What other fantasy books do YOU read?

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Glad that someone finally agrees with me about Tolkien. People usually laugh or call me stupid when I say that LOTR is the best book ever written.

You misunderstand me. Tolkien is my favourite author, but I wouldn't call LotR the best book ever written. The reason it's my personal favourite is because of the fairy-tale feeling you get while reading it (though certainly there is no 'fairy-tale' ending!) and because of the beautiful and historically rich world Tolkien created. So yes, no author will ever come close to doing that, but there are people who write better than him. Examples? Victor Hugo, Leo Tolstoy, Mary Ann Evans, Charlotte Brontë etc.

[Nerwen]

I doubt there is a single "best book ever written". You can maybe talk about something being the best in a particular genre, but what criteria would determine what was the best ever?

Mind you, generally people really just mean a certain book is their favourite.

Originally Posted by Galadriel

Examples? Victor Hugo, Leo Tolstoy, Mary Ann Evans...

*coughing fit* Galadriel, not to jump on you, but is there any particular reason you can't call her George Eliot, like everyone else?

[Galadriel55]

I was wrong to say that specifically about LOTR. I meant just Tolkien in general, but most peope that I know never heard that name, but they know LOTR from the movies. There are other authors whos books I enjoy very much - sometimes even more than Tolkien. They also go very deep and emotional, but they only show a few certain situations like that, whereas Tolkien has all kinds of sides and circumstances. If I were to choose one author that I like best, I'd name Tolkien, even though others are very good as well.

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I was wrong to say that specifically about LOTR. I meant just Tolkien in general, but most peope that I know never heard that name, but they know LOTR from the movies. There are other authors whos books I enjoy very much - sometimes even more than Tolkien. They also go very deep and emotional, but they only show a few certain situations like that, whereas Tolkien has all kinds of sides and circumstances. If I were to choose one author that I like best, I'd name Tolkien, even though others are very good as well.

Do you not despise it when people are like 'Wait, LotR is a book??' It makes me want to cry.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Galadriel

Do you not despise it when people are like 'Wait, LotR is a book??' It makes me want to cry.

yes, yes, and definitely YES!!!!!

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Galadriel

Do you not despise it when people are like 'Wait, LotR is a book??' It makes me want to cry.

I haven't experienced that, but I have run into a lot who mix up the movies and books quite badly, even after reading them. I think that's the way things tend to go, with adaptations in general: the version you encounter first becomes, for you, the "true" one, and it can be hard to accept that certain things weren't part of the original.

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

I haven't experienced that, but I have run into a lot who mix up the movies and books quite badly, even after reading them. I think that's the way things tend to go, with adaptations in general: the version you encounter first becomes, for you, the "true" one, and it can be hard to accept that certain things weren't part of the original.

True. But for the life of me, the Bakshi film just didn't settle into my brain as a 'true' version
It's just that people like the films /so/ much, sometimes they have difficulty reading the book, because it's much less action-packed, and more like something that has to be savoured.

[Blind Guardian]

I like Terry Goodkind's "Sword Of Truth" series and Tad Willam's "Otherland" and I might read Robert Jordan's "Wheel Of Time".

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

I doubt there is a single "best book ever written". You can maybe talk about something being the best in a particular genre, but what criteria would determine what was the best ever?

Mind you, generally people really just mean a certain book is their favourite.


*coughing fit* Galadriel, not to jump on you, but is there any particular reason you can't call her George Eliot, like everyone else?

Sorry I just...dislike calling her by her 'male' name. I feel it's a shame she's mostly known as 'George Eliot' instead of her real name. So yes, that is my 'particular' reason. But what's so bad about calling her Mary Ann Evans? It's just her name

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Galadriel

Sorry I just...dislike calling her by her 'male' name. I feel it's a shame she's mostly known as 'George Eliot' instead of her real name. So yes, that is my 'particular' reason. But what's so bad about calling her Mary Ann Evans? It's just her name

You could always have said "George Eliot (pen-name of Mary Ann Evans)" or "Mary Ann Evans (better known as George Eliot)". You see, when a person is best known by a pseudonym, the normal, and I think very sensible, practice is to refer to him or her by it, at least initially, to avoid confusion. After all, the potential for that is huge– so many people, both now and in the past, have become famous under assumed names. (Just think about it for a moment.)

So– that's what's so bad about it.

[Nerwen]

I suppose I should have put an OT warning on that post, but actually it's pretty relevant to Middle-earth, what with all the aliases people like to employ there.

Seriously, I read a wiki article once where a certain Elf-Lady was referred to as "Nerwen" throughout (presumably on the grounds that it was her "real" name) and even I found it annoying.

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

You could always have said "George Eliot (pen-name of Mary Ann Evans)" or "Mary Ann Evans (better known as George Eliot)". You see, when a person is best known by a pseudonym, the normal, and I think very sensible, practice is to refer to him or her by it, at least initially, to avoid confusion. After all, the potential for that is huge– so many people, both now and in the past, have become famous under assumed names. (Just think about it for a moment.)

So– that's what's so bad about it.

Ah. Very well then. I shall refrain from saying 'Mary Ann Evans' and just say 'George Eliot'.