Every so often and in my case the other day when I started Susan Hill’s In the Springtime of the Year (review to follow in due course), I get that inimitable feeling. You know the one I’m talking about, it’s when you read a page or three of a book and realise you are on the cusp of what is going to be a great experience, that will not only satisfy your lust for words but stay with you in both a literal and metaphorical sense forever.
I am a book snob mostly, well I was and sometimes still am but in my moments of sanity I realise that I will never be able to read all those classic and ground breaking works and be truly satisfied without my flights of fancy as well. These days I find my joys in pulp novels as much as classic literary works and why not, whether it be; War and Peace, Lanark, The Long goodbye, The Secret Island, Winnie the Pooh, Existentialism and Humanism or The Insect Warriors, it’s one heck of a unique and thrilling journey.
In fact it fuels my passion, I never went to university although people assume I have by what I read (and apparently, my ‘you-sound-to-posh-to-come-from-round-here’ accent) but there is no limit to what anybody can discover. Go embrace books and ideas and learning, find all those fascinating things that you never would have heard of otherwise, the world is a more bewitching place than I can envision and other people’s imaginations are much more interesting and sometimes a bit scary than I would have ever suspected.
I imagine that whatever you are into will generate this feeling, be it film or music or any one of a number of things and I crave to know…books have taught me about things I never thought would be exciting like dairy farming on Montana and the evolution of the British seaside 
resort. Anything is absorbing if the person telling you of their love is passionate and tells you the beguiling bits early on…a bit like when the National Geographic did the 100 years of the swimsuit in pictures issue.
I have a deep ravenous need to discover, be amazed and experience new ways of looking at things, it is my opinion that everything is interesting if told with some enthusiasm and from a personal aspect and I naturally equate that to that feeling of being in a thoroughly engrossing and brilliant book that will always stand the test of time on one’s memory.
So I open the floor to you fine and wise readers and ask what books, music, films or any other experience or hobby gives you that euphoric feeling and why have you waited this long to tell me?
Book to the Future 
I’ve only gotten excited on crime, thrillers, and the like. But then , these books are supposed to do that, that’s the point. I read to entertain myself. Believe it or not, the book that made me excited , and for 10 years at that, was Harry Potter. I listened to podcasts, read all the HP blogsites, read news/arricles, anything. I absorbed them all. And waited in line from 10 PM to 2 AM to get the book on first day of sale. No book of any genre can beat that.
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That series did have one heck of an impact on the way a lot of people read for a sustained amount of time. I don’t think I have come across anybody more obsessed with the HP books than yourself but to be fair I love that the series captured and more importantly kept your enthusiasm for ten years.
So you were one of those people on the news, queueing up in the middle of the night…I can only imagine your trepidation in case they didn’t have enough and your relief at pushing some kids over so you could get a copy for yourself. I hear some more movies are in the offing as well, so if you aren’t yet satiated you soon could be!
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Ha ha The last 3 or 4 books were pre-ordered, but they weren’t mailed to us… we had to get them from Barnes and Nobles. The first HP was a Christmas gift from Mom. My mother always gifted me with books ( the last was a complete set of Twilight, ha ha…. that I haven’t read. The movies spoiled me, and though the movies have been bashed right and left, for some reason, I like them. But then , I don’t listen to critics. )
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The HP movies were a little up and down I think, then again there were four directors that did the various films so I suppose tonal changes and styles were inevitable. I watch them if they are on…I came late to the book party, the fourth was out in paperback before a friend introduced me to them, it was quite a wait until books five if I remember rightly…that was th first time I really knew of book hype.
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I too went for the Harry Potter books in a big way, but not until after I was cajoled and counselled by my young nephew to read them (and then I had to see the movies!). By the by, WHERE is the outside library that you have on your website today, with trees and open sky near the books? Gorgeous, but what of the fate of the books if it rains? Or is it a photoshopped picture?
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It is a wonderful wallpaper I found on a site I randomly searched, it looks lovely but the logistics needed in the event of a rain storm would probably render the whole thing untenable. If this was a real place though I would live there, even if I had to bring my own box to sleep in.
I was wary of the books, being kid’s books I was under the impression (even until the showdown at the end of book one) that it would be a standard yarn that we would cheer the heroes who suspected and finally caught the blatantly obvious baddie. The text clues I ignorantly missed served me right and made me appreciate the books more…well until book five came out that is. The movies have been on a few too many times to have the impact that they should have.
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I think most people have their significant moments with movies and/or pop music nowadays. Me too.
