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^ #1 2016-06-10 10:40:40

Ambivalence
I like older women
From: r/depthhub
Registered: 2016-05-30
Posts: 112
Website

Books General

Discuss books: novels, comics, non-fiction, graphic novels, non-fiction, e-books...etc.

About A Song of Ice and Fire

ASOIAF is a low-fantasy & historical fiction hybrid created by GRRM. What marks this book from other fantasy books is that you get a first-person PoV to each character and objective details are made personal and more subjective so as to increase immersion. The majority of the characters are either too pale or not that outstanding so as to make the story seems real, but "reality is stranger than fiction", and in reality, you would get a spectrum of characters more interesting than that presented by ASOIAF. GRRM also has a bad habit of getting too bogged down into little details, so as to drag down the pacing of the plot.

GOT: 7/10. This serves as the introduction to ASOIAF, so the novel most majorly focuses on world-building, character development, nothing interesting really happens in this book until the ending of the book, where an important person dies, and you get dragons. Standard fantasy book.

ACOK: 5/10. The sequel of GOT. The story-line lot starts to get interesting, with things becoming interesting at the wall and with Daenerys with shit tons of foreshadowing at the House of the Undying, centering on the conflict of the Five Kings, which culminated in the battle of Blackwater Bay. Too bad the majority of the books is uninteresting, and nothing really interesting happens. The Bran and Sansa chapters are the worst.

ASOS: 10/10. This book is full of surprises. Not only is this the longest book, it's also the one with the most emotional impact. The pacing gets faster, and much more intriguing than the previous two books. Most readers agrees that this is the best book in the seires because this book is when shit gets real. Red wedding, Purple wedding, Tyrion's trial by combat...etc. This is an acme of high fantasy.

AFFC: 1/10. Worst book of the whole series. I made a mistake by reading this book after reading ASOS. Pacing is slowed down to a turtle's pace, and the prose and language becomes stale like rotten bread. The least thing I need are page long monologues of Cersei. I threw this book out because it takes up too much space in my bookshelf.

ADWD: 6/10. I was very looking forward to some new story advancements when this came out, so i was very disappointed with the slow pacing of this book. I got chills watching all the Northmen allying with the Starks, and Theon's transformation. However, there's still too much description of details, and something worse: shoddy character development: Tyrion becomes a former shadow of itself, instead of the cynical, mistreated, ruthless man I like him as. There's also no real resolution or emotional payoff to any of the sub-plots. Daenery and Tyrion trying to maintain power together was one of the worst sub-plots in ASOIAF.

Last edited by Ambivalence (2016-06-27 15:58:42)


Don't use “thought” verbs too much: thinks, understands, loves, hates, and a hundred others. Instead of characters knowing, present the details that allow the reader to know them. Instead of a character wanting something, describe the thing so that the reader wants it. Only specific sensory detail: smell, taste, and sound.

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^ #2 2016-06-10 10:52:39

IppE
Complaints Department
From: Funland
Registered: 2015-10-19
Posts: 2,325
Website

Re: Books General

Been reading THE GUN by C. J. Chivers on and off. Gives you good insight on how the AK-47 (and M16 for that matter) came to be.

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^ #3 2016-06-11 05:10:39

B1rd
-
Registered: 2015-10-19
Posts: 1,109

Re: Books General

I read a history of Land Warfare, which was interesting since I got to learn about WW1. I also like to think of the battle of Stalingrad and the Eastern front, which have such an epic magnitude that happens when two great nations mobilize and clash in total war.

Books I also bought recently are:

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon (x4),
Fountainhead and Atlas shrugged by Ayn Rand,
Brave New World by Vintage Huxley
Dante's Divine Comedy (since people were talking about it I thought I'd give a crack at it)

Some other books I bought in the past year or so:

1984, Burmese Days, Keep the Aspidistra Flying and Animal Farm By George Orwell,
Shooting the Stickbow by Anthony Camera
and The Bowyer's Bible, book 1-4.

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^ #4 2016-06-11 14:36:42

FuZ
cancer incarnate
From: france
Registered: 2015-10-20
Posts: 771

Re: Books General

i want to read the GoT books but i dont know if there is a way to read them for free on my pc or ipad

nvm i found it, but it seems like the storylines are not exactly the same as the tv series, i wanted to start reading from the current tv season

Last edited by FuZ (2016-06-11 14:56:35)

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^ #5 2016-06-11 14:47:21

sonatora
SHSL Meme
From: A flaming hot Wok
Registered: 2016-05-07
Posts: 520

Re: Books General

The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling has been a pretty good read so far.


isitoolate

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^ #6 2016-06-11 15:47:10

tupsu
Sales Manager
From: south finland
Registered: 2016-05-19
Posts: 1,323
Website

Re: Books General

FuZ wrote:

i want to read the GoT books but i dont know if there is a way to read them for free on my pc or ipad

nvm i found it, but it seems like the storylines are not exactly the same as the tv series, i wanted to start reading from the current tv season

that's not how it works, the series is now officially ahead of the books and even if it wasn't you wouldn't understand shit

I like it though it's a good read


(´・ω・`)

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^ #7 2016-06-11 15:48:29

GladiOol
Retarded Flower
Registered: 2016-05-14
Posts: 207

Re: Books General

B1rd wrote:

I read a history of Land Warfare, which was interesting since I got to learn about WW1. I also like to think of the battle of Stalingrad and the Eastern front, which have such an epic magnitude that happens when two great nations mobilize and clash in total war.

