xhonzi said:
CP3S said:
Aside from Tolkien, who I love, I've never had any interest in fantasy books, maybe it relates to that.
My level of Tolkien interest is too low for other fans to consider me one of them, and too high for norms to consider me one of them.
As mish, as peshkë, I guess.
And I agree, almost all of the rest of the "fantasy" genre doesn't interest me at all, depsite the fact that fantasy plays heavily into genres that I love (Space Opera, soft Sci Fi, superheroes, etc...).
Have you ever read the Wheel of Time? When I worked at Barnes and Noble, some employees only read fiction, some only read history, and others only read home and gardening... but everyone (myself excluded) read Wheel of Time. Since my job was on the line, I picked it up and really enjoyed the heck out it. There were 8 books at the time, and I think they're up to 14 with the 15th and "final" book out early next year.
Of course, once you get into it people will make the assumption that you're into fantasy and you just need to read more of it... but it's worth the price.
You and I kind of have our own code language on this forum, but we never use it. ;) Nice to see you throw out a phrase.
When I say I love Tolkien, I don't mean I am a diehard Tolkien fan that reads everything by him and memorizes their ME history. I love The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but have no interest in the Middle-Earth lore beyond that. I didn't enjoy the Silmarillion enough to finish it, and I've never bothered with any of his histories. I do however really like his children's stories. Farmer Giles of Ham, Leaf by Niggle, Roverandom, Father Christmas Letters, great stuff.
The first fantasy book I ever tried to tackle beyond C. S. Lewis and Tolkien was the first Wheel of Time book (Eye of the World, right?) Bored the crap out of me. Later I tried to read some of the Shanara books, but those didn't really pull me in either.
I have a copy of The Game of Thrones I need to read (have a close friend who has been trying to get me to read it for years, always refused on account of my not liking fantasy, but since I admitted to enjoying the TV show, she isn't going to let it go until I at least give the first book a try).