A friend of mine came up with a rather nifty question recently: compile a short list of books specifically meant to help somebody understand you. These are not (necessarily) non-fiction books that catalogue your particular disorders or quirks, but books that especially resonate with you, that express a facet of you in book form.
Here’s my list:
Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth: Slavery, insanity, the relationship between religion and commerce, high-seas adventure, the nature of justice—read this book to understand how I feel sometimes about humanity as a whole. But if you can’t be arsed to wade through several hundred pages of slaveship shenanigans, “Humanity I love you” by E.E. Cummings condenses that attitude into a few scathing stanzas.
The BFG by Roald Dahl: Look, it’s a book about the friendship between a little girl and a farting giant who dispenses dreams. If you can’t figure out why this is on my list, you obviously don’t know me at all.
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: When I was a little girl, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to marry Mowgli, or just be him. Hell, it’s still true.
A Primate’s Memoir by Robert Sapolsky: It’s about animals. It’s about Africa. It’s about the relationship between humans and animals. It’s about (the futility of) conservation (in the face of human industrialization and progress). It’s about an awkward nerd bumbling his way through a completely alien environment. It’s funny. And it’s utterly heartbreaking. If I were a neurotic Jewish neurocientist haring off to the wilds of Africa to study baboon immune systems instead of a neurotic Chinese technical-writer-and-soon-to-be-law student in the urban tameness of Portland, this would’ve been a book about me.
The Windflower by Laura London: This book probably captures a lot more of what I think love is like and what I want love to be than I’m comfortable with. And yes, that absolutely does mean I wish I were a charming American ingénue kidnapped by a high-born British privateer and brought onto his ship, where I proceed to charm all of the crew and the pet pig.
The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne: I am an unholy combination of Pooh and Owl.
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser: This book utterly changed the way I looked at food.
Wasted by Marya Hornbacher: Like many women I know, I don’t have an eating disorder, but I think very much like somebody who has one, and that fact was driven home very strongly by this book. It was eerie, reading exactly how I felt about my body expressed in somebody else’s words.
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson: The reason why this one is on the list should be pretty self-evident, I think.
Animal Farm by George Orwell probably best expresses the way I view politics and the nature of revolution in book form, while
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes expresses why I think it’s important to keep fighting, anyway.
This last one is cheating, because it’s not a book, but “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot, more than any other work of art, resonates with my emotional space, barring certain Bach concertos. (God, how emo is that shit?)
What books are on your list?
This list is by no means complete, but here are the ones off the top of my head:
Bride of the McHugh by Jan Cox Spea – which I have learned is available on Amazon.com. It was my first romance. I read it until it split into 2 halves and my mother through one half away.
Imago by Octavia Butler – the first time I read this I recognized this character as exemplifying my bisexuality. The play of gender is brilliant.
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett – oh, how I wished that I could imagine something wonderful and have it come true…
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper – again an example of fantasy and reality mixing in complete perfection.
Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes – about letting go of denial and facing reality…and funny, too.
The Color of Light by William Goldman
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
Camp Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th by Peter Bracke
A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series by David Kalat
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
Blue Moon by Laure Altom (I hoped I spelled that right)
Unearthed by C.J. Barry
Oh, I forget two:
A Prayer for Owen Meaney and A Widow for One Year by John Irving.
Really, there’s only two:
This Lullabye- Sarah Dessen
Kushiel’s Justice- Jacqueline Carey
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Friendship, family and animals.
North and South by John Jakes
What can I say? I wanted to be Ashton Maine – beautiful, bitchy, rich.
A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter
I totally grokked the relationship between Elnora and her mother.
Song of Songs by King Solomon
I’m not religous, but you don’t have to be to appreciate this book. It’s beautiful, sensual: what I secretly wish a lover to feel for me. You have to take a class on it.
Something Under the Bed is Drooling by Bill Watterson
Calvin, U R my hero.
Turnabout by Thorne Smith
What I wish I could do to half the people in this world.
I’m sure I’m missing a dozen or so, but this is what I immediately thought of.
I had to read all 1000 pages of Don Quixote in high school. No thx!
List:
A Very Long Engagement by Sebastian Japrisot
Santana Rose by Olga Bicos
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Dune by Frank Herbert
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Fire and Rain by Elizabeth Lowell
The Siege by Helen Dunmore
Atonement by Ian McEwan
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Imagining Argentina by Lawrence Thornton
Wow, what a question. This is one of those things I imagine my subconscious is going to chew on for days. I mean, do I list my favorite books because if they’re favorites that must mean there’s something in them that speaks to or about something about me? Or do I list ones which speak about life and people and humanity in a way that I think would remind other peope of me (or that I hope reminds other people of me)? Or maybe ones which aren’t necessarily favorites, but that are works about things that are important to me? Or all of the above plus more?
