Windy Preamble

This is likely to be the first in a series that will lie alongside”Maybe She Takes After…” (which so far stands as a collection of one, but nevermind).

Just as I keep finding evidence of my forebears in everything I do: I blog experience like Grandpa Paul, I proofread like mymother, I find much to be curious about in the natural world, as does my sister and as did my Grandma Trudy, I like to take long walks and look at buildings, like my architect father, I liked Latin/I married a Latin teacher; it goes on and on and I’ll probably write about every connection I can, eventually.

Anyway, just like this sort of influence, another exists. This sort are my written ancestors, rather than my cellular ones. There are certain books I find I must keep by me, even if I do not re-read them very often. These are the ones that made sucha strong impression on me the first time around that I need to see their faces (or at least their raggedy spines). Each one made the top of my head fly off in some fashion or another, and, collectively, they’ve become twisted up in the DNA of my writing practice and obsessions.The list (which only includes a scant half-dozen of what I stumbled upon before college) includes the following:

• The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
• The Earliest English Poems
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Til We Have Faces
• The Norman Conquests
• The Golden Notebook

(I’ll explain why in future posts about each of these.)