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Post by franko on Jun 20, 2011 5:48:18 GMT -5
A Game of Thrones is HBO's latest mini-series foray into the world of fantasy. The written series is four long books long . . . I'm wondering how they are going to move it to the realm of the screen . . . and how graphic the fight scenes are going to be. Anyone else read the books?
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Post by BadCompany on Jun 20, 2011 7:09:31 GMT -5
Been watching it off and on. It's pretty graphic all right.
And even if you've read the books... well the season-ending twist is still a shocker!
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Post by Cranky on Jun 20, 2011 11:14:10 GMT -5
I watch it. It's decent escapism. My wife is wondering why there are so many nude females and not males. I keep telling her that it's the natural order of things....but she's not convinced.
What shocker BC?
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Post by Andrew on Jun 20, 2011 19:55:22 GMT -5
A Game of Thrones is HBO's latest mini-series foray into the world of fantasy. The written series is four long books long . . . I'm wondering how they are going to move it to the realm of the screen . . . and how graphic the fight scenes are going to be. Anyone else read the books? I took a break from the books after the third one, but recently picked up the fourth with renewed interest from the HBO series, and announcement of the forthcoming fifth novel. I think that the HBO series has worked quite well, and have looked forward to the new episode each week. My biggest beef so far is with Tyrion's English accent, but I'll forgive that, given that he's otherwise well acted, and a well written character. I also would also like to have seen more of the direwolves, which I recall as being more prominent in the books. It'll be interesting to see how they handle some of the other fantasy elements in the next season. I have mixed feelings about the books. I find them to be full of great characters and events, however, they tend to get bogged down with detail of an almost overwhelming cast of characters and historical accounts that are peripheral to the main storylines. I feel that he could cut out about 300 pages from each book and the result would be more compelling. Maybe the HBO series is the perfect solution, as it requires trimming much of the fat for television consumption. |
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Post by franko on Jun 20, 2011 20:54:57 GMT -5
Don't know how many of the ""Wheel of Time" books I read before I finally gave up. I think it was when Jordan basically rewrote one of the books but from different character perspectives. By the 8th or 9th book in the trilogy I don't care much any more.
Having said that, I enjoyed the first two Donaldson "Thomas Covenant" trilogies. Kinda bogged down in the third group of books [the final chronicles, totaling 4 books]. The third book has been on my shelf since December; I think I'll just wait for the concluding book to come out and read 'em and finish up.
Oh . . . and when they film the Covenant series they should have a young Pat Quinn play the lead character. not because he's heroic, but because he's such a whiner!
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Post by franko on Jun 20, 2011 20:57:29 GMT -5
announcement of the forthcoming fifth novel. a fifth? [missed that comment the first read-through]. sheesh! can't disagree with this! |
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Post by Cranky on Jun 21, 2011 4:08:35 GMT -5
You guys read books? BOOKS?
What's up with that?
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Post by franko on Jun 21, 2011 6:07:13 GMT -5
how else [he asks tongue in cheek] will we know which books to burn? Growing up in 1960s Don Mills, Ont., African-Canadian author Lawrence Hill was taught to ball his fists and prepare to fight anybody who used the n-word.
Decades later, Mr. Hill is trying to persuade a Dutchman not to publicly burn his novel for using another n-word in its title.
Roy Groenberg of the Netherlands has announced he will burn copies of Mr. Hill’s 2007 novel, The Book of Negroes, in Amsterdam on Wednesday.
Mr. Hill received word of the burning last week in an email from Mr. Groenberg, head of the Foundation to Honour and Restore Victims of Slavery in Suriname.
“We, the descendants of the slaves in the former Dutch colony Suriname, want [to] let you know that we do not accept a book with the title The Book of Negroes. We have struggled for a long time to make the word ‘black’ disappear from the Dutch language and now you come out with this Book of Negroes! A real shame!” wrote Mr. Groenberg.
If Mr. Groenberg spent “five minutes” reading The Book of Negroes, he probably would not want to burn it anymore, Mr. Hill suggested.
“Book burning is something that Nazis did, it’s something that the people who led the Spanish Inquisition did, it’s a gesture designed to intimidate and silence — it’s hateful,” he said in an interview.
