Friday, December 20, 2013

Follow Friday - There Are 137 Atoms in a Chlorophyll Molecule


It's Friday again, and this means it's time for Follow Friday. There has been a slight change to the format, as now there are two Follow Friday hosts blogs and two Follow Friday Features Bloggers each week. To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:
  1. Follow both of the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts (Parajunkee and Alison Can Read) and any one else you want to follow on the list.
  2. Follow the two Featured Bloggers of the week - Words with Sarah and The Storybook Kingdom.
  3. Put your Blog name and URL in the Linky thing.
  4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments.
  5. Follow, follow, follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "Hi".
  6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the love . . . and the followers.
  7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!
  8. If you're new to the Follow Friday Hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!
And now for the Follow Friday Question: Pick a book in your favorite genre that you’d recommend to a reluctant reader.

If I wanted to get someone to read fantasy, I'd give them Ursula K. Le Guin's book  A Wizard of Earthsea. The first reason I'd hand them this book is that it is written by Le Guin, and in my experience, her writing is the best way to get someone to read genre, whether it is science fiction or fantasy. The second reason is that this is one of her best, and most accessible books. Le Guin's science fiction is filled with fairly overt political and social commentary, which could serve to push a potential reader away if they were adamantly opposed to the viewpoints that she brought to her science fiction - for examples see books like The Dispossessed or The Word for World Is Forest. And although her fantasy is also filled with political and social commentary, it is more subtle, and thus less likely to rub a potential reader the wrong way.* While the story in A Wizard of Earthsea deals with the nature and responsibility of power, the struggle to choose between a life of being and a life of doing, and the folly of youth, it is at its heart a coming of age story set in a world that is both fantastical and at the same time comfortable and almost familiar. A Wizard of Earthsea is also a self-contained story. Although it is the first in a series of books set in the world of Earthsea, the story told in the book stands on its own, without needing the following books. This means that the new reader will get to the end of the book and have a satisfying conclusion to their read rather than a "to be continued" sign. Finally, I'd choose this book because it is reasonably short. Nothing turns off a potential reader to a new genre like a book that could double as a doorstop. The new reader wants a book that they can give them a taste and a feel for the genre. If they have to wade through five or six hundred pages to get their toes wet, they are likely to just throw their hands up and not bother. So, for all these reasons, the book I'd hand to a potential new fantasy fan is A Wizard of Earthsea.

*On the other hand, anyone who would be turned off by a science fiction or fantasy book that challenges their preexisting ideas about politics, society, and religion is someone that genre fandom might be better off without, but that's a discussion for another day.

Go to subsequent Follow Friday: The Hymn to Apollo Was Written in 138 B.C.

Follow Friday     Home

14 comments:

  1. found your blog via FF, now following via GFC . Even though my novel is about a vampire I'm not a great reader of fantasy and I'm not familiar with Ursula le Guin.Might give it a try:) you can check my blog out on:
    http://www.languageintheblood.blogspot.fr
    http://www.facebook.com/CruftsloverAkaCameronBlair
    Angela

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Lockwood Angela: I have yet to read a book by Ursula K. le Guin that I did not like. She is just that good.

      Delete
  2. I've always been hesitant with picking up the Earthsea saga because I heard so many divided opinions about it. But it's definitely a classic. I picked fantasy, too.

    New Follower via GFC and Bloglovin.

    This is my Follow Friday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Johanna: The split in opinion centers on the book Tehanu, which was written many years after the first three books in the series and has a very different tone to it. As far as I can tell, the first three (which includes A Wizard of Earthsea) are almost universally loved by those who read them.

      Delete
  3. Looks great :)

    http://carabosseslibrary.blogspot.com/2013/12/follow-friday_20.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. Replies
    1. @Julia Rachel Barrett: I do too. Le Guin is one of those authors whose fiction I will stop and read with no questions asked. She could write a book about accountants doing tax returns and the only question I'd ask is how soon could I get it.

      Delete
  5. Hi there! I found your great blog via FF and I'm now following you via GFC. You can find my blog at http://lorenmathisbooks.blogspot.com/

    L

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Loren Mathis: Thank you for following! I hope you like it.

      Delete
  6. Never heard of this book. But I might pick it up someday. I am a fantasy lover as well. xD

    New GFC follower.


    New bloglovin follower.


    Charlotte @ Thoughts and Pens

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Charlotte Fiel: If you are a fantasy lover, then A Wizard of Earthsea is a book you probably should have on your shelf. It is one of the best of the genre.

      Delete
  7. Sounds really cool! I love fantasy books!
    Old follower!
    My FF

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Emmanuel Okoye: It is really cool, and I highly recommend it.

      Delete