What are you Reading Now?

[Mythopoet]

Just finished Story Trumps Structure by Stephen James.

Dude is a genius. He has almost converted me from being a plotter to a pantser.

Almost.

No! Turn away from the dark side!

 

[Tom]

No! Turn away from the dark side!

I am a proud, card-carrying member of the Dark Side. Pantsing is the way to do it. Search your feelings--you know it to be true...

 

[Svrtnsse]

I'm currently reading Agatha H and the Voice of the Castle by Phil and Kaja Foglio. I've heard the comic is really good, so I decided to pick up the book on a whim when passing through the local book store. Unfortunately it's not living up to my expectations. It feels like the books is trying a little too hard to be funny, and it just makes it a little less funny. I get the impression they're trying for a Discworld/Prattchet style, but it's not really working.
Still, the setting is interesting. Some kind of steampunk/magical, no-quite-contemporary version of the real world and I'd like to see what they've done with it. On top of that, I've still heard the comics are good and I may very well just dig into them once I'm done with this.

EDIT: So I just discovered that the entire comic is available online these days - here: Girl Genius Online Comics

 

[Tom]

I've finally jumped the bandwagon and cracked open Game of Thrones. And...wow. A book has never hooked me this fast! I started it tonight after finishing my homework for tomorrow, and already I'm a third of the way in. Since I recently tried (and failed) to read another epic fantasy, I'm going to compare the two to show how different my reactions to them were.

Name of the Wind

First sentence: "Meh. Okay, I guess."

First page: "Hm. It begins in a generic fantasy inn. Not a good sign."

Second page: "I am bored. This is just like every generic medieval fantasy world ever. It's taking way too long to set the scene. Why am I stuck with a generic omniscient narrator?! I want to be reading from the POV of someone actually involved in the scene!"

Verdict after reading prologue and first chapter: "Back to the library with you. You failed to hold my interest; not worth my time."


Game of Thrones

First sentence: "Intriguing..."

First page: "Character interaction, yes! And foreboding suspense! And an established POV!"

Second page: "Hey, look--well-executed suspense and foreshading! Also, why are they in the "haunted forest"? Who are the wildlings? What's the Wall? I love it when a book makes me ask these types of questions."

Verdict after reading prologue and first chapter: "...I don't think I'll be able to put this down."

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

It's easy to say, "Bah, GRRM is all hype." Then you read the book and say, "OK, yes, this book series actually does deserve to become the most popular fantasy-themed cable series."

I'll say no more since questions like "What's the Wall?" confirm you're not watching the show.



STEALTH EDIT - I will say that you might put book 4 down, just for a couple seconds so you don't throw it through a closed window. But then you'll pick it up again and be glad you did.

 

[ThinkerX]

STEALTH EDIT - I will say that you might put book 4 down, just for a couple seconds so you don't throw it through a closed window. But then you'll pick it up again and be glad you did.

Are you sure you didn't mean a certain charming social gathering in book 3 there, sidekick?

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

Game of Thrones

...I don't think I'll be able to put this down."

I'm not original in saying this, and I've made no secret that it has been my favorite series since long before HBO came knocking on GRRM's door.

I'm glad you're enjoying it. I envy you reading certain parts for the first time. In my opinion, there are aspects of this series that are ground-breaking, but I'll have to leave it at that until you're further along.

Looking forward to your reaction...we'll talk later.

 

[Mythopoet]

Verdict after reading prologue and first chapter: "...I don't think I'll be able to put this down."

Yeah.... that's cause you haven't gotten to any of the frustrating bits yet. ASoIaF starts out good, but gets more and more frustrating as it goes on and then goes downhill pretty sharply (IMO) in the 3rd book.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Are you sure you didn't mean a certain charming social gathering in book 3 there, sidekick?

Maybe because I started reading AFTER season 3. When I got to that part, it was tame compared to the show.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

Maybe because I started reading AFTER season 3. When I got to that part, it was tame compared to the show.

I don't feel the same way. It's all subjective opinion, of course.

 

[Incanus]

In my view, the ASOIAF books get better and better over the course of the first 3 books, 3 being the best. After that, it's still good, but lower than the high-water mark set by Storm of Swords.

 

[Tom]

Yeah.... that's cause you haven't gotten to any of the frustrating bits yet. ASoIaF starts out good, but gets more and more frustrating as it goes on and then goes downhill pretty sharply (IMO) in the 3rd book.

What do you mean by frustrated? Because I usually like it when a book makes me frustrated--it means I'm either really into the story and feeling what the characters feel, or I'm impatient to get to the climax and finally see what happens.

 

[BronzeOracle]

I have to say that the Wall is a fantastic dramatic device - it just makes you wonder, what on earth was that created to keep out?? I remember the wall in the 1980s King Kong movie had the same effect. Its the human reaction towards the threat, rather than the threat itself, which creates such atmosphere.

 

[Mythopoet]

What do you mean by frustrated? Because I usually like it when a book makes me frustrated--it means I'm either really into the story and feeling what the characters feel, or I'm impatient to get to the climax and finally see what happens.

