Book stuff

[Safeguard]

What kind of books do you guys like to read?

I'm a fantasy freak, I'll admit that. My obsession started when I was 12, and bought my first fantasy book (David Eddings's "Malloreon 5: Seeress of Kell"). I got hooked, and read everything by Dave - and now I've read every single one of his fantasy books.

From Dave I moved on to Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and their Dragonlance. Then to Darksword and Death Gate Cycle. And R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms and Spearwielder. Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain and Susan Cooper's Dark Is Rising. ...Marianne Curley's book trilogy. And Geoffrey Huntington's books about a wizard. Harry Potters and LOTR, of course.

If I count right, I have read over 120 fantasy books during seven years.

Just now I'm reading the 2nd part of "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R.R. Martin. This is turning out to be one of the longest, but still the best, fantasy series I have ever read. Jaime and Cersei Lannister are a sister and a brother and they have three children (oy, incest. It is a very interesting plot twist), called Joffrey (aka Joff), Myrcella and Tommen.

Girls, I might also be in love with some of the characters. Ser Davos Seaworth, Jon Snow and Theon Greyjoy, mainly. (Also ser Jorah Mormont, due to his personality)

There's this site: http://amok-koma.ru/eng/gal/asoiaf/

The maker of that site drew those portraits of ASOIAF characters, and believe it or not, George R.R. Martin himself reviewed the portraits and said that most of them were just as he imagined the characters. The Greyjoy family looked spot on like they should have looked like, according to GRRM. (The pics might look black and white on the intro page, but by clicking them you get the colored versions) I think Cersei Lannister reminds me of Blackarachnia... and Arya Stark is somewhat Airazor-esque.

Also, don't click on the Gallery-link, because that won't work. The only way to view the rest of the pictures is to click on the pictures on the right. Then you just have to change index5 into index4 to get the 4th page. Get it? Amok's Jon Snow looks awesome. (I hate the character of Melisandre.) ....Oh, btw, girls, Petyr Baelish looks somewhat like a human Rattrap. But his personality is weird. I somewhat like and somewhat hate the guy... he betrayed Ned Stark and witnessed his execution without remorse (he also loved Ned's wife Catelyn when he and she were little kids). Brienne of Tarth makes me think of Jeanne d'Arc. ...I always liked Bronn, even if he is a mercenary. One of my favorites is Sandor Clegane, even though half of his face is burned (his brother Gregor got angry with him when they were kids... Sandor was just 7 years old when Gregor snatched his little brother and stuffed his face into hot coals..). Oberyn Martell is also awesome. (I never liked Loras Tyrell.. I like Beric Dondarrion, though, even if he has only one eye) ...Amok's. Theon. is. very. good-looking. Daenerys Targaryen.. sheesh, how I hate her and her personality... I liked his nutcase brother Viserys more (sadly he got killed by Khal Drogo who poured molten gold on his head). Roose Bolton and his son Ramsay Snow... they have CRRRREEEEEEPY EYES!

(I also really like Brynden Tully, the Blackfish... btw, Euron Greyjoy reminds me of some pirates... Francis Drake to be exact... o0... oy, Lancel Lannister... who could believe he is just 16? And Daario Naharis has REALLY funky hair/beard/moustache... xD!xD!xD!) */rant cut off*

Er... yup. I have many favorite characters in fantasy literature, and many being bad guys. Like Martel in Dave Eddings's Elenium (once again a character I love). And Lord Soth in Dragonlance (...nope, not love. Who could love an undead knight? o0 I just really like his personality and background... almost Rampage or Depth Charge -esque.. or even better)

Dave's newest book series is proving to be somewhat boring. His first series were magnificent, but this? It's no wonder cuz he's gonna be 76 years old in 2007. ...You heard that he actually burned his office down this January?

On the 26th of January 2007 it was reported that Eddings had managed to burn about a quarter of his office, next door to his house, along with his Excalibur sports car, and the original manuscripts for most of his novels. He was flushing the fuel tank of the car with water when he lit a piece of paper and threw into the puddle to test if it was still flammable.
At the time of the blaze, The 75 year old author stumbled out of his home and stood watching the fire progress in his pajamas, saying :
“ One word comes to mind. Dumb. ”

xD! At least he STILL has his sense of humor intact! xD!

Oh, I've also started to translate an English fantasy book into Finnish. Or I started to do that a couple of years ago... but I dropped the project... the book had 500 pages... (Called "White Wolf", by David Gemmell)*/another rant cut off*

OK, um.. your taste in books, guys?

