What other fantasy books do YOU read?

[Nessa Telrunya]

Originally Posted by alatar

We were preparing a disaster recovery plan for the office, and so decided to do some research on zombies (it's an odd place to work). A coworker pointed me to the works of Max Brooks (son of Mel Brooks), who wrote the 'Zombie Survival Guide' and 'World War Z.' The former is a tongue-in-cheek guide that helps you prepare for various zombie outbreaks, from a few here and there to a full-blown end-of-the-world pandemic. I found it helpful, though WWZ was more entertaining. It's written ten years *after* zombies take over the world, where the author of the book interviews various people around the world in order to describe the war against the zombies. Some parts are great; others get a little silly - then again, it's about zombies.

I found both to be entertaining and worth the read. Plus, practically, should zombies attack the office, I have an escape plan at the ready (hint: identify slower coworkers who can be used to *distract* the zombies long enough for you to get away ).

The Zombie Survival Guide was a great read-Even more so now that I'm safe

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Nessa Telrunya

The Zombie Survival Guide was a great read-Even more so now that I'm safe

Glad that you're safe. May your crowbar always swing freely.

Another thing I liked about WWZ is that the entire book pretends to be from this future post-zombie war time. You get right into it upon opening the cover. It's not like it says, "after turning the next page, please begin suspending belief." No, you somehow got the book from this future/alternate reality, and except for a few absurdities, it seems pretty real.

[Inziladun]

I'll admit to being an (initially unwilling) fan of the Harry Potter series.
Beyond that, my tastes run more toward horror than fantasy.

[Pitchwife]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I'll admit to being an (initially unwilling) fan of the Harry Potter series.

Same here. I stubbornly refused to look into the books until after Goblet of Fire was out. Then a friend gave me the first two for birthday; I read them in one weekend, went into a bookshop on Monday and bought the next two, and have been hooked ever since. Sure, I wouldn't put JK Rowling in the same league with, say, Donaldson, McKillip or LeGuin, not to mention Tolkien, but what she does, she does well.

Beyond that, my tastes run more toward horror than fantasy.

Do you like Lovecraft (Howard Phillips, i mean)? Some of his early stories sort of border on the fantasy genre, but personally, I prefer the Cthulhu stuff.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Do you like Lovecraft (Howard Phillips, i mean)? Some of his early stories sort of border on the fantasy genre, but personally, I prefer the Cthulhu stuff.

The Cthulhu Mythos is good, but two of my favourites are The Whisperer In Darkness and The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

[Pitchwife]

Agreed, that's two of his best! I'd like to add Mountains of Madness, with its glimpses of vast prehistoric ages (and the tantalizing mystery of what was beyond those accursed other mountains!) and Dreams in the Witch-House - the only story that ever gave me nightmares (Brown Jenkin! Brrrr!).
However, I digress...

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I'll admit to being an (initially unwilling) fan of the Harry Potter series.
Beyond that, my tastes run more toward horror than fantasy.

I just started to re-read HP now (well... I started a few months ago, but during the school year, I was unable to move much, but now since summer started I managed the Goblet of Fire and now I am in the middle of 5, it's interesting how one reads it differently after some time - especially with the Goblet it was really great to follow the character of Moody and try to see the story through his eyes. I never read 4-7 more than once (and I always read them when they came out), so I'm interested to see what it's going to be like, how it will differ from the first reading.
I happened to read the first HP "before the wave came", that is, when it was still unknown, I sort of randomly stumbled on it (my grandmother who worked in a library back then mentioned it to me) and I was not particularly fascinated, but as the others came out, I followed. The third was probably the one which broke it, I bought it on the very day it came out and thought that I'll read it during the weekend when I was home alone, but I started to read and could not leave it unfinished - so I practically read it all in one evening. Since the fourth, I have been reading them in English, as I did not want to wait half a year for translation. And of course, since the fourth it became much more... serious.

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Do you like Lovecraft (Howard Phillips, i mean)? Some of his early stories sort of border on the fantasy genre, but personally, I prefer the Cthulhu stuff.

Originally Posted by Inziladun

The Cthulhu Mythos is good, but two of my favourites are The Whisperer In Darkness and The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Agreed, that's two of his best! I'd like to add Mountains of Madness, with its glimpses of vast prehistoric ages (and the tantalizing mystery of what was beyond those accursed other mountains!) and Dreams in the Witch-House - the only story that ever gave me nightmares (Brown Jenkin! Brrrr!).
However, I digress...

Hey, I like HP ( Lovecraft, not the scar-forehead boy) too, I'd list him among my favourite together with Tolkien and Chinghiz Aitmatov (other two in the top five would be probably Andrzej Sapkowski, a Polish fantasy author, and then maybe the Potter stuff... though I'm not so keen on advertising it because it's so widespread). I like At the Mountains of Madness a lot and lot of the "Cthulhu-stuff" as well, though I have some of my favs among the shorter stories (like Polaris and this thing about the German submarine, can't recall the name now). I also like the Dream-cycle stuff, though, especially wherever it's mixed with the Old Ones. I was so cheered up when I read the Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath this spring and I noticed that at one point, Nyarlathotep is called "Legate" there!
The first one I read from him was the Haunter of the Dark, which I read in one SF magazine, and it's still probably the best for me. It has brilliant atmosphere and I just love it. I recently discovered that it was actually the last story he wrote, so I wonder whether it has anything to do with it.