12 in 2012 - Book 6!

Which was, as I mentioned before, Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire.  This was a big honkin' book, y'all.  (694 pages, according to my library's catalog - I wouldn't know, because I read it on my Kindle!)

So I figured out why starting the book was difficult for me.  You see, I had tried to start this series previously, years ago, and just couldn't get into it.  I actually almost didn't this time.  I started reading, was failing to get sucked in, but I kept hearing that I'd love it, so I kept giving it another chapter, and finally Catelyn's first chapter grabbed me, and then I was hooked.  I think the reason I have difficulty with this series is because George R R Martin writes each chapter from a different person's perspective.  That is actually common, or at least having parts of a book from different characters' perspectives is common, especially, it seems, with the fantasy series I read - I mean, the authors have to advance action across an entire world, so that seems a logical way to do it.  I think the difference with the way GRRM does it and the way I'm used to is that, well, first of all, he does it every chapter.  And I can read a chapter in about 15 minutes.  That's a lot of perspective changing.  And secondly, at the beginnings of books he doesn't start with 1 person and then switch to a person that you got introduced to in the first person's chapter.  He switches to someone who you have no idea how they are related.  While this is really pretty cool because he relies on the reader to make the connections in the beginning, thus making you think and wonder, for me it also makes it harder to get sucked in.  Lots harder.

I started the second book in the series yesterday, and the 3rd chapter (I think it is the third.) is from the perspective of... someone.  I have no idea who they are, where they are, or why they are/will be important.  When I saw that, I just closed the book and went to bed.  Even though I know I'll love this book, I just didn't have the mental wherewithal to care about a new character last night.

Don't get me wrong - I'm already itching to get to reading again today - I just think this is interesting.