I just re-read Homer’s Odysseus, another translation. The two Homeric epics will put the rest of literature in perspective. They read slowly (or is that me?) but their beauty and majesty are the top of the chart. Of course I wouldn’t leave the Illiad out in the rain, or in that library of yours.
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They do have a pacing that is nothing like today’s works. That is part of it though the slow inexorable beat of history, I prefer The Illiad myself but no complaints about The Odyssey especially after rewatching Ulysses 31 again. If I could afford a library like that I would make sure I had a roof, cowboy builders, that’s what happened in the picture!
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I love that feeling too – when you read the first few pages and you know this is going to be a good reading experience. I tell myself to slow down and not gobble the book down in one sitting!
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It is tough to not attack it with full vigour, even worse if it is a short book…I finished Rilke the other day and now onto a Susan Hill book and I do keep wondering what will equal or top the quality of writing that I am in the midst of feasting on. Knowing me I will probably slum it with a cheesy horror about giant crabs again, maybe.
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Great piece. I too like to experience new things. Currently, I’m enjoying trying new craft beers and exploring disc golf courses. Tomorrow, though, I’ll probably be doing something else. You never know where that “deep ravenous need to discover” will take you. That’s what makes it fun.
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I’d love a crack at disc golf…the beer goes without saying! Variety is always good, there is so much to experience that sometimes it is a little to overwhelming and I sit at home and sulk.
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Winnie the Pooh! Love it. I collect Eeyores and have rather a lot of Eeyore stuff.
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Eeyore is great, everybody is loves his morose ways…I shall keep my eye out for fine asses wherever I go now!
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That’s hilarious. They have a great Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth and it’s free admission.
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I think my mum and dad have been there but I wasn’t around at the time…I think I was throwing a wild party as I like to call it, that consists of one of two other people, beer and Mario Kart.
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Ha! Ha! Sounds like you had a fun time partying like you wanted to. Good for you.
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The Insect Warriors…that sounds intriguing…
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Here’s the blurb for it: Tall was a hunter-explorer, venturing off the tiny island fortress of his tribe and making his way through wilderness inhabited only by giant insects ten times the size of a man. Loosely protected by chitin-armor, and striking with a spear doubly-barbed with spider venom, Tall fought to find a new home for his people. But as he roamed he became more and more aware that mankind was a stranger in this insect world, that there were no other creatures remotely like men. Then where had his people come from? As he followed the trail of the almost-mythical Ten who had founded his tribe, Tall found more and more mysteries–and death in more forms than he had ever imagined.
I do have notes for a review on it but I left them in America and I’m using that as my excuse to go back so you may be in for a few month’s wait.
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Sweet – sounds cool. I am most looking forward to a chapter devoted to his deathly battle and then eventual taming of the dung beetle.
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Sadly it is not an erotic novel but there is a lot of spear poking so it is half way there.
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The book I am reading at the moment is something else. I know I have mentioned it a lot in different places, my blog, google+, facebook, but that is because I am really enjoying it. I am over 50% of the way through it now, and I know the beginning tells the end, but it is the getting there that is ¾ of the fun. That and playing on my XBOX with my son on his and playing a game together. Then watching something with my daughter.
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Love in the Time really is fantastic and coincidentally the first book I took over to America. There is a lot more to come still in the book which is fantastic though…and then of course there are also all his other books to enjoy. It is nice spending time with children, I never thought i would say that but it seems I am mellowing in my own age…I hasten to add that I am referring to Christina’s bairns, not any of my own!
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Haha. I actually went to the pub with my son last night as part of the celebration of him becoming 18. Bearing in mind he doesn’t like coke, fanta, sparkling water or anything else fizzy, he tried a beer. One mouthful was all it took. I don’t think he will ever get drunk LOL
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I is an acquired taste, I remember being on the Bacardi Breezers for a while before I went back to it…Alcohol is certainly a curse sometimes, so i think he is bets off out of it! Wish him happy birthday from me by the way.
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I will, thanks.
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My co-workers call me a book snob, but I DO read a variety of fiction and, occasionally non-fiction, but I can’t remember what the last NF was. I rarely, if ever, read YA. Don’t hate me. But, I find I really love well-written adult crime novels. James Lee Burke in particular. Gritty, rude, ironic and 1st person POV. I adore a nasty PI or cop who makes me laugh or at least gasp at his for her nerve and total disregard for political correctness. I have to add, though, I do have a top limit for extreme violence. Too much and the book’s outta here! Oh, I just remembered my latest NF book. Marcus Aurelius, 240 quotes. As close as I get to meditation:)
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YA is an awkward genre for me, I want something to take me away and a little sophistication as well but at the same time I am constantly aware of its limitations of sophistication…having said that some books just do take me to happy places and that keeps me picking up the occasional book, partly out of curiosity and partly to keep my hand in all genres.