Mr. Groenberg plans to burn the book at the base of Amsterdam’s National Slavery Monument in Amsterdam. the rest[/thread-jack] |
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Jun 21, 2011 7:10:24 GMT -5
I like the HBO dramas; The Sopranos, Rome, Deadwood. Haven't seen an episode of this series, though, but I'd like to just from what I'm reading here in the thread.
Possible to find out air times (yes, yes, I'm lazy, but classes are starting in a few minutes) for "A Game of Thornes?" Thanks.
Cheers.
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Post by The New Guy on Jun 21, 2011 7:50:57 GMT -5
Don't know how many of the ""Wheel of Time" books I read before I finally gave up. I think it was when Jordan basically rewrote one of the books but from different character perspectives. By the 8th or 9th book in the trilogy I don't care much any more.I got to four before I decided that I didn't care if Tarmon Gaidon came and went. Of course the real issue with the WoT series is that Jordan, the author, passed away before he finished the series. The estate (in consultation with Jordan - he passed away after a long illness) has hired someone else to finish the series according to Jordan's plans, but it highlights the problem with writing a series that goes on for so long that you pass away before the end of it (another of my favorite authors, David Feintuch, did the same thing some years ago). And while the new author has released one of the three remaining books and it has been received well, I doubt he can capture Jordan's style - which was quite unqiue and likeable. |
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Post by franko on Jun 21, 2011 11:02:55 GMT -5
so I looked back . . . it was around book 4/5 that I quit the first time. then went back to it because I hate stopping in the middle of something. then quit again at chapter 2 of book 9 and the book sits on the shelf . . .time to trade it in for something readable. never works when another author takes over, does it? they're still pumping out Ludlom [Jason Bourne] books . . . another one due this year [ten year's after Ludlom's death]. hey, a franchise to print money is a franchise to print money . . . just ask the Leafs!]. I'm waiting for the Thrones season to finish and I'll watch the whole thing. Dis: here’s the schedule |
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Jun 21, 2011 11:39:55 GMT -5
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Post by franko on Jul 12, 2011 7:21:16 GMT -5
I see book 5 is out at the end of the month -- love these trilogies.
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Post by Gogie on Jul 12, 2011 7:39:43 GMT -5
I see book 5 is out at the end of the month -- love these trilogies. Just downloaded it to my Kindle this morning. ;D |
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Post by franko on Aug 3, 2011 20:07:32 GMT -5
Andrew, Gogie . . . how is A Dance with Dragons? I've heard reviews from both sides: that it is boring and repetitive [and no surprise twists or deaths, so relatively tame], and that it is really part 2 of A Feast for Crows and decent but not great. Waiting for paperback myself.
Also, have you heard of/read any of the The Kingkiller Chronicle series by Patrick Rothfuss? Just recommended to me. Won't be reading it quite yet -- gotta get back to "real life" and "real reading" . . . and besides, the long commercial between hockey seasons is almost over [as has been said elsewhere, c'mon, drop the puck already!
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Post by Andrew on Aug 6, 2011 15:10:49 GMT -5
Andrew, Gogie . . . how is A Dance with Dragons? I've heard reviews from both sides: that it is boring and repetitive [and no surprise twists or deaths, so relatively tame], and that it is really part 2 of A Feast for Crows and decent but not great. Waiting for paperback myself. Also, have you heard of/read any of the The Kingkiller Chronicle series by Patrick Rothfuss? Just recommended to me. Won't be reading it quite yet -- gotta get back to "real life" and "real reading" . . . and besides, the long commercial between hockey seasons is almost over [as has been said elsewhere, c'mon, drop the puck already!I burned through it very quickly, and will say that many aspects of it were really enjoyable. Returning to the point of view of characters we haven't heard from since Storm of Swords (released over a decade ago) was a treat, and the first couple hundred pages were great for that reason alone, along with some exciting new developments. The disappointment came with the realization that the various plot lines weren't going to approach any form of resolution in this instalment, and that it'll be another 5+ years before these characters get any closer to their destinations. Nor did the book end in any form of climactic event as the earlier ones had. Things just plodded along, with long descriptive paragraphs of various feasts, attire, and historical events, with characters drifting further from their destinations until the pages ran out. The title "Dance With Dragons" is misleading, setting a pretty high expectation for developments that don't happen. I had hoped that in the years since A Feast for Crows, Martin would have relied on the advice of a competent team of editors, however, it feels as though he's either not getting that advice, or not following it. I have not heard of the Kingkiller Chronicle, and admittedly have not read many fantasy authors apart from George R. R. Martin and Guy Gavriel Kay. I really enjoyed a lot of Kay's earlier work, who actually writes single volume fantasy novels. Favourites of his include: Tigana, Lions of Al Rassan, The Sarantine Mosaic (2 book series), and the Fionavar Tapestry (3 books). |
