Authors You Wish You Liked

[GOLLUM]

As you and this thread has pointed out Culhwch you'll never get a full consensus about any particular book. Imagine how boring that would be!

Hope I wasn''t one of the ones berating you for not being an Erikson lover, apologies if I did...

 

[Culhwch]

I was only half-serious about the berating bit. And if there was any I took it in the light-hearted, camraderily fashion I'm sure it was intended in.

 

[rune]

Cairn,

You'll find the longer you're here, that Rune has a tendency to post a lot of brilliant threads...

Thanks Gollum, that's really sweet

Please to see that others are having the same problem as me. I'm normally quite clear on what I like and don't like until it comes to the books I read. Then things arent always so clear.
And I think another reason is that I'd like to be able to contribute to some of the threads here that discuss popular authors, and most of the time I dont seem to like them

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Like Ainulindale, I don't have this problem. If I wind up not enjoying an author;'s books, tough beans for them! I have a good idea what sort of books I like reading, and why, and if something like George RR Martin's ASOIAF (you're not alone, Kelpie!) doesn't hook me, I can tell the difference between the book really dissapointing in quality and simply failing to engage on the level I like to read at. Similarly, I also know when I dislike a book just because it is really rather poor, like Kevin Anderson's Hopscotch or NoGoodkind's books. Either way, no regrets except perhaps over wasted time!

 

[rune]

Steven Erikson and Kate Elliott. Two authors I've tried at the suggestion of this forum, that sounded so very promising, that did nothing for me. And for which I was subsequently berated for...

You're not alone with these two authors. I didnt like Kate Elliott's work at all, found her very boring.
Erikson, is a good author and is another that I wish I liked. But I find his plots too complicated and feel I should be taking notes In the end I read for enjoyment and entertainment and can't be bothered to have to think and remember so much information that is included in some authors works.

 

[GOLLUM]

Thanks Gollum, that's really sweet

Aw that's OK I'm just a sweet guy....

Glad you posted this thread because it's quite interesting seeing how other members have issues on certain books. I can see how GRRM and Erikson would put off some people, not exactly a light read or to everyone's tastes.. Generally I'll know in the first 50 pages (or less) of a book if I'm going to like it or not at which point I won't waste anymore time on it because there's too many good books out there still yet to be discovered...

 

[The Master™]

I've had books recommended to me, and heard how fantastic they are... But they leave me cold...

Jacqueline Carey, I tried to read Kushiels Dart and found it uninspiring...
J R R Tolkein, I read The Hobbit (which I loved), Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers - then when I got to Return of the King, I got to something like page 90 and just stopped... That was in 1985 and I haven't wanted to read it since!!!
Larry Niven can some times be a little uninspiring too - I read Ringworld and Ringworld Engineers, but after that couldn't get into anything else... Currently trying to get into Man/Kzin Wars...
And I just have little motivation to read any of Isaac Asimov's books...

And yet I can pick up any book by Raymond E Feist and you've lost me for a few hours!!! I find his books SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO easy to read and enjoy...

 

[nixie]

I can normally find something in a book that keeps me intrested,but I did struggle with Elizabeth Haydon's Rhapsody, think it was that damned root, the other two books in series have been consigned to the bottom of my trp.I also struggled with the Briar King although I had no problems with Charnel Prince,I think Mr Wassner is to blame for that as I read it straight after the Gem Quest books and they are so well written and a joy to read that most books would have seemed ordinary after that.Also Terry Brooks I'm starting to find boring.

Gollum, on a different note have you read R Scott Bakker's The Darkness that comes Before yet,if you haven't your in for a treat,one of the most complex intriguing books I've ever read.

 

[polymorphikos]

The only author I have this problem with is Alexandre Dumas. I really enjoyed the half of the Count of Monte Cristo I read, but there is something about Dumas that, in spite of all the great elements he possesses, makes me slightly sleepy after three pages. It's the book I read when I want to have ideas, without having to read the whole thing.

Other than that, I've never really hated a book and wished I liked it. There was this one story - the Green Leopard Plague - that was is Asimov's the other year and got nominated for a prestigious award, but when I read it I found that the avctual conclusions drawn were missing-out on an entire fundemental element of human nature - avarice. Still, I suppose he meant well.

 

[kaneda]

I feel i should like magician by Feist, especially since its been polled as one of the best fantasy books ever. But i didnt enjoy it, ended up skimming through it. I've tried picking it up and rereading it but I just can't get into it. Due to not liking that I'm not too keen on buying any other Feist books.

Another is Robin Hobbs farseer trilogy. I bought the 3 books for 50p each (quite a bargain) and it sounds like a series i would enjoy but from what i read of the assassins apprentice it bored me. Think i only read about 100 pages of it, and don;t have any desire to continue reading it.

