the power of suggestion
Aug. 22nd, 2006 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
verbicideBack in college, my then-boyfriend started to read to me a little book called Eye of the World.
It was part of this fantasy series called The Wheel of Time. And it was only because I loved him so much that I let him do this, because it wasn't really my genre. He was obsessed with the series and just needed to share it.
So he started. And at first I have to admit, I would tune out a little. I'm not one for books-on-tape either, and I just couldn't follow along so much. Eventually I bought a copy to read so that I would have a clue, and I found myself surprised at how intrigued I was.
And I started to rip through the books, racing ahead (which I finally confessed to him, to his minor annoyance, because he loved to read out-loud and wanted to be there when some major plot-lines were revealed).
I got into the series, and in a way, moved beyond his obsession into my own, because I started following a newsgroup (rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan) which opened my eyes to an entire area of the 'net I hadn't known about, and an entire education on netiquette and How Not To Make A Total Ass of Yourself When Amongst Other Humans which I genuinely found valuable.
I also joined a less prolific e-mail list about the books. It was there that I first met Sarah, who was the most precocious and most excellent fifteen-year old in the history of the world. I thought she was both hilarious and adorable and well worth chatting with on IRC.
I also made other good friends through rasfwrj and continued to read the books, though my interest in the newsgroup became largely unrelated to the books themselves (the discussions on current events, politics, movies, books--all fascinating, and some of the brightest and most interesting people I would ever encounter on the net).
After reading the books once, I was sort of done with them. As the series continued, I liked it less and less and didn't have the years of re-reading (while waiting for new books) that the members of the group did, and thus, had far less invested, and far less attention to nuances and details. I didn't think less of people for it, but I just didn't share in the passion.
Eventually, I think the books turned to utter crap and I stopped reading them much earlier than the true fans and figured I would never read them again.
But lately, Sarah has started reading them again. And she keeps talking about them, goddammit! About little bits of storyline that I genuinely loved and characters I cared about. And now, I think, I may actually have to read it again. So she's bringing me Eye of the World tonight, and I just want on record that this is all her fault!! *stamps feet and tugs on imaginary braid* (Book ref, please feel free to disregard.)
The series is so funny to me, because in my mind it will always be tied to my first, and only love and also to my friendship with Sarah, which has been one of the best things in my life.
Anyhow. Had to share. And also, I may be burbling about this now and then. Or not. I don't know. It's a mystery. Also, I need a good book icon!
(Of course I want to leave work NOW and go read this and not be bothering about with this whole work thing.)
It was part of this fantasy series called The Wheel of Time. And it was only because I loved him so much that I let him do this, because it wasn't really my genre. He was obsessed with the series and just needed to share it.
So he started. And at first I have to admit, I would tune out a little. I'm not one for books-on-tape either, and I just couldn't follow along so much. Eventually I bought a copy to read so that I would have a clue, and I found myself surprised at how intrigued I was.
And I started to rip through the books, racing ahead (which I finally confessed to him, to his minor annoyance, because he loved to read out-loud and wanted to be there when some major plot-lines were revealed).
I got into the series, and in a way, moved beyond his obsession into my own, because I started following a newsgroup (rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan) which opened my eyes to an entire area of the 'net I hadn't known about, and an entire education on netiquette and How Not To Make A Total Ass of Yourself When Amongst Other Humans which I genuinely found valuable.
I also joined a less prolific e-mail list about the books. It was there that I first met Sarah, who was the most precocious and most excellent fifteen-year old in the history of the world. I thought she was both hilarious and adorable and well worth chatting with on IRC.
I also made other good friends through rasfwrj and continued to read the books, though my interest in the newsgroup became largely unrelated to the books themselves (the discussions on current events, politics, movies, books--all fascinating, and some of the brightest and most interesting people I would ever encounter on the net).
After reading the books once, I was sort of done with them. As the series continued, I liked it less and less and didn't have the years of re-reading (while waiting for new books) that the members of the group did, and thus, had far less invested, and far less attention to nuances and details. I didn't think less of people for it, but I just didn't share in the passion.
Eventually, I think the books turned to utter crap and I stopped reading them much earlier than the true fans and figured I would never read them again.
But lately, Sarah has started reading them again. And she keeps talking about them, goddammit! About little bits of storyline that I genuinely loved and characters I cared about. And now, I think, I may actually have to read it again. So she's bringing me Eye of the World tonight, and I just want on record that this is all her fault!! *stamps feet and tugs on imaginary braid* (Book ref, please feel free to disregard.)
The series is so funny to me, because in my mind it will always be tied to my first, and only love and also to my friendship with Sarah, which has been one of the best things in my life.
Anyhow. Had to share. And also, I may be burbling about this now and then. Or not. I don't know. It's a mystery. Also, I need a good book icon!
(Of course I want to leave work NOW and go read this and not be bothering about with this whole work thing.)
