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kudapucat said:
I feel the same way... The Name of the Rose and the Simarillion are the only ones to beat me so far.
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The Silmarillion (two pages), one short story in Piers Anthony's Anthonology (something about Captain Shetland) (about three paragraphs) and anything I've ever tried to read by Anne McCaffrey (never more than a chapter)... I will compulsively read almost anything to completion. Just not these.

MattHollingsworth said:
I've never even heard of The Red Pony, so don't think it's known as one of his better books. But I can understand the scarring from a book! ;-)
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It's a book about a kid on a farm where nothing ever happens except he gets a pony and it dies of strangles (kinda like mumps for horses) in the first chapter and is never mentioned again. My husband almost got kicked out of his high school English class because his "letter to the author" project went along the lines of, "Dear Mr. Steinbeck, Judging by your novel, The Red Pony, you are obviously in bad need of a good editor, might I offer my services?"
 
mccann51 said:
Don't judge the books by the show; the books have so much more depth and are far better executed. I agree, the show is "meh".

I enjoyed The Road quite a bit, definitely very dark; the basement scene was not something I had wanted to read right before heading to bed, haha. The Road is one of the few instances where I feel the movie was on par with the book.

I keep hearing about Blood Meridian and am eager to read it when I get a chance.
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I don't judge the books by the show. I ultimately did enjoy parts of the show. But they made a lot of decisions that were sort of weird, skipping over a lot of dramatic moments, not showing battles (budget concerns?) and the pace of the show was pretty glacial. I don't wanna post spoilers, but overall I think they could have done a bit better with the show. The cast was awesome though. And it's not like I'm all into battles or anything. But sometimes a dramatic moment would build up, then they'd just cut to the aftermath and I'd be sitting there wondering why the hell they made that choice.

Yeah, The Road's got some creepy stuff. So does Blood Meridian. Blood Meridian's a tougher read though. His use of language is great, but sometimes takes some digesting (like his hero, Faulkner).

AToE said:
I thought they did a really good job on the Game of Thrones show, it's just inevitable that you can't acheive the same quality on screen. They did the best that was possible other than a few weird changes in my personal opinion.
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Like I said above, I just had a problem with SOME elements. The glacial pace was a major bummer for me. The cast and look and direction was all great though.

One thing that I'd guess is in the books is all the palace intrigue. And while some of it was good, I didn't find that stuff that interesting for the most part. And it's a major part of the story, so that wasn't really my cup of tea either. I liked the little girl and Tyrion Lannister (spelling?) the best though. Both really great.
 
It's a book about a kid on a farm where nothing ever happens except he gets a pony and it dies of strangles (kinda like mumps for horses) in the first chapter and is never mentioned again. My husband almost got kicked out of his high school English class because his "letter to the author" project went along the lines of, "Dear Mr. Steinbeck, Judging by your novel, The Red Pony, you are obviously in bad need of a good editor, might I offer my services?"[/QUOTE]

Looked up on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Pony

Seems it was four separate stories originally published in magazines, some years apart. Doesn't sound like his best work, but I didn't have to suffer through it. I'd stand by East of Eden and Of Mice and Men any day though.
 
Chevette Girl said:
...Anne McCaffrey...
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Never even heard of her before, until the SciFi thread here.Took out an audiobook of hers and enjoyed that in an historical time of rare strong women characters, she wrote some...kinda liked it, actually.


Chevette Girl said:
"Dear Mr. Steinbeck, Judging by your novel, The Red Pony, you are obviously in bad need of a good editor, might I offer my services?"
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Ha! You got yourself a ballsey man! Good on ya, mate.
 
MattHollingsworth said:
Like I said above, I just had a problem with SOME elements. The glacial pace was a major bummer for me. The cast and look and direction was all great though.
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I was a little concerned that the slow pace would bother some viewers, in the book it's also pretty slow, but there's all the details that you miss in the show that keep it interesting. The whole first book is really just the set-up for the real story, kinda like the first bit of the first LOTR book, definitely slower. I think most of the battles were off-screen in the book as well though.

Book 2 is when it really gets going.

Tyrion and Arya would also be my favourite characters, Jon Snow is up there too.
 
