So Many Stories, So Little Time
Beside my bed there is a stack of books sitting on the nightstand. Underneath the nightstand, there is another stack of books. At the foot of my bed... one more stack to join the others. These are just the books that I have decided to read sooner then later. Down here, in the 'library', there are five bookshelves filled with books, and those are only MY books, of which I have already read over half, more then once for some of them. When my love moved out this summer, he took all of his books and shelves, which should be returning with him any day now.
When I was a little girl the only books in our house were the ones that my brother and I had for school work, my mothers copies of 'The Clan of the Cave Bear, Valley of the Horses & The mammoth Hunters' and maybe an autobiography of two. She has always loved to read the stories of people's lives... I have always said her life would make a truly compelling story. When I was about 9 or 10, I started reading those 'Earth's Children' books (Clan of the Cave Bear...) and it changed my life. Honestly.
The main character in those books begins as a small Cro-Magnon girl of 5 who has lost everyone she knows in an earthquake and is taken in by a Neanderthal clan. So really the tale is about a girl who just doesn't fit in. I could really relate. Ayla, is her name, grows to become an incredible warrior and medicine woman, and is eventually cast out of the clan for being to head-strong. Not suitable for a clan woman, they are not allowed to touch weapons, let alone become warriors. By the end of the first story, Ayla is only 14 yrs old.
I loved this story with all my heart. Inside I knew I wanted to BE Ayla. To this day, I will pick up the first or second book in the series and start reading just for comfort. It always brings me home, gives me strength and courage. I judge most stories by this one. If it has a compelling Hero or Heroin, then I am in. I write most stories with this one somewhere in the back of my consciousness.
I think one of my all time favorite Hero stories has to be Battlefield Earth. I may have mentioned that one already in a previous post, but it definitely belongs here. The Hero in that book is named Johnny Goodboy Tyler, and he is awesome. He is not a swashbuckling hero, but rather a perfect example of the ingenuity and bravery that is possible in all of us.
Right now I am reading She's Come Undone. I picked it out of a friends library, he has hundreds, maybe thousands of books, and as soon as I started reading, it caught me. That's how I like it. A few years ago I pretty much gave up buying books from bookstands in drugstores and supermarkets.. they all became rubbish to me. I think that the covers of books have become incredibly boring. So the other day while shopping and gently browsing the book section, I could not help but notice a book that had a little girl, in a tutu, wearing a tiara, red and black striped tights and big army boots. The title: hypocrite in a puffy white dress. I opened it to the first page of the first chapter and read the first couple of lines (this is my constant way of discovering if a book is readable, openings are VERY important to me). It was excellent! I related to the main character right off the bat, so I bought it! It's sitting on my coffee table just waiting for me to finish with the one I am reading now... shouldn't take much longer. I bumped it up past the stacks by my bed... that happens sometimes.
As my mentor, Steve King, likes to say 'If you're trying to be a writer, you better be reading or writing at all times!' Well I have that part down pat.
When I was a little girl the only books in our house were the ones that my brother and I had for school work, my mothers copies of 'The Clan of the Cave Bear, Valley of the Horses & The mammoth Hunters' and maybe an autobiography of two. She has always loved to read the stories of people's lives... I have always said her life would make a truly compelling story. When I was about 9 or 10, I started reading those 'Earth's Children' books (Clan of the Cave Bear...) and it changed my life. Honestly.
The main character in those books begins as a small Cro-Magnon girl of 5 who has lost everyone she knows in an earthquake and is taken in by a Neanderthal clan. So really the tale is about a girl who just doesn't fit in. I could really relate. Ayla, is her name, grows to become an incredible warrior and medicine woman, and is eventually cast out of the clan for being to head-strong. Not suitable for a clan woman, they are not allowed to touch weapons, let alone become warriors. By the end of the first story, Ayla is only 14 yrs old.
I loved this story with all my heart. Inside I knew I wanted to BE Ayla. To this day, I will pick up the first or second book in the series and start reading just for comfort. It always brings me home, gives me strength and courage. I judge most stories by this one. If it has a compelling Hero or Heroin, then I am in. I write most stories with this one somewhere in the back of my consciousness.
I think one of my all time favorite Hero stories has to be Battlefield Earth. I may have mentioned that one already in a previous post, but it definitely belongs here. The Hero in that book is named Johnny Goodboy Tyler, and he is awesome. He is not a swashbuckling hero, but rather a perfect example of the ingenuity and bravery that is possible in all of us.
Right now I am reading She's Come Undone. I picked it out of a friends library, he has hundreds, maybe thousands of books, and as soon as I started reading, it caught me. That's how I like it. A few years ago I pretty much gave up buying books from bookstands in drugstores and supermarkets.. they all became rubbish to me. I think that the covers of books have become incredibly boring. So the other day while shopping and gently browsing the book section, I could not help but notice a book that had a little girl, in a tutu, wearing a tiara, red and black striped tights and big army boots. The title: hypocrite in a puffy white dress. I opened it to the first page of the first chapter and read the first couple of lines (this is my constant way of discovering if a book is readable, openings are VERY important to me). It was excellent! I related to the main character right off the bat, so I bought it! It's sitting on my coffee table just waiting for me to finish with the one I am reading now... shouldn't take much longer. I bumped it up past the stacks by my bed... that happens sometimes.
As my mentor, Steve King, likes to say 'If you're trying to be a writer, you better be reading or writing at all times!' Well I have that part down pat.
posted by clothosfate at 7:48 AM
4 Comments:
LOL... no those ones are between the mattresses...DUH!
Never read Clan of the Cave Bear. Only saw the movie. I've heard a lot of women say this book is a must read and I'd love to read a book with a strong female lead.
As my mentor, Steve King, likes to say 'If you're trying to be a writer, you better be reading or writing at all times!' Well I have that part down pat.
Me too. The problem I have is I'm so streaky. I still haven't picked up a fiction book since Harry Potter 6. Just been reading non-fiction/historical, and biographies lately. I still haven't read those Stephen King Dark Tower books that you and a million other people said I have to read.
:O Still? Well get on it boy! LOL, no I understand, I have many books in my must read pile(s). Next on the agenda is teh girl in the poufy dress... looks very funny and I love to laugh. Another great book with a strong female lead is The Mists of Avalon, oh and The Fifth Sacred Thing. two of my absolute faves!!
and if you ask the wedding party, they suggest Hustler... I bet it is FULL of strong female leads ;)
I never liked Hustler magazine. It's too "dirty," not in dirty with a sexual connotation, but dirty as in not clean. I love porn, don't get me wrong, but Hustler is too "in your face."
I really like Penthouse, for the photography is wonderful, except when they try to do black and white. Their black and white is too pretentious. I'm having a mind blank, but my fav photographer from Penthouse is that woman. I'm sure you've seen her work. She's the top female photographer for Penthouse, and everything she does is top notch. Ah, Suze Randall, I think.
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