Experts > Alan Lee

Alan Lee's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Alan Lee recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Alan Lee's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1

The Owl Service

Something is scratching around in the attic above Alison's room. Yet the only thing up there is a stack of grimy old plates. Alison and her stepbrother, Roger, discover that the flowery patterns on the plates, when traced onto paper, can be fitted together to create owls-owls that disappear when no one is watching. With each vanished owl, strange events begin to happen around Alison, Roger, and the caretaker's son, Gwyn. As the kids uncover the mystery of the owl service, they become trapped within a local legend, playing out roles in a tragic love story that has repeated itself for... more
Recommended by Alan Lee, Alan Lee, and 2 others.

See more recommendations for this book...

2

Lavondyss (Mythago Wood, #2)

At the heart of the wildwood lies a place of mystery and legend, from which few return and none emerged unchanged: Lavondyss . . . the ultimate realm, the source of all myth.

When Harry Keeton disappeared into Ryhope Wood, his sister Tallis was just an infant. Now, thirteen years old, she hears him whispering to her from the Otherworld. He is in danger. He needs her help. Using masks, magic and clues left by her grandfather, she finds a way to enter the primitive forest and begin her search. Eventually she comes to Lavondyss itself, a realm both beautiful and deadly, a place in...
more
Recommended by Alan Lee, Alan Lee, and 2 others.

Alan LeeHoldstock has this wonderful ability to imagine how societies existed just after the ice age and how their rituals gave birth to stories. (Source)

Alan LeeHoldstock has this wonderful ability to imagine how societies existed just after the ice age and how their rituals gave birth to stories. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

3

God Beneath The Sea

Leon Garfield retells some of the most gamous Greek myths in this classic of children's literature. This is the epic history of the Greek Gods told from their violent beginnings to the creation of man. less
Recommended by Alan Lee, Alan Lee, and 2 others.

Alan LeeIt’s poetic. Such a wonderful, joyous use of language (Source)

Alan LeeIt’s poetic. Such a wonderful, joyous use of language (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

4
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SALMAN RUSHDIE


As well as her eight novels, Angela Carter published four wonderful collections of short stories during her lifetime, and contributed stories to several anthologies. The stories were scattered amongst different publishers, and a couple of the volumes are now out of print. In Burning your Boats they are gathered for the first time; this is a key collection and a major event for Angela Carter aficionados.
less
Recommended by Marina Warner, Alan Lee, Alan Lee, and 3 others.

Marina WarnerI absolutely love her last Cinderella –Ashputtle or The Mother’s Ghost – in which she takes the Grimms’ motif of the mother returning to help her daughter. She combs her hair and says ‘you’ve worn out my nails’ and says to her ‘now you’re strong and ready to go out into the world on your own’. And so she sends her into the world strong and happy. I think that’s a really beautiful story. (Source)

Alan LeeReading Angela Carter for the first time was a revelation to me–I’d never read anything like it. (Source)

Alan LeeReading Angela Carter for the first time was a revelation to me–I’d never read anything like it. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

5
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered...
more
Recommended by Reid Hoffman, Elon Musk, Alan Lee, and 13 others.

Reid Hoffman[The book] that I’ve most often read. (Source)

Elon MuskAs a boy in Pretoria, Musk was un dersized and picked upon, a smart-aleck known as Muskrat. In his loneliness, he read a lot of fantasy and science fiction. “The heroes of the books I read, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and the ‘Foundation’ series, always felt a duty to save the world,” he told me. (Source)

Alan LeeHis alternative world and mythological system is totally coherent–it’s a fantastic gift that he has given us. (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

Don't have time to read Alan Lee's favorite books? Read Shortform summaries.

Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:

  • Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
  • Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
  • Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.