Culturally relevant is indeed the word. Reason I started liking reading was because of one of my teachers when I was a kid, and it wasnt just your typical literature, but he enticed moi (and us) by giving us reprieve from usual boring stuff, by giving us fantasy/adventure/sci fi books most other pompous teachers would scoffed at (David Gemmell one of my fav fantasy authors due to that dude).
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Couldnt be more wrong you pretentous little dweeb

Majority of my siblings read the GOT book series, as do many of my friends, but I NEVER gotten what the fuss is about, tried first 2 books and they bore me, mainly because R.R Martins mundane writing style that I cant stand. The tv show is absolutely amazing though.