Ever since I read my first “chapter book” in 2nd grade (Detective Zack and the Adventure on Thunder Mountain), reading has been a big part of my life. I owe a lot to my mom for reading aloud to me before bed when I was a kid. And post-Detective Zack, emerging from the public library with a chin-high stack of books was a regular occurrence in my life. Searching among the library shelves, I also discovered the stories of Lloyd Alexander, Ursula LeGuin, Madeleine Le’Engle, and others. Multi-volume fantasy series were the mainstay, though the occasional historical fiction novel would also find its way into the mix. First Chronicles of Narnia, then Harry Potter, then Redwall took their places in my pantheon of favorites.

Of course I read Lord of the Rings when I was old enough. Though I think I jumped the gun a bit on that one, because I literally got lost the first time I read it. I mistakenly thought that the mines of Moria were a passage into Mordor, and was confused the whole second book. I was thinking: Why are they wandering around so much? What’s with this random Rohan horse place? Just throw the ring in the volcano already. I re-read it a few years later, when the movies were coming out, and my comprehension was a lot better. There were other series I got into once I was old enough for them as well: Garth Nix’s Sabriel, the Bartemaeus Trilogy, Mistborn (well, in that case, the series just wasn’t written until I was older).

In short, growing up I really thrived on young adult fiction, and the fantasy genre especially. I can’t say the same about “adult” fantasy. It just seems to me that, for whatever reasons, “young adult” fantasy is more innovative and well-written than its older sibling. I’m sure there are good novels out there (I’m open to tip-offs). But most of the ones I’ve tried to read are either overly verbose, un-creatively derivative of Lord of the Rings, or both. Maybe the page limits that publishers imposed on young adult writers pre-Harry Potter encouraged more stream-lined writing. Maybe young-adult writers don’t have pressure to write in gratuitous sex scenes. Maybe adult fantasy publishers are focused on marketing to the Dungeons and Dragons- playing population, who expect elves and dwarves as par for the course. Well, I like playing on new courses. It could be that its not the books themselves, but myself that’s changed; I’m no longer content with writing I feel is too escapist. I want to read books that made me think, that challenge me, that expand my view of the world.

So I’ve been branching out and reading more literature, classic and modern. High school English classes introduced me to a number of good books: the Great Gatsby, the Grapes of Wrath, Brave New World, To Kill a Mockingbird. A couple summers ago I read (most of) the Brothers Karamazov, and Dracula (I guess that’s technically fantasy…old school). Last summer I read the excellent Evening is the Whole Day, a novel about a family in Malaysia, and this spring What is the What, Dave Egger’s novel about a Sudanese refugee in America.

So I’ve been gradually overcoming my childhood prejudice against fiction set in the “boring” real world. Being a sociology major has helped, I think. Classes like Race and Ethnicity, Cities and Urban Life, and Social Stratification have opened my eyes to the diversity of human experience. Knowing that there are people who live in very different worlds than my own has lead me towards works that are able to put me in others’ shoes and come to a deeper understanding of life. That is, after all, the power of the best writing; to allow us to get out of ourselves and experience life as someone else for a time.

Taking Creative Writing this Spring has also been a catalyst for the transition. Our teacher encouraged us to do research for our writing, to be inspired by and curious about the world. If you’re writing a poem about a hummingbird, go find out what colors hummingbirds are in this part of the country, she told us. We had an assignment to come up with a list of any ten questions we were curious about, and then to research the answers. Among other things, I looked up what the deepest human-made hole in the world is and why penguins’ feet don’t freeze. And of course we read lots of good poems and short stories that are grounded in the real world. Because of that class I’ve come to a much greater appreciation for how much one can draw from “mundane” regular life when writing. Think about it though: everything “new” in fantasy and science fiction is really taken from the real world, just rearranged or tweaked.

Anyways, the point of this whole essay is to introduce a new series for this blog:  I’m planning on writing brief reviews of my summer reading, as well as sharing poems and short stories I’ve written.

So look out for Review #1: “Angle of Repose” by Wallace Stegner.

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