Once Upon a Time…
Apr 24th 2008
Suzanne EnochGoddess Eye Candy & Goddess Interviews & On Writing!
I was just reading another blog about comfort reads and re-reads, and it got me to thinking. I read A LOT of books as a kid, from kindergarten all the way up through high school and college. But there are a couple of books that I read, mostly between ages 9 and 15, I would say, that truly struck a chord with me. They literally influenced my life and the kind of person that I am. And the fact that I’m a writer.
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee – I remember feeling like I was Scout, and I could almost touch those warm, lazy days of summer.
Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey – I still to this day want to be able to ride a dragon. What an amazing world she created. I own all of the Dragonrider books, and they’re all tattered and frayed.
The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart – the first book in her trilogy (the other two are The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment), all of which turned me into a fan of the whole King Arthur and Merlin legend, and an Anglophile. Hm. Whatever happened with that?
Which books do you remember from when you were a kid/young adult? Why were they important to you?
56 Comments »
evlqn on 25 Apr 2008 at 3:05 am #
Suzanne, I loved “To Kill A Mockingbird” too. There was such a sense of wisdom in that young girl and so much caring. I wanted to be half the person she was.
And I loved the Louis L”Amour books, especially the Sackett books. They were strong and unmovable about what was right and always loyal to family bonds. Honesty and honor meant everything to them, to this day I can’t stand someone lying to me.
I love the dragon books but I think my favorite Macaffrey book is “The Ship Who Sang.”
I hadn’t thought of those books in years and yet they are always in the back of my mind like old friends just waiting for a visit.
Karen Hawkins on 25 Apr 2008 at 3:59 am #
Suzanne, those are three of my all time favorite books! I read Dragonflight in middle school and then devoured every book McCaffery wrote. My all time fave is The White Dragon.
I discovered The Crystal Cave in high school and was just enchanted.
I didn’t read To Kill A Mockingbird until I was an adult and then just to see why everyone I knew loved it . . . so I read it on my own and it’s one of my all-time favorite books. I made sure both of my kids have read it, too, and they had the same reaction.
My all time favorite comfort reads are Georgette Heyer’s. I adore her warm, witty and wise characters. I really enjoyed the heroines in Devil’s Cub and The Grand Sophy and I really can’t decide which I like best! I love them all and yes, I have them all.
And eviqn, Bendigo Shafter and Fair Blows The Wind are huge comfort reads for me. I adore L’Amour.
Laurie G on 25 Apr 2008 at 4:41 am #
My favorites included:LM Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy & The Hobbit and CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. I loved James Clavell’s Shogun and Boris Pasternak’s Dr Zhivago too.
I’ve never read any of McCaffrey’s books BUT, I’m definitely going to look for hers…
Emmiebee on 25 Apr 2008 at 6:56 am #
I read ALOT as a kid (still do!), but, for me, the books that really shaped my childhood were mostly some of the fantasy heavy-hitters: L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time Series, Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain Series, Lewis’ Narnia Chronicles, and Diana Wynne Jones’ Chrestomanci books. I loved that these books showed less than perfect childeren making difficult choices. Oh, and I also devoured evey one of those junky little “Choose Your Own Adventure” Books- anyone else remember those? I can just picture the friendship bracetlets on my wrists as my little hands greedily turned those pages! Ah, the eighties!
-A Nostalgic Emmiebee
Margaret on 25 Apr 2008 at 7:31 am #
So early to be thinking so hard. However, the first thing that popped into mind was “The Wizard of Oz” and the series that came after. Mostly the ones written by Frank L. Baum. After he died, they started a slow decline.
I discovered the “Anne of Green Gables” series as an adult. Loved it and all that were written about dear old PEI. My favorite being “The Blue Castle”. A great romance novel that didn’t really mean to be.
I loved “Silas Marner”, some of the Shakespeare plays. I gobbled up poetry by Keats, and those guys. American poets were awesome too. “The Face on the Bar Room Floor” being a fave. I don’t read poetry anymore. Don’t know why as it moved my sould.
So many other friends. I just can’t think right now.
TrustMe_2_Forget on 25 Apr 2008 at 7:55 am #
Some of my favorite childhood reads are :
WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS by Wilson Rawls ~ this was a real tear jerker for me…
MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN by Jean Craighead George
Loved the ANNE OF GREEN GABLES series and THE BOXCAR CHILDREN series (now that was when I was really young!)
