How To Read Childhood Favorites the “Right” Way

I love rereading books that I used to love. Nostalgia books, I suppose you could call them.

It used to never be a problem for me, but as I’ve gotten more serious about writing, and as I’m critiquing other writer’s works on a weekly basis, it’s gotten more difficult not to read things with a critical eye.

Two years ago, I made the mistake of gifting my all time favorite book to my critique partner. As I reread it after I gifted it, I started seeing areas I knew he would criticize. And he did criticize those areas, and many more I hadn’t anticipated.

Suddenly, I didn’t love the book as much as I used to. It wasn’t the perfect example of a novel that I’d thought it was. I was disappointed, and for a long time, didn’t want to read any of my old favorites, worried that I wouldn’t love them as much as I used to.

Recently, I got the urge to reread The Forbidden Game trilogy, by LJ Smith. Without overthinking it, I started the first one.

I ended up reading it in two minds. My critical reader found all the flaws. (And there are flaws.) But my nostalgic reader found all the reasons I’d always loved it. And my nostalgic reader was louder.

It’s easy to find the flaws in something, to pick it apart, to criticize. That’s why anyone can do it.

And as a writer, it’s important that I can be constructively critical to my work and to the work of other writers who want to improve. Sometimes, as a reader, it’s important to do too. It’s good practice, and helps judge what works and what doesn’t.

But there are sometimes when I don’t want to pick things apart or find ways to improve something. Sometimes I just want to enjoy it, recapture that uncomplicated pleasure that came with reading it in the past.

The meaning of a particular book and how it resonates with the reader can change over time. There have been books I’ve connected with more or less over time, depending on where I was in my life.

But I don’t ever want to get to the point where I look at a beloved book, and only see the flaws. That serves no purpose. And I certainly don’t want to avoid rereading a favorite book out of fear.

All books have magic, and magic is a personal thing. But the key is that we, as readers, have to be complicit in creating that magic. It doesn’t exist without a reader who’s willing to be immersed in the book.

A book that resonates with me, at any point in my life, doesn’t have to be perfect. That’s an unrealistic standard. If it made me feel something deeply at any point, then it was “perfect” for me at that moment.

So, from now on, when I’m rereading a book, I’m going to keep in mind that it’s okay for it to have flaws, and those flaws don’t diminish its value one bit.

After all, at one point, I didn’t even see the flaws. They were always there, but I was so immersed in magic that I missed them. And I’m not going to let anyone take that away from me… not even myself.

E is for Einstein

Hello, and welcome to Blogging A to Z 2017! Thanks for stopping by.

My theme this month is 26 of the Best Characters in Fiction.

In Watchers, by Dean Koontz, Travis Cornell isn’t sure he has anything to live for. When he goes to the woods to recapture a feeling of life being meaningful, he doesn’t expect much. While there, he runs into Einstein, a remarkable dog who saves him from what he believes is a wild animal.

Einstein is actually a lab experiment who escaped, a super intelligent dog. When he escaped, another creature escaped, one that wants to track Einstein down and kill him. As Einstein starts to trust Travis, he reveals his intelligence and gives Travis clues as to his past. They go on the run to avoid the other creature and the government, who will do anything to recapture him for further experiments.

The title comes from a passage in the book where one of the characters talks about how people are meant to watch over one another, and we all watch over those we love. It’s a wonderful novel about family and hope, and how people can change. Einstein is a catalyst for the two main characters changing.

Einstein is bright and amazing, but he’s still a dog, which is possibly one of the best things about him. The author doesn’t make him a human trapped in a dog’s body. His humor and wit is what I would imagine an intelligent dog would have. This was the first Dean Koontz book I read, back in the late 80’s, but it’s the one that’s had the most lasting effect on me.

When I was a kid, I wished I had an intelligent dog. Now I don’t wish that. I’m happy for my dogs to be uncomplicated. But I still love to visit with Einstein.

 

 

K is for Dean Koontz

.Anyone who knows me, knows that Dean Koontz had to show up in this list.

I read my first Koontz book when I was 12.  I happened to pick up Watchers off the rack in some store, probably K-mart or the grocery store.  The book amazed me.  It had everything I could have imagined wanting in a book: romance, a dog who could communicate with people, science-fiction, and horror, with undercurrents of philosophy.

