You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Lisa and I are going to tackle book 3 in the Song of Ice & Fire series, A Storm of Swords. Everyone is welcome to join us.

Any preferences about when we should start?

I am only reading book 1, so I'll be too late to join you :(

Janice, do you want to start it this side of Christmas and New Year or shall we wait until early 2017? Early next year would probably be better for me but I should be able to squeeze it in if you would prefer to start it sooner.

We can do it early next year, maybe towards the end of January. I've got another buddy read starting on the 9th.

Janice wrote: "We can do it early next year, maybe towards the end of January. I've got another buddy read starting on the 9th."

The end of January is good for me. I have a buddy read starting on the 1st so later in the month works well.

Shall we say Jan 21st? We can always change it if we need to.

Janice wrote: "Shall we say Jan 21st? We can always change it if we need to."

Perfect! :)

Well then, I could join you too ;)

Ariane wrote: "Well then, I could join you too"

Yay! :)

That would be super, Ariane!

I will be reading your comments. I best not comment as I can't remember what happened in which book.

I'm still on track for the 21st, maybe even sooner. Once I finish the book I have on the go, I'll be ready to dive in.

Janice wrote: "I'm still on track for the 21st, maybe even sooner. Once I finish the book I have on the go, I'll be ready to dive in."

Same here :)

I think I might be a day or two late in starting now. I want to finish my current read before diving into this and I haven't been able to get much reading done today and probably won't get much done tomorrow either so I reckon I will need the weekend to finish it.

No problem, Lisa. I'm not getting far with my book either. I'm not even half way.

I just began it but I am not far at all since I am also reading other books in the meantime. So:
Tyrion: (view spoiler)[ I had forgotten how much he tried to find a place in his family and how much was taken from him and how much his father was a jerk to him. I love him even more now. (hide spoiler)]

I started reading last night and finished the Prologue and am about half way through the first "Jamie" section.

I've watched the second season and it included this section so it's a good "recap" to get me back into the story. I think I need to just read the books and then watch the tv series since they don't line up with the books. Plus, I hear that they start to diverge somewhat.

I heard that too, so I am curious...
I have watched all the seasons from the show but even so, I just understood some things just now... small things, but I enjoy it very much...
I saw the third season a while ago now, so I don't remember much of it, but I will re-watch it again when I am finished with the book...
As for the prologue, (view spoiler)[ I didn't remember they talked about killing Mormont so soon... (hide spoiler)]

I just finished reading "Sansa" to the end of page 90 (paperback edition). That's one of the things I dislike is the chapters aren't numbered. This one doesn't even have a table of contents. Maybe I should download the Kindle sample.... nope! I just looked and it doesn't have a table of contents either. I can read the maps better though.

Okay so:

Catelyn, pg 33. (view spoiler)[ I can understand why she wanted to exchange Jaime for her daughters. She believed that her sons were dead and she couldn't bear to lose any more children. But, I thought her releasing Jaime was ill planned. He has no honour. There's no way he'd simply release Sansa and Arya. He was free and has nothing to lose. I wonder how Robb is going to react, (hide spoiler)]

Tyrion, pg 53 - He's one of my favourite characters along with Arya. And I rather like Peter Dinklage too. :) (view spoiler)[I love Tyrion's sarcasm. :) I was so angry when I finished reading this chapter. Tyrion deserves better treatment from his father. To be blamed for his mother's death in childbirth is unfair. (hide spoiler)]

Sansa, Pg 75 - (view spoiler)[ I like Margraet's grandmother, the Queen of Thorns. She doesn't pull punches. I wonder what they will make of Sansa's confessions about Joffrey being a monster. They seem to be sympathetic, but things are never what they seem in the Game of Thrones. (hide spoiler)]

I'm not having much luck with this. I started reading it on my Kindle and then discovered that pages were missing! I have tried restarting my Kindle and changed the text size to see if that helps but it hasn't. I am reading another book on my Kindle at the moment and that seems to be fine so far so it looks like it's just a problem with this book. I will give it another day or so to see if it sorts itself out but if it doesn't, I guess I will have to contact Amazon.

