Kevin's Watch

Stand up and be counted is what In say! Lets get it straight - what we want is as accurate a figure as you can estimate of how many complete readings of all six books you can muster. I don't see why the reads should necessarily be in order [though that is the obvious way] but if say you have read the First Chrons six times, but the second only four - then four it is.

We are an honourable bunch so our word is taken as being a true reflection of what we have done. I'll kick off. I read it once [all three books] of IC then again. I read it again at least once before 'TWL'

Ok - I'm going to be conservative in my estimate; I reacon I can say, hand on heart, I can notch up four complete readings of all six books of C1 and C2. I've done many more than four of one or two [C1 at least 6 times I would say] but four for all six. whose next?

I've honestly lost count, I am afraid.

My situation is similar to wayfriend's. There was period before I found the Watch where I would read the 1st and 2nd Chrons yearly. Oddly, I stopped doing this when I joined the Watch, and I actually haven't done a full reread in a while (although I did do a partial one a while back). I think posting on the Watch and talking so much about the books made me feel like I was constantly 'involved' in them, so that I didn't feel the need to read them as much.

u.

wayfriend wrote:I've honestly lost count, I am afraid.

Alas, so have I. I suppose my best guess would be somewhere between 5-10 re-reads, going all the way back to the late '70s. However, sometimes those haven't been complete re-reads. There are times when re-reading TIW that I would skip the Hile Troy chapters in favor of the Elena chapters (or vice versa, as the mood struck me.) Also, I have been notorious for skipping chunks of TOT.

wayfriend wrote:I've honestly lost count, I am afraid.

Same here.

Vraith wrote:Ummm...huh
some folk are committed.
I don't think there is anything other than a couple Shakespeare plays that I've read 5 or more times [and those few plays have been re-read due to also being cast in another production of them].

No kidding? May I ask which plays?

dlbpharmd wrote:

Vraith wrote:Ummm...huh
some folk are committed.
I don't think there is anything other than a couple Shakespeare plays that I've read 5 or more times [and those few plays have been re-read due to also being cast in another production of them].

No kidding? May I ask which plays?

You can ask. But if I told you I'd have to kill...er...ummm...call you dear and darling, and tell you how I simply adooooore the Bard...

Yea. Multiples one way or another:
R&J, Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet, Midsummer, Henry IV pt2, [pt 1 done once, Henry V done only in workshop, not real performance]
[[did NOT play the lead in most of those...but Iago is close for Othello, done Macbeth and Macduff and minor/murderer in "Scottish Play", and Oberon twice...but when I'm in a play, I read the fucker until it disintegrates...then I start learning my lines.

Total 6 book rereads, I don't know.

I know I started this way, numbering books 1-6 for ease of typing

3
1
3
2
1,2,3
Then rereads as the new books came out
1,2,3,4
1,2,3,4,5
1,2,3,4,5,6

and I know I've done a number of rereads before the last chronicles. I also did entire series rereads as each new book came out to refresh my memory, so 3 more times there.

I'm just about to do the final reread before I read TLD.

My wife is a bigger reader than me, but she rarely rereads. She thinks I'm somewhat nuts for reading the same thing time after time.

If you think that's a lot of rereads, I've done the same thing with the Feist books, but I stopped at The Talon book, so I didn't make it to 23 or so in the series.

Soarback Grayhare wrote: 3
1
3
2
1,2,3
Then rereads as the new books came out
1,2,3,4
1,2,3,4,5
1,2,3,4,5,6

This sounds like a waltz.

Me - maybe 6-8 complete read throughs.

I, too, have long lost count. Were you to include the LCs, I would have to set the bar much lower...not because I scorn them as some do, but because they have not been out for decades and sitting on my shelf whispering "Read Me Again and Find Something New!" quite so long.

As for the Bard, Midsummer Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing have been read far more than the others, although Macbeth and Hamlet are close. Much Ado is the clear favorite.

Every time I re-read I discover something new or rediscover things that I had forgotten, so the experience is always one of intense joy and fillings up.

Here are my 10 most blart inducing moments;-

1. TC answers Foamfollowers questions on the Journey to Revelstone and his answers are such that FF exclaimes "As sad a story in two words as the previous was in three. Tell me no story in one word Thomas Covenant for you surely shall have me in tears."

2. Prothall jokes with Foamfollower that he had heard it was Gianish talk rather than diamondraught [as FF had claimed] that had stopped a battle in it's tracks at some earlier point in the Giants history. FF says "Ah, High-Lord, you mistake me; it was the Giants who drank the diamondraught."

3. Covenant is aghast at learning that the Bloodguard have neither slept or died since swearing their oath 2000 years previously. "My God - How do you live!" he exclaims. Bannor answers him with the flat brutal honesty that the Haruchai level against themselves saying "We suffice." or words to that effect

4. Covenant and party flee the lurker in the surrounding woods of the Sarangrave and become aware that there is something 'in the woods' with them. The Haruchai dissapear silently into the surrounding 'bush' and a moment later the party come across Brinn standing before a Giant who is rubbing his recently punched chin. On learning that they are effectively friends he reflects that having the Haruchai as such is a "weighty matter".

5. Covenant walks through the hidden underground cells of Revelstone with Gibbon and a hand comes through the square barred window of one of the cells and grips his arm. "Unbeliever I am Brinn of the Haruchai held captive against my will along with .... of my companions. Our plight is an abomination. Will you not redeem us?"

