Other Fantasy series/Use of List/Medieval Italian Torture Devices

[Eustace_Scrubb]

Carolyn:
> I was a fully-paid up Tolkie in my teens as well, but sadly it has 
> lost its magic for me. I re-read it about a year ago after a gap of 
> about 20 years, and the boys-own aspect of the story really
irritated 
> me, never having been much good at the handmaiden bit. Similarly
for 
> Narnia. Once I found out the religious gunk I was being fed, I'm 
> afraid I threw them away. I just looked for 'The King of Elfland's 
> Daughter' on the shelf, and found a bookmark halfway through it
from 
> a few year's back. Ah well..
> 
> However, E.R.Eddison (The Worm Ouroboros etc) has survived the 
> years..and I love a new author, Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl series). 
> Jury is currently out on the Potterverse.

Doug:  Well, I read _The King of Elfland's Daughter_...it wasn't a
life-changing experience or anything, though.  The Morris stuff is
more interesting, but that may be because it was one small aspect of
an amazingly diverse career.  Never read Eddison, though I probably
should.  And for some reason I missed Susan Cooper's The Dark is
Rising sequence when I was a teen...which was just when most of that
series was being published.  I read it last year, I think based on a
recommendation from HPfGU.  I like some aspects of it, though she
never really conveys a sense that the "Dark" actually have a chance to
triumph--and therefore Will Stanton and the other heroes never seem to
be in genuine danger.  And if anyone has trouble with Time Turning,
well, let's just say that time travel is crucial to the series. 


Carolyn:
> As a relative newbie, be curious to know how you have used the
HPfGU 
> site - have you explored the archives much ? Are the old theories
of 
> interest, did you spend a lot of time reading up??

Doug:
Well, I can't say I have an encyclopedic knowledge of the TBAY and
other "old theories" (is that sort of like "ancient magic"?).  I
mostly read HPfGU to see what other folks were thinking about in the
series.  I _tried_ to explore the Archives (I am on the various
archives lists too), but like so many others, I ended up cursing under
my breath trying to find things.  When someone who actually keeps
track of at least their own posts (Geoff Bannister, e.g.) referenced
an older discussion, I usually went and had a look.  That's really why
I'm interested in this project.

Speaking of which...I've muddled through my next 50 posts and wanted
to report that ASAP (apprehensively eyeing the various medieval
Italian torture devices strapped to Carolyn's jetski as it it skips
away from the yawing Coast Guard cutter towards the beach full of
unsuspecting catalogers).  So take a look and hand me some
more...wading into the TBAY will probably be better than trying to
decide whether to read more posts about Marietta's betrayal (I wonder
if Marietta is any relation to Florence?)

I missed Abba, but now I'm going to watch either the end of the Fawlty
Towers marathon on BBC America _or_ the NFL playoffs!

Cheers,

Doug Kendall