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Karsa Orlong

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Posts posted by Karsa Orlong

  1. Steve, the author I've been reading a lot of books of, John Flanagan, said in the Q&A at the end of the book I just finished, that he really liked the books by Patrick O'Brian (he also mentioned several other books and authors). I thought of you, so I'd tell you since I know you're a big fan too (and I'm already making a post here anyway).

     

    Cool, I've also come across several authors who mention O'Brian amongst their influences :smile:

     

     

     

    :giggle2: What - really ??  :D

     

    Pretty much!  She used to sit at the window watching the birds (or flies or moths or butterflies or etc etc) and make this weird little noise that was kind of like the start of a meow but then cut off like a bark :lol:

     

     

     

     

    Eeeeeek !  :giggle2:

     

    Surely that's what the mouse said? :giggle2:

  2. The narrator just says something like .. 'footnote 3' and then reads it out. Works pretty well actually .. I found myself far less irritated by them than I usually am because I didn't have to look to the bottom of the page etc.

     

    That was something that I really loved about the book :smile:   Normally I don't bother with footnotes but in this I found myself eagerly awaiting the next one, even when they went on for pages and pages :lol:

  3. Is this really England I'm watching??? :o   Such a transformation since the World Cup, so exciting to watch.  The world's gone mad :lol:

  4. I've only got 1 Sharpe left! Been reading them since 2010!

     

    That seems reasonable, around four books per year :shrug:  I've never read as many books by a single author in one year as I have this year with Patrick O'Brian.  Can't see that ever being repeated (by me)  :smile:

  5. Oooh no, wouldn't want one running around inside the house.

     

    My previous cat, Lucky, brought a little frog into the house once.  I managed to catch it (eventually) and took it back outside, and she went and brought it back in again :doh:   I had to say to her 'you're a cat, not a dog.  This isn't a game of fetch' :doh:  Mind you, she used to bark as well  :lol:

  6.  

    Speaking of the Empty Throne, when are you going to carry on with that series?

     

    Pretty soon!  I'd been waiting for the Kindle edition to come down in price, and it has now  :smile:   Once I've read that I'm up to date with that series I can finally make a start on Sharpe  :D

     

    I only read the first Liveship Traders book, that was enough . . .  :giggle2:

  7. I don't think I've ever 'walked away' from a TV show in my life. If I latch onto something, I'm in it for the long haul. I couldn't imagine not watching it to the end, even if some episodes (or even seasons) of a show are not as good as others. My curiosity would definitely get the better of me!

     

    I can't do that, cos there's always something else I'd rather watch.  If I fall out of love with a show then I feel like I'm just wasting time watching hour after hour that could be better spent doing something else.  I've made that decision with books, belatedly , as well.  If I'm having to force myself to read a book I'd rather dump it and pick up another  :smile:

     

     

    ETA: OK, you haven't actually mentioned any problems with GoT in this thread. In fact, you seemed to be really enjoying season 4...so why did you stop watching? Something to do with the books?

     

    It's a combination of both, although I got bored with the books long ago - and have posted too many times already about what I think of them, which is why I've never really said in here that I dislike the show.  But, since you ask,  I can only think of one episode in season 4 that I really enjoyed.  It was the best episode the show had done since season 1, but I was already bored with it at that point and it wasn't enough to make me want to carry on watching.  I'd stopped caring about any of the characters and was getting fed up with all the hype.  I remember reading about new cast members and all the teases the producers were dropping about season 5 and I realised I wasn't at all interested any more, and that was the end of it for me.

  8. Just had to rescue a tiny little mouse from Pixie.  She was running around the garden with it in her mouth, the little bitch :banghead:   I managed to get her away from it, and it was huddled on the ground staring at me.  I tried to pick it up to put it somewhere safe but it started moving and eventually made its way across the lawn and into the bushes on the other side.  I'm willing to bet Pixie went after it again when I came back inside :(

  9.  

    To be honest I just don't think Hobb is for me. I will read the final book... I'm just not looking forward to it :blush2: .

     

    Seriously, if you didn't enjoy this one then do yourself a HUGE favour and dump the series now - the last one goes on and on and on and it's just plain bad, imo.  There's really no point putting yourself through that torture :shrug:

  10. Just finished Open Season by C J Box during my lunch break.  I thought I had more of it left to read, but it's one of those books where the story finishes and then you get a 30 page preview of the next novel in the series.  I was tempted to dive straight into the next book but I think I'll hold off for a bit.

     

    Soooo, I now need to decide what to read next  :help:  :lol:

  11. Open Season (Joe Pickett Book #1) by C. J. Box

     

    post-6588-0-43480500-1434457119_thumb.jpg

     

     

    2001 - Corvus ebook - 278 pages

     

    I was looking for a blurb for this and I don't think I've ever read one as spoilery as the one on goodreads.  It tells you pretty much the entire story.  I'm glad I didn't see it before reading the book.