Books that are unPC always seem more fun, these days it’s almost like a guilty pleasure to have clichés, I find violence I can switch off from, unlike a film where it is there in front of me, I can skim read or tone down violence in my head…although that didn’t work for James Herbert’s The Fog.
I do like anon fiction but with, say history I find I have to watch where I tread for the best books, at least with fiction I can go with it…I’m always wary that I read a history book to learn but if it is erroneous then I will be ignorant of it…I have yet to read Marcus Aurelius, he’s on the mahoosive pile of TBR’s though.
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An amazing book, the best novella on grief and coming out of it I have ever read, how she accomplishes so much with so few words and makes the reader empathise is amazing, I love reading Susan Hill to try and divine some of her magic. And yes, reading of course! Well, watching my kids achieve or view something they are passionate about is also up there in the rankings of euphoric feelings.
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I have nearly finished it now and I have to say it was a darn good read..anything else will appear in the review sometime this week because I am a tease like that. I love your sentiments, even though I don’t have any children of my own I do like to encourage everybody to do things and push their limits…it gives me some pride.
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I think I will never forget smiling while reading the opening line of ‘Stevenson Under the Palm Trees’. I knew I found a new favorite..
Besides books, of course, the only thing which can make me deeply enthusiastic is – Nature.
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You always introduce me to fascinating books, I am forever grateful for the vast amounts you tantalise me with…nature is increasingly interesting me too these days…not in a knowing the names of birds and plants type way but more in a general just happy to look at it and appreciate it way…I will get knowledgeable one day…I think I need to be near some for a prolonged amount of time to immerse myself fully.
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I too wish I know more about the types of trees and birds. For now, my knowledge is thin.. But, some day..
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I’m with you on that, someday we will know more stuff and then even morer and be invincible…in a mortal sense of the word.
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Smarter than the average bear…Free edumacation in books & life experiences! 😉
I work with lots of people with high level degrees & the common sense & basics lacking really don’t surprise me anymore.
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Libraries make me happy, as they have free books that I can take away so I don’t have to sit next to some of the peasants that come in, ha! Life and books, I think are interlinked…that is just my bias and lifestyle choice though.
common sense is something in short supply these days, I keep looking for some on ebay but everybody is holding on to theirs tightly.
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Please forgive me. I truly thought your went to college (university) because you are so well-read. Bravo. You’ve made this English Writing major and masters candidate feel the need to up her game!
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Apart from sixth form, school was the usual copy this and learn it system which doesn’t appeal to anybody so it was that freedom to read and discovering that I could approach topics I knew nothing about that encouraged me to just pick up everything I could get my hands on…you don’t need to up your game just grab a book and go…then come back and tell me how it was.
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Being a grad student, about to delve into The Canterbury Tales….again…pray for me! Is that upping my game or paying for suicide? I’ll let you know the horrors and delights. Maybe even be of thee to help me with my paper. Oh dear Lord!
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Ah The Canterbury Tales! Do you have a modern text or the olde English text which is a lot more of a chore? It wasn’t particularly thrilling but I do remember a lecture in Birmingham that was hilarious because we made our own entertainment. I’ll give you a hand if I can though.
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My assignment is the similarities and differences in the old v modern of the prologue. Pray for me! A modern reader’s eyes curdle like spoiled milk at much of the context. Lol
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Yeah it is a big departure between the two versions, I think perhaps have a look a the phonetic aspect and the suffixes in tense for a start, maybe?
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Yes, good thinking. The easier words thrill me lol
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Hi, I couldn’t help noticing your dread of the Canterbury Tales in the original–but they’re a blast! If you want, you can always get a facing page translation, but you’d be surprised just how much you can understand–Middle English sounds more like modern than you might think–if you also listen to a competent reader read the poetry aloud. I don’t know if Pete Wetherbee (Weatherbee?) has released a recording of all or part of them, but he or some other reader might improve your enjoyment a lot. One thing to keep in mind is that Chaucer gave each character a story to narrate that was typical of the type of person he or she was, so that the prioresse (an intolerant sort) narrated a prejudiced narrative about religion, the Wife of Bath rolicked in salicious wit, and the Miller (who was supposed to be a vulgar, lower-class character) narrated a very vile and dirty and totally hilarious fabliau (a rude story). And of course, even though it was among Chaucer’s best works, he later recanted The Canterbury Tales, apparently just because it was so much fun. The Miller’s Tale even drew the attention of the writers on “The Big Bang Theory,” who had their character Amy relate the punchline to her female friends. I wish I could say I’d read all of the tales, but I didn’t take a full course in them, it was only a survey course. Someday….anyway, have fun with it. I suspect you’ll enjoy it more than you anticipate. Good luck!
