Something New

Okay so this is something I have been thinking about for a while now. I love fantasy, the dragons, the wizards, warlords, warlocks, unicorns, wendigoes, minotaurs, heroes, princesses in towers, Secret royal, mystical items, heroic adventures, all of it. So I read a lot of it, Tolkien, Lewis, Hobb, Ende, Martin, Rowlins, Pratchett and others for the modern stuff, and I read the classic myths, Homer, Arthur,  Wife of Bath, Irish Myth Cycle, Norse Myth, Grim Brothers and others.

In the last year I found a pod cast called The Tolkien Professer. where Dr. Corey Olsen discusses topics in Tolkien studies; gives lectures on The Hobbit; shares lectures from classes he teaches at Washington College; and leads a reading group though The Silmarillion. His pod caste has inspired me to look over some of the fantasy that I love to see why it is I re read them. I thought about doing this with was the Harry Potter series, to see if Harry Potter could be more then a book enjoyed by this generation and then forgot by the next. Then I found this pod cast over at the Hog's Head Pub. There Travis Prinzi and several others discuss topics concerning Harry Potter. From their point of view Harry Potter is worthy of academic study. I enjoy his pod cast and the topics he discusses. (by the way Prinzi is teaching a class about Harry Potter at the Mythgard institute. I am really tempted to take the class, really cheep -$500 for a three credit course!!!- because they are completely online seriously everyone should check this place out.)

So Between Dr. Olsen and Mr. Prinzi -oh and I should also mention John Wilson over at The Amazing Spider-man Classics pod caste- I have been inspired to talk more about the books I love in a way that helps others see their value. So at the beginning of the year I am going to be sharing my thoughts as I read. The books will be books that I have read at least twice prior to my read through for the sake of this project. the posts will be by-weekly (hopefully Wednesday and Friday) and cover only one to two chapters a post. I hope that for some of the books I can get guest writers who also love the stories to talk about different themes. I also will pull from things that may have already been written about the Book.

My plan for now is to start with my absolute favorite book The Never Ending Story, This will probably be followed by something that has a longer series either The Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, or Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. 

Till then on Fridays I am going to be posting about a different book. One that I bought back when I was living in Bismark ND but have only now started to read- From Homer to Harry Potter; A Handbook on Myth and Fantasy but Matthew Dickerson and David O'Hara.  It deals with this idea that fantasy is just as reliant and insightful as non-genre fiction. It has already inspired me to embark on this project and seemed fitting.