What I’m reading

[rolanni]

In another venue, I mentioned that, thanks to Project Gutenberg, I am at the moment reading Treasure Island.

For the first time.

And loving it.

…which is something of a surprise.

See, I downloaded Treasure Island because I figured it would be an easy book to put down. Which is to say, the perfect book to be “reading” while I’m actually supposed to be writing.

I had a reason for this opinion.

Sometime back pre-teen, I was given a copy of Treasure Island in a box-full of books handed down from my cousin, Davey Crockett (Well. From my cousin David. Who dressed like Davey Crockett whenever possible and once even managed to wear a coonskin cap and Indian moccasins into church.). Besides Treasure Island, there was Kim and Kidnapped and Robinson Crusoe and The Prince and the Pauper, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Last of the Mohicans, and who knows what all else.

I was quite a reader as a kid, and I dove right in. Tom Sawyer was…ok, and I had similar feelings for Huck Finn. The Last of the Mohicans didn’t make much sense, but I read it anyway.

Then, I picked up Treasure Island — and bounced.

Hard.

I tried to keep going, but my reading soul rebelled. I put Treasure Island aside for later and dove back into the box.

And in quick succession bounced equally hard off of Robinson Crusoe, Kim, and Kidnapped.

Happily for me, The Prince and the Pauper was still in the box waiting to be discovered, like Hope. That book, I read until I could recite whole passages. Until the binding broke and I nagged my grandmother to glue it back together for me. I read it more often than I read Jane Eyre, another favorite of about that time, along with The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.

I did, finally, many, many years later read Robinson Crusoe. If it hadn’t been required for a class, I wouldn’t have finished it that time, either. Silly sort of book. And that experience confirmed me in my opinion of Kim and Kidnapped, by association. And Treasure Island, too.

Reading it now, I can’t spot the reason why I bounced so hard. It gets on its bike from the very first word and just keeps riding. There are some words that I certainly wouldn’t have known, but there were certainly strange and unknown words in The Prince and the Pauper, so that wasn’t the problem. It may simply have been that I found the narrator’s voice dull, or — well, who knows, at this point.

But, I wonder, you know, if I ought to go on over to Project Gutenberg and download, oh — Kim, and maybe Kidnapped, too.

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

i don't know if i would have liked Kim as much if I had read it earlier, but i didn't get around to it until i was in college. then again, i love Kipling, bless his imperialistic little heart...

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

Kipling wears a lot better than many of his contemporaries who on the surface seem to be more in line with present-day thought -- the places where he's at odds with modern ways of thinking are right there on the surface where the reader can see them coming, instead of being buried among the unstated assumptions several layers down where they lurk like traps for the unwary.

[(Anonymous)]

Recently re-read "KIm" as ebook. Greatly enjoyed it.
Hope you do too.
Peggy

[kimuro.livejournal.com]

LOL. I'm reading Treasure Island at the moment as well, in Gaelic. I'd read it before, for myself and outloud to my sons during a long car trip. I like it. But I'm getting more out of it now, I think, because of having to stop and think about the words and how they fit together.

I liked Kim a lot when I read it. Can't remember ever reading Robinson Crusoe or Kidnapped, though.

[shana.livejournal.com]

I downloaded Kim, and will try it when I am done with the current mood for mysteries. For some reason R. Austin Freeman is hitting the spot right now, and the science isn't as hilarious as in Arthur B. Reeve's Craig Kennedy stories.

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

I still can't finish The Lord of the Rings, but I loved The Hobbit and Treasure Island and everything by Kipling.

I also enjoyed Disney's Treasure Planet, which is Treasure Island done in Steampunk Spelljammer.

I am a sucker for anything with sailboats, and adored Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons () series.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

I got what must have been a similiar series of classics from a great-uncle -- and I LOVED Treasure Island! I, too, sometimes still hear Cap'n Flint*parrot voice* "Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight"!

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Re-read Treasure Island several times out loud for the boys. I think we all enjoyed it.

I'd recommend Kim. Not so sure about Kidnapped . . .

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

Kidnapped requires a common cultural knowledge of Scots & English history in general and the Jacobite rebellions in particular that's not available to most US readers, especially young ones.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

I'm still bouncing off _Treasure Island_, but the middle of _Kidnapped_ was quite good. Hm, maybe I should try starting in the middle of _Treasure Island_....

_Kim_ is a whole nother kind of book. Hm. For Kipling, other than _Jungle Book_ and _Just So Stories_, I'd recommend starting with the shortest stories regardless of age level, and working up by length.

[catlinye-maker.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed Kim, coming to it recently after seeing it recommended in the afterword of The Game (a Mary Russell novel) by Laurie R. King. I'd bounced off it in my teens too, so it took said strong recommendation to make me take another look. Couldn't figure out why it didn't appeal the first time around; based on your experience I'll have to take another look at Treasure Island (which was meh in high school.)

kim

[(Anonymous)]

Kim Just- have loved it since I first read it, and re-read about every
4/5 years. And every time like it as much or more. Recently listened to it as an audiobook, while weeding, and found it even more
impressive. Remember liking Kidnapped a lot in my teens, but haven't been tempted since.

Nanette

[adriannem.livejournal.com]

I loved Kim. Kipling has a nice way of describing people and animals, and he's got a tight story sense. I've bounced every time I tried to read Stevenson, so I can't speak for _Kidnapped_.

Congrats

[claire774.livejournal.com]

Congrats on your anniversary of moving to the Cat Farm all those years ago. Great photo. Also thanks for putting up the web site for ordering Ghost Ship.

And...Treasure Island: one eyed one legged pirate with a parrot on his shoulder. Hidden treasure. Treasure map...what's not to love?

Try The Last of the Mohegans on DVD. Possibly my all time favorite movie. Being the story of the very last of the Mohegan tribe wiped out by their rivals the Mohawks ( if my memory serves). Set during the French and Indian wars. Daniel Day-Lewis playing a white man who was raised by the Mohegans. Really good.

More of my excellent advise: you need a 4 wheel drive or front wheel drive vehicle so you can safely get in and out of your house.
C.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I like both Kim and Kidnapped, but have never given Treasure Island another go after the first bounce. So maybe...

Books

[(Anonymous)]

When I was growing up, my grandparents used to give me two books at Christmas time - Robinson Crusoe and Swiss Family Robinson were among the first. At that young age, I took SFR as a true story - enormous boa constrictors, elephants, wild onagers and capybarras included. Robinson Crusoe introduced me to the differences in language between America and England - the man sowed corn, and wheat came up? Then later he sowed maize, and the light began to dawn. Treasure Island was another one with some England type references, but the story carried it along. I never did like the squire! Kim I didn't read until much later and it didn't make that much of an impresion on me - must get it again. Kidnapped didn't seem that great, again, historical references, no doubt. There were also Little Women and Uncle Tom's Cabin, something every girl of that age had to read.

I had trouble learning to read, nobody taught me the alphabet, and between first and second grade I found the alphabet song. From then on, no stopping!

There is so much I haven't read yet,and I am looking forward to your coming output!

Joan C