Books similar to The Lord of the Rings

[axordil]

All parody is specific to time and place. A parody of LOTR made now would be different in some notable ways than a parody from 1970, and the really topical bits would age just as fast.

OTOH, "It's a pity I've run out of bullets" is immortal.

[truehobbit]

Of course they would. But the weird thing is that you'd expect satire to be somewhat left-wing (well, at least I would), and this sometimes seemed a reactionary satire on leftism.

(I guess I find the one about the bullets too gross to be funny.)

[Primula Baggins]

Bored of the Rings is a Harvard Lampoon parody, and at least at the time it was written, many of the young men who worked on the Harvard Lampoon were very bright, very funny, very cynical sons of very rich families. My impression of that group, most of whom were brilliant, some of whom are still writing, and some of whom died young, is that at least at that age (twenties at most), they would never be caught dead expressing anything so earnest and naive as a liberal sentiment.

Some of them probably turned out as true conservatives, but I would bet that some took on the "damn the peasants" attitude in a satirical way.

[axordil]

That's a fair assessment, Prim. Compare and contrast The Onion, which has generally been written from a much less partrician perspective, since it was originally from Madison, WI. This allows them to be disdainful of upper-, middle- AND lower-class targets.

[nerdanel]

Those who do not appreciate the Lampoon's sense of humor may agree with the Harvard Crimson's longstanding description of it as a "semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization which used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine." (exact quote nabbed from Wikipedia)

[Primula Baggins]

I appreciate that sense of humor, making allowances for the flavor. Some of the writing those guys went on to do, for Saturday Night live and the National Lampoon (in its glory days long ago), and other outlets, is classic. Mr. Prim has quite a collection of old Nat Lamps and Harvard Lampoon parodies. Definitely politically incorrect in a major way, but also hilarious.

The National Lampoon's political satire during the Watergate years and after was priceless.

[axordil]

And of course, it eventually resulted in Animal House, without which Western Civilization would be only a hollow shell.

[Primula Baggins]

Ah yes, Animal House, that watershed of American, nay, universal humor, that flawless summation of what it is to be young . . . filmed, I should note, within two miles of the Prim residence.

[Holbytla]

And she still has a toga with a mustard stain to prove it.

[Primula Baggins]

So it was mustard? Thank goodness.

[axordil]

They ALMOST filmed Animal House where I was going to college at the time, since it was the alma mater of one of the writers.

[Primula Baggins]

Cottage Grove, Oregon, restages that parade occasionally, for the sheer hell of it.

Few people know that the chicken salad sandwich scene from Five Easy Pieces was also filmed here in Eugene, at a Denny's that is still operating.

However, nothing relating to Lord of the Rings, or relating to any book similar to Lord of the Rings, has ever occurred here, beyond the costume contest at Cinemark on the opening night of Fellowship, and of course the annual Oregon Country Fair, which relates to anything and anyone whose relation to reality is on the casual side.

[axordil]

Ah, the legendary Oregon County Fair...where clothing is sometimes optional and reality always is.

[Primula Baggins]

Lots of people let their hair down a bit, yes.

[Andreth]

I wouldn't say these books are similiar but they are good fantasy.

Deed of Paksarion by Elizabeth Moon. While not as rich as Tolkien, does have a very strong spiritual sub-text that I could relate to.

Old Kingdom triology by Garth Nix: Sabriel, Lireal and Abhorsen. More YA than adult fantasy. Very interesting fantasy world that is juxaposed with Edwardian England. These would make great movies.

[superwizard]

Thanks Andreth! I'm still on the quest to find a book that are like the LOTR but alas so far nothing!

[Glawariel]

If you're looking for books that resemble LotR, I would suggest Terry Brook's "The Sword of Shannara". My brother told me before I read it that it used to be referred to as the poor man's Tolkien. I found it to be extremely similar to LotR, so much so that it actually bothered me a little bit (well, truthfully, it bothered me alot but that was probably because I had just finished rereading the trilogy). But, to be fair, it is a very engaging story.

Also, I highly recommend The Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. The story itself is not similar to LotR at all but both his exceptional writing and storytelling rivals that of Tolkien (some have even said surpasses it, but I wouldn't go that far). His characters are wonderfully complex and the line between totally good and totally evil is not always clear with many of them. I should warn you- Martin is extremely brutal with his characters which is annoying because it's easy to become attached to some of them very quickly. It is heavy reading but so worth it!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The only book that I have ever read that gave me anything approaching the same feeling as The Lord of the Rings is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, even though it is a completely different type of book.

[ToshoftheWuffingas]

filmed, I should note, within two miles of the Prim residence.

That was your house in the ladder scene?

[Primula Baggins]

Pooh. I think it was a UO women's dorm, actually.

The University of Oregon is two miles from my house. The school gave permission to film there because the script, though tasteless, was just so dang funny. Though they did also require that the school's name not appear in any of the credits.

The original Animal House itself is gone now, torn down to make room for doctors' offices, though there's a bronze plaque marking the history.