For Christmas, Lamplighter gave me "Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards" by Michael N. Stanton (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001), addicted as I have been to The Lord of the Rings. In this book, Stanton treats the geography and history and themes of LOTR, along with (as the title implies) the races of Middle-earth, such as dwarfs, ents, and humankind. The book includes a long essay on the first part of the movie trilogy.
In his preface, Stanton writes:
"It always was and still is a pleasure for me to talk about and write about The Lord of the Rings, and I hope that pleasure shows through."
This is an accessible book even to non-fans.
During the holidays, I picked up the "Cambridge Guide to Fiction in English" by Ian Ousby (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998) at a used books store for Php 40. This is a survey of the English-speaking countries, and the Philippines is included. Here is the entry for F. Sionil Jose:
"Sionil, F(rankie) Sionil. 1924- Filipino. The foremost anglophone writer in the Philippines, he has published novels, novellas and collections of short stories. His reputation rests on the 'Rosales Quinology', consisting of The Pretenders (1962), Tree (1978), My Brother, My Executioner (1979), Mass (1982) and Po-on (1984). Beginning in contemporary middle-class settings, the sequence goes on to chronicle more than a century of life in every sphere of Philippine society."
The book deals with genres of fiction, types of novel, literary history and theory, and trends such as modernism, naturalism, realism, and magic realism. There are summaries of major novels, suggested reading among resources and references, and a list of selected literary prizes.
Most entries are relatively short, but this is nevertheless a helpful study of fiction in English.
These two books have been on my reading load since the holidays. Here's hoping 2010 will be a very good year in books.
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