I still had a list of characters (as well as who they were and who they were related to) handy when I read that trilogy. I found it somewhere on the internet. I ended up referring to it quite often.
Reading genre
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I love to read and usually read a book every day or two, depending on my schedule. Mysteries are one of my favorites, but I read a wide range of fiction and some nonfiction. I also read a lot of the classics (or reread them) and just started Clive Barker's Sacrament at lunch today. The down side of this is my basement is filling up with books I may read again as well as with those I've bought but not gotten to yet. I do love Harry Potter and am anticipating the next one. Ricardo Pinto started a trilogy that I read, but he's somewhat dilatory about finishing the third one. Usually I won't read a trilogy until all parts are finished. I recently started reading a lot of science fiction and am particularly impressed with Storm Constantine. Wraethu was great as are a number of her other books. Still have some to go. Tolkien is great, and I really like Dickens also. My two biggest complaints are: 1. poor editing on the part of publishers, and 2. awkward writing style. If the style of writing becomes obvious (for any reason other than excellence) I quit reading. My English teaching years make me start marking mistakes until I remember I don't have to grade the darned thing.
jeepwranglerboi
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I love a lot Anne Rice's work. One of my favourite novels is 'Cry To Heaven.'
As far as 'The Witching Hour' goes, I finished it and I was so pissed off that I refused to read anymore of the trilogy. She does often times over indulge in her description of things. Sometimes I enjoy it other times, not so much.
I tend to mostly read a lot of nonfiction and historical fiction.
Naughty you mentioned the Tudor period, have you read 'The Other Boleyn Girl' or 'The Queens Fool' yet?
As far as 'The Witching Hour' goes, I finished it and I was so pissed off that I refused to read anymore of the trilogy. She does often times over indulge in her description of things. Sometimes I enjoy it other times, not so much.
I tend to mostly read a lot of nonfiction and historical fiction.
Naughty you mentioned the Tudor period, have you read 'The Other Boleyn Girl' or 'The Queens Fool' yet?
Bananaman
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Amazing how many of us are Sci-fi/Fantasy fans. I've always liked both for the fact that they can go pretty much anywhere the author's imagination can take them. No boundaries appeals to me, I guess.
After that, it'd be adventure then horror, with a good number of historical novels thrown in. The list is far too long to start naming them, but since someone was asking about Michener, my favorite of his is "The Source".
Anybody else enjoy Jean Auel's "Clan of the Cave Bear" series? I loved 'em.
B-man
After that, it'd be adventure then horror, with a good number of historical novels thrown in. The list is far too long to start naming them, but since someone was asking about Michener, my favorite of his is "The Source".
Anybody else enjoy Jean Auel's "Clan of the Cave Bear" series? I loved 'em.
B-man
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ditto. Michael Scott Rohan's Winter of the World series is a good example. they are excellent books, very well-written and with a compelling, continuous storyline, and just enough basis in "reality" to be intriguing - at the same time though, not enough to ever make you consider that the peoples or events he described would have really existed. I'd recommend them to any fantasy fan, but especially to folks like jonb who are justifiably fed up with more traditional archeological fiction.
Heh, I seriously never expected anyone to have ever read those books. I got the first book at a yearly sale at a library several years back, and I wanted to buy the other two after I read it, but couldn't find them anywhere. Eventually I found a store that was able to order it from some obscure place that had a couple copies around. At this time, I found out that all of the books were out of print, so that sort of explained why they were hard to find.
Anyway, I think they were very, very well written. Those books have a quality that edges up next to Tolkien, but just in a different light.
Has anyone read Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series? It's been highly recommended to me by 2 people and I've tried to start it twice, but just can't get into it.
yeah, it's okay for the first couple of books or so, then you realize it's just going on and on with more and more story threads being introduced and becoming more and more convoluted ... I think I got up to about the 7th book before I realized I'd long since ceased to actually care what happened next -_- some people really dig the whole "heroically extended" series thing, but I can't help feeling it would have been a better series and a more impressive work of fiction if it had been wrapped up within 3 or 4 books instead of going on for, what, 13?
it's a matter of taste I guess. I mean there are fantasy trilogies / quartets which are relatively brief in terms of page numbers, but whose writers bring such depth and color to their worlds within those pages that you can feel like you've lived in them for years yourself. for me, the Wheel of Time series rapidly became the opposite - from a promising start it seemed to devolve into a work which was bloated and almost biographical, with so much included that was unengaging or just plain boring.
it's a matter of taste I guess. I mean there are fantasy trilogies / quartets which are relatively brief in terms of page numbers, but whose writers bring such depth and color to their worlds within those pages that you can feel like you've lived in them for years yourself. for me, the Wheel of Time series rapidly became the opposite - from a promising start it seemed to devolve into a work which was bloated and almost biographical, with so much included that was unengaging or just plain boring.
Man, I have not read a good book for a long time, but thats because since I left HS, which was 2yrs ago, I have barley read at all. (same with my friends)
My favourite genre would probably have to be Mystery. I love books where you have to think and figure stuff out. I like non-fiction too, its good to keep up with whats going on.
can anybody recommend some good reads?
My favourite genre would probably have to be Mystery. I love books where you have to think and figure stuff out. I like non-fiction too, its good to keep up with whats going on.
can anybody recommend some good reads?
Dr. - I heard the same from the 2 people that recommended it to me. I think that's part of the reason why I have a hard time starting the series....b/c I know it ends up sucking and losing its momentum.
My main complaint with the Wheel of Time series is the amount of time that elapses between books. Crossroads of Twilight came out in 2003. By the time the next book comes out (no, New Spring doesn't count), I'll have forgotten much of the important stuff that happened in the last book.
Since I'd be starting from square one though and have them all already (my husband is one of them that likes them), would you recommend it or are there other major complaints?
no, they're quite well-written, and there ARE interesting bits buried within the endlessly tedious teenage personality crises continually suffered by the main characters (and after the first couple of books they're not even teenagers anymore) - it's just that I can't really be bothered making the effort to look for them now. -_-
steve319
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Interesting (to me, anyway) that there are so many "genre fiction" readers among the big voices at LPSG.
Anyone care to posit a theory about why that might be? Maybe an attempt to make some tenuous connection between being uninhibited and being open to alternate views of reality in the fiction?
Come on--someone give it a shot!
Anyone care to posit a theory about why that might be? Maybe an attempt to make some tenuous connection between being uninhibited and being open to alternate views of reality in the fiction?
Come on--someone give it a shot!
We're burdened by the tedium of a mundane existence. Fiction offers an escape from the humdrum to a world of the fantastic. We can vicariously experience a world of excitement that doesn't exist except on the written page and in the imagination of its author. The more gifted the author, the more real the adventure seems. A little escapism can be healthy.
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