Books Remembered #9: Sweet Valley High - Francine Pascal



This is a semi-regular feature where I reminisce about books or even series that I read over and over again. Or even a book read once that changed the way I looked at life. I wanted to re-introduce it as I wanted to highlight some books that have been out for a while and maybe don't get as much attention as the new releases. It’s not a review of the book(s) but merely remembering the impact it had on me and how it’s shaped my reading habits and likes –what made that book(s) memorable.

 

I’ve always been a big reader – addicted according to my mother. This was because whenever I found an author or series I liked I wanted to read everything they’d ever written. And before Urban Fantasy, before Anne Rice, before Christopher Pike, before Point Horror, there was Sweet Valley. Sweet Valley was my first experience of Americana where everyone lived in sun drenched California, the rich were snobby and shallow, the cheerleaders and jocks were the most popular people in school and there were these ‘perfect size six, blonde haired, blue eyed identical twins’ – Jessica and Elizabeth. Jessica was the fun loving, risk taking, shallower twin with numerous boyfriends while Elizabeth was the more studious twin who had a steady boyfriend and wanted to be a journalist. I wanted to be their friend so much - especially Elizabeth! They had the perfect life – with understanding but generally absent parents, cool friends, sneaky plots to see their boyfriends and help their ‘poor’ friends in Sweet Valley. It was how I imagined everyone in America lived and I gobbled up the books. They were numbered and I wanted to read them all plus the numerous special editions. I spent all my pocket money on them (I could a book every two weeks if I saved) and begged my Gran to bring me back books from the series when she visited family in Canada.

I also read Sweet Valley Twins but it was SVH that I adored! I loved the crazy schemes, the number of times the twins would steal a boyfriend off each other (I swear neither of them ever had a boyfriend to themselves!), the serious storylines covering drugs (bad), teenage sex (frowned upon), the beautiful people (no-one was ever ugly!).  For me, Jessica and Elizabeth were the perfect teen role models growing up. Even now I have fond memories of the series and while I haven’t kept any of the books, I wanted to write this Books Remembered before I started to reading the new Sweet Valley Confidential so I could try to capture the adoration I had for them. I know that various other series were written about them including going away to university, but to me they will always be juniors at Sweet Valley High and while I lost track of them around book 90-something, I can’t wait to see what they now up too. I wouldn't say these books had as big an impact on me as others, but they were one of my first favourites and I loved them! Were you a Sweet Valley addict as well? Were you a Jessica or Elizabeth girl? :)

PS – I thought it would be fun to try re-reading some of the classic SVH books as well, but despite all the books that were printed and scouring all the second book stores I know, I could only find one Sweet Valley High book! What happened to all the other books...?

 

 

Books Remembered #8: The Ancient Future - Traci Harding



This is a semi-regular feature I had last year where I reminisce about books or even series that I read over and over again. Or even a book read once that changed the way I looked at life. I wanted to re-introduce it as I wanted to highlight some books that have been out for a while and maybe don't get as much attention as the new releases. It’s not a review of the book(s) but merely remembering the impact it had on me and how it’s shaped my reading habits and likes –what made that book(s) memorable. So this month, I'm remembering The Ancient Future by Traci Harding.

A few years ago I quit my job, up sticks and went travelling for six months. I spent most of that time in Australia and New Zealand travelling around, living out my backpack, sleeping in youth hostels and generally have a great time. While I was there I always had a book to read with me and I was generally limited by whatever the hostel I was staying, had on there to swap. One day I picked The Ancient Future by Traci Harding and found a new favourite.

The story starts with Tory’s car breaking down in the English countryside late one night and her deciding to spend the night in the circle of standing stones nearby. Once there something happens and she finds herself in the distant past and faced with a roaming band of knights who suspect her of witch-craft. From there the plot moves fast and covers romance, family betrayals, magic, time travel, philosophy, action, eastern martial arts, soul mates and gods. I loved it! It hit all my favourites in one – romance, fantasy, history, time travel complete with a strong female lead and a dashing prince. It was even set in Wales where I went university.

