I'm in the midst of an author/author interview, to be posted on my website, and I was asked to name a fantasy/sci fi novel I enjoyed back in the day. You know, the days before I slathered in Oil of Olay at night (and in the morning).
I used to read a lot of fantasy. I miss it.
Anyway, the first book that popped into my head, a book that changed how I viewed romance and love, was this one. The Dancers of Arun. I read it when I was 15, in a lost summer long ago when the world was filled with smooth talking older men and the drinking age was still 18.
I read the Chronicles of Tornor in three days. I gobbled it down in the tiny apartment I was crashing in for the summer. It was new. Fresh. Sultry. Wicked. Incestous. Wrong. Right. It swept me away. And best of all--it made me realign my thinking.
It lasted. It had permanence. That's no small thing.
And I loved that cover so much, that in art school, I based a four week project on that dancer. Love. It. Also it reminds me of Jethro Tull and that totally ages me in a terrible, brow crinkling way. Ew.
Let's move on.
I'm going to buy this at Amazon today. I'm worried it won't hold up, but I think I'd like to revisit that fifteen year old me.
So, what book, whether it was three stars of five or one, changed the way you read books? And, did it stand the test of time?
13 comments:
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
And, sadly, no. I've read it at least 10 times, but the last time I tried to read it I ended up annoyed because it's just so full of bullshit. I no longer relate to the protag, and even the author's writing style got on my nerves.
But I get on my own nerves lately, so maybe it's more of a reflective hatred. Dunno.
Weird, yes?
Let me bring you songs from the wood
To make you feel much better than you could know
Dust you down from tip to toe
Show you how the garden grows
Hold you steady as you go
Join the chorus if you can
It'll make of you an honest man
Let me bring you love from the field
Poppies red and roses filled with summer rain
To heal the wound and still the pain
That threatens again and again
As you drag down every lovers lane
Life's long celebration's here
I'll toast you all in penny cheer
Let me bring you all things refined
Galliards and lute songs served in chilling ale
Greetings well met fellow hail
I am the wind to fill your sail
I am the cross to take your nail
A singer of these ageless times
With kitchen prose and gutter rhymes
Songs from the wood make you feel much better
Watership Down by Richard Adams. I loved it not because they were wittle-bitty bunnies but because they WEREN'T. I loved the romantic idea of humanizing animals in such a sweeping, romantic, passionate adventure. I would totally have given it up for Bigwig. Seriously. I haven't read it in ages. I should.
The other book, and not just because I write romance, was The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. It's not my favorite of hers, but the first romance I ever read. And I never looked back. I've been reading romance almost exclusively, except for school and work, since I was fifteen because of that book. I have reread it since, but not recently (although it's in my bookcase along with three other Woodiwiss favs.)
Mine was Tolkien.
I OCD'D on that trilogy in elementary school. I was a strange kid. I'm probably even stranger now. Went right into college age reading by the time I was done.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Woman Warrior: A Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Great topic. The more I think about it the more books I think of.
Hope the book stands the test of time.
A few months ago, I re-read the first "grown-up" romance I read when I was in about 6th grade, The Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt. It didn't really hold up as a work of life-changing fiction--it was actually really dated and dreadfully earnest, but the nostalgia factor made it really worth revisiting. It was like running into a really old friend with whom I had lots of shared history.
Hmm... Whispers of the Heart by Jillian Fayre was one I discovered in junior high when some friends were cleaning out their bookshelves. They said the book belonged to their older sister and she wouldn't need it anymore. I don't know if I should feel bad about getting her book, but I really liked it.
I wanted to do everything the main character did, like live in Ontario, be an interior decorator, explore the CN Tower, decorate homes in Florida, etc. I used to re-read the thing at least once every six months. By the end of high school, I had gotten into literature and realized all the holes and cliches of the book, but it will always be near and dear to my heart. (should I be embarrassed by this?)
It was my first romance that I realized was a romance. The other was The Wanton by Rosemary Rogers. I read that one my freshman year - since I was only 13 at the time, let's just say that book has scarred me for life. Which is funny because I read erotic literature all the time now, but I just had a bad reaction to that book. Don't think I can ever bring myself to read it or anything else of hers...
Then there's Jane Eyre, which I loved, but can't bring myself to re-read because I already know what's going to happen and I'm terrified that I'm going to analyze it to death and then I'll hate it. I'm much happier living with the happy memory it left me. :)
Great question!
Jen B~ No. It's not weird. It's the personal growth/tired of things thing.
Miss seeing you. Is it me or you or both? You're on twitter!!! I see you. I'm just lurking.
TPig~I love that. I DO. Did you read these books? We've had this conversation, haven't we?
Tolkien is such an oddity for me, because the Hobbit did it, and I love the Lord of the Rings in essence, but those damn songs!!
Sam~The Wolf and the Dove. What a time it was. He chained her by the foot to the bed!!! Forgive me for saying RAWR but...uhm...I was young.
Renee~ I love your description! Dreadfully earnest. That's apt.I ran into this problem with Mist of Avalon, which I've read so many times. But when I tried again last summer? DNF.
Whateverfor~I see the name Rosemary Rogers and those covers!!! What a time.
And I agree, sometimes the memory is all you need. I have quite a few like that. It's that combination of age & attitude & experience with the book. Sometimes it can never be duplicated.
Ok I'm totally nostalgic today. OBVIOUSLY. Sorry for repeating myself. I'm in the air conditioning for the first time all week and I'm just...HAPPY.
Robert Jordan, Wheel of Time. Is a tome of a series but made my life more bearable during a particularly shitty time in my 20's. Cannot re read cause they're all so long!!!!
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle. It's a book that stands up to time. It always amazes me how children's books can be written on two levels. As a child, it captured my imagination. As an adult, it speaks to the issues of individualism vs. conformity. Amazing book, incredible message.
The Wolf and the Dove! Wulgar and Aislinn; Ragnor and Gwyneth; gunnas galore and handy birthmarks. Ah, happy days.
Mine are legion but I am going to nominate Fever by Carlotte Lamb which was the first category I ever read (sneaked from my mum - I don't think I was more than 10). I imprinted on that book, I swear. It left me with a lifelong love for borderline psycho asshats that I still struggle to contain to this day. Not only did I vividly remember tiny details about the book for years afterwards, I even still remember a dream ten year old me had about it AND what I wore in the dream. It seemed to 10 year old me to be impossibly glamorous and romantic and a bit wild.
I bought it secondhand from Amazon three years ago. Dated, a bit tame. Still great.
Sarah~The Eye of the World. I was lost in that book a few times. It's one of my all time favs, too. I fell out of the series by book seven (is that the one where Rand is in that box? That's the last full one I think I read).
Kati~Great book! My kids LOVED that one. It's really held up over time, as well. Kids today like it as much as we did back in the day.
Tumperkin~I can see you screaming into your pillow and kicking your heels on the bed. *g* I just know you did that! Oh, btw, love the Brandon Flowers pic on your blog. He is filled with yum.
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