Dr. Fong Posted September 13, 2011 Posted September 13, 2011 Martin is getting HAMMERED in the reviews for his last two books, and perhaps justifiably so. The first three books of the series were just fantastic. Then it seems he just ran out of ideas, or at least, fired his editor. I read the first three books (~1600 pages) in about four weeks, and it's taken me just as long to slug through the fourth book. Some think that he just isn't interested in this world anymore and may NEVER finish the series. But for what it is worth, the first three books are gold... LOVE my Kindle too. However, if there is a book with lots of diagrams or photographs, I would still prefer an actual physical book... I think those two books just lag a little bit because they're the middle part of the story. Often in series there is a lag right in the middle. I will say I had a more negative opinion of Feast for Crows before I read it for a second time. There is a lot going on there, but it's a lot more subtle than the first three books. Metal man. My suggestion on waiting to read the series until it's done. Don't. Read it now. The first three books on their own are the beet fantasy series I've ever read. Everything else is gravy. There is nothing being written right now that compares. Also Name of the Wind is a good book. I haven't read the second book yet.
ajzepp Posted September 13, 2011 Author Posted September 13, 2011 I don't know if any of you guys have ever felt this way, but I remember when I was at Temple University back in the late 90s, and I walked into their library for the first time. To be immersed among all those books, periodicals, magazines, journals, etc, etc was both surreal and humbling. It's the same thing with a large book store. When you think about the pure IMMENSITY of the number of writings available to us, it's just staggering to think about! Pick any genre, and you have thousands upon thousands of options available to you. The written word is a powerful and beautiful thing, and this is one of the reasons why I get mad when I find myself not making the time to find another great book to read.
dib Posted September 13, 2011 Posted September 13, 2011 I have a Nook color and I'm really enjoying it. Favorite authors: DeMille, Turtledove, Isles, used to enjoy Clancy but he's kind of dumped lately.
DC Tom Posted September 13, 2011 Posted September 13, 2011 I don't know if any of you guys have ever felt this way, but I remember when I was at Temple University back in the late 90s, and I walked into their library for the first time. To be immersed among all those books, periodicals, magazines, journals, etc, etc was both surreal and humbling. It's the same thing with a large book store. When you think about the pure IMMENSITY of the number of writings available to us, it's just staggering to think about! Pick any genre, and you have thousands upon thousands of options available to you. The written word is a powerful and beautiful thing, and this is one of the reasons why I get mad when I find myself not making the time to find another great book to read. You just expressed why I'm bummed about Borders closing down (and Barnes & Noble soon following, from the looks of it). With eReaders and tablets, the written word may be more easily accessible, but the experience of browsing shelves of books is sadly lacking (and probably half the books I own I never would have read except I saw them on a shelf and said "Hmmm...that looks interesting." But on the other hand, I never would have walked in to Borders and found the 1920 Congressional hearings on naval appropriations, either.
ajzepp Posted September 13, 2011 Author Posted September 13, 2011 You just expressed why I'm bummed about Borders closing down (and Barnes & Noble soon following, from the looks of it). With eReaders and tablets, the written word may be more easily accessible, but the experience of browsing shelves of books is sadly lacking (and probably half the books I own I never would have read except I saw them on a shelf and said "Hmmm...that looks interesting." But on the other hand, I never would have walked in to Borders and found the 1920 Congressional hearings on naval appropriations, either. I agree, and honestly I'm really surprised that they are going under. It really seemed like Borders and B&N had almost created their own culture among their patrons. People would meet there for a first date, maybe grab a coffee...others would take part of the day and just go read in one of their big comfortable chairs that they had dispersed throughout the shelves...I really started to get caught up in all that, myself. I loved going to the bookstore, even if I had no idea what I wanted...just enjoyed being in that environment. It's too bad that modern technology and things like brick and mortar shops have to be mutually exclusive at times. I would pay good money to watch you go up to a Borders clerk and ask them if they carried the naval appropriations book LOL
DC Tom Posted September 13, 2011 Posted September 13, 2011 I agree, and honestly I'm really surprised that they are going under. It really seemed like Borders and B&N had almost created their own culture among their patrons. People would meet there for a first date, maybe grab a coffee...others would take part of the day and just go read in one of their big comfortable chairs that they had dispersed throughout the shelves...I really started to get caught up in all that, myself. I loved going to the bookstore, even if I had no idea what I wanted...just enjoyed being in that environment. It's too bad that modern technology and things like brick and mortar shops have to be mutually exclusive at times. I would pay good money to watch you go up to a Borders clerk and ask them if they carried the naval appropriations book LOL Borders' big problem was that, while at the retail level the stores were great, at the corporate level the company was run by complete morons with no understanding of technology. Establishing an internet presence to compete with Amazon...by contracting with Amazon to be your internet portal? That put them behind the eight-ball right there...they never caught up after that. They were the first out with eReaders - POS Sonys, but still beat Kindle by a couple years. But they had no clue how to market them, had no concept of how to tie them in with the rest of their retail business (of course, with no internet presence, what could they do anyway?)...generally, just a bunch of !@#$wits. I'll miss Borders, but they unquestionably deserve to be out of business. Barnes & Noble...I was surprised, the last time I went into a store (last week), that a third of the shelves were bare, and a quarter of the rest were taken up by toys. From what I've heard, that's not uncommon. B&N stores are starting to look like Borders stores did two years ago.
