Confessions of a GRR Martin Avoider...

[JangoLee]

Well, statistically, my experience has been that one-hundred percent of female writers I have tried have not appealed to me, therefore I feel my time is better spent trying to find male authors who do appeal to me.

Male authors, statistically, for me, only suck about forty percent of the time, which is way better than the one-hundred percent "suck" ratio that female authors have.

It is all about prioritizing time, and getting the most out of life. For me, reading books written by female authors is the opposite of getting the most out of life.

[KatG]

Loerwyn -- you may disagree with JangoLee's criteria, but the discussion is not about whether a criteria is justified or not and you're edging against the rules and off topic.

JangoLee -- you are also off topic. The topic is about instances where you believed a book would be uninteresting to you and it turned out to be interesting to you instead. Please stay on topic rather than trying to provoke a flame war, which is against the rules of the forum you agreed to follow, etc.

Another one for me that I recently remembered -- I got talked into reading Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates by a friend. (Byron and Egyptian stuff did not immediately call to me.) It was the most intricately plotted book I'd ever read, and I've been a life long fan of his work ever since.

[JangoLee]

Loerwyn -- you may disagree with JangoLee's criteria, but the discussion is not about whether a criteria is justified or not and you're edging against the rules and off topic.

JangoLee -- you are also off topic. The topic is about instances where you believed a book would be uninteresting to you and it turned out to be interesting to you instead. Please stay on topic rather than trying to provoke a flame war, which is against the rules of the forum you agreed to follow, etc.

Another one for me that I recently remembered -- I got talked into reading Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates by a friend. (Byron and Egyptian stuff did not immediately call to me.) It was the most intricately plotted book I'd ever read, and I've been a life long fan of his work ever since.

Actually, this topic is about book confessions, or confessions that have to do with books and our experience with them, and has bounced all over the place. I gave my confession.

[Contrarius]

The topic is about instances where you believed a book would be uninteresting to you and it turned out to be interesting to you instead.

I recently participated in an "expand your horizons" reading challenge which sorta kinda fits this criterion.

As part of the challenge, I agreed to read both Gates of Fire by Pressfield and The Face of Battle by Keegan -- because I never read military fiction or military history. Gates of Fire was okay, but I wasn't blown away by it -- I love the subject (Sparta in general and the battle of Thermopylae in particular), but I kept wondering which bits were historically accurate and which weren't. But I really enjoyed The Face of Battle, and I kept thinking that anybody who wants to write fiction that includes battle scenes ought to read it before picking up a pen of their own. So I definitely got my horizon expanded there.

[tmso]

Actually, this topic is about book confessions, or confessions that have to do with books and our experience with them, and has bounced all over the place. I gave my confession.

It bounces at our discretion.

[KatG]

Actually, this topic is about book confessions, or confessions that have to do with books and our experience with them, and has bounced all over the place. I gave my confession.

It bounced previously because people drifted off topic and got uncivil and we told them to move on. And we're telling you and Loerwyn to move on now as well. And that's the last bit of discussion we're having about that in this thread.

[ShandaLear]

It bounced previously because people drifted off topic and got uncivil and we told them to move on. And we're telling you and Loerwyn to move on now as well. And that's the last bit of discussion we're having about that in this thread.

Wow, you're pretty tough for a girl.

[Carlyle Clark]

I’ve avoided two genres/subgenres of fantasy.

1. Thief Books—specifically this means heist books, not Epic books where one of the threads is a thief. The prime example would be The Lies of Lock Lamora. So after avoiding it for years I broke down and read it and found it highly entertaining, largely because they were the underdogs and because I actually listened to the audio book and found the narrator perfectly suited for the tone of the book. Then I went on to Red Seas Under Red Skies and ran into the problem I feared. Characters who are stealing just to steal don’t interest me anymore than characters killing just to kill would (Okay, there are exceptions like Blood Meridian but you know what I mean), however, Lynch is so adept at putting his characters in trouble (though most of the trouble is the results of their own greed), creating interesting secondary characters, and humor that it’s forcing me to go on just to see what happen next not as I prefer becasue I care what happens next (if you knpw what I mean?), that and the hints that they may move on to something larger than their own personal interest.

2. Urban/Contemporary Fantasy—I feel like this should be right up my alley because I love fantasy and I love detective/investigation novels, which so many Urban Fantasies are, so you would think mixing the two would be heaven, right? But I just can’t jibe with magic in this world for some reason. I’ve enjoyed The Nightside books I’ve read, but those were mostly set in the Nightside—which is basically another world. I’ve had some success with the first two Dresden books on audio though so maybe I’m having a breakthrough. . .

[Starchaser3000]

It is all about prioritizing time, and getting the most out of life. For me, reading books written by female authors is the opposite of getting the most out of life.

LOL!! To a point I agree with you. Especially on any chic lit/vampire romances. With that said, there is no denying that female authors get their fair share of overwhelming commercial success. For me to read Harry Potter, Twilight, or the Hunger Games would be personal torture for me. Still, I admire that their writing was good enough to reach a massive commercial audience somehow.

[Westsiyeed]

Don't judge a book by it's cover, right? Well, I have, and I do, and I probably always will. But my biggest fault is judging a book without at least attempting to read it. For years, I've steered away from George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series because I'd heard that it was brutal and dark. I'm not much for books that leave me feeling depressed or books that shock me with graphic violence or sex--it kind of cheapens the genre, if you ask me. Sure, I know, that showing violence and sex can mirror reality in all it's horrors, but I don't really need to read it in explicit detail. I stopped reading Erikson's books because of such stuff.

