Five Books And A Meme

[lederhosen]

I have a lot of favourite books. But the ones that really changed me, that's a smaller category...

1. Andre Maurois, 'Byron', ca. 1999.

A biography of The Great Man. Byron has been one of my enthusiasms since age 18, when my uncle gave me a copy of his collected works. A few years back Steve Jackson Games did a book called 'GURPS Who's Who' - 52 historical characters presented for use in GURPS, two pages each - and I put my hand up to write Byron. While researching the article, I read through several biographies, but Maurois' is the one that stood out. It was beautifully written, compassionate, and it made the man's life and actions make sense - without minimising either the harm he did to those his life touched, or the good.

Why did it change my life? Because in reading Maurois' explanation of Byron's life - and in particular, some of his destructive tendencies - I recognised some patterns from my own. I find it's often easier to understand aspects of myself when I can externalise them - whether by writing it into a fictional character of my own creation, or by looking at the same traits in another person.

I was rather surprised to discover afterwards that Maurois - whose works also include biographies of Shelley, and other figures of that era - was also the author of "Fattypuffs and Thinifers", which I read and loved as a child.

2. Dungeons and Dragons, Basic Rulebook, 1985.

For my tenth birthday, my parents gave me the D&D Basic boxed set. It started me along the primrose path to gaming, which has given me a lot of pleasure over the years and introduced me to many wonderful people, as well as encouraging my imagination no end.

3. Antoine de Saint-Exuperie, "The Little Prince", 1980s.

This book taught me a lot about the odd relationship between love and sorrow, the strange beauty that sometimes accompanies heartache.

4. Oscar Wilde, "A House of Pomegranates", 1995.

In particular, 'The Fisherman and his Soul'; I read this one as a child, but it was only when I reread it at age 20 that this story really struck a chord in me. I still haven't figured out quite what it means; only that it encapsulates one of the great mysteries.

5. Adele Olivia Gladwell (ed.), "Blood and Roses", 2000.

I defy anybody to read the introduction to this book and then tell me they're the same person they used to be. (Okay, okay, I couldn't think of a proper fifth.)

Comments

[ambitious-wench.livejournal.com]

Art wrote:

5. Adele Olivia Gladwell (ed.), "Blood and Roses", 2000.

I defy anybody to read the introduction to this book and then tell me they're the same person they used to be. (Okay, okay, I couldn't think of a proper fifth.)

It's ok, I think it's a proper fifth. I know it certainly changed me when we read it at the Gathering.

I still wake up twitching at night.
E.

[notasquirrel.livejournal.com]

I know it certainly changed me when we read it at the Gathering.
I still wake up twitching at night.

{dismissivepawwave} thetz jest fleez.