Books!

[Ziggy]

I'm pretty far in The Fellowship of the Ring now. More than three-quarters. The book is a fairly slow start. But I mean, it's setting up a massive trilogy so I guess it kinda has to be. But it was never really boring. The exposition and world building was enough to keep it going. And the book picks up steadily the more it goes on. I'd have to say that I'm definitely enjoying it so far.

I love many of Michael Crichton's books, but yeah, he was what I consider to be a "functional" writer. It wasn't highly detailed in such a way that I could picture something beautiful, but it captured enough to convey the story and keep things moving.

I've only read two Crichton books. Jurassic Park once, and about half of The Lost World. It was so long ago though, my JP books have a Borders Bookstore price sticker on them LOL. So I don't have the most vivid memory of them. And it's been such a long time, who knows if I'd have the same opinion now that I did back then. But I don't recall his writing being bland in any way. Although, now that I think about it, I could have possibly had the scenery from the movies in my head which helped for any lack of imagination the book gave me. But I do remember the book being pretty descriptive of the characters. Although the characters were a little flat compared to their movie counterparts, if the movie didn't exist I would have been perfectly satisfied with the characters in the book. But again, it's been so long.

Well that's encouraging, thanks. How you would describe the world building of the novels?

Rowling is definitely no Tolkien, but I thought the world-building in Harry Potter was pretty fun.

You mentioned the vastness of Middle Earth. In comparison, the "Wizarding World" in Harry Potter is really very small. But it is also very detailed, with a lot of personality. As you read through the books, you learn more about wizarding society and how certain things work. Rowling clearly didn't have everything worked out when she wrote the first book, but I don't think she claims to have. And there are interesting non-human characters who don't act like humans or want the same things that humans do.

There has been plenty written about how the Wizarding World economy is a disaster and the monetary system makes no sense. These criticisms are fair. If you won't be able to enjoy the books for this reason then I would suggest you avoid them.

One of the awesome things about Tolkien's massive world is that not everything is explained, and what is explained is not always in the highest detail. That element of mystery, when you're left wondering what events transpired over the centuries, is always awesome. Like the original Star Wars trilogy, when you got hints of the past but it was never fully explained, that always seems to somehow make things more captivating.

If the Harry Potter books spend a lot of time explaining its economy only for it to be a hot mess that doesn't make sense, then I could see how that would be annoying. But if you would have to piece together random bits strewn across all of the books, then I don't think that would annoy me. So long as what's on the surface is enjoyable. In fact, if I was paying enough attention to notice that some minor points are conflicting, I often find that to be fun. And it is YA fiction, after all, so suspension of disbelief should apply double. And I also get kinda annoyed when people are OK with flying around on broomsticks but want to pick apart how the economy makes no sense.

[Limewater]

If the Harry Potter books spend a lot of time explaining its economy only for it to be a hot mess that doesn't make sense, then I could see how that would be annoying. But if you would have to piece together random bits strewn across all of the books, then I don't think that would annoy me. So long as what's on the surface is enjoyable. In fact, if I was paying enough attention to notice that some minor points are conflicting, I often find that to be fun. And it is YA fiction, after all, so suspension of disbelief should apply double. And I also get kinda annoyed when people are OK with flying around on broomsticks but want to pick apart how the economy makes no sense.

She doesn't go into a ton of detail on the economy. She just briefly describes a few financial transactions. The money is meant to be a little silly and not worth spending mental cycles on, but people do it anyway. It's the same with employment. It's only a problem if you want to seriously analyze it. It's not really distracting.
There are other things, too. Like the house point system not really sounding very fair, and the nonsensical nature of the sport of quidditch.

[Ziggy]

Hmm, well I just noticed that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is free on Kindle with Prime. If it still is by the time I get around to it, then I don't mind giving it a try for free!

[opa]

If you get more into Tolkien, there's a pretty cool book of artwork called Tolkien's World: Paintings of Middle-earth.

[Ack]

Since I enjoy my military sci-fi, I have gotten into the Honor Harrington series. I try to space them out, so I only just finished the fourth book, Field of Dishonor. However, now firmly a fan, I immediately ordered the fifth. While I often genre hop after each book I read to try and mix things up, I opted instead to read another sci-fi, though one far more tongue in cheek, Zack Jordan's The Last Human.

[MrPopo]

Apparently I missed the "Tolkein's prose isn't great" discussion. I think the Silmarillion is his best work because it isn't written as a story; it's written as a history textbook that covers all the events without trying to make them an actual story. It lets him fully dive into the worldbuilding he's so good at without stumbling over his prose. I've read it (and the Hobbit, Maru already covered why that's still readable) multiple times but haven't been able to get through LotR a second time.

[REPO Man]

Last night, I finished Junji Ito's "Mimi's Tales of Terror", which features nine stories adapted from Shin Mimibukuro (New Earmuffs), a well-known urban legend collection in Japan. Here, each story stars the titular Mimi, a university student who continues finding herself in supernatural situations alongside her boyfriend Naoto.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Apparently I missed the "Tolkein's prose isn't great" discussion. I think the Silmarillion is his best work because it isn't written as a story; it's written as a history textbook that covers all the events without trying to make them an actual story. It lets him fully dive into the worldbuilding he's so good at without stumbling over his prose. I've read it (and the Hobbit, Maru already covered why that's still readable) multiple times but haven't been able to get through LotR a second time.

I’m getting through the great tales of Middle Earth right now. They consist of: (1) The Children of Hurin; (2) Beren & Luthien; and (3) The Fall of Gondolin, and they are, basically, expanded book-length versions of what JRR Tolkien considered the best tales from the First Age. (They’re also illustrated by Alan Lee, which is great.)

The Children of Hurin was PAINFUL. It was an expanded, more boring version of the tale from The Silmarrillion, with way too many characters, too many character names, too many locations, and not enough narrative. It ends OK, but it was a slog.

Christopher Tolkien took a much different approach with Beren & Luthien, presenting different versions of the tale from different times in JRR Tolkien’s life. That is, you get the earliest version of the tale which he wrote before any of his other high fantasy narratives (and, in which, Sauron is replaced by Telvido, Prince of Cats!). You then get an abbreviated version he submitted to a publisher and a verse version that he abandoned when it was nearly complete.

I loved this approach, and I can’t recommend Beren & Luthien highly enough. In it, you get multiple versions of the tail, which are all pretty good. Better, however, you get much more insight into JRR Tolkien’s writing process and his original vision of Middle Earth.

I’m about halfway through The Fall of Gondolin right now, and although the tale is much longer, it adopts a similar approach. Once I finish that, I’ll probably push through The Fall of Numenor, a collection of everything JRR Tolkien wrote about Middle Earth’s Second Age, and then call it done with that author.

[marurun]

Working through Ask Iwata right now. He was such a welcoming (relatively speaking) figure at Nintendo. There hasn't been a president like him before or since. He was much more open with Nintendo's fans and the public, and he was also technically talented, coming to save Nintendo's bacon multiple times early on in his programming career. The book presents a series of anecdotes and philosophies of his and it's rather refreshing. It's a strong example of what happens when someone works their way up and is promoted from within.

[Ziggy]

I didn't even know about this book (or maybe I did and forgot). Sounds interesting. I just ordered a copy.