Life of Ronnie

I’ve been working my way, slowly, through George R.R. Martin’s massive A Song of Ice and Fire series. The new job and its necessitated daily bus commute from Kirkland to Seattle and back has given me more time to read, and I discovered quickly that I’m going fast enough that even the (surprisingly great) King County Library System is having trouble keeping up. The wait between book two and three was really frustratingly long. It came though, yesterday, and I’ve dug into the prologue happily. I hear this is the best of the series and really has some shocks in store (that I have managed to avoid) so I’m looking forward to it a lot.

BUT, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out this weekend.

Now, I’m not one of those who just can’t wait to read what happens next and needs to go wait in line at midnight to get the first copy… but I also know that we live in a time when some idiots out there do their best to ruin the biggest surprises. Who dies? Who turns out to be a villain? Who’s redeemed? Who’s not really dead? Whatever happened to Mr. Weasley’s car? I don’t want to know until I read the book! I’m rather wary of believing anything I read on the internet before it’s sourced pretty well (this is multiplied by infinity on April 1st) but when it comes to the days surrounding the release of a new Potter book I sometimes think avoiding the internet all together is the best option. Fat chance of that!

So, here’s the dilemma: Which to I read first? Do I risk the throngs of children and overzealous parents this weekend to get my hands on HPatDH and place it at the top of the list, or do I risk the ambush spoilers and wait until I’ve finished this third volume of ASoIaF (aren’t acronyms grand?) before savoring Rowling’s last crack at Harry and Friends?

I must admit, I’m a little sad not to be able to get back up to Canada today to celebrate Canada Day.

Today marks Canada’s 140th “birthday” — which is different from when we became independent (that didn’t really happen until 1982. Seriously!) and instead celebrates when we became a Dominion. Still, it’s a pretty big day. I think I need to start planning now to make sure I’m up there for the 150th.

But for now, I think tonight I’ll make sure to eat something with maple syrup on it for dinner in honor (sorry, honour) of my Great White Homeland.