![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellenel13 I got myself a Kindle Fire for Christmas/New Years! It was probably an expense I couldn't afford but fuck it. What's the point of working like an animal if I can't splurge every once in a while? So far, I haven't bought any new books because I spent close to $300 this month on just stuff to read. I also got a few books as Christmas gifts and I haven't finished all of them yet.
So far, I've only used the Kindle for Internet purposes and apps. The internet loads fast enough (images and videos included). I've heard that it's slower than the iPad 2 but I certainly haven't noticed much of a delay and I've used iPads before. I got Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Bubble Buster (all free editions) and they also work very well. Battery life hasn't been a problem yet, but I wonder how it would fare if I was travelling with it. Whatever though. I'm not going to be travelling anytime soon.
On a less fun note, I have to start constructing notes outlines for my students. Like, lists pointing out what they should take note off in the lectures I'm expected to give because "they won't listen" otherwise. I'm pretty sure that the ones who will listen won't need such a guide, and the ones who don't want to listen will just ignore it. I get that I'm dealing with younger kids, but I honestly wished I wouldn't have to be begging these douchebags to do their work. I don't mind putting in extra work for kids who ask me for help, but I don't see why I need to be tripping over myself for the ones who clearly just want me to fuck off.
I sound like an asshole in that last paragraph I realize. I started teaching as an idealist determined to help every last kid in my class. Then one asshole plagiarized the work I was giving her as an example and nearly got me fired because my boss suspected I was doing my students' work for them. That's the worst thing that happened, but I'm also tired of kids who don't do even the most minimal amount of work and then complain when they don't get A's. I'm so glad I'm not going to be a teacher forever.
Anyway, I finished A Storm of Swords yesterday
I sort of wish I'd gotten all the books on Kindle since I my mother has the bad habit of donating my freaking books while I'm away at school. I should have my own place by June/July, so I hope the books have survived that long. I really am enjoying them and I sort of have a half-formed plan to re-read the books by character after I'm done with them. As in, read the whole series again but go through only Jon Snow's/Daenerys'/Tyrion's chapters and so forth. I'm wondering if I would enjoy the books better that way.
I finished A Storm of Swords with the ugly feeling that the "bad guys" won again. Except the bad guys ended up in pretty shitty situations as well, so it feels like everyone lost. It's sort of okay for me since I have all the books at once, but I can't help but imagine how shitty it must have been to finish this book when A Feast for Crows hadn't been published. Martin is dangerously approaching the point where I can't bring myself to care about any character because I know that everyone in Westeros who isn't vile will probably die a horrible, tragic, and painful death. As far as individual characters go:
Daenerys: I finally felt sympathetic towards around the end of the book. I still think her decision to conquer Westeros is not particularly logical or admirable, but at least she's begun to see that her actions away from Westeros have consequences. For example, her "freeing" of the Unsullied slave warriors was badass but I was wondering what she was going to do with them after she killed her masters. I was all "okay, now you have 8,000 men who have been psychologically and physically tortured to the point that they don't even have identities, much less free will. They have no skills other than killing. They need to be fed, clothed, and it's strongly implied that they're all addicted to a drug that stops them from feeling pain. What the fuck are you going to with them Daenerys?"
Don't get me wrong, she was totally right to kill the slavers but I'm glad it wasn't sunshine and daisies afterwards. Not only were the Unsullied really unsuitable for "freedom", but Astapor fell into chaos after Deanerys left. When she got to the next slave city, she realized that she couldn't just "free" the slaves and bounced. She decided to stay until the city was stable instead of just leaving everyone behind to die while she went off on her quest to conquer Westeros.
Daenerys also has a lesbian relationship with one of her maids going on. I'm not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, the sex is not described in a needlessly titillating and exploitative way. On the other hand, Daenerys makes it pretty clear that she's not really attracted to her maid and wishes she could take a male lover. IDK, I don't want to say much about this since I'm straight, but I can't help but feel uncomfortable with the unfortunate implications of that arrangement. I will say this much, if Daenerys wants a dude, she should just get it with that hot sellsworth she hired and fire him after or something.
