Beauty and The Books
As this site and blog have progressed, I've heard from so many people who identify with Mermaid - both the movie and Ariel herself. I don't hear as much about Belle but I have a special place in my heart for her. I would be lying if I told you that I know anything about French fairy tales but I did find a really interesting site called Surlalunefairytales that goes into chapter and verse (I know,I know) on the subject.
All of which made think about what Belle might be reading in her provincial town. For the sake of my own sanity (how many levels of reality can one woman deal with) I’m going to time travel with impunity on this one.
I’ll also throw myself in here and say that when I was a kid I set a goal for myself to read every book in my elementary school library. I didn’t get very far, even though I limited myself to fiction. Still, in fairness, you should know whom you’re dealing with.
I was no Belle but I hope she’s read my girlhood favorite – The Secret Garden. And it goes without saying that she’s a fan of Louisa May Alcott
She reads fairy tales, of course, hopefully with her eyes wide open.
Et mais oui, she’s read The Little Prince.
Time traveling once more, I really hope Belle has found The Princess Bride (the book but it’s okay with me if she likes the movie, too) and a hands-down old favorite of mine, The Once and Future King.
One day, I was visiting Howard in the house he and Bill shared in Beacon, NY. Howard and I were sitting in the living room, just hanging out. Howard was lying on the couch and I was on a nearby chair. He told me to pop a videocassette he'd recently received into the VCR. It was a pencil rough version of Beauty. When we got to the part where she sees all of the Beast's library - that beautiful, heart-stopping library, he turned to me and nodded, as if to say, "You like? A bookworm heroine for little girls who spend their lives hunched over, nose to the page, ruining their eyes and opening up their minds."
Yes...I like.
If you have some titles to suggest for Belle, I've started a discussion over on Feed Me.