Outlander

I've always loved books. A bookworm from the start, I got lost as a kid in Harriet the Spy, the Trixie Belden books, Little House on the Prarie books, the Wrinkle in Time books and of course, The Chronicles of Narnia.

So I should have known better, really I should have.

A number of years ago, the women in my office were reading Outlander, the first of a now 7-book series written by Diana Gabaldon. "I'm off for a date with Jamie Fraser," one woman said, heading off, accompanied by knowing giggles from the others. "Come on," I remember saying, "you can't seriously feel that way about a fictional character." Really, I should have known better.

Finally my turn came, and I settled in to give this book a read. I came in the next day and gushed, "How is it possible to be in love with someone who doesn't exist?!" Jamie Fraser really is quite a man - very much a dreamy composite of all the best of manhood (in my humble opionion). He is tall and strong, handsome, educated, well-read, speaks many languages, can fight with a sword and his hands etc and best of all - only has eyes for one woman, his wife, Claire Randall. Claire is an amazing woman in her own right and together they make a formidable pair. Along with Jaime's dreamy attributes, he is also stubborn as a rock, prideful and I am sure other things I am forgetting. Gabaldon does a nice job of giving us the best and the worst of all her characters - in other words, giving us real people to love!

I have to say that what I love most about Gabaldon's books (all 7 - well, The Firey Cross I almost gave up on) is how rich the characters are. With the success she had with Outlander, she could have just been formulaic about the next 7 books. In some ways I suppose they do follow a general formula - but the characters mature along with the story. It is really quite wonderful. Gabaldon also happens to write great literary sex scenes, which I feel is a bonus. Sometimes the "ripped bodice quotient" (as my friend Susan and I call it) can be a bit high - which I suppose is why these books are classified as "Romance" novels but really to me they are "Historical fiction with really great sex and sometimes a bit too much violence." But I figure any book where I need to look up 5-10 words over the course of 800 pages because they are words I do not know, can hardly be considered a Harlequin.

So - thank you Diana Gabaldon - for providing me with books that can give me a rich fantasy world to escape to when my every day life gets to be too much.