I wouldn't describe either of those things as frustrating. What I despised was things like characters I was invested in being unceremoniously killed off for shock value, the ever increasing amount of point of view characters that I couldn't care less about, mundane political intrigue taking a front seat to anything actually fantasy-esque, the feeling that the plot is little more than a series of terrible events committed by terrible people and that there's just no point to it all. Martin seems unable to actually focus in on a story worth telling, in my opinion.

I have to say that the Wall is a fantastic dramatic device - it just makes you wonder, what on earth was that created to keep out?? I remember the wall in the 1980s King Kong movie had the same effect. Its the human reaction towards the threat, rather than the threat itself, which creates such atmosphere.

I liked the Wall device in the beginning, but I feel that Martin squandered it by treating it as little more than a side story to all the political intrigue over the throne. Jon and the Wall was one of the few things I actually cared about. I don't care at all about the stupid throne and all the stupid people who want it. But the Wall gets so little narrative attention and the threat which is compelling in the beginning is actually, in my opinion, made to seem less and less important, less and less pressing as time goes on. Oh yes, they say it's important, but nothing that actually happens indicates that it's anything like as frightening as it was made to appear in the beginning. It ended up being just another pointless, boring part of the narrative to me that meandered and rambled but doesn't go anywhere.

In my opinion, similar devices to the Wall are done much, much better in the classic book The Night Land and in the contemporary manga/anime Attack on Titan.

 

[Steerpike]

Reading Cat Rambo's The Beasts of Tabat, which is excellent so far. Also, George Elliot's Middlemarch​.

 

[Tom]

I wouldn't describe either of those things as frustrating. What I despised was things like characters I was invested in being unceremoniously killed off for shock value, the ever increasing amount of point of view characters that I couldn't care less about, mundane political intrigue taking a front seat to anything actually fantasy-esque, the feeling that the plot is little more than a series of terrible events committed by terrible people and that there's just no point to it all. Martin seems unable to actually focus in on a story worth telling, in my opinion.

The deaths are part of the narrative, as are the politics. It's a gritty political fantasy, after all. As for the deaths, I interpret their unceremonious-ness as Martin showing us how cruel and senseless they are. His is a brutal world, and death is pretty unavoidable, and nobody, even the main characters, gets special treatment.

I actually like that. You have to admire an author who has the guts to kill off his most beloved characters.

As for POV characters--well, I'm less of a fan of multiple POVs. But in a vast, sprawling political story like ASoIaF, you sort of need a lot of characters to be "eyes on the action". The more complex the story, the more POV characters I am willing to deem necessary.

 

[Steerpike]

I didn't really see the deaths being for shock value, and I agree they are part of the narrative. There were one or two that certainly did shock me in that I wasn't expecting them, but when they happened they made sense in the context of the story, in my view. I felt like with the last book, GRRM is starting to lose his story focus a bit though.

 

[Mythopoet]

Martin has admitted in interviews that he wanted to shock readers with the deaths, obviously the first major death in particular. (Which is also the one I will NEVER forgive him for.) And obviously, everything I'm saying is my own opinion, my own reaction to the series. Though I've encountered quite a few people who feel the same way. As it goes on it tends to be one of those series where people are either in love with it and will accept anything Martin does, or people get more and more frustrated until they give up. At least, I've encountered more people whose feelings on the series are at those extreme ends than I have people who are somewhere in the middle. Either way, it's definitely a series that gets people's emotions high.

On another note, I've finished The Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe which means I'm done with the Urth cycle! I still have no idea what happened maybe 50% of the time, even though I've been using the Lexicon Urthus as a reference since I started. Just... it's one of those stories that is more puzzle than answer. That floats some people's boats, but not really mine. Still have much respect for Wolfe though. The worldbuilding in the series is a tour de force.

 

[StannisTheMannis]

I agree that the Wall became a plotline overshadowed by the political intrigue of the rest of Westeros - but it's also supposed to be that way. As Commander Mormont said, what does it matter who sits on the throne? Everyone is focused on the scandals of King's Landing, on the war-torn North and Riverlands, on the fiery seat of Dorne. The Wall lies only on the periphery of everyone's eye - and it is presented like that cleverly.

I just finished Perks of Being a Wallflower for the first time - wow, what a terrific book. Lots of emotions there. I picked up Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier - 1800s American historical fiction on the western frontier, centered around Native Americans. Read it once five years ago and didn't like it, but I thought I'd give it another. Already going well!

 

[Incanus]

Just finished reading a WIP novel by one of the Mythic Scribes. I consider it a good experience for any aspiring writer to do this sort of thing. Anything and everything that gets me thinking about how stories work is of interest to me. Though it is due for a major overhaul, I'm going to go over it again now that I'm familiar with the story arcs to try and see how the individual scenes work toward the larger narrative.

In the meantime, I'm quite enthralled by The Three Musketeers. I like it more than I thought I would, though I'm only about 150 pages in (out of 625). I'm not sure how many versions/translations there are out there, but my edition is unabridged and translated by someone named Eleanor Hochman. I'm finding it fast-paced, witty, humorous, highly entertaining, and exciting. And it is easy-to-read and has me page-turning in spite of the old-fashioned, in-your-face narrator voice (which sort of comes and goes).

I recommend this book to any fantasy writer interested in sword-play, intrigue, characters with great bravado, humor, witty banter, headlong narrative, and just good, plain story-telling.