![]() |
![]() |
Visit The *EVEN NEWER* Barrow-Downs Photo Page |
![]() |
#681 | |
Child of the West
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Watching President Fillmore ride a unicorn
Posts: 2,132
![]() ![]() |
![]() Quote:
__________________
"Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." - Mark Twain |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#682 | |
A Mere Boggart
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: under the bed
Posts: 4,737
![]() ![]() |
Quote:
![]() I'd forgotten about the Mary Stewart ones - I read those not long after reading LotR for the first time and they stood up to the incredibly fussy taste I'd developed! I've got Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book here, so I'm about to see what that's like... I got The Lost Girls for Christmas - it's very good, and very, very, very adult.....Oh, and one I have to thank Pio for is The Fables - I finally read the first one last year and it was amazing! I'm trying to find the second one now...
__________________
Gordon's alive!
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#683 |
Shade with a Blade
|
Define "good."
__________________
Stories and songs. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#684 |
A Mere Boggart
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: under the bed
Posts: 4,737
![]() ![]() |
Good as in good Art. It's basically an adult imagining of the adult lives and 'adventures' of Alice, Wendy and Dorothy - approach with caution if easily (or even averagely) shocked (and short of cash - they're rightly not cheap, mass market books).
__________________
Gordon's alive!
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#685 | |
Banshee of Camelot
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 5,830
![]() |
Quote:
Speaking of Arthurian fiction (if that is fantasy?), I am very fond of Gillian Bradshaw's trilogy "Hawk of May", "Kingdom of Summer", "In Winter's Shadow". I guess that's why I never tried reading the much praised "Mists of Avalon". I am so fond of the characters portrayed in Bradshaw's novels, I didn't wish to see them portrayed quite differently. I started reading T.H.White's "The Once and Future King", but found it rather strange - it was just not my cup of tea.
__________________
Yes! "wish-fulfilment dreams" we spin to cheat our timid hearts, and ugly Fact defeat! |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#686 |
Shade with a Blade
|
It's pornography, essentially.
__________________
Stories and songs. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#687 | |
Curmudgeonly Wordwraith
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Ensconced in curmudgeonly pursuits
Posts: 2,506
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Quote:
For me, it was an extremely funny book which turns very sad, and it's that juxtaposition of humor and melancholy which got me. And the profound nature of T.h. White's pacificism is imbued in the very fabric of the tale. One literally cries when Arthur, old and tired and wiser, raises his hands to stop the charge of his men and Mordred's, but his effort is as futile as trying to hold back a tidal wave, and he falls in the cataclym. One of my all-time favorites, right up there with LotR.
__________________
And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#688 |
A Mere Boggart
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: under the bed
Posts: 4,737
![]() ![]() |
I wouldn't say so, as it's not created with the same intent in mind.
__________________
Gordon's alive!
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#689 | ||
Cryptic Aura
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 5,992
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Quote:
![]() Quote:
Also, not wanting to sound like a chauvinist, I too found MoA heavy going, in much the same way I dislike most of Atwood. The dogmatics are just too, well, dogmatic and I can take only so much knocking on my skull before my reading skills are numbed senseless. Have never read Mary Stewarts' Merlin series so I'll take a look at them and maybe even a relook at TH White, as it's been years and years. . . But for new current fantasy, I found The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss quite fascinating, especially from the perspective of a Tolkien read. The debt is there, but this is no mere pale imitation.
__________________
I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away. |
||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#690 |
Shade with a Blade
|
Not according to Alan Moore.
__________________
Stories and songs. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#691 | ||
A Mere Boggart
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: under the bed
Posts: 4,737
![]() ![]() |
Quote:
Quote:
![]() As the masterful Harry Hill says, there's only one way to find out...
__________________
Gordon's alive!
|
||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#692 |
Wight
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Hobbiton, U.S.A.
Posts: 165
![]() |
![]()
I've recently fallen in love with the Green Rider series. Well, I suppose you could say I re-fell in love with them. I read the first two in high school and then kind of forgot about them. I was in a bookstore recently and came accross them and bought them without a second thought. I'd really forgotten how much I loved the characters and story line. If you haven't read them I would definitely pick them up!
__________________
You can take a hobbit out of the Shire but you can't take the Shire out of a hobbit. Whoever said "Nothing is impossible" never tried to slam a revolving door. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#693 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Amongst trees.
