OT: good fantasy books

[djo]

HoneyBadger said:
Has anyone else here read Little, Big? It really is the best fantasy book I've ever read-and it's really exceptional for me to admit something like that without atleast a token reservation.

I think it's been mentioned twice in this thread (once by me). I'd call it one of the finest fantasy books ever written. It's very well regarded within the genre.

It as the most American fantasy book I've read. Whereas fantasy in the currently dominant Tolkein vein is (understandably) deeply rooted in especially Northern European traditions, Little, Big is as purely and independently American as America herself is. That is, almost, but not quite. The book, like America, has strong European (especially British) roots but has then made its own way in the world to something new and different.

If you're still wondering abou it...it's set in something like the second half of the 20th century, in an America much like ours, yet abstracted to the specificity of myth. A young man marries into an old family with a house in the country and becomes a part of their ongoing Story. Along the way you will find the country, the city, love, strife, a depression, progress, conspiracies, soap operas, hippies, orreries, some magic, and beauty and sadness that will make you gasp. Yes, it's literary. No orcs, no swords. Elves? Maybe...