...how anybody can 1) read so many books in such a short period and 2) have a good idea of what it said, wanted to say and did to you emotionally.
I taught myself how to read, so I don't know if I can explain it well, but it's a combination of "hearing" the words being read and yet not as well. More like pictures being recognized and processed at very high speeds, yet with very good levels of comprehension.
I see Larry here doing many books in a row, including his personal challenges that he had posted on this board. Adam Roberts is doing a review of one book almost daily. I see others having a "144 book challenge this year", whereas I was hoping to finish "The Picture of Dorian Grey" before the year is out. (Or before the baby is born, which is basically the same, as I doubt I'll have any MORE time to read after that little moment.)
Depends on average reading speed - I read with very good comprehension at a few hundred pages/hour, but I don't usually read for more than 30 minutes or so at a time before I take some sort of break.
And I take it most of these people actually have jobs next to all this stuff. Or at least need time to sleep. Or post on this website.
Well, the only "jobs" I have at the moment are to read a bunch of stories, choose some for anthology consideration, something else related to that which isn't of interest to most, and writing reviews, so I guess I have a bit more time than usual right now for reading/re-reading
I mean, I've got a bit of a reputation of always reading, but I'm glad to finish a book in a month. I've tried speed reading, mostly for my work, but that really doesn't pay off as much as I'd hoped. Especially the way that content is retained by me. Plus I find that literature at high speeds tend to bypass the emotional part of my brain that just needs time between "registering", "processing" and "feeling".
And yet some, like myself, can do this. People process things differently, I guess.
Part of why I'm asking, is that one of the major gripes of both Larry and Roberts (besides the prose apparently) is the AMOUNT of story that's been tried to push in there. To those with a critique of WOT, it's just too much information, with too many characters and overly detailed descriptions. To me, it's a large puzzle, with more and more strings and clues and hints. It has a huge scope that needs time to think about, that can be discussed, taken apart and put back together again. I can understand that if you don't take the time, you can never appreciate something like that.
I'd say it's more a case where the information provided does not fit well within the narrative structure of the novel(s) to date. I'm currently about 1/5 into The Great Hunt (will finish tonight, probably) and the ways the characters keep repeating what in scene would be obvious to other characters becomes grating after a while; repeating established information multiple times, although it may eventually build some sort of resonance with several types of readers, is a very maladroit way of introducing information and allowing the reader to process it. Gene Wolfe goes perhaps too far in the opposite direction at times for others, but I find that style to be more befitting of the times in which certain "mysteries" are meant to be held. There are few relative "mysteries" within the text of these novels; foreshadowing has been done quite baldly, sometimes to the detriment of the stories to come.
In other words, the narrative tension has been deflated at some odd junctures, leaving readers more to speculate about "prophetic" comments than about possible future character development.
It's like taking the TGV from Paris to Nice, getting out at the station near the Mediterranian and then complaining that the French countryside really wasn't the rustic, romantic place everybody took it for.
I believe I'm quite a bit more aware of what's transpiring in this series than this quip would make you think I am
Still: good luck Larry and I look forward to your reviews. Just as I'm enjoying Robert's review. (But not as much as Jennifer Leigh's chapter-by-chapter reread )
Next one will probably be posted here sometime tomorrow. Dune Messiah one will be later tonight.
Illusions fall like the husk of a fruit, one after another, and the fruit is experience. - Narrator, Sylvie
Je suis méchant.
Je suis méchant.
Re-reading WoT Ten Years Later
16/04/2010 06:07:40 AM
- 2852 Views
The Eye of the World (1997-2000, 2010 reads)
16/04/2010 06:08:54 AM
- 1320 Views
Re: The Eye of the World (1997-2000, 2010 reads)
16/04/2010 06:29:53 PM
- 1048 Views
I think you misrepresent me
16/04/2010 11:15:34 PM
- 942 Views
Re: I think you misrepresent me
17/04/2010 02:56:53 PM
- 964 Views
MA in History? Is there a more useless degree?
16/04/2010 09:56:36 PM
- 904 Views
Yes, whatever degree you have/are studying for
16/04/2010 11:12:55 PM
- 897 Views
Aww...
16/04/2010 07:58:27 PM
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That's next month or June
16/04/2010 11:12:02 PM
- 871 Views
Be sure to send me a noteboard then .
17/04/2010 03:45:46 AM
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Oh, I'd post it at this site as well, perhaps
17/04/2010 03:51:19 AM
- 848 Views
Yeah, but I only lurk in the OF when I'm interested in getting new books...
17/04/2010 04:00:14 AM
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Can anybody please explain to me
17/04/2010 08:45:18 PM
- 1053 Views
It's hard to explain
17/04/2010 09:42:16 PM
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The more posts from this larry guy I read, the more I think.........
18/04/2010 08:56:34 AM
- 1035 Views
Interesting metatextual analysis there
18/04/2010 09:47:43 AM
- 1060 Views
Nice, but in the future...
18/04/2010 04:04:07 PM
- 937 Views
I know...
18/04/2010 08:11:18 PM
- 892 Views
Re: The more posts from this larry guy I read, the more I think.........
18/04/2010 10:26:12 AM
- 1041 Views
The Great Hunt (1997-2000, 2010 reads)
19/04/2010 09:22:40 AM
- 1014 Views
It's interesting you thought this about The Great Hunt.
19/04/2010 07:06:57 PM
- 846 Views
Yeah, I almost gave up this series after The Eye of the World too. *NM*
19/04/2010 08:38:25 PM
- 534 Views
Winter's Heart (2000 initial read; 2010 re-read)
07/05/2010 01:35:13 PM
- 813 Views
Re: Winter's Heart (2000 initial read; 2010 re-read)
08/05/2010 09:43:31 AM
- 925 Views