{Deep Thoughts}: Game of Thrones 5

These are my "deep thoughts" on Game of Thrones 5 (A DANCE WITH DRAGONS) by George RR Martin.  Or, a brain dump of just all the questions or that whatevers I have while I'm reading.  And I guess I should call "SPOILER ALERT!!!" if you haven't read it yet.

~Magister Illyrio, we meet again.  What do you gain by housing royal refugees?  What's your piece in the game?

~Whoa.  How does creepy Melisandre know "You know nothing, Jon Snow." ?????

~If the story is to be believed, is Jon Snow's mother a fisherman's daughter?  I don't think that makes sense.  I'm still under the belief that he's actually Lyanna's and Rhaegar Targaryan's son.
From Wikipedia (the source of all knowledge):

Shortly afterwards, Eddard went to rescue Lyanna from the Tower of Joy in Dorne. He found her dying "in a bed of blood" and her last words were "Promise me, Ned."

What else could Ned have been promising, except to take care of her NEWBORN SON!?!?!?!  (and word to the wise, DON"T GET ON WIKIPEDIA IF YOU DON"T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS LATER ON IN THE SERIES!  Silly Amanda)

~Theon is alive?  I know time is kind of hard to measure in these books, things tend to overlap, but they broke him pretty quick.  I wonder what part he will play later....I mean, I never liked him, and I like his character on the TV show even less, but its kind of sad to see him like this.

~Do we ever find out what happens to Rickon?  Does he ever come back?  He just fell off the face of Westeros with Osha (Tonks!  Can you believe it?!?!)

~Dany, you're awesome possum.  But you can't save the world.  Why did you go after the slave cities?  Why did you stay?  They aren't your responsibility.  Girl, go take care of business.

~Why did all the princes (Quintyn from Dorne, Victarion, and Aegon) think they could just pop by and make Dany marry them?  Did they think she'd just instantly fall in love with one of them like a Disney princess?  Frankly, at this point, I'd love to see them in a Battle Royale for her hand.  Throw in the guy from Mereen who wants the fighting pits back, Daario and Jorah, and I'd buy tickets.

~So I finally realized why Winterfell was called Winterfell. Because Winter fell.  Winter came and it was destroyed, but it will come again.  The castle is there to guard against it. 

~So what happened to cause the Valyrian Doom? It's mentioned several times as the reason the Targaryans sailed to Westeros, but I haven't read many more details than that.  What caused it?  Why did it happen?  

~Does Bran become the new tree-talker/ green seer / whatever it's called? Does the one that is turning into the tree shove off and give Bran his responsibilities?

~How big is Westeros? I was envisioning an island the size of Britain, but Stannis's troops are matching from Deepwood Motte to Winterfell, which is according to the book 300 miles away. On the map on the inside cover, DM is like an inch from Winterfell. If that's the case, then Westeros is more like the size of the US and Mexico combined and all the free cities that look so close on the map, are like as close as the US and Britain.

~And speaking of like geography and stuff, why didn't the Wildlings just go through the Frostfang Mountains to take over Westeros rather than going over the Wall.  I mean, look at the map from the front of the book:

 I'm pointing at the point where the wall doesn't go all the way to the shoreline like it does on the eastern end.  Why not just go through the mountains and avoid the Wall?

~I really don't understand what is going on in Arya's chapters.  How do they give her a new face?  Why does she want to stay there?  I understand that she thinks she has nobody left, but I'd try to go to Jon on the Wall.  I don't understand all the magic that happens at the Temple.  These are the only chapters that I have to reread.

~I really don't like Cersei, but good on her for having the fortitude to do the Walk of Shame like she did.

~JON SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Rarely do I jump right on Wikipedia to see the end, but in this case, I had to.  Alright, that's a lie.  I do it all the time.  But I MADE myself not get on the various wiki's to see what happened.

~Ok, when is the next book coming out?  I'm not satisfied with this ending. 

{Deep Thoughts} Game of Thrones 4

Ok, like before, this will be a running list of my thoughts and questions while reading GAME OF THRONES 4 (A FEAST FOR CROWS)

~I'm also watching Game of Thrones, Season 1.  Does anyone else think that Jaime Lannister looks like Prince Charming from Shrek 2?  Apparently not, as I found this picture:

But seriously, did the illustrators of Shrek meet this man beforehand and use him as a model?  Sheesh.

~Will we learn what happened to Benjen Stark?  Does he make an appearance?  Does anybody else wonder about him?  I looked at several different wikis and fan sites, but nothing much is mentioned, except that he could be Cold Hands

~So is Littlefinger (Petyr Baelish) behind like EVERYTHING?

