I think we, as people and as writers, are a reflection of everything we’re exposed to in life. Not just how we were raised and our experiences, but what we read, what we watch.
I’ve been thinking about this lately because – as I’m sure many of you have heard – Brian Jacques passed away last weekend. He was the author of the wildly popular Redwall series.
I loved the Redwall books when I was younger. I got into them a little older than a lot of people did, but I adored them. I, to this day, have a stuffed turtle named Matthias after a character from the very first book in the series I read. I was lucky enough to get to go to a reading of his and to have a book autographed. He was probably the defining author of my early teenaged years.
I admittedly have not read a Redwall book in probably ten years, but the news of Brian Jacques’s passing still hit me pretty hard. So I’ve been sitting here all week, thinking of Redwall Abbey and Martin the Warrior and the Long Patrol and how much they meant to me as a kid, and what skill it took to create that world that can still move me as an adult, and what a storyteller the world has lost.
I think our favorite books move and shape us as much as anything else in this world. When you identify with and love a character, why wouldn’t you take their opinions to heart as you would a dear friend’s? Why wouldn’t you, especially when you’re younger, try to emulate a society that appeals to you?
I’m thinking about going back and rereading the Redwall books. It will be like visiting old friends. Do you have books that you feel helped you become the person you are today? What are they?
So true, Kit.
The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind literally changed my life. Not only did it start me reading (and writing) fantasy, but the characters are strong, noble, wonderful people and they inspired me so much, especially at a time when I needed to be strong. It’s just amazing how stories can effect us so much.
Cheers,
Erin
Redwall definitely defined my reading. I remembered being shocked that these boys who didn’t read in my grade were suddenly doing book reports on the Redwall series. I got curious and checked it out.
Still, I think the most defining reads, at least genre wise, were when my school librarian pointed me at Lloyd Alexander’s Westmark books and Lord of the Rings during sixth grade.
LM Montgomery was also pivotal. I remember trying to get every book and short story anthology Borders had to offer.
A friend at church introduced simultaneously to Robert Jordan, David Eddings and Piers Anthony. That flung me way into fantasy all over again.
Encyclopedia Brown. Hardy Boys (ok, not ‘well written’ books, but I read every copy the library had and got new ones as birthday and Christmas gifts). The Three Investigators. I’m not sure what that says about my writing, but as a kid, I loved ’em. I bought a whole bunch of Three Investigator books a few years ago with the intention of reading them to my kids. When having kids wasn’t a certainty, or even a glimmer in my certainty’s eye. (And man, The Three Investigator books aren’t that well written either – what the heck was wrong with my literary tastes as a kid? Fun books, yes, but not great ones.)
I know I read other stuff (I was an avid reader), but these are the books, the series, that pop into my head when I think about childhood reading. Ok, and the Doctor Who books that were only available at one book store and were extremely overpriced and I was allowed to buy one on each rare visit to that bookstore, even when using my own allowance money. I guess my parents had a better sense of literary value than I did. But screw that, when you’re a kid, reading SHOULD be fun!
Oh, and The Great Brain! And Bruno and Boots, about kids at a Canadian boarding school. Ah, the synaptic pipes have burst and the nostalgia, it is flooding my brain!!!!! Someone get me a bone saw and a sponge!