Kevin's Watch

I have to re-read the Covenant books right before a new one comes out, or I wont know what's going on.

It doesn't matter how many times I read these books, with years going by until the next release, I cant remember a damned thing.

The problem has only really hit home in the last series of which alas I 'aint a big fan. The first I was fortunate to buy and read all in a space of two weeks (18 yo, bunking off college, 3 SRD books back to back and as much pot and munchies as I could get in inbetween chapters; now *that* was a 2 weeks to remember!). TWL came out by suprise a year or two later, so I wasn't waiting for that one, but I did re-read for the next two. I re-read again before the first of the 3rd Chrons - but by accident because I didn't know it was coming out either. I've re-read the 3rd Chrons for each succesive release but it's been a bit of a chore. The 'non-remembering' problem has only occured with the last series because i) I'm 30 years older and ii) it just doesn't get me enough for it to be memorable.

dlevere, do you have the same problem any book that you read? Or just the Chronicles? I think that that is the important question.

Funnily enough, The Chronicles is the only series I read that I CAN remember what is going on.

Malazan books were a mystery for the first chapter or so of a new book, as is The Song of Ice and Fire ones I'm reading right now.

Strange.

I'm lucky when I remember my own name when waking up. Seriously, gotta re-read the complete series whenever a new boolk is published. No matter what series ... gets confusing after a while ... who am I?

I've done it in the past for some series, but for the chrons, I've only done it for the last ones. I know the first 2 well enough that I don't need to refresh them.

--A

I've re-read the entire chrons what six, seven times. What always does suprise me is how much I have actually *forgotten that I have forgotten*! I have the main story arc under my belt but the devil is in the detail and this is what makes the re-reads for me an intensely enjoyable activity.

I have the prob too. Read 1 Chrons 4 or 5 times, 2 Chrons 3 times I think, every time a new book comes out I have to re-read. Not so much a problem with Last Chrons, probably because the stories are actually a lot simpler (although they have to talk and think about it a lot more).

I want to start re-reading 2 Chrons, but dangit, I'm in the middle of Les Miserables (1450 pages) and just started A Game of Thrones (864 pages)... I think I need to back off on that one or I'll never get through 2nd and last Chrons before The Epic Conclusion comes out. :/

Me to DOTD - in respect of Les Miserables. Am about half way, maybe a bit less, and am lovin' it!

Oh dear. I forget the names all the time. I didn't re-read the 1st Chrons for a long time after I first got them (in an omnibus edition) and used to get mixed up between the characters in the Chrons and Lord of the Rings! Now I've read them again several times that doesn't happen, but I still can't hang on to those names. Someone mentioned a name (SD I think) in the Gap thread and although I recently read the books it was a complete blank!

I don't think it is an age thing. Even when I was at school I had to write things down several times before I could remember them. But, strangely, I could tell you, right off the top of my head, the birth dates and names of several generations of ancestors, and when I hear a local surname I can tell you who wrote to me 30 years ago for information about it. Funny thing, the memory.

i just remember my burning hatred for TC and my undying love for Hile Troy.

I don't have to...

That is, I won't really know what's going on, but I'll feel more or less as though I do.

Actually, Runes of Earth was an exception to this, and therefore Fatal Revenant was as well.

I'm going to go ahead and fire off a guess that I like following the ppl of the land as larger groups, and that the second chrons was more focused with Covenant, Linden and co. as sort of exile/escape/resistant, and stuff, and therefore interested me less. So I didn't follow as much of the second chrons as the first. That's just a guess. They may also be tougher books that I was not (and still am not) up to tackling.

(I do really like The Wounded Land though).

I've actually been interested in the third chrons, but I'm having some difficulty really being moved by them. They feel more like a series criticizing itself at this point...

i just remember my burning hatred for TC and my undying love for Hile Troy.

But Hile Troy is not dedicated enough to the Ur-Lord!

dlevere, do you have the same problem any book that you read? Or just the Chronicles? I think that that is the important question.

Just the Chronicles. For some reason, I find them extremely difficult to read. Sometimes I can't wait to get to the end.

i remember Watership Down pretty well....

Sarge --

I'm with you, peter -- I don't realize how much I've forgotten 'til I reread the series. That said, I'll probably just reread the 3rd Chrons before the new book comes out. I've got 'em all on Kindle now (except for WGW ) so toting them around will be easy this time.