Flights of Fantasy discussion
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What are you reading? (Dec 2013)
As usual I hope everything goes well Kathy! You deserve a break!!
Thanks, Felina. Trying to be positive.
Finished my LotR reread. Finally. I did like it a lot more my second time though. I want to watch the movies again now. Now I'm going to continue with the Shannara books and start The Sword of Shannara Trilogy.
Oh geez, reading them right in a row? Shannara is doomed, lol. Sword is a lot like LoTR.. A lot of books are. After Sword it breaks away, but a LoTR fan reading Sword right after LoTR? This will be interesting...I've been thinking lately I should give LoTR another shot.. I only made it through the first book, maybe now that I'm older and more boring it will seem less boring by comparison?
Nope. It will still be painful. Best of luck, Dawn!
Dawn wrote: "Oh geez, reading them right in a row? Shannara is doomed, lol. Sword is a lot like LoTR.. A lot of books are. After Sword it breaks away, but a LoTR fan reading Sword right after LoTR? This will be..."Maybe not. I'm in the mood for something like LotR. But lighter.
Well Shannara definitely fits that bill! I have a soft spot for Sword because it was my first ever fantasy novel. I was 18 and at a boyfriends house and it was laying on the floor in his room. I saw the cover with the sword and dwarf and all of that kind of stuff stuff and thought it would be funny to read some weird nerd book, or at least to see what it was like. Annnnnnnd then I realized I was a nerd all along, reading fantasy was like finding home.
Dawn wrote: "I've been thinking lately I should give LoTR another shot.. I only made it through the first book, maybe now that I'm older and more boring it will seem less boring by comparison? "If you're nerdy like me you can read it in conjunction with the class. I did my last Hobbit read that way and it made the book just that much more amazing.
But that was also when I learned about Philology and it depressed me. I would have studied that, I think.
*sigh*
Hah... Seeing as though the first time I tried to read it I hated it and was bored to tears, I don't think a class is going to make it any easier to bear. Make anything into a class and it immediately gets twice as boring to me. Learning is for the birds :P
In college I actually took a class on Tolkien. We read The Hobbit and LOTR and after each book we saw the movies. Very interesting discussions in that class and it was one of the better literature courses that I took. I took quite a few literature courses in college because it was the only way I could still manage some pleasure reading and the bonus was getting credit for it. :)
Blech, I always hated Literature classes. The only classes I liked were math. Best part of a math class? No reading assignments and no papers to write. I took advanced math classes as electives to avoid classes where I might have to write. I love reading, don't get me wrong.. But I hate Assigned reading. I'll read what I want when I want damn it!
Dawn wrote: "Hah... Seeing as though the first time I tried to read it I hated it and was bored to tears, I don't think a class is going to make it any easier to bear. Make anything into a class and it immediat..."It was a great class. He covered all sorts of background and history. He brought in a real Philologist who gave a quick speech in (Norse? Medieval English? I can't remember...). Discussions on the history of certain words.
*sigh*
good stuff.
Jackie wrote: "In college I actually took a class on Tolkien. We read The Hobbit and LOTR and after each book we saw the movies. Very interesting discussions in that class and it was one of the better literature ..."I wish I had teachers that open minded.
The closest I got to fantasy/sci fi was Blood Child, The Iliad (etc), Beowulf and Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.
Even if I were into classes like that, my college offered very little in the way of electives. I'm so jealous of my fiance who got to take rock climbing and photography and a bunch of other cool stuff.. I took Machine Design II as an elective because I knew the professor was a slacker and I could ace it doing nothing, and because it was easier than Quantum Physics. Stupid Engineering school.. I'd give just about anything to go back in time and go to a regular (CHEAPER) school.
Dawn wrote: "Well Shannara definitely fits that bill! I have a soft spot for Sword because it was my first ever fantasy novel. I was 18 and at a boyfriends house and it was laying on the floor in his room. I ..."
I was always a nerd. Lol. Always had a Star Wars lunch box. Had more action figures than Barbies. I didn't discover Tolkien until my early 20's though.