Posts: 919
![]() |
Other Fantasy authors/books I've read....
Terry Goodkind Terry Brooks (only the Shannara ones) Robert Jordan Stephen King (mainly The Dark Tower series) Ursula Le Guin (though I've never technically read any of her fantasy, just the SciFi) Tad Williams Jack Yeovil (only the Genevieve books) Neil Gaiman There are some others, whom I would consider to be under the Horror section (since that is where you find them in bookstores); though some people have told me they are Fantasy as well. After awhile, the stories seem to just be repeats of the same basic storyline. So, definitely in need of a new read. xD
__________________
But I was clinging to her like a homicidal monkey.
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#694 |
Animated Skeleton
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Birmingham, central England
Posts: 48
![]() |
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever, is always a firm favourite of mine.
I do find Donaldson's works a joy anyway, but his Covenant series is on a par with LOTR, and I sometimes wish Pete Jackson would bring some of the more accessible of these books to film.
__________________
"No that's fame. Fame has a fifteen minute half-life, infamy lasts a little longer." |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#695 | |
Wight of the Old Forest
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Unattended on the railway station, in the litter at the dancehall
Posts: 3,329
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Quote:
I've recently discovered Lukianenko's (I always forget his Christian name) Night Watch series and found it rather addictive - kind of an adult version of Harry Potter, complete with a secret community of wizards, vampires, werewolves etc., but very scary, very grey-in-grey and with a great setting (present-day Moscow). Otherwise, my favourites are Ursula K. LeGuin, Tad Williams, Orson Scott Card (Alvin Maker series)... and Donaldson, of course. I've also read all of Jordan's The Wheel of Time and intend to find out how it ends, but I'm not particularly proud of the fact.
__________________
Und aus dem Erebos kamen viele seelen herauf der abgeschiedenen toten.- Homer, Odyssey, Canto XI |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#696 |
Hostess of Spirits
|
![]()
So, it's not REALLY "Fantasy," I suppose... but I just got done reading through all of the Sookie Stackhouse series books by Charlaine Harris. TRUE BLOOD got me hooked. If you are looking for some "mind candy," as I call it, check them out... it's not like they are super intelligent, but they are quick reads and quite enjoyable.
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#697 |
Shady She-Penguin
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 8,093
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Not like very many people could enjoy this recommendation, but Finnish fantasy is actually surprisingly good sometimes.
![]() Unrelatedly, have people been reading Lian Hearn's semi-Japan fantasy series? I just found the third part of the trilogy from a library after having completely forgotten it exists... and I don't remember if it was good enough to really be worth a read. ![]() *off to devour favourite authors Le Guin, Kay and Martin* ![]()
__________________
Like the stars chase the sun, over the glowing hill I will conquer Blood is running deep, some things never sleep Double Fenris
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#698 |
Princess of Skwerlz
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles)
Posts: 7,500
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
I'm currently rereading Jasper Fforde's 'Thursday Next' series; I know I've already recommended them, but there aren't many books I like so much that I can reread them several times with intense enjoyment, so I'll mention them again. So witty, intelligent, literary, wacky, and absolutely hilarious!!
__________________
'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...' |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#699 |
shadow of a doubt
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Back on the streets
Posts: 1,125
![]() ![]() |
Guess I'm not really a fantasy fan. I've got the impression Tolkien killed the genre off by perfecting it and when I tried to get into other fantasy works in my teens I did not get very far. To me they (I don't remember titles) were just pale copies or inferior variations, with the author obviously writing in the shadow of Tolkien. Then again, the books I did try might simply have been bad apples that put me off an otherwise decent harvest. Maybe I should give it another go. Any suggestions?
__________________
"You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way" ~ Bob Dylan |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#700 |
Shady She-Penguin
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 8,093
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]()
Skippy, in your case I'd start from something else than the traditional-style fantasy. Neil Gaiman's Stardust plays with old fairytales and has a lot of sarcasm and evil jokes, and Guy Gavriel Kay's The Lions of Al-Rassan is more "alternative history" than fantasy: one of the main characters is based on El Cid and it is very much like early medieval Spain, but Kay has taken more liberty by placing the story in an imaginary world. That's two very good ones off the top of my head.
