I like books...

Post by **Phelps McManus** » Thu May 20, 2004 4:58 pm

I read a lot. I like books. I got the idea that it would be neat if we had a place to go and discuss books. I created this in hopes it would become that.

Books/Authors I like and you should too:

1) Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan - 1-8 are excellent, 9 and 10 fell off and New Spring was also quite good. Its an ongoing series and the next book comes out next year.

2) A Song of Ice & Fire by George R R Martin - Comparable to Wheel of Time books 2-8 in quaility. Martin's storylines arent as predictable and are more in depth. I like the characters in Jordans books better (Mat especially).

3) Anything by James Patterson - I did not like fantasy books until I read WoT. I strictly read books by popular authors prior to delving into fantasy. James Patterson is still quite possibly my favorite author. His suspense/mystery novels are as good as any and make for a good quick read.

4) Anything by Michael Crichton - see above. I've read them all...ask me if you want details/opinions on particular books.

5) Anything by John Grisham - see Crichton.

6) All the Dirk Pitt novels by Clive Cussler - very entertaining works of fiction but Cussler gets a bit carried away some times. Still a very cool character.

7) Plum Island and The Lions Game by Nelson Demille - These two books are centered around the detective John Corey. The next one in the series comes out very soon. Probably the only two books that actually make me laugh out loud when I read them.

Those are pretty much the only authors I read no matter what they put out. I could list all the single books that I like, but the list would be long and distinguished. I was recommended the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Tad Williams so I picked up book 1 of 3 of that last night (The Dragonbone Chair). If it is decent (I am sure it takes a while to get in to like most fantasy novels), I am going to read the next two after. I was also recommended The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicals 1-10 by Robert Zelazny. It is a huge book and I will read that after I am done with MS&T. I invite any and everyone to read along with me since I am sure you have plenty of time.

I put the forum here so even Liltyger could see it

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Post by Yo » Thu May 20, 2004 5:15 pm

The Last of the Renshai Trilogy by Mickey Zucker Reichert. She is my favorite author. I loved the storyline. The Renshai are a warrior culture that is the distant kin of the Norse.
Only problem I had was that the paperback set done by Tor had terrible fucking Cuts. I had one book that the text stopped exactly on the edge of the page. Then again, I had the same problem when I read WoT.
I read the Renshai Chronicles Trilogy as well.
Next I am going to read the Bifrost Guardians.

Post by **Phelps McManus** » Thu May 20, 2004 5:23 pm

Bookclub bindings are done that way with all the pages cut different widths. Did you get the books off ebay or something?

Post by **Kabol** » Thu May 20, 2004 5:30 pm

You like Mat better than Tyrion? You are fucked up in the head, my friend.

Overall, Jordan's characters blow. Everyone acts like a goddamn idiot around the opposite sex except for Lan and Morraine (which I am sure Jordan fixes in New Spring).

While I don't want to say Jordan's characters are shallow (although that argument could easily be made), Martin takes him to school. Observe how Jon deals with being a bastard, Robb deals with being a leader too young, Sansa and Arya deal with moving from the north to King's Landing, Jaime Lannister (trying not to spoil), how anyone deals with death (especially Caitlyn).

God forbid any Jordan characters deal with any of the above situations in any believable sense. They adapt to new environments faster than the Borg.

Post by **Phelps McManus** » Thu May 20, 2004 5:48 pm

Yes, I like Mat better then Tyrion. I never said the characters had more depth...in fact I said the opposite. GoT has its share of complete idiot characters too. Book 1 and 2 Sansa comes to mind. As far as adapting, GoT has its "Borg" as well. Arya goes bad ass faster then most 8 year olds learn how to write in cursive.

I am also not saying one series is better. I will reserve judgement until each series is done, but I leave you with Mr. Martin himself killing a baby tiger...

Post by **Kabol** » Thu May 20, 2004 6:32 pm

Sansa isn't an idiot, she is naive. There is a big difference. She also gets schooled on the harsh realities of life. I think her character is well developed even even if she is not as action packed as the other starks.

