What is your favorite fantasy/sci fi novel?

[Jenni]

I agree with Darrell - the Tripods series is really good.

[Don]

In the past I have read Alan Dean Foster's work. (Splinter of the Mind's Eye, went against Lucas' eventual incestuous vision of Luke and Leia but it was a good read. It came out on the heels of the first Star Wars movie and kept true to the storyline from the characters in the movie.)

More recently I have begun reading classic Fantasy.
Idylls of the King -Tennyson
Farenheit 451 -Bradbury
Brave New World -Huxley
1984 -Orwell
The Hobbit -Tolkien

[pastor's wife]

(01-23-2011 01:26 AM)Don Wrote:  More recently I have begun reading classic Fantasy.
Idylls of the King -Tennyson
Farenheit 451 -Bradbury
Brave New World -Huxley
1984 -Orwell
The Hobbit -Tolkien

Tolkien is awesome, of course. It's been a long time since I've read Tennyson; more recently I read White's "The Once and Future King" about King Arthur.

The dystopian novels are great: I've underlined and written notes all over my copies of "Farenheit 451" and "Brave New World." I'd probably do the same with "1984" if I read it again, but it's been years since I read it. I like how in "Farenheit" and "BNW" the government didn't - at least not at first - deny people good literature. They just distracted them with pleasures and mindless entertainment and most people rejected reading; then the government moved in to ensure that no one could get it. Along these lines is a YA book called "The Last Book in the Universe." It's not as good as Bradbury, of course, but is an interesting addition to the sci-fi theme of "books are precious and our future may lose them."

[Jordan M. Poss]

(01-23-2011 08:00 AM)pastors wife Wrote:  I like how in "Farenheit" and "BNW" the government didn't - at least not at first - deny people good literature. They just distracted them with pleasures and mindless entertainment and most people rejected reading; then the government moved in to ensure that no one could get it.

Precisely. Bradbury has said that while Hitler and the Soviets inspired the image of book-burning, Fahrenheit 451 was really about the terrible effects of television. With cheaper, quicker, and ever more spectacular (in Aristotle's sense of gratuitous spectacle) forms of entertainment available, people gravitated away from books. Books were challenging. Books could even be offensive. And once people felt their need to be entertained met by a therapeutic, self-affirming medium like TV, a difficult, potentially offensive medium like the book would not just fall by the wayside--they would be shunned. It isn't even really a matter of the government depriving people of books; it's people depriving themselves because it's easier and more fun to do. Bradbury is still alive and he's seen exactly this state of affairs come to pass.

I finally found the interview I was looking for. Watch "Bradbury on Censorship/Television" here, on his website.

[GrooveisintheHeart]

I really like the Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings, and Narnia. The Giver, 1984, and Animal Farm were books I read in high school and enjoyed. Another series that fits into the fantasy genre that hasn't been mentioned is the Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony. The basics of the series is Death, Time, War, Fate, Nature, Evil and Good are "offices" that are filled by different people over time.

[pastor's wife]

OK, this is another YA book. Sorry, it's my career (that is, when I'm not being a stay-at-home mom) so I read a LOT of them!

Anyway, I really like alternate fairy tales, and "Rapunzel's Revenge" was such a one. Also, it is in graphic novel form with a distinct old west feel (although without Native Americans). I thought it was a fun take on the old tale. I haven't been able to compare it with "Tangled" since I haven't seen it yet, but both heroines seem to use their hair a whole lot more than the Rapunzel in the original story, whose hair only serves as a ladder for witch or prince.

http://www.amazon.com/Rapunzels-Revenge-...136&sr=1-1

[Don]

(01-23-2011 08:00 AM)pastors wife Wrote:  

(01-23-2011 01:26 AM)Don Wrote:  More recently I have begun reading classic Fantasy.
Idylls of the King -Tennyson
Farenheit 451 -Bradbury
Brave New World -Huxley
1984 -Orwell
The Hobbit -Tolkien

Tolkien is awesome, of course. It's been a long time since I've read Tennyson; more recently I read White's "The Once and Future King" about King Arthur.

The Once and Future King is here on my desk as one of the next to read.

[Phatchick]

(01-23-2011 01:26 AM)Don Wrote:  In the past I have read Alan Dean Foster's work. (Splinter of the Mind's Eye, went against Lucas' eventual incestuous vision of Luke and Leia but it was a good read. It came out on the heels of the first Star Wars movie and kept true to the storyline from the characters in the movie.)

I truly loved the Spellsinger novels. One of my favorite book series.

[Lizzy F.]

(01-23-2011 09:10 AM)Jordan M. Poss Wrote:  Precisely. Bradbury has said that while Hitler and the Soviets inspired the image of book-burning, Fahrenheit 451 was really about the terrible effects of television. With cheaper, quicker, and ever more spectacular (in Aristotle's sense of gratuitous spectacle) forms of entertainment available, people gravitated away from books. Books were challenging. Books could even be offensive. And once people felt their need to be entertained met by a therapeutic, self-affirming medium like TV, a difficult, potentially offensive medium like the book would not just fall by the wayside--they would be shunned. It isn't even really a matter of the government depriving people of books; it's people depriving themselves because it's easier and more fun to do. Bradbury is still alive and he's seen exactly this state of affairs come to pass.

The real irony of the story is that Fahrenheit 451 was repeatedly edited over the years to remove "offensive" material. Bradbury found out about it, made them restore it, and wrote a scathing afterward. If your edition doesn't have the afterward, it's probably been abridged.

There's a scene in the book that reminds me of some fundies I know. Montag's wife (can't remember her name) has some of her friend over watching TV and Montag makes them turn it off while he reads them a poem. One of the ladies starts crying, can't figure out why she's doing so, and can't stop. She lashes out and reports Montag to the fire brigade.

That happens with fundies I know. They watch/read something with emotional depth or realism and they get so overwhelmed that they blame their feelings on whatever it is they were watching/reading or even the person who suggested it to them.

[pastor's wife]

That is an important scene! Wasn't he reading "Dover Beach"? "The sea of faith was once too at the full . . . "

Your point about fundies getting overwhelmed when they watch/read something with emotional depth I think applies to praise and worship music. They are uncomfortable with the emotion people are showing (and that may be stirring up in themselves) so they accuse the music of being shallow or repetitive or whatever when what it actually is is moving and passionate. Thus the bland singing style in college traveling groups, etc.

(My dad watched "The Incredible Journey" on TV with us up until the end. When he realized the pets were going to reunite with their owners but maybe the older golden retriever wasn't going to make it, he got up and left the room! I was like, "How can you watch the whole movie and not see the end?", but I know now that he was uncomfortable with feeling emotion - or, God forbid, showing emotion (although he never had any trouble showing the emotion of anger) - so he withdrew.