~I thought Arya was taking a boat to The Wall to see Jon.  I realize that the ship she got on was going to Braavos, but once she got there, why didn't she hop another ship to The Wall?  Why did she hang around in The Temple of Black and White?

~Take a moment and make a sad face for Davos Seaworth.  Yet another honorable man caught by Cersei.

~My learned history is getting in the way.  I keep wondering how those Dornish women (Arianne and the Sand Snakes) keep getting away with their behavior, (like in medieval times the natural offspring of a prince wouldn't be held in such high regard) and then I remember that this is a fantasy land and they are made up characters.  But, as I work this paragraph out in my head, why were King Robert's "natural" children not thought of in higher regard?  Was it because their mothers were of lesser status?

~I really hope the girls travel to The Wall and find Jon.  And at least have some semblance of a family.

~What happened to Rickon?  Are we going to see him again?  And what of Bran?

~I am starting to get creeped out by the liberties Littlefinger is taking with Sansa/Alayne.  He's supposed to act like her father, not a boyfriend.  

~Lady Stoneheart/Catelyn makes me sad.  Catelyn was a hard woman, but not cruel.  This creature that she has turned into is just horrid.  I was upset when she died, but I'm more upset that she came back as such a horrible thing.

~I feel like this book could be subtitled, "All about Cersei".  She was the lead narrator by far!  I didn't mind that much because it gave insight into that pretty, twisted little head of hers, but I wanted to hear from some other people, too!  I'm also glad she's getting her comeuppance.  It's time for her downfall.... 

~I'm disappointed there wasn't more about Dany, but Mr. Martin promised in the epilogue that more will be about her and The Wall in the next book.

~this Pate character in Oldtown interests me. Who is he? What does he want? Did Sam do the right thing in talking with that Maester and not the other? He's so trusting!

{Deep Thoughts}: A Storm of Swords

 

These are my thoughts as I read A STORM OF SWORDS.  I didn't edit them, and usually typed them as I thought them (while I was reading).

~Daenerys is awesome.  I want a whole book dedicated to her.

~Why the heck can't Arya get home?  I mean shoot!  It took them FOREVER to get her back!  Geesh!  I'd have run off a lot sooner than she did.  Looking at the map in the beginning of the book, she basically travelled in circles for what I'm assuming was months.  What the heck?  They should have kidnapped a Maester with a magical medieval GPS.

~I had to google "What happened at Summerhall"  because it kept getting mentioned, but only in bits and pieces, and I just wanted a linear answer.  This site has the best answer.

~Then I had to google "What happened at the Tourney at Harrenhall"  Same as above.  They kept talking about it, but I never got a direct answer.  This wiki had the best answer.  And now I know that I was right---this is the tourney that Meera told the story of (the little crannnogman who went traveling).  This also raises more questions:  Did Rhaegar really arrange the tourney to meet with lords to dispose of his father (not dispose of, but like remove from kingship)?  Why did he name Lyanna Stark the Queen of Love and Beauty?  Did he NOT KNOW the impact of this?  I mean, dude, just name your wife.  Seriously.  And finally, who was the "Knight of the Laughing Tree"?  Was it Ned?

~WHO IS JON SNOW'S MOTHER?  Is it seriously Lady Ashara?  Is it Wylla?  Is he really Ned's son?  Is he the son of Lyanna and Rhaegar?  I NEED TO KNOW!!!!!!!!

~and speaking of Jon Snow, how did/why did he go so far south with the Wildlings?  Did they forget where the Wall was?

~And now back to Arya....she finally got to the castle where her mother was....AND THAT THING HAPPENED LIKE 2 SECONDS BEFORE!!!!!!!!!!!!  Poor kid.

~I'm way too invested in the Stark family.  I was devistated when the previously mentioned "THING" happened.  First a "thing" happened to Ned.  Then the big "THING" happened to Robb and Caitlyn.  Geesh!

~I'm really not sure what to make of Jojen and his green dreams.  They kind of freak me out.  I understand Bran linking minds or whatever with Summer, the direwolves have always been important, but Jojen is an odd duck.  

~JUSTICE!  Bye, by Joffrey, you psychopath.  But, who ordered it? (*updated thought:  after I finished the book, I still don't know who to believe).

~What's going to happen to Sansa?  Again, way to invested and worried about the Stark family.

~Davos Seaworth is a wonderful man.  He has my utmost respect.

