The Bulbagarden Book Chat

[AceTrainer14]

Since the big forum change around a few months back, the discussion of books has been moved into this forum, but until now, nothing has really been done about it. Well, I am here today to bring the discussion of books, fictional characters and all things literary related back to the forums!

This thread will allow everyone to discuss anything book related: any series, any character, any event! However, please remember to follow all forum and Fiction Fairground rules, so do not descend into big shipping wars or anything. And please be cautious when it comes to discussing franchises like A Song of Ice and Fire that some people may be only halfway through, so remember to use the spoiler tags when you feel necessary. Asides from that, lets all have fun discussing books!


I'll start things off with The Cuckoo's Calling, J.K Rowling's new book she released under a pseudonym. Has anyone else had a chance to read this? If not, I think everyone needs to read this book, it is fantastic!

 

[Lugion]

I'm currently reading A Feast For Crows. Only a few chapters in though, I've been busy with moving and whatnot.

tl;dr: Cersei sucks, Brienne kicks ass

 

[Nereus]

I am reading the first book now, on a vacation in Croatia, so I usually read 3 chapters a day I've seen the whole HBO series, though :3 I agree with Lugion, am hating Cersei so much >.< poor little Lady and Brianne rocks in the series, though she's not in the book yet It's pretty good so far, but I'd like it a bit more if chapters had names instead of just telling us, whose POV the chapter is :3
I'm definitely gonna read Cuckoo's Calling as I like Jo Rowling a lot :3 I still haven't read the Casual Vacancy though (has anyone read it? Was it worth reading?) :3

 

[kintsugi]

I only just finished the first book of ASoIaF, so no spoilers please, but it's been pretty fantastic so far. I had some brief rage when the characters acted like complete idiots for the sake of the plot, but I'm absolutely in-love with the world-building and style so it almost doesn't matter, haha.

I tried the Casual Vacancy and got really bored, so I stopped. Normally, I never put books down, but I'd borrowed it from a friend and had to give it back when they got back from vacation, and I just haven't had the urge to pick it up since. So I guess this makes it the first book I've ever left unfinished oh god I have to rectify this immediately

 

[AceTrainer14]

I'm definitely gonna read Cuckoo's Calling as I like Jo Rowling a lot :3 I still haven't read the Casual Vacancy though (has anyone read it? Was it worth reading?) :3

I enjoyed Casual Vacancy, but you need to be prepared for the fact it isn't anything like Harry Potter and it canb e a bit adult at times. I found that some people got disappointed when they read it and found it wasn't like Harry so they didn't like it, so get any of those thoughts out of your head before you read it

 

[Kelleo]

Unfortunately, I don't really read much. I prefer to write. lol

But if I do read, I'm either reading my own stories (out of boredom and because I had fun writing them lol) or a Nancy Drew book. She is a totally awesome detective and a girl I can always enjoy reading about. Though her "boyfriend" Ned (he's called her boyfriend, but they don't really officially date or anything, just share a little kiss on occasion), is actually my favorite character in the series and I had a bit of a crush on him for the longest time. XD But Nancy herself is a close second, followed by George and then Bess. Not that Bess is bad, I just never seem to quite get into the girly girl characters as much as others. George (whose real name is Georgia, btw), meanwhile, is a tough tomboy and she reminds me of Buttercup from the Powerpuff Girls, who was cool. Though I loved Bubbles too, whom Bess reminds me of. And Nancy actually somewhat reminds me of Blossom as well, since she's the smartest one of the group and also the "leader" and stuff.

I think Nancy Drew came first though, and the Powerpuff Girls could've loosely been based off of her and her friends. Who knows?

Currently, my favorite Nancy Drew mysteries are Riverboat Ruse, Lights, Camera..., and Action! (that last one is the direct sequel to the second one, if you didn't notice lol) But the first one I ever read, The Mistletoe Mystery, will also hold a special spot in my heart because it got me into the series and is still awesome.

 

[AceTrainer14]

I only just finished the first book of ASoIaF, so no spoilers please, but it's been pretty fantastic so far. I had some brief rage when the characters acted like complete idiots for the sake of the plot

I was reading back over this, and I was wondering what exactly do you mean by this?

 

[kintsugi]

I only just finished the first book of ASoIaF, so no spoilers please, but it's been pretty fantastic so far. I had some brief rage when the characters acted like complete idiots for the sake of the plot

I was reading back over this, and I was wondering what exactly do you mean by this?

Oh. Well--

Spoilers for A Game of Thrones ahoy. Beware, unsuspecting reader. I warned you.