[Unvereitletmann]

I like fantasy also, as well as novels or any other kind of books. Though definitely my favorite stories/genre is Sci-Fi. I always liked those stories because they search for strong scientific (but not always true) basis that support them. Writers like Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, HG Wells, and many more!
Since I was a kid I always liked robot or robotic things. Science and the search of knowledge has always amused me. I think this fascination with technology also pushed me into this BW universe.
So since I always liked this kind of scientific approach to life, y choose Mecatronic Engineering for my studies here at college. It's been hard. Specially the first 2 terms, but now I think that although my grades aren't straight 100's I have improved my performance.

[Nurann]

Fantasy, and fantasy/sci-fi crosses. I can't swallow pure sci-fi novels very well, for some reason *shrugs*. Although... there is this one X-Men/Star Trek TNG crossover novel that was worth the effort; (scene taking place on the holodeck) "'Dr. Crusher,' Xavier said.... 'I've been wondering when you would return."
Then he turned his gaze on the captain, and a flicker of something like amusement crossed his features. Nor was it difficult for Picard to see why. As the doctor had warned him, he and the professor bore a passing resemblance to one another." ~page 234, Star Trek The Next Generation/X-Men - Planet X by Michael Jan Friedman~

As one friend of mine put it, "Patrick Stewart, meet Patrick Stewart."

The only book I've ever read more that twice is a pretty mild fantasy novel called "The Ancinet One" by T.A. Barron. While the protagonist, Kate, seems a bit too mature to be only 13, you can't help but cheer for her, her aboriginal friend, and the owl-like "tinnani" she teams up with to save the ancient forest she was accidently thrown back in to.
In case anyone here has ever seen the game "Lost Eden"; if you ever do read "The Ancient One", doesn't the description of Gashra seem a lot like that of the character WhatsHisName Rex from the game?! (minus, as my brother put it, "Lost Eden"'s guy is "Megatron Purple" while Gashra is Season 3's lovely shade of red. )

As for fantasy/sci fi novels, the "Acorna" series (I believe it's writen by the same author as the Pern books, but I don't have copies of either on hand, so don't quote me on that) is a fairly absorbing read. Just stay clear if the concept of highly-evolved, space-faring unicorn/humanoid hybrids makes you twitch

I would also recomend the recent hits "Eragon" and "Eldest", however, Eragon's habit of acting mature one second and whining like three-year old brat the next will get on your nerves long before you even reach the sequel. (note: the books are still much better than the console game, and I have yet to have the experience of comparing both to the movie. If anyone's seen it, how close is it to the book? What are your praises/complaints for both?)

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

I've never really been into reading until the Lord of the Rings movies started coming out. I prefer drawing instead but when my older sister insisted I read the LotR books before the second and third movies came out, I did so and absolutely loved them. The books, of course, had so much more information and detail that the movies left out (save for the extended versions and extras) but I still enjoyed both. The movies were great because they were so accurate to the novels.

My college roommate got me started with the Wheel of Time. I loved it right away since it was so much like LotR but lost the motive to read while in school. Afterwards, my older sister caught on to the WoT and started buying every book (and there's... eleven? Twelve is currently in progress, I believe) so I've started reading them again as she passes them on to me. I only just started the third book, though. I have a long way to go. XD

In between, I was reading some Dick Francis books and some oddballs my mom buys once in a while. I only really get to read during lunch at work but it's better than never.

I think my favorite three childhood books are Where the Red Fern Grows, the Hatchet and the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I can't really remember why, maybe it was the way my fourth and fifth grade teachers read them, but I loved them and they're the only three that really stick out in my mind to this day. LoL

[VelociBerg]

Definitely like fantasy and sci-fi. I don't go out of my way to get said types of books, but I won't pass it up either.

I've read my share of Harry Potter, LotR, Dragonlance, etc. Was an incredibly avid Dragonlance reader, until they started the so-called 'Age of Mortals' era in the books. Bah. The second trilogy is the best. By far.

Sci-fi I go for Star Trek/Wars, others like Ray Bradbury, Edgar Rice Burroughs...but I don't like the random stories you can see anywhere. Call it personal taste.

I would also recomend the recent hits "Eragon" and "Eldest", however, Eragon's habit of acting mature one second and whining like three-year old brat the next will get on your nerves long before you even reach the sequel. (note: the books are still much better than the console game, and I have yet to have the experience of comparing both to the movie. If anyone's seen it, how close is it to the book? What are your praises/complaints for both?)

The one fantasy book(s) I really couldn't stand. Eragon was okay, for a Star Wars ripoff--but it had some likability. Eldest was BLEH and FAR too predictable. Either that, or so far out in left-field its incredible. As for the movie, I hear from friends that its not that similar to the novel, though I haven't seen it personally.