Now Reeding or Just Reeded...

This week I am re-reading a couple.....

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Stormspell- I'm excited as well to know HBO picked it up. "Fire and Ice" would never get a proper treatment in even 2-3 movies. It's just too involved. But a couple dozen 1 hour shows or a series a la Deadwood, Sopranos, ect...would do the trick....

Considering HBO cancelled Rome because it cost too much, I find it surprising they made this move.

Eyesore wrote:

Considering HBO cancelled Rome because it cost too much, I find it surprising they made this move.

I think HBO signed it before cancelling Rome, still a disturbing thought nevertheless...

Sometimes channels do bizzare things, like Sci-Fi cancelling SG-1 after one of the best seasons they ever had, but opting to keep Atlantis and Barfystar Craparica... crazy!

stormspell wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Considering HBO cancelled Rome because it cost too much, I find it surprising they made this move.

I think HBO signed it before cancelling Rome, still a disturbing thought nevertheless...

Sometimes channels do bizzare things, like Sci-Fi cancelling SG-1 after one of the best seasons they ever had, but opting to keep Atlantis and Barfystar Craparica... crazy!

Haha.

Well, Rome likely didn't draw a broad audience. Historical epics cater to a small group, whereas fantasy draws a very broad demographic. Even people who don't read fantasy would watch it. Lord of the Rings movies, anyone? And still, Martin's books—these, at least—are really not so fantastical. I mean, I keep having to check myself every time he jumps back to the chapter involving the Night's Watch and go, "Oh yeah, I forgot about the dead coming to life and the fantasy part of this book." Haha. Because so far, at page 231 of book 2, the story isn't so different than what you'd have seen on Rome. It's largely a political epic so far. So it could work for HBO.

Have you read " FEVRE DREAM"?

It's my favorite GEORGE R.R. MARTIN book....

Shiney wrote:

Have you read " FEVRE DREAM"?

It's my favorite GEORGE R.R. MARTIN book....

Nope. I imagine I'll check his other books out when I finish this series, though. These are the first books I've read by him.

It's a Vampire novel set on River Boats in the 1800's...it rocks!!

Yeah, Eyesore, I kind of like that the mystical is kept at a minimum. It sneeks up on me when he pulls something like that out because he does lean so heavily on fairly realistic events....

However, his writing may simply be so good that we forget about dragons, monster shape-shifting wolves, the undead, and various other supernatural things (trying not to spoil anything) ...he just weaves them in such a way that they seem normal...

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Yeah, Eyesore, I kind of like that the mystical is kept at a minimum. It sneeks up on me when he pulls something like that out because he does lean so heavily on fairly realistic events....

However, his writing may simply be so good that we forget about dragons, monster shape-shifting wolves, the undead, and various other supernatural things (trying not to spoil anything) ...he just weaves them in such a way that they seem normal...

My thoughts exactly! If HBO approach it from the right angle and dont concentrate too much on the special effects but on the stopy itself it could become something very special!

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Yeah, Eyesore, I kind of like that the mystical is kept at a minimum. It sneeks up on me when he pulls something like that out because he does lean so heavily on fairly realistic events....

However, his writing may simply be so good that we forget about dragons, monster shape-shifting wolves, the undead, and various other supernatural things (trying not to spoil anything) ...he just weaves them in such a way that they seem normal...

The way it seems to me is that he's good at making the reader feel like they're part of the story, part of the world. I mean, no one else in the books seem to be thinking about magic, or the undead, or dragons. Haha. He's definitely a skilled writer. He must have spent a very long time mapping these books out. I can't imagine these are go-with-the-flow kind of writings.

We need to stop writing about it! The next one isn't out yet and if we keep building this kind of anticipation I just know Martin's heart is going to explode while making a bolagna sandwich!!

i am reading the lord of the rings for the third time and am on the return of the king currently. recently reread all the potter books in about a month or so

TheGooch wrote:

i am reading the lord of the rings for the third time and am on the return of the king currently. recently reread all the potter books in about a month or so

Ugh...I was so happy when those Lord of the Rings movies were made. Tolkien's writing style is just dreadful. I could never get further than halfway through book one.

Quote :

Ugh...I was so happy when those Lord of the
Rings movies were made. Tolkien's writing style is just dreadful. I
could never get further than halfway through book one.