Sometimes i think i should look Terry Brooks especially the sword of Shanara (because i love the elfstones of shanara). But thats only a passing thing hehe

Thats all I can think of. Most of the books I've read I've enjoyed.

 

[rune]

Aw that's OK I'm just a sweet guy....

Glad you posted this thread because it's quite interesting seeing how other members have issues on certain books. I can see how GRRM and Erikson would put off some people, not exactly a light read or to everyone's tastes.. Generally I'll know in the first 50 pages (or less) of a book if I'm going to like it or not at which point I won't waste anymore time on it because there's too many good books out there still yet to be discovered...

I find I am the same, if I dont like a book within the first 100 pages I know I needed continue. However, there are those- as I've mentioned already - that I've kept going only to feel frustrated at the end

There are so many authors around though that I've not discovered yet, and so many that people mention I've still not had chance to try. Not doubt there will be even more than fall into this group.
I suppose it could be worse, I could like every authors book I've read so far

 

[dwndrgn]

I find I am the same, if I dont like a book within the first 100 pages I know I needed continue. However, there are those- as I've mentioned already - that I've kept going only to feel frustrated at the end

There are so many authors around though that I've not discovered yet, and so many that people mention I've still not had chance to try. Not doubt there will be even more than fall into this group.
I suppose it could be worse, I could like every authors book I've read so far

You'd have to invent more hours in the day if that were the case! And rune, I have to agree, after seeing all of the mentions here about Kate Elliott's work, I tried to read the first in her biggest series. I had tried reading it before but didn't get into it and couldn't do it this time either. I wouldn't say the book was bad, just not a story I was interested in.

 

[Tikal]

Sometimes i think i should look Terry Brooks especially the sword of Shanara (because i love the elfstones of shanara). But thats only a passing thing hehe

I agree with you there, i've ead one of Terry Brooks books, and i'd like to read more, but I can't get into them.

If i buy a book, I usually have to read it even if I don't really like it! I figure I had to pay for it, so I don't want to waste my money, I just plod through it! I hate to waste things

 

[Culhwch]

I have so many books I've bought that I've never read and many I probably won't. I usually hate wasting money, but this doesn't bother me at all. Maybe one day I'll be desperate for a certain kind of book to read, and bam, there it'll be, waiting for me on my shelf. You can never have too many books.

 

[GOLLUM]

I find I am the same, if I dont like a book within the first 100 pages I know I needed continue. However, there are those- as I've mentioned already - that I've kept going only to feel frustrated at the end

There are so many authors around though that I've not discovered yet, and so many that people mention I've still not had chance to try. Not doubt there will be even more than fall into this group.
I suppose it could be worse, I could like every authors book I've read so far

I think the answer here Rune is very simple. Trust your instinct. I'm sure you've read enough books by now to get a good feel as to whether the book's going to be any good or not for you early on. I appreciate that YES some books will improve dramatically and surpirse you but on the whole the style and content won't tend to change or alter that much after the first 50 pages or so, so I think if you're disliking it by then it's not likely to change....

 

[Culhwch]

Yeah, it's the author's bad luck for not hooking you... I tend to give a new author fifty pages, someone I've read and liked before a hundred. Recently I think I got a hundred and twenty odd pages into Tad Williams 'Shadowmarch' cause I really wanted to like it, but it felt too much of a chore, too much work. But sometimes you get so far in you feel it's a waste to stop...

 

[rune]

Yeah, it's the author's bad luck for not hooking you... I tend to give a new author fifty pages, someone I've read and liked before a hundred. Recently I think I got a hundred and twenty odd pages into Tad Williams 'Shadowmarch' cause I really wanted to like it, but it felt too much of a chore, too much work. But sometimes you get so far in you feel it's a waste to stop...

I've sidetracked from Shadowmarch due to a library order coming in. But must be honest, I am finding it a bit of a chore too

 

[The Master™]

Amazing how some people can read any book without a problem, then there are those that just fail to start or finish a book...

Prime example for me is TIMESCAPE by GREGORY BENFORD... Read halfway and just couldn't finish... All the physics did my head in... And I got an "O Level" in Physics... Love the subject, but that book just confuses the hell out of me...

 

[Aliena]

I tried to like Robert Jordan. I really did. Especially since so many people I knew went on and on about how wonderful his series was. And as I was standing in the bookstore, reading the book jackets of each of his stories, I thought I would. But when I actually sat down to read the first book in the series, I struggled to get through it.

Tolkien, I could read AFTER seeing the movies, as bad as that sounds. I didn't like The Hobbit back in high school, so I never picked up any others of his. And even after seeing the movies and sitting down to read the LotR trilogy, I found myself kind of skimming it more than drinking it in.

 

[GOLLUM]

Aliena,

You need to check out Steven Erikson's Malazan series and probably GRRM Song Of Ice and Fire saga and R Scott Bakker's Prnice Of Nothing trilogy ..for quality EPIC fantasy....