Till we are helped as if a kingdom cared

I was just thinking about all the books I've read, because they were mentioned in another book, or how many films I've seen, because they were referenced in a novel, or how many deeds I've done, encouraged by completely fictional characters.

Wanting to watch The Last of the Mohicans and the 6 hour Pride and Prejudice, because of The Year of Secret Assignments.

Reading the Bastable books because of The Magician's Nephew.

Sitting perfectly still in church, and only curling and uncurling my toes, because of The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

Cutting my hair because of Nancy Drew.

Growing out my hair because of Salamanca Hiddle.

Writing our own Pickwick Paper because of Little Women.

Reading Bleak House because of Soobie.
.
Drinking milk and eating blueberries because of the Boxcar Children.

Reading Ivanhoe because of Lucy Whipple.

Getting up in the middle of the night to drink cocoa because of Meg Murray.

Stacking green bean cabins because of The Trolls.

Saying "croopus" instead of "crap" because of Dido Twite.

Keeping a Jimmy Book instead of a journal, because of Emily Starr.

Drinking tea obsessively because of Miss Marple.

Writing letters to my siblings from mysterious unknown persons and putting them in the mailbox because of Appleby Mennym.

Singing I'M FINE TOTALLY FINE ALL OF THE TIME while jumping on the bed because of Criss Cross.

How about you?

9 comments:

Maggie DeVries said...

Ooo. I never push bracelets above my elbow because of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. :]

Rebachin said...

Fun.nee.
I to.ta.ly. do this subconsciously but never considered making a list of all the whims I follow, or part-time habits I create because of a love for a tale.
You've brightened my horizon.
Cheers!

Noël De Vries said...

Haha, Mag.

I know, aren't we readers a riot, Rebachin?

I thought of another one. I adored the Mandie books when I was 12, and I would get up every morning at 6:30 and make grits and coffee. And proceed to consume them. Trust me, NOT normal Noel behavior.

Thanks for stopping in!

Anonymous said...

Toasted onion sandwiches -- and now I can't remember the book!

Scrambled Dregs said...

Ha, Noel. I still haven't gotten to you know what...but I haven't forgotten about you. I am mindlessly clicking links because I'm too tired to read anything.

This made me smile and I have to share.

I recently watched Adaptation...which I'm not sure I can recommend... however, at Half-Price books they had the book that was the focus of Adaptation and I thought it was completely a fictional story. I almost bought it just because of that...but the people in the story were so awful I don't think I could read it.

Hope that rambling couple of paragraphs makes sense.

Anonymous said...

this cracked me up. You have teas in honor of authors, too. You really get into your fiction.

I can't say that I'm aware of ever doing or reading something because a character in a book did or read the thing. But I think my personality has been molded by the characters I've loved. I'm sure of that. I'm sure all those freinds left a mark on me.

Noël De Vries said...

Ooo, an anonymous comment. You can't hide, though. I'll discover you by your onion breath. ;)

No hurry, Kelly. Thanks for stopping by.

Well, Sally: *sniff* Maybe you don't get into your fiction ENOUGH.

:)

Holly said...

Quite often if a book mentions a food, I have to have it for my next snack...I can still remember the frustration of not having cinnamon bread when Polly was having cinnamon toast with tea in An Acceptable Time.

- Going on an urban hike while reading East

- Dropping breadcrumbs in my path like a Hansel fail whenever I walk anywhere with food

- Wandering back-alley gardens during my lunch while reading Habibi

- And when I get to New York, I'm bound to journal in the penguin cave at the zoo like Mia Thermopolis. Even though I'm not such a fan of her later books.

Noël De Vries said...

Cuileann: we shall be married in the morning.

Great stuff, kindred spirit.