Spoiler

To me, a lot of the actions that the characters did felt horribly contrived. When I try to write them down, I sound like an arrogant sociopath, but I thought that a lot of the characters did stupid action x because there was no other way for cool plot point y to come about in a convenient way. For instance:

Ned: Hmmm, I have found out a dark secret about Cersei, aka the most powerful woman in the kingdom. The last person who knew this secret ended up dead. I think I'll warn her that I know the secret right now, and then I won't tell anyone else other than Littlefinger, aka the least trustworthy guy I know (I mean, my brother nearly killed him in a duel and I took the love of his life from him and then cheated on her and everyone knows that but I bet we're still bros)(and I mean he literally told me not to trust him). I mean, Cersei's clearly a manipulative monster and I'm pretty sure she pushed my son out of a tower, but I bet I can trust her to do the honorable thing.
Also, all of these guys with important secrets that I want to know keep dying. It's rather unfortunate.
yes, I get that he's supposed to be the only morally stable guy in the series, but this was just pushing it. There is a line between morally stable and having no sense of self-protection, and when the best character ever aka Eddard Stark crossed it, I was unamused

Sansa: Wow, Prince/King Joffrey is such an amazing guy omg I'm going to trust him and the queen all the time because clearly they don't have any sort of grudge against my family.
Yes, she gets over it, and yes, she's a kid. Okay, fine.

Dany: Wow, so there's this hedge-witch that I found being brutally assaulted by the soldiers of my beloved husband. It's okay, I rescued her after she was violated for only a little while, so I bet she likes me. In fact, let's dismiss all of my other doctors and midwifes and such and let her be the sole caretaker of my husband and child, because clearly she can't bear a grudge against me or Drogo after we razed her town.
Okay, yes, also a kid, but Dany was so much better than this everywhere else D:

Catelyn: Wow, the assassin who tried to kill my son was holding a dagger that apparently belonged to Tyrion. I'm going to start a war.

Viserys: I'm feeling a bit impatient right now, so I'm going to go threaten the army of warrior rapists in their sacred city.
yes, I get that he's supposed to be unstable, but... I mean... ugh. Okay.

Robert: None of my children look like me. Clearly they are still mine. Hurray. Time to go hunt a boar.

I mean. I loved the book. I really did. One of the coolest things ever was how the prose could alter so drastically between viewpoint characters to the point that it was obvious who we were following when, and I really did love all of the evil-kineevily plots that were doing in on top of each other and being all confusing and such.

...sometimes, though, it felt like all of the evil-kineevily plots got stacked up so high that George couldn't think of a way to make them all work out, so he resorted to having his characters do particularly cringe-worthy things?

 

[Lugion]

That's not really for the sake of the plot. Those actions were all firmly ingrained in each character's personality and characterization.

Spoiler

Okay, maybe it is for the sake of the plot, but that's really just how those characters are. Sansa is shallow, Catelyn is crazy when her children are threatened (and sometimes awesome), Ned is defined by the trope Honor Before Reason, Dany is a thirteen-year-old girl, Viserys is just pathetic in general (and was probably drunk), and Robert just doesn't give a shit.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Spoiler

I feel like Daenrys plot point does work for her storyline, as it allows her to come into her own as a leader and grow from being a young girl essentially sold to be slept with until this powerful threat to Westeros. I did not think the witch was going to betray her, it only seems stupid when you look back on it.

I will admit the whole Ned stuff is pushing the whole honourable thing quite a lot, though ti does work for his character (just). With Sansa, she also has the innocent girl act, but she also basically suffers for the rest of the series for the mistakes she makes in this book. With Viserys, he is just a dickhead, he always was a dickhead, and he does believe he is the rightful king of Westeros and does not believe he should be treated so badly by 'savages'. Catelyn I do have issues with, she can be a bit of a cow for the sake of being a cow a lot of the time, so I will accept your points on that. And Robert... is just Robert He isn't the brightest tool in the shed, he did start a bloody war that he barely won.

 

[kintsugi]

Spoiler

I guess, haha. Bear in mind that I've only read book one, so the entirety of Dany's arc shows her being awesome and competent and really, really pathetically adorable in her suck-ish life, and then inadvertently making her suckish life even more suckish. Although apparently she and the dragons do some serious asswhooping in the future? As for knowing that the witch would betray her, I think it would've functioned better if this hadn't been a book in which everyone backstabs everyone. I was probably meta-affected by that, actually, and wouldn't have seen it coming if Littlefinger hadn't backstabbed Ned a few chapters before. XD

As for the rest, I guess they work, but I felt that the line between human/flawed character and idiot got crossed/close to being crossed a bit too often. Viserys, I admit, was cool, and Sansa is a child, but I dunno why Ned and Robert didn't get killed off earlier if they were this derpy all the time, haha.