From then on, I was hooked.  I read everything I could by him, and bought his hardbacks when they were released every November.  I praised them and recommended them to anyone who’d listen.

Koontz was the first author I’d read who blended genres.  He was considered a horror author, but he really wasn’t.  His stories did evoke fear and dread at times, but there was almost always some sort of happy ending.

Koontz usually has multiple “parts” to his books, and starts them with a quote or a short poem.  While I loved all those quotes, my favorite was when he’d quote The Book of Counted Sorrows.  In the pre-internet days, I drove myself crazy trying to find that book.  In 1992, Koontz publicly explained the the book didn’t exist, but I didn’t hear about it until many years later.

Searching for this non-existent book was something I didn’t give up on.  Oh, I didn’t think about it every day or anything, but it popped back into my consciousness with regularity.  When I finally found out it wasn’t real, I felt let down, like I’d lost a friend.

I moved on, and through the magic of the internet, was able to find the collected quotes from the books.

I’ve wanted to be a writer as long as I can remember.  But Koontz helped me figure out what kind of writer I wanted to be.

I want to be someone who writes uplifting stories, sometimes about dark and strange topics.  I want to write across genres.  But mostly, I just want to tell a good story.

“Not one day in anyone’s life is an uneventful day, no day without profound meaning, no matter how dull and boring it might seem… Because in every day of your life, there are opportunities to perform little kindnesses for others, both by conscious acts of will and unconscious example. Each smallest act of kindness… reverberates across great distances and spans of time… because kindness is passed on and grows each time it’s passed, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away.”

-Dean Koontz, from

 

S is for Stories

So many books! They’re everywhere.

For me, it’s all about the story.

I don’t care what you’re talking about: books, movies, people.  I love a good story.

I’m more liberal than most people about what makes a good story.  I don’t really care if there are plot holes or if the story has been done before.  I just care about how well the story is told.  Ordinary can be interesting in the same way that extraordinary can be boring.

A lot of people complained that Avatar was a cliched story, but I loved it.  Even if it’s a story I’ve heard before, I liked the way it was told, and it had enough new and interesting elements to keep it fresh.  People complained that Twilight had poor writing, but if it did, I didn’t notice when I read it.  I was too drawn in my the story to worry about the fact that Bella and Edward have an unhealthy relationship dynamic.  The story was interesting and fun.

I like literature.  I like reading about psychological theories.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy things at the other end of the spectrum, and everything in between.  As long as there’s an interesting story, I don’t mind if it’s cliche.  I enjoy stories I’ve read before, and I enjoy reading them in different forms, from different perspectives.  But then, I’m also the person who can read the same book over and over again and still have emotional reactions to it as if I were reading it for the first time.  (Where the Red Fern Grows makes me sob every. single. time.)

Stories connect me to the past.  Growing up, I loved Cinderella and Snow White, and remembering those stories gives me warm memories of my parents and grandparents.  I love sharing stories (discussing books and movie plots) with other people.  We all see the same story in different ways, and it’s interesting to hear other people’s perspectives on a story.

I know people who love sitcoms and comedy memoirs, but it can be hard for me to get into those things because I feel like too often, they focus on the punchline rather than the story.  There are always exceptions, of course, but my favorite stories are the ones that make me feel deeply, that make me cry or touch my heart.  I love characters who feel so real to me that they become part of my life even after I’ve closed the book.  Harry Potter, The Fault In Our Stars, Watership Down, Me Before You, and Watchers are just a few of the books that made me feel this way.

What’s your favorite type of story?  Do you have a book whose characters feel like part of your life?

Watchers, a review

On Throwback Thursdays, I post a book review.  The best books stand the test of time, and only get better on rereading, so most of the books I review will be at least a few years old, and will be strong recommendations.  I’d love to hear what you have to say about the books I talk about in the comments.

I’m pretty sure this is the original cover, and it’s my personal favorite.

Watchers, by Dean Koontz, was the very first book I read by this author, chosen mostly because it had a dog on the cover.  I was 12, and would read anything, but I was drawn to that picture, and the enigmatic description on the back of the book.

