Barnes & Noble Nook discussion

We had a photo-finish in the poll for our July 2012 book! It was neck and neck all the way through! A coin was flipped, and won.

But here's what I think we should do. Clash of Kings is 761 pages; 1Q84 is 925 pages. These are long books!

Let's read them both, and start both discussion threads concurrently, and these will be our July AND August Nook Book of the Month Group Reads! If you choose to read only one, go right ahead, and be sure to jump into the discussion for that book.

THIS IS THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR CLASH OF KINGS.

But please, try and make comments in the thread of the book(s) you are reading, because we will be spreading out our "energy" across the two threads.

So pull out those hammocks, and let the reading begin!

Does anyone have IQ84 on Sugarsync? --nm, just found it on tuebl.... if anyone needs it, let me know. I've got the epub on my sugarsync.

I have already read Clash of Kings, so I guess I am ahead. I liked it. It was very easy to get into after reading the 1st one and left off right where the 1st ended. I was a little tired by the time I got to the end, but it did not stop me from marching right into the 3rd one.

Since they are so long, I had to take a break between books. I finished CoK last month, so I guess I'm ahead as well. I love reading the series.

I just finished Storm of Swords and will start on A Feast For Crows in August. So far Storm of Swords is my favorite.

I will chime in on Clash of Kings through out the discussion.

Veronica, my daughter just had me order two more books in this series for her, book 4 and book 5. We share a Nook account, so these are likely in my future as well. Good to know you enjoyed them beyond the initial two!

I'm about 300 pages into Clash of Kings, and my daughter pointed out that I didn't need to read them and remember all the characters! I was plodding along, slowly, looking up the characters in a Nook Game of Thrones app, trying to figure out who is who. Apparently, I'm too concrete and linear! She said there are slow points, it doesn't matter, keep reading, and something "good" is probably right around the corner, that many of the characters are just "bit" players anyway. Almost as if you can enjoy some of the subplots as free-standing little stories.

I'm really liking the feisty nature of many of the female characters!

Angela, I found myself doing the same thing with characters and the different locations. I downloaded the map on my Nook so I can see where everyone is located. I did find you did not have to memorize the characters. However, I was confused by 2 characters at first, especially when I was reading A Storm of Swords. The characters were Sandor Clegane and Gregor Clegane - the Hound and the Mountain.

The story can be a bit slow. But don't stop reading. Its worth the read.

I think this series is the best series since Harry Potter. In my opinion, its better.

I've also read Clash of Kings and after the dreary beginning I really got caught up in it and enjoyed it quite a bit.

I just finished CofK and I actually found it pretty exciting in the beginning when it picked up right after GofT. Unfortunately, I thought it dropped off towards the end. I was a little bored which was unexpected since I loved the first book. Anyone else feel this way? I have high hopes for the rest of the series and will be reading book 3 soon!

I read A Clash of Kings shortly after we did the group read for A Game of Thrones. I've been continuing with the series as the ebooks become available at my public library (there is quite a waiting list). I've just checked out A Feast for Crows this week. I'm going to follow the group read comments and try to add my own without getting too far ahead. I'm looking forward to everyone's take on this one (plus any comments on how it differs from the 2nd season of the HBO series).

I liked A Clash of Kings quite a bit. I especially liked the way the character POVs have continued and seem to cross over each other more in this one than in A Game of Thrones.

Only 2 complaints. He describes battles in too much detail for me, and he describes food too much. Some of the books could be 100 pages shorter if he just said - they feasted.

Angela2932 wrote: "...many of the characters are just "bit" players anyway. Almost as if you can enjoy some of the subplots as free-standing little stories. ..."

A good online resource is the Wikipedia character summaries for when you run into someone you don't remember. One of the things to keep in mind is that several of the characters who are initially "bit players" show up later as pretty central to one or more of the plots, even though they are initially just mentioned in passing. By the time you get to A Storm of Swords there are some surprises as to who is and who isn't important. Of course, that makes the whole series seem very "alive" and flowing.

I have looked for, and not yet found, a set of character summaries that are broken down by book. One of the drawbacks to the Wikipedia summaries (which cover all the published books as a single, monolithic history) is that you can accidentally read spoilers for books you haven't even gotten to yet. It would be handy to have something to refresh your memory of who's who so-far before starting the next book, or for when you run into a character from a previous book and to be able to catch up on what they've done up to the point you find yourself.

Barbara wrote: "... he describes food too much. Some of the books could be 100 pages shorter if he just said - they feasted."

Ha ha ha. I see this a lot and I agree. I get really tired of the food descriptions, especially the really long ones. I know some people say that it adds a lot to the "feel" of the story, but I just tend to look for the end of the menu and move on. Just wait until you get to the wedding feast scenes - the food descriptions are pretty much over the top. I guess that's the point - trying to describe the decadent ( and wasteful) feasts that take place while other characters (and the general populace) are nearly starving, but it does get a bit tedious.

Kris wrote: "Does anyone have IQ84 on Sugarsync? --nm, just found it on tuebl.... if anyone needs it, let me know. I've got the epub on my sugarsync."

it is in my drop box in aug book of the month