Fantasy Books -Terry Pratchett

[ebikeerwidnes]

its ok , i prefer to have a physical book .

I think it is to do with how you experience a book

my wife and I seem to experience it totally as an internal experience - so a Kindle is great for us - less physical activity needed

others experience the book in a more total way so the feel of the paper and the action of page turning is a major part of the experience

Only problem I have with a kindle type experience is with maps and things like that
although you CAN go back and forward to an appendix it is awkward whereas with a real book could open it at the relevant page and keep my finger in the text much more easily

I have even resorted to reading one on my kindle and having the same boo open on my phone to check the map and stuff

 

[icowden]

I think it is to do with how you experience a book
my wife and I seem to experience it totally as an internal experience - so a Kindle is great for us - less physical activity needed

Also, on convenience etc. I like to read myself to sleep, whereas my wife turns off the light and is asleep 30 seconds later. My ipad is thus perfect for reading in the dark with black background and white text. Plus for holidays, especially if they involve sunshine and sunbeds, I can hide under an umbella with the ipad and have access to books. In the olden days I would have been trying to smuggle at least 5 paperbacks into luggage for a 2 week holiday. With the ipad I can have a whole library with me.

But I absolutely love physical books. I just never have the chance to read them.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Also, on convenience etc. I like to read myself to sleep, whereas my wife turns off the light and is asleep 30 seconds later. My ipad is thus perfect for reading in the dark with black background and white text. Plus for holidays, especially if they involve sunshine and sunbeds, I can hide under an umbella with the ipad and have access to books. In the olden days I would have been trying to smuggle at least 5 paperbacks into luggage for a 2 week holiday. With the ipad I can have a whole library with me.

But I absolutely love physical books. I just never have the chance to read them.

For outside reading a paper book is great in bright light as is an E Reader ( I have both a Kindle paperwhite and a Kobo, the Kobo has a larger screen and physical page turn buttons, I can also put Library books on it )
My wife uses her iPad Mini with the Kindle app which she finds excellent, you can get more detail in maps etc.
The other plus point is that we share a family library on Kindle so I have access to any books she downloads which also interest me ( She has the complete " Vera " series which I've just started )
On occasion I've both pressed the edge of the page in a paperback expecting it to turn, and I've also reached up to the corner of my E reader and attempted to physically turn the page 😁

 

[Dadam]

For outside reading a paper book is great in bright light as is an E Reader ( I have both a Kindle paperwhite and a Kobo, the Kobo has a larger screen and physical page turn buttons, I can also put Library books on it )
My wife uses her iPad Mini with the Kindle app which she finds excellent, you can get more detail in maps etc.
The other plus point is that we share a family library on Kindle so I have access to any books she downloads which also interest me ( She has the complete " Vera " series which I've just started )
On occasion I've both pressed the edge of the page in a paperback expecting it to turn, and I've also reached up to the corner of my E reader and attempted to physically turn the page 😁

On occasion I've caught myself holding down my finger on a word in a paper book to look it up in the kindle dictionary! 🤣

 

[Reynard]

I have read Thomas Covenent a few times

You are far braver than me. I didn't get past the first chapter of the first book. Have not tried since.

The book was bought in a charity shop and got re-donated. That's a rare occurrence here. If a book comes in, it doesn't tend to escape the black hole that is my library.

 

[Oldhippy]

I read a couple of the Thomas Covenent titles and struggled to get in to them as well. I did try but couldn't get on with it.

 

[Reynard]

Haven't read any Pratchett in a while. I have to be in the right mood to read it, but it's good entertainment.

Anything by Janny Wurz is a good bet if you like epic-type stuff. Her "Wars of Light and Shadow" series is amazing. Note to self, must look for the most recent book. Her collaboration with Ray Feist in the Daughter / Servant / Mistress of the Empire trilogy makes them well-worth reading. It's kind of funny, because if you read stuff by both authors (and I like Ray Feist a lot too), you can tell who wrote which passages in the books.

Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" series is one for the long haul, but the later books do lose the quality of the earlier ones. And of course the last book was ghost written by someone else using Robert's notes.

And of course, George RR Martin's "Game of Thrones" series. Which, surprisingly, my mum rather digs. But then she loves historical fiction, and this is in similar style despite being obviously fantasy.

Ann McCaffrey has been mentioned. I like her "Pern" books, but the later ones are nowhere near as good.

I enjoyed Elizabeth Moon's Serrano Legacy (sci-fi), but for some reason, I can't get into her other work no matter how hard I've tried.

And another classic series is David Eddings' Belgariad, which I kind of enjoyed. I have read some of his others from the Malloreon and Tamuli, but I didn't enjoy them nearly as much.

Lastly, the ultimate classic imho - C S Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia". Still eminently enjoyable, even if aimed at younger readers.

 

[icowden]

You are far braver than me. I didn't get past the first chapter of the first book. Have not tried since.
The book was bought in a charity shop and got re-donated. That's a rare occurrence here. If a book comes in, it doesn't tend to escape the black hole that is my library.

That's very similar to my experience except I forced myself to read the whole of the first book on the basis that he *must* cheer up at some point (spoiler - he doesn't)

 

[icowden]

And another classic series is David Eddings' Belgariad, which I kind of enjoyed. I have read some of his others from the Malloreon and Tamuli, but I didn't enjoy them nearly as much.

By the time I got to the Tamuli I had this strange feeling I was reading the same books again with different names.

Tad Williams is also good for epic sci-fi and fantasy fiction .

 

[Reynard]

That's very similar to my experience except I forced myself to read the whole of the first book on the basis that he *must* cheer up at some point (spoiler - he doesn't)

I was like "naaaaah, life's too short to read this". Especially when there are so many other interesting books out there.

Another series that didn't do it for me were the "Shannara" books by Terry Brooks.

 

[icowden]

Another series that didn't do it for me were the "Shannara" books by Terry Brooks.

Now that's interesting. I enjoyed those, but I think his writing has got better as he goes along. In those first books you can almost hear the dice rolling with the plot. It's worth a look at from the other end - the Word and the Void trilogy which is a prequel to the world of Shannara is excellent.

 

[Reynard]

By the time I got to the Tamuli I had this strange feeling I was reading the same books again with different names.

Tad Williams is also good for epic sci-fi and fantasy fiction .

I think you hit the nail on the head there with Eddings' work. It's very formulaic. Yes, of course, there is a limit to how many interesting quest-type plots there are in existence, but with my writer's hat on, it's lazy writing, really...

 

[Reynard]

Now that's interesting. I enjoyed those, but I think his writing has got better as he goes along. In those first books you can almost hear the dice rolling with the plot. It's worth a look at from the other end - the Word and the Void trilogy which is a prequel to the world of Shannara is excellent.

It's been at least a couple of decades since I tried any. I didn't find the books as bad as Thomas Covenant, but I struggled to finish the ones I did read. I can't quite put my finger on *why* I didn't like them, only that they just weren't quite my thing.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I read a couple of the Thomas Covenent titles and struggled to get in to them as well. I did try but couldn't get on with it.

To be fair I read then several time
On the last time I read them I was wondering what was making be so depressed - and I mean that properly not just unhappy

and I realised that I had been that way every time I read them
I bong read the whole series in one weekend to finish it so it was done and finished
then got rid of the books

as before - as soon as I stopped reading them I perked up - it was the books that was affecting be - quite badly as well

I have to say that it takes true art ot make something like a book or picture have such an effect on someone's mood

but next time I want to feel miserable I will look on YouTube for a Smith's song
well - I say song - dirge???

 

[Conrad_K]

I got halfway through the second book and hated Thomas Covenant so much I started rooting for the "bad" guys.

Oddly, Donaldson *can* write: "The Man Who Fought Alone" was a very good murder mystery; not a genre I ordinarily read, but I liked it a lot. It turned out to be the fourth of a series, but it's basically standalone. I read one of the earlier books and wasn't nearly as impressed, though.