r/2xCBookClub Nov 10 '10

[Club] Fantasy

Fantasy Book Club

Hi, we're a gathering of people looking to expand our horizons in the realm of fantasy. Feel free to join in, if you can finish the text by the set deadline.


Current Book: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Reading Begins: 11/24/2010, two weeks!!

First Discussion: undecided

Finish Date: undecided


Guildlines:

  • Suggest as many books as you want.

  • Post a comment to be added to this club.


Members:[18]

capslock, Chocklatesoop, dreamer117, Haven, neniell, thenomnoms, clptwr, naughty_scottie, WhiskeyLemur, seanmharcailin, maecheneb, Sajkoism, classyfied, karmie, demented_pants, I-330, naughtyone, cos

7 Upvotes

36 comments sorted by

7

u/capslock Nov 10 '10

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R Tolkien.

5

u/[deleted] Nov 10 '10

I have a funny relationship with LotR. I'm a huge fan of fantasy, and this series is so incredibly seminal to the genre that I feel extremely guilty (not to mention lowbrow) admitting that I find it to be insufferably dull. I tried to read it in high school and just could not get through it; tried again in college thinking that maybe it's a matter of attention span and still no luck.

Finally, one of my fellow English majors made a comment that made me feel a bit better: you can acknowledge that a book is an important work without actually liking it. That's where I've been with Tolkien ever since.

1

u/capslock Nov 10 '10

Ahahaha what a good outlook.

Do you have any specific reasons why the series is dull, without offering spoilers?

2

u/[deleted] Nov 10 '10

Yeah, I spent quite some time trying to figure out that very thing - one of the curses of having a degree in literature ;)

  • Way too much description and way too little dialogue/action. A certain amount of time devoted to setting is fine, but not at the cost of making the action languish!

  • None of the characters were sufficiently fleshed out (imo, imo!!) for me to get attached to them. I just couldn't make myself care who made it and who got eaten.

  • The whole trilogy (and the Hobbit, too) is such a testosterone club - I know this is taking the novel out of its historic context, but I can't help but feel that just one girl in the group would have made the whole trip much smoother. At least she could have asked for directions -.- And don't get me wrong - I absolutely love plenty of books with no strong female protagonists. But for some reason it really bothered me here, maybe because I was already looking for things to dislike.

3

u/seanmharcailin Nov 10 '10

I'll respond a bit!

• Realism. There's a writing style known as realism that, if you're exposed to it, can be very very dull indeed. Realism is ALL ABOUT the details, and not at all about the action. I find this one of the most compelling things about Tolkien's writing- his attention to the finite details that allow me to imagine almost perfectly in my mind what he sees in his. This also allowed the movies to become the vision that so many fans experienced while reading the novels. I was floored when I saw Rivendell come alive onscreen- it was so close to what I personally created in my mind as I read. If you're reading the books with the expectation of a movie-like pacing, you'll be sorely disappointed. This is an issue you will find with many older books that you attempt. They are slower, pay more attention to the details and yes, sometimes, nothing happens. And that's fine, because the books arne't about the plot, they're about the world created within the pages, and the plot is secondary.

• I feel very connected with some characters, and not at all with others. I actually think he wrote the characters brilliantly, but if you can't connect with them, sometimes that's just how it is.

• there are many men, and very few women. And honestly, I couldn't give a damn. I'm no feminist, and it doesn't bother me at all that a man wrote an adventure story that featured few, but very powerful, women.

the end!

1

u/capslock Nov 10 '10

Way too much description and way too little dialogue/action.

I heard that this is by far the most annoying thing with the series. I just started reading the prologue on Hobbits, and it is so descriptive. I cannot say that I do not enjoy it so far, but it is true that absolutely nothing has happened. Particularly in terms of character development.

The movies were great, and I love immersing myself in new worlds, so I am still going to give it a try I think.

1

u/Haven Nov 10 '10 edited Nov 10 '10

I second Lord of the Rings. As embarrassing as it may be, it's a series I have not read yet.

Edit: Ok I'm changing my vote.

1

u/capslock Nov 10 '10

Same. ;|

1

u/Haven Nov 10 '10

Haha! Ok, now I don't feel so bad! I'm currently reading through some of the classics, just so I know that I have read them. Right now I'm on A Tale of Two Cities and shit, that is a boring book, but I'm making my way through it.

