NPR: Three Magical Myths For Grown-Ups

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/02/149530392/secret-worlds-3-magical-myths-for-grown-...

I haven't read any of them. :o(
I do have one of them sitting here... somewhere, though!

How many have you read?

None. *blush*

2 - Little, Big and The City and the City - loved them both:) I'll have to look out for House of Leaves.

#2, Me neither, but I consider that a temporary situation.

I gave my daughter a copy of House of Leaves and it took forever for her to get through, but I think that's because it's really not in novel form.

I've only read Little, Big, but The city and the city is on Mount tbr. I'll have to move it up.

None.

I tried Little, Big about 20 years ago, because several of my inlaws enjoyed it, but I couldn't get into it. May try again some day.

The City & the City is one I keep meaning to read.

I stopped reading Little, Big about halfway through, don't remember why. It must've been when I was in one of my "can't concentrate on anything" phases...

I did like what I read, so I plan on picking it up again sometime. From the start, obviously.

Haven't read the other two, but want to. Although I started China Mieville's Un Lun Dun and found it was so, so, so much like a lesser imitation of Neverwhere (one of my favorite books) that I couldn't finish it. So I'm not sure if I'll like The City & The City.

I've partway through The City and The City and I don't know if I'll ever pick it up again. I like Mieville's worldbuilding (that's what got me through Un Lun Dun), but I have a hard time caring about his characters or plots.

I read Little, Big on the recommendation of many LTers who raved about it but I didn't like it all that much. Might have a go at The City and the City some day but couldn't get into Perdido Street Station by Mieville so haven't been too eager to try his work again. Never even heard of the other one.

#9
I think that's exactly what happened with me. I mean, I did like the idea of Un Lun Dun, but it grated me so much that it was trying too hard to be like Neverwhere. And while I liked the world-building, the characters... not so much.

Nope, none, zip, nada. So far this year my fantasy reading is neck and neck with my mystery reading. I want to read more mysteries. I can zip in and out of them easily without getting stuck. After I read a good fantasy, I don't want to jump right into another world, I want to live for a bit in the one I've read about. Savor it, you know? That being said, I don't like to acquire new fantasy authors. Head in the sand, I know.

Interesting to see that several others have, like me, read part of Little, Big. It's one of those books I keep saying I'll get back to, but haven't managed yet.

#12 - "After I read a good fantasy, I don't want to jump right into another world, I want to live for a bit in the one I've read about. Savor it, you know?"

MrsLee, stay out of my brain please. ;o) That happens to me, too. Right now, for instance, I don't want to start anything else after finishing The Night Circus yesterday because I don't want any other flavor to ruin the taste that's still in my brain.

I loved Little, Big, didn't like The City and the City (I want to like Mieville but just can finish his books). I haven't read the third book.

I'll be happy to give the stories a read, but NPR, you must stop trying to prescribe stuff for people. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go cuddle up to my husband and watch My Little Pony, which has recently come to Netflix.

I've read Little, Big but I didn't much like it. I found it pretentious and boring, to be very honest.

A bit like this link, actually (no offense, Clam).

'For some, the tingling sensation of magical lands fades after leaving childhood behind. But I still peer curiously into wardrobes, and thus here are three blazingly intelligent adult novels for the untamable Alice in all of us.'

This reads as a not-so-subtle condemnation of fantasy as a genre which is both unintelligent, and for children; yet another affirmation of the so-called divide between 'real grown-up literature' and 'silly things for kids.'

I say balls to that.

I suspect I may be accused of reading too much into this, but as a reader of both lit. fic. and fantasy, and having studied both, I feel safe in saying that the compiler of this rather short list believes in the authority of the canon, and was likely reared in it in her studies.

I didn't like Little, Big all that much. I gave it a 6 out of 10 stars. It was too lyrical for me. House of Leaves is on my TBR One Day list. I won't be reading The City and the City because I read Perdido Street Station by Mieville and really disliked it. I gave it 2 out of 10 stars - the lowest I go and still complete a book.

My review for Perdido:
SPOILERS AHEAD. It was awful. I have no idea how I finished this. As it is, a quarter of it I skimmed. Too much description of an awful city. No, I don't need pages of cable being laid down. Nor of character's walks from dreary place to ugly place. Awful things happen to the characters. There is not one speck of hope or good. There are pages of philosophy, math and "science" that make no sense. Author wrote with a thesaurus in hand. Only reason I could stand it was the races were interesting and I wanted to see how the monsters were taken care of. I could have saved myself some time. They ate themselves to death? Really? That's how you kill big nasties? That's the best you could do? Half the races you couldn't understand what they were thinking or saying. I supposed the author was trying to be clever. Instead it was unreadable nonsense. You couldn't pay me to read anything else by Mieville. YUCK PTOOEY.

But other than that, it was ok? ;-)

16 @Rozax - OMG My Little Pony on Netflix! *adds to instant queue* I stopped watching after a few episodes because it was really annoying to watch it on youtube, but now I'm excited to watch more.

#17 - Hmmm, no offense taken, but I didn't read that statement as a condemnation of fantasy at all. :o)

I've been wondering whether or not to try Mieville; from your descriptions, I'm not sure he'd be my cup of tea. House of Leaves sounds interesting, though.

20: There are full episodes on YouTube, but you have to find them before they're taken down, and you have to find one of good quality. I hope season 2 is posted on Netflix in the not-too-distant future.

I haven't read any of the three either. Taken together, the three do sound as if they tend more towards the like of Gabriel Garcia Marquez rather than Patricia A. McKillip. Both do fantasy but of highly different kinds. Magical realism vs. literary fairy tales.

As far as Mieville goes, out of curiosity, I followed the LT works page link to the Amazon page for the Mieville title. The marketing blurb included this sentence, "Casting shades of Kafka and Philip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler and 1984, The City & the City is a murder mystery taken to dazzling metaphysical and artistic heights.". Caveat emptor, right?

(12) MrsLee wrote "After I read a good fantasy, I don't want to jump right into another world, I want to live for a bit in the one I've read about. Savor it, you know? "

That's a wonderful way to describe fantasy reading, and something I totally agree with...just never realized that's what I was doing. :)

Question for those who have read these "Magical Myths for Grownups": do they have "adult content" (like sexual situations and other things of the sort) that makes them less desirable for children/youth?

Just wondering...

(17) Hear, hear!

I like fantasy, and even like to read children/youth books. So what? Does that make me anti-intellectual or stupid?

I trow not...

Hmm, I manage HoL, one of my all time favourites, and I found it a surprisingly quick read. Someone suggested The City and the City recently as a much better book that Perdido Street Station which, several months on, I'm struggling to fininsh. I've read some of Mieville's short fiction and really enjoyed the ideas, but I think PDS might defeat me. Unlike you, Morphidae I quite like the city descriptions, but I can't help thinking it would have benefitted from being a shorter, tighter book. I'm persevering in the hope it has a fantastic ending, but I couldn't help but read your spoiler and I'm not convinced. I keep trying to find what so many of my friends found so good in it...

I have read House of Leaves and only gave it two stars. The layout was interesting, but I just didn't care for the story.