I was always a nerd, I just didn't know I was a book nerd until I read fantasy. Before that I was just an awkward poorly dressed band nerd.
I read purely for enjoyment. I'm definitely not one of those readers who can dissect books like that. I admire those who can though. Me? I get ADD. I love LotR but The Silmarillion scares me. That thing reads like a text book. I'm going to attempt it one of these days. Just not today.
Dawn wrote: "Blech, I always hated Literature classes. The only classes I liked were math. Best part of a math class? No reading assignments and no papers to write. I took advanced math classes as electives to ..."Ha! We're total opposites. I spent my time avoiding math classes.
Nienna wrote: "I read purely for enjoyment. I'm definitely not one of those readers who can dissect books like that. I admire those who can though. Me? I get ADD. I love LotR but The Silmarillion scar..."I've tried it several times. So slow.
I decided to give up because I didn't want to read his sorrowful stuff. He was a great believer in bad things happen to good people. I pass.
My senior year in high school, I had a Science Fiction lit class and a Skiing class. I love Colorado. Heh.
Nienna wrote: "I read purely for enjoyment. I'm definitely not one of those readers who can dissect books like that. I admire those who can though. Me? I get ADD. I love LotR but The Silmarillion scar..."In that Tolkien class I met a kid who read it. He was pretty amazing though. He could rattle off all the family relations and histories of practically all the LOTR characters. He also knew dates and events of Tolkien's world.
Dawn wrote: "Even if I were into classes like that, my college offered very little in the way of electives. I'm so jealous of my fiance who got to take rock climbing and photography and a bunch of other cool st..."I wish my school had that stuff, too!
I'm talking about Podcast classes on iTunes U. The Tolkien Professor got together with a bunch of his nerdy friends and started the Signum University and the Mythgard Institute. It's a college dedicated to the study of Spec Fic, from what I can see.
Of course, I'm a huge geek so I also do the regular stuff Lit Crit and Dante.
Jackie wrote: "In that Tolkien class I met a kid who read it. He was pretty amazing though. He could rattle off all the family relations and histories of practically all the LOTR characters. He also knew dates and events of Tolkien's world." I don't even know my own history like that. :)
Chris #PrayForClaire wrote: "My senior year in high school, I had a Science Fiction lit class and a Skiing class. I love Colorado. Heh."
I'm a hater.
Ooh, found another great class!Zombies in Literature: https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/...
I'm gonna take it!
Now that is one fandom that I just do not get! Zombies!?! Why!?! I have not seen nor read anything that has made me remotely interested in that particular theme ... What am I missing?
I'm not a big fan of zombies either. Or vampires, or werewolves, or anything paranormal.
Oh, I love paranormal - the more variety the better. I just don't get zombies. Maybe if the zombie was in a paranormal group ( with the vampires, werewolves, ghosts, fairies, pixies, etc.) I'd more receptive, but just zombies - not so much.
Nyssa wrote: "Oh, I love paranormal - the more variety the better. I just don't get zombies. Maybe if the zombie was in a paranormal group ( with the vampires, werewolves, ghosts, fairies, pixies, etc.) I'd more..."They are trying to make zombies sexy and mainstream like vamps now. There's at least one series (romance? fantasy? dystopian fantasy? Rainbow farts) and one erotica. I can't read either. I get...squicked out.
Lol.I read Warm Bodies after seeing the trailer for the movie. I thought, 'Twilight with zombies!', and figured it would be good for a laugh if nothing else. But I ended up actually liking it.
MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: "They are trying to make zombies sexy and mainstream like vamps now. There's at least one series (romance? fantasy? dystopian fantasy? Rainbow farts) and one erotica. I can't read either. I get...squicked out. "Ugh, Warm Bodies is one of those. I thought it as going to be funny because the movie previews looked funny, but the book took itself too seriously. And yes, I was 'squicked' out at the whole love thing.