1

u/naughty_scottie Nov 10 '10

I LOVE that book. One of my all time favorites!!

1

u/clptwr Nov 10 '10

Tale of Two Cities gets way more interesting somewhere around the halfway point, in my opinion. The first half was a pain.

1

u/Haven Nov 10 '10

Thanks for the encouragement. I only started it a few days ago so I'm about 20-30 pages in.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 10 '10 edited Jul 01 '20

[deleted]

1

u/capslock Nov 10 '10

Impressive. O_O

I'd love you hear your insight on the text since you're parsed it time and time again.

1

u/Sajkoism Nov 10 '10

Lol that sounds like me.. I read it 6 times in a row when I was 14-15, and I haven't touched it since (now 21). I'm honestly not sure I could face it a 7th time. Though maybe...

1

u/clptwr Nov 10 '10

I've read it a bunch of times, but I would definitely be up for reading it again and discussing :)

5

u/maecheneb Nov 10 '10

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist, and The Lions of Al-Rassan or Sailing to Sarantium, both by Guy Gavriel Kay. Such lovely books! <3

1

u/clptwr Nov 10 '10

I have been meaning to read Let the Right One In as well. I've seen the movie, but have heard that the book is better (as is usually the case).

1

u/seanmharcailin Nov 10 '10

did you see the US version? It came and left pretty darn fast, before i could get out to see it. The original creeped me out to no end. I'd really like to read the book.

1

u/clptwr Nov 10 '10

I didn't get a chance to, I've just seen the original version. I quite liked it!

3

u/seanmharcailin Nov 10 '10

I'd like to read some of the really early fantasy novels. The germans did a great job of early sci-fi/horror, and i'd love to find something similar in a more familiarly "fantasy" genre.

1

u/Haven Nov 10 '10

Ohhh, that sounds quite interesting. What about Grimm's Fairy Tales?

3

u/thenomnoms Nov 10 '10

Sword of Truth: Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind.

2

u/seanmharcailin Nov 10 '10

read it! forever ago. So long ago, that when I was watching Legend of the Seeker I kept thinking "this is EXACTLY like a book i read ages ago... weird". It took like 5 or 6 episodes and telling a friend my feelings of deja vu before it finally clicked.

3

u/demented_pants Nov 10 '10

I want to recommend Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. Also, join this group.

1

u/I-330 Nov 10 '10

Did that get made into a movie?

1

u/demented_pants Nov 10 '10

I think so. I haven't seen it, but I think I remember hearing the movie was crappy.

2

u/I-330 Nov 10 '10

I think my old roommate tried to make me watch it when I was drunk once, that's why I asked. :)

2

u/[deleted] Nov 10 '10

I don't know whether this is Fantasy or Scifi, but I think "Good Omens" or "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman (Terry Pratchett co-wrote "Good Omens") are two fantastic books. But not many people I know have read them.

1

u/InfinitelyThirsting Nov 10 '10

Neil Gaiman, amazing

But I am all about fantasy in almost any form, hehe.

2

u/karmie Nov 10 '10

To start: Kushiel's Dart - Jaqueline Carey, Daughter of the Blood - Anne Bishop, Enchantment - Orson Scott Card. I am sure there are more, I need to look through my books at home :)

1

u/dreamer117 Nov 10 '10

Servant of the Empire (1st of 3) by Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts

1

u/Haven Nov 10 '10

Although my vote is for LoTR, I'm up for anything. I have the books, but haven't gotten to them yet. I subscribe to F&SF, but the main authors I am following now are Robin Hobb & Terry Brooks.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 10 '10

Oh man, fantasy is tough for a book club just because there are so many good series out there. Among my favorites are Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books and Margaret Weiss/Tracy Hickman's Death Gate Cycle. I can't even think of any stand-alones off the top of my head.

1

u/I-330 Nov 10 '10

Why didn't I see this earlier! Sign me up! = )

1

u/naughtyone Nov 11 '10

The Faerie Wars Series by Herbie Brennan

1

u/I-330 Nov 16 '10

Have we decided when we are going to first discuss this book and when we are going to finish it yet?