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Thank you for giving me hope and inspiration and a better understanding. I have a term paper due for my graduate course and am highly frightened by the seemingly unreachable understanding of the old English.
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It might help if you thought of the Chaucer of the Canterbury Tales (not the same as the religious Chaucer of poems like “Trothe,” for example, because his purpose was different) as a thoroughgoing (nearly 20th century) realist with a sharp eye for nuances of character and implications and a sometimes delightfully bawdy sense of humor. There is a knight and his son there, true, but they’re not the knight of fairy tales and his page or whatever–for example, when Chaucer says, “A knight ther was, and that a worthy man,” you’re supposed to hear the word “worthy” sort of emphasized, because WHY is Chaucer going to the trouble of telling you that a knight is worthy? Isn’t he supposed to be? Or is Chaucer suggesting that he’s sort of a dull stick? And it’s either the knight’s young son or the scholar who “slept namo than dooth a nightertale.” In other words, he’s kept awake at night by his lustiness and passions. I had such a fun time with Chaucer, and I’m 19th-20th century by category. I hope you get a really good teacher who can appreciate what you do. I have confidence that your beginning modesty with what you’re attempting will stand you in good stead, because it shows respect for what’s different about the writer, and that always helps (sorry to be such a windbag, you hit on one of my enthusiasms).
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Sorry, no, I got confused. The scholar is the one character Chaucer appears to like a lot and actually admire–“and gladly would he learne, and gladly teach.” That’s the one all the professors like to make a big point of, though it would be disrespectful to suggest….
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I appreciate this information and your encouragement. I am reading up on the differences and similarities of the old v modern English. It is quite a feat for me.
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No problemo–just offering up the lecture notes and points that I found the most exciting. It does sound, though, as if your study will be more linguistic, and I’m sorry I can be no help there, except to say that the scansion of the words is different than in modern English. Also, your professor may shoot you if you refer to Chaucer’s English as “old English.” “Old English” is actually a Germanic language different from English, Anglo-Saxon; Chaucer’s English is “Middle English,” which is why we still have some remote hope of being able to decipher it. You are approaching things with what I think is a good hope of doing well, because you seem curious. Curiosity always helps, I feel. Good luck.
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Thank you for letting me know about old English vs Middle English. It is a daunting task because it is more linguistically focused, the paper I have to do and the course. There are words the modern reader can decipher on sight or by figuring out the meaning, and then others that can make the eyes go cross. It’s going to be a busy weekend writing this paper.
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P.S. “Beowulf” is originally in Old English.
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Ah, well I should look to see derivational points there.
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Stepping away from some of the classics, here are a few books that I found difficult to set down: ‘Cutting for Stone’ by Abraham Verghese, ‘Tattoos on the Heart’ by Gregory Boyle, and the time-travel series by Diana Gabaldon.
Beyond books, it is nature that beckons me, the smell of decomposing matter under my feet, honeysuckle on the breeze, sun kissing my cheeks, birds calling their greeting. Standing on a hilltop, looking out over rolling plains that run to the sea…ahh, what could be lovelier?
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The second book sounds interesting, I will keep my eye out for that one, the first one I am more tentative of, mainly because I am picky for no reason.
Nature is wonderful, whilst at Christina’s last year I was fortunate to see three seasons and the changes especially on the neighbours tree was fantastic. You paint nature so poetically, I want to see what you see and thankfully your photos capture it beautifully.
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Thank you my friend. I am missing nature just now. Too much city, not enough green for me. Biking has become my new friend, which gets me out among trees and along streams. The bike trails go on forever here so we have been putting in some pretty substantive miles each week. Hope all is well with you Ste J. 🙂
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I haven’t biked for ages, these days the roads are not bike friendly, maybe one day though…all is well here and I hope with you things are sunnier than last time we spoke…life eh?
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Things are improving. Thanks for asking. Dare I ask if you are planning a trip over our way any time soon?
