Reading fiend - Game of Thrones, The Dark Tower

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I've been on a roll the last five weeks reading.  I've always loved to read - big thank you to my huge family, four of my siblings are quite a bit older (from 11 to 20 years older than me), and they grew up poor, not to mention in a time when television was not available to many or had limited programming...thank you to them because they turned to books for entertainment, and in turn they read to me, thus becoming my first and best choice of entertainment.

Anyway, these past years, with writing and art taking up much of my free time, reading's taken a back seat, but every now and again I get on a roll.

Despite my critical review of 'Game of Thrones', I finished the rest of 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series that's been published as yet.  None of the books made it to even 4 out of 5 stars, but I felt 'Game of Thrones' was the worst of the bunch, with 'A Clash of Kings', book two, not faring much better (2.75).  Books three and four, 'A Storm of Swords' and 'A Feast for Crows' fared the best, with 'A Storm of Swords' getting 3.5 stars (initially I gave it 3.75, but then a 1/4 star was revoked because of the Epilogue, and Martin bringing a char back that I despise), and 'A Feast for Crows' getting up to 3.75.  'A Dance of Dragons' got 3.25.

I will likely reread these books once the series is complete (so, 20 years from now at the rate Martin is writing the last two =P ) and I imagine I'll enjoy them a bit more, as I'll not be so lost.

Next up was a reread of one of my favorite series, 'Lives of the Mayfair Witches', by Anne Rice.  I'm not what one could consider a Rice fan, and I remember reading the first book in the series, 'The Witching Hour', simply because I thought the cover was interesting.  Turned out to be one of my favorite books ever.  

The second and third books, 'Lasher' and 'Taltos' were not my favorites, but on this reread, I really, really liked them, and my reasoning has everything to do with being a writer and little to do one as a reader.  Part of 'The Witching Hour''s ending, in the past, maddened me; I couldn't understand one particular char's decision, and in 'Lasher', with another main char, I experienced the same thing.  And without going too deep into why I think that or this, I'll just summarize and say I felt that in those two situations, Rice chose subtlety over reminding the reader of why the chars would even consider said decisions.  A little emphasis on the other side, provided by myself, brought things back into alignment, and enjoyment persevered :)

After 'Lives of the Mayfair Witches', I read a book my Mom sent to me, and then bothered me about over and over again until I sat down and read it one afternoon.  It's been made into a movie, apparently, though I can't speak on that at all, however the book, 'The Help', by Kathryn Stockett, was excellent, the high point being the main characters were STUFFED with character (here's looking at you, George R. R. Martin)!  It was also written in first-person present, and had multiple points of view - which my own in-progress works all are, and which much fiction is not, so it was not only interesting, but inspiring as well :)

Another series reread came after - 'The Dark Tower' by Stephen King.  I've read books I-IV ('The Gunslinger', 'The Drawing of the Three', The Waste Lands', 'Wizard and Glass') easily 5+ times apiece.  V-VII ('Wolves of the Calla', 'Song of Susannah, 'The Dark Tower') twice each.  This time I also added what King calls "'The Dark Tower' book 4.5" into the mix, 'The Wind Through the Keyhole'.  

'The Gunslinger' always half bored me to tears on earlier reads; this time, I just loved it.  'The Drawing of the Three' and 'The Waste Lands' are tied for my favorites of the series, with 'The Dark Tower' and 'The Gunslinger' tied for second.

I very rarely get weepy reading books, but King was the first to ever get me to that point, something I always found strange.  Anyway, his book, 'Insomnia', was the culprit - near to the end, I suddenly found myself all-out bawling.  As usual, on my 'TDT' series reread, the end of 'The Gunslinger' got me sniffling (and angry), and very near the end of 'TDT' got me much further down the weepy path :P

Whew, so that makes, what, seventeen books in five weeks?  I'm still on my reread kick; giving SK's 'The Talisman' another go, because I love my oldest brother to death, and my ex (a little less ;) ), and they both insist it's the best book ever written zomg!  I'm still dubious in thinking what I considered a so-so book will rise to the top of my own beloved list, but hey, I've been wrong before (eyes 'The Gunslinger').

Here's to a summer of reading (and writing!) =)
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