Comments | math_avenger: Bibliophilia, not Drossophilia

math_avenger

Bibliophilia, not Drossophilia

Apr 21, 2007 06:59

Blah, blah, meme, blah, blah, stolen from X-Fille, blah, blah.

Books I've read are bolded. Books I intend to read are italicized. Ratings: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Meh, Blech.

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown) Blech!!!
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)Excellent.
3. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)Good ( Read more... )

books, meme

Comments 5

robertmapril April 21 2007, 13:10:44 UTC

Hey, have you heard about this new LotR book that Christopher Tolkien is putting out?

math_avenger April 21 2007, 14:24:04 UTC

I only just heard about it. I'm intrigued, but dubious, as always.

robertmapril April 21 2007, 18:05:45 UTC

AS Byatt reviewed it for the BBC (or just reviewed it and was later interviewed by the BBC) and she didn't much care for it. She said that much of the book is reported speech and that it lacks the flair for description that Tolkien possesses. Also that everybody's name changes periodically and that the dude's sword even has a couple different names, so it's hard to keep a firm grip on identity for these characters. But I don't want to prejudice you. She also said she could not get through the Silmarillion, which I haven't even attempted myself.

math_avenger April 22 2007, 01:42:54 UTC

Well, you also have to keep in mind that neither "Children of Hurin" nor "The Silmarillion" were actually published by J.R.R -- his son Christopher has been churning out books based on his father's notes for years. "The Silmarillion" is definitely the closest to being complete, so it suffers little, but I can imagine "Hurin" lacking in a few departments.

While many might make out Christopher's work as crass, he at least is scholarly (and a scholar, holding the same Oxford chair his father did), which is more than I can say for Brian Herbert's collaborations with Kevin J. Anderson. Those are really just an effort to run the teats on the cash cow dry.

So, again, we'll see.

Thread 5