![]()
__________________
Like the stars chase the sun, over the glowing hill I will conquer Blood is running deep, some things never sleep Double Fenris
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#701 | |
A Voice That Gainsayeth
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: In that far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 7,431
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Quote:
I know for example one author, but first, he's a bit specific, and second, he is Polish and his books have not been translated to so many languages (to English, for example, but just very few of them and he's not probably that well known). His name is Andrzej Sapkowski, and the books would be called something like "Hexer" or stuff like that. Just if you saw it somewhere, I could recommend it to you to just check it - either you will like it or not. It is kind of a "monster-killer" stuff on first sight, but that's really just on first sight, it has much deeper story behind it (and in a way it's a bit parodical of the classic fantasy, but at the same moment remaining serious), and sometimes rather tolkienesque and also a lot more "realistic" in the portrayal of things (like, he is not "black and white" - no way, quite the opposite...).
__________________
"Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#702 | |
Banshee of Camelot
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 5,830
![]() |
Quote:
And I'm fond of Neil Gaiman's "Stardust" too! (the illustrated copy, by all means!) though I even prefer the movie! Obviously I don't know any Finnish fantasybooks, but I love Mika Waltari's historical novel "Sinuhe the Egyptian" (I wish I could find translations of his other books)
__________________
Yes! "wish-fulfilment dreams" we spin to cheat our timid hearts, and ugly Fact defeat! |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#703 |
Curmudgeonly Wordwraith
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Ensconced in curmudgeonly pursuits
Posts: 2,506
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
My daughter and I are reading through Gaiman's Coraline, and it's a hoot! It seems Gaiman has about the same contempt for adults as did Roald Dahl in an earlier generation. My daughter has gotten stuck on a few words when Gaiman polysyllabifies, but overall it's great read for a nine-year old. A bit creepy in spots, I suppose (particularly the 'other parents' eyes), but we've been enjoying it immensely.
__________________
And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#704 |
Wight of the Old Forest
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Unattended on the railway station, in the litter at the dancehall
Posts: 3,329
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Indeed, a great read! It's 30 years or more since I read it - about the only truly fascinating book in my parents' bookshelves at the time - , but it made a lasting impression. "All temples are dark houses..."
Actually, now I think of it, this book did much to awake an interest in early civilizations and the dawn of history in my adolescent mind, and thus prepared the way for Tolkien. I always imagined Númenórean culture as more or less Egyptian in style.
__________________
Und aus dem Erebos kamen viele seelen herauf der abgeschiedenen toten.- Homer, Odyssey, Canto XI |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#705 |
Shade with a Blade
|
It seems no one has mentioned Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, though I'm sure some of you have read it. If you haven't, I highly, highly recommend it. It's like an alternate history of England in which magicians and fairies play prominent roles well after the Middle Ages, and has one of the best interpretations of the land of Faery that I've read. The book itself starts off sounding a great deal like a Jane Austen novel and continues that way for much of the book, but as the plot thickens, it grows more and more descriptive and brutal and dark. Anyway, super cool book, very imaginative, and because the movie adaptation is already underway, you only have a couple years to read it before the film hits theaters and ruins the story for you.
![]()
__________________
Stories and songs. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#706 | |
Curmudgeonly Wordwraith
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Ensconced in curmudgeonly pursuits
Posts: 2,506
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Quote:
http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpos...&postcount=663 I came away from the book dissatisfied. It droned on far too long after a very promising start, and the characters became less and less interesting as the story advanced. Both Strange and Norrell both came off as a bit thick, and the allusions to imaginary books, although clever at the beginning, became an anchor no less heavy than the copious allusions found in Melville's Moby Dick (a novel I respect but despise all the same). As the Emperor told Mozart in the movie 'Amadeus', "There you have it -- too many notes." I usually rate books on whether I would reread them (I do the same with movies). I would not reread this book.
__________________
And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#707 | |
Shade with a Blade
|
Quote:
It is a long book, for sure, and is pretty slow during its first half. Once it gets moving, though, it's well worth the time invested.
__________________
Stories and songs. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#708 |
Shady She-Penguin
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 8,093
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]()
I just finished Ursula Le Guin's The Word for World is Forest and I'm happy that I decided to read it. Not only because it was a very good book (one of the best I've read this year), but also because I really seldom read science fiction and upon reading this book I realised I'd enjoy the genre a lot, because it can have such interesting ideas and also criticism of the way how humans treat each other and the nature.
