#reading-list

Aka, here is the list of the fantasy books that MASSIVELY influenced the original D&D and its first editions. Or, if you want to put it another way, the books that were the ingredients to create D&D/that were copied by D&D.

# J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” (+ “The Hobbit”). The source of modern fantasy, and THE main influence and source of old-school D&D. In fact, the creation of D&D was basically the creation of “The Lord of the Rings: The Role-Playing Game”. Very famously (or unfamously), in its original edition, D&D included a LOT of elements taken from the work of Tolkien, that then had to be re-shaped due to being under the copyright of Tolkien’s work. In the first edition D&D you’ll find “hobbits”, “mithril” and “balrogs” for example - that D&D had to change to “halflings”, “mithral” and “balors” to legal reasons. The only Tolkien-specific creatures D&D could keep were the orcs. Overall a LOT of D&D comes from Tolkien: the original depictions of elves and dwarfs, the ents (sorry, treants), the wights, the symbols of the “eye of fire” and “white hand” for the gods the orcs worship... And of course, the “Ranger” class was originally just the character of Aragorn as a class.

# Poul Anderson’s “Three Hearts and Three Lions”. This book was one of the two sources for the alighnment system of D&D of “Order versus Chaos” in a fantasy world. The D&D trolls were also heavily influenced by the depiction of trolls in this novel, PLUS the “Paladin” class was influenced by the character of Holger Carlsen.

# Michael Moorcock’s “The Elric Saga”.The other main source of the “Order vs Chaos”, “Lawful vs Chaotic” alignment of D&D - but also the main inspiration behind the Drow and the D&D-shaped image of “Dark Elves” in general (in the novels, they are the Melnibonéan Empire). D&D also contains several other references to the Saga - for example “Blackrazor” is inspired by Elric’s iconic sword, “Stormbringer”.

# Robert E. Howard’s “Conan the Barbarian”. The source of heroic fantasy the same way Tolkien’s LotR was the source of epic/high fantasy - the Barbarian class of D&D (and the image of a Barbarian in fantasy in general) all comes from Conan. 

# Fritz Leiber’s “Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser”. The origin of the “Sword and Sorcery” genre (at least, as called as such), originally intended as a parody of the Conan-style heroic fantasy genre, but then promptly becoming itself a serious and admired genre-creating classic, Leiber’s works were another major inspiration for D&D (the “Thief” class was heavily inspired by the character of the Gray Mouser), and there is a good number of supplements and books in D&D entirely centered around this book series - introducing the characters of the books, the gods of Newhon, or the city of Lankhmar, into the D&D world. 

# Jack Vance’s “The Dying Earth” series. The magic system of D&D was heavily influenced by how Vance re-imagined magic and spells in this unique sci-fi feeling fantasy: some spells and items are directly taken from the books (the prismatic spray, the ioun stones) and the entire concept of needing to “re-learn” or “re-charge” a spell once it is cast is the Dying Earth magic system (called by some “Vancian Magic”). 

# H.P. Lovecraft’s work (especially anything tied to the “Cthulhu Mythos”). Lovecraft’s brand of eldritch horror and alien fantasy has also been a big influence over the creatures and deities of early D&D - to the point that the various gods of the Cthulhu Mythos were included as one of the pantheons that could be used in the early editions of D&D (alongside other pantheons such as the gods of Newhon from Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, or the gods of the Conan world). 

# Gary Gygax, one of the creators of D&D, also listed other authors as direct influence for his game, but given I am less familiar with them I will just list them here: Fletcher Pratt (I think it might be his “Harold Shea” series, quite famous in the fantasy genre), L. Sprague de Camp, Edgar Rice Burroughs (the creator of some of the most famous American fictional characters, such as John Carter of Mars, or Tarzan) and A. Merritt. 

wassuppp... needa update my reading list! cuz sometimes i forget what i've read... and i look back here and then i #remember

Bless Me, Ultima by Rodolfo Anaya

8/10 | I bought this at the National Museum of American History! I thought it was sooo interesting, it explored all these really complex themes in a digestible way (probably why they teach it to ninth graders, teehee). there were a couple times with the mother character where i was like... ok we get it she borders on catholic fanaticism... i swear if u take a shot everytime she cries and goes to pray u would die of alcohol poisoning.. i get she was based on the author's mom but srsly... anyways i liked it a lot and I recommend.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

8/10 | I read this because my coworker Por mentioned it and also I saw this DC Science Fiction Book Club was reading it and i was like let me tap innnn... I also really enjoyed this book a lot! This girl in the book club was like "nothing happens in the book" and I hateee whenever someone says that... don't listen to that girl u guys stuff happens in the book like bruh... anyways i recommend, i love how distinct the world felt, and im still so impressed that she decided to explore a genderless society in 1969.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

7/10 | i heard sm abt this book, and i saw it at half-priced books so i bought it impulsively! i thought it was good, I was honestly expecting a little more? idk what but i just kept hearing abt how crazy and disturbing the book was, which it was, but i think everyone overreacted a little. i liked it a lot tho, it was a sad book and i thought the idea of the main character developing an ED to combat her patriarchal family was sad and explored interestingly.

