Fantasy authors you (and I) should NEVER read

[gmw]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Oh, it's not that I don't want to re-read occasionally, I simply can't. I try it all the time and fail miserably, so I've learned to view it as sign that I just wasn't meant to. When re-reading; as soon as I read something "important," my mind races ahead to consider all of its future implications. But while I'm considering all of those implications, my eyes are still scanning the words and I'm turning the pages—BUT I'M NOT READING THEM! Once I catch myself doing this, I have to stop and back-track to where (I think) my focus was split. Which can be a chore in itself (do I remember that from my initial read or from this current re-read?). So after several of these similar episodes, I become exasperated enough to put the book down and forget about the re-read.

I re-read a lot as a kid, but it just doesn't work anymore. I know this and accept it about myself. I view not potentially ruining a previously enjoyed book as one of my affliction's very few benefits.

Hmmm... I don't find this a problem. I too will read things and think ahead of how it fits in with what's coming, sometimes it will distract me enough to have to re-read a few lines, but that's okay, I'm not in as much of a hurry as I used to be (and I read faster anyway which compensates). Of course the hazard with this activity is that it does show-up authors that didn't do their homework, any inconsistencies begin to show up and annoy - which makes the work unsuitable for re-reading. Such is life. It's a small price to pay for reliving treasured moments in treasured worlds.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by gmw

I too will read things and think ahead of how it fits in with what's coming, sometimes it will distract me enough to have to re-read a few lines, but that's okay, I'm not in as much of a hurry as I used to be (and I read faster anyway which compensates).

I'd be very happy with re-reading "a few lines." I end up Zombie-scanning for chapters on end. Happy for you, though... I'd join you if I could.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by EatingPie

...A bunch of cheap unbound hardbacks that exposed me to a lot of varied literature...

I've been trying to figure out what a "cheap unbound hardback" looks like, and I can't. Were they in binders or something?

[Ea]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I've been trying to figure out what a "cheap unbound hardback" looks like, and I can't. Were they in binders or something?

AFAIK "unbound" is the same as "trade paperback". Same paper quality as a hardback, but not 'properly' bound/finished.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by Ea

AFAIK "unbound" is the same as "trade paperback". Same paper quality as a hardback, but not 'properly' bound/finished.

Oh, I think I understand. So the pages are glued rather than sewn into the spine. Thanks!

[anonymoose]

I have a soft spot for Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality because they were the first grown-up fantasy books that I read. Definitely not something I'd recommend to someone as an introduction to the genre, but it worked for me at the time. The first few Xanth books were good, but I had to eventually give up on them.

Mercedes Lackey. I read all of those too. Even her Bard books from Baen. She's someone who appeals to a certain demographic; talking white horses are like crack to teenage girls. But once you get older you grow out of them really quickly.

A quick comment on Christopher Stasheff - someone mentioned his wizard/warlock books very early on in this thread. In the mid-90s I actually wrote to him and asked him if he was ever going to write another book in a different series that seemingly had been left hanging, and he (or his assistant) told me that no he wasn't because his wizard/warlock series sold better and he was concentrating on those. And that's when I stopped reading his books.

[EatingPie]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I've been trying to figure out what a "cheap unbound hardback" looks like, and I can't. Were they in binders or something?

I probably didn't use the right terminology because I don't know what they're called.

Most "standard" hardbacks are glued (bound) to a fabric backing. Here is an image, the yellow/black striping is where the pages are glued/bound to:

http://www.tphnyblog.com/wp-content/...ing-spread.jpg

Book Club Books lack that fabric, just having the glue holding each page together -- rather fragile without the fabric backing!

-Pie

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by EatingPie

I probably didn't use the right terminology because I don't know what they're called.

-Pie

I think you were probably right. To a publishing layman like me, "unbound" means loose, but as Ea pointed out, it has a different meaning in the industry. So, I learned something new.