It's so... Right

[Rysade]

[Ardub]

Thanks Rysade, here's to future good discussions!

obBookComment: I mentioned in my first post above that I happened to pick up "So You Want..." while reaching for a different book, which, I didn't mention, was "I Am the Cheese" by Robert Cormier, which I then re-read right before I started this series. Now I'm on "A Wizard Alone", and boy, is there an eerily similar theme between the two! Any other Cheese readers out there who noticed this?

Ardub
r:w)

[Ardub]

Ok, I have to (laughingly!) retract a comment I made in one of the official Saturday chats a month or two ago, when I lamented that, since the publication of High Wizardry, "Logo" as a programming language based on a turtle metaphor has faded away into oblivion.

How wrong I was. A coworker (uh, that's co-worker, not cow-orker, whatever that would be) has just passed a program to me for review/debugging/improvements, and - guess what! - it's in Logo. Yep, four years of college and a couple years of work afterwards, and I'm stll pushing turtles around the screen like I was when I was 9 years old :-)

Ardub
r:w)

[Tsakaki]

I stumbled upon this book series while looking for something to read while waiting for the next Harry Potter book to come out (This was around 8-9 years ago now). I found the recommendation on a website and then later found it at Chapters (back when it was new for my town, I was so ecstatic when it opened here). I found a small part in the first book difficult to get through, but still loved the novel overall, upon my discovery that there were sequels I immediately sought them out and devoured them all (I've re-read SYWTBAW since and no longer find that section difficult to get through, I think it was because I had just started actively reading that year and had yet to appreciate much about the literary arts).

It is a series that I've yet to find myself bored of or being disappointed in, unlike many of the books I read in those days. I greatly adore the fact that it seamlessly blends magic and science. I'm a walking contradiction in many ways, especially pertaining to the fact that I am an excessively logically oriented individual and greatly enjoy science, but yet feel inherently drawn to the creative and the unexplainable. I've been in love with fantasy for as long as I can remember, and finding one that also incorporates science and logic into it is phenomenal.

The various themes in the series are compelling and can speak to people of any age. It can both be simplified and deeply analyzed. It's a series I recommend to anyone I can. (Though no I know IRL read it, we all have different preferences in terms of novels.)

And I suppose I'll stop my ramblings now.

[willowtree]

I discovered SYWTBAW when |I had just finished re-reading HP for the 3 time, and I was looking up other books that were recommended for people who did just what I did- finished HP. I found SYWTBAW and my mom (because she works for the Huron County Library [Ontiario]) got it for me. I fell in love with the book, and as soon as I heard there were more, I read, and read and read. I just finished W@W (it made me cry. Did it do that to you too??) and knew that this series made it in my top 3. I could relate to it and it could take place in wherever I am (exept home) because everyday people were used in it, not just royalty or nobles. Also it had Magic which I love. That was my cherry on top!

[Ardub]

Well, 10 years ago today I signed up for this board to post this thread. I'm still here, so I feel like looking back at how my thoughts about it might have changed.

Basically, they haven't. Chapter 2 of HW still seems terrifically insightful and clever in so many ways that I can relate to. I'd written then that I'd recently been thinking of the pros and cons of entropy, and that's interesting to remember, because... well, I was about to write "because I haven't been thinking in science-philosophy terms lately", but now I can think of ways I still do. (I'm glad.)

The newer books from the last decade? All great fun and I'm ready for more. I thought it was great that The Big Meow had the punch line to a setup from Wizard's Holiday, and even winked at that a little bit. The OTP entries have been like a fun set of outtakes that would be a distraction and too in-jokey in a novel; it's nice to have them off to the side like that.

The YW stories explain that people are offered wizardry at an age before they've convinced themselves it's not possible, and that's a good metaphor for the real world too. I'm glad that these books haven't tarnished for me over ten years of being here, because of what that would say, not about the books, but about me.