Hello. A new week about to begin!
For this tag, I have accepted E.G Bella‘s open invitation.
What are 1-3 of your favourite books of all time?
Can trilogies or series be counted as books? In that case, first I will name The Last Herald-Mage (Magic’s Pawn, Magic’s Promise, Magic’s Price) by Mercedes Lackey. Favourites aren’t really my thing, but if I have to call something a favourite book, I often call that one. It certainly occupies a very unique, special, and beloved space to me. I do not like it more than all other books, but I like it – as I do some other books – in a way in which I like nothing else. But that’s three books too: one series, three books.
Other fantasy books I’ve really enjoyed are the Children of the Nexus books (Between Starfalls, Let Loose the Fallen) by S. Kaeth, and … well, there are a number of books by George MacDonald of which I could not pick a favourite, but I’ll just name Phantastes and Lilith here.
And for non-fiction … there’s Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich. That one, definitely, stands in a place all its own, too! I also absolutely must mention Hind’s Feet on High Places, which is one that’s strictly speaking allegorical fiction but it feels like more than that to me, and it was really helpful to me at one time in my life.
What are 1-3 of your favourite authors of all time?
Some people have authors where they read everything the author writes. I don’t have that relationship with any authors. But there are a few authors that I’ve read quite a lot by and whose writing I usually enjoy! (Most of them have at least one or so works that I’ve come across that I hated, too, though, just so you know). The aforementioned Mercedes Lackey and George MacDonald are two of these.
Who is your favourite female character of all time?
I can’t think of a favourite female character? I guess it doesn’t help that I don’t think very much about gender so there isn’t even a category that corresponds to ‘female characters I really liked’ for me to mention two or three from!
Who is your favourite male character of all time?
I rarely have favourites, but as the very special main character of a very special book who spoke to me in a lot of ways, I’ll say Vanyel, the last Herald-Mage.
What is your favourite mythical world?
Anne McCaffrey’s Pern or Mercedes Lackey’s whatever-the-name-of-the-world-is that contains Valdemar. It has a name, but I forget it. Pern for the dragons, I really loved the dragons. I always love reading about the dragons. And Valdemar for a lot more than one thing.
Not that it isn’t a bit strange to me to call something a ‘favourite mythical world.’ But, yeah, those two. I mean, I can’t really think of any others to compete?
What book has your favourite cover?
I don’t really care very much about covers? I like them when they’re beautiful, but they don’t matter much to me. I really like a lot of the older Dragonriders of Pern covers, and the covers for The Last Herald-Mage Trilogy aren’t bad. I also really like the cover of Windward by S. Kaeth. The cover for the complete Empire’s Legacy is pretty nice here.
And if you’re interested in a few more, here are My Favourite Five Book Covers of 2021
What is your favourite book-to-movie adaptation?
I have none. I don’t enjoy movies, and from everything I can imagine and how I like books, I think adapting a book to a movie is necessarily a step in the wrong direction! There are things you can describe with words you just can’t describe with the medium of a movie. (One thing that I think can’t be done well is telepathic speech, especially when the telepathic speech is highly empathic and doesn’t use words. Something else that can’t be done well is altered states of perception. There’s also the issue of a gore and realism. Gore can be skimmed over in a book; but how does one do that in a movie? There are so many ways movies are inferior to books, in my opinion. You, of course, are welcome to a different opinion and I feel no need to argue.)
If you could make any book into a movie, what would it be?
Obviously, none. Refer to the answer above.
What was your favourite childhood book?
Perelandra by C.S Lewis or The Harper Hall Trilogy (primarily the first two books, Dragonsong and Dragonsinger) by Anne McCaffrey. I know those are odd answers! Probably, what’s doubly odd is having those two together! But so it is. To be honest, I find it a little of a question whether to include Peralandra as one of my top favourite books of all time! Part of the problem with Perelandra is that it is definitely fiction, but it rests in a place between fiction and non-fiction to me? Well, I mentioned it here!
And The Harper Hall books were – and continue – to be special, too. They were the first really character-driven, character-focused novels I ever read. They had fire lizards, which are a little like dragons, and … well, they sort of had dragons in them too! And … well, Menolly. In fact, part of what I liked about Dragonsong and Dragonsinger was one of the things I do not like about Perelandra!
Sometimes I think that I should tell people who are interested in getting to know me that they should read Perelandra and The Harper Hall Trilogy. That would really be a beginning. Of course, I’m also tempted to throw in The Last Herald-Mage and maybe one of George MacDonald’s books. I haven’t yet decided which one. But, yeah, if you want to get to know me, it might be a good start to read those books, keeping in mind I liked and enjoyed them all in unique and special ways. They are each “Unforgettable” to me.
Fantasy or sci-fi? (Or neither)
Fantasy. Absolutely fantasy. Of course, I love extravagant fantastic world-building, but I also don’t mind fantasy worlds or books with no magic and no made-up creatures! I just prefer for my fiction not to be set in this world, whether in a contemporary or historical or futuristic setting (and neither do I care for the idea of alternate or parallel universes). That’s all other things being equal. Sometimes a very good book has to have such a setting to be what it is, and I can enjoy those too. But generally, I think fantasy is far better than sci-fi and I would rather my fantasy not to be set in what’s supposed to be this world. I don’t like most sci-fi elements. To my mind, they usually distract from the story and can sometimes be quite repelling in themselves.
I will follow the lead of others before me, and tag whoever is interested to answer these questions!
Enthralled By Love 