6. Sunder is at last persuaded to place an aliantha berry in his mouth against his every instict for self-preservation [the rede of the clave has taught that the berries are poisonous]. He rails at TC for blithly overturning the collected wisdom of millenia at every turn, but on eating the single berry he has an epiphany. "This is madness and against every thing I have ever been taught - but if it is so then it is madness I would know more off!"

7. The Haruchai shrug of Kasreyn of the Gyre's 'geas' as though it were nothing "We felt the theurgy of the mage," explains Brinn, "But we chose to pay it no heed."

8. Brinn explains to TC why they will no longer serve him after his and Cails encounter with the Merewives. TC remonstrates but Brinn faces him "Have we not served you well Unbeliever?". "Of course you have", replies Covenant. Brinns reply is as steady as his gaze. "Then let it end."

{question - Did The Haruchai's quitting their service in some way facilitate Brinns being able to become the guardian of the one tree, a thing that though they could not have known it at the time, they would not have been able to otherwise do?]

(Run out of time ...... family shouting for me to 'go out for a walk!')

berk peter wrote:{question - Did The Haruchai's quitting their service in some way facilitate Brinns being able to become the guardian of the one tree, a thing that though they could not have known it at the time, they would not have been able to otherwise do?]

I think so, but not in a mystical way. If they had been in Covenant's service, they might not have felt free to make their own choice. I think the Withdrawal from Service wasn't randomly timed.

You mean by SRD Wayfriend? I'd thought that perhaps their service to TC could [or might] have made it difficult for Brinn to persue what was essentially a private haruchai matter [the challenging of the ak-Haru]. Presumably the 'withdrawal' was just fortuitous timing since the H. could not have known that they would shortly meet their 'adversary of choice' [what exactly was the relationship between the H. and the ak-Haru that made them so look up and need to challenge him on sight].

berk peter wrote:[what exactly was the relationship between the H. and the ak-Haru that made them so look up and need to challenge him on sight].

Damn...edited to add LC's spoiler tag.

Spoiler

He's the Insequent who kicked the shit out of a few hundred of them a few thousand years ago.

I think the leaving of service wasn't necessary for future choice so much as the first effect/sign of the change that enables Brinn's victory.

berk peter wrote:You mean by SRD Wayfriend? I'd thought that perhaps their service to TC could [or might] have made it difficult for Brinn to persue what was essentially a private haruchai matter [the challenging of the ak-Haru]. Presumably the 'withdrawal' was just fortuitous timing since the H. could not have known that they would shortly meet their 'adversary of choice' [what exactly was the relationship between the H. and the ak-Haru that made them so look up and need to challenge him on sight].

It's another of those chain of event things - if that hadn't happened, this couldn't have happened. If Brinn hadn't beaten the ak-Haru, TC wouldn't have had access to the One Tree.

I've totally lost count of my number of readings. I recently did a complete book 1 to book 10 read. Re-reading books is a major occupation - I'm reading all the Watch books again (Pratchett) for the umpteenth time. I must have read TLD four times now in all. Perhaps I mislike reading new (fiction) books these days. If it wasn't for KW I wouldn't have read TP - THANK YOU WATCH!!

Is Pratchett that good Iolanthe; I read the first 'Diskworld' book and found it ok, but it didn't grab me enough to make me continue reading his work. Have I missed out big time?

[nb I was not a massive fan of mixing comedy and fantasy (though Piers Anthony did it pretty well) and think this was maybe why Pratchett and me didn't form a lasting relationship]

V. Ok, so ak-Haru Kenaustin Ardenol was

Spoiler

the Theomach

.
And yes he

Spoiler

beat the crap out of a bunch of H. all those thousands of years ago

. But is there not more. Was ak-Haru not an Haruchai name/myth/whatever before ever

Spoiler

Kenaustin Ardenol took up the role

. Why/how incidentally did

Spoiler

the Theomach take up the role

(I'd suggest taking those questions to a better forum. Off-topic anyway.)

berk peter wrote:Is Pratchett that good Iolanthe; I read the first 'Diskworld' book and found it ok, but it didn't grab me enough to make me continue reading his work. Have I missed out big time?

[nb I was not a massive fan of mixing comedy and fantasy (though Piers Anthony did it pretty well) and think this was maybe why Pratchett and me didn't form a lasting relationship.

Well, I can take or leave the Witches, Death and Wincerind books (except for the Last Continent which is brilliant), althouth I enjoyed reading them once or twice, but I am totally in love with Sam Vimes, Commander of the Watch, and I do like the bank and post office ones.

Iolanthe wrote:

berk peter wrote:Is Pratchett that good Iolanthe; I read the first 'Diskworld' book and found it ok, but it didn't grab me enough to make me continue reading his work. Have I missed out big time?

[nb I was not a massive fan of mixing comedy and fantasy (though Piers Anthony did it pretty well) and think this was maybe why Pratchett and me didn't form a lasting relationship.

Well, I can take or leave the Witches, Death and Wincerind books (except for the Last Continent which is brilliant), althouth I enjoyed reading them once or twice, but I am totally in love with Sam Vimes, Commander of the Watch, and I do like the bank and post office ones.

I kinda like the Death ones, but with ya on the others.
I find him very funny...much funnier that Anthony.
I find his later 1/2 funnier than his earlier ones. And better story/structure, too. [[lots of humor folk seem, to me, to have funnier material early on in careers]].