A Clash of Kings

A Clash of Kings – George R. R. Martin

 

The second Game of Thrones book. As I write this review, I’m a bit stumped as to what I can write that I didn’t already discuss in my review of Book One.  Hmmmm……let’s see…… Well, it continues the story that most people already know. How’s that?  Most are familiar with the HBO series.  There are masses that are fanatical about the show. I confess that I’m not that huge of a fan.  Oh I enjoy the series, but I don’t frequent internet communities discussing theories about who did what and why. I don’t even necessarily feel the urge to watch the episodes as soon as they become available. This can be damaging as the morning after, the internet is upchucking information about “what happened on last night’s episode”.  I guess I’m more of a casual fan.

The main appeal of the books for me is actually two-fold. First, I love to read. Second, reading the book helps plug some of the gaps. Unfortunately, there are times when I get a bit lost watching the series. I have a hard time keeping up with who is who and what is exactly going on.  The major characters I can handle, but the ones that are a bit more minor can get lost in my crowded mind.  So when I read one of the books after I’ve watched one of the seasons, I come to such revelations as “So that’s where Stannis came from.  He’s Robert’s brother. So that’s why he thinks he should be king.”  And so on. I’m sure many can follow along better than I can, but this is an area where I struggle.

Now that’s not to say that the books can be a bit challenging as well. Especially when it comes to characters.  Author George R.R. Martin seems to have some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder to list the name of every single minor character that he introduces. Even if they don’t stay in the story for very long.  Is there anyone out there reading these books that can keep track of all the different “maesters”?  It’s a bit of small sin, but a rather irritating one.  Sure, the author provides a “who’s who” in the back of the book, but who really wants to flip back and forth that frequently?  Especially when one is reading on an e-book.

Since the HBO series is so popular, I’m guessing that more have watched the series than have read the books. I would recommend all that have watched to read as well.  It really is a great story. I must also say that the casting of the characters for the series seems impeccable.  It’s really hard, for example, to read about Tyrian Lannister and not immediately see Peter Dinklage in the role.

From what I understand, the narrative in the books and the HBO series don’t exactly coincide, although after the second book, I would have to conclude that at this point the similarities are very strong, and I can’t see any real discrepancies. Perhaps this happens a bit later.  If I’m not mistaken, the author has been stuck on book six for several years as I write this review, and the producers of the show got tired of waiting, so they just went ahead and started continuing their own version of the story without him.  Probably a good thing.  There are still those that are hoping the author finishes what he started, however.  The books are still extremely rewarding, even if the story never gets officially “finished”.

A. Lincoln: A Biography

A.Lincoln : A Biography – Ronald C. White

I read this on a Kindle. According to Amazon, this thing is 816 pages. It certainly didn’t feel that way.  If I had to guess upon completion, I would have guessed about half of that.  That really is a compliment. Essentially I’m saying that book was a fast read because it was so engrossing.  The other random thought I had was that this book was written in 2009, and I’m curious to know if the public really “needed” another biography of Abraham Lincoln.  Has there really been that much new information uncovered that would warrant another retrospective volume?  Whatever the reason, this was the first, and so far only, biography that I’ve read on Abraham Lincoln, and as mentioned, I thought it was very strong.

Now, I’ve read other books that focused on certain aspects of his life, so I felt like I had a very strong background of the man, and can’t really say I learned that much new about him. So maybe this a book for the novice as opposed to someone who’s read extensively about the man.

Like many presidential biographies, about half of this book focuses solely on his presidency.  When one looks at his presidency, there wasn’t really anything of relevance to discuss other than the American Civil War. So you could make the argument that half of this book felt like a book on the Civil War, but again, that doesn’t mean that the experience doesn’t have rewards. There’s also quite a bit of reference (in thought and deed) to the Emancipation Proclamation, but I tend to read the two as very synonymous.  Our history tells us that the Civil War wasn’t “about” slavery, but I can’t help but think this statement is a bit misleading.

I was surprised that this book omitted a lot about the man. Very little of his family is mentioned. Sometimes that’s a good thing, but for a father who lost two sons prematurely and had a wife that was quite the eccentric made me feel as though there was a lot missing here.  His assassination is only briefly covered as well. Maybe because there have been entire books written about the event is what caused the author to decide that such events weren’t worth repeating.

The one topic that did seem to be discussed frequently was Abraham Lincoln’s journey of faith. The author presumes that the young Lincoln was more of questioner with many skeptical tendencies. As he got older, he seemed to become much more connected with his Christian faith. Sure, the man evokes God a lot in his speeches, but so do 99% of all the politicians. The author, though, spends considerable amount of time arguing (persuasively) that Lincoln’s changes in his beliefs are quite genuine. Again, though, I didn’t really learn anything new. I just felt the author spent quite a bit of book space to the topic.

I also felt this was a very easy, interesting read. One not need a PhD in English to appreciate it. I’m not sure how it stacks up against volumes by the likes of Carl Sandburg or David Herbert Donald, but this one definitely is well written and very enjoyable. Perhaps a student in high school would also find this book rewarding and somewhat “easy”?  Very agreeable.

The Collectors

The Collectors - David Baldacci

It seems that David Baldacci writes about 2 or 3 books per year.  I would suggest that he limit his concentration and output to only 1 per year instead. This would cause him to focus on one story and make it a really good story. Baldacci has written some very good books. He’s also wrote some that were atrocious. This one is mostly good, but like many of Baldacci’s rushed output, it contains too many moments that makes the average reader groan. Baldacci doesn’t seem to work hard enough when some of his characters find themselves in dire straits. And the way his characters get out of these situations are just ridiculous. This is a fault in many of his books, and these instances happen in this story far too often.

Let’s see: We have some folks who are chasing some suspicious characters through the streets of Washington D.C., and they JUST HAPPEN to stumble onto a novelty store, so they can quickly go in and buy fake FBI badges and jackets.   We then have a lady who is being sexually harassed at a restaurant who JUST HAPPENS to notice a table of accountants that “look like” they belong in the mafia, so she “just happens” to accost these strangers and ask them to play the part of “tough guys” for her.   And (my favorite) we meet a hooker who JUST HAPPENS to recollect when she went through a john’s pants several weeks prior, found he had two IDs, and memorized the name on the IDs.  Why would she even do this? What exactly was her motivation?  None, really. Baldacci just couldn’t think of a better way to move the story forward. Apparently, the author never stopped to realize how ridiculous it is that she could remember this event with such alacrity. 

There’s also a few instances where people who are kidnapped and captured, to be killed later, manage to miraculously escape after only a chapter. They seem to not be effected by the event in the least.  Again, the author just needs to slow down here a bit and give these situations a bit more care.  He can do better.

This is the second “Camel Club” book. The plot is pretty inconsequential to describe in much detail.  It’s Washington D.C., suspicious killings are happening, and Oliver Stone (not the real one, he’s the leader of the Camel Club) and his cronies are out to uncover the truth.  Stone is an excellent protagonist. Unfortunately, the other members of The Camel Club come across as a bunch of flakey boobs, but the story moves quite nicely.

We also meet the “new” member of the Camel Club, Annabelle. Her introduction and initiation to the team is actually quite a story in itself, and at times, I felt I was reading two different novels.  There was a bit too much emphasis placed on how she “arrived” at the Camel Club. Sadly, her story isn’t “finished” in this book – it continues in subsequent Camel Club affairs.

So overall a good story, as long as you can stomach some of the absurd details.