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What authors are you reading nowadays? Any favorites? Anything like Dahl?
As a child I quickly found Joan Aiken and her "Arabel's Raven" series. They were funny, and also illustrated by Quentin Blake.
Terry Pratchett comes to mind, if I'm thinking in terms of humorous fantasy.
In terms of regular fantasy (I know, I'm a librarian, I should know all the subgenres, but I don't) I prefer to stick to young adult books or series. An author I particularly like is Garth Nix - his "Old Kingdom" trilogy is fantastic, especially if you listen to the audiobooks read by Tim Curry.
So, anyway, I'd love to hear some thoughts on similar authors or dissimilar ones. How has reading Dahl shaped your reading preferences today, if at all?
As a child I quickly found Joan Aiken and her "Arabel's Raven" series. They were funny, and also illustrated by Quentin Blake.
Terry Pratchett comes to mind, if I'm thinking in terms of humorous fantasy.
In terms of regular fantasy (I know, I'm a librarian, I should know all the subgenres, but I don't) I prefer to stick to young adult books or series. An author I particularly like is Garth Nix - his "Old Kingdom" trilogy is fantastic, especially if you listen to the audiobooks read by Tim Curry.
So, anyway, I'd love to hear some thoughts on similar authors or dissimilar ones. How has reading Dahl shaped your reading preferences today, if at all?
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Re: If you read Dahl as a kid...
Sat, December 10, 2005 - 10:16 AMIt spoiled me. Nothing nowadays is anywhere near as good. Bah humbug! I tried reading the Potter books and I just didn't like them. The movies are good though. I also got one of the Lemony Snicket books and didn't like it either. We have bought and checked out dozens and dozens of books to read to our kids and none of them are even as remotely as good as Dahl, or C.S.Lewis. I tell you, back in the good old days, things they was different... -
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Re: If you read Dahl as a kid...
Sat, December 10, 2005 - 11:16 AMHa ha! I agree, sort of. I think that there's no one to touch Dahl for imagination. Isn't it sort of sad how much imagination we all lose as we grow? But I think there are some good authors today.
I love the Snicket books, but again, know them through the audio books read by... Tim Curry! I heart that guy.
I also have to say that it wasn't until library school and my children's literature class that I realized, "Duh, I love to read fantasy books!" once I connected the term with Roald Dahl and not so much with D&D or sci-fi a la Star Trek, etc. (because science fiction and fantasy are so often lumped together in the library and in people's brains, although they really are totally different genres). It was truly an epiphany. And a happy one, at that. -
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Re: If you read Dahl as a kid...
Sat, December 10, 2005 - 11:31 AMI'll see if they have Snicket tapes at the library. I was and am crazy about Edward Gorey, so I thought I'd like Snicket but I just didn't get into it. Not as stylish as Gorey and doesn't rhyme? Not sure.
Two things that seem related to me that I have really enjoyed since then are the Hitchhikers Guide series by Douglas Adams -- both the radio show and the books (have not seen the movie; not sure I want to) --, and stuff by Herman Melville, for example Moby Dick and Bartleby the Scrivener. Most people don't get him, but he is crazy and totally hilarious.
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