A couple of month ago I posted that I'd started reading my first ever book in the fantasy genre. I'm happy to say it turned out better than my experiment with the mystery genre (many, many thanks to my friends Francisco and Kenneth for the strong, 100% accurate recommendations!). I LOVED the book. It still took me a while to get through it because I would savor the reading and wouldn't start until late, late at night when Monkey was long asleep, but I enjoyed every page.
Shortly after I started it I found out my friend Nessa was reading the series as well (there are 5 in the series so far), and on the same rafting trip where I learned that, I heard a stranger at the rafting site we were at make a reference to the book with the phrase "Winter is coming..." I was reading the book one night in Starbucks and no fewer than three people interrupted my reading to talk about the book. I guess a whole lot of people found it as captivating as I did.
Annnnnnndddddd...I couldn't wait to finish the first book because part of the reason it's received so much attention lately was that HBO decided to take it on and make a series of it. Everything HBO touches turns to gold, as we all know...
Today's New Activity: Experiencing A Game of Thrones, the Celluloid Version
What crazy great lengths they went to! A Game of Thrones takes place in an undisclosed time period in a made-up land, but I think it's reasonable to assume that many people, given the castles and clothing and armory described, pictured something along the lines of England circa 1600-1700. And that seems to be how the show's creators envisioned it as well.
They spared no expense on the costumes or scenery, and though I've only seen one episode so far, it's remained remarkably loyal to the book. Though two of the characters had different coloring than I'd imagine, Kenneth (who'd downloaded the episodes and showed me the first tonight) did some internet research to prove to me that the show had them right and I'd been imagining them wrong. Bad reader!
It helped that the principal characters were almost EXACTLY like I pictured them and easy on the eyes at that. It really was some of the best casting I've ever seen.
And since it's HBO, all the violence and sexuality in the book is there plain as day. While the violence is a bit much to take, the sexuality was refreshing :)
I'm now 100 pages into the second book and super excited to keep following the stories of all 15 or so amazingly well-developed main characters.
Showing posts with label A Game of Thrones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A Game of Thrones. Show all posts
8.28.2011
The GGA Project -- Day #260 "Same 3 Blocks, Different Day, Company, State of Mind"
There was a period of time when I visited Santana Row in San Jose on a near-weekly basis. I never did this because I was all that fond of the place (80% of the shops sold merchandise outside my budget, and I usually found it to be a sort of here-to-be-scene kind of atmosphere), but it was a pattern I got into with my husband during our marriage. Mostly, I didn't mind so much because I liked being out and (somewhat) about.
In the 14 months since my ex and I separated, I'd only returned a handful of times. This is partially because it's pretty far out of my way, but also because I just didn't feel drawn to go to a place that held memories that were almost exclusively from that time in my life--and the two most recent memories I had of us together were pretty unpleasant.
Today was a beautiful day to be shopping and people watching outdoors, however, and midmorning I got it in my mind to head that way...so I did.
A lot has changed in the past year. There are a few new restaurants and lots of new shops replacing the many that have shut their doors. I think this happens a lot at Santana Row because rent is so high that it's very difficult for businesses to survive; but that doesn't stop their trying.
As I meandered down one side of the avenue, I was magnetically pulled into one particular store, which I've learned is actually one of many locations, though I'd never heard of it before.
Today's New Activity: Browsing Free People
So. Free People is actually the name of the store, not a group of people I was studying. I was drawn inside by all the pretty, flowy things I saw through the window. As was the case with most everything else at Santana Row, the clothing was priced outside of what I'm comfortable spending on my current budget, but it was still fun to look.
I poked around on their website to see if there was some interesting concept behind the store's name: was the clothes made from sustainable materials coming from countries free from human rights abuses or something along those lines. Having not seen a mission statement or declaration of special mission in any obvious way, I'm guessing it's just a name.
So I didn't buy anything today, but I've noted the place for some future day.
To round out the afternoon, I visited a restaurant I've been to before but only for a drink. They had half-off appetizers for their happy hour, so I sat outside on the patio where I could here a live band nearby and read the book I mentioned buying a few weeks back (A Game of Thrones, which has turned out to be incredibly engrossing) while munching on this:
Yum. And though this particular trip to the old stomping grounds was shared only with the company of myself, it was nice. I enjoy my own company. :) It was a beautiful Sunday.
