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George R. R. Martin – A Dance with Dragons
Well I’ve finally made it to the end of this behemoth of a book! If I’d bought it differently, it would actually have been two books, but my set had it all in one, so it was a long hard slog to make it to the end!Even though it’s taken me almost two weeks to read the 1000+ pages, I was engrossed throughout. If I hadn’t had work to go to, I’d probably have read it in a few days!
By this point in the story, we’re so involved in all the characters that you’ve got a definite emotional attachment to your favourites, even though the start of the book didn’t have too much of my personal favourites.
It was slightly strange seeing characters you thought were long gone making a come back under a different guise. The first time it happened it took me a while to figure out, but then I was on my lookout for it happening again.
I did find that I had a bit of deja vu throughout the book, with Martin repeating certain phrases that stood out quite a lot to me. There were also some points where I did find myself drifting off from the book and turning pages without realising what was happening. so at some points I could tell I wasn’t enjoying it as much as other parts.
The ending though. Oh, the ending. I was reading it at my desk at lunchtime and it was like gut punch after gut punch. Not what I expected to happen to conclude the book, although by now I don’t think I should be surprised.
However much I’ve enjoyed reading this series, I am very much looking forward to getting back to something a little more light-hearted with a little less death and war. It’ll be nice to make some more progress through my to-read list too!
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Recipe: Sweet Potato and Sweetcorn Soup
On our bank holiday day out to Skipton in the typical English bank holiday weather of drizzle, drizzle and more drizzle, we escaped the rain into WH Smiths for a while. I was browsing through the cook books and I saw the Biggest Loser cookbook (linked in to the TV programme). The TV programme is kind of a guilty pleasure for me, and the book seemed to have some good recipes in, so I thought I’d buy it. At £13 it wasn’t that bad, until I noticed a discount sticker knocking it down to £6.50. Then it scanned through the till at a fiver, which made my day!
My first recipe to try is for my lunches at work this week, a sweet potato and sweetcorn soup. The quantity of sweet potato didn’t seem like much (one medium/small potato), but when blended up, it made a lovely thick consistency. It doesn’t look that appetising in colour, but it sure is tasty! I think it would be easy to vary the spices too, swap the chilli for curry flavourings to make a completely different soup.
(Serves 3)
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
Half a small red chilli, very finely chopped (optional, but tasty)
1 medium sweet potato (about 250g), peeled and chopped into small chunks
700ml vegetable stock (I used one Knorr Vegetable stock pot)
1 can of sweetcorn (mine was 260g drained weight)
Salt and black pepper to tasteMethod
1. Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Fry the onions for about 5 minutes (until softened), making sure to stir so it doesn’t stick. Add the garlic and chilli and cook for another minute or so.2. Add the sweet potato and stir the pieces in the onion mixture. Add enough stock to cover the vegetables and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add the sweetcorn and the remaining stock and cook for a further 5 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft.
4. Add a little salt and pepper (to taste), then whizz in a food processor until smooth.
Nutritional Information (per serving)
Calories: 200
Carbs: 33g
Fat: 6g
Protein: 5g
Sugar: 9g
Fibre: 7g -
George R. R. Martin – A Feast For Crows
Looking at the reviews of this book on Goodreads, it seems most people are annoyed about the fact that it took so long for this one to come out after the last one. Thankfully, since I’m behind the crowd as usual, I don’t have that problem. However, with only one book left for me to read, I think I’m probably soon going to be in the same place as everyone else, impatiently waiting for the next one!However, back to the book in hand. I have to say that I didn’t think I was going to enjoy this one as much to start with and it did take me a fair few chapters to truly get engrossed, but in fact by the time it got to the end, I was enjoying it just as much, and if not more, than the previous four.
The main reason I was aprehensive at first was the sudden addition of a lot of new characters. I had pretty much just got used to the myriad of characters from the previous books, and then Martin suddenly decides to include a whole bunch more. At first I found this quite annoying, trying to keep up with who was who, but that quickly faded and I was back to being engrossed in the story.