This book immediately became my all time favorite book, and surprisingly, nothing has ever been able to disrupt it from the #1 spot.  Other books have been added to my favorites list, but I’ve never found a book more perfect than this one.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read it, but I’m sure it’s in the double digits, and may be approaching twenty times or more.

Travis Cornell isn’t sure there’s anything left to live for.  He goes out and tries to recapture that feeling from when life was good, and he fails.  He literally runs into Einstein, a Golden Retriever who saves him from something in the woods, and helps him remember what’s good in life.  It doesn’t take him long to figure out that Einstein is special; he’s an unusually intelligent dog who finds ways to communicate with Travis.

Einstein is an escapee from a laboratory doing genetic research, and a monster escaped along with Einstein.  Travis and Einstein team up to avoid government personnel and the monster.  Along the way, they meet Nora, an intensely shy woman with an abusive past who has the patience both Travis and Einstein need.

I love this book because it’s a story about friendship and redemption.  Both Travis and Nora know that something is missing from their lives, and through the pure joy that is Einstein, they discover the best of themselves.  They find good people on their journey who are just as dedicated to protecting Einstein as they are.

This book never gets old for me, and I’ve found different things in it as I’ve discovered different things in my life.  Originally published in 1987, it’s a true modern classic.  Dean Koontz gets a reputation as a horror writer, but his books are so much more than that.  This book is an adventure, a romance, science fiction, and other genres I’m probably missing.

If you happened to see the 1988 movie of the same name, please, please, PLEASE strike it from your memory.  Pretend it didn’t exist.  It is NOTHING like the book.  In fact, only two good movies have been made from Dean Koontz books: Phantoms and Odd Thomas.  But that’s a different post.

If you’ve read Watchers, what did you think of it?  And if you haven’t read it, when are you going to?

Books That Influenced Me

I’ve always loved reading, and loved the power of a good story.  My grandmother used to tell me stories to my heart’s content.  She used to tell me the story of “Snow White and Rose Red,” which was different from the Grimm’s Fairy Tale version.  My parents read Cinderella to me more times than they care to remember.  There are some stories and some books that stick with you forever, and here are mine.

1.  Orange Oliver, The Kitten Who Wore Glasses, by Robert Lasson- I remember this book appealed to me because Orange Oliver couldn’t see anything, and others made fun of him just for that.  I always championed the underdog… cat… 🙂

2.  The One in The Middle is the Green Kangaroo, by Judy Blume- I only remember this one because it was the last “kid’s” book I read.  I was home sick from school, and my mom brought it home for me.  When I got through it in pretty much no time at all, my mom told me that she wasn’t buying me any more kid’s books.  It was adult books from there on out.  Which brings me to…

3.  Watchers, by Dean Koontz-  My favorite Koontz book and ironically the first one I ever read.  I picked it because it had a picture of a dog on the front, but I was hooked.  This book is probably the reason I fell in love so much with horror and suspense.  After Koontz, I started reading Stephen King and John Saul.

4.  Watership Down by Richard Adams- I was on the waiting list for a book in 6th grade, and I really don’t remember what the book was about.  The librarian handed me this book instead and thought I might like it, even though she thought it might be a little big for me.  It wasn’t.

5.  Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton-  A friend of mine bought me this book, and then I never read it.  Years later, I picked it up at a flea market (not realizing I already owned it) and loved it.  This is the book that introduced me to the alternate universe idea, because in her universe, vampires and shapeshifters are just part of every day life.  No explanation.  It’s just business as usual.  At the time I read this, it was a revolutionary idea for me.

I’m sure there are more I’m not thinking about, but these were the 5 off the top of my head.  What books most influenced you?

My 10 Favorite Books

It’s no secret that I love to read, and in fact, I’m a re-reader.  I know that not everyone does that, but for me, it’s like visiting an old friend.  I have a shelf of books that I read at least once (or twice) a year.  Some of these books I’ve read upwards of 50 times.

10.  Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen- I read this one the first time because it was a classic, and I was trying to read more of the classics, but I absolutely adored it, and I even have pages post-it noted with my favorite parts, so that if I don’t feel like reading the whole thing, I can read a page here and a page there.

