zhaduum Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 Wow, I never realized how many people don't like Dune. I guess I just always considered it one of those books that changed the genre, like Clarke or Asimov. In my mind without Herbert Fantasy SciFi wouldn't be what it is today. Authors I could live without: Rowling (unless your a 12 year old) Tad Williams (ripoff of Once and Future King) Anything plagerized or edited or whatever by Tolkien's son Terry Brooks (ugh don't get me started) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tehol Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 margaret atwood: hate that bitch. writer who wrote "masters of rome" collen something?what a bore! sarah ashley. joe abercrombie: i did not get it,thought a medicore fantasy. marion zimmer B. isac asimov: overrated. arthur c clarke: ditto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deornoth Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 I should like Mervyn Peake (used to when I was much younger) but find his Gormenghast books dry and verging on incredibly dull. Terry Pratchett is another author that I feel I ought to like but I just don't find him funny anymore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieG Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 Wow, I never realized how many people don't like Dune. I guess I just always considered it one of those books that changed the genre, like Clarke or Asimov. In my mind without Herbert Fantasy SciFi wouldn't be what it is today. Count me down for Dune as well, even if it did change the genre, I can't stand the books themselves. I feel the same way about Tolkien. I'm also not a fan of Guy Gavriel Kay. Hated Tigana and was meh about the Lions of al Rassan. Haven't bothered to try anything else. Read the first book of Erickson's series and wasn't impressed. May go back to it at some point, but so far I don't see why everyone seems to think he's so great. Limited myself to SF/F since that's pretty much all I read these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneeye Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 margaret atwood: hate that bitch. writer who wrote "masters of rome" collen something?what a bore! sarah ashley. joe abercrombie: i did not get it,thought a medicore fantasy. marion zimmer B. isac asimov: overrated. arthur c clarke: ditto. omg abercromie, asimov and clark? die!! p abercrombie is like grrm-light to me, darn good stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zahir al Daoud Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 Theodore Dreiser. Marion Zimmer Bradley. I quite like many of the authors and books mentioned in this thread, myself. To one degree or another. But my fervent hope is that those of you who don't like (for example) Rowling or King don't read them. Re: Shakespeare's language. Yes, people did talk like that, to some degree. Rather the way lyrics in modern musicals reflect modern speech patterns and vocabularies--look at "Avenue Q" or "Rent" or "Chess" to see what I mean. Language changes over time and modern British English doesn't sound very much like Elizabethan English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakLoufer Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 I too am surprised so many people don't like Dune. I mean, without Herbert ASOIAF wouldn't exist; AGOT is basically the first third of Dune. But, on the other hand, after the Harkonnens take over and Paul goes to the Fremen, the book sort of loses steam -- or at least that's how I remember it; I haven't read the book in about a decade. The Machiavellian politics of the first part is by far the best part. As for 'Masters of Rome,' I might give First Man in Rome another chance. Or maybe not. It was interesting, but the prose was something you had to endure. And the character interactions were . . . unrealistic. Was seventeen year old Julia Caesaris really that cheerful about being married off to grumpy forty seven year old Gaius Marius? I mean, I would expect her to go along with it out of a sense of duty to the family and all that, but not be so ecstatic. It seems very contrived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tehol Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 omg abercromie, asimov and clark? die!! p abercrombie is like grrm-light to me, darn good stuff about abercrombie thing, may be i was expecting different thing or too much after reading abercrombie thread. i still have the book 2 sitting under my bed but i am not getting the motivation to start it. on the other hand i picked up scott lynch's TLoLL and hal duncan's vellum after reading about it in here and i loved those books. why people think abercrombie is grrm-light? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shryke Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 I know I should deeply appreciate Shakespeare and worship the ground he shat on. But I can't. I just, just can't except maybe Julius Caesar. Can some linguistic expert clear this up for me - did people REALLY speak like that in the seventeenth century?! Have you seen it performed? I know it's the standard reply and I know it's not for everyone, but judging Shakespeare based off reading the plays is a terrible way to do it. It's like reading a TV script. Seeing it on stage, it really flows well and can actually be quite funny. If you STILL don't like it after that, it's ok. It just means you have awful taste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not another Stark Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 No, trust me. It's her writing. It's not her writing. It's her opinions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turinqui-Calima Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 omg abercromie, asimov and clark? die!! p Wait, you're saying this after putting Steinbeck on your list??? What's wrong with the world? Only one I can think of right now is Jules Verne. My brother loved his books so I read some: booooooring! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guarneri Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 I forgot Jane Austin, my bad... I don't loathe her so much as think she can't write to save her life. She missed out on the "Show, don't tell" part of writing, and if you haven't seen the movies before reading the books I wish you good bloody luck actually seeing the scenes and people in your head. God, I have an easier time imagining Oscar Wilde's plays than I do with Jane Austin's novels....that's just wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbor Gold Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 steinbeck, charles dickens.. i know they're good but bleh p omg, Steinbeck!? Seriously? Put me down for Dune, Eco, and Ayn Rand. Can't think of any original additions at this point, but Dune was the first thing that came to mind when I read the thread title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
add-on Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 I forgot Jane Austin, my bad... I don't loathe her so much as think she can't write to save her life. Somebody just get it over with and shoot me fucking now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcelo Rebelo Firqoralas Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 I'm a bit surprised that so many people feel that they should like Ayn Rand. In my world she is a notoriously unreadable peddler of crackpot politics with a literarary stature that's only rivalled by Jim Theis's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shryke Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 I forgot Jane Austin, my bad... I don't loathe her so much as think she can't write to save her life. She missed out on the "Show, don't tell" part of writing, and if you haven't seen the movies before reading the books I wish you good bloody luck actually seeing the scenes and people in your head. God, I have an easier time imagining Oscar Wilde's plays than I do with Jane Austin's novels....that's just wrong. Watch the BBC miniseries of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. There, you've not only read the book, you've had like 6 hours of ogling Colin Firth. Much better then reading. Oh, if your a man, Jennifer Ehle. Definitely worth the time. Aw, hell, it's worth it just for the father. "Lydia (one of his daughters) will never be easy till she's exposed herself in some public place or other" Greatest unintentionally funny line ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guarneri Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 Somebody just get it over with and shoot me fucking now. Hmm? Oh, and on the note of Pride and Prejudice, why did no one inform her that italics are not the nectar of life? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EHK for Darwin Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 I'm just now reading Dune. Haven't quite gotten into it, but that's probably because I usually have trouble getting into a book if I've already seen the film. I do have to say that putting the actual internal dialogues from the book into the film was one of the dumbest film-making decisions in recent memory. Film is a visual medium. Show that shit, don't tell it. It never ceased to come off as absolutely silly on screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Multaniette Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 Senshou, There are stories that are told and there are stories which are shown. Jane Austen is awesome, because, well, I haven't read a funnier author than her (in english language). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guarneri Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 Eh? I can't recall anything of hers that was funny, nor laughing while reading any of her works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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