Books you're reading now

[plummeting_sloth]

Sloth, nic; lookin' good.

You take that back! I only read Gibbon on the crapper!

[gcninja]

Time Travelers Never Die and Spell Games.

[Metcarfre]

Game of Thrones; should I read the books first?

[Kapol]

Got my signed copy of Comedy of Doom from being a Kickstarter backer. Looking forward to reading it.

[Geoff_B]

Game of Thrones; should I read the books first?

It's a big read. You might be better watching season 1 first. The TV series is very close to the books anyway. At least the first season.

[Lord Hosk]

on the subject of Game of Thrones Vrs a song of ice and fire.

When ever I have seen a on screen adaptation of a book I have read, I think either "that actor is playing the role really well" If they play it the way I created it in my head or "well they went a different direction with the character and thats just wrong" if they diverge too much from my perception. Peter Dinklage plays Tyrion Lannister different enough from my perspective that the first couple times I thought "wrong wrong wrong"

I read a dance with dragons after watching Three episodes of season one and I now read and visualize his Tyrion, Mr Dinklage is in my head! I hope you like it in there, I don't recommend looking at whats behind that green door.

[Avistew]

Peter Dinklage is way too good looking to play Tyrion, but I think he's doing a terrific job, personally.

My suggestion would be to watch a few episodes, and if you like it try picking up the book. I usually recommend reading the book first if it came first because that's what works best for me, but some people work better the other way around so I don't think there is only one way.

[Lord Hosk]

Peter Dinklage is way too good looking to play Tyrion, but I think he's doing a terrific job, personally.

It was very disappointing what they did at the end of season two.


There is a HUGE difference between getting a face gouged and nose CUT OFF and getting a little cut that will scar a bit.


I dont know that the books describe him as being "unattractive" other than the mismatched eyes. He is looked on as a disgusting troll because he is a dwarf not his overall appearance. From my understanding in westeros Dwarfs are considered to be cursed by the gods and not fit to let live. I think I recall something about Jamie keeping him alive when his father tried to kill him.

[Thysane]

Just this morning I started reading The Midnight Mayor, the second of Kate Griffin's Urban Magic series which started with A Madness of Angels. Damn good adult urban fantasy books. Some people might know Kate Griffin's writing from her more young adult work like the Horatio Lyle books, which she wrote under her given name, Catherine Webb.

[Gap Filler]

Having recently finished a Hazlitt collection, I'm now working through a Kafka compo. There's Gogol anthology waiting after that.

[Lord Hosk]

I finished paladin of the night by hickman/weis its ehhh.

Now at the insistence of my wife im reading "the hunger games" so far I dont see what the big deal is. With "huge hit books" they are normally well written with. The exception of the twilight series which from the two chapters I have read needed a good editor and didn't get one. So far the hunger games is ok, I haven't been hooked yet and I just got to "the games" which is like 100 pages in.

It is a REALLY easy read there is no depth or subtlety the lead character is constantly telling you what is going on with internal monolog and having "flash backs" to explain her actions in detail.

My wife said "Well you don't like it because you read too many good books. If you spent the past 15 months reading crappy text books you would think the book was great!"

I have never been accused of not liking a book because I read too many other good books.

[Jamfalcon]

I had a similar reaction to the Hunger Games. It wasn't bad per se, just overwhelmingly mediocre. Like you said, there's little depth to anyone, and I found the foreshadowing blatantly obvious. I also am not a fan of present tense, but I realize that's a personal preference so I can't hold it against the book.

One part I found very odd with it was that (possibly very minor spoilers)it doesn't explain why the sponsors are so important until they actual start sending supplies, even though most of the first section is about trying to attract them. It would've been as simple as a short paragraph or a line of dialogue to explain it, but instead it just leaves you to assume, while giving you tons of details about the main characters past that never play into the story.

[King Kool]

I've been reading parts of Breaking Dawn as I turn it into a book safe.

It still pisses me off just a bit.

[Geoff_B]

Finished Storm of Swords. The very slow buildup of the first half is more than made up for by the second half

[Avistew]

Finished Storm of Swords. The very slow buildup of the first half is more than made up for by the second half

Ah, then maybe the fact that our opinions differed about it was due to my being much further in the book.

I've started a Feast for Crows, incidentally. So many point of view characters, but I'm really interested in all the separate storylines.