When I finished the book I could barely bring myself to put it back on the swap shelf so I went out and bought a copy and shipped it back home. I then proceeded to collect the rest of the trilogy (I was so happy to find out it was a trilogy!) – An Echo in Time and Masters of Reality and devoured them over the next two weeks. Turns out Traci Harding is fairly popular down under – in one of those top 100 favourite books as chosen by the public, The Ancient Future appeared high on the list. The books always remind me of that time of my life and the stories are still ones I like to reread regularly. My one regret...Traci Harding isn’t published in the UK so I struggle to continue to buy her books – in this regard even Book Depository doesn’t have many!

So if you’re far from home and want a comfort read, The Ancient Future is one I would recommend!

Books Remembered #7: The Farseekers by Isobelle Carmody



This is a semi-regular feature I had last year where I reminisce about books or even series that I read over and over again. Or even a book read once that changed the way I looked at life. I wanted to re-introduce it as I wanted to highlight some books that have been out for a while and maybe don't get as much attention as the new releases. It’s not a review of the book(s) but merely remembering the impact it had on me and how it’s shaped my reading habits and likes –what made that book(s) memorable. So this month, I'm remembering The Farseekers by Isobelle Carmody.



The Original Cover of The Farseekers when released in the UK



Some books stay with you long after you close the final page – the characters play on your mind and the plot twists’ linger. When I was a teenager one of the first books this happened to me with was The Farseekers by Isobelle Carmody. It was one of the Point Sci-Fi range – an extension of Point Horror, but to be honest it had little Science Fiction involved at first being more of a fantasy bent – or at least that’s how seemed at first. The book focuses on Misfit, Elspeth and her friends who all have different mental abilities and their struggle to survive in a world where anyone with any difference is abhorred and killed. Their home is Obernewtyn in the mountains but The Farseekers follows Elspeth as she and a small group travel the land to a hidden library on the coast where knowledge of the Before time could be found.

I’m not sure what struck me about the story most – misfits who don’t fit into society perhaps rang a cord with my teenage self or the adventure I felt like I should expect from life. Whatever it was I loved it. I felt for Elspeth as she risked the lowlands and discovery in a quest for knowledge. I liked the adventure where an underground river takes them through a buried city...which looks remarkable like one of our present day cities. Even more I liked that Elspeth could talk to animals and they each had their own character and personality.

I soon discovered that The Farseekers was actually the second book in the series and marched straight out to purchase Obernewtyn the first novel. It wasn’t as good to my opinion, but it did set the scene and fill in some background in more detail.  It was obvious the story wasn’t finished at the end of The Farseekers and I was anxious to know what happened next. And nothing. There was no more books to read. Isobelle Carmody hadn’t written them. I had to content myself with re-reading The Farseekers.

Years later as a student I discovered the Internet and made the amazing discovery that there were more Obernewtyn books – in Australia. No UK publisher had picked up the rights so the reason I hadn’t  seen any books in the series was because I lived in the wrong country! Making good use of new credit card I ordered the next two books in the series – Ashling and The Keeping Place and devoured them when they arrived weeks later. The good news – the books were longer, more detailed and more adult – I loved them. The bad news – the series still wasn’t finished – not by a long shot. In the ten years since another two books have been released (Wavesong and The Stone Key), but the story still hasn’t finished! From what I understand there are two more books left to complete the series (The Red Queen and The Sending), which are in the process of being written. At one point they had release dates for 2010 – but alas, it’s now 2011 and no sign. L

This isn’t a complaint as I love the series and still reread all six books regularly. I want the series to finish well – it’s been a great lesson in patience! I've been waiting for 15 years for the story resolution - another couple won't make much difference! But I still remember the excitement of reading The Farseekers and the love of the characters, the story and the writing it installed in me. So I want to finish with a quote that sums this series up for me...

A good book has no ending.  ~R.D. Cumming

Books Remembered #6: Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

This is a semi-regular feature I had last year where I reminisce about books or even series that I read over and over again. Or even a book read once that changed the way I looked at life. I wanted to re-introduce it as I wanted to highlight some books that have been out for a while and maybe don't get as much attention as the new releases. It’s not a review of the book(s) but merely remembering the impact it had on me and how it’s shaped my reading habits and likes –what made that book(s) memorable. So this month, I'm remembering Bitten by Kelley Armstong...

