Books That Are Old Friends

There are readers, and then there are readers, and then there are READERS. I think I am the middle one. I used to think I was the bolded-type version, but have since realized I am not. The bold type is reserved for people who will read anything and everything they can get their hands on, including philosophical rants, biographies of every important political figure who has ever lived, and anything else that they feel may add to their personal knowledge of the world. I am not that type. Nor am I the type who is content to read the paper, whatever is on the Oprah recommended list, and Cosmo.

I am somewhere in the middle. I love to lose myself in a really great book, that sweeps me away into another time, place, or life. Even as a little girl I loved this type of escapist fiction, that could completely capture my imagination so that I felt that I was not just walking in someone else's shoes, but breathing their air. And then, when I have found these gems, I return to them at times to experience the ecstacy again.

I got all caught up watching Michael Crawford on youtube last weekend and decided to reread Phantom. I believe my cousin introduced me to this book, right after I saw the musical and read Gaston Lereux's work. He was always passing me good books then - we were both at a time in our lives when we had lots of leisurely hours available to us, to pour over novels, or stay up all night absorbing page after gripping page.

Written by Susan Kay, the historical novelist who also wrote Legacy (historical fiction about the life of Elizabeth I), it is a much more expansive and personal story than the one told by Lereux, or any film or theatrical version of the story. It tracks the Phantom character (Erik) through the eyes and minds of various other characters, including his mother, and his mentor. It tells an addicting tale of how this man became who he was by the time he reached the point at which we usually meet him, in other versions of the story.

Loving it again...highly recommend it...so dark, and brutal, and beautiful.