Time to read yes

For me its the attention amd focused I've got time, just not tje attention and motivation (I fantasize but procrastinate)

I have been the 3rd or 4th dune book for about a year now (I have been on the last 50 pages or so for probably 6 montjs)

I have resd the first half or so of Don Quixote about 3 times

I habe now started to read Herodotus Histories for the 2nd time (didn't finish last time stopped around half way thru Book 2)

And I made the (fortuitous?) mistake of starting Hitch hikers Guide to the galaxy twice now and I did really enjoy it right off the bat, so that one might rise to the top of the list lol

I have also begun reading Amadis of Gaul due to interest in Medeival Chicalry novels and I've yet to finish King Arthur (Mark Twain) whereat I only have maybe 100pgs left. (Not a good book, TBH but it gives some background to Quixote as does Amadis of Gaul

LOTR is definitely also in this ridiculous list of want to reads. As is

Divine Comedy Aeneid Decameron Pilgrims Progress Infinite Jest Grapes of Wrath Something by Ishiguro Metamorphosis etc etc etc

I should make a post about this so.I can properly.vent instead of 'hijacking comments'

I couldn't get through Tolkien. I tried reading the Hobbit but gave up when it started talking about blue beards and gold belts. It felt too arbitrary to hold my interest.

But the LotR movies are needlessly slow. It's Peter Jackson's directing style, which only works in that very specific context where a large portion of the audience is ready to fill in the blank spaces, and the rest of the audience forgives it because they expect it to be a rambling epic.

Every shot is one second too long. You could cut an hour from the runtime just by cutting out the lingering reaction shots. Every time Sam or Frodo says something, it's followed by two seconds of them staring longingly into each other's eyes. There are so many things to love about those movies, but they're basically unwatchable to me.

As for Rowling, I think her success is mostly due to accessibility. They're easy reads in a way that fantasy books almost never are. The reader doesn't have to put in any work to get to the world building.

She follows a classical plot structure. She establishes motifs early and only subverts them when subverting them becomes the obvious choice. There are many blue beard/gold belt moments, but they're propped up by easy-to-understand structures like the house system.

But yeah, then there's no depth to it after that. I always thought it was overrated.