PUDDIN’ HEAD WILSON by Mark Twain
TAME THE RISING TIDE by Virgina Morgan ~my copy of the book is held together by tape & a rubber band…it was used when I got it, and is now beyond well read!LOL, but I can’t find a better copy, so this will have to do. o_O and then I found THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER…and so on and so forth until most of my reads became romance (I was about 12 or 13 when I discoverd these, so I count them as childhood reads!)
TrustMe_2_Forget on 25 Apr 2008 at 7:57 am #
oooh I *loved* juvenile delinquent stories when I was younger to, S.E. Hintons THE OUTSIDERS and many other similar to that (coffee has not completely kicked yet)
Karen Hawkins on 25 Apr 2008 at 8:18 am #
Ohh, TrustMe, I loved WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS! I haven’t thought of that book in a long, long time!
doglady on 25 Apr 2008 at 8:21 am #
To Kill a Mockingbird is my all time favorite. Followed closely by Black Beauty. A family favorite is The Boxcar Children. Devoured Tolkein’s books and The Once and Future King. Like Karen Hawkins I discovered Georgette Heyer at an early age and have worn out copies of some of them. Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters when I was about twelve. (Any wonder I write Regency?) The Yearling, in spite of hating the ending.
Then I read The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen Woodiwiss and that was it. Hooked on romance forever.
I read all of Shakespeare and Dickens at an early age and have always loved them, especially Great Expectations.
Sandy "Snik" White on 25 Apr 2008 at 8:23 am #
I’m going to have to be another to hop on the “To Kill a Mockingbird” bus. To this day, one of my favorite stories…my dog is named Boo Radley.
“The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett was the first book I read that truly transported me. I would read it in my secret place in my closet (where I would hide from my sister and brother) and everytime I read it, it was Colin and I off on our adventures…
Hard to tell by my “emo” type ways, but I am now and always have been a JD Salinger fan. “Franny and Zooey”, “Nine Stories” and of course “Catcher in the Rye” all top my list of books that I read when I’m feeling uber nostalgic or just need to feel like me again.
As I got older, I jumped on the John Grisham bandwagon. Caleb Carr is also one that I discovered in high school and will still pick up from time to time.
bria quinlan on 25 Apr 2008 at 8:23 am #
I love all these. You’ve hit on some of my favorites. Can I add Moon Spinners by Mary Stewart to the list? The Haley Mills movie became my favorite when I was 7 and I watched for it on channel 4 every spring.
It was a joke in my family that I’d read the back of bottles when I ran out of books, so every summer when I was sent to Indiana to stay with family my Strong and Silent uncle would have a stack of books for us to read together - all Zane Grey or Louis L’Amour. No one understood the chatty 8 year old girl and the almost wordless 65 year old man’s attachment, but I’ll forever be thankful to him for feeding my love of reading and opening my horizons beyond my norm.
cail on 25 Apr 2008 at 8:29 am #
All of Lousia May Alcott’s books, esp the Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom, Anne of Green Gable’s and the rest of the series, The Secret Garden, Summer of the Monkeys and Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, and quite a few YA books like Jean Ferris’ Into the Wind trilogy.
Basically I had read the entire Childrens and YA section of the library by the time I started with the Romance section in HS.
Claudia Dain on 25 Apr 2008 at 8:49 am #
Suzie, your list is my list!! I would add only two: A Wrinkle in Time and The Lord of The Rings trilogy. Those books had a profound influence on me and I read them again and again.
It’s amazing and scary how a story can change your life, your character, your outlook.
Meg on 25 Apr 2008 at 8:58 am #
Where the Red Fern Grows is one of my absolute faves!! I can remember my fifth grade teacher reading the book to the class (we could follow along if we had our own book) and afterward we watched the movie.
Also, Stewart Little and Charlotte’s Web. Probably because my younger sister used to read them to me at bedtime.
These seem to be following a pattern. Can you tell I loved to be read to when I was young?
Margaret on 25 Apr 2008 at 9:16 am #
“The Secret Garden”, “A Little Princess” (sob) & “Little Lord Fauntleroy” by F.H. Burnett.
Louis May Alcott’s works.
“Tom Sawyer”, “Huckleberry Finn”. Loved their badness. Probaby grew up to be rakes.
