#booksthatmademe

[colored-in-chaos]

WHO BANS BOOKS?!

I might be a little late to the game. But, I’m just now reading about this.... Why are the books that essentially shaped multiple generations getting banned? They wonder why kids now are so dense and self centered. Such a shame. I devoured Animal Farm, 1984, Cather in the Rye, and so many others on that list more than several times. I read most of these for the first time at a really young age and had a college age reading level by 6th grade. If pretty much every book that was required to be read as I was going up, basically banned at this point, what are they even reading?! What's even left?!

[rj-anderson]

Have you ever been totally obsessed with a book? Ever been part of a book fandom — or even helped start one yourself? . Trust me, those questions are very relevant — because we’re back with another instalment of the #booksthatmademe as a reader and author. Today it’s Laurie R. King’s 1993 historical mystery novel THE BEEKEEPER’S APPRENTICE! . When I first read BEEK, I was deep in the throes of a massive Sherlock Holmes obsession. I’d read through all the canonical stories, and read numerous collections of essays and pastiches. But though I yearned for a post-Conan Doyle novel that captured the essence of how I felt about Holmes as a character, the modern pastiches I’d read just weren’t cutting it for me. But then I heard of a new book that sounded like it might fit the bill — in which the retired (but not yet elderly) Holmes encounters a precocious young woman who becomes his apprentice and partner in detective work. . I took it out from my library. I read it from cover to cover. I clutched it to my heart and squealed like a little girl (reader, I was 23). I read it a second time, less than 24 hours later. Then I sat down and composed a wildly effusive fan letter to Laurie R. King — the first letter I’d ever written to an author. I didn’t really expect a reply, but I wanted her to know how happy she’d made me. . To my astonishment, though, she did reply, and very graciously too. That confirmed me as her devoted fan. Within a few weeks I’d created the first webpage for the Mary Russell books, and a discussion list called RUSS-L to go with it. . A few months later, a mysterious package arrived for me with an Advance Reading Copy of the sequel, A MONSTROUS REGIMENT OF WOMEN. Reader, I nearly lost my mind with excitement. It was one of the happiest surprises of my life. . I could tell you many more lovely things Laurie did for me and other early fans, but suffice it to say she was an author who made her readers truly feel heard, valued and appreciated. So when I became a published author myself, I resolved to follow her example as much as I could. https://www.instagram.com/p/CAl2FPaA8oU/?igshid=rptb3vf9qum

[lgbt-ya]

Days of Grace by Catherine Hall

Published by Granta books on 1st Dec 2010

Genres: World War II, evacuees, coming of age, death, war, family, adopted families

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Blurb: When WWII breaks out, Nora is evacuated to the safety of rural Kent and quickly comes to love her new life with the Rivers family - in particular with their daughter Grace. But soon the brittle surface of the Rivers' marriage begins to crack and the girls' close friendship suddenly becomes a lot more intense.

Review: Described as Sarah Waters meets Daphne de Maurier, I was hooked on this book from the blurb alone. This is a beautifully written story stretching decades. Told in alternating timelines, it follows Nora, age 13, as she is evacuated to the countryside during the war, and becomes friends with a girl called Grace. 

It also follows Nora, old and alone, as she realises she is going to die. For the beginning, we’re aware that however idyllic Nora’s new life and blossoming love in the country looks, this isn’t a story with a happy ending. 

Nora’s feelings for Grace as very realistically drawn, and a true torment of unrequited feelings.

While this a very tragic read, with sad endings for almost all of the characters, it’s so gorgeously written that I can forgive the use of the bury your gays trope. I felt truly immersed in the world, and really enjoyed the happier sections of the book. The scenes by the lake were especially lovely. 

Hall has clearly done her research into wartime life, and the experiences of an isolated, lonely woman really broke my heart. 

I cried, a lot. If you’re looking for a book that will make you cry, then I recommend giving this a try. I would say that it’s suitable for older YA readers. There are no graphic sex scenes but scenes of emotional maturity throughout.

For fans of Goodnight, Mister Tom, The Night Watch or Silhouette of a Sparrow.

