| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Jeremy Grenemyer |
Posted - 03 Sep 2015 : 18:23:13
An article by Dwight Garner in The New York Times, "Just A Book? No, More Like A Trusty Companion," answers the question of which book the author wishes he could read again for the first time.
So I put the question to you: which book of all the books you've ever read would you read again, if you could do it as though the book were entirely new to you?
Also, if we limit the question to Realms novels, which would it be for you?
My answer is the same for both questions: Darkwalker on Moonshae. Reading the passage where a main character dies just blew me away as a young reader. I'd always assumed that didn't happen.
It was as though I had read about the death of Conan--to me an impossible thing--and I was left both shocked and dazed. The experience put the first crack in the armor of youthful invincibility I walked around in.
It was a rare experience; few books have ever moved me that much.
EDIT: here's the link to the article.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/03/books/just-a-book-no-more-like-a-trusty-companion.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0&referrer= |
| 10 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Xnella Moonblade-Thann |
Posted - 07 Sep 2015 : 19:00:51
Mine book covers both categories: Elfshadow. It is the first Realms book I had ever read, and made me want to visit the Realms more than any other fantasy world. Not to mention the author of that book became my favorite Realms author (Ed is a close second) because, to me, she made the Realms feel REAL and ALIVE. Not many authors of any fantasy world can do that, especially if they didn't create the fantasy world they are writing in. But that's just my two coppers...ymmv. |
| Delwa |
Posted - 04 Sep 2015 : 04:41:51
quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy Grenemyer
quote:
Originally posted by Delwa
The book I'd read again would be Taliesin by Stephen R. Lawhead. I first read it when I was a kid, but I missed so many details that didn't make sense at the time. My mom read it after I did, and was dying laughing at some things my mind just kinda glossed over.
This is an experience I hope to have with both of my children.
For me it was The Hobbit that largely went over my head. I'm long overdue to sit down with it again. I'm pretty sure imagery from the movies will dominate my imagination as I read.
I'm honestly not sure about the Hobbit. My mom would read that to us as grade school kids, and we read it so many times, I always feel like it is familiar territory. But I haven't reread it since seeing the films. I might have to give it a go, just to see. |
| Jeremy Grenemyer |
Posted - 04 Sep 2015 : 04:36:50
quote:
Originally posted by Delwa
The book I'd read again would be Taliesin by Stephen R. Lawhead. I first read it when I was a kid, but I missed so many details that didn't make sense at the time. My mom read it after I did, and was dying laughing at some things my mind just kinda glossed over.
This is an experience I hope to have with both of my children.
For me it was The Hobbit that largely went over my head. I'm long overdue to sit down with it again. I'm pretty sure imagery from the movies will dominate my imagination as I read. |
| Delwa |
Posted - 03 Sep 2015 : 23:49:13
The book I'd read again would be Taliesin by Stephen R. Lawhead. I first read it when I was a kid, but I missed so many details that didn't make sense at the time. My mom read it after I did, and was dying laughing at some things my mind just kinda glossed over.
Keeping it to the Realms... I'd give anything to be able to pick up Spellfire or The Temptation of Elminster and read it and enjoy it. I read Making of a Mage and really got into it, and Elminster In Myth Drannor as well, but The Temptation of Elminster just really... didn't do it for me.
Bob Salvatore said something in one of his interviews about how sometimes you pick up a book, and it's just not the right time in your life for that book, but you come back to it years later, and you're like, "how did I not notice this!?" I'd love to at least have that kind of experience with those books. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 03 Sep 2015 : 23:31:35
quote:
Originally posted by Thauramarth
Books in general: Lord of the Rings.
I considered that one for my own list, but I didn't care for it, on my first reading. It was about 10 years later, right before the first movie came out, when I re-read the books and found them thoroughly enjoyable. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 03 Sep 2015 : 23:29:28
In general, I think it would be Magician: Master* or The Elfstones of Shanarra -- those two were the first fantasy novels I ever read. (At least, ones that weren't of the Choose Your Own Adventure-mold)
For the Realms, I think I'd pick Elfshadow. Not only does that book have a couple of my fave Realms characters, both good and evil, it was also the first book I've read by one of my fave Realms authors. I read that book in one sitting, which isn't something I can say I've done with any other Realms novels.
*When I first read that book, it was back when Magician only existed as the two separate novels -- it was several years before The Author's Preferred Edition of the book came out as a hardcover. It actually took me a few years to find Magician: Apprentice or A Darkness at Sethanon. This was of course before Amazon. |
| Thauramarth |
Posted - 03 Sep 2015 : 22:30:17
Books in general: Lord of the Rings. Probably the granddaddy of modern fantasy literature. Realms books: Spellfire. This was not the best FR novel ever, but it was the first I read (even before I bought the OGB, and it was imbued with the spirit of the Realms. I would not mind getting that rush again |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 03 Sep 2015 : 20:17:54
I guess Wishsong of Shannara and Streams of Silver purely for the nostalgia factor. |
| Jeremy Grenemyer |
Posted - 03 Sep 2015 : 18:59:10
If you could reduce each of those lists down to one book each, which would it be, Artemas? |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 03 Sep 2015 : 18:37:23
Books: A Game of Thrones, The Wishsong of Shannara, The Blade Itself
Realms Books: Streams of Silver, Homeland, The Legacy (Wulfgar's "Death"), Prince of Lies |
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