Jeff’s Comments (group member since Dec 29, 2010)

Jeff’s comments from the BGGWW Books group.

The scene with the box just reminds me of the scene with the tree trunk in Flash Gordon(?) There is definitely a lot of setting up, but fortunately there's also a lot of early repetition, blatant foreshadowing (aka "Dr. Yueh will betray you"), and exposition -- like the first time you meet Baron Harkonnen, the character description is almost nil (at least until the last paragraph), but you pretty much get the intended plot for the first part of the book. This repetition and exposition is what makes the beginning understandable.

Discuss first impressions of A Game of Thrones here. I'm not reading this book, so some other previous reader should split it out.

Discuss through the first part of Dune here.

Use this thread to discuss initial impressions of Dune.

after staring dune up again, I now marvel at how dense the first two chapters are. It definitely clears up a bit as the rate of neologism decreases.

It's certainly not the breezy opening of most Sci Fi these days.

Dune is actually convenient for this. I believe the book is already split into 3 sections (Dune, Muad'dib, The Prophet). I suggest we go with what Ben says, and perhaps add in a first impressions thread for immediate discussion from the first few chapters... The First Impressions thread could also help out folks trying to decide whether or not to jump in and read the book if there are competing novels up.

For reading it, I suggest someone who's done it before split it into sections (read up to the nth Brandon chapter, then discuss that part), and possibly a first impressions of the first few chapters as well?

Dune is definitely more stand alone -- the later books are separated by significant time (often generations.. it's definitely a galactic timescale). AGoT has the issue you may find yourself reading all the (available) books once you start -- there's much more benefit to following the character development in-depth, something that suffers from time away. I myself will be reading Dune, and probably popping in here every once in awhile to read chapters of my favorite characters.

Ducking the rotten tomatoes

I never said it was a poor genre. But it is most definitely a prolific field. Individually, I am concerned both with writers who can toss off a novel every two months as those who seemingly take two decades writing a book in their seven part trilogy (not to name any names...)

And anyway, that entire romance genre just doesn't work for me, and I need a really good plot to get through all those icky scenes :)

nook also has a nice side benefit of releasing a free book every Friday. Mostly an early novel of an author they have many books to sell once you're hooked.

I think one thing you don't really appreciate is the number of romance novels in the world until you get an ereader -- it's like 300 independent Sweet Valley High series publishing weekly.

I love Westeros.org, though I admit it was full of spoilers. That said, I was using it to design a Game of Thrones prequel RPG, set 10 years before the series (as many of my players hadn't read beyond book one)

I generally say after, but then again, I've been surprised to find to my chagrin that there was a helpful glossary after stumbling through a few books (the Mistborn series comes to mind..).

I'd say go to it if something comes up that you're hazy on. I don't remember how spoiling Dune's app. were though.

yup. Kindle went the Apple version of friendly, open useage. Grab a nook and I'll loan you my copy of AGoT.

Ken wrote: "Now that we have a book, how do we want to go about the reading schedule? Set a deadline to complete the entire book? Ask people to have read X chapters in X amount of time and discuss? Or just ..."

Well, I set March 1 as a "deadline", primarily on the strength that's when Han and raid have their Dune game scheduled to start. What's everyone's general reading speed? I'm comfortable with a book every 3-4 weeks or so. Anything quicker and we risk making it a chore for some. Longer and the quicker readers might lose interest by the time we're really discussing it.

Should we set a single pace, a deadline for the end of the book, aim for a rolling discussion? I've not done this outside of a structured form like EN532-01, Compositions and Sleepless Deadlines MWF 11.

Dr. Ben wrote: "Can't say I'm totally pumped about this choice, only because my sole experience with the book is being bored stiff by the Sting movie version back when I was like 12 (which I admit is not a fair cr..."

That movie pretty much worked on a script made from only the even numbered pages of the book. The actual book is far less disjointed. Convoluted, yes. Impenetrable, no. SciFi did a far more faithful if garish version a few years back.

Terri wrote: "So much for my wish for a new book first. We'll get to a newer book eventually, right? ;)

I wished I had the foresight about Dune earlier, I am almost sure I could have borrowed it from a friend...."

I doubt we can find a book none of us have read really. Dune had enough interest to have it put up ... We can easily have 2 books to read for those uninterested or unable to read the current choice. I'd gladly read something other than Dune, as I've read it previously. Any suggestions?

Just because plenty seem to be reading/read recently. Careful with the spoilers!

One of the classics for Science Fiction (and a perennial favorite for werewolf). House Atreides and Harkonnen struggle against each other politically in the Emperor's favor. Their battleground is the planet Dune, the only source for the valuable spice. But the Fremen of the planet tire of Imperial domination, and the great sandworms make collecting it difficult...

A Hugo and Nebula Award Winner.

I think Dune has enough traction in the poll to be included as our first book. Shall we include another book on the shelf?

I have a nook, and find it's definitely a good way to read lighter books. It's generally much easier to tote around work, especially as I tend to be working on a few books at a time. I usually don't get much enjoyment out of the second run-through of a book, so my lending library generally has a "no-returns" policy (it keeps my books from exploding into my gaming shelves).

The ereaders are also a tremendous (and free) way to read those classics (especially if your nice copies are too nice to break the spine on) if you can deal with the occasional artifact from OCR scanning.

And being able to keep a handy .pdf copy of almost every RPG system I own in ym hand is a nice touch, too.