Mr_Blizzard Posted September 13, 2011 Posted September 13, 2011 I love to read. For some odd reason, however, I don't often make the time to do it. When I do, and when I have some material I'm really interested in, I really enjoy it. I've been close to buying one of those Kindle things for quite some time, and it just got me to thinking that I need to get back to reading more often. I used to always read an hour before I would go to sleep at night, and I think I'm going to adopt that routine once again. In terms of fiction, I love courtroom drama/legal thrillers. I've read everything Grisham has to offer, I've dabbled in some of John LesCroartes works, and have recently discovered an author I really like named Scott Pratt. My preference is often non-fiction, though. I loved the book about the Harvard students that the film "21" was based on (I can never remember the name of the book or the author...), and I have read several books by some of my favorite athletes and pro wrestlers (I know, pro wrestling...but honestly, some of them are great reads about the business and lifestyle!). My favorite author is C.S. Lewis...have read just about everything he has out, with "A Grief Observed" being my favorite book of all time. I was curious who the biggest social readers are here at TBD and if any of you guys and gals have suggestions to share. If any of you have a Kindle, I'd really be interested to hear whether you're happy with the purchase, too. Clive Cussler and Jack London for novels, but I don't read much for entertainment anymore - I'm parked in front of a PC 9-10 hrs a day at work! (of course there's always time for TBD!)
ajzepp Posted September 13, 2011 Author Posted September 13, 2011 Borders' big problem was that, while at the retail level the stores were great, at the corporate level the company was run by complete morons with no understanding of technology. Establishing an internet presence to compete with Amazon...by contracting with Amazon to be your internet portal? That put them behind the eight-ball right there...they never caught up after that. They were the first out with eReaders - POS Sonys, but still beat Kindle by a couple years. But they had no clue how to market them, had no concept of how to tie them in with the rest of their retail business (of course, with no internet presence, what could they do anyway?)...generally, just a bunch of !@#$wits. I'll miss Borders, but they unquestionably deserve to be out of business. Barnes & Noble...I was surprised, the last time I went into a store (last week), that a third of the shelves were bare, and a quarter of the rest were taken up by toys. From what I've heard, that's not uncommon. B&N stores are starting to look like Borders stores did two years ago. It's funny how our conceptualizations of things change as we get older. I don't know if it's because I grew up with a father who was Mr. Corporate America, but as a kid and a young adult I used to always view corporations as "genius". They always made the right decisions, the people in charge were there because they always knew what to do, etc. It's sort of like how I viewed politics. The President was always on top of the problems we were facing and whatever problems came up they'd take care of. No big deal. I suppose the more appropriate term for it would be "ignorance", but I think we're all at risk for beign ignorant until we develop a good, healthy sense of cynicism lol. Anyway, just reading about your take on the decisions that Borders made, it's just funny to realize how our understanding and assumptions change. Nowadays it makes more sense to assume that the powers that be are more likely to be futards than they are geniuses, and I guess your example is case in point of that.
Booster4324 Posted September 14, 2011 Posted September 14, 2011 (edited) I see a lot of people liking George R. R. Martin. Who has read the Wild Card series? It was a collaborative series of novels with say a dozen short stories in each novel. It was about gritty superheroes really, and many writers worked on it, but the stories were interwoven. George was the editor and a contributor for the series. Link Edited September 14, 2011 by Booster4324
Jim in Anchorage Posted September 14, 2011 Posted September 14, 2011 You just expressed why I'm bummed about Borders closing down (and Barnes & Noble soon following, from the looks of it). With eReaders and tablets, the written word may be more easily accessible, but the experience of browsing shelves of books is sadly lacking (and probably half the books I own I never would have read except I saw them on a shelf and said "Hmmm...that looks interesting." But on the other hand, I never would have walked in to Borders and found the 1920 Congressional hearings on naval appropriations, either. I agree, and honestly I'm really surprised that they are going under. It really seemed like Borders and B&N had almost created their own culture among their patrons. People would meet there for a first date, maybe grab a coffee...others would take part of the day and just go read in one of their big comfortable chairs that they had dispersed throughout the shelves...I really started to get caught up in all that, myself. I loved going to the bookstore, even if I had no idea what I wanted...just enjoyed being in that environment. It's too bad that modern technology and things like brick and mortar shops have to be mutually exclusive at times. I would pay good money to watch you go up to a Borders clerk and ask them if they carried the naval appropriations book LOL I repeat myself-go to the main branch of your public libary. I think some people forgot they exist.
