being much pestered by my boyfriend to do so. I'm not much of a high fantasy reader, but I did enjoy the first book and even made it through the second and part of the third. The main problem I had with the series was the pacing and the endless amounts of seemingly superfluous description. I'm all for world-building, but sometimes Martin just goes on for too long. I found I needed to take long breaks while reading each book, but then found difficulty remembering who all the characters were and what had happened to them.

My hope-to-read list is already way too long for this year, but maybe I'll create a new wishlist for 2012. Game of Thrones will be the first on the list. It keeps coming up in threads here and there and now I'm more than curious. Will look forward to your further comments.

>5 fannyprice: - I actually find that, with all the fantasy series I've read (not that there are a lot of them), I have to take breaks between each book. I love Jack Whyte's A Dream of Eagles series, about the lead-up to King Arthur, but they took me months to read, because it was too much to handle back-to-back.

Thanks for all of the discussion! I agree with many of you about needing to take a break between the books. I finished the first book earlier this week and immediately purchased the second for my kindle. While I am enjoying it, I have found that it is helpful to sprinkle in other readings as I go along. With that said, I have two books to add my Read in 2012 List!:

1. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin - I very much enjoyed the world that Martin has built. These books have been described throughout LT so I will not rehash the plot, but will say that I enjoyed this book's feminist perspective. Most books or movies that I've read or watched from ancient times portray a world where rape and pillage is respected and to be expected. Martin has given us characters that defy these conventions. Arya is a spitfire nine year old that learns to fight with swords and sets out on her own outside the castle gates. Dany is a young queen bride that forces her followers to stop raping women after they win battles. Catelyn is a woman that stops at nothing to protect her family and their interests and sets out to help her son fight a battle for the throne. I would recommend this for anyone that is interested in the idea of reading fantasy books but has found it difficult to immerse themselves into that world.

2. I'll Take You There by Joyce Carol Oates - I have been working on this JCO for about six months now. That is not to say that it wasn't enjoyable, but it is more of a testament to how emotionally difficult I found this to be. This books centers around an unnamed narrator attending a state college in New York in the 1960s. She is an intellectual but gets talked into rushing a sorority by a friend that she has met in her dorm. This young woman cannot afford the sorority, but finds herself working more and more hours in the library to help pay for all of the fees and dues in the library. She has a massive breakdown and ends up leaving the sorority, but not without experiencing significant humiliation and emotional upheaval.

I love reading JCO, but I always finish books realizing that I was not a literature major and have definitely missed significant metaphors. However, they always leave me thinking about what she was trying to say and what her message means to me. I'm still trying to figure that out with this one!

Luckily for me, today is a snow day! I am enjoying hot cups of lemon ginger tea and curling up with books. I am vacillating between A Clash of Kings and The Golden Notebook. I hope everyone enjoys their day!

I finally read A game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords last year. I'd heard that the 4th and 5th books were not at the level of the first three so I'll hold off reading them until the last book is out and I have no choice.