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Page One: The Hobbit, originally uploaded by Jaquandor. I saw someone do this on Tumblr a couple weeks ago, and I fell in love with the idea, so I’m starting a whole new series of blog posts, which I will intend to do weekly but which, as with all such things, I will actually do whenever I think to do one. The idea is a simple one: the first page of books that mean a great deal to me. For my purposes, I will generally define “page one” as the first page of the actual story, whether that be aDown the rabbit hole….

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That’s a memorable line of dialog — perhaps the most memorable — from any of George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books, and fortunately, it’s spoken in the television adaptation of A Game of Thrones, in exactly the right way. That moment, early in the book, jolted me a bit as a reader as a genuine surprise. Martin would, in my opinion, go to this type of well a few too many times over the rest of that first book and in the three that came after, so much so that I remember reading A Feast forDown the rabbit hole….

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A few years ago, I started seeing mention of a new fantasy author in some of the blogs I read, a guy by the name of Patrick Rothfuss. His debut novel had just come out, called The Name of the Wind, and by the time I heard of this, Rothfuss was apparently starting to have some trouble with the sequel to his first book. I remember reading this in the context of the fan ire that bubbled over towards George R.R. Martin, whose ongoing struggles with the fifth book in A Song of Ice and Fire is a constant topicDown the rabbit hole….

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George RR Martin announces that A Dance with Dragons has a release date. I’d love to be one of the fans of A Song of Ice and Fire screaming “HUZZAH!!” over this, but…well, I’ll read it, sure. I won’t buy the hardcover right off the bat, but I’ll read the book. Sometime. But it’s been so long since the last one came out that I really don’t remember a lot of what was going on, so I feel the need to do a complete re-read before I get to Dance. And I can’t forget that I wasn’t terribly enthusiastic aboutDown the rabbit hole….

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Mellon!, originally uploaded by Jaquandor. This is where I was when I sat down to read more Lord of the Rings yesterday. Those who have read the book will recognize the artwork there as the inscription upon the Doors of Durin, which lead into the Mines of Moria if one knows the password. Today, I got up to the Mirror of Galadriel. God, I love this book. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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Some thoughts on some recently seen movies at Casa Jaquandor! :: When we were moving from Hillsboro, OR to Allegany, NY in the summer of 1981, there was one day on the trip when my mother handed me a book and ordered me to read it. The book was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and I read it in its entirety that day. We started out that day somewhere in Nebraska and ended up somewhere in Indiana. I was riding the Ryder truck with my father; my mother and sister were in the pickup truck which was towingDown the rabbit hole….

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OK, so I’m re-reading The Lord of the Rings. And just in time for my entry into the book proper — I read the Prologue last night — I find this quote in a SF Signal post about re-reading books: Of course there’s the Lord of the Rings, which is very different when you come to it at different times of life. I go back to it every six or eight years, give or take, and part of the experience is spending time with the version of myself that read it last. True words, those! Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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The Road goes ever on and on!, originally uploaded by Jaquandor. If I recall correctly, the last time I re-read The Lord of the Rings was in 2004; I was reading it when Little Quinn was born and during his initial hospital stay. I’ve generally re-read it every four or five years, so I’m actually overdue. It’s time to return to Middle Earth! Although, actually, I’ve already been there for a week; it’s always been my practice to re-read The Hobbit first before any re-read of LOTR. A couple of years ago, when we were in Ithaca for the AppleDown the rabbit hole….

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Yeah…I’m trippin’ on the classic Discovery Channel commercial again. This time I’m discovering cool parodies! The original, for reminder’s sake: But I didn’t know that the Discovery Channel did a newer version: And a few take-offs…. I could listen to that friggin’ song all night. Boom de yada! Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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Post corrected below. Regarding a bit of recent reading: :: Some years ago — I don’t recall how long — I read the first few volumes in Lois McMaster Bujold’s series of books on the adventures of a man named Miles Vorkosigan. I’m not sure that the series has an “official” name, so for my purposes, I’ll call it the Vorkosigan Chronicles. I’d been hearing about these books for years; it consists of a long series of self-contained novels about Miles Vorkosigan and the people around him, and every time a new book in the sequence would come out, I’dDown the rabbit hole….