MattHollingsworth said:

Seems it was four separate stories originally published in magazines, some years apart. Doesn't sound like his best work, but I didn't have to suffer through it. I'd stand by East of Eden and Of Mice and Men any day though.
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You know, if they'd TOLD US THAT, I might have looked at it a little differently... there was no internet when I was in high school... I fully blame the school board for that though. It's like they didn't WANT us to like reading... If I ever trip over "Of Mice and Men" I may pick it up...
 
AToE said:
I was a little concerned that the slow pace would bother some viewers, in the book it's also pretty slow, but there's all the details that you miss in the show that keep it interesting. The whole first book is really just the set-up for the real story, kinda like the first bit of the first LOTR book, definitely slower. I think most of the battles were off-screen in the book as well though.

Book 2 is when it really gets going.

Tyrion and Arya would also be my favourite characters, Jon Snow is up there too.
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It's true. The whole time I was watching it with my girlfriend, who's only read the first book, I'd be thinking of something a few books ahead, but realizing I'd be spoiling it by mentioning it.

I also agree that it's the detail and depth he puts into the books that makes them so good, which is the reason I just couldn't appreciate the show. It just doesn't seem like a story intended for the media of television. And, as you stated in a previous post, some of the little things they changed were just strange and seemed unnecessary.

I also, also agree, Tyrion and Arya are up there as my favorite characters, with Jaime and Jon Snow following up.



On another note, I've been reading Microcosmos by Lynn Margulis (the biologist who came up with the endo-symbiotic theory of how mitochondria and chloroplasts ended up in eukaryotic cells) and her son Dorian Sagan. It's been a really enlightening read, one of these consciousness raisers, opening up a world of appreciation for our often-overlooked, prokaryotic cohabitants. I think as brewers, a lot of people on these forums would appreciate it.
 
mccann51 said:
On another note, I've been reading Microcosmos by Lynn Margulis (the biologist who came up with the endo-symbiotic theory of how mitochondria and chloroplasts ended up in eukaryotic cells) and her son Dorian Sagan. It's been a really enlightening read, one of these consciousness raisers, opening up a world of appreciation for our often-overlooked, prokaryotic cohabitants. I think as brewers, a lot of people on these forums would appreciate it.
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God bless the mitochondria. I can't move without them.
 
mccann51 said:
I also, also agree, Tyrion and Arya are up there as my favorite characters, with Jaime and Jon Snow following up.
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If you liked Jaime then I'd highly recommend the books, his character ends up having probably more depth than almost any other character in the books, the author really delves deeply into why he is who he is... some of the best characterization I've ever read.
 
AToE said:
If you liked Jaime then I'd highly recommend the books, his character ends up having probably more depth than almost any other character in the books, the author really delves deeply into why he is who he is... some of the best characterization I've ever read.
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Agreed. It also looks like Bran is going to stepping up into a very interesting role in the next books as well. I also like the Brienne character who will be introduced in the next series for HBO as she is largely influential on Jaime's development.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 
AToE said:
If you liked Jaime then I'd highly recommend the books, his character ends up having probably more depth than almost any other character in the books, the author really delves deeply into why he is who he is... some of the best characterization I've ever read.
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Good recommendation, I loved the books! Haha!



EDIT: on a serious note, based on your espousings, I've been looking into finding a copy of Dune; looking forward to reading it. Cheers.
 
mccann51 said:
Good recommendation, I loved the books! Haha!



EDIT: on a serious note, based on your espousings, I've been looking into finding a copy of Dune; looking forward to reading it. Cheers.
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Hope you enjoy it, it's not your typical Science Fiction fare at all, it's almost more of a fantasy novel in the way it's written. Keep in mind throughout it that 2 of the major themes are ecology and the danger of putting too much power into a leader, because leaders are humans who make mistakes too )that second point isn't actually really made in Dune, it's made in the second book - but still, keep it in mind).

Happy to answer any questions too of course! ;D
 
AToE said:
Anne McCaffrey was a huge part of my childhood, I keep meaning to revisit those books but just haven't done it yet.
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Anne McCaffrey is one of the greats. Right up there with Heinlein (if you haven't, read everything he has wrote), Tolkien, Niven/Pournelle, Weber, and Simon Green.
 
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