Books I also bought recently are:

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon (x4),
Fountainhead and Atlas shrugged by Ayn Rand,
Brave New World by Vintage Huxley
Dante's Divine Comedy (since people were talking about it I thought I'd give a crack at it)

Some other books I bought in the past year or so:

1984, Burmese Days, Keep the Aspidistra Flying and Animal Farm By George Orwell,
Shooting the Stickbow by Anthony Camera
and The Bowyer's Bible, book 1-4.

Have you started Atlas Shrugged/Fountainhead yet? Been thinking of picking those two up as well.


"This miserable mode
Maintain the melancholy souls of those
Who lived withouten infamy or praise."

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^ #8 2016-06-11 15:56:57

FuZ
cancer incarnate
From: france
Registered: 2015-10-20
Posts: 771

Re: Books General

tupsu wrote:
FuZ wrote:

i want to read the GoT books but i dont know if there is a way to read them for free on my pc or ipad

nvm i found it, but it seems like the storylines are not exactly the same as the tv series, i wanted to start reading from the current tv season

that's not how it works, the series is now officially ahead of the books and even if it wasn't you wouldn't understand shit

I like it though it's a good read

i see, i thought the series was still behind

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^ #9 2016-06-11 23:32:24

B1rd
-
Registered: 2015-10-19
Posts: 1,109

Re: Books General

GladiOol wrote:

Have you started Atlas Shrugged/Fountainhead yet? Been thinking of picking those two up as well.

I'm only a couple pages in. I'll let you know how they are when I've finished.

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^ #10 2016-06-27 14:32:24

LunarStorm
Member
From: Neverland
Registered: 2015-10-20
Posts: 100

Re: Books General

I don't read many books, but whenever I find one that piques my interest I will get through it in no time at all.
So two days ago I started reading 1Q84 by Murakami and I'm currently at the start of the third book and oh my is it interesting.

Murakami has been on my list  ever since I read one of his short novels a year ago and found that I could barely avert my eyes from it. I think the collection of novels was called women without men or something of the like.

I'm really excited that 1Q84 has reminded me of how good books can make such an impact. After I'm through with it I'll most likely delve into some of his  other works before trying to pull myself through The wheel of time which has been neatly waiting on the bookshelf for quite some time.

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^ #11 2016-06-27 14:45:37

tupsu
Sales Manager
From: south finland
Registered: 2016-05-19
Posts: 1,323
Website

Re: Books General

LunarStorm wrote:

I don't read many books, but whenever I find one that piques my interest I will get through it in no time at all.
So two days ago I started reading 1Q84 by Murakami and I'm currently at the start of the third book and oh my is it interesting.

Murakami has been on my list  ever since I read one of his short novels a year ago and found that I could barely avert my eyes from it. I think the collection of novels was called women without men or something of the like.

I'm really excited that 1Q84 has reminded me of how good books can make such an impact. After I'm through with it I'll most likely delve into some of his  other works before trying to pull myself through The wheel of time which has been neatly waiting on the bookshelf for quite some time.

Murakami is pretty dope even though I don't understand shit about his writings, I'm rereading Kafka on the Shore


(´・ω・`)

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^ #12 2016-06-27 16:06:09

Ambivalence
I like older women
From: r/depthhub
Registered: 2016-05-30
Posts: 112
Website

Re: Books General

I never got why Murakami was popular. I read some of his books and I think 1Q84 is his worst books because it could have been abridged to a single book and wouldn't lose too much of its power, and the last book was really disappointing. I never got what his books was actually about. He's experimental as fuck, but he isn't as half as entertaining.

If you want a good Asian book I suggest the sci-fi novel Dark Forest by Liu Cixin, although the English translation is really horrible. I suggest you skip the first book and read its plot summary, so you can dive head in into the awesomeness that is the Dark Forest:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three-Body_Problem


Don't use “thought” verbs too much: thinks, understands, loves, hates, and a hundred others. Instead of characters knowing, present the details that allow the reader to know them. Instead of a character wanting something, describe the thing so that the reader wants it. Only specific sensory detail: smell, taste, and sound.

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^ #13 2017-10-20 00:16:25

Plakkis
The absolute madman
From: The world
Registered: 2015-10-19
Posts: 759

Re: Books General

Currently going through:
Jiddu Krishnamurti - The Awakening of Intelligence
6th & 7th books of Moses (aka the Black Bible)
Robert Anton Wilson - Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy & Cosmic Trigger Trilogy
Started some books from Carlos Castaneda but dunno if I'll continue with them
Patrick Harpur - Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld
Nag Hammadi Library
Charles Rycroft's Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis
Various stuff from Carl Jung
Various stuff from Timothy Leary

Stuff I've recently finished:
Jiddu Krishnamurti - The First and Last Freedom
Robert Anton Wilson - Prometheus Rising
Aldous Huxley - Time Must Have a Stop
Pistis Sophia
Carlos Castaneda - The Art of Dreaming
Various stuff from Carl Jung
Various stuff from Timothy Leary
Tons of articles about psychology and scientific researches on physics/substances/whatnot

I'm pretty long gone down the rabbit hole of occult and obscure literature, welp.


Everyone has a belief system, B.S., the trick is to learn not to take anyone's B.S. too seriously, especially your own.
No one is free as long as someone is in prison.

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