I'm in the midst of slogging through The Silmarillion. I have a first edition hardcover from when it originally came out, but after several tentative forays, I am finally (forty years down the line) forcing my way through it. And, damn, while admire the imagination and wordcrafting of Tolkien in creating an richly detailed mythos for his creation, I feel like I'm fighting to take the same literary hill over and over and over.
After that? Well, on the one hand, I've got my daughter reading Eddings' Belgariad, which I feel I should probably do out of solidarity / common discussion.
On the other hand, I have a slough of books recommended to me from my writing group that sound intriguing and useful to my current literary efforts.
And, of course, there are a tonne of other books that I've picked up over the last several months that I want to read as well.
My book-reading life is even more congested than my DVR-watching life is.
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Burgess Meredith?
The Belgariad and Malloreon were good reads as far as world building goes (which is probably their best trait, as authors), but not outstanding overall. I read both series, plus Belgarath and Polgara novels, when I was young.
In fairness, they stand up pretty well, but I don't read a lot of fantasy, anymore. Last 3 fantasy authors I read were David Gaider, Patrick Rothfuss and Terry Goodkind, and that's spanning a decade. If I go back any farther, it's David & Leigh Eddings.
Of those, Rothfuss was far and away the best.
+Victoria Hudgins Classic twilight zone… http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Enough_at_Last
Yeah, the Silmarillion can only be described as a slog. Some individual stories are brilliant and awesome — and it's always great to visit that universe — but there are times when you can see why Tolkien wasn't entirely sure it should be published.
I recommend the Belgariad despite fairly wooden writing (it improves as it goes on) and a fair sized chunk of sexism (while female characters often have huge degrees of power they are less well represented than male characters and tend to be confined to gendered roles). Regardless they are an enjoyable read.
My TBR list is a billion miles long. I've lost my taste for long-winded epics, though. If someone can't figure out how to tell a story in a reasonable span of pages, I can't be bothered.
If you ever want to sell that copy of the Silmarillion, please keep me in mind.
My fight is keeping popular titles available for checkout. Earlier this year, our only copy of Divergent (we had two on backorder) went way overdue, then the borrower left the district without returning it or paying for a replacement. Luckily I hoard my gift card balances and don't mind buying more for my library when I can afford it.
I should report you for Child Abuse. Eddings, well really!
🙂
You may be inclined to indulge in the more mature Eddings' offerings, The Redemption of Althalus and Regina's Song.
Have you by chance run through the Amber universe of Zelazny?
+Dave Epps HA! Oh, God, yes. Both sets. Multiple times. Plus a good half-dozen-plus ADRPG campaigns. I'm probably more famililar with it than the late Mr Zelazny was.
(Though I do need to give it another read some time in the not so distant future.)