Neil & Amanda sit down and have a drink. George says OW.
Ok, bad joke. But it was inspired by this tweet from Goodreads this afternoon.
Continue reading “@amandapalmer, @neilhimself, & @GeorgeWBush walk into a bar…”
Tag: books
Requiem for a Bookstore
Anyone who’s been paying attention knows that independent bookstores are a bit hard to come by these days. We’re lucky here in the People’s Republic, because we still have a lot of them. But on Friday one of them went the way of the Dodo and the world is a little less fun for it. So long, Lorem Ipsum.
Autumn in New England
It has been kind of strange that we had such a dry, warm September, and there have been some warm days in October too. But I think you can’t deny that fall has finally arrived in Greater Boston.
Congratulations, #AlisonBechdel !
One of my favorite cartoonists (whom Kelly and I had the privilege of meeting a few years ago) has won a MacArthur “Genius Grant“. ThinkProgress also has this interview with her.
I am so excited for her. I literally cheered when I read the news.
Direwolves and the Stark children
As I am rereading the entire Song of Ice and Fire series (as it exists so far), I am spending a lot more time wondering about some of the symbolism in the series. And it seems to me that the direwolves are literally and figuratively the symbols of the Starks, and each individual wolf is a reflection of its owner.
So… about that whole Syrio Forel thing
OK I have been avoiding talking about Syrio Forel, because it is one of those ASOIAF/GoT topics that just brings out the crazy in so many people. There are a lot of fan theories about things that may or may not be going on in the books and show. And there are all sorts of theories about Syrio, mostly about him still being alive, and many of those being about he and Jaqen H’Ghar being the same person.
Missing characters in ASOIAF/GoT
While writing about Jaqen H’Ghar and Syrio Forel the other day, it occurred to me that there are a number of characters whose fate is uncertain. Of course, Syrio Forel is one of the most famous and most popular, but there are definitely a few others I have been thinking about.
The Faceless Men in ASOIAF/GoT
So I haven’t written much lately, and I have been meaning to do something about that.
I have had this idea in my mind about some stuff from the books (and some on TV too, but mostly the books) concerning the mysterious assassins from Braavos: the Faceless Men.
1,260 books and counting
We don’t write about books around here as much as we probably should. Life, politics, history, current events, and other interesting stuff tends to get in the way. We’re OK with that, those things deserve our time and attention as well.
Not too long ago, Geoff wrote about some home reorganizing. That has been a part of a much larger multi-month cull and organize project. Part of that project has been BOOKS.
Language, words, power, and Game of Thrones
I’ve been thinking a lot ever since I first cracked the books in the series A Song of Ice and Fire and watched the HBO show Game of Thrones about the language in the world GRRM has created. Aside from the fact that most all of the actors speak British English (bravo, Peter Dinklage), there are a lot of interesting accents (bravo, Pedro Pascal), dialects, languages, and such to contend with on screen.
Off screen, in the written word, there’s a lot going on as well. There’s a great essay here taking apart what’s happening, what GRRM has done and hasn’t done, and things like the necessity of having professional linguists create Dothraki and Valyrian, etc. Click through, it is absolutely worth a read.
Continue reading “Language, words, power, and Game of Thrones”