I’m a bit of a book genre flirt and switch between different types of books fairly frequently. I get fed up of reading too many books from the same area in a row so I like variety and spice. A number of years ago I got hooked on a new genre which is still one of my favourites – Urban Fantasy. Well, that’s what it is called now, but back then there wasn’t the choice of books on the market. In my search for something different I came across a book about werewolves in my local book store. At that time I was mostly a vampire girl having read my way through all the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles, but I fancied a change so I bought Bitten by Kelly Armstrong. One of the best reading decisions I’ve ever made!

Bitten was fantastically written exploring the impact of being turned into a werewolf by the one you trust. It was tense, emotional, with character conflicts, action and heart. I loved Elena’s struggle to be comfortable with herself and her on-off relationship with Clay. I loved that she could hold her own against the men. I wanted more. So I went out and picked up Stolen. And here the world opened up to include witches, vampires (very different from the New Orleans based Lestat crowd), half demons and humans with other agendas. It was a world I wanted to be part off. Unfortunately at that time those were the only two books Kelley had written so I expanded my search to other books and discovered the growing genre of Urban Fantasy.  And now Urban fantasy, dark romance, paranormal romance, speculative fiction whatever you want to call it is one of my mainstream reading areas. I still read in a variety of other genres but given a choice in the book store my first stop is in the Urban Fantasy corner – and thankfully there’s now a wide range of different styles of books in that genre.

 I still adore Kelley Armstrong’s world and every one of her books in paperback and some in hardback. Bitten was the first book I ever felt the need to write a review on – it’s still there on Amazon UK!  It’s still one of my favourite reads and have to re-read it regularly. So if you haven’t read it – do! J

If you liked this feature, check out previous entries:
Books Remembered #1: Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles

Books Remembered #2: The Magic Faraway Tree

Books Remembered #3: Christopher Pike's Sati

Books Remembered #4: Scott O'Dell's The Island of Blue Dolphins

Books Remembered #5: Strange Orbit by Margaret Simpson

Books Remembered #5: Strange Orbit by Margaret Simpson

This is a semi-regular feature where I reminisce about books or even series that I read over and over again. Or even a book read once that changed the way I looked at life. It can be a book from childhood or a modern series I just can’t get enough off. It’s not a review of the book(s) but merely remembering the impact it had on me and how it’s shaped my reading habits and likes –what made that book(s) memorable.

When I was a teenager I read a lot of teen books. Back in the early 90s in Britain this mostly meant Point Horror books – a print house that specialised in horror stories for teenagers based on premises like The Babysitter – where the call was coming from inside the house (not a scary story that would work so well these days with mobile phones!) - to more supernatural causes such as moving to a new a house to find a vampire living there. I may come back to these stories in the future but what I’m getting at is that Point Horror was extremely successful. So much so, that the print range soon expanded and you could find Point Fantasy and Point Sci-Fi books. And the book I want to remember today is one of the Point Sci-Fi books. It’s no exaggeration to say this book really did change my life.

The book is Strange Orbit by Margaret Simpson (a name which these days conjures an image of a grown Maggie Simpson but meant little to me back then!). The book involved a privately funded trip by a wealthy woman who wanted to take children into space. The heroine was one the children who was picked to go (after having to apply and go through a variety of intelligence and physical tests). I think there were four of them in the end plus the pilot and woman funding the trip. The idea of teens going into space was fascinating to me and what happened when they got there blew me away. Something went wrong when they were orbit and they ended up travelling around the solar system trying to find a way home. This involved them meeting Schrödinger’s Camel (not a cat as is popularly thought), travelling into the future to a dying earth when most humans have left and visiting Mars (or it may have been Jupiter). There was so much imagination and possibility in this small book that I was enthralled – I wanted to go into space! I wanted to meet a talking camel on the moon!

While I can’t say that I’ve ever done either of those things, I did the next best thing I could – I started studying the solar system – the planets, the moon, the sun and the stars. After all we all know they’re there but how much do you really know about them? This soon developed into me wanting to know as much as I could about all things astronomical. This was a phase I never really grew out off and when I was 18 I went off to study Astrophysics at Cardiff university. I finished four years later was a Masters degree – all this because I read Strange Orbit when I was a teenager.

And do you know what? At least three other people I met on the same course also knew about Schrödinger’s Camel!

