My contribution to the gothic reading was reading Interview with a Vampire, mostly in the last few days. Quite a page turner.

So, I figured I'd make a separate thread out of these.

I've been reading fairly voraciously. I just started on the Nightwatch by Terry Pratchett and I got a Dragonlance novel, which is my first foray into that world. But I just finished a dive into two new trilogies that are relatively contemporary.

Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse.
Now, I really have read more in this world since I read two others from this same universe. But I just finished the Grishaverse trilogy and I understand they're making a series out of it. These novels were pretty engaging, although I do not think that Bardugo's writing style is on the same level with someone like Abercrombie, Martin, Lynch (Lies of Locke Lamora), or Rothfuss. Still, they are entertaining and I can see why they'd make a film out of it. The world is fairly fleshed out but the storyline of this trilogy follows closely to a single protagonist and is written in first person, which I think would lend itself easier to a screen adaptation. This world feels like there is a little less depth, and it is tied fairly closely to real-world cultures, with the main culture being Russian in style. The magic system is interesting enough. Overall, I'd give this series a 6/10 rating. I may read more in this world in the future.

Joe Abercrombie's the First Law trilogy.
This trilogy was hard to get into, and it is long. The first novel felt slow and only one of the characters was really interesting. But I slogged through it. I'm glad I did, because the story really picked up in the second novel and by the third I was very engaged. Abercrombie is a good writer, overall, and he develops characters who feel dynamic and able to undergo believable change while still remaining identifiably the same person. I don't want to give spoilers, but I was quite struck by the ending -- Abercrombie manages to subvert moral expectations within the genre to provide quite a remarkably different conclusion to the stories. I will most likely continue on to read more novels within this world.

Well, on the one hand, I think it's interesting from an intellectual standpoint. On the other, I hope no kids get suckered into taking out tens of thousands in debt to study something like this. I'm sure there will be a lot of interesting discussions, though.

I think it entirely depends on the stories. I can see there being an issue in Tolkien's use of humans of different ethnic/racial descriptors as fighting for Sauron, although there may also be historical reasons for why he chose to do that (Tolkien was writing within a very European mythic sensibility, and Europe had been invaded for centuries by Arabic and Asian peoples).

Yet when it comes to orcs and trolls and goblins, I see no problem why it is problematic to describe physically hideous creatures as being morally evil by default. At the same time, we see within the Warcraft mythos that orcish people in that universe have been treated with a lot more "humanity" than in Tolkien's world. That is fine within that world. In Tolkien's world, the orcs are servants of darkness and vile by nature. In Tolkien's world, people struggle with evil internally (particularly in relation to the ring) but evil is also externalized in the evil creatures of the world. Sometimes fantasy gives authors the opportunity to embody and externalize evils that often have roots in the internal and so depict the battle against evil in an external way. This is a function of imagination and mythopoeia. Certainly, that can be done in a racially insensitive way, but that is not a given. Not all fantasy must be so terribly morally ambiguous as is in vogue in today's fantasy. The Chronicles of Narnia contains both creatures wicked by default and individuals who have chosen evil. I don't think that is a problem as far as storytelling.

I grew up on westerns, to be honest. Mostly tv and film, but nevertheless, figures like Roy Roger, the Lone Ranger, John Wayne, were familiar elements of my childhood. I think in a way the old west is kind of an American fantasy world where anything is possible, where the rules of civilization are weak and individualism is strong. It plays into a particular image of the alpha male, a tough independent hero and often anti-hero who often takes the law into his own hands. It represents a kind of American wish-fulfillment, I think.

Required reading has always been hit or miss for me. And at times when I have had a lot of academic reading to do, I find it difficult to enjoy pleasure reading. I remember finishing a degree or two and having long duldrums of reading afterwards, like I simply had no appetite for it. I will say my appetite for reading does tend to come in waves.

I've been reading a lot lately.

I read two historical memoirs of the pacific front in WWII, A Helmet for My Pillow and With the Old Breed On Pelelieu and Okinawa. Those were interesting, to say the least. I read recently the second book of the Locke Lamora series and I just finished the second book in the Six of Crows duology. I'm going to probably start the third and final book in the Locke Lamora series. Both these series are similar -- heist and con stories in a fantasy world. I will say I feel the Locke Lamora series is better written, but both are enjoyable and a different experience of fantasy worlds. I am finding I have less and less interest in the epic scope of grand high fantasy books and I am more interested in character driven fantasy such as the above and novels like the Kingkiller Chronicles.
I've gotten a bunch of used books lately so I've got a lot to keep me reading for a while.

I've always liked the movie Ladyhawke. Almost wish we'd get a remake.

Hey Coir,

Do whatever you like. It's pretty much free rein at this point.
I just ordered a bunch of used books, actually. Should be here in one to two weeks. Some sequels and such, mostly fantasy. I want to get reading again. I was doing some professional educational work this winter and my pleasure reading basically stopped, but I want to get going again.
I'm really interested in the recent direction some current fantasy writers have taken away from the grand epic adventure and to a more close-to-earth take on individual people. I've read a couple heist stories set in fantasy worlds and enjoyed them.

We had a family movie night and watched Pixar's Onward (2020). Best animated movie I've seen in a while, not just because the world was up my alley (fantasy themed), but also because it was a well-told story. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed the book, Peter Pan. It's a fascinating piece, especially in its historical context.

Those Who Dwell are a tiny people who live in a large, frightening world. Fir's tribe shelters with their squirrels in a great earthen mound beneath the towering oak. When members of two tribes go missing, Fir must set off into the unknown in the hope of stopping a war. He never expected to discover that there's more to the old story of how his people came to dwell beneath the oak — and it could change everything.

Purchase on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1671744632

I've watched the Secret of Kells before. It's got lovely animation. Some of my favorite art is medieval Christian illumination and iconography.

By the way, Coir, I did some upgrades in the forum and it appears your name issue is resolved. Let me know if anything else isn't working correctly.

Doing the final read-through edits and checks for Those Who Dwell and hoping to get it out soon. In the meantime, I finally finished Tuesdays at the Castle. It was a very simple sort of story, but enjoyable and just the low-energy type of read that I could creep through during grad school. . . Because school is kicking my butt a little right now.

I really hope she does a sequel to Jonathan Strange. Man, that was such a good book. Not sure I'm hooked by the premise of the new one, but maybe some day.