In the 14 months since my ex and I separated, I'd only returned a handful of times. This is partially because it's pretty far out of my way, but also because I just didn't feel drawn to go to a place that held memories that were almost exclusively from that time in my life--and the two most recent memories I had of us together were pretty unpleasant.
Today was a beautiful day to be shopping and people watching outdoors, however, and midmorning I got it in my mind to head that way...so I did.
A lot has changed in the past year. There are a few new restaurants and lots of new shops replacing the many that have shut their doors. I think this happens a lot at Santana Row because rent is so high that it's very difficult for businesses to survive; but that doesn't stop their trying.
As I meandered down one side of the avenue, I was magnetically pulled into one particular store, which I've learned is actually one of many locations, though I'd never heard of it before.
Today's New Activity: Browsing Free People
So. Free People is actually the name of the store, not a group of people I was studying. I was drawn inside by all the pretty, flowy things I saw through the window. As was the case with most everything else at Santana Row, the clothing was priced outside of what I'm comfortable spending on my current budget, but it was still fun to look.
I poked around on their website to see if there was some interesting concept behind the store's name: was the clothes made from sustainable materials coming from countries free from human rights abuses or something along those lines. Having not seen a mission statement or declaration of special mission in any obvious way, I'm guessing it's just a name.
So I didn't buy anything today, but I've noted the place for some future day.
To round out the afternoon, I visited a restaurant I've been to before but only for a drink. They had half-off appetizers for their happy hour, so I sat outside on the patio where I could here a live band nearby and read the book I mentioned buying a few weeks back (A Game of Thrones, which has turned out to be incredibly engrossing) while munching on this:
Yum. And though this particular trip to the old stomping grounds was shared only with the company of myself, it was nice. I enjoy my own company. :) It was a beautiful Sunday.
7.31.2011
The GGA Project -- Day #232 "Genre Reading, Take 2"
A few months ago I endeavored to read a book outside of my usual favorite fiction genre--that being straight-up fiction. The book was a mystery you may have heard of called The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Yeah, that didn't go so well. I heard it gets really good once you get through the first 30 pages of tedious exposition, but unfortunately I never made it that far.
With this in mind, I was a little reluctant to stray again into the shelves of the unknown, but in the spirit of this project I've decided to take the leap.
Today's New Activity: Delving into Fantasy
There are a couple of reasons I've decided to go with fantasy as my next new genre. First is that I'm still not ready for sci-fi, and I know I've liked some movies based on fantasy books. The Neverending Story comes to mind, though there have been others for sure.
But the main thing that appealed to me about George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones series was that a number of people I know are reading and enjoying it, and they range from people who almost exclusively read sci-fi/fantasy, to those who occasionally do or never have outside of this series. With that kind of broad appeal, I figured it might just grab me too.
I'm two chapters in and was already impressed with how the author established three characters pretty clearly within a page and a half (small-sized mass market format, so a page and a half is not a lot of time). All three of those characters were dead within the next 8 pages of the book, so this could be a long ride...but still, I appreciated that skill. And I've been told that there are tons of characters, all well developed in the now 4-book series of tome-like books, so that's a whole lot of people to keep track of. But I also hear it's fascinating, political, and addictive. So then, here we go...
With this in mind, I was a little reluctant to stray again into the shelves of the unknown, but in the spirit of this project I've decided to take the leap.
Today's New Activity: Delving into Fantasy
There are a couple of reasons I've decided to go with fantasy as my next new genre. First is that I'm still not ready for sci-fi, and I know I've liked some movies based on fantasy books. The Neverending Story comes to mind, though there have been others for sure.
But the main thing that appealed to me about George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones series was that a number of people I know are reading and enjoying it, and they range from people who almost exclusively read sci-fi/fantasy, to those who occasionally do or never have outside of this series. With that kind of broad appeal, I figured it might just grab me too.
I'm two chapters in and was already impressed with how the author established three characters pretty clearly within a page and a half (small-sized mass market format, so a page and a half is not a lot of time). All three of those characters were dead within the next 8 pages of the book, so this could be a long ride...but still, I appreciated that skill. And I've been told that there are tons of characters, all well developed in the now 4-book series of tome-like books, so that's a whole lot of people to keep track of. But I also hear it's fascinating, political, and addictive. So then, here we go...
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