I was given the book The Magician’s Book, A Skeptic’s Adventures in Naria by my sister for Christmas this year.  This is not my usual fare in reading.  First, it is non-fiction, something I usually avoid at all costs unless there is something I wish to learn.  Second, it is literary critism which I have not read since college and I was working on term papers.  I almost returned it.  However, my mother said that my sister spent a lot of time chosing this book just for me.  I had no idea how well she knew me or knew about me.

Like Laura Miller, I too had a profound experience with a book and series of books, although mine came much later.  Similarly to Ms. Miller, I became enamoured of reading at about age 8.  I was given my first novel without pictures.  My mother chose it for me and it was about a girl in similar circumstances to my own.  Much to my surprise, I finished and rather quickly at that.  A love reading was born.  I read everything I could get my hands on and probably some things I should not have gotten my hands on.

Then came the book, Dune, when I was in the seventh grade.  If you have read the book, you know it is quite a lot to tackle for a 12 year old.  I read it every spare moment I could.  I devoured it.  At that time in my life it was just what I needed.  I was too young and too inexperienced to understand some of the deeper themes in the book.  To me, it was a place I would like to live.  I wanted to be a Bene Gesserit.  These women working in concert controlled the universe. 

At the time I read Dune, I was a very akward, somewhat reserved, easily manipulated pre-teen.  I was teased rather unmercifully by some boys in my “gifted” class and a few girls who weren’t in the class.  The Bene Gesserit in world of Dune, were respected, if not liked, they could control people with Voice, the could control their bodies with the their minds, the could defend themselves in a fight and they did not betray their emotions.  In short, they had POWER.  Although I had examples of powerful women in other books and in real life, this was in your face power, these women did not need to prove themselves.   If a Bene Gesserit became a Reverend Mother, she not only became more powerful, she was never truly alone again.  At a time when I felt powerless and without control of my life, the idea of being a Bene Gesserit was very alluring.

Although I have not read all of The Magician’s Book, it has shown me how my love of Dune, and its sequels, has shaped the woman I am today.  I have an undying interest in fantasy fiction.  My taste has changed, but I have read every new Dune book by Frank Herbert’s son, Brian Herbert, and Kevin Anderson with some of my original anticipation of each sequel.  I earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.  I run a small business and head a family with husband — my own little universe. However, my deep seated desire not to show emotion is probably not a good thing, but it has served me well at times.  In many ways, I have become the Bene Gesserit I so wanted to be as a result of reading Dune.

I had no idea that others in the world had as such profound experiences with a series as books as I did with the Dune Series.  I look forward to finishing The Magician’s Book.  My experience is not unique or even rare.  It gives me hope that my daughters find their literary epiphany as I did.  I want them have a book they return to, reading after reading, that gives them comfort, hope, spurs their imagination, shapes their identity and maybe, hopefully, educates their minds.