So many books, so little time

Way back in 1993, I was a 13-year-old that was just about to go on a cross Canada trip with my family for a summer vacation. I was huge into fantasy at the time, and a family friend lent me the first four books of the Wheel of Time series. I quickly took to them and spent a lot of the travel time/down time reading them. At the end of the summer, I had finished the 4th book and was impatiently waiting for another (I figured that the 5th – and obviously last – book should be coming out soon, and I distinctly recall thinking that it should only take the author a couple of months to write it, for some dumb reason).

When the 5th book came out, I picked it up as soon as I could and tore through it quickly, only to find – again – that the story was not yet done. Which then set up the following pattern that I followed for almost a decade:

1. New book comes out.

2. I re-read all prior books to refresh my memory as to what is going on in the story.

3. I read the new book, only the find out that the story is not yet done.

I followed this pattern until Crossroads at Twilight (Book 10 - 2003), at which point I decided that I was done with that pattern, and I was going to wait until the series was finished once and for all. So, I put the books back on the shelf….and for a long, long time, I forgot about them. My favorite genre, fantasy, did not appeal to me as much as it used to, and I went on a very long non-fiction kick – and primarily only read during my commutes on the train (which totaled for 3 hours each day). My life changed….I got into a relationship, got married…then moved somewhere where I no longer had that commute, and my reading as a whole just….stopped. That was about 10 years ago, and without commuting to set aside the time, my recreational reading just abruptly ended.

That hiatus came to an end a couple of years ago, when I rediscovered the library and started to get back into reading fiction. (It’s a good way to unwind before bed). Then, just about a year ago, I had to move some of my books and I found that I still had the WoT series….and a quick search revealed that the series is now indeed complete (and that Robert Jordan died? Like 15 years ago?). I figured that now was a good a time to finish the series as any, and started to plug away that them again, finally finishing A Memory of Light just the other day. I’m glad I did, not only for the story itself, but because of a couple of things I realized while re-reading the books – which I guess is the whole point of my preamble 😊

1. Re-reading the books not only reminded me of the story as when I originally read it, but also of the people I was with and the places I was in when I was reading them. That family trip came back into mind. Reading in my room when I still lived with my parents. Being in university and reading them again – as well as my first place after graduating. Family and friends that I had spent time with. The family friend who lent me the original books way back has been gone for a long time now, as is one of my parents. Friends that I was inseparable from during the original reads are now far flung, with time and distance making visitations a rare thing. It was opening a window back to my younger self, and it was not something I was expecting when I started my re-read.

2. Being now in my early 40’s, instead of my early teens/early twenties has changed how I view characters or some writing tropes that occurred within the series, and not always for the better:

• Teenage Me – Why are all the main characters treated like kids? They are obviously old enough and mature enough for what they are doing.

• 42 year-old me – YOU. ARE. ALL. KIDS. Even the ones in their 20's.