May 8th

Day 129
17.204 read, -0.038
A Game of Thrones 740-855
Homer's Odyssey, A Companion vi-xi

Today I finished Game of Thrones!  That was LONG.  It definitely ends with a few bangs along the way.  It'll be awhile, if ever, before I get to the sequel, but I think I may eventually just to see what happens, because even though it's long it's still a fast enough read.  But now I can watch the tv series that a friend is waiting on me for!  I've heard from others that quality decreases on the book series as it progresses, and it seems like there may be no end in sight, and I didn't think the quality on the first one was extraordinary anyway, so if I do continue, it'll probably be just to the second or third book and then quit and save myself time.  If I knew there was a definite ending to the series, I may be more inclined to finish it.  But you never can tell on these things.

So now it's time to start the Odyssey.  I just dipped my toes in today, so to speak, reading a little of the introduction to the companion, which by the way is the companion to the Lattimore version written by Peter Jones.  When I read the Iliad earlier this year, I skipped the intro and notes and didn't read the companion until after, all to avoid too many spoilers, and I regretted it.  Reading the notes and companion after, it was almost like having to read the book all over again or losing the context of most notes.

So this time I'm reading it all together.  There are no real notes with the text this time, so it's just a matter of reading the companion along with the actual text.  I'm still going to skip the text intro because I started it and it seems to go in depth in discussing the entire plot, so it's just way too spoilery and I can easily read that at the end without having to re-read the book.  But I am reading the intro to the companion, which is just basics and not very spoilery.