Jon Snow: is probably the last main character who's unambiguously a good guy so I'm pretty sure he'll be murdered or maimed in a horrifying fashion at some point or other. Martin won't be able to resist, especially now that his story is finally getting connected to the main Westeros plot and thus getting interesting. That hasn't really happened with Daenerys yet. Every chapter of hers takes her farther away from the main plot, to the point where I feel like I'm reading two books. That's not good because her book is just not as interesting. I think it's because she's the only character from that side of the story who gets a real characterization.
But back to Jon Snow. I felt that his confusion and pain about his little spy mission was really in character for him. Jon doesn't seem like the kind of guy who can really pretend to befriend someone just to fuck them over. I liked his chapters with the wildlings, especially the parts where he began to wonder if their form of "government" wasn't better than Westeros' monarchy. I also liked that it wasn't an all or nothing thing. He realized that the way the wildlings lived lack structure and safety nets and that it might not be a good thing to live in a society were the strongest are always dominant if you're not a strong person yourself (not that I think the monarchy is all that different in that regard lol).
Jon Snow also got his very first love interest. Iggrytte really was hitting on him. Of course, things stopped being cute and took a turn for the worst when she basically coerced him into sex at least that first night. I didn't even lol because poor Jon Snow was so obviously conflicted about the whole thing. I can just imagine him going "no, I shouldn't break my vows, but they'll realized I'm still a Brother if I don't, I can just say I don't like her anymore, but then they'll make fun of her because a crow dumped her, all right fine one last time" every time they had sex. When I put it that way, I guess it does sound kind of funny. It was interesting to see a male character going through this though. It's usually women who feel guilty and conflicted about his sexuality.
That being said, I wished Iggrytte hadn't died though I realized why Martin killed her off. Jon Snow was already considering deserting and renouncing his vows for real just because he loved her. He probably would have angsted about it for the rest of his life if Iggrytte hadn't been killed. Still, it all feels a bit like a cop out in a way. The whole adventure beyond the walls did little besides show how much Jon Snow would be a good leader. I still think he's going to be the king by the end of the series. I was so sure he was going to be Lord of Winterfel by the end, but I guess Lord Commander of the Brothers of the Night Watch is still fancy and Kingly, especially if he's going to lead the war against the zombies. He's already the one who found the Drangonglass and the Fire, so he's probably going to be the end game for Westeros. That or Martin is going to murder him for realism or some shit.
Catelyn: Or maybe this should be the section for Robb Stark because her job this book was to narrate how much Robb adventures as King of the North were sucking balls. Poor Catelyn suffered so much this whole book and most of it just felt douchely senseless which I guess was part of the point. The whole Red Wedding fiasco made the Freys practically irredeemable. I mean, yes, Robb was a asshole who broke his word and humiliated them, but that was no reason to murder him via arrows. Though if Jon Snow is being set up to be king, then Robb had to die (I guess my theory that Jon Snow is secretly Lyanna and Robert Baratheon's son is bullshit).There was definitely no reason to kill Catelyn though. Though her sections next book should be way more interesting now that she's an undead out to fuck anyone who messed with her family while she was alive. I hope she guts Littlefinger like a fish.
. . . She's going to be the one to kill Jon Snow, isn't she? Fuck knows she considered his very existence an insult to her family.
Littlefinger: still gross and butthurt, except now he's shifted his harassment focus to poor Sansa. Ew him. The fact that he's been using Lysa her whole life does not speak well of him either. I want to say more about this character, but all I can think is ew gross.
Lysa: This character a really disliked this book, not just because her motivations are pathetic, but because Martin portrayed her as a sad and pathetic joke. The chapter with her wedding to Littlefinger was just so . . . ew. I mean, was I supposed to laugh about how she was being purposely loud during the sex just because I know how much Littlefinger was hating it? I felt as awkward as poor Sansa did. Another thing, Littlefinger assults Sansa on the vale and what does her aunt do? Threaten to kill her. This is when I lost all sympathy for this lady. I couldn't even make myself feel all that sad when Littlefinger killed her.