One certainty is that The Waste Land would be on my list. Eep, that looks rather depressing on the surface of things so I suppose I’d better quickly add Dining-Room Tea so no one will feel compelled to call the suicide patrol.
Ok,this is pretty much off the top of my head here:
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The World According to Garp by John Irving
84,Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Men,Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the modern horror film by Carol J. Clover
Promethea,Book I and II by Alan Moore
And yes, that absolutely does mean I wish I were a charming American ingénue kidnapped by a high-born British privateer and brought onto his ship, where I proceed to charm all of the crew and the pet pig.
Candy, you rock my world.
Hmm, what a great question. Here’s what I could think of:
Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl: this book completely changed the way I think about life.
The Next Place by Warren Hanson: this book helped me deal with the loss of my father.
Lisa, Bright and Dark by John Neufeld: I read this as a teen and it resonated so deep for me. I should have known then what I know now…
Ogre, Ogre by Piers Anthony: the book that got me hooked on the fantasy genre.
and most recently: The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak: this book is simply eautiful. There are no words for how much it moved me.
My Childhood—-
Bastard Out of Carolina, Prince of Tides—- Yeah, that bad
Pippy Longstocking, Little House on the Prairie—- And that good.
The Little Princess, ALL of Grimms Fairy Tales—- Imagination got me through the bad.
My Adulthood—
Mama Makes Up Her Mind , Steel Magnolias/Ya Ya Sisterhood, Sweet Potato Queens Books
My Life—-
The Hobbit—- I live in the woods in my safe little house with all my critters and I don’t wanna travel or have any adventures,thankyouverymuch.
Living a Beautiful Life—- What I’m trying to do.
The Secret Garden—My yard
Doubleday Cookbooks, Julia Childs Cookbooks, White Trash Cooking—Food is my life.
Shils & Young’s Nutrition in Health and Disease—- My fav reference book at work.
Costuming Throughout the Ages—I LIVE for costumes!
Dr. DooLittle—- Did I mention I had animals??? Lots.
My Dancing—-
Grandmother’s Secrets & Tales of the Arabian Nights
My Politics—
Atlas Shrugged and The Law (Bastiat)
My Romance (s)
Outlander—What I’d like
After the Night (yes, Linda Howard)—- First hubby, Love of my life—Croaked
Gaslight—- Second marriage—- Not nice at all—- Croaked too.
(How those toasters keep falling in the bathtub I’ll never know!!!)
I’ll list 10 that resonate with me as “my” books:
The Once and Future King—T.H. White
As A Driven Leaf—Milton Steinberg
Midsummer Moon—Laura Kinsale
The Grand Sophy—Georgette Heyer
Guns, Germs and Steel—Jared Diamond
The Elements of Style—Strunk and White
The St. Johns, A Parade of Diversities—Branch Cabell
The Complete Works of Saki
Lord of Light—Roger Zelazny
Black God’s Shadow—C.L. Moore
JMO – a shrink would have a lot of fun with these lists…not criticising, just commenting. And no way I’m brave enough to give you mine!
OMG – “criticising” – my spelling’s going British or Canadian or something! Help!
This is hard, but here are ten.
-“I Capture the Castle” by Dodie Smith
-“Tithe” by Holly Black
-The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder (the reason I’m an actor—I wanted to grow up and be Laura)
-“Theatre Shoes” by Noel Steadfeild (I’m not Sorrel? Are you sure?)
-“Neverwhere” by Neil Gaiman
-“Persuasion” by Jane Austen
-“North and South” by Elizabeth Gaskell
-Some freaky, traditional fairy tales
-“A Great and Terrible Beauty” by Libba Bray
-The Harry Potter series by J K Rowling (they are insanely political and about fighting corrupt regiems, but no one ever notices)
I may have to add more, later.
oo great question!!
Collodi’s “Pinocchio” I learned to read using a circa 1930s edition, wanting things you cant have, getting in trouble and looking like an ass, real friendship, and miracles. Life epitomized!
Pamela Morisi’s “Sweetwater” series, believe it or not, rural kentucky in the 70s wasn’t much different than her early 20th century portrayals.
Grimm’s fairy tales, life is full of horror and magic around every corner!
Mitchell’s “Gone with the wind” I learned how to be a bitch from that book in 9th grade.
Sandra Hill’s “Very Virile Viking”
cuz I know if a hunky sexy viking ever showed up to rock my world, he’d bring along a boatload of snot nosed kids and knock me up. just my freakin luck.
