Influential books
Oct. 5th, 2016 08:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ghoti_mhic_uaitThere's a competition being run by a book shop in London, Win a book a month for the rest of your life. It's a book of their choice, based on what you tell them about your preferences - and presumably they hone their recommendations over time, although it doesn't say that. A nice prize.
The competition is a prize draw, picked from a hat, but the question is quite interesting. Which book, published since 1936, has been most influential on your life?
Well, for me it's always going to be childhood books. Books like In A Blue Velvet Dress (the first time I met a protagonist like me) or My Sister Sif had a deep influence in a way that books I read as an adult. "Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" lead me to Japanese literature and an interest in Japan - but it hasn't been as deep a fascination as that with Iceland, which came about after reading "Iceland Saga" by Magnus Magnusson. For grown up books those are definitely two of my choices, although something like Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto echoes in my mind more than the Murakami.
For modern 'people like me' books I'd say 'A Trifle Dead' by Livia Day. Set in a cafe in Hobart, and peopled with a cast of characters reminiscent of my friends, I love that about it. I don't so much feel that I need that now - I don't need a community of people identical to me. But I do need to know that they're out there in fiction so that other people can see them, feel like they're not alone?
Or maybe it's something like deadkidsongs by Toby Litt. A book that feels like the Mahler of the title, horrific and gorgeous. That feels like an answer that would be approved rather than the right answer, though.
What do you think?
The competition is a prize draw, picked from a hat, but the question is quite interesting. Which book, published since 1936, has been most influential on your life?
Well, for me it's always going to be childhood books. Books like In A Blue Velvet Dress (the first time I met a protagonist like me) or My Sister Sif had a deep influence in a way that books I read as an adult. "Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" lead me to Japanese literature and an interest in Japan - but it hasn't been as deep a fascination as that with Iceland, which came about after reading "Iceland Saga" by Magnus Magnusson. For grown up books those are definitely two of my choices, although something like Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto echoes in my mind more than the Murakami.
For modern 'people like me' books I'd say 'A Trifle Dead' by Livia Day. Set in a cafe in Hobart, and peopled with a cast of characters reminiscent of my friends, I love that about it. I don't so much feel that I need that now - I don't need a community of people identical to me. But I do need to know that they're out there in fiction so that other people can see them, feel like they're not alone?
Or maybe it's something like deadkidsongs by Toby Litt. A book that feels like the Mahler of the title, horrific and gorgeous. That feels like an answer that would be approved rather than the right answer, though.
What do you think?
no subject
Date: 2016-10-05 09:51 pm (UTC)I will have to check exactly when S&A was first published, but Coot Club would probably qualify.
no subject
Date: 2016-10-06 06:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-06 05:18 pm (UTC)For me, reading the S&A books made me realise what it was that I'd always wanted to do. My first Action Man (3rd birthday present) was a sailor and I've always wanted to sail and go to sea. Reading books about kids who had boats and were allowed to go off on their own in them showed me there was a world I belonged in. I set up a fund to have sailing lessons, but didn't manage to sail at all until I was 13 and we stayed at a French holiday centre that had boats. It took me until I was about 30 to get my RYA cert and when I was 34, I finally moved to somewhere with a nearby sailing club.