I'm sure plenty of people know of this book because it can run in and out of the "classics" circles (or any number of other reasons), but I came across it rather differently. One of my favorite movies as a kid was (and still is to this day to be honest) The Road to El Dorado.
In an adventure montage fairly early in the movie, the accompanying montage song, The Trail We Blaze sung by Elton John, always caught my attention. And there was one lyric in the second verse which I could never quite decipher by ear, so eventually I looked up the lyrics.
Paradise is close at hand.
Shangri-La, the promised land.
"Shangri-La" was the part I couldn't understand by ear, so I looked it up and learned that it comes from a book first published in the 1930s called Lost Horizon. Out of love for this movie, I decided to impulse-buy that book pretty much on the spot. That was around 4 years ago now, and I finally got around to reading it this week.
I didn't really have any expectations going in, but I'm glad I didn't because it was a beautiful story. It's nothing earth-shattering, I don't think it's necessarily anything spectacular in terms of literary genius. But at the same time, it firmly held my attention for reasons entirely unrelated to the actual plot in ways that I don't think can be done without a certain level of literary mastery. It was serene and unsettling, contemplative and simple, short and rich. While there wasn't a single part of the story that really "hooked" me, a calm and enduring fascination persisted from start to finish.
I think in a way those sensations capture the essence of Shangri-La and its occupants. And I felt a pleasant stillness upon finishing it this evening.
This was also a great way for me to open the door to a reading goal of mine, which is to read more works which are directly referenced in some way within other books/movies/shows/art which I already love.
by PsyferRL