10 best books for treating Harry Potter withdrawal
Rated • 76 reviews • childrens books, books • examiner.com
Since I really like J.K. Rowling, Terry Pratchett, Frank Herbert (for the original "Dune" and "The Dragon In The Sea"), Douglas Adams and John Wyndham - very different authors from each other - I shall certainly check out the rest of these suggestions.
Mille grazie to qthews for finding this for me!
One of the finest fantasy authors not on the list (IMO) is Ursula K LeGuin, best known for the Earthsea books, but whose other work includes some very good adult science fiction. She writes seriously good literature, and her own web site is well worth a visit.
For people who like entertaining fantasy literature for young people (or anyone young at heart) I would also recommend Rick Riordan's series Percy Jackson and the Olympians which starts with "The Lightning Thief". This isn't seriously good literature, but it's great fun and a real page-turner.
And then there is the Inheritance Cycle (now to be a quartet) by Christopher Paolini. The make-a-quick-buck movie of Eragon was a real disappointment for many fans of the book, including myself. I enjoyed Eragon and its two sequels (one more yet to come) which get progressively better as the young author matures. Paolini has gratefully borrowed much stuff from other great authors (particularly Tolkien and Ursula Le Guin), but he has spun a really engrossing, original tale of his own. I'll stick my neck out and say that although Tolkien's linguistic skills and scholarly background (and age when writing) greatly outweigh Paolini's, Paolini has added a social and political dimension to his elves and dwarves that is quite new. Paolini also has a real talent for making you see, hear and smell what he is writing about.
Back to J.K. Rowling... I am always curious about the negative criticisms and comments that she sometimes receives. Some are doubtless due to envy of success, some come from religious myopia, and some are just the kick-back reaction "Everyone keeps telling me that these are great books and that I should read them - why should I?".
It doesn't bother me that not everyone likes Harry Potter - why should they? What I don't understand are criticisms of her writing ability, maybe because I value the ability to tell a good story well (even in non-fiction) as one of the main requirements of good writing. J.K. Rowling has crafted a gripping, tightly plotted story that is more than 3,000 pages long. Well over a hundred million children and adults have read it (some sharing copies) in 64 different languages (so far). How many of these were introduced to reading by her books? We will never know, but it's a big number for sure, and it may be her greatest achievement. And rarely, if ever, has one person spent more than 5 years of his or her life giving so much pleasure to so many people.
[The J.K. Rowling Phenomenon]
Mille grazie to qthews for finding this for me!
One of the finest fantasy authors not on the list (IMO) is Ursula K LeGuin, best known for the Earthsea books, but whose other work includes some very good adult science fiction. She writes seriously good literature, and her own web site is well worth a visit.
For people who like entertaining fantasy literature for young people (or anyone young at heart) I would also recommend Rick Riordan's series Percy Jackson and the Olympians which starts with "The Lightning Thief". This isn't seriously good literature, but it's great fun and a real page-turner.
And then there is the Inheritance Cycle (now to be a quartet) by Christopher Paolini. The make-a-quick-buck movie of Eragon was a real disappointment for many fans of the book, including myself. I enjoyed Eragon and its two sequels (one more yet to come) which get progressively better as the young author matures. Paolini has gratefully borrowed much stuff from other great authors (particularly Tolkien and Ursula Le Guin), but he has spun a really engrossing, original tale of his own. I'll stick my neck out and say that although Tolkien's linguistic skills and scholarly background (and age when writing) greatly outweigh Paolini's, Paolini has added a social and political dimension to his elves and dwarves that is quite new. Paolini also has a real talent for making you see, hear and smell what he is writing about.
Back to J.K. Rowling... I am always curious about the negative criticisms and comments that she sometimes receives. Some are doubtless due to envy of success, some come from religious myopia, and some are just the kick-back reaction "Everyone keeps telling me that these are great books and that I should read them - why should I?".
It doesn't bother me that not everyone likes Harry Potter - why should they? What I don't understand are criticisms of her writing ability, maybe because I value the ability to tell a good story well (even in non-fiction) as one of the main requirements of good writing. J.K. Rowling has crafted a gripping, tightly plotted story that is more than 3,000 pages long. Well over a hundred million children and adults have read it (some sharing copies) in 64 different languages (so far). How many of these were introduced to reading by her books? We will never know, but it's a big number for sure, and it may be her greatest achievement. And rarely, if ever, has one person spent more than 5 years of his or her life giving so much pleasure to so many people.
