Posted by Serenity in Anne books, Reading, You Say Things Now | 14 Comments
All about you and the Eyre Affair
I’m going to make this All About You week. You know why? Because I work on my computer all day long and think about me and my job and my writing and changes I’d like to make and dreams I have and plans I’m making and me, me, me. And – I’m pretty sure I’m going insane. So please help me stop the insanity, okay? All you have to do is comment. Leave big long ones if you want! People sometimes comment on my posts and seem to feel badly – like they hijacked my platform. Let me say right now, I never feel that way. So comment, People!
I just finished reading THE EYRE AFFAIR – easily the most creative book I’ve read in a long time. It’s all futuristic – yet takes place in the past? It blurs the lines between past, present and future, between fiction and reality, between action, comedy, and romance. It’s all over the place, and I loved suspending my disbelief for it. I suspended so well, in fact, that I find I am deeply surprised in real life now when time never stops and portals never open to the past or to that book I love, and when the news never reports surprising changes in the reality we’ve all previously known. That’s what this book did to me.
But let’s focus on the blurring of fiction and reality. My favorite part of this book. In THE EYRE AFFAIR, Mr. Rochester sometimes visits reality from his book and others sometimes enter the book from reality. How much did I LOVE this?!!
The idea of being able to enter the world of my favorite fiction is just too delicious not to explore. (Like the entering of paintings in Night at the Museum 2 – SO COOL). So that’s your question for the day: What book or books would you enter if you could? You can change the endings if you know a way to do it. Or you can try to just slip in and stay at a nearby hotel and watch your favorite scenes unfold. Where would you go? What would you do? Whom would you most like to meet?
I’m going to say ANNE OF THE ISLAND. I want to be one of the students at Redmond College and become good enough friends with Anne and Philippa that I can sneak over to Patty’s Place on the nights they accept callers. I’m also going to hide in the bushes when Anne refuses Gilbert, accost him as he walks away, and tell him not to give up. It won’t ruin the book – he’ll still need re-reminded by Philippa later when he’s dying of typhoid fever. But oi vay I want to lighten the mood of that terrible scene!! Keep being her friend, Gil. And here’s a tip: When she starts dating Roy? Make her laugh. She’ll put it all together eventually that Roy is dull and you are the only boy for her.
And now it’s your turn.
So many options! I would certainly have supper with the Beavers in Narnia, and I’d like to sit in one of the Quaker meetings from the Daisy Newman novels, and I’d drop in on the March sisters while Marmee was away and tell Beth to NOT go take care of the Hummell children that day. One of the sisters who already had scarlet fever should go! Beth should stay home, take vitamins, and play the piano all afternoon.
Oh, I like that idea! I can definitely get behind the idea of saving Beth.
I would be Nancy Drew’s third girl friend and would help them solve mysteries all over. It definitely has to be the 1950′s Nancy Drew…no hip new Nancy for me…no thank you…
I would sneak into Redeeming Love and slap Angel or make her go back to Michael before three years pass. Actually, I’d stop her from doing a few different things.
I’d most like to meet Michael but no guarantees that I don’t try and steal him for myself;)
I can’t believe I never thought to recommend Jasper Fforde’s books to you; I’m glad you found them on your own. I think we may actually own The Eyre Affair, but Amy has read more of them than I have.
As to books…hmmm. Topping the list would probably be having bush tea and taking a drive across Botswana in the little white van with Mma Ramotswe from Alexander McCall Smith’s delightful books. I would definitely like to sit in on a few Hogwart’s classes and visit Diagon Alley and the Weasley house. I’d like to drive through Navajo country with Tony Hillerman’s Officer Jim Chee or Lt. Joe Leaphorn, go for a voyage on the Dawn Treader with Jill and Eustace (maybe Eustace) and Reepicheep and Caspian, and visit Isle Royale National Park (along with the Dry Tortugas, Mesa Verde, and the Guadaloupe Mountains) with Nevada Barr’s Ranger Anna Pigeon. I’m sure there are many more.
You can probably tell from the above that I love fantasy and mysteries, and that I am fascinated by characters and stories with a sense of place. I don’t know about specific scenes I’d like to see or things I’d like to change. I’d just like to experience some of these places or cultures with these “guides” I’ve come to know through their stories, which, thankfully, someone had the good sense to write down.
A mom’s group friend is in a book club. They need books to read every other month or so. I trust your choices and your opinions. I know anything you read or recommend will be Christian mom friendly but not too sappy – her requirements ;-> But I’m not finding one spot where you have a list of books you recommend or have reviewed. Is it there and I’m missing it? Do you have a website you go to – or know of – that has great book recommendations (the kind you and your family would read)?