I love Tolkien's style and I've made 10 Journeys to and through Middle Earth with Sam and Frodo in print over the years. I also love the movies but those are my favorite Fantasy books ever (with a nod to the Martin series we've been discussing...among other credits he gets from me is that his seems to be the least derivative of Tolkien of any Fantasy I've ever read).

I love Tolkien too. In fact The Hobbit was the very first book I read in my life in 1978 and since then I was hooked up.

To be honest, though, I couldnt care less for Silmarillion - very dry and boring imo.

TheGooch wrote:

recently reread all the potter books in about a month or so

I got stuck this summer with my cousin at our summer house. I ran out of books fast, she had only Potters so I got around reading it.

I was very prejudicial at first. Book one wasnt very encouraging either coz one could immediately tell this was the very first Rowling's writing effort - she was a newbie writer with a lot to be desired. Thankfully she learned fast and by the 4th book it became enjoyable to read. So my advice would be: watch first 3 movies and read the rest.

I'm starting the Darkwar saga by Feist tonight

Quote :

I couldnt care less for Silmarillion

I've read it twice...and I must admit -especially the first time - that it was a difficult read. I got lost a few times. Then when I first got Blind Guardian's Nightfall In Middle Earth I read it again. I found it a lot more enjoyable- although still not as easy to follow as his other stuff....

Right now I'm reading Experiencing God and Total Money Make-Over by Dave Ramsey. I don't read as much as I should and have some Patterson novels collecting dust right now that I'll start reading once my search for full-time or a 2nd part-time job comes to an end (which might happen by the end of the week). Right now though, I just don't feel like reading much.

Wooooooooo!

I doubt any of you have read Pillars Of The Earth yet (Follett's most popular book), but in case my previous mention of that amazing book interested you, Ken Follett just released something of a sequel to it. It's called World Without End and it takes place 200 years after Pillars Of The Earth ends, during the Black Death. I haven't read it, as it just came out, but from reading online it seems to be getting excellent reviews. I guess it takes place in Kingsbridge, the location of Pillars Of The Earth, but it only references people from that book, so you can read the new one as a standalone. I still highly recommend Pillars Of The Earth, though.

Pillars of the Earth description:

In a time of civil war, famine and religious strife, there rises a magnificent Cathedral in Kingsbridge. Against this backdrop, lives entwine: Tom, the master builder, Aliena, the noblewoman, Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge, Jack, the artist in stone and Ellen, the woman from the forest who casts a curse. At once, this is a sensuous and enduring love story and an epic that shines with the fierce spirit of a passionate age.

World Without End description:

On the day after Halloween, in the year 1327, four children slip away from the cathedral city of Kingsbridge. They are a thief, a bully, a boy genius and a girl who wants to be a doctor. In the forest they see two men killed.

As adults, their lives will be braided together by ambition, love, greed and revenge. They will see prosperity and famine, plague and war. One boy will travel the world but come home in the end; the other will be a powerful, corrupt nobleman. One girl will defy the might of the medieval church; the other will pursue an impossible love. And always they will live under the long shadow of the unexplained killing they witnessed on that fateful childhood day.

World Without End is the sequel to The Pillars of the Earth. However, it doesn’t matter which you read first. The second book is set in the same town, Kingsbridge, but takes place two hundred years later, and features the descendants of the original characters.

stormspell wrote:

I'm starting the Darkwar saga by Feist tonight

The Rift-War Series are some of my favorite books ever. I love Feist.

on holiday i read five books - i cant remember all the aouthors though

lowri turner - stripped bare - chick lit rubbish
marly and me - john grogan
hannibal rising - thoms harris - really rubbish to be honest even if it is well written
area 7 - matthew reilly - action thriller novel
ship of the damned 0 cant remember authors name - action/pyschological thriller

The wedding...

Instead of Chris Jericho's book, for now I am going to re-read Terry Brook's Sword Of Shannara Series followed by the Children Of Shannara series and end with The Voyage Of The Jerle Shannara series. These comprise my favorite fantasy novels of all time and I try to read the each series every three to four years. Also I plan on writing my own fantasy novel over the next couple of years and I need some help with fight scenes and the like (I have the basic story line figured out but I'm not very good with dialogue and descriptions of characters, places, and fight scenes). Terry Brooks, IMO, is one of the best fantasy writers ever and apart from Shannara, his Landover and Knight Of The Word series are just as good. I've yet to read the new series that connects Knight Of The Word to Shannara, because I'm waiting for the complete series to be finished.