Monday, March 17, 2008

Welcome back to 1985

Oh my god, three posts. It must be your lucky day.

I was perusing the internets today and saw a bit on Jezebel that was about Lois Lowry, the children's author. She wrote lots of books that I read back in the day. By "the day", I mean the 1980's. I was one of those weirdo kids that would hole up in their room with books or Barbies or both (in my case) and I read ALOT during elementary school and junior high. Lois Lowry wrote these books about a girl named Anastasia Krupnik and she seemed so weird and cool when I was a kid and she had these funky adventures and I wanted to be her and live in a tower and I learned the word "debacle" from her and I wanted to live in Cambridge although I didn't know where that was at the time. When I read the thing on Jezebel, I started trying to remember all the names of the books I read back then. One was about a girl whose sister took some "angel dust" and tried to jump out of the window or something. Anyway, it introduced me to the term "angel dust" at a ripe young age and I vividly remember the part of the book when her sister takes the drugs and freaks out but I CANNOT remember the name of the book. I think the word "thirteen" is in the title but google was not helpful. I also had a book about a girl and her mom gets cancer or something and she dies and they describe her mother dying IN DETAIL. I can't remember that title either but thanks for giving me cancer-paranoia. DAMMIT! I would totally go back and re-read them. I also LOVED the Ramona Quimby books and I even remember the part in one of them where the mom forgets to turn on the crock-pot and their dinner is ruined and they end up going to get burgers and fries and it turned out to be a lovely family time. (I have no idea why I remember that but I do and yet I am unable to remember birthdays. Huh.) I found my old copy of "A Wrinkle In Time" in a box during the Great Renovation of 2007 and re-read it. It still holds up but I don't recall picking up on the HEAVY christian tone to the book. Oblivious 11 year old I was. Anyway, this is all rambling but if anyone has heard of these books and knows the names, let me know. I love reminiscing! Don't get me started on Judy Blume!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

OH WOW.... up until now I was convinced I was the only weirdo that spent her adolescence sitting around reading books (not that you're weird or anything), every single one of the books you described sounds just like ones I've read. I can't even describe how much I LOVE Ramona Quimby!!