How many posters are not big fantasy fans?

[BondJamesBond]

I read the hobbit in grade school, but the 100 pages in the forest of the first LOTR book bored me to tears and I never revisited LOTR until the movies came out and have never read the trilogy.

I've read lots of Michael Crichton when I was younger. Read lots of John Grisham. I read multiple king Arthur books including idylls of the king and Mary stewarts crystal cave trilogy. I have read lots of factual history. I generally always had a book growing up. My favorite genre of movie is historical fiction set in any time period with sword fighting, lol. After a reading intensive grad school, I generally stopped reading for pleasure with a few non fantasy exceptions, mostly reading professional advancement stuff. Wrote a few practice screenplays that got good feedback.

The point is, I am a casual reader who got hooked on GRRM's world due to the HBO series and was blown away by the books. I feel the mark of a great writer is someone who can draw ppl in who would otherwise not read the genre.

I have forgotten so many books I've read but will def never forget ASOIAF.

I was wondering who else out there is like me in that they otherwise would not be reading this genre but for GRRM?

[Red Raven]

The point is, I am a casual reader who got hooked on GRRM's world due to the HBO series and was blown away by the books. I feel the mark of a great writer is someone who can draw ppl in who would otherwise not read the genre.

That's essentially my story. I'm a horror geek, not a fantasy geek and there are other genres that I'm more drawn to but I fell in love with the TV show and picked up the books because of it. GRRM's writing has been very enjoyable and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

[Associate Maester]

Fantasy isn't a favorite genre of mine other than LOTR and ASOIAF. I'm more a historical fiction and horror junkie. A couple months ago a colleague recommended I give the ASOIAF series a try. I was hooked from the get go. Then I watched season one of GOT and season two...and another fan was born.

[Winterfellian]

Well, I do love to read but for some reason I have never been drawn to fantasy. I tried reading Lord of the rings after the movie came out but didn't make it past the first book. Recently, because of ASOIAF I decided to give it another try. I did finish the book (took me about 2 months) and am on The Two Towers. I supposed that I can appreciate it a lot more now and am actually curious to read more fantasy.

[Peko]

I've always been drawn to fantasy, particularly medieval fantasy. I'm far from an avid reader though, as I often have the hardest time actually starting books for no apparent reason. I buy them frequently enough, but starting them is the hardest part for me.

Not sure what was different about ASOIAF a year ago, but I was hooked as soon as I read about Bran's fall.

[Bourne]

I generally hate fantasy. Mainly because of the magic. It seems cheap to me and allows for too much deus ex machina. I like LoTR, but aside from these books I generally stay away from all things fantasy.

[Caris]

I'm another one. Like OP I started reading because of the HBO series, but in general stayed away from fantasy, despite reading a little of everything else. I dabbled a bit in junior high when I had read all the classics in our school library, but sort of gave up because of Lord of the Rings (I love elves, but can't handle 100 pages of walking through a forest). Basically, I found the series innovative and interesting, and its widespread popularity means I can talk to people about what I'm reading without seeming pompous.

Recently I've been interested in the mechanics of storytelling, and this series is an interesting place to look at deconstructions of archetypes and common story arcs. I stumbled upon this when I got to the little Robb-Jeyne Westerling romance. It's so romantic and typical, and in many cases would be a perfect tale of a good king who meets a beautiful maiden from a rival camp, they marry, and that ends the war, or else a Romeo and Juliet thing, where the lovers are destroyed and the war ends--except instead Robb's actions get himself and everyone he knows killed, while the war marches on. It's so bleak and poignant. I love it. Off topic, but I think it explains, somewhat, why I stay away from fantasy, which is made up of very common chunks of story.

[Sweet April]

I'm an avid reader, but never read Fantasy. I wasn't even aware of the series on HBO until after I read the books (then immediately subscribed so I could watch).

I was reading comments in a movie review of Hunger Games and a poster made a comment comparing Hunger Games to A Song of Ice and Fire (don't get that, but grateful for the intro to the books - I think) with the additional comment that ASoIaF was the best series of books ever written. And of course I wanted to read the 'best series of books ever written' so I ran to the bookstore that day... Once I finished ADWD I immediately started my first re-read of the series.

And apparently my new life revolves around ASoIaF. Since I see posters here who have been with the series since the beginning I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever get my pre-ASoIaF back... :-)

[Caris]

And apparently my new life revolves around ASoIaF. Since I see posters here who have been with the series since the beginning I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever get my pre-ASoIaF back... :-)

Yes. There should be a warning label. It's what happens when you read something like 3000 pages while watching a very popular television series while discussing immensely popular books with everyone you know...

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

I've read every bit of the LOTR at the behest of my father who has read the series 13 times. I've never been a fan of fantasy until watching the show. I'm on my third read never plan to leave Westeros.

