splendid moonlight

This was supposed to be a reply to a thread but it got too long I might as well post it here.


I have had favorite authors whose works I seem to have grown out of. An example would be Robert Jordan. I recently read his books again and I had to skip some parts (I didn't want to read about Rand's dreams, and dreamed a lot he did). I still love all of the characters, though. Even the bad ass ones.


I have to read 100 Years of Solitude again to see if I have outgrown Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I was totally blown away by the book more than 10 years ago. And let me add that it doesn't feel good to find out that a book doesn't have the same impact on you compared to the first time you read it. I don't know... it's like losing someone important, perhaps a part of yourself.


As for Tolkien, nothing could compare to the feeling I had when I first read Lord of The Rings. I was about 16 years old and I did not even know what Fantasy was. I was an Anne Rice, Stephen King girl, so Tolkien was a magic carpet ride - his book was a whole new world in every way. The movie wasn't out then. Unfortunately the book wasn't mine and I didn't finish it. The next time I read it, though, it felt as though I was just doing it to keep up with the trend (the LOTR movie was the rage those days). Still, it's the kind of story you can read over and over again. It can just rest on your shelf and you know you'll pick it up in the future. Which translates to, Tolkien is an alien, I mean - he's extraordinary.


As to classics, I'm drawn to Jane Austen and Emily Bronte. Girly girly, I know, but I find their stories entertaining. Their use of very long sentences amuses me too.


My new favorite authors are in the science fiction field. Namely, Isaac Asimov and Frederik Pohl; which is ironic because growing up I was surrounded with science fiction books owned by my brother and I never took interest. I only picked one up if I ran out of other things to read and nothing stood out. Maybe I just wasn’t mentally prepared for science fiction then.


Oh, and my other favorite author is Dodie Smith. She was the author of One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Sound familiar? Her book I Capture the Castle totally captivated me. Once I thought I had outgrown it, but I think it was only because I had read it more than 5 times my brain tells me to stop a wihle.


And thank you Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for creating Sherlock Holmes.


Ah, books are wonderful. It's like walking the path of your life and you stopped to smell the roses. The books are the roses.