Ughhh! Damn thing ate my post and after I slaved over it! Well, let’s try this again.
A Southern Belle Primer: Or Why Princess Margaret Will Never Be a Kappa Kappa Gamma by Marylyn Schwartz, which has been reissued for the current generation with Paris Hilton replacing Princess Margaret: It explained to a naive California girl what it truly meant to be a southern woman. The essays are hilarious and quite true.
The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe: The book that really for the first time allowed me to get to know my dark and moody side.
Happiness is a Warm Puppy by Charles M. Schulz: The book that made me realize that sometimes happiness is just the simple things in life. Amazing life lesson for the age of 7.
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara: A novel of the Civil War that resonates with the historian in my soul.
Centennial by James A. Michener: Another historian novel, the scope of it always appealed to me. And some of the male characters made my high school heart go pitter-patter.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis: Magic, hardship, and faith.
The Shattered Chain by Marion Zimmer Bradley: A story of feminism and friendship.
Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon: A man (OK, so he’s a shapeshifter) falling in love with a woman and her curves, makes me melt every time I read it.
Edith Head’s Hollywood by Edith Head: Tasteful gossip, gorgeous clothing, and old time Hollywood from a woman who worked in a man’s world. She was a bitch with style.
The Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents by Cormac O’Brien: Yes, even Grover Cleveland had some funny moments. Not all history has to be boring.
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck: Life can always be worse.
Always a Lady by Sharon Sala: Because sometimes a cowboy is all a girl needs.
Shoot me, it’s more than ten but I’m a bit amazed it’s as eclectic as it is. This was harder than I thought it would be.
*Gales of laughter* Love that Rebyj, just freakin’ love that.
Hehe. I learned that being a bitch is cool, even if people want you to be “nice.”
Good call!
The Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
Knowing you are old before your time.
The Annotated Alice by Lewis Carroll
“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”
Derricks by James Barr
Most people who know classic gay writers remember Quatrefoil. They forget Barr’s short stories and his writing about blue collar gay men. A very rare example of such writing and a lost classic.
The Catch Trap by Marion Zimmer Bradley
One of the classic Gay Romance novels and so hard to find.
Neuromancer by William Gibson
“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
Wild Animals I Have Known: Polk Street Diaries and After by Kevin Bentley
Echoes of a time in San Francisco before AIDS. Took me forever to read it remembering all my friends and lovers I have lost.
The Bluejackets Manual by Thomas J. Cutler
10 years as a NAVY submariner and yes I have my original copy.
Mr. Benson by John Preston
John had the first copy I read and he showed me much more than this book will ever show you but for a real bdsm gay romance it is well worth reading.
I’m probably second-ing a few, but hey.
Fiction
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.
The Speech of Angels by Sharon Maas.
Peacocks Dancing by Sharon Maas.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.
The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. (What?)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding. (Oh, hush. Y’all were thinking it.)
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind.
Non-Fiction
My DK Essential Shakespeare Handbook because if I could marry the photography and layout, I would. I love all their travel books, too.
Jewels: A Secret History by Victoria Finlay
The Element Encyclopaedia of Secret Societies and Hidden History by John Michael Green.
From Brokenness to Community by Jean Vanier.
In-Betweens:
The Essential Rumi and Rumi: The Book of Love, translated by Coleman Barks.
Ghost Stories and Mysterious Creatures of British Columbia by Barbara Smith. (Because who needs to sleep?)
OMG, Bella went and mentioned Thorne [!] Smith. Gods, how I loved his writing. Racy and sophisticated in the same breath.
Lessee, my list *must* include:
Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke
anything by Ray Bradbury
anything by Fritz Leiber
anything by Joanna Russ
anything by Laura Kinsale
But seriously, my list goes on, like, forever. Some folks just got a way with words, y’know?
spamfoiler = method 62. Hehhhhh.
Oh, God, I can’t believe I forgot Emily Carr and everything she ever wrote. Particularily Growing Pains. I’m halfway through it and have to choke back tears every two pages because apparently being a somewhat emo twenty-something isn’t new and she just expresses things in this fantastic way that just sticks with you.
Oh, man, this is one of those lists that I keep in my head and update as I find new books that resonate.
Dealing With Dragons (and Searching For Dragons) by Wrede – that perfect book found at exactly the right moment in my childhood that totally gave me a reason to keep being myself.
Dakota, a Spiritual Geography by Norris – all the reasons I long for home (rural NE) but will probably never live there again in just one beautiful book of essays.
Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera – “For Franz music was the art that comes closest to Dionysian beauty in the sense of intoxication. No one can get really drunk on a novel or a painting, but who can help getting drunk on Beethoven’s Ninth, Bartok’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, or the Beatles’ White Album? . . . He considered music a liberating force: it liberated him from loneliness, introversion, the dust of the library; it opened the door of his body and allowed his soul to step out into the world and make friends.”
Little Princess by Burnett – I still reread this every year. I’ve always wished I could be both that genuinely good and that creative. I keep trying.
All in the Timing – because my life is, quite often, a slapstick comedy. No one does short comedy better than David Ives.
Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? & Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss – seriously.
Too Much Noise by Ann McGovern – because.
Return of the Lone Iguana (or possibly Bury My Heart at Fun-Fun Mountain) by Amend – any strips involving Jason and his X-Files (or Star Trek) action figures are basically me & my friends from jr. high and high school.
Big Sister Little Sister by LeUyen Pham – I’m the big sister in my family.
Cyrano de Bergerac – so smart. so romantic. so lovely.
OK, let’s see.
A Wrinkle in Time
by Madeleine L’Engle (as a kid, her look at love and how that’s all that matters resonated, and I periodically reread that book every few years.)
House Like a Lotus
also by L’Engle (because a mentor of mine came out to me before I read the book, so it sticks with me, and I saw a lot of Polly in me).
Welcome to the Arc
by Stephanie Tolan (This got me interested in modern fantasy as a genre, although I find it a bit too preachy for my comfort nowadays.)
Dreams Underfoot
by Charles de Lint (Man, I wish I lived in Newford.)
Any given one of the Miles Vorkosigan books by Bujold (because Miles manages to be a kickass hero while coping with a very obvious disability. I’ve got one of those very obvious disabilities, too, so I admire his character.)
Women of Wonder
by Pamela Sergeant (because those collections of feminist SF gave me a love of the genre and informed my fascination with gender issues.)
The Sweet Potato Queens books, because I want to be one of those women when I get to be a certain age.
Cyrano de Bergerac
by Edmund Rostand (I admit it, I totally had a small crush on Cyrano when I read this for class.)
Promises Linger
by Sarah McCarty (strictly because of the hero. Damn, I love me some cowboys.)
I’m sure I’ll think of others later. For now, it is late and my mind is drawing a blank. But I do have to say that I love posts like this, because now I’ve got lots of book recs to consider.
Word, Shannon C. My must-find list just got a whole lot longer!
From my childhood, gotta be anything by L.M. Montgomery. I started with the Anne series and now have every book and story collection ever published, plus a volume of poetry! It gave me hope that even if I totally screwed up, I still had the chance of a happy ending.
When I was a brutally emo teenager (before emo was even a word), Winter of Fire by Sherryl Jordan absolutely sustained me. Between my sister and I we’ve read this book at least 70 times. Elsha rises from nothing, and never loses who she truly is. She refuses to be defined by what other people think of her. I love that.
Jane Eyre is a book I refuse to live without. I could almost call her a soul-sister, because of how I resonate with her needs and struggles. She also never loses herself.
As a woman writer (even if still an unpublished one), Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own has been my battle cry. I read it at least once a year.
And the Key Trilogy by Nora Roberts just makes me squee each time I read it. I want to be Dana Steele when-and if-I ever grown up.
looked95? That’s just cruel.
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Cider House Rules
Confederacy of Dunces
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
The Catcher in the Rye
Ashes in the Wind
Pride and Prejudice
Outlander Series
Kushiel series
All in the Family series
Chronicles of Narnia
Not in chronologically significant order
This last one is cheating, because it’s not a book, but “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock†by T.S. Eliot, more than any other work of art, resonates with my emotional space,
You know, Candy, I read this blog every single day, and all the comments, but I never feel like I have anything to add to the conversation, so I just lurk.
Well, I still don’t have much to add, except, I love you. I love you because you perfectly expressed why The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is my favorite poem. I don’t care if it is emo, because I have never read a poem that hit me like Prufrock. I have heard the mermaids calling, each to each…
As for my books:
Gone With the Wind—A lot of people don’t like Scarlett. I adore her. Because she’s a shallow, thoughtless, self-centered, downright awful person, but she kept her family together, and she faced down the Union army, and she lived her life on her terms, and she’s a fighter.
Don Quixote—The most exquisite novel. I’m learning Spanish right now so I can read it as Cervantes wrote it. It’s just perfect.
East of Eden—the book I always wished I could write.
The Dark Tower Series—Eh, all of them. I can’t narrow it down to one.