ajzepp Posted September 14, 2011 Author Posted September 14, 2011 Clive Cussler and Jack London for novels, but I don't read much for entertainment anymore - I'm parked in front of a PC 9-10 hrs a day at work! (of course there's always time for TBD!) haha, always gotta make time for TBD If you like CS Lewis's theological books, you should check out Tim Keller's books. He's starting to be compared to CS Lewis in terms of his views and how he presents arguments on Christianity. Wow, thanks man! I've never heard of this guy, but just browsing through some of his stuff and the feedback on Amazon, it seems he's exactly the sort of Christian author I would enjoy. I like CS Lewis because he approaches it from a cerebral point of view. I don't particularly care for the "rah-rah, YAY!!" type of Christianity...I prefer to think about my faith and reason through it. From that standpoint, CS Lewis was like crack, cause that's exactly what he did. I'm excited to give this Tim Keller guy a look...thanks again! I repeat myself-go to the main branch of your public libary. I think some people forgot they exist. Definitely...I have a really nice library in the town I live in...would be good to go check it out since I've never been there.
Drifter Posted September 14, 2011 Posted September 14, 2011 This has been on my list for a long time. I have to wait on it though now because of a self-imposed rule. I got into Robert Jordan's series The Wheel of Time in around 94 and now almost 20 years later the series has still not been completed and won't even be by the original author seeing he passed away before he could finish it. However even before Robert Jordan died I promised myself I wouldn't start any long fantasy series until it was completed just because of the insanely long amount of time some of these authors take between books. Martin seems to be in this group seeing it was 5 years between book 4 and 5. On a side note if you like epic fantasy I have been hearing a lot of positive buzz about The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Martin does take way too long between books. I don't think he'll ever finish the series. I understand frustration of not having Jordan finish The Wheel of Time. Brandon Sanderson is talented though. I just finished his book The Way of Kings. Here are some other authors to try. Patrick Rothfuss The Name of the Wind. Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books are very entertaining.
Kelly the Dog Posted September 14, 2011 Posted September 14, 2011 Just to list a couple non-best seller old favorites of mine. Frederick Exley - A Fan's Notes, my favorite sports related book ever. Brilliant, although difficult reading. Richard Ford - the trilogy starting with The Sportswriter, which is an amazingly well written book, although not all that much about a Sportswriter, or sports. Its follow up, Independence Day, won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Martin Amis - Money is my favorite although he has a bunch of them.
Metal Man Posted September 14, 2011 Posted September 14, 2011 I see a lot of people liking George R. R. Martin. Who has read the Wild Card series? It was a collaborative series of novels with say a dozen short stories in each novel. It was about gritty superheroes really, and many writers worked on it, but the stories were interwoven. George was the editor and a contributor for the series. Link I have been wanting to read those. A lot of the earlier novels are out of print now and pretty tough to locate. The copies I found on eBay always seem to be going for more money than I would want to pay for a paperback book. The first one was recently republished though so hopefully they continue to do that with the following books.
Cugalabanza Posted September 14, 2011 Posted September 14, 2011 Frederick Exley - A Fan's Notes, my favorite sports related book ever. Brilliant, although difficult reading. I'll second this one. Great book.
TheMadCap Posted September 14, 2011 Posted September 14, 2011 I have been wanting to read those. A lot of the earlier novels are out of print now and pretty tough to locate. The copies I found on eBay always seem to be going for more money than I would want to pay for a paperback book. The first one was recently republished though so hopefully they continue to do that with the following books. I bought the four paperback set on Barnes and Noble.com for 20 bucks. Good deal! I also am a huge Philip K. Dick fan, have read almost everything he's ever written. Carl Sagan - another big favorite...
Metal Man Posted September 14, 2011 Posted September 14, 2011 I bought the four paperback set on Barnes and Noble.com for 20 bucks. Good deal! I also am a huge Philip K. Dick fan, have read almost everything he's ever written. Carl Sagan - another big favorite... Were those the first four volumes of Wild Cards MadCap? Or maybe you were talking Ice and Fire... because I can't seem to find any of the old Wild Card books anywhere besides eBay except the the reprint of volume 1. Agreed on Philip K. Dick. Loved Ubik.
Dr. Fong Posted September 14, 2011 Posted September 14, 2011 (edited) Martin does take way too long between books. I don't think he'll ever finish the series. He only has two more to go. I want the books just as much as anyone else, but I'd rather he take his time and get it right than rush it out to appease impatient people. I've been reading this series since the late 90s. You have to learn patience. To me a good example is the Dark Tower series. That series has been spread out over 30 years, yet people don't seem to be in a rush for Stephen King to get the next book out. They seem to realize that the creative process takes time and when another one is ready another one will come out. Edited September 14, 2011 by Dr. Fong
In-A-Gadda-Levitre Posted September 14, 2011 Posted September 14, 2011 anything by Ernest Hemingway, who else can get away with run-on sentences...
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