Welcome to My Blog...
 I
am a big fan of Lives of the Mayfair Witches, a series of books written
by Anne Rice about the Mayfair
Family and its central characters, the Mayfair Witches. I first read Lasher in
the summer of 1995 and was so intrigued by the story that I had to read its prequel, The Witching Hour, and then its
sequel, Taltos. I spent the fall of 1995 reading those books and poring over The Witches' Companion, which
I like to credit as being my first step toward a higher education.
Obviously, I was thrilled to see the Mayfairs appear in later Vampire
Chronicles, Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle. I liked Merrick,
but was disappointed that the First
Street Mayfairs made little or no
appearance in it. So I focus mainly on those books that the First
Street Mayfairs
do appear in, though I have
dedicated a page to Merrick on this site.
I don't recall being a fan of any one thing for so many years (except
maybe Young Guns) so I thought that in this age of Internet, there was no way I could just not share my thoughts
on these books. Hopefully, I do them justice in terms of factoids and impressions. My Mayfair Collection  These first three books are the copies I bought in 1995
and took right home to read. They are well read and well loved.  The book I credit with beginning my higher education by reigniting my interest in the world... A Little Story
I remember reading through Interview With the Vampire
when I was
about 17, when I learned it was
going to be made into a movie. This was the summer of 1993. I knew
nothing about
the past hassles of getting it to
the big screen, only that it was in preproduction and Tom Cruise was
cast as Lestat.
I learned then that the book I had
bought my mother as a Christmas gift one year (because I knew she had
liked The Feast
of All Saints) was set in New
Orleans, a city I was then and continue to be fascinated with. I hope
to
visit some day, even in the wake of
Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav. So I picked it up out of curiosity
though the story
didn't really "grab" me at the time.
My mother had other titles by Anne Rice, one of which was The Witching Hour.
It was the blue mass market edition
she had and I remember thinking that it was huge. I never took the
opportunity to
read it then. Unfortunately, that
copy was lost in a fire the summer just before the movie Interview With the Vampire
was released, but I would have recognized the book cover and title anywhere.
The movie Interview With the Vampire was released in the fall of 1994, and
I went to see it twice. Even though I had also liked Bram Stoker's Dracula
(still one of my favorite films)
which had been released in 1992 and
which I had seen in the summer of 1993 (and read the book around the
same time I read
Interview), I was not a
vampire fan. I didn't really understand them or their appeal at the
time. I also
felt odd about indulging in
something I knew my mother was also a fan of. It isn't that it wasn't
cool; it was that
my mother and I were not very close
when I was a teenager because we didn't get along when I was younger.
Of course,
teens feel a bit squeamish about
identifying with their parents on such an important level. As I would
later learn,
there is much that my mother and I
have in common and I now give credit to Anne Rice and Lasher for providing the intial
step for us to be closer.
In the summer of 1995, I stopped at Albertson's for some groceries and as was my
habit, I stopped by the paperback stands. I saw the title Lasher
jump out at me. That caught my attention.
The title was catchy, I saw that
Anne Rice had written it, wondered if my mother had this book, and
picked it up to look at
it. At first, I thought it would be
a book set in the past, which is half true, in the same vein as Interview,
and of course, it was about
witches. I thought it would be some medieval fantasy. The witches were
one thing,
but the concept of an enduring
specter with considerable influence on all aspects of the lives of
living, modern women
as well as ulterior motives for them
fascinated me. I bought the book, and began to read...
Someone
else at the nursing home where I worked must have liked it too because
that
copy disappeared out of the
breakroom. I had not been issued a locker because they were "all
full". As it turned
out, my mother did indeed have a
trade paperback copy of Lasher for me to borrow while I saved for
a new copy of my
own. I picked it up the same night
she gave me some cooking utensils for my sparsely appointed, practically
unfurnished
apartment.
Though
I had had a couple of boyfriends and various roommies live with me at
the
apartment/duplex I lived in at the
time, I was by then mercifully alone. I made a pallet of comforters,
quilts and afghans
on the living room floor in front of
my TV and VCR and right before my little bookshelf with the little
reading light and
the night jasmine incense (how
appropriate!). There, I would take my plates of Noodle Roni and
Velveeta Shells &
Cheese and my teas and hot
chocolate, sit or lay down on my palette, and read my books.
Once I read Lasher, I HAD to find out what had happened before, so off I went to
Fred Meyer and grabbed a copy of the same book, same edition of The Witching Hour
that my mother had before the fire.
I took it right home to the
designated reading spot and there I stayed excepting work, food and
bathroom breaks. Taltos
followed, and I hopped in place at Waldenbooks until I could get my hands on The Witches' Companion,
to the amusement
of the bookstore staff. I paid a
hard earned $30.00 for it, money I would probably have been advised to
spend on
groceries or something, but this was food! Food for my mind, heart and soul. How could this not
be a necessary expenditure?!
I
pored through that book, absorbing the information in it and reigniting
my interest
in history, religion, philosophy,
and the subject that turned into my major when I went back to school,
anthropology
(I have a second major in
philosophy, with courses in religious studies and psychology).
This
was the first time in a few years that I had found something that I
liked, something
that I picked out on my own without
any prodding or urging from someone else. It was quite the opposite
when you think
about my hesitation due to not
wanting to follow something just because my mother did. I ended up
loving the books
for themselves and they woke me up,
stimulated my mind, made me want to solve a few problems in my life.
As Michael
Curry said to Mona of his favorite books, rereading my favorite books
are like listening to my favorite
song over and over again. It's lovely and rejuvenating to revisit them
again and again...   |