*Possible spoilers from here on*
It surprised me that a few characters were hardly mentioned at all, Rob, Tyrion and Daenerys being the main culprits. I personally didn’t think there was enough of Arya either, but she’s always been my favourite so I was bound to think that.
It was very nice to get to know the other characters a bit better though, particularly Samwell and Brienne. And I’m very sure that since the next book is called ‘A Dance with Dragons’, we’ve got plenty of Daenerys to come.
As well as complaining about the length of time that this book took to be released, a lot of the reviewers on Goodreads complain about the pace of this book being far too slow. I personally can’t say that I found this a problem. I was engrossed from start to finish, and would have read it much quicker if only I’d had more time for reading.
Granted, there wasn’t quite as much action as the previous tomes, but it’s nice to take a step back sometimes and get a bit more of the backstory and the history and politics of the seven kingdoms without gratuitous killing and raping. Although there’s still plenty of that to be found, so if that’s what you like, you won’t be disappointed.
The book ended on rather a high for me, with my most despised character Cersei looking like she might finally get her comeuppance for all her scheming and lying, and her brother Jaime ignoring her pleas for help. I’ve been waiting for this for quite some time, so I hope that it concludes the way that I hope it will. Although knowing Martin, it most likely won’t. I don’t seem to have got much of what I wanted from this series, although I was warned not to form attachments to my favourite characters so I guess that’s my fault really.
I did get a brief feeling of excitement every time two unrelated characters crossed paths, hoping beyond hope that they might realise their connection so that they could help each other out, but that never happened. But hopefully some of my more treasured characters will be reunited soon. Hopefully, but probably not.
We’ll see what A Dance with Dragons brings, but at over 1000 pages, it might be a while before the next review!
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George R. R. Martin – A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold
Wow wow wow wow wow!(Be warned, this post contains spoilers. If you haven’t read this far yet, click away now!)
Somehow, these books keep getting better and better. If I hadn’t had to go to work, I could have carried on reading all day, I was so enthralled in what was happening. There have been more twists and turns in this book than any so far, and plenty of times when I’ve wanted to throw my iPad against the wall because I was so appalled at what Martin had done to my favourite characters.
No more so than when I read the Red Wedding. If I wasn’t on my lunchbreak sat at my desk in a busy office I could have cried when Robb and Catelyn died. And when it looked like poor Arya would never get away from the hound, I had all my fingers crossed that she’d eventually be free. I could go on and on about all the times when I dismayed at Martin’s choices, but we’d be here all day!
I am glad though that I’m finally starting to warm to Daenerys. I always found myself reading her chapters without the same level of involvement as all the rest, but I don’t feel quite that way anymore, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing what happens when her dragons are full grown.
I would love to make some guesses about what is going to happen in the next book, but I honestly don’t think there’s any point. The series is so unpredictable that I’d almost certainly never be right. But whatever happens, I just know that it’s going to be just as much (if not more) of a page turner than the last four. Even if it is almost 800 pages long!
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George R. R. Martin – A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow
Our holiday to the caravan was the perfect opportunity to sit down and make some good progress through this series. I really just want to get to the end so that I can finally start to watch the TV series and talk to my best friend about it all without telling her off all the time to try and avoid spoilers.This book had way more twists and turns than the last one, there were so many times when I was completely shocked that something was about to happen, and then Martin did a complete 360 and it didn’t happen after all. Like when it looked as if Daenerys was going to sell one of her three dragons, I was absolutely flabbergasted that she would do such a thing, and totally relieved when it turned out that she had another plan up her sleeve all along.
My favourite character still has to be little Arya, I’m really just waiting for the moment when she’s finally re-united with her family, I just hope she’s not one of the many characters who seem to meet the sharp end of Martin’s pen and meet an early demise.
