A Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire

Book two went down as smoothly as the first. While over-written and chock full of uber detail, still enjoyable fantasy. Love the mix of recognizable human emotions with magic and fantasy. Not sure if he can capture the moment of birthing dragons in the fire but the shadow killers and the shapeshifters are pretty entertaining. While the books contain far too many characters (not sure how Martin kept them in his head) it's not too difficult to follow. Looking forward to book three...

The Tiger's Wife

Tea Obreht's debut novel was lauded as one of the great debut's and an instant classic. On most top 10 lists, etc. As a book club selection I made an effort to read it but ultimately failed. I picked up the book at least a dozen times and could get no more than 10 pages at a sitting. I found the foundation so tired and the stories uninteresting. Personally there were no characters I could connect with or care about. There are sooooo many books that start out with a young protagonist who can only explain their story by telling you how their grandparents met, fell in love, and spent their lives together building a family in war-torn [insert city]. Add this one to that list.