I've been really curious as to this question so I thought I would ask you guys.
What do you hate and love the most about books. You have to say one of each. For instance, I'll start.
What I love most about books:
The way that it takes you to a completely different world where anything can happen and that makes you forget all your rl problems.
What I hate the most about books:
The way that, in a sequel, they always have to introduce characters and go over stuff that you have already read. I know it's necessary but i mean, if you want to read a book, start from the begining!!
Okay then!
What I love most about books:
I agree with BM. The way you get taken into a completely different world. You feel what the character's feeling, you live their experiences, and you share the same moments of fear, love, excitement, happiness, etc.
What I hate the most about books:
Once again, gotta agree with BM. I hate at the start of a book in a sequel where they go over things that happened last books. They have to say the last names of the characters, descriptions, and etc. Go read the books from the beginning, not the fifth book. Then we don't have to put it all in every book.
Wanderer Ward
14 years ago
Wanderer Ward
Dreamscape Artist
What I love most about books:
I have to say that I agree also. What I think I love most about the fantasy genre is its escapism qualities. I'm always constantly amazed that books are all just large collections of words, but they can take you such amazing places and make you experience so many things.
What I hate most about books:
I really really hate it when you're reading an absolutely fantastic book, and it ends! That's just plain rude I think! On a more serious note, and kind of contradicting what I just said, I hate it when authors write another book or series about previously used characters, but they ruin them and have them doing things that just doesn't fit with how they were portrayed in the first book/series.
What I love about books
You can escape RL and live in someone else's world so yes I agree with the above
What I hate
I can't change what happens and I can't go there! ":( lol
and I agree with all of the above ;D
What I love about books
I love getting to know new characters. And in books, you can meet all sorts of characters, even ones that you really WOULDN'T want to meet in RL (like certain villanous blondes, and crazy nut jobs). And I love getting into the heads of different characters, figureing out their motivations and drives, and watching the different characters' arcs/personal developments. So really, it's the characters I love the most. Visiting different settings and such is just a bonus :D
What I hate
I hate that a book might have a great plot and a facinating setting but a single narrator whose whinnyness, ignorance, or other persistent trait can easily make the book unreadable. I also don't like that I'm confined to the author's narration: sometimes I want to look at the background, and know what's going on that the author isn't telling me. I don't want to be overloaded with information about what every character is doing at every second, but sometimes I wonder --- especially with scenes where I know certain characters are there, even though they aren't mentioned as having done or said anything. I want to know what they're thinking! I also dislike when my favorite characters don't play a more prominent role, or get killed off in the middle :(
Nicely said Ama! I have to agree with you, and everyone else who has posted in this thread :nod:
Ashlings' guildleader
14 years ago
Thu Jan 21 2010, 09:17am
Ashlings' guildleader
Dreamscape Artist
What I love about books
D) All of the above
In addition though, I love the way they keep my thoughts in order. I have a tendency to think in a very random manner. I go off on extensive mental rants, distract myself with random tangents and side thoughts, go on a long mental rant with those and then distract myself again. It's very exhausting to think so much, which is why I like the way that books keep my mind on a nice defined pathway. No matter how twisty, it's still less exhausting than thinking for myself. I consider it meditation ;D
What I hate about books
D)
I hate the way certain authors leave you hanging for the next book for years on end...just kidding, I've got nothing to complain about really, I've only been on the bandwagon since 2002. What I really don't like is the way some of them are so good that they blanket my sense of self so that I have no choice but to keep reading. With some books, once your in, the only exit is through the words 'The End'.
Sure, these books tend to also be my favorites, but I would prefer to keep my freedom of will while reading them.
Well put Sian. Don't you hate it when a book just sucks you in like that? I mean love it, but hate it?
I picked up the Night World books by LJ Smith. I don't even LIKE vampire books: I avoid them like the blacklands, but I read a novel a night for 9 nights in a row, and now I'm all finished 'cause the last book isn't out yet ":(
13 years ago
Fri Sep 17 2010, 06:33pm
Okay then, now that everyone has explored what they love/hate about books (and done a very thorough job if I might say so myslef), I want to add another question to the mix. I have been thinking recently about why I write, and had a very deep discusion with myself. So, if it isn't to personal a question, why do you guys write?
Edit: I'm glad I rediscovered this thread, it is a good place to ask these sorts of questions. :)
Mystic Ward
13 years ago
Mystic Ward
Twentyfamilies Gypsy
I write because I have to. As odd as that sounds. I've been writing ever since I first picked up a pencil at age five. I write mostly for myself. If I don't write things out I find them distracting me all the time, keeping me awake all night. I often get up at 3am to write, just because it's in my head.
