Before reading this posts, it may behoove you to hop over to Anya and Kat’s blogs for their entries titled “The Magic of Storytelling” and “Story Magic” (respectively). Here are my two cents on the subject that we, as friends, discuss often.
One of the oldest traditions of the human race was oral tradition- telling stories, myths, adages, and tales from generation to generation. Stories shape the way we think, teach us lessons, and create new little infinities within our world that are as large and expansive as our imaginations.
Like many students, intellectuals, nerds, and human beings, I took to reading at a very young age. Now, I am not saying I had the pathetically lonely childhood of an outcast, but let’s just say I was not popular (which is entirely overrated, anyhow- but that’s a different discussion). I often reread or look back to short books I loved when I was a kid knowing that there was probably a reason I loved them so much. I realize that a lot of what I read when I was younger greatly affected how I grew up and who I now am as a young adult. One I constantly refer to is Gordon Korman’s No More Dead Dogs, (the title relates to a kid hating how in every famous book the dog always dies in the story) and one part where the kid writes a terrible but truthful book review on a book called Old Shep, My Pal. The quote that I have used many times in regards to books I have been assigned to read by my school is this: “Old Shep, My Pal by Zack Paris is the most boring book I’ve read in my entire life. I did not have a favorite character. I hated everybody equally. The most interesting part came on the last page where it said “The End.” This book couldn’t be any lousier if it came with a letter bomb. I would not recommend it to my worst enemy.” Accurate, concise, and honest.
Moving on, Anya’s blog she discusses the magic of storytelling and what happens when we think and dissect through stories. For me, part of the magic of books and stories is that immense amounts of thought and care are (for a good book) put into the details, to create the environment, the world, the space for the adventure or events to take place. With this being said, looking into the books that I love it is interesting to see what the author adds into the story, tiny details that seem irrelevant but help paint a bigger picture. Kat writes about rereading books, how each time you reread a book you experience the book differently yet at the same time just as you remembered it. And yes, to me there is something greatly magical about this. I always have books that I love and will go back and read knowing that it is a worthwhile and meaningful read (quite like Kat, the Percy Jackson series was a childhood favorite. I also love to reread J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit/ The Lord of The Rings trilogy, anything and everything by John Green, Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, and the list goes on).
I discussed in “The Thing About Deja-Vu” that there is an order to the chaos on my bookshelf. My bookshelf has everything from a 2,000+ page Webster’s Dictionary (unabridged), to The Fault in Our Stars, to Just The Arguments: The 100 Most Important Arguments of Western Philosophy. The order in which the books appear on my shelf is by date that I read them/acquired them (although, there are very few I have yet to read). Walking from left to right on the bookshelf and rereading the books on it is a walk (literally and metaphorically) down memory lane, but every time the books grow a little- I notice another detail, find another joke, or realize something I simply had not before. Books are magical like that- just like humans, they are complex.
Now I will talk about something Anya talked about- movie adaptations (and movies in general). Because I love books and stories so much it is no surprise I have a deep affection for movies. The stories, the actors, the way the film is shot, and possibly above all else the scores written for the soundtrack. Although movies never capture a book entirely (book is always better- there are only a few, rare occasions in which that is not true), there is an added element to the “movie magic.” Seeing someone else’s interpretation of the exact same thing I read is fascinating, because even though we read the same book our interpretation of the characters and story is entirely different. We, as readers, get to see our imagination, the stories that we love and cherish, become real, like Pinocchio becoming a real boy. Yes, some things are lost (such as one of the single greatest lines of The Fault in Our Stars) but much more is gained by attempting to make something that was simply an idea into a real, physical story.
One step even more intense than this we find musicals- I have, personally, never been in a musical production but I have many musicals I consider to be my favorites. To be able to capture a story on the big screen through music is no easy endeavor. A wonderful example of this feat would be Rent. Out of all musicals that have been made into movies, this one is on the top of my list. Beautifully done, we get to see the story of love, loss, poverty, illness, and more expressed through music- and that is magical. Each time I rewatch this movie there is something new: it was always there, but I just hadn’t picked up on it yet.
When we revisited stories from our childhood, or simply from our pasts, we revisit the same stories yet now we are different people. We all have memories of a childhood friend that we lost touch with but remember fondly, and a good book is somewhat like that- frozen in time and preserved as a save haven, a source of joy, adventure, and memories. Yet at the same time revisiting stories is like getting to know a new friend- the more time you spend with them, the more they grow on you and the more you know about them. And as readers, writers, and humans can create them with our brains, and that is magical.
Exploring The Fourth Planet 