4 stars

[dreamalottie]

Huge thank you to @grantabooks for sending me copies of #PaulinaAndFran, #GutSymmetries & #TheProofOfLove as part of the #LGBTLit campaign. As you can see, many of the #booksthatmademe are Young Adult titles, and it's been a joy to research, read and fall for these amazing array of fictional queer women. Sarah Waters' #TippingTheVelvet will always be the first book I think of when someone asks what LGBT book was a formative read. Sarah visiting Kent Uni when I was a student there to talk about having studied there herself and discovering lesbian history in the archives meant the world to me. I'm very excited to read more adult LGBT literature. A special shout out to @tanyabyrne's story 'Hackney Moon' in #ChangeBook which features Esther as she recovers from a broken heart and finds a new connection: I can't wait for everyone to meet her!

[rj-anderson]

In my last entry for the #booksthatmademe, I mentioned that Pamela was one of two authors who served as online mentors for me when I was a fledgling writer. The other was Patricia C. Wrede, the author of the delightful MG fantasy series known as the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. . Pat’s highly sensible, practical approach to writing was a great help to me as I floundered around trying to figure out how to write for publication. She was gracious enough to read the full draft of my first, embarrassingly derivative and overwrought fantasy novel, and wrote me a kind and thoughtful letter suggesting ways in which it might be improved by paying attention to little things like, you know, actual worldbuilding and meaningful descriptions, instead of just moving the characters through various bits of two-dimensional scenery with no real history or currency or culture or sensory details behind any of them. (BTW, the list of fantasy worldbuilding questions she sent me by mail is now available online via the SFWA website: it’s worth looking up, if you’re struggling in that area!) . At the time we met on the FidoNet WRITING echo, Patricia was still working on the Enchanted Forest books, having started with the last one (chronologically) in the series, then going back to fill in the backstory with Books 1-3. I wish now I’d paid more attention to her updates then, because it would be a fascinating look at her process! But I didn’t end up actually reading those books until a few years later, when I bought the whole set — and loved them. . Cimorene is a wonderful dynamic misfit heroine, the dragon society is great fun, and Wrede keeps introducing more and more quirky, delightfully individual characters as the books go on. Even Morwen the witch’s ever-growing and changing roster of resident cats have distinct personalities, and the plots include many sensible down-to-earth solutions to conflicts that in another author’s hands would surely turn into unnecessary angst. In short, these books are light, smart, funny and eminently re-readable, and if you haven’t discovered them yet, you’re in for a treat! . If you have read them, though, what lines or characters stood out for you? https://www.instagram.com/p/B_sxS7jAG33/?igshid=l8239kq63t38

[rj-anderson]

Starting a new series of posts I’m going to call THE BOOKS THAT MADE ME, to share some of the books I read as a child and teen that had the biggest influence on me as a reader and writer. . Let’s take C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as a given — I won’t go into them here, because their influence is huge and there’s been plenty written about both. But less well known is an author who came before and strongly inspired both of them, GEORGE MACDONALD. . These four books pictured were a boxed set I received one Christmas as a child, and I’ve re-read all of them many times since. THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN and THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE especially were a big influence on my understanding of fantasy in general and Christian fantasy in particular, and while their style is flowery and old-fashioned, the characters are charming and the spiritual imagery in the books is fantastic. . Who could forget Irene’s magic thread, or the strange “doggy” Lina, or the old queen’s fire of burning roses? Not me, that’s for sure. But neither can I forget the hard lessons taught by the Wise Woman of THE LOST PRINCESS, or the airy fishes of THE GOLDEN KEY. . MacDonald had a phenomenal imagination, as well as a keen appreciation and respect for the value of women (in fact nearly all the spiritual mentors and Christ-like figures in his books are female, which was extraordinary for his time) that still resonates powerfully with me as a reader today. . If you haven’t read these books, I recommend them! . . . . . #bookstagram #bookish #BookRecommendations #books #reading #booksthatmademe #writinginspirations #rjandersonwriter #georgemacdonald #theprincessandthegoblin #theprincessandcurdie #thelostprincess #thegoldenkeyandothershortstories https://www.instagram.com/p/B9dSD7vAOO9/?igshid=9i8fezn18de4

