Quote:
Originally Posted by teh603
As a sci-fi fan, I'm kinda happy. Seemed like the whole genre was dying until recently. I'm hoping the Hunger Games gave it the same kind of surge that fantasy did from Harry Potter.
Also, if these are the same kids that I see at work, then some of their wanting escapism is because reality is pretty bleak.
|
Absolutely. I read a lot and I'm a Librarian, for crying out loud, and I detest most "literary" fiction. I like fantasy but I read other things, too. You wouldn't think 1970s Laos would be a good, escapist place to spend your summer but I've been inhaling Colin Cotterill's Dr. Siri Paiboun books. I love David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, which can be construed as historical fiction. I don't have the energy to stay up all night reading anymore but I did spend all night reading The Vampire Lestat when I was 16, so I don't knock the Vampire books too much, though Rice is certainly a better writer than Meyer.
Anyway, Tolkien quote...
“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisioned by the enemy, don't we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we're partisans of liberty, then it's our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!” ~J.R.R.T.