If you liked this feature, check out previous entries:
Books Remembered #1: Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles

Books Remembered #2: The Magic Faraway Tree

Books Remembered #3: Christopher Pike's Sati

Books Remembered #4: Scott O'Dell's The Island of Blue Dolphins

Books Remembered #4: Scott O'Dell's The Island of Blue Dolphins

This is a feature where I reminisce about books or even series that I read over and over again. Or even a book read once that changed the way I looked at life. It can be a book from childhood or a modern series I just can’t get enough off. It’s not a review of the book(s) but merely remembering the impact it had on me and how it’s shaped my reading habits and likes –what made that book(s) memorable. Feel free to join in with your own books remembered.

I never owned a copy of The Island of Blue Dolphins but Scott O’Dell, but it was probably the book I checked out of my local library the most. The basic premise is based on a true story of a whole tribe who were relocated off their island in the late 19th century/early 20th century. As they are sailing off the dead chief’s daughter sees that her younger brother has been left behind on the island and the ship wouldn’t turn round her him, so she jumps of the ship and swims to shore to look after him. She is only in her early teens at this time. However, shortly after this her brother dies and she is left alone. The Ship never returns for her.

However through various adventures as she learns to live on island. This was the original independent tough heroine for me. She learns how to fish, forage and fend for herself on an island deserted of human contact for years. At one point she builds a raft and attempts to leave island but as the island is based in the pacific she just ends back at the island.

Throughout the whole book the heroine doesn’t spend much time crying or bemoaning her lot; she gets on with it. She knows that the only thing or person that will change her circumstances is herself and she makes those changes. Most of books I read now have a kick-ass heroine who saves the day and this is where my fascination for this type of character comes from. While short, the books covers years as she grows into a young woman. Her only company are the local wild dogs – who are more foe than friend. For some reason this story as always stayed with me. The idea of this girl growing up alone spoke to me – I guess we all feel alone growing up but she truly was. More than that, she survived and even thrived under those circumstances.

I understand it’s the 50 year anniversary this year since The Island of Blue Dolphins was original released...I think I’ll get my hands on a copy – just to keep her company one more time.

If you liked this feature, check out previous entries:
Books Remembered #1: Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles
Books Remembered #2: The Magic Faraway Tree
Books Remembered #3: Christopher Pike's Sati

Books Remembered #3: Christopher Pike's Sati

This is a new feature where I reminisce about books or even series that I read over and over again. Or even a book read once that changed the way I looked at life. It can be a book from childhood or a modern series I just can’t get enough off. It’s not a review of the book(s) but merely remembering the impact it had on me and how it’s shaped my reading habits and likes –what made that book(s) memorable. Feel free to join in with your own books remembered!

This week I remember Sati by Christopher Pike. As a teenager a devoured all the Christopher Pike books I could get my hands on. In the early 90s they were one of the few books that gaped that bridge from children books to adults – the now hugely popular Young Adult culture. I also loved the range of story Chris Pike could produce – everything from a teenage murder mystery such as the Final Friends trilogy to the more supernatural bent like Witch or Remember Me to time travel with . And the best thing about them was the main characters were teenagers like me. Not the Sweet Valley high teenagers (goody two-shoes) but these teenagers drank, smoked pot and had underage sex. Not that these were a main focus of the stories at all – they were just normal teens and this is what teenagers did. So I was a big fan Christopher Pike before I even read Sati.

Sati was different.

The main character wasn’t a teenager. He was a long-distance truck driver. One day on his way home he picks up a hitch-hiker in the middle of the desert – a beautiful blond girl. She says her name is Sati. She also says she’s God. Most of the book is about how Sati changes the guy’s life and the life of his closest friends. It doesn’t preach at you. It doesn’t even really settle the question of whether she is God or not. In fact it’s really religious at all. But it makes you question what you want out of life. The real question isn’t whether Sati is God or not, but how do you want to live? Do you want to be stuck in a job you can’t stand? Do you marry your long term girlfriend? What do you need to do to be happy?

As a thirteen year old girl, these seemed like huge question (they still do!). And the story really moved me. I liked the moral of how to live, to try and be happy. It was as deep a philosophy as I could understand at that age and probably one of the first times I thought about a book beyond the excitement of the story. It made me ponder the meaning of life and what I wanted to get out of it.

