Believe it or not, I don't spend ALL my time watching television. I read about it too. Here is part one of a two part post covering a few television-adjacent books I read in 2013.
A Song of Ice and Fire: Books 1-5
A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows
A Dance with Dragons
by George R.R. Martin
I started reading these almost by accident. Having watched the first two seasons, I awaited the third. In January I was on an excruciating bus commute home when I finished the hard copy book I had with me. Desperate for distraction, I bought and downloaded A Game of Thrones to my Kindle app. Within 60 seconds I had the book on my phone because we live in the future. Originally, I planned to read one, maybe two books, and catch the rest on television. But I found I didn't want to stop. While reading Storm of Swords, I was watching Season Three and was shocked at the episode when Jamie gets his hand cut off. The next day I realized the next chapter that awaited me was the first one where Jaime is short his sword hand. From then on I was ahead on the books, but it didn't diminish the show for me.
I finished A Dance with Dragons around the time Season Three concluded. The best element was that I no longer had to worry about spoilers. I avoided most commentary on the show for fear of being spoiled. Comments gave away key plot points. Writers who read the books loved to (not as slyly as they thought) imply things, almost as if they were bragging they new something the Unsullied television viewers didn't.* Even the titles of Youtube videos were dangerous. It opened a door to read a lot more analysis out there without fear of spoilerdom.**
* I know something you don't know! Congratulations, you're literate.
** The Meereneese Blot is an excellent blog and shed a lot of light on the events of Dragons for me. Looking at all of Dany's chapters a different way, viewing characters as having different intentions enhances the series a great deal. The author raises that the characters are purposefully misguided, but that GRRM withholds confirmation of that. It is basically a much better execution of the Brody-Carrie dynamic in that Brody and Carrie are purposefully made to look like idiots while Dany in Dragons is (we think) purposefully made to look to be working against her own ideals.
I do not understand the complaints about adapting the story from one medium to a differerent one. Of course there will be concessions. Plots will be cut, characters will be composited. * Two things Benioff and Weiss have state are important. First, they are creating their interpretation of the story, not merely transcribing the books to video. Second, they are adapting ASOIAF to multiple seasons of television, rather than strictly adapting Book One to Season One, etc. **
* Game of Thrones still has the largest cast in television.
** How they plot this will be most interesting in Season Four, where they have about 300-400 pages remaining of Swords before they run into the simultaneous events of Crows and Dragons. Mostly, I'm excited about the casting of Oberyn Martell.
Obviously the difference in medium allow for different strengths and weaknesses between the books and movies. The most Stark* examples are the explanations of the geopolitical makeup of Westeros via background and history. Also, nakedtime! **
* Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
** Link takes you to standup comedy, not nudity.
The Late Shift
by Bill Carter
Last fall I read The War for Late Night which recounted the Conan-Leno saga. This is the forerunner to that, by the same author, recounting the Leno-Letterman fiasco. It includes the infamous Leno-closet-spy-session and an East Coast/West Coast war at NBC. As someone who grew up only knowing Letterman on CBS and Leno as host of The Tonight Show, it was interesting to read the prequel.
Similar to The War for Late Night, Late Shift sheds light on the executive decisions that led to the current state of late night television. Carter tells the behind the scenes story as well as the back story of the main characters.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Between watching Sherlock last fall and then becoming invested as I am in Elementary, this was a logical step. Added bonus for preparing for the upcoming Sherlock episodes in January and spotting Conan canon Easter Eggs. Each of these include about a dozen short stories. As someone who devoured Encyclopedia Brown books to the point where I opened my own detective agency at seven years old, I find is somewhat shameful it took me nearly 30 years to read these.
I Remember Me
by Carl Reiner
Our generation knows Carl Reiner as Saul from the Ocean's 11, 12, 13 movies where he plays an respected, old school con man who invented the game they're all playing. In real life, Carl Reiner went from WWII veteran to a writer and director for television, stage and film, setting precedents and breaking new ground in those industries. The memoir tells his personal stories about his time in the army, courting his wife, and his friendship with Mel Brooks, as well as his professional life including Your Show of Shows (Sid Caesar) where he was a writer and performer, and his creation of The Dick Van Dyke Show (including the discovery of Mary Tyler Moore).
Maybe the most interesting chapter is where Reiner discusses the Red Scare and being investigated by the feds. Two g-men came to his house, questioning him about known and possible Communists . It's a heavy story relative to the rest of the book but still Reiner is able to inject humor in a way that shows how he's been in his business for seven decades.
Part two manana..........
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