On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 12:12 PM, Mary Jo Sminkey wrote:
[...]
> I love all of Dahl's books, he was truly a great children's author that has
> certainly ongoing appeal.
Did you read his autobiographies? It tripped me out to hear about the
airplanes in the olive fields, and just how knarly that guy's life
was, after being exposed to his children's literature first.
I love how people put their life into their work, or whatever. You
can see the flavor, sometimes.
Tolkien did it well, too.
God I love books. Reading. Stories... another great life balancer,
those. Probably shaped me quite a bit, being so voracious a reader,
from so young.
It was sorta an escape, I guess ("reality" is cool and all, but
sometimes it seems to just plain eat a bowl of dick :]), but one that
was incredibly positive, and made me seem so smart to other people. I
never really understood that, tho-- had they read all kinds of stuff,
they'd know all kinds of stuff too. Doesn't exactly make you smart.
I liked, that every once in a while, I was able to get someone else
into reading, or at least, well, share the stories in a format that
was palatable to people who'd normally not experience it (spoken word
:-)).
Nothing to add to the thread-- I've got some personal favorites, but
they're sorta like Blazing Saddles-- High Class. :-)
Like Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series--
Yes, sci-fi was /way/ /way/ underrepresented! And sci-fi has been
where some of the best realities have first lived!
We owned a children's book store for a while (mom is a teacher, she
picked good ones, and I got to pick some too), and I lived at the
library for a few years, so I've read a bunch of stuff- and a lot of
it, I liked a lot because of the time I read them, and the feelings I
was experiencing, and whatnot.
The greats, I've liked, which surprised me, because I railed against
many of them for years. 1984, for instance. Moby Dick. I didn't
read them till way later, just because I felt like, well, I don't
know. They were dogma more than good art. And then somewhere along
the line, I was like, wow, people don't just say they're good to
follow the status quo. Mostly.
But yeah, lame children's book selection! No "The Wreck of the
Zepher" by Chris Van Allsburg, no "The Green Book" by Jill Patton
Walsh. No illustrated ones at all, neh?
Mmmm... Books are fnuck'n yummy!
--
The best portraits are those in which there is a slight mixture of caricature.
Thomas B. Macaulay
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