@MightyDemon82 hehehe, #SorryNotSorry, as the kids say
I fully expect that following this thread will engorge an already massive backlog for me as well, but I I'll grin and bear it. The Hitchhikers discussion above made me remember that I never finished the series and that I need to re-read the first books as well. Boom, that's six more books for the old reading list, thanks
Just started "The Fourth Sacrifice". the second book in Peter May's "China Thrillers" series.
I really enjoyed the first one, "The Firemaker" and I absolutely loved his Lewis trilogy, so I have high expectations for this one.
I like the way May manages to convey cultures and ways of life that are quite foreign to me with great authenticity. At least I assume so, as I've not been able to sample the hard life of growing up on The Isle of Lewis in the 80s or being a policeman in China at the turn of the millennium, but it feels very authentic, at least
@FuriousMachine I was in Waterstones earlier and picked up Firemaker, along with several other books so I'll let you know what I think when I've read it.
Finished The Final Empire and The Octopus man, also read Nameless but it's a graphic novel (if that's what they are still called).
Started The Hydrogen Sonata this morning to finish off my Culture novel reads and got Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell author of Cloud Atlas from the library. Hopefully get both of those read this week in-between exploring the burning shores with Aloy.
After Hogwarts Legacy came out, I decided to re-read the Potter books.
Now halfway through “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”, which is book number 4 (of 7).
@MightyDemon82 The Octopus Man looks interesting, adding it to my reading list (Both Mistborn and the Culture series are already on there, lying patiently in wait... if four day work weeks ever becomes a thing here in Norway I'm declaring that extra day "reading day" for me )
@Matthewnh Been a while since I read them. Do you feel they still hold up?
They are still good.
The writing gets better as the series progresses. Some people argue that a few of the books are too long, but I don’t think that matters if you are enjoying what you are reading. They have lost a lot of the tension in the story, because we all know what happens now.
I do find that as a I am reading, I have the images from the films in my head, but that would happen anyway. It would be the same if I re-read “2001” or “Starship Troopers”.
@Matthewnh Completely agree re.: long books, as long as they don't drag on. Some of Stephen King's largest bricks suffers a bit from bloat and I've near lost my patience with a few of them, but all in all I don't mind a long novel if the story is good and the plot is moving forward.
In most cases I like having the image of the actors in an adaptation in my head when reading, even if I haven't seen the adaptation in question. I think it was around either Order of the Phoenix or Half-Blood Prince when the movie cast replaced my "head cast" as I read the books. I made a conscious effort to recast The Expanse in my head after the first trailer arrived, but two of the characters (Holden and Naomi) were so different in my head that it wasn't until the final two or three books in the series that my head "got onboard". A friend of mine had such a vastly different Amos (differing even from the description in the novels) that it actually impacted his enjoyment of the series.
@FuriousMachine@Matthewnh It’s true how a movie or TV rendition of a book can enhance or ruin the impact of reading it. It’s usually dependent on which you do first and whatever you get exposed to earlier (either the live adaptation or the book) will become your default version of the characters. For Harry Potter, I didn’t start reading the books until about the third movie was out so I’d had enough exposure to the cast that as I read the books the cast was on my head. It’s what’s made playing Hogwarts Legacy interesting because Peeves was left out of the movies and the character representation in the game is really nothing like I had imagined in my head. Also, when they recast Dumbledore, I had to grow accustomed to the Michael Gambon interpretation.
If memory serves, Rowling was supposed to have been very involved in consulting with the movie adaptations and so I suspect it’s why they are truer to what one might imagine the characters and world to have been like. Which is why I’m befuddled that Hermione’s race was reportedly miscast. I feel like Rowling was given the opportunity to validate the cast beforehand. I don’t know though.
So many movie adaptations get the characters completely wrong though. Ender’s Game comes to mind. The Hunger Games is another. Despite liking the movies, the actors and actresses are really nothing like their book version, even Katniss.
@Th3solution The "Hermione was accidentally race swapped" thing is weird - in one of the books (I can't remember which one) somebody mistakes her for one of the Weasley family - and they're all famously pale of skin and red of hair.
PS Just checked - it's Amos Diggory in "TGoF" who asks Arthur if Hermione is a Weasley.
@LN78 Supposedly there’s a section in one of the books that says Hermione’s “white face stuck out”, or some similar verbiage. Which I can see the possible metaphorical use of color there, but the Weasley reference is even more at odds. Perhaps she could be an adopted Weasley... 🤔
When I read the books I already had the image of Emma Watson in my head so I didn’t really pay mind to the detail.
It’s a strange issue and I think that at the end of the day this is Rowling’s intellectual property so she can say whatever she wants about it, but it does seem like she’s prone to just say things for the sake of making a point and stirring up controversy. It’s a fair criticism to say we, the public, are inherently culturally prejudice to assume characters are all heterosexual white people, but it seems like she must have forgotten some of her own writings in the process. And like I say, why allow for the casting of Watson if the actress wasn’t even the visage of who you intended to portray?
Nevertheless, I have come around on the retrospective diversification of characters after seeing Hamilton. Initially I thought it was an unusual artistic choice to cast different racial versions of historical persons, but when I watched it I found it actually refreshing.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution I think Rowling did something similar with Dumbledore, claiming he was always canonically gay even though there was nothing in the text to indicate that idea. As you say - they're her characters so she gets to make the final determination even if she is doing it to stir up some controversy or score PC points. It's not really important either way.
PS Apparently there is an early illustration by Rowling herself in which Hermione is depicted as white.
@Th3solution@LN78 Wow. I wasn't aware that JKR claimed Hermione was race swapped for the movies... that is indeed weird.
Race swapping in general is fine by me, though I think I would react negatively to the casting of a white actor for a black/latinx/asian character. Not for the race swap itself but for the fact that there is still room for more diversity in entertainment, in my opinion, and there are plenty of "white" roles out there for white actors to get their hands on.
The only time race swapping doesn't work for me is if it actually goes against something that defines the character. I'm not all that familiar with Resident Evil history, but I seem to remember reading that the Albert Wesker character was a white supremacist, which made it so weird that they cast the late, great Lance Reddick in the role. Haven't seen the show, so can't speak to whether it worked or not (knowing Reddick, though, I assume he carried what I understand to be an otherwise poor show).
Apparently in the first few movies, they cast Rick Mayall as Peeves the Poltergeist. But all of his scenes were cut. He kept making the young actors laugh too much.
Mayall’s low opinion of the Harry Potter movies is fairly well-known, too.
Finished Peter May's "The Fourth Sacrifice" this weekend and though, for me, it fell a bit short of the first novel in the series, I still enjoyed it quite a bit. 3.5 stars of 5 (for me, 3 and above is a good read).
Now continues my Witcher project, with "Time of Contempt" and while I felt the previous one ("Blood of Elves") dragged a bit in places, this one starts out quite promising (I'm about a quarter in)
@FuriousMachine that's great, I hope you enjoy it. Also if like andriod/robot stories, Martha Wells Murderbot series is the best scifi series I have read.
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