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Post by franko on Aug 6, 2011 22:45:04 GMT -5
The disappointment came with the realization that the various plot lines weren't going to approach any form of resolution in this instalment, and that it'll be another 5+ years before these characters get any closer to their destinations. Nor did the book end in any form of climactic event as the earlier ones had. Things just plodded along, with long descriptive paragraphs of various feasts, attire, and historical events, with characters drifting further from their destinations until the pages ran out. The title "Dance With Dragons" is misleading, setting a pretty high expectation for developments that don't happen. that's about what I heard. a thousand page commercial money-making break . and I know it's HBO, but the series is a little more graphic than I expected [though my son says it's nothing like Spartacus]. |
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Post by Andrew on Aug 11, 2011 14:25:16 GMT -5
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Post by seventeen on Aug 11, 2011 18:09:20 GMT -5
You slackers. No staying power for The Wheel of Time, huh? I've read all 13. In fact, I've reread about 9 or 10 of them many times. I give it a slight edge over Fire and Ice, but that's mostly because I was never that keen on medieval stuff and Fire and Ice is a take off of the War of the Roses. Well written, though, and Martin certainly likes to kill off everyone, heroes, devils, the works. I've just started book 5 of Fire and Ice and it seems to be picking up pace. It is indeed hard to keep the characters straight, there are so many of them. That's true of any long series, though. I don't mind the length of each of them, but it is helpful if the series is finished off before the author dies.
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Post by franko on Aug 11, 2011 18:52:54 GMT -5
I tried to slog through WOT -- I really did . . . but I eventually just lost interest [AND staying power with it].
Martin certainly does surprise. I hope he knows where he is going -- it's hard to know -- not totally predictable at all.
was surprised to see how many of the top 100 that I've read -- and shocked that C S Lewis' trilogy made it in.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 12, 2011 1:27:54 GMT -5
Don't know how many of the ""Wheel of Time" books I read before I finally gave up. I think it was when Jordan basically rewrote one of the books but from different character perspectives. By the 8th or 9th book in the trilogy I don't care much any more.I faded after who knows what book too. I honestly cannot remember what the book was when I finally threw in the towel. I kept hoping it would go somewhere after about 1000 pages each. Alas, it did not. In the spring, I was half-heartedly thinking of trying to figure out where I left off and pick them back up. But since then, hiking in the Rockies and BBQing does seem to win out these days. A series that never ends....ever.... Good series. I do believe that I have read all 10 books of the trilogy, but a while past. The original chronicles, the second and then the final ones. Jeez, that seems like a big trilogy to me. All these Tolkien wannabees, but it was a decent read. Was Quinn ever young? Pass! Even the Oilers who were headed towards last place booted him out...and they finished last again. How strategic...or pathetic. Not unlike that old barn they call home. Don't get me wrong, it is one of my most frequented hockey arena these days, but come on!! p.s. If you like historical fiction, I have been blasting through the Bernard Cornwell Alfred/Uhtred series. It is part fact/part fiction about the Saxon/Dane (viking!) battles for what is now England in the late 800's. Not even close to PG rated. Compared to the Jordan and Covenant books, they are a speed read. Fun narrative, with the skeleton of historic fact. He has also done tons of novels in this vein. Some Arthurian stuff, some Napoleonic war stuff (the Sharpe never-ending series) and a Grail series. |
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Post by franko on Aug 12, 2011 5:55:56 GMT -5
If you like historical fiction, I have been blasting through the Bernard Cornwell Alfred/Uhtred series. It is part fact/part fiction about the Saxon/Dane (viking!) battles for what is now England in the late 800's. Not even close to PG rated. Compared to the Jordan and Covenant books, they are a speed read. Fun narrative, with the skeleton of historic fact. He has also done tons of novels in this vein. Some Arthurian stuff, some Napoleonic war stuff (the Sharpe never-ending series) and a Grail series. I'll put it on my list of mindless reading to counteract my regular reading |
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