Geeklings, I want to talk to you about books. I’m sure you’re thinking that this is going to be the reading list for July and sadly that column probably isn’t happening until next week. I’m sorry. There are so many other things I want to discuss with you guys, and I’ve written two other columns today and don’t have the energy to take a deep dive into what I read last month. I promise we’re going to get there before August ends.

As I was saying before I distracted myself, I want to talk to you about books. Most specifically what I want to read. I’ve stated before that this hasn’t been the greatest reading year for me as my numbers seem to be down, I am a bit busy, but that’s alright. I’m still reading and that’s all that matters. Currently, I’m going through The Leftovers so Jennifer and I can start the HBO series. You hear that Jen? I’ve started the book and I’m about 20% through, so you better get on this. She’s a quicker reader than I am so I’m not that worried.

My real dilemma comes with when I finish The Leftovers, which now has me thinking about food and how badly I want to it all of it. If you recall a loooooong time ago I mentioned my desire to read A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons at the same time. That’s right, two books simultaneously. The thing is I didn’t like Crows as the majority of the best characters were missing from it and not a whole lot happened until the last 90 pages or so. I did enjoy Dragons though which contains the number of awesome major characters missing from Crows. Both of these books take place at the same time so the geniuses of the interwebs have devised a way to read both books together like one big novel. This is clearly made easier with the use of a Kindle, so you’re not lugging these large books around all the time, and seems like a way to make this story better. I’m all for that as again Crows just dragged for me. It introduced too many new characters, some of which were just there for a chapter, and kind of went around in a circle a bit. I wonder if the book is enhanced by the events of the show and I want to believe that characters like Euron and the Dornish could be an easier read now.

Here’s my problem though. As I’ve mentioned before my reading numbers are down and if I commit to doing this it’s going to be close to two thousand pages, which will consume my month of reading. I’ve currently re-read all the Thrones books up until this point and I’m still holding on to the foolish hope that Martin will release Winds of Winter at some point soon. Maybe the end of the year or maybe early next year but probably never. When he does I want to be caught up on the events of the books. Yes, they are different from the show. There are some bigger plot threads that the show hasn’t explored, and I’m not just talking about Lady Stoneheart. While I feel well versed in these events it probably couldn’t hurt to touch up on them. It’s been awhile since I last read them.

So I guess my question is, what do I do Geeklings? Have any of you read Crows and Dragons at the same time? Was it worth it? I am consumed with all things Game of Thrones right now so it sort of make sense that I would want to do this at this exact moment (it happens often around this time), but I’m intimidated by how time-consuming this could become. What do you guys think? Should I just read Crows, something I hadn’t even thought of until I just wrote it, or just go for it? Your opinions are welcomed.