It's that time, part two.

We're slated to get 9 to 12 inches of snow tonight; I can't say I'm looking forward to that. I AM looking forward to re-reading Susan Cooper's young adult/fantasy novel The Dark Is Rising, which I religiously do every December (as religiously as I read Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes every October). My eventual goal is to have a perfect book for each month.

If yesterday was about enjoying this time of year, today is about its dark side. And I think a paragraph from early on in The Dark Is Rising gets it perfectly:

"It was then, without warning, that the fear came.

The first wave caught him as he was crossing the room to his bed. It halted him stock-still in the middle of the room, the howl of the wind outside filling his ears. The snow lashed against the window. Will was suddenly deadly cold, yet tingling all over. He was so frightened that he could not move a finger."

And this:

"The next day the snow fell, all day. And the next day, too.

'I do wish it would stop,' said Mary unhappily, gazing at the blind white windows. 'It's horrible the way it just goes on and on--I hate it.

'Don't be stupid,' said James. It's just a very long storm. No need to get hysterical.'

'This is different. It's creepy.'

'Rubbish. It's just a lot of snow.'

'Nobody's ever seen so much snow before. Look how high it is--you couldn't get out of the back door if we hadn't been clearing it since it started to fall. We're going to be buried, that's what. It's pushing at us--it's even broken a window in the kitchen, did you know that?....I don't care what you say, it's horrible. As if the snow was trying to get in.'"

I'm with you, Mary. That's exactly how it feels when it just keeps snowing.

Comments

[Jessica]

I always wondered if that series was any good. My grandparents gave me book 4 when I was about 8 years old, and I remember being really confused and getting stuck in the first chapter. I felt guilty about not reading it for years until finally I gave it away. Does it read well for adults?

[laura]

I may have said this before, but I love that you have books that you reread at certain times. I do too, although in my case they're timed by events rather than seasons. I reread The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley every time I move to a new place and Robert Heinlein's The Door Into Summer whenever I'm really sick, and so on.

I remember reading The Dark is Rising series when I was eleven, and writing my grandmother from camp and begging her to send the next installment. I've reread some as an adult, and they still read well, although I'm not sure it was quite the experience that reading them at eleven was.

[rick roche]

I think I read The Dark is Rising three times. It is the second book in the series. The first, if I remember right, is rather sweet and not nearly so intense as The Dark is Rising. I liked books 3, 4, and 5 much, too. I thought they were as interesting as the Narnia series. Perhaps, we can read The Dark is Rising and one of the Narnia books sometime.

[Jeane]

I love this series, but I haven't read it in a long time. I just finished adding the final book of this series to my bookshelf, and like the idea of re-reading them all over the holiday season. Perfect mood for dark and snowy nights (which we don't have yet).

[Citizen Reader]

Jessica,
Actually, I think I appreciate the Cooper books more now that I am an adult. I loved them for their fantasy when I was little but now I appreciate Cooper's very adult sense of how it feels to feel helpless in the face of dark forces. I'm shivering (deliciously) just thinking about it! Although the books were sold as stand-alones, I think it would be a rather hard series to start in the middle. I'd start with The Dark is Rising, then pick up Over Sea, Under Stone (which I think is actually the first book), and then proceed from there. Let me know if you try them!

Laura,
I love re-reading books. I loved hearing about your re-reads too; I myself often rely upon either A River Runs Through It or Salinger's Franny and Zooey when I need a pick-me-up; although I must confess I've not moved often enough to need an "after-moving" book! :)

I think one of the greatest disservices parents do their kids today is buying them a million books (or checking out huge piles from the library) and not expecting them to re-read titles. I think there's something important and imprinting about returning to the same titles at least a few times. But that might be just me.

What a great grandmother you must have had, if you could write to her and request books! I can't remember when I first read these but I think I was a bit older than eleven...but I enjoyed them, I remember that! (I got at least some of them as gifts from my older sister, which made them even dearer to me.)

[Citizen Reader]

Rick,
I totally agree with you about how these titles are really holding up. Although I liked the Narnia books too, I think I actually preferred the Cooper books. Hm. A Cooper book in the menage. We may have to think about that. Maybe next winter?

Jeane,
Haven't you had any big storms so you can re-read these yet? I rather wish I was where you are--we got a load of snow last night and the whole next week is looking snowy, blowy, and cold. Come on...just two good travel days over Christmas? Please? That would just be so much nicer for everyone.

[air jordans]

If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.