I am a nerd, dammit!

So, looking at subjects online I realised that if I manage to enrol properly next semester is going to be completely insane, with a 7, 000 word essay and all... also I at the moment have all the assessments for two subjects to go, plus an exam. And I was feeling so happy just a minute ago!
So I thought that now would be the perfect time for a discussion of the absolute classic fanasy books of all time, which is what I would write about if I had my own blog, I don't, so all of you will just have to suffer...

LORD OF THE RINGS- of course. No more need be said really, it's a huge bestseller wih some great movies made of it, it was voted book of the century, it was written by someone with a great knowledge of Old English, it's a classic quest with good versus evil. The good characters are good and the bad characters are bad, but the good characters have flaws and some of the bad characters have redeeming qualities. I could go on all day, but I won't.... Suffice to say this is definitely regarded as a classic among fanasy books.

HARRY POTTER- also classic, not quite up there in the quality stakes, but very, very popular. The writing style of questionable quality, but good plot lines and nice character work with the difficulty in distinguishing good and bad, "seems foul but is fair" and so on, to paraphrase Tolkien. Also I just failed to spot the bad guy in one of the books which I had actually read before. And I admire that. Or maybe I'm just stupid. Still, good development of an idea, albeit occasionally over-hyped, the world is fun with some inconsistencies. Moving on...

... to THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. Because they are famous, well-loved, and I still remember how disappointed I felt when I finished them for the first time and realised that there were no more. Well written, and deep, and I loved Santa Claus. I think my favourites would be 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', 'The Horse and his Boy' and 'The Silver Chair', in that order. Or maybe 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' third, hard to tell really...

In a different style, THE LAST UNICORN by Peter S. Beagle. Less famous I think, though it really should be up there amongst the classics, partially for its ability to be funny and sad at the same time. And for Schmendrick and the butterfly. Questing in a non-questy style. I like, and is classic. THE EARTHSEA QUARTET by Ursula le Guin is a kind of in the same vein. These books are permeated by a sense of wistful loss, even when they have happy endings. Earthsea is less funny, but probably more classic. Much better thought out use of magic and creation of rules etc. than Harry Potter. But then, much better books, so what do you expect. Any reader of fantasy should read these books. hmmm... Any reader then.

And, going with quirky and taking it through 'dark', thus multiplying quirkiness and taking it to gothic extremes, see GORMENGHAST. A classic in the fantasy world, but I recommend the first two and dissociate myself completely from the last one, which had Titus Groan in it but not Gormenghast, and that defeats the purpose 'cos as far as I'm concerned that castle was the main character. Maybe I just didn't get it. Whatever, still classic, especially the first two as far as I'm concerned.

For Pun I will throw in THE MISTS OF AVALON. Also, it is a good book. So many Arthurian stories come off as derivative. This one doesn't. It has an original, unlaboured take on the Arthurian legend, not trying to adapt it so much as retelling it from a different perspective. Which is refreshing. Great character work here. The other best modern Arthur retelling (and also a classic) is THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING, particularly 'The Sword in the Stone'. Read these two and you can see how much scope for character development there is in the Arthur legend. And what a great story it is.

One that is not so much a 'classic', but deserves to be, is THE HOUNDS OF THE MORRIGAN by Pat O'Shea. Great use of Irish myth, legend and folklore. Fun quest with lots of fun characters. I dunno, it just seems like classic material to me. But I think it's out of print, so seems also like it's less popular than it deserves.

Oh, and how could I forget THE DISCWORLD SERIES, by Terry Pratchett. So very funny. I like the witches. And the Watch. And spotting the realworld references.

So, there's some classics, I tried not to make it a list of my favourites but of classics in general. Hard to define a classic I guess, and I didn't really try, but thre you are. Could be controversial, and I probably forgot alot, of those I remembered I wasn't sure which to include. Also, I know that there are those among you who don't read fantasy, and who are probably fairly bemused by this whole list. Well to you I say go out and start!
Sweet, sweet procrastination...