I never really liked Sansa, but I do now feel a certain level of sympathy for her having been married to Tyrion. Don’t get me wrong, I do actually really like Tyrion as a character, but he’s most definitely not the kind of husband that Sansa has been dreaming of all her (short) life, and I also don’t think that she’s the kind of bride that Tyrion would have picked for himself either. I’m looking forward to seeing where that storyline is headed.
According to my Kindle, I’m now almost 50% through the entire series, and in my opinion, it just keeps getting better and better. Once I’ve stopped reading, I sometimes find it hard to get back into the book again, but once I’ve been sat down and reading for ten minutes or so, it feels like I never want to put it down again, I get so immersed in the world.
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HM2014 – 22nd July
Well at first, I stopped writing the blog posts even though I was carrying on with my healthy mission, but that very quickly turned into not being healthy either. I had the wake up call I needed yesterday when I had to go to a client meeting with work for the first time in ages and I could hardly fasten the button on my trousers! 8 hours sat in a car (and 2 in a meeting) wearing trousers that didn’t really fit was not very comfortable, so I’m making a change right now.
While I was on holiday last week, we went shopping at the Trafford Centre and I bought myself a new lunchbox from John Lewis (it was on sale), and I’ve filled it up with about 320 calories of healthy food for my lunch and snacks. I’ve had a shake for breakfast this morning, which means that I’ll be able to have a relatively normal dinner and be okay on my calories.
At the weekend, I also decided to replace my Fitbit One with a Fitbit Flex. It’s worn on the wrist instead of on the pocket, which is much easier for me, so hopefully it will give me the motivation I need to get moving again and get back in shape!
I’ve got 39 days to go before I’m going to a wedding, and while I know that I’m not going to be able to do much by that date, I can at least hopefully make myself feel better. I’m now just trying to persuade Cameron to eat healthily with me to give me some moral support and stop me from giving up!
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Milly Johnson – The Teashop on the Corner
I’ve loved Milly Johnson ever since I first read The Yorkshire Pudding Club in a random set of books ordered from The Book People, and I can’t see that love diminishing any time soon, quite the opposite in fact! I could honestly read Milly’s books all day every day, although my poor to-read shelf wouldn’t be very happy about it if I did!I read a lot of tweets in the build up to the book launch, which ramped up my excitement for the new book. I would have loved to make it to the actual launch event, but sadly I had to work. Next time, I’ll be there no matter what!
I knew just from the title of the book that it was going to combine two of my favourite things: books and tea, but the teashop sounded more delightful than I could have imagined; with all the lovely classic book themed stationery on sale, it sounded like my idea of heaven! If it actually existed I don’t think I’d ever want to leave, and that’s without meeting the lovely owner and her patrons who very quickly become treasured friends.
The book had everything I wanted from a book; happiness, romance, surprise and an (eventual) happy ending. Of course the happy parts wouldn’t be quite so happy if there weren’t sad parts to balance them out (after all, nobody has a perfect life), and this book contained plenty of that too. Each character is battling some demons in their life, things that have left their life in turmoil and in need of a fresh start. And some seem to be battling things that they’re not ready to talk about yet, although in true-to-life style, nothing can stay secret forever and facing up to the truth comes sooner than expected.
I wish I’d saved the final chapters of the book until I got home curled up with a cup of tea, rather than reading it at my desk on my lunch break at work and trying to hold in the tears. I felt a little emotionally battered at the end, put through a wringer and spat out the other side.
Milly has a knack of writing characters that I can instantly relate to. Not because I’ve been through the same things that they have, but because their life and their situations are written so intricately that you feel like you know each and every one of them personally.
I also love the fact that Milly is from Yorkshire and proud (just like me), and she uses Yorkshire front and centre in her books, unlike some authors who pander to the city-masses and set their books in London. Yorkshire is such a beautiful place, why would you want not want to use it as a backdrop for such a fantastic story?! It definitely wouldn’t have been the same if it had been set in a big city, the Yorkshire village backdrop is perfect for the characters who converge in the teashop.
