Books for July, 2004

[pegkerr]

Realized I'd forgotten to do this. My list is quite short this month:

Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World by Verlyn Flieger. I'd mentioned before how impressive I found this book. Would be happy to read more of her work anytime.

Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. Ahem. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but this is a first time read. I'd attempted it before but never finished it. Reading the Flieger first made all the difference.

The Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander. This was sent to me by sdn. (Thanks, sdn!) It's a little embarrassing to admit this, too, but this is the first book of Lloyd Alexander I've read.

And that's it. Right now I'm re-reading The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers, so that will be on next month's list.

Edited to add: I did a quick count and the first six months of this year I've read 28 books. Some new, some re-reads. Hmm. That's probably more than the American average--substantially more, I guess (although I haven't combed through the report at length), but still less than I would have thought if I had hazarded a guess how many books I read in six months. Should I be embarrassed?

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

What's a Flieger?

B

[jbru.livejournal.com]

Lloyd Alexander got me into Tolkien by way of C.S. Lewis. I started on Alexander in 6th grade, ripped through the limited selection of our library, got pointed at the Chronicles of Narnia and thence to The Hobbit. Went back to Lewis' science fiction series and got some other YA science fiction in there (I want to say Asimov, but it was probably Heinlein). Then I dove into The Lord of the Rings. The rest, as they say, is history.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I liked The Stress of Her Regard a lot. But more importantly: read Westmark, read Westmark, read Westmark! It's soooooo good, and then you can get to The Kestrel, which is fabulous fabulous, and sdn got the whole set of them lovely new covers and they held up beautifully from my childhood recollections.

I think I just used up half the day's energy there. But still: Westmark. The whole series. So wonderful.

[harpie84.livejournal.com]

Glad you've discovered Fleiger! I loved Splintered Light, and I think it was a good choice for you to read it at the same time as The Silmarillion. I look forward to reading The Sil again with Fleiger's comments in mind. I'm currently reading her previous book, A Question of Time, which looks at several of Tolkien's works, including the Andrew Lang lecture on Faerie, LOTR and The Lost Road, his unfinished story on time travel.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

The author of the first book on the list.

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

Lloyd Alexander is lovely. If you enjoyed The Iron Ring, I'd like to point you towards The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen. =)

I tried to read The Silmarilion once, when I was overambitious and twelve; I didn't get very far. I've been meaning to pick it up again once I'm finished writing my dissertation, but perhaps I'll snag the Flieger first. Thanks for the recommendation. =)

[kate_nepveu]

What did you think of _The Silmarillion_? Does the Flieger attempt at all to deal with the moral cosmology of the work?

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. I really recommend that book; it really laid bare the underlying structure of The Simarillion for me. If you read it, let me know what you think.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I may be obliged to send you Alexander's Westmark trilogy, in that case. And not just because they've recently been reprinted with lovely new covers. :)

[kate_nepveu]

Hmmm. The library only has the first (1983) edition, though that might be enough to give me an idea if it will help with my crankiness over the book . . .

Anyway, if I do check it out, I'll let you know.

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

...this is the first book of Lloyd Alexander I've read.

Ah! Read the Prydain books! Read Westmark! Read The Incredible Journey of Prince Jen!

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Apparently, the new edition was quite a substantial rewrite, taking into account some of the materials Christopher Tolkien has published over the years about his father's writing. You'd probably do better to try to get the new edition.

[shadownephilim.livejournal.com]

Ah! You don't know me but:

Lloyd Alexander is a genius! Read everything he has ever written! Lol.