Where is this idleness I heard so much about....

This has been one of the crazy busiest years of my life!  Got engaged and then married twice in different countries (to the same guy).  Quit my job to do PhD and worked two part time jobs while studying and then moved house!

Thankfully that covers most major life events in the short space of a year and I am now able to focus on things I enjoy - such as being idle (and reading).  So thought I would start blogging about what I'm reading in the hopes of inspiring others to pick up what I've read or even something a little different.

I've only read three books in the last few months Game of Thrones, The Avery Shaw Experiment and Like Water in Wild Places.  This will give you a taste of the eclectic materials that make up my literary palette.  Some of the books may also provide some insight into why my grammar and punctuation is so terrible.

So, when I said three books, I kind of lied because Game of Thrones was actually all five books so far in the series of a Song of Fire and Ice.  The first book was Game of Thrones which was absolutely awesome!








The next was a Clash of Kings - slightly less interesting if you're not so much into the whole war writing thing








Then it becomes a bit difficult to say because I was reading these books on a compendium in Kindle so they all started to blur a bit.  There are three remaining books A feast for Crows, A Storm of Swords and A Dance with Dragons. It didn't help that he split one book into two books which were further split into 5 more books by the UK publishers.    Ultimately a great and very complex story that can take a while to warm up to, has the odd boring bit here and there, but winds a very twisted web for all characters involved.  I am really excited to see how the story concludes in the next two books.  Although George RR Martin is known for taking his time over them (it shows in the quality) so I won't be holding my breath...







After all the seriousness of the Song of Fire and Ice books I decided to read something a bit more light weight called The Avery Shaw experiment.  This book is awesome and provides a great opportunity for those who love predictable teen romance to relive their youth.  It was set in the context of a social science experiment, and as a social scientist I loved it.  I should caveat that statement by saying that my feelings have less to do with the science and everything to do with the fact that it made me smile and I could read it cover to cover in about 2 hrs.

p.s. it is important to not that the purchase was made via Kindle and I couldn't see the horrific cover image.  I always believed you could in fact judge a book by its cover and have just been proven wrong.

The last and probably best book I read was Like Water in Wild Places.  This book is amazing!  However, I am unsure about the international appeal as it is very context specific to South Africa and additionally to South Africans who were liberally minded but also experienced apartheid.  Therefore I would highly recommend this to any South African (or someone familiar with it's landscape, history and wildlife) aged between 27 and 60.

Really looking forward to hearing any good book suggestions so please post if there is something worth reading.

Jxxx