Outlander for Neophytes – Chapter 8: Why I love it

Well class… we’ve reached our final lesson. It’s been great having you here, learning the basics for the Outlander series. Before we go and before my parting words, let us do a quick recap, ok?

We started at the very beginning, with the . And the author too. She is the president of the “Ruining People’s Lives” club. Now you know how many there are, what they are roughly about, the reading order and how awesome they are. Be prepared. They are freaking addictive. Even though they seem (very) long, you’ll be hooked from the very first word and you’ll sort of inhale it. Word of advise?Always have at the ready the next book in the series. Because as soon as you finish one, you’ll want to immediately start the other one.

Then it was the we talked about. There are so many you’ll have trouble keeping them straight at the beginning. As does Claire when Frank talks genealogy or when Jamie tells her about his family and clan. But hang on there. You’ll manage eventually. Specially because Diana Gabaldon doesn’t just create characters. She creates people. That’s how I’ve always thought of these books. They have people in them, not characters. You believe they are real, you want them to be real. And you care for them as you care for real people.

We then moved on to talk about the where these wonderful books are set. Start planing your next vacations. Because you’ll surely want to go to Scotland. You may have zero Scottish heritage in your blood, but if you go to Culloden Battelfield after reading these books, you’ll get teary eyed and shivers all over you when you finally see the Fraser Clan stone. Trust me.

Tired of the phrase “an image is worth a thousand words”? Me too. Specially as I’m such a book lover. In this case, the words mean so much more than the images. So we did a little recap of our favorite . You’ll never believe the amazing things that come out of Jamie’s mouth. Another piece of advice? Don’t read these books in public, like on a bus or train. Because people will think you are mental. You’ll laugh out loud so many times… You’ll go “aaaaaawwww” many times more and a lot of times you’ll be crying your eyes out so hard, you won’t be able to go on reading.

Because most of Outlander quotes tend to be in Gaelic or the Scots dialect, we did a short to try to understand what the heck was Jamie saying.

And then we moved onto the thing that has us all bouncing off the walls like crazy people: the . Finally, at last, we’ll see our favorite books and characters come to life on the screen. It’s an amazing feeling to be seeing all the updates, photos, trailer, casting news… I read an article that said that the media is saying that Outlander will be the Game of Thrones for women. I don’t actually understand that reference cuz I’m a woman who reads the Game of Throne books and is a fan of the show, but… anyways… If by that they mean that it will be epic… bet your ass it will be!

This TV series has the most amazing ever! We’ve loved them since the very second they were announced. Sam Heughan is sure to become everyone’s TV boyfriend before the year ends, I have this huge girl crush on Caitriona and I’ve just seen her like 2 times.

So we’ve basically done the Outlander 101 crash course. Why? Because I love these books and I will never get tired of recommending them to people. They are everything. And when I say everything, I mean it. There’s the historical part of it, the romance, the fantasy, the adventure, the daily life… There’s always something that will appeal to someone.

I’ve been (and still am) part of several fandoms but, at least with my group of friends, I’ve never encountered what I do with these books. My friends and I talk about these characters as if they were real people. Our families and friends (who haven’t read the books), know who Jamie and Claire are. We care for them deeply. About what’s going on with them, with their families, with their lives. We don’t mind reading a 20 page description of what Claire is making Jamie for breakfast because we care about them.

Wanna know a funny thing? I care so much about these characters and I see them so much as real people, that I’ve never considered Jamie my book boyfriend or book husband. Never. Why? Because he is Claire’s. He is her husband. With other books, I don’t care about the girl. But with the Outlander series? Claire is my friend. I love her. They are perfect for each other. And what I love about these books is reading about their relationship. Not just about how hot the guy is. I care about the things they tell each other. How they interact, how they know each other so well.

There’s nothing else for me to say. My final piece of advice? Read the books if you haven’t. You won’t regret it. If you don’t want to embark on this epic quest to read them all, at least read the first one. It sort of stands on it’s own and has an ending. I dare you not to read the other ones after reading the first one. But if you at least read Outlander, I’ll be happy. So will you.