“Long John Silver” (shiver)
Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, The Hardy Boys (I wanted to be a nurse like Cherry)
“The Jungle Book” by R. L. Stevenson
Sherlock Holmes stories
“Black Beauty” & “My Friend Flicka”
“Heidi”
Jules Verne & H.G. Wells anything
“Swiss Family Robinson”
Margaret on 25 Apr 2008 at 9:24 am #
Darn you, Suzanne! Now, I want to go back and read most of them. And I’ve got a TBR pile that’s threatening to topple over on me some night.
Why were/are they important to me? I was an only child and they were my friends. I could travel to places and times that I would never get to do IRL. They fed my dreams about the future and shaped my life for good, bad or indifferent.
And nothing has really changed in the ensuing almost 70 years. I don’t suppose I was reading straight out of the womb, but darned near it. I remember being anxious to learn to read. My daddy used to read the Sunday funnies to me but that was the extent of being read to in our house.
I am just a born bookworm. Nothing on hand to read? Hand me the med bottle inserts. I’ll read them.
jessie on 25 Apr 2008 at 9:26 am #
A lot of mine have already been mentioned, but they’re so good they deserve to be mentioned as much as possible.
1. A Wrinkle In Time (but, really, all of Madeleine L’engle’s books)
2. Anything by L.M Montgomery (esp. Rilla of Ingleside, the Emily books, and The Blue Castle)
3. Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre- discovered them in 8th grade and haven’t stopped reading them since.
4. Bloomability by Sharon Creech- made me want to go to boarding school in Switzerland
5. Libby on Wednesday by Zilpha Keatley Snyder- made me want to be homeschooled, also made me start an ill-fated ’20s collection
6. The Giver- Lois Lowry
7. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler- made me want to run away from home
8. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin- made me want to be an heiress (ahem, that never really went away)
9. Invitation to the Game by Monica Hughes
SheridanLA on 25 Apr 2008 at 9:47 am #
I am kind of bad in that I rarely reread books… there were always so many more to read, how could I spend the time to read one over?!?! But some that I remember.. LOTR trilogy. It is amazing how the world that Tolkein created in those books is pretty much the basis for all interpretations of elves, dwarves, etc for the fantasy genre. Brilliant. I also loved the Dragonrider books, but have not read them in many many years. I also remember The Neverending Story. I picked it up in the library in .. jr high??.. and sank into it and thought it was so cool how the modern part was in blank ink and then the story with Atrau (sp?) was in green… made it even more fanciful. I also remembered James and the Giant Peach, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden….
I have started to reread things from when I was a kid… some titles I remember, but have forgotten the stories.
Of course, now this list (as Margaret has said) just added to by TBR list.
elsiehogarth on 25 Apr 2008 at 9:48 am #
Alexander Dumas was my hero since I was 9 yrs. old when I read the 3 Musketeers/The Count of Monte Cristo/The Man in the Iron Mask I love rereading those books.
I also still love: the Little Princess, Secret Garden, Little Women, Time Machine, Beauty & the Beast(French Fable version), Nancy Drew and Anne of Green Gables. With the godkids(teens), I love James Paterson-Maximum series.
SheridanLA on 25 Apr 2008 at 9:49 am #
and as far as Where the Red Fern Grows.. I remember my teacher reading it to us out loud in class. I was sucked in and could not wait to go back for the next chapter.. until the sad parts came, then she cried so much, it was hard to understand the story and kind of ruined it a bit. (apologies to her, it was not her fault) but it kept me from being sucked in to savor all of it myself.
Suzanne Enoch on 25 Apr 2008 at 10:14 am #
I remember just sobbing at the end of “Where the Red Fern Grows”.
The odd thing about some of the books I read as a kid is that I don’t need to reread them. I don’t even remember exactly what happened in some of them. It’s more just the…feeling I had while reading them that I remember, and that makes them so precious to me.
Julia London on 25 Apr 2008 at 10:27 am #
Aaah, The Crystal Cave. I read it three times in junior high and just re-read the trilogy this winter. Wonderful books!
I was also a big fan of Victoria Holt. Looooooved her books
Meg on 25 Apr 2008 at 10:28 am #
That’s exactly how I am Suzanne. Just thinking back on some of these childhood favorites just makes me all warm and fuzzy on the inside.
Meg on 25 Apr 2008 at 10:34 am #
Ooo! I just thought of three books that I read as a child that I would love to have again. I need some help from you all though. They were written by Caroline B. Cooney. It was a trillogy. I think they were teen stories. The same group of high school students were in all three. They only title I can remember is Last Dance. Maybe one was called Summer Nights? Does anyone know what I am talking about?
