I recently re-read the original trilogy of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman for the first time since I was about 10 years old (I’m currently in my mid-thirties) and it evoked all kinds nostalgia for me. Not just because of the familiarity of the stories, these half-remembered moments that had stuck in the back of my memory for the past twenty five years, but something more innate, and I realised it was the feeling of immersion.
Although I obviously enjoy reading as an adult, it doesn’t make me feel the same way I did as a child, and this is something I really miss. I understand there are all types of reasons why this is (adults brains work differently, we’re busier, there are a thousand other things to be doing, TikTok brain etc.) but it got me wondering whether it would be possible to re-create that feeling, or at least something akin to it.
With the help of ChatGPT I’ve been recommended a few books that might, apparently, immerse me in this same way (I’ve just purchased The Goblin Emperor and The Ten Thousand Doors of January after looking at reviews as well) but, ultimately, I’m looking for adult fiction that completely immerses you in a world, elicits feelings of nostalgia, of simpler times, of wonder…
It doesn’t have to be fantasy (although the majority of what I read as a child probably was: The Redwall Series, Harry Potter, Beyond the Deepwoods etc.) but possibly fantasy will do this best. I’d also prefer recommendations for adult fiction but I do wonder whether this feeling is something specific to children’s fiction? The closest I’ve come is reading Diana Wynne Jones as an adult but those were children’s books. Possibly Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders Trilogy is the closest I’ve come with adult fiction, or Lud-in-the-Mist. I’m not really into the currently popular “cosy fantasy” and I’m not sure that’s what I’m looking for either, it’s more about the immersion into a world rather than it being cozy and cute – I’m quite happy with dark or serious themes.
Has anyone got any recommendations that might make me feel those same feelings?
Thank you in advance.
by shlee0790