(no subject)

[lenora_rose]

So, since people have been asking about current reading, and about plans for the coming year, and the like. (Admittedly, mostly not here, and I'm pleasing myself. Oh, well.)

New Year's To-Read list (Aside from the first book, they're in the order of where they are on the shelf, not in the queue.):

Sherwood Smith - Crown Duel (Okay, I admit it. This one has been knocked out of queue when it was the next book up about three times now. Thus my starting on it this afternoon, finally.)
Various library books on hurricane and monsoons (that probably won't answer the questions I really have)
Various library books on Native American folk tales, articularly focused on Coyote.
Steven Gould - Jumper (Since I've already read its standalone sequel)
Sherwood Smith and Dave Trowbridge - Ruler of Naught (Book 2 of a five book SF series)
Caroline Stevermer - A Scholar of Magics
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Hallowed Hunt
Kate Wilhelm - Storyteller
Neil Gaiman - Anansi Boys
Elizabeth Bear - Hammered
MIdori Snyder - The Innamorati
Angela Carter, Ed - The Virago Book of Fairy Tales
Diana Wynne Jones - Eight Days of Luke
John Scalzi - Old Man's War
Anthony Trollope - Barchester Towers
Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, Eds. - The Faery Reel
Jennifer Crusie - Crazy For You
Elizabeth E. Wein - The Winter Prince

Except for the unusual lack of mysteries, that looks like about the right proportions of genres, gender, short fiction/novels, and eras for my average reading tastes. That's also the exact right number of Tolkien Rip-off Trilogies from this rabid fantasy fan.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I really want to read the Gaiman...eventually!

[zandoria.livejournal.com]

So - which ones are the Tolkien Rip-Off Trilogies?

[lenora-rose.livejournal.com]

If I listed these by when I bought the book.... eventually is indeed the word.

[lenora-rose.livejournal.com]

Um... Let's just say that unless I'm very wrong about the contents of the books... none.

On the other hand, Sherwood Smith's book is a single work previously split in two for marketing reasons. Patricia A McKillip (whoops... The Changeling Sea should have been on the list. I guess it's a slim paperback between two big hardcovers) has the same kind of grasp of how to slip poetic language into story. Anansi Boys and the stories in the Faery Reel know how to draw heavily from old folklore to make something fresher, and The Winter Prince from the heavier sources of legend. Several of the above deal with medieval and dark ages based settings, with an honest grasp of the era.

I've made my arguments before (Not on LJ, but definitely on the Rumor Mill, Absolute Write, and TNH's blog) and about who the True Followers of Tolkien are, and that they're generally not the ones who dwell on matching the surface trappings. (There's also my other argument, that some people dismissed as Tolkien Rip-offs are more likely to be RPG rip-offs, or rip-offs of something else in the high-fantasy genre, packed full of multitudes of dragons and humble farmboys who turn out to be kings, and anyone who actually read Tolkien's work would have a darn hard time justifying how the one in fact has anything to do with the other besides genre.)

And I have nothing against trilogies, or quadrologies, or series' of any length, really, if they're done becuase the story needs to be done that way. I just consider it a warning sign.