I still haven't said anything about the Lannisters or Arya . . . There's so many characters in this series!
So far, I've only used the Kindle for Internet purposes and apps. The internet loads fast enough (images and videos included). I've heard that it's slower than the iPad 2 but I certainly haven't noticed much of a delay and I've used iPads before. I got Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Bubble Buster (all free editions) and they also work very well. Battery life hasn't been a problem yet, but I wonder how it would fare if I was travelling with it. Whatever though. I'm not going to be travelling anytime soon.
On a less fun note, I have to start constructing notes outlines for my students. Like, lists pointing out what they should take note off in the lectures I'm expected to give because "they won't listen" otherwise. I'm pretty sure that the ones who will listen won't need such a guide, and the ones who don't want to listen will just ignore it. I get that I'm dealing with younger kids, but I honestly wished I wouldn't have to be begging these douchebags to do their work. I don't mind putting in extra work for kids who ask me for help, but I don't see why I need to be tripping over myself for the ones who clearly just want me to fuck off.
I sound like an asshole in that last paragraph I realize. I started teaching as an idealist determined to help every last kid in my class. Then one asshole plagiarized the work I was giving her as an example and nearly got me fired because my boss suspected I was doing my students' work for them. That's the worst thing that happened, but I'm also tired of kids who don't do even the most minimal amount of work and then complain when they don't get A's. I'm so glad I'm not going to be a teacher forever.
Anyway, I finished A Storm of Swords yesterday
I sort of wish I'd gotten all the books on Kindle since I my mother has the bad habit of donating my freaking books while I'm away at school. I should have my own place by June/July, so I hope the books have survived that long. I really am enjoying them and I sort of have a half-formed plan to re-read the books by character after I'm done with them. As in, read the whole series again but go through only Jon Snow's/Daenerys'/Tyrion's chapters and so forth. I'm wondering if I would enjoy the books better that way.
I finished A Storm of Swords with the ugly feeling that the "bad guys" won again. Except the bad guys ended up in pretty shitty situations as well, so it feels like everyone lost. It's sort of okay for me since I have all the books at once, but I can't help but imagine how shitty it must have been to finish this book when A Feast for Crows hadn't been published. Martin is dangerously approaching the point where I can't bring myself to care about any character because I know that everyone in Westeros who isn't vile will probably die a horrible, tragic, and painful death. As far as individual characters go:
Daenerys: I finally felt sympathetic towards around the end of the book. I still think her decision to conquer Westeros is not particularly logical or admirable, but at least she's begun to see that her actions away from Westeros have consequences. For example, her "freeing" of the Unsullied slave warriors was badass but I was wondering what she was going to do with them after she killed her masters. I was all "okay, now you have 8,000 men who have been psychologically and physically tortured to the point that they don't even have identities, much less free will. They have no skills other than killing. They need to be fed, clothed, and it's strongly implied that they're all addicted to a drug that stops them from feeling pain. What the fuck are you going to with them Daenerys?"
Don't get me wrong, she was totally right to kill the slavers but I'm glad it wasn't sunshine and daisies afterwards. Not only were the Unsullied really unsuitable for "freedom", but Astapor fell into chaos after Deanerys left. When she got to the next slave city, she realized that she couldn't just "free" the slaves and bounced. She decided to stay until the city was stable instead of just leaving everyone behind to die while she went off on her quest to conquer Westeros.
Daenerys also has a lesbian relationship with one of her maids going on. I'm not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, the sex is not described in a needlessly titillating and exploitative way. On the other hand, Daenerys makes it pretty clear that she's not really attracted to her maid and wishes she could take a male lover. IDK, I don't want to say much about this since I'm straight, but I can't help but feel uncomfortable with the unfortunate implications of that arrangement. I will say this much, if Daenerys wants a dude, she should just get it with that hot sellsworth she hired and fire him after or something.
