Books about Fantasy

The story of a man who goes to sleep in Hartford, Connecticut and wakes up in medieval England several centuries back to find himself in King Arthur's time. Apparently, it is one of the first time travel books written. Wonderfully crafted work of fiction that compares well to blockbuster time travel movies.

Tags: adventure fantasy

This actually comprises the 3 books: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation. This is the story of a universe where two Foundations are established in anticipation of and to cover from barbarism due to the downfall of the galactic empire.

Tags: science fiction fantasy

The novel presents a unique situation - of a boy trapped with a tiger on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean. The survival story is amazing and moving. My main problem with the book is the main character's (and by extension, the author's) ignorance of religion. Western religions like Islam and Christianity do not allow worship of other gods. There is also an element of exaggeration throughout the book, which makes it difficult to pick out the facts.

Tags: fantasy

The ultimate exercise in literary nonsense, "Alice in Wonderland" is one of the most popular children's works. It is difficult to fault a book that refuses to make any attempt to remain meaningful. But Lewis Caroll perhaps could have pushed the envelope somewhat further than he did.

I suppose appealing to children with a large scholarly work is never going to happen, but many characters remain poorly sketched. Most people don't realize how short a book it is and how quickly Carroll moves from one act to another. It would take other works in different media (drawings, animation) to give more depth to those characters and invade the popular mind.

[Read the public-domain copy of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" free at the Gutenberg site.]

Tags: fiction fantasy

The story of two identical boys who exchange their identities - one becoming a prince and the other living in poverty. One of Mark Twain's lesser efforts. As many such mistaken identity stories go, the story is held hostage to the plot device.

Tags: fantasy

It is nothing at all like the movie. The book has more black humor and satire unlike the innocent and philosophical nature of the movie. Having seen the movie first, I was rather put off by the different characterization of Forrest Gump.

Tags: fantasy