Another series, The Night Huntress series-Halfway to the Grave- has ghouls which are similar to zombies, but they don't decompose the same way or eat brains. The ghouls eat human meat. While, I really liked one of the ghouls the whole eating human meat thing put the kabosh on me thinking of him as sexy.
Yeah, it's sorta...mostly gross as hell.I can't get past the decomposing body. But that's probably why I didn't have a real vampire thing.
I read a book that had a woman banging a vampire and he had a cold penis. It kind refocused me regarding...the fact that vampires should be served stakes.
I can read a vampire romance without getting squicked out (too much) but I don't find them "sexy."
Cold is one thing... A Zombie might have something fall off in an inopportune moment...;)
Nienna wrote: "Cold is one thing... A Zombie might have something fall off in an inopportune moment...;)"
*gag*
I think I just threw up in my mouth.
Sigh....Hugh Howey released a zombie book about a year back and though I'm a big fan of his I did not even remotely want to try his book.My Grandaughter (a college freshman) told me during our monthly skype chat that her favorite TV show was 'the walking dead' (yetch)!
--
Alan :-)
I don't mind zombies as a horror trope. Turning them into yet another thing to sell romance novels bores me, though. I don't see the point of monsters if they aren't inhuman. It doesn't mean they have to be mindless -- they can be cunning, excellent at faking humanity, like some of the best classical vampires -- but if they aren't so fundamentally different from us as to be, well, monstrous to our eyes, why bother to include them at all? Just make up your own race that's human with cosmetic extras. It worked for Star Trek...
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colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!
(last edited Dec 20, 2013 06:24PM)
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Jackie wrote: "Ugh, Warm Bodies is one of those. I thought it as going to be funny because the movie previews looked funny, but the book took itself too seriously. And yes, I was 'squicked' out at the whole love thing."Very much agree. It coulda been decent if it went more humor. It was just so earnest, it didn't work for me.
As a side note, would you say it could be YA? There was this big stink 'cause people we're calling it YA, and, apparently, the author got his knickers on a twist about it.
When I read it, I could easily see it being called YA. Just curious as to your thoughts.
Oh I definitely agree that its a YA book. I read a little about the "controversy" but I don't get it. He probably hates readers to call it "Twilight with zombies" too. Whatever.
Titania wrote: "I don't mind zombies as a horror trope. Turning them into yet another thing to sell romance novels bores me, though. I don't see the point of monsters if they aren't inhuman. It doesn't mean they h..."LOL
Nyssa wrote: "Oh, I love paranormal - the more variety the better. I just don't get zombies. Maybe if the zombie was in a paranormal group ( with the vampires, werewolves, ghosts, fairies, pixies, etc.) I'd more..."You might try My Life as a White Trash Zombie. It's more UF than paranormal, but I liked the way that zombies were handled in that series. Plus it's funny. :)
Otherwise, I'm with T on the whole "inhuman" thing. I like zombies, though the more monstrous (usually) the better. I didn't care for Stephen King's Cell much, because I was expecting rage-type "zombies" (like from 28 Days Later) and that's not at all what I got. But, maybe when I re-read it I'll enjoy it more because I won't have the same expectation.
alansplace wrote: "Sigh....Hugh Howey released a zombie book about a year back and though I'm a big fan of his I did not even remotely want to try his book.My Grandaughter (a college freshman) told me during our mo..."
Alan, we haven't met yet. Hello! Laurel, fellow Dresden fan!
What I love most about the Walking Dead is the exploration of the relationships between those fighting to survive. The zombie aspect is often just background noise for me. The real meat of the show has always been character development, finding what drives the survivors.
Sorry if I'm poking my nose where it doesn't belong. Hoping it may help?
Hi Alan and welcome. Yes, Laurel. I definitely agree with your Walking Dead analysis. That's a great way to put it and why it stands out from other zombie stuff.
Agreed Laurel. It's also really interesting to watch the characters motivations when they have to actually worry about their survival. People make much more complicated decisions.
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Flights of Fantasy
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Ooof! Best wishes to you, hon.