HarperCollins Canada is having a March Madness contest for bloggers: a Fight For Your Title challenge, in which Canadian bloggers are asked to post about the book that they believe should win the March Madness show down. I was originally going to do this for C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, as it really is one of my favourite books, but when I really thought about it I decided that overall The Fellowship of the Ring is the better book of the two. If you haven’t already read The Fellowship (is that possible?) you can browse inside it at the HarperCollins Canada website.
So! Why should FotR win March Madness?
Because it’s more than just a good book. It’s a great book. And I don’t mean this in the “hey, I love this book, omg it’s so awesome!” kind of way (though it is great in that way too), I mean it in the “hey, this is a book that has had such an impact on the fantasy that is popular today” and the “hey, this book is just as, if not more, relevant today than it was when it was originally published in the 1950′s” kind of ways.
Did you know that this book is one of the most translated of and most influential books in twentieth century literature? Did you know that it had a huge impact on the fantasy genre in the ’60s? That it helped forge a way for high fantasy?
Did you know the trilogy this book is a part of inspired not only that awesome Peter Jackson trilogy, but numerous other movie/tv adaptations, plays and even a musical? Did you know that Cassandra Clare (then “Cassandra Claire”) wrote the awesome Very Secret Diaries?
And did you realize that every time you go back and reread The Fellowship of the Ring, there’s something new to discover? Or that the themes in it are just as applicable to today’s world as they were when the book was originally published? And have you taken a look at the world that Tolkien created? I mean, man, you can tell some authors have put their fantasy worlds together really well, but gosh! How many of them have creation myths for you to read, or have made up full languages for their books?
So, tell me, how could a book like this one not deserve to win the HarperCollins Canada March Madness?
(Are you a Canadian blogger? You should totally join in too. Contest runs until April 2nd.)