Also, I have to tell my ZKS story: When I was 16 or 17, I found her web page and sent her a fan note. In it, i mentioned being sad that The Changeling isn't in print anymore. She wrote back and said she'd send me one of her copies if I gave her my address. I did, and the copy I have now is signed by her. I've always thought that was incredibly nice of her.
That's so cool. The Changeling is one of the few books that made me cry and I still remember so much of it. I've never read The Egypt Game (I should try to find it) but I loved the Stanley family books and The Birds of Summer. I've actually been to her website too and I liked the essays she has there about how she got started as a writer and her writing process.
I liked the essays she has there about how she got started as a writer and her writing process.
I haven't been to her web site in years! I should go look for those.
She's one of the writers who has probably had the most influence on my prose style, if I can be pretentious enough to say I have one. (Shirley Jackson, Kurt Vonnegut, Lorrie Moore and Stephen King would be some of the others. It's an oddball list of influences, but you can't help the voices you hear in your head.)
Oh, the nostalgia! I read Snyder and that tearjerker of the 4th grade set, Willo Davis Roberts, a whole lot during one summer when I was a kid. (Also Alan Garner's
Owl Service,
of which I couldn't make heads or tails, and it wasn't till I was a grownup that I realized that it's just really hard to make heads or tails of him period.)
Black and Blue Magic
and
The Girl with the Silver Eyes
were favorites of mine. Also, Snyder's lesser-known fantasy trilogy starting with
Below the Root. I think that book was my introduction to the fact that books can be about ideas, not just about stories.
I don't remember when I started the Prydain books, but I was obsessed with Alexander's
Westmark
trilogy when I was in the 6th grade. (Also books about ideas, but also funny and character-driven.) Okay, I haven't read a book of Alexander's that I haven't liked.
Also, Snyder's lesser-known fantasy trilogy starting with Below the Root. I think that book was my introduction to the fact that books can be about ideas, not just about stories.
That was the one set of books of hers I was ever unable to finish. But I've never been a huge reader of fantasy -- I couldn't finish A Wrinkle in Time, either.
My brother, who generally does not like to read, has developed a love of Philip K. Dick and William Gibson in the last couple of years (he's 19 now).
Kate, I've read a lot of cyberpunk. Micole's suggestions are good, though I certainly would say there's a link between Dick and Gibson (who cites PKD as a major influence, as do all the cyberpunk writers). I'd highly recommend the anthology
Storming The Reality Studio
which is a very cool primer on the whole movement. Shorts stories and essays and recommended reading and viewing.
I was obsessed with Alexander's Westmark trilogy when I was in the 6th grade
The only book other than the Prydain books which was translated to Hebrew was "Lukas Kasha" (sp?), and it was lots of fun. I'm glad to know that he has written more, because maybe one day I'll be able to put my hands on them and read them for the very first time. I absolutely love the Prydain books, both the excellent translations and the originals (though the names, for me, will always be the translated ones).
Kate, can I add one to Micole's superb list of recs?
My own favourite of the class (and I love Dick and loathe Gibson, so here's another odd tentacle of taste waving out from the central body) is A Canticle for Liebowitz. Especially if he knows the history of the author, which is scary, amazing and powerful.
For the 6-year-old boy, the Oz books are great fun. For the 11-year-old girl, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.
I don't remember when I started the Prydain books, but I was obsessed with Alexander's Westmark trilogy when I was in the 6th grade. (Also books about ideas, but also funny and character-driven.) Okay, I haven't read a book of Alexander's that I haven't liked.
I've always meant to read his books, but I never did. Is it really pathetic to go to the children's section of your local library to check out books for yourself?
