heh, are you
― ☂ (max), Thursday, 16 June 2011 15:10 (twelve years ago) link
Why would you need to justify it?
A lot of books I'd like to be reading, and if the series follows the books as closely as it seems to (from reading the first 150 pages) then I'd rather just watch the show, but if they're deviating significantly from here on out then I can see the value. Part of me just doesn't want to ruin the WTF shock value. I really like the show, but I'm not convinced it's going to have the depth of some of the greats, which leave the WTF funtimes as its greatest asset.
― Gukbe, Thursday, 16 June 2011 15:12 (twelve years ago) link
no¿
xpost
― magic punani (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Thursday, 16 June 2011 15:13 (twelve years ago) link
Fair enough Gubke, but despite the show following largely the same plot there really is so much more in the books than what's on screen. And you get the WTF moments on the page too.
― Number None, Thursday, 16 June 2011 15:17 (twelve years ago) link
For this season I'm reading the book but trying not to read ahead of the show. Next season I might try the opposite to see how I feel about it but I like experiencing stuff on the show first and then enriching my viewing after the fact. I sort of fear that reading the book first might make me less enthusiastic about watching the show.
― polyphonic, Thursday, 16 June 2011 16:37 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, I am torn -- < 200 pages into vol. 1, I'm still conflicted about the moment when I'm done with it and waiting on season 2.
― E.L. Doctorow Who (Leee), Friday, 17 June 2011 03:18 (twelve years ago) link
you should keep reading; it's not going to diminish your wanting to see the show.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Friday, 17 June 2011 03:21 (twelve years ago) link
its hard for me to imagine someone regretting reading the books. especially regretting reading the books in order to watch stuff happen on the show first
― ☂ (max), Friday, 17 June 2011 03:24 (twelve years ago) link
reading the books made the show better...I think I said this way upthread somewhere, but the show helped me to better picture the minor characters as I was reading, and I was pleased to find that knowing what was going to happen didn't spoil the show because HOW they make it happen from a writing standpoint has been really kind of interesting for me. They've truncated it enough for the screen to make sense, and though some of the exposition scenes can get a bit much, I am really enjoying the subtle and bigger changes in the story. Like a slight redux or something.
― Janet Snakehole (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 17 June 2011 03:34 (twelve years ago) link
I plan to finish out the show and then start reading from the beginning of book 2. I tried starting book 1 midway through the series but I was so bored reading stuff that I had already seen happen. I'm hoping I'll be able to avoid that by reading completely new material.
― Mordy, Friday, 17 June 2011 04:32 (twelve years ago) link
I was so bored reading stuff that I had already seen happen.
Definitely ran into this after Ned dies! Like, I was at the point where Nymeria noms in Joffrey's arm, and it felt inconsequential compared to what just happened in the show.
Reading the collective advice though is helpful, probably will continue on with all the books. (The dilemma -- or my dilemma -- is definitely rooted in inherent cultural preference for visual arts, where all stories are supposed to culminate in tv/film productions.)
― E.L. Doctorow Who (Leee), Friday, 17 June 2011 05:00 (twelve years ago) link
I actually prefer books but it's not like GRRM has a lot of "literary" pleasures in his books. He's a great writer of plot, but if you already know what's gonna happen bc of the show...
― Mordy, Friday, 17 June 2011 05:01 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, I'm definitely reading GOT in a pulp mode, which reminds me of a quotation from the NYer article where one of GRRM's haters is all, "[The first three books in the series are] the finest novels I’ve ever read," and I'm like, read much?
― E.L. Doctorow Who (Leee), Friday, 17 June 2011 05:06 (twelve years ago) link
The main things the book have got going for them over the show is the humor - the spiteful things every character thinks of everyone else.
― abcfsk, Friday, 17 June 2011 06:14 (twelve years ago) link
Just rewatched ep 5 and found Arya's "I'm not a boy!" reaction pretty lol.
Also forgot how great the Robert/Cersei scene was.
― Gukbe, Friday, 17 June 2011 06:39 (twelve years ago) link
And didn't realize the first time around that the Spider was talking to the Merchant from across the Narrow Sea about Stark looking into the bastards etc
kinda stupid question perhaps...but i looked on amazon and it was really fucking confusing seeing which book was what, or which collections had all the books, some people were even complaining one "set" was missing a book...
is there a definitive way of buying them all at once or what's the cheapest way? which way are you all reading them?
― MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T BE LIVING HERE!! (Local Garda), Friday, 17 June 2011 08:31 (twelve years ago) link
This is what you want LG. There are no books missing from it (apart from the 5th one which isn't actually out for another month)http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61RXUvc1PwL._SL500_AA300_.jpghttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Song-Ice-Fire-4v-Thrones/dp/0345529057/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308304792&sr=8-1
― Number None, Friday, 17 June 2011 10:02 (twelve years ago) link
― Mordy, Friday, June 17, 2011 1:01 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
sure, but the books are much deeper and you dont have to worry about cruddy actors or ugly sets or exposition being crammed into lesbian hooker sex. they have a budget of infinity!
