Published on 12, July, 2020
What books have subtley influence you, ones that you read as a child? For me it was Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, as well as being a good adventure story, it introduced me to a whole world of folklore and what I call mystic Britain. You have the history of Britain and then you have the mystic history, the Britain of the things seen from the corner of the eye, the things that you know are there, that you can sense and feel, but can rarely see and other people think you're being daft for caring about. As well as all the strange rituals and folk customs around the country, the fertility dances of Morris Men, to the Hobby Horses and corn dollies. The pull of ancient sacred places, stone circles, holy wells, some very ancient churches, a whole sacred landscape that we're only just rediscovering through the use of such technology as LIDAR. Some customs that cross continenets and generations, throwing coins in a wishing well, these places have often been in use for thousands of years.
That one book set me on a journey thats still ongoing.
Uhane said:Pippy Long-stockings (first hero)
I remember seeing her German/Danish films made in the 1960s.
Now they are almost banned for being sexist, racist and favourite with peopos.
Her books and films are so innocent.
Yes, I seem to recall that 'Flowers in the Attic' was part of a series of books by Virginia Andrews. I'm sure that I've seen the film too.
The Flowers in the Attic was a complex book. There was a woman from memory who used to keep all her children locked up in the attic for years. There was a film i remember I recall as well, but as you wrote it was a so long ago as well. I usually stay away from fantasy, but a few books creeped in like that.
Good post, I liked your memories. i mentioned briefly i read this book in my childhood as well and still have it. Very good memories. I even have the cassette tape as well.
When I was in my late teens, there was a woman I babysat for who insisted I read her copy of 'Flowers in the Attic'. I remember I enjoyed it, but that is all I can remember as it was more than 30 years ago.
I read a lot of Enid Blyton books as a child, but the one I was especially fond of was The Folk of the Faraway Tree. In addition to the weird and wonderful characters who lived in the tree, the notion of a tree with different lands one could visit really appealed to my sense of imagination.
Another book that sticks in my mind is Heidi by Johanna Spyri, and I remember there being a TV adaptation. I so wanted to be Heidi, to the extent that I once ended up being physically sick as a result. There had been an occasion when I had visited my great-grandmother and been playing in her garden where she had a water butt with a tap. Because I was pretending to be Heidi, I thought nothing of taking a few sips of the stagnant water that was in the water butt. After all, it was probably what Heidi would have done, and the water in the Swiss Alps would (of course) have been fresh. It wasn't until a few hours later that I began to feel decidedly unwell. In addition to being sick on one of my aunts in the back seat of my dad's car, this had happened while we were travelling along a motorway, so not the best time for me to be unwell. Needless to say, I learnt my lesson and never felt tempted to drink from a water butt after that.
I loved Heidi as a child, I still have the book. I also loved later in my teens are you there God it's me Magreat.. I don't think it was popular in my house from memory? Also, there was other Judy Blume books. In my later childhood I loved Flowers in the Attiic. That was so popular in my school. Did anybody read that?
Oh dear, I've just read back through my post after sending it and found I've been censored!!! I'm not allowed to give the surname of a well known sci-fi author, probably because its the same as the slightly rude word for the male appendage! I'm glad we don't have any Richards here, they might br censored too!
I did try some PK *** but didn't get on with it. I think the only sci-fi author I've really enjoyed was Iain M Banks, I liked some of his main stream fiction too which is really unusual for me.
I never really enjoyed traditional fairy stories Like Hans Andersen, they were always a bit to dark for me and I had a similar reaction to the them as I do to a lot of horror films which is 'Whats wrong with you, why are you so stupid!' I always felt sorry for the witch or the wolf, they always seemed badly trreated to me and how come the grandmother was still alive in the wolf's stomach after he'd eaten her, I just asked to many awkward questions. I guess theres some sort of allegory there, but if there was it went straight over my head. .Likewise I could never get on with Alice in Wonderland, it was to nonsensical to me and yet other stories like Beatrix Potter were fine, as I say reading wasn't really encouraged very much by my parents, I didn't read The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe until I was an adult.
anyone read the "Murder Bot" series? those were great and the main protagonist a very relatable character.
Did you read the Defoe book on Pyrates? I love that book. It's got some of my ancestors in it!
For you you I would recommend William Gibson's "Count Zero", "Mona Lisa OverDrive" and "Neuromancer". His work is unique.
You may also enjoy PK D i c k's work. "A Scanner Darkly" is a good start, also "flow My tears, The policeman Said" .
Both writers are masters of the liminal and numinous.
Have you read the other he wrote after these 3? there are books that take paplce in the same universe and timeline and R Daneel Olivar plays a pivotal role throughout. "Aurora" is my fav of these latar books. And "Caves Of Steel". Did they make as deep an impression too for you? The art on those editions is very nice indeed.
I read dozens of Enid Blyton books when I was young. Now when I visit small towns and villages in the countryside and seaside I get reminded of them.
Wow you must had had an advanced reading age! I didn't learn to read until I was 6 and it took me ages to get past having to pronouce the individual letters and sounds, of course there was that wonderful moment when suddenly it all made sense. I think most of my childhood was spend reading Enid Blyton, Famous Five, Secret Seven and The Twins at St Clairs, my parents were never very helpful when I was reading for myself, I was never encouraged to go to the library or anything, so I'd just read the same books over and over again.
I never got on so well with Sci-Fi, fantasy I loved but this was when I was in my 20's, I went through a phase in my teens when I didn't really read, it was deeply uncool. Reading the Mabinogion got me really started on the search for mythical Britain, I read so many books of folk tales and lore, The Red Book of Hergest, The Black Book of Carmarthen. Now I find Phil Rickman's Merrilly Watkins series fills some of that gap on the fiction side and Ronald Hutton on the non fiction side. I also read a lot of Scot's and Irish folklore and tales too.
I still seek out the numinous and the liminal, I don't think that will ever stop, Alan Garner really set something off in me.
Hans Christian Andersosn stories, alice in wonderland (a lovely illustrated issue) and of course the gospel of Matthew.
I also loved those!
Pippy Long-stockings (first hero)
Seuss'es
"The Star Bellied Sneeches"
"What Was I Scared of"
anything with pictures of animals
•
age 7 onward
Alice Through the Looking glass (the John Tenniel illustrations)
Daniel Defoe's books especially "The Plague Years In London", A history of the Pyrates"
The Smithsonian magazine's stories of slavery and first nations people.
The New York Times "Neediest Cases" feature.
a bit later-
Treasure Island (the NC Wyeth illustrations)
tweens and onward-
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Asimov's Foundation books
Wells'es Animal Farm
Ray Bradbury's work
among so many others on and on ...
90% sci fi, 10% sociology -these genres in and of themselves deeply sculpted my world view and sense of self.
Two books had a big impact on me. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson, was the first book to really captivate me, and turned me into an avid reader, and pirate fanatic. I converted one of my mum's largest knitting needles into a cutlass and had her tack up the brim of my cowboy hat to make it into a tricorne. Elidor, Alan Garner, opened fantasy, folklore, legend and the numinous to me, and scared me not a little as it was partly set in my hometown.
For me it was Isaac Asimovs Foundation trilogy - I picked these up in a bookshop while on a tour around the highlands of Scotland and they gave me an insight into looking at things on a much larger scale, showing how predictable people are in large enough numbers.
The artwork is also pretty cool - the three books make up one image that I have framed even now (over 40 years later):
It was a big infuence into my academic route through physics at university.