WidneyWoman, at first I wasn’t sure you were talking to me. :) For most of my life I’ve been the last person you should go to for book recs. I didn’t have a comprehensive library at all, and I rarely branched out. In the last two years I’ve beefed it up considerably, though, so I should definitely start a new page with my recommendations and/or stuff I’ve reviewed. Thanks for the suggestion! As for where I find what I want to read, I don’t have a specific website I go to. I’ve basically relied on blogs to point me to the good stuff – and now twitter – I follow a lot of people in the world of publication and often hear about new things coming out or I keep seeing the same title over and over again. (That’s how I stumbled onto the EYRE AFFAIR – it’s not even new, so I’m not sure why so many were reading it lately).
I’ve heard about The Eyre Affair and will have to check it out – sounds fascinating!
I’ve always wanted to visit Rivendell and Gondor, though I’m not sure I am brave enough to take part in the big battles with Aragorn and the rest of the Fellowship. And I’d love to visit Hogwarts, too, and take a few classes just to see if I’d be a good wizard. :) I’d love to visit Vianne Rocher’s chocolate shop in Chocolat, and make the villagers see that she’s really a wonderful person, not dangerous as so many of them seem to think. I’d also love to meet the March sisters and become good friends with Anne – and somehow I’d like to save her little Joyce from dying.
So many fictional places to visit. I also want to enter the story of The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets and share good gab sessions with Charlotte and Penelope. Thanks for the idea, Serenity – this is so fun!
I’m more of a non-fiction junkie, so my first thought was wanting to live in The Hiding Place and listen to Papa Ten Boom read Scripture every morning, hear Corrie take care of customers in the watch shop, and see Bessie fix a gourmet meal out of rationed supplies for her “visitors.”
Seren –
Now you’ve got me thinking! Realizing too, that I have no “preference ” when it comes to book genre’s. So, here are a few very eclectic “wish I could be theres” –
Opal Buloni’s friend (Because of Winn-Dixie)
run away to the NY Metroplitan Museum of Art with Claudia and Jamie
(From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
been on the Dolphin with Kit (The Witch of Blackbird Pond)
holder of a Golden Ticket (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
live in Middle Earth (LOTR)
be a Forest Dweller (Thomas Hunter series – Ted Dekker)
help colonize a Formic World ( Ender novels – Orson Scott Card)
be one of the archeology students who got to travel back to 14th century France (Timeline – Michael Crichton)
Caroline
This is so much fun! If you are going to take care of Anne and Gilbert, and your mom will save Beth, then I can check them off my list. And can I be your guest when you go calling at Patty’s Place? I’m not a big cat person, but I think I would like everything else.
I just finished reading “Sense and Sensibility” by Jane Austen. I would like to visit Norland Park at the beginning and tell John Dashwood to remember the promise he made his dying father by taking care of Mrs. Dashwood and her girls financially. I’m not sure how it would affect the rest of the story, but if I was there already, it would be difficult to stop myself from reminding Edward that he is already engaged and that he should not be engaging Elinor’s heart also. I would enjoy attending a picnic at Delaford, and I would have loved to go to both Elinor’s and Marianne’s weddings. I think I would also like to have seen Willoughby’s face when he comes to tell Marianne about his regrets (when he thinks she is dying) — you have to read the book for this, the movie doesn’t do Willoughby justice.
Another one would be the Baxter Family Drama Series by Karen Kingsbury. It has been a while since I read these (and I have only read them once each), but if I couldn’t be one of the Baxter’s myself, then I would settle with telling Dayne that the Baxter’s want him to be part of their family and they care more for him than the paparazzi exposing all their family secrets. Of course he finally realizes this, but I just wish I could spare them all the pain they (and he) go through until he finally comes around.
This one came to me immediately Seren. From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. This has always been one of my favs, have you read it?
Claudia (11) and Jamie (younger brother) Kincaid run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and stay there for a while, only to discover a statue of an angel that was supposedly carved by Michelangelo. They then discover fascinating info about the statue and it goes from there…(its a secret, cant tell ya)
How cool would this be? One, I’ve always wanted to go there, and I WILL someday. But to then stumble upon something that only one other person knows…..I just loved it.
:)
I am currently rereading Wuthering Heights, yes, again for at least 4 or 5 times. What is the fascination….? I really wouldn’t want to be any of the characters or even a visitor at Wuthering Heights, but I just wish Heathcliffe could find happiness….how corny, that would ruin the whole story, wouldn’t it. Maybe I’ll change scenes to Hobbiten and live in a hole in the ground….something like Bilbo’s place and sing and be happy with the other halflings. Too late, I guess, but I still like to visit with rereadings of The Hobbit which I like much better than any of Lord of the Rings books. Am I just childish or oblivious to the real world?
Marilyn, whatever it is, I want to be that way too. And I definitely need to read The Hobbit now.