Buddy read fail on my part so far! Lol.

That's too bad that you are having trouble with your kindle version. Have you tried archiving it and then downloading it again?

It's slow going for me. I haven't made much progress since the last time I posted.

How is everyone else doing?

Janice wrote: "That's too bad that you are having trouble with your kindle version. Have you tried archiving it and then downloading it again?

It's slow going for me. I haven't made much progress since the last ..."

No, I haven't tried that, Janice. I will give it a go.

I'm now at the end of the second Tyrion chapter.

Daenerys, pg 105 - (view spoiler)[ I love how her dragons are growing and learning to breathe fire. I'm looking forward to them becoming a bigger part of the story. Will there be a love interest with Jorah, and will he be the betrayal for love? (Referring to the prediction of the three betrayals.) (hide spoiler)]

Davos, Pg 132 - (view spoiler)[ Is he going to be the instrument of Melisandre's downfall? It's hard to conceive of it at this point as he's escorted off to the dungeon. Silly man. He should have shut his mouth and gotten his strength up before he "stormed the castle". (hide spoiler)]

Jaime, Pg 146 - (view spoiler)[ I like how we finally get the story of how he became the "kingslayer" and how his relationship with Cersei affected his choices in life. Things are starting to fall more into place. It's interesting - if you take the black, you give up everything and if you take the white, you give up everything. I guess life is lived in the greys. :) Just a random thought. (hide spoiler)]

Tyrion, Pg 159 - (view spoiler)[ Has he sentenced Shae to a hanging death? Surely nothing good is going to come from him seeing her again. All his good intentions went out the window when he spoke with her. Instead of sending her away to keep her safe, he's caving in to her wishes. (hide spoiler)]

Things are going quite nice for me, I try to read 50 pages a day.

Re Daenerys - (view spoiler)[ I don't know who will betray her for love, I still don't get that prediction and how it will affect her quest. She knows Jorah loves her, but she doesn't love him. I can't wait for the dragons to grow bigger as well! (hide spoiler)]

Davos - (view spoiler)[ He does play quite a dangerous game with Melisandre, I don't know how that is going to end, I fera not good for one of them (hide spoiler)]

Jaime - (view spoiler)[ Even if everybody hates him, I quite like him because everything he did, he did it for love and love is his only honor. I liked that part as well, when we get the "kingslayer" explanation. (hide spoiler)]

I don't have my copy of the book now but I will try to mark the pages for further thoughts...

I didn't read last night. I was so tired all day that I crawled into bed at 9:30 and turned out the light. I woke feeling rested, so that was a good thing.

Janice wrote: "I didn't read last night. I was so tired all day that I crawled into bed at 9:30 and turned out the light. I woke feeling rested, so that was a good thing."

A good break is always a good thing ;)

I'm still having trouble with my Kindle book. I tried archiving and downloading it again but pages are still missing. I'm going to contact Amazon and see what they suggest.

I hope they get that sorted for you Lisa. How frustrating.

I'm plowing along in this book. I'm at the 1/4 mark (at page 273) and I feel like I've read a whole book. It doesn't help that the font is quite small.

Am I the only one reading? I know you're struggling with your Kindle edition, Lisa. Any luck getting that sorted?

