I warned you...

That I was going to be doing a bit of reading, rather than posting. Though I'll start with the printed book first.

I love Connie Willis, and I especially love her time-travel books. Blackout is set in Great Britain, in the past and the future, but primarily during WWII. The plot is complex and I won't give any of it away except to say that three historians (read: university time travelers) are stuck in London during The Blitz. The historical background is fascinating, and heroism is an every day occurrance.

I will say, though, that even though I knew that this story and All Clear were arbitrarily divided into two books, rather than being published as one very long volume, I was still not prepared for the abrupt ending of Blackout.

Luckily, I'm coming to this pair late in the game, so I don't have to wait months to find out what happens.

Speaking of being late to the game, I'm only about 14 years late to A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin. This is the first book I purchased with my new Kindle, and by cracky, I chose a good one. We don't have HBO, but the books came to my attention because of that series (though I have always liked George R. R. Martin- his Sandkings remains the most frightening story I've ever read). This is a huge, sprawling epic, set on a world where seasons last years, and as they say in Winterfell, winter is coming. It probably goes without saying that there is family drama, political intrigue, and magic. Oh yeah, and sex. Queen Ceresi said it best: in the game of thrones, you either win, or you die.

There have been four books published in the series, and the fifth is due out in July. I have done pretty much nothing but read since I bought the first book, and I am certain that I'll whip through the rest (though there's no whipping through any book that must have 600 pages... I can't tell on the Kindle because all you see are percentages. But I've been working on this one for maybe 8 hours and I still have 30% of the book left, which tells you how long it is). After that, I'll have to wait five years in between installments, just like everyone else.

During the few moments that I'm not immersed in Winterfell, I noticed that we have some free-range irises blooming. I love irises and I'm so glad that these have survived my neglect.

Okay, back to the book...