In Defense of Sookie

Well, I find myself in the unfortunate position of having to backtrack slightly. A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about books as mind candy; my example was a series of books by Charlaine Harris - the True Blood series. I believe I argued in favour of reading books of substance, and I didn't feel that these books had that substance. Since then, I've been involved in a Facebook conversation with someone who has such a low opinion of the books that she won't even read them. I found myself defending them. Whoops. What happened? How could I go from suggesting that the True Blood series is mind candy to defending them publicly on Facebook?

I guess, when it comes down to it, a little candy isn't too bad. I would never suggest that the True Blood series is great literature, but I don't think there is anything really bad with it either. It's fluff, but so what? Is it expecting too much of myself to only read 'good' literature? Should I have these really high standards for myself? Does that lead to disappointing myself? Should I just accept the fact that I have low standards for reading, or try to 'improve' myself.

I'll have to come back to this, I think I have a lot to think about.

Brilliant! Absolutely Brilliant!

Faerie

Time for yet another confession. I love faerie stories. Notice the spelling. I'm not talking about fairy tales, but rather, faerie tales. Celtic mythology, although I really know very little about it, really appeals to me. Stories of the ancient Celtic gods, of the Seelie and Unseelie courts, of kelpies and brownies, all these are really appealing to me. I've recently finished reading three YA books that tell stories of faerie, as well as reading a most definitely adult book of faerie. Wondrous Strange and Darklight are the first two books in a trilogy by Lesley Livingstone that revolve around Kelly, a young actress who discovers that she is the long lost daughter of Auberon, king of the faeries. I really liked Wondrous Strange, but was not as impressed with Darklight. The premise of these stories is linked to Shakespeare stories, and I found it worked really well with the first story, but was weaker in the second. The story just didn't stand up. That's when I was introduced to Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr.

One of the women in my course told me that Wicked Lovely was a much better book than Wondrous Strange, and boy, was she right. It tells the story of Aislinn, who attracts the attention of the Keenan, the Summer King. It is a much darker story, but in the end, it was much more satisfying. I can't wait to read the next book(s) in the series.

I think I'd like to read more stories about faerie in the past. The books I've been reading have all had faeries in the modern world; I want to know where the stories came from. I need to look up some Irish/Celtic mythology. I want to know where the stories came from. I know that Shakespeare is the one who changed our perceptions of fairies, but I'd like to know what they were like before.

Face, Meet Palm

Yes, I need a good face palm. I wrote a long, long entry about my favourite books, and I left out one of my all-time favourites. How could I have forgotten To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Somehow, I did. It wasn't even on my list of books to go through. I was horrified when I realized that it wasn't there, and I decided it wasn't enough to simply add on to my last entry, so I'm creating an entire entry about To Kill a Mockingbird.

The irony is that when I first read Mockingbird, I really didn't like it at all. I can still remember it - I was in Grade 5 at Hawthorne Public School in Ladner, BC, and I was buying books from Scholastic. Does that still happen? We would get a brochure every month with the latest books from scholastic, I would select the ones I wanted, and my mother would write a cheque which I would bring into the school. My teacher would then send in the order, and a couple of weeks later, my books would arrive. One month, Mockingbird was among the books I order. I would have been 10 or 11 at the time, and although my reading level was exceptionally high, I don't know that my maturity level was developed enough to understand the book. When I read it then, I really hated it. I didn't pick it up again for another 14 years or so.

When I moved to Colombia to begin teaching English there, To Kill a Mockingbird was one of the books I was expected to teach. I re-read it, and fell instantly in love (14 years later). I loved the story, the characters, the lessons ... really, I loved everything about it. I really loved Atticus Finch. When he was named the number one hero from the AFI, I really understood it. I taught Mockingbird for three years in Colombia, and another couple of years when I returned to Canada. I haven't taught it as a class novel for a number of years now (mostly because I've been teaching history), but I would love to teach it again.