Mystic Guilden
13 years ago
Sat Sep 18 2010, 07:39pm
Mystic Guilden
Mage
I think I write because I'm afraid I'll forget things. I've had ideas at work before, and have made a beeline for paper so I can scribble the idea down before I loose that moment. I've been making notes of ideas since I was little, writing poems for as long as I can remember, and writing bits of stories since mid primary school, and it always seems like I'm trying to capture my mind set in that moment, so at a later date I can come back and read and re-experience that moment again. Sometimes I continue the story/poem. Sometimes new ideas come from it. Sometimes I think it's absolute rubbish, but I keep doing it.
But even after writing all the above down, I still think there is more behind why I write, I just cant articulate it :P
Well said on that last part Ari, I can never quite articulate my love of books/writing/art/music. :P
I agree with a lot of what is being said. Some of the points that came to my mind the other day about why I write were a little different though. I also get thoughts in my head that I just have to write before I go insane, and I do find an escape in writing. However, reading is my main form of escape, and I guess what sets reading and writing apart from me is that when I am writing I am 100% in control... well depending on the esence of the characters i guess. :P But I do admit that I love being in control of what is going on around me, and often get frustrated in real life when things don't go the way I thought them out. But when I write, I am in control, and if there is something I don't like, or a conversation/person that is annoying me, I change it/them.
Dreamweavers' Guildmistress
13 years ago
Dreamweavers' Guildmistress
Dreamscape Artist
When I write it's because I need an emotional outlet most of the time. I find that writing poetry helps me resolve my confusing emotions and get over heartbreak and the like. Poetry also helps me to get rid of any extra energy I have, and stops me from going crazy. If I'm writing fantasy/fiction etc, it's usually because I'm desperate for a break from reality, without having to deal with the fact that books end- if I'm writing, it can go on forever.
13 years ago
Sun Sep 19 2010, 10:53pm
I've only re-started writing recently, but I'm finding that I'm writing (and want/needing to write) more and more. I'm not sure why, it's really that i have ideas for stories and I just have to get them down. I have a really bad memory - and nothing bothers me so much as a good idea forgotten.
I'll get the ideas in the oddest places. If I sit down to write, then my mind goes blank and I end up on facebook, but I'll get an idea at work, or watching TV, or at church - and I'll write it down - I actually have a story written on a book receipt, because I was out at the opera and that was the only thing I had to write on - thank goodness Borders have those ridiculously big receipts.
For me, writing isn't such a huge step - that is to say, what I'm writing is what I've had in my head for years and not bothered to get down on paper. I constantly have stories going on in my head - conversations, adventures, quests - I'm never just doing something, I'm doing something AND putting together a dialogue. I'm just now working on transferring these ideas from my head to paper.
Ok, i like this...
What i love about books:
You get taken away to another world, where you feel ups and downs but safe at the same time. You feel loved, you feel sad, and almost always it ends perfectly.... then i'm happy for the rest of the day. :)
What i hate about books:
When it ends without telling you what happens entirely.... like did they end up getting married, did theu have kids, or in another book, did she go on all the adventures she dreamed of, not just that one in the book. I also hate it when its a sad ending to the book.
Why I Write:
Because writing also takes me to another world, but its my own creation that reflects my feelings, and therefore helps me figure them out, or make me feel better. It feels like im pushing bad feelings away, and grabing good things, instead.
What i love about books:
because there is now another world for me to dream about, another place to hide when reality comes crushing back, trying to smother me with the helplessness of it all. some where to visit when people make me bawl my eyes out or forget about me, to remind me that others, although they arent real, have problems as big as mine or bigger, that those worlds really do exist. to try and have the childish innocence again, but instead of believing in santa believing in what the books have to offer. and they never stop from popping up on book self, enticing us with interesting blurbs.
What i hate about books:
they cant have an infinate number of pages. that people like shakespeare can make up words and i cant. that people dote over classics and force you to read them when books are supposed to be enjoyed. that cassandra clare can steal philip reeve's book name, if this was a song she could be sued. that once one type of book becomes famous they print out all the books in the same genre, eg twilight and the vampire genre, darren shan and christopher pike dont just write vampire books, of all the millions of books christopher pike has written they have to only reprint one tiny series in twos instead of threes.
~please excess my rantings~
Dreamweavers' Guilden
13 years ago
Dreamweavers' Guilden
Rebel
What I love about books:
That they can take you anywhere you wish to be. That you can let your imagination run wild. I also love that you can fall in love with anyone you wish in a book, whether it be the good guy or the bad guy. And you can imagine yourself anywhere in the world. You can be in the deepest ocean, or the most beautiful castle. You can be from the past, present or future. Oh I just love books! :P
What I hate about books:
I hate books that are not written properly, or that have the opportunity to be great and fail epically. I am also the same as BM, I hate it how in books with sequals they always have to re-introduce the characters. It is most annoying.
Why I write:
I write to escape I suppose. I write because I have places I wish to go, but can never venture to, so by writing, I can take myself to those places.