Since I?seem to be a bookaholic - the 500+ books on my Kindle and countless others that I?have in two bookcases, a couple of Rubbermaid tubs and several on the floors of both my living room and bedroom are testament to that - I am going to devote yet another column, to, you guessed it, books.
I've been reading since age 4 and throughout my life, there have been several books that have left some kind of impression on me. I may have read the book back when I was in the fifth or sixth grade and then now as an adult, I'm picking it up again to read. Of course for me, there's the "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret"?by Judy Blume, "The Cat Ate My Gymsuit"?by Paula Danziger, the "Little House" series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and books by Beverly Cleary that struck a chord - I?actually had gotten another copy of "Fifteen"?by Cleary in the last year or so.
This week, I?noticed the book "The Girl With The Silver Eyes" by Willo Davis Roberts on the shelf of the bookstore at the new library in Marshall. That took me back. It was published in 1980 and I?remember "borrowing" it from my sixth-grade classroom (yeah, I?didn't give it back, bad me). It has an interesting storyline - a 10-year-old girl named Katie Welker who has silver eyes and the power to move things just by thinking about them and being able to talk with animals. Katie learns there are three other kids who were born around the same time that may have the same abilities she does. It turns out all their mothers worked for a pharmaceutical plant and were pregnant at the same time. And the drug they handled and had taken (in some cases) affected their unborn children, giving them these unusual abilities, such as reading minds. It was a fun read - I've read it a couple or so times in my life. So I?went ahead and bought the book. It was only a dollar.
As the years went on, another lesser-known author piqued my interest. Many years ago, I?had bought the book "The Cheerleader" by Ruth Doan MacDougall from the Goodwill. Think it was a copy from when it was originally published in 1972. The book takes place in the 1950s and centers around a 15-year-old girl named Henrietta "Snowy"?Snow. It's a great coming-of-age novel. And when I went to re-read it a few years ago, I learned there was a sequel that came out in 1993. Since then, three more books on Snowy and her friends have come out. They chronicle their lives from when they were just teenagers to their 60s. The last two books have focused mainly on Snowy's friends Bev and Puddles (real name Jean). I am yet to read those last two though. If only I?didn't have so much I?want to read and in some cases, re-read.
I'm sure there are other books out there that have stuck with people throughout the years - that one title you just can't forget. You enjoy the characters and the story and just wish that it didn't have to end. But oftentimes they do. Otherwise a series can be a little formulatic (yes, I'm kinda looking at you Stephanie Plum).
So many books, so little time...