Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Two more done. . . slowly

First off, i absolutely loved the Time Travellors wife and gobbled it up over a weekend.

The Time Travellers Wife is a story of the 'real' love between Claire and Henry through time and thier lives. Nicely written, this book leaps back and forth through time but still paints a coherent picture. I loved dipping in and out of this book,experiencing the justipositioning of Claire's youth and Henry's middle age.

This is just a beautifully story, written in an amazing way that grabs you and won't let you go till you've read that sweet ending with a tear soaked face.

So i flew threw this book and felt like i was on a roll, i then picked up Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea Quartet (as its both on this challenge and on my basics challenge list), which has won numerous awards and is seen as one of the key pieces of literature in the fantasy genre.

*sigh*

God, i really wanted to love these books as they've inspired so many of my favourite writers and i had really high hopes for enjoying them (maybe that was part of the problem). Although i can appreciate the plot and story arc of the Earthsea Cycle (i had four books in one), i just didn't connect with the characters or story at all.

I felt completely indifferent!

Strangely, i feel slightly disappointed in myself for not appreciating/connecting with these books, especially when i love reading/writing fantasy - I feel like i've now lost my membership card lol.

I guess i'll just have to put this series to one side and reread at a later date and see how i go.

I'd love to know what other people thought of this series? and if you liked/loved it, what was it about it that appealed?

or if there are other works by Ursula Le Guin which i might redeem myself with? lol.

4 comments:

Amanda said...

YOu know - I hated the time traveler's wife. I suffered through it for a week, and each day that passes, I hate it more. It's definitely the worst book I've read this year. :(

ImageNations said...

have not read all these books...might one day read this.

Unknown said...

I too, like Amanda, disliked the Time Travelers wife. But did not keep reading it after 100 pages. I just gave up.

As for Le Guin, I have not read anything by her yet either, but there is so much out there in terms of fantasy that if I don't get along with an author I find another.

It will be interesting to see what others say in this thread about her work.

Linda said...

I loved TTW. One of the best books I've read this year.
I read Left Hand of Darkness years ago and really left an impression on me all these years.