Where We Were

Something that I have commented on before: those of us who read a lot remember not only many of the books that we have read but also where we were when we read some of them. For each of us, this is an entirely accidental and fortuitous association with a particular text but nevertheless is an integral part of our individual reading experience. Thus, in my case:

The Lake District

Morecambe

Liverpool

In recent posts, I have described a work set in the Lake District that I initially mentioned precisely in order to contrast it with Poul Anderson's futuristic sf novel, Fire Time. A couple of times while visiting different parts of the Lake District with family members, my mind has been quietly preoccupied with thinking through the intricate relationships between Anderson's The Earth Book Of Stormgate and the other early volumes in his Technic History. Anderson and the Lake District are intertwined in my mind and in no one else's. My companions would have had their own completely different thoughts.

A strange thing to think about but worth reflecting on now and again.