All Tomorrow's by C.M. Kösemen

8/10 | Omg soooo interesting and a very quick/easy read! which makes me frustrated that it took me so long.... but anyways. Interesting concept, loved the illustrations, the different forms humanity took, just super creative and intriguing, and so much detail in such a short work. I <3 SCIENCE FICTION. ALSO IT'S FREEE! My fave sections were "Temptor" and "Colonials." Link to read: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByV5-S712cg8Tk1vQWVFZVM5S28/view?resourcekey=0-f0n8tTyFknuKmWvLl6gYFQ

The Unpassing by Chia-Chia Lin

7/10 | It also took me a while to get through; it's a bit slow, honestly, but all the characters are so distinct, and you can feel them as real people (my fave character was Pei-Pei). So sad, beautiful descriptions of the Alaskan landscape, but omg sooo sad. Pretty good though, srsly.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

8/10 | I actually read this over the summer and forgot to include it. omg so freaking cooolll and good. Mysterious, suspenseful, and the reveal... SO GOOD!!! The crawler's description and just that whole scene and the tie to the lighthouse sooo good and also a reminder of how writing is awesome sauce lol.. cuz deadass how would u translate the crawler on screen.. IT WOULD BE HARD!! def recommend

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

7/10 | also pretty good, was pretty moving, but a little simple / nothing too groundbreaking, but also it was good to read in my current situation... maybe i should think abt what i learned to chill with the funk im in. pretty good, again nothing majorly life changing, but i was still moved in my own way.

i wanted to update on my summer readingggg... as you guessed. I was going to do a post for each individual book, but oof I don't want to. So i'm just going to do a quick summary of what i've read. ready!:

Love in the Time of Cholera

5.6/10 | This book took me a minute to read, and technically, I started it last year, but I read the majority of it during the summer, so I'm counting it as summer reading. I enjoyed it a lot, but it gets major points off because of what happens towards the end *SPOILERS* the main character who at the end of the book is like 60/70 yrs old grooms his teenage niece... it was so nasty and completely unwarranted it ruined the book for me tbh... seriously if that storyline wasn't included I would've rated the book higher, but it was so disgusting and then at the end the niece offs herself like omg. I really enjoyed the writing style, and I've heard good things about 100 Years of Solitude, so I may give that a chance! But ya... You can pass on this one.

The Neopolitan Quartet

10/10 | Recommended to me by Jack. Oh. My. Freaking. Gosh. Literally amazing. It's four books, hence quartet lol, and i'm not going to talk about each one because that's dtm... though tbh you could consider the four books as one really cause it's all the same story... anyways, truly a fantastic read, I read them so fast and I would get antsy waiting to read them. The best book is the second one IMO, not that the others aren't as good, but the plot is best in the second, and when I finished it I was literally out of breath like I had just gone on a run or something... oh my gosh so good cannot recommend this series enough. 😭😭♥️♥️♥️♥️

Sunrise on the Reaping

7/10 | Interesting enough, I wasn't particularly captivated by anyone or anything. The arena was interesting and some of the characters too like Maysalee (or however you spell it) and Plutarch. But overall, it was like fine. Tbh I'm kind of sick of prequels/sequels/remakes just in general, which is why I was reading this book really harshly cuz dudeeee the original Hunger Games series was so. effing. good. Not that this book was bad, but why fix what ain't broke ++ who asked for Haymitch's backstory anyways... Which while interesting to learn about (like his experience in the arena) fell flat in some ways *SPOILERS* his constant mentioning of Leonore Dove was so irritating 😭😭 I know he was in love or whatever, but oh my god... every other sentence was "And what about my beautiful Leonore Dove.. oh my Leonore Dove." Like ok... I get it. And then the way she died was really abrupt, kinda... to me at least, I don't know. Either way it was entertaining, it was cool to learn about some of the characters from the OG series, and I'm excited to see how it's adapted into a movie!! Especially some of the mutants oooo and Elle Fanning as Effie EEEE 😊😊😊

The House of the Spirits

8/10 | My most recent read, I finished it last Sunday. I really enjoyed it ooo I had read Eva Luna by Allende a couple of years ago, and I think I enjoyed that more, even though I have my issues with that book too... but anyway, back to this book. I liked how it goes through three generations of women; I'm a sucker for stories that span generations. At first, I was confused by the narrative structure, but then at the end you find out why it's like that,and it's so satisfying. My favorite character was Clara, and I wish we could have seen more of her supernatural powers, as that's what initially drew me to the book, but the magical realism genre isn't about fantastical superpowers and her powers did impact the plot in a way that I didn't expect still appreciated. I enjoyed reading about the three generations of women, the parallel love lives of Blanca and Alba, and the last quarter of the book which is so sad. A really great read, I love how much detail was given to the family, even the brothers, who are kinda secondary to the story, but I wish Amanda were featured more since she was a really interesting character who we aren't given a lot of information about (but maybe that's the point oooo). My only issue with the book is the outdated language (Oriental, Indian, etc.) and the description of indigenous people, although the book is told through the perspective of wealthy landowners of the time, so again, maybe the point? Either way, a good read! I recommend this book, especially if you enjoy very detailed, slow-moving stories, but not in a boring way, more like a story that takes its time.

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