Jon Snow: is probably the last main character who's unambiguously a good guy so I'm pretty sure he'll be murdered or maimed in a horrifying fashion at some point or other. Martin won't be able to resist, especially now that his story is finally getting connected to the main Westeros plot and thus getting interesting. That hasn't really happened with Daenerys yet. Every chapter of hers takes her farther away from the main plot, to the point where I feel like I'm reading two books. That's not good because her book is just not as interesting. I think it's because she's the only character from that side of the story who gets a real characterization.
But back to Jon Snow. I felt that his confusion and pain about his little spy mission was really in character for him. Jon doesn't seem like the kind of guy who can really pretend to befriend someone just to fuck them over. I liked his chapters with the wildlings, especially the parts where he began to wonder if their form of "government" wasn't better than Westeros' monarchy. I also liked that it wasn't an all or nothing thing. He realized that the way the wildlings lived lack structure and safety nets and that it might not be a good thing to live in a society were the strongest are always dominant if you're not a strong person yourself (not that I think the monarchy is all that different in that regard lol).
Jon Snow also got his very first love interest. Iggrytte really was hitting on him. Of course, things stopped being cute and took a turn for the worst when she basically coerced him into sex at least that first night. I didn't even lol because poor Jon Snow was so obviously conflicted about the whole thing. I can just imagine him going "no, I shouldn't break my vows, but they'll realized I'm still a Brother if I don't, I can just say I don't like her anymore, but then they'll make fun of her because a crow dumped her, all right fine one last time" every time they had sex. When I put it that way, I guess it does sound kind of funny. It was interesting to see a male character going through this though. It's usually women who feel guilty and conflicted about his sexuality.
That being said, I wished Iggrytte hadn't died though I realized why Martin killed her off. Jon Snow was already considering deserting and renouncing his vows for real just because he loved her. He probably would have angsted about it for the rest of his life if Iggrytte hadn't been killed. Still, it all feels a bit like a cop out in a way. The whole adventure beyond the walls did little besides show how much Jon Snow would be a good leader. I still think he's going to be the king by the end of the series. I was so sure he was going to be Lord of Winterfel by the end, but I guess Lord Commander of the Brothers of the Night Watch is still fancy and Kingly, especially if he's going to lead the war against the zombies. He's already the one who found the Drangonglass and the Fire, so he's probably going to be the end game for Westeros. That or Martin is going to murder him for realism or some shit.
Catelyn: Or maybe this should be the section for Robb Stark because her job this book was to narrate how much Robb adventures as King of the North were sucking balls. Poor Catelyn suffered so much this whole book and most of it just felt douchely senseless which I guess was part of the point. The whole Red Wedding fiasco made the Freys practically irredeemable. I mean, yes, Robb was a asshole who broke his word and humiliated them, but that was no reason to murder him via arrows. Though if Jon Snow is being set up to be king, then Robb had to die (I guess my theory that Jon Snow is secretly Lyanna and Robert Baratheon's son is bullshit).There was definitely no reason to kill Catelyn though. Though her sections next book should be way more interesting now that she's an undead out to fuck anyone who messed with her family while she was alive. I hope she guts Littlefinger like a fish.
. . . She's going to be the one to kill Jon Snow, isn't she? Fuck knows she considered his very existence an insult to her family.
Littlefinger: still gross and butthurt, except now he's shifted his harassment focus to poor Sansa. Ew him. The fact that he's been using Lysa her whole life does not speak well of him either. I want to say more about this character, but all I can think is ew gross.
Lysa: This character a really disliked this book, not just because her motivations are pathetic, but because Martin portrayed her as a sad and pathetic joke. The chapter with her wedding to Littlefinger was just so . . . ew. I mean, was I supposed to laugh about how she was being purposely loud during the sex just because I know how much Littlefinger was hating it? I felt as awkward as poor Sansa did. Another thing, Littlefinger assults Sansa on the vale and what does her aunt do? Threaten to kill her. This is when I lost all sympathy for this lady. I couldn't even make myself feel all that sad when Littlefinger killed her.
I still haven't said anything about the Lannisters or Arya . . . There's so many characters in this series!