The book has moved with me over the years – I still have a dog-eared copy on my book shelf. Occasionally I’ll re-read it and it cheers me up. I’ve lent it to many friends over the years and they always tell me how much they love it – I’ve struggled to get in back off some of them! Still Sati is one of those books I’ve always remembered for being the first book to get me to think.

If you liked this feature, check out previous entries:
Books Remembered #1: Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles
Books Remembered #2: The Magic Faraway Tree

Books Remembered #2: The Magic Faraway Tree

This is a new feature that reminiscing about books or even series that I read over and over again. Or even a book read once that changed the way I looked at life. It can be a book from childhood or a modern series I just can’t get enough off. It’s not a review of the book(s) but merely remembering the impact it had on me and how it’s shaped my reading habits and likes –what made that book(s) memorable. Feel free to join in with your own books remembered.

This week on Books Remembered I want to talk (or write as the case is!) about one the first fantasy books I ever read – the Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. These days Blyton has fallen out of favour for her old fashioned views and outdated treatment of women among other things. In fact, that was all pretty much true when I read these books about 22 years ago. But being seven/eight years old, I never really noticed those things. What fascinated me was this massive tree in the forest where all these strange people lived – all sorts of different people including Moon-face and Silkie the fairy and Wassisname – who no-one could remember his real name. There was the guy who was always snoring and Saucepan Man who wore saucepans. Every day a different land would come to rest at the top the tree, so when the three children who lived near the woods climbed to the top they found themselves having all sorts of fun adventures – from the Rocking land, to the land made of sweets to the school land run by a very strict headmistress. Each day would bring something different – literally a land of possibilities and they never knew what would happen. To a young child starting to use her imagination this was beautiful story telling – fantasy indeed. Even leaving the tree once you got to the top involved a slide down to the bottom again!

There were three books about the Magic Faraway Tree and their adventures and I loved them all. I would get them out from my local library as often as I could and re-read them over and over. It was a literal escape where any world you could think off could happen – at the same time the children learnt about themselves and were punished for being naughty. While it was a very black and white world – it helped shaped my imagination and has certainly impacted my reading habits since. I haven’t read these books in a long time and I don’t really want to – the idea of picking through these books with older, more cynical eyes would somehow ruin the fond memories I have of them. I prefer to remember The Magic Faraway Tree as the first books to show me that books were about more than words – they could contain whole worlds – as sometimes more than one.

Books Remembered #1: Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles

This is a new feature that I want to introduce reminiscing about books or even series that I read over and over again. Or even a book read once that changed the way I looked at life. It can be a book from childhood or a modern series I just can’t get enough off. It’s not a review of the book(s) but merely remembering the impact it had on me and how it’s shaped my reading habits and likes –what made that book(s) memorable. Feel free to join in with your own books remembered.

This week I remember Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.

Interview with the Vampire

Queen of the Damned

First up in Books Remembered has to be Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles – specifically the first three books – Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. I read these books when I was a teenager and they had a huge impact on me. Even now I pull them out of the bookcase every couple of years and dive back into the Gothic world of New Orleans. They were perhaps my first introduction to ‘adult vampires’ - here vampires weren’t teenagers or the strange old  man, but creatures of darkness, revelling in blood. These vampires were fully rounded characters and their eternal life is forever influenced by their human life, before 'the Dark Gift'. It was their human emotions that defined them and while I could relate to them, they scared me as well.

Why do I remember these books so well? It was the emotion and the language these books provoked that has always stayed with me. After reading one, I came away wanting to speak in beautiful flowery language and longed for the deep melancholy Rice conjured with her characters. I loved the story – the movement through time and the action especially when you see it from different views. Lestat as viewed from Louis eyes in Interview with the Vampire was a very different creature to the one Lestat himself showed in The Vampire Lestat – yet they are both the same character and I could see how there was no difference between them.

In a similar way these three books each tell a complete story on their own but together create a multi-layered history of vampires and their history. They really are books that complement each other but don’t repeat the same thinly veiled story over again. It’s something missing in the rest of the Vampire Chronicles , the sense of wonder, that anything can happen and surprise. Not that the other books aren’t good reads on their own, but these three books are the ones that really made me fall in love in vampires – long before Edward Cullen came along. Anne Rice really started the Vampire as we know them today and there are few vampires that are as well portrayed. If you haven’t read them, pick them up – in fact I might visit New Orleans again as well and disappear into the Garden District...