Today I want to talk about something that is incredibly close to my heart.
Books. I want to talk about books. Pull up a seat and get really comfortable. I never get to do this any other time and it drives me absolutely insane. In my life I've read probably around 3,000 books, even more if you consider all of the online publications and scientific papers. I know books fairly well, I think. After reading so many thousands of words you start to get a feel for what works and what doesn't. I secretly call this my book sense. (Secretly, yes. Posting it on the internet is very secretive.)
When I am reading a book that is really, really good, I start to get this feeling on the back of my neck, like someone is running their fingers ever so softly against my skin. I lived for that when I was a kid, and now that I'm an adult who knows what sex and alcohol feel like, I would still say that it is one of my favorite feelings. It reminds me of reading in my closet, or the school playground, on my bed, or the fucking broom closet because I was a really strange child with no social graces.
Reading as often and as much as I do, I have some pretty set ideas about grammar, spelling and storytelling in general. I believe that grammar is the least of your worries. (It is still a worry! I am not advocating the substitution of your for you're, don't set me on fire.) Some of the most moving and important things I've ever read were grammatically incorrect. Sometimes the intricacies of subject relation and syntax will drown out what you're really trying to say. Write your words the way they hit you.
I'm still a huge bitch about spelling, but at least I'll admit to that one.
My biggest opinions are about books. I can throw muster up some diatribes on other subjects, as anyone reading this should be aware, but I get involved with my books in a way that should probably be considered indecent. One of those big opinions that I carry around with me is reflected in every facet of my life. I believe that all of the best stories, in books and movies alike, are about ideas instead of characters. The characters are absolutely essential as well, don't get me wrong. One of my favorite book series is 'The Dresden Files' by Jim Butcher, and one of the reasons is how well rounded his characters are, but the overwhelming idea behind the series is what keeps the books on my mind after I've stopped reading them. Best signified for me by this quote, 'To whom much is given, much is expected.'
It's not a new idea, there aren't really any new ideas, just old ones with new paint, but it is one of my favorites. I like wrapping my mind around the ideas of obligation and sacrifice, it leads me interesting places like the social contract and the nature of kindness. I love it when someone else's words inspire introspection and a reexamination of my previous thoughts and beliefs.
Another example of an amazing series is 'Sandman' by Neil Gaiman. Yes, these are technically graphic novels, but I don't feel that my chosen literature is somehow lessened because it is written on top of artwork. This series is the single most influential body of work I have experienced thus far. It has so many big important things inside it, shrunk down and simplified so that everyone who reads it can understand. Neil Gaiman plays with the idea of the power of belief and of dreams, he showcases our tendency to back ourselves into corners and then snap at those around us as though they put us there. 'Sandman' gives names and identities to the chaos that is the spectrum of human emotion and somehow it makes more sense than dopamine and serotonin. I felt like I saw the world differently after I finished the 'Sandman' series, and although the characters are absolutely amazing, they are not why. The lessons they teach are more important to me than the characters themselves. (Although I still can't read 'The Kindly Ones' if I'm in anything but the highest of spirits, because damn it I will cry.)
I've read books without an overwhelming message and enjoyed them. Sometimes I've even loved them and pledged to reread them year after year like I do with Sandman and The Dresden Files. The difference between the ones that I love and the ones that really matter to me is whether or not they've 'hit' me. If you're a bibliophile, then you know the feeling I mean. When you're sucked into a story so deeply that the world around you completely fades away, you're living the experience of these characters, feeling what they feel and then suddenly...the author snatches words out of your brain and uses it to take your breath away.
This person that you have never met, probably will never meet, has combined words on paper in a way that you have never seen or heard before, and those words explain something that you've felt or experienced so perfectly that you can't feel it any other way ever again. This is the book sense, when you feel that connection across time and space.
I like to think that every time that happens the author sneezes, but I guess that would become rather bothersome.
