[–]MikeOfThePalace
Hi Geoff, thanks for joining us!
You're stuck on a deserted island with three books. Knowing you'll be reading them over and over and over again, what three do you bring?
[–]G_R_Matthews
Have you been reading the question I set Tim Marquitz? (Fantasy-Faction interview) :)
Just three books... three!!!
As long as I can pick omnibus editions, I'm fine... maybe.
Belgariad by Eddings. I know it is not everyone's cup of tea (decaf or not), but I read them first at the right age and I still re-read them every so often. The structure is simple, but the adventure is good and character's interactions, the sarcasm and sentimentality carry it through. It is a feel good adventure story. Thinking about it, I reckon you could draw a line from Belgariad to City Stained Red by Sam Sykes - in terms of character interactions.
Pratchett - but which one... Guards! Guards! or Nightwatch... or... I think fate would have to play a hand here. Whichever one washed up on the shore would be fine with me (hopefully an omnibus edition).
I learned about his death from a colleague at work - "Pratchett's dead," were his words followed by "Sorry, you liked him didn't you?" I staggered back to my classroom (end of school) and wrote his obituary in that moment, before I knew what Fantasy-Faction were doing, mostly from memory and emotion. It was the lead piece in that article and contains one of the best lines I feel I have ever written (very bittersweet feeling) - "Never have so many sentences hung upon the curl of comma, only to fall and hit you with the cartoon anvil of veracity."
and 3. The Martian by Andy Weir. Now, confession time, and I know it is not fantasy, but this book got me into audiobooks. Every two weeks I have to travel the 120 miles to Norfolk, pick up my Mother-in-law and bring her back to our house (120 miles back). Incredibly sadly, and very suddenly, my Father-in-law, a man I'd known, loved and respected for twenty years died - on Father's Day. Mother-in-law and I listened to this book on the journeys... and she is no sci-fi fan at all... it is narrated so brilliantly. The story is told so well. I could listen to this forever.
Thanks for the question!