I wish this wasn't the case, but...

[Shard]

Wow you guys must really be bored lol.

 

You know I think a lot of people miss pronounced Nynaeve's name when they first saw it.

[Arani Lepenque Aes Sedai]

*Grins ruefully*

 

Yah.  I pronounced it as Nai-ner-vee, and I still do....

Its a hard to break habit.

[Luckers]

...I can't seem to reread the series again.  I have been a fan of tWoT since I found a few of the books at the store over a decade ago.  To date, it is still my favorite series.  I have read it between 15-20 times, but now I get to the part between White Bridge and Caemlyn in tEotW and I just stop reading.

 

I used to have this problem, especially with the first three books--which were the ones I have probably read the most. I know longer do--It's probably just that I've grown up--now i find new things fascinating. Before my favourite scenes from the first book were the big ones--the fights with Trollocs, the daring escapes, Rand's slip into the Royal palace--now i find the subtle scenes far more interesting. In particular i find Nynaeve's arc the most fascinating in the book--where before i found her irritating now i see her struggle. Trying so hard to be there for her people, trying to be the adult, yet faced with a massive, life changing revelation. And best yet, the struggle between her hatred of Moiraine, and her rational self which increasingly agrees with Moiraine.

 

But yes, I've read the series fully at least twenty times--with the exception of KoD which I've only read about eight or ten times. Some of the earlier books i've read as much as twenty-five times. There is always something new--some nuance.

 

My suggestion to you would be that in your next read specifically look for the scenes you are inclined to skip. The scenes that in your other reads you found boring. Read them specifically. I suspect you'll see things in them you've never seen before.

[Serenla]

Ya'll are funny.  I pronounce just about every name in the series wrong.  Sometimes because I hate reading the pronounciation keys, sometimes because I'm into the story and don't want to stop reading to check and sometimes because I like the way I say them even though I know it's not technically correct.  I figure as long as I don't tell people my way is right then it doesn't hurt anybody.

 

As for skipping around, I skip the evil people's POVs a lot of the times I read the story.  I never feel guilty or "make" myself read any of the point of views that I'm not especially into at the moment.  Way I see it, I am reading to enjoy the story not inflict it on myself.  And besides it's not like I don't already know what's going to happen...

[water_seeker]

My suggestion to you would be that in your next read specifically look for the scenes you are inclined to skip. The scenes that in your other reads you found boring. Read them specifically. I suspect you'll see things in them you've never seen before.

 

That is some good advice. Thank you for that.  ;D

 

And as I get older I notice that certain things that I didn't care much about before really mean more to me now.  I wonder how I'll see this series in another 10 years...

 

That last observation actually brings up another thought...this story really has something for people at any stage of life.  There are so many people on the forums from so many walks of life and there's something in WoT for all of us.

[Goramier]

I just read back over this thread and lol. I didn't realize how people pronounced names mattered to others so much. I knowingly mispronounce names and its not because I am lazy, stupid or don't think before I speak. For me its that I don't speak the names. I just think them in my head. When I have talked to my wife about the books I used the proper pronunciations. In the end, when I read the series I used the pronunciation that feels right. It may be wrong and for me some of them are but the glory of a book is that I get to read and enjoy it on my terms.

 

As far as Nynaeve. I looked up how to say it once and have since forgot. Thus, I don't know the actual pronunciation. I also knew a girl who had the same name and she said how it was pronounced and that being years ago, have since forgotten. I have always said it in my mind as,

 

Nynaeve = Nen-yave.

 

Again I know its wrong but thats fine. I can read and enjoy the books in my mind as I see fit. Tear will always be Tare to me and Aiel will always be Ale. That is the way the sound proper to me and I am sticking to it.

 

Anyways as far as reading the series and skipping the parts I think are dumb/boring is a great idea. Its simple yet I have never considered it. I enjoy the first 5 books enough to just read them through. Starting with book six I would probably skip all Perin/Nynaeve/Egwene/Elayne and Forsaken parts. I wouldn't skip the forsaken for any other reason then just the "been there read that" aspect to it. My favorite story line is Matt (like many) and Fain. Padan is awsome. My favorite all time villian. I wish there was more to him in the stories. My least favorite is by far Perin though I have never seen a better set up for a character to become a dark friend. Although I am sure he won't I think RJ paved the way for it to be, at least if Faile had been killed. I remember the story lines to either Demandred or Samual or both that they were good friends and leaders under Lews and turned. I think that would have been the perfect thing for Perin but avass I think that hope is gone.

[CUBAREY]

I have read the series 9 times and am in the middle of my 10's read through. I admit that some of the scenes with the wonder girls are a bit hard to read sometimes and have gone so far in my last 2 read throughs as to skim the parts dealing with Luca and the traveling circus (except those that deal with Mat and Tuon) its not that I dislike the wonder girls in general but the circus scenes can be tedious on the 8th and 9th read through.

