Hi all
November, and we've picked Magic Towers as the theme.
A recurring trope of the fantasy genre, you should be swimming in options, be it fairy tales about imprisoned princesses with long hair; magician's workshops; or perhaps crumbling haunted ruins. Towers are a popular settings, read far enough into a fantasy book and there will be a tower eventually.
As always you are free to read what you wish that links into the theme (however loosely) and come on the day to tell us about it and whether you'd recommend.
However, as always below are some EXAMPLES to set the scene if you haven't got anything in mind. You are not limited to these, they are suggestions, not a reading list.
Examples
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Gormenghast 1: Titus Groan (1946), by Meryn Peak - the series follows life of Titus growing up as the hier to a decaying gothic castle.
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Lord of the Rings (1954), by Tolkien - it sometimes feels strange recommending LOTR to a fantasy book club as the assumption is everyone's already read it, but no, some of you haven't. Well here's your chance to read the originator of high fantasy. It's got magic towers aplenty, book 2 (Two Towers) is named after some of them.
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Wizard of Earth Sea (1968), by Ursula Le Guin - classic story of boy wizard training in a tower.
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The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger (1982), by Stephen King - one of King's dark fantasy books... I presume it has a tower in it. Its what I'll be reading.
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Various Discworld books (1983-2015) 😜- I'm not a big Discworld fan, but lots Discworld titles were getting name-dropped by members. Too many to write. It seems if you pick one up, chances are there will be a tower.
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The Wheel of Time 1: Eye of the World (1990), by Robert Jordan - WOT is one of my fav book series (not the TV show, its an awful adaptation), I'll use any excuse to suggest it, and there are many magical towers in it... maybe not book 1 mind... but from book 2 onwards, lots.
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Annihilation (2014), by Jeff VanderMeer - a more horror orientated version. A group of female scientists enter a part of Florida being terraformed by unknown alien influence. Features two towers actually - a lighthouse, and "the tower", an alien-made pit in the ground they are there to study.
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Lonely castle in the mirror (2017), by Mizuki Tsujimura - recommend by one of our members, looking it up it looks like a Japanese version of Narnia, a girl steps through a mirror into a fantasy castle.
