Living in a Fantasy Land
I don't want anyone to misinterpret this title: I'm referring to the fact that for the second summer in a row, I find myself reluctant to leave a fantasy world created by a favourite author. Last year, I spent several months mentally living in Middle-earth after reading almost everything of Tolkien's that I could get my hands on. So reluctant was I to leave Middle-earth, I even re-read The Lord of the Rings for a third time in the space of 9 months. This summer, I'm reluctant to leave the Discworld behind - I started out having a "mini Terry Pratchett fest" as I described it, having been inspired (as I've mentioned here before) to re-read some of TP's novels by Guilty of Literature, but having re-read Mort and Reaper Man, Small Gods and Sourcery, I found myself drawn to re-read the "Witches" books (starting with Equal Rites, and I'm now up to The Wee Free Men) !
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about this minor addiction to one fantasy author's world, but I really *ought* to be reading Barbara Hambly's novels, as I'm trying to do background research for a planned paper and a book... But on the other hand, as Granny Weatherwax herself said, "Where does it say 'ought'?" (Carpe Jugulum, p. 132) ! Plus which (as Helene Hanff always liked to say), it is *the summer* the traditional time for reading for pleasure. So I shall stop telling myself I *ought* to read such-and-such and wander around Discworld for a little longer.
6 comments:
The vampire books are pretty good, if trashy. Haven't read any other Barbara Hambly.
I started Dragonsbane and it was OK up to the point I reached - but then someone on Child_Lit started asking about where to start reading TP's novels and someone else recommended TWFM and that was it - I went rushing back to Discworld !
I am similarly addicted to the Aubrey/Maturin seafaring series by Patrick O'Brian, in its way just as fantastic as Middle-earth. Happily, I've only read the first book of the series and just started the second, so I have about 18 more to read and enjoy. As for "ought" versus "want to," my half-read copy of Joyce's "Ulysses" has gathered dust beside my bed for several years now.
I confess I've not actually read any of Patrick O'Brian's books - I've just seen the movie a few times, and listened to the CD even more times ! I looked at them on the shelves of the library recently, but decided I don't have time to read 20 volumes of books that aren't actually related to one of the 3 writing projects I have on the go at the moment. Maybe when I retire !
As for books I've started but not finished - well that would be a Blog post all by itself !
Pratchett is good isn't he? And Tolkien is better! I'm tempted to re-read Tolkien but that will take a while..
They're both very good, in different - saying that one is better than the other, though, is a bit like saying apples are better than oranges (or vice versa) - they're not really comparable in that way...
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