Thursday, November 24, 2011

The Yearling

I am currently reading a very old story written in 1938.    It may be an old story but it is a good one and I can see why it won a Pulitzer Prize when it was written.   The story is about a young boy and a fawn.   I don't want to say more about the story line because I don't want to give it away in case someone who reads this blog decides to read the story.   One of the things that I like about the story is that the author, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, lived in central Florida and used central Florida as the setting for her story.   She lived in a community called Cross Creek here in central Florida.  
The places that she writes about in her story actually exist and you can go see these same places described in the story to this today.    Living in central Florida myself, it is much easier to identify with the story when it describes places that are familiar to me.   The one thing that I don't like about the book is the use of the "N" word in the story, I guess that it was done in 1938.    However, I would still recommend the book if you would like a relaxing, slow paced and interesting story to read.
I also liked the science fiction story Alas Babylon for the same reason that an area in Central Florida (Mt. Dora) was used as the locale for this post-apocalyptic style story.
And the author Pat Frank actually lived in a small community called Tangerine which is located just south of Mount Dora.   It is also a good story and one of my favorite sci-fi books.   I assume that it might be easier for an author to draw on their own locales when writing stories.   Well, the autumn weather is a pleasant time with the heat of summer behind us and the cold of winter not yet upon us.    Sounds like a good time to sit outside and read a good book, especially here in warm and sunny Florida.    Enjoy your day.    Lew

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