Booking Through Thursday‘s question for today was suggested by Mary — "Connect any six books in your library to each other by any way you want. One book will remind you of another because the author’s name is similar, a fictional character shows up in someone else’s book, another author is talked about by characters in a book, maybe the same friend recommended both books, or whatever. Books from a series count as one entry in your list."
This question is a bit of a trip down Memory Lane — I find that it ranges from some of my earliest reading to the present, and the books likewise range in tone from light-hearted to deeply serious, and in setting from ancient history in exotic lands to 1940s America (not my own generation, but close enough to be familiar to me through my parents). The bookshelf in my bedroom holds a selection of my most beloved favorites, and in order to keep the "six degrees" to a manageable post, I sat in front of this shelf to find my selections.
I started with The Lost Queen of Egypt by Lucile Morrison. This is the first book that I bought with money that I earned myself. I was twelve and had a job at a very small academic library, pasting pockets and bookplates. I loved this book, which I had checked out from the public library innumerable times, and it was the start of a lifelong fascination with Ancient Egypt. It has a very dated feel to it, at times, and the archaeological/historical theories have shifted considerably (for instance, Tutankhamun is now fairly widely accepted to have been a son of Akhenaten by a minor wife, and so Ankhesenamun, the heroine of this novel, would have been his half-sister), but the writing is very atmospheric, and I find that even though I haven’t read it in years, I can recall passages from it almost word for word — I can still almost feel the heat of the sun on my skin, the rocks of the Valley of Kings beneath fine leather sandals, the cool plash of water on my fingers.
Next, On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This series was I think the first books that I bought myself, with pocket money — this is how my mind made the first connection between The Lost Queen and Plum Creek, but I also spent long weeks absorbed in these stories, and lost myself quite thoroughly in their time and place. I don’t know if my old-fashionedness was a result of reading these books so thoroughly, or if I was drawn to them because I am naturally a little old-fashioned, but there it is.
Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright is like the Wilder books, in that I have read the Melendy Family series so often that I can still almost instantly recall passages and their place in the series. Wonderful characters, adventure, wit and charm, family and a deep understanding of children ("and probably she was going to have a scar!"), satisfying conclusions — this series struck a rich chord with me, and still does.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien comes next. I can’t quite put my finger on why my subconscious made this connection. Perhaps it was the sheer eventfulness of its place in my life, that inner pantheon of one’s Great Books, those read over and over so often that they almost become a part of one. The Hobbit of course leads to The Lord of the Rings series, the same world and a continuation of the main story, but loftier in themes and language. I appreciated the effort put into the movies, but I must say that I was disappointed that so little of the poetry and music remained. This is one of the few poems (any poetry, not just Tolkien’s) that I can recite from memory —
"Gil-galad was an Elven king,
Of him the harpers sadly sing,
The last whose realm was fair and free,
Between the mountains and the sea.
His sword was long, his lance was keen,
His shining helm afar was seen,
The countless stars of heaven’s field
Were mirrored in his silver shield.
But long ago he rode away,
And where he dwelleth, none can say.
For into darkness fell his star,
In Mordor, where the shadows are."
Tolkien’s "high" language sparked the connection to The Heaven Tree Trilogy by Edith Pargeter. I have read so far only the first novel in this trilogy, The Heaven Tree, but was fascinated by the wonderful writing and the mediaeval setting. Pargeter also wrote as Ellis Peters, the creator of the Brother Cadfael series of mysteries, also a long-time favorite of mine (the books, not the television series), and a series of modern mysteries.
And "modern mysteries" leads me to Three by Tey by Josephine Tey, an omnibus volume of three of Tey’s mysteries from the 1930s and 40s. Daughter of Time was the first one I read (which is in the other volume, Four, Five and Six by Tey) — in which a convalescent detective ferrets out the mystery of whether or not Richard III killed the princes in the Tower. I wasn’t sure if I agreed with Tey’s conclusion in that particular story, but I was delighted with her style, full of intelligence and wit, in all of her novels.