But there I was at the beach, at the local Walmart, and I was looking for a book because I finished the two I'd brought. And there was Game of Thrones for like $6.50. I said, "What the heck," and bought it.

Well slap my face and call me Elmo! It's freaking STELLAR. Martin is a master craftsman and weaves the narration beautifully. The kind of wonder I'm feeling is reminiscent of how I felt reading Tolkien the first 10-15 times. His characterization is the strongest I've read, maybe ever. And yes, it is a little brutal in places, but it's like .05 % of the overall writing, and I suspect that Martin does not include it to cater to prurience. I'm only about half way through Game of Thrones, but find myself thinking about it often. I'm usually not into politicking type stories, but this is so personal...you really care about the characters. They are all flawed, but authentically so. And there's some serious foreshadowing going on that leads me to believe that epic events are in the near future. So, I confess, I was wrong about Martin. And I'm stoked because now I have a nice, long series to look forward to.

Anyone else have confessions to make? (About books, I mean. I'm not your priest.)

I'm actually in a similar boat on the same book, but for different reasons. I like brutal and dark but I've always put off reading Game of Thrones mainly because (1) I didn't think I'd want to read a medieval-set book with kings and swords (etc.), and (2) the size of the physical book(s) put me off. This was even though I've read a few GRRM books and really liked them (Fevre Dream, many of his short stories).

I'm halfway through the Game of Thrones ebook and love it! Basically agree with everything Wayne said. Such great characterisation, and even though each chapter is focused on a different character (which in some books can stutter the pace a bit), it's not an issue as every character's story is interesting. And it's excellent to have the series, both book and TV, to look forward to!

[Randy M.]

I've been trying to think of books I put off and finally remembered it took me years to work up to Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake. I'd heard it was a hard slog, it didn't satisfy friends of mine, yadda yadda ...

I loved it. Peake's writing was pitch perfect, adeptly changing tone when needed, and always finding just the right word or phrase to describe what his artist's inner eye saw, to subtly imply the nature of Gormanghast and its denizens. Wonderful book.

Others? Well, there's Peter Beagle's The Innkeeper's Song -- could it live up to what I heard about it? Could it live up to the stories by him I already admired, like "Lila the Werewolf" and A Fine and Private Place? Well, it did. It's a fine novel.

I can easily come up with a few I haven't gotten to yet, in spite of many years' good intentions, ones that I'll probably like -- The Last Hot Time & The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford; Rats & Gargoyles by Mary Gentle; Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees; American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Eventually I'll gouge out the time.


Randy M.

[Kazz Wylde]

I guess I have a confession, a few years back after I discovered Martin on beloved Amazon, I read the first two books pretty fast, but then after I started Storm of Swords, I started milking it because then there was only one more book out. And I still cant break this pattern now, I milk books, like 2 chapters at a time usually reading at night.

[Wayne Batson]

I'm a teacher here in the States so I had summer off to do a ton of reading. I've raced through Game of Thrones, Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords, and now a Feast for Crows. So the original post was my confession of having avoided GRRM b/c I feared he was too brutal/explicit. But then, I broke down and bought GoT and, in spite of its explicit scenes, found it to be extremely well written and entirely compelling. My post was an apology of sorts for prejudging the series and the author. Well...ahem…

{Generic Spoilers to follow; No names mentioned, just general facts, but spoiler warning anyway!}

Now 4 books in, and I'm eating my words in a different way. In fact, I may not even finish the series now. With GoT, it was balance to justify the smut b/c the storytelling was so rich, the characters so well drawn, and the dialogue laser sharp that I felt it was worth it. Clash of Kings continued that balance, though the smut factor seemed amped by a factor of 3. If I wanted porn stories, I could go read them elsewhere. I don't really like my fantasy muddied with it. The explicit stuff seemed to do less and less to develop character or story...more and more...used as a fallback technique catering to prurient tastes. Nonetheless, I liked Clash of Kings.

But something happened during Storm of Swords. The story really felt like it meandered rather aimlessly. So many main characters that I cared about got killed off that it became a chore to read. I get that GRRM is kind of known for fearlessly killing off beloved characters, but that can really backfire in that readers are hesitant to invest in characters who are likely going to be slain in unexpected and unglorified ways. It began to feel as if GRRM put the names of all his main characters in a sack and every few chapters picked one (or more) to kill off.

I felt like Storm of Swords did have a promising conclusion, but then I hit Feast of Crows and found it to be almost an entirely different series. At least four of the MAIN storylines from book 3 aren't carried into book 4 AT ALL. Several side characters get elevated to Main Characters and they just don't pull their weight. 3/4 of the way through and I'm bored. I'm almost wishing for a few character deaths now. lol Anyway, not sure I'll continue. What say you who've read on? Is it worth it to go on to book 5?

[kshRox]

Anyone else have confessions to make? (About books, I mean. I'm not your priest.)

I've abandoned the series after ADwD for the very reasons you state and I'm not particulary queasy when it comes to sex and violence. The first book is fantastic, one of the best reads I've ever read. The second is great! The third starts seeming a little slow but still good etc. etc.

ADwD was a sick and twisted tale.
Not interested in G.R.R. Martin or anything he has to write at this point.

[Loerwyn]

I don't think Martin has ever really done much but portray a society honestly, now that I'm reading the books.

Yeah, I think he can sometimes get a bit violent (the sex tends to be a little odd due to the lower ages of the characters, at least for me), but as I see it he's not shying away from a frank, honest portrayal of what things might be like.

That's obviously not for everyone, and we all have our own thresholds of tolerance. Mine is pretty low on both sides, yet I'm doing pretty fine with these books so far.