32 thoughts on “A Game of Thrones bookclub begins

    1. Down this end of the planet, winter’s nearly here.

      As luck would have it I just started reading A Game of Thrones again last week. I’m re-reading the series in preparation for the release of A Dance with Dragons.Report

  1. My girlfriend and I like to read aloud for about 10-15 minutes before bed. We had just decided to do Game of Thrones about a day before ED suggested this.Report

  2. The Amazon ‘Kindle’ was made for GRRM’s tomes – easy to hold when reading in bed…though not so easy to put down.Report

  3. The POV point is a huge one for me.
    *SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO HASN’T WATCHED THE LATEST TV EPISODE*
    I originally was furrowing my brow and pursing my lips at the scene of Renly Baratheon and Loras Tyrel doing their chest shaving scene. I was mightily puzzled as I’d never read anything suggesting that either were gay. But the POV point helps a lot there. Neither Renly nor Loras are POV characters and I don’t recall either of them being particularly active in pursuing women in the books so it actually does fit.Report

    1. *SPOILERS*

      The fact that Margarey Tyrell was still a maiden was the giveaway for me. That and all the jokes people made at Renly and Loras’s expense.Report

      1. Yeah, it was never said but always pretty obvious. The final giveaway for me was (SPOILERS!) was this exchange between Tyrion and Loras in A Storm of Swords (pg. 167 in paperback):

        “House Tyrell continues through my brothers,” Ser Loras said. “It is not necessary for a third son to wed, or breed.”

        “Not necessary, but some find it pleasant. What of love?”

        “When the sun has set, no candle can replace it.”

        That was after Renly’s death.Report

        1. Man, I’ve always been Captain Oblivious when it comes to social interactions in person. Apparently it applies in literature too. Wow. All of it went right over my head.Report

          1. This wouldn’t be the first time people have subtly slipped gay characters into fantasy fiction. Raymond E. Feist did it in Magician with Kulgan and Meecham. Rowling slipped in Dumbledore subtly.

            Martin was beating people over the head with Loras and Renly though. He wanted people to notice.Report

            1. I thought Kulgan and Meecham were Heterosexual Life-partners.

              Renly and Loras as gay I understand, but didnt the series kind of reveal it too early?Report

  4. I have a general rule about books series and their film adaptations that applies to Game of Thrones. It’s not that the show is the “real” timeline, but that it’s something of an alternate one; that is, it’s what Game of Thrones (the book) would look like if George R.R. Martin were starting from scratch and producing a television show. The stories and characters share common elements, but because of the medium, there are also important differences.

    The upside of this approach is that it’s hard to be disappointed when the show takes a different direction, because it’s necessarily the same as the book.Report

  5. It’s not a heavily symbolic work, but I think there is symbolism involved in certain aspects of the story. My guess is that this will become more clear in later books, especially as the supernatural becomes more involved in the plot.Report

  6. Very glad that this is up and running. Some of my favorite books, and I am so glad that the new book is coming out.

    One of the interesting things about Martin being so involved in the making of the show is that it can also provide an interesting perspective on events that were otherwise mysterious. For example, the conversation between Littlefinger and Varys was great because it made clear to me that [SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER] it was Varys and Illyrio were the ones talking in the dungen that Arya overheard. I think it was made clear in a later volume of the books, but the scene had lost its import, but because of the new scene, it suddenly clicked and makes Varys the interesting character that he was to become.

    Another thing I am excited about with the show is the part where Daenerys gets the vision in the weird temple/house. I can’t wait to see what they do with that. I could never follow it too well in the books, but will love to see the visuals they cook up for it.Report

    1. You know, I had the same revelation! I really didn’t pick up in A Game of Thrones (or the later books) that it was SPOILERS! Varys and Ilyrio talking. I bet people who watch the series first and then read the books will also pick up on things and see some of the characters in a different way than they otherwise wouldn’t have. Report

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