I enjoyed author Elizabeth Chadwick's post, "The Books of a Lifetime." She discusses books that stood out at various stages of her life. A fun road trip probably all of us should take. I'm afraid that before Mr. King, I didn't actually finish many books!
Chadwick explains, "I have chosen five favourite books each from my childhood, my adolescence, young adulthood and maturity (if you can call it that)."
Naturally, Chadwick's choices are a mixture of classics and modern hits. Stuff I'm familiar with, and some I didn't know existed.
The Shining by Stephen King. This book is one of the very few where I have almost been too scared to turn the pages. Stephen King is a very powerful writer indeed and this story of a family falling apart and closed up for the winter in the haunted (and maliciously so) Overlook Hotel is a claustrophobic triumph. I re-read it at least once a year.Wow! That's pretty good. I've read it through once, and just started re-reading in prep for Doctor Sleep. She re-read's it "at least once a year."
Under the heading, Mature Adult, she includes The Green Mile.
The Green Mile by Stephen King. The second Stephen King on my list. I could carry on reading his work my life long. The Green Mile, I think, achieves absolute greatness for Stephen King. If the subject matter didn't involve horror and the supernatural, and if wasn't so mainstream and readable, this one would have been on The Booker list for sure. I'd certainly put it on my alternative Booker shortlist. There are lines in that book of such profound power that they bring tears to my eyes.
Chadwick's full article is at historicaltapestry.blogspot.com
MY ANSWERS:
Okay, I have to clarify that I am discussing NOVELS and not religious works, The Bible, commentaries, devotionals and books that have given my life greater perspective, like The Purpose Driven Life. Just fiction:
childhood: Fatal Vision. I'm not kidding. I read the whole thing when I was about 11 after seeing the mini-series. It is the story of Dr. Jeffery MacDonald who is accused of killing his family.
Also, Run Silent -- Run Deep, Star Wars (the novel by Lucas), V.
adolescence: 1984, by George Orwell. I was first introduced to it as a radio play, then got the book abridged on tape. I found Orwell's world quite scary. 1984 is a precursor to The Hunger Games.
Also, under adolescence, I would include: The Martian Chronicles, The Stand, The War of the Worlds, IT, Night of the Moonbow, Sherlock Holmes and Swan Song.
young adulthood: The Grapes of Wrath, which is absolutely wonderful! A journey through America during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. We travel with the Judd family from Oklahoma to California. Steinbeck is such an effective writer that the reader suffers with the Judd's, burning with anger as they are delivered set back after set back at the hands of a very cruel world.
Also under young adulthood: Pillars of the Earth, Of Mice and Men, David Copperfield (though I'm still not sure what that book was actually about), The Pelican Brief, Cold Sassy Tree, This Present Darkness.
maturity: . . . riiight.
Your Turn! using the same setup Chadwick did, copy and paste in the comments section your answers:
childhood
adolescence
young adulthood
maturity
Childhood: I'm a products of the mid-eighties, so TV and film dominated my first years more than books. First Memories: Amadeus, Return of the Jedi, Stand by Me, Back to Future, An American Tail, Jim Henson's muppets, The Secret of NIMH, Tom, Jerry, Bugs, Daffy, Larry, Moe and Curly, Disney's Legend of Sleepy Hollow
ReplyDeleteFirst book: John BellairsThe Letter, the Witch and the Ring.
Other book memories: Berenstain Bears, Dr.Seuss, Scary stories to tell in the dark.
Adolesence: Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, Edgar Allen Poe (some of it through Vincent Price), Ray Bradbury and Rod Serling.
Young Adulthood: Mark Twain, Stephen King, Jonathan Swift, Patrick Mcgoohan's The Prisoner, Peter S. Beagle.
Maturity...? Oh you mean Eliot's Wasteland!
...To tell you the truth I've done something I never would have believed. If you'd told my ten year old self I'd one day all but stop watching television, i'd of looked at you as if you were insane.
ChrisC
Chris, I was first introduced to a lot of pepole I later read via tv and movies.
ReplyDeleteSeems most of us were introduced to Sherlock Holmes in our youth.
ReplyDelete