Lisa H on 25 Apr 2008 at 10:39 am #
My favorites were all the Nancy Drew books, 5 minute mysteries and Are You There God, It’s me Margaret by Judy Blume. Once I found Judy Blume, I read Wifey and then progressed right to Kathleen E Woodiwiss ( whose Shanna is still my favorite)
In addition I read Flowers in the Attic and Go ASk Alice though I can’t imagine that I enjoyed either of them.
I am one of the strange people who actually enjoyed Shakespeare in High School. I loved MacBeth and Othello, and of course Romeo and Juliet.
Other favorites are The Secret Garden and The Little Princess
Suzanne Enoch on 25 Apr 2008 at 10:39 am #
I also read the Tolkien books as a kid, and really enjoyed “The Hobbit”. When I reread them at about 17, it was the trilogy that really struck me — and of course, Aragorn. *g*
Lisa H on 25 Apr 2008 at 10:40 am #
How could I forget, at thirteen I read and fell in love with “The Thorn Birds”
cail on 25 Apr 2008 at 11:00 am #
Lisa H!! JUDY BLOOM! AHHH. I think I read every single one of her books. Forever was definitely a gateway book from YA to romance. Nothing quite like some steamy teenage sex to make you realize that it can definitely get better than that.
Karen Hawkins on 25 Apr 2008 at 11:02 am #
Lisa H, I made a similar progression from Blume to Woodiwiss. I ADORE Shanna, though I refuse to read it today. My tastes have changed so much, I’m afraid I wouldn’t enjoy as much as I did and oh, how I looooved that book.
I, too, have always liked Shakespeare and still go to the local Shakepeare Company to see them. Fortunately Orlando has a great theater program and I’ve enjoyed so many well done plays.
Suzanne, i never could get into The Hobbit, though I loved a lot of other fantasy books. I don’t know why — it just seemed wayyyyy too slow. Now that I’ve seen the movie, I want to try them again.
Freedom Writer on 25 Apr 2008 at 11:03 am #
During Middle School and High School I was not a big reader. You could say I disliked reading. I was turned off by the English classes in those years who made you speed read through a good book and expect you to get something out of it. Yuck. In high school I fulfilled my literature class requirement by taking a class called Honors English where you read, researched and wrote a report and then presented it to the class in an oral presentation. For this reading experience I read Agatha Christie, wrote the start of a Mystery and read it to the class. I love Agatha Christie!
I read more as a young adult and discovered Mary Stewart, Stephen King, “The Thorns Birds” and the author one that initiated me into the romance genre “Lady Vixen” by Shirley Busbee.
I have never read “To Kill a Mockingbird” but a friend of mine recently told me that it is a must read.
Laura on 25 Apr 2008 at 11:08 am #
Like someone else, I read Zane Grey as a kid. I wanted to be that girl who passed as a boy and rode horses, etc. My grandfather loved westerns and we would share books. Max Brand was another of his and my favorites. My mom had a whole series of Oz books. Loved em. Georgette Heyer is still a favorite of mine. In high school I read Exodus by Leon Uris and was enthralled.
Kaige on 25 Apr 2008 at 11:32 am #
Thanks for stopping by yesterday, Suzanne! Glad my comfort reads resonated so well. An author friend, Jodi Henley,
also read it and blogged on worldview books & character development.
5th grade I read about an alien boy learning about humanity that
unlocked reading for fun & escapism.
7th grade Pern intro: DRAGONSONG but later F’lar, Lessa, F’nor & Brekke
cemented my love of romance stories. Like Karen Hawkins my favorite is THE
WHITE DRAGON. How cool when some of my must-read authors love the
same books?
BULLFINCH’S MYTHOLOGY fascinated me, leading to legends &
folktales. Fantasy/scifi were big but my favorites had HEAs. Perhaps the
fantasy/folktale feel draws me to Regency?
And mom’s romance novels: Rosemary Rogers, Victoria Holt, Jude Deveraux,
Kathleen Woodiwiss. The list goes on & hasn’t stopped.
Suzanne Enoch on 25 Apr 2008 at 11:53 am #
I read some of the Judy Blumes, but was never a big fan for some reason. I don’t know why. The Zane Grey books, though — hoo, baby. My favorite was “Riders of the Purple Sage”, closely followed by “The Hash Knife Outfit”.
