Lenard's Library
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Lenard's Library

Since I am a voracious reader, I thought it only fitting that I should reserve at least one small corner of my page for some of my favourite books. Here you will find (eventually) a selection of links to pages of only the highest quality. All the books you will find in this page are 'must-reads', they put all other books in their field to shame. Anyway, enough from me...let the books speak for themselves.

The Lord of the Rings

'Fellowship' cover shot 'Two Towers' cover shot 'Return of the King' cover shot

by J.R.R. Tolkien

JRRT emblem

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for the Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

It really would be impossible to describe the plot of this book in a few words (say, less than 1000), so hopefully the following praise will catch your imagination.

Tolkien managed to successfully carry off a feat which few, before or since, have managed. He invented a world, peopled it with different races, gave them each a distinct language, culture and history, and moreover, done it in such a way that the reader never gets bored. The amount of times I've read this book is now well into double figures, and the fact that with each reading I discover something new, is more a testimony to the depth of detail than to my own inattention. Or at least, I hope so.

If you want to find out a bit more about the book then below are a few links which will get you going.

Stranger in a Strange Land

'Stranger' cover shot

by R.A.Heinlein

I'm going to let the links speak for themselves here, since anything I say will only be repeated, probably more than once.

Dune

'Dune' cover shot

by Frank Herbert

In my opinion, this is the science fiction equivalent of 'The Lord of the Rings'. Herbert, like Tolkien, has created his own world, and given it its' own people, culture and history. However, where Tolkien gave us the history of Middle Earth, Herbert supplies us with the history of the Empire, spread across all the civilised worlds.

In essence, the science fiction setting is merely a scenic setting for the characters involved. It is a 'people' book which spawned a series of 5 further books, which, if you are interested, are:- Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune. But if you want my advice, dont go any further than Dune Messiah, or you might just get left with a sour taste in your mouth as Herbert does tend to lose sight of the characters and become somewhat indulgent in gimmicky plot twists in the later books.