The Magicians ~Lev Grossman

–published 2009
–Viking Penguin
–402 pages
–5/10 stars

From Amazon:

“Mixing the magic of beloved children’s fantasy classics (from Narnia and Oz to Harry Potter and Earthsea) with the sex, excess, angst, and anticlimax of life in college and beyond, Lev Grossman’s Magicians reimagines modern-day fantasy for grownups.”

Lev Grossman’s novel, The Magicians, is a book with a cover image that I have burned with lust for ever since its release, but the premise (the one I gathered from bits and pieces of conversation, not the one I quoted above) was not sufficient enough for me to give in to those desires. On a recent visit to Barnes and Noble I saw several pristine hardcover copies of non-remainder-marked publishers overstock copies for $5.98. I was undone. With my discount I paid a little over $5 for this beautiful book. And it is not just a beautiful cover. The book itself is graced with hand-drawn maps for end pages and has the kind of uneven cut edges that inexplicably excite me. I went right home and started reading it, burning through it in a matter of days.

Somewhere along about the middle of the book, the cover illustration started to lose its luster. While I can still look at it and see its promised beauty, the gorgeous cover unfortunately houses a book that is everything it was advertised to be, this reader was just too far seduced to read the fine print. Had I read that above quote from Amazon.com I would not have heeded the siren call. And you might be surprised to know that it is the words “angst, and anticlimax of life…” that would have told me that this book, while a looker, was not for me.

Continue reading The Magicians ~Lev Grossman →

“Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We’ll wander back to home and bed.”

This past Sunday morning dawned with a near 30 degree change in the high temperature and a taste of autumn on the wind. It was at that moment that my commitment to participate in the Lord of the Rings group read solidified. I grabbed my copy of The Fellowship of the Ring, went out in the chill air to sit on the back deck, and began my journey. By days’ end I was nearly half way through the book and realized I needed to stop and set it aside so that I could stay on course with the reading schedule so that the chapters being discussed would be fresh in my mind.

Andrea, one of the hosts, had mentioned this was her first time to read through the books. I mentioned, with utter conviction, just how cumbersome and at times difficult the first quarter or so of The Fellowship of the Ring was for me the first time I read it and encouraged her to not be dissuaded by this. And it was the complete truth. I did not enjoy the effort I was making trying to get into this book when I read it almost 10 years ago. I expected the same to be true this time and was determined to soldier on until I got to “the good part”.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered I was in “the good part” right from the prologue! I’m not sure why, maybe because I have matured in my knowledge of and appreciation for what Tolkien accomplished with his life’s work, but this first section of the book practically sang to me. There were revelations and pleasant surprises on nearly every page. I found a wickedly clever sense of humor, a number of seeds planted that will grow into bigger story elements later on, and found that I actually enjoyed spending this time with just the Hobbits by themselves, before Aragorn comes into their lives and their journey takes a decidedly downward turn.

It is my great pleasure to be posting this first of three discussions on The Fellowship of the Ring. There will undoubtedly be spoilers ahead, so please be warned.

Continue reading The Fellowship of the Ring Group Read, Part 1 →