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Jun. 6th, 2003 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senoritafishMy book group met Wednesday night, and we were supposed to have read a favorite book and shared why we liked it. I would have had a difficult time picking just one; there are so many I love. I mentioned the following books:
And Deb had a special treat to share with us. Her husband's brother had been an aspiring writer in the 50's and actually published a few anthologies. The one she brought in had been illustrated by Bjo Trimble (if that name isn't familiar to you, she was the woman who organized the letter writing campaign that kept Star Trek from being cancelled the first time in the 60's). The real item, however, was the letter stashed within its pages. He had written to a now very famous author, and actually received a reply. Deb let me copy down the text.
It was written in that beautiful flowing script of his, each line as straight as if he'd been using a ruler. You could see exactly where the elvish runes in his master work came from. Accompanying the letter was the sheet with the signatures. I hardly dared touch it - this tiny sheet of paper that was written on by a man with a fountain pen, seven months before I was even born. We all remarked on how he must have learned to write at time when good penmanship was beaten into you. It was like touching a tiny bit of history.
Oh, and I made sure my coffee cup was several feet away before I got near the thing.
- Anne McCaffrey's Pern books - because hers are the dragons of my imagination.
- David Brin's Startide Rising universe - give me as many aliens as possible! The main reason I became a marine biologist is because the field of xenobiology doesn't exist yet.
- Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicornn - all of those pop culture references, and more gentle humor than one would think
- Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover books - Although there is a whole shelf-full of these books, most of them are stand-alone stories, documenting the history of an entire world. Not to mention I may be skeptical of humans with paranormal powers in real life, but in speculative fiction it's one of my favorite themes
- Stephen R. Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever - While many people cannot get through the first book because the main character is so unlikable -- he commits a rape within the first 50 pages -- his eventual conversion and redemption are, to me, some of the most beautiful parts of the story. The Land it takes place in is very different from the conventional fantasy story as well. I didn't want this to end.
- Tolkein - Without him, fantasy as we know it, would not exist. He was just about everyone's favorite, of course.
And Deb had a special treat to share with us. Her husband's brother had been an aspiring writer in the 50's and actually published a few anthologies. The one she brought in had been illustrated by Bjo Trimble (if that name isn't familiar to you, she was the woman who organized the letter writing campaign that kept Star Trek from being cancelled the first time in the 60's). The real item, however, was the letter stashed within its pages. He had written to a now very famous author, and actually received a reply. Deb let me copy down the text.
Friday, April 27, 1962
Dear Mr. Ellik,
I am very sorry to disappoint you, but I shall not be available next week. Though term is now beginning, I am "retired" and no longer tied to such times. I am fully engaged until Monday next after which I hope to get away from Oxford for some time.
Thank you very much for your interest in my work. I enclose 4 signatures which you could perhaps affix to your volumes. It's the best that I can do.
Yours sincerely,
J.R.R. Tolkein
It was written in that beautiful flowing script of his, each line as straight as if he'd been using a ruler. You could see exactly where the elvish runes in his master work came from. Accompanying the letter was the sheet with the signatures. I hardly dared touch it - this tiny sheet of paper that was written on by a man with a fountain pen, seven months before I was even born. We all remarked on how he must have learned to write at time when good penmanship was beaten into you. It was like touching a tiny bit of history.
Oh, and I made sure my coffee cup was several feet away before I got near the thing.
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Date: 2003-06-08 09:45 pm (UTC)The Last Unicorn - a classic!
The Darkover universe - rat actually introduced me to that series and he had most of the books in his library when we moved in together. He started me off with the Free Amazons, of course.
rat hates Thomas Covenant and I haven't tried it yet.
And we both find Tolkein too wordy (except for the Hobbitt), but agree he broke ground for the future of all fantasy, and for that we are truly thankful.
If you are into aliens, I would recommend The Pride of Chanur series by C.J. Cherryh. Space-faring female cats discover a smelly hairless alien in their hold and enemy aliens want the weird-looking thing back. To make matters worse, the hairless thing is 'gasp' male, which means it's going to be unstable!
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Date: 2003-06-09 02:27 pm (UTC)I had a volume of the Free Amazons books from the Science Fiction Bookclub at one time. I remember a very minor character had my name, spelled exactly the same way, so I was very impressed (there are almost as many spellings of my name as people who share it). I also named my three saltwater catfish after characters in that book. Sadly, I no longer have the book (I think it was in my storage stuff that got sold) or the fish (my brother insisted on buying a sick clownfish and it would up killing all the fish in the tank).
I took me three or four tries to get through Lord of the Rings. I kept getting bogged down in the "Council of Elrond," which is all strategy and politics. Finally I just skipped it and went on from there (I did go back and read it later, though). I think the problem people have is that he keeps switching back and forth between a colloquial kind of speech (as in the hobbits POV) and epic, flowery storytelling (Elves and other races, especially mythological and history-type stuff), which, yes, is pretty damn wordy. Too much Norse mythology, I guess.
I suppose Covenant is an aquired taste. The (anti-)hero is so negative for the entire first volume, I know very few people who went any further. It's worth it if you do, though. Especially for the Giants - Foamfollower is one of the most memorable characters I've ever read.
As far as food, every time I look at Talon's Chatterbox, you guys make me hungry, even if I've just eaten.