New to the Outlander Book Series

[Nidratime]

I'm just curious about the people who are new to these Outlander books and gravitated towards this book series since the show began. What interested you? (How did you get interested?) Have you begun to read the books? If you haven't read them all or any, what do you hope to see? (I have not read them all, myself. Just the first four and I read them all years before the show began.)

[GrailKing]

I stated in the top thread, but I'll repeat it here.

I was looking for a fix for my ASOIAF / GOT withdrawal, people on Westeros .org mentioned a few books/series that might interest me ( some of which I have seen) Outlander was mentioned a number of times, so I found the series and by the third episode ran out got the first book and read it, I'm now on the second book with the third lying under it.

And to make sure Starz and the actors get paid I bought the Blue Rays ( want to see the extended Reckoning chapter ) I decided not to go with the audio disc for three reasons: 1 I'm retired now and no need for extended travel, 2. my Niece has them and let me take them when I returned our Daughter back to the University.

3. I hated the male voice doing the prelude about the blue vase, and though I did not expect Catriona doing the reading I did expect someone close to her voice tone, the female reader was too high pitch for my liking it actually was grating to my ears.

I'm only into chapter 6 of A DIA but I left my thoughts on the first 5 up in the DIA thread.

[Dust Bunny]

I mentioned it in "Small Talk" before I think, but I like telling the story, so here it is again: I discovered the books through the show last year. I was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer last January (2015). I was on Twitter a few days after the diagnosis and saw a tweet about some show called "Outlander". I'd never heard about the show or the books beforehand. I checked out the pilot and was instantly hooked. I grew up adoring The Three Musketeers saga, so this was right in my wheelhouse. Of course, I immediately found out the show is based on the book series. Since I was in treatment, I had spare time on my hands (I was diagnosed 4 days before I was going to move for a job; I had to pass on that job, obviously). I read all 8 books in 9 weeks. It was really fun when I caught up to the show in Book 1. "Outlander"  - books and show - was the best distraction ever. I'm cancer-free now, after a double mastectomy - sláinte! My folks have a condo near Diana's bookstore (The Poisoned Pen) in Arizona. My mom requested an inscribed book. So I have an autographed copy of MOBY that says "To [Dust Bunny]: As brave as a Scot!" The bookstore surprised me by sending me an autographed poster of the TV show. My folks got that framed for me. And - to give myself something to look forward to - I booked a 2 week trip to Scotland for this August. I'm mostly excited to see the country just for itself, not as a "this scene was filmed here" tour.

 

So Outlander has a special place in my heart for being a place of warmth, fun, and adventure when I really needed it. It's wonderful escapism. I love Romanticism and historical fiction (see The Three Musketeers). I adore the characters in the books, and I love what the actors bring to the roles. I'm on my third reading now (currently on ABOSA). I love reading them on the Kindle, because I can jump from one book to another really quickly. Sometimes I can even remember a particular word in a scene, so I can search that and quickly get a favorite part, such as "turtle" in Voyager. :)

 

Bring on Season 2 and Book 9!

Edited February 28, 2016 by Dust Bunny

[GrailKing]

Good Luck to you and enjoy Scotland.

[peacefrog]

I mentioned it in "Small Talk" before I think, but I like telling the story, so here it is again: I discovered the books through the show last year. I was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer last January (2015). I was on Twitter a few days after the diagnosis and saw a tweet about some show called "Outlander". I'd never heard about the show or the books beforehand. I checked out the pilot and was instantly hooked. I grew up adoring The Three Musketeers saga, so this was right in my wheelhouse. Of course, I immediately found out the show is based on the book series. Since I was in treatment, I had spare time on my hands (I was diagnosed 4 days before I was going to move for a job; I had to pass on that job, obviously). I read all 8 books in 9 weeks. It was really fun when I caught up to the show in Book 1. "Outlander"  - books and show - was the best distraction ever. I'm cancer-free now, after a double mastectomy - sláinte! My folks have a condo near Diana's bookstore (The Poisoned Pen) in Arizona. My mom requested an inscribed book. So I have an autographed copy of MOBY that says "To [Dust Bunny]: As brave as a Scot!" The bookstore surprised me by sending me an autographed poster of the TV show. My folks got that framed for me. And - to give myself something to look forward to - I booked a 2 week trip to Scotland for this August. I'm mostly excited to see the country just for itself, not as a "this scene was filmed here" tour.

 

So Outlander has a special place in my heart for being a place of warmth, fun, and adventure when I really needed it. It's wonderful escapism. I love Romanticism and historical fiction (see The Three Musketeers). I adore the characters in the books, and I love what the actors bring to the roles. I'm on my third reading now (currently on ABOSA). I love reading them on the Kindle, because I can jump from one book to another really quickly. Sometimes I can even remember a particular word in a scene, so I can search that and quickly get a favorite part, such as "turtle" in Voyager. :)

 

Bring on Season 2 and Book 9!

