Something Wicked...

John Meidema, as part of his I, Reader book idea blog, posted about the 50 books that changed him, which made me stop and think...I am not sure I can name 50 books that changed my life, but there have been at least that many and more so I'm going to try.*

*The title of this post comes from the book Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury which I thought I had read, but as it turns out I haven't. I know that because I am reading it now--went to Barnes and Noble to buy a copy because it's not available as an ebook (unless it's available for the kindle, which would do me no good, but that's another discussion entirely).

Of course the reason I decided I needed to read SWTWC is because John directed me to a post about that book by a blogger named Citizen Reader.

And, as an aside, the best thing about journalling on the web, besides the potential for feedback which IMO is a mixed blessing, is the ease with which one can insert hypertext into a conversation without getting totally off track.

So, let us see if I can start on the list of books that changed me and made me into the person I am.

First five:
Little Women
Gone with the Wind
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Hobbit
Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

Little Women/Gone with the Wind: Except for the fact that they are both about the period of history during and after the Civil War they don't seem to have much in common. I read both of them somewhere around the time I was 10 or 12, and as soon as I read them I aspired to grow up and be a cross between Jo March and Scarlett O'Hara. Strong, independent, capable...lonely (until Jo got the Professor she was alone especially after Beth died, and Scarlett was always lonely.) Jo wrote to support herself and make her family's life more comfortable and Scarlett plowed fields consorted with Yankees rather than let go of her home. Neither Jo nor Scarlett was perfect (so there was hope for me). I still, forty five years later, want to grow up and be a cross between Jo and Scarlett some day.

Stranger in a Strange Land: Actually Stranger wasn't my first Heinlein. My first Heinlein was Podkayne of Mars and I read it in 7th grade. It was the first book of science fiction that I consciously chose because it was science fiction. It hooked me, both on science fiction and on Robert Heinlein. I didn't find Stranger until the summer I was 16, which was the perfect time to find it. It grabbed my small town Christian brain and shook it totally loose. It shaped my philosophy of life, my attitudes, beliefs and actions in a way that nothing else has done before or since. Religion and sex and being 16 and open minded is a volatile combination and, while I wouldn't recommend it for everyone...I am proud to be a Heinleiner.

The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings: I found them the same summer I found Stranger in a Strange Land. That was also the summer I read all of the Oz books written by L. Frank Baum.
I'm not sure I can explain the magic world those books opened up for me. I read pictures as well as words, I could see the brave little hobbit (to borrow a phrase from the song "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" which was on the album "The Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy"). I could feel Smaug's scales and the heat of his breath. I was awed by Galadriel, delighted by Goldberry, and terrified by Shelob...and a few years later I became friends with the "Great Grey Wizard" (a boy I bonded with in college). Bilbo's road that goes ever on reinforced my love of travel stories and chronicles written by ordinary folks in extraordinary circumstances.

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon: Spider's books agreed with my philosophy right down the line...I don't know who discovered them first. The two biggest are: "there aren't any strangers, just friends you haven't met yet" and "Shared pain is lessened, shared joy is increased. Thus do we refute entropy." I didn't find Spider's books right away, not until I really needed them. They were gifted to me by the man who became my beloved, my life partner, because he was willing to share pain and joy with me. I found the Place (alt.callahans in Usenet) on my own, but it was/is the family I didn't know I missed and it gave me my other two beloved mates who became friends and family and lovers.

So my first five books are actually nine (with Podkayne and the LoTR trilogy). Even if I don't come up with any more, this is a pretty revealing list.