Books/writers that you love?

[DeadChannel]

Except that GoT isn't ghostwritten...

[Chad32]

Very true. Half of Animorphs is ghostwritten. Not that I was aware of that until much later.

[SteelCurtain]

It's all about the sheer number of inter-related character POVs, though, and ASOIAF books are generally 900-1400 pages. Also, there's canon. GRRM's fans are about as serious as Star Wars fans when it comes to canon.

Think of how crazy difficult after 5000+ pages of canon to keep track of where every character is, what the purpose of them being there is, and where they've been, not to mention getting them where you need them to go and advancing the relationships between characters within that construct. I get it.

I totally hijacked this thread. Sorry.

[DeadChannel]

I think some of the larger cover, non pocketable, expensive editions of ASOIAF books run 600ish pages. Not sure, though.

That being said, I think as far as word count goes, they're much more than four times longer than animorphs.
I've not read animorphs, but I assume than a monthly young adult novella has to run about ~50,000 words. Asoiaf books average like 400,000 words iirc. So, like, eightish times longer?

Anyway, GRRM's books are also much more complex, dense and difficult to write.

Also: how did we start comparing asoiaf and animorphs?

[Chad32]

I was trying to explain why my younger self thought waiting a year or more between each book was a pain, especially coming off a series that pout out books monthly. The more I think about it, the less comparable they become. I don't know about any Ice and fire books that were much over 600 pages, though.

[TheRealJoeFish]

My favorite author growing up was Ray Bradbury. The Martian Chronicles was my first favorite book, and I read The Illustrated Man probably 10 times.

My current favorite book is probably (the English translation of) If on a winter's night a traveler... by Italo Calvino, followed closely by Nabokov's Lolita and Pale Fire.

I finished Orwell's 1984 last week, and I *just* - no less than ten minutes ago - finished Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon. You know, I preferred the latter (which was written it think 8 or 9 years before 1984, and which Orwell was well aware of). 1984 is more of a story, and is a fantastic one, but Darkness at Noon is unadulterated contemplation of the very same themes.

[DeadChannel]

I was trying to explain why my younger self thought waiting a year or more between each book was a pain, especially coming off a series that pout out books monthly. The more I think about it, the less comparable they become. I don't know about any Ice and fire books that were much over 600 pages, though.

My edition of book one, which is one of the shorter (shortest?) books in the series runs 807 pages + appendix.

I should stop derailing my own thread, though.

@TRJF: Nakobov is great. The Stanley Kubrick adaptation of Lolita is excellent as well.
Darkness at noon sounds interesting. Might have to check it out.

[Chad32]

Maybe I just had shorter copies, or something. No clue.

[thesummerqueen]

I reread Lord of the Rings every year.

And I won't shut up about The Night Circus.

I love Michael Pollan's book.

I love "The Kingkiller Chronicles", which in my opinion is one of the best new pieces of fantasy to come out in ages.

Jacqueline Carey wrote a sumptuous couple of trilogies set in an alternate history France which, if you're into kink, you absolutely must read. Phaedre is my favorite female protagonist. The books span some epic alt-history world building, with international intrigues, haute couture, amazing sword battles, and delightful lessons in love and loss.

[DeadChannel]

Maybe I just had shorter copies, or something. No clue.

I think it depends on which issue you own. Most people have the cheap pocket editions w/ small pages. I think they also make a larger edition with more words per page (and therefore less pages), which is probably what you have.