~That Red Woman is crazy-pants.  I'm slightly scared of her.

~THE EPILOGUE!  What in the what?!??!?!  

~Ok, I finished the book.  I actually yelled, "NO!  It can't end here!"...lets make it 1500 pages!  Time to put #4 on hold and carve out two weeks to read it!

{Deep Thoughts}: Best part of Game of Thrones...so far

I'm on book 3, A STORM OF SWORDS, and after reading part of this book and all of the first 2, I realized I need more Daenerys. That girl kicks butt, I love it and I want more. She needs more chapters, or better yet, a whole spin-off book dedicated just to her.

I was reading at the waterpark on Saturday while my husband was riding the flowrider (I wasn't, am sick..again) and came across the following passage that made me want to scream 'You go girl!' and high five someone...

(I'm going to try not to give any spoilers away, and I don't really think I can because I haven't reached the end of the book)...but this is from Dany's chapter in Astaphor where she is buying her army of Unsullied.  These Unsullied are like robots: they are trained to listen, to not talk, to not feel (I'm seriously over-simplifying that, and she hates it.  But she needs them to win back the kingdom.  In previous pages, Dany had a bit of a crisis of conscience (regarding honor in general and, if there was honor in fighting with slaves).  The price of her army is high:  everything on her boats, her boats, a bunch of money, and a dragon (Drogon).
I think when she says that "A dragon is no slave.", she's also talking about herself.  She won't bend her will to someone else's.  The following pages go on to reveal that she freed the people of Astaphor from the (not so) "Great Masters".   

Its Monday! What are you reading? From picture books to ya

Its Monday!  What are you reading?  From Picture Books to YA is a weekly feature hosted by Jen and Kellee of Teach Mentor Texts and inspired by Its Monday!  What are you reading by Sheila at Book Journeys.

Last week:  I finally finished the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  I also read and finished Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.  

I'm starting to read Wonder to my 4th graders.  I really hope that in the 25 minutes I have them each day, we can really get the full impact and meaning of the book.  They seem to be enjoying it---we watched the trailer, and I got several questions, "Mrs. Furman, why aren't they looking at him?"  and "Mrs. Furman, what's wrong with his face?"  And then I read the line about how Auggie wasn't going to describe what he looked like, because what you were thinking was probably worse.  You could have heard a pin drop.  

Last week's posts:

September 3:  Its Monday! post; Be positive, spread the #schooljoy
September 4:  Happy first day of school ; #schooljoy
September 5:  Deep Thoughts on Harry Potter: Book 6; #schooljoy
September 6:  I'm on the Nerdy Book Club blog; #schooljoy
September 7:  An oldie but a goodie:  Where the Red Fern Grows; #schooljoy

This coming week:
I plan on starting to listen to the audiobook of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  I'm not 100% sure what physical book I'm going to start reading yet, so I'm open to suggestions!

September 10:  This post; #schooljoy; BBAW Day 1:  Showing the love
September 11: My BBAW (Book Blogger Appreciation Week) interview with Wendy from Musings of a Bookish Kitty; #schooljoy
September 12:  Review:  Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer; #schooljoy; BBAW:  What does book blogging mean to me?
September 13:  Thursday #Thirstday, Review:  The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron; #schooljoy
September 14:  Using Pinterest in School {Technology Board}; #schooljoy

What are you reading?

Deep Thoughts on Harry Potter {6}

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was probably the hardest book in the series for me to listen to (so far).  It took me the entire month of August to listen to it (including driving to and from South Carolina).  I got close to the end, or "that part" as I call Dumbledore's death, and just didn't want to listen.  I was afraid that I would get really emotional and then have to go to work!  But, "that part" wasn't that bad.  It was harder to read and watch on the movie.  I think I was able to disconnect or distance myself and still listen, but not really pay attention.  It was actually harder for me to listen to everyone's reactions to Dumbledore's death.  I don't know why.
As always, here are some questions and observations that (sometimes Aaron and ) I had:

~  How was such a wimpy, slimeball, scaredy cat like Wormtail ever placed in Gryffindor?
~  In the audiobook, Bellatrix has a French accent (sometimes Narcissa does, but not all the time).  Is that branch of the Black family French?  Or, was that just artistic license on Jim Dale's part?
~  Whatever happened to Gawp?  Was he ever mentioned again?
~  What is the difference between a blood traitor and muggle born?  (This one I had to google while we were driving, but thought I'd add it because we did wonder).   I found it on wikipedia
On a sidenote, apparently Aaron changed Siri to call me "dirty mudblood" instead of "boss" like I had programmed her to do.  It took me almost 2 months to figure out.  I just have to laugh, I can't change it.  It's too good!

