The marvelous in-between state...
Jul. 8th, 2014 06:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI not only finished the text-based book I was reading today, but also the audiobook, so now I'm totally in the marvelous in-between state, where the possibilities are endless and the next thing I read/listen to could be the most amazing thing ever...
Anyway, the text-based book was A Storm Of Swords 2: Blood and Gold by George R R Martin. I devoured this pretty quickly for such a big book, and really enjoyed discovering all the ways in which it differed from the latest series of the TV show. As I have thought all along when reading the original book series, I decided the changes were almost entirely for the better, and that the writers of the TV show have done a masterful job with the adaptation. I love the TV show and it's not that I dislike the books, but I do think they're not nearly as good. Don't get me wrong - I'm astounded at the depth, complexity and sheer scale of the world and story Martin has created, and I'll always be in awe of him for it, plus incredibly grateful to him that his creation has led to such an awesome TV show - but the awesomeness of the TV show unfortunately highlights aspects of the books that could be better, but that I wouldn't have noticed had I not seen it before reading. Now, winter is coming and I am faced with the long, long wait until Season Five next April before I can find out what happens next! Never has the temptation to read the rest of the books been so strong...
The audiobook was 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson. I was getting low on YA fiction to listen to between Reacher books, and The Maze Runner proved a huge disappointment (I listened to a bit of the first book, then looked up the plot synopses of the whole trilogy on Wikipedia and was really glad I'd decided to give up on them), so I thought I'd give Maureen Johnson a try. She's a good friend of John Green, whose books I've mostly enjoyed, though her writing is much fluffier and more fairy-tale-like, if this book is anything to go by. It's a simple tale of teenage exploration (17 year old American girl goes on mystery tour of Europe, directed by instructions in letters from her dead aunt), but passed the commuting hours very pleasantly - apart from a couple of odd moments and really appalling non-American accents attempted by the narrator. The poor narrator had to do British, Italian, French, Dutch, Danish and Australian and they were all dreadful. Plus, I assume American washing machines don't have see-through panels in the doors, which is why the protagonist was so surprised by it - but there's no reason her entirely British boyfriend would be just as baffled! Speaking of whom, I actually thought the love interest guy was a bit of a dick and not worth the attention and angst ascribed to him, but hey - what do I know?
Now I just have to decide what to read and listen to next...
Anyway, the text-based book was A Storm Of Swords 2: Blood and Gold by George R R Martin. I devoured this pretty quickly for such a big book, and really enjoyed discovering all the ways in which it differed from the latest series of the TV show. As I have thought all along when reading the original book series, I decided the changes were almost entirely for the better, and that the writers of the TV show have done a masterful job with the adaptation. I love the TV show and it's not that I dislike the books, but I do think they're not nearly as good. Don't get me wrong - I'm astounded at the depth, complexity and sheer scale of the world and story Martin has created, and I'll always be in awe of him for it, plus incredibly grateful to him that his creation has led to such an awesome TV show - but the awesomeness of the TV show unfortunately highlights aspects of the books that could be better, but that I wouldn't have noticed had I not seen it before reading. Now, winter is coming and I am faced with the long, long wait until Season Five next April before I can find out what happens next! Never has the temptation to read the rest of the books been so strong...
The audiobook was 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson. I was getting low on YA fiction to listen to between Reacher books, and The Maze Runner proved a huge disappointment (I listened to a bit of the first book, then looked up the plot synopses of the whole trilogy on Wikipedia and was really glad I'd decided to give up on them), so I thought I'd give Maureen Johnson a try. She's a good friend of John Green, whose books I've mostly enjoyed, though her writing is much fluffier and more fairy-tale-like, if this book is anything to go by. It's a simple tale of teenage exploration (17 year old American girl goes on mystery tour of Europe, directed by instructions in letters from her dead aunt), but passed the commuting hours very pleasantly - apart from a couple of odd moments and really appalling non-American accents attempted by the narrator. The poor narrator had to do British, Italian, French, Dutch, Danish and Australian and they were all dreadful. Plus, I assume American washing machines don't have see-through panels in the doors, which is why the protagonist was so surprised by it - but there's no reason her entirely British boyfriend would be just as baffled! Speaking of whom, I actually thought the love interest guy was a bit of a dick and not worth the attention and angst ascribed to him, but hey - what do I know?
Now I just have to decide what to read and listen to next...