― ☂ (max), Friday, 17 June 2011 13:21 (twelve years ago) link
i'm not sure about the claim that they're 'deeper' but i'm more and more befuddled by the HBOzation of this already fairly HBOish set of books
like i was reading the wiki for it and they have introduced one new character, 'roz' -- she is portrayed by a glamour model and was given a name in the xth episode after being previously identified in the scripts as 'red-headed whore'
stay classy, HBO
― thomp, Friday, 17 June 2011 13:42 (twelve years ago) link
"deeper" in the sense that theres "more plot/more explanation" not like thematically deeper
― ☂ (max), Friday, 17 June 2011 13:44 (twelve years ago) link
they should have called her "exposition whore" since that is her plot function
― chupacabra - a delicious burrito (DJP), Friday, 17 June 2011 13:45 (twelve years ago) link
lolz
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Friday, 17 June 2011 13:51 (twelve years ago) link
i thought Ros was the redhead barmaid that Theon gets it on with in the books, or i assume at least based on her?
― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 17 June 2011 14:21 (twelve years ago) link
she is, and she comes south.
― remy bean, Friday, 17 June 2011 14:21 (twelve years ago) link
huh huh
In the UK, Book 3 is split into two. This might have caused confusion. It also makes me wonder if they'll split book 3 into two seasons.
― Gukbe, Friday, 17 June 2011 15:01 (twelve years ago) link
they should conflate books two and three
― thomp, Friday, 17 June 2011 15:04 (twelve years ago) link
It does kinda sound like they're doing that. In the interview with the creators in the LA Times they said they would be bringing elements of the third book into season two, so that certain characters who don't get up to much in the book don't get forgotten by viewers.
― Number None, Friday, 17 June 2011 16:06 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i'm sort of wondering if that strategy, in the long run, might also serve to shorten the number of seasons ie give them a better crack at finishing the series in less than seven arcs
― all the pretty HOOSes (gbx), Friday, 17 June 2011 16:24 (twelve years ago) link
sure, but the books are much deeper and you dont have to worry about cruddy actors or ugly sets or exposition being crammed into lesbian hooker sex.
What if I like lesbian hooker sex?
― E.L. Doctorow Who (Leee), Saturday, 18 June 2011 07:05 (twelve years ago) link
When Sansa says she doesn't want a strong, honest, good man because she wants Joffrey, does the book adequately capture the lolz that come from Arya and Ned's exchange of smirking glances?
― Gukbe, Saturday, 18 June 2011 07:15 (twelve years ago) link
wow, the 'no spoilers please' thing has really been abandoned by this thread, i should stop checking it
― some dude, Saturday, 18 June 2011 16:30 (twelve years ago) link
i think "no spoilers" refers to "no spoilers past what's happened on the show"
― ☂ (max), Saturday, 18 June 2011 16:35 (twelve years ago) link
otherwise... why have a thread about a tv show
― ☂ (max), Saturday, 18 June 2011 16:36 (twelve years ago) link
i thought i had seen something that hadn't happened on the most recent episode -- could be mistaken though
― some dude, Saturday, 18 June 2011 16:38 (twelve years ago) link
The interview with the showrunners upthread has a fairly sizable spoiler in like the first sentence.
― Inevitable stupid samba mix (chap), Saturday, 18 June 2011 19:10 (twelve years ago) link
Which was noted in the thread
― Number None, Saturday, 18 June 2011 19:12 (twelve years ago) link
TONIGHT YOU GUYS!
In the spirit of "not dead unless shown onscreen," I'm wagering that the next OMGTWIST is that Ned is still alive.
― E.L. Doctorow Who (Leee), Sunday, 19 June 2011 21:34 (twelve years ago) link
wondering what happened to Arya's 'dancing' teacher myself
― Gukbe, Sunday, 19 June 2011 22:40 (twelve years ago) link
my own personal theory regarding her dancing master is too spoiler-heavy for this thread. maybe some other time..
― one dis leads to another (ian), Sunday, 19 June 2011 22:50 (twelve years ago) link
Spring 2012 to see Joffrey get some level of comeuppance.
― Gukbe, Monday, 20 June 2011 02:12 (twelve years ago) link
hate u cable tv having types
― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Monday, 20 June 2011 02:12 (twelve years ago) link
RT
@tedleo
WHAT? Spring 2012!?!?!
21 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone
― My Boyfriend Could Be A Spanish Man (R Baez), Monday, 20 June 2011 02:20 (twelve years ago) link
Wait? Spring 2012 for the next series? http://ernstmul.home.xs4all.nl/images/yahoo/28.gif
― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Monday, 20 June 2011 02:27 (twelve years ago) link
season - whatever
TOO LONG
― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Monday, 20 June 2011 02:30 (twelve years ago) link
Considering they haven't finished the scripts nor cast Stannis I'd say a year is the best you can hope for.
― EZ Snappin, Monday, 20 June 2011 02:30 (twelve years ago) link
SHUT UP ;_;
― Janet Snakehole (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 20 June 2011 02:31 (twelve years ago) link
They start filming next month.
― Gukbe, Monday, 20 June 2011 02:36 (twelve years ago) link
...gotta admit I'm worried about a season-full (or more) of cheesy dragon f/x
― You Post on ILX (Simon H.), Monday, 20 June 2011 05:31 (twelve years ago) link