I'm very glad you are cancer free! Have a great time in Scotland and make sure you report back here!

[WatchrTina]

Yes Dust Bunny, do report back after your trip.  I'm contemplating a walking tour of southwest England in October and was thinking I should add on a few days to go to Scotland for al least a taste of the country.  I'd love to hear about the highlights of your trip.  And congratulations on being cancer free.  I'm so happy for you.

[Summer]

So glad to hear you are cancer free, Dust Bunny!!  

 

I'll bore you with how I fell into Outlander :)  I have the Starz channel and saw the previews for Outlander, mostly they showed the scene where Claire see's Black Jack for the first time and says "you're not Frank!"  I thought it looked pretty interesting but knew nothing of the show or that the books even existed.  I didn't seek out the show but if it happened to be on as I was clicking through the channels, I would stop and watch but it really didn't hold my attention, I found it kind of boring, granted I never caught a whole episode, just bits and pieces.  As much as I wasn't that interested in the show, People.com would write a recap every week and I would read it  but still wasn't compelled to watch.  My "ah ha" moment came after I read the recap for The Garrison Commander and at the very end Jamie admits he's a virgin.  Something about that peaked my interest so I sought out that episode and could barely get through the flogging scene ( I kept clicking to another channel and coming back, it seemed like it went on FOREVER!) but that was the episode where I really looked at Jamie and Claire and was hooked.  

 

As I've stated before I had no interest in reading the books mainly because I couldn't picture Sam and Cait as Jamie and Claire.  I broke down last summer and read Outlander and then DIA.  I did get a kick out of reading some of the same dialogue from the show but could not picture MY Jamie and Claire in my head which was Sam and Cait.  The books really didn't move me or evoke the feelings the show did.  I really wanted to like them, and I think that I tried to talk myself into loving them, but I think for me its the show that keeps me, not the books.  I also don't like Book!Claire but LOVE Show!Claire.   I made it through half of Voyager and called it quits. I have zero desire to read any of the other books.   

 

I started rereading DIA a few months ago because I DO get a kick out of seeing actual lines from the book in the show, but it's taking me forever to get through it,  the book is just not holding my interest.  

 

I wonder if things would be different if I read the books first, but I'm not sure  I would have even picked them up in the first place....I dunno....20+ years ago when Outlander first came out I was more into mysteries/true crime, so I doubt I would have even glanced that way.  

 

Anywho, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!  

Edited February 28, 2016 by Summer

[emilyplum]

I am in a knitting group with several women. Most of them are older than me (I'm 36) and had read the books when they first came out. One of them, who is British...we are in Alabama) said I should watch the show based on Claire's knits! I still remember her saying it "oh Emily the knits are just MARVELOUS!" That was when the show first aired and I never tried it, but downloaded the first book instead. It sat on my iPad for at least a year before I started reading it and within three chapters I was hooked. Read all the books in a little over a month, watched the first season, then moved on to a reread of the books and reading all the Lord John books as well. I started all of this in January this year. Good grief.

Haven't knitted any of the knitwear yet though - maybe I'll start one of the shawls during the next season.

[DittyDotDot]

Well, I heard about the show--probably here--and added it to my Netflix disk queue only knowing that it was set in 16th century Scotland, there was some time travel aspect and the show was being run by Ron Moore. I watched the first half of the season, but it wasn't really doing much for me. I did like the scenery, the accents and the costuming, but the story itself just didn't hold my interest much.

 

Not sure I'd stick to watching the show, I was curious where some of the story was headed and my usual preference to books got me to pick up the first book while I waited for the second half of the season to be released on DVD. It took me forever to read Outlander--something like over two months. I kept wandering away and reading something else, but eventually would wander back. Diana's writing style wasn't one that spoke to me yet, but the story and characters did.

 

Of course I then had to learn what was next, so on to Dragonfly in Amber. Took me almost as long to finish that one as the first. And, it happened again, I had to know what came next. Voyager was almost the breaking point for me, but at some point I realized I was invested in what happened to Claire and Jamie and Co. There was no going back at that point.

 

I'm still not too keen on Diana's writing style, but either I got used to it or she improved because it didn't leave me rolling my eyes as much after Voyager and I started breezing through them in about a week. After reading the main-book series I finished watching the first season (and even went back to rewatch the first half of the season first). I still haven't been enamored by the show, but I seem to appreciate it more now that I've read all these very long books. And, I even read all the Lord John books and the other novellas as well. The series really surprised me in the end.

[Andorra]

I watched the show simply because of pictures I saw on tumblr. Loved it immediately, watched all episodes in less than a week and was addicted. Then I've read all 8 books in three months. Loved them, too! I currently rereading the books and like them even better the second time around.