[Ravenhair]

Avid reader; had to be as I was an English literature major. Never read fantasy before this, unless you count Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time.

[SerStinger]

I'm an English major here too. I have always read Fantasy books as well, and I have quite a few favorites, but it's not a genre which stands out to me as my favorite. I like (or dislike) writers and books, not genres.

[romantic]

I prefer sci-fi to fantasy as the latter is usually too sexist though I'm enjoying ASOIAF (even though Westeros is annoyingly sexist).

[Black Wolf Smith]

I had to do a book report in 10th grade and found The Two Towers, loved it some much I read all 3 of LOTR. read them all at least 3 times, but never found another fantasy/High Fantasy book I cared for. I read a lot of sci/fi and alt history but had not read fantasy for years. Some one had given me a list of 6 or so authors I should read (GRRM was 2nd) Read the first did not care much for it. Tried the last and did not finish it. Never got to him, did not think I would.

The HBO show came out, and didn't know what it was, so 1 night I check on it at work and caught the wrong 15 minutes( yep I saw Rob and his army, and Ned lose his head) and knew I had to read it. I don't think I sleep for 3 days while reading aGoT.

[Lummel]

I read fantasy when I was young. Went off it. Happened on ASOIAF by chance a few years ago. Read the books one after another and like it enough to post here :).

Read some of the discussion on the literature forum about other fantasy and I'm just not tempted by any of it, but I enjoy Westeros well enough.

[Lady Tippy Wolfsbane]

And apparently my new life revolves around ASoIaF. Since I see posters here who have been with the series since the beginning I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever get my pre-ASoIaF back... :-)

I think it's over for us, at least until the last book comes out. :laugh:

These books have taken over my life. I have always been an avid reader, but I was never the type of person to discuss them with anyone. Joining an online forum was completely out of my character, but I love this place immensely. It's 4:18 in the morning, and I've been awake since 7:30 yesterday morning, so obviously I'm a ASOIAF junky! :wub:

[rmholt]

I like them both if there is good character development, reasonable plot, and intelligent writing. My intro to F&SF was the Hobbit coincidentally with A Wrinkle in Time. Soon followed by 2001:ASO. Much predom SF reading and also got through the JRRT trilogy. Sandkings knocked my eyes out and it was SF. Ursula Le Guin can write. Barry Longyear got my attention. Orson Scott Card burst onto my scene with the story Ender's Game which predicted not only video games but the unmanned drones. The latter two among many others came to my attention via the relative plethora of mags back then (70s, early 80s). Of course I had to slog through Spider Robinson and other fluff. I did find a very entertaining rant by Harlan Ellison which was far more engaging than any of his fiction. OTOH Dangerous Visions and DVII were Awesome. Fantastic Voyage despite its name was straight SF.

When F&SF came out I was exposed to some more mundane F (after JRRT and Bored of the Rings I had unfairly high expectations) being a stone addict I had to buy it and read it.

The differences between F and SF: F seems to have dragons, magic that people are wary of but not eager to figure out, people and sort of people who have very similar psychology to at least some features of humans, and often some sort of royal/feudal culture. Also, wizards and other characters from English mythology. SF has some similar features disguised by technological surroundings (the lab in the 70s version of The Thing could have been shipped south from Lawrence Berkeley Lab) and the weird is expected to have some sort of scientific explanation even if the science is made up by the author.

But character development, plot, etc are independent of genre.

If book is as good as, say, Silas Marner, well, it's fine, and I have read F and SF that are that good, IMHO

Marie

[rmholt]

I think it's over for us, at least until the last book comes out. :laugh:

These books have taken over my life. I have always been an avid reader, but I was never the type of person to discuss them with anyone. Joining an online forum was completely out of my character, but I love this place immensely. It's 4:18 in the morning, and I've been awake since 7:30 yesterday morning, so obviously I'm a ASOIAF junky! :wub:

OVER?!! I am still finding nuggets on rereading.

[rmholt]

I was wondering who else out there is like me in that they otherwise would not be reading this genre but for GRRM?

I'm reading this series because it is GRRM. It happens to be this genre.

[Francis Buck]

I read Harry Potter and The Hobbit, and a few other random ones when I was younger (Sabriel by Garth Nix comes to mind). I never fully read The Lord of the Rings, just kinda skipped around. Same with The SIlmarillion. I'm particularly into science-fiction novels, though I read a couple as a kid. Didn't truly start reading fantasy again until I watched Game of Thrones (I had actually bought the first book somewhere around 2009, but I never got very far into it, and I didn't start again until after the first season ended). Since then I've started to check out more fantasy, mainly R. Scott Bakker's The Second Apocalypse and just now The First Law trilogy. I still mostly read more realistic fiction stuff though. I don't know why, I just have trouble getting into a lot of SFF books, despite otherwise being really into it (at least half of what I write falls roughly into the fantasy genre).