03 Nov 2020 20:25
I own about 3000 books. (And I've actually read a lot of it. Many books multiple times. Some very often.)
But I only own many of these books because I've read one thing before: The Lord of the Rings.
After reading this book, I started looking for something comparable. I don't think I found it.
Oh, I found Terry Pratchett and the Disc World Novels. They're just as good in their own way.
And loads of other good writers and books. But none made such an impression on me as the Lord of the Rings.
But I only read the whole book 4 times.
Once in the three-volume German paperback edition. Then not for 17 years! I didn't need to read it, it was always present to me as if I had only read it yesterday.
Then I read it in a one-volume, illustrated German edition. Then in a one-volume edition in a new German translation. (In my opinion a terrible translation, which I can't recommend anyone. And as far as I know, you can still get the old translation.)
And I've read the one-volume English edition.
Does that sound familiar?
It happened to a great many people like me, with the Lord of the Rings.
They set out on the search ...
Before reading The Lord of the Rings, I turned down Fantasy. It was too fantastic for me, too unrealistic.
I've mostly only read science fiction novels. (About 1000 of my books.) And non-fiction books.
And at some point I also had a phase where I read a lot of crime novels. Simple stories like Sherlock Holmes, without 'psycho'.
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