(Planet Me)
Sunday, July 22, 2007
 
YOU CANNOT PASS
iffansruledtheworld

Well, for most people this seems to be a sad weekend : Harry Potter finally grinds to a close, and more than one blogger has read it. For me though, this weekend has seen the end of another, more different, literary pheonomenon : namely, The Lord Of The Rings. After several months (I remember reading one of them four months ago on a flight across Canada). I've finally made it through Tolkein's massive trilogy, and to be blunt, it's not prticularly good. It's overlong, bloated, and difficult to follow : there's so many names, so many major characters that it's practically impossible to keep track of what's happening, there's innumberable false endings, distractions and unnecessary guff that smokescreens across the events. The fact that the Universe is so large, and action is happening at multiple points across it simultaneously means that, without a map to refer to, it's easy to get lost. So, "Lord Of The Rings" - over-rated, ambitious, but really nowhere near as good as everyone makes out. But I have read it, and that's the important thing : I know what the fuss is all about, and I suppose it's The Bible and the Harry Potter books next. (the Bible is 8,513 in the Amazon bestseller list, by the way).

Meanwhile, The AV Club blogs the Potter books blow by blow. Curious, interesting, full of spoilers.

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