Winter is Coming

In middle school, I read like a boy. All the book needed was a dragon on the cover or eight more books in the series or multiple subtitles in swirly fonts and I would read it. That is, until one fateful day of eighth grade when my love of fantasy novels was tainted forever. 

After finishing some lame powerpoint assignment about hurricanes that included the use of hyperlinks - woah, dang - in Ms. Parker's class, I got my agenda signed specifically to go to the library for the next book in the Shannara series by Terry Brooks. (I kid you not, this is what Wikipedia says about the series: "...chronicles the adventures of brothers Shea and Flick Ohmsford in their quest to retrieve the Sword of Shannara to defeat the Warlock Lord who threatens the Four Lands". You'd best believe I ate this fantasy gold up.) As is wont with series of this nature, there were about fifty bajillion different side stories and parallel tellings and prequels and sequels. I had no idea which book came next. Naive eighth grader as I was, and still believing that every single librarian knew every single thing about every single book, I decided to ask the Librarian With the Missing Finger for help. She took a glance at the shelf/series I inquired about, and disdainfully tossed her head away saying, "Oh, I don't read those books." I know for a fact that my face flushed bright red as I shoved books back on the shelf in Dewey Decimal order as quickly as possible, jetting out of the door without anything to take home. Those books were not good books. Those books were not adult books. To ever be taken as seriously about books as a librarian, I could never read those books again. And I never did. Barring the last two books of the Inheritance Cycle, I have steered clear of dragons and knights and magical creatures ever since.

Fast forward six years and imagine my elation at the realization that THEY MAKE FANTASY BOOKS FOR ADULTS. You know how I know they're for adults? The TV series is on HBO! That's adult-y! Yes, folks, I am slightly obsessed with the A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones series. It's good to be back in the fantasy world again. And it's even better to be in the middle of the series while I'm in Europe, crawling around castles and the like. Plus, the show is conveniently at my fingertips thanks to the file sharing provided by my French dorm. Thank heavens for the mass amount of time spent on trains this summer, where it is socially acceptable to read for hours on end without talking to anyone, and for the nights free from responsibility, where I can cozy up in bed with a mug of tea and watch back-to-back episodes.

So take that, Librarian With the Missing Finger. Maybe you should give those books a chance, or at least try not to dissuade middle schoolers from reading them. Anything and everything that gets kids excited about reading is worthy literature.