Don Quixote, of which I read all 1050 pages in seventh grade, and only waited that long because my parents wanted me to finish the elementary school reading program first. How I react to it is a good chart of where I fall on the cynicism scale at the time of any given reread.
Cyrano de Bergerac, the guy I’m not sure if I’d rather marry or be.
Les Miserables, or at least the bits about the student revolutionaries, one of whom made it abundantly clear that just because you worship a guy like Don Quixote or Cyrano doesn’t mean that you can pull it off yourself.
Jane Eyre I don’t really have to explain this one, do I?
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, specifically the version which he adapted as a play himself, which contains some cool new monologues for Captain Beatty. I firmly believe this is the dystopia we have to worry the most about.
Passionate Sage by Joseph J. Ellis, a biography of John Adams, my hero.
Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong, because it’s got to say something about me that I seem to be in the small minority that likes Paige better than Elena as a narrator.
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, because as she says in the introduction “while I am obsessed with death, I am against it.”
The Stuff of Dreams by Leah Hager Cohen. Community theater was a big part of my life through high school and most of college, and this book captures what it’s like perfectly.
Oh how fun. I posted mine on my blog. 🙂
Wow, never thougt it would be this hard to pick ten books. Well, here we go:
1.) Are you there God, it’s me Margaret : Judy Blume
2.) Dante’s Inferno
3.) The Odessy: Homer
4.) Lysistrata : Aristophenes
5.) Plato’s Republic
6.) To Kill a Mockingbird : Harper Lee
7.) 1984 : George Orwell
8.) Brave New World: Aldous Huxley
9.) The Flame and the Flower: Kathleen Woodwiss
10.) All the Harry Potter series but book 7 is top!
Although not in my top ten but definately high on the list are anything by Ray Bradbury and Jane Austen.
Each book taught me to view the world not as it seems but as it really is. I couldn’t be who I am today without them.
Oh wow, where to start. At least one from every list that has been posted so far 😉
Ah well, posting to my blog so I can revise and add things 😉
phyllisphamily.blogspot.com
This is hard! I don’t think I can give any specific titles, but the common thread in my favorite books is self vs society.
Brideshead Revisited
Trainspotting
Sunshine
The Wind In The Willows
Tarzan Of The Apes
The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn
Artemis Fowl
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
Sherlock Holmes-The Speckled Band
Ghosts I Have Been
The Red Trailer Mystery
I saw HOUSE LIKE A LOTUS on Shannon C.‘s list… yes! I loved that book as a kid and still do. Polly is/was me, only with a way cooler childhood.
My list (in progress):
A WRINKLE IN TIME by L’Engle
EVENINGS AT FIVE by Gail Godwin
THE LORD OF THE RINGS by Tolkien
XAIPE by E. E. Cummings
BABY by Patricia MacLachlan
TUCK EVERLASTING by Natalie Babbit
etc.
Oh wow, this is a thing I’ll need some days to think about. Straight away one book hit me, though: Romancing Mr. Bridgerton. It says a lot about me, both with what I’m like and who I fall for.
I’ve been pondering this one because, dood. Good Question. And I’ve thought of two I can conclusively list on my List. Oh, the shame.
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal: Not only is this book so funny both Hubby and I hyperventilated, but it was the first narrative through which I could appreciate Christ as a person and as a religious concept, which was ironic because by the time I read it, I had already converted to Judaism.
Midsummer Magic: Oh yes, the cream. This book’s position on my keeper shelf as the first romance I ever read confirms two things about me: 1. Even if it’s howlingly bad, sentimental value can trump quality any time with me, and 2. I’m a sucker for heroines who pull one over on the hero.
I read Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal when I was out of action because I hurt my back, and ANY movement was excedingly painful. It was the first Christopher Moore book that I read, and each time I laughed(which was often) i was in pain, but the book was sooo good i kept reading through the pain. I am not in any sense relgious, but I thought it was a great look at the Christ.
The book got mailed to every member of my family as aft3erwards as each person who read it kept saying that everyone else *HAD* to read it.
Maybe ya’all can help me in finding a book actually. I have been trying to remember the names or author of these books for years, and no-one reconizes them from my description 🙁
Main protaganest is a british boy who is an orphan and gets sent toa boarding school (this was WAY before harry potter came onto the secene, so do not suggest HIM). He ends up spending his vacation at his greataunt or some elderly female reletive at the old family castle. Anyway, he ends up going on adventures back into time with varius ancestors.
Does this sound at all familier to anyone? Cause I have to say I loved these books and would list them if I knew their names or other info.
thanks, jordana
Jordana—That sounds like L.M. Boston’s The Children of Greene Knowe and its sequels, all of which are marvelous.
//relurking