Spring fever has hit my kids hard and it's gotten me, too. While I can normally read almost anything, no matter how painfully it is written (yes, Austin, I'm aware that there is a major exception here, you can just be quiet about that), lately it's like whatever I try to read, the words just slide away. I've been suffering a bit of a writing block as well - reviews, poems and the terrible romance novel I sometimes pick away at... it doesn't matter what it is, it's just not progressing well. Or, in some cases, at all.
Reading and writing have always been my safe place to go to no matter what the world throws at me. It's frustrating when it feels like it just isn't working. Thankfully there are a few books that I can always turn to.
My all-time favorite is Stephen King's The Stand. I fell in love with the original published version when I was in high school, and I was beyond thrilled when King released an unabridged version during the spring of my senior year. I got some fabulous graduation gifts; the unabridged version of my favorite book was one of them. I bought the book with my own money, but it was a gift just the same.
The book features a tremendous cast of characters, some romantic entanglements, and - my favorite thing - an apocalyptic theme. When I'm feeling sick or just blue, there's something oddly comforting about reading a book in which more than 99 percent of the world's population dies horribly of the flu. I love the book's overall themes, and I love the characters. I'm always happy to go back for a visit with Frannie Goldsmith and Stu Redman, Mother Abigail and the Walking Dude, Harold and Nick and Glenn.
More recently, I have been loving Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. It's been years since I've fallen so completely into a book that I totally forgot the world existed, but it happened the first time I read this series. This is critical for me; at least for a few books worth of time, I felt like I had found the door to Narnia again.
The Hunger Games features a futuristic dystopia in which North America has become a country called Panem. Panem is made up of twelve districts and the Capitol; the districts lost a destructive war and now the tyrannical government forces each district to sacrifice two children a year in remembrance. It's not as simple as just putting the children to death, though. Instead the twenty-four competitors face off in an elaborate arena. They must kill or be killed; only one may win and live.
Collins does a nice job with her other books (The Underland Chronicles - young adult/fantasy), but The Hunger Games far outshines her other series. All three books in the trilogy are compelling, but the first book is the best; I found it nearly impossible to put down the first time through. I'm moving through it a bit more slowing the second time around, savoring the interaction between heroine Katniss Everdeen and the boy from her district - and competitor in the arena, Peeta Mellark. The minor characters are also excellent. Now that casting for the film version is underway, I'm even more excited to see Haymitch and Effie Trinket come to life on the big screen. I would be surprised if it matches my expectations, but I do expect to at least enjoy it.
A final book for today's list is Diana Gabaldon's Outlander. It is true that, while I sometimes attempt to write romance stories, I'm not a huge fan of the genre. A lot of romance is beyond trite, and it's often humorless and stupid to boot. Not so with Gabaldon's brilliant series. Outlander (and it's many sequels) combines romance with time travel and history. It doesn't hurt that one of the main characters, Claire, is a nurse. Or at least she is in the first book... certainly Claire evolves a lot during the course of the books.
Gabaldon is not a typical romance writer; the woman has a Ph.D in some scientific discipline (I can never remember if it's marine biology or ecology or what), and she uses her research skills to create a story that is as historically accurate as possible. At times this is problematic. Certainly women were property of men in Scotland in the 1750s, and sometimes (probably often) they were legally beaten by their husbands. Later in the series slavery in America becomes an issue that Claire must contend with. Gabaldon is skillful with these issues, but I confess that - at least with the beating scene - I felt a bit uncomfortable.
The center of the series is the relationship between Claire Beachamp and Jamie Fraser, and it's very difficult to not fall in love with both of them and their story. They don't fall in love in a typical way, but it happens, although Claire also must contend with the ghost of her husband, Frank, who she can no longer reach. It's all rather brilliantly done, and (forgive me for being crass, dear readers) that includes the sex scenes. There's also humor, atmosphere, adventure and history. I've never recommended this book to anyone without having them come back and tell me how much they love it. Ever. I'm grateful that Gabaldon has continued this story for many more (very long) books, and that there is yet more to come.
And... that's it for now. A few books I dearly, dearly love. Check 'em out if you haven't already.