I think my main problem with the series is that even when I'm interested in all the storylines,which, as I said, I am, it's a bit tricky to get out of one and into the next regularly.
I actually have the same problem with US TV I'm used to zero or maybe one commercial break in a show or movie, and when watching US TV (or Canadian TV for that matter) it always takes me a while when the movie or show starts again to remember where we left last. As a result I miss out on part of the thing, because I'm too busy remembering where we were to look at where we are now.

I have a similar problem, meaning that the first page or so of each chapter is pretty much read without paying attention to it. Now, I try hard to fix that by reading it again, but I've had time when I just read it again and again four or five times, and then just gave up and figured I probably didn't miss anything important.
So I hope he doesn't put small, essential details at the beginning of his chapters.

[Ottoman]

Somehow, I'm reminded of Tywin's story concerning Jaime that he told to reverse-trap Arya.

[Avistew]

Somehow, I'm reminded of Tywin's story concerning Jaime that he told to reverse-trap Arya.

(Spoiler added just in case.)

I have no clue what you're talking about. Is that from the show? If I recall, (spoilers from season 2) they interact a bunch at Harrendal in the show

Sadly I watched the shows over Skype with my boyfriend, which means that while I could see the image fine, I could usually get about every other word. So while I got a lot from situations, I pretty much don't remember any lines or anything. I'm definitely going to watch season 2 again properly (I did for season one recently and it helped so much).

[Ottoman]

Oh, right — this isn't a GoT thread. Spoilers engage.

In one of those interactions, Arya reveals that she can read, and Tywin tells a brief story from when Jaime was young. His tutors couldn't manage to teach him how to read; he persisted in saying that 'the words twisted about on the page' and such things. Tywin then forced him to practice every day, until finally he could read, as was expected of him. It was a neat little bit of characterisation, helping to define Tywin's ruthlessness and also to show his unusually frank relationship with stealth-Arya. Here, though, all that matters is that it boils down to a dyslexia joke.

[Avistew]

Ah yes, now that you mention it I can remember it. I did like these interactions, although I'm not quite sure why they went the way they did with season 2. Have you read the books?

Spoiler from the books and the series, as I compare Season 2 and Book 2:

In the show, probably for actor reasons, and for things to be interesting, they basically added everything involving Robb (he doesn't even appear at all in the second book), and they pretty much made up everything that happens to Dany (the only thing that's really in the books is the house of the undying, but she goes there willingly and nobody ever stole her dragons or killed anyone from her group. There was also none of that vault thing. There were, however, some prophecies that become important later and that they completely skipped), and they changed what happened to Arya as well (she's on the road more, and has no interaction whatsoever with Tywin while in Harrenhal, in the books. They also changed who Arya names and how she escapes).
Basically, it comes down to the fact that they didn't want to make the actor for Robb wait a hole season before being back, and that with the way they changed the stories for Arya and Dany, they had way less material, so they added filler instead. Which makes sense because both of them had very "boring" stories, not to read, but without a lot of action for a show. So I guess I get that, but I disagreed with their decisions especially for the Dany storyline, as they ended up killing a bunch of people that are perfectly alive and have a role later on in the books.

[Metcarfre]

Just finished the Hunger Games trilogy...

Holy hell did that series suck. Just took a nosedive after the first book and never looked back.

[Jamfalcon]

Wait, it went downhill? I had heard the second was better—maybe I won't bother continuing.

As for my current reading, I've been reading semi-old books that were sitting around the house that I'd never gotten around to reading before. Just finished The Da Vinci Code (short version of my thoughts: the fast paced page turner qualities didn't make up for a lackluster story and poor writing. Having already seen the movie probably didn't help either.) and now I'm starting on Jurassic Park (a few minor gripes so far, but it's too early to judge.)

[Metcarfre]

Oh yes, I also finished The Game by Ken Dryden, and if you're at all a fan of hockey I HIGHLY recommend it. It is fantastic.

[LogicSword]

Should I read American Gods by Neil Gaiman or Fool Moon by Jim Butcher next? Only ever read Good Omens by Gaiman before and Storm Front by Butcher, really enjoyed them both though.

[Avistew]

Flip a coin for the order and read both

[LogicSword]

Shhhhhh

Okay, I just tried flipping a coin and each time launched it halfway across the room. I can't do things any more, apparently.

Nope, wait, I can. Fool Moon it is.