![]()
__________________
Like the stars chase the sun, over the glowing hill I will conquer Blood is running deep, some things never sleep Double Fenris
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#709 |
Cryptic Aura
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 5,992
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
It might be Le Guin you are enjoying, Lommy, rather than the genre of SF, because she has a unique POV which not many other writers of SF follow.
JS and MR offers a unique alternate history, which is part of its charm. As Professor Fordim Hedgethistle once suggested, one can question some of the aspects of that alternative vision, but it is clever. As well, those who know Victorian culture might find a chuckle or two in it. I'm still rather surprised that no one else has mentioned Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind, especially considering that a comparison to Tolkien would be quite interesting.
__________________
I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#710 |
Wight
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Ohio. Believe it or not.
Posts: 145
![]() |
Right now I'm working my way through Pratchett's Discworld series for the second time.
Love the man's mind and am greatly saddened that it's fading away...
__________________
Don't believe everything you read on the interwebs. That's how World War 1 got started! |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#711 | |
Shady She-Penguin
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 8,093
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Quote:
![]() The last book I read was George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle's Windhaven. It was nowhere near the best fantasy books I've read but the narration was exceptionally vivid. I can recommend it.
__________________
Like the stars chase the sun, over the glowing hill I will conquer Blood is running deep, some things never sleep Double Fenris
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#712 | |
Wight
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Ohio. Believe it or not.
Posts: 145
![]() |
Quote:
__________________
Don't believe everything you read on the interwebs. That's how World War 1 got started! |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#713 | |
Shady She-Penguin
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 8,093
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Quote:
![]() ![]()
__________________
Like the stars chase the sun, over the glowing hill I will conquer Blood is running deep, some things never sleep Double Fenris
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#714 | |
Wisest of the Noldor
|
Quote:
I'd say it's worth a read, though.
__________________
"Even Nerwen wasn't evil in the beginning." –Elmo. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#715 | |
Wight
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Ohio. Believe it or not.
Posts: 145
![]() |
Quote:
The Thursday Next series is absolutely brilliant. I'd recommend them to anyone. (Care for some toast, Estelyn?)
__________________
Don't believe everything you read on the interwebs. That's how World War 1 got started! |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#716 |
Princess of Skwerlz
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles)
Posts: 7,500
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
No thanks, Boo, no toast - but you wouldn't happen to have some smuggled cheese around, would you? Or mabe a bit of Battenberg...
__________________
'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...' |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#717 |
Wight
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Ohio. Believe it or not.
Posts: 145
![]() |
(Pssst! Per'aps... meet me down at me flyin' boat?)
__________________
Don't believe everything you read on the interwebs. That's how World War 1 got started! |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#718 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 3,448
![]() ![]() |
The Black Company Series from Glen Cook
Starting with an original Trilogy The Black Company The Shadow of fear (I thinks it's called just drew a blank) The White Rose those three books were amazing! great narrative and the "Baddies" are really scary and evil.... and then they show you the Other side of themselves like "The Lady"(that's what she's called) suddenly bursts into tears because she's afraid of death and why she protects herself and her empire so strongly, Cook makes the baddies human. also there is magic but in measured amount like Tolkien it's there but not over the top. then there are the Books of the south: A second trilogy about the Black Company; These continue on the story and delve into the Company's history as well as making an extremely interesting plot leading right into the third set of books which contains four volumes...... and those four volumes are.... out of print! I stumbled across the first three the second trilogy I got in a newly printed compilation book, and the third sett I'm hoping will be coming out in such a way as well...
__________________
Morsul the Resurrected |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#719 |
Wight
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Ohio. Believe it or not.
Posts: 145
![]() |
Right now (Well... not RIGHT now. Right now I'm typing this post) I'm reading Monstrous Regiment, by Terry Pratchett, Very, very funny. It's one of the DiscWorld series.
__________________
Don't believe everything you read on the interwebs. That's how World War 1 got started! |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#720 |
Flame Imperishable
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Right here
Posts: 3,928
![]() ![]() ![]() |
Is that the one where they all turn out to be women?
__________________
Welcome to the Barrow Do-owns Forum / Such a lovely place
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
|
![]() |