(no subject)
proteinscollide encouraged me to do this meme:
In a text post, list ten books that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard - they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you.
I've done something similar a couple of times before ( 10 formative books, 5 books that mean a lot to me), so I think I'll take a different approach on this one and list 10 books that I've always remembered particular bits of, whether or not the books themselves were good overall.
Nicholas P. Georgiady and Louis G. Romano, Trudi la Cane - Apparently this gripping tale of a duck searching for a place to build her nest was originally in English, but the copy we had was in French as a "beginning to read French" book. Also, apparently my memory is not to be trusted, because the pithy sentence I thought I remembered yelling gleefully with my sister is "TRUDI N'AIME PAS LE MARÉCAGE", but now that I've actually opened the book again, I see that it's just "Elle n'aime pas le marécage." W/E. PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM.
Henry Gregor Felsen, Anyone for Cub Scouts? - A lovely story about how starting a Cub Scout Den reconciles Scotty to his family's move and reforms the rival gangs in their new neighborhood, but the bit I remember is Scotty yelling "Atten-SHUN!" when the gang leaders start arguing at the first meeting. It's spelled just like that in the book, and I was so convinced that the command had something to do with shunning that it took me a really long time to realize the word was "Attention".
Andrew Davies, Conrad's War - This is a pretty awesome book about a kid who loves war and army games, tries to build a tank, and suddenly starts succeeding. He snaps out of it when his desire for crushing dominance begins to turn him into a Nazi rather than a British hero, but there's a moment right before that where he starts remembering life as a German schoolboy, and there's a really strong sense of, idk, physical vigor, and camaraderie with his classmates, and just for that moment, it seems really tempting.
Beverly Cleary, Beezus and Ramona - This is also a good book, from a generally good series, but this one stands out to me because it's the only one (as far as I know) from Beezus's point of view instead of Ramona's. And the part I remember is Beezus making her dragon painting and letting her ideas flow and enjoying it so much and just finally succeeding at something she wanted.
Beatrice Gormley, Fifth Grade Magic - This is a relatively formulaic story about a girl trying to get her fairy godmother to work spells to get her the starring role in the class play. The bit I remember is Gretchen having a conversation about the injustice of it all with her favorite pencil, which has fluffy hair and googly eyes on its end (it's not magic, just cute), and the pencil nodding and shaking its head silently but sympathetically. It doesn't know why Amy got the part over Gretchen. It's baffled too. Oh friendly pencil!
Betsy Byars, The Cybil War - Despite the awful title, this is another one that's actually a pretty cool book. Simon and his best friend Tony are nominally fighting over the girl they both like, but Simon is figuring out how to stand up to Tony's aggression in general, as well as how to cope with his dad's departure. There's one moment where Simon, Tony, and Tony's grandfather all go to stand by the kitchen vent outside Tony's house to breathe in the smell of peppers frying in olive oil, because it reminds Tony's grandfather of his own childhood, and that's such a warm, communal experience for them, I just love it. I mean, for me it would be the smell of onions frying in butter, but same diff.
Stella Pevsner, Cute Is A Four-Letter Word - This is also a somewhat formulaic story of a girl in junior high gaining some self-worth, and figuring out along the way that the most popular guy in her class isn't actually all that. But what I remember most for some reason, even more than the science experiment rats with the paint on their heads, is the girl visiting from New York ordering Coke "with a twist of lemon" as the height of elegant urbane pretentiousness. A twist of lemon! The phrase has remained in my head ever since.
John White, The Iron Sceptre -
proteinscollide, you mentioned Narnia's lack of subtlety in allegory; this is about seventy times less subtle, and yet I will take Gaal over Aslan any day of the week and twice on Sundays, because Gaal is all about joy. When Mary decides against the artificial beauty and power the witch is offering her, Gaal swings her around in circles because he's so delighted! and it's awesome. And at one point Mary sees her own reflection and she's still fat and still pimply and she's beautiful, and Gaal tells her happiness makes people beautiful, and I am down with that. There's a lot that could be said about body and weight issues in this book, and sexism, and countless other problems (although Mary does get to remain "overweight" at the end of the book, for what that's worth, and is not reformed into skinniness). But my main point is: Gaal and Mary dancing in gleeful circles. YAY.
Agatha Christie, At Bertram's Hotel - Have I used "formulaic" enough to be meta yet? But the scene I remember from this one is early on, before the mystery and the investigation properly get going, where Miss Marple wakes up in the hotel and orders breakfast, and both the room and the food are so exactly, perfectly what she wants them to be, and so lovingly and lavishly described, that just reading about them is deeply satisfying too. Of course it's all too good to be true, but - the delicious-smelling rolls! The poached eggs with the rich yellow yolk oozing out! Man, I'm getting hungry right now.
Rona Jaffe, Class Reunion - This is such a soap opera of a college novel, but the image of the other girls in the dorm flinging the popular girl's camel hair coat down over the stair rail whenever her dates came to pick her up had this glorious abandon to it. Also Max and Alexander standing happily on the deck of the ship on their way to go be gay in Europe together at the end. (Even though everything goes sour again in the sequel.) In that moment their whole future is open ahead of them, and it's beautiful.