Finished A Feast For Crows

Just before I finished this book, I got a notification from Amazon that the paperback of A Dance of Dragons (next book in the series) won't be released until fall of 2014!  Ahhhhhgh.  George R. R. Martin and Stephen Donaldson (Thomas Covenant) are driving me nuts!   I'm wondering if A Dance of Dragons paperback will be timed to coincide with the release in hardback of the sixth in the series...

The book was aptly named.  It truly was the remaining littler nobles fighting over the bones that are left in the land.  As the book ends, there are really only a couple real villains left, though one could make a case for "Lady Stoneheart."  But, Martin seems to be very good at giving us villains to hate as well as heroic, though flawed humans to love.

I have now started  A Lick of Frost (Meredith Gentry) by Laurell K. Hamilton.  One chapter in, King Tyranos is plotting against them...

Finished The Night of the Solstice

It was pleasant reading and, though mild, was entertaining.  It kind of seemed like a children's journey similar to what Chris Golden did for adults in The Veil series:  a trip into the land of the world's myths and fantasies.  I always enjoy the excursion and look forward to the next book in the series.

                 

As snow covers the ground in Lake Dallas, I embark on the my next adventure with George R. R. Martin, A Feast For Crows.  This will take me awhile (1050 pages), but I know it will be worth the time...and, it's snowing.  I have nothing better to do...

Finished Voices From the Holocaust

I think I might have changed the format and read each story as a whole--it was divided into before Germany took over their home country, during the holocaust, and then after the holocaust, their impressions of life in America.  Of course, I can see pros and cons for both.  There were many insights to be drawn from these stories, one of which is that most of them became very active in their community after the war in an extremely charitable way.  They were, for the most part, not materialistic (though their families may have been before.)  Even those who had a very hard time adjusting to American life (those who did not speak a word of English when they came AND came at an older established age) went out of their way to reiterate how much they were enjoying their lives now and were happy.  I would hope it does not really take such an horrible trauma in our lives to make us come to this...

I have now started The Night of the Solstice by L. J. Smith.  It starts definitely for children with a vixen who can speak and who needs the help of four children to save the world.  A fun departure from what I have been reading.

Finished The Shelters of Stone

I have no idea why I love these slow-moving, informative books.  In this one, Ayla and Jondalar reach Jondalar's home.  She becomes acquainted with his people, marries him, and has her daughter.  And I loved every minute of it...it reads like the chronicle of a very long camping trip in which the characters adore roaming their world, learning new things....  Homecoming did not end the journey, it just continued it...

So, I have now started Voices From the Holocaust by Sylvia Rothchild.  I am still reading the first part in which people remember their lives prior to Hitler.  Mostly, they were very young, many still children when he came to power wherever they were.  As pointed out in the Preface, what stands out is how optimistic their parents were--they did not believe anything bad would happen to them and therefore they stayed.  That is pretty much true of all of us, I think...none of us like to think that major change is necessary.