UGH ok I had to stop myself from commenting in the thread because it would serve no purpose, but I have to vent here a little. 
 Just got done reading a series of posts on here where readers expressed their shock that people who didn't fall all over themselves for Game of Thrones existed (great quote here "god forbid they should hate the series" - and then they speculated as to why that is. 
 To date the thread has two main speculations: 
 - they can't stomach the rape (it's realistic in a medieval setting!) 
 bullshit - GRRM *MADE UP* the world that GoT takes place in. He intentionally chose to include rape. As for realism? So dragons and magic and whatnot is believable but omfg a medieval-ish fantasy without rape.. NO WAI! 
 My "favorite" of these was 
 "GRRM is still the best out there, so it's a huge shame that some people can't get past whatever pre-conceived notions [referring to the sex and paedophilia] they have to enjoy these books. " 
 Not liking rape is a perfectly valid reason for not reading a book, the part that bugged me is that this was frowned upon. Which implies that I should "get over" being offended by something (one commenter actually says this) in order to enjoy the books. No - I am sorry.. I don't think I'm going to _get over_ rape being portrayed as ok. Also childbrides and their subsequent rape - no thanks not in my fantasy! 
 - they can't read long books 
 That _must_ be it. I am just not intelligent enough of a reader to make it through a long book. Also the tie-in that because I don't read long books I also won't read books twice. (for the record I've read LoTR about 23 times AND I've made it through the Simarillion SO BITE ME) 
 I wish these people could take a step back from their fanboy/girl ism and take a minute to actually read what it is that they're typing and consider what it is that they are saying. 
 I didn't comment in the thread because doing so would make me have to join the group - something I didn't want to do. But thanks for reading the rant!