~  According to Black family tradition, members are named after a star or constellation.  Why wasn't Phinneaus Nigellus?  I couldn't find any star or constellation with anything similar.
~  Was there 7 books because they were each a part of JK Rowling's soul?  And 7 is the magic number?
~  How does one create a spell or hoax?
~  I really liked the first part of the book, with "the other minister".  It did a really good job showing the fear and anxiety that people felt.  I don't like that the movie glossed over this.
~  Since it was proven that Tom Riddle conspired against Hagrid, couldn't Hagrid go back to Hogwarts and get like a wizarding GED?
~  I thought that Voldemort was very much like Hitler, in that Hitler persecuted a race that he was also a member of (he was 1/4 Jewish).  Voldemort was a half-blood.  I wonder if JK Rowling consciously made this parallel or it it just happened (or I'm just reading into things)
~  My most controversial thought (probably):  In chapter 20, when Harry was looking at memories in the pensieve (i before e?  I can't remember), in one of the memories, Dumbledore crossed the office to get wine off the shelf.  This shelf now (in Harry's day) holds the pensieve.  Is Dumbledore a recovering alcoholic?  Was it clouding his thoughts and he knew that he had an important role to play?  Or, did he just redecorate?

 What are your thoughts?  Please share!  

Deep thoughts on Harry Potter {5}

My husband and I listened to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (JK Rowling), wonderfully narrated by Jim Dale, while on vacation.  These are snippets of the conversations we had, questions that popped up, while listening.

First, here is what was going through my head most of the time while listening...

~What houses were Umbridge and Fudge in?  Aaron thinks that Umbridge is definitely Slytherin, because she favors them so much, but I think that Fudge was also Slytherin---he's self-serving.

~This is the first book where I thought Harry was a complete butt.  He was whiny and rude to Ron and Hermione in the beginning, middle and end.  And he was a jerk (or typical 15 year old) towards Dumbledore at the end (when he was explaining everything).

~Who hurt Hedgwig?  Was it Umbridge while checking the mail?  Its never really explained...

~For me, a lot of what Umbridge was doing, with her Educational Decrees, reminded me a lot of what is happening in education today---the feeling of control being taken away, having to teach in ways that we don't agree with / subject matter that we dont agree with, etc.  And by someone who doesn't have a background in education!  I think that's what gets me the most!

~Aaron brought up that this was the first book for him that made him see why the Sorting Hat wanted to put Harry in Slytherin. 

~We also agreed that we would have liked to have seen, and there were a few opportunities for it, Draco and Harry as being portrayed as different sides to the same coin.  Dark and light.  The hero and the anti-hero. 

What do you think?  Do you have any deep thoughts on Harry Potter?

My thoughts on 2012 ALA award winners

I got the idea to read every 2012 ALA award winner and honoree that I could get my hands on based on the Newbery/Caldecott challenge issued by Mr. Schu (@mrschureads)---(he's reading ALL the award winners since the conception on the prize). 

So far, I've read a pretty fair amount of the winners:
*Grandpa Green
*Tales for Very Picky Eaters
*A Ball for Daisy
*Hurricane Dancers
*The Returning
*Breaking Stalin's Nose
*Where Things Come Back
*I started, but haven't finished yet, The Scorpio Races

and I'm torn....I like the picture books (Caldecott, Geisel awards) but I haven't enjoyed a single Newbery or Printz winner.  I don't know why this is, but I'm really happy I'm not on those committees! 

I really liked Grandpa Green (Lane Smith).  I thought the story was endearing and the pictures wonderful.  I almost cried in the middle of Barnes and Noble reading it. 

I took A Ball for Daisy (Chris Rashka) to school with me to show my students.  Because it was a wordless book, I had them write the story based on the pictures.  They loved the book, and the activity. 

Like I stated above, I started The Scorpio Races (Maggie Stiefvater) the day the awards were announced in January.  I didn't like it.  I couldn't get into it.  Will I try again this summer?  Probably, but only when my TBR pile is severely reduced.

I thought Where Things Come Back (John Corey Whaley) was really hard to get into, and I honestly didn't care about any of the characters.  I only finished it because I was proctoring a state standardized test and didn't have anything else to do/read. 

The Returning, Hurricane Dancers, and Breaking Stalin's Nose were just "meh".  They weren't bad, but in my opinion, they weren't that super awesome spectacular either.  I'm not sure how many kids would actually read any of them.