Arya was badass? How so? She got some practice with her sword on the trip to King's Landing and she had lessons from Syrio when she got there. After which she still fought like an 8 year old girl who had some sword lessons. She didn't awe anyone (except you apparently) with her skillz.

Damnit! It is amazingly hard to find a picture of Robert Jordan that is like the one he uses on the back cover of his books. While he isn't squeezing baby tigers, he looks pretty damn dorky.

Post by **Phelps McManus** » Thu May 20, 2004 6:47 pm

I dont mean physically bad ass. I just mean she was a bad ass character. Maybe you forgot her and Jaqen? The way she blends in everywhere. We both know where she is going now and how sweet that is going to be if it develops.

Post by **Zolo** » Thu May 20, 2004 8:50 pm

Wheel of Time is good. But I like the Song of Ice & Fire books MUCH more.

WHEN IS BOOK FOUR EVER FUCKING GOING TO COME OUT ?!?

Ok, now that that's out of my system, I think I've always been partial to Jon from the Stark clan. But my favorite character so far in the series is definitely Tyrion. He just gets cooler and cooler with each book, even though he's just butt-ugly now.

By the way, if anybody is into graphic novels, I heard that Art Spiegelman (the guy who did Maus I & II) is coming out with a new one in January based on his 9/11 experiences. *keeping my fingers crossed that it's anywhere near as good as Maus*

Post by **Phelps McManus** » Thu May 20, 2004 9:26 pm

He (Martin) was keeping us well updated on the progress of book 4 on his website up until around Christmas. Now he hasnt updated the book part in 5 months...thanks George. I require more preview chapters ala Dany and Arya ones that he had up.

Post by **Avelynn** » Fri May 21, 2004 5:03 am

David Eddings

R.A. Salvatore

Raymond E. Feist

favorite authors

Post by **Liltyger** » Fri May 21, 2004 8:13 am

It's hard to compare the characters, in Martin (i'm only 1/2 thru book 2) it seems we are following ordinary characters going thru extraordinay times. Jordan's main characters all have extraordinary abilities, so of course Martin's are more believable. In my mind Jordan wins out over Martin and Tolkein in good ol' can't put it downedness.

Post by **Kabol** » Fri May 21, 2004 8:54 am

Yeah 14-year old girls who can withstand blazing infernos and befriend dragons is pretty ordinary, I give you that. But what about a cripple boy who can enter any animal's mind and control it's body like his own? The red priestess, the Others, and a shitload of undead are soon going to have something to say about being ordinary.

They are more believable because they react in emotionally reasonabke manners, not because they are more ordinary. I had much "put it downedness" on my second read-through of jordan. Not so with Martin.

Ave you need to branch out more, those authors are relics from when fantasy had a much smaller market. Not that they are bad, but they are far from the best out there today.

Post by Yo » Fri May 21, 2004 9:16 am

Good thing I don't haveta read the Martin books now, I'll just wait til the end of this thread and read the cliff's notes

Post by **Phelps McManus** » Fri May 21, 2004 10:06 am

So far this thread is spoiler free so you still need to read the books. Maybe I am partial to Jordan since he was my first and I just dont know any better. I did read all 9 books in the course of 2 months, so there was no "put it downess" for me. Even on the 2nd read through they were excellent. Since I have the audio versions of both WoT and aSoIaF I reread them constantly on the daily commute. If you want the audio books (I have a ton more), just post here and I will give you ftp access.

And how could I forget Harry Potter in my original post? I love the Harry Potter books too.

Post by **Wiccor Basquet** » Fri May 21, 2004 10:22 am

I like the WoT series by Jordan, and will definately have to read the ones by Martin just so I can partake in the fun that is argument. Also I have to agree with one of Ave's author's in that R.A. Salvatore is one of my all time favorite author's. Alot of that could be because, like phelps with Jordan, Salvatore was my first contact with major fantasy novels and he pulled me into the genre.