9.  Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte- I really have no idea what possessed me to read this book.  I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t a school thing.  I read it the first time somewhere in my teenage years.  When I re-read it, I usually skip over the parts with young Jane at the school and go straight to her time at Thornfield Hall

8.  Beautiful Disaster, by Jamie McGuire- This is a fairly recent addition to the favorites list. It’s a romance novel with all the turmoil and drama of young love, with two dysfunctional characters who don’t pretend to be anything but who they are. Travis and Abby are friends first, then lovers, then friends again before they get it right.

7.  Watership Down, by Richard Adams- Yes, it’s a book about rabbits. No, I’ve never seen the movie, so I have no idea how it compares. While the main characters are rabbits, it’s not a kids’ book. Fiver has a premonition that their home is about to be destroyed, and with the help of his brother, Hazel, they and a small group of rabbits set off to find a new home. On their way, they encounter deceit, a megalomaniac, superstition, and fear, and must learn to trust themselves and one another.

6.  Where The Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls- I cry every time I read this book, and I’ve been reading it once or twice a year (or more) since I was in elementary school. Twelve year old Billy wants hunting dogs more than anything, so he saves money for two years to buy the dogs. It’s a beautiful story of friendship, family, and enduring love.

5.  Lightning, by Dean Koontz- On the night Laura Shane is born, a stranger shows up at the doctor’s home, preventing him from leaving and forcing another doctor to attend the birth. The stranger continues to show up at critical points in her life as she ages, matures, and lives her life. As with all Dean Koontz books, there’s action, adventure, romance, and paranormal overtones.

4.  Harry Potter series, by JK Rowling- It’s a series, so it counts as one book. This is one of the best series ever, no matter what age. The series is about good and evil, friendship, family, and growing up. I love re-reading them from start to finish.

3.  Pollyanna, by Eleanor M. Porter- Pollyanna is an orphan who goes to live with her cranky Aunt Polly. No matter what, Pollyanna always finds a reason to be glad, and she teaches others to look at the bright side with her sunny disposition and show that of you look for the best in people, they’ll eventually prove you right.

2.  The Circle Trilogy, by Nora Roberts- Six people have been chosen to make a stand against evil. They discover that each one of them is stronger than they imagined, and that together, they’re stronger than any one of them is separately.

1.  Watchers, by Dean Koontz- This has been my favorite book since I read it in 1988.  Einstein is a genetically engineered, super-intelligent dog.  He meets Travis, a good man without any real reason to live.  Travis dedicates himself to keeping Einstein free, and along the way, finds the meaning that was missing, and a family.

While it was difficult to come up with only 10 books for the list, I did it by asking myself what books I’d want if I were stranded on a desert island and could only have these 10 for the rest of my life. Luckily, that’s not the case. 🙂

What’s your favorite book or books?

Weekly Writing Challenge: Stylish Imitation

I don’t remember ever thinking that I wanted to be a writer, when I was growing up.  I just wrote stories and poetry.  A lot of them.  I showed them to friends and family, but no one seemed all that interested.  It didn’t matter if they were or not.  I wasn’t writing for others, just like I didn’t read for others.  I just wrote because I had to.  I wrote because I had words and voices in my head, and if I didn’t put them on paper… well, I don’t know what would have happened.  Luckily, I never had to find out.

As a little girl, I remember my parents read stories to me, over and over and over, probably until their eyes bled.  I could never get enough stories.  My grandmother told me fairy tales, but not the ones that most people know.  She told me about Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, but also about Snow White and Rose Red.  I remember my grandmother wanting me to tell her stories back, and even then, I was no verbal storyteller.  Even now, I can’t talk about my day without boring others inside of 30 seconds.  Write about it?  Sure, of course.  Tell about it?  Um, well, uh, sure.  I mean, I guess I can tell you about it.  Let’s see, uh… I got up this morning and had coffee.  No, I didn’t have coffee this morning, just orange juice.  Or was it this morning?…  You get the picture.

The first author I ever fell in love with was Dean Koontz.  At the library or at the bookstore, I could browse shelves for hours, reading back of books and finding interesting titles.  All that changed after I read Watchers when I was 12.  Suddenly, I had a favorite author, and a focus for my obsession.  I’ve never lost that first love, though there have been others since then.  There’s been Stephen King, John Saul, Nora Roberts, Phyllis A. Whitney, Mary Higgins Clark, Patricia Cornwall, Kay Hooper, and Louisa May Alcott.

