What Are You Reading

[K.D. Lightner]

I know what you mean, Doran, too much exposure to some things in a popular culture can ruin the original classic from which the stuff originated.

Not only books, but classical music. To this day, I cannot hear the William Tell overture's last part (Swiss Cavalry) without seeing a masked man on a white horse. Or hearing Nutcracker Suite without thinking of portions of Disney's Fantasia. Kind of blows it away for me.

karol

 

[Harp]

A Greek who from Capharea got away
Into Euboean seas will never stray.

Ovid

Amen, guys. Tolkien was all the rage while I was in college,
but Lord of the Rings seemed warmed over Oz.

 

[Dr Doran]

A Greek who from Capharea got away
Into Euboean seas will never stray.

Ovid

Amen, guys. Tolkien was all the rage while I was in college,
but Lord of the Rings seemed warmed over Oz.

Harp, I will never forget your defense of this. And let me state: I loved Oz to death. My father had all of them in hardcover with beautiful color pictures on the covers and interior pictures in black and white by Jno. R. Neill. Baum wrote many, then Ruth Plumly Thompson, then Neill. As a child, I read them obsessively. I loved Tik Tok Man. I feared Mombi. I loved Ruggedo. I shivered with weird and unpleasant sensations when Ojo the Unlucky turned into Ozma -- a feeling of gender transgression only recaptured when I read LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness and it looked like Therem Harth rem ir Estraven was going to seduce Genly Ai because he was in "kemmer" and they were sharing a tent on the ice. And I loved the sinister Oz movie that was made, which had the people that loved the Wizard of Oz movie scratching their heads, confused and upset.

And K. D. Lightner, on the subject of popular associations ruining things -- how about the fact that you CANNOT wear a bowler derby in public, or even at most parties, without someone saying "Alex! Look! Clockwork Orange!"

 

[Orgetorix]

I second the motion on Dune. However, something never clicked for me on The Lord of the Rings. I must be the only person on the planet. It was never my cup of tea. (Is there anyone else who feels this way? If so, speak up! I don't want to be alone.) I think it is because long after Tolkien's death, LotR was taken as inspiration for a game called Dungeons and Dragons and I met, amidst all the real charmers who played it, so many gawkward types in the early- and mid-1980s who absolutely obsessively played it and kept yapping, in front of girls, about their "20th level half-elf fighter/magic-user/thief with gauntlets of invisibility" that I developed an allergy to all Western European fantastical folklore (i.e. wizards, elves, spells, etc.) as well as a thin tolerance for prophecies and "you are the long-awaited destined savior"-type plots.

I realize that this is not at all fair, and it smacks of the person who automatically associated Duke Ellington's sublime music with cartoons and thus could not take it seriously; but there is nothing I can do about it. I guess I am handicapped. So SUE me.

I can understand what you mean, though it's not an association I share and I dearly love Tolkien's work. To me, though, D&D always seemed a lot more along the lines of third-rate fantasy (like Terry Brooks' Sword of Shannara series, for example) that was inspired by the success of LOTR in the '70s and tried, badly, to ape it.

Tolkien's work is much more like ancient mythology than kitschy fantasy, and in some ways he seems almost more of a historian than a fantasist.

But hey, not every book is for everyone.

 

[AlanC]

Just finished:

Right Ho, Jeeves--Wodehouse

Now reading:

Spring Fever--Wodehouse (I've been on a bit of a Wodehouse kick. )

Now starting:

Shantaram--Gregory David Roberts


For the record, I love Tolkien.

 

[Orgetorix]

Just finished:

Right Ho, Jeeves--Wodehouse

Now reading:

Spring Fever--Wodehouse (I've been on a bit of a Wodehouse kick. )

Now starting:

Shantaram--Gregory David Roberts


For the record, I love Tolkien.

I love Wodehouse, too. Just finished reading (well, listening to) Psmith in the City, now on Love Among the Chickens.

 

[Babydoll]

It's called Darcy's Story. It is modern, and written from Darcy's (of Pride and Prejudice fame) side. Entertaining read.

 

[carebear]

I can understand what you mean, though it's not an association I share and I dearly love Tolkien's work. To me, though, D&D always seemed a lot more along the lines of third-rate fantasy (like Terry Brooks' Sword of Shannara series, for example) that was inspired by the success of LOTR in the '70s and tried, badly, to ape it.

Tolkien's work is much more like ancient mythology than kitschy fantasy, and in some ways he seems almost more of a historian than a fantasist.

But hey, not every book is for everyone.

Yep, the Ring of the Nibelung, and the ancient Welsh and Irish mythos were Tolkein's inspirations.

 

[Miss Jones]

Currently (re:actually) reading: The Good German by ???, and Mexican Days by Tony Cohan. And Classic Style, of course!

 

[Jay]

Right now I'm on to Playback by Chandler. So far I feel it's kind of under-rated. (I always heard Chandlers early work was the best...)

 

[Diamondback]

Personal: Alvin Staufer & Brian May, Thoroughbreds. Comprehensive history of what many, including Lionel, considered the definitive steam locomotive of the '30s/'40s, the New York Central's J-class Hudsons.

Business: Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946 and M.L. Whitley, Destroyers of World War Two.

Next: Another couple passes each on American Caesar, Old Soldiers Never Die, and MacArthur's Reminiscences extracting more data for my thesis.

 

[Lancealot]

I just finished Chandler's The Big Sleep and I am starting The Long Goodbye.

 

[JazzBaby]

I'm reading 'Naked Lunch'. I wish somebody would have warned me!

 

[carebear]

I'm reading 'Naked Lunch'. I wish somebody would have warned me!

It's a deceptive title. No sexy nudity and no really good sandwich descriptions either.

False advertising in my book.

 

[Shearer]

I'm reading 'Naked Lunch'. I wish somebody would have warned me!

Nobody warned me about American Psycho.

 

[carebear]

Nobody warned me about American Psycho.

Unlike Naked Lunch, which implies a saucy picnic, the title of American Psycho was the warning.

 

[Shearer]

Unlike Naked Lunch, which implies a saucy picnic, the title of American Psycho was the warning.

But it had such a nice looking guy on the cover.

Incidentally, my own mother bought me that book when I was in high school.

 

[Harp]

Ulysses by Tennyson.

 

[Steve]

Death in the Dark Continent, by Peter Hathaway Capstick. For those of you who are into Safari literature, Capstick is a must.

 

[Lancealot]

Death in the Dark Continent, by Peter Hathaway Capstick. For those of you who are into Safari literature, Capstick is a must.

I love all of his books. He has a great style.