So maybe thats where my thought train is heading (jump on if you dare...), that sometimes on committees we choose books that we, as adults like, and sometimes forget our target audience. 

Deep thoughts on Harry Potter {4}

photo from google image search, editing by me

These deep thoughts are brought to you by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (book 4) by JK Rowling (audiobook...though I'm sure I'd have the same deep thoughts if I read the paper copy).

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So, books 3 and 4 were a changing point in the series, in my opinion.  Harry and company go from being children to being adults and facing very real, very adult problems.  Yes, they faced things in books 1 and 2, but the characters still retained a childlike quality.  In books 3 and 4 (especially), this is where we see them becoming the adults they will be.

Other random thoughts:

1.  When characters talk about cursing each other, or cursing items, this is what I think of:

 Oh Harry Potter Puppet Pals and your wizard swears!  You never fail to amuse!

2.  This I've been wondering for a while, but what is the difference between Peeves (a poltergeist) and Nearly Headless Nick (a ghost)?  Aren't they both dead people?  Is it because Peeves is a pain in the expecto patronads?

3.  Dumbledore tries to console Hagrid after Rita Skeeter's horrid article about him in The Daily Prophet by telling him about all the horrible things his brother, Aberforth did (being prosecuted for use of inappropriate magic on an animal) and also how stupid he was ("not even sure he could read it").  I wondered while listening why Dumbledore badmouthed Aberforth, and then Rowling had him (Aberforth) being kind of important in book 7 (being the eye in the mirror shard, letting them into the castle).  Did Dumbledore just say that to make Hagrid feel better or were we to forget that Dumbledore had said that? 

4.  I know that if I brought a hip flask with me to teach and drank from it all day long, I wouldn't last long as a teacher.  Like, I'd get called into HR before the day was out and be asked to resign.  Why was it ok for Moody to do that?  I guess they couldn't prove it was alcohol, but still!

5.  How in the world did a wimpy spell (in my opinion) like "expelliarmus" even come close to matching (and holding off) "avada kedavra"? 

6.  Wouldn't things have been different with wizard cell phones and wizard google?  Harry could have used wizard google to search for the spell (or plant) to help him with the second task!

7.  Some things that were pretty big things in the book, but were not in the movie (that I recall):
       ~The character of Winky
       ~speaking of houselves, I don't recall anything about SPEW in the movie.
       ~The character of Ludo Bagman.  He had a pretty good storyline going---judge at the Twi-Wizard Tournament, the thing with the Weasley Twins.  I think his role was subsumed by Barty Crouch in the movie (sad Amanda)
        If Ludo Bagman was in the movie, here is who I envision playing him:

Chef Gordon Ramsey (photo from google image search)

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"

Deep Thoughts on Harry Potter (Part 2)

So, I had some more questions / deep thoughts as I am listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks.  In case you were wondering, this isn't my first time reading the books, I've read the series start to finish several times, but this is my first time listening to them on audiobook.  

1.  In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (book 2), how come the kids that were attacked (petrified) didn't get held back a year?  Some missed almost an entire year of school, that puts them well behind their classmates.  Did they have to go to summer school to catch up?  You'd think Hermione would at least ask for tutoring on what she had missed....

2.  Also in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, when Harry's stuff was ransacked and Tom Riddle's diary stolen, why didn't anyone think of someone using a polyjuice potion?  I know, of course you'd automatically think someone from Gryffindor, but since only a few chapters before Harry and Ron got into the Slytherin common room by using a polyjuice potion, you'd think that maybe they would think someone had done that.  (make sense?)

Did anyone else wonder about this? 

Deep Thoughts on Harry Potter (part 1)

As I was typing that title, I kept saying, "Deep thoughts...with Jack Handy" (from SNL)...and then I realized I was probably the only one who got that reference....

Anyway, as I'm listening to all the Harry Potter books on audio, I have some questions / deep thoughts that I figured you may be able to help me out with:

1.  What happened to Harry's paternal grandparents?  Was James an orphan?  Did HE (James) have no other suitable relatives Harry could live with?
2.  Why in the world did Dumbledore hire Guilderoy Lockhart?  He is obviously NOT highly qualified.
3.  How did the muggle-born students figure out where Diagon Alley was and how to get in?
4.  How did the Dursley's manage to send Harry Christmas presents via owl?  How did the owl know to go pick them up?

More to come as I think of them.....(and get further along in the books)