Follow Friday and Book Blogger Hop (I know, I'm late!)

BBH is hosted by Crazy-for-Books and FF is hosted by Parajunkee's View,

This weeks FF question is:

Genre Wars! What's your favorite genre and which book in that genre made it your 

favorite?

Well, I think fantasy would be my favourite genre. I think I need to explain first what I understand under fantasy, because I get a lot of weird looks when I say this is my favourite genre. People assume that fantasy is only about children's books with the odd vampire romance thrown in, but not for me. For me 'fantasy' is the next level to fiction. The difference between 'fiction' and 'non-fiction' in literature is only that 'non-fiction' is a real event, while 'fiction' is made up. 'Fantasy' is a fiction story that is set in a different world, a different time perhaps, but that draws inspiration from our world in such a way it almost mirrors it and becomes a social critique. The 'Lord of the Rings' is the perfect example for this. In 'LOTR' industrialization is a big theme. The forest of Fangorn is clearly being sacrificed by Saruman in order to industrialize and dominate. Tolkien saw industrialization happen during the First World War, when fighting became shooting at an enemy from a distance or bomb him with your planes or blind him with your gas. He saw how trees made way for war factories. This is what fantasy does. It allows you to mirror our world in such a way that it makes you reflect about what we do.

This weeks BBH Question:

How many books are currently in your To-Be-Read (TBR) Pile?

Ok,tough one. I have just finished reading a load of books I was sent to review (keep your eyes open for those reviews, the books were really good) so my pile has decreased a bit. BUT, and it's a big but, there is so much more. I always make sure I have a good "pile" of classics on my Kindle so I can dig into a book whenever I feel like it. Also, I already buried myself in new review-books again, but hey, I love it! 

Next to that I am working on something called an Extended Project (don't worry, I'll write more about it) that focuses on author identity and I have to read loads of academical papers for my research. Next tot hat I have a bunch of papers on mythology, Tolkien, Old English, etc. that I've been dying to read. So I guess I can't give you a number, but the pile is enormous!

So how about you? Don't forget to leave your link and I'll hop on over!!!!