Usually when a book is written from more than one perspective, I have characters that I prefer to read, and sometimes a character who I tend to read more quickly because I just want to get back to the others, but I didn’t find that at all, each character had something in them that made me want to get to know them more. As I said before, I really wish that the teashop existed, although if it did I’d be bankrupt within weeks with all the lovely book related items that are on sale!
I’m probably gushing a bit too much now and I should probably stop, but I have nothing but good things to say about Milly Johnson and her latest book. Time to dig up the back-catalogue and pick up the few books that I have left to read!
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Tour de France Grand Depart Stage 2 – Huddersfield
Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last few weeks, you’re probably more than aware that it was the Grand Depart of the Tour De France this weekend, and where else but my home county of Yorkshire! We don’t usually watch the Tour, but we knew that it was a spectacle not to be missed, and that we had to go and try and see it just to see what it was all about.
And boy, the atmosphere was incredible! We were one of the first people to arrive at the top end of Huddersfield in the morning to watch the cyclists fly along the ring road, and we had a long wait in store, arriving 3 hours before the preceding caravan and almost 5 hours before the cyclists! I’m glad we got there early though because by 11am, the crowds were starting to swell dramatically, and we still had our front row seats. We ended up sat next to a couple of families with small children, and the atmosphere there was lovely. Everyone was friendly and talking to each other and just generally excited about the whole thing!
The pictures that I took obviously don’t do justice to the beauty of the weekend’s course, being in the city centre of Huddersfield and not somewhere more picturesque like Howarth or Holme Moss, but hopefully they show a bit of what it was like! There’s also a video that Cameron took which shows the noise and excitement as the cyclists came through!
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Am I turning into a crazy cat lady? Maybe…
My aunt went back to her house in Crete this week, so me and Cameron moved temporarily into her house to look after her cat Jessica and her dog Ben. Last time we stayed over, Jessica pretty much just ignored us (as cats are wont to do), but this time she was friendly as anything, very happy to come and give us cuddles. Ben was on his best behaviour too, and we had an awesome week having a house to ourselves for a change, good practice for when we finally save up enough money to buy a house together!
Looking back at the photos on my phone that I’ve taken this week and I think it’s possible that I’ve turned into a crazy cat lady, but I don’t care, they’re just too cute!
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George R. R. Martin – A Clash of Kings
Well I actually started reading this book last year, right after I started reading the first book, but I got a little overwhelmed and gave it up. But I was ready for it this time. My dad bought the set on Kindle last year, so I signed in with his kindle account on my iPad so I could read the books without carrying them around. No need to fill my handbag with an 800 beast!Rather than start from the middle where I gave up last time, I decided I’d be better reading it from the start, and I’m glad I did because there was a lot of stuff that I’d forgotten about. As you probably know, Game of Thrones is kinda epic, with a lot of characters involved. At first this can be quite overwhelming, but you get used to it quite quickly.
I did have favourite characters and characters whose chapters I looked forward to reading, the main three were Arya, Bran and Tyrion. And while I liked the whole book, I didn’t like the chapters of Catelyn or Daenerys as much. From seeing the trailers from the latest TV series (4, I think), I know that Daenerys is supposed to become a very strong character, so maybe she’ll grow on me. I’m holding off on watching any of the TV programme until I’ve read all of the books so I don’t spoil it for myself!
I liked the fact that in the book you don’t always see things first hand, so you might only find out that something major has happened to one character through the conversation of another. This caught me out late in the book when I thought one of my favourite characters had died, and I spent the next few chapters panicking that it was true and praying it wasn’t!
I have to say, I have no idea how one person can imagine a story quite as epic as this, I’d love to see what was going on inside Martin’s brain when he dreamt up this story. Can’t wait to crack on with book three now!
Louise Douglas
(I've got no) Shelf Control…
Louise Douglas 