Oh my gosh, where have I been since my last post?
Sucked In, that’s where.
I got sucked into reading the “Game of Thrones” series… I haven’t been able to put this thing down for some reason. I bought it a couple years ago as a boxed set (if you can call e-books “boxed”), and only got around to opening it last month… And it’s a good thing it’s on my iPad, because otherwise the 4,000-or-so pages would really be weighing down my arms. I’m coming up on about 3500 pages and looking forward to the wrap-up, if for no other reason than being freed from its thrall…
But if you know these books, you’ve already caught my error: there are way more pages than that if you see this to the end. I’d assumed my boxed set was the whole series.
Last time I made this mistake? It was 1991. I was a high school senior mulling over my choices in the Fantasy section of a WaldenBooks store when a strange man popped up from nowhere, shoved a book at me, and practically hollered, “You HAVE to read this!!”
He was weird, but I bought the book (Robert Jordan’s Eye of the World). Read it, loved it, bought the second of the trilogy…
You know where this is going, don’t you? About midway through #3 I realized he couldn’t possibly wrap it all up here, and there was clearly going to be a fourth book. So I waited for that one to come out, pounced on it and devoured it—and realized he still wasn’t done. Waited for the next one, pounced, devoured… And I repeated that cycle through (count them!) FOURTEEN books—almost 12,000 pages—spread across 20 years.
But man-oh-man was that wait worth it. Let me put it this way: I’m an all-out “Lord of the Rings” fanatic… And Tolkien’s got nothing on Jordan.
And despite my recent sucked-in-ness with George R.R. Martin’s series (do you think he was trying to evoke Tolkien with the “R.R.”?), he’s got nothing on either of them. It’s actually been more than a day since I picked up my iPad, and I found myself more dismayed than thrilled that I had extra books ahead. Guess I’m running out of steam on this one—we’ll see if I pick back up. (It does go against the grain to leave it unfinished… But I want to be enjoying it!)
Well, in honor of getting “sucked in” to my reading, I’m going to finish today with another rendition of “Put it on a T-Shirt”… The Bookworm edition!
- If you think reading is boring, you’re doing it wrong
- The Pretend is near!
- Book Lovers never go to bed alone
I read past my bedtime- We lose ourselves in books. We find ourselves there too.
- “I”m just finishing a chapter” always ends at four in the morning with a finished book
- If I’m ever stranded I hope it’s in a book store
- You can’t buy happiness but you can buy books, and that’s kind of the same thing.
- People who say I’m hard to shop for must not know where to buy books.
- “Too many books?” I think you mean “Not enough bookshelves.”
- I’m not addicted to reading—I can quit as soon as I finish this chapter.
- My Patronus is a Bookworm
- As soon as I finish this chapter. Oh look!—another chapter!
I know, it’s a short-ish list, but I really do have to go to bed. Maybe after I finish a chapter…
Kana's Chronicles 
OMG you crack me up! I got sucked into many trilogies, not knowing I’d need to read 2 more books to get to an ending. 😲😡
I’m fickle and impatient… admittedly. If someone can’t write a story in 300 pages (or one movie), they are doing it wrong. Or at least, ‘end’ each book without the need to read the second. I love sci-fi, and those authors are the worst.
Maybe this is why I like reading blogs so much. I’m done in 5 minutes per post… and I’ll go to bed soon also… Right after this post…. 😉
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Yet another reason why blogging is the perfect genre, lol! :)
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I love, love, love Martin’s books, not so much LotR. Blasphemy, I know. (Like the story, hate the writing.) On my second read through and hoping with Martin and desperately hoping he finishes the story. Odds are high that that won’t happen. :(
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Okay, I actually agree with you about Tolkien’s writing. (It’s the ONE case where I’ll admit the story-telling was better accomplished with the film than in the book.) But Tolkien still gets credit for the STORY. :)
Have you read Jordan? He actually passed away before finishing the series—I was biting my nails over it, after 20 years of waiting!—but he bequeathed the rest of the story (and apparently some super-detailed notes!) to another writer to finish. And (thank goodness!) it was well done.
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“Too many books?” I think you mean “Not enough bookshelves.” – Very true, indeed.
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I have read the first few books of this series. I had to stop for they were so inflated in unnecessary detail that it slowed down the story. The books could have been half as long and the story better told. But in defense of this author’s writing, I recently read a book of science fiction short stories when he contributed a story. In that, his writing was great.
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I got sucked into the first book and then realised it was going to be decades before he finished, so I decided to wait … slowly collecting the series as the appear in used bookstores … until I hear from his own mouth (via the interwebz is fine) that IT IS DONE! :)
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