I would never attempt to imitate anyone’s style.  Not that I think there’s anything wrong with it, but my voice is influenced by all these writers and many more.  I’ve taken mental notes of the best (and the worst), and try to incorporate it into my writing.

It’s fortuitous that this week’s writing challenge is about this, and that there was an interesting interview with Dean Koontz published on Beliefnet.  Koontz gives good advice, but what I think it boils down to is: Assimilate everything, but be yourself.  Check it out.

 

Weekly Writing Challenge: A Few of my Favorite Things

The weekly writing challenge asked us to come up with *meaningful* things, not things like my laptop, etc.  Although my laptop really is one of my favorite things, this was a pretty easy writing challenge.  I have a few things that are really meaningful to me.

1.  My grandmother’s necklace.  It’s a plain gold chain, probably not worth much in money.  But, she always wore it, every single day, and it was something my grandfather gave her.  My grandparents didn’t have much, and I feel very lucky to have this.

2.  A pie cabinet from my grandfather.  My grandparents were in the antique business, and I love old furniture, especially if it’s wood and is well-made.  It’s got a piece broken off the top from sitting too much in their damp house, and it’s my favorite piece of furniture.  I wouldn’t trade if for a $10,000 shopping spree at Raymour and Flanigan.

3.  My lead Snow White and the 7 Dwarves.  When I was little, my grandmother told me all kinds of fairy tales, which is probably why I love them so much now.  They got these lead sets of Snow White and the 7 Dwarves.  I don’t know who painted these, but they’re super cool.

4.  My autographed 1st Edition Watchers.  My husband got this for me on the first Christmas we were together.  That’s when I knew I had to marry him.

5.  Photo albums.  I have a ton of them, both digital and paper.  I love pictures.

Of course, this isn’t a comprehensive list; I could go on and on.  The most imporant thing about this list is this: “The best things in life aren’t things.” -Art Buchwald

‘Nuff said.

 

First Love Blogfest

Welcome to the First Loves Blogfest.  I get to talk about my first loves in the following categories: music, movie, book, and person.  Some of these are easier than others for me, but they all bring back good memories.

Person

My first great love was Richard.  We must have looked ridiculous together, as he was about 6’4″ and I was 5’0″ (then and now).  He was much more popular than I was, but it seemed to work as we were together for two years, and in high school, that’s like a century.  Different interests, different approaches to life eventually made us drift apart, but I’ve never forgotten him, and I hope that wherever life took him, he’s doing well.  I recently found our old love letters, and though there’s nothing to make me blush in them,  they were still nice to find.

Music

My first great music love was the Beatles.  Before that, I casually liked different music and songs, but nothing grabbed me.  It all started with “Hey Jude.”  I’m sure I heard it on the radio many times before the first time I really heard it.  After that, I started buying tapes and CDs.  I fell in love with Revolver, Rubber Soul, and Sergeant Pepper.  It would be several more years before I’d appreciate Abby Road and the White Album.  To this day, there’s nothing better than a Beatles song for me.

Book

This may be the hardest of the bunch for me, because I’m not sure I could pick just one!    If I were forced to choose, at gunpoint maybe, I’d probably choose Watchers, by Dean Koontz.  It’s my all time favorite book overall, and I think I read it for the first time when I was around 12.  Around the same time, I also read Watership Down, by Richard Adams, so that may have been my first beloved book.  Or, it could have been Jack and Jill by Louisa May Alcott.  Ha!  I talked about more than one book after all.

Movie

The first movie I remember really loving was The Wizard of Oz.  I loved all the songs and wished that I had a friend like The Scarecrow.  I can’t tell you how many times I asked my mom, “So was it a dream or was it real?”  Later, after I read the book by L. Frank Baum, I remember pointing out how different the movie was and being irritated that in the movie, they imply that it could have been a dream by incorporating people into Oz from her real life.  I still liked the movie after watching the book, but it wasn’t the same.

So, that’s all, folks.  These are my four first loves.  If you haven’t participated in the blogfest, I’d still love to hear about your “firsts” in comments.