Jun. 19th, 2004
Let 'Er Rip
Jun. 19th, 2004 06:35 pmIt occured to me, in one of my random musings, that I never really seem to write anything meaningful here. It mainly serves as a place to, well, I don't really know. Probably has something to do with the fact that I'm usually so out of it when I'm online. *sighs dramatically*
So I suppose that maybe I'll write something that actually may make some sense.
I'm 17 now, almost 18, yet still like to peruse the Young Adult shelves at my library, and occasionally the children's section. The YA has some good stuff, most of which I read years back, and it fills my tiny, cold heart with joy when I see a Seabiscuit/War Admiral Match Race book on the children's shelves, complete with a little mini glossary of racing terms. However, where is this leading you ask? Why to the years prior to this of course!
My mom still has most of the picture books she got my sister and me. Now, these aren't run-of-the-mill kids books, mom and dad got us massive books from when mom was a kid. Things like Just So stories, in a reprint of an edition from something like 20 or 30 years ago, plenty of William Steig (Shrek and Rotten Island, to name a few), as well as plenty more strange books I can't remember. We've got Eloise, anthologies of poems, short stories, and the like. When Andrew Lang's Fairy Books were reprinted in the mid-90's, mom bought them all. I've got them on my shelf, and have practically memorized them.
But when I talk to people I know, of my generation, it seems they missed out on so much growing up. My parents were never fond of Disney (still aren't, but there are exceptions-Lilo & Stitch, and any Pixar production), as a result, Pippa and I read the original versions of all the fairy tales. In some cases, the multiple versions. It's broadened out minds, given us vast imaginations, and possible a slight edge of insanity/craziness. But we're happy, or at least I am.
Which brings me to now. In discussions with friends, they've never heard of Andrew Lang, William Steig, Grimm, or Perrault. I exaggerate a bit, but you should get the idea. They've read all the Goosebumps, Babysitters Club, and Sweet Valley books, but my talk of the wonders of The Chronicles of Pantouflia are lost on them. The intricites of the many variations of the Cinderella theme are lost on them. it kind of makes me sad, as I think that everyone should read fairy stories and the like. Even now, when one is older, Bruno Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment is, if you ask me, one of the best pieces of non-fiction I own. Every one who even is remotely interested in fairy tales should read it, even if it's a bit well, odd at times.
Don't get the wrong idea about me, I've read such as The Princess Diaries (even filed a
canon_sues review of it. I've read a fair amount of stand-alone books that were pieces of crap once I got into them (meaning past the first 10 pages, which I usually skim over). However, it seems like there's so much that will be lost on the vast majority of young(er) readers in the coming years/generations/whatever. Stuff that really is good to read. Fairy tales are great, because they help to make things clearer in later years. I'm serious, call me proof. I do.
Re-reading Bettelheim this morning at work was a reminder to me of how much I adore this type of stuff. Probably helped along by the fact that one of the books I'm reading right now is called Fair Peril and is about, well, I suppose the best way to put it is the power of fairy tales. Rather good, I'm enjoying it. It's by the author of The Hex-Witch of Seldom, which I recall as being a very good book.
Oh well, I suppose that not everything is perfect. I know that it's not possible for everyone to have been exposed to what I was, but I wish more people were. It just lends a little bit more to people's personalities.
*grins lop-sidedly*
On a completely random note, Barenaked Ladies are playing at the Tweeter Center in August. Hopefully I'll be able to swing the concert. (They're touring with Alanis Morisette.)
So I suppose that maybe I'll write something that actually may make some sense.
I'm 17 now, almost 18, yet still like to peruse the Young Adult shelves at my library, and occasionally the children's section. The YA has some good stuff, most of which I read years back, and it fills my tiny, cold heart with joy when I see a Seabiscuit/War Admiral Match Race book on the children's shelves, complete with a little mini glossary of racing terms. However, where is this leading you ask? Why to the years prior to this of course!
My mom still has most of the picture books she got my sister and me. Now, these aren't run-of-the-mill kids books, mom and dad got us massive books from when mom was a kid. Things like Just So stories, in a reprint of an edition from something like 20 or 30 years ago, plenty of William Steig (Shrek and Rotten Island, to name a few), as well as plenty more strange books I can't remember. We've got Eloise, anthologies of poems, short stories, and the like. When Andrew Lang's Fairy Books were reprinted in the mid-90's, mom bought them all. I've got them on my shelf, and have practically memorized them.
But when I talk to people I know, of my generation, it seems they missed out on so much growing up. My parents were never fond of Disney (still aren't, but there are exceptions-Lilo & Stitch, and any Pixar production), as a result, Pippa and I read the original versions of all the fairy tales. In some cases, the multiple versions. It's broadened out minds, given us vast imaginations, and possible a slight edge of insanity/craziness. But we're happy, or at least I am.
Which brings me to now. In discussions with friends, they've never heard of Andrew Lang, William Steig, Grimm, or Perrault. I exaggerate a bit, but you should get the idea. They've read all the Goosebumps, Babysitters Club, and Sweet Valley books, but my talk of the wonders of The Chronicles of Pantouflia are lost on them. The intricites of the many variations of the Cinderella theme are lost on them. it kind of makes me sad, as I think that everyone should read fairy stories and the like. Even now, when one is older, Bruno Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment is, if you ask me, one of the best pieces of non-fiction I own. Every one who even is remotely interested in fairy tales should read it, even if it's a bit well, odd at times.
Don't get the wrong idea about me, I've read such as The Princess Diaries (even filed a
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Re-reading Bettelheim this morning at work was a reminder to me of how much I adore this type of stuff. Probably helped along by the fact that one of the books I'm reading right now is called Fair Peril and is about, well, I suppose the best way to put it is the power of fairy tales. Rather good, I'm enjoying it. It's by the author of The Hex-Witch of Seldom, which I recall as being a very good book.
Oh well, I suppose that not everything is perfect. I know that it's not possible for everyone to have been exposed to what I was, but I wish more people were. It just lends a little bit more to people's personalities.
*grins lop-sidedly*
On a completely random note, Barenaked Ladies are playing at the Tweeter Center in August. Hopefully I'll be able to swing the concert. (They're touring with Alanis Morisette.)