[rj-anderson]

Continuing on with my series of #booksthatmademe as a writer and reader, here’s two more: Edward Eager’s HALF MAGIC and SEVEN-DAY MAGIC. I grew up on epic high fantasy and portal fantasy, but it was these books that first convinced me of the pleasure of “low” fantasy — that is, magical creatures and adventures coming into the modern, mundane world. . It’s impossible to talk about Eager without giving due respect to his British predecessor E. Nesbit, whose books I also read and loved as a child, and who was — by his own frank admission — Eager’s chief influence. But although his plots were often borrowed from Nesbit’s, Eager has a light touch and a sparkling sense of humour that is quintessentially his own, as well as a reflection of both his American background and the decade of the 1950’s in which he wrote. . There’s something irresistibly sunny and optimistic about Eager’s books, even though his child characters are by no means idealized — they can be stubborn, fearful and prone to squabbling as any normal group of children. But although the kids inevitably get themselves into disaster by playing with the magical artifacts they encounter — like a coin that grants only half of what you wish for, or a library book that offers you a new magical adventure every day for a week — the solution to their problems is usually only a few good deeds away. . And even the disasters are usually hilarious. It always makes me smile to read the “Chickadee tidbit, chickadee tidbit, skedaddle skedaddle pow!” episode in SEVEN-DAY MAGIC, and especially the chapter in HALF MAGIC when Martha tries to cure Carrie the cat of half-talking (“Sick!” said Carrie the cat. “Sick sick sick sick sick.”). . Have you read any of Eager’s books? What scenes and characters stood out for you? . . . . #bookstagram #bookish #BookRecommendations #kidsbooks #childrensliterature #kidlit #MGlit #MGbooks #middlegrademarch #enesbit #edwardeager #sevendaymagic #halfmagic https://www.instagram.com/p/B-F_fHWgOji/?igshid=1l2697uqylm0d

[rj-anderson]

What can I say about the Lord Peter Wimsey series that hasn’t been said, eloquently and at length, by other lovers of Golden Age mystery fiction, 20th century British literature, sparkling wit, and smart, character-driven romance? But they are high up on the list of the #booksthatmademe, so I’m going to try. . Despite being fond of mysteries in general and historical British mysteries in particular, I didn’t know these books existed until I was in my early twenties. But once I’d read the series, and particularly the four Wimsey/Vane books beginning with STRONG POISON and continuing on through HAVE HIS CARCASE, GAUDY NIGHT and BUSMAN’S HONEYMOON, Dorothy L. Sayers instantly became one of my all-time favourite authors, and a huge and lasting influence on me as a writer. . It’s not that Sayers is flawless, or that every aspect of her stories captivates me equally. But what she absolutely nailed, for me, was creating two main characters who were fascinatingly complex, delightfully clever, and lovable despite (and sometimes because of) their brokenness. Both Peter and Harriet have been wounded in different ways, and both wear different armour to hide it. Peter is breezy and glib-tongued, while Harriet is guarded and prickly. But they’re constantly challenged and gradually disarmed by one another as they work to solve the mysteries presented to them, and I never get tired of seeing those walls gradually come down. . I don’t make a secret of the fact that A POCKET FULL OF MURDER and A LITTLE TASTE OF POISON owe a lot to these books. Nobody else would write me the YA Peter and Harriet-inspired book I kept asking for, so I ended up writing it as MG instead. The Uncommon Magic duology is peppered with allusions to the Wimsey novels, it takes place in a similar time period, and while Quiz and Isaveth are not the same characters as Peter and Harriet, they never would have existed without them. . If you like mysteries even a little bit and you haven’t read the Wimsey books, you should. . . . #bookstagram #bookish #BookRecommendations #mysteries #dorothylsayers #lordpeterwimsey #harrietvane #classicmysteries #britishmystery #goldenagemystery #writinginspirations https://www.instagram.com/p/B_EKwkZgwQl/?igshid=1s39m4je49yts