(still, on the whole, I absolutely adore this book. Gotta find SoS soon)

 

[MuddyMudkip]

That moment when everything's in spoiler tags, and I'm just here like, "Nope. Don't open it. Can't open it. MUSN'T open it. Don't do it. But it's so tempting..." xD

Anyways, I'm currently reading An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. After I finish with that, I'll either go to Looking for Alaska or Paper Towns, not sure which one yet, though.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Spoiler

As for the rest, I guess they work, but I felt that the line between human/flawed character and idiot got crossed/close to being crossed a bit too often. Viserys, I admit, was cool, and Sansa is a child, but I dunno why Ned and Robert didn't get killed off earlier if they were this derpy all the time, haha.

There were stupider people than them around at the time

I have been meaning to read a bit of John Green, considering The Fault in the Stars is the hot new thing at the moment.

 

[kintsugi]

That moment when everything's in spoiler tags, and I'm just here like, "Nope. Don't open it. Can't open it. MUSN'T open it. Don't do it. But it's so tempting..." xD

Anyways, I'm currently reading An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. After I finish with that, I'll either go to Looking for Alaska or Paper Towns, not sure which one yet, though.

Spoiler

haha, just kidding, I'm not that big of a jerk

If you're going for John Green, I'd suggest Looking for Alaska first. Although it's his first novel, it came off to me as a lot more published than Paper Towns was, which had a couple of cool concepts but just didn't live up to the aura of Green-iness I'd been expecting (which is to say that it was quite good, but not a book blessed by the tears of gods and dipped in supreme awesomeness). LfA actually has a lot of elements that PT has, but LfA, to me, presented them a lot better and had a much better emotional impact and bang for the buck. Both are quite good, though.

...also, if you haven't read The Fault in our Stars yet, I demand that you drop everything and read it. :> It's also by Green, and it's his obligatory Cancer Book of Sadness, but it's beautifully written and was this close to making me cry near the end (and, as the person who has stonefaced basically every sad moment in books since I was six and read Old Yeller, that means a lot more than it says). One of my older cousins said that it's a book that would be much better if she read it as a teenager; that being said, I read it as a teenager and absolutely loved it. XD

 

[slate]

currently reading notes from underground by fyodor dostoevsky and selected essays by samuel johnson. really enjoying the johnson essays, even if they are turgid – less so the dostoevsky, though it's thought-provoking and i feel like it's going to grow on me as i continue reading it.

 

[Dread Advocate]

I'm currently reading Star Wars: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn. About 3/4 through, and it's frakking amazing. The first chapter alone established Thrawn as a better villain than Vader, and every chapter he's in just adds icing to that cake. I can't wait to finish it and read Dark Force Rising and The Last Command.

 

[MuddyMudkip]

Spoiler

haha, just kidding, I'm not that big of a jerk

If you're going for John Green, I'd suggest Looking for Alaska first. Although it's his first novel, it came off to me as a lot more published than Paper Towns was, which had a couple of cool concepts but just didn't live up to the aura of Green-iness I'd been expecting (which is to say that it was quite good, but not a book blessed by the tears of gods and dipped in supreme awesomeness). LfA actually has a lot of elements that PT has, but LfA, to me, presented them a lot better and had a much better emotional impact and bang for the buck. Both are quite good, though.

...also, if you haven't read The Fault in our Stars yet, I demand that you drop everything and read it. :> It's also by Green, and it's his obligatory Cancer Book of Sadness, but it's beautifully written and was this close to making me cry near the end (and, as the person who has stonefaced basically every sad moment in books since I was six and read Old Yeller, that means a lot more than it says). One of my older cousins said that it's a book that would be much better if she read it as a teenager; that being said, I read it as a teenager and absolutely loved it. XD

Oh, I've read TFIOS alright. Aaand I cried. 'Nuff said. xD
Also, thanks for the recommendation/suggestion regarding LfA and PT. Will definitely follow your advice. xD

 

[Drakon]

I'm currently reading The Burning Wire by Jeffery Deaver. It's a murder mystery about someone who uses a very unusual murder weapon: arc flash.

Another book I heartily recommend are the Bolo series by Keith Laumer. Granted, he's dead but there are other authors like David Drake, Mercedes Lackey and the like writing in his universe. It's military SF but the characters are sapient AI tanks -- the eponymous Bolos.

 

[Flaze]

It might sound kind of silly but the book I'm currenly reading is Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters xD in my defense these are books I wanted to read since I was like 12...I may be 19 but I still wanted to -w-

 

[Lugion]

I really can't blame you; I actually have The Lightning Thief in my reading queue.