K-Hawk, I think you’ll like the Tolkiens better now, because you’re a writer, too. The world-creating that he does is fascinating.
The first Georgette Heyer I read was “Devil’s Cub”. Man, oh man. I think that book is the reason the first book I ever had published was a Regency romance.
anneriailin on 25 Apr 2008 at 11:56 am #
I’m glad someone had already mentioned The Boxcar Children. I loved that book and would check it out from the library in elementary school over and over again. When my kids started reading, I got them that one and was shocked to realize that there was a whole series of them. My school only had the first book, sad to say.
These days I will read pretty much anything that is handy. I get some pretty strange looks from people, but hey….who cares? not me that’s for sure. lol
–dorothy
Ellen on 25 Apr 2008 at 1:09 pm #
The Yearling, written by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. I wanted a pet deer for the next ten years. I was always moved by the rough family’s tenderness and love for the young boy who had a gift for naming pets.
Wuthering Heights taught me a bit about true and loyal love. Julia and Karen Hawkins keep delighting me with that same feeling. Its one of the reasons I love historicals.
And my obsession for all things Nancy Drew has matured into a true appreciation for Murder via Karen Rose. Her books are like a roller coaster for me. They scare the hell out of me, but I am first on line for the next ride.
Sabrina Jeffries on 25 Apr 2008 at 1:36 pm #
I read a LOT, yet the ones that stand out are all romances. I read TONS of Barbara Cartland (I don’t read her anymore but I scarfed her up in my teens like I was starving). I adored Lorna Doone, by R. D. Blackmore (that’s where I got the name Blackmore for Forbidden Lord).
I don’t know what I learned from them exactly, except that I loved romance.
One book that DID affect how I thought was I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. It really made me question what I’d been taught to think until that point, which wasn’t a bad thing.
Suzanne Enoch on 25 Apr 2008 at 1:57 pm #
Kaige! Welcome to Mt. Oly! Yep, I was browsing yesterday and saw Kaige’s blog about re-reads, and it got me a’thinkin’. Sometimes a dangerous thing *g*, but this time it worked out.
cail on 25 Apr 2008 at 3:56 pm #
oh i totally forgot about the Misty of Chincoteague books! They were so good!
Suzanne Enoch on 25 Apr 2008 at 4:16 pm #
I remember reading pretty much anything that featured animals, real or make-believe. “Vikan the Mighty” about a sperm whale, the Misty books, Lassie, and all of the true-life books by Joy Adamson, Jane Goodall, Stan Brock, Jacques Cousteau — anything.
Aspen on 25 Apr 2008 at 4:20 pm #
I loved Ella Enchanted as a kid… All fairytale type books
Suzanne I just saw a Robin Hood preview thingy for BBC America. I think the season is going to start again soon!
krystal on 25 Apr 2008 at 4:21 pm #
When I was younger, I used to love reading the Sweet Valley series. When I was a kid, I read the Baby-Sitter’s Club and the Sweet Valley Twins and then when I got a little older, I read Sweet Valley High. That series filled my early need for romance and friendship.
One of my favorite books that I first read when I was about 9 or 10 was Beauty: A Retelling Story of Beauty and the Beast. I have always loved the story of Beauty and the Beast because it’s one of the few fairy tales where the heroine falls in love the guy’s personality instead of his looks. Personality was always more important to me than looks.
I was about 12 when I first read Gone With the Wind at my grandma’s house. She had a copy laying around her house and I picked it up and started to read it. Because of my grandma, I’m a Gone With the Wind junkie. I still reread the book every so often and watch the movie whenever I’m home sick. I also collect Gone With the Wind stuff.
RachelG on 25 Apr 2008 at 4:24 pm #
I didn’t become a reader until I was about 25. Since then I read voraciously and always have a book going.
My faves are:
Pride and Prejudice
Gone With The Wind
Jane Eyre
Candide
The Shadow and the Star
Fancy Pants
Slow Heat In Heaven
Son Of The Morning.
Rachelg
Suzanne Enoch on 25 Apr 2008 at 4:29 pm #
Yes, Aspen! “Robin Hood” starts tomorrow (Saturday) on BBCA. I can’t wait! And I know Sabrina’s already got her drool cloth laid out for Richard Armitage. *g*
Meg on 25 Apr 2008 at 5:26 pm #
With a call from my sister I have solved the mystery! The three books are Saturday Night, Last Dance, and Summer Nights. Before these books I can’t remember reading anything; after them, I was hooked! And thank goodness, too.