     

    I suppose it's kind of a moot point anyway, as I had the plot and the culprits figured out from very early on.  It's not so much a whodunnit or a whytheydunnit as it is howlongtilltheheroworksitout-unnit.  Joe Pickett is a game warden new to the town of Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, where he has recently taken over the position from his retired mentor.  He and his pregnant wife, Marybeth, and their two daughters, Sheridan and Lucy, live in a state-owned house a little outside the town.  One morning, six-year-old Sheridan tells him that she saw a monster outside during the night.  When he goes outside he finds the body of a hunter.  As is usually the case with crime novels, this is just the beginning of a much bigger case, more bodies turn up, and Joe gets dragged deeper and deeper into the mire.

     

    So it's not the greatest murder mystery, but I can pretty much guarantee that the motive is quite different from any other I've encountered, and I really liked that.  Also, although the plot is straightforward and easy to figure out, it was the characters that kept me reading.  In Pickett and his family, and the other inhabitants of Twelve Sleep, Box has created some genuinely likeable (and some genuinely detestable) characters who I quickly grew to care about.  And, when the characterisation is so distinct, I found it easy to do what I often do and insert actors into the roles.  Andrew Lincoln (in Rick Grimes mode) was Joe, Julie Benz was Marybeth, Jon Voight was Vern, and so on and so forth, and the people and the place really came alive in my mind.

     

    It was Box's debut novel, so there are rough edges, repeating of certain words and such, but I found it very readable, quite addictive, and there was a genuine sense of peril.  Joe is no Jack Reacher - he's not invincible or omniscient.  At the very start of the story we're told how he messed up in the past, and he is a character with fears over his job, money, and his family - and he is flawed and vulnerable.  He's a character that really worked for me.  It's the second C J Box novel I've read (the first being Blue Heaven a few years ago) and it certainly won't be the last.  A few of his books have been in Kindle Deals for 99p recently, including Open Season.  At that price, it's well worth a look.

     

     

    Memorable Quote:

     

     

    Mountain towns and out-of-the-way rural communities all had men like Clyde Lidgard in and around them.  Stops at the end of the road collected Clyde Lidgards like dams collected silt.

     

     

     

    To hunt and fish in the State of Wyoming, Joe thought, people were required to buy licenses and , in some cases, pass tests that proved they knew how to use firearms and knew Game and Fish regulations.  There were no such requirements for having children.

     

     

     

    Joe had always considered individual words as finite units of currency, and he believed in savings.  He never wanted to waste or unnecessarily expend words.  To Joe, words meant things.  They should be spent wisely.

     

  12. Hmm, shame. Will just have to wait for this. :D

     

    :lol:  "It's like a cross between Jurassic Park and Game of Thrones."  I'd take that more seriously if it was someone other than GRRM saying it :doh:  :lol:  Also, it appears he's forgotten what his own series is called  :giggle2:

     

    Seriously, though, epic fantasy with dinosaurs?  I might read that :giggle2:   Off to read the sample chapters on Tor  :D

  13. You have to remember that this is a massive book

     

    Yes, I do remember :D   I looked back at my review of it and it took me eight days to read, at about 3 hours per day, so I guess 32 hours for an audiobook is about right, given that the narrators read much slower :shrug:  I'm curious, though - how did they deal with the footnotes in the audio version? :unsure:

     

     

     

     

     

     

    I'm only sorry that more people aren't watching .. we could do with more of this sort of drama.

     

    I agree.  If the viewing figures aren't up to scratch, though, it would seem that it hasn't captured enough casual viewers.  Most - if not all - of the people I know who are enjoying it were already fans of the book, so they don't need the tv show to explain everything.  I know a couple of people who haven't read the book and one of them is still watching but thinks it's only 'okay', whilst the other one watched one episode and gave up.  To me, that seems to indicate that the script, whilst faithful to the book, isn't doing enough to engage a lot of those - not all, but a lot - who haven't read it.  I also wonder if it's not a bit too 'out there' to appeal to the viewers who tune in for the normal Sunday night period dramas.  Maybe being screened on a different night would've found it a larger audience  :shrug:

  14. I've actually just started Milkweed #2. :) I'm enjoying it so far, though am struggling to get some of the references to the first book, the events of which I've completely forgotten. :giggle2:

     

    That's a real shame, cos you're going to miss out on some of brilliant pay-offs to set-ups from the first book.  There was one particular bit that had me diving straight back into Bitter Seeds to confirm it, and coming away in awe :o  :D

     

     

     

    Yeah, it's so infuriating! The actual stories themselves are probably great (because Erikson helped him plan them :rolleyes: ), and I really want to read the content of them . . . it's just a shame the style is so poo. :( ('Pedestrian' - I used your word! Did you notice? :D )

     

    Pedestrian or poo, they both apply :giggle2:

  15. I personally think that was a good move, in the same way that ditching Tom Bombadil from Fellowship was a good idea.

     

    With you there.  The end of RotK dragged on long enough without adding the Scouring of the Shire back in, IMO.

     

     

     

    That's always bugged me too.  :banghead:

     

    It bugged me too - I wanted them both to die!  :banghead:   :giggle2:

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