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Reading some of the more challenging literature might be fun the second time around. They were all ruined for me the first time, as an English major, through over-analysis. As a librarian my reading has gotten a lot more eclectic. When I'm back in Puna in October I'd love to be a part of a reading group. "Bookmarks" magazine has great reading recommendations as does Nancy Pearl's "Book Lust" and "Book Lust 2" - my bible for a lifetime of reading suggestions. And Kapohokat, I think Thomas Wolfe is wonderful and well worth rereading - rich and lyrical and wild. And certainly different depending on how old you were when you first read him. So we can call him a classic. We can call any book that we see as having lasting value a classic. As far as I know there are no book police. By the way, Stephen King's novella, "The Library Police" is a great read for those who like King's combination of humor and terror.
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Kathy,
I'm with you: I like to analyze and plumb the depths of the author's psyche and knowledge, references and associations. The more I know, the better; the richer the material becomes for me.
Maybe Harry is so popular because there is so little modern children's literature that is gripping. I did enjoy the first three books; she lost me on the fourth. I love the magic and witches, etc. I also think the idea of discovering that one is special with incredible faculties while living in the mundane world with people who don't understand you is archetypal for nearly all children. Many fairytales are based on that idea.
Have you read book Four?
I don't like LOTR either. While I love the Hobbit, LOTR is just a long war story to me. The movies are particularly hard to watch. Too dark, too violent, too much war--for me.
Let's read the hard ones! The ones I might not read on my own.
april
april
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Tolkien s best works as far as I'm considered, and definitely worth a read, are "Farmer Giles of Ham," "Leaf by Niggle," and "Smith of Wooton Major." They used to be published together with several of his essays on the literary criticism of fairy tales, and if you read those, it will change how you read any of his works. I'd say the insights there are pretty profound to western culture, really, and worth some serious thinking.
The "fairy tale" is a motif unique to northern Europe, and distinct in several indigenous qualities. Valuable ones too, as far as I'm concerned. It is, by and large, a wholly lost tradition.