Although it was written in the 1960s, and set in the 1930s, I truly believe that it is not dated. The lessons it teaches are still as valid today as they were forty or seventy years ago. Racism still exists, an unjust justice system still exists, people fighting against prejudice still exist. In some ways, teaching this book may be more important than it was twenty or thirty years ago. Unfortunately, a number of people seem to believe that the issues brought out in Mockingbird are not issues any more. I wish I could agree.

My love for To Kill a Mockingbird reached a new level when I read the book Mockingbird by Charles J. Shields. I had never known how much of her own life Harper Lee had put into her novel. The fact that the character Dill was based on Truman Capote just blew me away. Sometimes, learning more about an author or their inspiration for their work can lessen my enjoyment of the novel itself, but that didn't happen for me in this case. This is also one of the rare instances where watching the movie didn't take away from my enjoyment of the novel. The movie version is amazing. The scene where Atticus has just lost the court case brings a lump to my throat every time.

I love, love, love, this book.

The Bard - At Last

I'm sitting in the computer lab during my class, and I'm finished all my work. I'm now two weeks ahead on my assignments, so I thought I'd finally write that post on Shakespeare in the real world.

I've recently read Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston, which is the story of a young actress in New York who discovers that Shakespeare's story Midsummer Night's Dream, is actually real! The actor playing Puck? He's actually the real Puck. Oberon? Yep, he's real too. I found this story to be absolutely enchanting. The idea of having an actress perform one of Shakespeare's plays and discover that it wasn't fiction, really worked well for me. There are two other books in the series - Darklight has the Kelly, the main character, preparing for a production of Romeo and Juliet. The Bard really does provide rich material for mining. I found this to be a great combination of Shakepeare and modern faerie literature.

The next book I read was Shakespeare: The World as a Stage by Bill Bryson. This was a more traditional biography of one of the English speaking world's most beloved authors. I found this book fascinationg because it really showed me how much we think we know about Shakespeare is actually guesswork. Shakespeare scholars have spent hundreds of years studying him, but they still know very little. I think my favourite part of this book was the section on the Shakespeare de-bunkers; you know, the ones who believe Shakespeare couldn't have written Shakespeare. Bryson does a very good job of showing that he most certainly could have written everything he wrote, and that all the contenders for the "real" Shakespeare couldn't have been Shakespeare. I'm sure I'll pull this book out again before I start my Shakespeare units with my classes; I wouldn't want to give them facts that aren't really facts.

The final book I read recently concerning Shakespeare was Fool by Christopher Moore. I've already spoken about one of Moore's other books (Lamb) and this one is no different. Moore takes a well-known story and makes it lewd and crude. I never really got into this story. It's basically the story of King Lear, not one of my favourite plays to begin with. Moore makes the fool the narrator, and also the protagonist. Edmund writing a letter to discredit his brother? The Fool's idea. Regan and Goneril's deaths? The Fool's idea. Yep, pretty much everything that happens is because of the Fool. Oh, the witches from Macbeth show up as well. I can't really say anything too negative about the book, but I just never bought into the story. It was all abit to obvious. You don't know where to go with the story? No problem! I'll have a ghost come in and direct things. It just didn't work for me.

What about you? Any adaptations of Shakespeare that you really liked or really didn't like?

A Few of my Favourite Things

This entry is going to be about a few of my favourite books of all time! These are books I can read over and over again and not get tired of. I know some people who never re-read books; their argument is that there is so much good literature out there (nevermind all the bad literature) that why on earth would they want to read something that they have already finished? I can understand this argument, but I don't agree. To me, books are old friends, and I like to visit my friends over and over again. The following list isn't in any particular order; it's basically as I thought of them. I'm sure I've forgotten some, but this should do for now. Without further ado - here are a few of my favourite things.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. The red-haired little orphan who captures hearts wherever she goes. I loved reading the books as a child, and I loved watching the made for tv movies when I was a little older. Anne was just so engaging. She was always getting into trouble, but it was never very serious trouble. Her on-going relationship with Gilbert I found very believable. Her life wasn't easy, but she was a survivor who ultimately triumphed. In the later books, she grows up and her life continues to have its ups and downs. I still love Anne.

The Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene. Like Anne, Nancy was a spunky girl who didn't let anything stop her. Maybe I'm drawn to these characters because it's who I wanted to be. I was able to live a far more exciting life through the pages of the Nancy Drew books than I ever did in my real life. Nancy was smart, and she was observant. She taught me the value of noticing the little things. She was also safe. She had a boyfriend, but it was a very innocent relationship. I saw the movie that came out recently and was terribly disappointed. The Nancy I knew and loved was not the character I saw on the screen. My imagination was much more vivid than the images I was being given. I can't wait to share Nancy with my nieces. They are a little young now, but in a couple of years I'll read the books to them. I really hope they enjoy them as much as I did. I still have all my old Nancy Drew books. Due to space limitations they are in a box in my storage area, but when I have more space, they will have a prized place on a book shelf.

The Belgariad series by David and Leigh Eddings. I first discovered this fantasy series when I was in high school, and I was hooked. I liked the characters and I believed the stories (yes, I know - they are fantasy books with magic and wizards and so on, but they are believable.) Eddings has a wonderful sense of humour, and reading some of the scenes in the book made me laugh out loud. The best part is, I laugh every time I read them. Unfortunately, as he got older, his books became more formulaic. I knew exactly what the general plot line would be, what the hero would be like, and what the enemy would be like. I still really enjoy the books. Every time I run out of new books to read, I head straight to an Eddings books.

Little House on the Prairies by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Ahh, the struggles of a family of pioneers struggling to make a living in the American west during the late 1800s. Ma and Pa; Mary, Laura, Carrie and Grace. These were characters I really liked. Laura was again (are we sensing a theme here) a spunky girl who didn't let things get her down. She struggled with bad teachers but then became a teacher herself. The family suffered greatly, but stuck together. I almost cried when Pa was lost in the blizzard. Losing a child, crop failures, and other tragedies seemed to stalk the Ingalls/Wilder families, but the message that by sticking together these things can be overcome is a really good message. This is one time where the television show was not a disappointment

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Ah, the struggles of impotent anger. Poor Max. No one will listen to him and when he acts out, he gets sent to his room. This is where the brilliance begins. Where the Wild Things Are is a children's book, but it is very powerful. I think everyone can empathize with Max; I know that I did. The pictures of the monsters on the island, and how Max deals with them were very engaging.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. This was my favourite novel when I was an angst ridden teenager. The tortured love story of Heathcliff and Catherine just spoke to my soul. Not that I had any idea what they were really going through. When I was reading Wuthering Heights I had never been in love, and I certainly had no idea what obsessive love was like, or how destructive love could be, but there was something in the book that just really spoke to me.

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. This is a children's book that I didn't read as I child, and I think I'm glad that I was too old to read it (or have it read to me) when I was a child. As an adult, I love the idea of the never-ending circle of love, but as I child, I would have been traumatized by the thought of my parents growing old and me being responsible for them. Also, the idea of the mother sneaking into her son's apartment is just slightly creepy, but I understand what Munsch is trying to say. This is a book that makes me cry every time I read it.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I first came across the Outlander series when I was working at the CBC. The department I worked in received hundreds of books for their consideration, and once a year or so, they would have an auction of the books that they didn't want; any that didn't go at the auction would be put out for the taking. I picked up the third book in the series, and I was really intrigued. I sought out the first book of the series and I was hooked. The premise is that a World War Two nurse slips through a hole in the universe and ends up in 18th century Scotland. The idea of the modern, twentieth century woman living with the clans of Scotland leaves lots of room for interesting story lines. As a history buff, I love all the historical detail. The stories cover the Jacobite rebellion, the breaking of the clans, the exile to the New World and the American Revolution. It is just fascinating reading. I wish I could meet a Jamie (I love my husband with all my heart, but my literary crush would be Jamie Fraser).

I get the feeling I'm going on and on, so I'll stop here. What are some of your favourite novels?