Arya, pg 173 - (view spoiler)[ Funny that they end up at the same inn that Jaime & Brianne just passed through, and that Arya wants to steal Brianne's boat. (hide spoiler)]

Catelyn, pg 188 - (view spoiler)[ Robb has returned. By marrying Jenye, he's likely to have caused all sorts of troubles. But, I have to remember that he is 16. I look at my grandson who is 18 and think there's no way he'd be capable of leading an army. Mind you, things were different in this world and children had great responsibilities at early ages. (hide spoiler)]

Arya, pg 226 - (view spoiler)[I felt such betrayal on her behalf when she discovered she was being led away to Ser Beric's by one of her father's men. I guess loyalty ends with death. (hide spoiler)]

Tyrion, pg 254 - (view spoiler)[ I have to admit that I knew he was to be married to Sansa. There is so much on the internet about the tv program, that it's hard to avoid spoilers. I'm not sure how I feel about this match. I like both Tyrion and Sansa, and would hope that it would turn into a love match at some point. Okay, so I'm a bit of a romantic. It seems like an "out" for both of them. But Sansa is kind of shallow and I'm not sure she'll be able to see beyond his dwarfism and his scars. (hide spoiler)]

I didn't read at all this weekend and I feel like you Janice, the pages are really full, the font is so small...

Janice wrote: "I'm plowing along in this book. I'm at the 1/4 mark (at page 273) and I feel like I've read a whole book. It doesn't help that the font is quite small.

Am I the only one reading? I know you're st..."

No, it's still not sorted, Janice. I've got a phone number for Kindle Customer Support but the last few days have been a bit crappy so I haven't been able to contact them yet.

That must be really frustrating, Lisa.

I read more last night, but I'll comment later. I have a busy day ahead of me.

I am not good at participating at this buddy read because I am mostly listening to the audiobook (which is awesome, by the way) in the car, so I don't always have the page number to refer to. I have thoughts on the book but I always forget to write them down when I am home and I can refer to the paperback version.
Also, I have seen all the season of the tv show and I don't know if you have so I don't want to throw any spoilers here...

I listened to the first book on audiobook. Roy Doltrice ? was the narrator and I didn't care for his voice. For some of the characters, he was amazing, but most of these characters are young - Arya, Sansa... and he had this old man's voice. It kind of grated. Since then, I bought the entire series on paperback.

I've watched the first two seasons on dvd and really like them. Once I finish this book, I will likely listen to the third season.

Every now and again, I need to clarify points so I pop over to the "Wiki of Ice & Fire". I've exposed myself to spoilers there, and I'm okay with it. Spoilers really bug me when it's a mystery and hearing a spoiler can ruin the whole book. This doesn't have the same consequence.

But, if you are worried about spoilers, put them in spoiler tags and then it's the readers option to sneak a peek or not.

I'd love to hear your thoughts as you read. Don't worry about the page numbers. You could preface each time you comment where you are - 1/4 into the book, 1/2 into the book, etc. That would give a feel for where you are.

Catelyn, pg 273 - (view spoiler)[ This was one of those spots that confused me. Why was Rickon Karstark feeling the need to retaliate? Who did Jaime kill that he wanted vengeance for? So Wiki came to my rescue. He was angry because Catelyn had let Jaime go, so he broke into Riverrun's dungeon and killed those two boys. The consequences of Robb executing Karstark is going to result in him losing allies. He's in danger of finding himself alone on the battlefield. However, I don't know that he had any choice. (hide spoiler)]

Jaime, pg 285 - (view spoiler)[Caught by the mummers. Things don't look very good for Briann and Jaime. The chapter ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. What did they do to Jaime? Did they kill him? What's going to happen to Briann? Will she be raped? How would she escape that fate? I have to admit that I peeked ahead to the next chapter on Jaime. I'm bad that way. Always peeking ahead. (hide spoiler)]

Arya, pg 298 - (view spoiler)[ is such a tomboy that to be outfitted in a dress and then laughed at by Gendry must have been humiliating. (hide spoiler)]

I'm really sorry but I have decided to pull out of this buddy read. I finally got my Kindle edition sorted (yay!) but I'm no longer in the mood to read it right now. I'm sure I will get to it eventually and I will certainly check out the spoilers and comments in this thread when I do :)

No worries Lisa. I'm glad you finally got a readable copy.