(Originally posted on LiveJournal)
I’ve been thinking lately about books that affected me in various ways throughout my life. How about you? What things got deep into your system?
On one of the Bittercom topics that my friend Sherwood (sartorias) has on her LiveJournal, I referenced a book I’d been fond of since childhood, Elizabeth Enright’s lovely Tatsinda. And then last night, in reboxing some books in preparation of moving them to storage, I turned up my copy. I took a few minutes to sit down and enjoy the delightful Haas illustrations. It was a copy I’d found on eBay, set free from some public library (there were stamps to that effect on various pages of the book – a sad marring, but not detrimental to the overall enjoyment of the work).
I still remember my delighted pleasure in finding that book the first time. How enchanted I was by the delicate and charming illustrations.
Also in that same box was the very paperback book that was my introduction to Sherlock Holmes. I was an 11 year old, and (this was when we were living in Michigan), I’d made a trip with a Recorder Consort to some ancient instruments seminar in Ann Arbor. What fun it was to hear and see a crumhorn close up! During the noon break, we ventured into a large bookstore in town, and I prowled the aisle with a special sense of freedom. I was on my own! I’d been entrusted to the supervision of the director of the Consort, and I’ve always suspected that my cohorts in the group thought I was actually a year older than I was (the usual minimum age for admittence to the group being 12). Anyway, with some spending money hot in my pocket, I paused in the mystery section.
I’m not sure why the book caught my attention. Particularly when the cover had a prominent “8” on it, indicating one of a series. But it did. His Last Bow. Yes, I started reading Sherlock Holmes from the back end, with some of the least known and (frankly) weaker stories of the canon. Even so, I was hooked.
I must have spoken of it a lot, for not long after I’d finished that book, my Dad bought me a juvenile compilation of “abridged” Sherlock Holmes. I know the “Red Headed League” was in that one, as I vaguely recall an illustration for it. But I sopped that up quickly too. I guess Dad realized what he had on his hands, as not too much later, he came home with an omnibus edition of Holmes, all the stories in one heavy volume. Ah! Rapture! I still posses that volume (though I have added Baring-Gould’s 2 volume annotated edition to my collection).
The Sherlock Holmes stories had a big impact on me, in many ways. It also made me interested in Doyle himself. Family friends happened to have a set of books of some of Doyle’s other works – I know I read The Black Company at least, though I don’t now recall anything of the story. I keep thinking I should revisit that ground. But higher on the agenda is a rereading of the complete Holmes canon. I haven’t started on that yet.
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sartorias – Nov. 5th, 2007