Now I have to hit the USBs so that my niece can read them.
Margaret on 25 Apr 2008 at 5:50 pm #
Calling all Colin Firth and/or Hugh Grant fans! I was just checking the tv schedule for tonite and saw that “Bridget Jone’s Diary” is Bravo network at 9pm EDT.
I know where I’ll be at that time! One of my favorite movies.
Laidybyrd on 25 Apr 2008 at 7:25 pm #
As a young girl, the first book I ever read that made me cry (and thereby making it memorable) was Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson (a 19th century romance/tragedy). I also devoured the Nancy Drew mysteries.
Sabrina Jeffries on 25 Apr 2008 at 7:29 pm #
Yes, Suzie! I’m definitely getting ready for RA.
And y’all won’t believe what I just saw on–Colin Firth was on the Daily Show, talking about how some guy took a picture of his … you know what … in a public bathroom!!!
Okay, now I have to go google this.
By the way, the piece was hilarious.
Suzanne Enoch on 25 Apr 2008 at 8:00 pm #
Oh, I saw the Colin Firth bit on The Daily Show, Sabrina! It WAS hilarious. I liked where he said he thought maybe it was a theatrical tradition in NY or something, and Jon Stewart says “only if you’re going to see CATS.” ROFL
Suzanne Enoch on 25 Apr 2008 at 8:02 pm #
Did anybody else read “Julie of the Wolves” or “Island of the Blue Dolphin”? I remember my mom reading it to us while we were in the car on vacation. We always drove everywhere. After eight hours in the car, I wanted to be alone on a desert island.
Yasmin (Yaya) on 25 Apr 2008 at 8:30 pm #
I used to love R.L. Stein the goosebumps series and fear street series.I also read the Hobbit and all Jane Austen novels and Agatha Chirstie.
i have never read any thing of Nancy Drew
Yasmin (Yaya) on 25 Apr 2008 at 8:34 pm #
Wow I read Island of the blue dolphins years ago. In sixth grade as a bookreport book. I think I still have my copy I will have to look for it.
Kate on 25 Apr 2008 at 8:38 pm #
When I was in grade school it was Nancy Drew…when I was in junior high it was the delinquent stories too. I read the Outsiders and That was Then this is Now….plus another one that I don’t remember the name of but was one I read several times.
Then in high school I read Henry David Thoreau’s On Walden Pond - on my own and fell in love - read Robert Frost at this age too….before leaving hs I read the Great Gatsby - really liked that too…
In college I took a good books class and fell in love with Heathcliff and Shakespeare.
Kate on 25 Apr 2008 at 8:42 pm #
Hey Sabrina
My sisters and I ate up Barbara Cartlands too. I read some of those several times. Those are some great memories…the three of us up in our room on summer evenings all reading different stories laughing and sharing.
Thanks for the memory.
Sabrina Jeffries on 25 Apr 2008 at 9:11 pm #
Suzanne, I didn’t read the one you read, but I read Swiss Family Robinson, and I too had a fantasy about surviving on a desert island. Of course, in MY fantasy, there was always some hunky guy there. Like Colin Firth.
Kate, I used to LOVE those. Haven’t read one in years though.
evlqn on 25 Apr 2008 at 10:38 pm #
Margaret, I still remember the first book I read by myself, it was the Princess & The Pea, a little golden book and I was hooked! I read anything that isn’t tied down, anyone REALLY want to know what is in hot dogs?
Wrinkle In Time another favorite.
I remember reading all the classics when I was a kid, we had them in the bookshelf in the back bedroom and you could only read one at a time.
When we went to grandma and grandpa’s our uncles read the westerns and the old detective books so I did too.
TinaLouiseF on 27 Apr 2008 at 4:40 pm #
I remember reading Nancy Drew books, Sweet Valley High series and books about horses in elementary school or Junior High.
In High School instead of reading the assigned books: “To Kill A Mocking Bird” or “Where The Red Fern Grows” I read stories by Piers Anthony and Katherine Kurtz. Lots of sci/fi or fantasy. I still have them all in a big box in my storage unit.
I didn’t really start seriously reading romances until college, except for a few Jude Deveraux or Georgette Heyer.
Had absolutely no interest in reading the assigned books in High School, still don’t.