Timewaster's Guide Archive
Departments => Books => Topic started by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on March 02, 2006, 12:01:40 PM
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reference: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=1263
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Wow, Fish, thanks for the warning. I don't suppose I should ask your opinion of Eragon either ;)
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I read Thief Lord, another Funke book, and I also found it to be slow moving and rather silly. I wonder if it's like that in the original German?
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Hum. Makes me wonder how "good" the Spanish ed. of ELANTRIS is. I mean, how well could/did the translator actually capture EUOL's prose??
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Eragon sucks and my blood boils at it's merest mention. SUPER ENT SMASH
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Totally agreed Ent. My housemate loaned it to me and after the first twenty pages I took it back down into the basement and threw it at her, gently, but still...yuck.
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Weird. My wife is reading Inkheart right now and raving about it.
I wonder, though: she never reads any fantasy -- I wonder if this book appeals less to the fantasy crowd and more to the mainstream (for lack of a better word). Or maybe my wife just has bad taste in books.
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Well she likes yours, so we've all suspected it.
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I think this is the general feeling among children's fantasy people--that those who don't know fantasy are the ones who rave about the books that hit it big and are plain and derivative (e.g., Eragon). Inkheart isn't derivative so much as too much in love with books to have a real plot.
I found that once I’d put the book down, I had little to no desire to pick it back up again. I just didn’t care enough to find out what happened next, and I was never really worried that things wouldn’t work out in the end.
This is exactly what happened to me. I loved The Thief Lord, minus the truly annoying fact that it really shouldn't be fantasy, because the only fantasy in it was the deus ex machina ending, but I bought Inkheart thinking it'd be better, and because all my classmates and teachers were raving about it. I think I got up to about chapter 5, and never went back to it.
However, Cornelia Funke herself is a very engaging and knowledgable speaker. She really knows children's books and how to teach others about writing--she came to my school and I really enjoyed hearing her speak. So, perhaps part of the raving is because people who meet her like her so much.
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When I get published I'll be callous and abrasive, to weed out that kind of crap.
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Wait Fell -- so have you already been published?
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The Man can't take what I'm puttin' down.
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Nothing says 'pillock' louder than a net-nerd using ghetto or urban slang :D
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Wait...what's a pillock?
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Brit insult. Means 'stuffy idiot', i guess. ;)
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Ah. That's a good one. I'll have to remember to use it.
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There's a Geek Girl involving Eragon to come. It might not be what you think, though.
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Just finished reading "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" by Gregory Maguire and I'm going to rank this 'adult' fiction among those which mainstream readers like, but speculative fiction readers don't. It's an OK book, fun and entertaining, even. But there's all sorts of plot holes and poor writing for this genre. It was disappointing.
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They did a play of that. It's $100 a seat for tickets.
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Yeah, it's on Broadway. It's done tours and everything. It's likely popular because it's raunchy and not because it's a great work of literature.
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And the musical was durned good, too. Haven't read the book yet, though it checks out like hotcakes at the library.
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Also, my haranguing has nothing to do with the fact that the author stole my name. (A main character is named "Nessarose" nick "Nessa".)
I promise it doesn't.
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Was the bit about being raunchy aimed at the musical or the book? I didn't find the musical raunchy at all.
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The musical isn't raunchy at all. In fact, it's one of the best musicals in years. But I hear the book is pretty...graphic. Which is why I haven't ever read it.
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Ah. I hadn't heard that about the book. It surprises me then that it's checking out so well in Utah County.
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It doesn't surprise me. Repression is a terrible thing. ;D
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Was the bit about being raunchy aimed at the musical or the book? I didn't find the musical raunchy at all.
If the sex were any more detailed in the book it could rank down there with Harlequin (I hate to admit it, but I've read one of those Harlequin "Luna" imprint fantasy books and it was gross and awful). There's serveral adulturous relationships (almost condoned), a sex show that doesn't figure at all into the plot, and plenty of talking about sex. It was just obnoxious and detracted from the book.
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My sister and her roommates at Ricks love the musical, they all saw it when then went to NYC this past January.
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oooo I find inkheart is the second best book!!(the first is inkspell-the sequel)Its a mixture of fantasy, action, friendship...I just cant wait to see the movie... :D
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I've read Inkheart and it's sequel Inkspell. Both are really good must-reads if you have not read them and you like Cornelia Funke... or even if you haven't heard of her. I read Dragon Rider and got hooked on her writing style, she's one of the best authors.