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Soon, yes I am keen to get a ticket for sometime between mid-September and the end of October but as to a specific date, I will let you know in a few weeks. I am mad keen to be heading your way soon though…
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Glad to hear. 🙂
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“Cutting for Stone” is indeed a fine work, and one that deserves praise for its humanity in particular. On another front, I recently had a very funny experience (and “experiental encounter”) with William Gaddis’s book “The Recognitions.” If you haven’t encountered it yet, it’s about 1000 pages or so of close type, and came out in the middle-to-3/4 of the last century (20th). I want you to understand that this book is very funny in many parts, is quite good and profound and all that hoolamagoolah. Well, my copy of the book was used, and as I read I noticed that some previous reader had marked passages with brackets for especial attention. As always, i paid attention to this, to see just what was so important. Suddenly, I ran across an actual margin note in a hand that looked very familiar: lo and behold! it was my own handwriting! I had actually read the whole book at some less mature stage of comprehension, and as good as it was, had retained none of it! Just goes to show, right? (And I promise that I didn’t have it at the pub with me.)
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Haha that is mad! Being such a big book, I am amazed that you would have forgotten it, especially with intriguing ideas that it has in it. At least you had the good sense to mark the bits that first fascinated you…1000 pages and you didn’t remember, I feel you should have sort of award for that, a pint of golden nectar or something like that. I would like to own a bookshop with pub attached to it…that would cater to everyone’s tastes.
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You are much too young to be having retention problems. Are you sure you didn’t devour the entire book while at the pub? 😉
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Actually, I’m 57, but I recently (two years ago) was able to complete my Ph.D. so I don’t think retention’s the problem. Also, I tend to take my drinking and my reading both quite seriously (snork!), and I don’t do them at the same time. I like to flatter myself that when I first read Gaddis, I was clueless about his writing style, whereas now, with my new-found sophistication and wisdom and savoir faire (ha!ha!) I understand it better. A more experienced friend of my who read a book about lawyers by Gaddis called “A Frolic of His Own” said he found Gaddis hard going because it was difficult to tell who was talking or narrating, but I think Gaddis is a rare example of a contemporary writer who uses the omniscient/intrusive narrator, which is considered a no-no more or less these days. There are quite a number of good comic characters in “The Recognitions,” though, and a lot of good ironic bits (at least so far by about p. 161), and it’s worth a read. It’s my bedtime book, of which I always have at least one, usually a longish one which I can “live in” for a while, which always has to be replaced with another longish or at least complex one when I’m done. What about you? What’s your nighttime read?
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Yeah, I guess you will have to start your own pub/bookstore, until at least Barnes and Noble over here (and I guess Blackwell’s over there) start to carry a liquor license in their cafes!
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My own shop would be better as I would read the stock and be able to give opinions and cups of tea out to everybody, well at least until 10AM because I have some class (probably).
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That would be good! A free opinion with every cuppa! I really do like the old-fashioned type of bookstore (or at least the old-fashioned type of bookstore owner or employee, who knows that books are for more than propping up boards). And your opinions always seem to be worthwhile.
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I do hope so…I think I would be great in a bookshop…so passionate I could sell loads of stuff every day…or bask in a room full of books which is more preferable, profit is somewhat overrated.
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I think you would be good in the sort of second-hand, used bookstore where people come in to trade in their favorite old reads for favorite new reads. Of course, one could buy books too. But you would be able to chat and schmooze with your patrons in a leisurely fashion, and really enjoy the process of selling books without feeling the need to practice a pressured sales pitch. We need more bookstores of that kind. And of course, in the front window you might even condescend to feature a few high-end new books for those who have to have the latest thing (once you draw them in, you never know how often they might come back–the persuasive rhetoric of getting great books at lower prices than the new ones!). Ah, to dream!
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Well, there’s my business plan right there, all I need now is some premises and a bunch of books…if I won the lottery I would do that and not care if I made a profit but just enjoy the atmosphere and pay for all you bloggers to come over and grab some free books of course!
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Well, for me, you would have to pay for me to come over across the “big pond,” but I have no objection to a paid-for holiday if you are footing the bill. And I’ll sit in the lustre of your lottery winnings and enjoy that cup of tea you promised. (Or if it’s after 4:00 p.m., I’ll expect some Beamish or Murphy’s or Guinness, or some good local strong beer that you vouch for.)
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Well I will take a (literal) fistful of notes from my chair of fortune do just that, it will be like a proper blog meeting with a cosmopolitan bunch of regulars who come from all over the globe…classy!
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