Could a Collier's encyclopediac epic work?

Davos' chapters are quickly becoming detective stories. Though, it's not that there's some sort of mystery to solve, just that he is currently motivated by information. It's not something that you often see in fantasy novels. 

Likewise, I've not read much fantasy that makes its own world's lore quite so interesting as the bits about dragons we get with Tyrion. It's enough to make me wonder if a story about someone collecting information for an encyclopedia could work. If it's written well, anything could work right?

Speaking of which, the inventory of the Wall's food stores is fairly interesting. The suggestion of the Wall's magic in Jon's thinking it shouldn't be as cold as it is under it nods towards the series' hidden fantastical. However, the rest of the chapter was compelling, but it fell flat at the end. 

Most of Martin's chapters end just as their events feel like they're at or about to reach a climax, Jon's latest was quite a bit less so. Jon's concern about how long their stores will last just doesn't match the introduction of more hill tribes and the intrigues of Stannis' knights.