[Luzburg]

I always pronouned Nynaeve as Niamh which is a common enough Irish name. If you took out the N it might work.

 

I still call the the Aiel ALE, because it sounds better to me.

 

I can't remember the proper pronunciation for Moirrane, I'd say 'Moyrane'.

 

 

 

 

I'm only on my umm... third read. I only discovered the series a year and a half ago. The first time I picked it up in a book shop and read like a madman. Then I couldn't find book 3/4 so I skipped to 5. The next time I read full through and this time I am also.

[mb]

water_seeker, did you read other books/series before you read Wheel of Time?  If so, what genre would they be and what are their names?

Another question: when you first read this series, was the whole series given as a gift or did you buy all of them or was some portion a gift and you bought the rest?

Answering these questions are optional.

 

Some other solutions that might get you re-reading:

-Wait till the rest of the series is published.

-Take a break that is long enough for you to forget what happens. Reading other books/series could be done in this time.

-Pick a topic and find what the books say about that topic.

-Come up with a quiz (or pick one from the Internet) and find the answers in the books.  Preferably avoid questions that are too easy to answer (ie questions you could answer immediately without checking).

 

[arkinia]

*Grins ruefully*

 

Yah.  I pronounced it as Nai-ner-vee, and I still do....

Its a hard to break habit.

 

LOL Yeah, when I first started reading I didn't even bother puzzling out how to pronounce it, I just glossed over her name and merely acknowledged that she was who was being talked about.

[Sylvia]

I get bored with the series too, after reading them a million plus times. I go to different series or different books, then just pick back up in WOT. It works for me

[Elgee]

I have read the series over 20 times now (obviously the latter the book, the less I've read it). I tend to skip or scan through sections that irritate/bore me (Perin, Elayne, Nynaeve & Elayne in Tanchico), but before each new book comes out I sit down for a proper re-read. I've just started on Book 1 now again, as my proper re-read before the new book/volume is released in November. This re-read is much earlier than normal, for me, but I'm limiting myself to no more than 3 chapters a night  :P

 

As for pronunciation: I think it might also depend on what someone's home language is. Mine is Afrikaans (close to Dutch, German, Flemish), so mine might be different from someone from the USA. Even when I "think" the names in an "English" pronunciation, it would lean towards the Queen's English (that's proper Brit speak, btw  ;)), because that is the closest I can describe my English accent as.

[CUBAREY]

Even when I "think" the names in an "English" pronunciation, it would lean towards the Queen's English (that's proper Brit speak, btw  ), because that is the closest I can describe my English accent as.

 

This gave me a rather ghastly thought. Having the WOT characters speak in rather nasty Brit accents. At least the Emond's Fielders speak with a proper Carolina accent (the true site of the Two Rivers).  Although Olver speaking with a cockny accent would feel right.

[Elgee]

This gave me a rather ghastly thought. Having the WOT characters speak in rather nasty Brit accents.

 

But ... they do! *angel face*

 

You're so right about Olver! "Please sir, may I have some more?" springs to mind  ;D

[water_seeker]

IDK what it was...maybe the advice, maybe the impending release of book 12 this Nov., or maybe just talking about it, but for the past couple days I have had trouble putting tEotW down.  I finished it today and started tGH.  For a lot of my read-throughs till I started having trouble doing read-throughs I would skip the "man who called himself Bors" prologue.  Now I'm actually enjoying it again...I missed out on a lot of good stuff because I skipped it.

[CUBAREY]

This gave me a rather ghastly thought. Having the WOT characters speak in rather nasty Brit accents.

 

But ... they do! *angel face*

 

You're so right about Olver! "Please sir, may I have some more?" springs to mind  ;D

 

My thoughts exactly!

[adverge]

 

I've read the books 7-8 times I believe.  I tend to re-read the whole series each time a new one comes out, so I've read the older ones more times.  My last couple of re-reads I was skipping whole sections I found dumb or dull.  My latest "re-read" has been the audio book version.  I listen to it on my iPod while at work, which makes it impossible to skip sections.  This has been pretty interesting because I had forgotten most of what I was skipping over. 

 

I'd recommend listening to the series on audio book at some point or another, if you can get past the name thing.  I did notice that the readers can't decide on the pronounciations either.  Moghidien is pronounced differently in various books for instance.  There are others as well that I can't remember at the moment.

[Bela]

I think I am going to re-read in a few months but ONLY the Mat chapters.

[Eleint]

I think I am going to re-read in a few months but ONLY the Mat chapters.

 

This is similar to what I usually do in my re-reads, though my most recent one I made myself read everything.  I read everything up to book 4.  Past Book 4, I read Rand/Mat's and Perrin's POVs and skip Elayne/Nyn's.  Later on, I read Rand/Mat's POV and skip Perrin/Faile and Egwene's.  Later further I read all of Mat's, most of Rand's, and skip Elayne/Egwene's.  In KoD, I start reading Egwene's again as she's better when captured.  She has gumption and isn't quite so bad then.