:mrgreen: Oh my goodness!!!! All you mentioning Astrid Lindgren's books and Neverending Story....
I love those books... staple of my childhood... Brothers Lionheart is SUCH a beautiful (albeit dark and intense) novel...
Ronja is availiable on DVD??? Where? In Poland????
I want.
Ahem... my apologies... now that I got that over with...
On to the thread topic...
I am very picky in my fantasy reading... given that a lot of the genre is pure drivel, Ive grown reluctant to pick up things besides on detailed and trusted recommendations.
My favourite currently living author is Guy Gavriel Kay... Im astounded that he has not been mentioned here more, though Aglanor did I fine job of bringing him up!! :mrgreen: Yet he is not well known enough at all...
He is a Canadian writer... a lawyer by profession... who quit the nassssty business and began writing fantasy some years ago. He helped Chris Tolkien edit the Silmarilion... he is a friend of the Tolkien family.
His true and most powerful credentials, however, come in the experience of reading his prose...
He writes, mostly, a curious historical-fantasy genre... painstakingly researching times and places in real history and transforming them into something even more powerful than history itself; a sort of magical myth.
Eru, you have asked about Tigana, and that is one of his books... not sure if you saw Aggie's post about it...
You should DEFINITELY, definitely give it a try.
I could write volumes on this man and his books...
but I will abstain for now...
(for anyone still at torc, there is a thread for everyone of his books in the other authors books forum... most started by me... if you are interested please do pop in...
)
If anyone's interest is remotely piqued by what I said do check out his
official website.
I will leave you with the titles of all his novels and brief descriptions...
"Fionavar Tapestry" (trilogy)
individual books:
1. The Summer Tree
2. The Wandering Fire
3. The Darkest Road
-this is high fantasy... very Tolkien-ian in vein. Beautiful.
"Tigana"
-a story set in a land roughly inspired by Italy in the times of the warring city states. A beautiful tale about love, memory, identity, loyalty, nationhood and patriotism...
"Lions of Al-Rassan"
-Based on Al-Andalus during its golden age... Spain under the Moors where Christians, Muslims and Jews created a thriving civilization together... while it lasted...
-This is currently in the works of being made into a film (still few years)
-Very appropriate to today's world events and sentiments...
-an engaging meditation on relationships... identity... love... heck..., all of Kay's books are deep down about ONE thing... humanity.
"The Sarantine Mosaic" (duology)
individual books:
1. "Sailing to Sarantium"
2. "Lord of Emperors"
-Based on the Byzantine Empire during the time of Justinian and Theodora...
-Beautiful, intricate, spiritual, highly political and strategic...
"A Song for Arbonne"
-based on the culture of Courtly Love in France at the time of the Troubadours...
"Last Light of the Sun"
-his newest book... a "Northern" novel... based on early medieval interactions between Anglo-Saxons, the Welsh, and the Vikings...
Kay also wrote an anthology of poetry titled "Beyond This Dark House"... a wonderful read...especially for those familliar with his prose.
Kay's books strike a very deep chord inside me...the way he writes is beautiful and sensuous. His themes and ideas resonate within me eternally. I have yet to have had a genuinely disappointed "recomendee"... of course, there are personal tastes, but I have never gotten a response from someone professing that Kay is not a good author...and frankly, all those who have tried on my urging thus far were hooked
Estel started a thread long ago in the torc other books forum titled "Reading a Book as a Sensual Experience", (and the thread has come to be subtitled the Guy Gavriel Kay sw00ning thread
)... she has recently brought this discussion over here with transplanting some of the original posts from the torc thread... do take a look at the
b77 version if you would like more of a feel for this author....
Happy readings everyone... :cheers
~enchantress