First Books

[la_samtyr]

A couple of days ago I posted a meme to ask me anything, try and jog me out of my comfort zone. So, I have decided to make a separate post for the answers. And since everyone knows how much I like to ramble, to save your pages (and sanity), everything is under the cut.

1.) What books did you adore as a kid? Nowadays? What stories remain constant and fresh in your mind? Did any change your life? :)

Oh wow, books! I think I used to make a lot of posts in the "early years" of this blog and I guess I got sidetracked with rl and other things. But anyway... my mom and my grandma started reading to me when I was still a baby, mostly the classics like Shakespeare, Dickens, Bronte, Hawthorne, Clemens -- if only they had added the Greek and Roman classics, I would have had a complete education before I hit kindergarten. My parents never cared what I read back then -- the more the better, as long as it wasn't "trashy". They were firm believers that "you are what you read." I'll probably come off sounding like the worst sort of snob (hopefully not.)

But as for *specific* books, a lot of the ones I read early on were animal books. I remember reading "Born Free" when I was in jr. high, if not before, and I thought that nothing could be better than helping animals "rehab" into the wild. [Of course, there was no way that my parents were going to let anything like *that* happen but I was still young enough and stupid enough to think that girls had the same rights to a life of exploration that boys did. Boy was I wrong! But I also digress from the main question...]

"Black Beauty" broke my heart in dozens of ways but it also made me an animal activist at a very young age. The "Misty" series, along with the others of Marguerite Henry showed good YA writing (and art!) was like -- compared to the horrendous series that are churned out now. "Smoky" by Will James. "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton. "Sinbad and Me" by Kin Platt. This one is *great* and sadly, also out of print. Hard as anything to find but if you can find it, I suggest you read it. No, it's not about pirates -- well, not exactly. :)

I have always loved horror books though. Vampires, werewolves and all other creatures of the night... Yay! My cousins got me started on Stephen King and while I love his early work, it seems that his work started to slack off, and I don't read him anymore. Pity, because those early ones were great. Yes, I read *all sorts* of vampire novels back in the day. Still do, really. Heh heh.

In college, I learned to appreciate "world" authors -- mostly the ones that are not mentioned in "polite" society [vbeg], and developed a strong interest in theatre as well. *Ahem* More on that another time, perhaps.

Then there is sci-fi/fantasy. First sci-fi. As most of you know, I am the youngest of a large extended family and a lot of my *older* cousins read the early science fiction, which was often written with a basis in hard science. So many good books there.

Last but by no means least is fantasy, i.e. Middle Earth and Narnia. I've blogged about these recently enough that I can imagine some of you will wnt to turn back now. For those brave enough to read on...

I know that I started reading "The Hobbit" long before jr. high, and "LotR" shortly after. By the time I was out of high school I had read them at least twice, if not more. I remember being told that the best way to read the books was to start that way, and that each time I re-read them, I would see something fresh and new. I didn't read "Silm" until college, mostly because my copy *disappeared* early on and I decided to wait until I had my own place before I got another one.

And then -- I discovered the internet, and fic. As they say, the rest is history. Don't get me wrong, I still read regular books. I have bookshelves full of them. XD Every time one of my sibs mentions a book review or meme, I am there, checking it out and adding new ones to my ever-growing list.

Well, there is a somewhat condensed book bio of moi. Stay tuned for the others.

Comments

[dazedpuckbunny.livejournal.com]

OMG I liiiiive for Marguerite Henry! Misty! And all of her other books! King of the Wind! *squee* We have the same taste in reading I think. I love all of the old classics, and it irritates me often that adults define their lives only on one YA or kids series and can never tax their brains long enough to read literature. *woe*

Vampires!! I recommend the "Cirque du Freak" series by Darren Shan. Well written modern YA that's ftw! *loves*

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

I think we must be related somehow, seriously! Marguerite Henry was great. Her books actually told a story that was believable and not just churned out by machine. Part of me grieves that kids can't be bothered with *good* writing anymore and just read these wretched series. I suppose I should be happy they read at all though. The illustrators are decent enough but again, I feel that they just aren't that good. Wesley Dennis' illustrations gave such added depth to the books... ::wistful sigh:: I suppose that I sound like the worst sort of snob or that I have impossibly high standards, sorry.

Thanks for the tip about Darren Shan -- will check him out later on. :)

[boltonia.livejournal.com]

My first book was probably the church hymnal. Seriously! I remember, long before I could read the words, them setting me up with the right page for the song we were singing. The musical notes made more sense to me at the time than the words.

We got very little new stuff when I was a kid so my early reading was my mom's old college books. One of the first voluntary books I read was Ivanhoe. Yep, cut my little first grade teeth on Sir Walter Scott! Do you think I started out right? ;)

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting about the church hymnals. I can't say as I remember that much specifically about them, though I did enjoy the music because it was considerably less boring. 0:)

Oh, I love Ivanhoe too! Yes, I'd say you started out right. :)